I have decided to no longer have a specific blog for vegan stuff. It's just another part of my life so I am including it in my regular blog with everything else.
If you are interested the blog is here.
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
various thoughts
It's almost 3 months now (will be on the 5th) and I have to say that it has honestly been one of the easiest things I've ever done. If I think about or dwell on it I want to kick myself for not doing this earlier but for whatever reason, none of which I am proud of, I wasn't ready. And I've seriously never felt better physically, and considering I have barely exercised for nearly 3 weeks now (will be remedying that immediately!!), probably being the longest I've gone without exercising for a good couple of years at least, then I am personally completely amazed about how peppy and full of energy I am feeling.
I discovered an interesting site this morning, via facebook actually. It's great having "friended" many of the vegan freaks as it can help lead me to more interesting information and I'm definitely still in the "devouring all the information I can get my hands on" stage at present. I definitely want to do more eventually in terms of fighting for animal rights, but just don't feel worthy yet as I feel there is still so much to learn. What I didn't realise when I first decided to go vegan, was that going vegan is really only the first step and there is so much more to do. Anyway, the site is here and I am quite keen to check out the place in real life when we move to Melbourne and volunteer there and all.
I know it's only been (not quite) 3 months, but I honestly can't imagine life any other way. I really do feel like I'm finally doing what I always should have done. Having decided to stop calling myself a vegetarian a while back even though I didn't eat meat because it felt so hypocritical, I guess I've know for a couple of years that this is what I had to do, but doing it alluded me. I wish I knew more back then, but well, you can only work with what you know, and once you know better, you do better. You can't "unknow" something once you know it, and knowing what I know now, there is just no way in the world that I could ever knowingly eat or consume another animal product as long as I live.
I discovered an interesting site this morning, via facebook actually. It's great having "friended" many of the vegan freaks as it can help lead me to more interesting information and I'm definitely still in the "devouring all the information I can get my hands on" stage at present. I definitely want to do more eventually in terms of fighting for animal rights, but just don't feel worthy yet as I feel there is still so much to learn. What I didn't realise when I first decided to go vegan, was that going vegan is really only the first step and there is so much more to do. Anyway, the site is here and I am quite keen to check out the place in real life when we move to Melbourne and volunteer there and all.
I know it's only been (not quite) 3 months, but I honestly can't imagine life any other way. I really do feel like I'm finally doing what I always should have done. Having decided to stop calling myself a vegetarian a while back even though I didn't eat meat because it felt so hypocritical, I guess I've know for a couple of years that this is what I had to do, but doing it alluded me. I wish I knew more back then, but well, you can only work with what you know, and once you know better, you do better. You can't "unknow" something once you know it, and knowing what I know now, there is just no way in the world that I could ever knowingly eat or consume another animal product as long as I live.
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Club Med
The last week was another challenge in my vegan journey. Not like seriously challenging or anything but it was certainly the kind of environment where in the past I would have said, "oh it's just too hard" and probably sacrificed my ethics and eaten products of cruelty. I really tried to plan a holiday that would me lots of fun for all 3 of us, which didn't exactly go to plan, but anyway that's not the topic at hand so I'll leave it at that.
I went relatively prepared, especially for the travelling part as I knew we'd be spending many hours in airports on the way there and back. I had 3 large Tupperware containers in my backpack (such that not much else fit but that was okay - still fit the iPod and that's the main thing). One was full of dried apples and apricots. Another was full of cashews, almonds, pine nuts and seeds and the third had rice crackers. I also took a block of organic vegan chocolate (mint!!) in case of emergency that I am happy to say lasted the trip as no such emergency arose. I just figured (rightly) that none of the desserts would be vegan and that I might feel as though I was missing something, but I really didn't. A couple of times I thought I'd have some when I got back to the room, but I never actually did.
One thing I didn't think about was that Club Med (it was a Club Med resort we stayed at) are French and that the French aren't exactly renowned for their vegan options. All meals were buffet style and really there were enough options that it wasn't a problem at all. They have various oils and sauces available as well as plain rice at all lunches and dinners and there were always plenty of vegetables too. Although it was a little weird to us that the vegetables were almost exclusively served up fridge cold, they were still tasty. So I ate a lot of rice with vegetables and soy sauce, which of course was fine, although I don't think I'll be cooking rice for at least a week or so now that we're home :) I was curious when one of the foods was labelled "French-style peas" only to discover that this apparently means cooked in butter and bacon... Ah, okay...
During the first breakfast I was a little concerned that I couldn't see any soy milk. There were other things to eat but I really wanted some cereal. There was hot and cold cows milk by the cereals and there were 2 separate locations for coffee and tea and each of them had cows milk too, but no soy milk. So I asked one of the chefs and he informed me that it was behind the juice. I was still a little confused at this point as I went to where I thought the juice was as there was orange and apple juice there and no soy milk. So I continued to look and then discovered there was some other juice in another location, there was also yoghurt there and fruit, and yes, the coveted soy milk, yay! Every other day was fine as I knew where to find it then.
