I wish I'd seen this information on vegan activism when I was attacked for being a "damned, stupid half-vegan" (see our post Compassion Will Cure More Sins Than Condemnation).

Vegan Outreach has a particular segment on activism entitled, Busting the Vegan Police, in which they say:

It is imperative for us to realize that if our veganism is a statement for animal liberation, veganism cannot be an exclusive, ego-boosting club. Rather, we must become the mainstream. Fostering the impression that "it’s so hard to be vegan–animal products are in everything," and emphasizing animal products where the connection to animal suffering is tenuous, works against this by allowing most to ignore us and causing others to give up the whole process out of frustration.

The way veganism is presented to a potential vegan is of major importance. The attractive idea behind being a "vegan" is reducing one’s contribution to animal exploitation. Buying meat, eggs, and/or dairy creates animal suffering–animals will be raised and slaughtered specifically for these products. But if the by-products are not sold, they will be thrown out or given away. As more people stop eating animals, the by-products will naturally fade, so there is no real reason to force other people to worry about them in order to call themselves "vegan."

We want a vegan world, not a vegan club.

Amen.

Obviously, this veganer-than-thou attitude is something that really bothers me. I agree with Vegan Outreach. If the objective of veganism is to reduce the suffering and exploitation of animals, then to criticize and condemn people who drink Guinness, for example, because it's refined with Isinglass (see this post) isn't going to accomplish that goal. Instead of demanding that people who don't concern themselves with the animal by-products in their food label themselves as "strict vegetarians" perhaps we should allow the term vegan to encompass a broader perspective. As Vegan Outreach points out when fewer animals are consumed, fewer by-products are created. In turn, this will result in the cost of animal by-products rising so that cheaper alternatives will be sought out. The basic principles of supply and demand.

The definition of Vegan in Wikipedia states:

Veganism is a philosophy and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. Vegans do not use or consume animal products of any kind.

And as Convenient Vegan says in her post:

...the words “seeks to exclude.” This because it is impossible to assure that everything you eat, everything you wear, every part of how you live is completely free of cruelty to animals. The tires on your car – or your bike – were probably created with the assistance of animal by-products. The organic food you eat might well involve the deaths of many little insects. The materials used to build your home may include some products that involved the use of animal products in their production.

In order to bring veganism, and therefore animal rights, into the mainstream it might behoove us all to rethink where we draw our lines.

Veganism is gaining ground. And there can be no doubt about that when Starbuck's starts offering vegan baked goods!

I found this post today, talking about how Starbuck's has been modifying their menu to appeal to a more health-conscious consumer. They are offering low-fat versions of some of their beverages, and vegan baked goods, all in an effort to regain some of their waning market share.

GreenChefs (Jana) writes:

But what about the high calorie cakes and brownies that are so tempting to go with your Skinny Soy Mocha on an afternoon Starbucks run. Now, to keep up with the virtuous “skinny” theme, Starbucks has added 1.5 g fat, low sugar, dairy and egg free brownies to their menu for $1.95. I’m not a Starbucks fan or a coffee fan for that matter, so I haven’t tried these. According to some reviewers they are pretty good and they say the chocolate icing tastes like any other rich icing, yet the cake part is a bit on the chewier side. They are not organic, but are obviously a healthier option.

In looking at the Starbuck's website, I couldn't find anything listed about the brownies, at least not in our immediate area. Which is shocking, since we live in Los Angeles, one of those places you'd expect to be considered vegan-friendly (see our post Best Places to Live --If You're a Vegan).

In an interesting side note, Starbuck's was closed tonight. Yes, you read that correctly. Every Starbuck's in the entire United States was closed for three hours this evening to re-train their staff (see this article in the San Francisco Gate). Dunkin Donuts took advantage of this opportunity to offer FREE lattes (see Dunkin Donuts Press Release). It's days like this that I wish I drank coffee, Now, when are they going to offer vegan donuts? Mmmm, donuts...   It can't be long now, it seems like everyone is going vegan!

A few weeks ago we finally got around to visiting Cinnamon in Highland Park (suburb of Los Angeles). We really loved it, as you can see from our review. We actually resisted the temptation of going back there sooner because we didn't want to "burn out."

So, after waiting a sufficient amount of time, we went back for lunch today. Sorry we've got no photos to share, we forgot the camera. Anyway, we had the Jumping Shrimp Cocktail as a starter, and just like last time, we thought it was excellent. (Make sure to add the fresh lime they provide!)

