THE VEGETARIAN BLOG

I love the title of this film as it paraphrases a lovely oldie by Jane Campion called An Angel At My Table. Weaving together interviews with animal rights activists, agribusiness representatives, and animal welfare experts with archival and documentary footage, Jennifer Abbott’s documentary is an intelligent look at how animals, meat and culture are entwined. A perfect antidote for the Sarah Palin’s turkey nightmare .

You can see an excerpt here and buy a copy here.

Ecorazzi reports that Alicia Silverstone may be penning a book on vegan dieting called The Kind Diet. According to the report, the book is due out in the fall of 2009. I hope this is true as the more celebrities support veganism, the better. I have a special fondness for Ms. Silverstone as she was the first famous person I heard speaking passionately about a a vegan diet so in a way, I’m sure she inspired me ‘to turn a leaf’, as it were. Besides, she starred in Clueless – need I say more?

Watch Alicia Silverstone’s veggie testimonial for Peta:

Alicia Silverstone’s Sexy Veggie PSA
Order a FREE vegetarian starter kit at GoVeg.com

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, a turkey massacre is in full swing. I wrote here about what turkey farms are like and what you can do to help, i.e. stop eating animals. But if you need graphic evidence, Peta has released a new video that shows workers indulging in sadistic behaviour in America’s largest turkey operation, Aviagen in West Virginia. The fact is, as long as animals are held captive as someone’s else property, their lives and physical integrity are not going to be respected. How can a sentient being marked for death inspire any kind of compassion in underpaid, bored and hardened workers? It simply won’t happen.

 The New York Times picked up the story. And some other mainstream media has also run features about cruelty-free options for Thanksgiving celebrations. Newsweek has an article on vegetarianism and the holidays while the Wall Street Journal cuts to the chase and tells its readers how nice vegetarians options are.

Join the Peaceful Prairie folks for an afternoon of scrumptious food, relaxed ambiance and great company all while supporting Colorado’s only Farmed Animal Sanctuary and Education Center.

Enjoy an all-vegan, all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet at Boulder’s popular Tsing Tao Restaurant while supporting the rescued animals at Peaceful Prairie! Feast on vegan Eggrolls, Hot & Sour Soup, Salad Bar, Fried Rice, Sesame “Chicken”, Szechuan “Beef”, Kung Pao Tofu, Eggplant with Garlic Sauce, Almond “Chicken”, Mongolian “Beef” and much more.

Sunday, November 23rd
The Vegan Buffet begins at 12:00 Noon and ends at 3:00

Tsing Tao Restaurant

607A Broadway, Boulder
(Table Mesa Shopping Center)

By the way, the organization is seeking to raise funds in order to buy more land, to house more animals and educate more people. Give them your support via Just Give .

Why can’t people call a diease by the name? An article in the Daily Telegraph about flexitarianism left me ‘gobsmacked’, as the British say. It was one of those attempts at trend-spotting, the trend here being the fact that 45% of British consumers are cutting down on their meat. While I welcome any shifts in consumer behavior away from the carnage, calling these people ‘the new vegetarians’ is just plain ridiculous. You can’t possibly combine meat and a vegetarian diet, it’s an oxymoron. And what they call ‘little’ sounds like a lot to me (dead flesh twice a week). Now, if people who are not vegetarians want to feel like they are, they must consider the veggie lifestyle very cool. So why don’t they take the plunge and stop supporting animal torturers? Go on guys, jump in ’cause the water is warm; come out of this silly flexitarian closet.

What about you? What do you think of the flexitarian label?

I have seen many stories singing the ethical and health benefits of a veggie diet, but I confess that I had missed this two-year-old article on the BBC about a link between IQ and a plant-based diet.

“Intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life, a study says. A Southampton University team found those who were vegetarian by 30 had recorded five IQ points more on average at the age of 10. Researchers said it could explain why people with higher IQ were healthier as a vegetarian diet was linked to lower heart disease and obesity rates.”

See? Besides representing an ethical attitude towards our fellow planet-dwellers and the environment, vegetarianism can also be a sign of intelligence. No bragging here, but …

Italian animal protection organization, OIPA , has launched an advertising campaign using Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper as inspiration. The copy says: “One of you betrays us 150,000 times per year”. The result is very inspiring and a great homage to da Vinci, himself an animal lover and vegetarian.

November 27th is Thanksgiving Day, a day of celebration of our life, health, and happiness. Sadly, there’s a very dark side to this otherwise beautiful date: the gargantuan slaughter of turkeys that accompanies the holiday. Nearly 300 million turkeys are killed each year in the U.S. The birds, who are native to this country, spend their entire lives crammed in large sheds with little room to move. Artificially inseminated and selectively bred to gain enormous amounts of weight, they suffer heart attacks, broken limbs, lameness, and death from their genetically-induced accelerated growth rate. Factory farm conditions are so harsh that the turkeys must be pumped full of antibiotics just to stay alive. Shortly after birth, they have their snoods and parts of their toes and beaks cut off with hot blades, without the use of anesthetic, to reduce damage from  stress-induced aggression. They are then delivered by conveyer belt to a carousel where they get a power injection, usually of an antibiotic, whacked into the back of their necks.

For the rest of their lives they are forced to endure crowding, living in their own waste, and ravaging diseases. As many as 25,000 birds may be housed in a single shed. Their eyes and lungs are burned by toxic fumes emanating from their excrement. Conditions are so severe that about 9% of turkeys raised for food (or over 26 million) don’t survive long enough to make it to the slaughterhouse. After 16 weeks of misery, they are hung on a conveyer belt, their throats are cut, and they are dumped - sometimes still fully conscious - into scalding water to strip their feathers.

Do you want all this suffering to be the main menu on a day of gratitude? If you are one of the many compassionate people who see no sense in linking celebration and cruelty, try out vegetarian substitutes on Thanksgiving Day. Check out the Gentle Thanksgiving website for recipes and lots more information. And use the opportunity to reflect on your year-round food as well. The gruesome farming conditions described above are true of every other type of animal farming. Going vegan is the most effective way to stop the massacre.

Californians yesterday voted yes on Proposition 2, a piece of legislation that bans some of the most extreme forms of animal confinement, such as veal (pictured) and sow gestation crates, and determines that the size of cages for egg laying hens be increased.

By all accounts, the changes are very modest and do not stop animal exploitation. But it does bring the topic of cruelty against farm animals into mainstream consciousness cruelty against farm animals into mainstream consciousness , which is a good thing. I just hope it doesn’t stop there and turns people to veganism, the only real form of animal liberation.

The Humane Society of the United States was the organization behind the campaign, and managed to attract the support of celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey. The hope is that it will have a ripple effect across the United States.

Now, what do you think? Will other states follow suit and introduce similar pieces of legislation?

It’s been a few days away from the desk, hence the dearth of posting. However, it was for a good cause as I was out in the streets helping publicize World Vegan Day (November 01). I gave out prints of Gary Francione’s manifesto and asked friends and family to consider the issues related to veganism. It was a great day, actually. Those who wish to carry on celebrating November as vegan awareness month should check out An Animal Friendly Life’s new free vegan literature to use as educational resources. Download print and spread the word.