My first “introduction” to Marla Rose was around 2001, when I was a newbie vegan looking for information on my new lifestyle online. At the time there were very few websites dedicated veganism, and I was happy to find a kindred spirit online at Vegan Street. Marla and her husband John Beske hatched the idea for the original VeganStreet.com in 1997 in the middle of a long road trip through Maine. They knew that they wanted to dedicate their time to promoting veganism and they went to Maine with the intention of figuring it out by the time they had to go home. Vegan Street conveyed the sense of community and spirit of optimism they felt about compassionate living. Through combining their convictions about veganism with their passions for writing, communications and the arts, they began to carve out their perfect vehicle to express it with — VeganStreet.com. Vegan Street published original content every week from 1998 – interviews, reviews, essays and so on – until 2003. Vegan Street was dormant for ten years and was revived again last year.
In the ten years of Vegan Street’s sabbatical, Marla and John were quite busy. In addition to raising their son and caring for their menagerie, they stayed active with their writing (Marla) and design (John) careers. They also staged five vegan conferences before co-founding Chicago VeganMania, the region’s largest free vegan festival which has been running annually and growing rapidly since 2009. Marla has also maintained her blog Vegan Feminist Agitator, and she published a novel The Adventures of Vivian Sharpe Superhero in 2012.
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Marla, and we talked the subjects most vegans discuss when getting together. Veganism and food!
Chic Vegan: What motivated you to become vegan? Was it an overnight switch or more gradual shift?
Marla Rose: I became a vegetarian overnight on a whim as a 15-year-old, not having really given much thought to what I was eating but after bring presented with the opportunity to see if I could possibly survive the weekend without eating any meat. I didn’t know if I would be able to make it, which is hilarious, in retrospect. Back in the mid-1980s, it was pretty uncommon, especially among teenagers, and I was told that I’d quit as I started and I was also accused of trying to get attention. I have to admit that they were right: I did quit being a vegetarian. It had become inconvenient to remain vegetarian once I learned about more in-depth about animal agribusiness. As far as the second accusation, I must really be attention-starved because at this point, I have spent nearly half of my life as a vegan.Veganism was more of a gradual shift, though. It wasn’t overnight as it was for becoming a vegetarian because there was still a lot of troubleshooting in the mid-1990s when I made the shift, a lot of uncertainties, and just the beginnings of an online world to support it. There was about a year of being mostly vegan but not asking questions about the occasional baked good. One day, though, I watched “Meet Your Meat” and saw the reality of what dairy cows and layer hens face with my own eyes. I bawled my eyes out: I was done and there was no more interest in self-deception. I was finally dedicated and I haven’t been tempted since that night. So it was both gradual and overnight, if that makes sense, but it’s more honest to say gradual.
CV: Tell me a little bit about your website Vegan Street and what inspired you create it.
MR: My husband and I created the original Vegan Street back in 1998. This was a pretty early website in the sense that when I look at the first incarnation of it, I have to cringe a little because it was busy-busy-busy. There was a lot of love and a lot of passion there, though. We put Vegan Street on hiatus after our son was born in 2002 and we both focused on different things, myself freelance journalism and writing and my husband, his graphic design business. We brought it back last summer and have been thrilled to be able to devote our time to the thing we love most: spread the word about veganism with our unique voice and outlook.Vegan Street has always been about showing the rest of the world how joyful and dynamic it is to be vegan. You can still enjoy the things you love without sacrifice. When we first started doing Vegan Street, a lot of communication in the movement was informed through a lens of deprivation, denial and isolation. That does not appeal to many people and it certainly wouldn’t have appealed to me. If we can reframe veganism in a way that truly shows the rest of the world the creativity, joy, abundance, diversity, humor, honesty and passion within our movement, we have done a very worthwhile thing. So we have essays, recipes, guides, memes and so on toward this end.
I love the Vegan Street meme! Is it difficult to come up with new subject matter on a regular basis?
Thank you! Our first year, we adhered to a pretty rigorous schedule of one original meme every weekday and now we are on a two- or three-day schedule each week of original memes. It can be challenging, yes, but on the other and, there are so many ways of looking at what we do to animals – the often hidden, dark side of it, of which there is a lot of material, and the benefits of shifting toward veganism, which also has a lot of material. I have a feeling that we could easily do this for the rest of our lives without running out of fuel, though I do hope for a day in the not too distant future where there will be less of a need. For now, though, we keep plugging along.
Chicago VeganMania is just a few weeks away. How did the event get its start?
