Justin Gilbertson met in 2009 in Santiago de Chile. He is a native vegan Vancouver Island, Canada, and that for the past eight years has been traveling around the world without leaving your veganism. Has toured Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australia, promoting veganism, vegan cooking and exploring.
1) How long have you been vegan and why you became vegan?
I adopted a vegan diet in 2003 and subsequent years I adopted a strict vegan lifestyle (for me is a big difference between the two). My journey to veganism was very different from many. Born and raised in a large farm of cows and pigs than 10,000 acres on the prairies of central Canada. I grew up around these animals, love them, but at the end of the day killing these animals without even thinking twice. What I mean is that when you grow up in such conditions in a rural environment, do you think is the norm, right? I was never cleared up until a few years later.
When I went to college, my eyes began to open up a bit, but it was not until I started traveling the world to me more educated the subject. My first trip around the world, Australia and Asia, led me to meet several animal rights activists I talked a lot about veganism and animal rights. Since then, the more I learned, the easier it definitely made me change.
I firmly believe that once you start to learn about the truths of animal and livestock industry, it must be a fool not to go vegan.
2) During the period of 2008-2009 did finger from Alaska to Santiago de Chile. In this year of travel, have you made it very difficult to find vegan food on the road?
Well I actually took 18 months from start to finish! Not once was I found it difficult to be vegan on this trip, or any other trip I've done, to be honest. I'll talk more about that in the following questions I have.
3) When you're traveling, how often you stay in places where you can cook and prepare your own meals? Or buy food usually prepared and ready to be eaten?
almost never as outside, unless in developing countries. I go home this week from a seven-month trip through Europe and only ate out once. Only once and this was because someone invited me. Moreover, almost never buy prepared meals, because I think some nutritious and above all, bland. Moreover, I find that the price of eating out is just ridiculous. Most of the foods that my friends have the luxury of eating out vegan cost the same as a week or more of merchandise to me.I love cooking. I love to look for food in trash cans from supermarkets and pick it up. I can almost always find a way to find food, if not, go to markets and buy fresh produce for cooking. I travel with camping gear and a small kitchenette, for when I'm outdoors. If not, cook in the house of my guests or just as raw.
If I am in developing countries like India, Laos or Bolivia, to name a few, I love eating out, because that support residents and their local economy, and is worth mentioning that, in general, is very cheap.
4) In some countries like the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom, is easier to find vegan food prepared, when compared to many other countries. Have you been hard to find vegan food when you left the rich countries of North America and crossed from the U.S. to Mexico, and then all the way south to Chile and Argentina? Is it a very dramatic difference if you compare what you ate in Canada or the United States with what you ate in Latin America?
People often mistakenly believe it's so hard to be vegan and stay healthy outside of richer developed countries, but simply not true. It may be the case with prepared foods such as meats premium vegan, vegan cheese, turkey Vegan Tofurkey, among others, but to be honest, I try not to eat many of these products because they are just processed junk with spices. When it comes to food, real food, North America is much more at a disadvantage when compared with anything encontré en América Latina.
Cuando me llegó la hora de cruzar a México, y luego a América Central y del Sur, la comida era mucho mejor que en Canadá, o en Estados Unidos. Todas las frutas exóticas frescas y las verduras que ni siquiera podemos cultivar en Norteamérica. Las interminables variedades de legumbres que son una base en la dieta desde México y hacia el sur son increíbles. Me sentía tan bien de estar comiendo comida de tan buena calidad donde se cultivan todos estos alimentos. Podría vivir sólo de maíz y tacos de porotos en México y sería feliz.
Cada país que he visitado tiene alimentos veganos fáciles de encontrar. When you look at the nutritional bases of almost all regions of the world always are vegan. Huge varieties of rice, seaweed and vegetables in Asia. Root vegetables, exotic fruits and a variety of beans in Latin America. A wide variety of vegan staple foods in India. Even when you look at the area of North America and Europe, each has different kinds of vegetables, grains and legumes as the basis of their diets. Just leave out the meat and dairy, which anyway do not need.
So to answer your question, yes I was eating drastically different. That is, I was eating better and more healthy than I can eat here in North America!
5) Can you tell us where else have you traveled?
I started traveling in 2002, with a trip to Australia and Asia. I visited five Asian countries as well as Australia and New Zealand. It was assumed that this would be a one-year trip to enjoy before returning to join the competitive corporate life, but I got stuck on the road. Since then I have been traveling and just a month ago I celebrated eight years on the road when I was in Malta.
After my first trip, I spent three years in Europe with a "base" in northern Scotland. I've been four times in Southeast Asia, hence my favorite country is Laos. I spent six months in northern India. I worked with a few animal rights groups in Hawaii and California for six months. I spent eighteen months in my hitchhiking trip from Alaska to Argentina. I've also traveled extensively in my homeland, Canada. This week I got home from another trip to Europe, this time from seven months where I spent most of my time hitchhiking in Iceland, Scandinavia, Malta and Spain.Within a month, I will return to Mexico for six weeks in a tour with my good friend and his band XTRUENATUREX vegan straight edge, as my partner and I have left a month for Tour dates. I have also plans to finally go to the Middle East and Africa in mid-2011 for a undetermined amount of time.
