Tofu Scramble, Part 1

I have eaten really excellent tofu scramble in restaurants and it doesn't seem complicated. I mean, tofu is just a food cube. You cut it up, stick it in the frying pan with vegetables and seasonings, and it seems like it ought to work. I have always found it pretty challenging, though, so I decided to try following an actual recipe for once. I chose this one from the Post Punk Kitchen.

Of course, I immediately made several adjustments. I had one 14-ounce package of firm tofu, which I drained thoroughly. I smooshed it up with a fork and added:

3 tablespoons Mirin rice cooking wine
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
And...

This whole can of fire-roasted Hatch chiles. I cut up about 1/4 of a large Vidalia onion and sauteed it in a little olive oil. I added about 1/4 of the tofu mixture (saving the rest for later in the fridge), and while it cooked, I thawed some frozen vegetables.

I added the veggies and a little more paprika, and it was lovely. The tofu still stuck to the bottom of the pan a little (I suspect my pan was too hot), but I have a little trick to fix that. I add a little water and rice cooking wine to the pan and it seems to loosen everything up. So I did that and it was perfect!
I had to add a teeny bit of salt but it was really lovely. Here is Afreet making a play for my delicious tofu scramble:

Vegan Ice Cream

Just a quick note - I've generated a very respectable White Russian Vegan Ice Cream (what to call vegan ice cream? I like "Nice Cream", a telescoped version of not-ice-cream). Read all about it here.

All the Things You Have in Common With Vegans

I was thinking about the vegan ice cream and the vegan beer and I realized that a lot of non-vegans probably think they don't have much in common with vegans, but actually, they do.

We all like ice cream. My omni sweetie even likes vegan ice cream, especially Soy Dream vanilla and the homemade chocolate kind I made for a vegan potluck last fall.

Many of us also like beer.

We all love pets!

Some of us like cooking, and some of us prefer convenience foods. Most of us like eating things.

I think everyone agrees that animal cruelty is wrong and evil. The big differences usually seem to be centered around what constitutes "cruelty" and whether it's OK sometimes. But I'd be willing to bet that nobody, vegan or omni, wants things like this to happen. (Warning: It's "Meet Your Meat". If you can't handle the truth, I'd advise not watching. But you should know that they don't even show the worst of it).

Puppies!

Kittens!

Baby chicks!

Shopping without having to scrutinize labels!

Vacations!

Surprisingly, pretty much everyone finds the higher-quality vegan sausages a perfectly satisfying substitute for the dead animal kind. Lightlife's "Gimme Lean", Trader Joe's Breakfast Patties, and all Field Roast products are examples of these alternatives.

Robots!

Monkeys!

Love!

I was going to add "sneezing" to the list, but my omni sweetie insists that I'm the only person who enjoys it, and that it's somehow weird. Hmph.

Presents!

Springtime!

Waking up in the morning and realizing, for whatever reason, you don't have to go to work that day!

Shoes!

Cupcakes!

Any other kind of cake!

People who make and deliver cake!

I've probably gone too far with the cake. Pies!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens (both totally vegan!!)

Bright copper kettles (vegan) and warm woolen mittens (not vegan but there ARE alternatives)!

I'm sure there are many other things, but that's probably enough for now...

Vegan Ice Cream Paradise

This nice lady has a fabulous blog all about making vegan ice cream. It's very easy, if you have an ice cream maker, and if you like ice-cream, you can save a lot of money by making your own. Here's the link:

http://veganicecream.blogspot.com/

She has evidently aroused the wrath of the self-appointed vegan patrol by creating Guinness Ice Cream. Guinness is not vegan, because it contains isinglass, which is made from the swim bladders of fish. I was actually going to say I would still try the Guinness Ice Cream anyway because it sounds so good, but the idea of eating fish bladder ice cream actually...grosses me out a little. I don't think she deserves to get attacked by angry vegans, though. She's totally right - being vegan isn't hard, and making it seem all nitpicky and fiddly doesn't encourage fence-sitting vegetarians to hop over into our yard.

(More surprisingly non-vegan things here: http://www.veganconnection.com/notvegan.html)

But wait! Couldn't I just use a vegan Guinness substitute? Here's a link about vegan and non-vegan beers:

http://www.satyamag.com/nov03/beerintro.html/

I'm sure I could find something suitable.

Flexing the Right Wing

In case you are reading this (all "none" of you) and thinking, "Aren't all vegans either hippies or tattoed, 30-something post-modern hipsters? If I become vegan, will I suddenly be seized by a desire to have a full-color tattooed sleeve on one arm, take up yoga, or live in a yurt in the forests of Vermont? Will I have to vote Democratic?"

The answer is, no, of course not.

"Will I have to associate with people like that?"

You might encounter them while grocery shopping.

"Aren't there any vegans who are fourth-generation cattle farmers from someplace like Montana, who served in the military and who aren't totally removed from the issues faced by America's farmers by their PhDs and their urban sensibilities? Someone who looks more like this:

??"

Why, yes! Yes, there are! Well, there's one. At LEAST one! And he wrote a book! And it's called "Mad Cowboy", and you should totally check it out!

http://www.madcowboy.com/

I have seen vegan web resources where people insist that being vegan and politically conservative at the same time isn't possible. I have also heard people insist that in order to be REALLY vegan, you have to be engaged in veganism as a political issue, because the factory farms and other institutions that perpetrate animal abuse are politically driven. But attempts to pin veganism down to a single definition have been hotly contested. There are no vegan police. There are some general areas of agreement: if you eat fish, drink milk, eat cheese, or partake of chicken, you're not vegan. You can't be "lacto-ovo-vegan". Some wear second-hand leather, others eschew all animal-based clothing. Lots of vegan people get really upset by vegans who support PETA or HSUS, because they advocate "less cruelty" instead of total abolition of the commodification of animals. And I totally agree with abolition as a goal. But I say, every little bit helps. Baby steps are still steps.

