The Choice is Yours

This is part 11 of my research on global food movements entitled
GLOBALIZATION: It's what's for dinner

THE CHOICE IS YOURS: You Are What You Eat


Bringing ethics to consciousness for action is the premise of George Eisman's book, The Most Noble Diet. [59] Eisman identifies six levels of progressively deeper conscious concerns that determine diet selection. The levels, reflected in the food movements presented, are:

1. Hedonism = Eating what you enjoy.
2. Personal health = Eating what you believe is "good" for you.
3. Environment = Eating what the Earth provides without undue disturbance to ecosystems.
4. Politics = Eating (or not eating) as a statement against oppressive actions or policies.
5. Non violence = Eating only what can be obtained without intentional injury or cruelty.
6. Humanity = Eating only what is your "fair share" in this global human community; not demanding extravagances that deprive others of their basic requirements of life.

As one's ethics deepen, one's judgment is deepened so that one's actions move from self-centered to other-centered, from a fast food life of convenience to One Planet Living. Like the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy, “In every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” [60] Upon this the GLAD food movements stand.

As consumers, we have choices. But it will be a shift of our ethics, our values and beliefs about what is "right and wrong," "good and bad," "acceptable and not" that will determine the choices we make and the standard of living we maintain.

"If everyone in the world lived like an average North American, we'd need 5 planets to live on."

In all the books cited in this paper, each author ends with an exhortation to action. Whether it's minimizing your eco-footprint, exercising "buycott" power as you vote with your dollar, choosing organic and local foods, eating meat less, or abstaining from all animal products all together, the bottom line is: the choice is yours.

"Each individual can make a difference in creating a greener world. Every meal choice can move us one step closer to a more sustainable agriculture, and ultimately, healthier lives." [61]

The question is: What are YOU having for dinner?

Final post: CONCLUSION

[59] George Eisman, The Most Noble Diet: Food Selection and Ethics (Burdett, NY: Diet Ethics, 1994), 4.
[60] Fox, 12.
[61] Ibid., 127.

The Ethics In Eating

This is part 10 of my research on global food movements entitled
GLOBALIZATION: It's what's for dinner

WHICH WAY TO GO?: The Ethics In Eating

If a food revolution is to save the planet and improve humanity's chance for survival, bioethics must be introduced and deployed.

According to Fox, bioethics are "the extension of ethical issues and concerns from the immediate human community into the broader biological dimension of our relations with, and duties toward, the biotic community - animals, plants, and the whole of nature. Bioethical principles in food production and consumption are keys to a more sensible and compassionate future." [53]

In his book, Eating With Conscience, Fox provides
four bioethical principles: [54]

1. Ahimsa = Minimizing and avoiding harm or injury to agricultural and natural ecosystems, including wildlife, soil microorganisms, beneficial insects, and birds. (For more information, check out my 6 part series on AHIMSA from 2008.)

2. Biodiversity = Protecting and even enhancing biodiversity of both domestic and non-domestic animals and plants.

3. Transgenerational equity (sustainability) = Securing and improving the environmental quality and productivity of the land for future generations.

4. Symbiotic enhancement = Heightening the life and beauty of the land rather than "destroying what was, a generation or two ago, called the countryside."

"Ethical behavior is one way I can show gratitude for the many blessings in my life and express my spirit of a reverential respect for all of life," Fox writes.

For Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, ethics must extend to food choices. [55] Under his leadership the Church of England issued a report entitled Sharing God's Planet that recommends sustainable consumption and says every Christian has a duty to care for every part of God's creation, with clergy first being the examples by making eco-friendly consumption choices personally and in the parish. [56]

One's beliefs ground one's ethics, which help determine the lifestyle choices which are made. Unfortunately, as Singer and Mason point out, ethical consumption has gone much further in Europe than in the United States. [57]

In Europe, for example, NGOs have campaigned to persuade supermarkets to stock organic, freely traded products, free of GMOs since the 1980s. The authors also note that progress in the area of ethics will be tougher in America than in Britain and Europe because "America's food industry seeks to keep Americans in the dark about the ethical components of their choices." [58] If you can't see, you can't judge so to be able to act ethically.

Next post: (Sorry for any delays.)
Ethics and conscious action

[53] Fox, 12.
[54] Ibid., 145.
[55] Singer and Mason, 6.
[56] Cited in Ibid., 6-7.
[57] Ibid., 5.
[58] Ibid., 7.

Empowering Consumer Choices

This is part 9 of my research on global food movements entitled
GLOBALIZATION: It's what's for dinner

HAVE IT YOUR WAY:
Empowering Consumer Choices

A revolution has begun.

Though the fast food industry has swept the globe changing local economies, industry, and dietary preferences, other food movements from around the world are pushing back. It is a literal fight for the planet and the future of humanity as food production practices of a meat-based Western diet are destroying health and depleting limited resources.

With food conglomerates around the world concerned more about efficiency, profits, and productivity than the welfare of animals and the planet, agricide continues, "in large part due to the fact that most consumers are unaware, uninformed, and disconnected from the land and the sources of their food," writes Fox. [51] Global Living Awareness Diets connect consumers with food and provide options, which empower them to make healthier choices.

While all the food movements presented have historic roots and founded overseas, Americans are beginning to notice. The "Standard American Diet" may one day not be so "standard" anymore as more eyes are opened and begin to really see the global reality that confronts us in this millennium.

A century ago, a group of lay people in Europe, mostly university students, strove to bring the values of justice and assistance for the poor to the attention of society and political life. Called "Catholic Action," the movement was active in Italy, Bavaria, France, and Belgium during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [52] The group developed a 3-step method to empower change: (1) See, (2) Judge, and (3) Act. It is only when you see the true reality and are clear about what is going on that you can then rightly evaluate and judge the situation as a Christian so to determine how you must act.

Though facts, figures, and anecdotes allow people to "see" the realities of our contemporary world, it is ethics that filter how one sees and then determine how one will act. If new choices are to be made and behavior modified, ethics must first be examined and challenged. If a food revolution is to save the planet and improve humanity's chance for survival, bioethics must be introduced and deployed.

