let's give 'em something to talk about (link party)

A friend of mine posted an article on facebook today about how useless a college education is, sparking a short but lively interaction between friends in the comment section.  The main point of the article is that institutions of higher education are outdated, obsolete.  They are expensive wastes-of-time and in the end, the bearer of a degree benefits little from that time and money spent.  I have my own mixed feelings toward this article.

On the one hand, I did go to college.  I even went to grad school and was 2/3 through my Masters degree before taking a leave of absence that turned into dropping out altogether.  I am still paying off my Bachelors degree but I haven't worked in "my field" since 2003.  I may still be paying off the degree I didn't get when I entered graduate education (can't differentiate that debt from leftover wedding debt with some travel/moving debt mixed in for good measure).  So, to sum it up, I am many thousands of dollars in debt for a degree and a half that I'm not using.

On the other hand, I think there is a great deal more learning that goes on in higher education than what is summarized on that nifty piece of paper you get when you wear a black robe under a hot May sun for a few hours.  Do I regret that I haven't worked in "my field" in over 8 years?  Somewhat.  Do I regret what I eventually got my degree in?  Sometimes, and more frequently lately.  Do I feel I would have gotten as far as I've gotten professionally without a degree?  No.  No, I do not.

Every time I've engaged in a job search over the last 10 years, any job I had any interest in pursuing was quite clear on the necessity of a college degree.  Some have been content with a 2-year degree, others have stated that a 4-year degree is "preferred."  Besides just having a degree to have a degree, I think I learned a lot more during my time in the classroom.

I learned how to think.
I learned how to ask questions.
I learned how to communicate to various levels of understanding.
I learned how to expand my vocabulary; I learned how to "dumb it down" for accessibility.
I learned how to juggle work, school, and social life.
I learned about a big world I didn't know existed - I was extraordinarily fortunate to go to two schools who placed a heavy emphasis on multi-culturalism and learning from "the other."
I learned how to play nice with people who weren't like me.
I learned how to reach deep inside myself and find something I held in common with "the other."
I learned how to see the world, or just my little city, through the eyes of someone completely unlike me.

I learned how to cooperate.  I learned how to love.  I learned.

So, regardless of my current profession being as far from "my field" as possible, I have always been and continue to be ineffably grateful for the 9 years I spent in institutions of higher learning.  I learned a lot from the books, but I learned a lot from the people and the experience as well.

My college and grad school were very focused on social justice, equality, and leaving the world a better place than it was when you entered.  The world around us is making it very difficult to carry out the last one, but I have no doubt that my classmates are continuing to strive toward that goal as much as I am.  By being part of that culture, surrounded by that ethos for nearly a decade of my life, my mind is irreversibly changed.  I was privileged, sheltered, and myopic as an adolescent.  Being a part of that new world helped to shape me into a pensive, globally-conscious, action-oriented adult.

My decision to give up meat had very little to do with the suffering of animals, but rather, it was focused on the degradation of our world - environmentally, nutritionally, and socially - which can be traced to the meat industry.  My husband became a vegetarian first and I thought he was crazy - life without meat, cheese, milk, etc, was absolutely foreign to me and I was not comfortable with it at all.  I asked him why he chose that route and his long, thoughtful answer appealed completely to the part of me that mourns for the exploitation rampant in poorer areas of the world, poorer areas of our own country, state, 25-mile radius.  It was the slow realization that I was contributing to the poverty and hunger of other human beings by indulging in luxuries like filet mignon on a pretty regular basis that led me to declare "Never again," as two-thirds of a perfectly good piece of meat slid off of my plate and into the waiting garbage can.

The USDA (in all their hallowed, pure-intentioned, unconflicted-interest glory) released the new My Plate, to replace the food pyramid as the new guide for how Americans should eat.  This has led to a number of editorials, blogs, and tweeted musings about the influences that shaped the Plate and whether it accomplished any good whatsoever.

Mama Pea stirred up quite a discussion with her post - I encourage you to read not only the post but also the comments.  Her readers are an insightful and generally well-educated bunch.  Someone who was interested in doing so could learn a whole lot of good information from these comments.  I know I did.

