Thoughts on a Thursday

Today I am really excited because I have a book voucher.  It means I have a legitimate excuse to buy a book!  Maybe two!  What a wonderful birthday present that was.

So I’ve been 25 for just over a week.  It feels the same as 24 but there are a lot of things I’ll be doing aged 25 that I’ve never done.  I’m having an engagement party, I’m getting married.  I think that is a small list of big things.  I’m excited about the next decade – I believe that the best years of my life are to come and I see a lot of happiness and joy in the future.  The people who tell you that high school and uni are the best years of your life either have low expectations or think that getting drunk/stoned/high is better than real life and real family.  I actually feel sorry for those people.

I have the healthiest nails I’ve ever had in my life … one of the many positives of being vegan I suspect!  Also there has been news in the paper lately which confirms some of the findings of the China Study, which suggest that eating calcium from animal sources provides no benefit to bone health, and in fact, may be worse for you.  I couldn’t agree more, all my information suggests that animal protein leeches calcium from bones.  Should that be leach?

I am off to find some lunch … have a nice Thursday!

Why I am a dietary vegan

I realise that I am not a ‘proper’ vegan, and that I still knit with wool and am coming to grips with not using animal based fibres. I thought it might be worthwhile to really put in writing the reasons that I am vegan and the decisions that led me here.

I am not “an animal person”. In my family, we were raised in a way where we treated the entire environment with respect – including the fauna in it and also the humans. My father is a zoologist by training, and he spent a lot of time working with spiders. His best mate is a herpetologist, and so my childhood living in the Blue Mountains was filled with identifying animals in their habitat – and on occasion, experiencing these animals by touch. My mum is an accomplished gardener and has always used a lot of native plants, and as such, I have always been able to identify a range of animals and plants in the environment.

My father and his scientist friends haven’t always done things which I, as a vegan, agree with (although growing up I had less of an issue with). Some of these are things I still struggle with – using animals for research purposes. Not chimpanzees or anything, but still breeding frogs, etc, for the purpose of research. I understand the benefits of this research on natural populations – hence my internal conflict. Additionally, my father was on the Zoo Board for a decade. I do not agree with zoos and the fact that animals are exploited for entertainment. But in an urban setting they can provide an unparalleled opportunity for education. I now believe that the educational benefits are unnecessary.

Where there has been less conflict for me are the issues of food and cosmetics. I can have significant control over what goes into my body and what I put on it – from toothpaste, to shampoo, to cleanser. What has complicated this issue is my newfound insight into chemicals (because of my work). Access to documents which I might not have otherwise had, and the insight is scary! This has meant that as well as choosing vegan options, I am also making decisions based on other ingredients, chemical ingredients, and organic options. I spend inordinate amounts of time researching particular ingredients and my new theory (which seems to work) is: if I can’t pronounce it, I’m not using it.

Eating as a vegan has such a significant impact on the environment that justifying it has never been an issue for me. People debate ethics – is it cruel to raise animals for slaughter and do they have the same right-to-life as human animals? Obviously my answer to that is yes, but to me, that is a secondary issue. The science behind veganism is my answer.

Not eating animal products saves water, one of the most precious resources we have. Not eating animal products assists in preserving native environments (by not requiring land for stockfeed). Science says we don’t need to eat animal products, and even suggests that doing so is damaging to health.

But more than anything, it feels wrong. I’ve got nothing but respect for every element of the environment yet how could I have no moral opposition to forcing animals to breed, often by artificial means, specially to then slaughter and eat their offspring? How could I promote the consumption of dairy, when like every mammal, the cow makes milk to nourish its young? How could I promote egg consumption, when I know that it results in the deaths of millions of male chicks every year?

The answer is: I can’t. And I don’t have time for people who “love animals” as they eat a chicken pie. I don’t have time for people who care about the environment but won’t give up steak. I don’t have time for people who say they want a better world for generations to come, but feed their children milk that has been stolen and artificially produced by another species.

I am sure I will have more to add to this. I am saying that I don’t have time for hypocrites, yet I use felt and wool in my crafts. In my mind there is a distinction and I’ll come to that later. I also would like to write about pet stores and puppy farms, and keeping non-native animals in a country as unique as Australia. But all in good time!

the first in a long list of obligations

So it seems that getting married makes you obliged to do any number of things in order to be polite.  These include everything from calling everyone you’ve ever met to hosting parties and events.  Some sound like a great idea to me – engagement parties, which are really an excuse to hang out with frien; and I’ve always suspected that a Hens party has the opportunity to be great, for example by involving cupcakes and manicures instead of strippers and alcohol.

Last night was one of those obligations – the meeting of the parents.  This doesn’t have a formal name although apparently it used to occur at the engagement party.  I was a little worried about how it would turn out, with 2 sets of parents from different generations, different lives and different worlds.  So it was booked for neutral territory, an Italian restaurant near us and neither of the parents.  I prepared myself for awkward moments of silence, the ones which are the acknowledgement of a particularly outlandish statement.

But you know what?  It went well.  There were minimal awkward silences and eating pizza with your hands turns out to a be a good equaliser.

In other fantastic news, Glen was given an ice cream maker for his birthday … its currently freezing in preparation for its first batch.  We are both so excited – there are quite a few vegan ice cream recipes around, and we can’t wait to try them out!

What do vegans eat?

I don’t know if anyone here is interested in this, but I took a photo a few weeks ago of a weekly shop for my household of 2 vegans.  I didn’t include the non-food items though.  This is a pretty typical “big week” shop, but every week in between we do a “small” shopping trip.

Enjoy …

pod cuisine

While at the Orange Grove markets a few weeks ago, I spotted a woman selling vegan prepackaged meals.  She was from this company, Pod Cuisine.  I tried out the Bebop Hotpot the first week, which is an amazing stew of black turtle beans, corn, leeks and a bunch of herbs and spices.  It was fantastic with brown rice and veggies.

After that resounding success I gave her Chickpea Chansons de Geste a go.  It was AMAZING.  It tasted like a honey mustard based curry.  I happen to LOVE sweet potato, which probably helps.

I can’t afford to buy these meals all the time, they are $8 for about 2-3 serves, so not too bad but more expensive than the raw ingredients.  I will probably buy one every now and then if I know I won’t have much time to cook.

I wish I had the recipe for the Chickpea Chansons de Geste though, I’d make it at least once a week.

welcome to my journey

So here we have it – a way to make me accountable for this decision I have made, but also to keep a track of my progress or ideas.  In short, I am henceforth a vegan.

Unlike a lot of people I am not choosing this lifestyle because I am terribly concerned about animal rights (although I am concerned).  I am choosing to change the way I live because I want to reduce my personal impact on the planet and because I cannot ethically choose to use animal by-products, or petrochemicals, knowing the impact they have on the environment.

Its going to be tough.  Switching to vegetarianism has been a success and I know that I can do anything I put my mind to – anything!

The other factors I am considering when making decisions are the origins of products, the process of production, the ownership of the company and the impact on my health.  For this reason, I am not simply going to be a vegan, but also a locavore, and purchasing organic products.

Wish me luck!!