For our entrees, I ordered the Chicken Mole with black beans, brown rice and corn tortillas. Jane, who hates mole, thought this was the best mole she'd ever had, unfortunately, I didn't agree. I found the cinnamon to be overwhelming to the point where it ruined the dish for me. The faux-chicken was really good. It had an excellent texture to it, far less chewy than most. It is only featured in this recipe, so next time, I'm going to ask for it in some other sauce.

Jane ordered the special. Although we live in Los Angeles, we don't speak any Spanish, so neither one of us knows exactly what she ordered, but it was something with cactus. And it too, left a lot to be desired, which is too bad since we loved it so much last time.

In some sense the service was better than last time as we were given refills on our beverages and chips much more frequently. But we also had trouble communicating with our servers, and were handed the check while Jane was still in the middle of her dinner.

We will certainly go back again, but without the sense of anticipation we had this time.

Tonights post is a short compilation of vegan quotes I find thought-provoking. I hope you enjoy them too.

• "I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other." ~Excerpt from Walden by Henry David Thoreau
• "I do not see any reason why animals should be slaughtered to serve as human diet when there are so many substitutes. After all, man can live without meat." ~ Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
• "We got hooked on grain-fed meat just as we got hooked on gas guzzling automobiles. Big cars made sense only when oil was cheap; grain-fed meat makes sense only because the true costs of producing it are not counted." ~ Excerpt from Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe
• "The time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men." ~Leonardo da Vinci
• "Suppose food were distributed equally. If everyone in the world ate as Americans do, less than half the present world population could be fed on the record harvests of 1985 and 1986. Of course, everyone doesn't have to eat like Americans. About a third of the world grain harvest -- the staples of the human feeding base -- is fed to animals to produce eggs, milk, and meat for American-style diets. Wouldn't feeding that grain directly to people solve the problem? If everyone were willing to eat an essentially vegetarian diet, that additional grain would allow perhaps a billion more people to be fed with 1986 production." ~ Excerpt from The Population Explosion by Paul and Anne Ehrlich
• "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." ~Albert Einstein

Perhaps these thoughts are all overshadowed by Homer Simpson's philosophy. (The Simpsons is an animated sitcom created by Matt Groening.)

• All normal people love meat. If I went to a barbeque and there was no meat, I would say, "Yo Goober! Where's the meat?" I'm trying to impress people here, Lisa. You don't win friends with salad. ~ Homer Simpson

Let me start by saying that we love our doctor. Jane and I have been going to him for the last five years or more and he is excellent. Unlike most other doctors who seem to be working on a conveyor belt mentality, our doctor epitomizes compassion. He's respectful of your time, he'll answer all of your questions, he makes sure you understand what he's talking about, all without keeping an eye on the clock. He actually appears concerned about you as a patient.

But when Jane was in for her last visit (pre-vegan) and told him we were "going vegan" he didn't have much to offer. Jane asked him if there were any specific things she needed to concern herself with and all he had to say was to make sure that we ate enough protein and took a calcium supplement. Hmmm. For the first time we felt a little less confident in our doctor's ability to take care of us.

It turns out, that's probably the norm, at least as it relates to nutritional information. In an article entitled Doctors Get Poor Marks in Nutrition in the New York Times published way back in 1993:

A nationwide survey has found that even doctors who were taught the fundamentals of nutrition in medical school and who hold a favorable attitude toward the subject are unlikely to use basic nutrition in their encounters with patients.

And it doesn't seem like things have changed all that much (from How Much Did Your Doctor Learn About Nutrition in Medical School):

A new study indicating that 60 percent of medical schools in the United States are not meeting minimum recommendations for their students’ nutrition education offers more reasons for consumers to seek food and nutrition advice from the experts: the registered dietitians of the American Dietetic Association.

The study, published in the April issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, concludes that “the amount of nutrition education in medical schools remains inadequate” 20 years after a report from the National Academy of Sciences found nutrition education programs in medical schools were “largely inadequate to meet the present and future demands of the medical profession.”

It seems to me if food can cause illness, food can cure illness. There's certainly an overwhelming amount of evidence to prove that diet can cause cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc. And I'd like my doctor to be able to speak to me about that in depth, not just suggest that I eat a balanced diet and take a multivitamin.

(Edited 2/21 -- For further information on Vegan Nutrition, see our post dated 2/21 on Vegan Nutrition -- How To Be A Healthy Vegan.  And don't forget to check out our Vegan Resources page, which has a wealth of vegan links.)