I have always been a breakfast is the most important meal of the day kind of girl, so having several good options at breakfast was more important to me than having more options at the other 2 main meals. I managed to have toast with cooked tomatoes and then asked the bewildered omelette making chef if I could have some mushrooms to go with it. By day 3 though he knew me and just nodded politely as I took my mushrooms.
There were a couple of fleeting (very) moments of coveting pasta with cheese, but I thought of Bob and Jenna and all the Freaks on the forums to remind myself that as much as it can feel like it at times like that, I am not alone and to give in would not be worth it for sooooo many reasons. Not the least of which is that I would feel like utter crap about myself because I'm not just doing this for fun but because I so very, very strongly believe in it being the right thing to do. I thought about the poor calves being taken from their mothers and I knew there was only one thing I could do and that was to have some more rice with soy sauce and veggies, and garlic oil... I've never had garlic oil before but man it was good and just went really well with everything, with the rice and veggies, on a slice of bread for some vegan garlic bread, yummity, yum yum :) And once again, something that some might think is restrictive is actually broadening my palate as I am trying things that I wouldn't have even considered had I not been vegan.
I went relatively prepared, especially for the travelling part as I knew we'd be spending many hours in airports on the way there and back. I had 3 large Tupperware containers in my backpack (such that not much else fit but that was okay - still fit the iPod and that's the main thing). One was full of dried apples and apricots. Another was full of cashews, almonds, pine nuts and seeds and the third had rice crackers. I also took a block of organic vegan chocolate (mint!!) in case of emergency that I am happy to say lasted the trip as no such emergency arose. I just figured (rightly) that none of the desserts would be vegan and that I might feel as though I was missing something, but I really didn't. A couple of times I thought I'd have some when I got back to the room, but I never actually did.
One thing I didn't think about was that Club Med (it was a Club Med resort we stayed at) are French and that the French aren't exactly renowned for their vegan options. All meals were buffet style and really there were enough options that it wasn't a problem at all. They have various oils and sauces available as well as plain rice at all lunches and dinners and there were always plenty of vegetables too. Although it was a little weird to us that the vegetables were almost exclusively served up fridge cold, they were still tasty. So I ate a lot of rice with vegetables and soy sauce, which of course was fine, although I don't think I'll be cooking rice for at least a week or so now that we're home :) I was curious when one of the foods was labelled "French-style peas" only to discover that this apparently means cooked in butter and bacon... Ah, okay...
During the first breakfast I was a little concerned that I couldn't see any soy milk. There were other things to eat but I really wanted some cereal. There was hot and cold cows milk by the cereals and there were 2 separate locations for coffee and tea and each of them had cows milk too, but no soy milk. So I asked one of the chefs and he informed me that it was behind the juice. I was still a little confused at this point as I went to where I thought the juice was as there was orange and apple juice there and no soy milk. So I continued to look and then discovered there was some other juice in another location, there was also yoghurt there and fruit, and yes, the coveted soy milk, yay! Every other day was fine as I knew where to find it then.
I have always been a breakfast is the most important meal of the day kind of girl, so having several good options at breakfast was more important to me than having more options at the other 2 main meals. I managed to have toast with cooked tomatoes and then asked the bewildered omelette making chef if I could have some mushrooms to go with it. By day 3 though he knew me and just nodded politely as I took my mushrooms.
There were a couple of fleeting (very) moments of coveting pasta with cheese, but I thought of Bob and Jenna and all the Freaks on the forums to remind myself that as much as it can feel like it at times like that, I am not alone and to give in would not be worth it for sooooo many reasons. Not the least of which is that I would feel like utter crap about myself because I'm not just doing this for fun but because I so very, very strongly believe in it being the right thing to do. I thought about the poor calves being taken from their mothers and I knew there was only one thing I could do and that was to have some more rice with soy sauce and veggies, and garlic oil... I've never had garlic oil before but man it was good and just went really well with everything, with the rice and veggies, on a slice of bread for some vegan garlic bread, yummity, yum yum :) And once again, something that some might think is restrictive is actually broadening my palate as I am trying things that I wouldn't have even considered had I not been vegan.
Saturday, 28 June 2008
Cupcakes
If you're considering becoming vegan but are wondering about missing out on treats, you seriously have to pick yourself up a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. I've only made a couple of different ones so far as decent ingredients for anything too fancy are a bit hard to come by in this backwater, but MAN, they are delicious!! I've taken the vanilla cupcakes to work and they have been an absolute hit! One colleague has even asked for the recipe, so yay for that!! Seriously, go out and buy it now if you haven't already, okay?
I didn't want to be different...
I think that a lot of people who have known me for any length of time are under the impression that I like being different and that I choose to quite deliberately because I enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely proud of who I am and I like myself, but some days I wish as much as anyone to just be "normal" (whatever that means) and to fit in with everybody else. But the fact is I'm not, so at different times I have needed to seek out groups where I could at least feel normal for a short time.
