Vegetarianism

When I was six years old, at a summer fair with my mother, I came across a table on animal rights, with photos (maybe a video playing too?) of how animals are treated and killed in slaughterhouses.  I don't remember this myself, or at least I don't think I do.  It feels like one of these phantom memories, lodged in your head from hearing a story so many times, you can *almost* remember it yourself...  And apparently, I instantly decided I would stop eating meat.  And I gave almost all meat up instantly.  "Almost all" because, well, I was six, so hotdogs and McDonald's chicken mcnuggets were hard for me to give up.  However, even the allure of those wore off, and by age eight I was completely vegetarian.

As you can tell, it was originally for ethical reasons.  As I got older, I went through various reasons (health, ethical, environment, meat just didn't appeal to me), but whatever the reason I gave when I was asked why I was vegetarian, I have been since age eight.

I got used to all the stupid questions and comments pretty quickly, and just learned to smile vaguely and ignore anything I found insulting.

Recently though, there's been lots of talk I've seen online among more radical people: very anti-vegetarian stuff coming from anti-civ anarchists, that I honestly find slightly hurtful.  I think it stems from Lierre Keith, author of The Vegetarian Myth, doing lots of talks recently, bringing up a lot of very interesting things to think about, but also making a lot of people very angry and defensive (even to the extent of harassing and harming her).  But, here's the thing: I want to read her book!!  I've listened to parts of her talks with interest.  I want to learn more.  Yet, I'm vegetarian.  And I don't plan to stop being vegetarian anytime soon.  The anger directed at ALL vegetarians is completely misplaced, as far as I'm concerned.  Attack the vegetarians and vegans who have actually been assholes, not ALL vegetarians and vegans!

This goes against something I find very important, and try very hard to do myself, and that is to attack the ideas/beliefs/institutions, not the people.  Or if I really do feel a need to condemn individuals, I make sure it's the specific individuals who I feel have done wrong, not others who simply share some of the same beliefs and ideals. 

But getting back to the topic of my vegetarianism.  If I believe as other anti-civers do, that agriculture (the destruction of all life on a piece of land to plant monocrops) is harmful and unsustainable, why do I have the diet I do?  Well, it's been something I've been thinking about a lot lately, and I think I've come up with the basics of it.  Firstly, it's both habit at this point, and something I feel good with.  I don't feel a lack because I'm not eating meat.  When I'm eating healthy vegetarian food I feel healthy!  Secondly, if I was ever to eat meat, it would only be meat from animals I knew had been treated well and killed with respect.  That's both expensive and often hard to find, unless you hunt yourself.  Which brings me to another reason I don't eat meat: I have this feeling that whatever I eat should be something that I myself  would be willing to harvest or kill.  Pulling up a carrot is just as surely killing as shooting a deer, and I recognize that fact where I think too many others don't.  But I can bring myself to kill a carrot where I can't bring myself to kill a deer, so I eat carrots where I don't eat venison.  I wouldn't kill a chicken, so I don't eat chicken.  My feelings may change at some point, but that's where things are right now.

I try to eat as much organic, locally grown produce as possible, both for health and sustainability reasons (really, the two are the same things!  Unsustainable practices means unhealthy or dead humans.), and this year I want to grow more veggies myself.   I'm also experimenting with my diet this summer, seeing how I feel cutting out virtually all grains and processed foods from my diet.  But for now, meat is not going to be a part of my diet, and I'd really appreciate it if I wasn't made to feel bad about that fact!

Peace,
Idzie 

P.S. I want to make sure, because I'm not sure how what I said about others views on eating meat came across, that all the anti-civers I've ever met (online and in real life) are strongly against factory farming and animal abuse.  Most just see eating meat, that's either hunted or raised kindly, as part of a sustainable diet.

Montreal

I love downtown Montreal so damn much, especially in the Summer.

I went downtown yesterday with my mom, Emi, Ty, and Nick (Ty is here visiting again). The Fringe festival is going on right now, so there was plenty of activity. As I think of what to write, the sensory impressions are what come to mind first. The smell of cigarettes, weed, and good food. The sound of cars, music, laughter and voices. The sight of a numerous amount of people. Dyed bright hair, dreadlocks, bright summer dresses, studded everything, cool piercings...

