Pecknold has asolo acoustic tourcoming up this fall, beginning Nov. 14.
Taste in Music is on sale Sept. 24 from ChronicleBooks.
I chose the wrong decade to be vegan.
Shervin Lainez*
I felt like St. Augustine of Hippo after his conversion by Ambrose of Milan.
I am vegan, I announced, Lisa Simpson-like, to crickets at the dinner table.
I am vegan now.
I require specific treatment in all ways.
Hundreds of restaurants and stores became instantly invisible to me, while a small handful became essential.
A new cadre of friends and role models materialized.
All important psychological needs Id somewhat missed out on in my rational, secular youth.
I repeat, this was the wrong decade to be vegan.
The mainstays I turned to in Seattle were nowhere to be found on the wide-open road.
In 2008, our options were: Clif Bars, Twizzlers, Sweet Chili Heat Doritos (no casein!
Maybe bagels with Tofutti cream cheese on a good day.
Pickings were disgustingly slim.
Daily protein requirements and nutrient macros were yet-undiscovered concepts.
Are there egg whites in this?
Do they butter the crust?
Do they use the same grill for the meat and the black bean burgers?
But I had already loudly announced my veganism.
It was My Thing.
I had Othered myself from the world, from the group, from the tour.
I was left with one small oasis in this hellish desert.
It also included Subway.
Mouthfeel of sieved paper pulp or marinated sponge.
Flavor nonexistent-to-net-negative; it was so powerfully anti-flavor that it siphoned and destroyed the flavor of anything surrounding it.
This sandwich was my go-to, most every day, for months.
My sad friend, the Veggie Patty.
We had a codependent relationship in which we validated and amplified each others deep flaws and misconceptions.
I had it again recently for the first time in years.
Excerpted fromTaste in Music: Eating on Tour with Indie Musiciansby Alex Bleeker & Luke Pyenson, 2024.
Published by Chronicle Books.
