Braai season is upon us... Ahhh Damn!!!

So like braai season right? right! 

It is that time of the year where one will be invited to braais. I would give out a list of things people should get for from me, but then again I think people will want me to talk anyway but since some people might not invite me I will just write everything. 

These are a few things you will have to check before inviting a vegetarian for a braai:

1. There are vegetarian burgers, sausages and other cool stuff like that please get some. You will afford it phela you got meat and we all know it is expensive. 
2. No CROSS- CONTAMINATION please I don't want to see your fork stabbing my food. use two forks if necessary. 
3. The less starch the better. Do not force me to eat pap and potato salad seriously now! I am a vegetarian not a starchitarian. 
4. Please make sure that your omnivore friends do not even try to eat the food you prepared for the herbivores. 
5. Oh and please make sure that no one wants me to be the centre of attention. I am a vegetarian not a reality TV show. The less the questions the better. No questions would be great but then again we live in South Africa and people are inquisitive.
6. If all else fails, make me a sandwich! 

I have only listed five things but as we all know there are more. You need to now make sure that the ones I have mentioned are there for all the vegetarians including me at your braai. Do not worry I can make my own sandwich at your house. 

Onwards and Upwards. 

#TheBurntVeggie :)

I am a Vegetarian living it Large

We often do things online and then when questioned we claim 'Freedom of Expression' when it is actually 'Hate Speech'. 

This post is not like any other. My last blog was about mindfulness and I was mindful of my language on this one.

I am sad or rather saddened by somethings on the internet. 

I am a FAT person who has been living with this size for 20 years. I have been through a lot growing up. I have been taunted by people my age, those younger than me, those waaaaaay older than me, those who know me and even those who don't. As a fat girl I was always a target for taunts and jokes. I was always supposed to act like I don't hear anything. You can imagine how sore that would be, walking into a room and always waiting for a group of people to chuckle.

You wait for someone to comment about your size, your clothes and how different you are. You become very conscious about your surroundings and the people there. No matter how hard you try to fake confidence you always have to get used to the fact that you are bigger and therefore a target for silly jokes. I recently watched a Youtube video- a poem about being Too Big by a girl who, like myself, knows how it feels to get this statement from people, how hard it is to pretend not to feel ashamed and hearing two voices, one good and the other bad, how you can be your own best friend and worst enemy.

I tried so hard not to cry during that time because I related with the poem. I then checked another one out and this one was about how we, fat people, are never seen as people with eating disorders. Both poems can be found on YouTube, namely Beck Cooper- Too Big and Alone in the bathroom. Beck Cooper is just too good for my soul.

Anyway... I wasn't planning to praise Beck, I planned to stop people from being rude to FAT people. Some people will be like "You need to hear it, I mean you eat everyday and you just don't want to hear the truth." Don't you think that we hear the truth a little too much sometimes that it has formed a hate spot in our minds? Don't you think that when we eat the food you claim we do everyday we fight ourselves? Don't you think that sometimes we just sit there and eat to sooth the pain you guys force us in to? You don't know now do you?

When I decided to go vegetarian. I was asked if I am doing this to lose weight. I always answered and still surprisingly answer that if I lose weight then that's a bonus however, I am not doing it because of the weight loss. I am doing because well I stopped loving meat.

I love my FAT self and will always say I am a VEGETARIAN living it LARGE!

Onwards and Upwards :)

#TheBurntVeggie

Coffee, Tea, Veggies, Smiles, Books, Mindfulness. My Life!!!

We rarely ever sit down and look at how cool our lives are, we just go through every motion like we are cars on the highway when there is no traffic. 

I recently saw that my life, since being a vegetarian, has been cool. Not only am I in touch with the earth, I am in tune with myself. I love how I grew into loving the effortlessness that life is. In my 21 years of life, I am not counting last year, I never thought that I would be this happy. 

The food I eat, the coffee and tea I drink, the books I read and the smiles I get make me realise that life is not as hard as people claim it to be. I found that with the items I have mentioned I can conquer the world. I have also found peace that is not awarded by material things, I found eternal peace. Though it is still a journey I still found peace, I learnt to live a mindful life, hence this realisation of how beautiful life is. 

I am honestly not gonna talk about my veggies but how my life is good since being a BURNT VEGGIE. You have to understand that some decisions will help you spiritually. I know I am being deep at this moment but I am just saying that being a vegetarian helps you in your journey to having a mindful life. 

I hope my observation helps you be as mindful as possible. 

Onwards and Upwards :) 

#TheBurntVeggie 

The struggle to get good food is hard... for a vegetarian.

Some struggles are harder than others. Some struggles are the toughest, while some struggles do not even match up to the other struggles.

