The Veg Blog

(This is a guest post by my good friend Katherine. Her post shows that we still have a long way to go in changing how the world thinks about animals.)

Our oldest child, Emma Kate, is in kindergarten this year. Today we were invited to the “Kindergarten Pow-Wow.” I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew they had been practicing songs and parents had been asked to provide food for the children to eat. The children filed into the cafeteria, took their seats on the floor, and began to sing a variety of Thanksgiving-related songs. The first offering was a sweet melody about being thankful for stars and trees, but it wasn’t long before the subject matter turned to turkeys. Even though Emma Kate attended preschool for several years, these turkey songs had not made it onto my radar. I’ve been a vegetarian for a little over two and a half years, and as the songs progressed, I became more and more uncomfortable. Here are the words to one of the songs they sang:

(to the tune of Frere Jacque)

Mr. Turkey, Mr. Turkey
Run away, run away
If you are not careful
You will be a mouthful
Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving Day

All of a sudden I was struck by how utterly one-sided the Thanksgiving curriculum must have been, and on a larger scale, how our children are indoctrinated to eat meat and dissociate from it by making fun of the animals. As if poor Mr. Turkey has a choice! In fact, the lyrics to this song go beyond teasing the turkey to blaming him for his own plight.

Proof of this indoctrination came when the singing portion of the program ended. As the children ate their pow-wow meal (which was interestingly vegan except for the Rice Krispie treats), a slide show played with slides containing “recipes” for a Thanksgiving dish provided verbatim by the children. This was a cute idea, but many of the children chose turkey for their recipe, and more than I would have expected mentioned killing the turkey as the first step. I was surprised to see that at 5 years old, quite a few of these kids had no qualms about taking a life for their Thanksgiving dinner.

Emma Kate considers herself a vegetarian, but she’ll be the first to tell you that she loves bacon (and I don’t mean tempeh bacon). Since I stopped eating meat, I have been honest with her about the origins of her food, but have told her that what she eats is up to her (her 18 month old brother, however, is being raised vegetarian – and dad is a carnivore – we’re a bit of a mixed up family). At the beginning of tonight’s dinner, after hearing Emma Kate belt out the Mr. Turkey song once more, I asked her what she thought about the song. She answered that it was about a turkey, and I probed a little further. Once she could see what I was thinking, she jumped pretty quickly into agreeing with whatever I said. She tends to do this whenever vegetarianism is discussed, so it’s hard to figure out her truest thoughts. However, at the end of our discussion, I was saying that I thought the turkey wanted to stay alive, and that it sometimes hurts to die, and she said, “Yeah, the turkey has to suffer.” Who knows what will come of this? Part of me is rooting for her to go to school tomorrow and inform the teacher or a classmate that she feels sorry for the turkeys. Part of me hopes she mulls it over, makes some connections and eventually decides to forgo bacon. I hope at the very least, she will be able to think a bit more critically of similar songs in the future.

Unfortuately, based on what I saw today, I doubt there were similar conversations around the dinner tables of Emma Kate’s schoolmates tonight. I now understand that if I want my children to be exposed to different points of view, I need to make these conversations a priority. I’m glad to have this awareness for my own family, and the greater awareness of how many opportunities for change remain for our culture, but at the same time, the task seems larger and more difficult than I previously believed. If you think of this scenario going on in thousands of elementary schools across the country this week, that’s a lot of reinforcement of meat-eating as the norm.

Thanksgiving can be a rough time, particularly for new vegans that still celebrate with meat-eating family. It’s not easy sometimes to handle the chides that come with eating differently from everyone else at the table. And, especially the first time, it can be hard to resist the comfort food we remember from our childhood. There’s been a lot written about how to do a vegan Thanksgiving, but hey, there can always be a little more, right?

So, here are some ways to help get you through the holiday season stuffed and happy.

Get to cooking!

Whether you’re spending a quiet Thanksgiving at home or braving an evening of stupid questions and taunts from 20 family members, there are some great resources online to help you get cooking and make sure that you not only have something to eat, but something to wow the rest of the family as well.

