When I started adopting a vegan lifestyle it was mainly out of “selfish” reasons. My husband had read books and articles about vegan ultra endurance athletes and being an Ironman triathlete himself, he too wanted to experiment with adopting a vegan lifestyle. At first there was resistance on my part, pretty soon I became a full time vegan, even before he did.

Gradually I started to feel better, fitter and finally was able to loose the so desired 10 kilo’s of body weight. Of course that made me happy, yet at the same time I noticed that people around me did not really understand what it means to be vegan. Some even thought that I had lost my mind. So I decided to give workshops and started to write on Facebook about my daily meals. I hoped to achieve that more people would get enthusiastic about this wonderful lifestyle or at least create more understanding about what a plant based lifestyle really is. And while I noticed that in some countries and in the bigger cities people indeed picked up on plant based food, I did not quite see that in my immediate surroundings. I had to explain myself over and over again. This caused me to keep my lifestyle more to myself, although I did continue to write about it and even started a blog. But every now and then doubt came to the surface, making me want to quit blogging and stop creating new recipes for others. I thought that if people want to continue eating unhealthy that is their choice and not really my problem.

However in the last couple of years I did not only learn a thing or two about plant based food and how to prepare delicious meals, I also learned about the huge impact the meat-and dairy industry has on our planet. The same planet I brought 4 kids onto. Obviously I wish for my kids that this beautiful planet will continue to be a good place to live on. So I continue to write and keep faith.

And then surprisingly, I met someone through my website, a fellow vegan who actually lives close by. The first vegan that I met in the Netherlands, besides my husband. We talked, exchanged experiences and tips. One of her tips was to join a group on Facebook called “Vegans in Noord-Holland-Noord”. This was a true revelation and surprise to me. I discovered a world that so far I did not know existed. To my delight it turns out that there are quite a few vegans in the area where I live! Me and my family are not the only ones. And these fellow vegans share information, they organize get-togethers and so on.

Because of that, yesterday I learned about the Dutch RawFoodFestival in Amsterdam on the 18th of June. It is the 5th time that it is being held and I had never heard about this before! This convinced me even more that instead of staying in my own little vegan world I should go out there, get to know people who are on the same side. And yes, raw food and veganisme are on the same side. Maybe they go about it differently but in fact they share many things. Maybe the most important of all, they share the choice of eating healthy plant based food and taking responsibility for their own well-being. That in it self is more than enough reason to go to the Dutch Raw Food Festival. So I will be there and I would be delighted to meet you as well!

Here is the the link to their website so you can check it out for yourself: http://rawfoodfestival.nl