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Veganuary 2026: Josh's Vegan Journey (Originally released 2025)
73 Plays4 days ago
This January we are re-releasing all eighteen of our 'Going Vegan' series, to shine a spotlight on the huge variety of everyday normal folk who choose to avoid animal expoitation through choosing a vegan lifestyle.
In today's rerun, we hear from the inspiring Josh!
For the original shownotes for this episode, visit Episode 135 directly https://zencastr.com/z/XbF8Y5Vi
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Enough of the Falafel is a community of people who love keeping on top of the latest news in the world of veganism & animal rights. With our podcasts, we aim to keep listeners (& ourselves) informed & up-to-date with the latest developments that affect vegans & non-human animals; giving insight, whilst staying balanced; remaining true to our vegan ethics, whilst constantly seeking to grow & develop.
Each week we look through news stories from the past 7 days in the world of veganism & animal rights, as well as picking a 'timeless' vegan or animal rights issue, and discussing it in more depth.
If you spot any news stories that might catch our fancy, or have an idea for a discussion topic, get in touch via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com.
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Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Josh & Ant
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Enough of the Falafel Collective
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi there, this is Anthony from the Enough of the Falafel Collective. We're a group of just everyday vegans who for the last two and a half years or so have been releasing two podcasts a week bringing you vegan and animal rights news as well as philosophical discussions. And many of the contributors on the show have released a special episode in the past where they've talked about their journey of going vegan. And for Veganuary 2026, we are re-releasing all of those episodes and the episode you're about to listen to now is one of those so it's been recorded at some point in the last three years and it features one of our contributors we really hope you enjoy it and that you continue to join for other episodes that we release over the course of 2026
00:00:50
Speaker
Josh, thanks so much for being with us today. Really, really excited to to hear your vegan story. And, you know, we we met like three minutes ago, so this is going to be proper, authentic storytelling and and learning about this. So, yeah, really, really excited about that.
00:01:07
Speaker
Could you get the ball rolling for us and give us a bit of an insight, as as far back as you can go, the first little kernel of a possibility that... um a life where you avoid using animal products or, you know, maybe stop eating meat or something like that. The first kind of little hint that that might be something to come or that veganism might be something that would feature in your life, you know, in several years further down
Josh's Journey to Veganism
00:01:34
Speaker
the line. Yeah, absolutely. i didn't even know what being vegan was prior to initially coming across
00:01:40
Speaker
a little taste of this life and initially it was seeing someone's video that they had posted on Facebook. I cannot even remember who posted it, but it was one called this six minute video will make you speechless.
00:01:52
Speaker
And I just got curious between the link of humans becoming very unhealthy, diseased and potentially it being caused by eating animals. And can I ask, ah when was that roughly that you that you you saw that video? You said it was a friend's Facebook video, yeah? Yeah, I'd love to actually go back and see who posted it because it would be very interesting now knowing that they probably knew a whole lot more than I did at the time and for sure I'd love to be able to know but maybe i never know I'm also content not knowing adds a little air of mystery to it can you remember what your your feelings were when you're you're learning this so so tell us about a little bit about the video itself and and sort of what what triggers it had for you at the time So it's a video of these people dressed up in their suits in a meat processing factory. And I just thought it just seems outrageous that there's a part where they're they're just doing these things and treating these animals like products. And just it had other images of people being overweight, going to the supermarket, and stuffing their trolleys or their carts full of meat and other products and then just becoming...
00:03:01
Speaker
super overweight, unhealthy, having to go to the doctors, getting pieces cut out of them or getting their stomach stapled and all this, and just kind of gently posing a potential link to gorging on meat and animal products. And for me, that was around 2013. So well over 10 years ago where that definitely kicked it all off for me and got the ball rolling. Definitely got me more into researching Do we need to eat meat? If we don't, then what do we eat? And so forth. So I'm assuming you were you were consuming meat at at that time.
00:03:36
Speaker
Yep. Meat, dairy and eggs, everything under the sun, I used to say. And I was ignorant. I was completely ignorant. I had no idea. I used to think that cows just made milk. I had no idea of the process in order to make milk.