(As a footnote, I would let them know that I am not a wealthy person. In fact you could say I'm the opposite, since I am a traveler low (or zero) budget. Just added this because most people who know of my travels assume that this only be done by rich people. I assure you that it is not. It is very likely that if you pay monthly costs of owning a car or even a cell phone account I live and travel for less money than they spend on any of those things.'s all about how they want live.)
6) Are there any particular food that you recommend for a great meal to travel? Maybe you usually do, I gorge on certain foods or always keep a supply of these in your backpack when you arrive somewhere you can not find vegan food.
Peanut Butter! Is by far the best food that can be on hand at any time and never find me without it. It is high in calories, protein, essential fats, as well as other nutrients, And why mention it's delicious! Always try to travel with a fruit or dried fruit lasting my energy for when you need to download and sugar. Also n I'm crazy for chocolate, so it is very likely to have several black chocolate bars in my backpack. If I am a long time on the road without knowing when to get to my next destination, I have rice or couscous, along with pulses (red lentils games are the best because they cook in minutes) to prepare in my stove. Also, usually I have some bread for my peanut butter.
7) What ever you find it difficult to explain to people why you do not eat animal products, especially when people do not know what veganism or may not understand the concept of veganism?
Of course! Just think how hard it is in North America and Western Europe, where veganism is quite common. Imagine trying to explain that in cultures where not even have a word for vegetarian, let alone vegan. Try to explain to a poor peasant from a village without a common language, why should not eat his chicken.
In fact, food policy is a very complicated and segmented. I've been intensely studying food policy for some years and I had to change many of my views on animal rights and veganism because of this aprendizaje. En muchos lugares ni siquiera explico por qué, porque eso aportaría demasiadas variables a la discusión. Si me meto en un lío muy serio, simplemente digo que va en contra de mis principios, los que comparo con sus religiones. Esto generalmente funciona.
Recomiendo viajar con el Pasaporte Vegano o al menos aprender algunas frases acerca de tus hábitos alimenticios antes de partir. Puede facilitar la vida enormemente.
8) Te quedaste en Ecuador por un tiempo trabajando en una granja haciendo tu propio chocolate. ¿Nos podría contar acerca de esta experiencia? ¿Qué hiciste en la granja y cómo hacías el chocolate?
The farm is called Dreams and I have to say that this place had the correct name. Not only could grow and prepare the cocoa to make chocolate, but will also grow our own peanuts to make peanut butter, which are often combined to make chocolate peanut butter.
I went to the farm to learn about cacao, I am an avid farmer and also an avid consumer of chocolate. And I learned everything that has to do with the production of cocoa. We plant seeds, care for mature trees to learn about what they need and do not need to survive, we picked the cocoa beans and spent the long process of fermentation, drying and preparing the seeds inside. Tostábamos After the seeds and we did go through the old mill where the natural oils transformed them into a paste which soon had to be pure organic cacao bars. It's a long process but it was so wonderful to be there those months and what that fattening, because I could use all the cocoa they wanted. Usually was in the kitchen by combining cocoa with peanut butter did well there, coconuts trees, citrus and many more. Also dozens of other foods we grew in the area of 14 hectares of rainforest and was one of the most magical places I've been and where I learned about organic agriculture.
9) What is your story about veganism favorite (or one of your favorites) of all your travels?
is not a happy story, but the more time I have been without food have been 45 hours in northeastern Laos. I was not very well prepared with extra food and would go to a small part of the country where tourists rarely go. I ate before I went out and in a truck cab and worked as the first trip was twelve hours through forests and mountains. When we reached a small town had only a kitchen serving food prepared and everything had butter or chicken. They did not have rice that I could prepare and cookies and chips shop were not vegan. I went to sleep outside with hunger. We left the next morning with more people in the truck, and like all women (and chickens) men had to go hanging out of the truck, but considering that my energy level was so low, I had no fun doing this for ten or twelve hours. We slowly climb the mountains and began to get ice cream, which I further eroded. Our next two stops gave us the same meal of chicken, rice with butter, fish soup and either I could not communicate effectively or not was nothing available for me. For the second night I went to bed without eating, but with about eight cups of herbal tea in my stomach. The next morning I felt terrible, but only had six hours to our destination and once again I had to leave hanging desperately to the back of the truck. Finally we arrived and the first thing I did was to turn the restaurant that had some English on the sign and that day I did nothing but eat and sleep. May have been simple meals of rice dishes with local tubers and fruit, but the best meals I've eaten in my life.
The moral of this story is that there must be much more prepared than I was those days. I learned a valuable lesson at that time and ever since I made sure to be prepared.
10) As you are a very good cook, what's your favorite dish to prepare for friends or strangers?
I love making pancakes and smoothies in the morning and pizza for any time of day. The pizzas are so cheap and easy to make from scratch and pay to feed many people. The pancakes are Canadian, so I always like them to people, as it only requires three basic ingredients to the batter and they are so good with different aggregates (butter de maní para mí o miel de maple cuando estoy en Canadá!). Por último, considerando que muchas veces busco comida en la basura, me encanta preparar diferentes sopas o curries con las verduras que encuentro. Supongo que la crema de pimentones rojos asados es mi favorita.
Mi consejo es que hay que mantener las cosas simples, un plato no debe tener doce ingredientes y especias exóticas para saber bien, ¡Dejen que los ingredientes simples tengan el sabor que deben tener y disfrútenlos!
esta entrevista en PDF
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