Vegan Death Threats in the Age of Truthiness

Back when I was a teenager and beginning to learn the train system in Chicago, I became familiar with guys who would ride the CTA and try to entice passengers (*cough*suckers-tourists-and-cocky-teenagers*cough*) to bet against them in something we all knew as the Shell Game. It went like this: a gregarious guy walked onto your car and announced that he had a game to play. Under one of three small cups, a.k.a., shells, he would hide a red ball. He would challenge passengers to bet against him to see if they could correctly guess where the ball was hidden after he’d shuffled the cups on his board. He’d make a great show of quickly moving the cups around on a board and then someone, clearly a plant, would enthusiastically take him up on the bet. The plant would “guess” correctly and win money, coaxing others to give it a try themselves, try it again double or nothing, on and on. The game was rigged so you were conned without even knowing it. Once you realized that you’d been played, you felt like an idiot but afterwards, you were wiser for having been suckered. The shell game, the smoke-and-mirrors and sleight of hand of petty scam artists and swindlers, comes to my mind as I think about a recent story that has been all over the media in recent days. Sadly, though, the stakes are much higher than being out $20 and a bit of your pride. On the bright side, if this story helps us to be more critical thinkers about the media we're receiving, we will all be better off for it.

Bear with me.

I subscribe to Google news alerts on the topic of veganism. One thing that you notice when you subscribe is that our news cycles can come in waves. I’ve been subscribing for long enough that now I know that popular stories predictably generate many more copycat stories. In general, the majority of stories in these alerts are stand alone pieces, like a new vegan restaurant in San Diego or an interview with a vegan cookbook author in Oklahoma. Sometimes, the stories are interesting enough to inspire me to want to share them. Most times, I can tell by the headline whether they hold much interest for me or not. A few times a year, a story will get so much play in the mainstream press that my Google news alerts are all but dedicated to that one particular topic for days or even weeks at a time. For example, with the New York Times recently publishing an article on the wonders of aquafaba (about time!), I am now seeing another uptick in stories exploring the astonishing properties of chickpea water. I am here to tell you that we are in the middle – well, I hope the tail end – of one of those cycles if you hadn’t noticed already.

Since the story first broke in the mainstream media in late April, my Google alerts have been full of screeching headlines about a couple who opened a small chain of vegan (or nearly vegan but for honey) restaurants but are now eating animals themselves. They are espousing the tired, New Age pabulum that they are “grateful” for the animals they are raising to kill and consume on their farm and that eating them is part of the “cycle of life” that woo-inclined flesh fetishizers often use as a justification for their consumption habits. Their affirmation-inspired raw restaurants and their Mexican restaurants will keep the menus their founders developed when they were plant-based, though, so no meat, eggs or cow’s milk will be added to their recipes, thankfully.  

When vegans on social media and the blogosphere, though, started exposing the pair on their “transition” to eating the flesh of dead cows – which they’d been foolishly, and, in typical New Age, heads-up-their-asses fashion, blogging about on their website (sample text: “But we know that while we die a little bit each day as we open our hearts further to the presence of love, and as we are the caretakers of our farm animals the responsibility for their health and well being lies with us,” and with that, I must do some anti-vomiting affirmations of my own), they were met with an understandable activist backlash. The vegan community helped to build these restaurants to where they are today and it felt like a betrayal as well as a slap in the face. For a day or two, things ticked along as par for the course until the narrative shifted and then, bizarrely, the reporting on the story hinged the focus on the claim that the pair was receiving death threats from seething, bloodthirsty herbivores. Death threats in and of themselves are not unusual these days. I’m pretty sure I get at least a couple silently hurled at me just walking from Point A (when the dog sniffed menacingly at the neighbor’s rose bushes) to Point B (when I accidentally stepped in the path of someone doing sprint training). Death threats are a way of life today, ironically. The reason this claim was so bizarre was that, despite the headlines, we were offered no example of a single one.

It’s the shell game. It's a bait-and-switch, a sleight of hands. This time, we were played for clicks.

