Fw: Compassionate Cooks Food for Thought - Feburary 20, 2007

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-----Forwarded Message----- "info" Feb 19, 2007 9:18 PM ebbrewpunx Compassionate Cooks Food for Thought - Feburary 20, 2007

 

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: COMPASSIONATE COOKS NEWSLETTERFebruary 20, 2006$5 off DVD Stock your Pantry for Easy Cookin'Speaking Event in San Francisco New Podcast Episode Food Lore: Ginger Sign up for March Cooking Class New Recipe Packet Recommended Film This I Know

 

 

 

 

$5 OFF Vegetarian Cooking DVD! Even knighted gentleman love our DVD! Sir Ian McKellen (he's popular for his role as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, but he has an illustrious career on the stage and in film.) He wrote and thanked us for "creating this cooking DVD" and for our "compassionate work in the world."

McKellen is a long-time vegetarian and wrote a beautiful essay on why he made this choice.

PURCHASE THE DISCOUNTED DVD USING THIS SPECIAL LINK

 

 

 

 

 

STOCK YOUR PANTRY FOR EASY COOKIN'I'm thrilled I can finally point you directly to the products that I recommend - whether it's my favorite food processor & kitchen tools , the books that changed my life, my recommended cookbooks, or pantry items - in all my classes.

FOOD PROCESSOR : If limited time is our excuse for cooking healthful meals, then this food processor is your answer. It speeds things up tremendously, has a small bowl/blade and a large bowl/blade, and also comes with several special blades, perfect for grating carrots or non-dairy cheese!

See Last Issue's Kitchen Recommendation.

 

 

 

 

SPEAKING EVENT IN SAN FRANCISCO: GETTING TO THE MEAT OF THE MATTER - DEBUNKING THE TOP 10 MYTHS ABOUT VEGETARIANISM Join Compassionte Cooks and the San Francisco Vegetarian Society for a special talk that combines humor and wisdom to tackle the most prevalent myths about a plant-based diet. In this special talk, I smash the stereotypes about vegetarianism and demystify what it means to make compassionate, sustainable, healthful food choices.

Whether you are curious about vegetarianism, are new to vegetarianism, are a long-time vegan, or have ever asked where vegetarians get their protein, you will walk away inspired, informed, and enlightened. When and where.

 

 

 

 

OUR LATEST PODCAST EPISODEEach "podcast" addresses a different issue, question, and myth related to veganism/animal rights.Becoming Re-Sensitized The process of becoming de-sensitized to animal suffering happens at a very early age. Though our innate compassion is unfettered and unconditional when we're young, we receive messages that indicate that not only should this compassion be left on the threshold of adulthood but that certain animals are here to love and certain ones are here to use. As a result, many of us go through our entire lives detached from the animals who once permeated every aspect of our childhood and detached from our own emotions and truths. Only when the spell is broken, when we are shaken out of our sleep do we experience a profound awakening. The key is being *willing* to wake up. The key is letting go of our self-deception and lowering the defenses we built up.

 

*If you'd like to receive email alerts when I post new podcasts, you can easily sign up for this service here.

 

 

 

 

FOOD LORE: GINGER ROOT

HISTORY: Ginger, a perennial herb originally found in Southeast Asia, means "horn root" in Sanskrit, no doubt referring to its appearance. Although it was well known to the ancient Romans, it nearly disappeared in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. After Marco Polo's trip to the Far East, ginger came back into favor in Europe, becoming a much-coveted and expensive spice. Queen Elizabeth I is credited with the invention of the gingerbread man!

COOKING WITH GINGER: Ginger is available in six forms: fresh, dried, pickled, preserved, crystallized (or candied), and powdered or ground. Its flavor is peppery and slightly sweet, with a pungent and spicy aroma. Fresh ginger, much like garlic, mellows with cooking and turns bitter if you burn it. The ground form has a different flavor, which is most commonly used in sweet desserts and is not normally interchangeable with fresh ginger.

