Vegetarian vs. Vegan

Let’s talk eggs, milk and cheese, shall we?

We’ve all heard the speech about how we are the only species to drink the milk of another mammal blah blah blah. Yes, it’s true. Up until recently I thought that we were kind of doing dairy cows a favor. They eat thier grass and hay, they get full of milk and we milk them. They eat more grass and hay, produce more milk, and we milk them some more. It turns out there is more to this story.

Dairy cows do not just produce milk. Sure, thier name would insinuate that is what they do, just like laying hens lay eggs. (More on the eggs later) No, it turns out that dairy cows are not a specially bred type of cow that produce milk. Dairy cows, much like people, have to be pregnant to produce milk. So, the farmers who own the dairy cows have to make sure that, yup, you guessed it, the dairy cows stay pregnant. When the mommy cow finally has her calf, she does not get put in a nice little stall with her baby to nurse it. The baby gets taken away. They are fed by machines until they are old enough to either a) get turned into dairy cows (the girls) or b) get turned into veal (the boys) There was a story in a paper a while back where a mother cow broke out of it’s pen and travelled something like 3 miles to find her baby.

The mother cow is then milked. Not by nice warm hands that are gentle on her udders, but by a machine. The machine is attached to the cow and goes to work. This is done day after day. For those of you who have been pregnant, I’m sure you are well aware of what happens to the nipples after you’ve been nursing for a while. For those of you who haven’t been pregnant, I’m sure you have heard about it from your pregnant friends. The nipples get sore. They get dry. They crack. In some cases they may bleed a little. Cows experience the exact same thing. While we are lucky to be able to go to the drug store and buy a cream or salve to put on for this, cows don’t get that. Instead, day after day, they are hooked up to a machine and milked and any blood goes into that milk. This continues until mommy cow is ready to be pregnant again.

Consider that this milk is what your cheese is made out of. And ice cream. Each carton of milk, cream cheese, cheddar or ice cream is probably made the same way, with the same milk from these mass-produced dairys. With those cows, who don’t ever really get a break.

What kind of a sucky life is that? I have never been a huge fan of dairy, the odd ice cream in the summer, some cream cheese on my bagel, but I pay for it dearly as dairy is not my friend. Recently I switched to soy milk and it’s much easier on my tummy as well as my concience.

Onto the eggs. We all have the idea that our chickens are running around on a farm, they have a nice little henhouse where they each have thier own nest, and every day a nice farmer goes out to the henhouse while the chickens are out running around and gathers the eggs. It’s a nice thought, but not necessarily always true.

Imagine the inside of your stove. Now imagine 4 chickens in it. Now stack the inside of that stove with the 4 chickens 5 or 6 stoves high. That is where the majority of your eggs come from. The chickens are crammed in a small cage, fed crap food, and all they do is lay eggs. They have nowhere to sit or lay down, they have no dirt to go scratch in, no space to strech thier wings. They never get let out of the cage, and there are hundreds of these cages packed in a facility. This is why your grocery store can charge you only $1.99 for eggs.

Free run eggs are quite a bit different. Free run means that the chickens are not cooped up in cages. Normally they are kept in a big barn, they are able to run around, but there are also tons of other chickens in that same barn. It’s overcrowded, it smells bad, they ususally don’t get to go outside, but it’s a lot better than what is described above. These eggs cost a bit more than the $1.99 grocery store eggs.

Free range eggs are by far the best. Those chickens lead the good life. Especially if they are organic. They are fed good, whole grain. They have thier henhouse. They get to run outside and scratch in the dirt. Those are the eggs that cost the most. If you are lucky to have a local farmer’s market you can ususally get them for $4 or $5. Now, I know a lot of you will say that $5 is a lot to spend on eggs, but buy purchasing the $1.99 eggs, you are simply supporting the farms that cage thier chickens up 6 cages tall and 4 birds per cage. Not a good life.

