The Extinction of the Wild in Favor of the Domestic

Our ability to justify our consumption of animals never ceases to amaze me, but I must confess I’m often struck dumb by the claim that by eating animals we’re actually helping them. It’s a popular defense these days, especially since every other attempt to defend this unnecessary, unhealthy, and inhumane habit has failed. It isn’t surprising that in response we would reach for the most improbable and irrational of justifications: “if we stopped eating them, they would all go extinct.”

Revealing breathtaking arrogance, proponents of this theory refer to our domestication of animals as a “sacred and mutual bond” whereby we protect animals from the “cruelties of nature” and in return they gift us with their bodies. If manipulating, controlling, confining, and eating someone else constitutes a “mutual bond,” I wonder what you have to do to breach it.

People who feign concern about some unlikely future extinction of domesticated animals would be well advised to remember the wild animals, many of whom have gone extinct or are on the brink of extinction, whose habitats are destroyed and whose lives are ended in favor of their non-native domesticated cousins.

Animal Damage Control, which recently changed its name to the more euphemistic-sounding Wildlife Services, kills millions of wild animals every year on behalf of the private livestock industry, using taxpayers’ dollars. In 2006 alone, they killed 1.6 million wild animals, ranging from coyotes, wolves, and prairie dogs to beavers, sparrows, and egrets.

In fact, no wild animal is safe – not even those considered our “national treasures.” Every year, thousands of wild horses and burros are rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management and either kept in pens or sent to slaughter in order to make more room for millions of cattle and sheep grazing on over 215 million acres of public lands.

The bottom line is that we eat meat because it is a habit that we enjoy, and we add insult to injury by couching this habit in “concern for the animals.” If we have to disguise, rationalize, romanticize, and ritualize eating animals to such a degree, then perhaps we’re not comfortable with it at all.

Vegan in Scotland!

OK, well, I wasn't in Scotland, but I was close! In Boulder, CO, there is a fabulous Scottish pub (yes, I said Scottish - not Irish!), called The Scotch Corner Pub (1800 Broadway), owned by the most delightful Scottish family, and the matriarch of the family, Maggie Pitkethly, is vegan - an outspoken, compassionate, ethical vegan!

You won't be surprised to learn, then, that vegan Bangers and Mash (Vegan Sausage and Mashed Potatoes) are on the menu (see photo!), but you may be surprised that ALL of the mashed potatoes are vegan - no matter if they're part of a "vegan meal" or not! And they were fantastic (Earth Balance is a gift, is it not?)

The Cottage Pie, a dish similar to the English Shepherd's Pie is also vegan (oil for the pie crust - of course!), the crispy fries came with a delicious dipping sauce, and something called Scotch Broth was delicious and much different than what the name implies to Americans. Broth in the United States is essentially thin, vegetable-infused water. In Scotland, however, it is a thick stew, and this one - vegan by nature, not by design - is dominated by hearty lentils and healthful vegetables. We liked it so much that Maggie is contributing it to my new cookbook!

To boot, the vegetarian dishes are cooked in a separate kitchen, and though the chairs in the lounge look leather, they're not. Maggie wouldn't hear of it. Though she wishes the entire restaurant were vegan, she's still working on her husband, but she did say that the vegetarian dishes are very popular - and not just with vegetarians (though there are a lot of them in this fair town).

Though I'm not a drinker, my hubby and good friend tried their fair share of Scottish ales, including the Belhaven, a "smooth, slightly sweet amber," which was their favorite.

We look forward to returning to the pub and highly recommend it to anyone visiting Boulder. The only thing we regret is that the live music was canceled (unexpectedly) the nights we were there, but we spent hours talking to Maggie, to the other staffers, and enjoying the really friendly, tartan-clad atmosphere.

AWARE in Lake Tahoe

This month marks the beginning of what will be several months of quite a lot of travel. With several events coming up and The Joy of Vegan Baking making its way around the globe, I am so thrilled to be traveling in the spring. The cookbook first came out in the fall/winter of 2007, which meant some pretty cold east coast trips, honored as I was to share my vegan thoughts with peeps in D.C., Boston, and New York. Brrrrr....

Speaking of cold weather, this weekend I had the privilege of speaking in Lake Tahoe at the Lake Tahoe Community College, via the fabulous group called Lake Tahoe A.W.A.R.E. (Advocates for Wellness, Animal Rights, and the Environment) and was thrilled with the turn-out. After I spoke about the myths of being vegan, we were all treated to a full meal of dishes made from my recipes - and *I* didn't have to cook! A handful of culinary students volunteered to prepare my Three-Bean Chili, Caesar Salad, No-Queso Quesadillas, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Banana Walnut Muffins. The food was fabulous, the people were incredibly friendly and responsive, and the weather - though a tad chilly - was really beautiful. Couldn't have asked for more.

