Living Without Meat

Very Good Taste is the name of a blog about eating and drinking. Recently, they posted The Omnivore’s Hundred, a list of 100 things foodstuffs that every omnivore should try in their lifetime. Of course the list is replete with cruelty, including foie gras, venison, sea urchin, milk products, and more. The blogger is asking other bloggers to repost the list, denoting which ones they have tried and which ones they will never try. Instead, I am creating my own list: The Vegan’s Hundred. And it is for everyone, not just vegans.

These are the foods that I think everyone should try at least once. And, of course, even if it’s not specifically mentioned, I mean “a vegan version” where the item is normally made with eggs or milk or such. The last five are empty for now - I will fill them in with your suggestions as to what I forgot!

1. Quinoa
2. Bakery-made vegan cupcakes
3. Homemade vegan cookies
4. Humus
5. PB&J
6. Seitan meat
7. Coconut milk
8. Well-prepared tofu
9. Tofu smoothie
10. Fresh avocado
11. Spinach – raw and cooked
12. Wheatgrass juice
13. Fresh juice from a juicer
14. Strawberries
15. Oolong tea
16. Tomato pie
17. Rice and beans
18. Fig
19. Hemp milk
20. Truffles
21. Collard greens
22. Banana french toast
23. Trail mix – your personal mix
24. Sweet potato fries
25. Blended white beans
26. Portabello sandwich
27. Freshly baked bread
28. Sprouted bread
29. Stuffed mushrooms
30. Gazpacho
31. Angel hair pasta
32. Seaweed
33. Gnocchi
34. Peanut butter and banana
35. Pomegranate
36. Pomegranate juice
37. Vegan ribs
38. Grilled corn
39. Veggie burger that’s never been frozen
40. Lentils
41. Cashews
42. Tempeh
43. Wasabi soybeans or peas
44. Sushi roll
45. Toasted pumpkin seeds
46. Kale
47. Properly cooked asparagus
48. Beets
49. Beet greens
50. Dark chocolate
51. Blueberry juice
52. Wasabi mashed potatoes
53. Mashed cauliflower
54. Pez
55. Take-out Chinese food
56. Eggplant
57. Grilled cheese
58. Something you grew yourself
59. Sundried tomatoes
60. Roasted red pepper
61. Filled crepe
62. Brussels sprouts
63. Couscous
64. Edamame
65. Tempura vegetables
66. Acorn squash
67. Spaghetti squash
68. Crock pot stew
69. Soft pretzel
70. Nut butter other than peanut
71. Fresh-picked berries
72. Rita’s water ice
73. Bok choy
74. Swiss chard
75. Baked pear
76. Bruschetta
77. Sorbet
78. Tabbouleh
79. Anything served in a bread bowl
80. Spinach nuggets
81. Vegan Gourment cheese, mozzarella flavor
82. Artichoke – not just the heart
83. Properly prepared broccoli rabe
84. Blackberries
85. Every kind of apple
86. Good jelly beans
87. Macadamia nut
88. Mango
89. Real vanilla
90. Fresh pineapple
91. Rice ice cream
92. Freshly squeezed lemonade
93. Guacamole
94. Carob chips
95. Freshly roasted and ground coffee
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.

Ellen Degeneres and Portis de Rossi are one of Hollywood’s longest lasting relationships. Over the weekend of August 15-16, the two wed in Los Angeles, after recent laws have made same-sex marriages legal in the state of California. Ellen is not a vegetarian. Neither is Portia. Their recent wedding, however, was completely vegan.

Ellen has made animal rights headlines a lot this past year. First, she gave away her recently adopted puppy to friends because he was not working out with her current pets, and the SPCA was not happy. Then she bought her own dog food company. And after Oprah’s own heart, she featured two vegan authors. (Read about several of these and more on Ecorazzi).

Now this. A vegan dinner for every guest, followed by a gorgeous vegan cake. The food was prepared by their personal chef David Silberkleit, and Sweet Lady Jane created the vegan red velvet cake. Ellen and Portia were featured on the August 22 issue of People magazine, in which you can read all about their special day.

Usually when I eat wasabi covered soybeans or peas, I sprinkle them over a salad or incorporate them into a homemade trail mix. But the past few days they have made their way into my diet as a solo snack.