On platforms as diverse as TIME to the Hollywood Reporter, The Raw Story to Jezebel, we are told that, oh, those hypocritical vegans have really revealed their seamy, violent underbelly now with their scary death threats. The headlines shriek about the putative death threats from alleged vegans but despite this very accusatory and charged headline, as I’ve read the actual copy of the stories, I have not come across a single example of a death threat. Not even a screenshot with a name blurred out. Not from a supposed vegan, not from anyone. Some of the media have couched their language more carefully, not surprisingly UK outlets, which have more sensibly placed the origin of the accusation with the couple who have claimed to be receiving said threats, but for the most part, readers are supposed to accept that these threatening remarks happened simply because the couple said that they happened, not because proof was offered. The reporting was shuffled so skillfully, as with the shell game, most people didn’t even notice that they'd been duped. In fact, I read a couple of these stories myself before I noticed that the assertion was not factually supported in the copy. There was not even one iota of evidence offered to support the claim of death threats. We’re just supposed to forget that little detail. This is not to say that vegans would not make death threats – I am confident that it’s possible – but it is to say that we did not see a shred of evidence of this despite the claim in the incendiary headlines.

I am not so naïve that I don’t understand the objectives behind click-bait or yellow journalism but when sensational allegations are presented as fact, they should be backed up with at least something approaching evidence, lest the journalists and media outlets rightfully be written off as peddlers of “truthiness.” Truthiness, a neologism coined by satirist Stephen Colbert, is “the quality of seeming or being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true.” Among the consequences of journalists and media platforms absolving themselves of the need to maintain a commitment to factual integrity and instead being content to uphold the much lower bar of truthiness is that for many people reading their fabrications, a screeching headline is implication enough and they are off to the races. Now vegans, already a marginalized and often misrepresented population, can add “makes death threats” to the list of headline-driven, factually-deficient media strikes against us, alongside “hates humanity,” “on a risky diet,” and “orthorexic.”

With an accusation as serious as threatening someone’s life levied against vegans as a whole, shouldn’t journalists be expected to offer even a modicum of proof? Apparently not. The shrill headline has done its job and now the news outlets are licking their chops as the content drives a wave of all-powerful clicks and they can pretend to shake their heads at our apparent bloodlust. Meanwhile, the couple in question have redirected the entire conversation with the media’s active support: they got their restaurants loads of free press, they got sympathetic tsks from the viewing public, they got to be embraced by spectators who are reassured by lapsed vegans, and they got to play the victim even after admitting that animals are now being “harvested” (seriously, what “former vegans” would use this deceitful term with a straight face???) for their meals. Everyone wins except the vegans and especially not the animals that people "lovingly harvest."

The ripple effect of lazy, manipulative, click-driven journalism threatens our democracy and our ability to interpret and understand real-life events. At its worst, it confirms prejudices, maintains a malignant status quo and is corrosive to critical thinking and analysis; it teaches media consumers, which is all of us who are aren’t living in a cave, to passively and often unknowingly accept this lower bar of truthiness. There is so much to lose when our media are content to aim for the lowest possible standards. As people who consume media, we must absolutely hold their feet to the fire of responsibility when a claim has been made for the sake of a clickable story and we’ve been sold a bill of goods.

Opt out of this elaborate shell game. Call out the sleight of hand when you see it. Insist on responsible media, not truthiness. Vegan death threats? Unless backed up with actual evidence, it only makes for a great speed metal band name.

10 Questions: Vegan Rock Star with Robinlee Garber...

Can folk stars also be rock stars? Well, in the case of rising vegan folk singer-songwriter, Robinlee Garber, I would have to say, yes, yes, they can be. Full disclosure: Robinlee and I work together on Chicago VeganMania, where she runs our very sweet and original little lounge-type space, the Culture Café. At our Culture Café, Robinlee curates and emcees a day’s worth of great acoustic musical talent and maintains a chill, welcoming vibe as a respite for some to the wild vegan bacchanal that rages on in the main room. She does a sublime job of keeping everyone’s spirits up and making all feel comfortable.

