Drained from Within: The Causes and Consequences of Burnout in Our Movement

When I was at the Animal Rights Conference recently, I was fortunate enough to sit in on a session called “Healing the Movement from Within.” This spoke to me for obvious reasons: one doesn’t need a background in social work or psychology to notice that there is a great deal of emotional pain among vegan activists and social justice-minded individuals in general and that this emotional pain can manifest in ways that create real consequences for our entire movement. How we manage this pain – or fail to do so – is writ large on social media platforms as we lash out against each other, shame one another, mistreat each other and jump to the worst possible conclusions about each other based on the merest suggestion of grounds to do so. This is not a startling insight; anyone can observe it daily.

Of particular interest to me at the panel was the contribution from Associate Professor Paul Gorski, who spoke emphatically about the serious repercussions of burnout, described by Merriam-Webster as “exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration,” among activists and what we are beginning to understand about its roots and consequences. The research says that burnout among social justice activists has some consistent patterns on the emotional spectrum: it can register as depression, anxiety, exhaustion, a growing sense of cynicism and hopelessness, and combinations of these things. According to Mr. Gorski, these psychological symptoms are distinct from the daily travails of life in that they are chronic and they are debilitating. If the consequences of burnout persist, they pose a threat of diminishing our normal resilience and disrupting our ability to sustain our activism, which singularly jeopardizes our potential to create meaningful change for the animals. If the symptoms persist and are not addressed, a common result is the withdrawal from activism, perhaps temporarily, perhaps irrevocably. The research also tells us that 50% to 60% of social justice activists eventually drop out of their cause.

Maybe many who leave activism would quit anyway – we all know someone who got swept up in the initial emotional rush of a social justice movement but missed the deeper connection that is needed for the long haul – but do some, perhaps many, get pushed out the door by the continual hammering away at one another that is so pervasive in our movement? While the research is still being conducted (more on that later), Mr. Gorski believes that contrary to the common assumption that burnout usually happens as a result of butting up against a society that is antagonistic to our message, it is actually hostility from within the movement – in other words, intra-movement combat in the form of in-fighting and an unwillingness to address oppressions, like sexism, racism, classism, etc. – that wreaks the biggest toll on our ability to sustain ourselves for a lifetime as contributing, effective activists. Further, according to Mr. Gorski, it is the “culture of martyrdom” - a pervasive attitude that denigrates and mocks the need for self-care within our movement - that is one of our biggest challenges to the well-being and longevity of our activists and one of the biggest sources of burnout. (From my notes taken during the panel: “We need to see self-care as part of sustaining our movement.”)

What does this mean? It means that our growth as a movement is disrupted and stunted by the streaming out of those who might ordinarily remain active if not for feeling attacked from within. It means that our ability to collaborate and help one another with reaching goals is hindered. It means that progress stagnates. It means that the entrenched, powerful forces that benefit from a disrupted, more fragmented movement – in our case, animal agribusiness and other industries that exploit and violate animals – gain even more traction as we lose precious momentum despite holding the moral high ground. It is the animals who pay the ultimate price for our unwillingness to foster fewer conditions for burnout as we continue to try to score points off of one another and disregard our innate need for connection, support and being treated with respect.

I am a longtime vegan. I don’t feel particularly vulnerable to burnout but I can tell you that I am not impervious to it, either. For example, when a hunter shows up on the Vegan Street Facebook page and says, “Mmm…bacon” or verbally attacks us, it makes no impression on me. Nothing. What causes me to lose morale, though, is meanness and vitriol from other vegans. Truly, that is what feels like a punch to the gut to me and what makes me question if my efforts are worth the abuse. I am absolutely not alone with this; I observe the internecine attacks daily and I also see people who were once active become silenced, cynical, isolated and withdrawn as they grow tired of feeling pummeled by those within their very movement. Every day, I see vegans, newbies and seasoned activists alike, treated like the worst kinds of offenders by people within the movement and I just cringe. We are all going to disagree with one another and that is essential to creating a robust and effective social justice movement. Abuse and attacks, however, lead to nothing more than a flight away from vegan activism and this has profoundly negative consequences for our bottom line, which is building a more just and compassionate world. So:

If you say things like, “You should be doing [insert form of outreach] instead of [insert different form of outreach] or you are hurting the animals,” you are fostering burnout and you are hurting the animals.

