An Invitation to Participate in a Vegan Part of a Social Event

A very thoughtful friend asked me whether I'd like to participate in a social gathering for ESL students because the theme will be food, and she's going to tell them about a vegan dish and talk about what it means to be vegan and different reasons for making this choice.  I responded enthusiastically!

This sounds wonderful--both the concept of arranging a regular time for the students to socialize and use English and February's theme of food--including vegan!  Yes, I'd really like to participate.  

Shall I bake a Valentine Cake or cookies?  

Can I tell them how I was the last in my family to make the switch because I thought animals were meant for our consumption and we all had to die, so their turn was after months of romping happily around the field before landing on my plate?  I could break that up into more than one sentence!

  Thanks for inviting me to participate!

Tina

Nuts for Cheese Is Hitting Whole Foods!

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/gourmet-vegan-cheese-hitting-whole-foods/?utm_source=Green+Monster+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=c89b5ee2c4-NEWSLETTER_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbf62ddf34-c89b5ee2c4-107079357

Saudi Arabian Vegan Prince Will Open 20 Plant-Based Restaurants in the Middle East

Just a day or two ago, I read that his father had finally been released from the hotel in Saudi Arabia where he'd been detained since November.

Now I see what he, himself, has been up to recently!


vhttp://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/saudi-prince-set-ending-factory-farming-open-vegan-restaurants/?utm_source=Green+Monster+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=d90d01dee7-NEWSLETTER_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbf62ddf34-d90d01dee7-107079357

SFVS--The San Francisco Veg Society--An Inspiring Meeting

The January 28th meeting of the San Francisco Veg Society was at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church on Turk and Lyon from 4:00 to 6:00, and I enjoyed the two hours, which included the following:

--food from Enjoy Vegan Restaurant

--the chance to meet a really interesting piano teacher/piano student (Bonnie Kinger?)

--a Power Point by Greg, who reviewed what was planned for an accomplished last year and what this year's goals were

--a presentation of awards to Dave & Roberta Pressman, a couple who've been members of the SFVS since 1974, and Joyce Thornton, who's a very young seventy-four year old.  (I can't remember what she was getting an award for!)

http://www.sfvs.org/history/

What Makes Your Heart Break? Animals in Factory Farms!

Today at an OWL meeting we were asked what makes our heart break, and the first woman to speak in our group said, "The homeless."  I agree that homelessness is heart-breaking.

We were also asked what area of concern we wanted to address in our alerts, actions, and talks, and another member said, "The environment." She spoke about carbon emissions from cars.   I agree that the environment is an important concern.

I'm relatively new to this group, but I want to express the idea that it's heartbreaking to see animals, who can't speak up for themselves, suffering in factory farms, which they are doing every moment of the day.

More about that later because I'm off to see Dave Eggers and Mokhtar Alkhanshali at Book Passage.

Virginia Messina, a Health Professional, on the Problems of Junk Science in Promoting the Vegan Revolution

Virginia Messina reviewed the documentary "What the Health," and I completely agree with what she says here:

https://www.vegan.com/posts/vegan-dietitian-review-what-the-health/

My Plant-based Letter-to-the-editor Is in Today's SF Chronicle

This morning I was reading an article Janet Tom, Super Librarian at the SF Public Library, sent a group of us--Virginia Messina's very wise and well-written review of the documentary "What the Health?"  Then I took a look at the SF Chronicle to see the details of the SF Supervisors' vote for the interim mayor, and I spotted a letter-to-the editor with the heading "Plant-based meals."  It turned out to be mine!


http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Letters-to-the-Editor-Jan-24-12521661.php


That was fast!

Exchange with an Environmental Group, Citizens Climate Lobby

On Mon, Jan 22, 2018 at 6:51 PM, Tina N. Martin <tina_martin@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

To:
General question

Name:
Tina N. Martin

Email:
tina_martin@sbcglobal.net

Subject:
a plant-based diet

URL (if needed):


Message:

What stand do you take on a plant-based diet?

From: Sandy Simon <sandy.simon@citizensclimatelobby.org>
To: tina_martin@sbcglobal.net 
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 2:14 PM
Subject: Re: CCL Contact: a plant-based diet

Hi Tina,

Thanks for writing. CCL does not take a position on diet in general. We are laser-focused on passing carbon fee and dividend legislation. However, a plant-based diet has a much lower carbon footprint than does a meat-based one. On an individual basis, our volunteers do what they can to reduce their own CO2 emissions and, for many, that may mean not eating meat. Nevertheless, that is an individual decision.