I suppose it's true that the typical Republican (I usually envision Dick Cheney) doesn't strike me as being particularly animal-friendly. But neither does the typical Democrat (I remember John Kerry going duck hunting during his campaign, the Clintons' dog got hit by a car because he was running around off-leash, and neither Obama nor Clinton is even vegetarian). Neither does the typical American.

But even having just 7% of Americans go vegetarian has made a huge difference in the public's awareness of vegetarianism, the availability of vegetarian options in stores and restaurants, and consciousness about animal rights issues. So heck, who cares why you're doing it, as long as you do SOMETHING. I think people of all political affiliations love animals and have a sense of right and wrong. Vegans, we have a lot of outreach to do, so let's reach with both hands.

Cows

Now, on to cows.

Dairy cows are slaughtered for meat. Their calves are taken away from them and subjected to brief lives of abject misery before being slaughtered as "veal". Using dairy products supports animal cruelty, factory farming, and the use of cows' skin for leather. This came up recently during the scandal surrounding the Hallmark Meat Packing plant. The surprising thing about this whole kerfuffle is that so many people didn't know dairy cows were also used for meat and leather.

Think about those misleading "happy cow" commercials for California cheese...THOSE COMMERCIALS ARE A LIE. The Hallmark plant is IN California. Those sick, abused, crippled, abject creatures being shoved with forklifts are the so-called "happy" dairy cows of California. I know it's not easy or comfortable to think about, or to live with. That's why so many people abstain from dairy - one of the easiest things in the world to do, since there are so many very reasonable replacements - soy, rice, almond, hazelnut, oat, and hemp milks are all available at most grocery stores.

Here's a take on this issue from An Animal Friendly Life:

http://ananimalfriendlylife.com/2008/01/yes-dairy-cows-are-slaughtered-for.html

And here's the original Washington Post article about the Hallmark Meat Packing plant:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR2008012903054.html

Pigs

I don't know if you are already aware of this...but pigs are really cool animals. "Science" has decided that pigs are pretty dang smart; ranking third in intelligence after primates and dolphins. Of course, people eat primates and dolphins, too.

I have never made very much headway trying to persuade people that they shouldn't eat pigs "just because" they're intelligent, sweet and interesting. After all, all animals have their strong points and it doesn't save them from being eaten, by humans or by any other animal.

I even have one colleague who has a very specific reason to eat pigs: she claims that while visiting a farm in England, she saw a group of farm pigs attacking and harassing a solitary, smaller pig. They were being kept in a small, miserably unclean enclosure. She claims that seeing these pigs behave so violently toward one another convinced her that pigs were fit only for food.

When I pointed out that by this logic, she should eat humans, since we're violent toward other humans all the time, she said it was different because people are intelligent. I told her that pigs' intelligence was comparable to that of a three-year old child, and she went back to the first argument, that they're violent and filthy.

Pigs don't choose to be filthy. Left to their own devices, they are actually meet human-like standards for sanitation, but since we force them to live in filthy conditions, they are filthy. Isn't this starting to seem like a circular argument? A pig is naturally intelligent and clean. We don't like to think that we eat intelligent and clean animals, so we force them to live in conditions so vile, they go mad with boredom and misery. We also make them live in filth. There. Now, pigs are fit to be eaten. It's a crazed, violent, filthy animal. We're morally justified if we choose to eat them.

I have just been visiting Pigs Peace Sanctuary on the web, and I cannot recommend it strongly enough if you're interested in pigs. What an amazing labor of love. Judy, the founder/director, also discusses many pigs' personalities, their incredible learning curve, and their sweetness toward people and each other. Here's a link: http://pigspeace.org/main/index.html

Believe me, I know I am bashing my head into a brick wall here. "I would be vegetarian except I can't live without bacon" is one of the most common excuses for perpetuating factory farming any vegan hears, second only to "I would go vegan except I can't give up cheese". The Secret Society of Vegans needs to appoint a drug czar to deal with these two omnivore addictions. Poor pigs.

Anyway, here's a link to the top ten reasons not to eat pigs:

http://www.goveg.com/f-top10pigs.asp

I want YOU to become a vegan!

Yes, I have an agenda, and I'm telling you about it up front. I want you to become a vegan. Choosing veganism is a decision that makes a big impact. It's almost like waking up one morning and discovering you've somehow become a superhero - except this is a power you've always had, a power you possess RIGHT NOW. You have the power to stand up for the little guy, to help the helpless, to actually fight evil! Your daily choices affect countless lives - and with that power comes with great responsibility.

You can step up and take that power any time you want to. It could start with little things, like choosing non-leather, vegan sneakers instead of leather ones. You could google "vegetarian restaurants" in your area and try them. You could check out some vegan or vegetarian cookbooks and start sampling recipes. You could just add this blog to your "favorites" list and check in from time to time.

This blog will offer inspiration, recipes, stories, and whatever else I can think of to encourage people to consider veganism seriously. I am a committed vegan, and in my normal interactions with friends, colleagues, acquaintances and family I never push veganism. I try to set an example by being a happy and healthy vegan person, and hope that by doing so I will encourage others. But I also want to offer a positive, encouraging resource for people who are open to the idea of becoming vegan. I'm sure I'm still too "radical" for some people...but if you give me a chance, maybe I'll persuade you that it's the Standard American Diet that's extreme.