It was supposed to be an experiment.
My whole life, living in this part of the word, was based on meat. Grandma would never let me have any meal without animal products. Breakfast? – scrambled eggs. Lunch – pork schnitzel. Dinner? – sausage, beef, roasted chicken. All my diet was based on meat really and I never really complained. I liked the taste, the texture, the fact that it was so easy to get it everywhere.
It’s silly to admit, but I was the one who was always shouting that you need meat to live. Because it’s tasty and we should treat ourselves well, the meat is there because we should celebrate it. And since I love food, I travel for food, I start everyday with thinking of it. I couldn’t really imagine having my day without the things that I thought I loved the most.
I worked with some vegetarians and vegans in the past few years but I never really thought of that as a smart way of living. Never really took a better look on how their life can be.
But then I moved to Prague
for the second time in my life but this time it was different. I came with an open mind and no prejudice. I told myself that I want to learn a world again and start to see it from a different perspective.
The quality of meat products in Prague was a bit different to my home country. I was never really satisfied with it, every meal kind of disappointed me. You really had to know where to go to get a nice fair product and not spend a fortune on eating (I already spend way too much on that).
I started my beloved job here in hospitality where I discovered that more than half of my work colleagues gave up on meat a long time ago and live a great tasty life. I started to think about it more and noticed that they didn’t really give up on tasty food. I started to realize that you can have a wonderful day even if you decide that… YES today I’ll have no meat, tomorrow I’ll eat a sandwich with cheese instead of ham. And so it goes.
Last year in December I went to Cesky Krumlov with my boyfriend. Honestly, I think we had the biggest feast in our lives in one of the czech restaurants there. All we loved was on the table.
And then something changed…
On our trip back to Prague Pawel (my boyfriend) started to watch one of these Netflix documentaries. It was about athletes who gave up of animal products. We continued to watch it back home. It didn’t took too long for him to ask me if we could try to eat vegan just to see if what the say in the movie was any sort of true.
Easy for me, as I already reduced meat consumption to 2-3 times a week which was great. But for him – being a chef in the restaurant – I could not believe that he suggested this crazy idea.
We were supposed to do the challenge for a month and yet here we are. Almost a year with totally different and equally delicious lifes, learning how different and great our life can be. I honestly feel great knowing that I really don’t need to eat meat to be healthy.
I cannot call myself vegan as I still love occasional cheese romance but trust me – the journey is easier than you think. If me and Pawel could change our habits and routines so can you.
I would never try to force anyone to do the same. But if you ever feel like changing your diet, get new inspiration, get some fresh new recipes to feed your family… Well, you’re in a good place.
My recipes are mostly based on what I love the most
inspired by my travels, my work, my heritage. This is why you’ll see so many varied recipes that may not have anything in common besides the fact that I like every single one of them. You may notice the occasional blue cheese or feta in some posts – it’s only up to you if you wanna use it or not.
If you’re looking to change your food habits this may be a good start – even if it’s just about one day a week – I’m happy to advise what products to use, what to start with, etc.
I’m still learning, this is also my first time creating a website, a food blog and some sort or documentary of my food journey.
Hope you’ll enjoy it 🙂