00:03:48
Speaker
so So what are those next steps for you then? You've kind of had a little bit of insight as to, you know, maybe there's something not quite right about this this consuming meat thing that that seems to be like an everyday part of of everyone's lives. What what followed? i pose the question to myself of, am I an animal lover? I consider myself an animal lover. We grew up with a cat and a dog.
00:04:11
Speaker
It's very normal in New Zealand and many other Western cultures. But then I started to think about the animals that were on my plate and I asked myself, would i want to slit in an animal's throat? And the answer is no. I mean, yes, physically I could probably do it. I wouldn't want to do it though. And I think doing it on a regular basis would be rather unpleasant. So from there it was small steps into becoming vegetarian, doing away with, I remember my last meat meal it was a chicken meal and it was just kind of like, okay, that's that no longer.
00:04:45
Speaker
and yeah, take steps to transitioning. Sure. And and how how long is that process taking? Like, is is that like over the course of a couple of days or several months, several years?
00:04:57
Speaker
I would love to have an accurate timeline to look back and go, how quickly was it? But yeah, I changed to being vegetarian. And then I would say six to seven months later, I would consider myself vegan and looking back at it well being in that time i thought it was quite a lot of time but seeing many other people's journeys and hearing their points or their timeline it seems like a relatively quick transition and and like in terms of how your own sort of sense of identity both within yourself but also kind of externally be interesting to hear how
00:05:33
Speaker
how that developed for you because you know we'll we'll read stories of celebrities who say like oh i've i've gone vegan but actually they've just tried it for for two minutes but they've ascribed themselves the label whereas other people will sort of be almost like secret vegetarians or see secret vegans for for many years before they even start using the label kind of how did things fall for you yeah initially it was quite a difficult period for me because i was at a job that i didn't like and there a bit of a culmination of things that changed and i'll never forget one of the colleagues at the time that at the job that i didn't like he was just about to retire and he was he looked very unhealthy and he was eating lots of pies and he said to me oh you know i knew a vegetarian and they looked very sick and he pretty much kind of muttered some lines that was trying to dissuade me from making this choice and
00:06:27
Speaker
I doubt that he's still alive because he looked that unhealthy and you know, here I am 10 years down the track thriving. But, uh, yeah, certainly at the time I was a little bit unsure and yeah, certainly like you said, I was reluctant to put it out there and obviously only told a few people I trusted about my decisions to taking steps to becoming a vegan and well vegetarian initially, and then vegan from there. So yeah, initially i only knew a handful of people that were vegetarian. And like I spoke about, I didn't know anyone that was vegan or I didn't even know what it was at that stage. Yeah. And and with those people that you you knew, like did that that give you heart? Was that like a reassuring thing or or were they sort of not particularly ah useful examples? Like were there worries there?
00:07:14
Speaker
I would say some skepticism. I wanted to know if it was a sustainable, lifelong thing that I could... do and be healthy as and yeah two examples were both my my nana and my grandma and one of them ate meat and drunk alcohol and the other one was vegetarian and didn't drink alcohol and you could guess which one lived longer so i thought all right it was the one that was vegetarian and didn't drink alcohol yeah So yeah, it's certainly a good example in her and a couple others that were certainly living well into their older age. Yeah, sure.
00:07:49
Speaker
Okay, so so you've kind of you've got on board the vegetarian train and you're you're using that label like externally as well, like and in in the workplace and what have you.
00:08:00
Speaker
How did that develop into veganism? like Take us through that journey.
Challenges and Misconceptions in Veganism
00:08:05
Speaker
Like I said, I didn't know the process in order to make dairy and To me, once you take steps to becoming vegetarian, then it seems to kind of evolve. And I guess being in that space was a catalyst to search more and research more and just uncover things that I thought I knew.
00:08:25
Speaker
Like we're told in our country that you need dairy for strong bones and you need meat for protein and all these myths that you and I know are untrue. And yes, certainly with the age of the internet and having all this information available to us, it seems absurd that we just...
