On Veganism

Go Vegan in 21 Days?

2010-01-07T13:20:00.003-05:00

Check out this article. Very interesting. And then check out the 21 Day Kick Start web site.

The Farmer's Garden

2009-10-26T21:15:00.001-04:00

Here is an interesting site called The Farmer's Garden that allows people who grow their own vegetables and fruits to find buyers and for people looking for produce to find sellers. It is a very interesting idea and I look forward to seeing how it grows (well, pun sort of intended). Here is a description from their site that gives information about who they are and what they do:

This site was developed so that everyone can become a locavore and have access to local, sustainably grown, fresh produce. It is also a great way to meet and support members of your community. Many backyard gardeners grow varieties of fruits, vegetables, berries, etc. not found in your local supermarket. Try new types of seasonal produce and you'll be glad you did. Some gardeners may be willing to provide you with a delicious recipe for preparing the bounty of their harvest.

So sign up (it's free) and check it out.

Greenwala Blog | Greenwala: The Green Social Network

2008-11-27T13:43:00.002-05:00

Hey check this out. It's a really cool site. Join up and start talking green. Of course it's not all vegan or vegetarian, but for the green-conscious vegan (is that redundant?) there some good stuff here.

Greenwala Blog | Greenwala: The Green Social Network

Posted using ShareThis

So Who's Having Tofurkey Today?

2008-11-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

I am wondering how many you are eating a Tofurkey. Also, I wonder if on Thanksgiving you create your own twist on the traditional fare. Then again if any of you have to put up with the family tradional Thanksgiving and pick those veg dishes that are vegan (no butter, etc.)

I've never had a tofurkey. It just doesn't appeal to me. But I think I'd like to try it just once because even though something doesn't seem to appeal to me, unless I try I don't know for sure. And being ever curious, and obsessive-compulsive, it would drive me crazy not to have ever tried it.

Sometimes I get creative and make my own food and bring that to my parents' house. One year I made an all-indian meal for myself that consisted of channa dal masala, a spinach dish (don't recall what it was) and a nice batch of the ever fragrant basmati rice.

Vegan News Network

2008-11-26T16:10:00.001-05:00

I signed up for membership at a site called SocialMedian. What's cool about this is that you can create your own News Network using keywords and news feeds. So I thought it would be cool to build a Vegan News Network and invite people to join in. The news being aggregated from the networks looks really good. So check it out. Just go to Vegan News Network and let me know what you think.

Planet Green and Veganism

2008-11-20T10:56:00.002-05:00

Perhaps my rants are becoming arduous, but I like to critique things and find out how something, say a television show or a network, relates or could relate to veganism.

On Planet Green I've noticed that very few programs talk about veganism or even vegetarianism. So I wonder why, given the fact the veganism, which to me is synonymous with being green, is not given more attention on Planet Green. Of course vegans may choose to not eat non-gmo and/or organic foods. But the fact that vegans consume in anyway no products based on the remains of dead animals, their contribution to the environment is positive and thus green. By not eating or wearing dead animals they are lowering the demand, even if only by a teeny tiny percent, for such products and I believe they are improving the overall carbon footprint.

Now, there are those who argue that if the demand for vegan foods increases while the demand of animal flesh decreases, we'll have to creat more farms, which means clear cutting large areas to make room for the increased demand of crops for food. But I think that what people are forgetting (or perhaps they don't know) is that the demand for biofuels is really what is increasing the demand for crops of plants specific to making biofuels and is a larger factor in having to clear cut new areas to grow these crops. I believe that if other alternatives are found, the need for biofuels would decrease and the land that we currently have can be used to create food crops and so diminishing the need for clear cutting.

This is my take on things. What do you think about such issues?

The Meaning of Strict

2008-11-19T16:01:00.011-05:00

Today I was listening to Emril Lagasse's Emril Green, a green cooking show on Planet Green. Because it's simply background noise as I sit here typing, communing and working, I miss a lot of what's happening. But in the episode I was listening to I heard the words strict vegetarian. I was intrigued because I was curious to know what the hell Emril was going to make for this "strict vegetarian." As it turns out, although she and her mother consider her to be a strict vegetarian, she's not. She eats seafood. So to be pricise, then, she's a pesco-vegetarian. So my question is this. What is the meaning of strict vegetarian?