I hope you will join CCL and work with us in our efforts to tax carbon and return the net collected funds to households. You can read about our proposal on our website here.

Thanks for all you're doing on behalf of our planet.

Sandy

Dear Sandy Simon,

I appreciate your response, but I'm also disappointed.  I agree that diet is an individual decision, but I also think a plant-based diet should be strongly recommended and Congress and other groups should be lobbied to educate on the importance of  a plant-based diet.  

  I think organizations that include this in their official policy are doing a public service.  I worry about organizations that do NOT include it.

I wish you would include it in yours.

Respectfully,

Tina Martin 

Jonathan Kauffman's "Hippie Food" Book and Changing the Way We Eat

Jonathan Kauffman's Hippie Food article was the cover story for the Food Section of the San Francisco Chronicle this morning.  "How the Bay Area helped sprout hippie food/Rebel politics ushered in an era of natural foods that resonates today" includes a timeline on Hippie food in the Bay Area and an interview with Pam Peirce, whose final comment is that changing food habits is very important.

I wonder whether Pam Peirce is now a vegan.  The hippies ate animal products.

Other things I wonder about:

Is the New Age Natural Foods still in the Sunset?
Is Here and Now still in SF?


I never knew the Trident in Sausalito was natural food!

The timeline ends after Mollie Katzen's self-published "Moosewood Cookbook" and the founding of Greens.

Open letter to the San Francisco Chronicle (But it's too unformed to send)

Thank you for the Food Section's cover story Jonathan Kauffman's  "How the Bay Area helped sprout hippie food."  I see the  release of his book Hippie Food on Audible is January 23, and I plan to read it with my ears.  In the meantime, I'll be eating vegan, not vegetarian.  As Pam Peirce says in her interview with Kauffman, changing food habits is very important.

Vegan Family at Women's March

I saw this family at the Women's March in San Francisco yesterday.

I wish I'd taken the opportunity to talk to them and ask them about themselves.   I like the way they connect being vegan with caring about others.   

"But Where Do You Get Your Protein?" Is Answered, but Where Is the Source?

A good friend asked me the classic question, "Where do you get your protein?"  I've educated myself on this subject, and what I just found online is what I've learned.

https://www.riseofthevegan.com/blog/but-where-do-you-get-your-protein

It also has a lovely chart.

But I hesitate to give it to her because it doesn't give sources--not any.

This is more convincing because it gives sources and makes references:

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.php

Reed Mangels deserves a post of her own.  Here's some info:

Reed Mangels  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Mangels

Ferdinand the Bull--Entertaining and with a Message!

Beth and I just saw "Ferdinand, " the animated movie made of the story by Munro Leaf.  It really makes a compelling case for NOT abusing animals--not for "art" and not for meat.

https://www.petakids.com/spotlight/cant-wait-see-new-movie-ferdinand/

California-based animal sanctuary The Gentle Barn announced this week its partnership with 20th Century Fox and plant-based beverage brand Zevia to promote the upcoming animal-rights-themed film Ferdinand. 

http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=10437&catId=1

https://geekycheekyalwayssneaky.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/movie-review-ferdinand/

A Brutal Look at Where Our Dairy Products Come From

Before I share the link, let me say that I know there are places where the cows are free and outdoors and not brutalize.  But that kind of pasture isn't sustainable for a world with more than seven billion people.  Most of our milk comes from systemized/sytematized abuse of cows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTEdD7LdUEo

https://freefromharm.org/dairyfacts/

Notable Vegan People from 2017

                                              Northern CA Outreach Coordinator Steve Erlsten July at Stern Grove

Jothi Parum June 24th

Zoe Novic June 24

A Good Article on the PLEASURE of Being a Vegan

Carol Fregly, vegan extraordinaire (City College's Auntie Mame) sent me a link for "The philosophical case for going vegan is about pleasure--not preachiness." 

https://qz.com/1180190/the-philosophical-case-for-going-vegan-is-about-pleasure-not-preachiness/

This appeared today in Quartz India and is written by Sandy Grant.  Iris Murdoch is quoted on the importance of food, and Piers Morgan is quoted as reacting to a month of "going vegan" with "What special kind of hell is this?

