Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Oprah's vegan challenge, other peoples recipes

I'm pretty sure that a lot of the vegan bloggers out there watched the Oprah episode yesterday about the 7 day vegan challenge. If you didn't watch it, you probably heard about it. I'm torn with how I feel about the episode. I think that the exposure for veganism is great. So many people have seen that episode-and will see it- who didn't even know what a vegan diet was. This is great. And the fact that Cargill allowed cameras inside their factory farm is huge. People need to be able to see where their food comes from. There was good information on the episode from Kathy Freston about the vegan diet. That's what I like about the episode.

Now what I wasn't so fond of was the fact that Cargill didn't allow everything that happens to be shown. If people are going to eat meat then they should know exactly how it goes from being a live animal to a steak on their plates. But maybe that's just how I feel about it. I also wasn't very fond of Michael Pollan's input on the show. I have read Omnivore's Dilemma and I found it extremely informative. But I would appreciate it if Pollan wouldn't go on Oprah and advocate meat, which is exactly what he did. Yes he eats meat, and yes that's his personal choice, but he says that he only eats humanely raised meat from small farmers. I wish he would have clearly stated this on the show. He did mention the plight of small farmers and how they need support but he didn't go so far as to talk about his own personal choice to only eat meat from these types of farms. Instead, he talked about how some meat in the diet is fine which will lead viewers to think that Pollan is saying the fast food hamburgers they've been eating are fine. This is also my very personal opinion but Kathy Freston takes an extremely welfarist view on animal rights while I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I'm not to the extreme that some militant activists are, but I'm definitely not a welfarist. So when Freston said that eating meat was alright, it irked me. I know that the general public responds well to acceptance and I understand why Freston takes that approach, but you can express your views on animal rights and veganism without preaching or being pushy.

Still, it's about exposure, so I'm happy that Oprah aired this episode.

The other day I made some more of Averie's No Bake Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls with High Protein Option. I've been avoiding peanuts and peanut butter though so I used homemade almond butter instead. Delicious!

I also made another recipe from a blogger. I made the Pecan Spice Delight Cookies from Kristen's Raw. I shaped these into balls as well and stored them in the fridge like I do the cookie dough balls. These were really good! They would have been great for a raw dessert option over the holidays.

I've been attempting (again) to incorporate more raw foods into my diet. I feel a lot better when I do and find that my digestion is easier. This has resulted in me drinking a lot of smoothies. Delicious! I'm trying to work towards eating mostly raw foods but the weather here makes it hard and the fact that we don't have organic produce. It is very limited. We have a wonderful farmer's market during the spring and summer but the selection disappears once winter is here.

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