Eating wasabi soybeans with nothing else (except a lot of water), I have seen some weird side effects that I can’t figure out. About 20 minutes after I have a handful or so, I feel drugged. The computer screen starts to waver, I get flushed to the point that I feel like I might pass out, and my vision is wonky.

I can’t find anything online about anyone having this kind of reaction, but it’s clear that wasabi soybeans are a drug to me. Perhaps it’s just a reaction to the heat, but other spicy food don’t seem to bother me. Is it the soybeans, even though I’m fine with other soy products?

Has anyone else noticed or heard of anything like this happening?

Today at work, I am editing a TV Guide Word-Find book. I never would have guessed that I would learn so much about how TV shows are connected to animal rights and veganism by creating puzzles.

* Stefanie Powers, the actress that played Jennifer Hart on the 1979 to 1984 series Hart to Hart is also a hard-working wildlife preservation activist. She is president of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation, becoming so after the namesake (with whom she had a relationship) passed away in 1981. Powers is also director of the Foundation’s Mount Kenya Game Ranch, a consultant for the Cincinnati and Atlanta zoos, and an internationally known speaker on conservation.

* I’ve never watched an episode of Survivor. Though I could have guessed that they have had graphic violence against animals, I wasn’t sure until today. Apparently, the reality-game show had similar troubles with animal-rights groups as Kid Nation did. During season 9, Survivor: Vanuatu, the women’s tribe Yasur was shown killing a live chicken with a fashioned spearhead, and then cooking the chicken’s eggs, too. Earlier, during season 2 Survivor: The Australian Outback, the Kucha tribe was shown hunting and killing a wild pig.

* Although I did watch the occasional Gilmore Girls, I was apparently missing the vegan undertones. Lane Kim and her mother, Mrs. Kim, were dedicated vegans. Produce delivery man Jackson was adamant about organic, pesticide-free food. And, of course, let’s not forget that Hottie McSuperHot (who also goes by Jared Padalecki) played Rory’s boyfriend Dean on the show, and is a real-life advocate for animals, having posed for the anti-fur PETA ad shown here.

I love my weight-lifting work-out teacher, Gina. At first, I was unsure how I would feel about having her as an instructor because she has the same name as my sister, making it weird to call her by name. But soon, after testing out all the different leaders that teach at my community center, I learned that her style was closest to mine.

There was a drill sergeant that yelled at me on my first day back to exercising after a year off. She was too mean. Then there was the soft spoken one that wanted everyone to have the best experience of their life during her class. She was too nice (a little butt kicking is needed to get me into shape).

And that’s when I met Gina. She is just right. She encouragingly pushes me, and leaves it to me to decide where my limits lie. This week she managed to make me like her even more: she said breathing works my abs. Unlike my doctor, who said that walking didn’t count as exercise, Gina is all for the little things that we can do during the day. She’s on my wavelength.

So, if you are looking to start taking an exercise class, know that it is just as important to enjoy the instructor as it is the format.

***

To work your abs through deep breathing, no matter where you are, sit up straight and take a deep breath in through your nose. Blow out through your mouth and feel your abs contracting to help squeeze the air out. Just be sure the breaths are deep so that you don’t get light headed and faint!

Rocket Dog shoes are my feet’s main love. They are easy to find, often on sale, cute, and comfy … and, oh yea, they are almost always vegan. But now I think the impossible just happened: I love them more today than yesterday.

On Rocket Dog’s Web site you browse the shoes by category: flats, boots, Mary Janes, hot trends, … VEGAN!! I love you, Rocket Dog. No more tediously reading labels, I just click on “vegan” and shop!

There’s a common issue faced by nearly every new vegetarian. Worldwide, people changing their diet to a meat-free one are seeing the same thing happen. I experienced it a few years back when I ditched the animal products in my life. My newly vegetarian friend is now having it happen to her, too.

There’s no use in denying that there are side effects to becoming a vegetarian. It may not be noticable at first; it may take a few weeks before the symptoms are clear. But then it happens: one day you realize that you can now pull your pants up and down without undoing any buttons, zippers, snaps, or hooks. They just slide up and down.

