Talking about Pink Slime

OK - Here it is - the finely textured beef otherwise known as pink slime that has been making all the headlines! I have to be honest and agree with John Stewart of the "Daily Show" that if you are eating all the other meat products that are available to us like hotdogs, sausage and chicken mcnuggets etc, is this really any different? In a way, it diverts attention from the real problem of the industrialized production of our food. A good discussion of this is right here. (The tweet indicated "the meat industry be dealt a fatal blow if every omnivore watched this):

MSNBC's Chris Hayes hosts roundtable on Pink Slime

All I really have yet to say is that when I hear these things about pink slime, ammonia, chickens on caffeine, pain killers and antidepressants, it reinforces all the reasons why I don't eat meat. YAY!!!

Would I eat this?

Check out this plump little hotdog with the long squiggle of mustard. There was a day when I would have craved this standard American staple - especially when cooked on the grill. It reminds me of the days when I did not think at all about where my food came from nor if it was good for me. In fact, if pressed, I probably would have known that the meat that I was eating came from an animal. But, any curiousity about that process was probably suppressed by the deepseated denial factor that was at work saving me from the unpleasant reality. Once my daughter started educating me, I realized how ignorant I really was. When I saw and heard the truth about factory farming, my denial shield was penetrated and my whole body started to react - rage, disgust, disbelief. For example, let's talk about the cute little hotdog as shown above - Common hot dog ingredients include meat trimmings from cows, pigs or chickens (mechanically separated) and fat, flavorings, preservatives; unhealthy high sodium, fat and nitrite content.
Hot dogs are prepared by mixing the ingredients in vats where quickly rotating blades grind and mix. It's then forced through tubes into casings made from sheep intestines for cooking. And, before we can get the meat trimmings, we have to kill the animal, get rid of all the blood and cut it up. Too bad for you Porky, 3 little pigs, Babe, Bessy, the cool California cows - we will.... we will EAT YOU!! Well, some people will, but not me. My hotdog eating days are over - never to chomp down on animal flesh in forms of chunk, rib, steak, leg, breast, trimmings, byproduct - you get the idea! So, when I get the craving for a long plumpy thing in a bun, I will crave tofupups or soy dogs - vegetable products made into the traditional shape. I will cook one, slather on the mustard, relish and maybe even some sauerkraut and enjoy a treat that I can eat, get some protein and with each bite smile that not a single animal had to die for me to eat it. Some may say that it just doesn't have the taste or the texture to satisfy them - I guess we all define satisfaction differently.

So, I leave behind my carnivore past and move forward into the peace of the veg kingdom. Ahhhhh - it feels so good!

Nova Scotia, Vegan Subway Notices and Sea Shepherd

Just got back from a visit to Nova Scotia - staying with friends in Lunenburg (near Halifax). It was an amazing vacation seeing the beautiful natural areas -sea, beach, Bay and hills, the historically preserved areas and architecture of Lunenburg and breathing in the fresh clean air. With all that, we had a couple of great vegan moments that I want to share.

On our way up the NS we spent an afternoon in Boston. While we were on the subway, we noticed an advertisement for becoming vegan (see photo above). It was graphic, animals in cages and clearly not in good shape and said and showed it "all" on one small sign. I couldn't take my eyes off of it and had to take a picture of it. It gave me such hope to see it prominently placed on a subway that carries lots of people every day.

It says:

Bigger cages won't end their suffering

New Laws won't Protect them

Your donation won't save their lives

BUT you can make a difference - Become a VEGAN

sponsored by Bostonvegan.org

It started my trip off with an incredibly unexpected and wonderful message!

Then, when we got to Lunenburg, we discovered that the Sea Shepherd ship "Farley Mowat" was sitting in the harbor behind where we were staying. It turns out that the ship made it's presence known during the Canadian seal hunt and since the Canadian government warned them that they would seize them if they approached past a certain point (and they did). The government impounded the ship and it is now docked in Lunenburg harbor. I was told this by someone on the dock who seemed to know quite a bit about the situation. It was quite thrilling being able to see this ship so close up. It represents the incredible commitment of those individuals who risk their lives to protect animals. I went to the dock to see it every day that I was there.
So, I guess you could say I had a vacation that just reinforced my commitment to be a vegan.