Listening to many of Bob and Jenna's podcasts and reading from much more articulated and learned people than myself such as Gary Francione and Karen Davis, I see so many parallels between my "alternative" parenting style and my decision (finally!) to go vegan. So often the logic for eating animals or using them for other purposes is that they don't care, they don't know any better, even that they can't feel pain (???) For those that don't know, I've been what is commonly known as an "attachment parent" with my son. He was breastfed until he was 4, we *never* allowed him to cry alone without comfort and he has never and he will never be hit by either of his parents. A friend of mine used to have in her signature on our parenting board something along the lines of "attachment parenting - the bizarre concept that children are people too".... When people talk about leaving their baby to cry so they can "learn to sleep" I honestly wonder how they can possibly justify it. Just because your baby is unable to say, "Hey Mum, I'm scared and alone and when you leave me I don't know if you'll ever come back and I need you to hold me" then somehow it's okay to let him or her cry. After all they're only a baby, they don't understand, they won't remember...
I see this as so completely analogous to the way animals are treated in our society. If you don't have a voice, then stuff you, nobody cares what you feel. Bob often talks in the podcast about how when people use the justification that it's okay to eat and use animals because they are not as intelligent, etc, etc that we could use the same logic to justify eating babies. While obviously no sane adult really believes we would be justified in eating babies, similar logic is certainly used by people everywhere to treat babies as less than human in various ways.
When I had Mitchell, I knew that I could never leave him to cry alone. Because of the general consensus in "society" I thought that this would make me a bad parent and mean that he would never learn to sleep. Looking back I cannot believe how ridiculous this sounds, but there you go. Mitchell was cuddled or breastfed to sleep for 4 years, but you know what, he certainly knows how to sleep and mostly with no hassles whatsoever. And sometimes he still sleeps in my bed, and sometimes he doesn't (mostly not these days). When his Dad's away he tends to want the extra security of sleeping closer to me, but seriously, what's wrong with that? Why should it matter if you a 1 day old, 1 year old, 10 years old or an adult. If you feel that you need / want some company, some comfort, why shouldn't you be able to have that?
By the same token, why should a cow not be entitled to graze at will, entitled to keep her baby with her until it is naturally weaned and grown and ready to move on, and ultimately, why should she not be allowed to live out her natural life? So that we can drink milk that was never intended for the human body? How on earth can that be okay?
The same analogy goes for any animal on this planet. Why should a chicken not be allowed to roam and peck at food when they are hungry? Why should a male chick have to be ground up at birth because he's no good to us all important humans? And if you believe that free range chickens are really any better off, then have a look at Karen's site here.
Looking back, I can't believe that I was so naive, and I completely believe that there are no excuses. I have no excuses and I am responsible for the decisions I made in the past to partake in the dairy and egg industries by eating their products. But organisations like PETA also have a lot to answer for. Reading their web site had me convinced that yes, veganism is ideal but free range eggs and dairy, etc was still okay... For an organisation that calls itself People for the ETHICAL Treatment of Animals, I'm not quite sure how they can justify their stance, but I guess that is just what comes with becoming such a large organisation and now ultimately being more about money than anything else. To *celebrate* that in Canada KFC are gassing chickens to death instead of electrocuting them, well, frankly it makes no sense to me whatsoever. I just don't get it, can anybody explain???
Well that's a bit more of the swirling thoughts in my head relating to my journey of discovering exactly what kind of vegan I am and want to be. I really do want to thank Bob and Jenna (not that I expect them to read this! maybe I'll leave a voicemail one of these days ;) ) for their forums, their podcast, and they're book that I'm still making my way through. No, I didn't want to be different, and I didn't want to be a "freak", but the Vegan Freaks have helped me to at the same time feel less freaky, and embrace my freakdom. I'm now proud to call myself a Vegan Freak, as, frankly, I'm in great company :)
Listening to many of Bob and Jenna's podcasts and reading from much more articulated and learned people than myself such as Gary Francione and Karen Davis, I see so many parallels between my "alternative" parenting style and my decision (finally!) to go vegan. So often the logic for eating animals or using them for other purposes is that they don't care, they don't know any better, even that they can't feel pain (???) For those that don't know, I've been what is commonly known as an "attachment parent" with my son. He was breastfed until he was 4, we *never* allowed him to cry alone without comfort and he has never and he will never be hit by either of his parents. A friend of mine used to have in her signature on our parenting board something along the lines of "attachment parenting - the bizarre concept that children are people too".... When people talk about leaving their baby to cry so they can "learn to sleep" I honestly wonder how they can possibly justify it. Just because your baby is unable to say, "Hey Mum, I'm scared and alone and when you leave me I don't know if you'll ever come back and I need you to hold me" then somehow it's okay to let him or her cry. After all they're only a baby, they don't understand, they won't remember...
I see this as so completely analogous to the way animals are treated in our society. If you don't have a voice, then stuff you, nobody cares what you feel. Bob often talks in the podcast about how when people use the justification that it's okay to eat and use animals because they are not as intelligent, etc, etc that we could use the same logic to justify eating babies. While obviously no sane adult really believes we would be justified in eating babies, similar logic is certainly used by people everywhere to treat babies as less than human in various ways.
