kelp, from a soy sauce made by the traditional Japanese
fermentationmethod,orfromtempeh,a fermentedsoybean
producteaten in partsof Asia,and oftennowavailable in
healthfood storesintheWest.Itis alsopossible thatitis
producedbymicroorganismsinourownintestines.Studiesof
veganswhohavenottakenanyapparentsourceofB12for
manyyearshaveshowntheirbloodlevelsofthisvitaminstill
tobewithinthenormalrange.Nevethelesstomakesureof
avoidinga deficiency,it issimpleand inexpensive to take
vitamintabletscontainingB12.TheB12inthesetablets is
obtained from bacteria grown on plant foods. Studies of
children in vegan families have shown that they develop
normally on diets that contain a B12 supplement but no
animal food after weaning.^37
I have tried in this chapter to answer the doubts about
becoming a vegetarian that can easily be articulated and
expressed. But some people havea deeper resistance that
makesthemhesitate.Perhapsthereason forhesitationisa
fearofbeingthoughtacrankbyone’sfriends.Whenmywife
andIbegantothinkaboutbecomingvegetarianswetalked
aboutthis.Weworriedthatwewouldbecuttingourselvesoff
fromournonvegetarianfriendsandatthattimenoneofour
long-established friends was vegetarian. The fact that we
became vegetarians together certainly
madethedecisioneasierforbothofus,butasthingsturned
outweneednothaveworried.Weexplainedourdecisionto
our friendsand theysaw thatwe hadgood reasonsfor it.
Theydidnotallbecomevegetarians,buttheydidnotceaseto
be our friends either; in fact I think they rather enjoyed
inviting usto dinnerandshowing ushowwelltheycould
cook without meat. Ofcourse, it ispossible that you will
encounterpeoplewhoconsideryouacrank.Thisismuchless