If you haven’t read this article, please go do that now then continue reading this.

I’ll try to address this post from a few different angles: my inner fat kid, my inner advertiser and my blunt side.

My Inner Fat Kid

I was never severely overweight but at times in my life I probably looked similar to this kid on the left. It sucked, being a chunky kid. My mom bought me “husky” jeans and I was never as fast or as strong as any of my other friends, so it seemed. I can remember some of the insults hurled my way by one particular redneck kid (who probably got busted for making meth later in life). He’d say things like, “Fag,” “Faggot,” “Gay,” or “Gay-wad.” Kids can be cruel. Luckily I never let this dude get to me too much but that’s not the case for other kids. The guy insulting me had no basis for those insults except I was a chunky, timid kid. I can’t imagine it’s gotten any easier for kids these days. I never really lost that weight until I started playing soccer in high school and began running a lot. It made me feel good about myself. Losing that weight improved my self image. It sucks that losing weight made my self image improve. I should’ve been okay with myself no matter what. It did make me realize that being okay with yourself doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to be better physically, mentally, and emotionally.

All that to say, I’ve still never really gotten over feeling like a fat kid. In my head I’m still that kid, sometimes, and that isn’t easy. I know what it’s like to be the kid in these images. Looking back I know that the reason I was chunky is because my mom let me order & eat two Sonic cheeseburgers when I was 8 years old. It wasn’t my fault at that age. Once I became aware of how to control eating that much food & the affects exercise had on my body it became my responsibility to be a healthier person.

My inner fat kid really isn’t bothered by these ads. It’s hard to be reflective and view it from a child’s stance but I can only hope that it sparks a conversation between kids like myself and their parents. I can only hope that other kids who pick on the chunky kids will see that these kids don’t understand why they are the way they are anymore than the skinny kids do.

My Inner Advertiser

I’m in love with this ad. It pushes the boundaries. It challenges us. It gets conversation started, probably more than those really nice, “My pretend friend Shrek likes to go outside & play so I should do the same!” billboards because guess what, exercise isn’t the only key to being healthy. Many people go on exercise plans and completely ignore their diet. Yes, there are a number of different reasons for people’s excess in weight but I’m willing to guess that at nearly 90% of overweight children could see change in their bodies with a change in their diet.

This campaign leaves nothing to question, the point is made and done so quickly. As a graphic designer/advertiser I get it. It makes sense to me. It’s way more interesting than just about anything else they could’ve done. I also understand that positive reinforcement is generally a better idea than negativity, but I kind of see it like this: so far our positive, neat little messages aren’t working, so it’s time for someone to step the game up, start conversations, and create some change.

My Blunt Side

I’m all for having a positive body image and getting rid of the stigma towards overweight individuals, but at some point we have to stop coddling and say, “Enough is enough. You’re overweight and that’s unhealthy. If it’s absolutely something you can’t help, then I’m sorry, you’re kind of screwed in the whole thing & I hope that people don’t judge you based on that. However, if it is something you can change, it needs to change.” Being overweight isn’t healthy. Whether it’s caused by your diet, your genetics, medication side effects, disease, whatever, it’s just not healthy. At some point it’s going to take a toll on your body. Your heart is going to get pissed, your organs will stop functioning properly , your muscles will get weaker, and you’ll die. That happens to all of us but being overweight only increases the chances of those things happening at a faster rate.

And I know, we don’t all need to be skinny-minnies because that’s not healthy either. Girls, especially girls, I’m not saying you need to be tiny to be sexy or healthy, that’s just not true. I know plenty of people who aren’t skinny that are really sexy, healthy individuals and I don’t want to rip you of that or make you feel like something needs to change because it doesn’t. Guys as well, we don’t have to be cut with six packs and bulging biceps to be healthy, sexy people. It’s just not true, it’s a media stigma that we need to let go of.

So, This Guy Sounds Like a Butthole, What Does He Think Should Be Done?

Education, education, education. If nothing else let’s hope these types of ad campaigns spark good conversation, conversations about our health and what we can do to make that better. Conversations about school lunches being healthier, parents having a better understanding of nutrition, making it easier for those in different socio-economic brackets to have access to healthy food. Education my friends. That’s the name of the game for me. I think that with education we can create a shift in our society. It won’t be easy, especially since we’re so far gone, but I believe it’s not too late. Let’s reach out to our friends and family. Let’s educate each other. It’s possible to eat healthy on a budget, even if you’re only option is Walmart. It. Is. Possible.

