Veggies Coming Soon (To Your Mailbox)

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/29/local/la-me-vegetarian-stamps-20111130

Just last week, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released a limited edition sheet of twenty 44-cent stamps featuring the images of famous vegetarians. The pictures to be featured on the stamps represent eight veggies and ranges from modern icons to ancient Greeks. The famous veggies include Pamela Anderson, Bob Barker, singer Joan Jett, Woody Harrelson, Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci, Leo Tolstoy, and Pythagoras. I think this is a really good publicity move to promote vegetarianism because most of the people featured on the stamps are also known for something other than their dietary habits. For example, it is very good to show that the peaceful civil-disobedience that Gandhi exercised in his lifetime is connected to the practice of vegetarianism in that they both are conscientious and peaceful choices.

However, I do feel like Pamela Anderson is a really wishy-washy icon for both PETA and the vegetarian movement. A large part of vegetarianism is not only protecting animals, but also behaving morally and treating your body well. The very things that Pamela Anderson is famous for makes hers a very mixed message. Don’t have surgeries like me, but eat like me. It’s just too much for me to even take her seriously.

Now, Bob Barker is a gent that I can really consider to be a good representative for veggies everywhere. As a child, I always snickered at the end of The Price is Right when he said, “Help control the pet population, have your pet spayed or neutered.” Ha, neuter. However,  I can now clearly see that he was conveying a consistent message of responsible animal care throughout his career. He has also been a veggie for over thirty-five years, so he is definitely in my cool book for his long-lasting dedication. Plus, he doesn’t take himself too seriously (as we can tell from his cameo in Happy Gilmore).

I will say that this simple article did teach me a great deal. I’ve learned the Pythagorean Theorem is school, but I had no earthly idea that Pythagoras was a vegetarian. Awesome! I read more about him and found a really touching quote. He once said, "For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."

I recently visited a great vegan restaurant in Kennesaw, GA called the Loving Hut and the man who runs the establishment believes in the same sentiment as Pythagoras. He told me that it is his contention that as long as men were meat eaters, world peace would be impossible to accomplish. Being an international affairs major, I love considering alternative ideas as to why peace is considered so unlikely and this man’s take on the subject was very refreshing. That, and the spaghetti and faux-meatball lunch was crazy good! Here’s a link to the Loving Hut’s menu if you are interested. http://lovinghut.us/kennesaw/menu.html

Simply Defining Veggie-ness

Since I mentioned pescatarians and flexitarians in my last posting, I decided it was time for a terminology lesson on all things vegetarian. It would seem that most people are unaware that there are varying degrees of vegetarians and how these groups are related.

1. Ovo-Lacto Vegetarians-Yeah! This is me! These vegetarians do not eat meat or the majority of animal products, but they still consume certain animal byproducts like eggs and milk (hence ovo for egg and lacto for milk). Since ovo-lactos still consume milk, anything else containing it is okay, too. Especially cheese. Sweet, savory cheese. God, writing this is making me hungry. Okay, back to the subject at hand.  

Keep in mind that not all vegetarians are ovo-lacto. Some people are ovo-vegetarian (eat eggs, but not milk) and others are lacto-vegetarians (consume milk, but no eggs). Personally, I always try to eat organic eggs and milk that are grass-fed or free range. I do this because mass produced animal products still cause a lot of harm to the animal and the environment. Plus, they are way better for you because they don’t contain all those added hormones. Wins for you and Mother Earth!

2. Vegans-Vegans are true dietary rock stars. I know a few vegans and they have my eternal respect (mainly because they don’t eat butter!). Vegans not only refrain from eating meat, but take special care to avoid all animal products. This includes eggs, milk, all other dairy products, and gelatin (see former posting). Vegans also strictly avoid food products that involve animals in the processing or their final contents, like certain wines. Vegans also have grey areas that are debatable. Honey is the main controversy for vegans. Even though honey is derived from pollen, it is processed by bees. Technically, the bees are free to leave the hive and return so they are not ‘captive’ in the same way that livestock is. I say stick with wild honey and enjoy. Vegans deserve lots of sweetness!

