My
love affair with fresh fruit and vegetables started at a very young age, probably when I was about five and my mom had made the most delicious fruit salad. Don’t get me wrong, I adored fries and ice cream too, but there was just something about the taste of fresh fruit and vegetables, the color and texture that I loved, even as a little girl. My mom was great, she gave me full access to her kitchen and its contents, and at the tender age of 6, I made my first, what I called “rainbow salad”. I carefully gathered foods of all the colors of the rainbow, red tomatoes, juicy oranges, crunchy yellow peppers, crisp green lettuce, blueberries, beet-root and finally sweet plums. My siblings and my parents tenderly agreed to eat and enjoy, even though some of the taste combinations were questionable. Nonetheless, this experience spurred me on and introduced me to the beauty of fresh fruit and vegetables and the joy of creative cooking.
My mother wasn’t strict when it came to our eating habits and though she always made sure that we had a healthy diet, she never stopped us from enjoying the occasional junk food feast. I much like to adopt the same approach, simply because I feel that it is better to demonstrate just how tasty healthy food is, rather than bedeviling junk food.
It was of my own free will that I became a vegetarian when I was a teenager and I am grateful to my mother for supporting my decision. She went off and purchased a pile of vegetarian cookery books, educated herself about what foods best provide protein and managed to ensure that my turning vegetarian was a resounding success, both when it comes to taste as well as with regard to my health.
Needless to say, I spent a lot of my time visiting my local health store, researching the benefits of various foods, educating myself on good nutrition and delving deeper into the subject of how to make a healthy diet exciting. Many people consider vegetarianism as bland and have the crazy idea that vegetarians make sacrifices by not eating meat. To me, of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Stores like that are havens for like-minded people and I met so many interesting, broad-minded and planet conscious people there, not least of all my beloved husband Richard.
I’d say, we met across a cup of herbal tea, our eyes met, we talked and the rest is pretty much history. To my surprise, I had found myself an attractive vegetarian and I was lucky enough that my feelings were replicated immediately! It didn’t take long for us to cook each other delicious vegetarian dinners and things progressed quickly, I am delighted to say!
We soon got married and we soon had the girls. I was happy to be a stay-at-home mom and Richard continued his work as a lawyer. Spending my days with the girls has been fantastic, we both watch them grow and develop into their own little people and have tons of fun in the process. Our love for the vegetarian lifestyle has never faded and once Jess and Rebecca were a little older, I decided to start a blog about healthy eating and vegetarianism.
From the start, the blog and website have had two dimensions:
- To Tell the World Just How Healthy and Tasty Vegetarian Food Really Is
- To Connect With Like-Minded People
Thankfully, my enthusiasm for healthy, nutritious vegetarian food seems to have caught the imagination of many, we have lots of website visitors and subscribers and I guess I am now a professional blogger as I make quite a good income from selling advertising space, through affiliate programs and with different product reviews.
They say if you pursue your passion, work hard and keep the love of it, you will succeed and that has certainly been the case for me. I love fresh food and cooking healthy meals just as much as I did when I made my rainbow salad. Nothing really compares to preparing a delicious meal from locally grown and produced foods and sharing it with your loved ones!