Cadry's Kitchen

A lot has happened in a year!  On the left you see me posing with Jumper last spring at Animal Acres Sanctuary.  Jumper had just recently been rescued from a factory farm, where her mom lived in a cramped, metal gestation crate, giving birth to litter after litter of piglets she would never get to know.   On the right is Jumper today.  While there is sadness knowing that her mom and siblings did not share her fate, there is joy in knowing she will live out her days, surrounded by people who marvel at her spunk and spirit, who see her for more than the sum of her body parts, for more than bacon.  That gives me hope.

When I saw Jumper recently, I felt like a doting aunt cooing, "Oh, I knew you when you were this big!"

It’s hard to believe that a whole year has passed since Cadry’s Kitchen opened its virtual doors.  What started as a month-long project to cook from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s The Vegan Table for the thirty days of June in 2009 has become one of my dearest hobbies.  I have always loved cooking and food, writing, travel and animals, and having a vehicle to write about all of these topics continues to be a wonderful outlet.  Thank you to my readers, friends and strangers from all over the globe.  I hope you’ll keep reading, and I’ll keep writing!

What would a birthday be without presents? (Not much of one, if you ask me!)  In honor of my blog’s beginnings, leave a comment below and you’ll be entered to win another one of Colleen’s creations, her Compassion in Action CD.  (A ten dollar value!)  It’s great for those who are merely vegan-curious and for new and long-time vegans.  One winner will be chosen at random Friday, June 4th at noon.

You can visit Jumper for yourself at Animal Acres every Sunday.  It is just 40 minutes from Los Angeles in Acton, CA.  Their Sunday tours are at 11 am and 1 pm, last an hour, and are only $5/per person.

Living vegan, there are times when people will make remarks about animals and the ways they live and die, harsh words, that can come off as rather calloused.  And you know what?  That’s exactly what it is; it is a callus.  It’s a barrier formed from repetitive action.  Just like the calluses that once adorned David’s fingers, when we hurt animals ourselves or pay others to hurt them, we build calluses that shield us from that initial discomfort.   The first time, it may hurt, but after doing something again and again over months and then years, it becomes easier.

We begin our lives as children with openness and unending compassion.  We want to care for the birds that have fallen from the trees or the bunnies who have been separated from their mothers.  That desire to protect animals and care about their feelings is natural, but over time our behavior and actions help us to build thick calluses until we no longer question our part in causing pain to some animals while we revere others.

While volunteering at a local animal sanctuary, I’ve heard of parents who didn’t want to send their kids to the sanctuary for fear that the kids wouldn’t eat meat afterwards.  They’ve said, “I’ve only just gotten them to eat meat.  I don’t want them to stop now.”  Instead of asking children to express their feelings about animals, we ask them to repress those feelings.  (Except for the treatment of dogs and cats, of course.  If a child mistreats those animals, people worry about their stability.)

It’s an extraordinary disconnect we build.  Children are taken to petting zoos, fairs, and aquatic parks.  They feel an innate understanding and love of animals.  They want to touch them, to know them.  Then they’re driven to McDonald’s to feed on some of the same types of animals that they were just petting.  Without malicious intentions, we disregard that we’re asking them to separate from their own compassion.

Growing up, there were some animals that I felt too uncomfortable eating, like deer.  Their long, elegant bodies were reminiscent of our Doberman Pinscher.  They had such beautiful faces and expressive eyes.  When I’d see them standing with their families in fields, I couldn’t help but gasp.  Then as I got older, I remember thinking, “Well, I eat other animals.  They’re really no different than deer.”  I wish I had used that logic to extend my compassion to chickens, pigs, cows, and fish, but instead I started eating deer as well.

I enjoyed cooking, and I still remember the first time I fried chickens’ legs by myself.  I stood in my dorm room while the oil in the electric skillet started to bubble.  I wanted to reduce the fat, and so I pulled at the skin surrounding the legs.  The skin squished between my fingers and wouldn’t come off easily.  It hung around the ankle like a sock.  It really ruined my appetite, and so I bought a whole rotisserie chicken the next time.  I was used to chickens already cut up in parts, and it took some time to get comfortable tearing away at the body of a bird.  However, the prices on rotisserie chickens were pretty good, only $4 for an entire bird, and that seemed like a deal.  Over time, the more that I’d do these things, the less discomfort I felt.  I’d make little jokes.  I developed a callus.  I thought it was progress.