3. Pescatarians--These people are semi-veggies. They don’t eat meat, but make an exception for fish or other seafoods. Most pescatarians will still eat eggs and milk as well. This lifestyle is appealing to a lot of people because of the health benefits associated with eating fish. Pescatarians can get a good amount of omega-3 fatty acid from fish and omega-3 is known to reduce one’s likelihood of stroke and/or cancer. Other veggies can get their dose of omega-3 from eggs and other products.

4. Flexitarians-The name alone should point out how flexitarians eat. This group occasionally eats meat, but eats a vegetarian diet for a majority of the time. Now, the real question is what constitutes a majority of the time? I say at least four days out of seven. Another analysis would be to eat vegetarian for two out of three meals per day. Either way, BRAVO!

Vegans and vegetarians often scoff at pescatarians and flexitarians, but I really applaud their efforts. Any reduction in meat consumption alleviates pollution and reduces environmental impact of raising that livestock. We shouldn’t impose our specific dietary morals on others, but rather look to find commonalities that we share.

You Don't Have to be a Vegetarian to Save the World (Although it Helps)

http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2011/12/unc_debates_meatless_meals

I was planning to write about something else today, but I could not resist commenting on this story! Just north of me (I’m in Georgia, by the way), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is proposing that its dining hall serve only vegan and vegetarian options on Mondays and the initiative is called ‘Meatless Mondays.’ Not only is this idea great for health, but it will also have great environmental impact. Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Nobel Peace Prize winner and chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, endorses individuals to have at least one meat-free day a week in order to personally combat climate change. It is estimated that cutting meat consumption in half would slash more greenhouse gas emissions than if car use was cut in half. HELLO!

I think the ‘Meatless Mondays’ model is an awesome idea and I wish other universities would follow UNC’s example. It is cost-effective and makes the student body a little more aware and health-conscious. To be honest, cafeterias across the country could probably replace meat products with soy substitutes and most students wouldn’t know the difference. I had a soy chicken burrito at the Sunflower Cafe in Atlanta that was better than any ‘real’ chicken dish I had ever tasted.

Frankly, I am sick of people who act like going one single day without meat is the end of the world. If they are, then these people are obviously not concerned with a balanced diet. Is the true issue that people favor meat or do they just detest vegetables? And in this case, I am not counting potatoes as a vegetable. Most people don’t know that if you are a meat eater, you are consuming an average of 83 to 100 animals a year.

Aside from the sheer numbers of animals slaughtered for human consumption, the environmental impact of raising this livestock is devastating. Humanity’s largest use of land is for the livestock industry with grazing taking up 26 percent of non-frozen earth and 33 percent of all arable land being designated for crops that will feed farm animals. Eight percent of global water use goes toward the livestock sector alone. The mass production of the meat industry threatens the environment not just through the production of animals and emissions, but also what is being fed to livestock. The practice of feeding animals an unnatural diet, as opposed to natural grass grazing, results in further food insecurity for humans.

More than 50 percent of the world’s corn crops and 80 percent of soybean crops go toward feedstock for farm animals while both are feeds that the animals would not eat in nature. Furthermore, crops like corn require large amounts of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and this process is environmentally damaging due to its interruption of Earth’s natural nitrogen cycle and its reliance on fossil fuels.

I want to be clear that this posting is not an effort to convert people to vegetarianism, but rather a call to practical and conscientious consumption of animals. I personally applaud pescatarians and flexitarians for their choice to eat limited amounts of meat because it is the right thing to do for the overall benefit of human survival. Ultimately, personal dietary choice is the most powerful weapon in the fight for sustainable agriculture and Mother Earth. Way to go, UNC!