If you say things like, “Sexism [or racism, homophobia, etc.] is nothing compared to what the animals go through! Stop being a selfish whiner and making everything all about you,” you are fostering burnout and you are hurting the animals.

If you say things like, “If you’re not a real activist [in other words, in the way the person recognizes as the only legitimate way], you suck and you should just disappear,” you are fostering burnout and you are hurting the animals.

We have always had a culture of blame, shame and misdirected aggression in our movement and now with social media, it’s like it’s been doused with kerosene. The end result is that people are continuing to get burned out, giving up their activism and muting their voices for creating the positive changes that are so desperately needed.

The way out of this? The more we lend one another support out of the line of fire and model more effective strategies for communication when we see other vegans being shamed, scolded or attacked online, the more we are helping to create a strong, healthy movement of people who are not afraid to contribute. I have no research to back this up but my guess is that connection and community are our best tools for sustaining and building our activist base. We are not robots: the human animal craves connectivity and community, which fosters a meaningful life of participation and altruism, believed by researchers to be more valuable than a happy one.

This isn’t rocket science. Want to help the animals? Don’t contribute to the burnout of other vegans. (By the way, if you would like to participate in research on activist burnout, please consider contacting Paul Gorski.)

10 Questions: Vegan Foodie with Mark Stroud

Culinary Olympic award-winner and vegan of more than 40 years, chef Mark Stroud is a beacon of peace ushering in a new, more compassionate world and has been for many years. Inspired by Dr. Will Tuttle's best-selling World Peace Diet, Mark has continued the message of the work with book studies in his native Cincinnati - along with classes, teacher trainings, workshops and more - as well as helped to create the popular Jubilee Peace Fest, now in its fifth year. Right now, there is a crowd-sourced fundraising effort to bring Mark's amazing recipes to publication as a companion to Dr. Tuttle's groundbreaking book in the form of a cookbook, The World Peace Diet Cookbook, which would make the teachings of The World Peace Diet even more practicable with his delicious recipes. In addition, the fundraising efforts will help to make the World Peace Diet Cuisine line of organic vegan food products available for everyone as well as a couple of other ambitious but important goals: creating the Peace House Grille dining area to offer locals the opportunity to try cruelty-free cuisine and funding their Jubilee Animal Sanctuary so that they can expand their capacity for taking in more animals in need. Please consider supporting this worthwhile cause! For all that he has done to help create a more peaceful, just and compassionate world, we are proud to have had an opportunity to get some more wisdom from Mark Stroud.

1. How did you start down this path of creating delicious food? Was a love for food nurtured into you? Did you have any special relatives or mentors who helped to instill this passion?

This question was tailor-made for me. I grew up in the middle of my Grandmother Nana’s catering business. She was the matriarch of our family and a gourmet chef. My entire childhood until I was 18 or so was a culinary apprenticeship under the loving and watchful eye of my maternal Grandmother. It was in this fertile culinary ground where I developed a deep love for food and all its wonders, from cultivation all the way to compost.


2. What was your diet like when you were growing up? Did you have any favorite meals or meal traditions? Do you carry them over today?

My family lived with my Grandmother for many years and my diet was, for the most part, very traditional American. What was unique was the high-end catering facet of my life. I started making hors’d'oeuvres and canapés for catered parties when I was nine years old. Those appetizers became some of my favorite childhood eats — and of course miniature dessert delicacies. When I started cooking professionally, it was most fun for me to create vegan versions of my Grandmother’s recipes, such as bacon wraps. Many of these creations are featured in my cookbook.

3. What is the best vegan meal you've ever had? Give us all the details!

I learned a long time ago that, as a chef, I am incapable of pleasing all people all the time. That led me to cook primarily for me, with my own palate in mind when generating menus. Thank goodness that over the years many others have demonstrated a love for my food, too. One of my favorite foods and one of my favorite creations is artichoke tetrazzini, which is to be a star menu item at our new restaurant the Peace House Grille. 


