Thinking Globally, Acting Gastronomically Aside from the sensual pleasure and creative satisfaction surrounding it, food is also very political for me. It's impossible for me not to think about every aspect into producing everything we eat. Consider the beginning: seeds. Monsanto owns the copyright to most seeds and genetically modifies them with suicide genes, so that farmers are first of all forced to buy their copyrighted product, and then forced to buy them again year after year since they can't grow sustainable crops. Most of these farmers are below the poverty line, of course, though megacorporations like Monsanto think only of profit, not freedom or justice. Then take the land itself. Who owns it; is the rain coming down in it polluted (remember "acid rain"? it's still here); is it organic or riddled with chemicals and pesticides; even if it's organic, are the neighbouring commercial farms inadvertantly blowing their GMO seeds into the organic land; what are the working conditions of the labourers or farmers; is there fair trade or slave conditions; is their country's economy now a monoculture relying exclusively on exporting...? Et cetera. One of my many guilty pleasures is chocolate - even though I am aware that most chocolate is either grown and harvested by kidnapped child slaves on the Ivory Coast, and/or produced by Nestle, one of the most evil companies in the food industry. Thankfully, I've recently discovered carob! Loving the Fruits of One's Labours I consider myself mostly vegan, though hard-core vegans would laugh, and non-vegans would maybe be relieved; I follow a sliding-scale of sorts... for instance, even though the turkey industry is as awful as the chicken industry (which is really, really awful) (I mean REALLY awful), Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday, as for me it has the most meaning, both spiritually and philosophically. And, as my mother goes through the ritual of buying, roasting, and serving a turkey each Thanksgiving, I partake. In fact, any time I am invited into someone's home to share a meal, it's somewhat sacred to eat what is being offered. There is love there. There is no love in the meat industry with the incredible abuse of so many living creatures on such a massive, culturally sanctioned scale, but there is love in the thought, time, creativity and preparation of the food shared at a meal. I make my philosophies known, there's no doubt. Nonetheless, my mother-in-law will make me tempura shrimp and offer me chicken on special occasions. But speaking of making my preferences known, I'm an advocate of leading by example, rather than preaching or bullying my beliefs into other people. Frankly, I myself am tired of being bullied by intellectual superiors, or anyone who thinks they know better than I. Generally people I know who are vehement meat-eaters are so either because of ignorance, or habit (or - can I really blame them? - the love of food!) So the enemy of ignorance is information. The counteraction of habit is feeding them irresistable animal-free dishes. And as for the love of animal foods? Only a deep compassion for these poor beasts can overpower the taste buds. A friend of mine once said she became vegetarian when she saw her steak move. (Not literally.) Personally, I became vegan when I began researching the dairy industry - and was horrified. Not only are milk and milk products totally nasty, but the dairy cows go through living hell to produce it - AND, we're just suckers of yet another detestable mega-industry that wants nothing but our money. How insulting! It's a depraved world we live in. Every day I'm newly amazed at our capitalist system and how blind we are to its horrors, down to every detail. It really is human rights abuse, keeping us ignorant of what we're consuming, how bad it is for us, yet brainwashing us with advertising and false reports about how good it is for us. And I don't mean just milk - pick any consumable. I put together a zine about the dairy myth that you can read or download from my Vendettas section, for an illustrated overview of milk and why it sucks. You can also go to my links page for sites doing revolutionary stuff with food. But, as The Clash so beautifully demonstrated, you can't be all angry without the partying. So as a celebration of delicious foods, here are my favourite recipes! Yes, they're all vegan, though some may contain honey (hard core kids, substitute it with rice syrup or maple syrup). Enjoy! Love, peace, and good food. Frannie Hold on - UPDATE! Since writing my introduction above, I have since been to a new naturopath who works in conjunction with a certified nutritionist. I was diagnosed with candida and after reviewing my eating habits, it became clear that my vegan diet overly emphasized carbohydrates - that includes rice, beans, and legumes. I had to make a drastic overhaul of my diet that resulted in excluding all beans and legumes, reduce the amount of rice and the host of other starches I consumed, and... I don't know if you'll be able to handle this... start including animal-sourced protein at every meal. Ripples I was aprehensive at first, but having the faith that I do in alternative healing therapies, I was whole-heartedly willing to try this method to see if it could cure my ills. In the first week of eating in this new way, I noticed many changes: my cravings for sweets, treats and chocolates virtually disappeared; I was hardly ever "snacky" anymore, and when I was hungry I craved fruit; my energy level increased; my memory improved; and I started losing weight. The first thing I will say to all this is that every body is different. I don't plan to eat this way for life, as I see it as part of my healing process. As well, diet is only one way (though it is huge) to foster good health, not the only way. My naturopath's reasoning for the cause of candida is that it is a manifestation of anxiety according to how my particular body handled stress. Therefore it isn't diet alone that will fix this, rather I need to go to the source of the problem. The other thing I will say is that even within these new dietary confines and requirements, I can still make good choices: I stay away from beef, veal and pork entirely, sparing the large mammals for smaller beasts like chickens and fish, as well as eggs. Whenever possible, I choose free-range and organic. And I try to buy locally, from small businesses, and preferably fresh rather than processed or pre-packaged. Pragmatic Dogma In my cookbook recommendations section I mention a book "Sinfully Vegan", and that it was written by a non-vegan. I commend her for enthusiastically embracing and promoting vegan cuisine out of choice, even if she herself is a part-time omnivore. Personally, I do not believe every person must become vegan to create a compassionate, informed society. But compassionate and informed we must become. Thinking about the long chain of actions and consequences that our eating habits cause is the first step in becoming responsible consumers. The more we know, the less we will accept what is available to us, and we will reject objectionable food sources and hopefully convert them into sustainable, cruelty-free ones. Once we open our eyes to this one slice of the system we are a part of, it will be difficult not to see everything else that is wrong with the world that we unwittingly support and are a part of. We have a choice in what role we play in this system. We can accept it, reject it or change it - and be an active, nourishing part of this life that we so greedily feed on. |
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