tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post1312372463642890696..comments2024-02-08T05:04:18.484-08:00Comments on J'S THEATER: International Women's Day + On the road to vegetarianism?John Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073378940347627766noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-42836730983420428192010-03-15T12:30:04.650-07:002010-03-15T12:30:04.650-07:00Tai, great points. You know, I keep meaning to blo...Tai, great points. You know, I keep meaning to blog about an article I read that asks if we should consider some animals "people." It discusses the fact that animal scientists are increasingly discovering (okay, some of us with pets already knew this, but...) that certain animals, but especially dolphins, whales, and other members of <i>our</i> ape family are far more sentient that we ever realized. Dolphins in fact can recognize and primp in front of a mirror (!), and whales communicate in something very akin to an elaborate language. I think some of us have long realized these things, or at least suspected them, and I believe that the more we acknowledge them, the more some of us, at least, are likely to change our behavior in relationship to the world around us. This would include how and what we eat.John Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08073378940347627766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-11333917765820039012010-03-15T12:24:59.443-07:002010-03-15T12:24:59.443-07:00Lisa, excellent point. BTW, today I was watching a...Lisa, excellent point. BTW, today I was watching a video featuring the very hot Mehcad Brooks describing how he prepared for his recent Calvin Klein shoot, and one of the first things he says is, "I cut back on carbs...." Again, it's almost like a rote recitation. I wanted to say, ALL carbs, certain types of carbs, *which* carbs? Gently, of course. ;-) I've put *Food, Inc.* in my Netflix queue so that it's the next to show up.John Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08073378940347627766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-22414488232211633892010-03-15T12:22:33.955-07:002010-03-15T12:22:33.955-07:00Reggie, I hear you. Perhaps thinking about home me...Reggie, I hear you. Perhaps thinking about home meals that don't involve meat might help. For example, what about vegetarian chili or vegetarian spaghetti (with *lots* of vegetables in both) instead of with meat? You feel as full (or fuller) but you actually are getting more vitamins and beneficial enzymes, etc., and fewer calories as part of each serving.John Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08073378940347627766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-4356274342331724442010-03-15T12:20:38.150-07:002010-03-15T12:20:38.150-07:00Miriam, I agree with you that some people take it ...Miriam, I agree with you that some people take it as a challenge, and to some degree, as an affront to their own approach to eating. What interests me is that since the late 1960s and 1970s, when vegetarianism was in vogue, in most of the discussions of better health, losing weight, etc. that have circulated before the recent flurry of books and films highlighting the dangers of our food system, vegetarianism is usually couched in terms of something else like "the food pyramid" (vague) or "The Mediterranean diet" (vague) or "more fruits and vegetables" (vague). I mean, if you think about the standard recommendations for "more fruits and vegetables" as coming to about 6 per day, and "fewer portions" of meat, what that amounts to would be 2 fruits or veggies per meal and perhaps 1 serving of meat per day. I started to wonder, why doesn't anyone just SAY this, until I realized that the meat industry doesn't want people to say this, just as they don't want anyone to call attention to the serious problems with industrial animal farming, and so on. As I said, I haven't given up meat (Reggie H. saw me eat chicken this past weekend!), but I am eating a lot--a lot!--less of it daily.John Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08073378940347627766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-31608013776269505972010-03-15T10:07:54.577-07:002010-03-15T10:07:54.577-07:00desparapluies: that's a good response. I real...desparapluies: that's a good response. I really wish I'd thought of that. My standard response for a while was "soy beans are bastards, and they all deserve to die," but that never seemed to end the conversation the way I might hope.Miriamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01354291220945927208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-38755606832322620262010-03-13T22:19:19.674-08:002010-03-13T22:19:19.674-08:00this is exciting to me! good for you!
