Jane and I really don't care for reality TV. The orchestrated drama is just not our cup of tea. We have watched 30 Days a few times in the past (after seeing Spurlock's documentary "Supersize Me," we were interested to hear what he had to say, but over time, we stopped watching). We were very excited to hear that he was doing a show on veganism / animal rights and made sure to be home to watch it tonight.

We fully expected "the flaky vegans" versus the "macho hunter" but we were pleasantly surprised.

The show opens up with George Snedeker at his home, talking a bit about himself and his expectations. He's an avid hunter and talks about his enjoyment of hunting. He defends it saying, the part of hunting is "to get into nature. The kill isn't the whole part of it." My immediate reaction to that statement is that he could hike if he wants to "get into nature." George goes on to say, "a deer, a cow, their whole purpose is to feed us," and "I love my dogs, but they are dogs, they are here in effect to serve me."

His girlfriend throws him a going away barbeque and invited his "posse of meat loving friends." They thought he might need new T-shirts for his trip and gave him one that said "If eating meat is wrong, I don't want to be right." Then they teased him that the vegans "might convert you," and George replies, "You know me better than that." Sounds like George is going in with his mind already made up!

For the next thirty days, he will be living with a family of animal rights activists, so he must follow house rules:

• no eating or wearing anything from an animal;
• work at an animal rescue; and
• actively partake in animal rights protests.

George's host family are the Karpel's. Daughter Melissa is a Los Angeles Campaign Coordinator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Melissa tells George that his first day he will participate in a demonstration in front of KFC. George groans when he hears about the plan. "I've never taken part in a demonstration of any kind." Then he's shown a video on how chickens are raised for food. After watching, his comment is "I think half of that is bullshit. I'm sure you guys are going to show the ugliest video you can find." I'm sure there's truth to that. Sensationalist information has always been used as an illustrative device. The objective usually being to shock people into thinking. But ultimately, George disagrees that animals are sentient and that they have rights.

So on his very first morning, George is dressed in a chicken suit and participates in the protest. He doesn't really understand the point of protesting KFC. "They're providing a service people want." He says "save the world if you want but stay off my dining room table." I have to say, I agree with this last statement. People have a right to choose what they want to eat. But as I have said in the past, if they are going to make a choice, it should be an informed choice.

George is scheduled to work at Animal Acres --a haven for animals that have been rescued from factory farming environments. Lorri Bauston, runs the facility and talks to George a bit about the huge need to rescue and protect animals. She also mentions that farm animals are excluded from state anti-cruelty to animal laws.

George replies, "I still think, these are food animals. There are certain animals that were meant to be eaten."

Later George talks about how "everybody's got these really scripted speeches. Humans are completely different animals. This woman (Bauston) can't think of anything but her own agenda." I think this is often the problem when people are impassioned about an issue. They often come across as too militant, and rather than reaching people, they wind up pushing them away. Jane and I have been accused of not being vegan enough because we don't proselytize, nor do we insist people become vegan. We feel that you are much more likely to reach people if you engage them in dialog rather than yelling at them. I also believe it's important to gauge your audience and tailor your comments to them.

Jane and I had the opportunity to hear Bauston speak at WorldFest 2008, and thought she was funny and empathetic. She didn't come across as well here, and appeared to alienate George for a good part of the show.

Melissa and her family appear to be the perfect people to reach out to George. They talk to him, not only about animal rights, but also about hunting. There is one scene where Melissa is looking through a hunting magazine and she appears to be earnestly trying to understand the thrill of hunting.

Ultimately though, George says "They want everybody to stop eating meat, stop eating chickens, stop eating cows. It's not gonna happen, and quite frankly, I'm not interested in making it happen."

