To V or Not to V

"The time is out of joint. O cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right." And so Hamlet laments the spectre of his father and his duty to avenge said father's death. Today, a different sort of ghost haunts us, whispering in our ears the wrongdoings of the food industry. Are we crazy? Or, like Hamlet, do we have some sort of duty to avenge the wrongs of the meat, dairy, and soy industries?
Let me back up to the first part of Hamlet's speech. The time is out of joint.
Here are some US statistics:

1. In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Today, the top four control more than 80% of the market.
2. In the 1970s, there were thousands of slaughterhouses producing the majority of beef sold. Today, we have only 13.
3. During the Bush administration, the head of the FDA was the former executive VP of the National Food Processors Association.
4. During the Bush administration, the chief of staff at the USDA was the former chief lobbyist for the beef industry in Washington.
5. In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9,164.
6. In 1998, the USDA implemented microbial testing for salmonella and E. coli 0157h7 so that if a plant repeatedly failed these tests, the USDA could shut down the plant. After being taken to court by the meat and poultry associations, the USDA no longer has that power.
7. In 1996 when it introduced Round-Up Ready Soybeans, Monsanto controlled only 2% of the U.S. soybean market. Now, over 90% of soybeans in the U.S. are Monsanto's genetically modified soy bean. (Prior to renaming itself an agribusiness company, Monsanto was a chemical company that produced, among other things, DDT and Agent Orange.)...oh yeah, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas was an attorney at Monsanto from 1976 to 1979. After his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case that helped Monsanto enforce its seed patents.
8. The average chicken farmer invests over $500,000 and makes only $18,000 a year.
9. 70% of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient.
10. 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; Among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2.

Time IS out of joint! Our practices are clearly not sustainable and may actually pose a threat to humans, animals, and planet earth in general.

Since I've been in the UK, I've noticed a rather unfortunate trend in vegan products: the vast majority of vegan products are soy-based.

SO, what does this mean?
soy is not very healthy for humans. it contains a lot of oestrogen, which can cause breast cancer in women or even early puberty in girls. In men its been linked to prostate cancer and even a low sperm count. Furthermore, as shown above, Monstanto pretty much controls soy production in the United States so that 90% of soy in genetically modified. The movie Food, Inc taught me that Monsanto can sue small farmers who keep their non-gmo seeds/do not use Monsanto seeds. Not only is soy production bad for the environment and our bodies, its bad for farmers. I thought that maybe soy in the UK-though bad for me- would at least be produced in a more sustainable, farm-friendly way. What I learned is that soy is flown in from either the US or South America. We already know what happens with soy in the US, but in South America large patches of rainforest are being burned in order to grow soy. Not very sustainable at all.
Just like in the US, a huge portion of the soy used in the UK goes towards feeding livestock. Animals like cows and chickens do not naturally eat soy, but its protein density makes it ideal for farmers who want hearty animals. We know its bad for us, is it healthy for animals? How much remains when we eat those animals or drink their milk?
The only non-soy beverages I can find come from this fabulous little grocery called Jorden Valley (I'll write about that another time though). Jordan Valley offers a wonder selection of rice milk, soy milk, oat milk, almond milk, and even hemp milk!!! However, all of these are produced in California and then somehow shipped over to Scotland. Not very local and probably not very good for the environment.
So I find myself in a tough situation. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm not a huge animal rights person, I don't like peta and I'm damn proud of a president who can kill a fly with his bare hand. I am vegan because of the environmental implications (exs: the meat packing industry emits more greenhouse gasses than all the cars, trucks, and airplanes in the world combined...soy production is now almost entirely genetically modified and big companies rarely allow farmers to let the land lie fallow for long enough be it with soy, corn, etc). If soy production is just as bad if not worse for the environment as dairy farms than I don't want to support the soy industry more than I have to. If my only soy alternatives come from thousands of miles away by plane I don't really want to support that either.
Here's the good news: rBGH is banned in the UK and organic farms still exist! Therefor, I have decided to renounce veganism while in the UK and opt for dairy products from locally grown organic farms. This is expensive...but not as expensive as the $7.00 USD hemp milk. Or the cost of breast cancer treatment.

