It all started on a recent, snowy January Friday night. Three siblings, a bag of chips, chocolate and grande lattes. With each of us becoming increasingly, completely exasperated at the state of cable TV we turned to a more virtuous option, the documentary section of Netflix.

Ten minutes into our first selection, Vegucated, I put down my latte. A quarter into the second, Hungry for Change, my brother tossed the chips and chocolate into the trash (he’s a touch on the impulsive side).

Between the two flicks and for a while after, we conversed on the topics of vegetarianism, veganism, nourishing your body, mind and spirit, and health in general. An idea began to germinate. It evolved. It grew. And before you knew it we were each pledging to adopt more plant based diets. Oh my how impressionable we are!

Given our previous experiences and usual eating habits we individually decided what each of us was prepared to do. We would start on Monday (today!). It just seemed right. And it would give us time to gather all necessary supplies. All of us felt that 6 weeks was a good time frame (we borrowed that from Vegucated).

The participants:

EWA

Who: my younger sister

Typical diet: not a big meat eater, cooks meat based dishes maybe once a week for her young family, often skips the meat option at restaurants and family functions, eats yogurt regularly and eggs occasionally, loves fruit and vegetables

Food personality: practical and adventurous, constantly surprises me with new and exciting dishes she has cooked up

Going…mostly vegan/part time vegetarian, her husband is on board but will eat non-veg meals outside of the home (read: mom’s house), their young son (a connoisseur of anything put in front of him) will eat whatever his parents eat

TOMEK

Who: my brother and roommate

Typical diet: eats fish often, meat sometimes, eggs always (is a dozen eggs per week a lot??), yogurt most days

Food personality: will eat anything (his words, not mine), daring, eats for pleasure and to fuel his kick-ass workouts

Going…lacto-ovo-pesco vegetarian….translation: no meat but will eat milk products, eggs and fish

ILONA

Who: me!

Typical diet: I rarely eat meat, practically never cook it, eat yogurt most days, eggs a few times a week, enjoy tofu/tempeh often, looooove all veg and most fruits

Food personality: continuously seeking a food identity,  love to experiment with new flavours, cuisines and ingredients

Going…vegan…oh yes, I’m going all out (go big or go home, right?)

So there you have it. A challenge of sorts. Stop by on this page to find out about our progress, foods we are cooking up, ingredients we love and at what point one of us cracks and ends up in a meat-induced coma!