Nutrition and healthy eating are nearly constantly on my mind.  I work for one of the top three weight loss programs in the nation as one of the people who train incoming new hires as well as "uptraining" the present corps of employees on new policies, guidelines, or other relevant information.  This can be, on limited occasion, extremely rewarding.  Most of the time, it is heart-rendingly frustrating.  Because I have put so much time into understanding my own relationship with food and the way that it fuels my body and propels my life, I take for granted that other people also think of these things.  I am guilty of crawling back into my own little world and neglecting the evidence of the much larger world out there.  It is astonishing how little people know about food, nutrition, and how to not kill themselves.

A few times, I have thought it would be humorous to devote an entire post or two to some of the bizarre things my new hires or present employees say to me in trainings.  While these things are kind of funny in retrospect, as a "I can't wait to tell Mister about this one" kind of thing, they are horrifying when they actually occur because they remind me how much I take for granted in my own life.  Here are some highlights:

There was the employee who was truly surprised that chicken would not be included on our vegetarian program. [click here for the full story]

There was the hot dog vendor who was personally offended by my tofu pups.

There was the woman who explained that vegetarians have to eat a lot of food that's been enriched with protein to help them "fight the cravings."  I was too busy being horror-stricken to ask her what vegetarians were craving that they needed protein in large quantities to ward off.

That same employee, only minutes later also explained that vegetarians don't get enough nutrients, which is why "they all have that weird skin color."  Mister and I had a field day with this one.  That weird skin color?  We weren't sure whether she meant that healthy glow that comes from eating foods that are good for you or the absence of red-flushed cheeks/face that indicate hypertension.

Another new hire nearly laughed himself into a coma trying to figure out why we would even need a vegetarian weight loss program since "those people" don't eat anything.  On the one hand, I'm glad he was able to recognize that eating animals contributes to the obesity rampant in our nation.  On the other hand, I explained to him that there are a great many things that are vegetarian-safe but will make you fat: potato chips, cake, french fries (not from McDonalds), most candy; I finished by pointing out that Alec Baldwin is a vegetarian.  I didn't need to say the rest.

I don't share these stories to make fun of the "stars," rather, to show what I believe is a relatively common ignorance about healthy eating.  It's so much more convenient to eat whatever McDonald's tells you is healthy or pick the lowest calorie treat in Starbucks' pastry case than it is to think of balance.  Pizza and drive-thru burgers are so much easier than working all day and then cooking a meal from scratch.  I totally get that and there are times I feel the same way.

So, although I feel the USDA is hopelessly corrupt and has been bought out by Big Meat/Dairy, I do think the Plate is a babystep in the right direction - at least it shows that half the plate should be taken up by fresh whole foods like fruit and vegetables.  Even though protein represented by meat and dairy are considered an essential part of your daily meals, at least the protein portion is smaller than the rest.  People don't know enough, generally, about nutrition or the corruption of those who feed us (so to speak) to make an educated decision, so if this will give them a little tap in the right direction (portion control, anyone?), I'm all for it.  Paradigms are not shifted overnight and the veg movement is definitely gaining ground.  We'll get there.

In the meantime, may I suggest two in-depth articles for your reading pleasure?

On the Huffington Post, Nil Zacharias explores The Inconvenience of Being Vegan.  He provides a lot of really good information in a completely accessible and readable format.  He incorporates humor but knows when to turn more serious to make his point.  He also includes a ton of links so interested readers can get more information.

At ZenHabits, the writer explores the myth that soy is bad for you in some way.  I was fortunate to find this post immediately after one of my new hires expressed concerns his son had raised to him about soy, resulting in the young man's refusal to eat anything with soy.  When I say "anything," I mean this young man is reading labels as closely as a vegan looking for casein.  This is a well-written and comprehensive answer to him buying into the anti-soy propaganda circulated, not surprisingly, by Big Meat and Big Dairy....

I meant to tell you how much I enjoyed the Rice Island Casserole from Vegan on the Cheap tonight, but I think too much.

the fruitier side of Atkins

I'd like to start by saying that the Atkins diet and fruit couldn't possibly put too much more distance between each other - did you know that you can't even eat an apple until you've nearly reached your weight loss goal?

