AR recap + new website

I hesitate to continue to apologize for not being on time with my posts. In the future, I believe I will stop making pre-planned announcements and continue to post as I see fit. It seems to have worked well that way for the past year. Moving forward, Animal Rights 2008 was fantastic. There were tons of great speakers, interesting food, and lots of attendees. The most exciting part of the whole conference was actually meeting all of the people who are involved in the movement and sensing that you are not alone in your actions and opinions.

The big debate this year was welfarism vs. abolition. If you are not familiar, the premise is that those within the animal rights movement are beginning to question whether welfare reforms, such as the switch to controlled atmospheric killing, will result in animal liberation in the future and may they actually inhibit the process? The abolitionist approach basically takes the stance that those within the movement should not be supporting actions which ultimately make the statement that it is okay to continue to consume animals, or that certain practices are preferred over others.

It's much more complicated than that and both sides have valid, logical arguments which I suggest you further explore if you're interested. I will say this- my stance at this point is firmly in the middle. I cannot currently justify that one supercedes the other.

The most interested part of the conference for me was the food. Based largely on processed foods such as vegan meats, cheeses and junk foods, I will say it was definitely outside of my regular diet. The request for the conference was vegan food, not health food though. Processed as most of it may have been, it was delicious and exciting to taste many foods that reminded me of my pre-vegan days such as vegan ice-cream cones, grilled cheeses, and even stuffed "chicken" breasts. Here's a peek of what we had during the big banquet dinner:



All in all, I would say the conference was a great experience and I would suggest it to anyone interested in attending next year. I will surely be there and it will be in Los Angeles.

As you may have noticed, if you visit my website directly via www.eatingconsciously.com, my new website is now up. Please offer any thoughts/suggestions you may have. It is designed to inform people and promote the services I have to offer surrounding vegan nutrition.

Sorry for the delay in posting and look forward to some great recipes coming up very soon!

Comments

Post a Comment

Questions/comments/concerns?

Popular posts from this blog

Raw Food Homophobes

Image
While a raw food diet truly makes no sense for an ethical vegan , there’s another unethical consideration that should be taken into account. There’s a lot of evidence that many males in the raw foods movement are flat out homophobic. Not only homophobic, but also ignorant and disgusting bigots. Take the Raw Brahs for example, who recently made an extremely homophobic video featuring the self-proclaimed “ Life Regenerator .” The video features them taking a shower together and making homophobic statements and gestures to each other. The Raw Brahs are, to their own admission, “ solar powered Christian raw food radically honest nomadic elitist minimalist brothers .” In a book entitled, The Raw Controversies , page 118 cites that, “According to David [Wolfe] , Durian was a gay guy that went raw, and then 'left the dark side' and decided to go for women. David and Stephen [Arlin] were convinced that homosexuality could be 'cured' by the raw food diet. More speci...
Read more

Krony 2012

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s probable that you are at least remotely aware of the video that’s been sweeping the nation, Kony 2012 .  Produced and released by the nonprofit, Invisible Children (IC), the film is clearly compelling and has an almost hypnotic vibe to it.  The video does an excellent job at persuading the unthinking youth of the US with vivid images, emotional storytelling, techno music, and colorful Kony 2012 kits that come complete with signs and bracelets.  For only a few bucks a month, you can feel like you’re making even more of a difference for this tremendous cause, which over 77 million people have tuned into at most recent count. So, who exactly is Kony?  What’s the deal with Invisible Children and is there something we aren’t being told about this cause?  Since the videos release, the have been numerous, credible criticisms of the film.  So many, that the CEO of Invisible Children even released a video to dispute ...
Read more

Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

Image
I figured it's been a while since I've posted a recipe, so I decided to share one with you that I just created for the autumn season.  I also have some more recipes to post soon, like Boston Cream Pie, White Bean and Rice Soup, and Butternut Squash Stuffing.  Stay tuned (and subscribe !) for those recipes, among other things.  Also, there will be a new Eating Consciously Podcast episode in the very near future (featuring an interview with TimmyFan !), as well as a piece about communicating with non-vegans over at veganexaminer.com . If you try the Pumpkin Mac and Cheese, leave a comment about how it came out! 1 lb macaroni (I used whole wheat) 1 block extra-firm tofu 2 cloves garlic 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk 1/2 tsp black pepper, ground 1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground (or 1/4 tsp if freshly grated) 1 tsp salt (or more to taste) 1/4 cup Earth Balance (or olive oil) 1, 15 oz can cooked pumpkin  1 cup nutritional yeast Cook the macaroni according to the instructions on the...
Read more