If you like contributing to human rights groups, but are a little concerned when providing “aid” sometimes means animals for farming and slaughter, then Vegfam might be for you. It’s like Oxfam without the ox/chicken/goat abuse. Vegfam promotes sustainable environmentally-friendly projects that “reduce the dependency on external food aid, decreasing the dependence on outside assistance.” Neat, huh?

For over 40 years, VEGFAM has provided Overseas Famine Relief in more than 40 countries, helping millions of people who were suffering from hunger, thirst, malnutrition and starvation.

We fund sustainable, self supporting projects which do not exploit animals or the environment.

The Fragile Environment of Developing Countries cannot support TWO populations Humans and their Food Animals. Animal derived food, especially if it is intensively produced, squanders resources and damages the Earth’s fragile environment.

VEGFAM is one of only a few Charities in the UK which is trying to prevent Developing Countries copying our ecologically disastrous “Western” Lifestyle.
If you are a Vegan, Vegetarian and/or interested in environmental issues, VEGFAM’S work should be of particular interest to you.

VEGFAM is professionally operated by volunteers, so as much as possible is spent on (vegan) famine relief projects.

To date, millions of people around the world are alive as a result of VEGFAM funded famine relief projects.

For more info, check out their website: www.vegfamcharity.org.uk

Another people-friendly/vegan-friendly charity is: HIPPO: Help International Plant Protein Organisation. HIPPO is founded on the belief that providing food to the world’s poor and hungry does not have to cause suffering to animals… What a mind bender! Ha. It’s good, compassionate stuff.

Green Banana-Kale Smoothie

Ingredients
4 bananas, peeled
½ cup kale leaves, torn up
10 raw almonds
2 raw brazil nuts, shelled
2 sweet dried dates, pitted
1 tsp probiotic powder
1 tsp spirulina powder
water as needed

Method
Put everything in a blender with about a cup or two of water. Blend it, blend it good - for two minutes at most. Add more water (if needed) until desired consistency is reached. Pour into glasses. Drink it! Or eat it with a spoon, if it’s very thick. Um. Serves 2.

Along with the smoothie, today’s mostly-raw breakfast included Marmite, sliced tomato, a sprinkle of nutritional yeast flakes & fresh cracked pepper on raw bread, and a pot of Japanese green tea.

Nutrition: details for the whole breakfast
Brazil nuts contain lots of selenium - they’re the best source around. Apparently just 1 nut a day can fix a deficiency within a week! There’s also B-12 in the Marmite & yeast flakes, more B vitamins in the bananas, vitamin C in the tomato, lycopenes, all sorts of crazy nutrients in the spirulina, minerals in the kale… The bread and nuts contain some fat, but that’s mostly made up of essential omega oils. Zinc, potassium, fibre, yadda yadda yadda. Some specific details (approx):

Calories: 447
Carbohydrate: 73.3g
Fat: 16.0g
Protein: 12.7g
Fibre: 10.0g
Calcium: 160.9mg

That’ll do, pig, that’ll do. A pretty good start to the day, and certainly a great energy boost. Coming up next for morning tea: a mandarin! Or two… possibly three… they’re really tasty organic mandarins! And, as a bonus, they’re high in vitamin C and contain a bit of calcium and even some iron. And probably lots of other useful stuff that I can’t think of right now. Fruit is good, ja.

aduki independent press announced the winners of the best vegan stuff in Australia over here. Winners included Green Gourmet in Sydney as best restaurant, and Melbourne as the most vegan-friendly city in Australia. (A shame the Forest in Brisbane wasn’t nominated for an award! Especially considering the awesome gluten-free vegan wedding cake they made for me & my new husband… a-hem.) The best Aussie vegblog was voted as Viva La Vegan. On their “about” page you’ll find this interesting tidbit:

With an estimated 30% of the population identifying with vegetarian ideals this number is set to increase following such wide-spread panic garnered from the consuming of animal products which lead to mad cow disease and chicken ‘flu.

Though only a small amount of the population actually observe a vegetarian diet, 10-15% of people aged between 18-35 are vegetarian and of this amount, between one third and a half are practising vegans.*

With a predominantly young vegan population a high percentage of these people are internet literate thus the need for a central place for all vegans from all areas of the globe to unite on one website.

*Vegetarian Resource Group

Nice to hear that among my peers there are plenty of sophisticated, animal-rights-aware folks. Rock on.

Decent raw bread recipes are hard to come by. Breads heavy in flax have a very strong flavour and can be a touch bitter, other recipes require you to shove stuff through a juicer as well as dehydrating. I have been trying out more raw food cuisine recently, on a health kick, and have come up with this recipe. This bread has a pretty mild flavour compared to straight flax seed/meal breads, and if - like me - you enjoy the taste of buckwheat, you will probably love this bread.

