Compassionate Cooks
Food for Thought - Vegetarianism and Animal Rights
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Eating for World Peace
In today's episode, I read an excerpt from a very special book called The World Peace Diet, written by Will Tuttle. Will is one of these amazing people who uses his compassion and wisdom in order to create the world we all envision - a world of peace and kindness and nonviolence and high consciousne …
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Celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving Without Compromising Your Values
When we closely examine the traditions of such holidays as Thanksgiving and Halloween, we see that we can honor their deeper meanings while still honoring our ethics and our values. Much of what informs our consciousness about these holidays is myth, which is fine. It???s fine to use myth to create …
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Response to: "Eating meat is my personal preference, and since I respect your choice not to eat mea …
This is a common comment that seems fair enough on the surface, but what if we dug a little deeper?
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What about the insects killed for plant production - don't you care about them (and other tenuous a …
Join me as I address some of the tenuous arguments against vegetarianism. The arguments that try to catch vegans in some kind of state of hypocrisy are particular favorites of mine, such as accusing them of torturing plants or not caring about insects. "Don't do nothing because you can't do everythi …
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Celebrating the Rituals of Halloween and Thanksgiving Without Compromising Your Values
When we closely examine the traditions of such holidays as Thanksgiving and Halloween, we see that we can honor their deeper meanings while still honoring our ethics and our values. Much of what informs our consciousness about these holidays is myth, which is fine. It???s fine to use myth to create …
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The Lottery
In her 1948 short story, "The Lottery," about the annual selection of a sacrificial victim in a small American town, Shirley Jackson makes a powerful statement about humanity???s tendency to cling blindly to meaningless rituals and participate in pointless violence. In my many years as an animal adv …
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The Burden of Burros
Today I want to talk to you about an animal who has, over the centuries, gone from exalted to vilified. An animal that many people have never met but one who has been much maligned and humiliated on film, in literature, and in our language. An animal that is affected by the daily choices we make but …
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Poetry's Plea for Animals
Several years ago, I happened upon an amazing book called Poetry???s Plea for Animals: An Anthology of Justice and Mercy for our Kindred in Fur and Feathers. It???s a collection of poems about animals and about the plight of animals who are at the mercy of humans. It published in 1927 and contains s …
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Living Among Meat-Eaters - Part II
In Part I of this topic, I talked about the importance of perceiving non-vegetarians as "blocked vegetarians" to help us cope in "mixed relationships." And of course the relationships to which I???m referring are not just romantic. Mixed relationships include those between friends, co-workers, famil …
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The Fall of the Excuse-itarians (or The Emperor is Naked!)
I'm thrilled to report that another voice has just pierced the "sustainable/humane meat" illusion - and what a voice! B.R. Myers, a book critic for the Atlantic Monthly magazine, has written a fiercely honest criticism of Michael Pollan???s book in the September 2007 issue of the magazine, and I rea …
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The Rise of the Excuse-itarians (or The Emperor's New Clothes)
I've heard every excuse in the book for eating animals, but I've yet to hear a convincing reason. The consumption of meat, dairy, and eggs is so ritualized, rationalized, disguised, and romanticized that an entirely new group of people has emerged: the "excuse-itarians." These are the people who spe …
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Living Among Meat-Eaters - Part I
Many a vegetarian has been on the receiving end of jokes, jibes, digs, insensitive quips, and cruel comments, and though it can be hard not to take it personally, the truth is all of these insensitive reactions have nothing to do with you. They reflect a resistance on the part of the non-vegetarian …
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A Mother's Tale
Today's episode is longer than usual but only because I thought it was worth sharing this little known but heartbreakingly beautiful short story written by American novelist, journalist, and poet James Agee in 1952. You can read this story on many levels, and many critics judge it as pure allegory, …
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The High Costs of Cheap Meat
This episode debunks the claim that a "vegan diet is more expensive than a non-vegetarian diet" by looking at a cost comparison of the equivalent amount of animal versus plant protein, by looking at the government subsidies that make food artificially cheap, and by looking at costs that go beyond me …
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Motherhood & Maternal Instincts
Despite our desperate attempt to remove ourselves from our non-human brethren, we are animals, and we have a lot more animal instincts than we like to admit. Every woman will tell you that her drive to protect her young - what we call maternal instinct - is pure and fierce and real. We even call it …
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All About Tofu
In today's episode we talk all about this delicious, nutritious food: its history, its versatility, and how it's made. Undergoing a process that resembles the production of dairy-based cheese, tofu has many advantages over its animal-based cousin, namely that no calf is harmed in the making of it. T …
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Acts of Forgiveness - What Humans Can Learn from Non-Human Animals
Joanna Lucas is a gifted and beautiful writer who devotes much of her time and talent to the Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary in Colorado (www.peacefulprairie.org). Joanna knows all the animals at the sanctuary intimately and writes about them on the Peaceful Prairie blog. In today's episode, I read Joann …
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Animal Advocacy and Emotional Stress
Learning about the atrocities committed against non-human animals is very painful and can leave us full of sorrow and hopelessness. In today???s episode, I???d like to address how to cope with the pain of the awareness of animal suffering and also how to be an effective advocate for animals. These t …
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A Visit to Two "Free-Range" Egg Facilities
Join me as we journey to two different egg-laying facilities who label their eggs "organic, free-range, and cage-free" and discover that, though the hens may not be in "battery cages," everything else remains the same.
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BBQs, Burgers, and Backyard Bites
In this episode, I talk about what it's like to be a vegetarian at a non-vegetarian BBQ, tell you a little story about when I was on the Food Network, and share some specific ideas about what to serve at a BBQ: ideas for the grill (including vegetable skewers, marinated eggplant, polenta with pesto, …
Compassionate Cooks
