November 2008


GREETINGS

This is it: final preparation for the big Pre-Thanksgiving Feast on Saturday, Nov. 22, the weekend before Thanksgiving. Press releases will be going out, and you will find enclosed in your snail-mail edition of this issue a flyer on which you can register for the event – and remember that all attendees must preregister if they want to come! (That does include volunteers.) For those of you taking this on the internet, a mini version of the registration form will be included below, which you can print out and send in.

We have made progress on recruitment of volunteers, but we’re not all the way there yet. We still need one more person for kitchen crew on the earlier shift (4:30 to 6:30 PM), and one more kitchen crew person for the later shift (5:30 to 7:30). We still need someone to do announcements and be our line attendant, and one more person for clean-up crew (6:30 to 8:30). Join the fun! Phone Jody at 414-764-7262 to take one of these positions. We know there are people out there who can do it! And you know you’re needed!

At our October potluck we got some ideas for where we can donate the food we collect at our vegetarian food drive, which will take place both at the November potluck and at the Pre-Thanksgiving Feast, but we have not yet figured out which potential donee to go with. This will be decided at the November potluck, so come and help decide, or phone Jody (764-7262) with your opinion. See you there!

M.A.R.V. ACTIVITIES

Sunday, Nov. 2, 5 PM, regular potluck at the Friends’ Meeting House, 3324 N. Gordon Pl. in Riverwest (from Humboldt Blvd., go east on Auer a few short blocks to the parking lot).

We will collect donations for our vegetarian food drive and decide where to bestow them.

The subsequent potluck will be Dec. 7 – its theme will be holiday treats.

PreThanksgiving Feast, Saturday, Nov. 22, 5 PM to 8ish, at Wil-O-Way Underwood, 10602 Underwood Parkway, Wauwatosa. All vegan. Reservations required – use this form to register.

Other veg-Friendly meetings

There will probably not be a macrobiotic potluck in November.

The Urban Ecology Center’s vegetarian potluck will be on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 6:30 PM at 1500 E. Park Pl. – bring plate and fork and meatless dish. Phone is 414-964-8505.
To find out about Vegan Meetup’s possible November events, check the Vegan Meetup website.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“IT’S THE MEAT, STUPID!!” spelled out in tomatoes in front of the US. Dept. of Health and Human Services by Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine in response to HHR’s investigation of salmonella in jalapeno peppers – which ignored the salmonella’s source: water contaminated by animal feces.

NEWS

Animal foods are still bad. Four Wisconsin residents were sickened recently by salmonella from stuffed chicken products that were not cooked enough. The raising of food animals is still bad as well: a broken hose at a dairy operation in Iowa caused a nasty fish kill, while a huge egg operation in Vermont that wanted to expand further was instead hit with a fine for improper manure storage after neighbors complained. At least the problem is generating increased criticism. The Union of Concerned Scientists has issued a new report detailing the problems of factory farming animals, and suggesting remedies. The PCRM, as noted in our quote of the month, pointed it out to HHR, adding in its publication that “Salmonella are intestinal bacteria. Tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and other fruits and vegetables have no intestine. Most foodborne illness germs come from chicken and cow feces that contaminate waterways used for irrigation and … kitchen counters and grocery store shelves.” And Organic Gardening magazine reported on a study at Carnegie Mellon University which found that producing animal foods, because of the huge outlays for shipping grain to feedlots, contributes much more to greenhouse gasses than shipping foods from source to table, and therefore that even cutting back on meat (let alone going vegetarian) beats out eating locally-only as far as your carbon footprint goes.

In other news, a white-tailed deer in a Wisconsin hunting preserve recently tested positive for chronic wasting disease (the deer version of mad cow disease).

Milk is an animal product, and the Chinese tainted milk scandal continues to make news. Tainted candy that was made with Chinese milk powder has been found in other countries, a Chinese dairy is being sued over an infant’s death, and the Chinese government has taken various steps, including a number of arrests.

Other controversial issues include a suit by the Cornucopia Institute to get documents that the USDA used to justify the requirement for pasteurizing almonds but which the government refuses to share. Also, the Natural Resources Defense Council is suing the EPA over its approval of a new pesticide, clothianidin, which experts now believe may be the cause of honeybee colony collapses. And a UN agency has called for review of biofuel subsidies and policies, citing evidence that recent policies have contributed both to increased food costs and to increased world hunger.

On the other hand, plant foods are still good for you.

Prevention magazine suggested that certain canned foods are cheap, nutritious, and healthy, as well as adding zip to one’s diet; chickpeas, artichoke hearts, canned/ processed tomatoes, and beets were mentioned as examples. The PCRM publication noted a recent study which found that eating plenty of fiber (found in vegetables, fruits, beans, and whole grains) during early pregnancy greatly reduced the risk of a very dangerous pregnancy condition called preeclampsia. And a recent study published in Nutrition Journal reported findings that eating one or two daily servings of soy foods is safe for breast cancer survivors.

