Yum from every angle!

Its been about a week since I've arrived in Portland, a veritable vegan mecca!  I've had a few successes and a few failures during my time here, but the lesson through it all is that covert veganism isn't easy.

My parents were here for a week and I still haven't broken the news to them.  We ate at Yumm Cafe, the Melting Pot, Rogue Hall, McMenamins, and a few places out of town.  The good news is that I could find decent vegan fare without having to really ask.  The bad news that in doing so I probably ate a few pieces of cheese here and there, which is the single food that I find most difficult to avoid.  Either way, my adventures here are going pretty swimmingly.  I almost forgot:  they also had a nice roasted vegetable tray at my orientation!  Who would have thought that there was something besides plain vegetables that vegans could eat in public!  Granted, it was still a vegetable tray but at least it was cooked!

I also went to the farmers market today to check out the vegetable fare.  What a WONDERFUL selection, and such convenient hours!  Currently I'm wondering if I should make my way down to some food carts or wait in line at the roasted pepper stand.  I'm also perusing through some online recipes so I can buy some yummy fresh fruits and veggies and make them TONIGHT.  This is a total win!

I made sure to stop my the Petunia's vegan/gluten-free stand today and pick up some treats.  I only had about $9 in my pocket so I picked up two shimmery pink cupcakes.  One for myself, and the other for my roommate!  She doesn't seem wary of my veganism, so maybe I can bring her over to the dark side?  Baketivism, right Isa Chandra Moskowitz?  I'm not an incredible baker, much less a vegan baker, so why not have someone else do it for me.

Why I am Vegan...

I found THIS article after reading THIS OTHER article.  I think they both sum up what I have been feeling over the past summer.  I know that food is and will ALWAYS be a very important factor in my life when it comes to making myself happy, but how can I make myself happy off of something that is making someone else so miserable?

How would you like it if you were skinned alive?  Scalded alive?  Confined and milked until your breasts were sore and bleeding?  Had your life cut short?   Been made with only the enjoyment of others in mind?

These are just a few of the issues but well-being is at the heart of it all.  Do unto others, my friends, do unto others...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND I just signed up for a Vegan mentor...

So I called Herbivore Clothing today to look for a job (half-heartedly) and to ask for some information about how to get more involved in the Veg-community (whole-heartedly).  She didn’t have a job for me but gave me a list of some resources that I should look into.  One of which is Try Vegan PDX, who has a mentoring program for people interested in Veganism.

So I signed up.

I think this might be a good step in finding a potentially like-minded community? Lets hope so!  I’m excited for Portland!!!

Veggie Tales

So I’ve done some research and made some decisions.

I still stand by my statement that I’m not ready to make a commitment to veganism.  I do think, however, that some changes can be made in that direction.  I’ve been trying to limit my egg and dairy intake recently and it is equal parts difficulty and ease.  I find that avoiding animal products at home is pretty easy, but working in a mall limits what I can eat when I’m there.  The solution should be to just pack a lunch, but money has been tight and I’m still trying to figure out what I can bring other than a salad.  I don’t want to turn my food choices into a burden on my family.

Working at a Coffee Stand also presents complications, because THERE IS SO MUCH MILK EVERYWHERE.  2%, Non-fat, Whole, Heavy Cream, Whipped cream, not to mention all of the pastries in the display case…and then Soy.  Thank the lord for Soy!  I’m not sure whether it is GMO or not, but I should really look into it.  I don’t want to be so desperate that I forget about the exploitation of farmers by companies like Monsanto (who push GMOs down the throats of farmers everywhere, frequently causing them to go out of business).  Replacing concerns for Human welfare with Animal welfare is really not a stance I support.

My “research” relies entirely on blogs like No Meat Athlete and Kiss Me, I’m Vegan.  At this point I don’t feel like I need “convincing,” but I want to learn as much as I can about personal experience with the issues.  Or perhaps I’m looking for a friend to commiserate with?  Who knows, but I feel like reading these blogs give me hope when I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.  That said, I don’t feel overwhelmed in the typical sense.  I don’t feel hopeless or dis-empowered, but I tend to question myself.  Maybe that is all I need, a few people to share the experience with me.  Hopefully when I get to Portland I’ll find some granolas like me to share recipes with and talk about whatever it is that we’re supposed to be talking about.

That said, I don’t want to hang out with any creepers just because they don’t eat meat…so yea lets hope that doesn’t happen.

There has been a lot to think about in the last few days...

For those of you curious about my vegetarianism (I’m going to assume there are few if ANY) here is a little update:

• OFFICIAL start date:  May 9th 
• Progress: 3 months and going strong!

