Wow, a major hotel chain is offering both a vegan and vegetarian tasting - 7 days a week. Where can you find this gourmet vegan fare? -- At the Hilton Anatole's Nana Restaurant in Dallas, Texas. While the Carrot Marmalade served with passion fruit granita and peanuts, and the Cucumber Spaghetti with pistachio gravel, scallions, and sesame seeds, don't sound all that appealing to me, it's really exciting to hear that Hilton is offering vegan fare!
Over the two years that Jane and I have been vegan, we've noticed a "mainstreaming" of veganism. More and more products seem to be available, vegan cookbooks abound, and even Oprah's talked about it... We've still got a long way to go until we have the same options as omnivores. However, we are no longer the "weird, bark-eating" people. And, although the message that we don't need to eat animals to survive still hasn't gotten through to most people, the fact that you don't have to eat animals at every meal seems to be making some headway.
So tonight I learned that Ira Black, guitarist for Lizzie Borden, was in the Los Angeles County jail system this month for a misdemeanor charge. Since I don't know anything about Ira Black that news didn't make much of an impression. However, Mr. Black was on a hunger strike... why you ask? Because the prison system does not offer vegan/vegetarian fare to the prisoners. Now I can see the institution's point of view. If they had to cater to every individuals diet they'd have their hands full, and it's a prison after all, not a country club! But they do make exceptions for religious beliefs and medical diets.
Personally, I'm not a huge proponent of prisoners rights. If you commit a crime and wind up in jail, you're there to be punished, you're not on vacation. Having said that, I do understand the need to ensure the basic needs of prisoners are met. But I don't think that means catering to everyones varied diets. I don't know how prisoners are fed. I envision a cafeteria line with a few basic selections.
The county might do well to consider feeding all inmates a vegan diet. It would cost the taxpayers a lot less to feed the prisoners, and it would be beneficial for the inmates health, also resulting in a cost savings to the county/taxpayers, especially for those long term prisoners. You've probably all heard about California's fiscal woes ($40 billion deficit), so cost savings should be reason enough to consider transitioning the prison system to a vegan based diet. I'm off to draft a letter to the prison system.
If you'd like to contact the Los Angeles County jail, you can write to them at: webemail@lasd.org.
(It appears Black was released from jail on the 14th. Source: The LA County Sheriff's Department Inmate Information Center.)
Effective January 5, 2011, the FDA will require all cochineal extract and carmine color additives to be included in the ingredient statement on food and cosmetic labels. Currently these are usually listed as "artificial color."
In case you're not aware, cochineal extract and carmine are used to dye food, drinks and cosmetics various shades of red, orange, pink and purple, and are extracted from the dried bodies of the female cochineal bug.
The reason for the ruling is that cochineal/carmine food colorings can cause severe allergic reaction in people.
I missed it... earlier this year, CNN ran a story about vegans. On June 11, 2008 CNN proclaimed that an estimated 10 million Americans have gone vegan. Wow. That would mean we make up a little over 3% of the total population. Woo hoo! We're growing by leaps and bounds. Jane's been saying that for a while. It certainly feels that veganism is becoming somewhat more mainstream. (But we still have a long way to go!)
CNN illustrates the environmental effects of a vegan diet by showing that a 6 ounce steak has 24 times the greenhouse gas emissions than a plate of veggie stir fry.
They also touch on the health benefits of going vegan.
Anyway, below is the YouTube video of the CNN segment, you can watch it yourselves. It's a little over six minutes.
