My Biology teacher made some very wonderful points in the middle of one of his lectures last week. I honestly don't remember what the rest of the lecture was about but he began to speak of the energy transfer along the food chain which led him into a brief discussion into reasons why people become vegetarian. I was very thankful for the reasons he gave as they all are the reasons I have become vegan. One is obviously health. But he didn't mention necessarily the benefits of a plant-based whole foods diet in regards to the good nutrients and phytochemicals it contains but rather he looked at the lack of man-made, pollutant chemicals that this diet lacks.
Some people maybe believe that because as a vegan consuming way more produce than your average American, I am consuming many more herbicides and pesticides (lets pretend I don't even buy organic). However, he did a very wonderful job of making it clear that this is not the case. You see, for every pound of meat (say beef), 10 pounds of plants (say corn, since cows aren't ever really fed their normal diet of grass). This is an increase by 10 times. Biologists just refer to it as the rule of 10. So for every 100lb of beef, 1000lb of corn are required. Well, when an animal consumes this corn, which I'm going to assume not very regulated for pesticide levels since people aren't consuming it, cows are, the chemicals are not flushed out of the cow's body. The pesticides and herbicides (think DDT) are actually stored in the muscles and especially the fat tissues of the animal. So even though the amount of nutrients someone will get from eating an animal will decrease by 10 times as the animal must use these nutrients up, the amount of pesticides increases by 10 times. So, if corn contained only 20ppm of an herbicide or pesticide. Than same amount of meat would contain 200ppm of those chemicals. The majority of herbicides and pesticides that the average American consumes in their diet is from meat (I think the number was around 75%). Much of the rest is from other animal products like dairy (these chemicals get passed through cows' milk much like alcohol is passed through breast milk). Now, I DO buy most of my food organically grown but I also feel like by becoming vegan I have GREATLY decreased my exposure to harmful, toxic chemical buildup in my body just by no longer eating animal products, not to mention I now only eat plant-based, nutritious foods that support my immune system and my natural detoxifying organs (kidneys, liver, etc.).
And how delicious these foods are!! This week I got to splurge since I was in a more vegan friendly area of the US and actually go out to dinner! It was wonderful. When my plane arrived in Berkeley Monday night, my hosts were so kind as to have a delicious vegan meal, hot and ready for me at the house. Udon noodles with some greens and mushrooms. It was perfect after a long day of traveling. Tuesday was low-key with a vegan cookie for breakfast (it was vacation after-all), and then deliciously easy-to-make tortilla pizzas for a late lunch/dinner. Wednesday morning, we made Chocolate Chip Raspberry Scones from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan by Dreena Burton and they were just wonderful! I absolutely love breakfast pastries and this new recipe is a god-send for me. My gracious tour-guide took me to many a wonderful grocery store and on Thursday we went to a big farmers' market in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Oh, how I wish I could do all of my grocery shopping at a farmers' market! The Berkeley Bowl (another HUGE grocery extravaganza) was just like heaven. Organic bulk containers of every like of grain, nut and seed, raw, roasted or spiced, beautiful organic produce and just a wonderful selection. SOOO MUCH FOOD!! It was great! I hope to one day do a lot of my purchasing at the Berkeley Bowl.
On Thursday night we went to a fancy little vegan restaurant call Millennium. We ordered the prix fixe, 4-course menu and all of it was absolutely delectable. The first two courses were eaten before pictures could be taken but they were beautifully cooked. I tried my first falafel and we also had a mushroom dumpling with some sprouts and asparagus to begin. Our main course was this stuffed artichoke. It was heavenly. It had fava beans and there was a split pea side, as well as some greens and broccoli.
Dessert was AMAZING! It was a dark chocolate creme brulee with orange ice cream on top, garnished with a chocolate dipped orange slice (all vegan!). And.. I got to eat both mine and my friend's because he's a boy and boy's don't like dark chocolate. Haha! More for me!
I think that is it for now. I'll leave you wishing you had been eating this yummy vegan dessert with me!
I am addicted to falafels..lol.
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