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Welcome to Generation Veggie

By

Reannon Branchesi and her Girls

Reannon with her twin daughters, Isabel and Abigail.

The idea for Generation Veggie was born when my now 3-year-old twins were still in utero. I remember being five months pregnant and feeling frustrated with the lack of information about vegan pregnancy online. There were a few articles and several personal blogs, but there was no central community. There certainly wasn’t much of anything about vegans pregnant with twins, and even with my background as an 11-year vegan who has worked professionally in the animal rights movement since 2003, I felt like maybe I was doing something wrong. Could I really grow two people on a vegan diet?

I’m lucky to have many vegan friends and several of them were pregnant at the same time as me. I leaned on them for support, stayed on the vegan band wagon, explained veganism to my OB/GYN at least three times, and ended up with two healthy baby girls (born at 38 weeks and 6.6 and 6.13 pounds, respectively—more than a pound larger than the average twin!). My experience got me thinking about other vegan and vegetarian families that might not have a great support network and also about what sort of information I would need as my family grew. What were the best books? What were the ideal foods for a growing toddler? What recipes could I make for my whole family? Was there cruelty-free baby lotion? What would happen when they started school? How could I raise my girls to not only eat vegan foods but to have kind hearts? When I began talking to my friends, I realized they had similar questions. We needed a place to call our own.

Generation Veggie is an online community and nonprofit organization for the modern family. We hope you will explore our articles, check out our recipes, get some nutrition education, brush up on the issues, visit our shop, and join our community by signing-up for the forums and subscribing to our monthly e-news. If you want to share your voice, please consider becoming a contributor.

Generation Veggie is for everyone trying to raise plant-powered, kindhearted kids or who is curious about learning more. If you have been vegan since before anyone even knew how to pronounce the word, you are welcome here. If you are a vegetarian family, you are welcome here. If you are a mixed veg/omni family, you are welcome here. If you are new to vegetarianism or veganism and are transitioning your family, you are welcome here. If you are the grandparent of a vegan kid trying to understand what it’s all about, you are welcome here. We are not an exclusive club. We are a community of families coming together to make the world kinder.

Generation Veggie is an organization whose time has come. As the vegetarian and vegan populations in the United States have grown, so has the number of veggie families. Raising children to respect and to show kindness toward animals, the environment, and other people is an important job. Veggie parents are spreading the ideals of animal rights, cultivating compassion, and creating more vegans and vegetarians in the world. We think this is important work, and we’re honored to do it with you.

Welcome to Generation Veggie!

Posted in Announcements

Reannon is the founder of Generation Veggie. She has been an animal advocate since 2000 and a fan of “The X-Files” since 1995. Reannon is a cake enthusiast who lives with her husband and 5-year-old twin girls in Madison, Wisconsin.