28 May 2008

Step Four (What's Wrong With Eggs?)

Besides the obvious fact that eggs are chicken-embryos? Well, let's see...

A huge majority of eggs come from factory farms. Egg laying hens are packed by 5 to 11 into small battery cages of about 40cm (the wing range of an adult chicken is twice this size). Their wings and legs atrophy from disuse, and their legs and feet become deformed from standing on wire cage bottoms. The tip of their beak, full of sensitive nerve endings, is seared off in order to prevent them from injuring each other and thereby obliterating the farmer's financial investment.

When their egg production drops, hens are deprived of water and food for up to 14 days at a time in order to shock their bodies into a period of increased laying. This extremely cruel practice, called “forced molting,” causes birds to lose their feathers and a significant percentage of their body weight, many birds die from hunger and dehydration.
After a year or two of being treated as egg producing machines, their output decreases and hens are sent for slaughter. They are so battered and emaciated by then that their meat can only be used in companion-animal food, instant soups or pasties and pies where the pathetic condition of their bodies will not put consumers off their meal.

Male chicks are worthless to the egg industry - they do not lay eggs nor grow fast enough to be raised profitably for flesh. Thus the egg industry kills millions of newborn male chicks every year by suffocating them to death in trash bags or by dropping them alive into high-speed grinders and then feeding them to the chicken.

Now you might say "yeah well that's just in the US, but the situation is much better in Europe!". Think again. Eggs = food = profit anywhere in the world. It is true that the European Union is planning to ban all the battery cages by 2012, but we are not there just yet. The Estonian company TallEgg has "battery eggs" written all over it. Indeed - the problem is not abstractly "elsewhere", it is right here inside our omlets and our mousse au chocolat.

Free-range is not a legal industry term; therefore it basically means nothing. It is used by farmers to imply a more humane way of production, but in reality there is no regulation regarding how the word is interpreted. Thus, to most producers this merely means a bigger cage.
Free-range farming is still about business where profit surpasses concern for the animals' welfare and comfort. And even if free-range hens were treated with kindness and given all the grass and sun and space, they will still be killed for meat as soon as their egg production drops, even though a hen could live about fifteen years in a natural environment. And like all the other animals raised for food - they will be subjected to the horrors and abuses of transportation, handling and slaughter.
Besides, the appellation bio- (or organic) and free-range is becoming more and more profitable because more people are starting to become "aware" consumers. Bob and Jenna Torres make very interesting points on this phenomenon in their podcast.

Alternatives:
And last but not least: we don't really need eggs - unless you crave for a dose of cholesterol and salmonella. In fact, they are quite simple to replace in all your cooking:
2 tbs of corn starch or 2 tbs of potato starch = 1 egg
1 tbs of soy flour + 2 tbs of water = 1 egg
1 tbs of soy milk powder + 1 tbs of corn starch + 2 tbs of water = 1 egg
2 ts of corn flour + 2 ts of water = 1 egg
For cakes you can also use some ripe mashed banana or apple sauce. Tapioca powder works well as a binding agent. Obviously there are numerous other alternatives out there like the Ener-G egg replacer for baking or silken tofu for that "scrambled eggs" effect, or even eggless mayonnaise... In the end it's not so much a question of need nor even comfort, as about making concious and responsible choices.

"No matter what words or systems are used to candy-coat animal production, when we treat sentient beings as commodities, we invariably invite abuse." (Joanne Stepaniak)

17 May 2008

Step Three (Why Stop Eating Meat?)

Your Health: it has somehow become a general acknowledgement that eating meat is vitally important for a healthy and varied diet. It's what I would call one of the greatest myths of the capitalist society. First of all because we don't need to consume meat, in fact - we're not even physically built for that. Our stomach does not produce enough acid, our intestines are very long (about 10 times our body length compared to 3 times the body length for carnivores). It takes us a very long time to digest meat - it basically stays rotting in our system for several days and all the unnecessary substances like saturated fat and cholesterol get absorbed by the body, whereas a carnivore "ejects" it much faster, having absorbed only the necessary. You can get more information on this subject here.
Factory farms use a lot of antibiotics on the animals, not as much to treat illnesses but to make them grow faster or prevent their death before arriving to the slaughter house. Some of those “growth promoters” are used to treat serious human diseases. Animal products transmit them to humans and lead to the increase of treatment resistant bacteria and thus - more incurable diseases.