This Little Piggy Donated a Heart Valve (To a Veggie)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2067175/Pig-saves-vegetarian-s-bacon-Woman-20-receives-animal-valve-surgery-fix-heart-problem.html

Just a week ago, I read this fascinating article about a young woman that caught my attention because of its ties to vegetarianism. The young woman in this story has a heart problem and needed a replacement heart value. She received one and it didn’t come from a human donor, but rather from a pig. This story probably never would have seen the light of the web if she wasn’t a vegetarian. The headline even reads, “Pig saves vegetarian’s bacon! 18-year-old Robyn is given animal's heart valve in life or death surgery.”

The controversy over this article is whether or not a veggie should have ANY animal parts inside them, whether consumed or surgically placed within. The real scruple over this young woman’s surgery is over how we value our own lives versus animals’ lives. Personally, I really don’t see what the big deal is about her needing a heart valve from a pig. If this woman is a vegetarian then her use and consumption of animals has been limited and her actions are justified.

In a very weird way, I am of the opinion that If ANYONE deserves a pig organ, it is a vegetarian. In 2008, 56 billion animals were raised for human consumption globally.  This woman only requires one and not to simply eat it. Besides, she is very health-conscious and aspires to be a sports therapist. How many pigs are slaughtered and consumed with the result being heart disease and loss of human life as opposed to saving one? I have vegetarian friends who still wear leather and justify doing so by claiming that cows are primarily killed for their meat and not for their hides. Surely, the use of an animal’s organs to save a human being must be in a vegetarian grey area. This type of situation is certainly no worse than normal cases of animal testing. Okay. I’ll concede that there are some vegetarians that believe that an animal’s life is equal to a human life, but isn’t this rare?

In response to the use of a pig’s heart valve, some vegetarians commented that they would rather die than receive an organ harvested from an animal. The real problem with these types of moral dilemmas is that humanity has yet to tackle the issue of animal rights because we have yet to ensure universal human rights. There are absolutely no international laws on the fair and humane(?) treatment of animals and the United Nations has yet to call for action. However, the World Society for the Protection of Animals is calling for the United Nations to achieve a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW).  A UDAW would include three main points: Animals are sentient beings that feel suffering, respect for animal welfare, and calling for an end to animal cruelty.  Other groups calling for an UDAW are Compassion in World Farming, Humane Society International, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Gelatin: It's Not Just for Marshmallows Anymore

In one of my former entries, I commented that, as a vegetarian, I don’t eat marshmallows. I got a comment in reply asking why, so I thought I would write today’s entry about gelatin. Most vegans and vegetarians do not eat gelatin at all, but some do and consider it a grey area in vegetarianism. I do not eat gelatin, but this is becoming an increasingly difficult thing to avoid at the grocery store.

Gelatin is derived from boiling animal bones, skin, and/or tendons and is used as a thickening agent in all types of food products (marshmallows being one of those). Others treat that contain gelatin include gummy bears and worms, jello, and certain types of yogurt. It is even in those cute little Easter Peeps and Halloween candy corn (SOB!). Gelatin can be a point of contention for vegetarians because there is a small camp of veggies that claims that gelatin is not derived from meat itself and is therefore okay to consume. Kind like those vegetarians that say it is acceptable to wear leather since you are not consuming it. I do not agree with eating gelatin simply because gelatin is gathered from the same mass farming structure that I morally disagree with. The fact that gelatin is not made from “meat” is just a technicality.

You have to be very careful when grocery shopping to avoid gelatin altogether and here are a few personal examples of what to look out for. I bought the Kroger brand of sour cream the other day and didn’t bother to check the label like I usually do. The next day when I opened the fridge, to my surprise there was a large handmade note taped to the top of the sour cream that read “Contains Gelatin.” My boyfriend is also a vegetarian and was so kind as to create this sign for me when he read the ingredients list. Other brands of sour cream, like Daisy, have only one ingredient (that being sour cream), but some brands use thickening agents like gelatin and you have to look out for it.