4. If you could prepare one meal or dessert for anyone living or dead, who would it be for and what would you create?

My first thought is someone influential who might turn others on to vegan food. I have prepared meals for a number of celebrities, such as Forest Whitaker and the increasingly controversial Donald Trump, that might make that difference. In my heart, I see myself preparing a meal for my Grandmother Nana, who left a lasting impact on me and greatly influenced the trajectory of my life. I’d love to prepare for her the artichoke tetrazzini I mentioned earlier.

5. What do you think are common mistakes in vegan cooking and how do you avoid them?

In my cooking classes and in the cookbook, I talk about the Three P’s. Fear in the kitchen is the number one thing I see holding people back from new culinary adventures, including vegan exploration. The three parts of a recipe are the Three P’s: Procurement, Preparation and Presentation. Knowing that the first P is simply buying food to have a well-stocked kitchen is easy and fearless for most people. Who doesn’t like to shop? And just by completing the first P, the recipe is 33% completed and one is well on their way, which eases that indoctrinated fear from family history and habits.

6. What ingredients are you especially excited about at the moment?

Sea vegetables, gluten-free ingredients, and a large dose of live foods get my juices flowing. In grade school, I remember reading in my “Weekly Reader” that seaweed will be the food of the future. Fast forward to now with our toxic land environment; the dense nutrients still found in the vegetables of our oceans are an Aladdin’s treasure. Bringing this under-utilized treasure trove of food to everyday households is, for me, a dream come true. The cookbook is gluten-free, full of live food dishes, and of course chock full of sea vegetables.

7. What are your top three cuisines from around the world?

From childhood to this day, Italian has always been one of my favorites. My first restaurant was in San Diego, California, where my produce was purchased in the street markets of Tijuana, Mexico. So, from that experience, food from south of the border is high on my list. And, from my Grandmother, I still love food from the United States, particularly with a Southern influence, as she came from the most southern part of Kentucky.

8. Who or what has been most influential to you on your vegan path? Individuals, groups, books, films, etc. included.

My friend Paul, who is the spitting image of St. Germain, stands out for me. I particularly remember the day he asked me as a 20-year-old while sitting in a Chinese restaurant, “Why are you eating that chicken?” In that moment of realization, I had no good answer. Reading the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse was also a big influence in my freshman year of college; it exposed me to Buddhism, yoga and vegetarianism. More recently, it has been my association and collaboration with Dr. Will Tuttle, author of The World Peace Diet, who is a constant source of inspiration. We think very much alike and are deeply invested comrades in arms.

9. What issue is nearest and dearest to your heart that you would like people to know more about?

I live with rescued racehorses and they remind me every day of the horrors our fellow animals must endure. It is a little known fact that horses have historically been — and to this day are — used by humans for so-called “food,” just as are cows, pigs, chickens, goats, ducks, turkeys, fish, rabbits, sheep, etc. It is my mission that it be brought to the attention of the masses that horses, along with their fellow animal friends, are no different from us, the human-animal. They deserve to be treated with kindness, gentleness, respect and unconditional love.

10. Last, please finish this sentence. "To me, veganism is…"

World peace! As a culture we are bankrupt physically and spiritually. One example is how we look at food. By definition, food has to be a substance for nourishment and growth. Eating dead animal parts and the secretions of enslaved animals is clearly malnourishment for the slaughtered and exploited animals themselves. Considering our current human health crisis, eating dead animal parts and the secretions of enslaved animals is a non-food event for us also. In my hometown of Cincinnati, there are over 1,500 restaurants that proclaim to be serving food and only two or three vegan restaurants actually are. The people who eat this purported “food” at these restaurants are actually filling themselves full of fear and violence and are literally starving to death physically and spiritually. They are consequently unable to live a truly authentic, peaceful life because of this horrifying norm. By shedding this practice and adopting a vegan lifestyle, each person now has the gift to be World Peace!

Gone faux-fishing!

Hi, all -

This is just the barest of updates to say that we will be out of town starting today and through next week and due to all the work to prepare for the trip as well as assignments due other places, I have not had a chance to write anything here. Yes, I feel guilty but short of simply posting incoherent ramblings written at 3:00 AM just to have something to publish, it was not physically or psychically possible to have an essay this week. (Though it could be funny.) Anyway, we will be slinging vegan message gear at the Animal Rights Conference and if you are in town, we’d love to see you at the Vegan Street booth. I will also be on a panel Friday at noon.