Vegans have nothing to do with any animal product. No eggs, no dairy, no honey. No leather. Nothing. While I do still indulge in the above things, I am more careful with my choice. I only buy my eggs from my local market. I have never been a huge cheese fan, but try to buy that locally also, from the smaller farms that are able to hand milk thier cows and treat them well. 

I completely support those who have chosen a vegan lifestyle.  While I do not follow that lifestyle I am very aware of where the products I buy come from, and even though it’s not entirely cutting certain things out of my life, I feel that it’s important to be aware of where things come from, and then making the decisions that suit you and your lifestyle best.

It’s all in the choices that you make. Not everyone is able to get farm fresh eggs, not everyone can afford to buy small dairy farm milk and cheese. I get that. But being aware of what you are purchasing can make a world of difference. What if everyone refused to buy milk or eggs until the way the animals producing these things get changed? What if we all wanted our chickens to live the happy life with the farmhouse and the garden? What if we all took a stand and said that until our dairy cows are allowed to roam in a pasture of grass, get taken care of for thier sore udders and keep their babies beside them? It’s a small step, but money talks. By making decisions as to what and where you buy these things, gives you the power. The power to take the money away from the mass produced market that doesn’t care about the animal’s well being, and the power to support the people that do.

What’s your choice?

My Dog

I have been arguing with my husband about getting a dog since pretty much the day we met. I love animals. All animals. When we met I had one cat (Willow) and our relationship pretty much started when I convinced him that it would be a good idea to trap and adopt a feral cat that lived in the blackberry bushes by where he worked.

When we got married and were having the ‘are we going to have kids’ conversation, I told him that I would really be happy just getting  a dog. He (jokingly) said that if I signed a legal document saying that I didn’t want to have children I could get a dog that day. My reply? ‘You show me where to sign, I really don’t even like kids!!’ I don’t think that is quite what he was expecting, considering I had never really said anything about not being much of a kid person.

I didn’t get a dog the next day. Or the next month. I ended up getting 2 more cats over the next 4 years, and finally, finally when we bought our house 3 years ago, he agreed that I could get a dog ‘if the right one came along.’  Don’t get me wrong, he is a huge animal lover also, but he knows that if I am given any kind of leeway when it comes to getting one animal, I will come home with 2 or 3.

I was given a list of things that I agreed to adhere to in my dog search (housetrained, preferrably female, spayed, would rather not have a puppy, and that it had to be from a rescue agency or shelter somewhere)  I am flexible, I can work with what I’m given. And if it meant looking hard to find all those things in a dog, then I would do it.

Just before Christmas of last year I put in an application for a dog with the BC Poodle Rescue (www.bcpoodlerescue.ca)  She was a tiny little poodle, and met all of the things I had agreed to look for. It wasn’t to be though, as her foster mom had also applied to adopt her only days before.  They suggested I go look at another dog, she had come in from California and they thought it might be a good match. So, on my lunchbreak from work I drove out to Central Saanich to look at this dog. I had been told that she had kennel cough and was malnourished, but was not expecting it to be as bad as it was. The dog was literally skin and bones. She had no fat at all, and I could feel every bone in her body. Every rib, every vertebrae in her spine, I could even feel the joints where her body and legs met, where there is normally fat and muscle. It broke my heart. She was so timid, so shy, but I sat down on the floor and after about 5 minutes she came over and carefully climbed into my lap and pushed my hand with her nose so that I would pet her. I left the house thinking that she wasn’t my dog, she was too sick, too shy. I called my husband telling him that no, this was not our dog either. Then I spent the entire weekend stalking her picture on the website, making sure that she hadn’t been adopted. I went back to see her again the following week, told the foster mom that yes, I would be taking her, and made arrangements for picking her up on boxing day.

When I brought her home she had gained a small bit of weight, but was still really sick. The kennel cough wouldn’t go away, she was on heavy duty antibiotics, and my husband spent the first week of her life with us sleeping on the couch, so that I could sit up all night in bed with the dog who couldn’t stop coughing, wheezing, and throwing up.