Chicken, as “white meat”, has often been considered being healthier and containing less fat. Since chickens are bred and drugged to grow very large, their flesh today contains three times as much fat as it did just 35 years ago. The most toxic form of the poison arsenic is used in chicken feed because it promotes faster growth. This cancer-causing chemical is then ingested by people.

Fish is considered to be health food by many. In fact, the oceans are now so polluted that fish flesh contains a lot of toxins, especially mercury. Eating fish even just once a week can increase your mercury level over 30% above the safe limit. This can lead to many health issues including coordination problems and depression.


The Environment: Livestock grazing transforms fertile land into desert, and thus affects a great number of threatened and endangered species. More than 50% of forests and rainforests has already been cleared to use the land for grazing or animal feed crops. As for the crop – a great majority of it is fed to farm animals, while it could be used to feed hundreds of millions of hungry people. Same thing goes for water: an estimated 15 000 liters of water is needed to produce just one day animal-based food supply (for one average meat-eater), whereas a one day plant-based food supply requires about 13 times less water.
Factory farms produce thousands of tons of manure every day. This often finds its way into the groundwater supply, the lakes, the rivers and the oceans, polluting drinking water and killing aquatic life. Here’s an interesting story for those who want to find out more about factory farm manure “lagoons”.
Livestock rearing also produces gases known to contribute significantly to global warming. See here for more detailed information on this subject.

Seafood consumption is driving many species to extinction. In fact, overfishing is responsible for the depletion of about 70% of fish populations worldwide. Tens of thousands of marine animals (like dolphins, sharks and turtles) get stuck in tremendous fishing nets and are killed and thrown back into the ocean each year.

Even if dolphins aren’t accidentally trapped in nets, they are still killed intentionally by tuna anglers because they prey on tuna.Fish farming, like livestock farming, damages delicate aquatic ecosystems, polluting water with run-off containing potentially hazardous chemicals, drugs and pathogens. Plus, farmed fish is usually fed with wild fish and it takes approximately 2-3 kg of wild fish to grow 1 kg of “farmed” shrimp or salmon.

Shark finning (consists of removing shark fins and discarding of the carcass at sea) annually kills over 100 million sharks and has decreased worldwide shark population by 90% over the last few decades. Experts estimate that within a decade, most species of sharks will be lost because of longlining. This could have devastating impact on marine ecosystems. For more precise information watch the film Sharkwater.

What about protein, iron and fatty acids?
There are numerous great plant-based protein sources. You can get enough protein from legumes like beans, peas and lentils; grains like rice, oatmeal and wheat; vegetables like potato, tomato, cucumber, cabbage, onion, broccoli, spinach; fruit like apple, banana, orange, grape, strawberry, peach and many many more…
Plant-based iron sources are for example ginger, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), lentils, spinach, prunes and raisins. It is best to consume them along with a source of vitamin C for better absorbtion.
Nuts and seeds (for example pumpkin and sunflower seeds, walnuts and almonds) contain good fatty acids, but are also great protein and iron sources.

