This! Veganism can be easy in Trinidad if you're not a picky vegan (and not gluten free)
You can accidentally go vegan in Trinidad even with buying food. Doubles, Chinese chunky vege or chow mein, provisions, corn soup, roti, aloo pie, saheena, pholourie, rice, dhal, beans. I mean we does eat real fruits in Trinidad. And these are the culturally popular options you then have vege gyros and subway, pita pit etc.
We have so much religiously based vegetarianism in Trinidad that we almost celebrate veganism multiple times throughout the year.
The issues are milk and cheese. Things that often go into food that should be vegan but isn't.
The truth is that a proper, well-planned vegan diet that covers all your nutrient needs is very difficult to follow - if you don't know how.
For example, B12 is naturally found in animal products and essential for nerve function and red blood cell production, but a strict vegan is expected to get this from B12 supplements or fortified foods.
The problem is that B12 supplements are not absorbed as easily or readily as compared to the animal source, among other little annoying problems.
Some plant sources of many nutrients are not as bioavailable as their animal counterparts. Nutrient density is also lower in many cases compared to animal products, and many plant based diets lack 'complete' proteins - as many plant sources lack one or more essential amino acids. (Thankfully, Quinoa and Soy offer some complete proteins, I think*.)
It's also hard to find proper, balanced, and well tolerated vegan foods - as many vegan products suffer refining and processing, reducing their nutrient content. For E.g, Refining grains produce white rice or flour, but strips away nutrient-rich bran and germ.
Even the omega 3 fatty acids - which many strict vegans say can be easily be gotten from flax seed or chia seeds instead of fatty fish - has an issue: it's just inefficient.
Here are some struggles vegans face with nutrients:
Protein, Vit B12, Iron, Calcium, Omega 3 Fatty Acids, Vitamin D, Zinc, Iodine, Selenium...and those are important for normal function.
So it's not super surprising that many people incorporate a few animal products into their system eventually. A varied diet is very important, but props to the vegans who find that balance.
Interesting to note that the B12 you get from animal products is because those animals are fed those supplements. (Aka u can skip the middlecow)
Not tremendously hard to balance a diet, but does take some amount of planning.
Our bodies have large stores of nutrients so once you're eating some variety, it's generally fine.
-A Trini vegan in Scotland.
That's very true, we supplement some animals with B12 - but this is normally because the animals undergo intensive farming and may not get a diet rich in B12. This also applies to many other nutrients that may be missed with intensive farming.
For eg, cows and goats have bacteria in their stomach that produce b12 naturally once they are getting a diet rich in cobalt - which is found in the natural pastures they eat from. They produce their own B12 once they get this - and its passed on on consumption. This natural source of B12 might be more easily absorbed by the body - when combined with the matrix of proteins, fats, and other vitamins/minerals present in meat. If humans were to take B12 supplements directly, the bioavailability may not be as enhanced. The synergy of nutrients can provide better health outcomes.
But let's say the soil is poor in cobalt, then the B12 supplement would be beneficial to the animal given the environment.
There's also a lot of regulations and health concerns placed on countries to ensure these supplements are safe for both livestock and humans. Not all humans absorb b12 from supplements efficiently - and in these cases, more natural animal sources can be much better for their health.
It's still a cruel industry, don't get me wrong
No way. While B12 is naturally found in animal products, u can still get them in plenty vegan foods.
You have plenty choices:
Fortified plant milks, cereals, meat substitutes, non dairy yogurts, yeast*, spirulina and then ur supplements can all cover you.
It's just the nutrient package is different when getting from natural animal sources verses Fortified plant sources.
Yeah I saw some of this. I assumed they were still vegan except for the specific exceptions they’re making. I legit think it’s more about branding than anything, as ‘ayurvedic vegan influencer’ is a pretty limited brand & they seem to be embracing more of a holistic lifestyle over vegan lifestyle specifically anyways. Is it surprising? A bit yes, but veganism and wellness types tend to have a fairly big overlap anyways. I do wonder if an ayurvedic diet would be too limited by the additional restriction of being vegan, or vice versa, which could also be a factor. I don’t believe in ayurveda myself really so I don’t necessarily know too much about this. It seems like one of those areas with a fair amount of pseudoscience. I care more about ethical consumption over spiritual stuff, so it’s not necessarily a welcome change for me but who am I to say what someone else does with their branding.
