4:24 PM
Vegetarian
Benjamin Zephaniah. 'I've never been tempted to give up veganism in 27 years.' Photograph: Harry Borden
As the only black kid in my primary school playground, animals had become my friends. By 15 I was vegan, although I didn't give up honey until 16. For a while my mother thought it was just "a rasta phase".
"Ackees, chapattis, dumplins an' naan, channa and rotis, onion uttapam..." My poem Vegan Delight answers the question I've so often been asked – "but what do you eat?'.
I have a banana when I wake up, then, I'll go jogging, have a workout, do my tai-chi, have a sauna, then have my breakfast – a cup of muesli. I earn my breakfast.
I have vegan chocolate cakes delivered and there's my cupboard of sweets – crispy peanut candy, dairy-free rice cookies... I've tried to bring my chocolate eating under control recently. Sometimes I have nightmares in which I'm fat.
I'm 52, do kung-fu, running and football alongside 20-year-olds, and still none of them can beat me. This isn't bragging – I'm just making a point.
When I moved to Beijing, to study martial arts, I saw teenagers stroking cats which minutes later would be on their plates. Yet in Beijing I also found my favourite vegan restaurant in the world – Pure Lotus. There really is a vegan version of everything.
