Words by James Odene, Media & Communications Manager, ProVeg UK

 

This is my third Father’s Day as a father myself and for me it is a day of evaluation, and hopefully also celebration. I find myself thinking about the kind of parenting I am providing my daughter and choices I am making for her future on a daily basis.

It is in part down to her that I was lead towards a plant-based diet. After discovering that she had a severe allergy to cow’s milk, I was thrust down a path of learning and began questioning our diet. My daughter Eden is strong, energetic, powerful and full of life, as any 2-year-old (nearly 3- eek!) should be and has thrived on a vegan diet since birth.

After we scratched the surface of veganism, we very quickly discovered that it was a rounded, healthy and nutritionally balanced diet that everyone could thrive on. The British Dietetic Association has stated that a well-planned vegan diet can ‘support healthy living in people of all ages’ and there are many studies that link consumption of animal products to greater risks of heart disease, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes as well as swathes of other nasty illnesses. The consumption of animal products is also a leading cause of climate change. For all of these reasons, I feel like I am providing her with the best start in life.

As a parent of someone who loves food, it is a great pleasure to cook and eat together and boy do we eat! It fills me with immense joy every time we try something new and my daughter says, ‘This is delicious!’, in fact I even fist pumped the air one meal time when she asked for more kale. I know! Little did I know that the ‘kids won’t eat veg’ tale is a complete myth; at least it has proven so with Eden.

I’m not suggesting that I am going to spend today just congratulating myself, but I can say honestly that there is seldom a greater joy knowing that the food we love and share as a family is super healthy, nutritious, delicious and sustainable. Feeding my daughter a vegan diet makes me feel powerful.

As the day falls on a Sunday, a day typically celebrated around a centre piece of meat, why not start a new journey today as a father or with your own father and have a meat-free celebration of the trials and triumphs of being a father.

To all those wonderful fathers out there, you’re doing great! Happy Father’s Day.

 

Want to read more?

You might find my recent article ‘Why aren’t more men vegan?’ in Vegan Food and Living interesting.