A Lovely Banquet at Which Vegans Could Eat Seaweed

I went to a lovely banquet in a Chinese restaurant not very conscious of the plant-based movement.  I enjoyed the event--especially the people being honored and the people at the table--but seaweed was the only dish that was really friendly to the environment and to animals,  though I was able to eat some of the decoration on a tray.

Food and Wine Illustrates 30 Days of Delicious Vegan Dishes

http://www.foodandwine.com/special-diets/vegan/vegan-recipes



Just got this from a vegan friend--a whole month of vegan dishes!

Dr. Kellog, Vegetarian Crusades

I'm reading a fascinating book, Vegetarian Crusades, and I see someone online making reference to the part I'm reading about now:

http://www.vrg.org/history/DrJohnHarveyKellogg.htm

Factory Farming Awareness Coalition's Special Event

The FFAC event on Sunday, December 3, 2017 made me grateful that, when it was sold out, the ticket takers let me get in with people I knew from SFVS, in their cluster.

 Later, after the speeches, I paid them and made a donation.

The photos include some very young women, Luna Morales and Jamie M. Smith.  I also met Yolanda Calderon and her friend, who's holding the petition for Prevent Cruelty CA. 

The handout she gave me states the situation well:

 "Cruel conditions on factory farms serve as breeding grounds for dangerous diseases and bacteria, which often end up in our food.  Voters across California are signing petitions to place a commonsense measure on the ballot that would help prevent animal cruelty and ensure a safer food supply."

www.PreventCrueltyCA.com

I didn't eat anything because I didn't want to pay until I was sure they'd let me hear the speaker and I didn't want them to run out of food because of me, an interloper, but I heard that the bites pictured here from Butcher's Son were like Thanksgiving dinner in a bite.



Katie Cantrell introduced Veg News/The Hen Hub  Jasmin Singer (Always Too Much and Never Enough). 

Katie Cantrell  also presented a plaque honoring VegNews to its editor and co-founder Coleen Holland.  Others announced were Jesse Tandler, Educational Program Director and Amy Helpern Laff, Director of Strategic Planning. 

It's amazing--and encouraging--how this organization has grown since Katie Cantrell started it in 2010!  People care!

Factory Farming Awareness Coalition December 4, 2017

Last night at the very lively, well-attended SFVS gathering at Delancey I heard about an event today.  I thought it was a demonstration, but it turns out to be a sold-out gala.

DESCRIPTION

While 2017 was a turbulent year politically, the movement to end factory farming has never been more hopeful. Join us as we recount our successes from the year, and look ahead to big plans for 2018.

The festivities will include savory & sweet hors d'oeuvres from favorite local restaurants, a fabulous silent auction and raffle, and a talk by special guest Jasmin Singer (VegNews Magazine, Our Hen House).

Google Community Space

188 The Embarcadero

San Francisco, CA 94105

Even though it's sold out, I might go because there's a chance of getting in, and even if I don't, I'll know where it is.  

Great People at SFVS Gathering December 2, 2017

More later!

Open Letter to Governor Brown on a Plant-Based Diet

Dear Governor Brown,

For years I've thought of you as a champion for the environment, but it puzzles me that you've been so quiet lately on the connection between the environment and what we eat.

I quoted you recently in a letter to the editor.  (Forgive me while I cite myself!)

I enjoy reading Willie Brown’s column, but he needs to connect the dots. In “Willie’s World,” Sept. 17, he’s gleeful about Bill Clinton’s weight gain, suspecting that “he has ditched the vegan diet that he took up after his heart troubles and is now back to the cheeseburgers that made him great.” Then he extols Gov. Jerry Brown as “the nation’s leading voice on climate change” but ignores what Brown said in 2015 about the impact of our diet on the environment: “I think you should all be eating veggie burgers.”

But my heart sinks (or is it my stomach?) when I read about COP 23 in Bonn, Germany, and can't find anyone urging people to move towards a plant-based diet.  Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was the sole voice at COP 21 in Paris in 2015 (where and when vegetarian attendees couldn't find enough to eat) left that out of his talk. 

Can you make a statement to support plant-based diets, or is that too politically sensitive an issue? 

Sincerely,

Tina Martin

An Open Letter to Al Gore on Urging a Plant-Based Diet

Dear Al Gore/Staff~

I was surprised that in your latest documentary "An Inconvenient Sequel:  Truth to Power"  you barely mentioned the connection between the environment and what we eat.