Otherwise, same time, same place next week.

xo -

Marla

10 Questions: Vegan Rockstar with Ashley Leslie...

    

Ashley Leslie, a.k.a., The Vegan Peach, is a straight-talking, down-to-earth and unapologetic vegan activist who also happens to love herself some cruelty-free products, with an emphasis on body care products. As one of the most up-to-date people out there on the subject of cosmetics testing, an industry that always seems to be frustratingly hard to pin down, she always seems to have the most reliable information because in the cosmetics industry, a company that is safe for vegan consumers one week, can get bought out by an animal-testing conglomerate like the L'Oréal Group the next week. Before I turn anywhere, I check out Vegan Peach and her videos to get a run-down on the companies I can trust with my money as well as other cruelty-free products. I appreciate Ashley’s passion, wealth of knowledge, commitment to details and her hold-no-prisoners honesty when it comes to cruelty to animals, as well as, frankly, her frankness about some of the cruddier aspects of the larger vegan community. I am grateful for Ashley’s candor and her commitment to building a more compassionate world. For this reason and more, Ashley Leslie is a Vegan Rockstar you should know.

1. First of all, we’d love to hear your “vegan evolution” story. How did you start out? Did you have any early influences or experiences as a young person that in retrospect helped to pave your path?

From a very early age, I felt strong connections with everything around me, being told I was highly “emotional” or “sensitive” making me feel like there was something deeply wrong with me. Now I realize it was a gift, one that has given me my ability for compassion. In the summer of 2002, my family rented the movie K-Pax. In the movie, Kevin Spacey believes he is from a distant planet. In one particular scene, he mentions how cows are killed and processed and at that moment I had a huge awakening. I gave up beef and pork at that time. In 2005, I met my now-husband who happened to be a vegetarian. He introduced me to the world of veggie meat alternatives. When I realized I could still enjoy the taste of “chicken” without harming any, I became vegetarian overnight. Flash forward six years, I got up one morning with no rhyme, no reason and simply said, “That’s it, I’m going vegan.” I had been feeling guilt for quite some time after learning the truths behind dairy and egg industries and finally made the leap. I’ve never looked back. I’ve now been vegan for four years and a few months and it’s honestly the best decision I ever made. I found purpose that day.

2. Imagine that you are pre-vegan again: how could someone have talked to you and what could they have said or shown you that could have been the most effective way to have a positive influence on you moving toward veganism?

I am all about honesty and education. Everyone is different, some people are very receptive with very little effort and others turn away with just the word vegan being mentioned. For me, it was a very small moment that pushed me on my journey. Personally I am highly connected to other animals so I truly believe showing people the truths behind their food, clothing, cosmetics, entertainment, etc. is very important. I also am big on showing the amazing vegan food options available to people. You don’t need to kill something to have a delicious meal. In fact, I love food more now than I ever did before and my diet is much more varied then my pre-vegan days.

3. What have you found to be the most effective way to communicate your message as a vegan? For example, humor, passion, images, etc.?

Honestly, I think a little bit of everything is great. I am a very passionate person, you can see this come through a lot on my YouTube channel. At the same time I also like to be approachable, down to earth and humorous. Images also have their place and I do use those from time to time. I try to be available to every type of personality. I don’t want to scare people off, I am just me.

4. What do you think are the biggest strengths of the vegan movement?

I believe we are strong, passionate and relentless. Every day I see the strides veganism has made through products on the shelves and sheer numbers of vegans across the globe.

5. What do you think are our biggest hindrances to getting the word out effectively?
Honestly, each other. It saddens me to see how much “in fighting” and attacking of one another happens. I think our passion can do wonders but at the same time, it hinders us. We won’t always agree on everything but it’s important to stick together as a cause, even if we don’t personally like each other.

6. All of us need a “why vegan” elevator pitch. We’d love to hear yours.

I don’t think “Thou shalt not kill” should be limited to humans.