I got a peek at Nava Atlas’ significantly updated version of A Bountiful Vegan Thanksgiving e-book and it’s mighty impressive. It features 65 recipes in all, including Nava’s own as well as contributions from all your favorite veg cookbook authors and bloggers (among them: Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Dreena Burton, Jill Nussinow, and Bryanna Clark Grogan). The e-book sells for $8.95 and all profits go to “humanitarian charities concerned with hunger, microfinancing for women in developing countries, and the alleviation of human trafficking.”

Then, over at Vegan.com, there’s a guest post from Robin Robertson (author of many cookbooks, including the new and massive 1,000 Vegan Recipes). A full Thanksgiving menu is presented. The Triple Cranberry Relish and Ginger-Dusted Pumpkin Cheezecake sound mighty good. (Last year’s guest post is also still available.)

Go to a real Thanksgiving…

And by that, I mean a celebration that doesn’t involve killing turkeys. Why not hang out with some turkeys instead? Sanctuaries around the country have vegan Thanksgiving get-togethers. The one at Poplar Spring is my favorite event of the year — imagine a vegan potluck with 300 people bringing dishes. Hot damn.

Below is a sampling of sanctuaries and their Thanksgiving events.

• Colorado – Peaceful Prairie’s Living at Thanksgiving (sold out)
• Maryland – Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary’s Thanksgiving for the Turkeys (November 21)
• Maryland – Thanksgiving Vigil for Turkeys (November 20, leafleting event)
• Montana – New Dawn Montana monthly potluck (every second Saturday)
• New York/California – Thanksgiving Celebration FOR the Turkeys (November 21)
• New York – Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary ThanksLiving 2009 (passed – catch it next year!)
• New York – Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary’s Celebration for the Turkeys (November 22)
• New York City – Thanksgiving Celebration FOR the Turkeys (November 22)
• Oregon – Lighthouse Farm Sacntuary’s Gentle Thanksgiving (November 21)
• Utah – Ching Farm Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner (passed – catch it next year!)

Vegetarian and Vegan organizations also tend to do Thanksgiving meals on or around Thanksgiving, so check in with your local groups to see if there’s any thing to get involved in.

Read Things

This is a good time of year to dig into More than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality by UPC’s Karen Davis (here’s a Google Books version). The level of detail is impressive — you’ll learn something. Trust me.

Feel free to share your favorite vegan Thanksgiving events, recipes, or books.

You may have noticed I’ve been a bit absent as of late. Yeah, um… sorry about that.

In addition to a heavy workload at my day job, a brief vacation (which will be the topic of an article or post somewhere along the way), and preparing for our daughter’s first birthday party, it’s been a hectic time around these parts. Thankfully, things are a little lighter now and I may finally start catching up on things.

So, the birthday party. I won’t go into too much detail about the party itself, but it was a houseful of adults and one-year-olds, culminating in that wonderful mayhem known as a toddler’s first birthday. My wife and I spent the day before prepping and I’m pretty sure that one of us was in the kitchen for most of the entire day. I was a bit curious as to what the reaction would be to the food since it was all vegan and none of the party’s attendees were vegan or even vegetarian (there were a few pescos, though). We didn’t label the food as vegan except for one reference to “v. cream cheese” and I’m happy to report that the response was simply awesome. Everyone loved the food, top to bottom. One friend whose known me long enough to expect vegan food when they come to our house commented that though he “won’t be giving up [his] omni ways, can definitely say that vegan desserts kick ass.” Nice!

For those of you that are interested, here’s a rundown of what we served (we made it all, except where noted):

Snacks/light fare:

• Tomato Potato Salad from the new Don’t Eat Off the Sidewalk zine
• Fresh peach, corn, and pineapple salsa
• Roasted red pepper hummus
• White bean hummus (from The Vegetarian Family Cookbook)
• Fresh spring rolls (aka garden rolls) with a peanut dipping sauce (from Xuan Saigon restaurant)
• Fried spring rolls (from Xuan Saigon restaurant)
• Lotus stuffed with seasoned rice (prepared by Huyen’s former co-worker Joyce)
• Cream cheese, cucumber, and tomato rolls with fresh basil
• Cold spaghetti salad

Dessert:

• Salt water taffy (picked up during our vacation at the Jersey shore)
• Mint Madness chocolate cake from Sinfully Vegan with mint buttercream frosting from Vegan Cupcakes… (adapted from the plain buttercream frosting recipe)
• Lychee cupcakes with coconut glaze from Vegan Cupcakes…
• Golden Vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting (I made them “extra golden” but went overboard and made them orange, so they became the “Abnormally orange vanilla cupcakes”)… these were made in regular size and mini size for the kids.