My heart (or is it my stomach?) sinks when I see this lost opportunity, but I'm witnessing this strange silence more and more now.

It was ironic that  the vegan and vegetarians attendees  in Paris at the COP 21 had trouble finding anything to eat--either because the host chefs didn't consider them or because they underestimated the number of environment-conscious attendees.  (I later read that they had made 30% of their food vegetarian.)

There was advance information about the COP 23 in Bonn, Germany, saying that 60% of the food served would be vegetarian, but in newspaper articles I couldn't find any speaker  urging people to move towards a plant-based diet.  Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, who urged eating less meat at COP 21 in Paris in 2015, left that out of his talk this year. 

Yet in Germany, the minister of the environment said they would not serve meat or dairy at official dinners.  That's leadership!

Can you make a statement to support plant-based diets, or is that too politically sensitive an issue? 

If you can't or if you don't want to, I'd like to know why.

Respectfully,

Tina Martin

What I Failed to Say on Vegan Thanksgiving

When I gave Millennium's Thanksgiving menu, I completely forgot about other vegan ones:

Thanksgiving Dinner at Pena Pachamama Chef Jillian Love  Thursday, November 23rd,  5-10 pm

Pena Pachamama Restaurant and Chef Jillian Love Present  Cornucopia Thanksgiving Dinner Raw and Vegan Fusion Menu By Chef Jillian Love *All Gluten Free, No Refined Sugar* First Course Garden Greens, Shaved Fennel, Persian Cucumber, Pomegranate Pods, Black Sesame, Spiced Walnuts, Raspberry Vinaigrette Second Course Holiday Spiced Sweet Potato Soup  Third Course Spinach Stuffed Shiitake Mushrooms with Sage Cream & Garlic Aioli Cherry Chipotle Cranberry Chutney Pumpkin Cornbread Stuffing Rosemary Roasted Yukon Gold Potatoes Lemon Garlic Green Beans with Onion Crisps  Fourth Course Holiday Spiced Persimmon Pie with GingerSnap Crust Maple Cashew Cream or Cinnamon Apple Berry Pie with Macaroon Crust Dark Chocolate Sauce Cocktails Wine * Margaritas * Sangria Strawberry lime virgin margaritas *cocktails are additional cost $55 Adults $25 Kids 12 and under $25 "Sweets and Tunes" - Just Dessert, Coffee/Tea and Music 8:30PM Dinner Served from 5-10pm Live music 8pm - 10pm Get your dinner ticket in advance Tickets ~ please call the restaurant to reserve your table ~ Pena Pachamama Restaurant 1630 Powell St, San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 646-0018

 Also, there are regular Wednesday night vegan dinners at the Opera Plaza:

Wellness Central Vegan Dinner and Talk Wednesday's,  6-8 pm

Here is the schedule of speakers thru the end of the year . . . Nov. 29  Michael Stutz, JD, Respect for All Sentient Life Dec.  6   Christine E. Dickinson, PhD, "Social Conditioning as a Deterrent to Plant-Based Living" Dec. 13    Vegan Holiday Treats! How-to Dec. 20  Vegan Holiday Banquet and Gift Exchange (ticket-only event) Enjoy a DELICIOUS vegan dinner, planned by Patricia, a CERTIFIED Nutrition Consultant. ALL vegan, ALL health-supporting!  Enjoy dinner in the ambiance of a premier downtown location, pleasant socializing with like-minded people and fine table music. Cost:  $15 Location: Opera Plaza Community Room, 601 Van Ness, San Francisco. Take the elevator to the mezzanine, then follow the sign down the hall to the right.

Black Vegans!

This is just a place-keeper for the New York Times article on black vegans in today's newspaper.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/dining/black-vegan-cooking.html

How Friends Respond to Information that's Unpleasant on the Subject of Animals

One of the finest people I know told me, with some indignation, that a guest who knew she ate dairy products started telling her about all the horrors the animals undergo.

I don't think her point was that she was going to eat less dairy.

I think her point was that that woman was obnoxious.

It's so unpleasant to hear about what animals undergo so that people can enjoy dairy products.

It must be even less pleasant for the animals.

Millennium's Thanksgiving Menu Should Change Stereotype

  

Tara Duggan deserves credit for including vegan options in her  pre-Thanksgiving article on pick up and delivery (November 17).  (I wish Michael Bauer would let us know about vegan options in every review of restaurants he writes.  I think one reason for the negative stereotype of vegan dining is that people go too often to meat-heavy restaurants where their vegan friend can find only a side order of green beans or a salad with two or three key ingredients omitted.)

