Last week, my extra-large jar of peanut butter was my best friend.

Abnormal, you say? Whats really abnormal, Ive decided after a week of trying it out, is veganism. I tried. I really did try. I wanted to better understand the people who choose this lifestyle.

Why wont they drink milk? What does it matter if you wear wool? If you dont shave them, the sheep will overheat, for goodness' sake. Are vegans really healthier? And the biggest question of all, what in the world do these people eat?

I am ashamed to say that in my quest to understand vegans, I answered none of these questions. At the end of seven long days, all I learned was that I, Faith Schweikert, could never become one.

Day 1: Day 1 of anything is always exciting. I was fired up, ready to take on the world with my new title: veganoh, so hip, so trendy. Knowing what I was getting into, I saw no problem at all as my normal diet certainly aligned closely with veganism restrictions. I rarely eat meat anyway so that would be no problem; Ive always regarded cheese as some disgusting form of old milk, so that has always been out too; and besides that, I love fruits and vegetables. In conclusion, it'd be a piece of cake (without butter, milk or eggs, of course).

I also decided Id tackle this challenge using only the food the lovely University of Tennessee could provide me in the residence dining halls and P.O.D. Markets. Simple.

Discovering that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is vegan made me even more confident that this would be a good week.

Day 3: The fantastic photo editor, Hannah, barged into the Beacon office and exclaimed Anybody want some pie? to all four people sitting in the room. A freshly-baked, homemade, lemon chess pieveganism instantly lost its cool.

By then, I was just hungry. All the time. Im halfway through this weeks peanut butter jar as I wonder still, What do vegans eat? How do they even function in society without 'proper' food?

The dining halls were no help with their butter-infused everything. Even the salad bar is tricky because my beloved ranch dressing includes the devil himself, buttermilk, and croutons are often coated in butter to make them taste like something other than stale bread.

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Milk addict goes vegan | Arts & Culture