Hey, it's heaven or at least paradise!

The good delicious dishes do is also cited.  Vegans "take pleasure in interrupting environmental degradation" and in being part of a "quest for a kinder, more sustainable world." 

Pacific Cafe Has Something Good for Vegans

Isn't this beautiful?  You wouldn't think this would be available at a place called Pacific Catch, specializing in sea animals!

Chia Pudding

When I asked a librarian (a very responsive and effective librarian!) to pass my question on to Dr. Lustig about what he would serve if he were in charge of dessert for a group of about 23, she sent me her Chia Pudding Recipe:

CHIA PUDDING

1/2 c chia seeds

2 cans coconut milk (sometimes I use 1 can coconut milk and 10-12 ou. of the coconut milk that comes in the frig section (it's called So Delicious)

for sweetness: use ripe bananas (1 large or 2 small)

opt: add 1t cocoa powder or carob

some people add 1 t vanilla, but I don't

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I put the banana, coconut milk in my Vitamix and slowly let the chia seeds blend it.

A friend gave me a whole bunch of pudding jars 4 oz (like baby food jars) and I put them in there, refrigerate it and it gels up. Or you could put it in a bigger jar or a bowl too. I went to a New Year's Eve party at my neighbors and brought over six little jars of chia pudding for them.

Why Did Robert Lustig React Angrily to a Question about Vegan Diets?

The video of Robert Lustig's speech at the SF Public Library--a talk that was longer than 1 1/2 hours--doesn't include Janet Tom's introduction of him or the question-answer session, perhaps because the talk itself was so long.

But I found out that he reacted angrily to a question about the documentary "What the Health?"  I suspect he found it unscientific.

A Question on What Dr. Lustig Would Bring for Dessert

I really enjoyed hearing Dr. Lustig's lecture yesterday at the SF Public Library downtown.

I just thanked Janet Tom, the librarian who arranged it and asked this.

. 

If you were given $50 to bring dessert for an organization's meeting every month, what would you bring for the 20 or so members?

Some savory can be included, but most of the attendees will already have eaten lunch.

As you may guess, this is the situation that I am in.   My first thought was to bring fruit in season and make cookies free of dairy and eggs for the sake of the environment and factory-farmed animals, but I don't see how I can avoid sugar and not be resented and fired from the job.   

Vegan Food December 2017

Notable Vegan Articles from 2017

Here are some articles I kept last year on my computer:

Vegan Super Bowl Party
Joel Pett cartoons
Commentaire betes et reponses
Cri de la Carotte
le jour sans viande dans le 2ieme arrondissement
Jacques Boutault
hippies have won (April 5)
To-Cook Vegan List
Eating Less Meat
Shopping List
Meatlss food traditions emerging Brian
Cheese
Why vegan
Vegan Prince
Animal Products banned from environment
Canada Diet Recommendations
Brazil's Diet Guidelines
To Kevin of Feastly
Jane Brody NYT criticism
Ravi de Rossi
Review of Eating Animals
Vegan Bingo
Vegan Thanksgiving
Black Vegans
COP 23 Bonn, Germany
Hampton Creek Vegan Eggs
Kellogg of Battle  Creek, Michigan

Response from Jonathan Kauffman on Vegan Restaurants Opening or Closing 2017 SF

• Kauffman, Jonathan <jkauffman@sfchronicle.com>
 
• Today at 9:15 AM

To

• Tina Martin

Message body

Thanks for your email. There were 2 restaurant closures in 2017 that had “vegan” in the cuisine – they could have been all vegan, or just served some vegan food – and 3 openings.

Best –

Jonathan

How Are Vegan Restaurants Faring?

Jonathan Kauffman, who has written about lab-produced meat among other things, wrote about the life and death of restaurants in SF in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle.

  

https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/2017-wasn-t-the-greatest-year-for-San-Francisco-12480441.php

Here's the e-message I just sent to him:

Dear Mr. Kauffman,

I was really interested in your article on how various types of restaurants are faring in different districts of San Francisco.  

Considering the importance of our diet on our carbon footprint and on animal welfare, I'm particularly interested in how  restaurants free of meat and dairy are faring.  Could you write an article exploring that?   

Besides being informative, it would be a public service.

Thank you!