Not a bad lineup, if I do say so! I’ve also got to say that my wife did an amazing job prepping all that she did. I don’t quite know how she made the time to do so while also watching the kiddo.

(If you’re one of those “I want to see pictures!” people, keep an eye on my flickr stream. I’ll get around to posting pictures soon.)

(Before I go any further, yes, that title is dripping with sarcasm.)

Today I attended a work-sponsored lunch at a nearby resort/conference center.  While there was plenty of non-vegan stuff served as part of the buffet, there was enough food there for me to easily fill a plate and feel satisfied.  Sure, it was mainly from the “salad” food group, but it was fine.

During lunch, the topic of liverwurst somehow came up at my table.  One co-worker asked me, “Would you ever eat it?”  I responded, “Now?  Hell no.”  Another co-worker asked me, “Why?” and I attempted a slight bit of humor in my reply, “Because I don’t eat meat, and that’s a pretty big barrier to trying out liverwurst.”  What followed felt like it came from the Totally Not Vegan sketchbook:

Co-worker: Do you eat fish?

Me: Nope.  No meat.

Co-worker: (slight look of surprise)

Me: No dairy or eggs, either.

Co-worker: (utterly shocked, shaking head)  I couldn’t live like that.

At that point, I stood up and said, “Yes, yes… it is true.  I have chosen to deprive myself of all that we as Americans hold dear!  I’ve taken it upon myself to sacrifice all my wants and desires for animal flesh and secretions for the betterment of the world!  Oh!  Woe is me, for I am wasting away in a state of constant hunger and deprivation!  How will I ever survive?”  And I followed that with a dramatic bow.

Of course that last paragraph was a total lie, but really, isn’t that what we all feel like saying when you get a line like that?  You say “I couldn’t live like that!” to someone who’s living in squalor with cat feces piled on top of decade-old newspapers.  You don’t say it to someone who simply chooses not to consume animal products (including cat feces piled on top of decade-old newspapers).

Veganism isn’t about deprivation.  It’s not about sacrifice.  It’s about doing what you know to be right and living your life in a way that is ethically consistent with your beliefs.  Period.  I can honestly say I’ve never felt deprived.  Why?  Because I’m not trying to lose weight here, I’m just trying to do what’s right.

Hi there! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season without too many “I could be a vegan… except for cheese”-type conversations.

For Christmas, the family converged on my parents house for three days filled with family visits, cooking, and other assorted holiday mayhem. The “food situation” wasn’t too bad… my mom’s nearly vegetarian and always makes sure there’s something vegan for me. She and my dad have even taken to preparing certain things vegan only rather than having two versions available (Christmas cookies, mashed potatoes, etc.), which is nice, because people simply don’t notice unless you tell them.

Other family continued to be a bit baffled by my veganism (c’mon, folks, I’ve been veggie for over six years now!), but at least it allowed for some decent conversation and education on the subject. One relative surprised me by trying a piece of my tofu cheesecake and enjoying it and I had to break down the “free range myth” for another. Another made me laugh a little bit when she told me, “Since you’re vegan, I made the fish with fake bacon bits instead of bacon,” to which I paused and replied, “Yes… but there’s still the fish…” She laughed and realized her mistake pretty quickly after that.

My sister gave Rasine the very cool Tofu Bear, a soft little teddy bear made out of “soy silk,” a “a cutting edge fiber made from the waste produced during the manufacture of tofu.” Replace “fiber” with “product” and “tofu” with “meat” and you’d be talking about leather! Does this mean that meat eaters that eschew tofu will have to say they don’t support soy silk because it “still supports The Industry”?