00:08:42
Speaker
keep the blinders on and just ah allow ignorance to cover up what is actually happening. So, I mean, like, would would you say the the environment, like, that you've described, like, the the the country and the culture you live in, like, is that conducive to to being vegan? Or, like, would you say it puts up more barriers than than helpful things? Or, like, what what are the pros and cons there in terms of the the environment that you're in? Yeah, initially for me, I would say it was more difficult, certainly, because I didn't know that many people that were on this path.
00:09:13
Speaker
And yeah, it's a very dairy-heavy country. Meat and dairy huge exports from our country. So certainly there's a kind of common talk that, oh, you know, you're not supporting the main industries of our country. What are you doing that's not very patriotic of you? And like I said also that we're told that we need dairy and strong bones which is an absolute myth so yes certainly it's difficult to kind of counter that and be confident doing so in social settings absolutely yeah yeah the social settings can i mean for me that's always way harder than than actually like finding food to eat or stuff like that that's all or your own health that's that's straightforward it's the it's the social things that can be the hardest i'm interested that you in terms of you saying that um sort of once you become vegetarian like it's the start of a process
00:10:03
Speaker
towards veganism i mean from my from my example i i was vegetarian for for several years before even considering veganism i think i just thought that's enough like i i don't think i'd even considered things but like from your point of view what was there was there a ah a kernel of possibility of veganism like right from the start of of being vegetarian like did did you see it as a continual piece of work that needed doing or if i had someone guiding me i would love to have had that just someone saying all right you know this is possible this is what you need to do in order to take the next step and i didn't have that it was very much navigating it by myself at the time i knew one person who was vegan he did it for health reasons his dad died of uh
00:10:46
Speaker
heart issues and so I had him helping a little but yeah certainly most of it was me figuring it out and initially you know it's honey vegan and that kind of thing and trying to look into different groups and get a clarification on what is what and was there a was there a fixed point where you were like right I'm I'm vegan now or is is it like a ah gradual thing or like how did that that final step manifest itself? I did actually write a few things down. At the time, I didn't journal a diary, and I did write that I stopped having cheese around sometime in June, so it wasn't a fixed date. And again, I would love to go back and see and go, all right, today's the day. But unfortunately, it wasn't quite as clear as that. And I pick June 8th as my date, so it's probably not the exact date, but it's pretty darn close, really. And yeah, from then, i was...
00:11:41
Speaker
actively doing away with all animal products. Well, you know, like at the time, the only thing I didn't know about was honey. So I did have some music bars for a short time after.
00:11:51
Speaker
But yeah, from there, cheese was off the menu. And yeah, I like to look and at like i like to look at it like letting go of something. People say, i have to give this up. And you can frame it in a way that is helpful or it's taking away and letting go of something is your choice that's enabling you to do so whereas taking away is like oh you can't take it away from me it means the same thing but it also is completely different yeah
Family and Social Dynamics of Being Vegan
00:12:16
Speaker
it's a well it's a completely different attitude isn't it and i i like that that that kind of um that sense of agency that you have over it. If you're you're choosing to let something go that you that you or society has kind of put in your position and in in in the first place, but you're the one that's choosing to let it go, that's ah that's a real nice way of looking at it. We've we've mentioned the um some of the social challenges um and and you know there are practical ones too.
00:12:43
Speaker
What would you say... for those first let's call it the first year of being vegan like can you remember what the what the biggest challenges might have been for you at that time yes certainly just being hassled at the dinner table in social settings it's rather unpleasant especially when you're the only one people know it or everyone sitting at the table knows it and then you do get comments and questions and often ah the exact same question at a different setting at a different time. So it gets rather frustrating having to answer them in a polite, respectful way every time. But obviously it's important to do so because if you ever want anyone to pay attention to what you're doing, then
00:13:22
Speaker
if we come across attacking or condescending, then it's not going to sit well with them. I mean, what, what are the questions I'd be interested to see if they're, that they, they go cross cultural, cross, cross continental, if they're the same objections or questions. Yeah, absolutely. One memory really sticks out. It was with my family and some family friends and the guy, another guy who was there was kind of making some jeering comments about, Oh, you know, we kill our animals, no worries. And we mean, why aren't you eating it? And,
00:13:51
Speaker
He was kind of doing the direct talking to me, and it was kind of unpleasant, but also, you know, if everyone sitting there was just letting it happen, and then my dad was actually kind of going like, oh, yeah, yeah, you know, like, why are you doing that? And i was thinking, oh, this isn't cool. you know My dad's supposed to support me, and he's supposed to know better. He's supposed to tell me what I should be eating, but here I am going against that for reasons like the animals and my health and all that, and yeah, I'll never forget that. It was...