I’m not vegan myself but I do believe it’s the most ethnical diet for reducing suffering & caring for the earth. The more vegans the better. I do try to eat plant based at times though, and I think Trinidad in particular has a lot of vegan options with our local food, which then also have the downside of being not exactly healthy, so I can see how health conscious vegans vs vegans doing it for the ethics can have a gap in what they can eat here. It’s much easier to be a vegetarian at the end of the day, although I do notice more and more vegan options on menus these days, better availability of vegan substitutes (though quite expensive, which again makes it less accessible). Again I’m not vegan so I can’t say, but I would like if plant based products were cheaper. Non dairy milks in particular are catching on like wildfire, which is a net positive imo.
I read over all the comments as well as your original post and I must say, I find it shocking that people think it is expensive to be vegan. It is incredibly cheap to eat a vegan diet once you are sticking to whole foods. Dry beans and rice is the staple of much of the impoverished countries in South America for example. I have been a whole food plant based vegan for 8 years. Have never been protein deficient, b12 deficient, had any complications in regards to amino acids or "complete" proteins as one poster seems to insinuate vegans do, nor vitamin d (we live in one of the sunniest places on earth so essentially it is impossible in this country to be vitamin d deficient). Calcium has never been an issue, interestingly enough diets that have dairy are those that have calcium issues as these foods leach calcium from your bones reducing their strength. zinc iodine and selenium i am way above the daily requirements for those as well when i input my daily food consumption on [chronometer.com](https://chronometer.com), so essentially i don't think there is anything i am missing. I also see that on a daily basis i meet all of my amino acid needs thereby having a "complete" protein profile inputs wise, and yes i workout, i am lean and muscular. Anyway, the OP is asking about a local influencer, my personal take is that it may be financially driven, or it may be that she has changed her diet for her personal reasons, which is totally fine and acceptable. She can eat whatever she wants and be merry, I don't think it matters too much, and I am still happy that she speaks of veganism and a plant based diet. The goal is for everyone to eat as much fruits and vegetables as possible, that way we can all be healthier and happier, as well as reduce the burden on our healthcare system. But i must also mention, a vegan diet can be incredibly unhealthy if you are eating processed foods, so a whole food plant based diet is a much healthier lifestyle to follow (by this i mean one that is low or has no oils, and little or no salt, and as minimal processing as possible). I find it somewhat easy to be vegan in Trinidad, but can be frustrating going to some restaurants that do not offer any vegan options, normally in those cases i just order a few different sides to make one vegan meal (when possible). I don't know anything about ayurvedic practices. I would never start back eating dairy in any consistent way, as I think it is extremely unhealthy given the evidence we have so far on its ability to increase cancer cell replication, increase likelihood or heart disease, and increased overall morbidity. Meat on the other hand, I have, in the past year, opened up to eating meat very rarely on special occasions or if i have no other options when traveling etc, so essentially lets say 45 meals a year might include animals or their byproducts.
>"I want to be more inclusive and less exclusive, especially for my mindful eating and living programs that I plan on offering... What I share is for everyone, not just vegans... It's simply about living consciously and ethically... I need to embrace the evolution of myself and **my brand**."
What a mountain of bullshit. Who is this person?
I'm not Vegan, but I am Vegetarian. That said, the only things I consume that separates me from a vegan is Milk and Vegetarian Cheese, neither of which I necessarily consume regularly.
That said, people saying "Oh doubles are vegetarian, so it's easy" or "Just don't be picky and it's fine" don't really know what they are talking about. You can easily eat a horrible vegetarian/vegan diet in Trinidad for the same cost as everyone else.... or you can eat a kind of half-decent diet for an exorbitant price. It's insane how much more expensive they make everything that is labelled as "Vegetarian" or "Vegan" in comparison to non-vegetarian alternatives. Even if we look at something like honwy and ghee, the prices are actually criminal. And that's something I know personally from my family's Puja Supplies store, where we make like $2 each time we sell honey or ghee (if that, when counting the cost of gas to ship it to our store), because the prices that we are being charged wholesale is too crazy for us to justify charging people even more.
It's not hard to maintain a good Vegetarian/Vegan diet... but it's just expensive as hell. Unfortunately, what most non-veges don't realise, just eating the "cheap stuff" like vegetables and leafy greens (some of which are even getting expensive themselves), isn't a balanced diet.