BUYING & PREPARING: - Fresh ginger can be found in the produce section of most grocery stores. Look for smooth skin with a fresh, spicy fragrance. Avoid those with wrinkled flesh, as this is an indication of aged ginger past its prime. Fresh, unpeeled root should be wrapped in paper towels, placed in a plastic bag and refrigerated up to three weeks. It can also be tightly wrapped and frozen up to two months.

RECIPE: Tempeh with Orange Ginger Sauce from The Millennium Cookbook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MARCH 10th COOKING CLASS: BUON APPETITO - HEARTY ITALIAN CUISINE! Join us on March 10th as we cook up a storm - Italian style. Designed to fill you up and warm you up, these dishes will satisfy anyone and everyone you feed! As always, we will also be debunking the myths about plant-based eating and and providing lots of resources and tips. ON THE MENU: *Eggplant Caponata *Stuffed Shells with Marinara Sauce *Italian Lentil & Vegetable Stew *Zucchini Cakes *Fig Date Bread

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW RECIPE PACKET!

AFTERNOON TEA I Of course, these recipes are perfect for anytime, but why not create an excuse to entertain? $5 for this set of 5 recipes, which also includes a little info about the difference between high tea and afternoon tea. *Mexican Wedding Cookies*Classic Currant Scones*Eggless Egg Salad Sandwich*Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwich*Roasted Red Pepper, Artichoke and Pesto Sandwich

 

 

 

 

 

FILM RECOMMENDATION: AMAZING GRACE A couple months ago, I formally recommended the book (and still do!) For the Prevention of Cruelty: The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the United States by Diane Beers. I'm so grateful to Diane for writing this book and think it's so important to know upon whose shoulders we stand.

Now you can get a little taste of the British animal protection movement. Opening on Friday February 23rd is a movie called Amazing Grace, which chronicles the efforts of British parliamentarian William Wilberforce, a pioneering crusader who was the driving force behind the abolition of slavery in the UK as well as the co-founder for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. I'm very excited to see the film, especially since human rights/black history and animal rights being two issues I care very much about and which are inextricably linked.

Of course, I'm recommending it sight unseen, so don't blame the messenger, but I'm particularly gladdened to see that the filmmakers take his dedication to animal protection seriously. The Humane Society of the United States put together a nice page here. Be sure to watch the clip! Check your local listings for showtimes and locations.

 

 

 

 

THIS I KNOW: SOY IS NOT EVIL

A few individuals have been incredibly successful at demonizing this little legume, and I think it's time to address their fear-mongering. How in the world did an innocent bean become the subject of intense ridicule and fear? I hope I can put a few things in perspective for you. IT’S A BEAN The first thing I want make reeeeeeally clear is that we’re talking about a bean! A bean! Soy bean – it’s a bean. It’s not a toxin. It’s not a chemical. It’s not a weapon. It’s a bean, it’s a legume, a plant food. The way some people talk about soy beans would make you believe that they’re threatening the very survival of the human species. Who are these people and why are they bean bashing? CRITICAL THINKING Well, the general answer to that question is actually more questions. Whenever you’re given any information – particularly when there are scare tactics or fear-mongering – always ask yourself: 1. Who is providing this information? 2. What do they have to gain directly? 3. What do they have to gain indirectly? It’s so important to hone our critical thinking skills, particularly these days when we’re bombarded with and overwhelmed by so much information. Our access to information – through the Internet – is a good thing, but it also means we have a lot more rubbish to sift through. Particularly when it comes to something like vegetarianism and animal rights, people have no idea how powerful the machine is that drives the anti-vegetarian, pro-meat/pro-animal exploitation industry agenda. This machine is driven by corporations, the government, and media – and it’s incredibly powerful. I’m not saying this to make you cynical, because I find cynicism really boring and really unattractive. I am saying this so you know how important it is that you know where you’re getting your information from and to think really critically about what it is the messenger has to gain.

