Columnist Tricia Woolfenden gives tips on vegetarianism for beginners. She starts by urging converts to start slow and read about it. Not starting slow is also an option, and the one I took. She does say, though: “Just keep telling yourself: ‘Those bacon cheeseburger withdrawal shakes are a figment of my imagination,’” which in a way helps me to understand those weird meat-eating dreams I had in the beginning.

Now the one part I don’t agree with on a health standpoint, but completely practice is to “stop obsessing about protein.” She says Americans fear not getting enough protein (which may be why so many of us choose meat over anything else). But, she says, one has to have a clearly healthy diet to substitute not having that meat. So diet is everything. She writes: “I haven’t eaten a steak in nearly 15 years, and I can play roller derby for hours at a time.”

Woolfenden also encourages eating Morningstar Farms products as well as peanut butter, two food items I very much support. She urges vegetarians, specifically new vegetarians, to stay away from dining out, cheese and negativity, and always have your kitchen stocked with alternatives such as beans and anything else canned.

The article is for sure worth citing but also important for people interested in seeking out more cost-efficient, healthier, vegetarian-friendly alternatives.

My Thanksgiving meals usually consist of all the sides: mashed/sweet/any potatoes, green bean casserole, carbolicious breads, other vegetables and obviously the pies and other desserts. As incredibly tasty as those things sound (my mouth is watering for a month from now), not one item provides the necessary protein the vegetarians miss in so many meals.

The alternative: Tofurky.

I had Tofurky once for Thanksgiving, and I hated it. It was tough, it was weird, it was stuffed and it freaked me out. As of now I am not a fan, but I feel I can be persuaded. For others, though, the fake Thanksgiving staple is obviously high in protein as it is made of soy (full of protein).

Or, you could head to the Nov. 9 Texas vegetarian chili cook off, learn some recipes and give thanks to that in late November.

Check out this blog/site for some more Tofurky information: Megnut. And here’s what that Tofurky stuff looks like (or could look like).

The Business Day writer writes, “The Insider couldn’t help but wondering what those pesky vegetarians would be doing to warrant a terror warning. Freeing cows destined for the slaughterhouse or putting soya bean in the water hardly seems like much of a threat.”

I thought this was funny, so I went searching Google for “anti-vegetarian.” Of course many things popped up, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the Anti-Vegetarian Society of Meat Eaters. The name of the group doesn’t even really make sense, especially when AVSME says they aren’t opposed to vegetables or to vegetarians. Maybe I’m elitist or bias, but this group just seems idiotic. AVSME has a store on its site where you can get very clever slogans put on T-shirts, buttons, etc. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Very hilarious and so clever! (Please understand the sarcasm there.)

After I found the AVSME group, I also found a story from about a week ago about a Republican candidate for governor of the state of Montana who was very upset that Democrats spread a rumor that he was vegetarian. The Billings Gazette reported that candidate Roy Brown said, “I am not and have never been a vegetarian. I am disgusted by the baseless allegation that I am a vegetarian and that my personal eating habits should somehow be construed as opposed to the economic interests of Montana’s livestock industry.”

He seems so ashamed. I mean, if you have to issue a statement to specifically let people know that you are NOT a vegetarian, you must dislike vegetarians alot…but I guess it is Montana. And I have to admit that if someone spread a rumor about me that I was a meat-eater, I’d be kind of irritated.

The idea with all of this though is that there’s no shame in being a vegetarian. Vegetarians clearly represent a minority in America, so I urge vegetarians or people interested in becoming vegetarian to ignore anti-veggie groups and people; it just further separates an already small community of non-meat-eaters.

I have to give a shout out to Boston, Mass. since I lived there for a year and it’s where I became a vegetarian. On Saturday, Boston is hosting its 13th Annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival, just downt the street from where I went to school. It’s free admission, free parking and free vegetarian food samples. It’s such a good opportunity for vegetarians in the area to talk directly to food producers as well as for curious non-vegetarians to see what the diet is all about. I wish Austin had something like this. Go here for more information about the Boston festival: Vegetarian Food Festival. Go here to encourage the Austin vegetarian network to start a veggie food festival of its own: Vegetarian Network of Austin.

Austin may not be having an entire food festival, but mark your calendars for Nov. 9 — the 20th Annual Vegetarian Chili Cook Off happening at the Austin Farmer’s Market on Koenig. It costs $8, but seems well worth it. Check out this craigslist listing for more information: 894743773.html.

Events such as these help bring together a true community of vegetarians, no matter how big or small. To me, its’ especially important in Texas to be a part of events/groups as these, because a great majority of the state’s residents are almost anti-vegetarian. We truly live in longhorn country, so any time those who believe in leaving the longhorns alone get together, it strengthens the community. Get involved, go to events, do anything that’s veggie friendly.

Voting ends Nov. 6!

FIVE REASONS TO EAT MEAT: 
1) It tastes good
2) It makes you feel good
3) It’s a great American tradition
4) It supports the nation’s farmers
5) Your parents did it
Oh, sorry … those are five reasons to smoke cigarettes. Meat is more complicated.