If you want to know more about soy in the UK I highly recommend this 3 minute video:

I want to conclude with the second part of Hamlet's line: "O cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right." More and more evidence shows that we aren't crazy for thinking something is a-miss with the meat, dairy, and soy industries. I'm not asking anyone to become vegetarian...only to consider their options more and buy local, organic, non-gmo products when possible. Our food decisions don't only affect us- our choices affect the earth and all its creatures including plants, animals and our future generations. Setting it right doesn't have to be cursed, we can all make small decisions every day to make the world a safer and healthier place.

Cheers,
Veg Girl

How do you say soy in Czech?

Anthony Bourdain declared Prague the land of pork when he visited the Czech Republic capital for his godsend of a TV show, No Reservations. While he may have a point, I found Prague to be fairly vegan friendly upon closer examination. At first glance, the streets of Prague are filled with all things pig; the grocery aisles all things dairy; the locals all things...chinchilla. Although the Edinburgh Tesco offers about 6 variations of non-dairy milk, I could not for the life of me find soy milk in the Prague Tesco. This might have been a language barrier though and for the record I now know that soy in Czech is sója but soy milk is sójové mléko. I'm still not convinced this information would have helped me though. As I was put up by Logan, the meat eater, I tried not to push the boundaries of my warm welcome and indulged in such vegetarian (but not vegan) delights as the local dumpling bread and smazeny, pronounced "shmaz". For as little as 25 crowns, smazeny is probably one of the best street vendor foods to soak up the alcohol in your stomach at 3 am. From what I could discern it consists of breaded, melted cheese with onions and condiments in between a hamburger bun. The bites I stole from Logan were totally worth the breach from veganism and I felt pretty cultured compared to the large group of wasted Americans next to me repeatedly yelling out for a cheeseburger.

As I explored the city, I began to see signs of a vegetarian-conscious underground often expressed through graffiti.

A chance encounter with an ad for a vegetarian restaurant prompted me to google the vegan food scene, despite the meat fuelled cries of Tony Bourdain, Logan, and local street vendors. Logan generously agreed to check out the vegetarian restaurant Maitrea on Valentine's Day. Maitrea is a sister restaurant to Clear Head (as seen in the advertisement) and offers an eclectic menu of veg and vegan delights sure to satisfy even the most pork addicted palate. I chose a pasta with soy-based imitation cream sauce, smoked tofu, and spinach. Although I usually avoid soy I recognize that I should be grateful for any type of a gourmet vegan meal in a formerly communist country where you ate what you got end of story. While the cream sauce was a bit too rich for my liking the smoked tofu was nothing short of inspired. Logan and I had to take home our rice pudding desert because we were too full but I highly recommend it to anyone who goes to Prague, vegan or not. The back of the menu also included a very helpful index of vegetarian terms like "tofu", "seitan" etc to clarify any questions for first timers. The staff was also very helpful and the general ambiance of the restaurant, filled with sanskrit writings and tea lights, made for a very relaxing experience. At around 450 crowns the meal was expensive for Czech standards but do the math and you'll realize 2 people stuffed themselves on Valentine's evening to the tune of about 25 dollars. Not bad.(Děkuji, Logan!)



PS If anyone can explain why a lot of the writing is in blue and how to make it not in blue I will be forever in your debt.