It’s high in omega oils, fibre, B-vitamins, and several minerals, including manganese. Buckwheat is a seed rather than a grain, and contains no gluten - it’s closely related to rhubarb. Freshly ground meal from seeds are the best, otherwise buy your flax and buckwheat meal from a health store with a high turnover so it’s fresh, and keep it in the fridge or freezer. It’s also a good idea to keep your seeds in the fridge so the oils don’t break down or go rancid.

Required Appliances
Dehydrator with temperature setting option of 40ºC (104ºF) or lower.

Ingredients
1½ cup ground buckwheat or buckwheat flour/meal
1 cup ground flax seeds or flax meal
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups filtered water
⅓ cup sunflower seeds
⅓ cup whole flax seeds
⅓ cup pumpkin seeds
¼ sesame seeds (white, black, or a mix)
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

Method
Mix buckwheat and flax meal in a bowl. Add salt, nutritional yeast (optional), and water, mix until well combined. Stir through sunflower, flax, pumpkin, sesame, and poppy seeds. Spread the batter evenly over 2 dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 40ºC (104ºF) for 4 hours, flip the bread over, then dehydrate for another 1-4 hours, depending on how dry you want your bread. Cut each tray of bread into 8-9 slices (8 if round tray, 9 if rectangular). Store in refrigerator. Makes 16-18 slices.

Serving Suggestions, etc
+ A great “bread” for morning “untoast.”
+ An awesome raw pizza base.
+ A bun for burgers or sandwiches.
+ You can use different seeds in the bread to suit your own tastes.
+ Add finely chopped onion, crushed garlic, pepper, herbs, and/or spices for fancy flavour variations!
+ You might need to add a little more or less water to the thick bread batter depending on the water content of your flax and buckwheat meal.
+ Instead of water - and for extra tastiness and vitamins - you could use fresh celery juice or a mix of celery and carrot juice.
+ The longer you dehydrate the bread, the dryer it will be, and the longer it will keep - up to two months in the refrigerator. (Well-dried bread is great to take camping or on road trips!)
+ Less dehydration time makes a soft pliable bread with a great texture. It will keep for about a week in the fridge.
+ I use nutritional yeast that contains vitamin B-12. (Note: nutritional yeast is sometimes called savoury yeast. It’s not the same as brewer’s yeast or other yeasts!) While nutritional yeast is not strictly raw, it’s handy if you like to add extra vitamins to your food.
+ Read more about raw food preparation on the FAQ page.

In Australia water shortage has been a real problem in recent years, particularly in south-east Queensland where dam levels in the state’s capital dropped below 20% of capacity. The Australian continent is dry, and quite hostile to cropland and grazing pasture. Much of the food we eat is imported. The current Australian population is roughly 20 million. The land can sustain a population of 10 million eating a standard omnivorous diet, however the continent could sustain up to 30 million eating a vegan diet… Sounds strange, doesn’t it? How is such a big difference possible? A quick glance at the figures reveals the answers.

“It takes between 55,000 to 100,000 litres of water to produce just 1 kilogram of beef. Canon Hill Abattoir (just one abattoir in the country) uses 580 million litres of water per year.”
- Professor Wayne Meyer, CSIRO water expert

Amount of water required to make 1 kilogram of produce:

Potatoes	500 litres
Wheat	900 litres
Alfalfa	900 litres
Sorghum	1,100 litres
Maize	1,400 litres
Rice	1,900 litres
Soya Beans	2,000 litres
Chicken	3,500 litres
Beef	100,000 litres

[New Scientist, 01/02/1997]

  - Between 10 and 16kgs of plant food are required to make 1kg of beef.
  - 38% of the world’s grain is fed to animals.
  - 1.5 billion cattle, and 1.7 billion sheep and goats are competing for water.
  - The world’s vast cattle herds emit more climate-changing greenhouse gases than all the cars, planes, and other forms of transport put together.
[United Nations 440 page report, "Livestock's Long Shadow"]

The above collection of figures were care of Vegetarian/Vegan Society of Queensland. I’ve also been told by some well-informed friends that - since some of the above information was published - potatoes and rice, among other plant crops, require less water these days due to the implementation of more efficient farming methods. Animals, on the other hand, are still just as thirsty, and, on top of that, are still consuming a huge portion of some of the most water-intensive plant crops.

Ever since I was a kid I remember seeing stories about “drought-stricken sheep farmers” on the evening news, and, of course, the farmers are fine aside from losing money because they can’t sell “their” animals/production units on to slaughterhouses. Meanwhile the sheep are starving and dehydrating to death and suffering horribly. Interestingly, the Australian government already subsidises animal farming regularly, with or without drought - it’s just not sustainable. (&An aside: some years ago a commercial on Australian television shouted something along those lines of: “if you don’t eat lamb on Australia Day then you’re un-Australian!” Well. If being Australian means supporting environmentally destructive industries that continually inflict extreme cruelty on animals, then I’m proud to be un-Australian!… whatever that means. People are free to be vegan in Australia, if this whole “freedom” and “democracy” thing is to be taken seriously, and throwing around fascist terms like “un-Australian” is one of the most ignorant and un-Australian things that goes on in this country… But before I wander off any further on this tangent…)