Yes, this is a blog about veganism. So my contention is that she is not a strict vegetarian or for that matter a vegetarian. But then I thought about vegetarianism as a concept. Although there is debate, especially from vegans, about the kinds of vegetarianism--vegans would say that there is only one--I decided to examine these definitions.

The following is a list of the commonly known types of vegetarianism:

Vegetarian
Pesco-Vegetarian (or pescetarian)
Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian and these variants:

Ovo Vegetarian
Lacto Vegetarian

Strict Vegetarian
Vegan

Now we could state that there is no difference between a strict vegetarian and a vegan, but I make the distinction by describing a strict vegetarian as someone who consumes nothing whatsoever from an animal, and by consume I mean eat and drink. This does not preclude wearing (or using in some other way than eating and drinking) things made from animals. I don't actually know anyone in this category or if this is even a category of vegetarianism.

And of course we know that a vegan is a strict vegetarian is one that eschews anything made from animals, whether it be for health reasons and/or moral reasons. Of course one could argue that a vegan for health reasons only is not a vegan, but rather simply a strict vegetarian.

So the point of all of this is that when one is describing herself as a vegetarian, she should qualify this so that we can be clear and then decide for ourselves whether her assertion is true or false given whatever meaning of vegetarian you choose.

Celebrating Compassion Gala '08

2008-11-17T21:18:00.003-05:00

To raise funds for Mercy For Animals vegans and animal lovers everywhere are invited to the Celebrate Compassion Gala '08. Here is what is going to happen there, which looks like it will be a lot of fun:

Treat yourself to an inspiring evening filled with music, vegan hors d'oeuvres, organic wine and spirits, cruelty-free silent auction items, dancing, and an awards ceremony at Mercy For Animals' upcoming Celebrating Compassion Gala.

The Gala will be held in Chicago, IL on 12/5 and Columbus, OH on 12/6. So come and celebrate and bring your meat eating friends to show them how they can change their lives.

VegBlog: The Perfect Site for Finding the Best Vegan Blogs

2008-10-19T10:26:00.002-04:00

While searching the web for vegan blogs that I could link to, I found a great site that has a large list of blogs, both food-centric and non-food centric. It's called VegBlogs. You can add you own vegan blog by joining the site, which I highly recommend. Take a look at their site and read their about page to learn more.

Cabbage Sabzi (Cabbage Curry)

2008-10-17T22:45:00.006-04:00

This is a wonderful dish, and despite the dried chilies, it's not too hot. But if you don't like really spicy food, then cut back the chilies to 1 or 1 1/2.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it, but if you make it, you'll see that it turns out really nice.

Curry Mix Ingredients

½ cup of sesame seeds
2 to 3 whole dried red chili peppers

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
A small head of cabbage (green) finally chopped.
2 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped
½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
water
Salt to taste

Make Curry Mix

In a small skillet over medium low heat, toast sesame seeds and whole dried chilies until the sesame seeds turn several shades darker. In a mortar and pestle or in a spice mill of coffee grinder, mix toasted ingredients (may turn out oily from sesame seeds and hence not a powder—don’t worry).

Cook

In a pan or skillet, heat oil and fry mustard seeds until they start to pop. Add onion and garlic and fry until onion softens and becomes translucent. Add a few teaspoons of curry mix and stir to incorporate well and then several pinches of salt. Add cabbage and fry for a minute, then add some water (¼ to ½ cup) and allow cabbage to simmer. Add water as needed so that the mix doesn’t dry out—you want to soften the cabbage. Server over rice or with pita bread or Nan.

Chana Masala (Chickpea Curry)

2008-10-17T21:30:00.001-04:00

Chana Dahl Masala is probably one of my favorite Indian dishes. Well, it's hard to say because I there are so many vegan Indian dishes that I love. But this is one I frequently make. It might look a little complicated, but once you've made it a few times it will seem very simple. The trick here is to make sure that you have fresh spices.