We started Chicago VeganMania six years ago because it really got under my skin that Chicago had this thriving and vibrant vegan community but no festival of our own. Chicago has a rich history of festivals throughout the warm months, with ethnic festivals to cultural festivals and everything in between. Chicago has a “humane meat” festival, a bacon festival but had no vegan one. With me, if something pisses me off enough, I get a little scared because I feel like a whiner if I complain but don’t do anything to try to change things. And that was how Chicago VeganMania came to be. Six years later, it still hews pretty close to our original vision of it being a dynamic festival that celebrates Chicago vegan culture, community, cuisine, couture and commerce, but it is expanded beyond that to encompass the larger vegan scene as well. What we didn’t want to do was have a day centered around food samples, and it’s not: we have speakers, cooking demos, live music at our Culture Café, an Ask the Experts table that is staffed all day, and on and on in addition to dozens of cruelty free vendors and the world’s largest temporary vegan food court. This is all to give vegans something to celebrate and those who aren’t vegan yet, a chance to observe and experience our community, get a foot in the door, learn more. This is also why we keep our event free, to draw as many people as possible. It is a LOT of work but it’s worth every minute.
Your whole family is vegan. What challenges do you come across while raising a vegan son?
My son has always happily embraced and owned his veganism, making it his own. As he’s twelve now, he is beginning to find his place in things, the aspects of activism that are most compelling to him. The biggest challenge has been socially, the way other kids might misrepresent what veganism is (like say all he does is eat salad — not that there’s anything wrong with it) or feel excluded when the rest of his class might get a pizza at the end of the year. I have done my best to minimize this by talking to teachers and making sure that if the rest of the class is eating something, I can give him the vegan equivalent. It’s also hard because he is a very heart-centered boy, when other kids joke about hurting animals or diminish other beings. There was a situation last year with a kid who was saying that squirrels are stupid because they get hit by cars, so my son got upset. In troubleshooting what he could say, though, we came up with this: “You think squirrels are stupid? It’s hard for me to imagine any of us being able to figure out how to get into bird feeders, remember where they bury acorns and nuts, and survive the winter in a nest. That doesn’t sound stupid to me.” He said this the next time the subject came up and then the kid dropped it when my son had his response. So I would say that those of us who are raising vegan kids should try to be present with helping them to successfully navigate challenging social situations.
Do you have advice for other vegan moms who might be having difficulties getting their children to eat their vegetables?
My best advice for parents is to eat a lot of vegetables themselves, eat a big variety, and not make an issue out of likes and dislikes. We’re all allowed them — I really dislike tomatoes and would probably throw up if someone tried to make me eat one. So if one vegetable doesn’t work, try others. Give options and try to stay calm. Also: tasty dips are a great ally in getting kids to try vegetables that they once “hated.”
Do you have any tips for people who want to go vegan but think it might be too difficult or don’t know where to start?
My advice is to take it one meal at a time. A lot of times I think people become overwhelmed because they think too far in the future — what am I going to do at Thanksgiving? What am I going to do when my aunt comes to town and wants to go to a steakhouse? Take it easy. Make one meal, have one snack, and make it vegan. Keep doing this until the learning curve becomes easier and easier. If you screw up – either you had something by accident or even on purpose that wasn’t vegan – relax and get back into it. For most of us longtime vegans, it wasn’t an overnight transformation. We live in a profoundly non-vegan world where it is very, very easy encouraged to eat animals and animal products. At the same time, our culture is one that is pretty extreme, and if someone messes up, they can adopt an all-or-nothing mentality. That is not healthy. Do you best, if you stumble, forgive yourself and move back to the vegan path. Eventually, it will become second nature.
What is your favorite vegan indulgence?
Indulgence begins and ends at chocolate for me. A few squares of dark, Fair Trade chocolate a day and I am good to go.
What vegan product could you not live without?
Is apple cider vinegar a product in the sense that you mean? I use apple cider vinegar in so many capacities: I drink a little in water before meals as a digestive aid, I use some as a hair rinse a few times a week, and it often ends up in our homemade cleaning products (http://veganstreet.com/homeeco.html). Seriously, I love apple cider vinegar! Other than that, I’d have to say sea buckthorn oil has been really helpful for my sensitive, prone-to-breakout skin. I am so happy to have discovered this.
In your wildest dreams what will your life look like in 5 years?
Best-selling books! A big line of message gear, all made on ethically sourced materials! Popular and helpful apps! A non-profit wing that nurtures and encourages compassionate action in communities around the world! Speaking everywhere! I’ve got big dreams, baby.