in a less o...this is exciting to me! good for you! <br />in a less organic way, i also think that trying to consider a radical vegetarian point of view, like in the books "the dreaded comparison" and "eternal treblinka," is a worthwhile thought experiment no matter what comes of it. <br /><br />to miriam: i've been vegetarian 16 years, over 1/2 my life now, and although i used to have long explanations for it when people asked me why, i think that my current response, "i like animals," is not just sufficient but the essence of the matter. i've stopped feeling like i have to state an elaborate logical moral schema to justify my emotions -- the feeling of disgust when coming across one of those veins in a steak is really all the justification i need. even so, yeah, people who are uncomfortable with the implications of that like to make mealtimes uncomfortable for everyone! so i've also started saying "i'd rather not discuss it while we're all eating," which seems to do the trick in the most emily-post way possible.desparapluieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12320217238597001630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-3269133190982330372010-03-13T14:20:16.298-08:002010-03-13T14:20:16.298-08:00Ain't nothing wrong with eating carbs--if they...Ain't nothing wrong with eating carbs--if they're homemade carbs, or carbs without high-fructose corn syrup, and without that added soy. once i learned that HFCS turns off the chemical in your brain that tells you you're full, i became a hard-core label reader. also, i saw the documentary Food, Inc. recently, and couldn't eat much after watching it. i already cook a lot of my own food (eating out is too expensive for me), but now i'm committed to putting more of my food budget into organically grown fruits and veggies, and free-range meats and chickens (when i do eat them) and eggs. i already do must of my own baking, started making my own granola (aka Hippie Crack) and am looking into making my own yogurt next. between films like Food, Inc., King Corn, and a few books (such as those by Michael Pollan), i'm turning into a... healthy person. who still loves an occasional (read: every two months) Five Guys burger. LOL!Lisa C. Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09123069019183053894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-54083556134854726082010-03-10T13:31:31.134-08:002010-03-10T13:31:31.134-08:00J:
I think somehow you've managed to ship the ...J:<br />I think somehow you've managed to ship the weight you've lost to me! Doesn't help that I'm living with a budding cooking school student who wants to be a pastry chef either! <br /><br />Interestingly, I tend to eat more veg and less meat away from home than I do when at home. Not sure what that means...Reginald Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01318624469970165605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-49384358807257932672010-03-09T09:37:11.864-08:002010-03-09T09:37:11.864-08:00I spent 12 years as a vegetarian for way flimsier ...I spent 12 years as a vegetarian for way flimsier reasons than yours. (When I started, I was 11 years old, and my reason was "animals are nice, and I'm pretty sure slaughterhouses are not." An hour later it became "no one thinks I can stay a vegetarian! I'll show you! I'll show you all!" That second reason pretty much carried me through the next decade. You can guess what kind of kid I was.). But I also had (and continue to have) a similar nagging and difficult to define conviction that vegetarianism is a Good Idea. Which is why I found justifying my vegetarianism to be one of the hardest parts. In fact, talking about it in general was my least favorite thing about it. <br /><br />Me at a barbecue: No burger for me, thanks.<br />Other person: You're a vegetarian?<br />Me: Yeah.<br />Them: Why?<br />Me: Oh, just, you know. Cuz. <br />Here's where it would get awkward. I didn't want to proselytize. They didn't want to hear me do it. So why were they demanding an explanation for my eating habits? Not to mention, my own justifications were pretty flimsy and vague-feeling based, which doesn't translate well into the debate this hypothetical person was so clearly trying to draw me into.<br />Them: Do you wear leather shoes?<br />Me: Why do you care?<br />Them: HEY I'M EATING A BURGER IN YOUR FACE, ARE YOU GONNA CRY?<br />Me: Probably not, no.<br /><br />What bothered me about the situation was that I didn't really have good responses. I just didn't eat meat. I didn't have some sort of fervor to back it up.<br /><br />I think people take vegetarianism as a definitive statement of ideals, and they expect you to both have a clear and concise justification for it (Animals are people, too!) and they often come into the discussion expecting to be annoyed by that justification. It's like being a vegetarian is an automatic challenge. I'm not sure why it has to come across as such a big thing. I fully support vague-feeling based decisions in this area, and I do think I was healthier when I was a vegetarian. Maybe it's time to go back to it.Miriamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01354291220945927208noreply@blogger.com