Life by the sea, for the sea.

So, how the heck do we survive the holiday season while being good to ourselves? This is especially challenging if you also consider yourself a vegan, vegetarian, or another classification of plant-based eater. Now, willpower is not everyone’s strong suit. It definitely wasn’t mine for a very long time. I love food. I really love food, in fact. And the idea that someone decided the holidays should be all about eating used to make for a very big internal struggle. It became a lot easier when I decided to start eating vegan for a purpose bigger than myself, a.k.a reducing my carbon footprint. I did it because I wanted to be able to walk the conservation walk if I was going to talk the conservation talk. Going vegan or vegetarian is one of the most straightforward and impactful choices you can make to significantly reduce your carbon footprint and spread some sanity and love to this crazy world. This post isn’t about preaching the vegan word, though (this one is!). This is a survival guide for a vegan party-goer (or anyone trying to eat healthy) as we dive headfirst into holiday party festive season. HERE WE GO.

So I’ve been on an extended stopover in Maui, visiting some very beautiful, kindhearted friends of mine, many of whom I used to live and work with. I am slowly making my way south towards the Southern Hemisphere, but while waiting for some visa paperwork to process, I couldn’t not stop on the most isolated island chain in the world! Maui holds a special place in my heart because it represents a very dynamic time in my young twenties. I moved out here on a whim (and since then, each subsequent move has become easier and easier) to explore what it meant to be a marine naturalist.

I was hesitant to think too favorably about my luck with vegan dining options in my hometown of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. As much as this dear little mountain/lake town means to me, I will say the plant-based food scene hasn’t exactly caught up quite as much here as the (also important) local farm-to-table, sustainably raised meat and seafood industry. It’s encouraging that people here are starting to ask where their food is coming from instead of just nomming down on whatever is set in front of them, but there is really not much of a demand for the green-growing-things-centric meals. So it’s a move for the better, but as with my ability to pan-fry tofu, there is room for improvement.