Wow, that was exciting. If you have been following my Meatless Mondays misadventures, you know this isn’t one of those hoity toity Meatless Monday blogs that boasts creative ethnic fusion recipes. Maybe one day it will be, but for now this blog just chronicles my journey to a new way of life.
I’ve always admired vegans and vegetarians, but when I think about being a vegetarian or a vegan, I always become fixated on what I’m losing. Without beef, that’s no more burgers or all-beef hot dogs. What will I do on the Fourth of July? Without pork, there’s no bacon, pepperoni or wonton soup. Going without chicken, fish and seafood would be the toughest hurdle.
So what gave me the push to consider vegetarianism? It was the New York Times best-selling book “Skinny B*tch.” The covers says it’s “a no-nonsense tough- love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous!” I can’t say that I recommend this book because it’s unnecessarily crude. But the short chapters make it a great book for reading on the bus.
The book covers information on chemical additives, animal cruelty, the environment and many other topics. The “Dead, Rotting, Decomposing Flesh Diet” chapter covered the mass execution processes and goes into gruesome detail about instances of struggling animals avoiding death on the kill floor and consequently being burned, skewered, and cut while alive.
In “The Dairy Disaster” chapter, the authors describe how the metal clamps attached to the cow’s sensitive udders often injure the cows. Their udders become infected and pus gets into the milk. Though I don’t accept everything in this book as fact or as a common occurrence, this description was enough to make me want to reduce my dairy intake. (I’m lactose-intolerant anyway. Why am I fighting nature in the first place?)
The book’s authors recommended Rice Dream as a milk replacement. I’m pretty picky about soy milk and only enjoy the sweetened kind I’ve had on the West Coast in Chinese stores. So, I decided to try rice milk.
Rice Dream and Special K With Red Berries for Breakfast on Meatless Monday week #5It was pretty good! I can’t imagine drinking it, but to be fair, I don’t drink milk either. You should know that I take my cereal with skim milk, so the transition to the watery, somewhat starchy and sweet drink was easier. I don’t know how this would work in recipes, but it sure complemented my Special K with red berries.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has a great list of snacks and common packaged foods that are vegan. It includes Duncan Hines brownie mix, Pillsbury pizza dough, Oreo cookies and a few Progresso soups.
For lunch I’m having baby carrots sans peanut butter (shucks). On the bus going to work I realized that Jif creamy peanut butter contains mono- and diglycerides, which could be rendered from cows or pigs. I don’t see a clear answer if it is or isn’t vegan, so I’ll have to skip over regular Skippy and Jiff.
I added a tabbouli salad from Kassab’s to my lunch. A tabbouli salad contains chopped parsley, green onions, tomatoes, cracked wheat, lemon, oil and spices. It’s served with pita bread, which I understand is vegan-friendly.
Tabouli Salad, pita and chips for Meatless Monday week #5
So, that’s two meals down. Just dinner to go, and that’ll be the most challenging because I’m going home to my mom’s cooking...
Post and photos by Estelle Tran
No comments:
Post a Comment