My cousin and I also chatted about Big Antifreeze and how they’re suckers for not using taste-aversive additives to deter dogs and cats from ingesting it (though, interestingly, the ASPCA is “neutral” on the subject).

Food I made for the holidays that turned out well: a yellow split-pea soup from a Polish cookbook, the very Toll House-ish cookies from Don’t Feed the Bears, Dreena’s Sublime Chocolate Bark, and chocolate chip tofu cheesecake from the Chicago Diner cookbook.

Any good hoilday stories to share as we kick off this new year?

Today I went out to lunch with a group of people from work, something I generally don’t do since I’m not terribly close socially with many people I work with, plus I’m pretty introverted. In any event, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant nearby. I was the only one that had eaten there before so they asked me what was good. I told them, “Well, obviously I only have experience with the last two pages of the menu (the vegetarian dishes), but they’ve all be good so far.” Everyone except for one person took a quick glance at the back of the menu and then returned looking through the regular meat dishes.

I was pleased, though, that the one person saw a soup from that page that he thought looked good and ordered it. I asked him afterwards what he thought about it and he said he enjoyed it. I told him, “It makes me happy when non-vegetarians try something with tofu, something outside of their comfort zone.”

He told me that he had never had tofu before. “Were those the fried white chunks?” he asked. I told him they were and explained about how the fried tofu in soups usually just have the flavor in the crust whereas you can also marinate tofu to infuse flavor into it. He seemed interested.

It just impressed me that someone who had never had tofu didn’t shy away from the dish just because there was something unfamiliar in it. It’s one of those small things that makes me realize that not everyone else in the world requires meat at every meal they eat.

I hope you all had/are having a wonderful holiday.

Christmas weekend went relatively well for us, though this was the first time in a while that “the food thing” has been an issue. This part of the family is about as far from vegan as possible, which made things a little tricky. Not really in terms of what we had to eat–we made our own meals–but in terms of having to deal with the questions and comments we’ve all heard a thousand times before. One family member in particular seemed particularly challenged by my mere presence, annoyed that I wanted to make my own curry because she was using dairy-based margarine and milk. She did buy vegetable broth in anticipation of my arrival, though, which was thoughtful, and made preparing my sauce alongside hers easier.

I also found myself challenged with the “But the cow’s need to be milked! It hurts if they’re not!” line as well as the “Plants feel pain” bit. I wonder sometimes if people really believe these things or are just repeating what they’ve heard. I can only be thankful that the honey issue didn’t come up.

In case you’re wondering how I handle these situations, I don’t let them escalate. Holidays with family are not the time to be spreading The Word. So, to the cows-need-to-be-milked comment my reply was, “Well, we won’t get into that right now” and I ignored the plants feel pain comment altogether. If I feel like the person might actually be receptive to the message or is genuinely interested in talking about it, I’ll add, “I’d be happy to talk with you about that later, when we’re not eating,” but in this case, I think it was more of a challenge than any interest in finding out why dairy’s worth avoiding.

After having not eaten or prepared meat for this long, the sights, smells, and discussion of meat are really starting to make me feel uneasy. Early on, it didn’t bother me too much because I wasn’t that far removed from it, but like they say, once you find out what goes into producing the roast on the platter, you can’t unlearn it. I end up thinking about the animals I see each week at the farm and making that very uncomfortable connection with the slab of flesh sitting out on the table.

Thankfully, to most members of the family, my veganism has stopped becoming a topic of conversation at every meal we share. It’s something they’ve gotten used to and doesn’t need to be discussed too much. As a nice byproduct, many of the family members that were most confused about the idea of avoiding meat have begun to understand the reasons behind it and have even made pleasant comments about how they “admire” the act. It’s a step in the right direction.

If you’ve read this far, the least I can do is tell you about the good food my wife and I had. One night, we joined the rest of the family for a curry dish. Our curry sauce was a makeshift concoction I put together based on the non-vegan version in the pan next to mine. We had plenty of veggies and fried tofu in ours and it was absolutely delicious. I had leftovers for lunch just a few minutes ago.