“Ethical vegans” and “health vegans” are common terms - people who are vegan primarily for animal rights reasons or for primarily health reasons respectively. There’s a another category of vegans who call themselves “eco-vegans” or “environmental vegans” as a result of recent environmental studies relating to animal industry pollution… And me? I prefer prefix-free veganism! I went vegan for the well-being of animals first and foremost. But the benefits to my health are a bonus, and I’ve developed an interest in nutrition and health food since going vegan (although I still admire vegans who are committed to living off vegan junk food!). That the rich variety of tasty dishes I’ve added to my diet since going vegan are actually helping the environment as well was a great discovery, as I’m into minimising my ecological footprint since I first learnt about such things back in school. On top of all that, I’m also vegan for Buddhist/meditation-related reasons, but that’s another story entirely…

On the subject of environmental veganism, the facts show that animal agriculture takes a devastating toll on the earth and it’s a grossly inefficient way of producing food. Animal industries pollute more than all other industries combined. One of the easiest and best things - if not the best thing - an environmentalist or eco-aware person can do to reduce their impact on the planet is to reduce the demand for animal products by going vegan - veganism contributes to lowering carbon emissions, and there’s certainly a heck of a lot less water wastage.

Note: This blog will return to its regular gluten-free/vegan recipe postings shortly! I’ve been experimenting with “raw food” style recipes and planning a wedding (I’ll be gettin’ hitched later this week!), so I haven’t had much time for recipe blogging & photos. Also, I wanted to make it clear this was a vegan-based blog due to some confusion (aka daft comments!), hence the recent extra vegany explaining. We now return you to your regular tasty programming…

In the near future, gas prices are at an astronomical high. One man is determined to find an alternate fuel source. That alternate fuel source turns out to be blood… HUMAN BLOOD.

I was looking at biodiesel information and conversion kits on the web a few days ago, and this morning the Secret Society of Vegans blog brought a fascinating (and wonderfully trashy) film to my attention that’s also about the search for alternative fuel sources: Blood Car! Set in a dystopian future, the vegan protagonist discovers that spilling bit of human blood goes a lot further than oil. An interesting comedy/satire piece to keep an eye out for…!

Film synopsis, from IMDb:

In the near future, gas is an astronomical $40.00 a gallon, and Archie Andrews (Mike Brune) has definitely had enough. Archie, a nerdy schoolteacher and vegan with a thing for wheatgrass, is determined to find an alternative energy source for his car. While experimenting, Archie cuts himself, and discovers that all his car needs is blood. Human blood.

The only one in town who can afford to drive, Archie attracts the attention of sex-crazed Denise (Katie Rowlett). As Archie fulfills Denises need for transportation, he satisfies his ever-expanding libido. Meanwhile, the sweet Wheatgrass Girl (Anna Chlumsky), who loves Archie for who he truly is, watches helplessly as Archie is devoured by lust. In order for Archie to continue to attract Denise with his car, he must continue to find a never-ending supply of blood. And unbeknownst to Archie, he is observed by government agents anxious to learn the secret of how his special engine works - agents who will make Archie face the ultimate decision.

Trailer:

I found a fabulous article on the healthfulness of vegan diets during pregnancy. It also dispels many cultural bias surrounding the diet in general. Check it out! It’s quite long, but very interesting and informative.

Worry-free pregnancy: vegetarian moms-to-be can relax. A meatless diet is healthful for both mother and child
Vegetarian Times, Sept, 1997 by Carol Wiley Lorente

In 2007, the ‘artist’ Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took a dog from the street, tied him to a rope in an art gallery, and starved him to death.

For several days, the ‘artist’ and the visitors of the exhibition have watched emotionless the shameful ‘masterpiece’ based on the dog’s agony, until eventually he died.

But that’s not all… The prestigious Visual Arts Biennial of Central America decided that the ‘installation’ was actually art, so that Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat his cruel action for the biennial of 2008.

Please help stop it! Sign the petition here: Boycott to the presence of Guillermo Vargas “Habacuc” at the Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008.

It’s free to sign, there’s no need to register, no spam, and it only takes 1 minute to save the life of a puppy.

ALV (Animal Liberation Victoria) in Australia has been protesting against the unnecessary abuse and slaughter of bunnies in undergrad science courses. Seriously nasty. Here’s some details:

Monash University conducts completely unnecessary live experiments on rabbits as part of undergrad science classes, but you can make them stop.

Animal Liberation Victoria was contacted in early 2007 by distressed students from Monash University’s third year undergraduate science course.

Students were being instructed to perform experiments on live unconscious rabbits which included:

- Restraining the rabbits on a work table, with their paws and teeth tied to anchor points
- Cutting open the rabbits’ throats with unsterilised instruments and inserting a tube into their wind pipe
- Administering various chemicals into their blood stream to observe the effect on the rabbits’ heart rate
- At the end of the class, the rabbits were given a lethal overdose and discarded in a rubbish bin.

