Tag Archives: Meat

Dating as a Non-Vegansexual (an iEatGrass Reroute)

9 Mar

Happy Friday! I am rerouting you to my Lusty Vegan column on pop-vegan culture portal iEatGrass.com, where I talk about dating as a non-vegansexual.

I recently read a Huffington Post article by Maya Gottfried about dating as a vegan titled Dating as a Vegan: Honesty is the Best Policy and it spurred my own rant about my experience, plus some snippets of conversation between vegan entrepreneur Kristin LaJeunesse and I. Here is a nice little sampling:

After our interview in the fall, Kristin and I kept in touch talking about boys, food (and boys), life (and boys), and romance (and boys). It doesn’t take the crispiest carrot in the bag to see that Kristin is a hopeless romantic; she started a site dedicated to vegan weddings.

 On the last morning of her stay with me, over a couple of smoothies in my kitchen, we talked about dating and how important compatibility is, and how—for those interested in living a cruelty-free lifestyle—compatibility when it comes to ethical choices can be a huge issue.

Earlier in her trip I had told her my most recent story of romance: I spent most of fall of 2011 falling for my best friend of the past decade, When Harry Met Sally style. I told her all about hop-scotching out of the friend-zone and playing “guess where I want to put that!?!” After she asked about who made the first move, she posed The Big Question: Is he vegan?

No, he isn’t. Kristin and I admitted that neither of us are vegansexuals. Would we like to fall for a plant-eater? Of course. But from our experience, finding a guy who we really connect with who is also a vegan and SINGLE is even harder than getting our vegan custard to set. You see, compatibility is key, but for me, veganism is only one part of what makes someone a good fit. Other factors include temperament, politics, beliefs, habits, and more. Do I want someone to share my love for tempeh reubens and fuzzy-headed baby chicks? Sure. But I also want someone who is supportive, passionate, driven, smart, funny, attentive, caring, and—of course—a total tiger in bed. And what if I find that person and, sh*t, he also likes to cook up a steak on his George Foreman? When I think of my own relationship, the thought of missing out on the past handful of blissful so-in-love-my-face-is-numb months because my man eats meat is laughable. Scoffable, even.

In her article Gottfried talks about a guy who ditches a second date due to a hangover. He was a vegan, but even that didn’t ensure their lifestyles aligned. During my conversation with Kristin, she said “Just because you find a guy who is single, and vegan, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be compatible. Plus, being vegan doesn’t guarantee they are a good person.”

Read the rest of the article here!

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The Human Marshmallow (sort of)–Would You Eat It?

18 Jul

Aww, how cute (image by Cooksta7575)

When I went vegan, I had to give up thinks like marshmallows, jello, most gummy candies, gum, mints and other gelly things, as gelatin is produced with nasty animal byproducts like cow and pig bones and skin. Yuck!

 I don’t really miss any of that stuff, except maybe the occasional s’more, which now requires me ordering vegan mallows online (which I don’t do, because, I am lazy).

Recently, I read about a new method of making gelatin, reported by the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemisty. Apparently Scientists are now working on developing human-based gelatin, as they realize that the animal-based variety can carry infectious diseases.

According to the press release, the scientists developed and demonstrated a method where human gelatin genes are inserted into a strain of yeast, which can produce gelatin with controllable features. The researchers are still testing the human-yeast gelatin to see how well it compares to other gelatins in terms of its viscosity and other attributes.

I find this to be pretty disgusting—recently someone asked if I would eat “meat” made in a Petri dish. While Petri-meat and human-based gelatin may not contribute to the slaughtering of animals—which is a step in the right direction—it is still weirdly unnatural, and I am still going to stay away from it.

Any opinions on this weird Franken-gel? How about Petri-meat? Would you eat it, vegan or not?

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Eating Animals–I Read It And You Should Too! Or Else…

21 Jun


I just finished reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals, and boy, did it fuck me sideways!

I thought I knew things about things! I mean, obviously I knew many terrors of factory farming, one of the largest reasons I don’t eat meat! But I can’t really stomach all those scary PETA videos so I don’t watch them because they give me nightmares, like the time in college I had to drop anatomy because I developed severe anxiety over the thrice weekly cadaver lab where I had to slice and dice an old dead lady that reminded me of my Nani!

Anyways, I love Foer’s fiction which was part of the reason I picked up the book. I once listened to Everything is Illuminated while driving to Va, and it may just have been the hilarious accents the guy reading the tape put on, but those 8 hours flew by. Foer, a life-long on again off again vegetarian (commitment issues!), starts researching factory farming after the birth of his son, as he is wondering what to feed him—meat, or no meat?—and where the food comes from. At the start of his journey Foer is a locavore, picky about where his meat comes from, but still eating it. By the end, he is a full on vegetarian. The book has some startling statistics, and it will be hard for me to hold my tongue the next time one of my good intentioned friends says “oh I only eat fish because they have no feelings.” (People don’t like to hear about their food being tortured, so I usually don’t rant about animal abuse  unless provoked…)

The title of the book states not only the obvious, that we eat animals, but also that WE are ANIMALS that EAT. It has great themes about food as the bond between people and traditions and families, about the importance of sharing a meal together and what it symbolizes, and a sprinkling of amusing anecdotes and Foer’s general easy-reading style of writing. Also, the first chapter makes a convincing (satirical) argument on why, common sense-wise, if we were to eat any animals, it should be dogs! Outrageous!

For some reason, whenever I refer the book to people I call it Feeding Animals instead of Eating Animals. I even wrote it a few times in this post and had to correct myself! I suppose I like the image of me at a happy farm feeding a sweet big-eyed cow some grass rather than me with a steak on my plate. Anyways…

Read it! Go!

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PETA Touts Veg-Aphrodisiac

14 Jun

"Try my sausage!"

Last week two PETA activists lobbying to racing fans at the Grand Prix covered an interesting angle. While handing out meat-free sausages, the girls (dressed in sexy racing outfits, of course) explained to spectators that eating a vegetarian diet makes for better bedroom moves. Well, sort of.

“Animal proteins can block blood vessels and arteries to all organs, not just the heart, and result in a breakdown in the bedroom,” explained PETA’s Melissa Galianos. “So we’re encouraging people to get their protein from vegetables.” Their clever tie in for racing and vegetarian sausages? The activists hold signs reading “Rev Your Engine—Go Vegan!” The girls claimed that a vegan diet is better for the libido than taking sex drugs.

Of course, there will always be haters. The Dignified Rant blogger Brian J. Dunn posted about the occurrence on Sunday. His verdict? “Meat wins!” He continues with

Face it, vegetables are good. I eat them. But no vegetable can match the joy of eating even a cheap fast-food burger let alone an expensive cut of meat. I’m not ashamed of being at the top of the food chain–I’m grateful.

While Dunn covers the “joy of eating meat” and bangs his chest over making it to the top of the food-chain (no judgements!),  he sidesteps the actual claim made by the pleather-clad PETA gals, which is that remaining meat-free is better for your libido and will lead to squeaky clean arteries, resulting in a Viagra-free life in the boudoir. How is your sex life, Dunny?

Also, totally unrelated but check out this sweet-ass (literally) PETA ad featuring Jack Ass star Steve-O:

Released into the public domain by PETA.

Image via Wikipedia

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