13 May 2008

Step Two

Assuming you followed the "step one", or if not don't worry, I won't be upset... So now you might be wondering werther it's not too late, werther doing something would make any difference what so ever? I honestly don't know, but I'm sure as hell that trying to change is better than giving up on it. If we give up now then it's surely true that there is no hope for any change for the better - the icebanks will keep melting, the canadian sealers will continue slaughtering seals, the plastic bags will continually not decompose, the poor people will keep eating dead animals and the rich people will keep eating shark fin soup until there will be no more sharks left in the oceans, thus no plankton, thus no air. And we will all eat factory-produced food and keep factory-produced pets and breathe factory-produced air through our factory-produced special air masks or something...
I don't know how about you, but I'd rather try and keep the hope of a brighter scenario. "Okay smartass, how do we do that?" you ask me? I would start with something small and simple like changing some of my wasteful habits. Here are some personal examples:
  • Water: try to use as little as you can - don't leave it running while brushing your teeth (I know, it seems obvious but there actually still are some people out there who don't pay attention to that) or while washing dishes or rubbing shampoo in your hair... Well, I just try to minimize the moments where it stays running uselessly. Don't buy water in bottles! Tap water is ok to drink and if you don't like the taste then getting a filter is not a bad idea. Have you ever noticed that if you spell the name of a famous bottled water backwards you get "naive"? Do you think that's a coincidence or could it mean something about the fact of selling people water for more than 1 euro per liter whereas they can get it as much as they want for free at home? Besides, some of the chemicals used in making the bottles are actually transferred into the water, which makes it bad for you and the nature.
  • Recycle: I know, I know, it's obligatory in most countries now, but from the example of my flat-mates I also know that we can always try harder. Re-use the glass and tin jars to put in your tea/coffee/sugar etc. If you have the possibility of choice, buy the products that aren't packed into ten million different bags and boxes.
  • Plastic bags: Get a cloth tote bag for your grocery shopping (or make it yourself with personalized decorations). Don't hesitate to refuse the free bag they give you in all the different clothing and what not stores, unless you really need it. Re-use the old ones instead of trash bags... And I still haven't really figured out how to replace or reduce the little bags used for fruit and vegetables in supermarkets (the ones we use to weigh out and then stick the price on, which makes them tricky to re-use)...
  • Transport: walk or take the bicycle as much as you can. Or use public transportation rather than a car. Pay attention to where your food (especially fresh stuff) comes from: did the orange travel all the way across the globe, polluting a lot of air and wasting a lot of fuel on its way to your plate? Prefer your local products as much as possible, they are surely better for your body too.

This obviously is far from being a thorough list and all new propositions, ideas and/or objections are very welcome. Those to whom the above is not only a habit but already an obvious one, might want to take a little step further in the whole "making a difference" business. On this occasion I eagerly encourage you to take the 30-day Veg Pledge. You can even download your free Vegetarian Starter Kit, which might seem a bit cheesy for the skeptics, but it's actually quite informative and motivating and answers to pretty much all the questions that might arise for a beginner-vegetarian. Plus there are some really nice recipes and who wouldn't appreciate a possibility to eat somehting new and tasty?!

Any more ideas on this subject? Let me know! In the meanwhile I hope you'll keep tuning in and that the next time you read my new post, it will be as (even temporarily) a meat-free person :) As for all the already-meat-free readers: thanks for bearing with me, I promise that the steps yet to be taken might interest you guys...

Step One

If you are here on my blog and reading this post then hopefully you are willing to hear me out...
So I would like to benefit of this privilege and share with you some of the things that I hold very dear, hoping that you might understand (wherther you know me in person or not). This will be the prelude (The dress rehersal I should say) to my explaining and reassuring and facing scepticism etc that I feel is yet ahead of me. But this is not about me, it is about everything that is and should be important.

So step one: If you haven't yet seen or heard of the film "Earthlings" and if you are still reading my post inspite of the crappy and confusing intro, then please go and watch it, it's available here. I'm not sure about how legal and thus lasting this Internet-available version is, so check it out before it's gone. But I must warn you: unless you suffer of severe compassion defficiency, you will probably need some hankys to go through it. It's probably best to watch this alone or in a close company, at least for the first time. So please take a moment to sit down and go through the whole lot of it right away... (You can come back here and finish reading the post afterwards if you want, but I thinks it's important that you see this first).


After you've watched it (or if you've already seen it), you might feel hopeless and powerless (maybe even unwilling) to change anything. Or you might feel like doing something, anything about it... That's how I felt anyway - and here I am, writing this post. I assure you - even the smallest effort is already a good start and the fact of having watched the film through shows you have consciousness and interest regarding these questions...

Letting other people know about what you've just seen is the first reflex I guess. Tell your friends, send them the link, put it in your MSN personal message, your blog, your internet site - anything might work to spread the word. Then you might want to find out a bit more about these things. Meat.org - for more precisions on the food issues; The 11th Hour - for a more global and less hard core view on how serious the problem is (this is what inspired me to believe that I can actually do something) ; Sharkwater - as extremely overlooked as it is important (unfortunately "Earthlings" did not feature the shark finning issue), this film is being screened all over the world and should definately be seen by the biggest possible number of people. This was also where I first found out about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and which gave me the last positive push I needed... The last two films are unfortunately not available directly on the internet, but they should be downloadable (sorry Rob and Leonardo, but the cause is more important than the copyright!). This is not about some commercial stuff or profit, it's - I repeat - about everything that's important on this planet and for our generation...