I serve this with brown or white (brown is better for you) Basmati rice, which is something I really love. There is nothing quite like the smell of Basmati rice when it's being cooked in a rice maker.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or less for lower fat)
1 can (14.5 oz) of chickpeas, drained and rinsed thoroughly, or a half cup of dried chickpeas soaked in water overnight, then cooked in pot with 3 cups water until soft (about ½ to ¾ hours of cooking—no need to do this with canned chickpeas).
1 medium onion, diced
3 to 4 cloves garlic with a ½ inch piece of fresh ginger, mashed together (chopped finally or put into a food processor and made into a paste—it’s good to actually make a lot of this to use in curry preparation, so use lots of ginger and lots of garlic 1:1 ratio in a food processor)
1 can (15 oz) or crushed tomatoes or two tomatoes skinned1 and crushed in a food mill or by hand with a fork in a bowl
½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
¾ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 to 2 tablespoons good Madras curry powder
½ tablespoon chili powder (optional)
Fresh cilantro, chopped.
Salt to taste
Extra water

Cooking:

Heat pan over medium-high heat.

Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and wait until they begin to pop, which takes a few seconds--but make sure you're pan is hot. As soon as the seeds start to pop, throw in onions and the garlic/ginger paste that you made, and fry until onions sweat and turn soft--do not cook the onions to the point where they begin to caramelize (turn brown).

Add the madras curry powder and optional chili powder until onions are covered and mix becomes fragrant (20 to 30 seconds of stirring). Then add crushed tomatoes and a little water and stir well, making a nice gravy.

Keep stirring for a few minutes, cover and let simmer for ten minutes (add only a little water if it gets too dry looking).

Add the chickpeas, a little more water if necessary, and cover again lowering the heat. Allow to simmer about 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, toss in chopped cilantro and serve over rice and with warm pita bread or even better, Indian Nan.

Tips:

If you have a pan screen put that over it or face the pan slightly up and away from you.

Making Your Own Garam Masala

2008-10-17T20:55:00.002-04:00

One of the things that I really like about Indian food is the immense variety of flavors. When making some dishes, a key ingredient is garam masala, or hot spice, where hot refers to high temperature. Of course most garam masala recipes I've tried tend to have a nice spicy-hot flavor, which is why whe I cook with it I don't use as much a recipe indicates.

This garam masala recipe is one that I find easy to make and very flavorful. And while it might seem a lot of work to make what appears to be a small amount, a little goes a long way. So here is the recipe from my recipe archives. While I find recipes online and in books, I tend to play around with them and try to add my own touch to them.

Garam masala is a mix of spices whose prime ingredient is cinnamon and is used to flavor a lot of vegetable curries.

3” cinnamon stick
¼ cup coriander seeds
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
teaspoon black pepper corns
4 to 6 cloves
1 to 2 bay leaves
3 to 4 star anise pods (optional)

Toast all ingredients in a small skillet over medium-low heat for several minutes until mix becomes fragrant and seeds turn several shades darker, but not burnt (try doing this at first on a small amount so you get the hang of it).

Grind in spice mill or coffee grinder (note that once you mix spices in a coffee grinder once, never again use it for coffee—I have several coffee grinders, one for coffee the other for spice mixes). Store the spice mix in an air-tight container in the fridge for a month or place in freezer for up to a year.

Ethics and Veganism, Part I

2008-04-05T16:07:00.011-04:00

Today I was watching the food network and thinking how disappointed I was that they aren't vegan-friendly and their coverage of vegetarian topics and recipes is very much lacking. But, to be fair, some of the programs do make a point, albeit seldomly, to present some vegetarian dishes, or at the very least, mention how one can convert a dish to be vegetarian. And more recently they have begun to add more vegetarian recipes to their web site. For fun, however, I enjoy watching and trying to figure out how I could convert various recipes into vegan recipes. For example, it seems to be easy to think of ways to "veganize" pasta and rice dishes.

