Vegan woman strives to balance food ethics and cultural values

Rawan Hassan grew up eating a traditional Palestinian diet, which involved a lot of meat

Image | Rawan Hassan

Caption: Rawan Hassan's Palestinian family struggled to understand her choice to become vegan five years ago.

Growing up in Vancouver, Rawan Hassan and her family often ate a traditional Palestinian diet, which involved lot of meat. But as a teenager, she decided to become a vegetarian and eventually a vegan... which her family didn't initially understand. She talks about reconciling her moral values around food with her cultural values, which celebrate eating meat.

This story appears in the Out in the Open episode, "Feeling Full".