Tina Martin 

Going Back to Our New Year's Eve--Friendly to the Environment and to Animals

Javier and I got more than $100 worth of vegan take-out from Loving Hut and we lovingly fed on it on New Year's Eve, when we, in our pajamas quite early, had our festival of documentaries, including "Vegan 2017."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqCBYSz1aaQ

Vegan Chocolate Chips at Lucky, but Where Is the Garbanzo Bean Flour?

After ordering vegan chocolate chips online, I found them at Lucky!  But for some reason Lucky, which carries coconut flour and many other kinds, doesn't carry garbanzo bean flour, so I filled out a product request form for it.

Vegan Golden Globe

I made a golden globe tortilla de patatas for the Golden Globe telecast last night. 
I hadn't been sure of finding the time after seeing "The Post" at Yerba Buena Gardens, so I also bought a couple of vegan  items at Trader Joe's on Fourth Street.  But I wound up making the Golden Globe Tortilla de patatas and a ginger-cabbage salad.

2017 in Vegan Review

Javier and I watched Vegan 2017 on New Year's Eve day as part of our festival of documentaries, which really segued into the New York Philharmonic doing Bernstein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqCBYSz1aaQ

Now I'd like to reflect on what I experienced this year in the vegan movement.

Of course, Jonathan and I wrote vegan stories for each other for Christmas:  I wrote him "Mother's Messianic Messes" and he wrote "A Christmas Carol:  Part II."

Javier and got more than $100 worth of vegan take-out dishes from the Loving Hut for our at-home, just-the-two-of-us New Year's Eve celebration before watching the Vegan 2017 documentary and hearing Bernstein's music.

December also had two vegan social gatherings, which I've also at least mentioned in my blogs.  One was the San Francisco Veg Society, and the other was Factory Farming Awareness Coalition.

Here are some of the people who made these happen. Patly and Greg Rohrbach.   Patly is welcoming members in early December, and Greg is talking to Carol Fregly.  Carol was probably responsible for the venue, Delancey Street.  She had a wonderful vegan dinner for some "shining star" former students at Delancey back in March.

Below you seen Katie Cantrell, founder of Factory Farming Awareness Coalition and Colleen Holland, the co-founder and editor of VegNews. 

The Keynote speaker at the FFAC was Jasmin Singer, who writes a column for VegNews and wrote the book Always Too Much and Never Enough, which I saw advertised at the Veducate event with Chef Lisa in late August.  Yolanda Calderon introduced me to Milena Esherick whom she described as "a powerhouse who is involved w the Good Food Institute."  Milena Esherick was asking people to sign a petition for new standards for confinement of animals.  I see the number is 17-0026,

New Standards for Confinement of Certain Farm Animals; Bans Sale of Certain Non-Complying Products

Kristie Middleton spoke at the SF Public Library (Below she's pictured with Janet Tom, Librarian Extraordinare).

iAnimal came to the CCSF Ocean Campus in early October.

A Suggested Speaker for the SF Public Library

Janet Tom is an amazing, articulate organizer of speakers at the San Francisco Public Library.  She's really on top of things.  Here's an e-message I've just sent to her:

Dear Janet,

Thank you for this information!  At first I couldn't find the date for Lustig's talk, but now I see you state it in the subject, just not in the body!  On Tuesday, January 9th,  I'm going to Sacramento for the "Free the Bill"l action to keep health care--Healthy California Act (SB 562) I don't think we get back into the city until 5:00, so it would be tight if Lustig starts speaking 5:30.   If I come late, I'll be quiet!

I'm also interested in Gloria Valoris' talk.  

Here's another suggestion for a speaker if it can be arranged:  Adam Shpringzen on The Vegetarian Crusade:  The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921, which gives fascinating details I'd never heard before.  It's very well-written.  I've talked to Patly and Greg about the book--in fact, I gave them a copy--and they think he would be a good keynote speaker for the 50th anniversary of the SFVS on October 27th.

Do you think he could be asked to speak at the public library?  Or maybe he already has, and I missed it!  To tell you the truth, I don't know how I learned about his book, but it's one of the most fascinating books I've read in recent years.  I hadn't known that there were utopian societies associating vegetarianism, the abolition of slavery, and women's right to vote.  I didn't know that things I believed were new developments--nut-based meat substitute products, for example--were with us more than a century ago!  It's also interesting how  vegetarianism started out as something people were doing for a better society and became something removed from "causes" and just for health and personal success--kind of like today!

