I love watching Top Chef, even though the food doesn’t appeal to me. I think I’m just a TV junkie and I’ll watch pretty much anything.  After seeing the previews for last night’s episode, I was super excited because I know that Natalie Portman is a vegetarian and I was pretty sure the challenge was a vegetarian one.  Yippee!!  I’ve been waiting for them to do a vegetarian challenge.

The episode was a major disappointment, though.  The contestants were quite obviously out of their comfort zone and the idea of cooking something vegetarian clearly rattled most of them.  Seriously, though, coming up with a vegetarian dish is a cake walk, especially if you are an accomplished chef.  A real challenge would have been to make them come up with a vegan meal.  In fact, I sort of though Natalie Portman was vegan, but I guess not.  Actually, it says here that she went vegan in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals. And here is an article that she wrote about her reasons for going vegan.

In defense of the contestants, the twist that the meal was to be vegetarian was revealed at the last minute.  They were not allowed any time to come up with a concept for their dish and they were stuck using whatever was stocked in the restaurants’ kitchen already.

Now, I’ve been in the situation where I’ve gone to a restaurant to find that they didn’t even offer one vegetarian dish, let alone vegan.  In that instance, I had called ahead the day before (since I had no control over the choice in restaurants) and spoke with the chef who told me they would accommodate me.  Pasta.  With mushrooms.  And it wasn’t that good, but at least I had something to eat.

I guess I was hoping that this episode may change peoples’ perspective of what vegetarians actually eat, but was disappointed that the chefs themselves were unclear.  They seem to think that all we eat is vegetables, judging from the dishes they produced and what they said during their interviews.  For the most part, the only food group represented was vegetables.  What happened to beans and legumes or grains?  One person made a dish with lentils and one other person used garbanzo beans.  Disappointing.

Chicks Being Ground Up Alive Video

I’m sort of behind on all the posts I want to get done, but this one will be quick.

When you buy eggs, this is the cruelty that you are supporting!

When I was vegetarian, eggs were okay with me because no animals actually died. Well, that’s not exactly true. And “cage free” or “free range” eggs aren’t any better.

My copy of The Joy of Vegan Baking is so loved that it has fallen apart. The problem started a while ago, actually, but it keeps getting worse and worse. And I don’t think this is my fault– the binding is really bad on this book. Has anyone else had this happen to their copy?

I’ve contacted both the author and the publisher to let them know that my copy (and maybe others who haven’t thought to email them) is falling apart and they need to fix it for the future.  An automated response has already come back from the author:

Thank you so much for your email. Because of computer-related arm pain, I’m forced to reduce my time on email.  I regret that I may not be able to reply to your message, but please know that I have received it and appreciate the time you have taken to write.

Maybe she won’t even read it… who knows?!  We’ll see what the publisher says about this.  These books are expensive, ya know?!  The binding should be able to withstand normal use.  Sersiouly, has this happened to anyone else?

UPDATE: The publisher wrote back and has offered to replace my copy!  Woohoo!!!

Jehovah’s witnesses come by every now and again and because I’m not rude to them and chase them away, they keep coming back.  It’s always the same routine– they hand me their Watchtower and talk to me about God and it’s usually pleasant.  I keep a pamphlet on veganism by the door just so I can reciprocate the gesture.  Today didn’t go as it usually does.  I was in the middle of something and short on patience.  I didn’t try very hard not to be rude and I’m pretty sure I should have tried a little harder.  I’m not religious and not interested in being religious.  Preaching to me from my doorstep won’t change that.

Anyway, this gave my husband the idea– what if vegans went door to door?  Not that he thinks it’s a good idea, he was just curious as to how it would be received by the homeowner.  I wonder if some people would feel enlightened since most people probably have no clue how much an animal suffers to become food.  Maybe it would open their eyes to a different (likely healthier) diet.  Like I was today, I bet the homeowner would be annoyed.

In many ways, veganism is like a religion.  It’s a lifestyle that vegans are proud of and want everyone to be.  At least, I want everyone to go vegan.  It’s something that I’m passionate about, something that I’m unwilling to change, something that I love to discuss when asked.

So what do you think– what would happen if vegans went door to door?

