Tuesday, May 13, 2008

No taste for cruelty

May is National Egg Month; so the group Compassion Over Killing decided that it would be a good idea “to put a compassionate spin on this month-long industry-declared holiday.” So it is conducting a ”Crack the Cruelty” campaign to urge people to choose egg-free foods.

Even people who understand why vegetarians would avoid meat because it involves killing animals often wonder why vegans also avoid eggs and dairy, which don’t require killing the animals.
The sad truth is that the “factory farm” style production of any animal product involves an almost incomprehensible level of cruelty to the animals while they are alive. And then their lives end in the slaughterhouse anyway.

More than 95 percent of the eggs sold in the United States are laid by hens crowded into battery cages so small that they cannot even stretch their wings. According to Compassion Over Killing’s report on ”Animal Suffering in the Egg Industry” these cages give each hen an average of 59 square inches of living space — an area little larger than half a sheet of typing paper. I could go on, but there are many Web sites that tell the story better than I can.

For example United Poultry Concerns has a wealth of information on Battery Hens. Its page on the “Life of one Battery Hen” begins with a touching poem that I will use as an ending:

“Sound of a Battery Hen”

You can tell me: if you come by the
North door, I am in the twelfth cage
On the left-hand side of the third row
From the floor; and in that cage
I am usually the middle one of eight or six or three.
But even without directions, you’d
Discover me. We have the same pale
Comb, clipped yellow beak and white or auburn
Feathers, but as the door opens and you
Hear above the electric fan a kind of
One-word wail, I am the one
Who sounds loudest in my head.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Sage Vegetarian Cafe

I finally got the opportunity last week to eat at Sage Vegetarian Cafe in Chapel Hill. It’s a place I’ve long wanted to try but hadn’t had a chance to. I’m happy to report that it was excellent! It’s always a thrill to be able to order anything on the menu. I might not always want to order everything, but I could. Sage’s menu isn’t expansive, but it has a nice variety.

We started with a mezze platter, which changes daily but always includes hummus and pitas. We also got stuffed grape leaves (I’m not usually a big fan, but these were excellent), pasta salad and a Persian potato dish that was unusual and yummy, with flavors of the Middle East.

And the sweet iced tea! We all agreed that it was some of the best we’ve ever had, infused with jasmine and cardamom for an exotic, refreshing treat that the waiter kept having to refill and refill and refill for us.

All three of us ended up ordering the same entree, Fesen-Joon, which the menu described as “A Persian classic. Sweet and sour flavors of pomegranate juice, ground walnuts and herbs blended with grilled tempeh, served with basmati-saffron rice [you could substitute brown rice, which I did] and a side of shirazi [a tomato-cucumber salad].” It was a bit of a shame that we didn’t each try different things so we could share, but we all agreed that the Fesen-Joon was so fabulous, if only one of us had gotten it, the others would have had excruciating food envy. It was rich and filling, and the flavors of the walnuts and pomegranate shone through.

There are other delicious-sounding items on the menu—Bud-m-Joon ("eggplant paradise with tomato, split peas, saffron, sauteed onions, hint of cinnamon and other spices"), a vegetable kabob and soy chicken cutlets in a mild coconut curry and mushroom sauce—but I’m not sure I could NOT order the Fesen-Joon the next time I visit. It was that good and different.

There are also sandwiches and wraps available for lunch, and the menu clearly marks which items are vegan or have vegan options available. Sage is at the Timberlyne Shopping Center on Weaver Dairy Road.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Burger ratings

In its June 2008 issue, Consumer Reports taste-tests veggie burgers, and the news is good: “Our trained testers tried 12 leading veggie burgers, discovering 10 that are very good and two with flavor and texture issues.”

Although the complete ratings are available only in the magazine or to subscribers online, an overview of what Consumer Reports found is available online here.

The top pick is Morningstar Farms Garden Veggie Patties. However, vegans should note that this burger contains egg whites. Happily, my usual vegan burger, Boca’s Original, ranked among the 10 “very good” burgers

Bizarro World

Cartoonist Dan Piraro, the creator of the comic strip Bizarro, is also a vegan and a humor columnist for VegNews magazine. One section of his Web site is devoted to Animal Stuff, such as “Why I’m Vegan” and a “Talking Pig Video” that illustrates the physical differences between carnivorous and herbivorous animals…. Altogether, it’s an interesting world to explore.