Thanks again for all you're doing.  You really make a difference!

Happy New Year,

Tina

Corn Flakes, Not Hard-Boiled Eggs, for My Post-Oscar Party

I won't let even the temblor I felt at 2:40 or so this morning keep me from posting this blog.

I saw "The Shape of Water" a few hours ago, but I won't go into how the science may not have been peer reviewed.

Instead, let's focus on the food.  For my post-Oscar party I always make dishes that represent different movies.

Here's 1994, the first year I did this:

Bread and water for "Shawshank Redemption," TV dinners for "Quiz Show," cake for "Four Weddings and a Funeral," chocolates for "Forrest Gump," and Big Macs for "Pulp Fiction."  (Strange how much more recent "Pulp Fiction" feels!)

Anyway, since the protagonist in "The Shape of Water" is always feeding eggs to the creature, that seems like the obvious choice.  But as a vegan, I could serve them only scrambled like those Jan-Philip and I had at Cafe Flore, and that's not the same!  I noticed her eating corn flakes at one point.

It's interesting that the story line, "If we don't help him, we're not really human," sounds a bit like PETA!

That Fish in "Call Me By Your Name"

Fortunately, no one ever reads my blog or I might incense some people by not worshiping the highly-praised film "Call Me by Your Name."

Elio, the young protagonist (that is, younger than the one in his early twenties),  seems almost misogynistic in the way he uses Marzia,  the girl who thinks he really cares for her.  He doesn't seem to care about her.  When she returns and asks, "Am I your girl?" he just shrugs.  So much for her.

Elio's father, aware of his love affair with Oliver, tells him that he, too, had been attracted to a man but hadn't pursued it, to his regret.

"Does Mother know?"

"I don't think so."

So much for Mother.

I'm sure it's wonderful that the characters all speak several languages with ease, but they are so entitled.  They're so entitled that when someone brings them a live fish out of water, it means nothing to them except that it is very fresh.  They are entitled to whatever comes from the suffering.

Yes, I know.  This nitpicking is what makes people hate vegans.

A Letter to Adam Shprintzen, Author of "The Vegetarian Crusades"

Happy New Year, and thank you for your response!

I got a copy of your book for Greg Rohrbach & Patly Rohrbach, the couple who head the San Francisco Veg Society.  The 50th anniversary is going to be celebrated on Saturday, October 27 at the World Veg Festival in Golden Gate Park, and I think you'd be a great keynote speaker.  I discussed this with Greg and Patly, and they say that they could pay for your fare and lodging.  Would you be interested?  You could sell copies of your book there, too.  

I listened to your interview and enjoyed it a lot.  I got the impression that the host Liz felt she had to emphasize how much meat she eats in order to form a connection with the listening audience.  She didn't want them to tune out because you were going to talk about (gasp!) vegetarians.

I've almost finished with your book, and I'm fascinated by how what I though were new developments in the past decade or so were happening more than 100 years ago--even the movement from concern for animals and "society" to concern with self.  My son's girlfriend is doing PR for a vegan organization, and the finding is that more than concern for the suffering of animals or for environmental degradation, people are persuaded by the health benefits of the vegan diet.

I think your book would make a wonderful documentary.  It's so fact-filled.  So many documentaries appear as propaganda, and even though it happens to be propaganda I believe in, it would be nice to have a documentary that gives the history the way you do.

One other thought:  Are any of the places you've mentioned in your book still in existence?  I go to New York City every September, and I'd like to visit any museums or establishments that pertain to the vegetarian movement.   I go to Chicago every year or so too.  I'd like to see the spot where the boarding houses stood and the first vegetarian restaurants.

I'm not a vegetarian myself although I became one after seeing a pamphlet on factory farms.  After being a vegetarian for 15 years, I found out that dairy animals aren't treated any better, so now I'm a vegan, and it seems that part of the vegan movement is to prove that we're not weaklings--just as the vgetarians had to prove back in the early 1909.  

I'll probably finish your book tomorrow, but I'm wondering whether you explain why this very strong movement tapered off.  

My son Jonathan and I have what we call the JoMama Book Club, now in its eleventh year, and we're making your book our February selection.  We'll discuss it at 3000 miles on a Google Hangout.  I think he's going to be as interested as I have been.

Thanks again!

Tina