00:14:19
Speaker
not so nice, but dad has since come around a long way and he's definitely a lot more on board with eating plant food because his health can be bettered from it as well, like most people's can. Yeah. I mean, that that sounds really tough and it's, um I think the further down the the journey we we travel with with our veganism, like things like that can sometimes just feel like a distant memory and and the kind of immediacy and and pain and difficulty of it can can fade, which is which is good, you know just as well. But yeah, gosh, I'm really...
00:14:53
Speaker
I really felt that when you were describing that that social encounter. did Did you have your own ah doubts or worries or bits of scepticism with being fully vegan compared to vegetarianism? more I wanted to figure it out. And B12 was certainly one of those contentious ones that I wasn't quite sure about.
00:15:12
Speaker
like I said, I would love to have had someone to kind of guide me through the hurdles, but that's what I saw them as too, hurdles. And I thought, okay, if other people have been doing it for a period of years or decades, then there's no reason I can't do it. And yeah, it was really good to navigate it myself and figure out these things and go, okay, this is cool. And It can be done. i can be healthy. I can sustain it. And soon after, I can't remember exactly when, but I started getting regular annual blood tests and that is proof. And I put it out to the world on YouTube, Facebook, and various other social media platforms to show and just provide accurate results that people can see and go, okay, this is a normal person that I know. He's healthy. Everything's, well, almost everything's in the perfect range.
00:16:02
Speaker
So yeah, it can be done. I'm hearing that the the kind of the lack of accompaniment, if you like, is is like a real, ah was a real challenge. But i i guess perhaps a flip side of that is that if you have got through that by yourself, that that there can almost be a greater degree of self-assuredness that actually it's the right thing to do. Whereas, and I don't know, if you're if you're surrounded by other people who are are doing it too and saying, yeah, yeah, you know, this is this is a good thing to do, Josh. Like in the short term, you can feel like really supported and it's it's great. But actually, if if those people cease to be there or or whatever, then you kind of do need your own reasons and your own kind of justification and and understanding that it's okay, don't you, I think? Yeah, certainly. And I reckon the ethical connection is so important, which I'm sure you're well aware of watching things like Earthlings, Dominion,
00:16:56
Speaker
I didn't want to wash them for sure. I mean, I know most of what's going to be on there. It's rather unpleasant, but I also like to flip it and put myself in the position of the animal. And I think if more people did that, then there'd be a greater sense of compassion and awareness that would be better for humanity.
00:17:14
Speaker
Because if you can look at it like, okay, you know you know exactly what's going on, but if you were in the position of the animal, you'd want everyone advocating for your your strife, your current situation being pushed along with Swordhouse Line. It's rather insane. Yeah, absolutely. I'm interested, Josh, like the the the ethical stance that you describe, how has that evolved for you over your time being vegan?
Ethical and Health Aspects of Veganism
00:17:38
Speaker
Initially it was me absolutely doing it for the animals and the health aspect and the environment has kind of come into it as an important factor too, but I always say yeah, I'm vegan for the animals and I've actually got my shirt on at the moment. so Yeah.