The particular food network show that I had been watching is called Throwdown with Bobby Flay. He was trying to outdo in a jerk chicken throwdown the cookbook and children's book author, Angela Shelf Medearis. Among her works is a book titled The Ethnic Vegetarian. I am not reviewing the book here because I have only read the Amazon.com excerpt. But when I heard about this book on the show, I was surprised to discover that Medearis herself is not a vegetarian--hence the jerk chicken. Her other cookbooks are not vegetarian books, which is not to say that they contain no vegetarian recipes, because they do. In fact, if you read their reviews at Amazon and browse their contents, you'll find some vegetarian recipes.

So as I contemplated this I wondered. Is it not hypocritical for an author who is not a vegetarian to write a cookbook on vegetarian food? To me this did seem hypocritical. But as I wrote this I realized that I was sounding ridiculous. Certainly it's alright if she does. But what if the book contains not only information about vegetarian nutrition, but also espouses the virtues of a vegetarian diet diet in regards to it being cruelty free? This is what seemed to me to be hypocritical, but because I haven't read her book to know if she writes on the ethical topic of being vegetarian, I decided instead to engage myself in a smal thought experiment (my favorite pastime) about a hypothetical author and her cookbooks.

So, would it be hypocritical, then, if this was the case? But more importantly, as an ethical vegan, should one purchase such books? If I purchased this hypothetical vegetarian cookbook which, according to some reviewers, had a number of vegan recipes, would I not be supporting someone who exploits animals by writing about non-vegetarian food as well as consuming it?

I think that I would be a hypocrite if I bought this book, and I think it would be ethically wrong to do such a thing. I think that by contributing money to an author like this that I, indirectly, would be encouraging her to do more of the same. But I wonder, what do other people think about this? Certainly if one tried to live his life by conforming totally to Ahimsa (a Sanskrit word meaning non-violence), he would probably become a hermit living in the woods or a cave wearing only hemp, eating only those things that caused no harm to animal or insect alike. He might very well stop shaving and cutting his hair so that he wouldn't have to disturb the critters living in his beard and hair; perhaps he might even stop bathing.

But regardless of the degree of veganism and non-violence you decided to practice, ask yourself this: do you want to be a hypocrite or a hermit or something in between?

The Pizza from the Dough

2008-03-25T11:01:00.003-04:00

Well, the pizza we made from the dough turned out okay, but the crust was thin and doughy. I discovered afterward that what I needed to do was to let it proof for about 8 hours in an oiled glass bowl with a damp towel over it before putting in the refrigerator. The dough will apparently grow between two to three times its size. While the dough was pliable, it was still a little dense. So I will have to create another batch of dough and experiment. This sort of experimentation is turning out to be a lot of fun.

My Wonderful Bread Macine

2008-03-22T17:06:00.002-04:00

I've had a bread machine for a number of years, and I've only used it three or four times. Two of those times were this weekend as I tried to make Pizza dough. Rather than look in recipe books (I even have the well know The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook), I decided to search the web. I used this google search: vegan +bread +machine +pizza + dough" and I got a number of hits And as with anything else on the web, all hits are either hits or misses and most often, I find, there are more misses than hits. But anyway, I found a recipe that stated I needed 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour and 1 1/2 cup of whole wheat. I placed these and the other ingredients into my bread machine and selected the pizza dough option. 45 minutes later I discovered that I had made a brick of dark, whole wheat something. It certainly wasn't dough. So today I found another recipe, which follows: the instructions at after the ingredients are mine.

--------------------------------------------------

Pizza Dough
3 cups, all purpose flour
1 t. salt
2 t active, dry yeast
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup warm water

Follow the instructions of your bread maker to add the ingredients. In my bead machine I put in the dry ingredients in this order: flour and salt. I then add the water and the oil. My machine has a yeast dispenser so I close the lid and place the yeast in the dispenser. Put the machine on pizza dough and start. When it's done, let it rest for as few hours. I've even read other authors write that you should let the dough rise for 8 hours or over night.

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This recipe turned out perfectly. It made a pizza dough the had the rich, doughy texture that I recalled. It's rising now in seclusion and this evening or tomorrow I will be making a vegan pizza.

