Nine years ago, Carol Adams and I wrote Protest Kitchen to explore the impacts of plant-based diets on injustice and oppression. We wrote it in response to the election of Donald Trump and wanted to call it The Anti-Trump Diet. The editors thought it would become outdated too quickly with that title.

If only it were so.

I spent most of yesterday, the day after the 2024 election, talking to friends and taking walks. It was all I could manage and that was okay. I know I wasn’t alone in my feelings of despair and my need to take time to grieve and cry. Over the coming days, though, I expect to be getting a little more energized and organized for whatever is next.

Some of what is next is familiar to me. I’m already involved in local activism for both animals and humans—activities that bring joy, meaning, and connection into my life. And of course I advocate for animals and the environment through my work in vegan and plant based nutrition. I will also continue with national groups that engage in ongoing efforts to protect democracy and that work to bend the arc of the moral universe. Exactly what that will look like, I don’t know, but I’ve identified organizations and activists whose leadership and wisdom I trust; I’ll look to them for guidance in the months ahead.

I’m fortunate to have the time and privilege to be involved in these activities. But we are all limited to some degree – due to other obligations or lack of resources – in what we can do. And this brings me to veganism.

In Protest Kitchen we wrote about veganism as an act of resistance that starts in your kitchen—ie, the ultimate in local activism. When life is overwhelming and you need to step back from other activities, you still need to eat. And every meal is an opportunity for resistance, for the boycott of unjust treatment of animals and for a stance against destruction of the earth. It turns something so simple – a decision about what you’re going to have for dinner – into a source of empowerment.

This is the gift of veganism. Because empowerment includes both your influence on the outer world, and an inner feeling of being enabled to act. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re eating a kale salad or finding consolation in a vegan donut binge. How great is it that even eating purely for comfort can be both self-care and activism?

As you decide what is next for you in the coming days – and I know it will depend on your own priorities, opportunities, and resources – you can know that you are already engaged in meaningful action every day. Every vegan choice is a consequential stand against injustice. Your vegan meals are a daily reminder that change is possible.