According to Fox, bioethics are "the extension of ethical issues and concerns from the immediate human community into the broader biological dimension of our relations with, and duties toward, the biotic community - animals, plants, and the whole of nature. Bioethical principles in food production and consumption are keys to a more sensible and compassionate future." [53] In his book, Eating With Conscience, he provides four bioethical principles.

Next post:
Bioethical principles and the choices we make

[51] Fox, 13.
[52] Information on Catholic Action comes from John Kiesler, "Looking at Global Reality as a Christian" (lecture, Franciscan School of Theology, Berkeley, CA, October 7, 2008) and "Catholic Action," Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Action (accessed December 18, 2008).
[53] Fox, 12.

Don't Get Mad, Get GLAD: Sustainable Food Movements

This is part 6 of my research on global food movements entitled
GLOBALIZATION: It's what's for dinner

Global food movements making a difference:
SUSTAINABLE FOOD MOVEMENTS

The values of the organic farming movement with its commitment to sustainability, smaller farms, and no "additive" crops are reflected in other growing food movements. Farmers' Markets, which introduce primarily local organic growers to the consuming public, grew in the US from 1,755 in 1994 to 4,685 in 2008. [28]

The popularity of the Local Food Movement has also gained attention as the term "locavore" was chosen as the 2007 word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. [29] A locavore is one who purchases foodstuff from within a 100 mile radius of home, which not only supports local businesses, but also reduces pollution and the consumption of fossil fuels as food transport is kept to a minimum.

The formation of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) also reflects this localizing trend as consumers contract with local farmers who agree to regularly deliver their products to them. From the first CSA in 1986, there are now more than 1,300. [30]

Local farming has also renewed interest in heirloom fruits and vegetables as seed and rootstock collections from the "old world" are recovered, providing beautiful and delicious alternatives to the limited selections in larger food chains. Such trends reflect a "food renaissance," as food markets of yesteryear, still common in less industrialized communities, are finding new life in the post-modern world.

In England, for example, the Borough Market, London's oldest fruit and vegetable market, dating back to 43 AD, has undergone exponential growth in the last 6 years. [31] This supports the 2004 findings of Richardson and Aguiar who, in their report on consumers and UK fast food companies, concluded that the primary attributes once guiding consumer behavior such as convenience and cost are no longer enough to represent the true desires of the consumer.

Findings indicate that in the UK there has been a shift of preferences "from satisfaction based on cheap food and speedy service to more emphasis on ingredients and taste." [32] In food choices, over 68% indicated they desire "lesser fat content," and over 41% desire "organic ingredients," along with "broader vegetarian selection," and "more use of local produce." As freshness and quality, organic and local, also become higher priorities in food selections for American consumers, such trends are expected in the US as consumers are now desiring to support local organic farmers and are becoming more interested in knowing where their food comes from and how it is grown. [33]

Another movement that embodies the value of sustainability through organic farming, but also embraces the importance of local food traditions is the Slow Food Movement. Though intentionally founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini in Italy as a protest of the opening of a McDonalds near the Spanish steps in Rome, the movement seeks to "preserve the cultural cuisine and the associated food plants and seeds, domestic animals, and farming within an ecoregion." [34] In protecting the heritage of food, tradition, and culture from the wave of fast food, Slow Food looks for ways to defend biodiversity in the local food supply, spread taste education, and connect producers of excellent foods with co-producers through events and initiatives. [35] As US Today phrases it, "Slow Food aims to be everything that fast food is not." [36]

Based in Italy, the movement has now expanded globally to over 83,000 members in 122 countries. In the United States, the first Slow Food celebration and exposition occurred this year in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend with over 85,000 in attendance. [37] A Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture was also introduced to demand a healthier food policy for America. Though the Slow Food Movement is relatively new in the US, it has quickly taken root with chapters in nearly every state. As Americans are discovering that there are other choices besides fast food, they are taking responsibility, speaking out, and making choices for their health and for the environment.

Next week:
Plant-based diets

[28] "Farmers Market Growth: 1994-2008," USDA - Wholesale and Farmers, http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/farmersmarketgrowth.htm (accessed on December 16, 2008).
[29] Richard Pirog, "Local Foods: Farm fresh and environmentally friendly," World Book's 2009 Science Year (World Book Publishing, 2009), The Leopold Center, www.leopold.iastate.edu/research/marketing_files/WorldBook.pdf (accessed December 12, 2008), 135.
[30] Ibid., 138.
[31] Regine Lee, "Food Renaissance at London's Borough Market," Bay Area News Group, November 5, 2008.
[32] James Richardson and Luis Kluwe Aguiar, "Consumer Change In Fast Food Preference," International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, http://www.ifama.org/conferences/2004Conference/Papers/Richardson1004.pdf (accessed December 15, 2008).
[33] Pirog, 136
[34] "Slow Food," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Food (accessed December 15, 2008).
[35] "Our mission," Slow Food, http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/eng/mission.lasso (accessed December 15, 2008).
[36] Cited on "What is slow food," Slow Food USA, http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/slow_food/ (accessed December 17, 2008).
[37] Slow Food Nation, http://slowfoodnation.org/ (accessed December 17, 2008).

No words needed

With Labor Day weekend here and my courses at FST beginning this week, summer is now over. Unfortunately, my summer plan to teach about vegan nutrition via this blog never materialized. The primary reason: MY COMPUTER, which had major issues early June and finally crashed on my birthday. By the time I purchased a new lap-top and was back to full on-line functioning, it was mid-August. With school around the corner, I decided to enjoy the rest of the summer, which I did.

During the summer, I took many steps forward in my journey as a "raw (or rawer) vegan". I have new restaurants and stores, which I will review. And I have numerous experiences, which I plan to share as I get back into the discipline of reading, writing, and blogging (unless of course, a full-time course load and part-time work get the best of me!).

