Crown and Crumpet Still Doesn't Offer Vegan

I'm sorry to bring this up at a time when restaurants, cafes, and of course tea houses are already suffering economically because of our shelter-in-place and social distancing, but the Earth is suffering, too, so this was my exchange with someone at Crown and Crumpet, who let me know that they are not able to do vegan Mother's Day Tea but can do vegetarian "if that works for you."

I responded.

Thank you for letting me know, Chris.  I appreciate our response.  I also want yo to know how relatively simple it could be to add vegan. There are so many delicious pastries without eggs and dairy now, and here are good plant-based spreads.  I hope Crown & Crumpet will do what Samovar and some other tea salons have done.  It's an adventure, and it's kind to animals and the environment.

Of course, that makes me sound as if I consider us vegans more ethical that other people, and I don't.  I consider that our choices of what we eat are more ethical, but that's just one thing. 

Dear Tina, I am so sorry but we are not able to do vegan Mother's Day Tea. We can do vegetarian if that works for you. Thanks for your inquiry. Chris at Crown & Crumpet

a few seconds ago

Thank you for letting me know, Chris. I apDearpreciate your response. I also want you to know how relatively simple it could be to add vegan. There are so many delicious pastries without eggs and dairy now, and there are good plant-based spreads. I hope Crown & Crumpet will do what Samovar and some other tea salons have done. It's an adventure, and it's kind to animals and the environment.

My Open Letter to Kevin Fisher-Paulson

Dear Kevin Fisher-Paulson,

I hate to deny anything to someone as wonderful as you--and I do think you're wonderful.  I love the humor and warmth that comes through in your column and all you're doing with your husband and sons and in the community.  

BUT YOU SINNED! 

You wrote such a lovely column on March 24th (my son's birthday, and what a gift):

{W}hen it came to Ash Wednesday, with everything going on I went with my default of no meat. You know the drill: smaller carbon footprint, balancing out the chi, hanging with the enlightened 6%. Did you know that on average vegetarians outlive their carnivore counterparts by about six years?

 But today?  

Remember when I wrote I’d given up red meat for Lent this year? For Easter, our fairy godsister sent us a lamb roast, stew meat, chuck roast, steak, pork chop, rump roast, meatballs, sirloin tip, hot dogs and even knockwurst. A carnivore’s tour of San Francisco. So, I tossed a random slab of tenderloin into the oven...

You have a lot of influence because so many readers love you (as I do).  

If you have to stray from your Lenten vow, couldn't you at least remind the readers about that smaller carbon footprint, the chi, the enlightened 6%, and the longer life span of vegetarians?

I don't blame the messenger (unless the messenger is reporting on himself), but the SF Chronicle has been very heavy on meat these past two days--Heather Knight and Steve Rubinstein, among my three favorite columnists.  I think they were just reporting the unfortunate push-back against doing what's good for animals and the environment. I had hoped that at least the Earth would benefit from our lockdown, our not doing business as usual.

Almost every time I read your column, I feel compelled to write a fan letter, so please consider this one.  I am one of your many fans.  I just wish that you hadn't given in to your fairy godsister!

Your faithful, saddened reader,

Tina Martin

Kevin Fisher-Paulson, I Columnist I love, Has Let Us Down!

There was still more "beef" in the SF Chronicle today.  I'm not blaming the messenger--although I was annoyed with Kevin Fisher-Paulson, a columnist I like a lot, when he reported what happened to his Lenten vow not to eat red meat.  At the time he reported his Lenten vow, here's what he said: 

{W}hen it came to Ash Wednesday, with everything going on I went with my default of no meat. You know the drill: smaller carbon footprint, balancing out the chi, hanging with the enlightened 6%. Did you know that on average vegetarians outlive their carnivore counterparts by about six years?

 But today?  Another piece of news was of Trump's eecutive order to classify meat processing a critical industry.  

Remember when I wrote I’d given up red meat for Lent this year? For Easter, our fairy godsister sent us a lamb roast, stew meat, chuck roast, steak, pork chop, rump roast, meatballs, sirloin tip, hot dogs and even knockwurst. A carnivore’s tour of San Francisco. So, I tossed a random slab of tenderloin into the oven...

Another piece of news was of Trump's executive order to classify meat processing a critical industry.  The full report goes like this:  (If the paragraph doesn't appear right here, please look for an attachment.)

Where's the Beef? In the San Francisco Chronicle!

I happen to love the San Francisco Chronicle.  It has, after all, columnists like Steve Rubenstein and Heather Knight.  But today's Chronicle was almost like product placement, that practice where a business (beef) pays to have itself featured in movies and TV.  Has this practice come to journalism?

I'm really being facetious--I hope--because I trust the SF Chronicle--kind of!

I think they were just reporting the unfortunate pushback against doing what's good for animals and the environment.

Here's the response my letter to the editor got:

Would rather eat steak

Regarding “Plant-based options” (Letters, April 26): Who appointed the letter writer “Food Czar”? I don’t want to “Google ‘vegan comfort food recipes’ (and) make them, and savor them.” What I want is a juicy, thick T-bone steak, grilled asparagus and fresh dinner rolls with lots of butter.