I've made my feelings about the Fadkins diet pretty clear over the course of multiple snide remarks snuck into myriad posts, so I'm not going to babble on too long about what a horrible diet it is and how backwards the "nutrition" is.  I would like to state, though, that there is something very wrong with a diet that tells you not to eat lean cuts of animal (oops, I mean meat) and not to pull the skin off of that animal (let that sink in), and that if you really feel like you must do one of those things, for heaven's sake, add a pat of butter (not margarine, even) to your vegetables (God forbid they escape the fat-fest unscathed) to "make up for it."  Don't believe me?  Check it out for yourself - prepare to be horrified.

Actually, I spent a large part of my day today in a horrified state.  The time I wasn't horrified was spent in confusion, I think.  In order to more thoroughly equip my new hires to answer objections to our weight loss program, I was doing research to update our competitor comparisons.  Some of our competitors impressed me, to a point of near-disappointment in our own program.  Others mystified me in that way in which you don't know whether to be more impressed with the skill of the snake oil vendor or the stupidity of his patrons.  I've settled for a contemplative place in between.

Against my better judgment, though, I found myself surprised and impressed with one "improvement" or innovation taken on by the folks behind the Atkins diet.  They have assembled a group of chefs to create Atkins-friendly/approved recipes.  This is nearly identical to something my company launched this Diet Season, but is still in the preliminary stages of development....but hey, 2012 should be a great year...as long as the world doesn't screech to a halt on May 21st.  Anyway, I was intrigued by something on their chefs' page - something I didn't think could possibly be reckoned to a meat-and-fat-oriented diet: Mark Reinfeld, of The 30 Minute Vegan fame is one of the chefs.

That's right.  Vegan Atkins.  Does that blow your mind as much as it blows mine?  I spent the rest of the day pondering that one.

So, it seemed only fitting to make Pasta Florentine, from 30MV, for dinner tonight.

This could actually be a meal in The Twenty Minute Vegan, if such a book existed, because it really doesn't take 30 minutes.  Do you want to know what took me the longest in making this dish?  Boiling the pasta water.  The rest is such a snap, whether you use organic frozen spinach (highly recommend) or fresh spinach.  I love the "cheesy" sauce, and I especially love how Mister eats it all up without realizing that the source of the savory is nutritional yeast, not cheese.  I also like how the strength of the nooch's flavor covers up the "soyness" of the milk.  I can't really taste it, but Mister can, so whenever I can cover it up, I do.

Well, time to clean up...right after I spend a little quality time with the slice of Apple Spice Coffee Cake that's been whispering to me the whole time I've been typing...

five days of freedom

My boss must think I'm a complete lunatic.  At the end of today, I absolutely lost it - I started laughing uncontrollably and could not stop.  My eye is still twitching.  I was so tightly wound today that I almost couldn't focus.  I didn't realize exactly how high-strung I was, though, until the day ended and the magnificent realization that I was finished until Monday whether I wanted to be or not set in and I felt such incredible relief that all I could do was laugh like a maniac.

I'm blatantly ignoring that I still have obligations for the next two days - at least they are happy reunions with loved ones, which may require effort of travel and a bit of energy, but at least I'm not bent over my desk, frowning at my computer, and trying to map out this logistical nightmare.

Mister didn't feel like eating and I can't honestly say that I was all that interested in cooking by the time I got home, so I reheated my Cajun dinner and poured a glass of wine (surprised?  only if you're new...).  Mister gave me a present:

ironic, don't you think?

Now, before I pour my second glass of Centine SuperTuscan, I'm going to jump on an unfamiliar bandwagon.  Jess of Get Sconed! recently posted the "epic veganmofo survey" from the Post Punk Kitchen forums.  I enjoyed reading her responses, so I thought in the absence of some smarta$$ comments about how awesome my dinner was, I would publish the survey here with my responses.  Hopefully, I'm interesting enough that you'll read it, but otherwise, I'm sure I'll have some fun things to write about after Thanksgiving with the In-Laws tomorrow evening, so you can skip this and I'll see you tomorrow!

EPIC VeganMoFo survey

What's your favorite spice or spice blend? Unquestionably McCormicks Gourmet Garam Masala.  They have the blend of spices perfected to the point I would travel across the country to acquire more (even though there are apparently stores in Philadelphia that stock it...just not near me).