We headed down in the afternoon, and as we walked along the streets, the first thing I noticed were the colours. The bright purple of someones railings; street art splashed on multiple walls, bright colours, faces, abstract scenes. I can't understand why some people don't see the value in such art. To me it's a beautiful art form, and the artists who create it are no less talented than their more traditional counterparts!

We passed a small garage sale on our way, and I bought another pin for my purse. I'll have to post a picture of my small but ever growing pin collection sometime soon.

In the square where the folk music was being played, we hung around briefly. Cigarette smoke hung in the air, and the twang of bluegrass folk sang in my ears. Since it wasn't really our type of music, we left my mom there to listen while the rest of us threaded our way through the band booths, poster plastered temporary walls, and eclectically dressed people. Some sounds we did like were the Fringe fest Cabaret, a motley group of people who wandered through the streets in pirate/gypsy-esque costumes, playing plaintive gypsy tunes. We passed them several times, and always enjoyed their music (and the juggler, in Ty's case). There isn't any feeling quite like wandering down the street with friends, the sun beating down and warming my back, watching the people that pass, taking in the sights, sounds, smells...

When we headed back to meet my mom a little while later, we were all slightly hungry, so after applying a few temporary tattoos supplied by one of the shows, we started on the twenty minute walk that would bring us to a cafe that was selling vegan food by donation. It was a lovely little fair trade, vegetarian cafe, with friendly people. We happily consumed millet pie, ginger cake, and spiked fruit juice with much happiness, at least on my part!

Afterwards, we wandered around for a while, Ty bought a new hand drum, and we headed home, sweaty, tired, and sore-footed. The day ended on a worse note than it had started on, but overall, it was still a good day.

Next Saturday, we're going downtown to see the fireworks (every year Montreal hosts an international fireworks competition, so the shows are truly spectacular), and we'll be there again at least once more this week for an outdoor concert.

I love this city. I really do. And I love long Summer days wandering it's streets, taking in everything, and just enjoying the vibrancy that is all around me. I'm biased, of course, but I truly believe that I live near one of the greatest cities there is!

Peace,
Idzie

I HATE COLDS

So, I'm sick. And miserable. And I had my last cold only 3 months ago, which makes me think my immune system is not as strong as it should be. I was thinking about that yesterday, and realized that I only started showing symptoms a few days after I stopped being vegan, which makes me strongly suspect that dairy has something to do with it. I was lactose intolerant when I was young, and for a while now I've been wondering if I am again (I've been feeling sick from drinking milk). If I'm right and I am, I figure that could certainly weaken my ability to fight off colds. So, it looks like I'm going back to being vegan, at least for a little while, and seeing if that makes a difference! *Sighs*

I just put a new poll up, about New Years resolutions. I always make them, but, like many people it seems, I rarely manage to keep them. I guess I'll be trying again this year though! Speaking of New Years resolutions, I want to tell you about a ritual with that, that my family started a few years ago. We take a blank sheet of paper, and write all of our resolutions, hopes, and plans for the coming year, then, after we watch the ball drop on TV, we burn the papers in the wood stove. It feels good to do, and somehow makes it more real, more important and binding, then just thinking of what we want and hope for in the New Year.

I also added a new post to my Trash Hunting blog full of lovely cuddly second hand finds.

Wishing everyone lots of good health (and warmth *watches the snow falling outside and shivers*),

Peace,
Idzie

Several things of note...

The poll that has been open for what feels like forever has now ended! The results are as follows:

Vegetarian	11 (33%)
Vegan	5 (15%)
Small amount of meat	8 (24%)
Meat lover	9 (27%)

Erm, actually, I voted twice by accident (I figured it was OK to vote once, because really, I proofread my blog so that counts as being a reader of this blog, right?). It glitched and said I hadn't voted but after I voted again I was like 'wait a minute...?' Anyway, moving on.