Living in a Non-Vegan Family

2008-03-16T14:31:00.004-04:00

One thing I struggle with is how to cope with my non-vegan family, both my wife and puppies as well as my parents, brother and sister. My ideas on veganism and vegetarianism are probably not shared by those who are one or the other. In fact, if we look at the definition of each in the New Oxford American Dictionary, we find the following definitions:

Vegan
noun
a person who does not eat or use animal products : I'm a strict vegan | [as adj. ] a vegan diet.

Vegetarian
noun
a person who does not eat meat, and sometimes other animal products, esp. for moral, religious, or health reasons.

adjective
of or relating to the exclusion of meat or other animal products from the diet : a vegetarian restaurant.

I, however, consider veganism synonymous with activism, animal rights as well as a strict vegetarian diet. In other words, veganism is a much broader characterization of its meaning. But vegetarianism, in my opinion, has meaning that is much more specific. I think that it only has to do with one's diet. Thus the various categories in which it falls: strict, ovo-lacto, etc. As a vegan, when I say that mine is a vegetarian diet, I mean a strictly no-animal ingredients whatsoever diet, which is synonymous with what is termed a vegan diet.

So I've been pondering some questions and ideas, one of which has to do with the questions of living in a non-vegan home. I wonder to myself if being vegan means that if you cannot convince your family of its virtues then you let one another live as each wishes. But also, I wonder, does it mean that if you are the primary cook in the family, should you cook non-vegan dishes for them? That is, if my wife wants a "juicy" steak or fried chicken, should you have her make her own?

Now, given my definition of vegetarianism, whether or not you are a strict vegetarian, if you don't consider yourself a vegan, would there be a problem or some invalidation of your vegetarianism if you cook non-vegetarian dishes for your family? I think the key here is the fact that this kind of vegetarian does not consider themselves a vegan. If you don't hold to the definition of vegan, thus considering yourself, perhaps only for reasons of health and taste, a vegetarian, then perhaps it is okay to cook non-vegetarian for your family since you hold no notion, necessarily, of the cruelty to animals to which a non-vegetarian diet contributes.

So as a vegan, I might recommend to other vegans to try to find for yourself a vegan mate or accept your non-vegan mate and refuse to contribute to suffering by holding to your values and refusing to cook non-vegetarian them. This might cause some level of consternation between the two of you, but, as I am discovering, if you can talk your mate into enjoying with you every so often a vegan meal, things between you might be less of a headache.

Answers to Quesions on Veganism

2008-03-15T17:58:00.006-04:00

As a new vegan I have a lot of questions and often I am searching the web for answers. I know about the International Vegetarian Union, which I go to often to find recipes, but I also found on that site an FAQ that has many good answers for a lot of questions, many of which are similar to the questions I have. In it there are answers to questions about such things as common foods, definitions, and ingredients such as "Is 'gum base' in chewing gum vegan?" I didn't know this, but apparently a majority of chewing gums might not be vegan which means that I'll need to throw away the three packs of Trident gum that are in my jacket pocket, and I'll happily do it, too. Then again, my gorgeous, non-vegetarian wife might balk at this and scold me for throwing away perfectly good gum. So here is a question, would giving my wife the gum be "vegan"? That is, would it be the vegan thing to do? For me this is a philosophical question, and I have many such questions about veganism. Perhaps in my next post I will attempt to answer some.

A New Addition to our Family

2008-03-09T18:38:00.006-04:00

I don't know what the hell gets into me, and I know we didn't need a new puppy, but three days ago when we went to a pet supply store my wife found an all white Jack Russell female, and she told me that she just looked so sad sitting there in its cage all alone. One of the clerks talked us into playing with her (which wasn't difficult for her to do) and, as you could guess, both my wife and I fell in love with her. So I dished out $700.00 or so and we took her home. At first our other dog, Sydney, didn't know what to make of Applejax (the new puppy's name), and we worried that there might be problems because Applejax is six months old and not a new puppy. But three days have past and, while it was rough the first two days, Sydney, while still trying to hump Applejax to show her dominance, is finally settling down. Applejax, on the other hand, didn't seem to be bothered at all by Sydney. I think this is because she came from a pet store and was used to being around other dogs as well as those who took care of her. Anyway, enough babbling. Here is a pictures of the new pup. Applejax is on the left and Sydney is on the right, who is still not quite sure what to make of the new pup.

