rabble.ca's Vegan Challenge 2012

Life, the universe, everything wrote:

If rabble wanted to do something around food they could have learned something from last year and done something to promote connections between urban rabblers and farming rabblers- including livestock farmers.  This is the great disconect for many people as they don't know a farmer.  This could have been a real opportunity for real education and information, instead rabble continues to propegate a complete myth by saying going vegan is one of the best ways to help the environment. 

 

I agree with the idea that veganism/vegetarianism is not a completely accurate method towards looking at food because there are so many misguided logics in its thinking. I too believe incorporating communities with local farmers and food is the best way to not only be conscious and ethical about the food we consume, but provides better successes in sustainability and environmentalism. I draw a lot of offense from the at time elitist logic of veganism because a lot of the food is sourced from places that exploit workers or increase the carbon footprint.

That being said, I am participating in the Vegan Challenge because : (1) I have to. Kidding! But I am a part of rabble.ca and would like to be involved and (2) I am hoping the fact that I will have to think about food and meals will reconnect me with it (in a positive way).

Am I an idealist?

Yes, that fake cheese sounded dreadful indeed.

No, I have too much food in my fridge to use up to really make it a vegan week. Several things are vegetarian, but some have cheese, and I have the remains of a bison "pie" (like a shepherd's pie or cottage pie, but with bison as the meat - it is mixed with several vegetables in that layer, there isn't really a lot of meat, but it certainly isn't vegetarian or vegan. Had I known about the challenge before, I could have made this recipe with lentils - or with Yves fake "ground round", but I'm sure that has a higher footprint than the locally-reared bison.

I presume this challenge doesn't involve our carnivorous animal companions. Renzo would not be pleased.

There is also this "no wine" injunction...

lagatta wrote:

Yes, that fake cheese sounded dreadful indeed.

No, I have too much food in my fridge to use up to really make it a vegan week. Several things are vegetarian, but some have cheese, and I have the remains of a bison "pie" (like a shepherd's pie or cottage pie, but with bison as the meat - it is mixed with several vegetables in that layer, there isn't really a lot of meat, but it certainly isn't vegetarian or vegan. Had I known about the challenge before, I could have made this recipe with lentils - or with Yves fake "ground round", but I'm sure that has a higher footprint than the locally-reared bison.

I presume this challenge doesn't involve our carnivorous animal companions. Renzo would not be pleased.

There is also this "no wine" injunction...

No wine? That's simply wrong. Shepherd's Pie is a staple food, whether it's made with bison, venison or ground beef, it has potatoes, veggies and meat. And gravy. What's not to love? I'd like to say I'm being virtuously vegan, but the truth is that I'm so tired of winter food -- meat, root veggies, heavy gravies and sauces, vegan's looking really good.

Me too. This time of year there should, at least, be some hothouse produce that's local. At this time of year I find myself desperately needing fresh foods, especially veggies.

It always amazes me how incensed people get over others trying to be vegan.

I'll concede that a vegan diet may not necessarily have the environmental impact that some claim, but intuitively it seems to be more efficient to raise and eat vegetables, as opposed to raise vegetables, feed to animals, and then eat the animals.

Regardless of environmental impact, contributing to a system that inflicts the kind of suffering that factory farming does is something we should all try to dissassociate ourselves from. It's cruel, and anyone with any compassion should at least strive towards discouraging this activity through reducing the amount of meat they eat, particularly meat raised in Canada where there are virtually no laws in place to prevent suffering to meat animals.

And the word 'organic' doesn't mean jack-shit. They can still operate gestation crates, still keep the animals confined in cages so small they can't turn around. Still slaughter veal cows at two weeks of age etc.

Unless a farm conducts tours of its facilities, so that the public can see how 'humanely' the animals are treated, it's a pretty safe bet, that they have no concern for the suffering the animals go through, and are quite willing to inflict more suffering if there's more profit to be made.

A big red flag is any meat producer who whines about random inspections. If you have nothing to hide, meeting the random inspection of the very low standards set by Canada's meat industry, shoudln't be much of a problem.

 

KeyStone wrote:

It's cruel, and anyone with any compassion should at least strive towards discouraging this activity through reducing the amount of meat they eat,

Capitalism is taking care of this anyway.  Have you seen the prices on supermarket meat lately?  It's variously attributed to a host of what are really stock market driven causes, including turning over more and more parcels of farmland to the production of ethanol, which drives up the cost of livestock feed, to there being less livestock overall, which results in cost increases through globalized speculation.  At the current price levels beef could all rot in the refigerated displays before I'll succumb to the latest extortion racket by purchasing it.

Well, some went there and ate only the fries, which were supposedly vegetarian. I'd never eat at a McDo, but I live in a major city, in a neighbourhood with lots of food choices. I wouldn't want to eat falafel (much as I love it) every day because it is deep-fried, but I'm closer to several places serving falafel than the nearest McDo. It is more difficult for people on road trips, whether in a car or an intercity bus.

I've met truckers who have invested in little fridges and cooking devices, not necessarily to be vegan or vegetarian, but to avoid the high-trans-fat and and otherwise junky food at most of the truck stop restaurants.

It isn't necessarily a question of willpower. It is very difficult for people who have trouble digesting legumes, for example, to be vegan.

PETA has so many problems that it is hardly credible, even among many vegetarians. They have produced sexist, racist and bullying ads and products (including trading cards insulting children who are pimply, fat, farty etc supposedly because they consume animal products).

Even if you do the research re proteins and complex nutrients, it's very often the case that there are particular deficiencies in a vegan diet.  I understand wanting to be vegan for ideological reasons, but I don't have a lot of patience for the idea that such a restrictive diet is more healthful than a balanced omnivorous diet featuring a moderate amount of meat, dairy and eggs.  It isn't.

I figure that if you're eating a restrictive diet and you start having major cravings, or you really need "willpower" to stick to it, your body is probably trying to tell you something.  PS - I practiced vegetarianism for a couple of years, veganism for a short period of time, so I'm not coming at this from a place of ignorance.

I found it hard to keep my weight down on a vegan diet. Still, I eat fish and chicken sparingly and eat little beef or pork. What people are not doing is getting enough exercise.

There is an old German saying that you do not want to ask a man what is in his sausage. We are up the food chain from those critters. Who knows why some are born to be predators and some to be prey?

KeyStone wrote:

And the word 'organic' doesn't mean jack-shit. They can still operate gestation crates, still keep the animals confined in cages so small they can't turn around. Still slaughter veal cows at two weeks of age etc.

Wow, just saw this. Source or retraction, please.   

I get really tired of organic-bashing, much of it comes from agribusiness propoganda. Yes, organics have grown very quickly (a great sign of people being more concerned about their food) and yes, there is a problem of "factory organics" but you're bashing farmers who for decades have been fighting for better environmental practices. Organic growers themselves were the ones who constantly push for rigorous certification standards and who cringe at every attempt to dilute them -- which is what agribusiness wants to do so they can snag the premium and/or discredit organics.