Then years later, I went vegan.  I met chickens.  I held them, so light, so funny and inquisitive.  And now when I see a chicken’s body in a plastic shell at the supermarket, I feel that sensitivity again that I once did. The calluses are gone, and $4 doesn’t seem like a deal anymore.  Her whole life and her whole death, her feed, her care, her killing, and her whole body is only $4.  I feel sadness that she was valued so little.

While people may look at a plant based diet and assume that it is limiting, when we remove ourselves from those feelings of guilt and  discomfort, and we open ourselves to peace, it is expansive.   What is limiting is shutting ourselves to our own emotions.  Like Franz Kafka said, “Now I can look at you in peace; I don’t eat you any more.”  When I was eating animals, I pushed away my discomfort when I saw the blood pooling around the steak on the plate.  When I saw pigs and cows traveling down the highway in metal semi-trucks, I turned away.  And later, when I learned how animals live and die within animal agriculture, I had to address my own pain for being part of it.  Seeing it for what it was broke my heart…  Maybe that’s what I needed for it to open.

Growing up, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday…  except for Christmas.  The leaves were a crisp orange, and the fireplace was getting its trial run.  I woke up to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, flipped through the biggest newspaper of the year and imagined the toys in my near future.  In the house, there was an almost palpable buzz of energy as the final touches were made in preparation of the arrival of family.  A wish-enthusiast and a meat eater at the time, after the turkey had been carved, I was eager to make a wish with the “wishbone.”

It’s interesting how perceptions change.  Now Thanksgiving is a holiday whose looming presence fills me more with dread than gleeful anticipation.  As the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving whir by, up go the pictures of happy turkeys all a-smile on grocery store signs while 46 million are getting killed in the U.S. for the winter holidays alone.  (250 to 300 million turkeys are killed yearly in the United States, where they are not protected under most states’ anti-cruelty laws and are exempt from the federal Humane Slaughter Act.)  In the same stores where there are plentiful varieties of fruits and vegetables, nuts and grains, there are lines and lines of bodies of turkeys, most of whom spent their entire lives on factory farms.

With the upcoming holiday on my mind, I got together with my friend, Julia, last week to talk turkey.  Julia has been a regular volunteer at Animal Acres Sanctuary for many years, and she’s the most enthusiastic turkey fan that I know.  Making her way in from an unusually cold Southern California evening, Julia was wearing a button featuring one of her favorite turkeys who ever walked the lawn of Animal Acres.  On the button it said, “Friend, Not Food.”

Julia relaxes with Sophie in the barn at Animal Acres.

A vegetarian (now vegan) of 17 years, Julia was won over by turkeys on her first visit to an Animal Acres event.

“Being an animal lover,” she said, “I knew that I would love the cows, pigs, sheep, and goats.  I always thought pigs were cute, and the sheep and goats are so easy to bond with.  So I was prepared for that.  The birds were not on my mind.  When I took my first visit to the bird area, I was surprised when the volunteer told me I could come inside and pet the turkeys.  They were especially mellow and people-friendly that day, and I had this moment with one of them where I was petting her and she was obviously enjoying it.  She started to close her eyes and doze off a little bit.  I had no idea you could interact with a bird like that.  It was really sweet.  I liked all of the animals at the sanctuary, but the turkeys surprised me because they were so friendly and comfortable with me.  I never expected to be able to interact with them and get to know their personalities.”

Julia was recently featured as the activist of the month for the sanctuary because of her help rescuing some baby turkeys.

The baby turkeys snuggle together in their new home for a nap. Because conventional turkeys are bred to grow bigger and more quickly than they would naturally, they are slaughtered when they are only 14 to 18 weeks old. If these turkeys hadn't been rescued, their lives would have been nearly half over.

“I was asked to meet someone in Santa Barbara to receive the turkeys who had been rescued and then drive them to Animal Acres.  It was a group of 12 babies, about 6 weeks old.  They were chirping in my car the whole time, making baby bird noises.  Once I arrived at the sanctuary and set them up in their barn, they were pretty vocal for the first hour or so but then settled down.  I spent the next two or three hours with them in the barn as they explored their new place.  They were extremely curious but slightly scared and would always stick together.  They were pretty afraid of me the first day, but I went up every weekend after that for the next few weeks.”