When I had Mitchell, I knew that I could never leave him to cry alone. Because of the general consensus in "society" I thought that this would make me a bad parent and mean that he would never learn to sleep. Looking back I cannot believe how ridiculous this sounds, but there you go. Mitchell was cuddled or breastfed to sleep for 4 years, but you know what, he certainly knows how to sleep and mostly with no hassles whatsoever. And sometimes he still sleeps in my bed, and sometimes he doesn't (mostly not these days). When his Dad's away he tends to want the extra security of sleeping closer to me, but seriously, what's wrong with that? Why should it matter if you a 1 day old, 1 year old, 10 years old or an adult. If you feel that you need / want some company, some comfort, why shouldn't you be able to have that?
By the same token, why should a cow not be entitled to graze at will, entitled to keep her baby with her until it is naturally weaned and grown and ready to move on, and ultimately, why should she not be allowed to live out her natural life? So that we can drink milk that was never intended for the human body? How on earth can that be okay?
The same analogy goes for any animal on this planet. Why should a chicken not be allowed to roam and peck at food when they are hungry? Why should a male chick have to be ground up at birth because he's no good to us all important humans? And if you believe that free range chickens are really any better off, then have a look at Karen's site here.
Looking back, I can't believe that I was so naive, and I completely believe that there are no excuses. I have no excuses and I am responsible for the decisions I made in the past to partake in the dairy and egg industries by eating their products. But organisations like PETA also have a lot to answer for. Reading their web site had me convinced that yes, veganism is ideal but free range eggs and dairy, etc was still okay... For an organisation that calls itself People for the ETHICAL Treatment of Animals, I'm not quite sure how they can justify their stance, but I guess that is just what comes with becoming such a large organisation and now ultimately being more about money than anything else. To *celebrate* that in Canada KFC are gassing chickens to death instead of electrocuting them, well, frankly it makes no sense to me whatsoever. I just don't get it, can anybody explain???
Well that's a bit more of the swirling thoughts in my head relating to my journey of discovering exactly what kind of vegan I am and want to be. I really do want to thank Bob and Jenna (not that I expect them to read this! maybe I'll leave a voicemail one of these days ;) ) for their forums, their podcast, and they're book that I'm still making my way through. No, I didn't want to be different, and I didn't want to be a "freak", but the Vegan Freaks have helped me to at the same time feel less freaky, and embrace my freakdom. I'm now proud to call myself a Vegan Freak, as, frankly, I'm in great company :)
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Melbourne
So exciting!! 175 sleeps until we drive out of here :) I did a bit of a google today and found a great vegan social group and it looks like they get together fairly regularly. So I'll actually be able to talk to other vegans in real life and not just have these "friends" in my iPod :) Looks very cool.
weird
It's weird that now that I've got myself totally to the point where I just don't look at any animal products as food any more. And then I go to the supermarket and see people buying meat and other products and just get taken aback and have to remind myself that yes, that's actually what most people do. I know that Jenna has mentioned on the Vegan Freak podcasts that when she became vegan meat looked a lot more gross to her than when she was vegetarian and the first time I heard her say that I thought it seemed a bit funny. But I am beginning to feel the same way. Although I have always felt that meat was pretty gross and not exactly tempting, it's just now on a whole other level of repulsiveness and just the thought that anybody would even contemplate eating it just doesn't make any sense to me any more.
Also listened to a great podcast today about no-kill shelters and the myth of animal population. It's just amazing me so much how PETA is so much the "voice" out there for "animal rights" and I used to go there for ideas and advice, but when it comes to so many things they do, it just doesn't make any sense...
Also listened to a great podcast today about no-kill shelters and the myth of animal population. It's just amazing me so much how PETA is so much the "voice" out there for "animal rights" and I used to go there for ideas and advice, but when it comes to so many things they do, it just doesn't make any sense...
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Move confirmed
So after things being frustratingly up in the air for a while now, we finally have confirmation that we are going to Melbourne next year (or the end of this year!) It is 178 sleeps until we drive out of here and needless to say I'm looking forward to it. While colleagues here are nice and all, I'm really looking forward to having the opportunity to meet some vegans in real life and also to have more options. I'm really excited to get a chance to go to Vegan Wares, which is in my links on the side of the blog. I have ordered a purse and 2 pairs of shoes from them while I've been up here, and they are all totally fantastic and brilliant, but I'd simply love to actually get to walk into their store and look around (the whole tracing your foot and taking measurements and stuff is not really my thing!)
I'm looking forward to having somewhere other than a second rate woolies to buy food, woohoo!! I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to actually go to a vegetarian or vegan restaurant and have options in other restaurants that just aren't here. I'm also really looking forward to getting settled and setting up a veggie garden and maybe in the relatively short term getting our own place and growing fruit trees too! Such excitement :)
Before we drive down I'll have to make sure I plan really well to organise lots of healthy and tasty snacks as vegan food options at service stations in the middle of nowhere are, well, yeah, ha ha! I'm not sure they even know food exists that is not seriously deep fried. I see lots of dried fruit, seeds and nuts and if anybody out there has any other ideas, then please let me know. Can never plan too early for this kind of thing (besides it's only 178 sleeps!!)
