Being a vegetarian since birth has really changed my perspective on life, as well as my diet. But the healthy lifestyle is very different at university compared to home. When I moved to Portsmouth last year I didn’t realise how much of a jump it would be. I definitely appreciate the variety of veggie foods that my mother made seven days a week. The first week at university was hard even though I was part-catered. I was very lucky to have the option to go to the canteen because I was struggling to come up with simple home cooked foods. Pasta pots and noodles everyday are unfortunately not classified as part of a wholesome diet. So for the most part of last year, I lived off curry sauces, chucked in some frozen veg and voilà, I have myself a meal that will last me a good couple of days.
After a summer of my parents nagging me to learn to cook, I have managed to memorise some of the recipes such as a homemade curry, which is actually simpler than it sounds. Fry an onion, add some chopped tomatoes and chuck in some vegetables and half a pot of five spice and you’ve got yourself a banging curry. Take it from an Asian: I know what I’m talking about. But curry every night is not ideal and is rather time consuming, particularly after that 6pm lecture. So I resorted to good old pasta and Dolmio and then the canteen offered some interesting varieties that I could’ve attempted to cook, but as a student do you really have the time, money and effort to cook everyday. You all know the answer to that, especially when the ingredients are a lot cheaper because your parents paid for them.
Now that I’m in my second year I’ve noticed how expensive it is to live off of vegetables. The average student will spend about £30 a week on food depending on your preference of quality. But for a vegetarian you’d expect it to be a lot less, but since the beginning of the first term of my second year, I noticed that I’m spending a lot more. Primarily money is spent on trying to maintain a balanced diet but it’s proving difficult, as I live literally 30 seconds away from Lidl. I questioned a couple of my friends on their weekly spend and I noticed that the boys were less money conscious on food shops and would usually spend about £30-£40 but would be spending a good part of that on meat, but the girls were definitely more aware and are spending a lot less on meats than they expected to.
Having a glance over the Vegetarian Society fact sheet I also noticed something very intriguing. The use of animal product in alcohol is quite surprising. Although I’m not a Vegan, which means no milk, eggs or anything that derives from an animal, I still didn’t expect there to be fish swim bladder or shells of lobsters and crab in my wine or beer. Gelatine is also used in the fining of many alcoholic beverages, but who can really be bothered to look for veggie alcoholic drinks?
This brings me onto my final point of shopping for vegetarian foods. Having to constantly check the packaging is a struggle, especially when you have to get your specs out to read the fine print, it is by far one of the most annoying aspects of vegetarianism. But thankfully life is made easier for us minority with the help of the vegetarian society approved trademark. I’ve come to terms with the fact that as a vegetarian shopping is always going to be a struggle, but with the help of Pinterest and self help student cookbooks I have managed to begin a relatively healthy lifestyle. We shall see how long it lasts before I revert back to Domino’s and Pot Noodles.