David Tulanian, Las Vegas

Since he'd totally ignored the reasons why we might want to move towards a plant-based diet, I wondered whether he worked for the beef industry and looked him up.  He turns out to be a Trump supporter and a frequent letter-writer to the Las Vegas Sun.

Moving right on:  Heather Knight reports on the "gift" of beef  to food banks from the Snake River Farms in Idaho.  The "prized meat" is in Fremont now being cut and packaged.  They say that this is a family-owned farm that focuses on raising its animals "humanely," which--if true--wouldn't be sustainable. 

 It makes me think of tobacco companies giving away free cigarettes to acquaint the consumer to the pleasure and create a need although I acknowledge that this isn't a perfect analogy.  This company is giving away the steak it would normally be selling to restaurants, now inactive because of the social distancing and shelter-in-place mandates.  Anyway, this beef will be delivered to the SF-Marin Food Bank and then delivered to organizations we know and love.  I hope this pandemic won't lead to a return to all bad habits--driving instead of taking public transportation, using plastic or paper instead of reusable bags, and moving away from vegetables, fruits, and nuts and returning to a meat-and-dairy-heavy diet.  

Even Steve Rubenstein, a writer I love for his Mark Twain kind of humor, reports on companies that normally provide school lunches and are now having to provide "whole chickens and 1-pound packs of hamburger meat to the mommies and daddies."  

Well, at least they're trying to stop the cockfighting, which is an even greater abuse of animals than the factory farms--although maybe the roosters have a little bit more space move around before they're killed.

Vegan Cooking--Two simple dishes

Vegan Cooking.  Does that sound like Dead Man Walking?  Now that I've done inventory and have a better idea of what's in my pantry, I know I need to Google noodles--artichoke hearts-chipotle and see what recipes come up.

This week I've made three new dishes--a bread pudding with a cup of overwrite bananas, a pasta with artichoke and capers dish,  and a zucchini-cabbage dish that didn't require any oil at all but sure took a lot of garlic powder, onion powder, and salt!!!

It was delicious, but if I had it to do over again, I'd make zucchini and some of canned corn I unearthed.

Nothing looks very pretty, but this is just a diary.

Someone I Don't Know Asked for My Opinion

Someone I don't know asked, "Tina, what are your thoughts about vegetarian vs vegan way of life?"

Hi, Jane~

Thanks for asking for my thoughts about vegetarian vs vegan way of life.  My short answer is that either vegetarian or vegan is better for the environment, and vegan is a lot better for animals and the environment, but I was slow in realizing this. 

 My youngest sister became a vegetarian in Spain in 1972 when she was 17 years old right after our American Jazz-exercise teacher (married to a Spaniard) had us over for Thanksgiving dinner and Suzy felt sorry for the turkey.  I thought that would last a couple of days, but she's never eaten meat since. (This was hard in Spain back then.  But on a recent return to Madrid I had the best potato omelet I'd ever had--and it had no eggs!)   When my sister returned from Spain for her senior year in high school, my mother and her partner decided to stop eating meat too both to simplify their meals and because they, too, loved animals and didn't want to contribute to their suffering.

My son saw animals hanging on hooks on Clement street when he was eight and stopped eating meat, but I kept on.  I thought, "Oh, they were meant to be eaten.  We all die.  They romp around happily until they land on my plate."   Then in 2001 someone put pamphlets of factory farming in our lockers at the Stonestown YMCA, and I haven't eaten meat since.

However, I didn't turn the page to the seafood, and I totally missed the horrors of dairy farms until around 2015, when I found out how much suffering is involved in every step of the dairy process.  

There was recently a letter to the editor from someone saying he really needed comfort food now, and I know what he means.  Macaroni and cheese, etc.  But the good news is that there is a way of making macaroni and cheese that doesn't involve dairy!    There are so many good dishes that are vegan, and I speak as someone who had a very negative image of vegans.  I thought they were extremists who were missing out on all the fun, and I felt great pride when I said "I eat everything!"  I thought it was a sign of broad-mindedness.   Now when I hear "I eat everything" what comes to my mind is all the suffering involved in that "everything."

  I'm a very selfish and self-indulgent person, so I feel some relief knowing that at least I'm doing volunteer work for both the environment and animal welfare with every meal.  I eat a lot, and I enjoy it!  That's the most pleasurable kind of volunteer work.

If you'd like to explore some vegan dishes, you can just Google "Eat for the planet vegan recipes" and all sorts of things will pop up.  I can't keep up with all the possibilities.  

Eat For The Planet This Earth Day With These 10 Recipes That Are Sustainable and Delicious!

Eat For The Planet This Earth Day With These 10 Recipes That Are Sustain... This Earth Day, try one of these 10 recipes from the Food Monster App that are both sustainable and delicious.