I'm looking forward to having somewhere other than a second rate woolies to buy food, woohoo!! I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to actually go to a vegetarian or vegan restaurant and have options in other restaurants that just aren't here. I'm also really looking forward to getting settled and setting up a veggie garden and maybe in the relatively short term getting our own place and growing fruit trees too! Such excitement :)
Before we drive down I'll have to make sure I plan really well to organise lots of healthy and tasty snacks as vegan food options at service stations in the middle of nowhere are, well, yeah, ha ha! I'm not sure they even know food exists that is not seriously deep fried. I see lots of dried fruit, seeds and nuts and if anybody out there has any other ideas, then please let me know. Can never plan too early for this kind of thing (besides it's only 178 sleeps!!)
Sunday, 15 June 2008
Opening my eyes...
It's funny how you can think you know a lot about something and then you *really* look into it and then only begin to realise how much you don't know. I'm starting to feel a little naive for falling for a lot of the crap spouted by the big organisations like PETA and also in Australia, the RSPCA. RSPCA approved eggs for example. And the fact that PETA's web site endorsed the veggie burgers at Burger King. I naively thought that PETA wouldn't endorse *anything* that wasn't absolutely in the best interests of animals, but I am learning more and more that is not the case at all. It's so disappointing to me, but I guess that's life. Shake yourself off and move forwards. I am not even going to try to explain the intricacies of all that stuff here. I'm not the most articulate writer when it comes to these things and many others have done such a fantastic job I couldn't even attempt to match, so I'll just stick to my personal feelings as I go through this huge learning journey.
I've been slowly working my way through the back podcasts of Vegan Freak Radio and have listened to the interviews with Gary Francione over this past weekend. Gary is a staunch advocator of the abolitionist approach to animal rights and the more I learn the more I realise that abolition is the only way to move towards removing all mistreatment and misuse of non-human animals by people. Have a look at Gary's web site here. As you will see there (and many other places too at the moment) PETA are now in bed with KFC. Sorry guys, People for the *Ethical* Treatment of Animals and KFC just does not compute. How can any organisation that is responsible for the death of millions of chickens, who have lived "humanely" or not (and frankly I can't see how that would even be possible in those number) just cannot possibly have any connection whatsoever with *Ethical* treatment of animals. Blah...
For anyone who doesn't know, Gary Francione's approach is one that: (1) requires the abolition of animal exploitation; (2) is based only on sentience and no other cognitive characteristic, and (3) regards veganism as the moral baseline of the abolitionist approach.
One thing I can say for absolutely sure is that there is no way on earth I will EVER knowingly eat an animal-derived product again. It's just the very least I can do. And knowing what I know now, I look at it this way. For me, being vegan is no longer a choice. There is no choice, there is simply no other way I could wake up in the morning and live with myself. And then when it comes to choosing what to eat on a daily basis, I will always get to eat exactly what I want. Because I will never again *want* to eat the products of cruelty. How could I? How could I even contemplate it, the thought of it simply makes me ill.
One month and ten days of being vegan and there's no turning back. It's funny I was thinking today about one of the things that was actually a turning point for me in realising I had to go vegan for once and for all and had to do whatever research or whatever I had to to make sure it would stick. There was a story on one of the crappy current affairs shows. It wasn't even about cruelty, it was about the price of milk, which, as we all know is more important than the lives of any cows out there. But for a second they showed a row of cows in a milking shed, all lined up with metal suction cups attached to their udders. They looked so sad and the whole thing just made me want to cry and I knew then that I couldn't drink milk (or eat cheese, etc) any more without seeing that picture in my mind. And that's not even thinking about them being slaughtered once their milking days are over or their baby boy calves being taken away and killed for veal. Just too tragic.
That's my thoughts for today, I'm sure this blog is and probably will remain a bit of a jumbled hodge podge, but hey, that's me and if you are reading it, I hope it's interesting to you. If nobody is reading it, well it's still helpful to me to try and get my thoughts straight on all this stuff and I'm sure that reading back over it in times to come will be useful to me in other ways too.
I've been slowly working my way through the back podcasts of Vegan Freak Radio and have listened to the interviews with Gary Francione over this past weekend. Gary is a staunch advocator of the abolitionist approach to animal rights and the more I learn the more I realise that abolition is the only way to move towards removing all mistreatment and misuse of non-human animals by people. Have a look at Gary's web site here. As you will see there (and many other places too at the moment) PETA are now in bed with KFC. Sorry guys, People for the *Ethical* Treatment of Animals and KFC just does not compute. How can any organisation that is responsible for the death of millions of chickens, who have lived "humanely" or not (and frankly I can't see how that would even be possible in those number) just cannot possibly have any connection whatsoever with *Ethical* treatment of animals. Blah...
For anyone who doesn't know, Gary Francione's approach is one that: (1) requires the abolition of animal exploitation; (2) is based only on sentience and no other cognitive characteristic, and (3) regards veganism as the moral baseline of the abolitionist approach.
One thing I can say for absolutely sure is that there is no way on earth I will EVER knowingly eat an animal-derived product again. It's just the very least I can do. And knowing what I know now, I look at it this way. For me, being vegan is no longer a choice. There is no choice, there is simply no other way I could wake up in the morning and live with myself. And then when it comes to choosing what to eat on a daily basis, I will always get to eat exactly what I want. Because I will never again *want* to eat the products of cruelty. How could I? How could I even contemplate it, the thought of it simply makes me ill.
