I have not been on the site in a long time. Forgive me. I am wanting to start 2012 by introducing the superhero part of the kind life into my diet. The only problem is that I live in small town usa. I live in Piedmont,AL where I am 2 hrs away from Birmingham, AL and 4 hrs away from Atlanta, GA. It is so hard to find even vegetarian foods in my local store. I have asked them to order some foods for me but they said that if it is not in the wharehouse then they cannot help me. I have been getting recipes from here but the only solution I have found is that I will have to go online and order these prodcuts. I live in the deep south where people bbq no matter what time of year it is. Meat is the main focus of every single dish and veggies are an after thought. Where a resturant serves a cookie with bacon cooked into it!!! It is so frustrating when people do not see where I am coming from when I tell them that I am a vegan. There first response is how are you still ALIVE!!!!! I am open to all suggestions from the food to how to repectfully respond to pepole's ignorant comments. Thank so much and I look forward to getting to know everyone here!!!! Tanti Baci!!!

Hi!

I am in the same boat as you.  I am from Guam and EVERYONE eats meat here. Everytime I tell them I'm vegan they don't understand at all.  When I explain they give me really snotty looks and saying really rude things :(  After a while I have come to accept that that's how it's going to be in the beginning.  After a while when people start to notice that you are not changing, that this new way of life is a part of you they will hopefully be more forgiving.  I posted up some entries in my blog (www.themacroveg.blogspot.com) with some common responses that you might encounter, how to respond, etc. (http://themacroveg.blogspot.com/2011/12/holiday-game-plan.html)  (http://themacroveg.blogspot.com/2011/12/common-responses-for-why-people-dont-go.html) You are not alone with this experience.  Stay strong and stay true ;)

As for food it's always hard for me as well when i go back home to find some vegan food on island :S  Beans and seitan go a long way.  You can look up seitan recipes online and it becomes a great meat substitute so you don't have to order in everything, all you need to whole wheat flour, and it's superhero ;)  Any type of beans are great too and very versatile in stews, loafs, etc.  

Bev

Thank you so much for your response. I look forward to making new kind friends on this site.