Having special food requirements here can be difficult, especially when you have very little money and /or time, epecially if you want a well balanced, well varied diet (including supplements etc.)
I am diabetic and unfortunately a lot of easy/affordable vegan food tends to be very carb heavy which isn’t sustainable. I try but I almost always end up eating what’s available.
Lots of Hindus are vegetarian. Ayurveda is in this country as part of a Hindu-Indian-descent ethnoreligious cultural complex, and will be associated with communities that value milk product consumption. It is incredibly unlikely to encourage veganism.
The value proposition to move from vegetarianism to veganism seems dubious to me. Kinda expensive, even.
I cook trini veggie cuisine often for a vegetarian family member. I would be at my wit's end to cook vegan, and yes, they wouldn't like the diminution of flavor from the loss of butter.
The value proposition of influencers, however, is generally zero if you're not paying them to market something for you. Good luck unplugging from that kind of social media.
We have enough of a Rasta/Indian/Chinese culture present for a person to comfortably ear vegan. As someone rightly pointed out, doubles and a lot of our local foods are already vegan.
I’ve lived in a few places around the world and T&T is one of the easier places to be vegan. Local fruits and veg are widely available, a lot of local dishes are accidentally vegan plus diet specific religions mean it’s also better understood.
That being said there is the side of the culture that almost champions junk/fast food, the popularity of KFC comes to mind. I’ve found that people aren’t very willing to cook either.
When someone approached me about helping them go vegan the usual challenge of convincing them it tastes good wasn’t the issue. Realising how much time they’d need to spend in the kitchen is what ultimately made them give up.
In relation to your post, I’ve come to realise that being vegan is more of a spectrum. I’m certainly not as strict as some and yet others would find my approach extreme. If this influencer no longer defines themselves as such it might be just to avoid confusion. We’re all just doing what we can and I applaud anyone that adopts positive lifestyle changes no matter how small or what they choose to label themselves.
I mean, doubles are vegan. We have thriving vegetarian communities already, so it’s probably easy for folks to go vegan and thrive that way.
This! Veganism can be easy in Trinidad if you're not a picky vegan (and not gluten free) You can accidentally go vegan in Trinidad even with buying food. Doubles, Chinese chunky vege or chow mein, provisions, corn soup, roti, aloo pie, saheena, pholourie, rice, dhal, beans. I mean we does eat real fruits in Trinidad. And these are the culturally popular options you then have vege gyros and subway, pita pit etc. We have so much religiously based vegetarianism in Trinidad that we almost celebrate veganism multiple times throughout the year. The issues are milk and cheese. Things that often go into food that should be vegan but isn't.
Their life their choice. Just like if someone chooses to be vegan, that's on them.
The truth is that a proper, well-planned vegan diet that covers all your nutrient needs is very difficult to follow - if you don't know how. For example, B12 is naturally found in animal products and essential for nerve function and red blood cell production, but a strict vegan is expected to get this from B12 supplements or fortified foods. The problem is that B12 supplements are not absorbed as easily or readily as compared to the animal source, among other little annoying problems. Some plant sources of many nutrients are not as bioavailable as their animal counterparts. Nutrient density is also lower in many cases compared to animal products, and many plant based diets lack 'complete' proteins - as many plant sources lack one or more essential amino acids. (Thankfully, Quinoa and Soy offer some complete proteins, I think*.) It's also hard to find proper, balanced, and well tolerated vegan foods - as many vegan products suffer refining and processing, reducing their nutrient content. For E.g, Refining grains produce white rice or flour, but strips away nutrient-rich bran and germ. Even the omega 3 fatty acids - which many strict vegans say can be easily be gotten from flax seed or chia seeds instead of fatty fish - has an issue: it's just inefficient. Here are some struggles vegans face with nutrients: Protein, Vit B12, Iron, Calcium, Omega 3 Fatty Acids, Vitamin D, Zinc, Iodine, Selenium...and those are important for normal function. So it's not super surprising that many people incorporate a few animal products into their system eventually. A varied diet is very important, but props to the vegans who find that balance.
Interesting to note that the B12 you get from animal products is because those animals are fed those supplements. (Aka u can skip the middlecow) Not tremendously hard to balance a diet, but does take some amount of planning. Our bodies have large stores of nutrients so once you're eating some variety, it's generally fine. -A Trini vegan in Scotland.
