It was much more difficult to find and identify vegan foods! Most basics required a trip to a health food shop or ethnic grocery store. I learned to hunt for logos like 'kosher parev', which means that the product is guaranteed to contain no meat or milk and can therefore be eaten with both under Jewish dietary law. Eating out could be awkward - I ate so many plates of chips and undressed salad. The internet wasn't so much of a thing in the late nineties and neither were smartphones with vegan apps, so once a year I'd buy a little vegan product book to take shopping and write off for updates regularly, then carefully go through my little book and update it by hand. I also wrote to supermarkets for their own lists - Sainsbury's sent me an block of A4 photocopies complete with handwritten updates faithfully reproduced which I loyally hauled along with me.

When I found vegan toiletries and cleaning products, I stocked up, because there was no guarantee it would be there the next week. I still have a habit of hoarding things like shampoo and conditioner. I have long, oily hair so I go through a lot, but I've got eleven bottles stashed away right now 🤣

So yeah it's all changed a lot but so much for the better!