The Minimalist Vegan

The last few months I’ve been thinking a lot about the possessions that clutter people’s homes. In particular, the things that you would find in the bathroom. Looking at the products that I used to buy and know that others keep in the bathroom, brought me to one word. Insecurity.

As humans, advertisers pray on our insecurities – the beauty industry is a prime example of this. They market to us to make us feel like we want to be someone else. Like what we have right now is not enough, and we need that anti-wrinkle cream to make all our lines magically disappear or hair colour to hide our natural grey tones. It has taken me a while, but I’ve stopped dying my hair even with the most natural hair colours because I don’t feel like I need to cover up my truth. There is a difference between owning your ageing process or unique look and covering that up to what society deems as acceptable. 

We have a long way to go, but I believe that people are turning the corner. Slowly. But better slowly than not at all. / Read More »

We’ve been keeping some pretty exciting news from you, which we can finally share! And no we’re not having a baby. Read our thoughts on that in this post.

With the focus that we put on choosing our own path in life and following what feels right, we’ve made a big decision. We’re moving to Slovenia mid this year! As some of you may know, this is where I was born and where I spent the first eight years of my life before moving to Australia with my family.

Since arriving here, I have been dreaming of one day moving back. That time has come and I’m so lucky to have a husband that is just as excited and eager about the move as I am! When I took him there back in 2015, he fell in love with the city, in particular, the old town of Ljubljana. There is so much beauty and history there, it’s ridiculously clean and has a very eco-conscious community with farmers markets every day and even raw vegan cakes at pubs and bars! I mean, can it get any better than that? Well, it can.

The old town is also a car-free zone, so the pebbled stoned streets are only graced by feet and bicycles. The other stunning thing in that the old town has a forest with a castle. Fairytale anyone? This was my childhood and I wanted to experience this as an adult. Well, my dream is coming true. / Read More »

Yes, it’s that time of the year again! When most of us play Christmas tunes, decorate everything and go crazy over buying gifts and preparing for the big Christmas feast.

I personally don’t celebrate Christmas that much now that I’m an adult as my family isn’t into buying gifts for each other as we aren’t big on consumerism. Maybe this year try doing something a little different, make something instead of buying gifts or buy them an experience! Enjoy a fantastic vegan feast with family and friends.  / Read More »

My seven-year-old nephew, Isaac, loves to eat meat. His favourite meals are chicken schnitzel, barbecued sausages and toasted cheese sandwiches.

Isaac’s parents have explained why his Aunty and Uncle don’t eat meat, and he’s accepting of our values, sometimes even protective! However, he’s open as long as we don’t come between him and his meat.

So when Isaac comes over for sleepovers, it’s a battle to get him to eat our food. We’ve tried pasta with a simple tomato sauce, tofu scramble, spinach stew, baked vegetables, potato curry. You name it.

One thing he’ll always happily eat is Maša’s pancakes, because, vegan or not, which kid doesn’t love pancakes?

Knowing our food struggles with the little guy, we thought we’d take him out for dinner one time. We went to our favourite vegan Asian restaurant, which has a large selection of mock meat dishes.

Maša ordered the Eggplant Hotpot, and I went with the tofu satay sauce with rice. Isaac was to decide what meat dish he wanted to order. At least so he thought. In the end, he went with the “beef” Massaman Curry, which I thought was an excellent choice. / Read More »

How many of us could answer this question if someone asked us “What is your way of life?”

I wouldn’t imagine many people would have an answer, understand it or stumble their way through it. 

Many of us don’t have a way of life, well we do, but it’s not really a way. You have to choose a path in life, otherwise, if you don’t choose one consciously, someone else will choose it for you. 

This is largely determined by advertising agencies, social media and whatever other cultural trends are happening. Keep in mind that those don’t always have your best interest at heart. When was the last time you really believed that a product a large company was trying to sell you was for your own benefit and not for their back pocket? To be someone, companies believe that we need to own this thing, we need to buy their brand. By owning the brand, you are representing their tribe. The tribe that was created by them and made you want to feel a part of it.  / Read More »

I remember experiencing appealing brands for the first time in elementary school.

One of my closest friends always wanted the best of the best brands. He would only wear Nike shoes, he loved to talk about TAG Heuer watches, and his dad worked for a Lexus car dealer, so of course, we never heard the end of that!

My older brother is also into expensive brands. Often quoting his premium Diesel jeans or Hugo Boss suits.

Admittedly, I was also quite severely drawn to brands, and I still am. I remember when I bought my first Spalding basketball. I loved this ball because I knew it was the same brand used in the pros. Playing with this Spalding, made me feel like I was Michael Jordan every time I stepped onto the court.

This brand of basketball to most was insignificant. But to me, this ball meant everything. It shaped my identity and gave me optimism. And to the credit of Spalding, that’s the point. / Read More »

How often do you take lunch to work with you? Every day, once a week or maybe a couple of times a month? I’ve really tried to implement this in our household but was always falling short because I’d be planning on taking dishes that would just take way too long to prep. Sound familiar?

This is how this Mediterranean pearled couscous salad came about. I’d been keen to try pearled couscous for years but never really knew what to do with it or if it was an ingredient I’d be able to find easily. I managed to get my hands on some in a local bulk store a few months back and thought to experiment. It seemed like the perfect ingredient for a cold salad that would be easy to take to work or school. / Read More »

A lot of folks associate minimalism with decluttering. We define minimalism as the process of identifying what is essential in your life and ruthlessly eliminating things that are non-essential.

But once you’ve paired down your things, commitments, relationships, to create space for the things you care about, there’s a crucial step that follows, saying no.

“The real power of minimalism lies in what you’re prepared to say no to.”

Saying no, against your natural urges to not feel like you’re missing out, is the greatest challenge.

In our adolescence, many of us were consumed with the thought of having people say yes to us. We didn’t want to feel left out in school. We wanted our peers to like us. So when confronted with the thought of saying no now, it almost feels counterintuitive.

Luckily, I’ve discovered a nice little hack to make saying no a breeze. Let’s get into it, shall we? / Read More »

For the first time in months, I went to Woolworths, which is the largest supermarket chain in Australia (Americans, think of Walmart). I was on a mission to find organic tofu which was unfortunately wrapped in plastic—but we were willing to make the compromise this time around.

I quickly grabbed the tofu and took the opportunity to browse the isles to see if there were any new vegan products. As I was looking, I couldn’t help but do some people watching.

I saw lots of interesting things as I was essentially judging my local community. There were young adults in gym wear buying lean meat and pre-packaged chopped vegetables. I saw mothers with trolleys filled to the brim with packs of juice boxes, Wonder White bread, dairy milk, caged eggs, the list goes on.

It was quite horrifying to watch folks buy products that are not only harmful to the planet and animals but also to themselves. / Read More »