An Outpost Exchange article on heart health listed anti-inflammatory foods that would be beneficial for the heart. These included foods high in monounsaturated and omega-3 fats (including olive and canola oils, walnuts, and flaxseed); produce high in antioxidents (carrots, squash, bell peppers, dark green leafies), polyphenols (i.e., berries), and flavonoids (onions, garlic, broccoli, apples, red grapes); and herbs and spices with curcumin (turmeric, rosemary, ginger). Prevention also mentioned dark green leafy vegetables as lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease. And another of its articles pointed out that optimum health requires eating both plenty of produce and a wide variety of it: dark green leafies help the lungs, bones, immune system, and blood pressure while reducing inflammation and nurturing the brain; orange-colored vegetables help the vision, blood sugar, and lungs, and help fight cancer; beans lower rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, breast and colon cancers, and type 2 diabetes; starchy vegetables provide loads of vitamins and minerals and antioxidents; and various other vegetables each uniquely contribute additional support to one’s health.

The Organic Consumers Association newsletter included an article on foods to use as a nightcap for fighting insomnia in the current economic crisis. The suggestions tended to involve combining a protein food and a whole grain – and all the example were meatless: rice with miso soup, whole grain pita with hummus, whole grain crackers with nut butter, rice with lentils, rice with black beans and guacamole, hummus with steamed broccoli, eggs with whole grain toast. How refreshing!

Another Prevention article, on foods that help the middle-aged to lose weight, also mentioned mostly plant foods: water with lemon, high-fiber granola bars, ground flaxseed, walnuts, hot sauce, and cinnamon (the only exception was salmon – sigh).

Yet another Prevention article looked at cereals as a set of foods that can increase fiber in the diet, and thus help lower the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and stroke. Guidelines for wise choices include checking labels to make sure that the cereal has a high fiber content, going for whole grains rather than refined ones, avoiding hidden sugar (again, read the ingredients label), and avoiding artificial sweeteners.

Produce now in season includes garlic, and various publications this month therefore sang its praises. In use for over 6000 years, garlic has been found to be antibacterial, antiseptic, and anti-fungal, as well as being a cancer-protective antioxidant, an immune system booster, and an aid to lowering triglycerides and bad LDL cholesterol and keeping the blood moving. It’s high in manganese and selenium, and provides vitamins B6 and C. Look for firm heads, and keep them in an airy place in the kitchen – not the refrigerator. Also note that when cooking with garlic, chop or pres it and then let it sit for 15 minutes before cooking to bring its healthful qualities to full strength.

Another vegetable that’s in season now is Brussels sprouts, which are another nutritional powerhouse. Brussels sprouts are both a cabage family crop, with all of the cabbage family’s anti-cancer phytonutrients, and a dark green leafy which therefore provides vitamins A, C, and K, B vitamins, protein, fiber, iron and even some calcium. Fresh ones are best.

Celeriac is another seasonal vegetable right now. It is the root of a plant closely related to celery, and tastes much like celery but, being a starchy root, can be used in soups and stews, or mashed, as a replacement for potatoes. It’s high in blood pressure-lowering potassium and vitamin K.

And then of course there are the citrus fruits coming into season now, full of vitamin C and good taste. Choose from oranges, tangerines, clementines, grapefruits, lemons, limes, and tangelos.

DIALOG

As we approach Thanksgiving, and the rest of the holiday season, with all the customary feasting, it is interesting to consider where our cuisines come from.

I’ve been reading recently about how agriculture arose independently only in a few places – the Fertile Crescent, China, the Andes, and Mexico – and spread from those centers, with the particular crops that were based on plants native to each area being the only ones each area had until exploration and migration brought different parts of the world into contact with each other.

The bounty that we will be pigging out on over the next few weeks, not to mention the variety of ethnic cuisines available to us, is thus very much the result of the spread of people across and between the continents. In areas where the variety of foods available to people was originally quite limited, greater variety brought better nutrition and food security. So in many ways, the spread of contact between the continents has been a good thing.

Yet it’s also true that this same spread brought smallpox and other decimating diseases to the Americas, and in our own era has brought a globalized economy that has not served Earth’s ecology or most of its people very well.

What is needed now is for humanity to use our reason to start sorting out the beneficial from the negative uses of our interconnectedness, and start choosing to use those aspects of

it that are good while declining those aspects of globalization that are destructive. Thus, importing raw materials and produce from one part of the world where they exist to another where they are not available is useful, while shipping raw materials overseas to be made into goods that are shipped back to be sold where the materials came from is bad. And it makes no sense to transport produce thousands of miles to a place where it could just as easily be grown.

And where humans were once constrained to eat anything they could just to get enough calories and nutrients, we are now at last able to be adequately nourished without eating meat, while at the same time overconsumption of meat is becoming a major health and ecological problem. Wise use of our abilities and resources now, as never much earlier in human history, mandates serious consideration of vegetarianism as a real and serious option.