We're a Chartered Accountant-Digital Marketer duo who turned plant-based a year ago. As time passed, we became incredibly passionate about the cause. We wanted to spread awareness about the vegan lifestyle and the journey it took to get here to make it easy for other beginners and vegan-curious people to slowly make the shift. All these ideas culminated in the birth of Vee Villy Vegan, our personal blog on Instagram. We cover everything from plant-based food recipes, vegan skincare and beauty, to various tips to help people transition and sustain this lifestyle.
We were raised as vegetarians since birth. Interestingly, though we decided to go vegan around the same time, we had different reasons for doing so.
Shruti has wanted to try a plant-based diet since her college days but found it difficult to transition, primarily due to a lack of resources at her hostel. On the other hand, Jayashree wanted to turn vegan in 2019 after watching a couple of videos on animal cruelty online and realising how similar a cow's eyes were to that of her own adopted dog's.
In 2020, armed with adequate information and a proper game plan, we took the plunge towards veganism and have not looked back since. Ultimately, we realised our causes aligned towards a kinder, more sustainable lifestyle. We are grateful that we could be on this journey together. We've been vegan for over a year now.
We struggled with going vegan cold turkey, so we decided to phase out our journey and make a slow shift. We started with personal care and beauty products and slowly cut down dairy from our diet. This gradual transition allowed us not to get frustrated. It gave us adequate time to make the complete shift without it being too overwhelming. We were also really patient and not too hard on ourselves.
Eating out with friends has also become more difficult as there are not many vegan-friendly restaurants in town. But we are lucky to have supportive friends who don't mind eating at the same 4 restaurants and also try our vegan food recommendations from time to time.
Finally, we would like to say that every step you take towards a kinder lifestyle is a step for the better. As we said before, we need more imperfect vegans than just a few entirely perfect ones. So if you feel intimidated in the beginning, know that you can take your time and make small changes that still count. :)
To sum up: Vegan food is yummy, plants don't feel pain, and yes, we get enough protein! :)