Next up for George is an Animal Testing protest at UCLA. The protesters are a little more animated here and state that vivisection is animal cruelty veiled in science. George tells us "If one, five, ten animals have to die to save even one human, I'm fine with that." He then speaks to a scientist who used to believe in animal testing, but no longer does. She tells him about more humane medical testing options -- human based tests using human tissue cells and organ cultures. She also tells him this type of testing is far more predictive than any animal studies, and that with time we are going to be able to move away from animal experiments fully. George's response to all this, "I finally got to talk to somebody that had something (to say) besides a rant."

Further illustrating our point that militant activism drives people away, George tells the Karpels, "I'm really thankful to be with you guys. You're just rational. He says that if he'd been placed with Lorri Bauston, he'd have taken his plane ticket and flown home by now.

Interestingly, the first time we really hear about what George is eating is on Day 13, where he's taken to a vegan restaurant. There isn't much discussion about what he likes and doesn't like, but there is a segue into why vegans don't drink cow's milk. To which George comments, "Most of America doesn't really care. " Melissa replies, "I do think that people care because people don't like animal cruelty." But George is probably right, people seem to care more about what tastes good, rather than how that food got to their plates.

On day 18, George is scheduled to ride along with the "cruelty investigator at Animal Acres. He is brought to a dairy farm, and exposed to the poor treatment the cows receive. But what impacts him the most, is the way the calves are treated. "Nobody wants to see this stuff, but I expected to see it and it wasn't pretty." He finally appears to be moved by something. "I don't understand the industry. It's unfortunate. If we did this to puppies, they'd be in jail right now." And most promising of all, "I didn't realize the amount of suffering there was in the factory farms. It seems pointless to me."

Melissa planned this month well. The next day George is brought to the South Central animal shelter to be exposed to the horrors of euthanasia. He's told some horrifying statistics:

• 6-8 million animals abandoned in shelters every year,
• 90% of the animals are turned in by their owners.

"I've killed a lot of deer and it didn't bother me a bit. But the thought of killing that one dog was probably one of the most difficult things I've done in my life."

The next day, George is called up to take part in a late night animal rescue with Frank over at Animal Acres. They wind up rescuing a calf left to die. He's got congestion and is anemic. Frank tells George there's a 50-50 chance of the calf surving. George is given a bottle to feed the calf, and is allowed to name him. George is present with "Sugar" as he takes his first steps on open ground.

"It really feels good to have an opportunity to rescue of calf from that kind of situation. I'm in a position today where, golly, I guess my friends wouldn't believe it, but I guess today I was an animal activist."

Day 22, and George is scheduled to protest the fashion industry's use of fur. As if Los Angeles doesn't have a bad enough reputation, part of George's activities included painting two naked women (I missed why they were being painted, I was too busy living vicariously through George while Jane was throwing pillows at me -- I may have said something about how that sounded like fun).

At the protest site, there's plenty of footage of George educating the public about animal cruelty. He tells us "I don't think I'm the same guy. I'm a hardheaded guy. And if it'll affect somebody like me, it'll make an impression on everybody. I'm no more a vegan than I was when I stepped into this place, I'm just more informed." And finally, "I hate to label me, but I think you could say I'm a bit of an animal rights activist."

The experience was positive for both sides. George sums up his experiences by saying, "When I go back I'm going to be a different person, you can't witness the things I've witnessed and not be different. I can tell my friends, they'll listen to me. I have changed. Am I gonna hunt? Yeah, I'm gonna hunt. But I do believe that animals have rights."

"I'm a fan of stopping the abuse and stopping the suffering. It's just necessary."

I was pleasantly surprised by this episode.  It was really nice to see both sides reaching out towards each other, and being open-minded.

A while back, Lane and I read a promising review of Shojin Restaurant on To Live and Eat In LA, a blog about eating vegan in Los Angeles. Since we live in the area, we often peruse her website when we're looking for someplace new to try; our geographic boundaries overlap a bit. Anyway, we've been meaning to try it since they opened in March, but haven't gotten around to it. That was a mistake.