Pizza Night

I am currently in Edinburgh, Scotland and have much to report on the vegan scene here. Before this happens though, I want to say a little something about vegan pizza, something everyone can enjoy! That said, part of my mission is to educate people on the vegan lifestyle without shaming anyone out of the meat isle of the grocery store. Therefor I warn you this post contains graphic material of the meat eating variety. Some images may not be suitable for angry vegans.
What does this mean? It means I believe in adding vegan options to meals, not taking meat options away from my friends. I've converted many a mouth to my vegan baked goods and I thought I would try the same with pizza.
We made our own dough from scratch but this took a long time so I would recommend buying pizza dough from the store (just make sure there's no animal product in it). As well, whole wheat pizza crusts are really hard to make from scratch (they don't rise as well) so that's another reason to buy pre-made whole wheat dough. From there I mixed tomato sauce with pesto sauce. For the pesto I blended about 3 cups of basil, 3 cloves of garlic, 5 handfuls of walnuts, a little salt, and 6 tablespoons of olive oil. It looks kinda icky but it tastes DELICIOUS!
Meat-eater Logan and I making the dough (sometimes a little wine on the side is needed-or should I say kneaded?)

From there I added kalamata olives, artichokes and sun dried tomatoes. Next I placed strips of vegan cheese over the toppings. Again, I suggest using non-soy cheese, such as rice cheese or almond cheese. Don't forget that soya production can be just as devastating to the environment and our bodies as meat. However, pizza can be delicious without cheese too! Next time I will definitely try one without cheese but my dinner guests wanted to try one with vegan cheese- who was I to say no? I then sprinkled cilantro on top of the cheese. (Feel free to leave this out if you are one of those unfortunate souls who thinks cilantro tastes like soap)
Logan's pizza looks delicious! But it was also very very not vegan. He deserves some major props though for this masterpiece
Finally, our pizzas were done and everyone enjoyed them!
Update on Europe coming soon!

Final Seattle Post: Lark, Squid and Ink Review

Squid and Ink

The fam and I headed over to the Georgetown area of Seattle for breakfast the other day and my was it worth the drive off the island. In lue of my usual g-town routine, this adventure traded popped collars for gages and kid cudi for chris cornell. just the way i like it! squid and ink operates as an entirely vegan restaurant manned by one cook and one waiter by day and a jammin bar by night, offering several beers on tap and the Georgetown beer of choice, PBR. the walls are all black except for the occasional tag from a drunk patron and the only coffee you'll get here comes from a self-serve coffee maker in the corner. my waiter was in his mid-20s, had dreads bellow his knees, and spent the rest of his time talking with his red bearded friend at the bar about how he got beat up by a girl last night. i think i might be in love. apart from the ambiance, Squid and Ink offers some truly delicious but affordable 100% vegan grub. My dad opted for the fried steak and hash browns breakfast, my mother the "french kiss" french toast with a side of scrambled eggs (tofu). I got the homemade burger patty (one of the best I've ever had) on rye with caramelized onions and au jus dipping sauce. Apart from their excellent execution of usually carnivorous delights, Squid and Ink uses tasty and healthy spices like turmeric and cinnamon to complete the various dishes. Unlike Cafe Flora, the decor and service may not be top notch, but the food is first class and affordable, staying true to Georgetown's industrial roots.

Lark
Lark is a foodie's paradise and gave me one of the best meals I've ever had as a going away present. The menu changes according to season and it shows. Though expensive, it's worth it if you love food- maybe not if you like food, but definitely if you love food. Lark covers all matters of sin excluded from the Garden of Vegan (aka meat) and may not appear vegan friendly at first. Fortunately, the Lark staff can adjust their meals for the vegan pallate, concious of their very hip location in liberal Seattle. I cannot explain to you how delicious this meal was, except to say that all I had were sunchokes, mushrooms, and sorbet for dinner. Upon closer taste however, the sunchockes were lightly baked in garlic, salt, rosemary and thyme with a hint of lavender. The mushrooms were so thinly sliced and so delictately cooked that they tasted like noodles. And the sorbet was a homemade chocolate sorbet with bourbon maple syrup, pecans, and white chocolate flakes. If you are ever in Seattle I highly recommend visiting Lark, a slice of heaven on earth; the garden of vegan hidden among the weeds.