“How did you win them over?” I wondered.

“I brought them treats,” Julia said with a smile.  “Lettuce is what they love more than anything else.  The number one rule when interacting with turkeys is to make yourself as small as possible.  I decided to lie down completely and they got really comfortable with me.  That’s the cutest thing about them is that I can tell they’re afraid of people to some extent but they’re extremely curious.  They have an inner fight with their curiosity and fear, but their curiosity always wins in the end.  They want to know what you’re about.  They go after shoelaces, play with hair.  They love anything shiny if you have a nice camera lens.”

“The cutest moment,” she said, “was when I was lying on the ground and getting a little sleepy.  I closed my eyes for a bit and when I opened my eyes again, I had three of them sitting on me, roosting on various parts of my body. They’re very warm.  They’re so little, just handfuls.  One was snuggled up and let me pet her, essentially the way you would sit at home on the couch with your cat.  They were hanging out with me for quite a while.”

“How did they react while you petted them?” I asked.

“When you sit with them and they’re comfortable, they’ll make cooing noises.  It’s incredibly soothing.  Sometimes they fall asleep when I pet them, and sometimes they make me want to take a nap.”

Turkeys in factory farms spend their lives in sheds with thousands of other turkeys, unable to perform any of their natural behaviors.

The lives they’ll live at the sanctuary couldn’t be more different from the lives they would have lived at a factory farm, where the birds live their short lives (about five months) in sheds with thousands of others.  Because they are crowded in and unable to display any of their natural behaviors, it is standard procedure to cut off parts of the birds’ beaks, toes, and snoods on the males without any pain relievers.  (The snood is the flap of skin under the chin.)   Turkeys are bred, drugged, and genetically manipulated to grow as big as possible in as short of time as possible.

Baby turkeys on farms have the upper 1/3 to 1/2 portion of their beaks seared off.

I said to Julia, “Some people justify the way we treat turkeys, because they claim turkeys aren’t very intelligent.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that,” Julia said.  “I was told by an acquaintance once that turkeys are kind of dumb.  I told her that the reason turkeys have the reputation of being dumb is because they’re very friendly and curious, and they were sort of known as the prey who would walk up to the hunter’s gun.  They would come up and say ‘hi.’  They want to know what the hunters are about, and so they get shot.  So people decided turkeys were stupid.”

Why do we protect one and disregard the other?

Julia continued, “We have this hierarchy of animals.  Humans are the most intelligent, and then dogs and dolphins are at the top.  Well, first of all, how do you define intelligence?  Humans usually judge in terms of trainability.  Why do we say intelligence matters so much?  We say it matters the most, because that way we always win.  There are animals who can do things we can’t.  Birds can fly.  Dolphins and bats use echo-sonar.  Dogs and cats have an amazing sense of smell.  We can’t compete with that.  So we use intelligence as we define it and use that as an excuse for what we do to animals.”

“Is that why it’s important to you to be an advocate for them?” I asked.

“I care about all animals and want them to live happy lives.  I think the animals people eat need our help the most, and out of those animals, the birds more than any others.  People easily relate to mammals.  Cows with their big brown eyes…  Pigs are trainable and touted as intelligent.  How many times do you hear people say they don’t eat red meat, only white meat?  I think we need to provide help to those who need it the most, and chickens and turkeys are seen as dumb birds nobody cares about at all.”

“Check out United Poultry Concerns’ More Than A Meal,” Julia said.  “Karen Davis, the founder of UPC, is one of my animal rights heroes.  She has been into animal rights issues for a long time.  Someone cautioned her when she started that if you want to engage people in animal issues, you have to promote the cute and fuzzy animals.  She said if that’s how people think, the birds need our help most of all.”

After the Civil War, Abe Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday in the aims of healing the wounds of the nation and as a means to restore “peace, harmony, tranquility, and Union.”  As we learn more about the curious and beautiful turkeys, we can choose to create peace and harmony in our own lives by choosing foods for which no one had to suffer.  We can do this while we still enjoy what makes Thanksgiving truly special and that is gratitude, togetherness, and thankfulness.  We can still page through the newspaper, flip on the Macy’s Day Parade and watch the floats make their way down Times Square.  We can still hold our families close, if not in person then in our hearts.

