'Firsts' have a certain awkward quality to them. There also tends to be a significant amount of second-guessing involved. First dates, first two-wheel rides, first day of a new job, first pair of heels, first blog posts…
Since whatever I write on this, my first day of a 365-day commitment, will never be as poised and poignant as I want it to be, I have decided to opt for a pragmatic approach to my opening post by heading off a few questions that are likely to arise.
Firstly, I am going to lay out the ground rules of what I mean by 'being vegan'. My vegan diet involves not consuming any animal meat (sounds obvious), products of animals such as their milk or eggs (also obvious), or by-products from the slaughtering of animals such as gelatin or the ingredient that makes chicken stock taste chickeny (perhaps less obvious). Unlike the strictest practicing vegans – and I make my hat off to them - my version of the vegan commitment does not include any restrictions on wearing animal products such as leather, or consuming foods that animals have synthesized but do not contain any animal ingredients (honey is, in fact, the only example I can think of in this category, so it seems to need its own mention).
Secondly, for those of you who are wondering whether being vegan while living in Switzerland is a bad idea, I can tell you right now that it is. The only country that I think might be more challenging is Greenland, where the only vegetable in sight is the seaweed found in their stomachs of the marine life that the indigenous diet is comprised of.
While the Swiss are not big meat eaters (at US$38/lb for sirloin, I'm glad I'm not anymore either), they do have a love affair with the dairy cow that stops just short of giving them a seat at the family dinner table. Cheese, chocolate, cream and butter are rampant in this country; it's difficult to find a dish that has not been permeated with at least one of these. Fondue is not a stereotype; it's a typical Sunday dinner. Sausages (the German influence to the north) and deli meats (the Italian influence to the south) also feature strongly in daily cuisine here. The French neighbors to the west have contributed that inclination to over-represent cream-based sauces at every turn. I'm not sure what the Austrians have contributed in the evolution of Swiss cuisine, but I'm willing to bet it's not green in colour. To be fair, I have seen some restaurant menus that have explicit vegetarian options in Switzerland. As far as I can tell, this just means you get extra cheese.
In terms of vegetables' place in the local cuisine: the Swiss idea of a salad is some shreds of iceberg lettuce with a few pasty-looking tomato wedges and, when some extra effort went into it, some shredded carrot on top. Cooked vegetables can sometimes be identified under layers of emmental, but I hold little hope for their nutrient value surviving the boiling or baking at high temperatures. The narrow array of fruits on supermarket shelves usually look a little worse for wear, as if they never quite recovered from the journey from Spain or southern Italy. Despite their worse for wear look, you will still pay the we-imported-it-and-you'll-pay-for-that Swiss premium for them.
I almost forgot about eggs. One of my favourite things to do on the homestretch of my morning ride is to stop at the self-serve butcher at the farm behind our village and pick up half a dozen speckled eggs (complete with the odd feather still stuck to them) while watching the happy hens cluck around the fenceless meadow. While I like to cook eggs for breakfast (Anglo-style), eggs are otherwise important in Switzerland because baking is important in Switzerland. In fact, they are a big contributor to some of the best baked goods I have ever tasted in my life. I've had Swiss-made croissants that could have some straight off a plate in a Parisian café, and cakes and pastries that could go head-to head with Germany's second greatest culinary pride (bratwurst continues to hold onto the number one spot).
Now I've made my mouth water. It's only day one and I just felt a slight panic at the prospect of the next 364 days without the option of turning to the humble egg when the fridge has little else to yield in the stand-by protein department. This would be a good moment to outline why I am doing this (believe me, I would not be undertaking something so inconvenient without some very good reasons). On second thought, I think that's best kept for tomorrow's post. Like a first date, nobody wants to find themselves seated across from long-winded company long after the plates have been cleared.
