It just so happens that I was asked about my vegetarian ways today by someone with the question “What sort of practicalities or issues do you run into?” and a link to this article, “Bellying Up to Environmentalism”. My response was as follows. I have much to say on the topic and even what I have here only scratches the surface. If you want a short answer then you should stop reading now and just know that I am a vegetarian not because of my love of animals or the environment, it is because I hate plants.
Seriously though, I’ve been a vegetarian for over 13 years. I am of the ovo-lacto variety. I eat eggs and dairy products. I even occasionally buy something made of leather or other animal products.
I was hardly raised vegetarian. G pointed out to me the other day that being a vegetarian was part of my teenage rebellion. I live in a meat eater’s world here in the United States, where it is frequently difficult to get anything other than a salad or perhaps some pasta at restaurants as the only real vegetarian options. I am never surprised but always disappointed when the main part of my meal is some sort of fried potato. Our culture views meat as a nutritional necessity, though I am living proof it is not. Our meals in this country tend to focus on the meat, and view everything else as something added to the meat. e.g. A hamburger is not a hamburger unless it has the meat. The pickle, lettuce, tomato, etc. are all toppings.
When I do eat out I do tend toward the foreign foods. They tend to view the meat as an additive. Go to a Thai or Chinese restaurant, for example, and tofu is easily swapped for chicken without compromising the essence of the meal. In mexican food, beans is offen the substitute. With Indian meat can be left out 9 times out of 10 and you would never know the difference. Even Italian food is typically centered around the pasta, the bread or the sauce.
At home it is a similar story. G (who is essentially a vegetarian because of me, and not when we go out to eat) and I tend to cook meals without meat, usually with either rice, pasta, bread, pie crust, spaghetti squash, or burritos as a base, and then assorted vegetables, tofu, beans, and sauses added. For some things we have swapped out a vegetable alternative. e.g. instead of cheeseburgers, we frequently use portobello mushrooms in place of the burger. Instead of meatballs, G makes the most delicious eggplant balls, instead of deli meats on sandwhiches I spread hummus. We do use the fake ground beef, and the veggie burgers, and fake chicken patties too, but mostly because they are quick to prepare. I do not think of them as “fake meat” though because they rarely taste like meat and anyone expecting meat will be disappointed. They are really their own type of food.
It is difficult for me to be too picky if I want to eat out at restaurants at all. I know the veggie burgers were likely grilled on the same stove as the burgers. The fries were fried in the same fryer as the chicken wings. My veggie sub was sliced on the same cutting board and with the same knife as all the meat sandwiches. You just have to keep your eyes open and accept that there will be contamination or even that the veggy soup you just took a big spoonful was actually chicken soup.
I’ve known for a long time that being vegetarian is more environmentally friendly. Guilting people into being vegetarian is probably the wrong approach to try vegetarianism or reduce meat intake. There is definitely a financial savings by eating less meat, but more importantly there is a huge health savings. For example I had my choleterol tested last year and the doctor said it was “perfect”. I got a perfect score. No force fed cherrios for me! I challenge any meat eater to produce the same results. I would also say that about a month or two after I did make the initial switch I never felt better. I lost weight immediately too. I also opened my eyes to a world of food that I had previously only eaten because “it was good for me”. I have to believe now that vegetables taste more appealing to me because I crave them, not meat. By shutting out meat I actually feel like I opened a lot more doors to other flavors and cultures of food that I had previously avoided.
Given the frequency of meat recalls, and knowing that so much meat is bathed in ammonia to sterilize it, or contains high amounts of hormones, drugs, or mercury, I feel better not touching the stuff. The fruit and vegetable industries are not without fault though (e.g. Monsanto engineered corn, over insecticided apples, spinach recalls, etc.), so that alone is not enough. Really that is an arguement to go free range and organic.
If you eat egg and/or dairy, you will still get plenty of protein. Even then you do not need animal protein to survive, as my Vegan friends have proved. Don’t believe the protien myth the meat eaters will tell you. How the body uses and produces protiens is another lecture entirely though.
I would encourage meat eaters to consider eating meat only once a day if they are eating it twice now or fewer times per week if they are eating it every day. Or perhaps next time you make a meat dish at home, reduce the amount of meat put in in exchange for more of the other ingredients. Personal as well as environmental benefits can still be gained through reduction.