And when it comes time to make a wish, we can forsake the turkey’s bones in lieu of a wish for the turkeys.  May others become aware of the gentle spirit of these birds, to the horrors that they live and die in slaughterhouses, and the reminder that when it comes to killing, nothing is neat, tidy, or nice.  There is no such thing as “humane” slaughter.  All animals want to live.  Let’s be thankful for our abundance, and enjoy the abundance of plant foods that we have available to us.  Let’s be thankful for the turkeys and honor their lives, and not their deaths, this holiday.

*Factory farming photos provided by Farm Sanctuary, where you can adopt a turkey this season.  Find a sanctuary in your area to get to know these animals for yourself.

If I tell you I had my own little "tea party" yesterday, will you think I meant something by that?

Yesterday while running errands, I grabbed tea at Starbucks.  While there, the barista offered me a sample of one of their new products.

“Would you like to try Via?”

“Is that your instant coffee?” I asked.

“Oh, we don’t say the I-word around here,” he chided.

“What do you call it then?”

“We call it ready brew.”

Language is a wonderful thing.  It is constantly evolving and changing, sometimes by accident and happenstance and sometimes very much on purpose.  When people think “instant coffee” they think of a foul tasting product that isn’t nearly as good as its original.  It is to coffee what those 35 cent packages of Ramen noodles are to haute cuisine.  They’re almost an echo of the product they’re emulating.  So to combat this, a creative exec somewhere decided to revamp the name and call it “Ready Brew.”  It still gives a flair of quickness without weighing the new product down with nasty preconceptions.

We see this in language all the time.  If calling something “used” makes people think it’s dirty or trashy, call it “vintage” and charge more!  If people are averse to “creationism,” call it “intelligent design” and skirt the issue.  In ways that are both political and non-political, words can become charged and take on a life outside of their own inherent meaning.

This idea was resonating with me while reading the book, The Engine 2 Diet.  It was written by Rip Esselstyn, son of Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD.  Rip, a professional athlete and firefighter, was inspired by his father’s groundbreaking research on a plant based diet for use in the prevention and reversal of heart disease.  Not only did he adopt a plant based diet, but he also inspired others in his firehouse and community to do the same.  The book is a fast read with lots of recipes and a challenge to eat what Rip calls a “plant strong” diet for 28 days to lower cholesterol and lose weight.  (After that, he hopes that people will continue on their own once they’ve received dramatic results.)  In essence, what Rip is advocating is a vegetarian diet (not vegan since he uses honey in some of the recipes).  However, he skirts the use of the word, and I think it’s for the same reason that Starbucks doesn’t sell “instant” coffee.  I wager that he thinks people who might benefit from the book won’t pick it up if it says “vegetarian” on it.  So he’s created a new word without the preconceptions, a “plant-strong” diet.  (I have more to say about Rip’s book and recipes in a future post.)

While I can see where Rip is coming from, I’m proud to be vegan, and I claim the word.  Short of coming up with a new name to describe myself, all I can do is try to live my life in a way that embodies what I believe that word to mean.  To me, veganism is compassion and mercy in their kinetic form.  They’re no longer just ideas.  Veganism is the practical application.

Another way to debunk tired ideas about veganism is by showcasing the many faces of true vegans, and debunk those caricatures that may exist in our minds.  I’m starting with today’s post, which focuses on my favorite vegan, my husband, David.  Here’s a little before and after to show you a glimpse of the outward change that this has brought in him, and following that is our interview to show you the inner one.

This is David the year we met.

Many years and lentils later, this is how David looks today.

David, to give people a better idea of your background, tell us about the diet that you grew up eating.

“I grew up on what is probably a very typical Midwestern American diet.  The centerpiece for most meals was probably meat, whether it be hamburgers, meatloaf, fried chicken, or some such.  We generally ate a decent amount of vegetables, but often they were vegetables out of a can, such as canned green beans or corn.  We would often have salad with a meal too, but it would typically be iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber.  In addition to that, we ate pizza fairly regularly; although, I never liked cheese on pizza so I was at least one step towards becoming a vegan.  And my favorite meal of all time while growing up was a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder Value Meal, always with a Coke.”

How is that different from your diet today?

