At Home Vegan - a rant, of sorts
Don't roll your eyes thinking, "Damn, another bleeding heart lecture about eating meat." or "I need my meat, my cheese, my eggs!!!" or "Vegetables are for pussies." or "Friggin' freak!" Okay, thinking the last one is fine.
Honestly, what you do or don't eat is none of my concern.
Though I do believe carnivors should have to hunt and kill their own prey with their bare hands... and, AND it should be televised! The Romans had the right idea... not that they had televisions, but if they did, you better believe that they'd have a few programs like "Lion's Lunch" and "Chaos at the Coliseum". Ooooooo, that could be fun! That would be a sporting event worth sinking your teeth into! ; >
No, seriously, I am a hater of ANYONE telling me how to live my life, so why would I do that to anyone else? I don't pitch a fit or send the food back to the kitchen. I've even been known to pick a big ole hunk of bacon right off my vegetable medley and just kept right on eating. It's not worth it, you know? I ate meat for the majority of my life, so who am I to judge? One of my favorite meals was fried chicken, fried okra, mashed potatoes and gravy with a big ole glass of milk. (I know, my southern roots are showin'.) And it wasn't until recently that I started cutting animal by-products out of my diet... and I still haven't done it completely, but I'm getting closer.
Now, if cannibalism weren't such a fo-pah (how the hell is that spelled?) in this society, I'd be all about eating human's who volunteer their bodies for consumption. And none of that Soylent Green shit where you don't know it's people. I want human fried hand (finger food!), leg o' human, human brains... ohhhhhhhh yeah... I should stop, I'm drooling. A side benefit is that it would free up land. We could just get rid of graveyards entirely... though I am conflicted about graveyards 'cause I like them, A LOT. (But that's another rant entirely.)
Oh and human by-products!!! Why not human milk or human cheese? Why does that idea gross so many people out? (And believe me, I've made many folks green at the gills with just the slightest hint at the various things we could use human by-products for.) Why is that gross while suckling at the udder of a cow is completely acceptable? And fertilizer? Human fertilizer! Think about it, you could literally sell your own shit. We produce it, why not sell it? How about tears? Why not make that horrible first day at work at the Human By-Product Factory pay for itself by collecting your own tears? We already sell blood, sperm, eggs, plasma... Yet we donate organs... You know, I bet a lot more people would be willing to sign over their organs if they knew their family would be compensated. (Though I do believe the world is WAAAAAAAAY overpopulated with humans and... wait, hold that rant.)
So where was I going with this?
Oh yeah... at home vegan.
It's actually easier than I ever thought it would be. It begins with clearing out. We didn't throw food away as that would be wasteful and disrespectful. So as we cleared out, we replaced. This leads to: Shopping. I kind of hate shopping. But if I must, my preference is Trader Joe's. They have MANY affordable Vegan items and, at least in the four I've been to in Chicago and it's Western Suburbs, the employees are all really nice and seem to be above average happy. Why this is, I have no idea. But other people have commented on this phenomenon as well. I should investigate further... perhaps it's something in the food.
Places like Jewel and Dominicks (can you tell I live in the Mid-West?) are also catching on and providing Vegan foods, but they are a bit more expensive. Though in a pinch, they'll do.
I also like Whole Foods. The drawback with them is they're definitely more expensive. The bonus is they tend to have a wider variety of items to choose from and they have a great deal more in the way of non-food Vegan items.
Once you know where to shop, the next step is to know how to shop. Granted, there are things you have to be extra careful to get in your diet like calcium, iron, protein, vitamin B12... Most soymilks are now fortified with B12 - a bacteria byproduct most people get through eating meat - and the rest can be found in vegetables, nuts, fruits, abd seeds. (Though I should note that Americans are OBSESSED with protein and protein tends to be a lot easier to obtain in Vegetables than most meat eaters believe. Beans and nuts are just two examples.)
I hadn't meant to go into all this, but that's what happens when I rant.... So since there are many things I didn't even get to, I'm going to recommend the Vegetarian Resource Group as a great website to check out. There are also some great books like: Becoming Vegan and How it All Vegan --- Sarah Kramer who wrote HIAV is super cool and you should definitely check out her website.
Honestly, what you do or don't eat is none of my concern.