Though I was not able to use this blog to articulate the nutritional value of a vegan and especially a raw vegan diet, my vegan life was able to make a positive difference this summer. Many of the vegetarian resources say that the greatest impact you can have in changing someone's diet and ultimately improving their health comes through your example and lifestyle. By doing what you do, and eating as you eat, people are watching and learning. I discovered the reality of this over the summer.

At camp these past months, I've been basing many more meals around the main kitchen. With the freshest produce in the walk-in fridge, it has been a lot of "grab and go." As my diet shifted and I began to decline certain meals, one of the cooks asked me point blank one day early this summer = "You're eating raw, aren't you?"

I had barely admitted to myself that I was a raw vegan, but caught red-handed, I fumbled for an answer and tentatively replied, "Yeah, I guess I'm eating rawer."

From the beginning, she has been observing my changing food choices. We've talked casually about diet, and she's overheard conversations I've had with her husband about health and fitness. And just last week she shared with me that she's taking a step forward with her health and giving up red meat. I'm so proud of her! Though hamburgers are still her weakness, it's a start and we all start somewhere. With the changes she has made, she's been feeling more energetic, less bogged down, and has even begun to lose weight!

At the neighborhood food pantry where I volunteer, I've had numerous opportunities to share about my diet. As we sort food, take food, and read food labels, we simply end up talking about food each Sunday. The food pantry workers are probably the first to learn about my latest decisions surrounding food choices, especially this summer as I've taken the "road less cooked."

A few weeks back, our food distribution coordinator shared with me that she has decided to eat raw during the daytime. It's been going very well and she is now enjoying it. Though she still cooks breakfast and dinner for her husband and family, she has shared that there are days she simply doesn't feel like eating what she's prepared so she will sit there with raw snap peas, her new favorite snack food.

She shared again today how Sunday after church lunches at a restaurant are now making her sick, and how, after the empenadas she had today, she thinks she's finally getting the message = Don't eat it! Her taste buds are changing, her body is detoxing, and through it, she has now lost 13 pounds in about 3 weeks. Her skin has cleared up and her allergies have not been as bad, and if anything, are disappearing. The wonders of going raw!

Her new favorite TV show is now on BBC America, "You are what you eat!" I've not seen it, but it sounds like my kind of show. She shared about one episode where they used 200 pounds of beef to form a human body, and then poured fat on it. The fat immediately coagulated when it touched the cold dead cow. Disgusting. She said, "The image would make any meat eater turn."

While I cannot take ALL the credit for her decision to eat raw during the day times, I do believe that my eating habits did have an influence.

As St. Francis is believed to have said (though I've not yet found it in my readings): "Preach the gospel. And if necessary, use words." Though I wasn't able to "teach" about vegan nutrition this summer, I am thankful that my example did encourage others to choose healthier and more environmentally friendly options in diet and lifestyle. And that is what this blog is really all about.

Why?

It's been about a year since I officially crossed the line to vegetarianism. It's been about 10 months since I officially embraced a vegan lifestyle. Over these past few weeks, I've been considering another dietary transition as I have been reading about and trying out aspects of a "raw vegan diet".

What was initially "Raw Mondays" began turning into "Raw Other Days" as I found myself enjoying the experience, struggling at times, but finding it very intriguing to consider what "raw foodism" is all about.

While I've not made any "official" transitions, all this is causing me to ask myself again, "WHY?" Why do I do what I do? Why do I choose certain foods, a certain lifestyle, certain values?

With Earth Day coming up on Tuesday, April 22nd, I was asked to speak to a church congregation today about environmental issues. My intention was to have them each consider "WHY" they do what they do when it comes to the world God has created.

Using St. Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Creatures, I shared the one word I believe to be the theological foundation of Franciscan Creation Theology = "fraternitas". Because God is our Creator, the Source of all, our Father, Mother, Parent, we are in essence related to all else that God has made, one family living together in the one home we call earth.

I believe our brotherhood/sisterhood (our fraternitas) with all of creation should be the framework for our choices. In looking at Sister Water, Eric Doyle, a Franciscan theologian in his book, The Song of Brotherhood and Sisterhood writes: "Water is a creature like (ourselves). As a creature, water is our sister, and it is hardly normal to pour toxic acid into your sister!" (p. 56). How we treat members in our biological family as we consider their needs is how we are to treat members in our "cosmic family".

Why do I make some of the choices I do in terms of my diet and lifestyle? It is because of compassion, my desire to live in harmonious relationship with all my brothers and sisters, human and non-human, everything that finds life in the same God who gives life to me, too.

When it comes to a raw vegan diet, I know that 100% raw will not work for me. Compassion is too great a value in my life. While I have compassion for animals and the natural world, I also want to live in compassion with my human brothers and sisters. I do not want my dietary decisions of ahimsa to offend someone who has gone out of their way to serve me. Thus, I make dietary exceptions. I guess I'm really a vegan, a "compassionate % of the time". Though it is not often I will stray at this juncture, I do not allow legalism of a dietary decision to keep me from caring for another.

I am encouraged because I see that in Francis of Assisi. The story is told that while on a strict diet, Francis saw one of his brothers who was very sick and needed food but refused to eat because he wanted to show how holy he really was. Francis, out of compassion, took grapes and ate them first, breaking his dietary holiness to encourage his brother to eat. Compassion.

Earth Day is on Tuesday. It is a good time, I believe, for each of us to consider again why we do what do, why we make the choices we make each day. I pray that compassion for the earth, compassion for all your brother and sisters in the cosmic family will become the foundation of daily decisions for you.

Look into my "I's"

While I enjoyed writing the six-part Lenten series on vegan principles, I am glad it is over. Each entry required a lot of time, thought, and emotional energy as I paused to consider how I am living out each of the values of ahimsa. This reinforced but also challenged my convictions.

The week of "I is for INTEGRITY" was especially humbling as I found myself tripping over hypocrisy in my "non-vegan" life (way outside the realm of this blog). Caught in "the act", I was forced to face my blind spots and some inconsistencies in a few value-based choices. This revelation caused me to begin questioning the integrity in my "vegan life", especially the exceptions in my vegan diet. Do my "vegan exceptions" discredit my integrity and thus, mar my character? May be the time had come to eliminate all exceptions and fully live "animal free" in consistent integrity as a vegan. I needed to at least try.

