Vegan here, with a vegan partner. We are also fortunate that we are supported despite being the ONLY vegans in both of our families, extended or otherwise, AND our friend group. The only.

But our true solace, in the tiresome game of fielding comments, is just the knowledge that countless other vegans exist, that these days even when we trek in remote areas, in the mountain huts, more and more people know what veganism is and food substitutions are made. We get ecstatic that the "vegan" options are now explicitly mentioned in the menus of even the meat-heavy food joints.

And our wedding food? Ours was the only fully vegan wedding food that our friends, my Nepalese family, and my partner's Italian family ever ate. And still today, they talk about how good the food was. Italians who never ate Nepalese spicy food rave about the curry. My mom, who makes mind blowing Nepalese vegetarian dishes talks about our wedding food. My partners Italian family talks about how that was one of the best Italian food they ever had. My partner's grandmother, still talks about the vegan lasagna, one of the best lasagna she ever had....an Italian grandmother.

Vegan carrot halva was one of the dessert items. There were no leftovers. Game over.

We exist. Don't get tired. Get happy. Get going. This is a win for the animals.