7. Who are the people and what are the books, films, websites and organizations that have had the greatest influence on your veganism and your continuing evolution?

I am inspired by many vegans, one actually being Marla and Vegan Street. I really enjoy the films Speciesism, Ghosts in our Machine, Vegucated, Got the Facts on Milk, Cowspiracy and Bold Native. HappyCow.net is one of my favourite websites where you can find local vegan-friendly restaurants.

8. Burn-out is so common among vegans: what do you do to unwind, recharge and inspire yourself?

I think sometimes unplugging from social media is important. If you find yourself getting extremely upset and depressed by the endless amounts of cruelty, take a day or two off. I like to spend time in nature, walking by the ocean, in the public parks, exploring and taking photos. Also, of course spending time with my cats always makes me feel better. If I were closer to one, I’d definitely recommend visiting animal sanctuaries where animals are treated like they should be.

9. What is the issue nearest and dearest to your heart that you would like others to know more about?

It’s really hard to pick one. I am passionate about all aspects of animal rights. I do feel very strongly against animal testing, though, if I have to pick one, as I feel it’s something that gets overlooked, so often. I actually created my website in the beginning to have my own cruelty-free list, it evolved from there. Beauty definitely doesn’t have to come at the expense of other beings. I also feel very few people realize what exactly goes on in labs. The very animals you share your homes with are those being abused so people can have longer eyelashes and plumper lips.

All animals deserve to be free. All animal cruelty breaks my heart into pieces.

10. Please finish this sentence: “To me, being vegan is...”

A reason to exist.

How to Succeed in Offending Other Vegans Without Even Trying…

-->

You wouldn’t know it from the title of this blog but I am a born pleaser. When the people around me are pleased, I feel that I am safe. It is as simple as that. Growing up, I believed that if I could just control certain particulars better, I could effectively banish conflict from our home. Of course this wasn’t true: drinkers are going to drink and ragers are going to rage despite our most concerted efforts to control the choices that other people make. Even though my default setting was to try to make the people around me happy, I experienced enough at a young age to know that despite trying my hardest to please, to be funny and to defuse tension, it was just not always possible. In many ways, living part of my life in the public sphere of the online world is the perfect experiential laboratory to see how I am doing with letting go of the deeply ingrained habit that tells me if I just please enough, everything will be okay. Today, having a front row seat to observing the superfluity of ways that people can get offended and pissed off about the most trivial of matters, I can see that I am doing pretty well with letting go of my need to please and I’m doing better all the time.

Take the vegan community, for example. I’m not claiming that there was harmony in the vegan movement before the online world smashed into our lives like a flaming meteor of clashing opinions and highly chagrined conflict direct from the planet Vega, but I don’t think anyone could have quite grasped the vast profusion of ways in which we can and do offend one another until more recent years. Of course, this is not limited to vegans: every day, I am learning that even the most benign, lighthearted content is rife with potential for offending as many sets of eyes that come across it from a multitude of vantage points. On Facebook, I try to balance my “we are careening into cataclysmic, planetary ruin” posts with a few good dollops of frothy frivolity but, as I learned from posting this video only to hear someone take a righteous stand against the unconscionable practice of growing ornamental gourds, putting anything out into a sphere where humans can interact, ideally without personal consequences, there will be no shortage of opportunities for finding and voicing umbrage. Facebook in particular is like pulling into a 24-hour all-you-can-eat buffet for those who are hungry for fodder that aggrieves, offends and outrages them and for pleasers like me, it’s an excellent practicum for letting go of our need to be liked.

From my fellow vegans, for example, I have learned that the various ways I can offend include but are not limited to the following and I have also decided that it no longer matters to me:

1. If I am perceived as a welfarist vegan.
2. If I am perceived as an abolitionist vegan.
3. If I am perceived as a pacifist.
4. If I am perceived as violent.
5. If I am perceived as not defining myself as being in one camp or the other enough.  
6. If I am perceived as being too lighthearted.
7. If I am perceived as being too stern.