…oh and if that is not enough to convince you, then perhaps the threat of cows with guns will do it? No? What about the chickens in choppers?
I know. Life sucks. We are all “born into the grave” so to speak. Humans. The plants. The animals. Everything.
13 years ago though I made a choice though. I wanted it to suck a little less… first for myself. I stopped eating meat starting with beef. I was tired of eating it because I had one too many bad hockey-puck hamburgers (sorry Mom).
It was at that time of my beef boycott I first saw the movie “Babe”. Immediately afterwards I decided I was not going to eat pork ever again. I was going to do my part in not making life suck for “Babe” and all pigs. I know it is like blowing into the wind, especially surrounded by so many meat eaters, but sometimes you have to stick to what you believe even if people think you are crazy or wrong.
I watched “Babe”, yet again, last night and felt reassured and affirmed in my decision. Watching the movie now is like a religious experience for me. I am not so unlike Farmer Hoggett. I believe I am generally quiet and patient in my disposition, and open minded to otherwise abstract, unusual and even bizarre possibilities, just as he is. Although I have never known a pig personally, I do believe them (and all mammals) to be too intelligent for me to consume ethically. I heard the song, “If I Had Words”, played throughout the movie and it was powerful for me. Silly? Perhaps. Do I expect anyone to understand? No. The movie changed my life though. From being annoyed by bad burgers, this movie pressed me to pursuing a new way of eating, and ultimately a new lifestyle that I still have over a decade later. This song represents a sort of theme song for my vegetarianism, and my wish to preserve life, not destroy it.
PPPS: Also, for those of you who want more, here is the version with the “mice” singing, which is actually just a sped up version of a recording of “If I Had Words” sung by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley. Crazy, right!? Who knew?!
PPPPS: Despite James Comwell’s rendition being made for film, and not for an album, and being very short, and being a cover of a cover so to speak, it still has a modest, humble and honest quality I appreciate greatly.
PPPPPS: PS (or more properly, P.S.) is Latin for “post scriptum”, which means “written after”, and thus PPPPPS is “post post post post post scriptum”, ridiculous for sure, but if you don’t like it, why don’t you go blog about it or eat one of my mom’s hamburgers?
Last week on October 28th, G and I drove hours to see Eisley in Toronto for a meer half hour or so in concert. Where we live is not a good location for touring bands to come to, so we are frequently required to drive a distance to see most bands we wish to see, including Eisley from Texas. It did seem like a lot of effort to see Eisley, who was not the headliner, but it was worth it.
Eisley is not one of the most well known bands. Chauntelle, Sherri, Stacy, and Weston DuPree are all siblings and relatively recent addition to the band, Garron DuPree, is their cousin. They have toured under bands such as Brand New, Snow Patrol and Coldplay, thus adding to their credibility in the industry. I think they are a treasure in the musical world. Their songs contain elements from another world, light and solemn, but not without frolic. It was good to be able to see them perform and get a glimpse of their dynamic and personality. It was a pity they did not have more time, though they were indeed performing while quite ill. One of the sisters on guitar (Chauntelle I think) was unable to sing one of the songs and stopped it within the first measure or two, and was practically hunched over during the last couple songs, closing with “Invasion” from their 2007 album “Combinations”.
They started out in the coffee shop run by their parents, and I am sad to say it would probably have been a better venue accoustically. The Phoenix Theatre in Toronto, though a very cool space for a club/music hall, had attrocious accoustics. The sound was flat and at times I’d swear the band was being drowned out by the talking and ambient sound. Aside from the venue, I also blame the guy on the mixing board who seemed almost lost during the sound check (never promising for the band). They would be much more suited to a venue intended for an orchestra or live theatre.
Regardless I hope Eisley comes to the area again sometime as the headliner. G and I did not stay for Sherri’s husband’s band, “Say Anything”, the headliner (sorry Sherri… they’re just not as good as you guys are). We did however do our regular trip to the Canadian grocery store to pick up the goodies we are unable to purchase in the USA like Ketchup Potato Chips (think Salt & Vingear Potato Chips with a little sweetness and a little tomato flavor… so good!), Coffee Crisp chocolate candy bars, and Kinder Eggs among others. Now that Mexican Coca-Cola is available in the USA, we passed on the Canadian Coca-Cola (both made with real sugar, unlike the high-fructose crap they sell in the USA… Why do we have to go to other countries to buy better Coke when it was invented here? I don’t know.) Oh and of course we stopped at Tim Hortons, not the one in the grocery store we went to or the one in the gas station across the road, no the one on the corner between the two. (Yes, 3 Tim Hortons in sight of each other. Canadian’s love their Tim Hortons!)