In blogger buzz they talked about the iLike gadget, and since I already have it on Facebook and like it, I decided I'd add a playlist to my blog as well! So you can now listen to clips of my favorite songs if you so wish. :-)

Something else I should probably make my readers aware of is that I'm no longer vegan. I had a war with myself, trying to decide if I should wait out the entire month as I'd originally planned, or go back to being vegetarian after only two weeks since I'd decided I didn't want to stay vegan. Finally, the lure of cheese made up my mind! So I'm now back to being vegetarian, but I'm no longer drinking straight milk (even after adding a tiny bit of milk to my water and hot chocolate powder I felt sick), and no longer eating eggs. I am eating baked goods tht contain milk and/or eggs, and I'm also (as I may have mentioned earlier) eating CHEESE! I love cheese. :-)

I'm now off to a friends house. I don't think I've posted pictures in a while, so I'll try and get that done soon...

Peace,
Idzie

Slight changes...

Not much is going on really. I added links to my other blogs in the sidebar of this blog, and it took me far more effort than it should have. Being the silly that I am, I didn't realize I could add links by simply adding a 'Links List' gadget, so instead had Emy spend half an hour trying to figure out the XML using her limited knowledge of HTML that she hasn't used in years. I think she was ready to smack me when I discovered the links gadget. I also changed the template for my trash blog, to one I found on a blog template site recommended to me by Sheila , which is really cool. I'm also still really looking forward to using my new camera (see below post)!

Something I've been thinking a lot about lately is how people treat their pets, and how I specifically treat the animals I share my house with. And I'm not really happy with how I treat them. I'm trying to be more respectful, to keep my temper even when Winston (80 pound Airedale terrier) won't stop headbutting me in the back of the knees, or Flora (bouncy little Fox terrier) won't stop yapping. That's a hard thing to do. But I think I'm making headway! Winston especially is really stubborn, and when you yell at him, it doesn't always even work. It seems if I ask him nicely to do something, he actually does it a bit faster! And I've been trying to be more respectful with the cats too. Instead of randomly cuddling them without seeing if they want to be cuddled first, I've been sitting or lying next to them and just talking. If they want cuddles, they get up and move closer. I think we're both happier that way.

And now for a vegan update. I went vegan a couple of weeks ago, and at this point I'm finding it harder than expected. The big stuff isn't bad. It's not really hard to avoid straight milk, cheese, and eggs, but I never realized how many things have dairy or eggs in them!! Baked goods, candy, pasta sauces, other sauces, chips, crackers... And the list goes on! I ate a piece of toffee today that had butter in it, even though I knew it had butter in it, and now I'm feeling guilty that I'm not feeling guilty. Arrrg! I think that when this month is up, I'm going back to vegetarian. However, I am glad that I'm doing this. It's really made me think about what I eat in a new way, and I don't think I'm going to be consuming nearly as many animal products as I was. Milk on cereal is something I'm not doing anymore (hey, good soymilk tastes the same anyway), ice cream always makes me feel sick unless it's good stuff like Ben & Jerry's so I'm cutting that out (yes, even though it made me feel sick I'd still eat it sometimes), eggs dito, and olive oil tastes better than butter anyway. So all I'll really be going back to eating are all the things I'm currently avoiding that have just a tiny bit of dairy or eggs in them, or baked goods.

And now I'm off to make supper... I haven't really been cooking much, so I think I should tonight. I'm going to use the canned base of a roasted garlic and red pepper sauce, then add sauteed onions, black and green olives, and baked spinach and jalapeno tofu pieces. And I'll serve that over twirly pasta of some sort... I think I should find out if I'm cooking for just me or everyone now.

Peace
Idzie

Vegan. For a month, at least...

