Okay, I’m a pretty liberal and open-minded guy. I’m not opposed to bananas being used in a variety of interesting ways. But when I saw this (link) I about barfed. I mean, really. Bananas are so good, so tasty, so satisfying. Why ruin it with sliced pork carcass wrapped around it?!? I can think of no worse way to enjoy a nanner.
So, here, my friends is a list of much more animal-friendly ways to enjoy our favorite phallic-shaped fruit:
Banana Fritters … golden fried vegan delight
Bananas Tempura … similar to the fritters, but with panko bread coating. <Slup!>
Banana Flan … vegetarian and the banana liqueur alone makes this one sound delish.
Vegan Banana French Toast … sounds like a tasty Sunday morning treat
Banana Sticky Rice with Cinnamon Coconut Sauce … OMG, I can hardly finish writing this post; I want to try this right now.
Vegan Morning Glory Muffins … am not a muffin fan, but these actually sound pretty good
So now you know what to do with your banana. Just don’t wrap it in bacon, please. Thank you.
It happens all the time. I go to a farmer’s market or just the local grocery store’s produce section and I buy too many veggies. Inevitably, there are a few carrots, some herbs, an part of an onion, maybe half a pepper or two that sit at the bottom of my refigerator’s crisper just crying to be used. In the winter, I make stock like crazy and use it for soups and rice cooking. But soup is not something I’m craving in the California desert in the middle of summer. So this recipe is great. I can create my stock, then dry it for future use. I love it! You will, too!
Awhile back, I ran a survey on Vegnotes.com asking people:
1) Why they are vegan/vegetarian;
2) Whether they consider themselves a vegan/vegetarian activist; and
3) What issue(s) were more important to them than vegan/vegetarian issues.
The results are interesting:
On the question of what issues are more important than one’s veganism/vegetarianism, there were a myriad of responses. Although, 48% said that there are no other more important issue to them. Remaining responses included: Palestine, human rights/social justice, reducing animal suffering/animal rights, spirituality, breastfeeding, sustainability, world peace, family, gay rights, global ecology, HIV/AIDS, and enjoying life.
We are certainly a diverse group. I’m sure, too, that you could take any one of the responses and split that hair even more. What does unite us? Is it simply what we do/don’t eat? Even then, there are so many variations on what it means to be vegan or vegetarian. Instead, maybe it is a loose federation of interests that somewhat link us together and there is no strong bond that exists. We’re not a religion, we’re not a political party … so we don’t necessarily need the same dogma, doctrine, or platform … and I think that’s pretty great, really.
Tags: survey, vegan, vegetarian
In an article printed today in the Vancouver Sun, Stephen Hume asserts that the controversial seal hunt in northern Canada that is allowed (and, in some ways, even promoted) by the Canadian Government is a sort of necessity … because fruits and vegetables are just too expensive in that region. Says Hume, “The Arctic is extraordinarily poor in vegetal resources. The kind of diet that vegan animal rights enthusiasts espouse is simply unattainable, precluded by the prohibitive expense of importing alien foods to remote settlements” and that “wild meat, fish and fowl is a nutritious bargain …”
He also asserts that “a diet rich in sea mammals, caribou and migratory birds is the healthiest available.”
Lastly, Hume suggests that there are so many seals present in the Arctic that it doesn’t really matter how many are bludgeoned to death. He says, “There are 10 million seals in Canada and 50,000 Inuit. Seals outnumber Inuit by 200 to one. In the bigger picture, given the intolerance of the animal rights lobby, perhaps the Inuit deserve to be considered more at risk than the seals.”
Wow.
Hume’s assertion that orange juice and apple juice are just too expensive and that you can’t grow pineapple very well in the Arctic raises an interesting question for the Canadian government. In February, the government announced at $400 million program to assist Africa, which includes $72.5 million for food aid initiatives there. Further, Canada’s funding to sub-Saharan Africa rose by nearly 52% in 2008, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Now, I’m not suggesting that the Canadian government suspend economic and food aid initiatives to Africa. And I’m sure the Canadian government’s programs, like the Food Mail initiatve, are well-intended. I would suggest, though, that we not use the cost of humanely-attained food as an excuse in today’s modern world … anywhere. If governments can bail out banking systems and provide Coast Guard ships to cut through the ice for seal hunting activities, governments can (should) provide proper funding for their own people’s balanced nutrition.
And then there’s the claim that a diet rich in these mammals and fish is the healthiest around. Please. While their rates of heart disease and cancer may be low, I hardly think that the majority of dietitians would say that a diet high in meat consumption and low in fruit & vegetable consumption is the healthiest choice.
Of course, as Hume points out, there are just too many seals anyhow. Right.
While Hume’s article may tug at the heart strings of some who feel the Canadian government is being unduly targeted by animal rights organizations and governments around the world for what is otherwise a cultural experience, I want to remind us that the controversy is much more about the commerical seal hunt going on in Canada.
Earlier this month, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to ban the import of seal products from Canada: fur coats, bags, oil blubber, organs, and seal oil, which is used in some Omega-3 supplements. These commercially exported products are the fruits of the labor at the heart of this controversy. And while the Vancouver Sun article would like us to think the controversy is about taking away the only food supply left for the aboriginal Canadian people, it isn’t.