As I have blogged, my exceptions are:
1. Dining out
2. Indian buffets
3. The "celebration dessert"
And of course... 4. Chocolate cake

During Lent, I dined out with my parent's for my mom's birthday. At the restaurant, I intentionally asked the wait staff to make my meal vegan. While Caesar salad was the standard for the restaurant, our server prepped a special salad for me with oil and vinegar. However, the "vegan pasta" I requested came with cheese sprinkled all over the top. I explained to her that "vegan" includes "no cheese", but rather than asking her to take it back, and thus wasting the food, I decided to keep it and tried to scrape off the melted cheese to no avail. I ended up eating the meal, but did not enjoy it as my intentional attempt to eat vegan while dining out failed.

Over Lent, I also went out with some friends, and each time, rather than dine at an Indian buffet, which typically serves North Indian cuisine, I intentionally requested we try South Indian cuisine, which tends to be vegan-friendly. I visited two different places: Annapoorna in San Mateo, and Dasaprakash in Santa Clara. In both instances, I specifically asked for vegan substitutions. Learning from the dining experience with my parents, and reading in a vegan resource about the need to be very specific, I explained to the wait staff what not to include in my thali. The server said he would switch out the curries, and in both restaurants, everything was delicious, though the food at Dasaprakash tended to feel "oiler". As I become more familiar with Southern Indian food, I hope to check these places out again and review them. Let me know if you'd like to check them out with me!

As a cake was cut at one celebration during Lent, I was asked point blank by the hostess, "You do eat this, don't you?" Not wanting to offend, I said, "Sure", and was handed a piece. As I headed to the kitchen to get soy milk to go with the basic white cake (which I really didn't want to eat), I soon discovered that other guests were choosing not to take a slice = "I'm too full." "I'm on a diet." I stood there with my cake thinking, "I'm on a diet too - a vegan diet. Why didn't I just say, 'No, but thank you'?"

During Lent, I also began playing around with my vegan chocolate cake recipe. I also began creating a few new recipes, which I will post in the coming weeks. I am discovering that I enjoy experimenting with vegan dishes, and learning about food. How to enhance chocolate flavors in vegan desserts is one current curiosity.

While I was able to uphold my vegan integrity in a few situations during Lent, I did "totally screw up", or at least, I felt like I had failed in others - all because of something I chose to eat! There were moments I felt really guilty, like I had been caught in some great trespass. I want to honor the Creator through my lifestyle, choices, and integrity, but there I am eating cake, which I didn't want, didn't need, but felt forced to take. Guilt.

In one of his sermons, 13th century Franciscan Anthony of Padua said,
"Do you want to carry God in your heart everyday? Look constantly at yourself. Where your eye is, there is your heart. Keep your eyes fixed constantly on yourself. I mention three items: your heart, your eye, yourself. God is in your heart, your heart is in your eye, your eye is in you. So, if you are looking at yourself, you are looking at God in you. Do you want to have God in your heart everyday? Then, be what God has created you to be. Do not look for another I in yourself. Do not try to be anything other than what God created you to be, and you will constantly have God in your heart." (emphasis added)

When guilt-ridden, I know that I am looking for the "other I in myself." The "other I" is "the perfect vegan", "the perfect Jesus follower", "the perfect student", "the perfect employee", "the perfect friend", "the perfect adult child of my parents". There is an ideal I have of myself, and when I do not live up to this ideal, I feel like a failure. My vegan "other I" wants me to feel bad about my blind spots, my exceptions, my lapses in judgment.

I might know of God's grace intellectually, but I'm stilling growing in my knowledge of God's grace experientially. The God I trust is the God of grace, the God who showed the full extent of divine love through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, which we remembered just last week during Easter. I trust that God looks at me with love and compassion, especially as I strive to make the best vegan choices I can as I choose to gaze upon all that God has made with the same love and compassion God has for me. I am learning to live each day in that love, in that grace.

Guilt, I believe, comes from judgment based upon the verdict of a final result. Grace, on the other hand, comes from the assurance that all of life is a process as we carry God in our heart each day. As Anthony of Padua affirms, if I continually look at myself, I am looking at God in my heart. God created me as I am and blessed me with the gift of each day. As I carefully consider the choices I make, I do not need to "feel guity" because I live in grace, God's grace, even with my blind spots, even with lapses of integrity, even with my vegan exceptions.

Being vegan: M is for...

It is hard to believe, but nearly 4 years ago, I began my year-long decision to celebrate my 40th birthday "fit and 40". I accomplished that goal, and over the ensuing years, I now weigh in 50+ pounds lighter! I've kept the weight off, and have reached the "ideal runner's weight" for my height. I am continually improving as an athlete in distance running. I'm evolving as a vegan in my diet and lifestyle choices. I'm even enjoying my role as a resource and example of diet and exercise.

I am happier and healthier than I have ever been, and though it has required hard choices at times, the positive changes in my life have come because of discipline, self-control, and the fourth principle in veganism:
M is for MASTERY over oneself

Of God's many gifts to humanity, freewill is among the most precious -- a reflection of God's love, trust, and respect of us. Though a God-given blessing, freewill comes with responsibilities. Responsibilities come with choices, and choices come from our values. Values reflect that which is important to us, and are evidenced in our choices, how we live out our responsibilities and honor the God who loves and respected us enough in the beginning to have blessed us with the gift of freewill.

In the Garden of Eden, this gift was symbolized in the fruit on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The apostle Paul describes this gift as the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 2:22-23, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Self-control is, I believe, the seed of freewill.

While we may be attracted to the exterior beauty of the fruit (love, joy, and peace), and while we can appreciate the taste of its inner essence (patience, kindness, and goodness), the core of the fruit (faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) can quite literally be a "hard seed to crack".