Soon after, I was studying amongst a group of classmates and one of my buddies offered each of us a mint. Altoids. They are curiously awesome. We all took one, then one of the guys asked to read the label. After looking at the tin, he immediately left to table to spit out the mint. I read the label and saw gelatin in the list of ingredients. This guy isn’t a vegetarian, but he is Muslim and gelatin isn’t halal. Gelatin can be derived from a variety of sources, including cattle, pigs, and fish.

Now, there are a wide variety of substitutes for gelatin, including kosher gelatin. If you are vegetarian, be mindful that kosher gelatin is probably still derived from an animal source. However, there are vegetable-based alternatives to gelatin and if you see them on labels, feel free to purchase. These are agar-agar, carrageenan, guar gum, hypromellose, konjak, and pectin.

Even the Most Southern of Mommas Can Support Their Newly-Veggie Kids

Just to quickly explain, I am alternating from the environmental aspect of veggie-ness back to my personal stories of being a vegetarian. The back and forth style really express the dichotomy I have experienced becoming a vegetarian for environmental and personal reasons. I was raised in a small town in south Georgia called Douglas where vegetarianism and veganism are thought of as foreign ideas. If Americans are perceived as meat-centric, than Southerners are doubly or even triply so!

Growing up, my family was very Southern Baptist in a culinary sense. If you have never been acquainted with that type of family, then what I mean by culinarily Baptist is that we went home every Sunday after church to a fried chicken dinner with all the fixings. Now, my Momma is renowned for being an excellent cook throughout the community and cooked in the style in which she was raised. A typical post-church dinner meal was made in this manner:

Step One—Cut up and deep fry a whole chicken (or roast, cube steak, pork chop, etc.).

Step Two—Make a gravy with the remains of the oil that the meat is fried in by adding flour and water. This gravy should be poured over an accompanying starch like rice or taters (potatoes for the Yankees reading this).

Step Three—Vegetables are be prepared with a meat added to them for ‘seasoning’. One can use ham hock, turkey neck, bacon, or even bacon grease!

Step Four—Make biscuits (which are thankfully veggie-safe) or Jiffy corn bread (sadly non-veggie).

If you carefully observe this meal, even the vegetables are not vegetarian. This is the way I ate on a regular basis and I later learned to cook in this manner as well. Considering my family’s consumption history, I was nervous to tell them, and my Momma in particular, about my decision to cut meat from my daily diet. Surprisingly, Momma reacted in a completely different way than I thought she would. I had imagined there would be lots of laughter and scoffing when I ‘came out’ to her, but she had a grave look on her face. I can’t remember word-for-word what she said, but this is the general gist. “Jessie, anything you choose to do that improves yourself, I fully support. I need to eat more vegetables, too.” I was floored and grateful at the same time.

The Thanksgiving after I became a vegetarian was very different than I dreamed it would be. I envisioned my family gorging on a savory feast while I scrounged for cranberry sauce and rolls. Thankfully, Momma had been doing her research and was delighted to find a bouillon that contained no animal product. With this new item in her repertoire, she created her vegetarian versions of cornbread dressing and dumplings with veggie broth. I was so touched by both her open-mindedness and adoption of new ways to cook. Momma had always used her cuisine to express love, so I thought that would change when my eating habits changed. I love being wrong in this case!

Secretly, I think she believes I am nuts for giving up marshmallows. HA!

Eating Meat Contributes to Global Warming

Moving from a story of how I became a veggie to more hard-hitting material, global aspects of meat production and consumption are environmentally devastating. However, this situation did not evolve to this extent overnight. The global transition from a hunter-gatherer society into a stable and localized agriculture allowed human beings to build cities, increase populations, and thrive. This newfound food security further allowed human beings to develop individual professions rather than focus on food-gathering and hunting. A farming class emerged in this specialization and modern production of food has evolved due to increased demand and technologies. 

The logistics of mass-production of meat have spilled into other areas, mainly economic and environmental concerns. The problems of modern agricultural practices emerge from production and consumption patterns and the current utilization of crops and livestock will continue to dictate the agricultural process. In other words, the manner in which we as humans consume foods will dictate the manner in which the agricultural sector produces them. I was shocked to find out that world-wide meat production now accounts for about 20 percent of global carbon emissions and the agricultural industry is overtaking fossil-fuel burning as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. With the United Nations predicting that meat consumption will double by 2020, the time to reexamine the world's agricultural practices and eating habits is NOW!