Soy and vegetarianism are so intricately linked that the soy detractors know if they scare people about soy, they scare people about vegetarianism, and it's working. A lot of these groups and individuals have a meat agenda - you can see for yourself on their websites. SOY DETRACTORS So what does all of this have to do with soy? Well, there are a handful of individuals and “organizations†who’ve made it their mission to demonize soy, namely the Weston Price Foundation, Mercola, and Kaayla Daniel, who wrote The Whole Soy Story. But one of the things we need to keep in mind – if we want to be thoughtful, critical, savvy thinkers is that thousands of conclusive, lab, clinical, epidemiological studies undeniably point to the harmful effects of meat, dairy, and eggs and benefits of plant foods. And yet so many people have bought into the fear-mongering about soy. Can you imagine if – in our behavior – we actually reflected these truths? Can you imagine if we sincerely and lovingly said to friends and family: I’m sorry – you eat meat and drink cow’s milk – don’t you know these are linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, gout, etc. Can you imagine if we actually put credence into what we know is true. We don’t say that to non-vegetarians, but when someone wants to criticize vegetarianism as a whole – one of the first things they say – right after they ask where you get your protein – is “soy is dangerous.†Soy causes breast cancer. Soy causes dementia. Soy makes boys turn into girls – I swear to God – I’ve heard ‘em all. So, here are the main points I want to make about soy, and I’ll go into a little more detail about each one. 1. You don't have to eat soy foods to be vegetarian/vegan. There are thousands of edible plant species available if you don't like or have an allergy or sensitivity to soy. 2. Eat foods in their whole state as much as possible. Tofu, tempeh, miso, edamame, tamari/soy sauce all experience either no processing or a limited amount of processing. Make whole foods the foundation of your diet. 3. Soy is neither miracle food nor is it poison. It is a bean that, like other plant foods, like other beans, contains health-promoting nutrients. 4. Be informed so you can help debunk the myths. I can’t stress this enough. We don’t have to have a degree in nutrition to dispel the myths – even if you just get people thinking by encouraging them to dig deeper to find out whose behind the scare tactics, that’s enough. In Detail: 1. You don’t have to eat soy foods to be vegetarian. Let’s face it, soy foods are linked with vegetarianism whether we like it or not. When someone hears vegetarian, the first thing people think is soy foods. Well, you can enjoy a varied, full, delicious, nutritious diet without soy foods. Some people don’t like tofu or tempeh (because they haven’t been to one of my classes or tried my recipes), so fine. Some people are allergic to soy. OK – some people are allergic to peanuts or strawberries – that doesn’t mean peanuts are inherently bad or strawberries are inherently evil. So, just because someone’s allergic to soy doesn’t mean soy in and of itself is bad. That’s #1 – you don’t have to eat soy. 2. Eat foods – all foods, including soy – in their whole state. So what are these foods and why should eat them in their whole state? Well, to answer the second question first: One of the things that’s happening is that concentrated soy protein is being put in a number of processed foods – everything from Clif bars and cookies to ice cream and pudding – it’s showing as soy isolate protein or isolated soy protein, and there are a couple problems with that. One is that we don’t know what the effects are going to be, because our diets have never been so full of these isolated proteins in these processed foods. We don’t know. In the laboratory, scientists have extracted soy protein and soy isoflavones to determine their effects on the bodies of non-human animals and then try to interpret this to human experience, to human health, which is problematic for a number of reasons – particularly because of the differences in physiology and genetics between humans and non-human animals and also because there’s a real problem with isolating nutrients. I’ve talked about this before: the complexity in a blueberry is beyond what we can replicate in a lab and its health benefits stem from the combination of all of its components eaten all at once in its whole state. So, to isolate the seemingly beneficial properties of something like soy to prove its health benefits or dangers is not sound – in my opinion. But nobody asked for my opinion when the benefits of soy were regarded as an opportunity to make a lot of money. So in the last 10 years or so, the inclusion of isolated soy protein in processed foods has increased tremendously. And that means a lot of money to be made. So, what’s the common denominator here? Is the problem with soy in general? Or isolating soy proteins? Is the problem with soy in general? Or with processed foods? There’s a big difference between isolating the protein and putting it as filler in every packaged food on the grocery shelf and eating whole soy foods. So that leads to the answer to my other related question. What are these whole soy foods? Well you have your unprocessed soy foods such as tempeh, miso, whole soybeans