No, not what would Vince Vaughn do…what would a VEGAN do?!?
**WARNING: CHALLENGE FAIL AHEAD**
Good afternoon! Hope your Sunday is going well…are you discovering why Sunday rhymes with fun day? 
Our Sunday has indeed been a fun day so far, but it’s also been a thought-provoking one, Vegan Challenge-wise.
As I mentioned in last night’s post, this morning, Ryan and I headed over to our friends, Lee and Steve’s house for a relaxing brunch. Going into the brunch, I knew one thing: the food would likely not be vegan.
Lee and Steve know about my vegetarianism, but they are not aware of the January vegan challenge. When they e-mailed inviting us over for Sunday brunch, Ryan and I discussed the different options:
1. Decline, and wait until February to hang out with two of the few friends we have here in Pennsylvania
2. Accept, but be a “difficult” guest and ask if it would be possible to have something vegan, even though they’d already mentioned their plans of making a (vegetarian) brunch with an apple skillet cake (not vegan, as I assume it had eggs and butter) and soy sausage (also not vegan, but purchased specially for yours truly)
3. Accept, do not mention the challenge, enjoy a vegetarian but not vegan brunch and a relaxing Sunday with good friends
I chose option number 3.
The vegan challenge has not, in actuality, been that much of a challenge. When we’ve eaten out, I’ve always been able to find something on the menu, and in terms of our own cooking, it’s been great. We’ve been experimenting with different foods, and although some of the pre-packaged products that I’m used to eating (Kashi crackers, certain cereals and baked goods, etc.) have been shelved for the month, for the most part, I’ve felt happy, healthy, and not at all deprived. For full disclosure, there have been a few bites stolen here and there of non-vegan products (ahem, cookies), but no BIG challenge failures.
Until today.
I guess my question here is addressed to all the vegans out there—what would you do in this situation? Non-vegans, of course I’d love to hear your input as well. 
It was a brunch, so there were only two food options, both of which were non-vegan, but also which only contained eggs and butter. It’s not like I ate a big piece of ham. I think if it had been a dinner party situation, it would have been an easier problem to avoid, because with a meal like that, there’s almost always a few side dishes (veggies, bread, etc.) that a vegan could eat without having to make a big deal about not eating the non-vegan foods. But, not eating the vegan foods in this case would have just meant not eating, and that, to me, would have felt too rude.
I think it also makes a difference to me that I’m doing this for simply a month-long challenge, and am not, in actuality, vegan. It would have felt a little arrogant and silly to refuse to eat eggs and butter today, on January 17th, when on February 1st, I’ll be eating them freely again.
I’ll be writing a longer post when the challenge is over about my thoughts on veganism vs. vegetarianism, but I think this brunch “issue” has kind of pin-pointed why I don’t think I would ever be able to go fully vegan: while I feel fully comfortable cooking vegan in my own home, but when it comes to eating outside the home, especially as a guest in someone’s house, I just don’t feel comfortable making such specific dietary demands.
In a way, I’m glad this happened, because so many people act like the road to veganism (and even vegetarianism) is smooth sailing, and it’s NOT. There are many bumps along the way, and you have to navigate some pretty tricky situations.
Thoughts? Comments? I’d love to hear from you!
ps- Sorry for no picture…but the meal was delicious! Must have been all that butter
