Seriously, who wants to share soul space with a cow?
From Life of Pythagoras, by Diogenes Laertius:
A state of purity is brought about by purifications, washings and lustrations, by a man’s purifying himself from all deaths and rebirths, or any kind of pollution, by abstaining from all animals that have died, from mullets, from gurnards, from eggs, from such animals that lay eggs, from beans, and from other things that are prohibited by those who have charge of the mysteries in the Temples.
Christina-Marie, personally, would like to second Pythagoras’s abstention from mullets. They’re a fashion travesty, and have no place in a sexy vegan’s world.
The work excerpted above further reveals Pythagoras was tolerant of, and even indulged in, cheese and honey, so he was vegetarian, not vegan, but for a guy who set up his philosophy practice around 530 B.C./B.C.E., he was a pretty progressive thinker.
The Bible—which some consider just as reliable as Wikipedia—reveals a truly vegan diet was created in the Garden of Eden, right around the time Adam and Eve likely developed a hankerin’ for something to satisfy the rumbling in their newly-formed tummies. God had had a very busy sixth day, creating man and woman, but He still had to feed them. So, He whipped up everything the couple would need to eat, right there in the Garden. When finished, He said to them, “…Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” (Genesis 1:29, King James Version)
As Christina-Marie’s friend Catherine Burt —a.k.a. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vegan—says, “Paradise was vegan.”
Sadly, it didn’t last. Adam and Eve made a major faux pas, earning them a one-way ticket out of Eden. As humanity spread over the earth, so did evil. In fact, just a few short biblical chapters later, God made an executive decision to flood the earth, destroying all life except what He instructed an obedient man named Noah to cram into an ark. With everything underwater, there was neither seed nor fruit available, so God changed His mind about eating the animals: “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” (Genesis 9:3, King James Version)
Fast-forward a few millennia to 1847 England, where an enlightened chap named Joseph Brotherton coined the term “vegetarian” to describe folks who didn’t eat flesh. Until 1944, those who also avoided eggs, dairy, and other animal products were simply known as “strict vegetarians.” For all their dedication, those strict vegetarians should be honored with their own descriptive title, don’t you think? Donald Watson and his wife, Dorothy, certainly thought so, and in 1944 developed the term “vegan,” combining the first three and last two letters of the word “vegetarian.” As Watson described it, the term was “the beginning and end of vegetarian.” (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism)
Today, veganism is practiced by conscientious people across the globe and, since 1994, World Vegan Day is celebrated on November 1 of each year. Other international vegan observances and events include Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale week (http://www.VeganBakeSale.org) and Vegan Month of Food, affectionately known as VeganMoFo (http://VeganMoFo.wordpress.com).
CHAPTER THREE: WHO’S EATING VEGAN, AND WHY
The reasons for choosing a vegan diet and lifestyle are as varied as the individuals opting for them. Some cite health, weight loss, or allergy reasons; while others are convicted by an ethical or moral calling.
Christina-Marie, your Sexy Vegan Mama, made the decision to stop eating animals at age fourteen—after surviving sexual trauma. She’d drawn a parallel between food and pleasure, and found she could no longer justify the killing of animals to satisfy her pleasure. As a sexual abuse victim, she’d been harmed by another individual in order to satisfy a particular pleasure or lust, and she just couldn’t bring herself to harm another creature in order to satisfy her “lust” for food, and the pleasure she received from it.
After several years of opting for a meat-free diet, she realized animal suffering didn’t always result in death. Independently studying the practices at large commercial egg and dairy farms finally made veganism the only option for her, but it took time.
Learning about the de-beaking of chickens forced into battery cages, where their claws grow around the wires, was enough to determine her conscience about eggs. (Learn more at http://www.eggindustry.com.)
When her son became old enough to drink milk, she became concerned about reports she’d read about the Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) being given to dairy cows, causing many to develop mastitis, an inflammation of the milk ducts. As many nursing mothers know, mastitis is extremely painful, resulting in rock-hard breasts that are hot to the touch.
To be clear, Christina-Marie doesn’t mean “hot, rock-hard breasts” in a sexy way. It’s not pleasant.
Anyway, mastitis is treated with antibiotics, and Christina-Marie became concerned about the dosage of antibiotics her son was consuming with each glass of milk. Would he develop a tolerance? What would happen if he became ill and required antibiotics? Would he have to take larger and larger doses to reap the benefits?
Even organic, BGH-free milk didn’t ease her conscience when she learned of the plight of most dairy cows. These poor mamas are repeatedly artificially inseminated to force them to produce milk to feed their newborn calves—but their babies are quickly removed, sometimes immediately after birth. The females are raised to endure the lives their mothers live, while the males are whisked away to be raised as beef or—even worse—as veal.
While a healthy cow can expect to live over twenty years, the lifespan of a dairy cow is about four years. After that, she’s no longer profitable to the farmer due to her body no longer producing “adequate” milk levels after the repeated cycle of forced insemination and lactation. When she can’t keep up the expected milk production, the dairy cow is sent to slaughter, made into hamburger or pet food, because her body is too worn to be of any further value. (Learn more at http://www.milksucks.com.)
The one food Christina-Marie thought she could never give up was cheese. How could she never, ever enjoy another pizza? Or the simplicity and comfort of a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup? Then, she found out how cheese is actually made, and her vegetarian heaven came crashing down. Boy, did she ever feel like Chicken Little when she learned the milk in most cheeses is coagulated and solidified by the addition of rennet. For those not familiar with the ingredient, prepare to chuck your cheese.
Rennet is an enzyme taken from the lining of stomachs of nursing baby animals. The purpose of rennet is to help the suckling babies digest their mothers’ milk. Therefore, the type of rennet used in a particular cheese is determined by the type of milk used to make the cheese: cow milk cheeses use rennet from the stomachs of calves, goat milk cheeses add rennet from baby goats, sheep milk cheeses contain rennet from lambs, and so on.
While vegetable-sourced rennet is available, it isn’t widely used in the commercial cheese industry. Christina-Marie’s sister-in-law, for example, uses vegetable rennet to make cheese from her much-loved, spoiled-rotten milk cow. The cow is spoiled, not the milk.
Needless to say, Christina-Marie’s cheese addiction was cured, instantly. Baby stomach extract? No, thank you. In this way, she became vegan over time, and her heart always took the lead.
She’s been blessed to know and meet many vegans through the wonder of the internet, and each has his or her own reason for veganism. Here are some stories from friends:
Kris Miller, of DustpanProductions.com, has been vegan since March 2010. She came to veganism as a method of detoxification from Candidiasis, eczema, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Due to her