When not showcasing other acts, Robinlee has been busy making a name for herself in the Chicago folk music scene and now the national stage with the release of her first solo album, Resilience. With a honeyed, clear and expressive voice, Robinlee’s collection limns the space we negotiate when we move beyond our comfort zones and challenge ourselves to embrace (or simply experience) the unknown. Songs are reminiscent in the best way to the 1970s California folk scene (think Jackson Brown and Joni Mitchell) with some torch and jazz elements that add warmth and complexity; slide guitars, cellos and banjos are subtle but evocative complements to Robinlee’s assured vocals. This is an album to listen to when you need a little boost, when the boss has got you down or when you need the company of an understanding friend but you’re by yourself. Currently #18 on the National Folk DJ Chart, it’s a joy to see this hard-working, compassionate and lovely musical artist getting the recognition she deserves. Sometimes vegan folk heroes can also be rock stars.

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?

In 1972 when President Nixon declared a "war on cancer" my mom announced that we were going to finish all the meat that was left in the freezer, and then we were "done" with eating meat. Both my parents lost a parent when they were just teenagers to heart disease (my grandfather at 39-years-old had a heart attack, and my grandmother died of bone cancer at 41). I was very much aware at young age that meat was not a healthy food choice, and I was scared of getting cancer, even as a 5-year-old kid. Also, I loved animals, and the idea of killing one for food made me very sad. At about the age of 11, I was calling myself a vegetarian. Also, when I was little I can remember being at a department store and in the coat section literally petting all the fur coats. My dad came up from behind me and whispered in my ear something like "that fur coat your petting came from a really beautiful animal." That made me really, really upset after that experience. 

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?

For me it was a combination of learning how to prepare good food, and also learning how cruel the dairy industry was. I had no problem giving up meat, but I was addicted to cheese and loved products made with eggs. Once I discovered how to make the foods I love using just plant-based ingredients, I was totally set to switch to a more compassionate way eating. 

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

I love to have vegan food at my shows and perform at venues that offer good vegan items on the menu. When I go to music conferences I will bring my own food with me and share it with other musicians. I've written some vegan-themed songs as well, and occasionally I'll play them at shows where I think people would be open to the message. Food and humor work the best in my opinion. One night I was having dinner with two friends who were each eating some kind of BBQ dish. When the food arrived I took one look at their plates and said to them seriously, "You'll be happy to know that I know CPR in case your dinner tries to exact revenge and kill you with a heart attack." 

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

I think the movement has many, many strengths! I know so many smart, talented, and passionate people who are great at talking about all the benefits and the importance of being vegan. There's so much information out there now in the areas of health, the environment, and animal welfare. And of course, the food tastes great. 

5. What do you think are our biggest hindrances to getting the word out effectively?

Vegans need to stop picking on each other. I believe that everyone is doing the best they can at any given time. Being vegan in an omnivore world is hard enough. We need to cut each other some slack and stop comparing who is more vegan. 

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

Eating a plant-based diet will improve your health, heal the planet, and save the animals from a lifetime of unnecessary cruelty and death. 

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 have been lucky to be surrounded by so many vegans in Chicago! I'm a huge fan of Vegan Street and I love being one of the core members of Chicago VeganMania. For books I always recommend that people read The China Study. I love the movie Forks Over Knives, and I'm super excited about a new movie called Food Choices by Michal Siewierski. I'm also a big fan of the website ProtectiveDiet.com and have been following that program for over two years. 

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

Watch movies like Forks Over Knives and other documentaries. I love to cook, be outside in nature, and of course hang out with other vegans! Being part of the core group for Chicago VeganMania is also energizing and inspiring. We have so many great people working on the festival. 

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

Only one? I'm a big fan of supporting local adoption shelters for homeless animals and also pet rescues groups. If someone is looking for a specific breed of a dog, persuade them not to go to a breeder or a pet store, please!! Also, if you can't have a permanent animal companion of your own for whatever the reason, volunteering at a shelter, fostering animals temporarily, and assisting in animal rescues and transfers is a great way to help the cause (and get some furry adoration in return). 

