Well, one thing I've learned is to never end a published item (like my last blog entry) with ‘To Be Continued’. It’s tough climbing back into the same head space. So, until I have one of those long thoughtful evenings where that ‘place’ comes back to me, here’s the rest of the story in a nutshell.
We ended with my reading the book French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. As you may know, she certainly doesn’t promote a plant-based diet. Her only reference to vegetarianism is that “Some teenage girls are drawn to vegetarianism nowadays…………it’s not to be discouraged as long as proteins, especially dairy are consumed.” Italics mine. But she did turn me on to having a true consciousness about what I eat.
After we returned home to San Francisco from that vacation I stepped up (no pun intended) my daily morning walking program by including more difficult hills and city steps - easy to do on San Francisco's Russian Hill where I live, Telegraph Hill and North Beach - and began my accelerated and deliberate quest for truth about what makes sense for me to eat, how I do that, and how I make that the way I live.
The first Vegan I noticed was Isa Chandra Moskowitz in a New Yorker piece. I ‘googled’ her and followed the links to her website with those funny homemade cooking videos. I ordered her cookbook Vegan with a Vengeance and the book Vegan Freak by Bob Torres and Jenna Torres from Amazon. Isa’s punk culture sensibility, keen intelligence and sense of humor all captivated me. Since then she has published two additional books: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and a sort of joy of Vegan cooking titled Veganomicon. I use both of them. Vegan Freak began my understanding the difference between eating a Vegan diet for ethical reasons versus any other reason, Speciesism (a human's sense of entitlement to commodify, use and take the life of a non-human) , and, finally, the fact that the choice to eat a Vegan diet is a political one, refusing to take part in the factory farming industrial complex. Understanding that the United States government has not a care in the world for the health of Americans and the earth (or, as the authors of Skinny Bitch put it "don't give a shit about your health"), only the health of the corporations underwritten and kept afloat by the government.
Vegan Freak referred me to what surely must be everyone’s book choice for factual vitamin-by-vitamin nutritional data, Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis. A reference book I still refer to.
My Vegan world opened up and virtual Vegan community exploded when I got an Ipod for Christmas in 2006 and learned about Podcasts. Especially important to me have been the Podcasts of Colleen Patrick Goudrea and Erik Marcus. Erik is the author of two books: Meat Market: animals, ethics and money and Vegan: the new ethics of eating. Colleen is the author of The Joy of Vegan Baking.
So, you see, I just followed my nose, my heart and intuition. Two other books critical to my development have been a non-vegan tome The 7 Secrets of Slim People by Vikki Hansen and Shawn Goodman and The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams. I also became inspired by Raw Foodists along the way - especially the beautiful Sarma Melngailis and Ani Phyo. With every new piece of information I’ve had to think, digest and accept or refute. I think that’s how we all grow.
I am so very thankful to be Vegan. Now that my eyes are open I can choose not to cause suffering and choose compassion over killing.