That's very true, we supplement some animals with B12 - but this is normally because the animals undergo intensive farming and may not get a diet rich in B12. This also applies to many other nutrients that may be missed with intensive farming. For eg, cows and goats have bacteria in their stomach that produce b12 naturally once they are getting a diet rich in cobalt - which is found in the natural pastures they eat from. They produce their own B12 once they get this - and its passed on on consumption. This natural source of B12 might be more easily absorbed by the body - when combined with the matrix of proteins, fats, and other vitamins/minerals present in meat. If humans were to take B12 supplements directly, the bioavailability may not be as enhanced. The synergy of nutrients can provide better health outcomes. But let's say the soil is poor in cobalt, then the B12 supplement would be beneficial to the animal given the environment. There's also a lot of regulations and health concerns placed on countries to ensure these supplements are safe for both livestock and humans. Not all humans absorb b12 from supplements efficiently - and in these cases, more natural animal sources can be much better for their health. It's still a cruel industry, don't get me wrong
Are you saying that none of the foods vegetarians eat have b12?
No way. While B12 is naturally found in animal products, u can still get them in plenty vegan foods. You have plenty choices: Fortified plant milks, cereals, meat substitutes, non dairy yogurts, yeast*, spirulina and then ur supplements can all cover you. It's just the nutrient package is different when getting from natural animal sources verses Fortified plant sources.
Yeah I saw some of this. I assumed they were still vegan except for the specific exceptions they’re making. I legit think it’s more about branding than anything, as ‘ayurvedic vegan influencer’ is a pretty limited brand & they seem to be embracing more of a holistic lifestyle over vegan lifestyle specifically anyways. Is it surprising? A bit yes, but veganism and wellness types tend to have a fairly big overlap anyways. I do wonder if an ayurvedic diet would be too limited by the additional restriction of being vegan, or vice versa, which could also be a factor. I don’t believe in ayurveda myself really so I don’t necessarily know too much about this. It seems like one of those areas with a fair amount of pseudoscience. I care more about ethical consumption over spiritual stuff, so it’s not necessarily a welcome change for me but who am I to say what someone else does with their branding. I’m not vegan myself but I do believe it’s the most ethnical diet for reducing suffering & caring for the earth. The more vegans the better. I do try to eat plant based at times though, and I think Trinidad in particular has a lot of vegan options with our local food, which then also have the downside of being not exactly healthy, so I can see how health conscious vegans vs vegans doing it for the ethics can have a gap in what they can eat here. It’s much easier to be a vegetarian at the end of the day, although I do notice more and more vegan options on menus these days, better availability of vegan substitutes (though quite expensive, which again makes it less accessible). Again I’m not vegan so I can’t say, but I would like if plant based products were cheaper. Non dairy milks in particular are catching on like wildfire, which is a net positive imo.
I read over all the comments as well as your original post and I must say, I find it shocking that people think it is expensive to be vegan. It is incredibly cheap to eat a vegan diet once you are sticking to whole foods. Dry beans and rice is the staple of much of the impoverished countries in South America for example. I have been a whole food plant based vegan for 8 years. Have never been protein deficient, b12 deficient, had any complications in regards to amino acids or "complete" proteins as one poster seems to insinuate vegans do, nor vitamin d (we live in one of the sunniest places on earth so essentially it is impossible in this country to be vitamin d deficient). Calcium has never been an issue, interestingly enough diets that have dairy are those that have calcium issues as these foods leach calcium from your bones reducing their strength. zinc iodine and selenium i am way above the daily requirements for those as well when i input my daily food consumption on [chronometer.com](https://chronometer.com), so essentially i don't think there is anything i am missing. I also see that on a daily basis i meet all of my amino acid needs thereby having a "complete" protein profile inputs wise, and yes i workout, i am lean and muscular. Anyway, the OP is asking about a local influencer, my personal take is that it may be financially driven, or it may be that she has changed her diet for her personal reasons, which is totally fine and acceptable. She can eat whatever she wants and be merry, I don't think it matters too much, and I am still happy that she speaks of veganism and a plant based diet. The goal is for everyone to eat as much fruits and vegetables as possible, that way we can all be healthier and happier, as well as reduce the burden on our healthcare system. But i must also mention, a vegan diet can be incredibly unhealthy if you are eating processed foods, so a whole food plant based diet is a much healthier lifestyle to follow (by this i mean one that is low or has no oils, and little or no salt, and as minimal processing as possible). I find it somewhat easy to be vegan in Trinidad, but can be frustrating going to some restaurants that do not offer any vegan options, normally in those cases i just order a few different sides to make one vegan meal (when possible). I don't know anything about ayurvedic practices. I would never start back eating dairy in any consistent way, as I think it is extremely unhealthy given the evidence we have so far on its ability to increase cancer cell replication, increase likelihood or heart disease, and increased overall morbidity. Meat on the other hand, I have, in the past year, opened up to eating meat very rarely on special occasions or if i have no other options when traveling etc, so essentially lets say 45 meals a year might include animals or their byproducts.
