Vegan and Moving Overseas

[gmiller]

I have been eating vegetarian for sometime but I have been wanting to get into eating mostly vegan.  My issue is that we are moving to Kenya in June and I am not sure that it will be easy to actually accomplish this.  Where do I start with all of this?  I guess I will need to learn to create basics and go from there- my own rice/nut milk, etc., but I am pretty overwhelmed with it all!  Any suggestions on where to start?  There is not much activity in the Africa thread, so I am hoping to get some info from here.  Oh, and we are hoping to be able to garden there for most of the year unlike here at 8,000ft in Colorado.  That should help with fresh produce.  Ideas?  Thanks!

[calynde]

We lived in kenya for several months doing fieldwork, and i think being veg/vegan would be totally doable!

First, there is really good fruit around. Veggies are less varied, but there is enough. Almost all local restaurants serve ugali (corn mush) and cooked kale (sukuma wiki). Fresh tomatoes were abundant, so i could often make pasta sauce...just bought spaghetti at the supermarket. There is a large indian population so you also have their restaurants and staples available...lentils, rice, etc. If you plan to live in a big city, you will be able to get everything you need at large supermarkets...but western foods cost a lot more, like peanut butter for example. The only place you will find it to be a dilemma, is when others invite you over. The people are so kind and hospitable and the invitations are fairly frequent if you have any contact with the locals at all. They of course offer you their best and with such generosity that it makes it very difficult to refuse it, culturally speaking. We didn't, because we were there doing anthropology and trying to fit in...but we were served some gnarly animal bits...let me tell you!

It's a great country...so much to offer! Hope you enjoy it! It can be a shock at first. Lol

[MoonMum]

What about rice and beans? We eat a lot of fresh coconut, put through the champion juicer... good as fat or milk (with some water). It's an excellent filler and stops dairy cravings.