THANK YOU to Esta Lewin, founder of the 5-year-old A.W.A.R.E. group, for all she does to raise awareness and promote a compassionate, plant-based diet; thanks to the students who prepared a beautiful feast for 100 people; and thank you to all the folks who came out to hear the talk - despite the 35-degree weather!

My new right arm, Chris Marco, took lots of pictures, but it seems that I don't stand still long enough to get a decent photo of me while I gab. So amid the goofy photos, I found a few I could share with you.

Though many people I spoke to at the event lamented that Lake Tahoe didn't have too many options in terms of restaurants, we were actually quite thrilled with what we found. Though David and I had been to Sprouts several times and certainly had a lot of vegan things to choose from on their menu, the three of us did find that we all ordered - without really meaning to - virtually the same thing. My Tostada was almost identical to Chris' Rice Bowl, which was perfectly similar to David's Tempeh Burger.

So, the next day we headed to another veg-friendly restaurant in town, called Freshies, whose incredibly vegan-friendly menu gave us a lot to choose from. In fact, I'm still obsessing over the East Indian Spinach Salad I ate with glee: a huge amount of spinach with coconut, mangos, perfectly spiced tofu, with a chutney dressing. It was just delicious. Oh yeah - and the "Tri Fries" were spicy and fantastically yummy!

After spending some time (probably far too much) at the Pirate shop across the way from Freshies and photographing David in the array of piratey hats, we walked around the lake and laughed - a lot.

Tea snob that I am, I tend to judge a restaurant by how they treat the tea-drinking populus, and I must say, I just wish restaurant served real tea, loose tea, good tea instead of the generic stuff in a bag. Trust me - it's not the same thing! To their credit, the servers at Freshies, went out of their way to make sure we had rice milk for our Chai Tea, and though I was grateful, I still wished I hadn't left my green tea back at the hotel.

Finally, speaking of the hotel (Inn at the Lake), it's worth mentioning that their breakfast room is free to guest and offered bananas, apples, oatmeal, hot water, bagels, and cereal. I plan on recommending that they offer a non-dairy milk with which to eat the cereal, but the breakfast room was a nice touch, and the hotel is right across the street from the lake.

All in all, it was a great trip, and I look forward to spreading the vegan word in Denver, Detroit, and Cleveland.....next on the agenda.

A Veg Escapade on the California Coast

My hubby and I spent our 13-year anniversary at The Stanford Inn by the Sea, an incredibly beautiful place in a breathtaking location, on a pristinely kept property overlooking the Pacific Ocean and tucked into the woods. What more could you ask for?

Well, plenty more, it seems, because not only is the hotel vegetarian-owned, but the award-winning restaurant, The Ravens, is worthy of its many accolades. It is vegetarian and vegan, leaning more toward the latter.

The breakfasts do include eggs and dairy products, along with a bevy of vegan dishes, and the delectable dinners are ALL VEGAN. The menu is extensive, and the dishes are creative but familiar.

For dinner the first night, we enjoyed an appetizer of Japanese sushi, a salad of fennel and mixed greens, and two delicious entrees: one a ravioli in a wonderful cream sauce and the other was a vegetable-filled phyllo wrap. Though there were more decadent items on the menu, for dessert, we each enjoyed a frozen treat: David had the special cashew-based nutmeg ice cream in a delicious anise-flavored tuile, and I had the selection of sorbets. (I got the ice cream the second night, because it was so delicious!)

For dinner the second night, the prie fixe Mushroom dinner special was the route we took, and it was just incredible. Each course was more flavorful than the last, and we had the pleasure of thanking the chef in person.

Breakfasts consisted of pancakes, waffles, scrambles, muffins, and roasted potatoes, and everything was divine, including the views and the service.

I can't recommend this place enough. If it didn't rain virtually every moment we were there, we would have hiked and canoed, but as it were, we settled for shopping in town (which was quite adventuresome of us, considering the wind, which caused the rain to hit us horizontally) as well as an hour-long massage. Just walking the grounds is enjoyable enough, and the gift shop is packed with veg- and animal-friendly items and books.

But that's not all, you can bring your pooch, too! Though kitties abound for those of us who crave kitty love (and one sweet girl, Callie slept in our room one night), the place is kept so clean, you'd never know this was a retreat for human AND non-human animals. The rooms are just so lovely, including wood-burning fireplaces that just increase the romantic feel of The Stanford Inn.

A delightful way to spend a special weekend. Book your reservation today! :) And tell them Compassionate Cooks sent you!

Humans: The Authors of History

Aesop's fable, The Man and the Lion, goes like this: A man and a lion traveled together through the forest. They soon began to boast of their respective superiority to each other in strength and prowess. As they were disputing, they passed a statue carved in stone, which represented "a Lion strangled by a Man." The traveler pointed to it and said: "See there! How strong we are, and how we prevail over even the king of beasts." The Lion replied: "This statue was made by one of you men. If we Lions knew how to erect statues, you would see the Man placed under the paw of the Lion."

