Not until you finish reading this post, will you understand its title which, on the other hand, is inspired by Sting. I am not a vegan, but I was in New York not so long ago, and one of those questions that friends asked me when I came back refers to what I ate there. You will know my answer at the end of the post.

My trip to the land of vegetarianism started years ago when I was in Brest (Belarus). Since then I have found the way of nourishing myself as I freely choose. Great attention was given to my new diet at the beginning; sometimes I was even asked for the reasons why I turned to a new diet. Although I always tried to move the conversation along to another topic, it usually kicked off a lively debate.

Knowing this, it is clear that veganism is a controversial issue; therefore it is perfect for the short and sweet speech I have to deliver at my English class. Briefly, the description of veganism, as well as the reasons in favour for going vegan will be pointed out. Besides, other labels as vegetarian, organivore, locavore or flexitarian will be succinctly commented.

It is by no means certain that by the end of my presentation my colleagues will be willing to say something. When it comes to diet, people feel stuck in their habits and they don?t like to be questioned. ?All the same, don?t get me wrong, it is not my intention to convince them, only open a debate.

But, let?s go back to my experience as a vegetarian in New York. I?d like to emphasize that it was really easy to find salads, in plastic box naturally. Although it is far more difficult to explain my perception, I?d say that meals were like any other marketable product there, not real food.

One more observation, despite that vegetarianism is in many ways a great diet, any kind of extremism leads to isolation. So, stop labelling people, we?d better enjoy good and natural food.

Quoting Sting?s song, I was not an alien in New York or in restaurants, and I try to be myself don?t matter what they say about my diet. And in your case, what do you think about veganism? Have you ever thought about your diet?

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