Though I do believe carnivors should have to hunt and kill their own prey with their bare hands... and, AND it should be televised! The Romans had the right idea... not that they had televisions, but if they did, you better believe that they'd have a few programs like "Lion's Lunch" and "Chaos at the Coliseum". Ooooooo, that could be fun! That would be a sporting event worth sinking your teeth into! ; >
No, seriously, I am a hater of ANYONE telling me how to live my life, so why would I do that to anyone else? I don't pitch a fit or send the food back to the kitchen. I've even been known to pick a big ole hunk of bacon right off my vegetable medley and just kept right on eating. It's not worth it, you know? I ate meat for the majority of my life, so who am I to judge? One of my favorite meals was fried chicken, fried okra, mashed potatoes and gravy with a big ole glass of milk. (I know, my southern roots are showin'.) And it wasn't until recently that I started cutting animal by-products out of my diet... and I still haven't done it completely, but I'm getting closer.
Now, if cannibalism weren't such a fo-pah (how the hell is that spelled?) in this society, I'd be all about eating human's who volunteer their bodies for consumption. And none of that Soylent Green shit where you don't know it's people. I want human fried hand (finger food!), leg o' human, human brains... ohhhhhhhh yeah... I should stop, I'm drooling. A side benefit is that it would free up land. We could just get rid of graveyards entirely... though I am conflicted about graveyards 'cause I like them, A LOT. (But that's another rant entirely.)
Oh and human by-products!!! Why not human milk or human cheese? Why does that idea gross so many people out? (And believe me, I've made many folks green at the gills with just the slightest hint at the various things we could use human by-products for.) Why is that gross while suckling at the udder of a cow is completely acceptable? And fertilizer? Human fertilizer! Think about it, you could literally sell your own shit. We produce it, why not sell it? How about tears? Why not make that horrible first day at work at the Human By-Product Factory pay for itself by collecting your own tears? We already sell blood, sperm, eggs, plasma... Yet we donate organs... You know, I bet a lot more people would be willing to sign over their organs if they knew their family would be compensated. (Though I do believe the world is WAAAAAAAAY overpopulated with humans and... wait, hold that rant.)
So where was I going with this?
Oh yeah... at home vegan.
It's actually easier than I ever thought it would be. It begins with clearing out. We didn't throw food away as that would be wasteful and disrespectful. So as we cleared out, we replaced. This leads to: Shopping. I kind of hate shopping. But if I must, my preference is Trader Joe's. They have MANY affordable Vegan items and, at least in the four I've been to in Chicago and it's Western Suburbs, the employees are all really nice and seem to be above average happy. Why this is, I have no idea. But other people have commented on this phenomenon as well. I should investigate further... perhaps it's something in the food.
Places like Jewel and Dominicks (can you tell I live in the Mid-West?) are also catching on and providing Vegan foods, but they are a bit more expensive. Though in a pinch, they'll do.
I also like Whole Foods. The drawback with them is they're definitely more expensive. The bonus is they tend to have a wider variety of items to choose from and they have a great deal more in the way of non-food Vegan items.
Once you know where to shop, the next step is to know how to shop. Granted, there are things you have to be extra careful to get in your diet like calcium, iron, protein, vitamin B12... Most soymilks are now fortified with B12 - a bacteria byproduct most people get through eating meat - and the rest can be found in vegetables, nuts, fruits, abd seeds. (Though I should note that Americans are OBSESSED with protein and protein tends to be a lot easier to obtain in Vegetables than most meat eaters believe. Beans and nuts are just two examples.)
I hadn't meant to go into all this, but that's what happens when I rant.... So since there are many things I didn't even get to, I'm going to recommend the Vegetarian Resource Group as a great website to check out. There are also some great books like: Becoming Vegan and How it All Vegan --- Sarah Kramer who wrote HIAV is super cool and you should definitely check out her website.
posted by Ninian at 12:29 PM
2 Comments:
I'll be a smart-ass and say Fo-paw, is actually spelled Faux-pas. And as to veganism, well... why'd you do it?
Yeah, actually I knew about the spelling, I just think that French spelling is wacky and I like to poke fun. ;>
As for the veganism, I've done quite a bit of research on industrial farming and how they treat living animals is horrific. I just can't be apart of that. There are other reasons tied into my spiritual beliefs as well as health issues. But basicly, it's just something I've chosen.
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