You may have noticed that I spend a LOT of time talking about the benefits of eating more plants. What you may not know is that I was raised (and still am) vegetarian.

Growing up this was something that I was extremely self-conscious about. When I was 8 years old my parents moved us to a very small and relatively remote village in the Austrian alps. This was in the early 2000s and I’m pretty sure we were the only vegetarians there… It just wasn’t a thing in that community back then.

Growing up vegetarian in a small Austrian village

The Austrians love their meat. Whether it’s Wiener Schnitzel or Wurst, Speck or Gulasch, meat is often at the centre of a meal. And while these things are all delicious, they are not great options for vegetarians.

I was a painfully shy child who was trying to learn a new language. So when I was invited to a playdate or birthday party, I found it horrendously embarrassing to try to communicate to my friends and their parents that I couldn’t eat the majority of the food they were planning on feeding us. Sometimes I would even just fake a stomach ache or pretend I wasn’t hungry rather than having to explain.

Eating at restaurants was interesting too. The options were very limited. For some reason one of the main vegetarian options seemed to be a whole breaded and fried wheel of camembert cheese served with cranberry sauce. It was delicious, but looking back it probably wasn’t the healthiest choice.

Another option was Kaiserschmarrn. The best way to describe it is a huge skillet of chopped up fluffy pancakes dusted with icing sugar and usually served with apple sauce. It’s still one of my comfort foods!

There were very few plant-based meat alternatives in Austrian grocery stores back then as well. I remember one option being a veggie schnitzel (basically just mashed up vegetables formed into a schnitzel shape and coated in breadcrumbs), but not much else.

My parents and siblings still live in Austria (albeit in a larger town). There are definitely a lot more vegetarians and vegans over there these days! In fact, the vegan food section in the grocery store there may be even better than the one we have at our local grocery store here in Canada. I always enjoy checking it out when I am visiting.

How I feel about being a vegetarian now

While I am no longer quite as shy as I used to be, I am still a little awkward in social situations. Sometimes I still get embarrassed if I get invited to a dinner party, wedding or other social event that involves food and have to explain my dietary requirements.

And it is partially due to this history that I was hesitant to outwardly say I am a vegetarian when I started my nutrition business… I didn’t want to alienate people!

But I recently decided that it’s time to own it 😊

I want to shift my focus towards working with vegetarians, vegans, flexitarians and those of you that simply want to eat more plant foods! I am so excited about this new chapter and can’t wait to see what it brings.

If you are a vegetarian, vegan, flexitarian, or are interested in eating more plants and want some support from a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, you can book a free discovery call here!

You can also check out my vegetarian and vegan recipes here or over on Instagram.