“Today Cadry and I eat an almost entirely whole foods-based, organic diet.  I eat a lot more fruits and vegetables than I used to, and any grains that I consume are whole grains, which honestly are probably something that I had never had until this decade.  Any time I would have had bread growing up, it would have been white bread, possibly French bread, but definitely no whole grains.  Nowadays I love a good thick, coarse, whole grain bread, preferably with lots of seeds and sprouted things in it.  Most of the food we eat we cook ourselves, or she cooks for me in many cases.  But we never eat at fast food restaurants, and if we eat out we usually eat at places that serve fresh, organic food.  I have a much broader palate now that I’m a vegan than I ever did beforehand.”

So what inspired you to go vegan?

“Like a lot of people, I didn’t really see the harm in eating cheese or eggs.  But then Cadry started telling me information that she was learning largely through the Vegetarian Food for Thought podcast and other books she had been reading about the suffering that happens when milk and eggs are produced in the animal agriculture industries.  I’m somebody who even when I was a meat eater would never have even dreamed of eating veal, thinking that was way too far to eat and kill a baby animal for pleasure.  But when I found out that the veal industry is a byproduct of the dairy industry because dairy cows are kept constantly pregnant, and the male baby cows are sold into veal and used for that, then I stopped immediately.”

What is the biggest benefit of veganism?

“The major benefit is that I feel much more connected with other living beings.  There’s a whole level of compassion that I would have thought before that I had, but realize that I really didn’t until I became vegan.  I always would have described myself as an animal lover, but that was always sort of qualified by animals that we are expected to love, like dogs, cats, baby animals of all kinds, and you know, any domestic animals.  But now I feel closer to all animals and that they all deserve their lives as much as any of us.  I have volunteered at an animal sanctuary and have spent time with turkeys, chickens, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and have come to realize that these animals are every bit as loving and sensitive and intelligent as the animals that we regularly keep in our homes.

The other benefit is that my health has improved incredibly.  I maintain a low weight without even thinking about it and have lowered my cholesterol by a huge amount.  However, actively living my ethics is an even greater benefit than all of the health benefits.”

What is the biggest misconception about vegans?

“I think the biggest misconception about vegans is that we’re depriving ourselves of something wonderful and that the way we eat is both boring and unhealthful.  People sometimes react as if they’re sorry for me that I can’t eat a cheeseburger or a steak or cheese, and it’s almost as if I’ve got a disease.  They might offer me something and be like, ‘Oh, you can’t eat that, can you?’  And my response is, ‘Well, I can eat it.  I just don’t want to.’

I feel like when I was a meat eater there were roughly four different meals that I would eat and rotate them regularly.  Hamburgers, pizza, chicken, and tacos.  But now being a vegan, I eat so many exciting and different cuisines that I had never really thought to try before.  I still eat pizza and tacos, but just without the meat and cheese on them.  But I also eat Ethiopian food, Indian food, Thai food, Chinese food, Greek and Mediterranean food.  I eat things I never ate before regularly like hummus and chickpeas and tempeh and avocado and so many more fruits and vegetables that I feel like I’m constantly trying something new and I have more passion for my food than I ever did before.

Also to address the idea that eating vegan is unhealthful, I had very high cholesterol and was 50 pounds overweight when I was regularly eating meat and fast food.  And now I weigh what I weighed in high school, and I’m 37 years old.  I have more energy than I’ve ever had in my life.”

Do you think began vegan as a man is different than as a woman, and if so, how has being a man affected your experience of it?

“I think there’s a strong pre-conception in our society that in order to be manly you have to eat meat, that eating tofu or a salad is a feminine thing to do, and should be avoided and mocked at all costs.  However, I think that a lot of people go along with that stereotype because they have been conditioned to think it is the normal, correct way and are concerned with going against societal norms.  But the most manly or macho characters that you ever see in movies are the ones who don’t care about societal rules and do their own thing when they know it is correct.  Think of Clint Eastwood or Paul Newman or Harrison Ford in any number of movies.  And I think there is no greater way to buck the societal norm in our society than to be vegan.  I think it can often take a lot of courage to assert one’s ethics or beliefs in the face of near universal resistance.  And I think standing one’s ground and fighting for what you believe in is a very macho thing to do.  Also I have yet to meet a woman who doesn’t find a man attractive when he is caring towards animals.”

Of all of the animals that you’ve developed relationships with since going vegan, who has been the best surprise?

