Find a Friend

Nothing makes "going veg" easier than finding a friend.

If you can't find one in the real world, check online! There are groups sharing local restaurant tips, cooking classes, shopping information, and all kinds of goodies.

If you're on Facebook, search for a group in your area (I've just been invited to Hong Kong Vegan, just across the border from Shenzhen).

If that doesn't work, try a search on Meetup. And if all else fails, go to Google and put in "vegetarian" or "vegan" and the name of a large city near you.

You may be surprised at how many of us are out there!

Join up with some friends to Live and Let Live!

I KNEW IT!

According to this report from the BBC, smart people become vegetarians. (Read the report carefully; it does NOT say that being a vegetarian makes you smarter!)

Liz O'Neill, of UK's The Vegetarian Society, was quoted as saying, "We've always known that vegetarianism is an intelligent, compassionate choice benefiting animals, people and the environment." Preaching to the choir, Liz!

The report also says, "Vegetarians were more likely to be ... of higher occupational social class and to have higher academic or vocational qualifications than non-vegetarians." That's the good news.

The bad news? "[T]hese differences were not reflected in their annual income, which was similar to that of non-vegetarians."

But hey, I'd rather be cmpassionate and smart than merely rich!

Are You Ready? (Resto Quest edition)

Yup, it's time to get ready for Meatless/Mooless Monday.

Here's a little challenge for you: Find one local veg place. Go there tomorrow. Gather information.

Then go to the HappyCow site and either (a) add the restaurant to the growing listings there or (b) add a review of the place to the existing listings.

You'll help the cows, the people, the environment--it's win-win-win!

(If you want to come back here and report on what you did, that's good, too!)

Live and Let Live!

Petition for Official "Meat Free Monday"

When you visit the Meatless/Mooless Monday page on FaceBook, you're automatically directed to the "Notes" tab, where you can read my posts.

But if you click on the "Wall" tab, you'll see occasional comments from "fans" of the page. They're always interesting (and always appreciated!), but recently a couple really stood out. These have to do with petitions to governments to establish official "'veggie' only days."

I urge you to visit this FaceBook group, become a member, then go sign the petition for your country. (Leron Rabinowiz posted the link; Stephen Ma also stopped by to promote the Taiwan petition. Thanks, guys!)

This is huge, friends; the petition page for the U.S. lays out the many reasons to promote "Meat Free Monday" (as they call it). Read it; think about it; but most of all, sign it.

(If you're not on FaceBook, you can go directly to the global website.)

And Live and Let Live.

Funny "Kindness" Quotes from Famous People

Meatless/Mooless Monday 

I selected these from here for their humor content; they also make a point.

Devon Aoki (a "face of Versace"; her father founded Benihana's)
I sometimes think, would I drink the milk from the breast of a woman I don't know? No. So I think, why would I drink it from a cow.

Russell Simmons (funny man; vegan since '98)
I don't eat any animals or anything that has to do with animals. No fish or egg or dairy because I personally don't feel it's a good practice to eat anything that might run away from you.

Ricky Williams (not wimpy; vegetarian, and a supporter of PETA)
I wouldn't eat a chicken if it dropped dead in front of me holding up a sign that said, Eat Me.

Rue McClanahan (class act; lifelong animal-rights advocate and vegetarian)
Fur used to turn heads, now it turns stomachs.

Ellen DeGeneres (funny person; vegan)
You ask people why they have deer heads on the wall. They always say, Because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother's attractive, but I have photographs of her.

Scott Adams (cartoonist; vegetarian)
You're thinking I'm one of those wise-ass California vegetarians who is going to tell you that eating a few strips of bacon is bad for your health. I'm not. I say its a free country and you should be able to kill yourself at any rate you choose, as long as your cold dead body is not blocking my driveway.

Are You Ready?

It's almost Monday again.

In the past few weeks, I've offered several handy tips to help you "go veg," like:

• Locate and patronize veg or veg-friendly restaurants
• Buy veg ingredients
• Get and learn veg recipes
• Find veg "buddies" to share the experience with

These are all nice tips, but frankly, they only work if you do them. Don't just read it, JUST DO IT!

And Live and Let Live.