Aesop, a slave who lived in the middle of the sixth centry BC in Ancient Greece understood then what we seem to keep forgetting now: the victors are the ones who write history.

I have been a contributor to KQED Radio (the San Francisco Bay Area's National Public Radio station) for several years now, specifically for a program called "Perspectives." I'm thrilled to announce that an editorial I recently submitted was accepted, and it will air on December 26th and again on December 29th. I will post it on my website (and it will be on KQED's website) after it airs, but I wanted to share the written work with you now. Consider it an extension of Aesop's fable.

REWRITING HISTORY
When we began “domesticating” animals about 10,000 years ago, we created a division between ourselves and the rest of the natural world and began a reign of human supremacy that continues to this day. In a desperate (and successful) attempt to deny our own animal-ness, we have denigrated and exploited non-human animals for so many centuries that now the most insulting thing you could someone is “an animal.”

We, the victors, the authors of this history, depict animals as savage, vicious, and violent and humans as civilized, intelligent, and compassionate. If the animals were the tellers of this tale, it would be an entirely different story. If our worth was measured by how fast we could run, by how adeptly we could climb, by how well we could hear, we would fall quite short when compared to the rest of the animal kingdom.

Despite the high esteem with which we regard our species, in our treatment of others – both human and non-human – we might do well to take some cues from our animal brethren. Though we humans possess many fine qualities, with just a cursory examination of our own history, we may find that it would actually be a compliment to be called “an animal.”

If we knew them at all, we would aspire to attain the grace and dignity of those we have most severely subjugated. We would seek to have the sense of humor of the goats; the protective nature of the hens and the sassiness of the roosters. We would desire the gentle strength of the cattle, the wisdom and serenity of the donkeys. We would appreciate the need for community as do the sheep and choose our companions as carefully as do the rabbits. We would strive to have the commitment to family of the geese, the self-confidence of the cats, the adaptability of the ducks. We would seek to possess the sensitivity of the turkeys, the intelligence, loyalty, and affection of the dogs – and the pigs.

With just a small dose of humility, we might learn from the animals what we need to become better people."

One Culture's Traditions....

In her haunting 1948 short story “The Lottery,” about the annual selection of a sacrificial victim in a small American town, Shirley Jackson sheds light on humanity’s tendency to cling blindly to meaningless rituals and participate in pointless violence.

In my many years as an animal advocate, I’ve heard many excuses for our use and abuse of animals, but I’m often taken aback by the one that concludes that certain practices are justifiable because they’re embedded in the “culture” and sanctified by “tradition,” as if that’s all the reason we need to justify our behavior. And yet, what doesn’t fall into these categories?

Nobody wants to see themselves as contributing to cruelty, but participating in cultural customs? Carrying out tradition? That doesn’t sound so bad. To shroud our violence against animals in the sanctity of “tradition” is to romanticize our exploitation of them.

And yet our reliance upon the “tradition” argument is not without hypocrisy. We’re outraged to hear about dog fights and “cock” fights, but we enjoy hamburgers and hot dogs on our visit to the circus. We judge those who eat rabbits, buffalo, or deer, but we gleefully dine on turkeys, chickens, and ducks. We’re shocked to hear that people eat horses, goats, and whales, we scorn those who eat cats and dogs, yet we relish our lamb, veal, and ribs.

To the animals, it’s all the same. They want to live. If they have wings, they want to fly. If they have legs, they want to walk. If they have offspring, they want to nurture them. To humans who perceive animals as ours to possess, their lives are ours – to end. Their bodies are ours to consume. Their offspring are not their own. To the animals, it’s all the same. A Korean dog wants to live and resists death as much as an American pig.

“There’s always been a lottery,” one of the townspeople in Jackson’s story declares when he hears that a neighboring village has given up this empty, violent ritual. We justify our use of animals in a similar way, but just because we always have doesn’t mean we always have to. After all, one culture’s “traditions” are another culture’s “taboos.” It’s all relative to us, but to the animals, it’s all the same.

A Prayer for the Humans on Behalf of the Animals

I have often said that as an animal activist, I have learned many, many things about animals, but I have learned a lot more about humans. If I didn't hear from the most remarkable people every day who share their stories of transformation with me, I think it would be very challenging to hold onto any hope for humanity in general or the animal rights movement in particular. But I do have hope. It fills my heart every day.

My hope is that we can all navigate through this world with the grace and integrity of those who need our protection. May we have the sense of humor and liveliness of the goats; may we have the maternal protective nature of the hens and the sassiness of the roosters. May we have the gentleness and strength of the cattle, the wisdom, humility, and serenity of the donkeys. May we appreciate the need for community as do the sheep and choose our companions as carefully as do the rabbits. May we have the faithfulness and commitment to family of the geese, the adaptability and affability of the ducks. May we have the intelligence, loyalty, and affection of the pigs, and may we have the inquisitiveness, sensitivity, and playfulness of the turkeys.

My hope is that we learn from the animals what it is we need to become better people.