Chloe Learned to Cook at Millennium!

Just found this about Chloe, whose roots I thought were on the East Coast:

Chloe Kay Coscarelli is the daughter of filmmaker Don Coscarelli.^[6] She is a graduate of UC Berkeley,^[7] where she discovered her love for cooking. A summer internship at Millennium, a gourmet vegan restaurant located in San Francisco, led to a course of study at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City, ^[8] followed by entry into Cornell University's online Plant-Based Nutrition certificate program.

de Capprio's Vegan Toast

Vegan Slogans

Today I went by Trattoria Da Vittorio in West Portal to let them know I was bringing a friend to lunch tomorrow and wanted to be sure that there were vegan options--not just marinara sauce with other ingredients omitted.
The person I spoke to was very courteous and said they'd provide.

In the meantime, my Camino partner Bill had positive things to say about the quote "No single food choice has a farther-reaching and more profoundly positive impact on our health, the environment, and all life on Earth than choosing vegan," suggesting that I have this "powerful" message at the end of every e-mail message.

I then Googled it to see if any names are associated with it because I feel a little foolish citing the Alternative Cookie Company.

I found a lot of other vegan slogans!

Here are some:

Less meat--less heat.
And less wasted water
Less slaughter.
Less factory farming
Less animal harming...


82% of starving children live in countries where food is grown to feed animals in the West.

Vegans.  We're not crazy.  We're just from the future.

Don't ask me why I'm vegan. Ask yourself why you aren't one.

Vegan because my body is a temple, not a graveyard.

Asking vegans to respect your decision to eat meat is on par wit asking feminists to respect sexists, asking people of color to respect racists and asking homosexuals to respect homophobes.  Felix Sampson

Veganism is the radical notion that animals are not objects.  

Natalie Portman Narrates "Eating Animals"

Leah Garckik's October 9th column mentioned the Telluride  Film Festival that included Natalie Portman, co-producer and narrator of the documentary "Eating Animals."

I finally got around to looking this up and found this article by Pete Hammond:

http://deadline.com/2017/09/telluride-film-festival-natalie-portman-eating-animals-1202160237/

Leah Garchik's column also mentioned Alice Waters, also on the Telluride panel "Real Life Wonder Women," did something I've often wanted to do when I've seen bottled water.  She asked that they be "removed from the stage and replaced with glasses of water."

Another Approach to the Paunchy Problem in Dear Abby

Dear Abby,

You advised Paunchy to tell his vegan friend, who's preparing a vegan meal for them, to "Fire up the broiler" and then take his own steak to dinner.

Would you also advise a smoker to say, "Have the ashtray out" and  take his own cigarettes to the home of a non-smoker, someone trying to stop smoking for the good of his health? 

Even if  there's no second-hand smoke from meat,  there are disastrous secondhand effects on the environment we all share and on the animals that live in torturous conditions in factory farms. 

 

There's a reason that  meatless Monday has been promoted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for a Livable Future.

Paunchy asks, "Would a steak and a baked potato kill him?"

Would a meatless meal kill Paunchy?  

Jane E. Brody's Weirdly-written "Good Vegan, Bad Vegan"

Jane E. Brody's "Good Vegan, Bad Vegan," published in the New York Times on October 2, 2017, is strangely written, almost like a bait and switch.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/well/eat/good-vegan-bad-vegan.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

She begins with "I have no argument with people who adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet for health, religious, environmental or ethical reasons. "  (How big of her.)

"But I object vehemently to proselytizers who distort science ..."

I object vehemently to these people and their distortions too, and she gives an example that screams out, "Peer review???"  

It's from the Netflix documentary "What the Health" and it says that eating an egg a day is as bad as smoking five cigarettes.

But the rest of her article or column  is just so obvious or contradictory, and when she does cite studies of eating and health, they support a plant-based diet. 

Also, when she says, "The protein in plants is not complete and must be balanced by consuming complementary sources, like beans and grains."  Aren't beans and grains plants?  I always think of them as part of a plant-based diet, and it doesn't seem so difficult to me to include them!  I trust she isn't talking about how you have to have beans and rice together to create a complete protein.  That's been disproved. 

She also says she doesn't endorse inhumane treatment of farm animals (etc.), but acknowledges that it goes on because regulators don't force commercial operations to improve the situations; meanwhile she eats meat "in reasonable amounts."

She ends with the suggestion that meat-eaters add one or more new plant-based recipes each week.  "I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much more delicious and varied your meals will be."

So...it's almost as if she should have begun her column/article with an "Although..."  "Although I hate distortions in proselytizing by vegans, I see evidence that a plant-based diet..."

She's holding on to meat, of course, and makes that clear.

An Open Letter to Dear Abby

Dear Abby,  

I agree with Paunchy that life should be enjoyed, and like him, I used to think being vegan was far too limiting and unappetizing.

Then I tried it--first because I found out about the torturous situation for animals in factory farms and didn't want to contribute to their suffering. 

Since then, I've seen that--far from being a sacrifice--my new diet enhances my enjoyment of life.

Until Paunchy's vegan friend learns to make tastier dishes, maybe Paunchy can learn to make some vegan dishes that he does like--or take his vegan friend one of the many vegan cookbooks of scrumptious dishes.