Other Mondays

In addition to the "Meatless Monday" campaign, the people at the big Meatless Monday site have lots of other good stuff going. They call some of these "Other Mondays." From their website:

• Healthy Monday: Check out Healthy Monday to learn how you and your organization can commit each week to the actions and intentions that will end preventable disease in the U.S.
• Monday Mile (loads a pdf file): Take steps toward a healthier you this Monday. Find out how to get your whole community, school, campus or work site doing the Monday Mile with you.
• Monday 2000: How will you spend your 2000 calories this Monday? After a weekend of indulgence, use the Monday 2000 to reset the calorie budget you have to spend each day.
• Quit & Stay Quit: Learn how to boost smoke cessation success by leveraging Monday as a weekly compliance trigger. Shorten time between quit attempts and strengthen quitters’ commitment to smoke-free living one Monday at a time.

Check it out!

And Live and Let Live.

Get "Stuffed"

The Meatless Monday (.com) people have reviewed an interesting book about eating healthier cutting calories.

Stuffed by long-time corporate food exec Hank Cardello is filled with controversial suggestions. Here are a few:

• "Stealth health": "Big Food" (the food industry) should make food healthier, but not tell us, since most people are turned off by the idea of "healthy food"
• The "trim-10 plan": Government should require "Big Food" to reduce calories by ten percent in all products across the board
• They should also implement an "Eat Responsibly" campaign

Read more at the Meatless Monday site. Or go to Amazon and read more and/or buy the book.

And Live and Let Live.

Are You Ready?

Yes, tomorrow's Monday.

Ingredients lined up? Restaurants chosen? Everything ready?

Look back over recent posts for some ideas.

And Live and Let Live

A Testimony

Christi Fields is the co-founder of this Meatless Monday group on Facebook. In personal correspondence, she sent me this (reprinted with her permission). I thought it might prove inspirational for others:

My personal decision for meatlessness started out from one idea - to live a life of love in every way possible. I saw refraining from meat as a simple choice I could make in which no creature was caused pain by my actions. (A choice for free-range local eggs also followed.) As I explored other ideas and reasoning for vegetarianism, information relating to water and land conservation, as well as health implications followed. It's great to hear the reasoning of others too as we all try to figure out what's important and what our place is in the world.

Wow, I just read that again after receiving it a few weeks ago. Inspiring, isn't it?

"Livestock's Long Shadow"

In 2006, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations published a report called "Livestock's Long Shadow," cataloging the devastating effects of farm animals on the environment. Not just cows, but all major farm animals (sheep, goats, "ham and eggs") are included in the report.

But the biggest bad guy is our friend the cow. (Not your fault, Bessy.) Negative effects on the environment include such issues as:

• acid rain
• contamination of water by pesticides
• deforestation
• global warming
• water consumption

Let's be honest: There are plenty of disputed "facts" out there. The Greens say one thing, the cattlemen another (they even go so far as to say that "in reality [cattle] are an important tool for land management and environmental preservation.") Government and academia are likely to be more objective (although still subject to various political pressures).

But this is the U.N. One former FAO employee says the FAO "is no reckless foe of the cattle industry. For such a conservative institution to publish this report, you have to know that the problem is very serious."

Read his summary and comments on the report. Or read this summary from the FAO itself, or the one at Wikipedia that includes some criticism of the report.

Or, if you have the time, read the full report. It's sobering.

Meanwhile, eat less meat, use less dairy. Go vegetarian or vegan--at least once a week!

And Live and Let Live.

Are You Ready for Tomorrow? The 101

Last Thursday we pointed out the excellent article "summer express :: 101 simple vegan meals ready in 10 minutes or less™" at The Urban Vegan.

Why not try some of those?

They're easy, fast and delicious--just right for summer (if you're in summer now--sorry, Antipodeans, but they'll work for you, too!)

Easy, tasty ways to Live and Let Live!

"summer express :: 101 simple vegan meals ready in 10 minutes or less™"

Seriously! 10 minutes ("doesn't count time to boil water, cook rice, etc."). And GREAT dishes!

Just to whet your appetite, here are the first two:

1. Chop a cup of fresh mixed herbs with best quality extra virgin olive oil and 4 cloves of minced garlic in a pan. Serve over spaghetti or thin spaghetti, with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

2. Open a can of white or pink beans. Mix with olive oil, salt, minced garlic and a bunch of fresh chopped organic spinach in a pan. Cook, stirring until the spinach is wilted and the beans are warmed through. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast. Serve with a green side salad.

Go read the other 99 for yourself.

You'll surely find several tasty, easy ways to "Live and Let Live"!