8. If I am perceived as either of these too much or too little.
9. If I am perceived as being vegan for reasons other than deemed acceptable.
10. If I am perceived as being too accommodating with my advocacy.
11. If I am perceived as being too uncompromising with my advocacy.
12. If I am perceived as being a consumerist vegan.
13. If I am perceived as being an anarchist vegan.
14. If I am perceived as being too liberal.
15. If I am perceived as being too conservative.
16. If I am perceived as being politically hard to define.
17. If I eat what is considered junk food.
18. If I eat what is considered too healthy.
19. If I am perceived as a good role model.

20. If I am perceived as a bad role model.
21. If I am perceived as being too mainstream in appearance.
22. If I am perceived as being not mainstream enough in appearance.
23. If I am perceived as being too much of a feminist.
24. If I am perceived as not being quite feminist enough.
25. If I am perceived as posting too much “fluff” on social media.
26. If I am perceived as posting too much upsetting material on social media.
27. If I am not enough of a high-carb vegan.
28. If I am not enough of a low-carb vegan.
29. If I am kind of like “???” about why the previous two points matter all that much.
30. If I think Gary Yourofsky and/or Gary Francione are heroes.
31. If I think Gary Yourofsky and/or Gary Francione are assholes.
32. If I am uncertain about the above.
33. If I think one is an asshole and the other is a hero.
34. If I genuinely do not care.

I have decided that I don’t give a fig anymore. People looking for material to be offended about will find ample examples of what they are looking for, that much I know.

I have to wonder, with so many opportunities for finding offense with each other, do we even have time anymore for changing the world? Maybe it’s easier just to nitpick one another about whether coconut oil is health-promoting or the decision to date non-vegans than to tackle more significant subjects; I’ve even seen a comment thread numbering in the hundreds of responses (which you know is going to be train-wreck territory) about the absolutely indisputably correct way to bag groceries. Apparently schooling each other how to bag groceries or the correct ratio of carbs to protein and fat (“You eat fat?!” huffs an offended vegan) is worth spending our time on when more than 50 billion land animals are suffering and slaughtered each year worldwide and our planet is on a collision course with irreversible ecological ruin because of it.

These things have helped me to learn that pleasing everyone a) is not possible and b) is not in my or the animals’ best interests. So I am done. If nothing else, having strangers offer their unsolicited opinions about me has done for me what growing up in a dysfunctional home could not: break my need to please. So thank you. I no longer need to please anyone because I am in it for the animals. If this offends anyone, well, sorry. (No, I’m not.)

 

10 Questions: Vegan Foodie Edition with Somer McCowan

 

It’s been a while since I featured a Vegan Foodie as part of my 10 Questions series and I am excited to have Somer McCowan as the one to break that long dry spell. Somer is a prolific food blogger at her popular website, Vedged Out, a talented recipe creator and an overall cheerleader for a healthy, happy vegan life of abundance. In fact, Somer’s new book, the excellent The Abundance Diet, takes her philosophy of attaining optimal health through the power of plant foods and extends it to a fantastic 28-day plan anyone can use, complete with shopping lists, a helpful glossary of ingredients, advice on cutting costs and, of course, her wonderful recipes. (See our review.)

Somer got introduced to vegan living through her brother in 2012 when he encouraged her to watch the documentary Forks Over Knives; through dietary and lifestyle changes, she was able to treat her ulcerative colitis, a painful and debilitating chronic condition, the steroid treatment of it which caused a 75-pound weight gain in nine months. She has since come through to the other side with her disease in full remission and off the drugs that caused her weight to keep ballooning. As someone who faced a serious health crisis, Somer is empathetic and sensitive to those who have similar challenges while shining through as a living example that despite the trails we face, we can create the changes we want to see in our lives. Somer is a great role model for cultivating a delicious, healthful life of abundance without compromise. For this reason and more, Somer McCowan is a Vegan Foodie to know.  

1. How did you start down this path of creating delicious food? Was a love for food nurtured into you? Did you have any special relatives or mentors who helped to instill this passion?

Food has always been an important part of my life! I grew up in a large family where food and celebrations were a big deal. I learned to cook at a very young age and enjoyed creating all kinds of delicious cuisines. However, it wasn’t until I became vegan that I feel like I truly blossomed in my kitchen. I eat more deliciously and a greater variety of foods than I ever had before switching my diet.