There have been a few weird obstacles as of late, however.  As I’ve been doing more reading about the Veggie lifestyle I’ve been asking myself a lot of interesting questions.  When I decided to stop eating meat, I kept fish in the equation (making me a pescetarian, technically) because I didn’t have enough faith in myself to stay healthy without it.  Not only is fish an EXCELLENT source of protein but it also provides you with Omega-3 fats.  It would appear that these Omega-3’s are really important for your body (and your brain, as are all fats) and it seemed really hard to get them without fish.  I realized on Father’s day that I could no longer justify eating fish if I was excluding all other meats.  I’m not catholic so the “fish isn’t meat” rule was only a benefit once a year on Good Friday, and even then I questioned what made fish flesh different from that from other animal flesh.  While I was working through all of this in my head, however, my brother was pestering me about semantics and the term vegetarian vs. pescetarian.  I didn’t want to admit to him at the time (I struggle with pride, what can I say?) but that night would be the last night I would eat fish.

I knew all along that this was the right decision for me; I don’t like to half-ass my commitments.   Giving up chicken, pork, and beef wasn’t as difficult as giving up fish but I think I took a huge intellectual leap when I made that choice. Since then I’ve learned about how devastating fishing can really be.  Apparently there is a lot of “By-catch” when fishermen reel in their nets.  This can include thousands of seahorses and other species.  Not only does this kill them and write them off as collateral damage, but it changes the balance of the environment. I’ve never been someone who was particularly moved by facts like this but as of late I find that they’ve become ever more important to me.  I also learned about tuna fishing and how gruesome it could actually be.  I won’t go into it but if you’re interested I would read “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer (the book that has provoked all this thinking as of late).

I’ve also been thinking a lot about how I feel about Vegetarianism as an idea.  I first decided to become a veggie because I felt that I was participating in a corrupt system that I wasn’t educated about.  My choice to eat vegetables instead of meat is my vote against this system. I want to protect myself from unwittingly subjugating my fellow man (workers on factory farms, farmers in general, etc.) and this was the best way that I knew how to go about it.  At first I thought I could just investigate the farms where my meat comes from and make sure they were family farms that were treating everyone fairly. Then I realized that I’m but a lowly Graduate Student who doesn’t have the time or money for that.  Thus, I was “re-born.”

As I said before, I’ve been learning a lot more about both the environmental benefits of Vegetarianism (which a granola like me can TOTALLY get behind) and the animal cruelty side of it.  Unfortunately I’ve seen “Meet your Meat” and 20 seconds of the trailer for “Earthlings” and I can’t go back.  What does this mean? This means that I don’t think the problem is JUST eating meat, its eating dairy and eggs as well.  Again, Foer’s “Eating Animals” is a great way to learn about what I’m referencing:

• Broilers: Chickens genetically modified to have bigger breasts (for more yumminess at a lower cost).  They are packed into walled-up houses that contain more chickens than you can imagine.  It is not ventilated and many die because their body can’t support their rapid growth rate.  Fun Fact: most broilers are slaughtered after only a few weeks of life.
• Layers:  Chickens genetically modified to increase their egg-laying potential.  Most are raised in cages with the floor size of an 8 1/2 X 11 piece of printer paper.  These cages are stacked and the lights are strategically turned on and off to trick the chickens into laying more eggs.  Lights are left on or off for days at a time (Lights on=Springtime=egg time).  Fun Fact: Layers in their second year of life produce less eggs and are often disposed of during this time.

And these are only a few of the things I’ve learned.  If “laying-chickens” (Layers) are treated just as badly as “eating-chickens” (Broilers), then why am I still eating eggs?  I haven’t gotten to the cow portion of the book but I can’t imagine that it is much better for them.  I’ve never been a big fan of straight dairy but I like ice cream and yogurt as much as the next person.  So where does this leave me?  Thinking about Veganism, thats where.

I find that I can no longer justify JUST vegetarianism but I’m not ready to take the step to becoming a vegan.  I mean, I am only a 3 month-old veggie baby!  I don’t want to make a commitment that I’m not sure I can keep and thats why I need to hold off on being a vegan.  If its right for me, I’ll just have to wait and see how I feel in a few months or so.  I’m not at ALL thinking about going back to eating meat again, but I’m in a state of intellectual flux.  Simply put, I feel like Vegetarianism is NOT enough.  That said, these are my feelings about MY struggle and reflect only on me and MY life choices.

I do have a confession, however.  I don’t feel bad about it because Its only natural for my body, but I’ve been wanting meat lately.  It has been around me a lot and my food has become boring, so I’m missing old familiar flavors.  Like I said, I’m not thinking about going back to meat but its curious how this sort of thing pops up every once in awhile.  Will it be like this forever?  Maybe, maybe not.  Either way I’m proud of the decisions I’ve made!

4 out of 5 Cows?

So I'm starting a blog about my vegan and becoming-vegan adventures!  Huzzah!  I've made some important posts about this on my tumblr so I'm just going to copy and paste them here in sequential order.  Hopefully this will be interesting and maybe inspiring?  Who knows, but the only sure thing is that its been a pretty fun change so far!!!