One month and ten days of being vegan and there's no turning back. It's funny I was thinking today about one of the things that was actually a turning point for me in realising I had to go vegan for once and for all and had to do whatever research or whatever I had to to make sure it would stick. There was a story on one of the crappy current affairs shows. It wasn't even about cruelty, it was about the price of milk, which, as we all know is more important than the lives of any cows out there. But for a second they showed a row of cows in a milking shed, all lined up with metal suction cups attached to their udders. They looked so sad and the whole thing just made me want to cry and I knew then that I couldn't drink milk (or eat cheese, etc) any more without seeing that picture in my mind. And that's not even thinking about them being slaughtered once their milking days are over or their baby boy calves being taken away and killed for veal. Just too tragic.
That's my thoughts for today, I'm sure this blog is and probably will remain a bit of a jumbled hodge podge, but hey, that's me and if you are reading it, I hope it's interesting to you. If nobody is reading it, well it's still helpful to me to try and get my thoughts straight on all this stuff and I'm sure that reading back over it in times to come will be useful to me in other ways too.
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
cupcakes
Two new books that I had ordered got delivered yesterday. After loving lots of the recipes in Vegan With a Vengeance, I decided to order Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's other two books. As I make some recipes I'll post what things have turned out like. Because of a teacher's strike, Mitchell ended up being home with me today, so once we got the million and one errands done that we needed to do, we made some cupcakes. Well, in the end I did because Mitchell decided against helping out when it came down to it. I was itching to make some chocolate ones, but Mitchell is a vanilla kid and wanted to make fairly plain ones. We picked up a piping tool (cheap and crappy plastic one) but the icing (Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting) didn't turn out as fluffy as anticipated so I ended up spooning the icing on. I could have added more icing sugar (confectioners sugar to those in America) to thicken it but we really had a huge amount of icing already so I decided to just spoon it on.
Anyway, the cupcakes were absolutely delicious despite the flat icing. Quite probably the nicest cupcakes I've ever tasted. The mixture was so delicious and smooth and once cooked, just, well, yummy :) I'm even more excited at the prospect of trying the chocolate ones, actually there are lots of yummy cakes I want to try - not bad for a non-cook, but when stuff tastes that awesome it really is worth it.
So now to have a bit of a squiz at the other book, which is huge and thick so I'm assuming will be filled with tons of yumminess :)
Anyway, the cupcakes were absolutely delicious despite the flat icing. Quite probably the nicest cupcakes I've ever tasted. The mixture was so delicious and smooth and once cooked, just, well, yummy :) I'm even more excited at the prospect of trying the chocolate ones, actually there are lots of yummy cakes I want to try - not bad for a non-cook, but when stuff tastes that awesome it really is worth it.
So now to have a bit of a squiz at the other book, which is huge and thick so I'm assuming will be filled with tons of yumminess :)
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Clarity...
This is mostly copied from my personal blog, so if you've already read it there, well, there you go.
So I have been vegetarian for a long time, since back in High School when I made the decision I had wanted to make for as long as I can remember. I also avoided leather, products tested on animals and all that jazz, but just didn't think to connect eggs and dairy to any form of animal exploitation or cruelty. Yes, I was naive. Breastfeeding Mitchell and getting involved in the Australian Breastfeeding Association helped me start to make the connections. I knew how tough it was for women to express when they were unable to feed their child directly for whatever reason and started to think about those poor cows who were forced to do so for hours on end. Not to mention having their babies taken away from them at birth, how terribly distressing must that be for them. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. It is a fact that animals feel pain and they have been shown to demonstrate love for their babies, etc in the same way we do so to do that to the cows (not to mention sending the calves to slaughter at 2 months of age for veal) is just, well, simply unthinkable to me.
But I still didn't take the leap straight away. I thought about it a lot and made several feeble half hearted attempts and cut down on cows milk, and converted to soy which really didn't take that long to get used to and now I actually like it. But cheese? What is it with cheese? Why is it so hard to stop eating. There are many theories around about it being addictive, which honestly does not surprise me. As soon as I have a little bit of cheese I just want more and more. So there were always "excuses" not to take that final leap. To be honest I feel pretty stupid about it now, but that's where I was at the time and we can't change the past, only do better now we know better, you know?
Another attempt to go vegan was made just before we moved up here to a small rural town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Here where people spend their weekends either fishing or shooting. Joy of joys. It's hard enough to get vegetarian food when you eat out here, let alone vegan. So of course I had another excuse. I didn't feel good about it, but that's the way it was. Oh, it's too hard living here, I'll do it once I move, which of course, was going to be last year and then at the end of the year and then not until the end of this year, and well you all know how it goes. I had decided to stop calling myself a vegetarian though, because although I didn't eat meat, being vegetarian for ethical reasons was just so hypocritical when you consider that the cruelty of the egg and dairy industries probably cause more death and suffering than the meat industry.