“I would say that goats have been the best surprise.  Goats are animals that I never really gave much thought to one way or another.  I didn’t see them anywhere in real life.  I didn’t eat them or partake in goat’s milk or goat’s cheese.  So I hadn’t ever thought of them as an animal with a personality before.  However, since volunteering at Animal Acres I’ve realized that goats are very funny, intelligent, and affectionate animals.  They love to nuzzle you just like a cat does and will follow you around like the most loyal dog.  And then they casually try to eat your straw hat while you’re not looking.  And they don’t feel guilty about it, which only increases their charm.”

Tonight for dinner we’re having your favorite meal.  Tell us about it.

“Well, I am of the opinion that all orange foods are good, and the greatest of all orange foods are sweet potatoes.  So a cornerstone of our meal tonight will be roasted sweet potatoes.  I am also a firm believer in the power of three when it comes to food.  In other words, I like to have at least three distinct dishes on my plate with different flavors.  So the second portion of the meal is a dish that I learned to make from a restaurant we like, and it is sautéed mushrooms and onions with garlic in red wine sauce.  The third choice will be steamed kale, which will then be lightly sautéed in a bit of olive oil with some garlic.  I’m also a firm believer that garlic makes pretty much anything taste better, and indeed, that red wine does the same.  This meal is very easy to prepare, doesn’t take a lot of time, and is extremely healthy and delicious.”

If you had to give advice to a new or potential vegan, what would it be?

“I would say don’t be discouraged if it seems hard at first.  It can be hard, but mainly because we all have habits and are used to eating certain things and going certain places.  One of the things that held me back from being a vegetarian was that I didn’t know where I was going to go eat for lunch everyday.  But once I figured out where I could go for lunch and get vegetarian and vegan options, that worry fell away.  It’s all about changing your daily habits and routines, and once you have broken the old habits that you had, the new ones form and become as routine as the old ones once were.  Nowadays, I don’t even really think about being vegan when I eat, because it is just the natural state for me.  Look upon it as an opportunity.  It is an opportunity for exploring new tastes, new restaurants, and new cuisines.”

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies." --Author Unknown

Hello New Vegan,

What an exciting and life affirming trip you have ahead of you!  There’s so much joy in the days ahead, but I also know that changing the way we eat and live can seem daunting at first.  I remember a time when no one I knew was vegetarian or vegan, and I felt very much like I was forging this path alone.  Now that I have new habits, new traditions, and new favorite foods, it can be easy to forget that there was a time when change seemed overwhelming.  Take heart.  With the growing pains of creating new habits comes the peace that is living a life in line with your own values and in a way that honors your health, well being, and respect for other living beings.  To you, New Vegan, I offer these insights and tips from my own experience.

1. Focus on your goal.

What is inspiring you to make the journey into a more compassionate way of living? Keep learning. It empowers us to do our best..

Consider what are the most compelling reasons to you to go vegan and keep learning.  It keeps us inspired and empowered.

Listen to the Vegetarian Food for Thought podcast.  (It’s also available for free on ITunes.)  Get out in the sun, go on a walk with your Ipod or MP3 player, and learn about all of the reasons why people choose this lifestyle.  When I felt alone in this new vegan world, Colleen’s voice in my ear buds kept me grounded.  She has over a hundred episodes.  Find one that interests you and start listening.

Read books by leaders in the health field like T. Colin Campbell’s China Study and Joel Fuhrman’s Eat to Live.  Stay abreast of news and research that is continually coming out about the healthfulness of a plant based diet and stay aware of the abuse that continues to exist within animal agriculture.  Read Food Revolution by John Robbins.

Visit animal sanctuaries in your area or plan a vacation to visit one.  The first time I held a chicken in my arms at Animal Acres, I felt overwhelmed with both grief and relief.  Her body was so small and fragile.  I was acutely aware of how vulnerable she was and how much lighter her body felt than my own companion animals at home.  I also thought of how many chickens I had eaten in my life and how freeing it was to appreciate her beauty while knowing I was no longer contributing to the slaughter of others like her.  Like the story of the person walking up the sandy beach throwing starfish back into the water, all the while knowing he couldn’t save all of them, when I look into the faces of the sheep, goats, cows, and pigs I remember, “It makes a difference to that one.”

2.  Identify Your Cravings.

Consider the root of your craving.