You have $20 to spend on fresh groceries and produce for the whole week (with a fairly well stocked pantry of dry goods, legumes, grains, and spices). What do you buy?  2lb bag of carrots, bunch of kale, mixed olives, bananas, apples, a bunch of asparagus, and whatever's left goes to bell peppers.

What's your favorite way to make tofu?  marinated and pan-seared

Vegan guilty pleasure?  chocolate

If you could make anyone vegan, who would it be?  my Father-in-law, because it would be a two-fer.  He and his wife have a very harmonious relationship and I believe if he became vegan, she would follow.  Also, he appreciates the finer things in life, so I can imagine the great conversations and shared meals we would appreciate together.

If you could only read one other vegan blog, what would it be?  Oh no...I hate this question!  Even though it's subjective, I don't think there's a right answer!  probably Peas and Thank You.

Were you always interested in cooking, or did veganism change the way you saw and interacted with food?  I couldn't boil water without burning it before I stopped eating animals.  Veganism is one of two things that completely changed my interaction with food - Clean Eating Magazine (unfortunately, full of dead animals) is the other.

Excluding analogues, what new things have you tried that you probably wouldn't have as an omni?  Good heavens - almost everything - french fries were my favorite vegetable as an omni - but I'm going to have to go with Brussels Sprouts, Delicata Squash, and eggplant.

What is the one vegan staple that everyone seems to love, but you can't get behind?  mushrooms.  can't stand 'em.

What was your first "wow, I'm such a stereotypical vegan" moment?  when I started calling "meat" by its animal names to get a reaction and help omni-friends "see the light."

First recipe you veganized? I can't, in good conscience, say pasta sauce, since I think it should always be animal-free.  So, instead I'll say...well, probably Colleen's tofu lasagna, but I didn't actually veganize it, so instead I'll point to my mother's best friend's aunt's casserole.

What would you like to veganize, but haven't yet? I would like to successfully veganize my mother's best friend's aunt's casserole.  Also, I would like to completely veganize one holiday dinner, but that will have to wait until we have a home large enough to actually host a holiday dinner.

Favorite kitchen utensil/appliance?  Favorite utensil? my garlic press.  Favorite appliance? definitely the food processor.

Most disastrous kitchen failure?  I don't like to fail, so even if a recipe seems to be going in a disastrous direction, I can usually turn it around since I'm an ultra-anal perfectionist, so I'm happy to say my biggest "failure" was a pizza that had no interest in behaving like pizza...since there was no cheese/Daiya to hold everything together.

First vegan cookbook?  How It All Vegan, given to me after my mother tried to use it and failed ;)  Love you, Mom!

What question about being vegan do you HATE answering?  But...what do you eat??

If you could tell the world one thing about vegans, what would it be?  we aren't actually crazy - we just care about things outside ourselves.

Funniest vegetable?  umm...what does that mean??  I can't think of any that make me burst into uncontrolled laughter at the mere mention, but I guess phallic eggplants are kind of funny.

What is a family recipe you have veganized?  I was going to claim my family doesn't have any recipes, but then I remembered my mom's pineapple casserole.  I have not veganized it [yet], but going back a couple of questions, I think I will give it my best shot if I get to host Easter (like I'm hoping, though that is entirely dependent on a successful mid-winter move - fingers crossed!).

Weirdest food combination ?  normally, I would say this involves crossing cuisines, but I'm going to say caramel and seitan was a little bizarre.

Is there something you wish you could veganize, but can't/couldn't?  rare filet mignon?  I can't think of anything else that would be difficult to veganize that I would actually want to eat.

Favorite ways to prepare tofu, seitan, tempeh, any other vegan proteins?  I love to brown seitan until it gets a little crispy; I very rarely get to prepare tempeh, but I enjoy braising it when I do.

Are your pets vegan? if so, what do you feed them? Angst loves spinach, but Angst is an omnivore.

Favorite non-dairy milk?  Actually, if you're interested, I did a "milk" round-up not too long ago in response to my sister's desire to leave cows alone.  My favorite "milk" for actually drinking is Almond Milk - it has the most palatable flavor.  My favorite milk for everything else is a tie between soymilk and So Delicious Coconut Milk.