Veggie Stir-Fry

2008-03-09T18:13:00.004-04:00

Stir Fried Green Beans with Carrots and Mushrooms

Equipment:
1.Wok
2.Wooden spoon or paddle.

Ingredients:
½ lb or a handful of green beans, washed and trimmed on the stem side
12 or so baby carrots sliced in ½ inch slices on a diagonal
10 to 12 white mushrooms, sliced thickly
1 medium onion, diced
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
A small piece of ginger (about ¾ to 1 inch long), finely minced
1 tablespoon of Tamari (wheat-free soy sauce)
Splash of dry sherry or balsamic vinegar (optional)
1 tablespoon of peanut or canola oil for wok
Fresh cracked pepper
two tsp of corn starch and a 1 ½ cups of water
1 cup of cooked brown rice

Cooking:
Heat your wok on high heat and add the oil. When the oil begins to ripple, add the diced onions and fry for about two minutes or until onions become soft and translucent and season with pepper. Toss in garlic and ginger and stir-fry for about 30 seconds—don’t let it burn. Toss in the carrots and stir-fry for one to two minutes. You want the carrots to be not raw but not too soft. Add the green beans—if your wok is too small, you can slice the green beans in half, but I prefer them long. Stir-fry the green beans for a few minutes, then add the mushrooms, stir-frying for another minute or until the mushrooms start to get softer. Add the tamari or soy sauce and the sherry or balsamic vinegar, and keep stir-frying until the green beans become tender, but not wilted. Stir the cornstarch into the water until it is completely disolved. Pour the mixture into the wok a little at a time while continuing to stir. You'll notice that the cornstarch mixture begins to thicken into a nice brown sauce. Keep stirring until all the vegetables are coated. Serve with brown rice.

Temptation

2008-03-08T21:18:00.004-05:00

One of things that I used to love to eat is cake. A really good cake from a bakery, not from a supermarket, is something I would enjoy during family birthdays and even my own. My favorite cake is chocolate cake with a chocolate fudge icing. Having been a vegan and now trying to be a vegan once again I was very disappointed in myself for recently succumbing to temptation. It was at my sister-in-law's birthday celebration just yesterday when it happened. There is a baker in the town of Bethel Park called Bethel Bakery--not very original. But in my opinion they bake the best cakes around. So it was yesterday when we celebrated that I was presented with a dilemma. Should I eat cake or should I not. Convincing myself that I could cheat because I am only at the beginning of my enlightened path, I decided to have a slice--a rather large slice. Of course, as with many things, this got me thinking. I tend to buy books, all sorts of books, and because I am on the path to veganism I've been buying a lot of vegan cookbooks, and one in particular, The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, was a very good purchase. Now, I did buy the book before I cheated, but now that I have cheated and admitted it, I am going to begin reading this book and trying my hand at baking, something I've yet to master.

Precocious Puppy

2008-03-02T17:59:00.009-05:00

I often wonder how many vegans have animals as pets. Personally I think it ought to be a prerequisite for being vegan. Anyway, I wanted to share a picture of my Jack Russell puppy, Sydney. She was born May 19, 2007. Now how can you not love a face like this?

Here is a picture of my beautiful wife holding the puppy who is a few months older in this picture than she is in the one above.

My Vegan Logo

2008-03-02T13:59:00.008-05:00

I spent some time in Corel Painter X and designed this as my vegan logo. Note that in the spirit of free software, this logo is free to anyone who would like to adopt it.

On Veganism

2008-03-01T20:40:00.011-05:00

Veganism, as I like to explain, is an enlightened and compassionate way of life. It is a way of living passionately for the pure enjoyment and preservation of nature; it is a passion for the nourishment of the body and of the mind, and it is a passion for the world. Veganism is my passion, and it is my hope that one day this passion, this form of enlightenment, will spread, not just from one person to the next, but from one community to another, from culture to culture; it is my hope that one day Veganism will spread throughout the world, for if we ever wish to preserve this tiny, unique and precious planet of ours, we will, all of us, need to change.