Meet your Meat

This video can also be found in the sidebar further down, but I just thought I would include it in a post too since I believe the truth to be the most persuasive argument there is. It was the video that ultimately convinced me to go vegan in the first place. Unfortunately, all practices you see here are commonplace not only in the meat industry, as the title implies, but in dairy and egg production as well. Even the most humane farms result in the suffering and death of their animals. A word of caution; some scenes depict graphic violence towards animals.

Narrator: Alec Baldwin.

Click on the link to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4

Veganism FAQ #1

1. If you're not eating meat, won't you end up anemic and protein deficient?
No. No no no. First of all, you don't need nearly as much protein as the media has fed you to believe (ie. the meat and dairy corporations). It is extremely rare for someone (especially in this country) to be protein deficient, but many diseases are exacerbated and even caused by excess protein consumption. Having said that, proteins are essential nutrients and must be consumed daily to maintain healthy cellular growth and function in the body. A well-planned vegan diet contains every nutrient that is needed to be healthy. So where do vegans get their protein? Soy, nuts, seeds, peanut butter (and other nut butters), sprouts, beans, whole grains, and vegetables. Yes, vegetables! Not as much as the others, but vegetables, like other living things, contain proteins to grow and live. Might sound boring, but believe me, many delicious meals await the newby vegan!

p.s. Oh, and as for iron, dried beans and dark leafy vegetables are quite high in iron, and many surveys show that iron deficiency is no more prevalent among vegans than in the general population.

Full time label reader

Sometimes it feels like being a vegan is a full time job. Ok, maybe not, but if I added up the time I spent reading labels this past year, I'd quit halfway through and go do something way more interesting. However, I feel it's easy enough to control what I buy and eat at home but it's always a bit of a gamble when I go out to eat. Last week I just found out that some restaurants put yogurt in their hummus. I was most displeased. How much leeway do you fellow vegans allow when dining out? Will you take certain items at face value and others not?

THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it.

Last week, Gary Francione made a podcast describing his new campaign for veganism for the new year (scroll down to the bottom of the page for a link to his podcast, "The Abolitionist Approach Commentary"). The message was simple: The world is vegan, if you want it. He adapted it from John Lennon's campaign for peace during the Vietnam war, similarly titled, "The war is over, if you want it." What an empowering statement. I think this is a perfect message to be sending to the vegan (and nonvegan) community, especially now that ethical veganism has begun gaining momentum in the states this past year. I think many people refuse to closely examine the issue of animal rights because they feel there is nothing they can do to change the system, let alone their own daily habits. This kind of thinking is not only disempowering, but it's downright untrue. Perhaps this lie is one that's been fed to us over the years, or one we tell ourselves to disuage a gnawing fear that we are not, perhaps, as innocent as we once thought. But we all have the power to choose what we put in our mouths and wear on our bodies. Despite common assumption, the power to decide the fate of animals lays not in the hands of the meat, egg and dairy corporations; it is with the consumer buying their products.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
-Gandhi

Perfect vegan pancakes

I must be some kind of moron if I can't even manage to make decent pancakes that don't fall apart on the stove. I'm still trying to get the knack of vegan baking; everything tastes good, but the pitfall is texture. For these, I adapted a recipe I found online. It's taken me about 5 batches to get them just right, but I finally did and thought I'd share it in case anyone needs a good recipe for pancakes that works.

1 cup+ flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup non-dairy milk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (or melted margarine, if you like)
2 Tbsp sugar

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add milk and oil and stir until blended. The + in front of the flour is there because you may have to add a bit more flour if it seems too runny. I've found that the key to perfectly textured pancakes is all in the consistency of the batter; it should be relatively stiff, but thin enough to drip slowly off a spoon. Another tip: a non-stick pan is invaluable here. And of course, feel free to add any kind of fruit, spices, nuts, chocolate chips, etc...that you like. But there's the basics to get you started. Happy baking!

Check those labels, guys...

While staying in a hotel over Thanksgiving, I was making a cup of coffee one morning. I should preface this by saying that a vegan thanksgiving in Holland, Michigan is not at all an easy task. If I hadn't brought most of my own food it would have been a disaster. It was almost unbelievingly hard to find vegan margarine- not one brand, besides earth balance, was dairy free- and I had to go to multiple stores to find what I needed. So, I guess I was in dairy country up there. However, even I was surprised when I opened up the little coffee kit in my room. I was happy to see that they included "Non-dairy creamer" because I don't usually enjoy black coffee. However, being the everlasting compulsive label reader that I am, I flipped over the packet and scanned the ingredient list. There, at the bottom, were these little words: 'Contains milk'. Cheeky bastard. I like my coffee black, anyway.

Thank you, Mr. Steiner!

Upon opening my copy of the New York Times today, I leisurely browsed through it before reaching the Opinion page. I took a bite of my toast and glanced down at the first paragraph. It started like this: "Lately more people have begun to express an interest in where the meat they eat comes from and how it was raised. Were the animals humanely treated? Did they have a good quality of life before the death that turned them into someone's dinner? Some of these questions, which reach a fever pitch in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, pertain to the ways in which animals are treated. (Did your turkey get to live outdoors?) Others focus on the question of how eating the animals in question will affect the consumer's health and well-being. (Was it given hormones and antibiotics?)" Oh great, I thought. Just what we need, another plug for happy meat. I read more: "None of these questions, however, make any consideration of whether it is wrong to kill animals for human consumption." TADA!! And with that he sets the tone for the rest of the article. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. FINALLY, the Times has the guts to print something in favor of ethical veganism; he was not a conscientious omnivore, or a flexitarian, or a flexi-vegan, but a flesh and blood vegan! If you haven't already, I highly recommend you go on the Time's website and read the entire article. It encompasses everything that ethical veganism stands for. And it's something I never thought I'd see in popular media for a long, long time. The author, Gary Steiner, philosophy teacher at Bucknell University, has written several books on the topics of animal rights, and is also my new hero. : )
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/opinion/22steiner.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1258913803-iaUyNWQ5fjNvnK8vhiAiVw