The conclusion of this post is not long, but sincere. If you have been patient enough to see "Earthlings" and are still with me: thank you..! Keep tuned for the upcoming.

Part 2 or How All Of The Sudden It Became So Easy To Be A Vegetarian

I spent the whole night watching interesting videos and looking for information around the net and what I found... well... there are things that just break my heart and things that infuriate me and make me feel ashamed of being a human. Sometimes I think that it's maybe just best to give up and not do anything, to ignore everything that's going on and just wait for the end of it all, hoping that in the end nature survives and humans will be just one more species extinct in the course of the evolution (not that I'm really sure about the whole concept of evolution, but that's another story)...

But then there are also things that give hope and make me want to do something - anything - to help and support the ones that are actually accomplishing things in battles against time and money and powerful corporations... I hope some people will agree...

This video of Captain Paul Watson (from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) is part of those hope-giving things. If you don't really understand what the hell this post is all about and the video here is too long and you don't have time to watch it then I suggest you go see a film called "The 11th Hour" or even better - the one that I just discovered with awe yesterday called "Sharkwater" (and which was the reason I stayed up all night, surfing around to get more informed). Wathc it ASAP and I'm sure that, as I, you might suddenly find the time and the motivation to want to see and hear more.. to go further in the investigation of what's really going on and maybe even act on it.

As for the title of my today's story: it's maybe the recent accumulation of the people i've talked to and the things i've seen and heard and thought. And maybe having watched "Sharkwater" just before also helped shifting something into place. Anyway, there is something in what Captain Watson says here that just made a click in my head and all of the sudden it became so easy to be a vegetarian... I just had to put this out here (as to respond to my previous post) and share what I'm thinking. Now I'm wondering if someone might get a similar reaction, so let me know what you're thinking too...




PS: during the time you spent reading and watching this, about 5000 sharks were slaughtered. To find out more go see the film...

Why I'm Not Vegan

(in response to Hanna's last post)
I've also been thinking on this subject for quite a long time. But first of all, soy milk is not exactly healthier (concerning calcium and protein). Secondly, the soy products are so damn expensive, as are all the bio and fair trade products, which means that a poor student is in the obligation of eating junk filled with genes and hormones and pesticides. Besides, start to think of it - there is milk inside chocolate and inside ice cream, sauces and many bakery products, inside body cream and shampoo etc etc etc. And it's even worse with the eggs - almost anything we eat containts "traces of egg" (that's what they write on the packages). So putting in a lot of money and effort it is possible to exchange our usual milk products with the soy products. There is even vegan ice cream and vegan shampoo out there. It's obviously not in our normal supermarket just around the corner, but still possible to find. But how to replace, or even just avoid the eggs? That one I haven't figured out yet...
It is a different problem with meat: in general it's too expensive to buy, so that solves the problem. But if I'm eating out it is absolutely impossible to find something that wouldn't contain meat or at least chicken or fish. And if I decide to be the false-vegetarian/vegan who's afraid of missing on some vital substances and therefore continues eating fish.. well, it's impossible to find a tuna sanwich without mayonnaise and/or eggs...
Being vegetarian (and I'm not even mentioning vegan) is quite harmful for your social life as well. Because it rules out eating out with friends ("hey, want to grab a kebab?" - "um, no") or at a friend's place - unless the inviting person is vegetarian, they will not even once consider asking about special diets of people (once again, poor students who do what they can)... And if you are strong enough to pass the evening watching others eat (and without grabbing any of those aperitif chips - they too contain traces of egg!) then good for you, but it is extremely antisocial and makes you feel weird or bad, as well as your friends.

These are more or less the problems and the questions that arise when I consider becoming vegan or even just part-time vegetarian. If someone can share their experience on the subject, I would be more than happy to hear about it. And I hope that one day I will be able to stick the black & green star full-time to my front and vote against the massive and torturing production of meat, eggs and milk by not eating them...