If you feel strongly about any of this, there are ways to get involved:
http://saladbars2schools.org/
http://www.foodfamilyfarming.org/
http://www.wholekidsfoundation.org/
http://www.thelunchbox.org/community/lunch-box-blog
http://www.dunbargarden.org/ (Little Rock local)

July 1 was good ol Canada Day. I’ve got 2 great friends living on opposite coasts of Canada so I always try to do something in their honor. Didn’t get to crack open any Canadian beer, Moosehead and LaBatt Blue being my favorites, but I did get to chow down on this delicious relationship of fries, gravy and cheese. Typically this is made with beef gravy so even as a vegetarian I never got to try the “real” thing but I’m not too hurt. I did used to combine white gravy and processed american cheese atop fries at the country club I worked at. I gained some weight that year. Anyway, you’re more interested in how to make this, so let’s get to it!

• prep time: 5 minutes
• cook time: approx 30 minutes
• serves 2, or one really hungry Canadian

• 5-6 Gardein beef tips, diced up
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1.5 cups veggie broth (a bit of a guesstimate)
• 1 T flour
• 1/8 cup water
• 15oz Alexia Yukon Gold Fries (or make your own or whatever kind you like)
• 1 cup Daiya Mozzarella Cheese
• Salt/Pepper to taste

1. Bake french fries according to directions. Wait until you have about 7-10 minutes left on the timer before you begin the gravy. When fries are done leave oven at temp.
2. Sauté the beef tips and garlic until beef tips are turning dark brown
3. make a “slurry” from the flower and water, stir well.
4. Add 1/2 cup veggie broth to beef tips/garlic and let most of the veggie broth cook off
5. Add the remaining cup of veggie broth
6. Add the slurry mixture to your gravy mix remembering to stir constantly as you add. Make sure you get all of the flour out.
7. Bring to a boil quickly then reduce and place on low heat.
8. Allow to simmer until desired thickness is reached. You may choose to add more broth or more slurry. I find mixing the flour into the water keeps it from clumping in the gravy.
9. Pour the gravy over the fries in a round or square baking pan, something with a little depth.
10. Add Daiya mozzarella cheese to the top, bake for 5-10 minutes until cheese is at desired consistency.

Boom, that’s it.

We found very gracious hosts in Sean Cannon (of Buzzgrinder fame) and his wife (thanks again!). They gave us some tips on the city like where to eat good vegan food and places to grab a good drink. We all ended up being super impressed with Louisville as a city. Sean kept telling us to just move there. I wouldn’t mind! We hit up a QDoba for a burrito at like 1:30am Friday night, had a killer vegan reuben at Third Ave Cafe on Saturday and then some delish pizza from Papalino’s on Saturday night. I highly recommend any of those joints.

Enough about Louisville, back to the fest. First day there, I got off work at 5:30 and was watching Bane by 6:00. What a great Friday, right? Their set was off the chain. Then it was off to see Tigers Jaw and look around the venue space a bit more. We learned earlier in the day that Strike Anywhere had dropped so we weren’t sure how the end of the day would work out but it was pretty sweet: The Bled played inside leaving Against Me! to take the main stage as the final act of the night. I haven’t really kept up with The Bled but during their last song, Red Wedding, James Muñoz said something along the lines of, “Everybody mosh it up for Macho Man Randy Savage!” and I couldn’t resist. Tore it up for that final breakdown then off to Against Me!. Their set was perfect. Everybody was into it, having a good time, singing along, keeping their fists in the air! Later that night we went to the Chestnut Street house for a show with Bane. It was the sweatiest place I’ve been in a long time. Such a rad show even with everyone packed in. Also, who was the guy that got completely naked and head walked? Never forgetting that show.

Second day was a real banger as well. Didn’t get there in time for Former Thieves but I’ll be seeing them twice more this year. Arrived just in time for the beginning of Fireworks set. What a great band. I like them even more every time I see them. At the end of their set they announced they’d be playing a show at a strip club around 11:30pm with Self Defense Family (aka End of a Year) & Make Do and Mend. Eventually a flyer circulated saying it would be Fireworks, Self Defense Family and Bane! Woah! At a strip club? Ended up not going, probably messed up but it’s okay. Anyway, after the Fireworks set walked right over to Defeater. If there was one band I was waiting with bated breath to see, it was them. I just wish they could’ve played a longer set. They were so good. Lemuria was a perfect fit to fall after Defeater as it was a nice time to chill and have a PBR. Later on a large amount of rapture juice (this was the day Harold Camping predicted the rapture) fell from the sky during La Dispute’s set forcing the festival inside for the majority of the evening. They rearranged some set times so following La Dispute was Touché Amoré and Title Fight. Killer line-up there. All 3 bands were nothing less than amazing. Thought I got some sweet video of the pit that erupted during the last Title Fight song/breakdown but my camera was out of memory and I got 1 second…lame. We kinda skipped out on paying a lot of attention to the rest of the bands that night. Ended up sitting down with a friend of a friend we met up with and talked about gmo’s, veganism, music, straight edge, etc. It was pretty rad to sit and talk while listening to a live Hot Water Music show.