But then just over a month ago now, I had a moment of pure clarity. I'd starting reading a bit about veganism (again) and animal rights. I realised that I *had* to stop making excuses. Over the past few years I've realised just how important it is to be true to yourself and live your authentic life, as Dr Phil says :) When I'm not true to myself and my core beliefs I cannot feel good about myself. And the fact is that I truly believe that animal rights are important and animals have the right to live free from unnecessary pain and suffering. So how could I possibly continue to eat eggs and dairy products when it is completely unnecessary to do so for my health and well being. And while the choices in this town are limited, there is enough here for me to eat a healthy and varied vegan diet, I just need to try a little harder. And really is that inconvenience anything at all when you compare it to the suffering of the animals? No it absolutely is not so it was a no brainer at that point (and yeah, I'm not sure where my brain was before then).
So I knew that there were certain things I would need to ensure that I would not fail and that this would be forever. I knew that I had to immerse myself in the facts of the cruelty so that they were consistently in my head and make sure they were connected to cheese clearly in my head, something I've always struggled to do for some reason. The other thing was that I knew I needed to talk to / hear from people who were vegan so that I could remember that I wasn't alone and millions of people around the world do this and often in more difficult situations than I am in. So I returned to the trusty internet :) I found lots of stuff which was good. And I already have the book "Becoming Vegan" which covers all the health side of making sure you get enough minerals, protein and calcium, etc (which is nowhere near as hard as people think!!!) and the awesome "Vegan With a Vengeance" recipe book that has easy tasty recipes that mostly use easy to find ingredients.
But by far the BEST site I found was Vegan Freak. So the Vegan Freaks have a podcast that I started downloading and listening to. Bob and Jenna live in a more rural area than what I do here and they are surrounded by hunters (much like here) and have nowhere to eat out and get vegan food (much like here). Listening to them talk about how they manage and frankly how easily they manage to live vegan in such an un-vegan environment, it just reinforces how much I simply have no excuse myself. Their podcast has this awesome theme song which starts off about people thinking you're a vegan freak because it's not acceptable in our society to care that much and okay, you think I'm a vegan freak, but then the confidence gains and it finishes with "Thank f**k I'm normal, I'm a vegan freak!". And I love the song too because it just "fits" the way I feel about the podcast. Living my day to day life I feel like a freak and that if I mention I'm vegan people think I'm a freak. But I start listening to the podcast, where they often interview other vegans too and by the end of it, that's exactly how I feel, Thank f**k I'm normal, I'm a vegan freak. I'm proud to call myself that, it just fits and I love it :)
I also want to say that the people I work with are awesome. They are pretty much as un-vegan as one can get, one owns a farm where they slaughter animals and sell them, another goes fishing or shooting regularly and they all start their days with sausage rolls or bacon and egg sandwiches. But they do not make fun of me or say anything derogatory about what I believe and I really appreciate it. I know many people are not so lucky. When we went out for breakfast the other week, the boss (the new boss) even apologised for going to a place that didn't really have any options for me. I really appreciated that, but I also realise that they really didn't have any choice. There are no places to get anything other than bacon and eggs for breakfast around here and if you asked for soy milk for the cereal I'm sure they would look at you as though you had two heads. But that's okay, I just ate before I went and had a juice. It really isn't that difficult. The other night we went out for dinner to farewell the previous boss. I asked for just rice and vegetables. They asked if I was really sure. They came back later to check that I liked it (twice) because they couldn't quite believe anyone would want that but you know what, it was very tasty and they weren't rude at all, just surprised.
So in my first month as a real vegan, I have actually had a pretty painless transition and I'm looking forward to living this way for the rest of my life. Oh, and I got a Vegan Freak badge and bumper sticker in the mail yesterday, which was so very exciting, especially as it came with a hand written note from Bob and Jenna. I was starstruck!! They said that they are glad that they can help me stay vegan and sane in rural Australia. I think I will treasure that little note forever :) I can't even explain how much clarity I now have over this decision and change for me. For the past few years as I've been making feeble attempts and failing I have felt really un-authentic (if that's a word!) and just wrong and icky and not me. This choice just feels so right that I wish I could explain it but I can't. Anyway, suffice to say, I'm a Vegan Freak and loving it :)
So I have been vegetarian for a long time, since back in High School when I made the decision I had wanted to make for as long as I can remember. I also avoided leather, products tested on animals and all that jazz, but just didn't think to connect eggs and dairy to any form of animal exploitation or cruelty. Yes, I was naive. Breastfeeding Mitchell and getting involved in the Australian Breastfeeding Association helped me start to make the connections. I knew how tough it was for women to express when they were unable to feed their child directly for whatever reason and started to think about those poor cows who were forced to do so for hours on end. Not to mention having their babies taken away from them at birth, how terribly distressing must that be for them. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. It is a fact that animals feel pain and they have been shown to demonstrate love for their babies, etc in the same way we do so to do that to the cows (not to mention sending the calves to slaughter at 2 months of age for veal) is just, well, simply unthinkable to me.
