VegBlogger - a vegan / vegetarian blog

Tal Ronnen Tells LA Times "Be a vegan who eats bacon"

As if we don't have enough confusion about what a "vegan" is and what they do and don't eat, famed chef  
Tal Ronnent added to the confusion today.

He was featured in an article in the LA Times, which you can see here. Here's a quote from him:

"So many people tell me, 'I could be a vegan if it weren't for bacon,' and I tell them, 'Be a "vegan" who eats bacon,'" Ronnen says with a shrug as he sits in the sun-dappled dining room of his loft in downtown Los Angeles.

And another...

"Real militant vegans hate when I say that. But if you are cutting back on the amount of meat that you eat, you're still doing something great for your health, for the planet and for the animal."

So... I guess if you think that being a vegan does not ever include eating bacon, you are then considered to be "militant." Nice. I guess you could also replace "bacon" with any number of things one would not want to give up to actually be a vegan. Such things as hamburgers, steak, lobster, etc. Is it just bacon that gets a pass, or is any meat of choice? In his mind you can be a "vegan" and still include a particular meat item in your diet. Just forget about those "militant vegans" who think that a vegan really doesn't eat any animal products.

Seriously? Grr.

Are people doing better by giving up all other meat and just eating bacon? That would depend on how often they are eating it! If it's only once in a while, and they are not eating any other animal products, then I would say yes, they are doing good for their health. And they may be causing less harm to animals, but they are not doing good for the animal that they are eating. Plus, they are causing more confusion about what a vegan is and what they do and don't eat.

When I meet people and they ask me if I still eat bacon, hamburger or some other piece of meat I am surprised that they would even think something like that. But articles like this will keep that question coming, because some do it and others are telling some to do it!

I don't know, I guess I'm one of those "militant vegans" that thinks bacon has no place in a vegan diet. How about you?

My son's 5th birthday party - all vegan

A couple of months ago, while kicking ideas around for my son's 5th birthday party, he told me he wanted to have a Spiderman bounce house party and that he wanted it all vegan. Yesterday, we pulled it off!

I ordered a vegan Spiderman cupcake cake from a local vegan bakery, called Sweetsies, and made a variety of vegan foods. I made mac and cheese bites for the kids (recipe can be found here), cold pasta salad, watermelon, hummus and chips, and raisins on a log. We also rented a Spiderman bounce house (along with picnic tables and a sno-cone machine) from The Jumpy Place. Everything turned out great and the party was a lot of fun!

Here's some pictures from the party (the last picture is of the party bags that we handed out to each kid at the end, and what was in them):

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

My spirit has been renewed...

For a lot of people, I think when you have been an activist for a while you can become burned out. I don't know if that is the right term for how I have felt over the last few months, but I was beginning to wonder if I should throw the towel in on all my efforts to try and get people to think more about their treatment to animals in our society.

Ever since I had read the book "Change of Heart," I have felt like I have been wasting my time all these years and that maybe my efforts would be better spent doing something completely different. Something that didn't involve trying to teach people about having compassion for animals. Then, just when I was about to give it up, a few things happened that have renewed my activist spirit.

Here are some of the those thing (in no particular order):

• My son told me that he wanted his birthday party to be completely vegan. It is the first time I've thrown a birthday party for either of my kids (because they were too young before to know enough people to attend). I was thrilled! So I have planned a vegan birthday party for his 5th birthday, which will take place next Wednesday (I will blog about it!).
• At the library this past weekend there were about 40 people that came out, with their children, to learn more about having compassion for animals. I was happy to see so many people interested in learning more, thanking us for holding such an event, and learning more about veganism.
• Each time we hold an event at the library I take some samples of our vegan food out to one of the librarians. I have chatted with her at the library for years, but veganism never came up until holding these events. When I went to take her food at this last one she happily said to me that she and her daughter had both gone vegan! She told me how they had replaced their meat with alternatives and were not missing the meat at all. I was thrilled! She also asked if we had some literature she could have (and boy did I), so I gave her a stack of one of everything we had (which included brochures, a video, and more). She said if I hadn't been holding the events it never would have happened. Success!
• A friend of mine, of whom I have spoke to about vegetarianism and provided her with a goodie bag of info on the topic, has recently celebrated her six month meat-free anniversary and is going strong!
• Leo's post at ZenHabits about "When Being Whow You Are Challenges the Norms."

So there you have it. Some things that have helped me find renewed interest and spirit in pushing on and helping to spread the message. A message of having campassion for animals.

Do you ever start to feel burned out? If so, what picks you back up to keep up the good fight?