What’s one “vegan myth” you’d like to squash?  That mushrooms are the preferred meat replacement.  They are fungus; that is gross.

making peace with peas

People give up eating animals for myriad reasons, appealing to body, heart, and mind.  Some people are looking for a way to improve their health without resorting to medication or other treatment.  Some people have seen the right PETA video/pamphlet/heart-tugging-graphic-media at the right time.  Some do it for the environment, some for the animals, and some for the other people.  Some people, like myself, struggled for months with information that needed time to stew, much like last night's dinner.

I think that peoples' reasons for going vegetarian or vegan will powerfully influence the way they turn their diet away from animal-based foods.  It can be a difference of a person moving away from something or toward something else.  I learned a new term today: Vegivore.  It's the latest trendy name to describe a trendy movement with real potential but just barely misses the point.  As the name might suggest, a vegivore is more inclined to fill their plate with vegetables in the name of gourmet cuisine, however, that cuisine cannot be assumed to be strictly veg.  Although the star of a vegivore's dinner might be Brussels sprouts, that doesn't mean they weren't flavored by a good saute with bacon drippings.  Nevertheless, it's a step in the right direction.

When I became a vegetarian, I'll admit - I really didn't know what I was doing.  I didn't have the vaguest clue how to cook anything besides Minute Rice and canned soup.  I wish I could say I was kidding, but I'm not.  I'm so not kidding that when people I haven't seen/spoken to in years find out I have a vegan cooking/food blog, they are unabashedly surprised.  "But you don't know how to cook!"  Well, it was a process - I remember in the beginning I had about three Things-I-Called-Dinner that I just rotated.  What I have lovingly referred to as "fake meat" was not as abundantly available 8 years ago as it is now, so aside from the occasional tofu hot dog, it never really occurred to me to try to replace my chicken with anything other than vegetables.

But what do you eat??   Vegetables.  Grains and pasta sometimes, too.  Eventually, tofu.

It wasn't actually until I started to learn how to cook that I was introduced to neat things like Tofurky sausage, Yves meatless ground, and Primal vegan jerky to name a few.  I realize these things can be indescribably helpful in easing the transition from a very animal-based diet to a plant-based one, especially if they aren't doing it out of beautiful and severe compassion for the animals.  For my own diet, becoming a vegetarian taught me so many things about nutrition and the awesome results of providing my body with purer fuel.  As a result, I am stingy in adding many processed foods to my diet, just as I would if I ate animals.  Despite that they are plant-based, these meat analogs are still processed, so I limit my consumption.

I always felt a little awkward trying to explain why that was.  Imagine my delight when I read the introduction to The Urban Vegan and found that a person with a Masters in English took it upon herself to explore the same topic.  With Dynise's permission, I would like to share those words with you now:

Being vegan certainly takes some dietary adjustments.  It takes a bit of mental adjustment, too.  So a little bit of Zen wisdom is pertinent here.  It's important to stay in the present.

You don't expect an apple to taste like a mushroom, do you?  Nor do you expect a cup of coffee to taste like a cup of tea.  So why, I wonder, would anyone look back and expect ingredients commonly used in vegan cuisine, like seitan, tofu, and tempeh, to taste like meats?  They are not meats.  They are unique foods, just like apples and mushrooms, with unique histories, tastes, textures, and properties.  The same goes for nutritional yeast-based sauces and soy- and nut-based cheeses.  They might look like dairy-based cheese and cheesy sauces, but they are not.

My point, in short, is that all tastes, other than our innate love of sweetness, are acquired.  Imagine how glum food would be if we never moved beyond our affinity for sugar.  We all somehow learned how to like and identify the unique flavors of olives, coffee, wine, chili, and pickles, to name just a few.  So try to appreciate new foods for what they are.  Approach them with the open mind of a beginner and with an innocence, rather than with a preconceived notion of what they are supposed to taste like.  Accept them for what they are, just as you accept people for who they are.