But Duggan gave Whole Foods' roasted cauliflower as a main course, and I can't say that was the pièce de résistance  at our Thanksgiving table, and neither was tofu, as Keith Fisher-Paulson  expected  it to be at the home of his friend who "as part of his midlife crisis...turned vegan." (letter to the editor, November 22 )

 My family ate at Millennium this year, where  our three-course meal was preceded by marinated crimini mushrooms, French lentil & pomegranate salad, herbed corn bread, and pumpkin butter. 

The three courses included sweet & bitter greens with shaved fennel, watermelon radish, satsuma mandarin, citrus & ginger vinaigrette, Mediterranean carrot bisque with pistachio herb relish, and   maple glazed roasted orange Kobocha squash with creamy cashew wild rice and Meyer lemon risotto,

 For dessert we had pecan caramel chocolate pie.

A portion of what we paid for this lavish meal went to the Native American Rights Fund.

Let's be thankful for a way of eating that is kind to animals and the planet.  

Turkey with Sign "Eat Pork."

I saw a blow-up turkey similar to this one yesterday morning when I was returning from the Y.

I'll try to get a picture of it tomorrow so I don't have to depend on the what I borrow from the Internet--too blurry!

I guess the people making these jokes are not vegan!

The Day after Thanksgiving Day, I Hope the Dawn of Enlightenment Has Come

The sun hasn't risen yet, but I can't wait to show the contrast between "pushing a hunk of tofu around my plate" and what we were doing at Millennium yesterday, when we celebrated Thanksgiving.

First  what Kevin Fisher-Paulson wrote on Wednesday:

Here's what we were pushing around our plate:  (I have no idea why the popcorn is on the plate.)

Kevin Fisher-Paulson's Stereo-type of Vegans

I just got off this e-mail responding to my son's aunt and uncle, whom I like very much and will eat vegan with on December 18 while they eat meat.

Hi!  

As of now, I could make it any day except Monday, December 18.

Thanksgiving at your church sounds nice.  Suzy, Kathy, and I are going to the Millennium in Oakland, and I really like that place, where I've never seen tofu even though it may be in one of the dishes. 

But it's fun to make things beyond tofu, which I noticed in a newspaper column is what columnist Kevin Fisher-Paulson imagines Thanksgiving will be like at the home of his friend.  He writes, "As part of his midlife crisis, Mr. Sasb has turned vegan, and despite all my assurances that the turkey himself was a strict vegetarian, so certainly the meat would be vegan, it is likely that I will be pushing a hunk of tofu around my plate tomorrow."  That's such an old joke that a BINGO  board game doesn't even bother to incorporate it.

Kevin Fisher-Paulson is a gay father, and I imagine he's heard a lot of bad jokes about gays in his lifetime, maybe even one attributing "becoming gay"  to a midlife crisis.  

I'll attach the BINGO game because it's funny and a good summary of what we vegans get to hear!

Love and Happy Thanksgiving,

Tina

A Cauliflower Roast for Thanksiving?

Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sywygxSiEq8

Committed vegan diner that I am, I find this a little bit strange, but it's what's being offered according to Tara Duggan, too. 

More later.

Mostly Plant-Based Recommended

"Promoting dietary shifts towards mostly plant-based foods" is one of the suggestions scientists made.  Never mind that it was (g) in a series.

World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice 

William J. Ripple Christopher Wolf Thomas M. Newsome Mauro GalettiMohammed Alamgir Eileen Crist Mahmoud I. Mahmoud William F. Laurance15,364 scientist signatories from 184 countries

BioScience, bix125, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/bix125

Published:

 

13 November 2017

https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/doi/10.1093/biosci/bix125/4605229

A Need to Be More Honest as We Rave

Here's the summary of the report I posted a few minutes earlier:

...(R)emoving animals from US agriculture would reduce agricultural GHG emissions, but would also create a food supply incapable of supporting the US population’s nutritional requirements.