00:17:54
Speaker
It says vegan for the animals and various other things. But yeah, number one is for the animals because like I said, I consider myself an animal lover and I feel it is a natural human action to help animals in need rather than be a heartless killer and just go in and perhaps slit an animal stroke because just because we can do something doesn't mean we should and I think that's a nice thing to apply to many things in life where we can do a whole lot better yeah absolutely for your first like I'm i'm focusing quite a lot on the on the start of your your vegan journey um just because you know people listening who are in this in that position now like ah I think it can
00:18:32
Speaker
we' we're talking about accompaniment and the pros and cons of having it. If if people can hear um how other people have navigated that particularly difficult start, it it could help them. Like, would would you have any tips to share that that really helped you? or Or perhaps, you know, if you've been able to see other people um navigating those first few months and years of being vegan and seeing things that have particularly helped them, there any nuggets of advice that you could you could share? I would definitely suggest just spending time around other vegans, whether it be potluck shared dinners or even just attending activism events. You don't have to actually go and speak, but just witnessing the interactions. Because a lot of people think that it's hostile and people are very resistant to change. But I mean, I do it frequently and most people are very receptive and
00:19:20
Speaker
Usually most people aren't even aware, so awareness is the first piece. Then usually aligning their beliefs with their actions and their purchases, and then certainly just spending more time around people that eat like you or will eat like you then it's definitely helpful and conducive to sticking at it long term for sure and what about things to avoid because i mean some it's a well and good saying oh you should definitely do this you just definitely do this but there there are traps that we all fall into um like if if you could uh rewind a little bit um are there any things you would avoid doing Not really, to be honest, because I got quite into the health aspect side of things as well, you know, combine the two. And certainly when you combine the two, it works really good. Because if you're eating a lot of whole foods and avoiding the substitute meats, mock meats and stuff like that, then you'll feel good as well. And if you're feeling good, you've also got the ethical connection made, then it's a winning combo where you feel good and you also feel good about what you're doing. Because if you're eating Oreos and other...
00:20:27
Speaker
vegan junk food, coconut ice cream, all these other things. Like sure, there's vegan replacements for everything, but yeah, they're definitely not healthy, all these other things. Certainly just staying away from most of the vegan junk food if you can, eating plenty of fruit and whole foods, you'll feel good and keep doing it hopefully. Yeah, absolutely. I'm wondering, it it sounds like your your sort of journey to all of this started, you know, um in some shape or form around 10 years ago. i'm I'm wondering if for for some...
00:20:58
Speaker
you know I'm not not quite sure how this parallel universe has come into being, but like let's say and that journey started now or so or started you know just just a couple of months ago.
00:21:10
Speaker
in the context of 2024 or 2025, like, ah are there things that you think would would make things easier or or possibly even harder to to go through a vegetarian and vegan transition nowadays compared with 10 years ago? I would say absolutely so much easier.
00:21:28
Speaker
they It's so much more well known what being vegan is. Usually... people know somebody, a friend or a family member that is vegan or at least vegetarian and knows a little about it, knows what they do, what they do and don't eat.
00:21:43
Speaker
And certainly we spoke of the vegan junk food, like there are so many more substitutes and alternatives in conventional supermarkets now. So it's never been easier to do so. And certainly just with the awareness of people speaking about it, I feel it's a lot easier to jump on board and also not kind of an outcast in the family or the black sheep. You know, the only one doing it, you can actually feel like you can do it and not be judged or made comments about too often, which is definitely helpful.
00:22:15
Speaker
Has anything surprised you about the the whole process and and being vegan that you perhaps wouldn't have, I don't know, anticipated at the outset? Surprised definitely in that I wanted the world to change a whole lot
Veganism in Modern Society and Personal Achievements
00:22:28
Speaker
sooner. I thought that the world would have gone vegan much, much quicker. I realized though that humans are very, very complex creatures and we have lots of conditioning to unravel, uncover, unravel, uncover.
00:22:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, certainly it's, I think it's very easy to me. I applied it relatively quickly. I've stuck to it for a decade, so it can be done. And I know people kind of have various other things that they see as roadblocks to doing so, but yeah, certainly, like I said, if you can,
00:22:58
Speaker
be around people that are doing it or have done it long-term, then that is definitely helpful to jumping on board and keeping it going. Absolutely. Right. I've got two more questions for you, Josh.
00:23:09
Speaker
First one, we know that lots of our listeners will take these going vegan episodes and they will share them with friends and family members who are maybe considering veganism or have dabbled in plant-based eating and and what have you.