Fast forward 6 months. Looking at pictures you would never know it is the same dog. Her kennel cough has completely dissappeared, despite the vet telling me that it was the worst case of kennel cough he had seen and she would probably always have a bit of a cough. Where I had to hand feed her, she now eats everything and anything in sight. She could barely stand, she now hikes with me and loves every minute of it. She used to be terrified of people, now she waites for people to come visit and see her. It is amazing what a bit of love can do. When we got Sasha, she had all but given up. When she came into Canada from the States, she couldn’t even stand. Her legs would not support her body. When we got her she was better, but not by much. Now she is living a happy and healthy life, and waking up each morning ready to take on the day.

You may ask what this has to do with being vegetarian. Directly, nothing. However it is simply and example of how people treat thier animals. Some people could care less. Others would go to great lengths to save the life of an animal, big or small. I am one of the latter. I have gone running down the street to rescue dogs that are running in traffic. 2 months ago I brought home a dog that I found wandering on my street. (He later got returned to his family) Regardless of if it is a dog, cat, cow, or pig, all creatures just want to live. They want to be happy, with full bellies, to be allowed outside to feel the sun and the wind on thier face. So how is it that we can put so much effort into saving some animals and making sure they are well cared for, well fed and loved, but then turn around and eat others for dinner?

Every now and then I falter, I think that maybe vegetarianism isn’t what I am cut out for, but I also remember why I am doing this. I don’t want to come across as preachy, telling everyone that they should not eat meat ever (it’s not my place to do that, and also it’s unrealistic) but if one person who reads this thinks that maybe they will choose a non-meat option for dinner, or braves a tofu dish, or even just nods thier head in agreement, then I will be a happy girl and it will make my journey even more worthwhile.

Chilli

This past week the company I work for had a chilli contest. People from all the different locations made different types of chilli, and then the staff could come and try it and judge it. A group of us decided to walk over to where this was taking place, which at first caused me a bit of anxiety. The chances of there being many vegetarian chillis were slim, as most chilli has meat. (duh)I went anyhow, thinking I would just try the veggie one(s) and leave it at that.

Things changed on the way over. It had been almost 2 months without meat, and I wanted to know if my opinion of meat had changed. So, I gave in and decided that I would try them all, meat or not.

The first one I tried was amazing. Lots of flavor, tasted fresh, was delicious!! I figured it wasn’t too bad, maybe cutting out meat hadn’t made the difference I thought it had. The food tasted fine!! I later learned that this first one was the lone vegetarian option. No wonder it tasted amazing.

The other ones all contained meat, anything from ground beef, bacon, steak, bison…..it was quite a selection. I only tried about a tablespoon of each of the meat chillis, and thank goodness for that. While the flavor was good, I couldn’t help but taste….well, meat. And after not eating it for a long time, it actually tastes kind of….rotten. Rancid. Icky. Bleck!!! By the time I got to the last table I was done. I was greatful for the bun they gave me to accompany the chilli (bison and beef sausage) and drank a ton of water.

On the walk back to work I noticed that my tummy had started to hurt. Not extreme pain, but kind of a dull throbbing, the kind that you would normally expect to have in your head. I felt extremely heavy and uncomfortable, but the real surprise came the next morning.  Since I had cut out meat I usually wake up before the alarm goes off, I snuggle my dog for a bit, and then get up and take her for a walk before I begin my day. I noticed this change about a week and a half after cutting out meat, and since I am not a morning person at all, was pleasantly surprised by it. I thought maybe it was just because of the change in season and weather, but no. It was the meat.

The morning after the chilli was like the darkest dawn I had ever felt. I did not want to get up, hit snooze repeatedly, and barely made it to work on time. It was not a good feeling. The dog did not get her walk, my husband had to help me get organized and out the door, and all day I felt off. It took about a day and a half before I started feeling ‘normal’.

The positive thing is that this just re-confirmed my decision to not eat meat. Clearly it is not my friend.

Easy French Bread Pizza

This is one of the easiest dinners I know to make….and so tasty too!! I like to add a fresh green salad or a bowl of soup on a rainy day, but sometimes I am lazy and just have the pizza.