We want what we want, and we want it now. We don't like to wait. We don't like being told no. We are selfish; our desires war within us, with mass media declaring that human passions have won. The excesses of contemporary American culture reflect a lack of restraint, discipline, and self-control. Obesity and consumerism are two values that dominant our indulgent lifestyle, as the world spins out of control, away from Eden. While the natural resources of earth are being depleted, the rich are overfed, while two-thirds of the human population continues to die of starvation. Something is not right.

We may feel like we're "victims", but when we blame others and point to the "snakes" in our world which have deceived us, we have begun our fall out of Paradise, away from grace. Self-centered choices stop the flow of God's blessing as we allow our desires to control, rather than our values.

For vegans, compassion is the highest value. For followers of Jesus, the highest value is love -- love of God, love of others, love of all that God loves and made. Life is good when the gift of God's freewill is exercised with self-control, in balanced compassionate harmony, with love for all God's creation. Life becomes bad, and turns downright evil when we indulge in selfish whims and assert dominant control over the natural order.

Michael Cusato writes, "Every creature -- human or otherwise -- has a God-given right to be sustained at the table of creation. However, human beings, accustomed to enjoying the abundance of the earth, all too often twist the munificence of God into an illusion of self-sufficiency. Forgetful of God and of the fact that the earth is ultimately God's possession, they begin thinking of themselves as possessors, acting as if creation were their own private possession intended for their use alone. Assuming that others think and act as they do, out of fear and insecurity they develop a spirit of acquisitiveness, hoarding for themselves what might be desperately needed by others. Such attitudes and actions... are violations of the intent of creation." (Francis of Assisi: History, Hagiography and Hermeneutics, p. 197-198)

The US, like the UK, suffers from what is called the "Three Planet Lifestyle". If the entire planet were to live like us, it would take three planets worth of natural resources to support it. Globally, that is impossible, and ethically, that is unacceptable.

"We urgently have to face the fact," says Paul King of World Wildlife Fund, "that we are all running up a serious ecological debt and that we cannot continue to exhaust the Earth's natural reserves without putting something back. It is time to make some vital choices, to enable people to enjoy a one planet lifestyle."

The gift of freewill is reflected in the everyday choices we make in what we eat and wear, how we live and relate. "By their fruit you will know them," Jesus says in Matthew 7:16. By our choices, people know who we are. Mastery over-self means we choose our tree and the fruit our lives will bear.

What type of tree are you? Are you a tree of life, celebrating the beautiful harmony of creation as it was in the beginning? Or are you a tree of death, out of harmony with God' natural order as you pursue selfish wants to feed the desires of endless passions?

As I blogged a few weeks ago, "Veganism and a vegetarian diet celebrate life by refraining from practices that harm animals, and seeking to live in harmony with all living beings." This is one reason why I continue to choose self-control in my diet and mastery of my living decisions. It is no longer about weight loss. It is about living simply so that others may simply live.

Joanne Stepaniak in Being Vegan writes, " Our dietary choices have more to do with tradition, culture, economics, politics, and availability than with some predetermined fate. It is time for our species to behave responsibility and select those foods that best sustain the earth, the animals, and ourselves." (p. 24).

It is choice. The choice is yours. May you choose wisely this day and every day.

Being vegan: H is for...

News of the largest US beef recall last week brought to the national spotlight the abuses endured by animals in today's meat industry. Though these reports and horrific images are now fading from the media and the minds of mainstream America, reports of animal cruelty continue, and I find my commitment to the first of 6 vegan principles -- ABSTINENCE from animal products strengthened.

In light of the reported 143 million pounds of recalled beef this past week, and the 10 billion animals raised and slaughtered in the US each year for food, the second principle for a vegan...
H is for HARMLESSNESS with reverence for life

Though this may sound crude and possibly offensive to some, the primary focus of the meat industry is essentially -- death. Animals are viewed as raw materials, commodities, and product, slaughtered en masse for human consumption in the name of food.

Carol Adams in her book, Living Among Meat Eaters, notes that while a meat-eating world organizes itself around death, it is a plant-based world that organizes itself around life (p. 217). Veganism and a vegetarian diet celebrate life by refraining from practices that harm animals, and seeking to live in harmony with all living beings.

According to Joanne Stepaniak, a vegan is "a person who is committed to and practices reverence and respect for all life" (Being Vegan, p. 5). This begins in a vegan's dietary choices, but must extend to all of life's decisions, choosing to "Do the least harm and the most good".

As William Blake has said, "everything that lives is holy, life delights in life." Veganism delights in life, and as I desire to honor my Creator, veganism helps me see evidence of God's holy presence in all things. There is harmony and a "harmlessness" in vegan principles, as veganism is a lifestyle choice of peace, with reverence and awe for all that lives, moves, and breathes.

An unrealistic utopian vision? It should not be for those who put their hope in God! A vision of peaceful co-existence is found in God's Word, the Bible, the holy promises and premises of God.

Genesis paints a portrait of life in the Garden of Eden where all of God's creatures live in harmony, humanity included. Though humankind is given "dominion" over animals (or "rule" in some translations), it is not a "lording it over them". As the Christian Vegetarian Association explains, dominion is a "sacred stewardship, since God immediately afterward prescribed a vegetarian diet in a world God found 'very good'. Created in God's image of love, we are called to be caretakers of God's Creation, not tyrants over God's creatures".

Prophecies in Isaiah 11:6-9 (NCV) envision a return to that peaceful creation harmony."Then wolves will live in peace with lambs, and leopards will lie down to rest with goats. Calves, lions, and young bulls will eat together, and a little child will lead them. Cows and bears will eat together in peace. Their young will lie down to rest together. Lions will eat hay as oxen do. A baby will be able to play near a cobra's hole, and a child will be able to put his hand into the nest of a poisonous snake. They will not hurt or destroy each other on all my holy mountain, because the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the sea is full of water."

When will this take place? When "the root of Jesse" (aka "the Christ") returns as a banner of hope for the people (Isaiah 11:10). Jesus is the Promised One who will reestablish this peaceable kingdom.