2. What was your diet like when you were growing up? Did you have any favorite meals or meal traditions? Do you carry them over today?

My family had a pretty standard American diet when I was young. When I was a teenager I flirted with vegetarianism for a few years, but without the insight into animal compassion, it was just sort of a fad that I followed. Thankfully I’ve found that now with veganism.

My favorite food of all time is probably mashed potatoes, which seems a little ridiculous since I can cook so many delicious things, but my dad made the best mashed potatoes when I was growing up. Now he makes them vegan when I’m around.

3. What is the best vegan meal you've ever had? Give us all the details!

That’s a really tough one! I eat so many delicious meals! The most recent pleasurable food experience I’ve had is a homemade pizza. I made these buffalo cauliflower pizzas, with buffalo sauce, roasted bits of cauliflower, sliced red onions and a sprinkling of cilantro on an artisan pizza base with some fresh vegan mozzarella I learned about from watching a video of Jay Astafa on YouTube. My husband, who is not vegan, said it was the very best pizza he had ever eaten. Pretty much it was.


4. If you could prepare one meal or dessert for anyone living or dead, who would it be for and what would you create?

Oh gosh, well, if this is a magical fantasy scenario, I would probably prepare the above pizza for my brother Clint and have him actually be able to eat it. He’s allergic to nearly 50 foods and it’s pretty difficult for him to find satisfying meals at the moment.

5. What do you think are common mistakes in vegan cooking and how do you avoid them?

Well, I think that people often think of vegan food being flavorless, bland or tasting like cardboard (the words from a man at one of my recent cooking classes describing what he previously thought of vegan food before tasting mine). His mistake and experience with vegan cooking is that he thought it was supposed to be “fun-free cooking” that seems to be so popular right now amongst certain health groups. IE, the elimination of many, many foods that happen to be vegan, but aren’t supremely healthful according to the more extreme plant-based tribe.

Vegan food is simply food that is free of any animal products. It should burst with flavor and be delicious. It’s okay to avoid certain things for periods of time if you need to shed excess weight or for health reasons but using all the vegan foods and all the seasonings is what makes life delicious, use everything with moderation!

6. What ingredients are you especially excited about at the moment?

I’m really in love with roasted red peppers, even the jarred variety, I’ve been adding them to pasta sauces, salsas and even a guilt-free delicious nacho cheese sauce that’s on my blog.

7. What are your top three cuisines from around the world?

Indian

Thai

Ethiopian

(currently)

8. Who or what has been most influential to you on your vegan path? Individuals, groups, books, films, etc. included.

My brother Abe encouraged me to watch Forks Over Knives. That was my absolute turning point. I removed all animal products from my home overnight. He’s been involved with a vegan lifestyle for nearly 20 years now. I previously thought of a vegan diet as something that was just for yuppies or hippies (Abe). But didn’t realize the profound impact that removing animal products would have on my health, the planet, the animals and so much more. I feel like I’m truly a better person since becoming vegan.

9. What issue is nearest and dearest to your heart that you would like people to know more about?

I think people don’t realize how profound the decisions they are making with something as seemingly small as what they put on their plate.

Simply changing that single aspect of life and switching to a vegan diet can have such a huge influence. Water conservation, heart disease, pollution, greenhouse gasses, compassion, cancer, conserved energy, fuel, world hunger, deforestation, cancer, reduced waste, diabetes. Those and so many more issues are tied up in a single choice.

10. Last, please finish this sentence. "To me, veganism is…"
LOVE.

The Difference Between Niceness and Kindness (and Why Being Nice Still Matters)...

-->

A few years ago, I heard someone differentiate between being kind and being nice in a way that changed how I thought about those words. I realized that I’d been using the words interchangeably but they actually have a pretty different meaning in the real world. The way I heard it explained is that one’s kindness is driven by an internal compass and it is rooted in compassion without much concern about either admiration or condemnation. In other words, one’s kindness is inwardly rooted. Niceness, in stark contrast, is externally driven and approval seeking; a prevailing idea is that a “nice” person is more concerned with conforming to accepted social norms than coming from a place of genuine kindness. There is a lot of baggage with the word and associations with it can range from an implication that a “nice” person is someone who is shallow and dull but it also can take on darker undertones, like that “nice” people are phonies, pleasant to your face and back-stabbing when you’re not in earshot. Kind people can also be nice people - though not necessarily - and nice people are often not truly kind.