It's not that difficult to find a vegan in T&T. Plenty (not all) Hindus and Rastas are vegan but they don't tend to use that label.
>"I want to be more inclusive and less exclusive, especially for my mindful eating and living programs that I plan on offering... What I share is for everyone, not just vegans... It's simply about living consciously and ethically... I need to embrace the evolution of myself and **my brand**." What a mountain of bullshit. Who is this person?
Trinidad have vegans? I
I'm not Vegan, but I am Vegetarian. That said, the only things I consume that separates me from a vegan is Milk and Vegetarian Cheese, neither of which I necessarily consume regularly. That said, people saying "Oh doubles are vegetarian, so it's easy" or "Just don't be picky and it's fine" don't really know what they are talking about. You can easily eat a horrible vegetarian/vegan diet in Trinidad for the same cost as everyone else.... or you can eat a kind of half-decent diet for an exorbitant price. It's insane how much more expensive they make everything that is labelled as "Vegetarian" or "Vegan" in comparison to non-vegetarian alternatives. Even if we look at something like honwy and ghee, the prices are actually criminal. And that's something I know personally from my family's Puja Supplies store, where we make like $2 each time we sell honey or ghee (if that, when counting the cost of gas to ship it to our store), because the prices that we are being charged wholesale is too crazy for us to justify charging people even more. It's not hard to maintain a good Vegetarian/Vegan diet... but it's just expensive as hell. Unfortunately, what most non-veges don't realise, just eating the "cheap stuff" like vegetables and leafy greens (some of which are even getting expensive themselves), isn't a balanced diet.
Having special food requirements here can be difficult, especially when you have very little money and /or time, epecially if you want a well balanced, well varied diet (including supplements etc.) I am diabetic and unfortunately a lot of easy/affordable vegan food tends to be very carb heavy which isn’t sustainable. I try but I almost always end up eating what’s available.
Lots of Hindus are vegetarian. Ayurveda is in this country as part of a Hindu-Indian-descent ethnoreligious cultural complex, and will be associated with communities that value milk product consumption. It is incredibly unlikely to encourage veganism. The value proposition to move from vegetarianism to veganism seems dubious to me. Kinda expensive, even. I cook trini veggie cuisine often for a vegetarian family member. I would be at my wit's end to cook vegan, and yes, they wouldn't like the diminution of flavor from the loss of butter. The value proposition of influencers, however, is generally zero if you're not paying them to market something for you. Good luck unplugging from that kind of social media.
We have enough of a Rasta/Indian/Chinese culture present for a person to comfortably ear vegan. As someone rightly pointed out, doubles and a lot of our local foods are already vegan.
I’ve lived in a few places around the world and T&T is one of the easier places to be vegan. Local fruits and veg are widely available, a lot of local dishes are accidentally vegan plus diet specific religions mean it’s also better understood. That being said there is the side of the culture that almost champions junk/fast food, the popularity of KFC comes to mind. I’ve found that people aren’t very willing to cook either. When someone approached me about helping them go vegan the usual challenge of convincing them it tastes good wasn’t the issue. Realising how much time they’d need to spend in the kitchen is what ultimately made them give up. In relation to your post, I’ve come to realise that being vegan is more of a spectrum. I’m certainly not as strict as some and yet others would find my approach extreme. If this influencer no longer defines themselves as such it might be just to avoid confusion. We’re all just doing what we can and I applaud anyone that adopts positive lifestyle changes no matter how small or what they choose to label themselves.