Undercover footage was then recorded from inside the classroom (click here to view the footage) using a hidden camera.

Complain with an email to these addresses, or go to this website for more info and a prewritten complaint (personalising it packs more punch!): www.monashkills.org

Further links:
+ In the news - The Age: “Breach of cruelty law?”
+ Facebook group
+ Monash Kills on Myspace

Disgusting? Yes. But it’s not uncommon. Most people condone these sorts of violent practices against animals daily through what they eat, what they purchase, the industries they support. This sort of brutality - live dissection, physical abuse, and slaughter - also happens daily in slaughterhouses and farms to cattle, dairy cows, calves, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, goats, egg-laying hens, fish - countless other species! - that are treated as commodities instead of as the living, feeling, breathing, intelligent lifeforms they are. Why don’t other species deserve as much attention as these cute little bunnies? They do. Cruelty is cruelty, no matter who the victim is. Hence the whole vegan thing. So. You don’t need to support food industries, laboratories, or universities that cause unnecessary violence. If you want violence against animals to stop, then say something, and, more importantly, DO something - like: go vegan! It’s better for animals and, as a bonus, it’s better for your health, too… and the environment, too - don’t forget that one!

— —

On a lighter note… For any Australian vegans out there, the 2008 aduki awards: celebrating Australia’s vegan community is open for voting. Vote for your favourite tasty foods and vegan businesses over here.

I’m not the most dedicated blogger on the planet, I’ll admit. I’ve been meaning to update. Been a bit busy with organising the wedding, ill grandfather worries, writing words forming sentences forming paragraphs filling pages, drinking copious amounts of tea, seemingly endless Buffy marathons, existential crises, and such… Soon! I’ll update soon! A recipe and everything! I have photos of stuff, also. Although, once again, taken with my mobile phone. I prefer to sit my digital SLR on a shelf and admire it rather than use it, apparently. Some kind of awesome photographer I am! But, for now, I have a cup of tea I need to be getting back to. Toodles!

I went vegetarian for the animals, then realised I should be vegan for the rest of the animals that I didn’t consider the first time around. However there is another compelling reason I stick with it other than the health and well-being of others - my own health. There are a lot of vegan success stories around about controlling and effectively “curing” type 2 diabetes, overcoming obesity and heart disease, avoiding cancer, and managing arthritis by eating a vegan diet… Why is a vegan diet healthy? A quick glance at the numbers reveals a lot.

Nutrient composition of plant and animal-based foods per 500 calories of energy:

Nutrient	Plant Foods*	Animal Foods**
Cholesterol (mg)	-	137
Fat (g)	4	36
Protein (g)	33	34
Beta-carotene (mcg)	29,919	17
Dietary Fibre (g)	31	-
Vitamin C (mg)	293	4
Folate (mcg)	1168	19
Vitamin E (mg_ATE)	11	0.5
Iron (mg)	20	2
Magnesium (mg)	548	51
Calcium (mg)	545	252

* Equal parts tomatoes, spinach, lima beans, peas, potatoes.
** Equal parts beef, pork, chicken, milk.
References:
- U.S. Department of Agriculture. “USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service, 2002.
- Holden JM, Eldridge AL, Beecher GR, et al. “Carotenoid content of U.S. foods: an update of the database.” J. Food Comp. Anal. 12 (1999): 169-196.
Table:
- Campbell TC, Campbell II TM. “The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-term Health.” Dallas, Texas. Benbella Books, 2004, pp. 230.

Clearly the nutrient value in plants is much higher. You will also notice that that if you eat sufficient calories on a vegan diet, you get plenty of protein, enough to match an animal-based diet to within a gram. The idea that vegans are protein deficient and weak is a myth. Sufficient protein in combination with a much higher intake of vitamins and minerals means a big health boost. As I rockclimber, I have plenty more stamina on a vegan diet and can climb for much longer periods without getting tired. I also generally require less sleep and rarely get ill.

In my pre-vegan days, I had some relatively minor (but irritating nonetheless!) reoccurring conditions, such as: hayfever, hives, sinusitis, bronchitis, colds, menstrual cramps, pimples, easy weight gain. In particular, hayfever and sinusitis were a frustrating nightmare - every season change, my immune system would go on high alert, I’d be sniffling and sneezing with the slightest gust of wind, one thing would lead to another, I’d end up catching a cold, I’d take antihistimines or cold’n'flu medication, and I’d feel like a disgusting, dehydrated mess. Some folks say such allergic conditions are due to not being breast-fed, others say it’s an inherited condition. In my case, it could be a bit of both.

I still had all these problems when I was briefly lacto-ova vegetarian. The hayfever and sinusitis reduced dramatically when I cut out eggs and dairy products. Nowadays I only get hayfever or catch colds when I’m highly stressed. (For example: the only severe hayfever and consequent cold I caught since I’ve been vegan was when I travelled interstate to the funeral of a friend following her seemingly sudden suicide. I was stressed, ate more junk food than I had in a while, and generally didn’t sleep well for at least a month.)