It’s a symptom of leading a veggie life that we must come to accept. If you, too, are having symptoms like these, fear not, there is hope. Simply tighten your belt a notch or two. Or, if drastic measures are necessary, go shopping for some new, smaller pants.

Pants not fitting: it’s just something new vegetarians must learn to live with.

There a little coffee house downtown where I live - Crossroads Cafe - that is vegan friendly. On their listing of soups, you’ll find “Three Bean Vegan Chili.” They have soy milk. One time, they even made me a panini-style sandwich with soy cheese and fake turkey meat (though I am pretty sure that they were using a worker’s lunch stash for this).

When I saw that they had added smoothies to their menu, I was excited as I knew they were probably vegan or ready and able to make it such.

Me: Does the mango smoothie have milk in it?

Cute Coffee Boy: Nope. Just fruit, ice, and tea.

Tea! What a wonderful - and amazingly delicious - idea for the liquid in a blended drink. It was so refreshing. This morning, I tried my own blend (based off of what I had in the apartment): Honest Tea’s Mango Iced Tea, natural juice from a jar of mandarin oranges with no added sugar or syrup, fresh blueberries, and frozen mixed fruit (strawberries, melons, tropical fruits).

I am now officially in love with adding iced tea to smoothies. Try it - just make sure that it is *iced* tea as I literally blew the lid off of the blender trying to blend warm coffee with ice and soy milk!

If you are Stella McCartney, and you are an animal rights activist who is outspoken about making only vegan clothes, where is the last place that you would expect to see your designs pop up?

If you said an advertisement for a fur boutique that you are correct!

Hockley Furs got their hands on some lingerie that Stella lent to a stylist for purposes not related to the ad, and draped a model wearing McCartney’s bra and panties in a full-length fur coat. Stella saw the ad and, understandably, flipped, demanding the boutique immediately take down the ad and not use it anymore. An apology was immediately issued.

But now there’s more controversy than just the fur ad: apparently, the bra in question has silk in it, which is definitely not vegan.

Oh the irony. Oh for the love of self-righteous people judging Stella. Oh just decide for yourself … read about the silk bra and read about Stella’s reaction to the fur.

False. Vegetarians are just more productive with their free time and thus never cause people to shake their heads and mutter “where does he get the time?…”

That being said …

Someone (presumably a meat eater or two) made letters out of packaged ground beef and turned it into a font for computer programming.

Yup, you read that correctly. They hand formed each letter of the alphabet, and the numbers 0 through 9 (see the example “A” and “B” here; click on the picture to see the whole collection), photographed them, and converted them into a usable font. This sheer waste of time and meat was put together by the hands of Value Pack. Congratulations on time well spent, Value Pack!

This is all just one more piece of evidence toward the argument that people with higher I.Q.s prefer a vegetarian lifestyle. (As in it would take a low I.Q. to do this … as in, I’m calling you not smart, meat-font makers.)

Don’t make me go into specifics, because there is nothing that I hate more than talking about the bathroom, but here are a few natural, healthy ways that I have found to be helpful in, well, emptying your body and leaving you feeling cleansed.

1. Bend over backwards. Stretching should be a part of everyone’s routine; it helps keep your body young and working. But there is something about extending your stomach as far as it can stretch that helps move things along. If you have a pilates ball (large, inflated exercise ball) - which you should because it relieves all kinds of pains and lends to endless workout possibilities - lie on it, face up. Roll back and forth, enjoying the back stretch. In the morning, you’ll be good to go. If you don’t have a ball, you can gently flop in a similar fashion over the arm of the couch or the edge of your bed.

2. Listen to Rory and Kim. One point that really sticks with me from Skinny Bitch is their breakfast recommendation. Fruit is digested quickly, and if you eat it with other food it sits in your stomach and can start to rot. When you wake up, have some fruit of any kind, and eat nothing else for half an hour.

3. Practice the art of fiber. If you ensure that your diet contains fiber on a regular basis by eating a diverse diet including whole wheat goods, plums, tomatoes, potatoes with their skin on, celery, etc., then you will never have to subject yourself to horse-sized fiber pills or gritty drinks. If you need an extra fiber boost, try adding flaxseed powder (buy flaxseeds and grind them in a coffee grinder) or oil to your smoothies, muffins, stir-fries, and more. If you juice, use the scraps in baked goods, smoothies, or as a snack. Add oil, raisins, and spices to carrot juice remains for a yummy carrot slaw.

