On Monday, January 23 the Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments of 2012 were introduced. These amendments, introduced to the house as HR 3798, will help tens of millions of hens to have a bit more space almost immediately and will eventually eliminate battery cages for laying hens. They will also require labeling on all egg cartons—so that consumers can immediately avoid eggs from caged hens…

This happens when people ignore something that everybody should really know.  For instance, “What kind of willful obtusity ever suggested that subprime mortgages were a good idea?  An intelligent child would have known that there is no good time to lend money to people who obviously can never repay it.”  The author also mentions Bernie Madoff, whose figures were demonstrated to the S.E.C. nine years before the scandal to be “not merely incredible but mathematically impossible.”

I have been struggling to understand this phenomenon for years, only I have called it the line between ignorance and indifference.  If you have been paying any attention at all to environmental, social, or animal welfare issues, you have probably wondered about this yourself.  I have seen people accept facts and then refute the obvious conclusions.  I have pinned people down in debates to saying the most ridiculous things you can imagine, for instance that a subsistence farming family in South America is to blame for having their only water source, a nearby pond, polluted by foreign farming conglomerates clearing the rainforest for soybean production.  When I asked how this could possibly be their fault, the only thing I could get out of him was, “I can’t let them off so easy as you can.”  Huh?

I think people have worldviews, influenced by their culture (here’s my discussion of American values), prejudices, stereotypes, and habits.  They defend these close to their hearts even in the face of contradictory evidence, because to let them go is frightening.  For instance, the discussion about the South American family was really about bad things happening to good people; the person I was talking to refused to believe in that, I would say because it means ultimately we do not have the final say about what happens to us.  We can wear seat belts and go to church and stay inside when it snows and not use natural gas and still our house can burn to the ground.  This same person once told me that the family of the girl in California who was kidnapped from her bedroom several years ago deserved what happened because her window was not locked, only screened.  When I asked, “What about fresh air?” he said “That’s what air conditioning is for.”  Ridiculous statements to defend a belief based on fear.

Maybe when people refuse to believe that the earth is warming, that we are causing animal extinctions, that starving children and a continent ravaged by AIDS matters, or that suffering is suffering whether it’s a dog or a pig, they are afraid of what it would mean in their lives to accept these ideas.  It would mean changing their habits, for instance driving and eating, and opening up to compassion, even feeling a responsibility to do something.

These issues are a bummer, and sometimes they don’t have easy solutions, or easy solutions are outside what we are willing to consider.  So the defense is to deny them, at the expense of truth.

I don’t have all the answers.  I don’t have a Truth Hotline.  But I know a silly statement when I hear it, such as “It’s logical for me to eat factory farmed pork but get angry about puppy mills, because carrots have feelings, too.”  This is the point at which I suspect we have moved beyond ignorance, beyond indifference, and into the middle of denial, the known we willfully unknow.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 20,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Friday I made Cuban Black Bean Soup and Garlic Herb Bread to have for today’s lunch, and also cooked the kidney beans for tonight’s dinner, and took the Tofurkey out of the freezer.

Tofurkey, with roasted onion, purple potatoes, and carrots

Saturday I started 2 hours ahead of dinnertime and it worked out perfectly.  I basted the Tofurkey, as directed, with a sage marinade, put some root veggies around it, and cooked it over an hour as directed.  I bought this Tofurkey at half price 9-12 months ago, but its expiration date is still a year away.  It came out perfect.  It made about nine slices and was plenty for five adults and two kids.

There was a packet of gravy, which was good, and a “wish-stick” which I gave to the kids.  It was two pieces of vegan jerky which was presented in an X but not stuck together, so I’m not sure what you were supposed to do.  They didn’t really get the idea or like the taste, but we had two dogs on hand, so it worked out well.

Tofurkey, African Stew on Rice, and Salad

For those who have a prejudice against a Tofurkey, I made African Stew and a brown rice blend.  We also had a salad.

For dessert we ate most of the Gingerbread House.  There was an Amy’s cake in the Tofurkey box, but I forgot about it.

I also served Asian wheat noodles tossed with the last of the leftover peanut sauce (yum) and edamame.

A Friendly Farm Sanctuary Goat

It can be easy to get discouraged when we see the suffering in the world, the suffering of both people and animals, in every town across the globe.  We can feel as though the problem is too big, and too few people care.  Even good people we love seem oblivious  and unconcerned about the harm their actions cause.  We can’t see things improving, and change seems impossible.  What is the point of yet another petition or march, when the deck is so completely stacked against us?

I have a very small answer, and it begins with a “Hi.”  Every other day I run two miles along a route with many kids trudging to school, lately in the cold and dark.  As is my policy, I have been giving a cheery “good morning!” to all of them since September.  Beginning with no response, after a month or so a few would say “hi” back, and now in December almost all do, and some even smile!  It is not hard to imagine that someone who smiles and says hi on the way to school is at least .0001% more cheery when they arrive, and says something .0001% nicer to someone else.