Hilarious! The article goes on to explain that young Americans have started cutting the meat and including the veggies in their diets, what with things like E. coli, unnecessary hormones and mad-cow disease the primary meat ingredients in America (in 2002). As I’ve been posting lately, being vegetarian is not just about not eating meat, it’s about eating smart and healthy. Cordliss cites the American Dietetic Association as proclaiming that “appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, are nutritionally adequate and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.”

The five-page story online goes through various aspects (polls, interviews, etc) about being vegetarian. At the time the story was published, vegetarian food sales were at their highest and teenagers considered vegetarianism “cool.” It mentions health benefits, including positive effects on kidneys, and health problems, including lack of important nutrients.

The story is the most comprehensive I’ve read on vegetarianism, and I encourage everyone to check it out: Veggie Tales: Should We All Be Vegetarians?

Now, does it answer the question? Not exactly … but how could it? There’s no way of telling if we should all be vegetarians, so Cordliss ends with this: “The moral: there is no free lunch, not even if it’s vegetarian. For now, man is perched at the top of the food chain and must live with his choice to feed on the living things further down. … It may take a very long while. For most people, meat still does taste good. And can “America’s food” ever be tofu?”

I say it can.

So the Longhorns didn’t make the list. But that certainly doesn’t mean we aren’t vegetarian-friendly here on campus. Although UT could definitely do more to cater to vegetarians, the list of vegetarian-friendly colleges is simply based on access to veggie-friendly food on campus.

According to the Division of Housing and Food Service, the most recent surveys show that about 6 percent of UT students living in residence halls are vegetarians. In the dining halls, menus that have no animal products are marked green. And if they aren’t marked green, but clearly aren’t animal products, beware: “We cannot guarantee that french fries, onion rings, hush puppies, and fried okra have been fried in oil that has not been used to fry animal products (fish, poultry, meat),” the DHFS Web site states.

There are vegetarian options in every dining hall on campus, but often not in the form of full vegetarian meals. DHFS says most vegetarian options around dinner time are categorized as side dishes. This is probably where UT lacks the most: complete vegetarian meals.

In 1995, DHFS created a student Vegetarian Focus Group that gives suggestions to DHFS about ways to make dining on campus more veggie friendly. Contact mjones@austin.utexas.edu to join.

DHFS has its own vegetarian food guide pyramid (I think the Mayo Clinic’s is better):

Now vegetarian-friendly options at the Union and right off campus (the Drag) is a totally different issue — something a DHFS focus group can’t really control.

As I write this I realize that I have not followed my own advice. I am probably one of the least healthy vegetarians out there. I do not watch what I eat, get enough protein/iron or take supplements. Bad vegetarian!

On the food and nutrition page on the Mayo Clinic’s Web site, it introduces the vegetarian diet: “Adopting a healthy vegetarian diet isn’t as simple as scraping meat off your plate and eating what’s left.” This is certainly something to consider when planning vegetarian meals or choosing to become a vegetarian.

In the last post, I mentioned the Soul Food Pyramid. The Mayo Clinic has a Vegetarian Diet Pyramid:

It’s a pretty broad food pyramid, but it should be helpful to vegetarians trying to eat better (like myself) or meat-eaters easing into a vegetarian diet.

It seems as though the article could really apply to any nationality in terms of vegetarianism being a healthier choice, but it’s an interesting focus on African-Americans.

The article cites health problems associated with African-Americans, such as heart diseases, diabetes and lack of healthy eating as a result of “embracing foods with lots of grease, fat and salt.” It introduces the idea that African-Americans could liver longer and be healthier if they considered going veg.

Roniece Weaver, a dietician who developed the Soul Food Pyramid , said “What (vegetarians) are integrating into their diet are the things we lack the most.” She mentions that African-Americans eat collard greens, but those greens lose their vegetable-ness after they are cooked in fat.

Also in the article, Fabiola Gaines, another dietician, says African-Americans, based on their diets, must ease into becoming vegetarians. “Years of them eating chicken, fish and beef and now telling you all you can eat is soy protein and vegetables, and you look at the tradition of the African-American diet, that’s going to be virtually impossible initially. But if (they) slowly reduce that portion of chicken, fish and beef, and increase the portions of vegetables that they have in a meal, slowly give them tofu recipes that taste good…once they see they don’t need as much meat, (they) can then start seeing a change.”

For African-Americans in Austin looking to go veg but retain the soul food cravings, Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse has a vegan soul food plate that sounds delicious: marinated collard greens, organic red and black beans and homemade vegan cornbread. The restaurant has other soul-food type fixins also. Check it out: menu.asp

I decided to quit after my speech class that day. I had already been reading Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation for one class, heard about my professor and classmates who were vegetarian in another class. But I think my speech class did it for me. The girl who was about to speak warned everyone that it would be graphic. She passed around handouts of caged and slaughtered animals that were bred and raised to be killed for food. It made me feel bad, almost sick, because I felt in my heart that I personally was not making a good choice by eating animal meat.

Now, I am not an activist. I’m not a member of PETA and I don’t plan to be. My decision to become a vegetarian was solely personal.

It just feels like the right thing for me to do. And I’m happy to have done it. I have to admit, though, that I am certainly not healthy.