Vegan Month of Food 2011

Vegan Month of Food LogoI signed up for Vegan Month of Food 2011. My theme is going to be “What does a vegan (who doesn’t like to cook) eat?” Actually I do like to cook so that should be, “What does a vegan (who doesn’t have time to cook and hates to clean up) eat?” For brevity’s sake I’m going with the first.

I’ll also throw in a few posts about brevet and ultracycling food; what you may be able to find at convenience stores, and foods you can make beforehand to amaze and intrigue your non-vegan riding friends, and a few ideas for race food. Though it’s rare that anything tastes good during a race.

If you’re looking for salad ideas you should keep surfing. I’m the vegan who doesn’t really like lettuce, or salad greens. I have a couple friends who are great salad creators so I usually eat one or two a month, but I’ve given myself permission not to buy salad fixin’s for home unless I’m having an unusual craving.

Hopefully blogging about what I eat for a month will get me in the kitchen a little more, or at least give me inspiration to add a little variety to the few minutes a day I am there. And maybe it will give some ideas to other vegan, non-cooks out there.

If you’re vegan, or just want to be vegan for the month and blog about it, head on over to the signup page. The Month of Food starts October 1, but the deadline to register is tomorrow, September 28.

Why I’m vegan

The abuse of these infant calves is merciless. There is no excuse for skinning animals alive and shocking them time after time with electric prods when it’s obvious they are too weak to stand.

Veganism for me started when I was in Vermont stuck in road construction beside a veal lot. I didn’t become vegan overnight, but immediately reduced my intake of dairy products, including Ben & Jerry’s, whose headquarters ironically, was just a few miles down the road from that veal lot.

“Operations at Bushway Packing, Inc., a veal slaughterhouse in Vermont, have been shut down by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vislack, pending further investigation. The footage that an undercover investigator from the Humane Society of the United States obtained was truly shocking, showing calves only days-old being shocked and prodded, and live calves being left in piles of dead calves.” —VegNewsletter

I’d hoped I could read more about the shutdown of the slaughterhouse without seeing any photos. I couldn’t bring myself to click play on the video on the HSUS website. The still image is almost too horrifying to bear.