For Christmas night dinner, I made a veggie pot pie recipe from Robin Robertson‘s Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook. We used lightly seasoned and fried seitan in place of the tofu, but otherwise followed the recipes for the pot pie and gravy as-is. The end result was spectacular. I have bad luck with crusts-from-scratch, but this one was very easy to make and came out nice and flaky. Just about everyone at dinner tried some of the pot pie and it went over really well. My brother-in-law’s girlfriend even asked for seconds, which is always nice since it’s hard to tell how seitan will sit with meat eaters.

Navigating the holidays can be a little troublesome, but you’ll always feel better afterwards if you stick to your guns while still playing the polite card. Like Bob and Jenna say in Vegan Freak (and I’m paraphrasing here), you’ll be best off if you find that halfway point between timidity and over-assertiveness.

Over on Vegan Chai, the issue of what new vegans should do with old leather shoes is addressed. This is one of those topics that seems to come up a lot, including in the new Vegan Freak book, so I figured I’d chime in.

Even before I made the full transition to veganism, I decided to start to phase out my use of leather and other animal products. That said, I was still wearing shoes with leather in them a few months after I was vegan. I had made the vow to myself that, “I’ll continue to use my animal products until they’ve worn out their welcome and then I’ll replace them with an animal-friendly product.” The thing is, around my house, shoes can end up lasting forever. Just last weekend I went to the beach and couldn’t find my flip-flops (which is OK, because I don’t really like wearing them) so I grabbed a pair of old sneakers from the basement that date back to at least college. My “lawn-mowing shoes” are an old pair of sneakers-with-leather and I even wear shoes with leather when I volunteer at the farm. I worry that the cows hate me because of this.

For everyday wear, I sport my wicked cool hemp Superstars (and my matching wallet). I’m representing veganism well now, even if most people don’t take notice. Fortunately, they also didn’t take notice when I was wearing leather for those first few months I was vegan. I lucked out because, as Bob and Jenna point out in their book, defensive people tend to try and find any sort of contradiction when they realize you’re vegan. Most of us are too polite to point out the many contradictions our detractors have in their lives as well.

Everyone has to make the choice that’s right for them. I was comfortable with the notion of explaining to people why I was wearing leather, if they asked. Some people aren’t comfortable being put on the defensive, and for them it’s probably best to donate those old leather goods and get some new stuff right away. There’s also the school of thought that says, “If you wear leather at all, you’re sending a mixed message to people about veganism.” I think there’s validity to that point, but at the same I think that very few people will even take notice. And if they do, it’s likely they’ll say something and you’ll be able to counter it with a simple explanation.

I guess I should also take a second to address the idea that wearing man-made materials that look like leather, such as pleather, also sends the wrong message to people. After all, the argument goes, shouldn’t we be working to move people away from the entire leather “look”? Probably, but to me this parallels the “why do vegans want to eat things that taste and feel like meat?” question I get all the time. Just because we don’t partake in animal products doesn’t mean we stopped doing so because we didn’t like the way they looked (or tasted or felt). Personally, I’m trying to replace leather items with things that look nothing like leather, but that’s just because I’m not a leather type of guy. I have no problem with the pushing of pleather (though I do think we need to take a closer look at the environmental affect of pleather versus other alternatives).

I’d venture to say that if there’s one thing that all vegetarians and vegans have in common, whether they’ve been meatless for six days or six years, is the Helpful Ordering Friend (heretofore, HOF). You know, the person who you’ll go out to lunch with and they’ll try to help you find “something you can eat” before they even consider their own food. And it’s not always a friend, sometimes it’s a family member.

What’s difficult about this social situation is that the intentions of the HOF are noble and positive: they want to make sure that you, the vegetarian with an oh-so-limited choice of food, has something to eat at the restaurant of choice. It’s a nice gesture and should be appreciated. The thing is, after the tenth time it’s happened, it gets a little annoying.

How does one politely deflect an HOF’s assistance? I usually opt for the simple, “Thanks… I’m sure I can find something.” If they persist, I’ll ask back, “So, what are you going to have? Find anything good?”

