'I knew what I didn't want to give up when I went vegan and that's good food.'

Breaking routines and habits are never easy. By shaking things up, our mind may trigger sudden slight panic attacks, shivering down to our very spine (and stomachs).

We love familiarity, especially with the food we savor and dishes we enjoy the most. We also love good food based on specific memories honed by our experience with them.

That is why changing a recipe—shifting to another method of cooking by adding or scaling back on certain ingredients—often raises an eyebrow. Just think of it, why change a thing if it ain't broken? We have probably used that line so much that it has become a sort of a lifestyle excuse muttered by everyone.

Sometimes, change can be the thing we need in order to live well and survive. It may be hard at first but if give time for ourselves to adjust, it may be just the thing we long for all this time. Change can be the rule-breaker that will make us better, especially when it comes to food.

That couldn't be more true for 24-year-old Arn Olano. Growing up in the Philippines then migrating to the United States allowed him to have a broad experience when it comes to food. But with his parents always on-the-go and the American way of take-outs for dinner inspired him to pursue a vegan lifestyle. Through TikTok, Olano was able to document his healthy and delicious journey for the world to witness.

"I'm a Filipino but I was raised in America. Growing up, I ate a lot of meat and cheese. Even with traditional Filipino food, there is not a ton of vegetables and the ones that are present I don't really care for as a kid. So, I never imagined myself going vegan, even if I didn't know what that word meant exactly," he said in one of his posts. "After a lot of time thinking and research, I decided to go on this vegan journey. And these videos document my rediscovery of food through a plant-based lens. And I knew what I didn't want to give up when I went vegan and that's good food."

His kitchen adventures as a novice home cook garnered a lot good reactions from fellow TikTok users. From his daily eats to reimagined Filipino recipes, his cooking videos featured some of his food confessions and ideas about plant-based dining in the background. And thanks to the warm response on the platform, Arn was inspired to set up his own cooking channel on YouTube, which for him is a dream come true.

"Even though Filipino food uses a lot of animal-based products, it didn't take me long to realize that it isn't those products that dictate the cuisine," he said. "It is the efforts, process, and seasonings that do, and the beauty is that's true for so many cuisines around the world. In fact, going vegan has forced me to immerse myself even more in my identity in order to be able to veganize some of my most favorite comfort food. And I think that's so beautiful. Because as I change as a person, so too does my cooking."

Check out some of his kitchen "plantventures" with Filipino dishes:

Videos are from @lvl1vegan on TiTtok.