Later that night my buddy Reid and I went to Papalinos in the Highlands, as mentioned above, to grab some pizza. Those were some huuuge pizzas, they only do 18 inchers. While they didn’t have any vegan cheese they did have killer toppings like sauteed spinach. One of the best cheese-less pizzas I’ve had.

Since we had such a long drive back our Sunday was cut pretty short. Seemed like everyone else was fairly worn out as well. Our buddy Ethan stayed behind this day while Reid and I went out to see Daytrader and This is Hell. Both great bands. Seems like This is Hell’s support is way down but I still dig what they’re doing. After that it was the 8 hour drive back to Little Rock.

I had the best time at Krazy Fest and was super impressed with the scene in Louisville. Everyone was accommodating and the city was amazing. I look forward to going back next year and maybe even taking a pleasurable trip back up to Louisville sometime this summer. Three wishes for next year’s Krazy Fest:
1) Let us bring in water bottles. Maybe they have to be empty first? I don’t want to pollute with that plastic non-sense.
2) Allow SLR cameras.
3) Up the vegan food commodities on site.

Dig on the pictures below from the fest and see others over at my flickr and then go check out everyone else’s sick photos of the fest to see what you missed (or were a part of):

My Vegan Reuben

Tom Gabel (Against Me!)

Defeater

Anti-Flag

Jeremy from Touché Amoré on stage with La Dispute

La Dispute singer Jordan Dreyer

Title Fight

It seems like I’ve searched and searched for good vegan cornbread recipes. They’ve all fallen a bit short for some reason or another, never really sure to be honest. This week I’m living cheap so I’ve been soaking and cooking lots of beans. I soaked the rest of my black eyed peas and planned on making Hoppin John but decided to give a vegan cornbread one more shot. I had some Bob’s Red Mill cornmeal lying around and decided I’d try to tweak that recipe. Part way through I realized that all I had for alternative milk was vanilla soy milk…”vanilla cornbread? That doesn’t sound good. Oh well, I’ll use it anyway, maybe it won’t be overpowering.”

If it was overpowering I wouldn’t be writing this post. The vanilla coupled with a tablespoon of maple syrup added the perfect amount of sweetness to this somewhat spicy cornbread.

Vegan Spelt Cornbread

prep time:10 minutes
cook time: 20-25 minutes

• 1 cup cornmeal medium grind
• 1 cup spelt flour (you can use wheat or white)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• a few shakes/twists of black pepper
• 3-4 pickled jalapenos diced finely (the ones in the jar with vinegar)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Ener-G Egg Replacer* to 2 tablespoons water
    *i’m guessing this stuff is gonna last forever at the ratio you use it. i think what failed me before in cornbread was not using this. i’ve tried apple sauce and a mixture of plain soy yogurt w/ something else to little success.
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance
• 1 cup vanilla soymilk (any milk sub would be fine)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• earth balance to coat cast iron skillet

1. preheat oven to 425.
2. sift all the dry ingredients together.
3. add the diced jalapeños, egg replacer, earth balance, soymilk and maple syrup. you don’t need to mix this for very long.
4. coat cast iron skillet with a bit of earth balance. pour in mixture & place in 425 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

Then you eat it like this (throw some collard greens on the side if you got em):

Even if you’re not a vegan I think you’ll enjoy this. Especially if you enjoy caramelized bananas as part of your breakfast.

Vegan French Toast
makes 3 pieces

• half a very ripe banana
• a tablespoon or 2 of coconut ice cream (you could use any milk sub as well)
• 3 slices of bread
• tablespoon or 2 of earth balance for frying

Mash the banana and ice cream together until you have an eggy type wash for your bread. Not too thin, not too thick. Almost like cold syrup.

Heat earth balance in pan.