Moderate stress can still bring on a few pimples, which I have always been prone to, but, traumatic events aside, I’m free of hayfever, colds, bronchitis, menstrual cramps, and the rest of it. My husband-to-be, on the other hand, has one health complaint, quite different to my own. He is gluten intolerant and has had a life-long chronic problem with his intestines, that at times can be quite painful. The severity of the condition has been reduced on a vegan diet, and to reduce inflammation further he reduces spices in his food and drinks a bitter Chinese herbal medicine brew occasionally.

Once the body and taste buds adjust to an all-plant all-the-time diet, (which usually takes a few weeks to a few months, depending on how much of a habitual animal you are!), the diet is incredibly satisfying. Physically, the energy boost is quite amazing. Intellectually, you know you aren’t contributing to future disease and long life, and you’re also protecting the environment and not sustaining violent animal industries. Taste-wise, you begin to enjoy the food more, because without saturated animal fat on everything your tastebuds become more sophisticated and discerning of other flavours. Combined with the easy digestion that a higher fibre diet brings, the increased metabolism and hunger makes food more satisfying, and you can also eat and snack more frequently without so much worrying about getting fat! New vegans sometimes get over-enthusiastic about trying new foods and put on some weight, but a bit of exercise can balance that out quickly enough.

Going vegan is one of the simplest changes you can make, and one of the most rewarding. Changing habits is hard sometimes, but the actual process of veganism is simple. Once you are doing it, it’s a stunning to realise how easy it is. It can be a fight eating out when restaurants aren’t friendly about it, but really, in a service industry they should be willing to serve a customers interests all the time. If they’re not, take your business elsewhere, and take your friends with you! Personally I prefer to stick to home-cooked meals, vegan cafes, or veg-friendly places with good veg-menus. That way, you can be sure of what you’re eating, both of the quality of food and what it contains. I have a few favourite places to eat out, where the staff often recognise me, which has quite a few benefits besides good quality food with a vegan guarantee: quick service, friendly conversation, and taste-testing freebees! Not to mention I found someone to make me and my husband-to-be a very fancy, gluten-free, vegan wedding cake!

Of course, it is possible to be unhealthy on a vegan diet. If you live on deep-fried food, coffee, alcohol, and cigarettes, you’re not likely to avoid many health problems. If you only eat one or two foods, you will get ill. But there are thousands of edible plants, so a limited diet is quite unnecessary when there are hundreds of plant foods that will suit your tastes, if not thousands. However, veganism is about the animals first, and not contributing to the violence, mess, and pollution of the industry. Human slavery was abolished for itself and for the welfare of the slaves, not to make the slave-owners feel better about their own state of being. Similarly, animal products are avoided for the animals, not to make the consumer feel better about themselves. For many people, the health of the animals is the primary concern, and the only concern. For others, the health of the animals leads to thinking about their own health, or vice versa.

But, as the table above indicates, eating plants can easily be better for you as well as reducing the demand for animal industries, as well as reducing your ecological footprint. So, if you’re going to deep-fry something, make it a potato! Or, better yet, make leek, potato, and quinoa soup like I did last night. It’s a meal that’s healthy, compassionate, and well-deserving of an OMNOMNOM or two! 2-3 leeks browned over medium heat in splash of sunflower oil, add several diced potatoes and as much quinoa as you want, simmer in vegetable stock until well-cooked, with a bay leaf and your favourite herb, (dry or fresh, try thyme or oregano), then blended until smooth (optional). (Optional: stir some greens into the hot soup before serving, until they wilt, like chopped spinach, kale, or rocket.) Add salt and pepper to taste. Yum!

& Happy Persian New Year &/or Baha’i New Year &/or Happy Easter &/or Happy Esbat &/or just have a happy long weekend!

Ingredients
1/4 cup raw almonds
1.5 cups filtered water
a crushed vanilla bean or 1 tsp alcohol-free natural vanilla essence
1 tsp dairy-free pro-biotic powder*
2 ripe or overripe bananas
1 tbsp (or be more generous! yum!) raw carob bean powder
pinch to 1/2 tsp spirulina powder
tiny pinch of sea salt

Method
Add almonds, water, vanilla and pro-biotic powder to blender, blend until smooth (it will be slightly warm by this stage, activating the pro-biotic). Add remaining ingredients, blend until well combined. Serves 2.

Notes
Serve over ice if you’d prefer your drink cooled rather than room temperature-ish, or use refrigerated or frozen bananas.

You can store it in the fridge for a 2-4 days, during which the pro-biotics will flourish.

*Animal-free/dairy-free pro-biotic powders typically contain lactobacillus acidophilus, bifidobacterium lactis, and/or oligofructos. These are fungus-like, unicellular microorganisms, also found in soy yogurt, similar to yeast, from the bacteria kingdom rather than animal. Unlike animals, they don’t have capacity for suffering, thinking, etc, and you’ll be giving the blighters a happy home inside you anyhow! And they will help maintain your gut flora health. The point is: it’s vegan.

