| Clean Food This month�s addition: Vegan�s Galore I spoke with some people about last month�s addition MMM...Meat. They were not very happy, as I imagine many of you weren�t. Their argument was that in this particular locale, there are not many people who eat meat, especially red meat, and that it was ludicrous for me to have written a whole page on nothing but beef. Another argument was that in a magazine that promotes the anti-establishment, an article on beef was hypocritical. I do not pretend to adhere to the entirety of the opinions and beliefs of every article in this magazine. Nor should I expect everyone who works on Propaganda to commit to my beliefs or opinions. I do not cater to any social group. I only cater to my own food preferences as any good cook knows. I was not endorsing beef, I was offering recipes to those of us who enjoy eating meat. If you were appalled or offended by last month�s addition, read on. Here�s the opening paragraph of last month�s article: No, I guess it�s not ethical to eat meat, but neither is it to eat dairy. You Vegans know what I mean. Whatever. If you practice by the Green mentality, everything has a spirit. Is it then ethical to eat anything, or drink, or breathe? When you get right down to it, humans are wrong in anything we do. We are the first and foremost destroyers of the earth, so let�s eat some meat! Plus, if things keep escalating in the realm of �Mad cow� and �Hoof and mouth,� pollution and hormones, we should eat all the meat we can before we can�t. If I offended anyone, get a sense of humor. I hate to generalize, but many Vegans and Vegies don�t have a funny bone. Too rapped up in being �PC.� I do not force my viewpoints down others throats, nor do I want others viewpoints forced down mine. I have considered all aspects of living and do not need reminding of what others feel I forgot. The following and preceding is not a retraction but a clarification. The feedback I received, and other discoveries made me realize I stepped on tender feelings so I need to remedy the situation. For that reason, I am using only Vegan recipes this month. Unfortunately, I will be stepping on more feelings by the included article on what we eat and why. After the printing of last month�s article I had an epiphany. For the last four months I have been progressively gaining weight. I had not changed my diet other than the fact that I was eating alot of beef. Since I am on a budget, I have gotten used to cheap beef. Cheap beef tends to have a high fat content. What I didn�t consider, as I have with dairy, were the levels of BGH, bovine growth hormones, present in the beef. These hormones, which are essentially steroids are present not only in beef, but most dairy. The use of BGH came about when factory farms decided they wanted to increase the amount of dairy, or decrease production time of beef, without increasing the number of cattle. By injecting their livestock with this hormone, it allowed for rapid production of product. Unfortunately, the steroid carries over in the marketed product we eat. Primarily it resides in the fat of meat or dairy. As a result, not only do we get nine year old girls with the ability to procreate, but an increase in obesity in children and/or adults. Luckily for you boys out there, you didn�t grow breasts. On to other reasons why we shouldn�t eat cows. Many of you already know this so please read on while I inform the rest. Americans eat alot of beef, �It�s what�s for dinner.� Plus we like to take our work to outside poverty countries to allow for cheap labor. Most of the beef we consume is farmed in Brazil. Also, what�s left of the rainforest primarily exists in where?...Brazil. Essentially, we cut down a piece of the rainforest per day the size of Indiana to produce cattle. Plus, cows produce methane gas which contributes to the destruction of the ozone layer. This wouldn�t be a problem if we weren�t producing so much cattle. Too many people live under the veil of pre-packaged meat. I once asked my 6 year old cousin where she thought meat came from and she said innocently, and in an of-course manner, �the grocery store.� She said what many of us have become comfortable in believing. One of my friends harbors the argument that if people can�t raise an animal themselves, slaughter it, cook it, and eat it--don�t! The reality is, while this person is a vegetarian, his new car will include leather seating. Also, many of the foods he eats contain animal products most people don�t think about such as gelatin and whey. The same person above recently informed me that yellow 5 is pig urine. I can�t verify that. Of course many people don�t eat meat because they don�t like the taste or texture. That is entirely different--it�s a food preference. For those of you who, for animal rights and/or political reasons, are vegetarians but still eat dairy, you are hypocrites. As my spouse says, �I wouldn�t piss on you if you were on fire.� These sentiments are very harsh and vulgar but really, you suck! The fun part of animals exploited for dairy is that they get to live. Chickens are stacked cage upon cage for maximum factory farming capacity. They shit on one another, now is it clear why salmonella is so rampant. These chickens, once they can no longer produce eggs, become chicken soup. Dairy cattle are hooked up to electronic milking machines. Both animals are manipulated with artificial light and steroids to produce. All animals that are factory farmed are under intense conditions with over populated living. 2/3�s of all piggies that go to market have lung infections, and of the other third, the majority is already dead when they reach the slaughter house. A disclosure for those who eat free-range: Yes, hopefully these animals are not under the above conditions, but they are still exploited for our benefit. Now for those of us who don�t eat meat for health reasons, I think I just listed some good reasons why it is unhealthy to eat meat aside from saturated fat and digestion problems. Don�t get me wrong I do eat meat, and I love dairy, but I don�t eat it with a blind eye. Yes, I used to be a vegetarian, and for a short while, a vegan. I look at my cat and know that many cultures consider him a good meal. When it came right down to it, I really wanted those leather shoes. I don�t make it a habit to eat or purchase animal products regularly, but those shoes have lasted me a long time. Kudos to the cow whose hide provided for my shoes, and many fine leather products. Other cultures don�t believe it�s wrong to eat meat, but they don�t exploit the animal. Every piece of that animal is used, none of it is wasted. And the animal is personally next page |