My vegan challenge for November

I found out that November is Animal Aid's Vegan Month and I'm planning on trying out a vegan diet through the month, to see how I get along and to learn some more vegan recipes.

I bought a vegan cookbook called Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook which is supposed to be excellent, and having tried a couple of things from it, I can see the authors know their stuff. The banana bread in here is amazing, and I baked it for my son's leaving party and everyone loved it (I never mentioned it was a vegan recipe!).

On their GoVegan site, Animal Aid have a huge amount of resources to help get started as well as find out about the arguments for veganism. I have to say, I currently can't imagine being 100% vegan for life, and especially when I travel, but I'm more than happy to cut down on my use of animal produce overall (free-range eggs, cheese, etc), and make far more vegan choices than I normally do.

However, another part of me is concerned that I'm not going to be able to manage my challenge for the whole of November! Already I'm wondering about how to deal with dinner invites and so on. I know a few restaurants that I can eat vegan food at when dining out - but what about when people ask me over for a meal at their place?

Wish me luck. I'll try my best and what I reckon is, every bit helps towards a lifestyle that does not involve cruelty, exploitation or destruction of the environment. So, just being aware of making such choices is a positive step forward.