such as edamame, natto (a fermented soy food eaten in Japanese cuisine), tamari/soy sauce, and soybean sprouts and you have your minimally processed whole soy foods, such as tofu and soy milk. Soy milk and tofu are included as “whole foods†because the processing involved – heat from cooking and blending of the whole soybeans with water and coagulants – does not turn them into purified isoflavones. Yuba, a byproduct of soy milk, would also fall into this category. Whole soy foods. The problem isn’t soy. The problem is processed foods. The more the foundation of our diet is whole plant foods, the healthier we will be and the less confusing all of this will seem. Now, does mean we can never have a little soy cheese on our pizza or we can never enjoy something like TVP (texturized vegetable protein) in our chili? No. The research does not support the conclusion that eating a little processed food is going to be detrimental – just don’t make it the foundation or the mainstay of your diet. Should we be afraid of consuming soy foods as a part of a healthful, whole foods, plant-based diet? No. Should we eat a soy-based diet? No. Variety, variety, variety. 3. Soy is neither miracle food, nor is it poison. Be wary of health claims made about single nutrients. You don’t have to become a nutritionist to eat healthfully and to make sense of it all. In fact, I think it’s our focus on single nutrients that is making everyone so bloody confused about how to be healthy. Related to what I said about becoming critical thinkers, it’s so important we take the latest scientific studies with a grain of salt and just relax and eat a whole foods plant based diet. It’s really that simple. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but everyone’s so confused because of studies that come out every day! One thing to keep in mind is that often when you hear something like “scientists conclude†or “studies show†or “research reveals…†you have no idea what the details are and the sound bites are not sufficient to make us understand. Was the study based on animal research, which is difficult to interpret to human physiology? How many people were in the study? Was it a test-tube study and has it be extrapolated to a real human population? If it was a clinical study, is there a chance people lied in the questionnaire? Are the reports of the study quoting the whole study (i.e. did the journalists do their own research) or are they merely quoting an abstract – or worse yet – a press release? Is the use of language misleading or misinterpreted? Is it biased information based on studies done by the meat, dairy, egg, sugar, or soy industries or even by those who advocate the consumption of those foods, such as the Weston Price Foundation and Mercola, who advocate meat from every animal under the sun? It’s important we ask these questions when we hear about the latest study before drawing conclusions that will effect our own health, the health of our loved ones, and the lives of animals. So, don’t rely on sound bites from the media about what’s healthful. It’s really not very complicated. Eat a whole-foods plant-based diet, including whole soy products if you want them. If you don’t like them, don’t eat ‘em. Although, if you WANT to learn to like them, come to one of my cooking classes or check out my cooking DVD, in which there are two tofu recipes, the purpose of which is to empower people to understand the different kinds, which helps demystify it. http://www.compassionatecooks.com/video.htm 4. Become Informed and Pass it On! There have been a number of negative claims about soy (though the overwhelming research is positive), and I invite you to check out the details yourself, and you can do so by visiting a page on http://www.compassionatecooks.com/ under Resources: Cooking & Nutrition Info. There’s a document called the Safety of Soy, and it repeats some of what I’m saying here, but it also provides links to a few different sites that go through each of the negative claims point by point and puts them into context. Of all of them, my favorite is the first one, Eating Soy: Myths, Truths, and Everything in Between by Christa Novelli, M.P.H. I think she does a fantastic job explaining each of the claims made so that you’ll walk away with a much better understanding of what the heck is going on here. The goal is to be informed and empowered – for yourself and so that you can pass along the correct information to those who are misinformed. Please pass on the correct information – it’ll make my job a heckuva lot easier!

READ A FEW FINAL POINTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORDS OF WISDOM"Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now - always." ~Albert Schweitzer

 

 

Compassionate Cooks is dedicated to empowering people to make informed food choices and to debunking myths about vegetarianism through cooking classes, nutrition courses, podcasts, essays & articles, farmed animal sanctuary tours, lectures and workshops, and cooking DVDs.

 

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I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of war, corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed. I feel, at this moment, more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless." Lincoln in a letter to Col. William F. Elkins on November 21, 1864