March 2010

  • It's Avocado Season!

    By erika on 3/30/10 5:11pm
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    I know that any more, there are no real "seasons" for produce.  Produce is shipped in pretty much year-round from places like Chile (where the seasons are opposite ours) or the Middle East (where my understanding is that it's summer year-round).  Nevertheless, the quality of the produce suffers greatly from being shipped.  It's never as good as a properly ripe, local (or local-ish) bit of in-season produce.

    I keep calling the avocado "produce" because I'm not honestly sure what else to call it.  Technically, the avocado is a fruit.  If you want to get REALLY technical about it, it is that subset of fruits that we call "berries."  And yet, if I referred to avocados as berries, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't go over well.

    So let's just call them "avocados" and leave it at that.


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  • Caribbean Cruises: Stop Serving Foie Gras

    By sarajean on 3/20/10 12:14am
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    Even when I hear the phrase “foie gras,” I sort of want to throw up. Without even knowing what it means, doesn’t it sound like a puking noise? “Fwwwwwwuuuuhhhh Grah!” I could totally hear myself hurling this phrase as I hurl other contents from my mouth while bent over a toilet.

    But in all seriousness, the practice itself is very sickening—much more so than the sound of its name. The phrase, which literally translates to “fatty liver” (that, too, sounds quite appetizing—right up there with bloated eyeballs), is in regards to cooked ducks and geese. While that doesn’t sound any different than a hamburger or a pork steak, the difference is that these birds are tortured live before being cooked; in fact, they have to be tortured to produce the results the chefs intend with the dishes to begin with.

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  • House's Vegetarian Patient: The Poop Is The Key

    By erika on 3/17/10 11:45am
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    I laughed at the opening scene of the House episode "Private Lives" which was just pushed to Hulu.  A young female blogger uses her blog to solve a dispute.  8 out of 10 of her readers agree with her: you can call yourself a vegetarian even if you eat salmon.

    Her boyfriend disagrees.  "You can call yourself an astronaut, but that doesn't make it true."

    Now admittedly, dude does have a point: fish is not a vegetable.  Technically she is a pescetarian, not a vegetarian, but a lot of people consider themselves vegetarian while still eating seafood.  This may be partly due to the confusion of terms, and honestly a lot of times it's a lot easier to say "I'm a vegetarian" than to explain what the term "pescetarian" means.


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  • Vegetarian Athletes

    By erika on 3/15/10 3:59pm
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    Enter The VegetarianEnter The VegetarianI was recently vexed by a conversation with a family member who, talking about someone else who is not physically strong said, "Well, but she's a vegetarian, so."  As if all vegetarians were weaklings!

    "Like Bruce Lee," I snapped back.  "What a wuss that guy was!"  It made the point quite well, I thought.  

    Herewith, a list of vegans and vegetarians who happen to be famous athletes!

    Killer Kowalski
    Walter "Killer" Kowalski was a professional wrestler who specialized in playing the bad guy.  Kowalski began professional wrestling in college when he learned that he could make more at it than at the entry-level job he had been working at the time.  He went on to wrestle in both the NWA and the WWF.


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  • EPA: Say No to Animal Testing

    By sarajean on 3/15/10 7:58am
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    Though I’m an animal rights enthusiast for the most part—I would never wear fur, I don’t agree with circuses or other forms of abuse for entertainment, and I’m appalled at the way we treat our factory-farmed animals—I am on the fence a bit when it comes to animal testing.

    Regarding cosmetic testing, I am easily against such things 100%. No rabbit should have his eyes sewn shut so I can be happy about my shampoo; we can simply use all-natural ingredients to refrain from such bizarre forms of torture, anyway. The shampoos we use in our home are nearly edible; I feel comfortable using them on my scalp just fine without animals having to die for it.

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  • "Rock Star Butcher Parties"

    By erika on 3/11/10 9:07pm
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    Butcher Asparagus, Not Cows!Butcher Asparagus, Not Cows!Everything about this trend makes me nauseous.  To step back a little, a few months ago I read Julie Powell's book Julie & Julia.  One of the most harrowing sections involved dishes which required her to cut live lobsters in half and OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS yes she really did that.  I advise people to follow their squeamishness - if cutting a live animal in half makes you queasy, go with that instinct!  Just DON'T.


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  • "Why Protest Eating Whales? People Eat Cows All The Time!"

    By erika on 3/9/10 5:03pm
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    Yummy Vegetarian SushiYummy Vegetarian SushiIn response to the revolting news that a sushi restaurant in California has been illegally offering whale meat sushi to select diners, there has been a predictable backlash on the internet.  The most common line of reasoning goes something like, "Don't be such a hypocrite!  So what if the Japanese eat whales?  Have you seen what happens in a slaughterhouse?"

    The charges of hypocrisy are thick on the ground, and poorly received.  This argument is meant to get people to stop criticizing the whale hunters, and the Japanese people who eat their harvest.  (Excuse me, the "leftovers from their scientific oceanographic ventures.")  But the truth is that it is actually an excellent argument in favor of going vegetarian.


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