It was 3 months after getting married in 2013 that I went vegan…overnight. Some friends of mine had just watched the documentary Forks Over Knives and recommended it to me, knowing that I’ve always been interested in food and nutrition. After watching it something clicked. It just made sense to me to not eat animal products and to eat plants as close to their whole form as possible.
Since making that switch to a (mostly) whole foods, vegan diet I’ve never looked back. I eat more than ever before, yet never have to worry about my weight. My overall cholesterol dropped from 200 (at the age of 20 I might add!) to under 160. Dairy, which used to upset my stomach, no longer is an issue. I have amazing digestion due to all the fiber I consume. My palette has developed and my diet is more varied and colorful than ever. I recover from workouts faster and don’t crave processed or junk foods like I did previously. I honestly have never felt better. I love knowing that the food I eat is aiding my health and not harming it.
Not long after switching to a plant based, vegan diet, I decided to start this blog, for a couple of reasons actually. My husband and I were planning to move overseas to China—where we live currently—and I knew I would need to learn how to make a lot of foods from scratch if I wanted to continue eating a whole foods, plant based diet. I quickly learned how to make all kinds of non-dairy milks (Homemade Oat Milk, Homemade Almond Milk, Homemade Walnut Milk, Homemade Soy Milk etc.), Homemade Whole Wheat Bread, Homemade Hummus, Homemade Seitan, Family Size Basic Vegan Granola, and so much more. I thought a food blog would help me document my cooking journey and would serve as an online “cookbook” for me to reference and also share with others who were interested in making the switch to a more plant based diet.
The second main reason I started this blog was to share in written form all the reasons I love eating a plant based diet. I’m not a very articulate communicator in person. I’ve never been good at taking the initiative to share with others the things I’m passionate about . When it comes to my food choices, I usually end up confusing people more when I try to explain to them all the reasons I eat a vegan diet. This blog is a way for me to write about my experiences eating a plant based diet. I hope to show through my recipes just how easy and delicious a plant based diet can be. I hope you are inspired to eat more plants after visiting my blog!
I also love to share about my husband and my international travels around the world and all the amazing vegan restaurants we are able to experience around the world. Since we live in China, it’s easy for us to visit other nearby Southeast Asian Countries like Thailand and Vietnam and we additionally take vacations to Europe on our way to and from China. I’ve been blessed to visit cities like Berlin, Germany, Vienna, Austria, Krakow, Poland and more!
I’m now a new mom to my daughter Harper. I continued to eat a plant based, vegan diet all throughout my pregnancy (you can read my pregnancy updates here and Harper’s Birth Story here) and hope to share kid-friendly vegan recipes in the near future as Harper continues to grow and develop.
Please, don’t be shy and introduce yourself!
hi Faith, long time blog reader and have been following your pregnancy. Congrats for maintaining the health living style. I might have another baby and I’ll definitely get inspirations from you.
Also, i’m impressed that you keep health eating while traveling, for me that’s hard since food availability in many asian countries is an issue and it’s so much easier just to snack on junks. 🙂
Hi Coco! It’s so fun to hear from you. Thanks for saying hi and for reading my blog! I’m glad my pregnancy as inspired you and I hope your next pregnancy is easy and healthy. Thanks again for saying hi!
Hi Faith, I want to say thank you for your sharing your experiences of being vegan in China. I have a few questions for you. Are you using your Vitamix with 110 and an electric converter or did you get one that uses 220 currency? Other appliances that you bought in China rather than bringing them with you? Can you recommend best school you have found for learning Chinese, city recommendations? I have been to China and would like to go again. Thanks so much. Nancy
Hi Nancy! Thanks for your questions. For my Vitamix I bought a 220v one from ebay in the states and brought it with us. It wasn’t cheap and we viewed it as an investment and I use it everyday. You can definitely get by with a cheaper blender though! All of my other appliances (oven, soy milk maker, pressure cooker, etc.) I bought here in China off Taobao, except for my rice cooker which I just bought at a supermarket in my city. I love them all and they work great!
As for language learning, my husband and I are using a method called GPA (Growing Participatory Approach) and couldn’t recommend it more. There is a company in our city which pairs students up with their own teacher and also trains the teacher in how to use the GPA method. So both my husband and I have our own teacher and we’re amazed at how much we’ve learned in the 2 years we’ve been using this method.