But I still didn't take the leap straight away. I thought about it a lot and made several feeble half hearted attempts and cut down on cows milk, and converted to soy which really didn't take that long to get used to and now I actually like it. But cheese? What is it with cheese? Why is it so hard to stop eating. There are many theories around about it being addictive, which honestly does not surprise me. As soon as I have a little bit of cheese I just want more and more. So there were always "excuses" not to take that final leap. To be honest I feel pretty stupid about it now, but that's where I was at the time and we can't change the past, only do better now we know better, you know?
Another attempt to go vegan was made just before we moved up here to a small rural town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Here where people spend their weekends either fishing or shooting. Joy of joys. It's hard enough to get vegetarian food when you eat out here, let alone vegan. So of course I had another excuse. I didn't feel good about it, but that's the way it was. Oh, it's too hard living here, I'll do it once I move, which of course, was going to be last year and then at the end of the year and then not until the end of this year, and well you all know how it goes. I had decided to stop calling myself a vegetarian though, because although I didn't eat meat, being vegetarian for ethical reasons was just so hypocritical when you consider that the cruelty of the egg and dairy industries probably cause more death and suffering than the meat industry.
But then just over a month ago now, I had a moment of pure clarity. I'd starting reading a bit about veganism (again) and animal rights. I realised that I *had* to stop making excuses. Over the past few years I've realised just how important it is to be true to yourself and live your authentic life, as Dr Phil says :) When I'm not true to myself and my core beliefs I cannot feel good about myself. And the fact is that I truly believe that animal rights are important and animals have the right to live free from unnecessary pain and suffering. So how could I possibly continue to eat eggs and dairy products when it is completely unnecessary to do so for my health and well being. And while the choices in this town are limited, there is enough here for me to eat a healthy and varied vegan diet, I just need to try a little harder. And really is that inconvenience anything at all when you compare it to the suffering of the animals? No it absolutely is not so it was a no brainer at that point (and yeah, I'm not sure where my brain was before then).
So I knew that there were certain things I would need to ensure that I would not fail and that this would be forever. I knew that I had to immerse myself in the facts of the cruelty so that they were consistently in my head and make sure they were connected to cheese clearly in my head, something I've always struggled to do for some reason. The other thing was that I knew I needed to talk to / hear from people who were vegan so that I could remember that I wasn't alone and millions of people around the world do this and often in more difficult situations than I am in. So I returned to the trusty internet :) I found lots of stuff which was good. And I already have the book "Becoming Vegan" which covers all the health side of making sure you get enough minerals, protein and calcium, etc (which is nowhere near as hard as people think!!!) and the awesome "Vegan With a Vengeance" recipe book that has easy tasty recipes that mostly use easy to find ingredients.
But by far the BEST site I found was Vegan Freak. So the Vegan Freaks have a podcast that I started downloading and listening to. Bob and Jenna live in a more rural area than what I do here and they are surrounded by hunters (much like here) and have nowhere to eat out and get vegan food (much like here). Listening to them talk about how they manage and frankly how easily they manage to live vegan in such an un-vegan environment, it just reinforces how much I simply have no excuse myself. Their podcast has this awesome theme song which starts off about people thinking you're a vegan freak because it's not acceptable in our society to care that much and okay, you think I'm a vegan freak, but then the confidence gains and it finishes with "Thank f**k I'm normal, I'm a vegan freak!". And I love the song too because it just "fits" the way I feel about the podcast. Living my day to day life I feel like a freak and that if I mention I'm vegan people think I'm a freak. But I start listening to the podcast, where they often interview other vegans too and by the end of it, that's exactly how I feel, Thank f**k I'm normal, I'm a vegan freak. I'm proud to call myself that, it just fits and I love it :)
I also want to say that the people I work with are awesome. They are pretty much as un-vegan as one can get, one owns a farm where they slaughter animals and sell them, another goes fishing or shooting regularly and they all start their days with sausage rolls or bacon and egg sandwiches. But they do not make fun of me or say anything derogatory about what I believe and I really appreciate it. I know many people are not so lucky. When we went out for breakfast the other week, the boss (the new boss) even apologised for going to a place that didn't really have any options for me. I really appreciated that, but I also realise that they really didn't have any choice. There are no places to get anything other than bacon and eggs for breakfast around here and if you asked for soy milk for the cereal I'm sure they would look at you as though you had two heads. But that's okay, I just ate before I went and had a juice. It really isn't that difficult. The other night we went out for dinner to farewell the previous boss. I asked for just rice and vegetables. They asked if I was really sure. They came back later to check that I liked it (twice) because they couldn't quite believe anyone would want that but you know what, it was very tasty and they weren't rude at all, just surprised.
So in my first month as a real vegan, I have actually had a pretty painless transition and I'm looking forward to living this way for the rest of my life. Oh, and I got a Vegan Freak badge and bumper sticker in the mail yesterday, which was so very exciting, especially as it came with a hand written note from Bob and Jenna. I was starstruck!! They said that they are glad that they can help me stay vegan and sane in rural Australia. I think I will treasure that little note forever :) I can't even explain how much clarity I now have over this decision and change for me. For the past few years as I've been making feeble attempts and failing I have felt really un-authentic (if that's a word!) and just wrong and icky and not me. This choice just feels so right that I wish I could explain it but I can't. Anyway, suffice to say, I'm a Vegan Freak and loving it :)
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