Bon appétit,

Tina

In Need of Comfort Food, Reader by-passes Vegan Options

The SF Chronicle had this letter to the editor with the headline:  In need of comfort food

Though I’m respectful of vegetarians, this meat-eater’s response to “More stores get Impossible Burgers” (Business, April 17), about the debut of soy burgers at Bay Area grocery stores is “No, thank you.” I’ve tried an Impossible Burger, and didn’t like the taste or the texture of its meatless meat.

During this time of shelter-in-place restrictions, consumers like me want tried-and-true comfort foods like macaroni and cheese, pizza and (when we’re cooking) real meat for sloppy joes and hamburgers.

Vernon Greene, Oakland

Like Vernon Greene (letters to the editor April 18), I'm not a fan of  meatless meat, and I love comfort food.  

The good news is that a lot of the plant-based options are delicious and comforting, including versions of macaroni and cheese and pizzas, and there are always those delicious vegetables and fruit dishes that don't pretend to be anything else.

Part of the comfort in eating is knowing that what we're eating hasn't come from  "discomfiting" things we're doing to animals--including human animals-- and the environment.    

We now know that   moving towards a plant-based diet is the kindest thing we as individuals can do for the environment--a thought to act upon as we celebrate Earth Day during the shelter-in-place mandate. 
 Now we have more time to Google "vegan comfort food recipes," make them, and savor them.  

An Open Letter to Janelle Bitker on What Safeway Is and Isn't Stocking

Dear Ms. Bitker,

I read you article "Impossible Burger on menu at Bay Area Stores" today right after joining the 6:00 am seniors at the Safeway at Taraval and 17th Avenue
, where their stock on their usual vegan products has been very low for weeks--maybe even since the shelter-in-place began although they have plenty of tofu!

I am vegan for reasons pertaining to the environment and animal welfare, but I don't usually buy imitation meat.  However, I do like Field Roast apple-sage sausage, and Safeway, where they were selling it until March 15 or so, hasn't restocked that.  I took some pictures to show where shelves were bare when they let seniors come in at 6:00 am.   The lettuce hadn't come in, but the tofu was there. 

Maybe seniors should know that the 6:00 am time set aside for seniors may not be the best time to go grocery shopping.  We may be creating our own deadly hot spot while depriving ourselves of what younger customers get when they go in later--although I don't think it will be Field Roast apple-sage sausage!

What do you think this indicates?  That there's a much greater demand on plant-based products than the Safeway buyers believe or that Safeway buyers aren't bothering with vegans during this pandemic?

Thanks again for your reports.

Tina Martin

Pat Brown, CEO of Impossible Foods

A shout out to Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown who  pointed out that production as Impossible Food's factor is more automated than that in meat-processing plants, which have closed because workers were sickened by the coronavirus.

"Brown, whose mission is to eliminate the meat industry, pointed to how some scientists believe the coronavirus spread to humans because of wild animal butchery at wet markets in China," Bitker says.

Then she quotes him as saying this:  "I think it really has been a wake-up call to a lot of people.  There certainly will be more awareness of the huge public health risks we're taking by continuing to produce food this way and the huge advantages of changing to a plant-based system."

So...why isn't Safeway stocking the vegan products it usually has?

Impossible Burgers at Safeway, Chronicle reports, where vegan shelves are bare

The Impossible Burger is supposed to be at Safeway stores today, according to an article by Janelle Bitker in today's SF Chronicle.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Impossible-Burger-comes-to-Bay-Area-grocery-15205534.php

I'm glad to hear that even though I usually avoid imitation meat.    I was at Safeway before it opened today, but I think we "seniors" waiting in line before 6:00 am are doing ourselves a disservice because a lot of shelves aren't stocked that early.  Of course, I was particularly interested in the vegan sections, which have been bare since mid-March as far as I can remember.  At least they've been out of the only faux meat I like, the sage and apple "sausage."  It seems that tofu is in plentiful supply, but nothing else.  I assume the lettuce will come in after the seniors leave although I have heard some sad reports on the produce that's going to waste in the fields.

https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2020/04/california-farmers-coronavirus-food-supply-food-bank/

Revisiting and Revising the Pantry during the Shelter-in-Place

Today I took everything out of ONE shelf of the pantry and cleaned the shelf after lining up the goods.  Now I have only three more shelves to go there plus three bigger shelves of food in the cupboard above the refrigerator.

Vegan Cooking During the Shelter-at-Home

Today I wanted to "prepare" all the produce I got from Farm Fresh to You,  use some already-sauteed items while they were still good., and make a vegan pantry dish I found on Eat for the Planet.   

The top two tarts have roasted peppers as the based, caramelized onions, and spinach--all on the Viocolo cornmeal crusts I like so much.   

The bottom stew is similar to the Nigerian stew I've made for so many years. 

Miyoko Is Delivering Grilled Cheese Sandwiches to Caregivers

https://vegnews.com/2020/4/miyoko-s-truck-to-give-away-free-vegan-grilled-cheese-sandwiches-to-hospital-workers

The Company Vegans Are Thought to Keep

Cooking While Sheltering-in-Place