Two friends I love invited me to a concert and suggested that we have dinner together afterwards.

We hoped to go to La Mediterranee on Fillmore, where they have a complete vegan menu, but it was closed, so we wound up going to the Mediterranee on Noe, much less vegan-friendly.  Lots of Mediterranean dishes are free of meat and dairy, but I have humus, felafels, and other items like those in my refrigerator although these pictures show that their presentation was beautiful and colorful.

I was surprised that one of my friends ordered lamb moussaka, but I didn't refuse to pay for that dish.  I didn't say, “I’ll pay for everything except your lamb moussaka.  You can pay for that.  The animals and workers at factory farms have already paid, and of course they continue to pay as the environment also does.”

There are good people even among people who eat animals, just as there are good people among those who support Trump.  

 I really appreciate that when Anna, friend and neighbor, came over for lunch, she wanted to take a picture of all I was offering because people say "There's not much that vegans can eat."  

 Jing Zhi was one of the many remarkable vegan activists I met at Earth Day on Saturday, April 22.  There's a great picture of her with her sign in the SF Chronicle today, April 24.  The sign reads "Meat's not green.  Go Vegan!"

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/earth-day-2023-17909081.php#photo-23709087

And here's a photo of us before we began marching  on Lincoln from 9th Avenue to 19th Avenue and then onto Irving Street and back.  

 Darlene Lam is one of the very effective activists I met at the Vegan Earth Day March this past Saturday, April 22.  I sent her an email this morning, shown here in part.

Hi, Darlene~

Could you advise me on something--something that might be another really good sign for the vegan cause?  There was an article in the New York Times in December last year that included a quiz on  what actions have a big impact on lowering our carbon footprint.  

Opinion | Quiz: What’s the Best Way to Shrink Your Carbon Footprint?

Opinion | Quiz: What’s the Best Way to Shrink Your Carbon Footprint? Take this quiz to see how you stack up.

What I'd like to do is provide the quiz on one side of a sign and the answers on the other and give the source. Some people think that we vegans are guilty of "junk science," so I think it would be helpful to cite a reputable newspaper.   I've taken picture of the page showing what people think, but it seems that the answers don't appear separately.  The article focuses on our misconception.  

(Photo I can't access here)

Do you have any suggestions about how we could use this as a sign?  Notice that only 6% of the people knew that eating a vegan diet had a large effect on reducing our carbon footprint!   

Tina

I just got back from a wonderful trip with friends who eat animals when given the chance.  There were some moments of contention.  The morning after I treated my first hosts (the ones I stayed with before leaving on the trip) to dinner, they served me a good breakfast, but my friend automatically buttered my bread and seemed annoyed when she remembered that I didn't eat butter.

"What do you do when you go to other people's houses?" she asked in an exasperated tone of voice. "Or do they know you're a vegan?"  I told her that they usually knew, and sometimes understood why and wanted to support the same cause--for animal welfare and the environment.

"I grew up on a farm," she said.  "And it's hard to think of a cow as the enemy."

"Which of course it's not," I said, wondering whether she thought animal eaters were not the enemy of the cow!

We had other choices a few doors down when we reached Merced, but "Las Carnitas" was the spot they chose to eat lunch.  

Our hostess at our place of destination seemed to grasp the idea that my diet wasn't because I was a picky eater but was based on concern for animals and the environment, so she welcomed my making cornbread and a chocolate pudding that were free of animal products.  

They also like the Myoko cheese-like product I brought, which I think is better than the earlier Myoko cheeses. 

She also made a very flavorful chili with tiny pieces of tofu taking the place of cows.   

But I think there was a certain annoyance about my being a vegan.  I'm a little bit surprised because I've been hosted by the same people twice before, and I never felt a conflict.  I don't know why there seems to have been a backward slide rather than a forward movement.  

I'm thinking about my trips in 2016 to Madrid and Paris, where friends were supportive of a plant-based diet even though they weren't vegans or vegetarians.  They were clear on the concept and suggested eating at only vegan places.  

Today is Earth Day, and for the first time, the emphasis is going to be on diet!  We have the support of the New York Times' quiz on how best to reduce our carbon footprint.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/15/opinion/how-reduce-carbon-footprint-climate-change.html

 

 

Imperial Gardens had a scrumptious Thai tasting menu last night, and it was a double treat to share this dinner with Hilda and Sam Yee and with Lia Smith and Keith at the next table. All dishes were plant-based, so diners were doing very enjoyable volunteer work for the environment and animal welfare with every delicious bite! Here's a list of the dishes: Thai iced tea, mushroom tofu larb, fried tofu, peanut sauce, khao mun gai,

rad

na, coconut sago pudding topped with fresh mango...

 

 I'm sorry that this is a bit blurry.  I enlarged it from a graphic published in the New York Times.

"Studies show that vegan diets tend to have far lower carbon, water and ecological footprints than those of meat- or fish-eaters."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/dining/climate-change-food-eating-habits.html

What's the best way to shrink your carbon footprint?  According to a report in the New York Times in December 2022...

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/15/opinion/how-reduce-carbon-footprint-climate-change.html