meet the vegans
Every month we´re talking to inspirational plant lovers in order to inspire, learn and share the tips & tricks for a loving plantbased lifestyle
My name is Conni. I’m 42 and I’m the CEO and founder of a small PR- and communications agency in Copenhagen. I’m also a happy yogi and love working out in general. And when I’m not working or working out I like to cook and eat lots of plant-based goodies!
Plant-based lifestyle is like...
For me plant-based life has come gradually over the years. It started with me ditching milk because my skin was reacting a lot to the hormones. Then someday I read about World Overshoot Day and that we had already spent a year’s resources in April, I think. I started investigating what I could do for the planet that would have the biggest impact, and that was ditching meat. So I did. Then after a while I ditched fish too, and after having seen myself as vegetarian for a couple of years, I chose that now it was time to ditch the last of my old habits too – which was eating cheese once in a while. So I decided to go fully plant-based.
family fuelled by plants
My son, who’s almost 12, chose to live a plant-based lifestyle too. He actually beat me to it and wanted to go vegan when he was 8. He also enjoys the benefits of eating plants only and although he gets a lot of curious questions and sometimes faces the struggles any vegan faces, he’s very dedicated to his choice.
So it’s our thing. And we both love to eat and find new vegan treats. It’s something that really ties us together.
My best advice
I think my best advice to someone who wants to go vegan is taking it slow, read up on going vegan
and just try the lifestyle on for size in the beginning. It’s a shift in habits and mindset and if you don’t take the time to make that shift you’re more likely to find it way too hard and perhaps you’ll
give up before even having begun.
Also don’t hit yourself in the head if you fail for a day or a meal. That’s okay. You’ll do better tomorrow. Or the day after that. Just remember that for every plant-based meal you eat, you’re
making a difference for the planet, for the animals and for yourself.
Vegan inspiration is luckily easy to find. It’s all over Instagram and blogs and there are so many good documentaries to watch. I also love reading about veganism. “A Plea for the Animals” really
touched me, for instance. And if you want to read about the health benefits “How Not to Die” and “Superlife” are really good reads! When you’ve read those I’m almost certain you can’t help
ditching meat and dairy! 😉
Shopping vegan products
Luckily it’s become quite easy finding plant-based meals and drinks almost anywhere in the world.
When abroad I use HappyCow and always trawl through Instagram for good places to find the best
vegan meals. I always make sure to check if the hotel has soymilk or similar for breakfast too.
In Copenhagen I would recommend Restaurant Ark and Bistro Lupa for outstanding vegan meals
and cocktails, Café Kaf’ for nice sandwiches and vegan cakes, Glean for the best cream puffs and
“træstammer” in town and Dal Forno and Rossopomodoro for awesome vegan pizzas.
If you want to shop for vegan food that you can’t find in the supermarket aisles (yet!) take a look
at Greenos.dk. And always remember to shop the bearnaise dressing and the tofu cheesecakes.
Sounds weird. Is divine!
When I cook at home, which I mainly do, I of course just empty the fresh produce aisle and shop
for all the great and healthy beans and lentils out there. Sometimes if I don’t have much time to
cook I let eg. Planteslagterne help me too. And for healthy yummy snacks on the go, nothing beats
Ohpops! Of course!
Aaaaand....
In general I like to eat a healthy and balanced diet. A handful of berries and a handful of nuts or seeds every day keep the doctor away, is my mantra, I guess. And there are so many great tastes
in the plant kingdom, that you won’t know what you’ve been missing before you go plant-based.
I’ve fallen so much more in love with eating and cooking these past few years after going vegan. But in the beginning, it’s of course always fine to just grab something easy that feels familiar but is vegan.
We all have to start somewhere.