Dip bread, one at a time, into the wash then lay in pan. Cook until golden brown or slightly crisp on each side.

It’s that easy! I sprinkled mine with cinnamon and drizzled with maple syrup but feel free to expand on that. Maybe add some pecans, walnuts, fruit, powdered sugar, etc.

Yesterday on the Twitters @AJShannon posted her recipe in The Betty Crocker Project for a Whole Wheat Cheesy Focaccia Bread. As part of Lent I’m striving to let go of processed foods and learn to make my own. One of the major things is bread so I jumped at the opportunity to make this focaccia. However, I didn’t really want it whole wheat or cheesy so I modified her recipe to make a more basic focaccia…and it’s incredible! I started by halving the recipe (as mostly I’m cooking for myself and maybe one other person). So here goes:

• 1 1/4 cups white unbleached bread flour (add more if necessary)
• 1/2 Tb rosemary
• 1/2 Tb agave (originally sugar)
• 1/2 Tb salt
• 1/2 packet dry yeast (1 & 1/8 tsp)
• 2 1/2 Tb olive oil
• 1/2 cup very warm water
• yields 1 10-12″ loaf of focaccia

- mix half cup flour, rosemary, salt, yeast, agave, 1.25 tb olive oil, and warm water. mix for 3 minutes
- slowly add rest of flour. (may need dashes of more water or flour). mix well, turn on lightly floured surface and knead for 6 minutes
- form dough into ball, lightly oil the surface of the dough ball. place back in bowl, cover with lid/plastic wrap etc. and let rise in warm place for half an hour (or doubled in size)
- preheat oven to 400 and flour a baking stone or lightly oil pan
- remove dough ball, flatten into disc shape about 10-12″ in diameter. cover again and let rise for 30 minutes
- remove cover. press fingers into dough to make several small indentions
- brush olive oil over surface
- bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown

My dough had some trouble in the initial rise and I just couldn’t wait but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. I was able to make a small pizza out of this and pulled out a little bit to have a small focaccia piece about 3-4″ in diameter. The pizza was incredible and I wish I had pictures but I gobbled it up. I’ll tell you what i put on it though:

• - Rao’s Marinara as my base
• - roasted potatoes, garlic, shallot and reconstituted shiitake mushrooms*
  *Reconstituted in hot water, tamari, and liquid smoke
• - Daiya Mozzarella

I used the other piece, pictured above, to eat with homemade hummus and it was incredible! Thanks @AJShannon for the inspiration and overall direction.

- 1+1/2 c whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1/2 c oil
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 tbsp ice water
- 1/2 an onion minced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 6-8 asparagus sticks, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
- 1 cup frozen chopped spinach (used fresh and didn’t cook like she suggest later)
- 1/2 block silken tofu
- 1/4c water
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp curry
- 1 tbsp oregano (oddly enough I was out of this so I substituted thyme)
- 1 tsp parsley (used fresh)
- 1/4 tsp salt

1. preheat the oven to 350. in a medium size bowl, mix together the flour and salt.

2. add the oil, salt, cider vinegar and water. stir until well mixed. this is your crust mixture.

3. line a muffin tray with paper muffin cups. gently press the crust mixture into the bottom of the cups, and then up the sides. set aside.

4. in an oiled skillet over medium heat cook the onion until transparent, about 5 minutes. add the garlic and asparagus and cover with a lid. stir every 3 minutes. allow to cook until the onions become brown, about 7-8 minutes total. add the spinach and cook an additional minute.

5. in a blender, combine silken tofu, water, nutritional yeast, cumin, curry, oregano, parsley and salt. combine on a low setting until smooth. add the veggies to the blender and mix with a wooden spoon ( you can do this in a separate bowl, but i hate doing extra dishes).

6. spoon the silken tofu mixture into each prepared crust. it is not going to rise, so fill it to the top. i used a quarter cup per crust, which was perfect.

7. bake in the oven for 25 minutes. then turn the heat up to 450 and cook another 10- 15 minute. it is done when it is more solid then jiggly and the top begins to become golden brown.

8. allow to cool a few minutes.. if you can wait! then use a butter knife and gently pop them out of the muffin tray. enjoy!!

