June 2010

GREETINGS

The last of our Spring activities was a Green Fair at Alverno College on May 1. Perhaps due to the weather, or because this was the first time they did it, attendance was rather light, but we did still have some good conversations and people signing our For Further Contact sheet. If you are reading this as a free sample because you signed it, or if you took a handout with our website on it and are therefore reading this online, welcome, and we hope to see you at a potluck some time.

We are still investigating the idea of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine about organizing a PCRM members get-together. On the one hand, MARV is not a PCRM group; on the other, we do share some membership and PCRM does promote veganism. But we are still trying to sort out what would be involved before we decide to spend our time and energy.

Regarding the July potluck, please note that David and Jody have decided to host a Fourth of July potluck at their home in South Milwaukee, which as the first Sunday of the month would be our normal potluck date. However, there will also be a potluck on July 11 at the Friends Meeting House – that had been the original plan but we had to check whether the potluck room is available on that date. It turns out that it is. So, to clarify: the plan now is that we will have a MARV holiday potluck at David and Jody’s house on July 4, the first Sunday of the month –AND another potluck one week later at the Friends Meeting House for those who couldn’t make the 4th of July – or just want to meet twice.

M.A.R.V. ACTIVITIES

 

Sunday, June 6, 5 PM regular potluck at the Friends’ Meeting House, 3224 N. Gordon Pl. in Riverwest (from Humboldt Blvd., go east on Auer a few short blocks to the parking lot).

There will be tasting of non-dairy “ice creams.”

Sun., July 4, 3 PM, holiday potluck at 1000 Lake Dr., South Milwaukee, 414-764-7262.

Subsequent regular potlucks will be on July 11, Aug. 1, Sept. 5, Oct. 3, and Nov. 7.

Other veg-friendly potlucks

 

Pat believes that there will be a June macrobiotic potluck but is not sure where. Try calling Roberta (who hosted the last one) at 414-967-2580 for further information.

The Urban Ecology Center’s potluck will be on Thursday, May 17 at 6:30 PM at 1500 E. Park Pl. – bring plate and fork as well as your meatless dish. Phone is 414-964-8505

To find out about Vegan Meetup’s June events, check the Vegan Meetup website.

QUOTES OF THE MONTH

 

“I am on the verge of 85 and still work as hard as ever. I have lived quite long enough and I am trying to die; but I simply cannot do it. A single beef-steak would finish me; but I cannot bring myself to swallow it. I am oppressed with a dread of living forever. That is the only disadvantage of vegetarianism.”

-- George Bernard Shaw

“To be an environmentalist who happens to eat meat is like being a philanthropist who doesn’t happen to give to charity.”

-- Howard Lyman

NEWS

 

There are still problems with animal foods.

A Montana senator, John Tester, has introduced legislation which would finally require the USDA to trace contaminated meat all the way back to the source of the contamination; also, the USDA announced that it will set higher standards for meat purchases intended for school lunches starting this July. At the same time, though, the NY Times recently reported (on the front page) that while dangerous e. coli O157:H7 is routinely tested for, 6 rarer strains of e. coli can also be dangerous but are not being tested for; one of these recently sickened at least 26 people when it got onto some romaine lettuce. Needless to say, nobody is asking how something whose source is cow feces got onto the lettuce…

Milk is also involved in controversial concerns. China and Washington are squabbling about a proposed Chinese ban on U.S. dairy products based on a Chinese claim that an agreed-on health certificate had not been completed. And a law to permit the sale of raw milk directly to consumers at farms in Wisconsin passed the state assembly and senate, only to be vetoed at the last minute by the governor; he apparently was convinced by a coalition of milk producers, veterinarians and public health officials that raw milk could cause illness and that if it did that could damage milk’s image and so hurt pasteurized milk sales.

Then there was a report that perhaps it is the dairy cow feed, rather than the cows’ manure, that is the cause of high ozone pollution levels in central California: a new study found that, contrary to expectations, millions of tons of fermenting cattle feed were actually causing more ozone than cow flatulence . Does that mean that the ozone pollution is now okay since we know it doesn’t come from cow farts? Or that the cows are not the reason for it in the end? And in another item to puzzle over, a Purdue researcher claimed to have developed a breeding method for hens that produces more congenial, peaceful animals which can then be crowded into large pens instead of squashed into battery cages…

In a puzzler of a different sort, a NY Times Science and Health section item reported on a woman who actually managed to eat too many green vegetables: an elderly woman developed dangerously low thyroid function after eating 2 to 3 pounds of bok choy every day for several months in the effort to control her diabetes.

On a happier note, urban farming and gardening have been making the news lately. Milwaukee’s Will Allen won a prestigious prize recently for his efforts in that direction. The NY Times ran a profile of one John Ameroso who will retire this Fall; he started farming in Brooklyn, NY in 1976 and as New York City’s first extension agent focused on farming, he has nurtured all kinds of urban agriculture projects in his career. Also, the May Outpost Exchange did a feature on the rise of the new urban garden, which included a profile of Gretchen Mead who spearheads the Milwaukee Victory Garden Initiative; last year and again this year the VGI spent the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend building and starting raised bed gardens for people all over our area. And then there was an article about all kinds of giant corporations that, in an era when they want to cut costs but still offer some sort of perks to workers, are discovering they can offer workers the chance to grow food in their lunch hours. Might we dare to hope that if the workers – and decision makers – at companies like Pepsico (maker of many highly-processed nutrition-light “edible food-like substances”) actually find out what real food tastes like, that they might possibly make a greater effort to improve the stuff they sell?? Hope springs eternal.