Vegans sure don’t!

Rheumatoid arthritis patients may be able to improve their symptoms by switching to a vegan and gluten-free diet, a study in Sweden has found…

… At the same time, the vegans developed a lower body mass index, had lower levels of bad cholesterol and higher levels of immune system factors that potentially inhibit the inflammatory reaction. The research was reported in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy.

Check out the full article here:
Vegan diet may ease arthritis, study finds
· Reduced swelling hints at unexpected immunity link
· Research raises hope for rheumatoid patients
James Randerson, science correspondent
The Guardian, Tuesday March 18 2008

If less-informed folks have been hassling you about veganism, it can be helpful to remember that you’re not alone. In fact, by standing up for the rights of the oppressed and giving a voice to the voiceless, you’re keeping company with some of the greatest minds in history. For example:

“The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.”
“Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the death of others. We are burial places! I have since an early age abjured the use of meat.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

“I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.”
- Abraham Lincoln

“The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men.”
- Alice Walker

“One is not a great one because one defeats or harms other living beings. One is so called because one refrains from defeating or harming other living beings.”
- Buddha, Dhammapada, Ch. 19

“If a man can control his body and mind and thereby refrains from eating animal flesh and wearing animal products, I say he will really be liberated.”
- Buddha, Surangama Sutra

“My perspective of veganism was most affected by learning that the veal calf is a by-product of dairying, and that in essence there is a slice of veal in every glass of what I had thought was an innocuous white liquid - milk.”
- Rynn Berry

“Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologise for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.”
“Vivisection is the blackest of all the black crimes that a man is at present committing against God and his fair creation. It ill becomes us to invoke in our daily prayers, the blessings of God, the Compassionate, if we in turn will not practise elementary compassion towards our fellow creatures.”
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
- Mohandas Gandhi

“If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.”
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
- Albert Einstein

“Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.”
- Arthur Schopenhauer

“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.”
- Pythagoras

“The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?”
- Jeremy Bentham

“As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.”
“A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.”
- Leo Tolstoy

“While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth?”
“Atrocities are not less atrocities when they occur in laboratories and are called medical research.”
“A mind of the calibre of mine cannot derive its nutriment from cows.”
- George Bernard Shaw

(It is probably worth noting that until recent times vegetarian often did mean vegan or more closely resemble veganism than current vegetarianism that is prefixed with non-veg exceptions such as lacto, ova, dietary, etc. Hence the founding of the first Vegan Society in the UK in 1944 to distinguish vegan vegetarianism from less consistent forms of vegetarianism.)

For breakfast I made an interesting juice with my Compact Juicer (great little electric juicer, can munch through anything easily, including wheatgrass).

Ingredients:
1 large carrot
2 small apples, deseeded
2 sticks celery
1 small-ish tomato
1-2 handfuls red (purple) cabbage
small cucumber (5″-ish), peeled
Stirred into the juice just before drinking:
large pinch psyllium husk
large pinch flaxseed (linseed) meal
large pinch spirulina powder

It was tasty. I expected to pull an ick face, and didn’t! I’m getting used to this whole vegetable juice business. Yum! Next time I’ll chuck a small piece of ginger into this mix to spice it up, and possibly a spinach or kale leaf for green goodness.

I’ve also been enjoying loads of pineapple, lemon, and mint juice lately (just as easily done in the blender if you don’t have a juicer, or if you’d like a bit of extra fibre in the juice). Very OMNOMNOM. Get yourself a juicer if you can - juicing is tasty fun! And nothing that comes in a bottle or carton comes close to matching the goodness of fresh juice, either.

Anyone who has adopted an animal and brought it into their home knows that animals are more than automatons. For those of us who pay close attention to our animal companions, we’ve witnessed a full range of emotions, mischievous thinking (and the disastrous results that follow!), the curiosity, and the behaviours taught and learnt over time.

Intelligence is not just limited to cats and dogs: people have reported the same sorts of things from other pets, from rodents to snakes to goldfish. Heck, I once saw an article about goldfish who were taught to play a form of miniature underwater soccer! My own adopted angelfish take a great deal of interest in the world outside their tank, and my rats love to play games and collect items to create all manner of bizarre decorations in their cage. With a little persistence, rats can be trained to come when their name is called.

So how does this relate to a gluten-free vegan blog? Well, besides my adopted animal companions eating a gluten-free diet, too (it just turned out that way), the idea of animal intelligence, feeling, wants and needs is what veganism is about. Animals can suffer, that much is clear. But evidence - in our own homes and in laboratories - shows that they can think and reason as well. Humans are not unique, despite the egotism that people spew about our “right” to dominate the earth. Monkeys and crows use tools, earthworms and otters build homes for themselves from carefully chosen materials. Pigs are known for being vastly more intelligent than dogs, and cows and chickens kept on small properties are often prized as “pets” rather than food or egg/dairy production machines.

