- Is It Easy To Go Vegan in The Country?
Most of my life I’ve lived in a small town. NOT my whole life as I did get out of town while I went to college in “the big city.” I can recall that most of my life I hated growing up in the country and now that I live in the small town in which I LONGED to live in as a child… I DETEST living in town and LONG for the country. As I’ve thought about this my mind wandered back to this site and the vegan topic. How does one who lives in a rural community survive with dietary restrictions like being vegetarian or vegan?
I can remember a time when tofu or meatless protein options weren’t even available in my home town. That isn’t so much the case now but the option is still quite limited. You can get a chunk of tofu and a pack of veggie burgers but not much else. I’ve never seen “milk-free” cheese in my local grocery store but I know that the option is available within a 30 minute drive. As far as fresh produce is concerned where I live you need to know where to go to buy the best stuff. For those in my community who can’t afford to shop at the local veg-market or the upper scale grocery store quality produce is next to nill. I have gone through times where I have had to shop at the No Frills instead of Sobey’s and the produce department is not that great. If I have to search for one or two good looking tomatoes out of a whole shelf it goes bad in less than a week. I can’t imagine having a mostly plant based diet and having to use that quality of food… starvation or food poisoning would get me before long!
I know my town doesn’t have a shoe store or even a “new” clothes store anymore. So how would someone who wants to purchase clothing that has no leather or no animal tested products would be right out of luck. Even if these stores existed I would bet that there would be more leather than one could poke a stick at! I don’t own anything that has real fur on it but I can see how living in a small town or village would present the OPTION factor as a challenge.
I am going to wrap this blog post up with an open question (which I don’t expect an answer to but feel free to leave comments below):
Are there vegans or even vegetarians who can live successfully in remote to rural locations successfully? Do you know them? How do they do it if so?
Claire Gosse
When we first moved out to the country I had no idea what to expect. I figured I'd have to drive for 45 minutes to find a decent grocery store. I was pleasantly surprised to find that 20 minutes away there is a grocery store with a great health food section as well as a big variety of vegan items. There is also a really nice health food store in town. As far as clothing goes, the mall in town sucks so I go the city an hour away when I want to get clothes and shoes.
My Corrie
I know this area isn't the most vegan friendly! But you guys do an awesome job… can you imagine if you had no car though… you would have to graze like cows! I hope things get better around here with time!
James Kimbell
Two words: Amazon Prime.
Stevie P.
I'm surprised by the lack of good produce! I would definitely use some of the space I'm assuming you may have and plant an amazing vegetable garden, stat!
My Corrie
Yes that is exactly what some do… I live in town where its not as easy but my sister and her boyfriend have a really nice garden with fresh EVERYTHING!