We started off with the Traditional Vegetable Appetizer. It's not a fixed plate, but rather based on what they've got on hand at the moment. We had some kind of Eggplant, Kale & Mashed Tofu Salad, and Kabocha Pumpkin. We were also comped and okara appetizer, not on the menu. Jane had mentioned that she was interested in trying the okara dishes as we make our own soy and nut milks, and she'd like to make something with the remainder product (okara).

The Kale and Mashed Tofu salad was our favorite of the appetizers we tried. It was light and summery and absolutely delicious. Jane's next favorite was the Okara, but it was a tad subtle for me. I preferred the Eggplant, followed by the Kabocha Pumpkin. The Kabocha Pumpkin was the weakest of the appetizers, but it wasn't bad. The others were just that much better.

As I've mentioned in the past, when we're trying out a new restaurant, we like to go during "off" hours. It gives us the opportunity to chat with the waitstaff about the menu, without us feeling like we're monopolizing their time. Often, we'll have a chance to talk to the manager too. But what we like most, is that we get to experience the food and ambiance in a leisurely manner.

Our server was delightful. She reviewed the menu with us and we discussed our preferences in eating. She helped us decide on our entrees. I had the Crispy Seitan Cutlet & Assorted Vegetables (top) and Jane the Shojin Original Okara Cake (bottom). We were both thrilled with our dinners.

Jane is not the biggest fan of seitan. She finds it too chewy, just the thing I find most appealing about it. But after tasting my dinner she exclaimed that it was delicious and she'd consider ordering it. Jane's Okara Cake was reminiscent of crab cakes. She really loved the cakes. They're served with brown rice porridge, which was interesting, but nowhere near as good as the crab cakes.

Shojin also offers a variety of vegan desserts, but we had no room, so I can't comment on them, other than to say next time I hope we leave room for either the Green Tea “Moss” Cake with Sweet Azuki Bean or the Blueberry Mousse Tart.

Bottom line: This is an excellent find. If you're in downtown Los Angeles, you MUST go to this restaurant. The food is wonderful. Everything tasted fresh and delicious. They use organic and natural foods with no chemical additives. Our server mentioned they make all their own condiments! Shojin is hidden on the third floor of the Little Tokyo Shopping Center, so you're not likely to stumble across it by accident. But it's well worth making a point of visiting. Your palate will thank you. They're closed Monday and Tuesday.

Hi All -- It's Jane writing tonight. Well, I finally got around to making the Thai Coconut Corn Soup from Vegan Express, by Nava Atlas. Lane and I love Thai food, and this looked like an old favorite of ours, Tom Ka Gai Soup. Vegan.com ranked this recipe number two in their list of top 10 vegan recipes of 2008, so I've been meaning to get around to it. Actually, I'm planning on trying all ten, but don't seem to be overly motivated these days.

Normally, I try to follow a recipe to the letter the first time I'm making it. Of course, I taste as I go along, so there is the odd occasion when I'll decide to modify a recipe on the first try, especially if the recipe is heavy on an ingredient I don't particularly care for. Tonight, however, I made an outright error. I mistook my container of white pepper for the container of curry powder I was looking for (don't ask me how, since my spices are clearly labeled and every one of them has it's own place). Luckily, I don't love curry powder in significant quantities, so I only put one teaspoon in the pot (the recipe calls for two). It didn't smell overwhelmingly of curry, that was promising. I taste-tested to see if I should add the second teaspoon... And where did that heat come from? Then I looked at the spice container in my hand and lo and behold... "White Pepper." Oy! So, I added the curry, but only one teaspoon... that was enough. And then I omitted the red curry paste as I thought the soup might be too hot if I included that ingredient. (We had red pepper flakes which I put out, like they do at the Thai restaurants we frequent.) Finally, the recipe calls for a red bell pepper, which I thought I had, but it was ready for the compost pile. I didn't tell Lane about my faux pas until after he'd eaten it and given it his seal of approval. I'm not sure the red bell pepper is even necessary, but it would certainly make for a more interesting picture.

