I confess… I am a Chegan

I confess
I ate that piece chocolate
I bought those noodles I knew contained egg
My name is Ryan and I am a chegan.

A Chegan is a slang term used to describe a cheating vegan-A person who eats vegan most of the time but deliberately eats something non-vegan now and again. most Chegan still abstain from any source of meat but might give in to something with dairy and egg in to like chocolate or pasta.

I first heard this term to describe Jared Leto in an interview. Back then I was in my early days of being a vegan. Quieting meat came easy, a piece of chicken three years ago was the last piece of meat I ate or ever will eat again. The hard part for me has not so much abstaining from animal products. The hard part was constantly taking the time to check in a product contained any animal product. It’s a cop-out I know because there are apps like happy cow that makes it somewhat easier to shop at stores by being able to scan a bar code. There are also lists on-line and videos on you tube all easy to access, all easy to share, all easy to ignore.

And maybe it’s that I just didn’t want to find out what product contain milk or egg or… animal parts unknown… because that would mean I would have to abandon some of the foods I loved to eat. It’s still a poor excuse I know. Still there is hope. I eat about 95% vegan now.

I love the looks of disbelief I get from people when they find out I do not eat meat.- Still I feel guilty for it, the occasional slip but I am headed in the right direction. I am not perfect,far from it, but I am on the right path.

Image credit - moigram/pixabay