I’m about to say something controversial, though, and it’s a reversal of what I thought I was going to be writing about. In giving the subject some thought, I now believe that being nice - sweet, inoffensive and possibly fake nice - still matters.

I started writing this with the idea that I would be exploring the differences between kindness and niceness, build a decent argument against being nice, and call it a day. The more that I thought about it, though, the more I realized that when I left behind the cultural baggage of niceness, it is still a value of mine and it is very important to our movement if we are at all concerned with people being receptive to hearing and maybe even internalizing our message. In writing this and then thinking of some recent interactions with two longtime vegans who are kind in the sense that they have engineered their lives so as to minimize cruelties inflicted on other animals, I’ve learned that it is quite possible to be kind without being a nice person at all. In fact, I would go so far as to think of them as overtly mean people despite their practice of not using other animals. The way they treated me and how I thought about them as a result of this treatment has led me to conclude that being nice matters more than we realize. Being nice matters not just for personal reasons - who wants to be around people who are mean? - but also for building a dynamic and robust social justice movement that has a chance of rippling out to help the animals.

Because I can already hear the Fiery Voices of Righteous, Fist-Pumping Vegan Fury misinterpreting what I’ve written (I managed to piss off a whole passel o’ them on Facebook at least once before), this is a good point for me to say that by nice*, I don’t mean telling people what they want to hear. I don’t mean suppressing or altering your message to make others more comfortable. I don’t mean that we become so eager to please that we never ruffle feathers. I’m not saying any of that. Again, there is a lot of baggage around the concept of “niceness,” deservedly so, and I think especially for females and those of us working for social change, it is a word that is especially fraught with ugly implications of a power imbalance, of us knowing to stay in our place, of groveling for whatever crumbs of charity that might get tossed our way. Should we throw the concept of being nice out with the personal and cultural bathwater, though, just because we have negative associations with it? What if being nice is one of the most easily accessed ways of successfully communicating to others so they might actually consider creating change?  

Here is my thinking: the opposite of a kind person is a cruel person and the opposite of a nice person is a mean person. How many people are inspired by a mean person? We can get in our little social media-created bubbles of thinking that we’re effective when we get a lot of “likes” from our fellow vegans for our vilifying messages but outside of that bubble, how do these words inspire those who we really need to reach, those who are currently consuming animals? Mean people may have a lucid, smart and important message to communicate but how many people are able to hear it if it is wrapped in an insulting, hostile delivery? Do you know many people who want to talk to, learn more from, and basically be in the presence of meanness? I don’t. Imagine it yourself: if you had to choose between two people who both had something they wanted you to hear about but one screams in your face like a drill sergeant or pompously speaks down to you while the other employs basic practices of niceness (like listening, being considerate, being friendly, etc.), who would you be more inclined to want to spend your time with and listen to? Preferring to be around those who are nice to us is simply part of our animal nature. We seek it out like a cat seeks a sunny spot on the rug.

If we are genuine about wanting to create change for the animals, we have got to practice some of the basic strategies that have a reasonable chance of drawing people to us and our message. One strategy - among many - is to be a nice person. When what we have to say is already so tempting for people to disregard out of hand, shouldn’t we be trying our damnedest to get our foot in the door? Is it more important to score points or is it more important to plant the seeds for change? One may be more fulfilling in the moment but I hardly think that matters to the animals who will continue to be used as objects when we opt to sacrifice effectiveness for the instant gratification of meanness.

So that’s it. Kindness is still more important but being nice matters. And you can go to hell if you disagree. (Kidding!)

* By nice, I mean someone who is considerate. Someone who cares about tact but not at the expense of honesty. Someone who is able to listen and hear. Notice that I didn’t say they roll over? Notice that I didn’t say they tell others what they want to hear? Notice that I didn’t say that people should turn into manically grinning woodland creatures who spring out of bed every day, fueled by an unbridled passion for humanity? That is not nice to me, that is phony, and there is a difference.