Simply because animals do not cause destruction and create concrete jungles on a mass scale in the process (like humans do) does not mean their abilities should be dismissed. Rats - commonly used in psychology experiments - have even demonstrated meta-cognitive abilities, ie. thinking about thinking - reconsidering choices, thoughts, the world, etc. Rats are the second most destructive force on earth, next to humans, but we are not the only animals who reshape their environment and create from it, as mentioned earlier. There are a vast range of abilities and intelligences across the animal kingdom.

My compassion for another human is not limited to my estimate of their intelligence. Is someone with a lower intelligence less entitled to a life free from harm? Or, to put it another way: is someone with a different form of intelligence, with a different way of life, any less entitled to a life free from harm, abuse, enslavement, forced labour, and violent slaughter? For the most part, the wants of animals are ignored, or dismissed as non-existent (yet anyone with pets - or companion animals - knows that animal have needs, eg. cats in particular aren’t afraid to remind you know about what they want! Incessantly and repeatedly. And each individual cat makes their requests in a different way, and has preferences for different things).

For humans, the answer appears obvious in the age of the Declaration of Human Rights, yet less than one hundred years ago humans still enslaved others, discriminated based on race, gender, physical and intellectual disabilities. This still goes on in plenty of places in the world, in plenty of ways, but it’s not considered fair or just. As education becomes more and more widespread, people are empowered to make choices and rethink what is acceptable treatment of them and others. People work to eliminate violence and abuse based on bigotry. The anti-sweatshop movement is a great example (and remarkably similar to the anti-factory farming movement).

So, where does veganism fit in? Discriminating on the basis of species is equivalent to discriminating on the basis of any other arbitrary characteristic, such as race or gender. Simply because an intelligent being is of a different species doesn’t make it any less worthy of our compassion. The idea of “inherent worth” being applied to arbitrary characteristics is the same idea behind white supremacy and the patriarchal values oppressing women - it is a poor excuse for excusing all sorts of violent, ignorant, and abusive behaviour against another life. Simply because someone is born with white skin or is a man does not make them more worthy of privilege than dark skinned folks or women, respectively. Similarly, being born a human should not give you the privilege to abuse nonhumans or to place your needs above theirs. To not use, abuse, or support animal industry is to not engage in bigotry against nonhuman species.

Speciesism, like racism and sexism, causes harm, destruction, violence, and pain, and it’s completely unnecessary. There is nothing to be gained by supporting animal abuse, but plenty to lose by continuing down this path - for starters, animal industries create more pollution than all other industries combined, including automotive, and animal farming industries so often have to be subsidised by governments to stay afloat - ultimately they are not sustainable on any level. Just as sexism and racism impede societies economically and sociologically, so does speciesism.

Animals are entitled to their own needs just as much as we are. They express their needs to each other and to us - and here’s a National Geographic article that shows they do. Not only can animals relate to each other, they can stretch themselves to think in human terms. Most humans are incapable of relating to animals on their terms, yet animals are often open and willing to learn from us and teach us.

Minds of their Own:
Animals are smarter than you think.
By Virginia Morell

But is this what veganism is all about? Focusing on all the misery and violence in the world? … Absolutely not! Although fostering awareness of suffering is a key step, along with the issues of animal rights and the importance of acknowledging non-human intelligence. Veganism is about positive change, personal liberation for everyone - and not at the expense of anyone else. The aim is freedom and happiness for everyone, human and nonhuman. It’s about health for everyone, animals of all species and the environment included. By making an effort to stop consuming animal products, life improves. Eating also becomes cheaper and fun and positive. Shopping for clothes and other items besides food also falls into the same realm.

Vegans sometimes hit a negative wall when other people don’t understand the meaning of veganism and take it as a personal criticism or a challenge. But it’s not just about you, and it’s not just about me. It’s about the animals, the rights of non-human and human animals. It’s also about the health of the planet and the health of all non-human and human animals. Veganism is about living in balance with a large ecosystem, without engaging in unsustainable, needlessly destructive or violent behaviours. Ultimately, it’s about helping everyone, which is inclusive of you and me… So hug a vegan today! We’re not out to personally attack or criticise you. We’re only trying to be nice! And if we manage to raise awareness in the process and help more people become vegan along the way, then so much the better for everyone.

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My next non-recipe vegan articles coming up in the near future will feature: why food tastes better when you’re vegan; why veganism is not restrictive or about “giving up” things; how veganism is about discovering a whole new, vast world of flavours and life options beyond the western infatuation with grease, constipation, disease, and obesity; further discussion on human and “pet”/companion animal interactions; various approaches to becoming vegan; why PETA is a thorn in the side of veganism; Buddhists, other religions/philosophies, & veganism… and whatever other stuff comes up in the meantime! And more recipes. There’s always more recipes.

Who needs fake-o imitation-wheat pastas? I quite like the buckwheat pasta I’ve tried, but the rice/corn pasta? Not so much. But, there’s another alternative! And it’s fresh, tasty, and energising. Essentially, it’s a salad with good quality marinara sauce stirred through. Freshly blended up sauce really is the key to it. It’s damn goooooooood.