I don’t really have any city recommendations actually. I haven’t traveled much inside of China so I’m only familiar with our smaller city.
I hope I helped in some way! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Thank you so much✈️
You’re very welcome!
Hey Faith, I love your blog and recipes! Thanks for sharing! (Also love your simplistic plates, if you don’t mind sharing where you got those from!?) thanks!
Hey Ariel! So glad you found my blog and enjoy it! My plates are actually from random countries, and mostly from this little plate shop here in China. I wish I could help more! I’m sure you can find some fun, simple plates at places like Target, ross, tj maxx etc. Good luck!
Hi Faith! Love the blog. I just made oatmilk and it’s fantastic 🙂 I have a question for you. I have been a vegetarian all my life and want to move into veganism. As a South Indian, my morning cup of coffee is much more than a ritual. And our coffee is home brewed with milk. What would be the best subsitute for cow’s milk? I read from your post that heating oat milk isn’t possible. I’ve had the same experience with soy.
So glad the oat milk worked for you! And how amazing your South Indian. I love india and have been a couple of times but only to the north. I would love to visit the South some day! What has happened when you use soy milk? I found that if I add soy milk to hot coffee it separates and looks disgusting. But if I heat of the soy milk before I add it to something hot it works fine. Another substitute could be coconut milk from a can? It’s nice and thick and rich and could maybe act as a creamer of sorts. I’ve been hoping to create a vegan coffee creamer using cashew cream soon, so hopefully that would help!
I just stumbled upon this blog, and I love it! I wish you had a subscriber box so I could follow your new posts :).
Also, it’s really cool that you’re living in China! I find it interesting that you’re able to make so many vegan-American recipes there. How do you find your ingredients (ground flax, cocoa powder, etc)? I know that China probably sells these, but are they pretty expensive?
As an ethnically Chinese person, I also find it funny that you see that the Chinese eat a lot of meat, eggs, and dairy; but they actually eat a lot less of it than traditional Americans do. I know back in the day the Chinese didn’t have a lot of such rich things to eat, and so had to resort to mostly veggies + rice. Nowadays, that the country is richer, people can afford to eat meat and eggs more, but it’s still expensive. I don’t think they eat a lot of dairy though, as many still aren’t used to it or have lactose intolerance. Is this the case or not? I haven’t been to China in a while, but this is what I gather from my relatives!
In any case, I’m really enjoying your recipes. They look really good, and I hope to try some of them.
Hi Wendy! It’s so good to hear from you! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences. I used to have a subscription box…I’ll have to look into that. I buy a lot of my ingredients on Taobao and sometimes iHerb (an american company that ships to china, but they just raised their shipping prices so I won’t buy from them as much anymore.) And you definitely right. The amount of meat Chinese people eat is definitely less than most Americans and dairy still isn’t very prominent. Sorry I wasn’t very specific in my post! I guess most of my friends think a meal without meat or eggs isn’t really a meal:) I’m glad you found my blog and I’ll hopefully have the subscription system fixed soon!
So amazing that you can make it in China, I always thought it chould be easier to be a vegan in other country,as you know, China is a big meat-hungry country.So pround of you and inspired me to be a better vegan
China definitely loves meat…and eggs…and milk haha! Thanks so much for your kind words and for saying hi!
I JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG AND LOVE READING THE RECIPIES.
HEADING HOME FOR A NICE LONG WEEKEND AND WILL BE SHOPPING TO TRY SOME OF YOUR IDEAS.
MY DAUGHTER LIVES IN KOREA AND ALSO EATS A PLANT-BASED DIET.
BEST WISHES TO YOU AND YOUR HANDSOME GROOM!
So nice to meet you Naomi! I’m so glad you said hi and that you’re excited about my blog and recipe. I hope the ones you try work out for you! We hope to make it to Korea soon. I hope your daughter loves living there! Thanks again so much for introducing yourself!
Thanks
You’re welcome Tisha!
This is so awesome, what do you do? I love your journey and am excited to stay tuned!
Jayne recently posted…Week #7 : The End is Near!
Thanks Jayne!! I’m so glad you said hi! Currently, I’m just learning Mandarine and Chinese culture. After my husband and I become proficient in Mandarine we may open a business or something…not quite sure yet. We just LOVE Chinese people and the culture!