I've been thinking for a while now about becoming vegan... I've been vegetarian for nearly ten years now. When I was six (so my mother tells me), we were at some type of street fair, and one of the tables was a setup on animal cruelty. Apparently my six-year-old self was so moved by compassion for what I saw that I declared I would no longer eat meat. Being the wonderful unschooling mom that she is, my mother supported me entirely in that. I didn't stop eating chicken fingers and hot dogs until I was eight, as those were my favorite types of meat, but from eight on, I haven't eaten any meat whatsoever. Because of my vegetarian diet, I learned a lot about nutrition at an early age. We as a family have never been much into following the Canadian Food Guide, seeing as the dairy industry (among other industries I'm sure) actually puts pressure on the government to say you need more dairy then you really do (I mean think about it, cow milk is made for extremely fast growing calves, not fully grown or slowly growing humans. Plus, you know how you always hear about dairy being an excellent source of calcium? Well, the type of calcium found in dairy is very hard for your body to absorb. Other sources are much better.), but thanks to my mom I had the three important groups of foods I should always eat firmly in my head: Grains, vegetables, and protein. As long as I had those three categories at virtually every meal, I was good. Grains and vegetables are pretty self explanatory, and as for protein that could mean cheese, tofu, legumes (lentils, chickpeas etc.), or fake meat substitutes that were based on soybeans. As I got older, I got more sophisticated in my knowledge of dietary requirements, finding out which essential nutrients are found in which foods, which supplements I should probably take since I didn't get adequate amounts from my diet, and other such things. I hardly think about my diet anymore, since it's become such a habit. Still, for every single meal, I notice whether or not I've included the three major food groups of grains, vegetables, and protein!

Anyway, that went way off topic in the story of how I became vegetarian, bt back to the vegan thing. I went through a stage where I decided it "wasen't cool" to be vegetarian because of animal rights (yes, I'm embarassed about that stage. What can I say, it's past now), so said it was just health reasons and habit, which was parcially true. But the only way I could "not care" about animal rights was to deliberately not find out about the awful things that animals go through to become food for us humans. Now that period of time is behind me, and I'm proud to say I care very much about animal rights. I wouldn't want to be kept in a tiny cage that I couldn't even turn around in, neglected and tortured, and then killed so someone could eat me, so why the hell would I put another living creature through that? And in the last few months, I've been thinking about the rough time other animals go through to produce other animal products like dairy and eggs. I don't think I want to put animals through that either. I've thought of trying to go free range only, but cows, even when free range, are awful on the environment, and it's nearly impossible to find eggs from chickens that are kept organic and free range! I think perhaps the huge chicken industry in Quebec makes sure no small competitors can survive... So I decided to make a commitment to myself: To be completely vegan for one month. At that time, I can see what I've really missed, if I think I'm missing anything important in my diet, or other important considerations. Overall, vegetarians have a much lower rate of heart disease than meat eaters, and vegans have a much lower rate of heart disease than vegetarians! Veganisn is quite healthy, as long as you pay attention to what you're eating, and there's only one vitamin/nutrient you miss as a vegan so need to take a supplement for (I can't remember what it is... Which means I should take out a book on veganism from the library next time I'm there). So wish me luck with my vegan month. And I hope I don't miss pizza too much!

Here are some photo's I took of our cats yesterday. Minni ("officially" my cat) is the brown one and Henry is the black and white one, and both of them are marvelous, loving, and beautiful creatures.

Peace,
Idzie

Waaaay too much cleaning!

Today, I'm exhausted. I had very little sleep last night, since I went to bed exceedingly late and woke up early. *Groan*. While my dad is out of town my mom is remodeling our pantry, and in the process both making a lot of mess and cleaning up much of our messy house. Her best friend was over for most of the day, helping and directing. A lot got done, but I'm worn out as well as being tired now!!

During the day I made a quinoa salad, but it was a bit of a flop. Oh well. With some serious tweaking it could still be good... Speaking of food, I'm seriously considering becoming vegan. It would be a big change though, so that's why I'm thinking a lot before making the decision! Also, my mom's friend knows of a vegetarian cooking course nearby. I think it's probably a very basic one, though, but I'm going to look into it anyway.

After the cleaning finally stopped, my mom, sister, and I headed to the local mall for a bit of shopping. I got a really cute little black dress for an amazing price!

I listened to some more music in my (very little) spare time, read a small amount of The Teenage Liberation Handbook, and that was about it...

I'm going to go eat a very late supper now, and probably get an early night.

Listening to today: Dear Mr. President (I can't get enough of that song!) by Jason Fisher, Day Sixteen: Loser by Ayreon (one of the greatest bands ever!)

Reading: The TLH