Have Gone Vegan

what's in a word?

Language has always been said to be one of the key differences between humans and animals, but I find it fascinating that we use the tool of language itself to emphasize this difference even more. This is not surprising I guess, as language, however useful and necessary, is certainly not neutral. Just as any kind of research can never be truly neutral as choosing the very questions we try to answer already influences the end result. What exactly am I trying to get at here? The fact that we use the terms human and animal even though humans ARE animals. Mammals to be exact. Now I fall into the same trap and use those terms myself, but I think it wouldn't hurt to remind ourselves once in a while that non-human animal is the more accurate, if cumbersome, term. I wonder too if part of the reason we do this is to try and put even more distance between ourselves and thereby create more of an "us and them" situation. Having said that, there's also the danger of anthropomorphizing and arguing that we're the same when clearly we're not. While both human animals and non-human animals have at least some capacity to reason, feel emotion, and experience self-awareness, the type and degree differ between the two. But, they both experience pain and suffering (often at the hands of each other), and no manipulation of language can erase that.

vegan cooking

As you can imagine, cooking has changed somewhat since I became vegan. Although to be honest, throwing a frozen Stouffer's meal into the oven can hardly be said to constitute cooking. And that's the thing; I'm actually doing real cooking these days and quite enjoying the process. I'm making lots of soups, which I've always loved, but these days making them from scratch instead of an envelope. And while that may sound time-consuming, it actually isn't. Everything begins with sauteed onion and garlic in olive oil, and then I just add whatever I have on hand; red lentils or green peas as a base, any vegetable I have lying around such as tomato, yams or cauliflower, and then rice, noodles or canned beans. Every soup turns out differently as well, so I never get bored eating the same dish.

Baked potatoes I've always liked, but I often mash them now with garlic and onion; oven roast dishes I still make but minus the roast; and spaghetti, rice with Indonesian spices and bean dishes continue to be staples. A vegan pizza I made recently was excellent (I'll post the pic sometime), so apart from eggs, I can't say that I really miss my former way of eating. I'm even baking again which I hadn't done in years! So no, I would say that turning vegan has put me back in touch with real food again, and has even reawakened a love for something that I had all but abandoned. Oh, I also got a few vegan cookbooks that I love (they're in the Amazon widget if you want to check them out), and I imagine that they'll be adding to my repertoire. Hey, I might even turn into a real cook one day! :)