A little while back, I accidentally bought some crackers that contained whey.  Serves me right for not reading the ingredients on something that I’ve never bought before.  Sometimes becoming distracted at the grocery store is inevitable.  Anyway, the point is that I had already bought the crackers and couldn’t really return them (actually, we had eaten most of the box before I discovered it’s dirty little secret), and now my eczema is back.  After completely giving up dairy over a year ago, I was eczema free since.  I guess now I’ll have to “detox” again and keep putting on the lotion.  It seems to be almost gone now.  Hopefully never to return.

This made me think of the first time I went to the doc when I started having eczema problems, which was around 18.  I went in, told her about my gross elbows and she wrote me a prescription for some ointment.  Why the heck didn’t she tell me that it could be from dairy?  She never discussed the causes at all.  As far as I know, eczema isn’t something that just happens.  There’s usually something to trigger it.  Most doctors would rather treat than prevent.  Have high cholesterol?  Don’t try reversing it by adopting a cholesterol-free (VEGAN) diet, take all these pills instead.  And don’t fool yourself– chicken and beef have just about the same amount of cholesterol.

This article just infuriates me.

In Iowa, where the 20 million hogs easily outnumber the 3 million people, the rotten-egg-and-ammonia smell of hog waste often wafts into homes, landing like a punch to the chest.

“Once, we couldn’t go outside for a week,” said Karen Forbes, who lives near a hog feedlot outside Lorimor. “It burned your eyes. You couldn’t breathe. You had to take a deep breath and run for your garage. It was horrid.”

Karen Forbes lives “near” the feedlot.  Can you imagine how bad it is on the feedlot?  While I do feel bad for these people who have to breathe this everyday, does anyone ever stop to think that pigs can’t possibly enjoy living in these conditions either?  I guess nobody but me cares.

So, what are they going to do about it?  Spend $1.7 million to further “study” hog odors.

Hog odors have been a perennial issue at the state Legislature, where lawmakers argue over the need to protect quality of life without ruining Iowa’s $12-billion-a-year pork industry.

How about this solution?  It’s free and it isn’t hard at all.  STOP EATING THE PIGS AND THEY’LL STOP STINKING UP THE AIR!  And runoff from these farms will stop polluting water sources. With people starving all over the world, people losing their jobs and homes here, etc. etc. can’t you think of better ways to spend $1.7 million than to keep studying a study that has already been studied and still not remedied?  Stupid.

Yet more evidence that our government has no concern for our health whatsoever.  The U.S. is one of only a few countries that allows beef and dairy cows to be treated with growth hormones which, aside from probably being harmful to your health, means our “tainted” beef can’t be exported.  Other countries recognize the dangers of treating “food” with hormones, but ours thinks it’s okay.  Unless you buy organic or a package specifically marked as not coming from cows treated with BGH, you can be sure that you’re getting a nice dose of hormones and who-knows-what-else with every steak, every yogurt (yes, Yopait!) and every slice of cheese you eat.  Gross!

Now, not even corn is safe.  In addition to putting or spraying weird things on food, our government is content with letting companies manipulate the genes of crops.  And even though genetically modified corn is banned in most of the world, our government doesn’t have a problem letting us eat it.  Recent research concludes:

1) A new long term study by the Austrian government confirms previous findings that consumption of GM (genetically modified) corn, for as little as 20 weeks, can damage the reproductive system, lower fertility rates and increase illness and death rates in offspring.
Learn more

2) Researchers in Mexico reported in December that some popular varieties of GM corn negatively affect the learning response of bees. Scientists say this may be an indicator of the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, a recent catastrophic and mysterious die-off of as much as 30% of the world’s honey bee population in the past couple of years.
Learn more

3) In Italy, scientists published a study that put the biotech industry in a public relations tailspin. In the study, laboratory tests showed a direct connection between consumption of GM corn and a damaged immune system.
Learn more

See, the only person looking out for you is YOU. This stuff is scary. GM products aren’t even safety tested. Need an explanation for why people get cancer like crazy? Well, it probably has something to do with these weird things in our food supply. Not to worry, if you don’t want to eat this stuff, here are some tips for avoiding genetically modified produce (keep in mind that food made with GM ingredients doesn’t have to be labeled as such):

1) Look for products that voluntarily label themselves as GMO or GE-free.

2) Buy Organic:  Products certified as “Organic” are not allowed to contain genetically modified ingredients.