Sometimes I’ll hear people say that their body knows what it needs because they had a particular craving.  Studies have shown that these cravings generally aren’t based on nutritional deficiencies, no matter how much we’d like believe that our body really needs a bar of chocolate.  Research points to the idea that cravings are based more on our emotional state than nutritional needs.  We crave foods that are familiar.  We crave sugar, salt, and fat.  If these cravings were accurate pictures of nutritional deficiencies, we’d all be craving antioxidant rich leafy greens; however, which is more common in your life—hearing about someone craving a cookie or someone craving kale?

Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage Sausages have no cholesterol and 26 grams of protein.

When cravings hit, identify the craving.  Do you want something fried?  Savory?  Salty? Sweet?  If it’s a toothsome texture you’re wanting, try out a plant based meat.  I recommend Field Roast or Tofurky brands.  Although I advocate a diet based on whole foods, I think having a processed food on occasion is an acceptable indulgence.  I like those two brands the best, because their ingredients are largely whole foods based and not a hodgepodge of chemicals.  Top the sausages with all of your favorite condiments like stone ground mustard, organic ketchup, Vegenaise mixed with prepared horseradish, pickles, or sauerkraut.

Spaghetti and Beanballs from Veganomicon

If you have a hankering for barbecue, try pressing and frying tofu and then baking it with barbecue sauce.  If you’re jonesing for a hearty Italian feast, try noodles with lots of sautéed vegetables in pasta sauce and a side of homemade beanballs from Veganomicon.

After new habits and traditions have been created, you too may forget that there was a time when eating healthful plant based meals wasn’t second nature.  Take heart in the knowledge that your palate will change. Keep introducing delicious whole foods into your diet, and you’ll begin to crave and desire them.  Just relax and give yourself time to adjust.

In the meantime, introduce yourself to some new cuisines and foods.  Check out Happy Cow or Yelp and find some vegan, vegetarian, or vegan-friendly restaurants in your area.  Discover the deliciousness of Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Ethiopian, Mexican, Cuban, and Indian cuisines.  Many times if we leave our standard American fare, we see that there are lots of naturally vegan foods in the cuisines of other cultures that are vibrant and satisfying.

Think about your favorite foods and consider ways to veganize them.  Enjoy burritos?  How about a bean burrito with salsa and avocado in a whole wheat tortilla?  Buy a new vegan cookbook or two.  Plan to make at least one new recipe a week.

3.  Create a community.

In this non-vegan world it can be easy to feel barraged by ads, images, and ideas that are antithetical to your goal of living more compassionately.  Just as people who are looking to adopt healthier behaviors like exercising and eating right are encouraged to surround themselves with others who support them rather than sabotage them, so would I encourage you to surround yourself with people who understand and respect your goal to live a fully compassionate life.  Find a few like-minded people and feed those friendships.

Good places to look include vegetarian forums and websites like Meetup.com.  See if there’s a Meetup group in your area for others with vegetarian interests.  In LA there are vegetarian and vegan Meetup groups for those who want to go to vegan restaurants, out for drinks, hiking, and more.

Attend functions like vegetarian pride parades, vegan cooking classes, animal rights conferences, health fairs, and animal sanctuary gatherings.

Best of luck on your journey, New Vegan.

Be kind with yourself.  I know it can feel like a struggle when we do something out of the ordinary, but where has ordinary gotten us anyway?  Ordinary factory farming?  Ordinary heart disease?  Ordinary diabetes?  Ordinary cancer?  We deserve extraordinary.  Small decisions in our day to day existence can have a big impact in our lives, in our hearts, and in our world.

Just as a firefighter may not be able to save every person in a burning building, isn’t it still worth it to do the work?  Isn’t it worth it if you can save just one?  I wish you peace and perseverance as you enact change in your own life.  We can let the world decide what is right or we can choose for ourselves.  One thing is for certain, change is inevitable.  We can be the change we wish to see in the world, or we can let the world change us.  The choice is ours.

All the best,

Cadry

For more ideas on transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, continue with Open Letter to a New Vegan:  Part II.

For over a year now I’ve been volunteering at Animal Acres, which is an animal sanctuary in Southern California.  In addition to helping out at public events, I also volunteer with their humane education department.  School and youth groups come during the week to visit with the animals and learn how the same love and compassion children have for their companion animals at home is what we feel for the chickens, sheep, goats, cows, pigs, ducks, geese, turkeys, and burros who live at the sanctuary. 