Here's how it was presented in an e-mail message from a vegan group I like (anyway):

WOW! Study Finds If Everyone in the U.S. Ate Plant-Based, We Could Reduce Emissions by 28% and Increase Food Production

Copied and Pasted info on a Plant-Based Diet

Nutritional and greenhouse gas impacts of removing animals from US agriculture

1. Robin R. Whitea,1,2 and 
2. Mary Beth Hallb,1,2

Author Affiliations

1. Edited by B. L. Turner, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, and approved September 25, 2017 (received for review May 5, 2017)

1. Abstract
2. Full Text
3. Authors & Info
4. Figures
5. SI
6. Metrics
7. Related Content
8. PDF
9. PDF + SI

Significance

US agriculture was modeled to determine impacts of removing farmed animals on food supply adequacy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The modeled system without animals increased total food production (23%), altered foods available for domestic consumption, and decreased agricultural US GHGs (28%), but only reduced total US GHG by 2.6 percentage units. Compared with systems with animals, diets formulated for the US population in the plants-only systems had greater excess of dietary energy and resulted in a greater number of deficiencies in essential nutrients. The results give insights into why decisions on modifications to agricultural systems must be made based on a description of direct and indirect effects of change and on a dietary, rather than an individual nutrient, basis.

Abstract

As a major contributor to agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it has been suggested that reducing animal agriculture or consumption of animal-derived foods may reduce GHGs and enhance food security. Because the total removal of animals provides the extreme boundary to potential mitigation options and requires the fewest assumptions to model, the yearly nutritional and GHG impacts of eliminating animals from US agriculture were quantified. Animal-derived foods currently provide energy (24% of total), protein (48%), essential fatty acids (23–100%), and essential amino acids (34–67%) available for human consumption in the United States. The US livestock industry employs 1.6 × 106 people and accounts for $31.8 billion in exports. Livestock recycle more than 43.2 × 109 kg of human-inedible food and fiber processing byproducts, converting them into human-edible food, pet food, industrial products, and 4 × 109 kg of N fertilizer. Although modeled plants-only agriculture produced 23% more food, it met fewer of the US population’s requirements for essential nutrients. When nutritional adequacy was evaluated by using least-cost diets produced from foods available, more nutrient deficiencies, a greater excess of energy, and a need to consume a greater amount of food solids were encountered in plants-only diets. In the simulated system with no animals, estimated agricultural GHG decreased (28%), but did not fully counterbalance the animal contribution of GHG (49% in this model). This assessment suggests that removing animals from US agriculture would reduce agricultural GHG emissions, but would also create a food supply incapable of supporting the US population’s nutritional requirements.

Report on Global Warming Omits the Food We Eat

My message to the WMO, the World Meteorological Organization:

Isn't it important to add "the food we eat" to the ways that human beings are warming the planet?  In Lisa Friedman's report for the NYTimes, she mentions "the cars we drive, the power plants we operate, the forests we destroy," as the human causes of climate warming.  What about the livestock emissions?  Why is our diet not mentioned in reports?

Will moving towards a plant-based diet be emphasized in Bonn, Germany as it was NOT at COP 21 in Paris, where even vegetarians had a hard time finding something to eat?

The Fate of the Father of Our Vegan Prince!

 I was startled to read about the "purge" in the Saudi Arabian royal  family. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/world/middleeast/saudi-crown-prince-purge.html

 I've been following the son of one of those detained because he's so progressive on such things as women's rights and climate matters.  He even spoke out at a meeting with oil executives, stressing the importance of moving away from fossil fuels!  He was born in California, and there's a picture of him eating at a restaurant I like a lot, Chaya, in the Mission.

Meet the vegan Saudi prince who's turning the lights on in Jordan

Sitting Down at the Lunch Counter with Southerners in the South in the Sixties

Sometimes when I,  a vegan, sit down in a restaurant with non-vegan friends, I feel a little bit like a black person at a lunch counter in the South in the sixties.  I'm not there because I'm hungry.  I'm there because I think things really need to change--for the good of the planet and all living beings on the planet, every race of the human race, and animals in factory farms including those abused for dairy products and those from the sea.

Of course, when I'm with friends, it's not polite to speak out.  I'm supposed to keep quiet and eat so they can enjoy their non-vegan meal.  

I know that.

I'm a bad hostess in so many ways!

But here are some recent delicious plates I've had while alienating people:

First at Zut! in Berkeley--garlic fries, olives, almonds

 Avocado toast at Zut!

 This seasons humus dish--with squash and pomegranates instead of avocado and pistaccios

 The vegan special--not on the menu because, the server told us, too many people would ask for it!

 The mesquite at Greens

 At Bursa on West Portal, where one of our servers told us his daughter was a vegan, and when he offered to substitute two dishes and Shehla protested that they could eat those two dishes, served them separately.