There are certain movies and books that animal lovers should be warned against. Even as a child, I held grudges against films that surprised me with an animal death or hardship. I hated The Neverending Story solely because of the scene where the horse gets stuck in quicksand and left to die. Benji, the feature film and a book on tape episode, gave me nightmares about kidnapping. I couldn’t take The Incredible Journey even though I knew the pets made it home - the filmmakers threw a cat in the water!

I was disgusted with these movies enough so that they have stuck with me through the years. Recently, I have watched a few more such movies, and read one such book, that I wish somebody had warned me against. So if you care for animals, don’t buy into these:

* Eight Below: I’m not sure what kind of craziness got into me when i decided to watch this movie. It had so many strikes against it - Paul Walker is not a good actor; Disney thrives on heart-breaking scenes; and it’s a true story. “Surely, though, it’s a tale of survival,” I told myself. After the first dog died and another one became depressed and separated from the group, I turned it off.

* Gorillas in the Mist: Netflix recommended it to me. I apparently didn’t read the description, but rather just assumed that it was based on Jane Goodall. Wow, I was wrong. This film tells the life story of Dian Fossey, who did wonderful things that helped save gorillas from extinction. However, I did not need to see poachers in action, chopping off heads and hands, dangling babys, and leaving bloody messes of the gorillas that had names, distinct personalities, and lead roles. Furthermore, Dian was not a very likable person: she became so connected to the apes that she could not interact with humans … and then she’s murdered in her sleep. End of movie.

* The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst: “Oh,” I thought, “what a cute plot. A murder mystery where only the pet dog was a witness.” Not so at all. The scenes describing the creepy cult of men that mutilated dogs in hopes of giving them ability to speak were so disturbing and vivid. Do not read this book. Ever.

Any others that you would warn me against?

I’ve been rather disappointed with zen sayings on my Yogi Tea bags lately. But this morning, my second cup had a good one:

“Understanding is found through compassion.”

I have been doing unusually well in the money department lately. I don’t make much (we’ll just say under $25,000), and I am not usually good at saving, but I have made an effort to be a conscious consumer. I have not been buying things unless they are something that I have thought long and hard about.

I am not buying new clothes - in fact, I got rid of a garbage bag full. I am not buying any more yarn until I attack some of the mass quantities already hoarded in my apartment. I contemplated buying a bread machine, but my mom had one in good shape in her closet! I received my stimulus check and deposited directly into my savings - not checking - account.

In my time wealth, I have made a point of sharing. I had not made a donation to Farm Sanctuary in awhile, so I sent them a small amount to help with the post-flood pig rescue. I gave an extra bit to Children International this month, as it is Mabelyn’s, my sponsor child, birthday. And I sent a check to the Humane Society (HSUS) for the first time because I love their envelopes!

When the HSUS sends a request for donation, they include with it an envelope for you to return your check in. On the outside of the blue envelope, is a blurb called “5 Ways to Help Farm Animals.” Being rich for the moment, I sent it back, check included, with hopes that a mailperson or two will read it.

Here’s what a HSUS return envelope says:

5 WAYS TO HELP ANIMALS

The Humane Society of the United States, in its constant battle to help farm animals, encourages all its members to take the following actions to help reduce their suffering.

1. Reducing our consumption of animal products makes a significant difference. If every American were to cut back on animal consumption by only 50%, approximately five billion animals each year would be spared a lifetime of suffering.

2. Refining our diets by choosing organic or cage- and crate-free animal products — instead of the conventional factory farm products that fill most supermarket shelves — will help animals and send a clear message that the most horrific cruelties are too tough for any compassionate consumer to swallow.

3. Replacing animal products with readily available vegetarian alternatives is a delicious and caring way to help animals.

4. Learning more about the meat, egg, and dairy industries and how our dietary choices can impact animals gives us the power to truly vote for compassion with our forks. Visit www.HumaneEating.org for more information.

5. Get involved with our many campaigns to help farm animals! Visit www.hsus.org/farm to find out how.