Before the children arrive, I enjoy walking out to visit with the sheep and goats.  Several often meet me at the gate, bleating and baa-ing excitedly.  They beg for my attention in a way that’s reminiscent of dogs that we know, nudging at hands until they’re petted.  I love to pet their soft fur and enjoy their quiet affection before a busload of boisterous little beings arrive, setting the sanctuary abuzz.  Once the bus pulls in, we show the kids a slideshow about the animals, and depending on the age level and openness of the group, we talk to them about factory farming and the animals who live, toil, and die within the system.  Then we take the children around the sanctuary and introduce them to the animals who live there.

They meet the geese, ducks, and chickens.  I teach them to crouch down low when visiting them, because to them we’re the size of skyscrapers.  We feed alfalfa to the cows, who eagerly come over for a nibble and to get their noses rubbed. We introduce them to the turkeys, who love to be petted. Some of the turkeys are ticklish, and if you scratch them in the right spot, they’ll laugh.  The pigs are often snuggled against each other, and the children venture in to give them belly rubs. 

Sometimes baby animals will arrive at the sanctuary, and that’s always a special treat.  Of course, Animal Acres never purposely “mates” the animals, but sometimes animals that are rescued will arrive pregnant and will give birth there, or the sanctuary will have an opportunity to rescue a baby animal.  A few months ago, they rescued Casanova, whose picture is up on other places around my blog.  His mother was a dairy cow and had he not been saved, he would have been veal.  Casanova was still so young that as I’d pet him, he’d want to suckle on my thumbs and shirt.  It was heartbreaking and sweet at the same time.  They also rescued a young piglet recently, Jumper, who was saved from a factory farm situation.  Even though she was only weeks old, she was terrified of humans, because of what she’d lived in her short life.  She’s a little bundle of energy and loves to run. 

In spending time with the animals and hearing about their painful pasts, I’ve also discovered their unique personalities–who is social and who is solitary, who is impish and who is cuddly.  The children learn that just as dogs and cats show emotion, have likes and dislikes and their own distinctive personalities, so do all other animals. 

After bonding with these animals, it is very difficult to then go out to dinner and watch other people eat meat.  It would be akin to meeting up at a restaurant and seeing your friend eat thinly sliced Doberman.  Another volunteer and friend from Animal Acres told me about a weekend she spent helping with chickens who had been rescued.  Without food or water, a person had been planning on shipping a couple hundred chickens in a box to another part the country.  Someone intervened and took the chickens to Animal Acres.  They were all ravenously hungry and thirsty, and they moved en masse from the food to the water, squeaking all the while.  The chickens were large, but their little squeaks sounded like chicks.  Of course, within factory farming, chickens are bred to fatten quickly, so that they can be killed at six weeks old.  They were still babies, despite their size.  She said she helped out with the chicks all weekend, and then Monday morning had lunch at her office across from a woman eating a chicken’s leg.  To see that leg after spending all weekend helping chickens, my friend had to reconsider whether having a lunch in the office lunchroom was worth it. 

My handsome vegan husband & Ponchito

For myself, I have the benefit of having a vegan husband, which means that it’s very rare that I see people eat animals at all.  When we go out to restaurants, and I overhear people ordering lamb, it feels so foreign and sad.  I think of Ponchito and Mary and Violet, lamb & sheep friends of mine, and I marvel that people are still doing that.  I know, of course, that I ate animals too for many years, and it wasn’t personal.  But now that I know the animals personally, it is.  It used to just be a lunch, and now it’s a life. 

When many people head for lunch, they think of meat and cheese between two pieces of bread.  There are so many lunch options that are delicious and satisfying that don’t involve suffering.  Today’s lunch from Vegan Table would be a wonderful option.  The Panini with Lemon-Basil Pesto breaks out of the ordinary with roasted red bell pepper and zucchini, thinly sliced tomatoes, avocado, and onions, and a slathering of pesto.  It’s the kind of sandwich you’d expect at an upscale lunch spot, flavorful and satisfying.  If you’re heading to a picnic this summer or doing any boating, the roasted and sliced vegetables would be great brought in a separate container with a container of pesto and then a loaf of bread.  It could all be assembled at the site.  Or if you had a grill handy, you could grill the bread and vegetables for a warm sandwich.  I rounded out today’s lunch with potato chips and guacamole for dipping.   

To get a glimpse into Animal Acres and the work that they do, check out the episode of 30 Days with Morgan Spurlock, in which they’re featured.