Be True to Yourself

I have just came back from brunch at Monk Bodhi Dharma in Balaclava. I was there with some vegan friends.

It was really nice to be around vegans because I really click well with these people. Whenever I am with my family, they are so negative. All they do is complain about this or that. They usually gossip about what other people are doing or they complain about corrupt politicians. They don’t actually do anything. Most vegans are actually doing something. By not buying animal products and instead buying vegan products, they are reducing demand for animal exploitation.

I have so many people in my life who I just don’t like being with. On Friday after work I met up with a bunch of people I used to work with. Most of these people were working in other areas now. I hadn’t seen them in years. They were all grown up now and they were either getting married or were in the process of getting married. They were also planning children. Many also purchased houses and some were buying investment property. I felt left out and odd because I was single, I had no intention of ever marry or ever having children, and I prefer to invest in stocks or ETFs rather than property. I really felt like I wasn’t among my people. 

Many people have tried to change me. Some of my friends have tried to set me up with girls (my father did this as well) but I found that being in a relationship with a girl did not enhance my life whatsoever. I found it tiresome to be responsible for entertaining a girl. Whenever she was not happy, it was my fault. I prefer to just be single. 

I have always felt weird about being single because it’s not socially accepted. Society expects certain things from you, e.g. get a girlfriend, get married, have children, buy a house for yourself, and then buy an investment property. When I’m with my old work colleagues, it’s all about conformity to these ideals: who has a wife, who has an investment property, who is getting married, and so forth. I remember a few night ago when I told a friend that I like to spend my free time watching YouTube, and he told me that I should “find a girlfriend” as if that is for some reason the highest purpose of any man’s life. 

Lately I have been trying to just be honest with what I care about. Be firm with my beliefs. In the past I would just stay quiet and allow people to lead me. They would try to find girls for me or try to get me married. Now there is no compromise. I do what I want to do and I don't accept other people trying to direct my life. In fact, when I was with my old work colleagues, they asked me how my dating life was, and I told them flat out that I did not want to date ever and that my family has given up on trying to get me date because I am stubborn and will never bend to anyone else's values. I would rather die. I also told my friends that I will never get married and I will never have children because I have been turned off my annoying children. Surprisingly, they seemed to respect my choice. I think that makes all the difference. People will respect you if you have a view of how you should live. If you’re wishy washy, they will try to push their views on you because you seem lost and in need of direction. I need to be firm with my values and my beliefs. If I am a vegan, I should stick with it and never waver. If I want to be a man who goes his own way and never gets into a relationship with women or never marries them, I need to give my reasons for it and loudly advocate it. The same applies for my investment beliefs. If I truly believe it is better to buy stocks, I should give firm reasons why. Even if you believe property is a good investment, you can easily buy property funds on the stock exchange. 

I think I have been inspired especially by Durianrider in a video called Why I Don’t Care Anymore where he discusses the importance of being true to yourself. If you are bold and forceful for what you believe in, people will hate you for it, but these people are people you don’t want to be around anyway, so your honest behaviour is a filter that removes people you shouldn’t be around, and people you should be around will be drawn and attracted to you, and you will spend more time with them.

Grill'd Vegan Burger - Veggie Vitality

It might seem weird for a grown man to watch Bonnyrebecca videos, but that's what I was doing last night. While most people like to binge on alcohol on a Saturday night, I like to binge on YouTube. To be honest, I have a crush on Bonny. She's a beautiful young vegan girl, so I love to follow (or perve) on her via YouTube.

In her latest video, she is in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the now controversy-marred 2016 Raw Till Four Bike Festival, and for some reason she has decided to try out a raw vegan diet. See the entire video below. During her vlog, she randomly mentions the Grill'd vegan burger at the 2:40 mark of the video.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZiEIgh6dmw]

When I heard from Bonny that Grill'd suddenly had a vegan burger, I was shocked. I did some research on Facebook. Supposedly Grill'd had changed their menu to cater to different "tribes" such as those who want a gluten-free burger. As such, the burgers at Grill'd not only caters to vegans and vegetarians but also to people who are anti-gluten as well as those on a low-carb diet. The new vegan burger is called "veggie vitality." Not only is this burger vegan but it is also gluten free (not that I am anti-gluten).