 In other words, it's okay that Mister thinks vegan food tastes like marshmallows because something that isn't milk doesn't need to taste like milk and something that isn't cheese doesn't have to taste like cheese.  When I make a nooch-based sauce, I do so for the savory nature of the nooch, not because it tastes like cheese, because it doesn't.  On the rare occasion that I get a veggie burger, I usually get a flavored variety because I already know it won't taste like beef, and to be honest, I don't think I want it to at this point.

I've made peace with peas.  They're small and sweet and green.  They taste just like they should.  They taste like peas.  Have you made peace with your "peas?"

be careful! that's vegan!

Vegans eat such weird food.  It's no wonder people get so worked up over what to feed a vegan.  I mean, seriously - what if the supermarket runs out of vegetables?  What if the pasta market dries up? 

I've mentioned before how differently people can react to the "challenge" of feeding freaks like me.  Some of my more magnificent tales include creative chefs at all levels of cuisine not only accommodating my diet, but also welcoming the opportunity to branch out and flex their utensil-wielding wings.  Other people wring their hands and don't quite know what to do, so they make their best effort and hope it's good enough.  I have a pretty firm stand on showing genuine gratitude for all such efforts, so it is, in fact, always good enough.  Worst case scenario?  There's always a Luna bar or something similar hiding in my purse somewhere.

Bless my mother's heart - she has made countless efforts over the past 8 years to learn how to expand her cooking repertoire to make my holiday dinners as tasty as theirs.  Today wasn't any holiday (although, I did accidentally trick Mister into thinking it was until we were on the train), but we headed out to my hometown for a little friends-n-family time.

First, we stopped in at a Starbucks next to a train station on the way to my parents' home to spend a little time catching up with old friends.  I had a delightful, dairy-free Americano, but I couldn't help being distracted by my friend's peppermint tea - it smelled so good!  It is always amazing to me how some people are able to click so quickly it's as though little to no time has passed since the last meeting and you can all just launch into fun and ridiculous stories and conversation.  This was really the first opportunity Mister and I have had to sit down and get to know my friend's husband, but it was disarmingly easy to talk to him as though we'd all been close friends for years.

After we had all drained our happy red cups, my friends dropped us off at my parents' house on their way to the next adventure in their day.  After spending some time playing with cellphones (examining Dad's, since I plan to replace mine next month and showing Mom how to use some special features on her new phone), my cousins arrived and the food consumption began.  There was an enticing spread of olives, hummus, and bready things upon which to spread the hummus.  This kept our mouths occupied until dinner was ready.  My mother prepared a generous dinner of salad, fresh bread, baked ziti, and then she went to the trouble of making a vegan stew.  It was tasty and full of winter-warming veggies like yams and chickpeas.  Okay, chickpeas aren't a vegetable, but they are tasty!

She sent the leftovers home with us, so I shouldn't have trouble with WorkLunch for a few days (other than finding time to eat it)!  Sorry the stew is still in the tupperware - I wasn't interested in washing another dish just to make a pretty picture.

I really appreciate that she did that after I hesitantly expressed my disinterest in her nice, cheesey baked ziti.  She doesn't get me sometimes, but she sure does try to work with me and she did a great job.

This isn't completely related, but I figured I might never have a better segue to my post on omni-vegan foods than that, so let's move over to that subject.

I always laugh a little when people look agog and wonder (with big eyes) what on earth I eat.  Apparently, they've never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Clearly, spaghetti with marinara sauce is completely outside of their culinary worldview.  I'm not completely sure how they've lived this long without eating rice, but I suppose it's possible.  Our culture (America) is so focused on putting meat and/or a dairy product on everything we eat, it is positively mind-blowing to someone to suggest it is not only possible, but relatively easy to NOT eat those things.  People can't even fathom eating a meal that does not include a chunk of Dead Bird or Fried Cow.

Want to know something ironic?  I've never eaten so good as I have since giving up meat, and then eschewing dairy and eggs.  Eating what everyone else was eating was so safe that I never bothered branching out and trying new things.  I had my "safe" edible animal dishes and had no interest in learning what a non-canned yam tasted like.  Eggplant?  Why would I put that in my mouth?  Pumpkins are for carving, not for eating.  Zucchini was only worthwhile when soaked in tomato sauce and sprinkled liberally with Kraft Parmesan cheese[stuff]. 