Tags: animal rights, Canada
It was a warm night last night and I felt like something light and refreshing for dinner, but didn’t just want a salad. Here was the plan, then:
1 heart of romaine, torn into bit sized pieces
1 cucumber, seeded cut in half lengthwise, and then cut into bit sized pieces
1/2 red onion coarsely chopped
3 sprigs of fresh dill
1/2 can of whole green olives (not pickled green olives with the pimentos; green olives in a can similar to canned black olives)
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 cup taziki (vegan option: 3/4 cup plain soy yogurt, 1 clove crushed garlic, 1/3 pulverized cucumber, salt to taste)
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 package Fantastic Foods falafel mix
I combined the taziki with the red wine vinegar and whisked until smooth. The remaining ingredients went in the bowl and I combined it with the just-whisked dressing.
Next, I prepared some falafel by using a quick and easy mix from Fantastic Foods. It is a purely vegan mix, tastes delicious and is so easy.
Once the falafel were ready, I set them on the plate close enough to the salad to dip into the dressing a bit. You can also add a bit more taziki to the top of the falafel if you wish.
Is there any wonder why we love these foods? These are stunning images …
Asparagus / Flickr User: mbgriby
Cherries / Flickr User: atomicshark
Seaweed Salad / Flickr user: Sifu Renka
Plum / Flickr user: bill barber
Beet Greens / Flickr user: feministjulie
Tags: photography
Here’s an interesting follow-up to my earlier story about veggie meal options on airlines.
It appears that the cash-strapped Air Zimbabwe is being sued by a Zimbabwe national for not providing him with his 
vegetarian meal he ordered on a flight from Singapore to Harare. And just how much is a vegetarian meal worth to this passenger? $10,000. Those must have been golden chickpeas he was missing.
Read the whole story here.
Tags: Africa, travel, vegetarian
What? You don’t speak a lick of Spanish? Okay, here’s the English translation:
1 can of piquillo peppers (5-6 pieces)
2 zucchini
200 gr tempeh
6 carrots
Ginger powder
Black pepper
Olive oil
Salt
Steam zucchini with washed and unpeeled carrots about 15 minutes over high heat. With the blender grind carrots and salt to taste. It should be a very fine puree. Reserve. Crush with a fork and season zucchini too. Should not be crushed too much, is richer if you leave pieces. Cut the tempeh into small dice and sauté in a little hot oil until golden. Mix with zucchini and a pinch of ginger and stuff peppers, drained slightly, with great care, helping with a small spoon. A good way is to take it as an ice cream cone you’re filling, and using your fingers to move the mass of substance. Take care not to break. Put the sauce of carrots in the bottom of a baking tray and over stuffed peppers. Broil a few minutes just to warm a bit. Serve immediately.
Sometimes, I feel like the only hope for our planet is our young people taking charge and reinventing the way we do things. Sometimes, especially when I pass by the middle school near our house, I feel really old and start thinking things like, “Why aren’t they more alert when crossing the street?” and “If that kid wasn’t drinking a Big Gulp of Pepsi, he wouldn’t be so out of shape.”
It’s hard to predict the future. It always has been. I have to have hope, though, that at least some of today’s teens will grow up and lead this world out of its wicked meat-eating, animal-abusing, waste-producing, mega-brand-supporting ways.
I was recently taking a stroll around the web to see what teens are up to … so it wouldn’t be blind hope that I was holidng on to. The cockles of my heart (my, I really do sound old, don’t I?) were warmed by …
A pair of thirteen year old girls in Columbia, MO, were recently honored for their volunteerism for the humane society there for the past four years (that is they began volunteering when they were 9 years old … when did you start volunteering … or have you started yet?). The girls’ efforts included speaking engagements (these are 13 year olds!) to help the humane society raise the needed money to improve facilities at the local humane society. Their efforts helped the organization win a national award that inlcuded $1 million in cash in prizes.
A teenaged girl in Pittsburgh was spotlighted by PETA in 2008 for promoting safe sex with her peers. That is, sex that is safe for the human participants, but also cruelty free through the use of condoms that do not use animal products in their production. She was promoting the use of Glyde condoms, which are 100% vegan. Other latex condoms use dairy ingredients in their production.
In Southlake, TX (!) a 16 year old young man won an award for his outstanding efforts to promote animal welfare through a vegan diet. The teen was quite acctive in peta2’s “I Am Not a Nugget” campaign, which has been working to get chickens included on the federal humane slaughter act.
Earlier this year, it was reported that 1 in 200 teens is vegetarian. That’s got to be progress. Let’s just hope that for the majority of those, “vegetarian” doesn’t mean Doritos and Dr. Pepper.
A Santa Fe, NM, teen decided she was tired of typical picket sign protests and leafletting. So she created a t-shirt company with fashionable and awareness-raising graphics about a wide range of global issues … from peace to the rights of children in third world countries forced into factory jobs.
… and the list, really, could go on and on.
So I have hope. Evan Escar once said that hope is tomorrow’s veneer over today’s disappointments. I’m hoping, though, that it will be more than a veneer finish. I’m looking for solid, deep, and meaningful change. What that requires, though, is for adults to support tomorrow’s hopefulls and (maybe most importantly) get out of their way.
Tags: youth