So, I didn't quite make the recipe as written, but the soup I made was delicious and oh so easy. And it only took about 20 minutes to get together. I think it will be even better, next time, when I make it correctly. If you're interested in giving it a try, here's the link:

Recipe for Thai Coconut Corn Soup.

Cheers -- Jane

After feeling all smug and superior about eating vegan these last few months (meat recall here, meat recall there), wham! tomatoes are infected with Salmonella. I wasn't planning on writing a post on this topic because it's all over the place, but today, instead of more stories about who's not carrying tomatoes, and what variety is infected, I read an explanation as to why this is happening. So here is the executive summary of the article I read in New Scientist Magazine.

Bottom line, it appears our groundwater is contaminated with animal feces. The water is used to propogate the tomatoes which then act as an "incubator" for the Salmonella.

A recent census of produce outbreaks between 1996 and 2007 counted no fewer than 33 epidemics from Salmonella-contaminated fruits and vegetables. In five of them, tomatoes were the culprit. Cantaloupe melons and sprouted seeds, such as clover and alfalfa, were also common victims. Animal pathogens tend to infect only a limited range of plants.

Yikes! And yet another reason not to eat meat! (Less meat consumed = less production = less groundwater pollution.)

Scientists postulate that since fresh vegetables are increasingly packaged and shipped in centralized locations, nationwide epidemics are becoming more prevalent. Interestingly, "cleaner" produce isn't necessarily the solution either. Harmless bacteria coat tomatoes and other produce, and that could be killed off by more thorough washing. These bacteria compete against pathogens like Salmonella. One lab found that tomatoes coated with a harmless form of a bug called Enterobacter were less likely to test positive for Salmonella. Salmonella seems to like it when there's no competitor.

So, our groundwater is contaminated by animal feces, and our crops are being propagated with this polluted water. Well, if we're processing ten billion animals annually for food here in the US, that's a lot of poop to process! It certainly stands to reason that not all of that poop is being processed effectively. According to the UN Report, Livestock's Long Shadow (pages 140-142):

the most important water-borne bacterial and viral pathogens that are of primary importance to public health and veterinary public health are:

• Campylobacter SPP
• Escherichia Coli 0157:H7 (this is responsible for last year's spinach recall)
• Salmonella SPP*
• Clostridium botulinum
• Giardia lamblia
• Viral diseases (ie - foot and mouth, swine fever)
• Livestock Parasitic Diseases
• Cryptosporidium parvum
• Microsporidia SPP
• Fasciola SPP

* This is the variety of salmonella which is responsible for the current tomato recall. Salmonella spp is present in 41% of turkeys tested in California and 50% of chickens tested in Massachusetts.

The Sierra Club reports that factory farms produce 500 million tons of animal waste per year.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hog, chicken and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states.

Clearly, we have a problem. If you'd like more information, Livestock's Long Shadow has in depth details on water pollution -- pages 144-162.

No, that's not a typo in the title. Here's the rap... , the hummus recipe is below. I found this video on YouTube the other day. It's stuck in my head, and I've been tormenting Jane with it. Now I'm sharing it with you. Enjoy! (It's not terribly P.C., but I don't think anything is overtly offensive here.)

... and here's Jane's recipe (courtesy of the guy she was dating before she met me... he's Arabic, so this recipe is pretty authentic):

• 2 15-oz. cans chickpeas
• ¼ Cup tahini (sesame paste)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• ~ ¼ Cup water (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Drain and rinse chickpeas and place in food processor. Add tahini, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, and olive oil and process until smooth. The paste will be thick. If using, slowly add water until a creamy consistency is achieved. Add salt, process until incorporated. Taste. Adjust salt as desired.

Hummus is pretty versatile. Sometimes Jane will add a roasted red pepper to the food processor. Sometimes she'll throw in a bit of spinach. She's also made it in a bowl, just mashed with a fork (no water in that recipe), it's much thicker that way, but good too, and makes for an easier clean-up.

I love Jane's hummus. She gets a little bored with it, but I could eat it every day.