My ability to cook, as well as the pleasure I find in doing so, are completely rooted in becoming a vegetarian.  Let me tell you about the first meal I ever made for Mister while we were dating.  It was the last meal I made for Mister for about two or three years, by the way.  I made my three favorite things (I think they might have been the only things I knew how to make): breaded Tyson chicken nuggets, white Minute Rice, and Campbell's Chunky Potato soup.  I look back now and understand why Mister was horrified and wouldn't let me cook for another few years (until his mother, a great cook, had given me at least five cookbooks).  I don't know if I would have learned to cook if I hadn't changed my diet.  Why would I when I had become so skilled at making Velveeta Shells 'n' Cheese?

Yes, I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons I lost about 20 lbs when I went veg was partially due to giving up my crown as the Processed Foods Queen.

Anyway, whenever people get themselves all worked up about what on earth vegans eat, I want to make a list of all the things they probably eat on a fairly regular basis that are vegan.  Hopefully, this list will help omnivores realize that they won't actually melt or implode if they eat definitively vegan food (like seitan or tofu), since their systems are already used to things like:

Apples and other fruit
Bread (most brands sold in grocery stores are vegan)
Cereal
Dolmas (okay, most Americans probably don't eat these frequently, but it's a great thing to point out to my half-greek family)
Energy Bars like Clif and Luna bars
French Fries (except McDonald's)
Grape Jelly
Hummus
I'm not really going to go through the alphabet, but I'm sure I could if I tried because there are a ton of things in even the most limited supermarket that vegans can eat.  Sure, it might take a little creativity, but we're good at that and happy to help you!  Even the most meat-oriented omni has surely eaten salads, PB&J, pasta pomodoro, oatmeal, soup, toast, pasta salad, etc.

Something I've always gotten a kick out of (as well as used as a resource) is PETA's list of vegan foods you might not expect to be vegan.  VegNews recently published an article on vegan candies.  I just made a list that went all the way to H, but seriously - the more you think about it, the more surprisingly vegan foods you will uncover.  The reason no one knows what vegans eat is because they aren't used to thinking about the food they already eat as vegan, because they are not vegan.

Speaking of not being vegan, my mother gave me a picture she had unearthed from my younger years (when I was definitely not vegan). 

The quality is pretty crappy, but hey - it's a picture of a photograph (do you remember, back when you used film and someone else had to make that into pictures you actually held in your hands?).  That was me (on the right) with my best friend when I was around 15.  I was wearing my then-boyfriend's football jacket and feeling pretty teenaged.  A plaid flannel shirt is sticking out from under it because that was pretty "in" back then, with the whole grunge scene being hot.  They're also warm and comfy, and appear to be back in style - I love how trends recycle...it's so green of them.

two sides of the same coin

It's amazing how two people can react to the same stimulus/influence in completely opposite ways.  I am fortunate to be the catalyst in this particular revelation and I am greatly enjoying watching it unfold.

As you might imagine, working for a weight loss company, food and dietary choices are a relatively common topic of conversation between colleagues.  Sometimes, good-natured joshing results when a pair of folks are comfortable enough with one another to know their jabs will be absorbed easily.  Sometimes, regardless of the intention, the same tired jokes grow old or sometimes, poking fun gives way to not-as-innocent sarcasm and the time for truth takes hold.

As a general rule, I find it useless to attempt a break-through with my colleagues regarding my choice of diet.  For the most part, I ignore that they can't imagine meals without carcass bits and they [eventually] make a "funny" comment about my rice and beans and that's that.  If someone asks me or initiates an earnest conversation about my choices and why I made them, a productive and hopefully illuminating conversation can occur.  Other times, I grow weary of the same stupid "jokes" about my rabbit food and jab back a little....the results are amazing!  Apparently, some people can dish it out, but when it comes to putting something back in their bowls, they come up remarkably shallow and unable to take it.

Here is a Tale of Two Colleagues:

Colleague #1 (henceforth referred to as Spunky because of her excitable demeanor) joined me while I ate my lunch outside in the courtyard one day in early summer.  She initiated a conversation with me in this way: "I'm going to Jamaica with my sisters next week.  While I'm there, I'm going to eat anything I want to" -- so far so good - she is perpetually dieting and then rewarding herself with short, "harmless" binges, so I assumed she was just pre-absolving herself -- "But when I get home, I'm going to be a vegetarian."

