How I’m Vegan in the Dairy State V Follow Feb 22 · 2 min read

Late last year, I moved to Green Bay WI, the city that’s home to the Packers and the state where the population of cows is probably higher than humans. Now being someone that grew up in Canada in a small city, I already understood or thought I understood the burdens of finding vegan food. And I don’t mean the basics like bean and rice. I’m talking about those scrumptious vegan dishes, like vegan chicken wings or whatever those influencers always post.

So here I was, thinking I’d follow my boyfriend to the US and assumed that I’d be spoiled by all the veg options at restaurants. But I didn’t take a moment to consider that maybe not every state is like California. If you never visited the badger state, let me paint you a little picture. Aside from everyone dressing like they just came from milking their cows, there isn’t very much going on. Driving on I43 from Milwaukee to Green Bay, all you see are farms, fields and cows. Lots of them ! The saddest part is seeing the famous factory farms and calf farms where they keep them in what looks like dog houses with a fence tightly around it.

Now this isn’t a post about how terrible the dairy industry is or why you should go vegan, so don’t get triggered too early. But this is my experience so far. It’s really honestly not that bad. Sure there isn’t any all vegan restaurants but there are a good amount of restaurants that will accommodate or have their own separate vegan menu. Grocery stores like Festival Foods or Meijer have huge vegan selections on veggies and beans and fruits. Haha jk. But seriously they do have a pretty wide selection of mock meats and dairy products. And another thing that’s great about it? The vegan stuff is most of the time on sale! So while all you in LA or Portland are paying full price for your veggie goodies, I’m over here enjoying Tofutti cream cheese at half the price.

Aside from food, people are pretty nice and accepting of my vegan lifestyle. A lot of people don’t really know what veganism is, but are pretty curious to know what I eat. I haven’t had to deal with any judgmental people just the common jokes that I tend to get. So if you’re iffy about moving to a smaller city or somewhere in the midwest, just do it!