As an appetizer I also put together a quick bruschetta (pet peeve, it’s: broo • skeh • tuh, or something similar, not broo • shet • a):

I think bruschetta should be kept simple so I usually chop up a few tomatoes, add some fresh basil (this has dried, not as good) and a little olive oil. The key is your bread. To get really good bread for this, cut up your slices and let them sit out overnight. My Whole Foods sells a local vegan sourdough that works perfect for this. They’ll dry out and get that crunchiness overnight. To prepare them the next day simply brush them with some olive oil, salt & pepper then toast them for a few minutes, just enough to heat up the bread.

Now for the quiche critique, not bad. Missing something. Maybe I wanted more creaminess so I’d suggest a little more than half a block of silken tofu. Maybe 3/4. Also, maybe add some tomatoes. We found ourselves using the bruschetta tomatoes atop to add some flavor. I’d also throw pepper into the spice mix, maybe some fresh basil and i might sauté the onions/asparagus in some tamari. I think the main concern here was price, hence the name: The Poor Vegan, which left the ingredients a bit lacking. Any other suggestions? I think these ladies (& dogs) enjoyed the dinner:

P.S. the quiches made a great addition to my breakfast this morning.

I’m not sure if I’m doing this Vegan Month of Food (Vegan Mofo) properly but it’s blogging about vegan food all month, right? Well, I’m down with that! Discovered how easy this is to make with the help of my friend George. I’d had it several times from a Chinese delivery restaurant but really wanted to make it on my own w/ udon instead of enriched white rice. Came up with this and I think it’s incredible!

Makes 1-2 servings

broccoli/udon:
- 2 small heads of broccoli
- 2 packets of udon (depending on how much you like noodles, the only udon i’ve used comes in smaller packets inside the package, I suggest Koyo Organic.)
- Enough water in a pot to cover/boil your noodles

in a small saucepan combine the following ingredients to sautee for a few minutes:
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- sesame oil
- teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped/diced
- 1-2 thai peppers, seeded/diced (cayenne flakes work also)

add the following ingredients, bring to a boil then reduce to a low simmer:
- 4-5 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce (maybe more, but enough to cover above ingredients)
- 1 tablespoon white rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup of water (just enough to cut the tamari a bit)
- organic brown sugar, turbinado or agave nectar (2 teaspoons sugar or one teaspoon agave, just enough to add a slight sweetness)
- a touch (1/4 teaspoon?) of corn starch (optional, acts as a thickening agent)

Once you’ve got the sauce simmering place the udon noodles in a pot of boiling water. I put a touch of sesame oil and salt in the water, also I steam my broccoli in this same pot. If you have that capability do it! My udon cooks in 8 minutes and that’s plenty of steam time for the broccoli. After the 8 minutes is up, bring your broccoli into the lightly simmering garlic sauce, wash your udon noodles in cold water to stop the cooking, and combine the broccoli and udon. You can pour some of the sauce over the top too. This is a delicious quick meal that doesn’t make too much time.

My Story

Prior to college I had probably never heard of PETA. Maybe I had heard some redneck in my home town make fun of it but that’s about it. Fast forward to my sophomore year of college and the band The Dillinger Escape Plan. They were playing a show at Vino’s and the line was out the door. While waiting in line these cute girls walked up to my friends and I with a clipboard asking us to sign it. I have no clue what I signed but they said it was for PETA and gave us stickers with chickens on them. I snickered,
“What’s PETA?”
“People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.”
I thought, oh okay, that’s neat. Apparently I put my email address on that petition and started getting emails from these PETA folks. For whatever reason I ordered a vegetarian starter pack, watched the Meet Your Meat video and sort of dismissed it. Occasionally I would bring up the cruel treatment of our animals but it never compelled me to any action.

A year or so later a couple of my friends went vegetarian for a month, maybe it was Lent, I don’t know. One of the guys quit after a week or so and the other stuck with it. Stuck with it so much that he had a burger at the end of the month and then relinquished himself from meat altogether. This guy, Ryan, through a series of events, ended up becoming one of my best friends. We talked about all sorts of things and eventually began discussing animals. Ryan had done a lot of reading and researching so his opinions were well formed and he knows how to present his arguments. After entertaining the idea of vegetarianism for several months it all came to a head with a Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuit. Those things are delicious, sooo tasty and made me want to cry. Our campus had one in the student center and when you had the money it was the preferred breakfast item. One day I bought one and couldn’t eat it, took one bite and wanted to cry. I felt like a terrible person and at that point decided I couldn’t do it anymore. I was going vegetarian.

I was very soon presented with an option to tell a different story at the dinner table of some friends. They had made steak, it was Christmas time and were enjoying the community we had developed. Sadly, I didn’t write a different story that day. I ate the steak and continued to falter a little more but eventually came back around to give it all up.