3) Avoid non-organic products that contain the most common genetically engineered ingredients: corn (corn syrup, corn meal, corn oil, etc.), fructose, dextrose, glucose, modified food starch, ingredients including the word “soy” (soy flour, soy lecithin, etc.), vegetable oil, vegetable protein, canola oil (also called rapeseed oil), cottonseed oil, and sugar from sugar beets.

It really is important to buy organic everything these days, if you care as much as I do about what you put into your body.  AND, you can’t just stop there– you can bet your life that farm animals are being fed GM corn, soy, etc.  Best just to avoid meat altogether, if you ask me.  For more info, check out this great site.

I had a thought and I couldn’t help but rant about it. I know, I know– it’s been ages since I blogged about food. That’s coming soon, I promise. I actually have lots of food stuff to blog about too, I just need more time.

But first, my rant about shoes. So, I got a pair of Crocs for Christmas and I was thrilled because I’ve been wanting them for a while now. The ones I got fit, but I would like to try the next size up just to be sure that the ones I have actually fit right. Too often, I decide a shoe fits too soon only to realize after wearing it for a while that it really isn’t that comfortable. I’ve been to 3 Macy’s (the store where my mom bought them) and they have been sold out of nearly every Croc. My backup plan was to maybe exchange them for a pair of boots, but every single boot they have– with the exception of a few ugly, 80s looking ones– are leather.

This caused me to have a brilliant thought. Why doesn’t someone come up with a line of vegan footwear? Yes, it has been done. Natalie Portman launched a vegan footwear line recently. I’m sure there are many styles to choose from on online shopping sites. I mean, why doesn’t someone come up with a vegan footwear line and actually put it in a store so that people can try them on and decide how they like them? I, for one, am not fond of purchasing shoes online. AND, how about if you charge LESS than what the leather alternative costs?

Natalie Portman’s shoe line, for example, charged something like $400 for ONE PAIR of boots. Yikes! It’s no wonder it didn’t do very well. If non-leather boots, pumps, etc. were featured in a store next to leather ones and were just as cute, but the same price or less, it stands to reason that people may actually be drawn to the vegan shoes. More people in vegan shoes means less people wearing dead animals. Brilliant!

Now, why hasn’t someone done this already? Maybe it has been done, but I just can’t find them? I don’t know. I’ve never been to a major department store and been able to find a big selection of non-leather shoes. Even finding non-leather ballet shoes for my Emma is a chore. What’s the deal?!

Feel like doing something super easy that will really help a good cause?  I thought so!  Here’s what you have to do (from The Veggie Guy’s blog):

I’m participating in a contest to donate to the Alagille Syndrome Alliance, a non-profit that supports research for a cure for this disease. Basically, I’ve submitted a post to a new social bookmarking site, and the post that gets the most 5-star votes wins a cash prize.

So if you’d like to help, it would be greatly appreciated. Here’s the link to my post – all you need to do is go to the site, register (just make up a username and password – no email address required), and then visit the post and rate it 5 stars. The rating bar is above the image in my post.

My goal is to get 500 5-star votes by next Tuesday (Dec. 9) at midnight EST, when the contest ends. If you can pass this along to anyone who might be willing to vote, it would be a great help.

Pimping of this post is also much appreciated!

Seriously, it takes about 30 seconds to register and vote.  If you have a blog of your own, please consider posting these links so that all of your loyal readers can vote too.

Crowds gathered near public buildings in cities large and small, including Boston, San Francisco, Chicago and Fargo, to vent their frustrations, celebrate gay relationships and renew calls for change.

My eyes stuttered when I got to Fargo.  As in North Dakota?  Well, I’m sure there are gay people there too.  This is exactly what needs to happen– a nationwide movement for marriage rights.  Read the full story here.

I like Melissa Etheridge’s tactic:

“I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.”

Yeah, it’s another non-food related post/rant/rambling on a blog about veganism, but these issues are important too.  Prof. Francione says it best:

We live in a society permeated by racism, sexism, heterosexism, and speciesism. These attitudes all share in common exclusion of some group from membership in the moral community based on irrelevant characteristics (race, sex, sexual orientation, species). If we are ever to make progress as a civilization, we have to reject all of these forms of discrimination. All discrimination is a form of violence.