What you Need:

1 loaf of french bread (the bigger kind, not a baguette)

Tomato sauce (or paste, whichever you prefer. I like tomato paste as it is thicker.)

Basil, oregano, or any other spice you like to put on your pizza. I like Epicure’s pizza seasoning too.

A nice selection of pizza toppings. I ususally like roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, roasted asparagus, zucchini and onions, green peppers (not roasted) mushrooms, I have yet to try the veggie pepperoni, but have heard it’s not too bad. This is good for carnies too, my husband prefers his half to have pepperoni, bacon, ham and green pepper. Also the odd sundried tomato.

Cheese (either regular or soy)

What you Do:

Preheat your oven to 350.

Cut the french bread in half longwise. I like to toast mine in the oven before I put all the sauce and toppings on, it usually takes about 10 minutes. If you are doing this you will need to watch it carefully, as once it starts to turn that yummy golden brown color, it doesn’t take long to burn. Also it helps to put the bread on cookie sheets. You don’t have to do this, but it just gives it a bit more flavor and crunch.

Once the toasted bread comes out of the oven, spread the tomato sauce or paste evenly over the 2 halves of bread. Top with basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and whatever tasty spices you have decided to add. (make sure you add the spices before you add the toppings….I have done this backwards  a few times and it’s not nearly as tasty)

Add your toppings and load up with the cheese.

Put the 2 halves of bread on a cookie sheet (you may need two sheets) and bake for about 20 – 25 minutes, until the cheese is all melty.

When you take it out of the oven, let it sit for about 5 minutes before cutting it into slices. This lets the cheese firm up a bit so you don’t end up with a mouthful of only toppings, and a handful of soggy bread.

Re-meating.

So, with summer coming and all, I realized today that I kind of miss meat.  Not the meat its self, because really, the idea of meat doesn’t really interest me, I think it’s more the idea of meat. Summer comes, you throw a steak on the bbq, it smells super tasty, and then you crack open a beer……yum.

There isn’t a whole lot that I have discovered that you can do that would give you that same feeling. Don’t get me wrong, when I ate meat I quite enjoyed it. A good hamburger, a nice grilled chicken breast, they were all very tasty. And so many options. You could marinate them in pretty much anything for a long time, throw it on the bbq and in 20 minutes, dinner.

It’s not quite the same when it’s a veggie skewer. I mean, yes, you are outside, you can have your beer and wine, but it’s not quite the same as a steak.  I had kind of a small meltdown today while walking through Winners and announced to my husband that I was going back to eating meat. Well, if he wasn’t a fan of my not eating meat when it started, he has definitely changed his tune. He turned around and began telling me that no, I was NOT going back to eating meat. Not after all the changes he has seen in the last month. No, he decided that I was definitely not going back to eating meat. So, the decision was made….I am still not going back to meat.

Although, I have no idea what I will do when summer actually comes and bbq season is upon us……I guess I will deal with that when it happens.

Sugar Fix

So, I fell off the wagon this past weekend. Things were going great until Saturday night, when I gave into my craving and went to the store for a bag of candy. (Love those sours!!)

I’m sure part of the cravings stems from my just having finished writing a fairly major exam, and I decided that one small bag of 5-cent candies wouldn’t hurt. Oh boy was I wrong.

I felt so incredibly sick after eating them (I only bought $2 worth!) and the next morning was my tummy ever angry at me. Not only that but I felt tired, was kind of irritable throughout the day, and just seemed to be….run down.

I know that everyone had said that I would notice a difference, but I didn’t realize how much sugar was affecting me!  My husband and I went on a mission when we went grocery shopping this past week, the mission being to find foods that were sugar free or had very little sugar in it. Juice? No. Jam? Uh-uh. Crackers? Nope. Even the stuff that said ‘No sugar added’ was still ridiculously high!!!! I was blown away. Juice was by far the worst. Then cookies, followed by jams and jellies.

Changing how I eat has definitely made me more aware of these types of things, but it still amazes me to see that the things I thought were healthy are far from it!