To all potential HOFs: thanks for the concern. We appreciate it. We really do. But let us worry about digging through the menu and asking questions of the waiter. We’ll take care of it. Really and truly.

I’ve seen so-called “vegetarian passports” before, which basically have “I’m a vegetarian/vegan” in a number of different languages, so that when traveling to another country, you’re covered. But I’m mighty impressed by this Vegetarian Passport site, which has over 70 languages represented. Clicking through each language takes you to a GIF image (or in some cases, text) with two sections, the first for lacto-ovo vegetarians, the second for vegans. Print it out, take it with you, and it’s highly unlikely that anyone will have any questions about what you do and don’t eat. Here’s the English:

1. I am a vegetarian.

This means: because of my beliefs I don’t eat anything obtained from a killed animal.

So I don’t eat: red meat (including minced meat, all kinds of sausages, etc) fish, shrimps, mussels poultry (including chicken, turkey, duck, or goose) any other meat products

But I do eat: vegetables, potatoes, tomatoes, nuts, mushrooms, rice, fruit, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, corn and corn products, etc. Soups and sauces may be made with vegetable stock, but not with meat or chicken extracts. Frying and baking may be done in vegetable oil, vegetable margarine, or butter, but not in any other animal fat.

2. I am a vegan.

This means: because of my beliefs I don’t eat anything of animal origin.

So I don’t eat: red meat (including minced meat, all kinds of sausages, etc) fish, shrimps, mussels poultry (including chicken, turkey, duck, or goose) any other meat products any dairy product (milk, cheese, butter, yogurt) eggs honey any other product which comes from an animal

But I do eat: vegetables, potatoes, tomatoes, nuts, mushrooms, rice, fruit, corn and corn products, etc. Soups and sauces may be made with vegetable stock, but not with meat or chicken extracts. Frying and baking may be done in vegetable oil or vegetable margarine, but not in butter or any other animal-derived fat.

Looks to me like they have all the bases covered. I may be going back to Vietnam for a few weeks in the coming months, so here’s a note to myself: take the Vietnamese page along in my wallet.

Note that the images displayed on the page may not be the proper dimensions. Load the image individually before printing to make sure it all prints at the right size.

I picked up my special-ordered Tofurky roast from Healthy by Nature. Unfortuantely, I wasn’t very specific when ordering and only got the roast rather than the whole Vegetarian Feast (with drumsticks and Tofurky Jerky wishbones). Healthy by Nature, as I’ve mentioned before, is my favorite health food store in the area. Others I’ve been to have placed special orders and never gotten them in. HbN has a number of friendly employees and is always well-stocked with vegetarian/vegan items as well as organic fruits and vegetables. Plus they’re the only place in the area that carries the mint Tofutti Cuties. :)

It should be an interesting Thanksgiving: this will be our first family Thanksgiving that we’re hosting. I’m the only vegetarian in the bunch, though, so there will still be a turkey on our table, unfortunately.

I also picked up some gravy as well, which I tried last year and really enjoyed.

One thing I’ve heard a lot since I’ve become vegetarian (and which I imagine others have as well) is the question: “Why would a vegetarian, who doesn’t eat meat, want to eat fake meat? There are so many of them in the stores.”

My answer is simple, and one I’m surprised I have to say so frequently. My choice to not eat meat wasn’t because I hated the taste of meat. In fact, I bet that almost every vegetarian liked the taste of meat when they gave it up for either ethical or health reasons. So, just because I don’t eat meat doesn’t mean that I miss the taste of a Big Mac or cheese-stuffed chicken on occasion, so that’s why I appreciate the meat alternatives, for when I’m in the mood for that taste. I’m just glad that products as versatile as the soy bean can be used to create such a close-tasting replica to the “real thing” without any animal suffering involved and with significant health benefits.

I had a close call this weekend: I was offered a bite of a bagel with egg. As I bit in, I noticed something… with my mouth full I mumbled, “What the hell is this?” pointing at bacon that was hiding under the egg. I proceeded to spit my mouthful into the trash.

It was just an honest mistake with no actual intention of trying to “turn me back.” :)