Clarification

I am not vegan. Vegans don't eat or use any animal products - they don't eat dairy, eggs, or honey, won't wear leather or wool, and pay very close attention to bath & body products to make sure they also don't contain any animal products and aren't tested on animals.

I'm vegetarian. I don't imagine I will ever quit eating honey; I don't really care about the rights of bees. Call me crazy, but I think they're probably perfectly happy even if we take their honey away. I also have a hard time imagining that I will stop buying leather shoes and bags, and I certainly won't quit wearing wool. Those things are just better than their synthetic alternatives; there's no denying it.

I also will continue to eat eggs and dairy in restaurants or at other people's homes. They're just really hard things to avoid if you aren't paying close attention, and it feels like a lot of work to worry about it every second of every day. I like to eat good food and I love to go to restaurants; if I limit myself to strict veganism my restaurant options will be very, very limited. I'm just not willing to go there. If there is a vegan option at a restaurant I generally take it, but if not (or if something containing cheese sounds particularly delicious), I don't feel bad.

However, the things I cook at home are easy to control. It's easy and fun for me to cook vegan food, and it makes me feel good that I'm relying much less on animal products than I ever have before. So I'm going to keep that up, and do the best I can the rest of the time.