And of course, plant foods are still good for you.

A recent meta-analysis (as they call it) that pooled results of 25 different studies found that eating 2.4 ounces of nuts every day lowered overall cholesterol and bad LDL cholesterol levels while improving the ratio of LDL to the good HDL. And some of the studies supporting this finding were not paid for by the nut industry.

Prevention profiled blueberries, full of vitamin C, manganese, antioxidents, and fiber, and just coming into season; eating blueberries may help keep the mind sharp. Vegetarian Times, on the other hand, focused on tart cherries, also full of vitamin C, beta-carotene, anti-oxident anthocyanins, and sleep-aiding melatonin. And your editor will point out that strawberries are coming into season now as well, and also pack a good vitamin C and antioxidant wallop.

The May Delicious Living had an item about dark leafy greens, listing arugula, broccoli rabe, collards, kale, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, spinach, and swiss chard. All are sources of vitamins A and C and of folate and fiber, and many also give you vitamin K, iron, and manganese; spinach was listed as a source of other B vitamins as well. Another Delicious Living item looked at nutrients found in south-of-the-border cuisine, such as annatto/achiote, which may help prevent cancer, black beans with their high fiber and protein content and also high levels of iron and anthocyanins, anti-inflammatory tomatillo with its vitamins A and C, and antioxident-rich guava.

Prevention ran an article on foods that can help with a variety of annoying ailments. Bromelain, and enzyme in pineapple, may help ease hay fever symptoms, for example, while digesting bananas produces serotonin that can help ease you when overstressed or anxious.

The fiber and potassium in a good handful of raisins can help lower blood pressure, while yogurt helps the digestion and ginger tea fights nausea (doesn’t everyone know that by know?). But the eugenol in basil may help digestive problems also by killing off salmonella and listeria and by demonstrating antispasmotic properties. The combination of sodium, fiber,

and potassium in dried apricots may help prevent kidney stones. The sulforaphane in cabbage fights the h. pylori that causes most stomach ulcers. Garlic and also thyme, cloves, and the essential oils in orange are effective fungicides; chamomile tea can ease heartburn; and buckwheat honey suppresses coughs better than over-the-counter drugs.

The May Outpost Exchange also had a nice article on veganism and myths about it. It explained that vegans are not often iron deficient (they get iron from dark green leafy vegetables and beans), that vegan diets are okay for children as well as adults, and that vegans can get enough calcium even though they don’t use dairy (in fact, almonds, leafies, and fortified foods are needed by everyone). Other busted myths were the idea that you need to combine plant proteins in each meal, that vegan diets can cause eating disorders (it can be the other way around, though), that vegan diets are fattening because they are high in carbohydrates (it depends on the carbohydrates!), that you can automatically lose weight on a vegan diet because it’s low fat (again, it depends on what vegan foods you eat), and finally that organically grown plants provide vitamin B12 (don’t count on it: do use a B12 supplement).

THE VEGGIE TABLE

 

Alert friend Barbara Weiss told us about a new restaurant and suggested we try it, so we did, and had a most enjoyable meal there.

Rio West Cantina has recently opened on the east side of N. Humboldt Blvd. just south of Locust St. Not surprisingly, given its Spanish flavor name, it features very authentic Mexican cuisine, and to our pleasure we discovered a noticeably veg-friendly menu.

For one thing, the menu lists the ingredients of any items you would have questions about. And while the dinner specialties do feature meat, there are 3 or 4 appetizers, a salad, and a couple of side dishes that are vegan, plus the dinner plates and dinner combo plates specify that you can get them with vegetarian beans and rice, and for the tacos, tamales, enchiladas and chimichanga you get a choice of beef, chicken, or veggie stuffing; you also get a choice of white flour, corn, or whole wheat tortillas.

The mistake that Chuck and I made was that we each ordered a dinner plate – which turned out to be so much excellent food that we both ate it all and then, even though we had gone there for lunch, neither of us was hungry again until the next day. Next time – and there will definitely be a next time – we will probably share an appetizer and one plate and still be stuffed.

Décor is bright primary colors; atmosphere is relaxed and pleasant; staff was friendly and helpful. Prices are quite reasonable. Address is 2730 N. Humboldt Blvd. Phone 414-562-5540 for hours.

DIALOG

 

I have been thinking heretical thoughts for a vegetarian lately.

I never liked to eat fish much, and it was one of the first meats I quit. But now I find myself wondering, what should I do if invasive Asian carp (the ones they’re desperately trying to keep out of the Great Lakes) showed up on a restaurant menu, prepared in some suitably delectable fashion? Would it be my duty as an environmentalist to encourage the intrepid fishermen who supplied it – and thus risked themselves to fight its destructive spread – by partaking thereof?

Again, watching the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico unfold, one hears the grief of people whose families for generations have made their livings from fishing those waters. Now they face losing their fishing grounds, and one realizes that they’re mourning not just a way of earning a living but a whole way of life that was precious to these people for its connection with the generations of their families and with the place they live in and with their sense of who they are. If no one ate fish (which would be great for the seas, and for the fishes), the death of their way of life would be a loss to the diversity of humanity just like when a language dies for lack of speakers.

I still do not want to eat fish. Yet the issue seems far less simple now than just saying that no one should. My choices for myself, and my beliefs about what people ought to do, bump up against other people’s – and how ought my right or duty to say what I think is right impact other people’s very different perspectives?