I think all you Death Cab For Cutie, The Decemberists, Dixie Chicks, Imogen Heap, and Regina Spektor fans should check out Eisley if you haven’t already. For those of you who like what you hear but do not know whether to start with the first or second album, I am suggesting you start with the first “Room Noises”. It is a little more unique than “Combinations”, and perhaps a little more solid in terms of a musical theme, though I love them both, so feel to get both.
Here are my 5 favorites from the album, with “Plenty of Paper” being my favorite. It was difficult to choose the 5 because there is not a song I do not like…
Halloween is finally here! For breakfast I drank some blood (orange juice) and for a snack I am surly to eat some brains (made of butter cream on cupcakes). Perhaps aftewards I will finish carving out faces and spilling guts (on pumpkins) while listening to the screams of small children (trick or treating). I do like the sounds of screaming children. Don’t you!?
And of course I will be dancing the Monster Mash, though some may object…
Out from his coffin Drac’s voice did ring,
It seems he was troubled by just one thing,
He opened the lid and shook his fist and said,
“Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist”?
While searching for creepy songs, I came across this little music box song by Sir FiNiX (and originally posted to newgrounds.com). It is just what one would want from a Halloween music box.
To add to the creepy, this afternoon G and I did purchase 2 rolls streamers and a bag of balloons and the total as $6.66. From the receipt…
1 BALLOONS 9IN ROUNDS 2.59
1 PARTY FAV BRT OR CRP-81 F 1.79
1 PRTY FV SCHBUS YW CRP-81F 1.79
3 Items
Subtotal 6.17
Tax .49
Total 6.66
We bought them to make paper-mâché jack-o-lanterns. How appropriate, right?! I’m sure we’ll have a devilish good time with them too!
I was querying G what songs she enjoyed for Halloween and she referenced the theme to Beetlejuice. I admitted it was indeed a good choice. Her response was naturally “I’m brilliant.” What can I say?! She is right. It is quite possible most of Danny Elfman’s works would qualify for they mostly have that perky creepiness that oh so appropriate for Halloween!
…in the 1970s, there was a group of Protestants in Belfast who targeted the Catholics in the city, actually chose to use, as weapons, butcher knives and cleavers. Really, they weren’t necessarily, you know, obviously, political or religious activists. They were really, you know, cold-blooded murders, really. And they would go out at night killing Catholics essentially and, you know, gruesomely filet them alive and things like that.
…
The parents at the time would actually use it as a cautionary tale and would tell children, you know, if they didn’t do what they were told, the Shankill butchers would come and get them. And it just seemed so bizarre and so horrific to me that it almost – it’s one of those moments in history when, you know, human events actually take on the scope of fairytale, and I thought it would – so the song is essentially me imagining what sort of dialogue that would be, the mother telling the child to go to sleep or the Shankill butchers would come and get them.
A gruesome tale indeed, wrought with horror and perhaps one to many “you know”s (Oh I kid Colin… I only noticed it when I saw it in writing. Also, for the record, I love The Decemberists or else I would not have driven hours to see them in concert last year!). Seriously though, an excellent song for the Halloween song list. I wonder if my Catholic Irish mother knows the tale and if perhaps she might have had more control over my siblings and me if she had told the tale.
Disney’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” set a new standard for Halloween songs when it came out, and I am still awaiting a collection of songs to match it. “This Is Halloween” is hard to beat on its own. The soundtrack is jam packed with Halloween imagery and uses tons of musical devices related to the holiday. Many artists have covered various songs from the soundtrack too e.g. Marilyn Manson’s excellent version of “This Is Halloween”:
This album (and movie) are a “must have” in my book. It may just be the pinnacle of Halloween culture in both film and sound. With the Christmas references, it makes an excellent soundtrack and movie all through the months of October and November, and is sure to delight anyone who likes Halloween, young and old alike. It even has a love story wrapped into it, if you’re into the whole Franken-Babe – Dead Guy romance thing.
Here are my 5 favorites from the album, with “This is Halloween” being my favorite.
Listen on Blip.fm!