That’s my story up until reading Eating Animals. I’ve decided now to go vegan. Foer writes a compelling narrative while interweaving pertinent facts. He states in the beginning that he’s not writing the book as a case for vegetarianism, although one could write the case. It sort of is and sort of isn’t a case for vegetarianism. Since it’s a personal journey, it is essentially his journey to vegetarianism and therefore represents a case for such a life. You also now know that I approached this book already being a vegetarian. I approached it looking for more ammunition to put in my arsenal. I wasn’t looking to be turned into a vegan but it happened. It was quite paradoxical that I became a vegetarian based on ethical grounds but continued to ignore the suffering of chickens (layers those are the egg ones) and cows used for milk. Eating Animals really explores the paradoxes of animal life when it comes to suffering. Why do we not kill and eat stray animals? Why don’t we act out our other wants/desires on animals (sex)? I appreciate and identify with the way he approaches animals. What we eat and how we eat is a big part of our culture. It tells stories and helps us identify with each other. He also leaves you with a bit of despair. Surely there are more small farms doing good things but they’re probably hard to find and aren’t very accessible to many of us. In fact, true free range animals aren’t available to most of America. The notion that what you see in the store as free range should be disregarded. The laws surrounding those labels are loosely written and therefore loosely interpreted. “Access to light or the outdoors” as many of the laws state can be interpreted as an open door at the end of a gross shit-house, oops I mean chicken house. Knowing that I don’t need animal’s flesh or their products to survive means I’m just going to avoid it altogether.

The Environment

There’s a lot of time given to the effects of factory farming on the environment. Most striking to me was the effect of fishing on the sea. The ‘bycatch’ (as it’s called) from shrimping and many other methods is basically depleting the oceans of any variety of life. Thousands of different species are being killed and carcasses being thrown back into the ocean. Even as a vegetarian I didn’t eat fish but I felt there might be some argument for it, however, not anymore. He also covers the basics: factory farming emits more pollution than any vehicle. In the communities where factory farms exist there are also a number of illnesses, ailments and health complaints amongst residents. Things like pig flu and bird flu are only aided by factory farming. Pigs have this weird characteristic that allows them to contract both human and animal diseases making their insides a breeding ground for super-viruses. Several well trained, educated scientists and others believe that we are due for a pandemic of sorts and that this pandemic will most likely be catapulted by factory farming. Overall, factory farming is bad for the environment, for you and for your family. That’s why I get so frustrated in grocery stores when I see people buying stupid crap for their families. I just want to yell at them, “YOU ARE KILLING YOUR FAMILY!” They are, and they’re doing it with ‘normal’ foods like bacon, chicken breasts, ham, turkey (which by the way have terrible immune systems and are some of the most susceptible to disease in factory farming processes), bologna, soda, enriched grains and other things.

Second to Last, Shit.

Foer uses this word a lot in the book. It clearly sticks out and not until I finished and began reflecting upon the book did it really mean something to me. (if my sister reads this she’ll hate that I’m using profanity but I think it serves a purpose here) Shit really is the perfect word to describe the conditions and treatment of most animals used for food. When I think of this word in the context of Eating Animals it stands out as an absolutely dirty word. It’s gross. It symbolizes so much with such few characters. Sure there are other words out there that might suffice but this word is in your face. You can’t really ignore it. When he writes things like, the shit doesn’t have to be washed off [before processing begins], I think it really hits home. If you’re eating factory farmed meat you can expect that not only are you eating shit, but tons of antibiotics and diseases.

Lastly: Farming by Proxy

That may not be the exact way Foer puts it but essentially that’s what it is. Every time you buy food you’re farming by proxy. If you continue to give money to factory farms that only encourages the trend (Foer states that factory farming will end, eventually, because it’s a model built only on profit and will fall because it so unsustainable, it’s just a matter of when and if it will take us with it). For the foreseeable future the best options are to consume less meat and only purchase meat from those farms who treat their animals well or be a vegetarian/vegan.

This book has made me consider more than just animals. Things like worker’s rights on vegetable farms (they’re still pretty awful in some places), where my clothes are made, how I treat people and several other things. My friend Ryan used to say (probably still does) that being a vegetarian sort of ‘kept him in check.’ I’m not sure I ever really grasped that until now, but I get it. If I’m going to care about animals that means caring about a lot of other things, especially people, because after all our food tells a story and that story helps us sustain our lives.