I care deeply about the suffering of people, but because this blog is about food, and many vegans and vegetarians feel particularly isolated in their sorrow over animal suffering in the midst of a meat-eating frenzy, I’m going to narrow the rest of my examples.  My closest friend went vegetarian after about a year of discussions about why I switched from vegetarian to vegan.  It was an important part of my life, she cared about me and would ask how it was going for me.  It never in my wildest dreams occurred to me that she would become vegetarian – I was just telling her how I felt.  I never asked her if I had influenced her, since I didn’t want to imply she couldn’t think of it herself, but… probably at least a little, right?  My Dad started out angry at my becoming vegan; two years later, after many conversations, he told me he wanted to be one.  He tells me he often stands up for the vegan position in conversations with friends and family.   (Here’s another great example: The Power of One).  I can think of several friends who have cut back on meat or dairy since knowing me.  A lot of nice people ask me questions about being vegan; they are honestly confused about the issues, and tell me they appreciate my thoughtful, non-judgmental answers.  They don’t usually run home and throw away all their meat, but there’s at least a hairline crack in that wall, and they now know a vegan who doesn’t fit the awful stereotype.

It is not easy to keep saying “hi” to people who ignore you.  It is not easy to stand up for vegan values in an engaging way in the face of indifference or hostility.  It takes courage, it takes patience, and it takes faith, a faith in humanity.  Go ahead and march for farm animals, sign checks and petitions, write letters, hand out leaflets, speak to groups.  I do these things, too, but I bet my greatest influence is unintentional, just in the way I live my life, in the obvious peace I’ve found in letting go of eating animals.  I can stand up firmly for animals in public forums, but I think I shine brightest when I can offer gentler activism one-on-one through my peaceful action and speech.

Ultimately I have to accept that I can’t control other people, or fix the world, and I still have to leave space for compassion for those who are suffering now, but I don’t let it discourage me.  I do see improvement on the larger stage as well.  Many states have recently passed laws improving conditions for farm animals.  Celebrate these victories!  Celebrate even getting this issue onto a ballot.  And celebrate the effects your smaller actions can have, even if they seem to diminish into the darkness.  Keep listening for those echoes, and I think you’ll hear them.

Kielbasa on whole wheat roll, Pasta Aglia Olio, Peas

Dinner tonight was the last of a bunch of Tofurky dogs (these were kielbasas) I bought on sale a while back.  They kept just fine in the freezer, and I grilled them on my cast iron grill.

I found the pasta “recipe” in Nava Atlas’ Vegan Express book.  I like how she has a lot of meal ideas in there that aren’t a whole fancy recipe.  This was Pasta Aglia Olio.  You just cook some spaghetti or linguini, and meanwhile saute some garlic in olive oil until golden.  For 8 oz. pasta she says to use 1/4 c oil and 6-8 cloves garlic.  Then you toss the pasta in the oil and add parsley or basil.  I added both, frozen, and salt and pepper.  It was wonderful, almost like pesto – my kids loved it.

Also we had microwaved frozen peas.

Gingerbread boy sledding off the roof.

Now to the Gingerbread.  My page from last year has all the details.  I had made the cookies Sunday but my son has been hacking up a lung all week so I didn’t want him decorating something we were going to eat.  The cookies kept in a plastic container and tonight I made the icing and took the kids candy shopping.  There weren’t any vegetarian gummies this year, which disappointed them, but they found plenty of hard candies and gumdrops.  I turned them loose with the stuff, went off to relax, and never heard two kids having so much fun.

The only things I did differently this year was to take the little gingerbread people out of the oven after 10 minutes, and for the icing used less water (4 T) and consequently less powdered sugar, just adding to the desired consistency.  Glad I did that, since there is still some left over.  I think last year they might have essentially frosted the whole cardboard base, while this year we used a white plastic storage container cover (washed, obviously).  I think I should also add directions to the cookie dough to add only as much flour to get a very stiff dough – I held back some of the flour which was obviously going to be too much this time.

Peanutty Burrito & Salad

Sounds weird, tastes delicious!  I microwaved a pound of tofu with soy sauce in my usual way, defrosted some rice, microwaved some tortillas, and put it all out with yesterday’s peanut sauce for DIY burritos.  My kids didn’t like the peanut sauce yesterday, so they went with jarred salsa.

We also had a salad with choice of dressings; I went for the peanut sauce again.

Plain Grilled Tofu

Tonight I was inspired by her Golden Tofu Triangles with Rich Peanut Sauce, and that was pretty good.  I followed her directions to cut the extra firm tofu into 6 pieces crosswise, blot them, then cut them in half into squares, then diagonally to make small triangles.  Instead of pan frying them, I grilled them on my cast iron grill pan, but then sprinkled on some salt, and that was good.  My kids ate the tofu just like this.

I made the peanut sauce, but I’m not going to post the recipe because I think this one is a bit better.  However, I hadn’t thought to use it like this.

Salad, Grilled Tofu, Rice, and Grilled Zucchini, with Peanut Sauce

At her suggestion, I put the tofu on brown rice and then topped it with some peanut sauce.  I also put the sauce on a salad and some zucchini I grilled plain.  The picture probably looks a little gross, but it was all very good.

Curry

My parents came for dinner and we had Chickpea and Potato Curry, which I made with defrosted chickpeas, little purple potatoes I left whole, frozen peas, and frozen collard greens.  I didn’t have a tomato so I used some spaghetti sauce I had made.  I was worried it would taste like oregano but the end product was wonderful.

We had brown rice to go under it, Curried Squash Soup, and some mango chutney from Stonewall Kitchen.  I like Major Grey’s mango chutney better because it is spicy.

Dessert was Apple Cake.