Here’s a half-asparagused photo:

Okay, it’s half-eaten, but look at the colours! Orange, purple, green, red! Aint it purrrrty?

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients
(for just one serve - double for 2 serves, triple for 3! etc!)
1 carrot
an eighth of a purple/red cabbage
1-2 handfuls of rocket (arugula) or baby spinach (or other favourite leafy green)
1 large tomato, chopped
2-3 sundried tomatoes or semi-dried tomatoes, chopped
¼ cup favourite fresh herbs, chopped OR 1 tabsp dried herbs
1 tabsp extra virgin olive oil
½ clove garlic
small splash of lemon juice (or lime)
add salt to taste

Method
To make the “pasta” -
Peel the skin off the carrot, toss away. Continue to peel layers off the remainder of the carrot, into long lengths, creating “fettucini”. Thinly slice the cabbage and pull layers apart to get long, thin, noodle-like strips of cabbage. Finally, roughly chop the rocket and toss it all together. (You want roughly equal parts of carrot strips, cabbage strips, and rocket).
To make the marinara sauce -
In a blender, combine all remaining ingredients until smooth. If the sauce is very runny, add more sundried tomatoes to thicken it. Add salt to taste.
To serve -
Toss the sauce through the pasta. Done!

Optional: You can sprinkle nutritional yeast or black pepper on top if you like. Or, alternatively, sprinkle with seedy nut sprinkles! See below…

Herb suggestions: a Italian-style mix of basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, and rosemary.

Also: bitter greens work best with the pasta, like rocket or kale, to balance out the sweetness of the carrot. Zucchini is also a popular raw “fettucini” but I find the water leeches out really quick and mucks up the sauce, plus it’s a bit bland.

Seedy Nut Sprinkles
¼ cup almonds
¼ cup sesame seeds
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1-2 teasp miso paste (depends on the strength/saltiness of your miso)
Generous pinch of sea salt

Grind nuts & seeds to a powder in a food processor or a spice grinder/mill. Add everything else and process until combined. Store in a jar in the freezer. If you are allergic to nuts or sesame seeds, just make the recipe wholly with almonds or wholly with sesame seeds. Add more or less miso and salt after taste testing. The sprinkles may clump up in the freezer, so just shake it, shake shake shake it up, baby, before use.

I’ve been getting into simple raw foods over summer (I’m in the southern hemisphere, people!). They are so darn quick to make, and very energising and refreshing. Plus, there’s no heat in the kitchen, and less energy is used in preparation. So you can save the animals, save the environment, and eat pretty darn well while you’re doing it. Nice.

Leftover masoor tamatar dal on toasted gluten-free bread makes a superb breakfast.

I’ll post further updates on this very important issue as they come to hand.

This is the shiznit. I’m almost looking forward to my wedding now! Here’s our 5-star 3-course meal that we’re having at a veg-friendly restaurant on the river. It will be followed by a gluten-free vegan wedding cake as well, made by the nice cake making folks at the The Forest. These photos aren’t much good, but you can thank/abuse Nokia for putting crap cameras in their phones. You could also thank/abuse us for not remembering to take a decent camera with us to the food test-run, but you’re just not the sort of person who’d do that, right? We’re all friends here, right? Hugs for all! Anyway… The food was all very nice, moderately stodgy, simple, rather darn tasty 5-star fare, with a forktonne of that more-expensive-than-gold mushroomy truffle oil stuff poured over half of it. Yumbo!

Entrées

Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Stack with Roast Tomato Sauce and Red Onion Marmalade.

Grilled Field Mushrooms, Toasted Olive Bread Asparagus and Truffle Oil.

Mains

Ragout of French Lentils, Spinach, Kipfler Potatoes and Macadamia Gremolata.

Porcini Mushroom Risotto, Stemmed Asparagus and Truffle Oil.

Desserts

Glazed Mango, Sauternes Syrup, Strawberry Sorbet

Poached Yellow Peaches, Fresh Raspberries, White Peach Soup

Wow, tasty AND healthy? Ouch. Yes, veganism is awesome! All the animals get to benefit, including me. Everything except for the second entrée is gluten-free, but the vegan bit is the most important! Closely followed by the tasty bit! And there’s still a fancy gluten-free wedding cake to come. Don’t forget the cake. Who could forget cake? Not me, that’s for sure.

P.S. Happy Leap Day!

More recipes are a-comin, boy. Meanwhile, here are some vegan cats:

This is Fuji.

He has a hard life.

He likes to sit up like human people.

This is Mao.

Mao doesn’t just sit up. She stands up. The world is doomed.

DOOMED.

The vegan rats will save us!

This is Alice. N’awwwww.

Adopted fish?

Coffee, Tea, Agave, Phenylalanine, Sugar, & Mr McSuckerson.

I could go on all day. But I won’t, because I have wedding things to prepare, food to eat, friends to feed, and a steampunk-themed party to attend. I bid you farewell!