There is no food choice that has a more profoundly positive impact on our health, the environment, and all life on earth.

Dear Abby's Advice to a meat and potato guy

Today's Dear Abby headline in the San Francisco Chronicle reads, "Meat-and-potatoes guy turns up nose at buddy's vegan cooking."

  I see they use "Meat-and-Potatoes Man Pans a Friend's Vegan Cooking"  in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

http://www.philly.com/philly/living/20171012_Meat-and-potatoes_man_pans_his_friend_s_vegan_cooking.html  

Both he and his friend had had serious health problems but responded differently.  Bernie became vegan and obsessed with his health, while the writer writes "I say life should be enjoyed."

 "I don't want to offend or discourage Bernie, "  he writes, "but I hate his cooking.  What should  I do?  Would a steak and a baked potato kill him?"

Dear Abby advises him to accept his invitation to supper but to let him know that he'll be bringing his own steak and potato with him, so "fire up the broiler."

Hmm.

I agree with Paunchy, the Meat-and-Potatoes guy, that life should be enjoyed, but unlike Paunchy, I know it can be enjoyed even more fully with vegan dishes, which Paunchy can learn to make himself or, if he isn't a very good cook either, he can find a vegan cookbook with delectable dishes and give that to his friend, who may be trying to save Paunchy's life.  

It's probably not news that all of us are going to have to move to a plant-based diet not just for our health but to contribute less to the suffering of animals in factory farms and to eat in a way that is sustainable for the environment.  

But it might be news that vegan dishes can be delicious.

I'd look towards tastier vegan dishes instead of asking a vegan friend to get the grill ready for steak.

Learning New Vegan Vocabulary--and about Vegan Places to Get Plant-Based Nutrition Degrees

Add caption

Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen was waiting for me when I got home late last night (after a meal that was purported to be vegan at Bombay Gardens in Fremont).

This morning I read over the intro and the blurbs and learned some new vegan words and phrases:

Veni, Vidi, Vegan

veganizing

La dolce vegan

All this is veganisssma!

I also found out that Chloe Coscarelli is a graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health & Culinary Arts in NYC, UC Berkeley & Cornell U's Plant-Based nutrition Program.  

Finland Is Testing McVegan Burger!

Just found out that Finland is testing the new McVegan Burger at McDonald's there!

https://www.today.com/food/mcdonald-s-testing-vegan-burger-finland-t117145

Vegaaninen hampurilainen nyt testissä vain Tampereen ravintoloissa. McDonald’sin uutuus McVegan on 100 % kasvipohjainen hampurilainen, jossa tutun muhevan sämpylän väliin on sujautettu mehevä soijapihvi. Vegaaninen McFeast-kastike sekä raikas tomaatti, salaatti ja suolakurkku takaavat, että vegaanihampurilainen vie kielen mennessään ruokavaliosta riippumatta. Myynnissä 4.10.-21.11.2017.

Unanswered Mail, Ignored Suggestions for the San Francisco Chronicle

I really appreciate all that Tara Duggan has written to draw attention to what we eat and how it affects animals, our health, and the environment.  (The above is from her article "What does 'cage-free' really mean?"  April 18, 2016, The San Francisco Chronicle.)

But I wish she had responded to a couple of messages I've sent.

September 21, 2017

Dear Tara Duggan,

Do you have any idea why the SF Chronicle has not reported on the news that James Cameron has invested in pea protein? 

This news story was carried by CBS.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/36394398/film-director-james-cameron-and-suzy-amis-cameron-launch-verdient-foods-inc-an-investment-in-the-saskatchewan-agricultural-sector

I think this is newsworthy!

Your faithful reader,

Tina Martin

October 1, 2017

Dear Tara Duggan,

Are you covering the SF Veg Festival today?  I hope so!

One of your faithful readers,

Tina Martin

Le Cupboard and Lamiaa Bounahmidi

Javier and I ate at Le Cupboard on Church near Jersey, a vegan cafe I heard about just last Sunday, at the World Veg Festival.  

The owner is Lamiaâ Bounahmidi, originally from Morocco.

Here are some links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lamiaa-bounahmidi-55b93013/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66DTFeeqPIE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tqQWV4GOwU

iAnimal at CCSF

Yesterday, October 3,  I went to the CCSF campus to try something called iAnimal, which makes it possible for us to see things from the perspective of animals. 

I feel so hopeful about a better future for all of us (human and non-human animals) because of people like Krystal Barnett and Claire Mccarthy, who were out there meeting the students and letting them see for themselves. 

Krystal and I had a tasty meal during her lunch break--at the Pierre Coste Dining Room.

The World Veg Festival in San Francisco

I needed to prepare food (vegan of course) for a luau (!), but I was determined to go to the World Veg Festival for at least a little while, so I left my guacamole with palm tree (both before and after the hurricane) and drove to 9th and Irving so I could be there right at 10:00 am, when they opened the spot in Golden Gate Park's San Francisco County Fair Building.

 There was already a long line!

I talked to someone in line, a couple of people at their tables, and renewed my membership in the SFVS with Patly Rorbach.

Then I hurried home to finish my dishes.