Thus, for those who trust in Jesus and call Him Lord, I believe there is a call to choose the harmlessness found in veganism and a plant-based diet. We are to revere life, love all, and re-claim the peace God had originally intended in creation. That for me is "the full knowledge of the Lord", which is to cover the earth, a vision of divine encompassing love.

As we prepare to celebrate new life this Easter, may you choose life over death this Lenten season, by reducing your use of an animal product. And besides, if lions are going to eat hay in the new kingdom, you might find yourself blessed consuming a plant-based diet too!

For the love of chocolate cake

With the start of the new year, I officially passed the 6 month marker in my vegan journey. My decision to begin down this path was not motivated out of "necessity" (aka "poor health") but a desire to live in compassionate care for all that God has made. Every dining decision thus represents my commitment to live in harmony with creation. There are times my decisions reflect that commitment better than others. I call those non-vegan decisions my "exceptions". They are the handrails I initially placed along the edge of my planet-friendly plan.

While my exceptions are "non-vegan" indulgences, they do fall in the realm of a vegetarian diet as they are foods, which contain animal products like eggs, milk, butter, honey, and yogurt. I have 4 exceptions:
1. Dining out because (as I blogged last month) I don't like being the "high maintenance one" who comes with a laundry list of questions about what is in a vegetarian entry and how it is prepared.
2. Indian buffets because of the ghee (butter), cream, and other dairy additions in the dishes, especially my favorite, Saag Paneer. (I do however stay away from the meat entrees.)
3. The "celebration dessert" because when at a special occasion, like a birthday, it seems rude not to partake of the special dessert that has been prepared. And of course...
4. Chocolate cake because I developed a craving for it after losing weight, and now love indulging in a slice with a glass of cold (once cow, now soy) milk.

With holiday celebrations, travels to see family, dinners out, and other events with the obligatory cake, I've unfortunately made more "exception" decisions in the past few weeks than I've made in the past few months. In other words, I've had quite a few slices of chocolate cake.

I don't consider myself a "chocolate cake snob", because I will always give a piece a try (or a second try - we're talking Tower Cafe in Sacramento). However, I do have my preferences when it comes to the "perfect" chocolate cake. And when I say "cake", it also includes cupcakes, brownies, and other chocolate baked good.

My taste buds appreciate a dark, moist, subtly bittersweet chocolate cake, which is rich, but not overly dense, topped with a dark chocolate frosting which complements the simple beauty of the cake because it is the cake, not the frosting, that should be the star. I don't ask for much in my chocolate cake, really. Unfortunately, I have only tasted a few that measure up to my standards.

Though a friend has an excellent recipe from her sister, my favorite homemade chocolate cake was created by my godkids' aunt, who cut down the sugar in a recipe she had, played with some ingredients, adding yogurt for moisture. The cake is in a word, beautiful. Though she will often use store bought frosting, she once melted ganache chocolate for a homemade frosting. Oh my Jesus. It was beyond words. It was absolutely heavenly. One reason why chocolate cake is my exception.

When it comes to restaurant or store-made favorites, I have few, if any. Unfortunately, most restaurants have very little to blog about in terms of a good chocolate cake, and nearly all do not offer soy milk to accompany it. While some restaurants serve an excellent lava cake, most have a drier chocolate cake which is covered with a too sweet frosting, or a fruit filling which I do not like and will scrape off. (For me, it's really all about the chocolate.) If I had to choose a favorite restaurant chocolate cake, however, it would be the 6 layer Chocolate Chocolate Cake at Salt Grass Steak House (located primarily in the south and in Texas).

All the chocolate cakes I've really enjoyed have been "vegetarian", until this past Christmas. While all the other chocolate baked goods that have met my exacting standards have used animal products (eggs, milk, butter, cream, or yogurt), my cousin gave me a variety of VEGAN chocolate baked goods. It was THE best gift I received this year. Though my cousin bought them at Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco, they were made by Black China Bakery.

The vegan chocolate cupcake and brownies were simply excellent, beautiful -- dark, rich, moist, not overly sweet - heavenly - everything that I ask for in my chocolate baked goods, and more, in that no animals were exploited for my chocolate pleasure!

As I savor the last bites of my last vegan brownie and wash it all down with a glass of cold soy milk, I am rather sad as I finish up this blog. I am not sure when I will indulge in vegan chocolate baked goods again. Sigh. Too bad there's no home delivery up here in the mountains.

On the road

I spent the week after Christmas in Los Angeles. To get there, I traveled from Nor Cal to So Cal and back with family along Highway 5. Heading south, I caught a ride with my parents, and a week later returned with my sister, nephew, and nieces as they headed north for a wedding. (My brother-in-law would fly up and meet the family 2 days later.)

This was my first Highway 5 road trip since choosing a vegan diet. While I knew my options would be few, I didn't know how challenging it would be to eat a healthy vegan meal at a "fast food" restaurant. After reading Eric Schlosser's book, Fast Food Nation, I definitely would not choose such an eating establishment if traveling alone. However, with my parents driving one way, and with kids in tow on the return, "fast" was the priority for lunch "food" options for these trips. (Whether "fast food" is really "food" needs to be the subject of its own blog entry, but I digress.)

My parents have their routine stops when they drive south to see the grandkids. This trip was no exception. Our south-bound lunch destination offered 3 fast food options: (1) Pizza Hut, (2) Burger King, and (3) Taco Bell.

Based solely on the posted menus in this mini-counter travel center, I assessed my options. For vegans, Pizza Hut has ZERO choices as all the posted items are pizza, and pizza has cheese. Though most of the salads at Burger King have meat, there are three items for vegans = a side garden salad, a veggie burger, and French fries (though fast food fries for me have no health value as they destroy a perfectly good potato).

Since my parents decided on Taco Bell, I decided that 2 bean burritos would work for me for this fast food lunch. The total: $1.98 - not bad! Unfortunately, I forgot to request "no cheese" on the burritos -- so much for eating vegan that meal! But fortunately, Taco Bell's beans do not contain lard (the polite way of saying "pig's fat"). Thus, along with an apple I brought in the car, it was a fairly healthy lunch.