New studies show that methane gas causes more global warming that emissions from carbon dioxide. In regards to the damage from these greenhouse gases, methane is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. This means that cows raised on a mass, unsustainable scale are just as harmful as polluting vehicles. It is estimated that cutting meat consumption in half would slash more GHG emissions than if car use was cut in half. In 2008 alone, 56 billion animals were raised for human consumption globally. This number is expected to double by 2050 and greenhouse gas emissions are expected to rise in direct correlation with the number of animals raised.

The meat industry threatens us and the environment not just through the mass production of animals and emissions, but also what is being fed to these livestock. The practice of feeding animals an unnatural diet, as opposed to natural grass grazing, has become widespread and also results in further food insecurity for humans. More than 50 percent of the world’s corn crops and 80 percent of soybean crops go toward feedstock for farm animals while both are feeds that the animals would not eat in nature. Furthermore, crops like corn require large amounts of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and this process is environmentally damaging due to its interruption of Earth’s natural nitrogen cycle and its reliance on fossil fuels.

I know this posting might seem like a lot of technical fact, but awareness of this problematic, yet correctable, situation must be raised! Watching Americans (and others) eating themselves into an unfit environment is sort of like seeing someone suffer from a preventable disease—senseless and frustrating (and in this case deadly). Let me be clear that I am not saying everyone should be vegetarian. I’m saying that those who aren’t can certainly afford to cut back on meat consumption for the collective sake of the Earth.

How a Southerner Like Me Became a Veggie

I became a vegetarian a little over two years ago. It was Cinco de Mayo of 2009. I had plans to go out with friends and I was waiting on them to pick me up. To kill a little time, I decided to watch some TV. When I turned it on, the channel happened to be on a program with a firefighter who was promoting a vegetarian lifestyle. The friends in route to my home were vegetarians, so I instinctively tuned into what the heroic figure on the screen was saying.

He was authoring a new cookbook, but above of all the plugs to buy his recipes I heard him talk about the health benefits of becoming vegetarian after a lifetime of meat-eating. It can lower the risks of heart disease and is one of the few ways that carnivorous folks can dramatically change their diets. Being constantly surrounded by veggie friends, they had never used this "tactic" to convert me before. Two in particular were raised in vegetarian homes based on religious and spiritual beliefs, so their discussions with me mainly focused on that aspect of the argument for vegetarianism.

The two veggie friends arrived to pick me up and we decided to go check out the Bodies exhibit. As we ventured to the Atlantic Station exhibition, I had no idea how this day would effect my overall lifestyle. If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest you check out the Bodies show (http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/). It displays actual human form that have been preserved in polymer. The process halts decay and allows us to see the human muscular and skeletal form. Imagine a "peeled" person on display. Super cool and visually dynamic!

Back to the veggie-ness. I was looking at the exhibit and saw a human leg in a display case. Suddenly, it was as if I am at the supermarket. The bright red thigh was a plastic wrapped roast in my mind. One would think that common sense would allow me to connect that humans are physically composed in the same way animals are, but it took this literally gross display in order for me to put 2 and 2 together. I had been eating LEGS! How dare I have the audacity to do such an unjust thing? That image juxtaposed with the prior fireman's message of health flipped a switch in me that I wasn't aware of in the least.

I had been friends with these two veggies for years without even a hint of going over to the "green" side, so they were shocked (but pleased) with my revelation. Since then, I have become a smart advocate for vegetarianism. Having been raised in a Southern, meat and potatoes kinda family, I feel that I have a unique perspective on how to breach the gap between the hunter and gatherers (so to speak) of our society. This blog is going to be dedicated to exploring all aspects of vegetarianism: environmental, health, political, social, cultural, etc. Thanks for reading!