I know that I started on a sad note and this is because this very post is a sad one. It is about the struggle to find delicious vegetarian food, you didn’t cook yourself, at a reasonable price. And I am not talking about pizza or any other take away one can get anywhere. I am talking about a wholesome almost home-cooked meal that will keep you full until your next meal.

These very meals are not found around the affordable places. I don’t use the word cheap because it just sounds wrong. Anyway, so like the food I want to have, you know the wholesome meals are really hard to find because well, they are the gems of this lifetime. These very gems are not made with the same oil as the meat component, they are not stirred with the same fork that stirs the stews or meaty salad. These meals are not salads. No, they are not.

These meals are made like you made them or someone else in your family did. However, finding these meals is like finding a black person in Oranja. It is not possible. This is a real struggle for a Burnt veggie who is economically unstable (I am not broke, the finances are not coming in a stable manner). The Burnt Veggie would also love to have a wholesome meal that she doesn’t have to cook or pay a lot of money for.

Hope to see more safe, healthy, affordable and delicious food served everywhere. I don't want to be struggling. 

The struggle should come to an end. 

Onwards and Upwards

#BurntVeggie J

You are a Meatless Monday fan? No sorry you are not a vegetarian!

This is a delayed post of my frustrations because of my fellow people in the country who feel it is good for them to not eat meat on Mondays.

These people are the ones who will tweet and inbox me as a vegetarian, not asking for advice but giving their three cents advice (I do not want to hurt their pretty little egos shame that’s why I said 3 cents). They will act like they know my struggle to find good food fit for my lifestyle. As a Burnt Veggie I always take offence because these people think they are vegetarians, yes, vegetarians imagine only on Mondays. Once a week. Four or five times a month. Imagine. I am in awe of their ambition shame.

I love everyone, even the meat eaters who mock vegetarians, however these Monday vegetarians (I am giving them a nice title shame they deserve it), deserve all the bit of hate I have in my body. They are irritating. EXTREMELY irritating to be honest.

I am not a rude person when people ask or give advice, however, these Monday vegetarians are the last people who I will ever take advice from. They still eat meat for six days a week. That’s 24 days a month. That's 288 days a year. (Yes I did the math... I had time on my hands.) 

Anyway, I have been a vegetarian for a year and a month. This could’ve been my celebratory post but as you know Monday vegetarians happened.

Onwards and Upwards

#BurntVeggie

This month has been too busy and I have been neglecting this beautiful place I call home, the spot for my complaints and general good vibes. However, I am here and I will still post stories about being a vegetarian. 11 months in.

So before, we go too far. This weekend I went to bury someone who was my friend, my real friend (Our mothers did not know each other until we became friends). Like any other funeral, one has to eat and act like the food is delicious. So I stood in the queue and I took the food then said "Ha ke je dijo tsa ko masong (I don't eat funeral food.)" and I offered them to someone.

With some people, me saying I don't eat funeral food means I am afraid of a runny stomach (which happens from time to time). However, when I explained that I am a vegetarian the expressions on the faces of the people I told about my lifestyle were priceless. They asked the usual question "why are you vegetarian" and for the first time I heard someone ask me if there was a butchery at home so that my vegetarianism made sense to them. One said that my family did not cook meat well that's why I hated it so suddenly.

I am approaching my ONE year anniversary as a vegetarian and would love to hear different questions than what I am currently hearing. I love meeting new people and keeping in touch with some people however, I hate having to explain the reason for me being a Burnt Veggie. It is irritating.

Not only did this happen at the funeral, it normally happens where black people gather (I am not pulling a race card it is just truth). With white people, they just ask why and how long then it is back to normal conversation. With black people, you then become the topic of discussion and you are generally not the main topic but because you said something, they don’t think a black person could be they just sit there and discuss your choices.
 

I love being a Burnt Veggie and I enjoy every minute of it. Now we prepare for my anniversary, hope you are ready for the festivities.

Onwards and Upwards

#TheBurntVeggie :) 

SPINACH and TIENG(SOUR PAP) are not the only things that I will eat. My mom needs to understand that there are other things that she can make me.

Just because I like these food items doesn’t mean that I only want to eat these items. Mamasto(as she is affectionately known) should understand that I am not a spinachetarian but a vegetarian which means I eat all the veggies, and I mean ALL.

A day without the tieng and spinach combination would be so awesome. I love spinach but I could go a week without it. My mom however makes it for me as I said I only want to eat it and nothing else. A few months ago, it was chips and mash now she found something new. 

Not that I dont appreciate what she makes for me but it would be so awesome if she did not make me the same meal every day. I love my mom more than anything in the world and I would do anything for her, she knows it too.

I just don’t want to eat the same meal every day. :)

Onwards and Upwards

#TheBurntVeggie