Heading home with my sister and her kids, the options for lunch were: (1) McDonald's, (2) Wendy's, and (3) Subway. (It's all about the kid meal deals!)

For a vegetarian, McDonald's has yogurt parfait as an option, but for a vegan, the options are fries and a side salad. All other salads have meat, like at Burger King. Wendy's menu options are the same - fries and a side salad. I decided that Subway would be the best option.

At Subway, there is only one non-meat option - the "Veggie Delite". Because I was not in a bread mood, I decided for a wrap, and requested from the "sandwich artist", all the veggies, but no cheese, mayo, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper, please. The total: $5.17 for lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, olives, and pickles in a tortilla. I was flabbergasted. Even now, I still feel like I got the raw end of that meal deal! I ended up munching on nuts I had in the car to balance the meal with protein, but I still felt hungry.

The $1.98 Taco Bell lunch filled me up and was definitely the better "fast food" meal on this road trip. The $5.17 Subway Veggie Delight wrap was a disappointment. I probably would have done better spending $5 at the Food Mart at the gas station! But that is for another trip, and another blog entry.


END NOTE:
As I reflect on this experience and research for future reference the ingredients and nutrition facts of the menu items from the fast food restaurants I mention above, I realize that knowing what I need and being prepared are key as a vegan in the "fast food" world.

My $1.98 Taco Bell lunch of 2 bean burritos may have been cheap, but it cost me 650 calories, 14 g of fat, for the 23 g of protein. No wonder it filled me up! Next time, I probably should order 1 bean burrito without cheese, and a side garden salad from one of the other establishments.

My expensive Veggie Delite wrap from Subway had 330 calories, 8 g of fat, but only 9 g of protein (8 of which were in the wrap!). Not enough protein for my health needs. If they added some hummus however, we'd be talking!

For vegan-me, the best one stop fast food meal is now going to be Burger King and the BK Veggie Burger, ordered without mayo and cheese. It has 340 calories, 8 g of fat, and 17 g of protein. And if I don't have an apple in the car to add more "health" to the meal, I can always add some strawberry applesauce (80 calories, 0 fat and 0 protein) and I would be good to go.

What's a vegan to do?

I feel slightly devious, but what's a vegan to do?

I am visiting my sister and her family in Southern California. My sister and brother-in-law were to be at a party tonight, but because he is not feeling well, he stayed at home with me, my nephew, and one of my nieces while my sister headed to the party with the youngest of the three.

She fixed dinner before heading out - a pasta casserole with sausage topped with cheese, bread sticks, and an assortment of raw veggies. While the kids and their dad ate what mom prepared, I enjoyed leftover Indian saag tofu (a vegan version of my favorite Indian dish, saag paneer which I made earlier this week).

While my 7 year-old nephew began his meal devouring the fresh cut yellow bell peppers, my 5 year-old niece enjoyed her bread stick before tackling her raw carrots. When it came time to eat the casserole, both picked at it.

My brother-in-law made it very clear that he wanted both of his children to eat everything that was on their plate. My nephew wanting to get back to his legos finished the casserole, and ended his meal with the bread stick. My niece however continued to pick at the only thing left on her plate, the casserole. And as she picked, she picked out the sausage, much to the chagrin of her father.
- "Dear, I want you to eat everything, including your meat."
- "Daddy, I don't like the meat," she replied.
- "I want you to eat your meat."

As he walked back into the kitchen, that was that. As we cleaned around her, my niece continued to pick and sit there, and eventually she was alone.

My brother-in-law received a call from a friend who needed some medicine for their sick infant. Though he wasn't feeling well, he said he would drop it off. His last request before heading out the door = "I want you to finish everything on your plate. I want you to eat your meat."

An hour after dinner started, my niece was still at the table picking the meat out of her casserole. In between my lego creating with my nephew, I checked on her, and saw her neat little pile of meat grow. What to do?
- If I feed her (which I have done since she was a baby), she would eat everything, including the meat she did not want. Vegan-me would not feel comfortable doing that.
- If I let it slide and dismiss her from the table, I would undermine my brother-in-law's parental role and his desire for his daughter (who has never liked meat) to eat meat.

Though I love and respect my brother-in-law, I decided to intervene before he returned, and let my niece finish up the vegetarian meal she created by picking out the meat. I pushed aside all the rest of the meat, and separated out the noodles and sauce. "You don't have to eat the meat," I told her. "Just eat the noodles and you'll be done." And in a minute, she was ready to play.

During her 5 years of life, my niece has never liked eating meat, and she is not alone. ABC news reported this summer that an increasing number of young people are choosing a vegetarian diet, and research is showing that it is a healthy diet for growing kids.

Dr. Amy Joy Lanou in the Houston Chronicle (June 25, 2007) writes

According to the American Dietetics Association, there is no need to introduce any meats, eggs or dairy products into an infant, toddler or child's diet. Well-planned vegan and vegetarian diets not only provide all the nutrients necessary to support growth, they also promote good health in childhood and start disease prevention early.
Just think about the advantages of raising a child on a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, grains & legumes. Limiting or avoiding consumption of fish sticks & tuna sandwiches reduces mercury consumption and the resulting risk of cognitive and behavioral problems. Choosing nondairy milks such as rice, soy or oat milk significantly lowers consumption of saturated fat and growth hormones given to cows to increase milk production. Substituting vegan sausage for bacon or pork sausage increases healthy fiber & sidesteps fattening & artery-clogging animal fats.
That all sounds pretty darn responsible to me.

Sounds pretty responsible to me, too. So, I undermined my brother-in-law tonight. But when my niece doesn't want to eat the dead animal flesh on her plate, it's the only responsible thing a vegan can really do.
.

Dining decisions

Before choosing a vegetarian diet (let alone a vegan lifestyle), I never enjoyed eating out with the "high maintenance" foodie, the picky person, who won't eat this, or isn't in the mood for that, for whatever reason. Typically, the "high maintenance one" becomes the default, determining factor of where a group will eat as all attention is consumed by his or her dietary needs or concerns.