[caption id="attachment_1432" align="alignnone" width="587"] Credit: Candice Nertney[/caption]

I admit I'm not a fan of the picture above. The veggie patty looks very bright red, which makes it look weird.

Reading further into various Facebook comments, it's clear that there are many vegans who, even though Grill'd has a vegan burger, do not want to support this business because they cater to meat eaters in addition to vegans, but I believe that Grill'd producing a menu that is 5% vegan is better than a menu that is 0% vegan, so they should be rewarded for this, and if they are rewarded enough, they will likely increase that percentage. The bottom line is that money must flow towards vegan products. Demand creates supply.

[caption id="attachment_1360" align="alignnone" width="537"] Credit: Candice Nertney[/caption]

As soon as I'd heard about this burger, I went to the local Grill'd with my father. My father is not a vegan, so he ordered a lamb burger. I told my father than I wanted the vegan burger. The menu stated clearly that the chips are all vegan, so I agreed to share sweet potato chips with him. He went to the counter and ordered the food. However, when the food came, I realized that I didn't think about the dipping sauce, which I suspect may not be vegan! Vegans are not omniscient. They should try their hardest, but if a mistake is made then learn from your mistake and move on.

[caption id="attachment_1399" align="alignnone" width="519"] Vegan sweet potato chips served with possibly non-vegan dipping sauce.[/caption]

When the waiter handed my father his food, he said, "Here's your lamb burger." He then handed me the vegan burger and blandly said, "Here's yours." There was no announcement that it was a vegan burger. I didn't know what to make of that, but nevermind. I digress.

[gallery ids="1408,1409" type="square" columns="2" orderby="rand"]

What I found interesting about the burger is that it didn't try to replace the meat with meat-like products such as soy protein or wheat protein. The patty is a true veggie patty made of beetroot, sweet potato, spinach, and quinoa. It tastes quite nice, full of flavour, and the beetroot gives it a very nice bright red colour. On the downside, like most veggie patties, it is not firm but quite soft. However, the softness of the patty is partially compensated for by the firmness of the bun.

[caption id="attachment_1414" align="alignnone" width="3264"] A close-up of the internals of the veggie patty clearly showing the red beetroot.[/caption]

What really redeems this vegan burger is the avocado, which goes well with everything else in the burger and gives it a nice creamy taste. I've been to Grill'd before when they had three vegetarian burgers but no vegan burgers. I veganized a vegetarian burger by ordering a falafel burger (called "Friends of Falafel") and, following advice from Peta, made it vegan by removing the tzatziki, which is a Greek cream that may have dairy or eggs in it. However, as a result of removing the tzatziki, the falafel burger was very dry, which turned me off Grill'd burger, and I have never been there since. Thankfully, the avocado in the new Grill'd vegan burger not only provides you with healthy fats but also gives the insides of the burger a creamy texture.

[caption id="attachment_1420" align="alignnone" width="2448"] Avocado is spread on the top and bottom, giving the burger a creamy texture.[/caption]

After the vegan burger, I went to San Churro and ordered a long black. An easy way to be vegan at a cafe is to order either a long black (coffee with water) or a soy latte (coffee with soy milk).

[caption id="attachment_1424" align="alignnone" width="2276"] Long black at San Churro.[/caption]

Nowadays I try to subtly encourage cafes to use almond milk by always asking them for a "latte with almond milk." Many cafes are starting to provide almond milk now, but about half the time they tell me that they don't have almond milk, just soy milk, so I go with soy milk instead, and I act as if I am really dissatisfied. Usually when I go back to the cafe in a month or two, all of a sudden they have almond milk! It's important to understand that the customer is king, and the vegan customer should use his or her purchasing power to influence businesses so that they provide more and more vegan products. Demand creates supply, as I said. If you make it a habit to pay assassins to kill people, businesses (and contractors) specializing in murder will be created. If you make it a habit to eat meat or other animal products, businesses specialising in the torture and slaughter of animals will be created and will grow in dominance. It's a battle between good and evil, and the best that vegans can do is to keep ensuring that money flows to vegan products as much as possible. Keep in mind the vegan flow of funds!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k9NnGyCUV8]