00:23:25
Speaker
To those people who are listening, what advice would you give them? Try it. There's no harm in trying it. It's very easy to do. It's very enjoyable if you're eating well. If you have some doubts, then certainly try I say that to people in the street too. You can come along and tell me in two months' time, if you hated it that much, that you've got every reason to to do so. But I don't think that they'll be one of those people that do so because Usually there's reness resistance initially, and when you overcome that, apply it, do it for a decent period of time, chances are you're going to feel good.
00:24:00
Speaker
So certainly, yeah, give it a go. Absolutely. What's the harm it could do? away what's the harm yeah um And just just final question, Josh, like we've we've talked a lot about like your journey, your like initial stages of vegetarianism and and veganism. But, you know, that's that's a few years ago now. Like, can you tell us like a little bit about your life now with with regards to to veganism and and sort of the role it plays in your life and and sort of how it features in in different ways to, to whatever degree of detail you want to, like you can, you can give us broad brushstrokes or go into lots of details. Completely up to you. Yeah. One of my proudest moments was very much involved with being vegan. I did an ultra marathon in 2021. It was a wow hundred miler ultra marathon. So that's 160 Ks plus on your feet started at 4 AM in the morning,
00:24:54
Speaker
ran through the night, ran through the day into the second night and finished it just after 4 AM the following morning. So 24 hours and 35 minutes it took, but we had a plan too, for me to get my sign. And I'd made up the sign that my friends gave to me just before I was about to come through the finishing shoot.
00:25:13
Speaker
And it was a sign that said hundred mile ultra as a vegan. Why eat animals? Amazing. Oh, i love it. Josh, goodness me. We could talk for many hours now about ultramarathons and veganism. I've not i've not ran quite that far, but I've i have tried a couple of times. But yeah, oh, that's incredible. And yeah, tell us more about veganism and running, just for my benefit. Yeah, I love it. It's a very natural thing to do. And certainly doing ultramarathons is a good way to prove that we can get adequate protein and all the other vitamins and nutrients that people...
00:25:47
Speaker
know that we need. And certainly plants can fuel us to do this, no worries. And I've done various other physical feats, which I'm very proud of that most people look at and go,
00:25:57
Speaker
Oh, that's a little bit crazy. But doing so, wearing what I'm wearing right now is vegan messaging, vegan kits and stuff like that so that the message is loud and proud for all to see. And at least if they don't say anything about it in the moment, they might just get the impression that, oh, okay, this guy's actually doing all right at it.
00:26:16
Speaker
He's happy, he's smiling, he's going well, and he's not at the back of the pack. Yeah.
00:26:22
Speaker
Absolutely. Oh, that's incredible. do Do you have vegan runners as in the running club in in New Zealand or not? There is a small group. It's not anywhere near what you have in the UK. I would love for it to be the case. Unfortunately, many of the vegans in my town, they like not so good food or junk food more so. and Very much a food orientated group over here as opposed to being right into fitness.
00:26:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. our Fair enough. Horses for courses, isn't it? Excellent stuff. Josh, it's been really, really lovely talking to you and and hearing about your vegan journey. And um yeah, thanks for thanks for giving us a a Southern Hemisphere ah insight to to this journey as well. It's been brilliant. Thank you very much. No worries at all. Thanks for having me.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:27:10
Speaker
This has been an Enough of the Falafel production. We're just a normal bunch of everyday vegans putting our voices out there. The show is hosted by Zencaster.
00:27:20
Speaker
We use music and special effects by zapsplap.com. And sometimes, if you're lucky, at the end of an episode, you'll hear a poem by Mr Dominic Berry. Thanks all for listening and see you next time.
00:27:51
Speaker
This episode may have come to an end, but did you know we've got a whole archive containing all our shows dating back to September 2023? twenty twenty three That is right, Dominic. There's over 100 episodes on there featuring our brilliant range of different guests, people's stories of going vegan, philosophical debates, moral quandaries, and of course...
00:28:12
Speaker
around a dozen news items from around the world each week so check back on your podcast player to hear previous episodes and remember to get an alert for each new episode simply click like or follow and also subscribe to the show thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from