Q: When did you first go Vegan?
A: I tried going Vegan back in 1994, at the age of 17, but due to a lack of knowledge about nutrition I went vegetarian after one year. I tried again in 2001 but, for the same reasons, after one year, I went back to vegetarianism. I finally went permanently vegan in 2012, when I lived in a vegan community in the UK, where I finally learned about plant-based nutrition.
Q: What happened, what was the reason you chose to go Vegan?
A: I was just 17 and in Italy there was no debate about animal welfare and animal rights, but through some articles I found out the truth about animal farming and decided that I needed to be coherent between my beliefs and my actions. If I truly loved animals I could not eat them and be the cause of such inhumane suffering.
Q: Did you go Vegan by yourself or did you know others?
A: In 1994, I was 17 years old and the term vegan didn't really exist within the public debate, at least not in Italy. Vegetarianism was somewhat heard of, so I did not really call myself anything and had nobody to guide me, which is why, after a year of eating a nutritionally poor diet I reintroduced eggs and some soft cheeses into my diet. There was no social media or easily available information I could rely on to help me sustain my choice. It was a very solitary endeavour and a very anticonformist one in Italy at that time – as it is still today, as a matter of fact.
Q: How did you feel when you made the decision to go Vegan?
A: I felt angry that I had been lied to by my family and by society for all those years about the way animals were raised for food and clothing. I felt completely alone and misunderstood. There wasn’t anybody at school or in my social network who was vegan or vegetarian. Even the people involved in running the local shelter, where I volunteered, eat animals and were not interested in supporting me. However, I knew I could no longer be part of the violence and abuse that animals were experiencing as a result of humans' choices and I didn’t want any part in it. The truth is what sustained me over the years.
Q: What 3 words best describe how you felt?
A: Angry, shocked, desperate, lonely.
Q: What was or has been the most challenging part?
A: Living in an omnivor world and being close to people, friends and family, who eat my animals friends. Feeling that I need to be 'respectful' of the choice of others who fail to respect the right to life and through whose action my friends my suffer and die.
Q: What was the hardest food for you to 'give up'?
A: None. I missed cheese a little, but the realization that animal based food was full of death and suffering made me reject it entirely. It never felt like a sacrifice. The lack of knowledge about nutrition was the hardest obstacle to overcome, but I have never missed any animal based food.
Q: What do you find the most challenging about being around non vegan people?
A: Their lack of care for animals’ suffering, their self-entitlement to cause suffering and refusing to be challenged about it just because it is socially acceptable and traditional to eat animals. The aggression, irreverence and mockery stemming from their ignorance is really challenging for me to manage, but I realized from a very young age that direct confrontation is counterproductive. In many ways, yoga and meditation have proven invaluable assets in managing my anger and approaching non-vegans in a non-confrontational way. But it’s not easy.
Q: What's it like being Vegan in Italy?
A: It is not easy as the macho culture ridicules any form of sensitivity. Moreover, the dominant Catholic culture asserts the dominion of humans over nature through the Judeo scriptures , mocking anyone who challenges this dogma. The fact that secular beliefs draw on the same human supremacy over Nature only reinforces the widespread belief that Veganism is unnatural. In many ways vegans are the new gays.
Never the less, Italian cuisine is very plant-based, and plant-based food can be easily found in most restaurants cooking traditional Italian food. The vegan movement is growing all over Italy and there are some excellent initiatives in many cities and, even, in some smaller realities. The situation is undoubtedly improving as more information is shared and dogmas demystified, but it’s a slow process.
Q: What's your favourite food or what do you eat the most, at least 3+ times a week?
A: Being gluten intolerant I tend to prefer Asian food over Italian food, so I tend to eat a lot of rice, noodles, tofu and tempeh. Vegetable-wise, pumpkin is probably the one I eat the most of, as I feed it also to my cats (I cook for them daily), but I guess greek style soy yogurt is probably what I am addicted to the most and eat almost daily. And I should probably mention chocolate :)
Q: What do you find is most challenging when it comes to Vegan Fashion?
A: Finding good shoes and bags. I still wear old leather shoes and bags of mine that I bought 20 years ago. I take good care of them and they look almost new. All the vegan shoes and bags I bought so far, as well as being incredibly expensive, were of very poor quality and lasted no more than 2 years. Although I buy vegan leather and wear it for work as a way to educate people about viable existing alternatives, from an ecological point of view I feel that using second hand leather might be a better option until more viable vegan alternatives are found. Your leather shoes are beautiful and I hope you will continue to develop new models and new materials!
Q: What are 3 of your favourite Vegan Brands or Products?
A: Gee, it’s a tough one. I try to make everything from scratch, as I live in a very rich and biodiverse region (Tuscany), but I guess Sojade makes the best Greek-style yogurt, Vivani produces delicious chocolate and even Ritter Sport puts out some great vegan chocolate from time to time. Loci has made some very cool-looking shoes, but they tend not to last long and are rather pricey. I boycott Garden Gourmet, as it’s owned by Nestlé, and I am campaigning against Ferrero’s plant-based Nutella as it contains palm oil, making it de fact non-vegan, despite many people calling themselves vegans are praising it and promoting it. I feel that the difference between plant-based and vegan products is still very much misunderstood and often confused as synonyms. Alas, they are not.
Q: What was the funniest/craziest thing that someone has said or you've heard/read about Veganism or about being Vegan?
A: That veganism is unnatural (like homosexuality!), that vegans are terrorists... but what makes me laugh the most is the incredible arrogance of omnivors who want to explain to me that I got it all wrong and that chickens abandons the eggs, that sheep need to to shaven and that cows would die if they were not milked.
I find it flabbergasting that one should think that a vegan would undertake such a path without first inquiring about all the ethical issues. I am always amazed at the hubris of omnivors. They clearly associate 'normality' with 'justice', which has been the pivotal obstacle faced by all equality movements in history.
Q: What's your favourite animal?
A: What kind of question is this!!! LOL
I love them all equally, including insects, which I do not kill, not even mosquitoes or tics. My house is a sanctuary for all insects (except for mosquitoes and tics, which I gently place outside and explain that I wish them to stay outside of my house and away from my animal housemates) 💕
Q: What's your spirit animal?
A: It changes over time. Lets say I have a strong affinity with Unicorns.
Q: What's your go to Vegan thing that you share?
A: Normally food. It's a non confrontational way of getting people to experience first-hand something new and, from there, introduce them to the wider ethical debate.
Usually, I suggest people watch The Game Changers, as a powerful demystifier accessible to everyone. The next 'go to', which I often watch during the Deep Ecology retreats I run, is the 1985 French film "The Green Planet", which is a powerful film that ties in with veganism as part of an emancipated future based on love, compassion and equality.
Q: Is there anything else that I haven't asked that you would like to share about your Vegan journey?
A: As I mentioned earlier, I feel that was is currently lacking in the wider debate is the distinction between Veganism and plant based dieting. The two are not one and the same, and this misunderstanding is causing a lot of confusion within the debate, both with the general public, but also amongst 'vegans', many of whom are not really 'vegan', but claim to be because they eat a plant-based diet perhaps for health or environmental reasons, but not for the animals’ Right to Life.
Veganism is a philosophy that emerged within the animal rights movement and it’s important to remember this, or we risk losing focus and creating friction within an already polarized debate, a point I hope to develop in details in a forthcoming book.