What?  She went on to explain that she didn't actually eat a lot of meat as it was, but one of her sisters had recently "gone vegetarian" after watching Food, Inc.  So, Spunky's plan was to enjoy her "last week of meat" and then come home, watch Food, Inc. and become a vegetarian.  That is not the way things played out, but it was also not the end, as I was to learn.

I have to tell you something.  The highlight of my day yesterday, the thing that made my Monday worth the effort, the thing that made me smile was this: Spunky paid me a visit at my desk and said this: "I wanted to tell you before I forget again - I've been a vegetarian for two weeks!"  She seemed so pleased with herself and so happy to share that with me.  I asked her how she felt and she said [with no small amount of overt surprise] that she felt better than she had in a long time and that she didn't even miss it after a few days.  We talked for a few more moments, I congratulated her and offered any assistance I could, and she left for the day.

Colleague #2 (henceforth referred to as Dopey because of his complete ignorance to the big, wide world that exists beyond his minute, traditional existence) doesn't ever get bored about teasing me about my lunch.  Whether I bring pasta with spinach and cranberries, roasted vegetables with tofu, stewed lentils and a hearty roll, or some real-life rice-n-beans, he insists on telling anyone who will listen that I am eating beans-n-rice for lunch.  It seriously never stops being funny for him.  Although Dopey and I do have a very amicable working relationship, as a person, he just bugs the heck out of me.  As an almost inadvertent reaction to his continual "joshing," I subconsciously decided to turn myself into a mirror and reflect some of his ugly behavior back on him. 

To be completely honest, it started as an innocent and well-intentioned effort to help him use the brain bouncing around in his cranium.  Presently, his wife is pregnant, and somehow it entered our conversation one day that although she enjoyed ham cold cuts, she couldn't eat them when she was pregnant.  I saw this as a learning opportunity and asked him why she couldn't eat lunchmeat while pregnant - mind you, he was "enjoying" his turkey and cheese sandwich with diet pepsi during our conversation - and he said it was bad for the baby.  We had previously had the same discussion about his diet soft drink addiction - diet soda was also bad for the baby.  So I asked him why he would want to eat something from which his wife was protecting their unborn baby.  Apparently, this disturbed him deeply, because he moved to a different subject.  Hoping to eventually provoke him to think just a little bit about how he is fueling his body (regardless of whether he eats animals, he shouldn't eat junk), I have resorted to calling meat by its "real name" around him.  He was quite shaken up today when I asked him what eggs were and he looked at me like he didn't understand, so I explained that they were "chickens that didn't happen."  I made a deal with him - I would stop calling his food by the animal names if/when he stops ridiculing my sustenance.  We'll see how tomorrow goes!

It just struck me, though, how disparate their two reactions to my lifestyle are.  Spunky embraces it because she recognizes that I am not crazy and because she is aware of that whole big world around her.  Using her brain to think critically, she is able to come to the logical decision that she does not want any part of eating animals any longer, due to environmental and cruelty factors.  Dopey, on the other hand, is so resistant to learning about things outside of his worldview that if I never spoke another word about food, my lifestyle all by itself would silently convict him.  He uncomfortably recognizes that my intentions are genuine and that I live the way I do because I care about the world around me.  He knows he is eating animals and some part of him knows something is amiss, but it would destroy everything he knows to venture out and think about this honestly.  I feel compassion for him, but it is also super frustrating because he is preserving a point of view that ultimately harms him as well.

In other news, I made Orzo Pilaf with Tofu Feta tonight and it was marvelous:

 
It was very attractive while cooking and tasted great on its way to my belly.  Because the only ingredients you have to mess with are the garlic, tofu, and spinach, it comes together very quickly and easily.  The tofeta only marinates for a half hour.

If you'll recall, I mentioned in the menu that I was curious to see who had a better tofeta recipe - Robin (above) or Sarah Kramer.  I have to say, I prefer Sarah's.  It's a little more authentic, possibly because the marinade involves vinegar.  This tofeta did not disappoint, but it was not as good as Sarah's recipe.