Personally, I never liked being the center of that much attention, especially when it comes to food, and for that reason I spent half a year as a "closet vegetarian". I would eat as a vegetarian on my own and would only cook veg meals, but when out with friends, whether in a home or at a restaurant, I would eat as a carnivore, if needed.

Though that is no longer the case since I "came out" of the vegetarian closet, I still do not like being the "high maintenance one" and the center of a group's restaurant decision. With the holidays upon us, friends wanting to eat out, and folks trying to understand vegan-me, more and more I am getting pigeon holed as the "high maintenance one" and I don't like it.

With my diet the center of the decision, I now hear deliberations like:
- "Wait, we can't go there. There may be no vegetarian options."
- "If we can go here, there may be nothing for you to eat."
- "Are you be OK with (fill in the blank)? We don't want you to starve."

My "broken record" response: "Don't worry about me. I can always find something to eat."

And thus far, that has been my reality. As a vegan or a vegetarian when dining out, I've learned that a combination of appetizers does make a very good meal, most anywhere you may go.

This week, for example, Japanese was the plan, as the conclusion of my friends was: "You should be able to find a vegetarian entrée there." The sad reality: No. Other than vegetable tempura (which is too fried for my healthy taste buds), there were no other vegetarian entrees. But appetizers do make a good meal, as I enjoyed Oshitashi (cold Japanese spinach salad), edamame, and a garden sushi roll with mango, avocado, radish. Pretty yummy, especially with my "heavy on the wasabe, light on the soy sauce" mixture.

When creating a meal out of appetizers, knowing what your body needs for a healthy diet is the simple key. For me, it is typically a ring of 3: a vegetable, a carb, and a protein. And at most restaurants, I can usually find appetizers that have what I need to make a meal, even at a Texas Barbecue!

To celebrate my dad's birthday, my family wanted to celebrate his 70th at a restaurant we knew he would enjoy. My mom's recommendation and thus our choice: the newly remodeled Back Forty Texas BBQ restaurant in Pleasant Hill.

I checked out the on-line menu and knew what I would order even before we arrived at the restaurant and were seated in our own little private room for this special occasion. My family was happy as they enjoyed an assortment of barbecued dead animal flesh, and I was happy with my appetizer meal of vegetable soup, BBQ beans, and sweet potato fries.

I am learning that appetizers can and do make a yummy meal when eating out with non-vegetarian friends at MOST restaurants. But sometimes, when the crowd is craving L & L Hawaiian Barbecue (like my friends were on Thursday), thank God that there was a Chipotle and a vegetarian burrito next door!

Vegan: It's what's for dinner

Since becoming a vegan, eating over at friends' homes has been a learning process, both for the host and for me. Before my "conversion", the family cook would prepare some kind of meat, and that's what would be for dinner, for everyone at the table. Now, the process includes, "So, what do you eat these days?"

Typically, the meals served consist of "add-ons" for me -- vegan side dishes to complement what everyone else is eating. And typically, the reason for the "add-on" to the centerpiece meat dish is "the kids". For example, early last week, fettuccini with marinara was the "add-on" to go with the cheese ravioli, chicken cacciatore, and baked fish. And on Friday at a friend's birthday dinner, there was a well-stocked salad, but edamame was the "add-on" for me, as a substitute for the baked chicken.

Eating in the homes of friends, I've learned to not ask questions. I let the cook cook, and then eat whatever is served with no questions or complaints. We may talk about the butter, milk or eggs they added to the dish afterwards, but trying to educate a carnivore on a vegan diet while they're rushing around the kitchen is not the best way to maintain a friendship. I've grown accustomed to looking for "my dish", and appreciating my friends' "add-on" attempts to accommodate my dietary choice.

Thus, I was surprised last week when I had dinner with friends whom I've not seen for a while. They purchased a new home and invited me for dinner. The last time we shared a meal I was a carnivore and they were married with one child. Two more children and vegan-me later, she wanted to cook. Through email, she tried to wrap her mind around what I now eat.
- "Can I bring something?" I asked.
- "Sure, bring dessert, something simple like fruit or jello."
I referred her to my jello blog. What would I be eating for dinner?

When I arrived, she was busy in the kitchen chopping and mashing. Dad gave me the tour. While he took the youngest one (19 months) for a walk to get her to nap, I played with the two boys (ages 7 & 3). When dad returned, he asked the question I had been waiting for.
- "What's for dinner?"
- "Vegan shepherd pie" came the kitchen response.
I was waiting for the other dishes that would go with this vegan "add-on", but to my surprise, there weren't any. Vegan shepherd pie would be "what's for dinner"... for everyone.

And it was a dinner that was enjoyed by everyone. It was excellent! The oldest polished off his plate and scooped up seconds, while the youngest one managed to get more in her mouth than on her face. Dad, who didn't care for the texture of the topping, did like the vegetable-bean filling, and scooped under the cauliflower-millet mixture to get his seconds, and his thirds.
- "This is definitely going into the dinner rotation," mom announced.
- "With no topping on part of it, please" came dad's rebuttal.

It was only the 3 year old who wasn't in the mood to eat his dinner. My friends have raised their kids to eat what is served them. "They have a choice," my friend says. "They can choose to eat what mom has made or not, and if not, they can go to sleep hungry. It's their choice." And since the choice of "no dinner" is also a choice of "no dessert", the kids have learned to eat and enjoy what's on their plate.

Thus, with food still on his plate, and mom opening up for the other two kids the vegan chocolate chip cookies I brought, he finished what he needed to eat (with a little help from me, feeding him), and he enjoyed his cookie (and a second one, too!)

Since becoming a vegan, eating over at friends' homes has been a learning process. My hosts for dinner this past week learned that vegan meals are not only healthy, but yummy and easy to prepare. I learned that eating vegan doesn't need to be an "add-on" to a meal for carnivores. It can be the whole meal! Kids are not the only ones who eat what they have learned to eat.