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

…Striving to attain a higher level of consciousness toward other sentient beings and the planet. It's also totally badass to live on and enjoy eating just fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. 

About Our L'il Communications Company: Why Communication Matters...

So there is something kind of cool happening that has already been announced on our social media but I wanted to share here, too. John and I are launching our newest collaboration, Vegan Street Media, which is modeled on our work with VeganStreet.com but with the focus on helping vegan businesses, services, product lines and non-profits develop effective, memorable and innovative written and visual communications in our increasingly crowded online and consumer landscape. Why is communication so crucial? Word nerd that I am, I decided to do some etymological digging first to delve into this question.

Communication originates from the late 14^th century, coming from the Old French comunicacion, which evolved from communicationem in Latin, a noun of action (and ain’t that the truth?) from the past participle stem of communicare meaning "to share, divide out; impart, inform; join, unite, participate in," and "to make common” from communis. My Oxford Concise [heh!] English Dictionary has six definitions of communication but the third and fourth seemed most relevant: social intercourse and, in plural, the science and practice of transmitting information especially by electronic or mechanical means. Communications is really the act of communicating, which is how we impart or share our thoughts, feelings, knowledge: how we converse, verbally and non-verbally, with the world.

Through gestures, pauses, physical expression, language, silences, images and so much more, we are communicating with the world. The late, great comedian Jack Benny spoke volumes more with awkward pauses and pained expressions than most would with pages and pages of dialogue, and by doing so, he got a bigger laugh than if he’d gone straight through with the original joke. You can be loud and boisterous with your expression or subtle and understated and be just as suffused with power and presence. Communication takes many forms and hits us in many ways: from a slow grin to a perfect eye-roll, shattering satire to a deeply felt speech, expressing a grieving mother’s rage against the senselessness of war to the exquisite tenderness and feeling in Peter Falk’s singularly evocative “as you wish." When we engage with the others in the world, make no mistake that we are always communicating. At its heart, communication is about expression the most successful communication builds connection. When we can reach and listen to other people about universal truths and unique experiences, about this latent or pronounced desire in all of us to live lives of meaning and value, we can make divisions evaporate and we help plug one another into the revitalizing charge that comes from empathy. Conversely, we can also put up more barriers to understanding, empowerment and connection with how we communicate.

With Vegan Street Media, our aim is to remove as many obstacles as possible by helping clients create a beautiful, effective and smart path of communication that is uniquely their own. Despite what some animal advocacy pundits might claim, I do not believe that there is a hard and fast science to reaching “the mainstream,” as if “the mainstream” were one unvaried, homologous mass of mouth-breathers. We are not automatons; human animals are individuals and not as predictable as some might like to think. As anyone who has been doing vegan advocacy for a while knows, there are no “insert Tab A into Slot B” procedures for creating new vegans and anyone who claims that there are is being overly simplistic. There are, though, some basic strategies we can use to create the best conditions for minimizing the divide between people and making real connection more of a feasible outcome, and, thus, making those we are communicating with more willing to consider our message. (Strategy #1? Don’t treat people like they are robots or potential notches on your vegan conversion sheet.)

As more and more people are learning about the disasters we cause with our animal consumption habits, they are increasingly either defensive or more willing to hear and see a message that runs counter to business as usual. In either case, we absolutely must step up to the plate and we must do it with our best communications – our best at uniting, sharing, speaking truthfully – to help connect the dots or foster connection. Whether it’s in the form of beautiful packaging, inspired storytelling, transformative campaigns, smart advocacy or something else, how we communicate with the public matters and it matters deeply. Quiet or grandiose, heartfelt or clever, it can take many styles and forms and still be effective if it is an honest expression of our own unique voice, vision and message. At the foundation of the seismic shift we’re trying to cultivate and move toward, much of our work boils down to communicating effectively.

Let’s do it.

10 Questions: Vegan Rock Star with Cynthia von Buhler

This week’s Vegan Rock Star is animal rescuer, multimedia artist, playwright, director and surrealism-enthusiast Cynthia von Buhler, a creative force of nature who builds immersive theatrical productions, most recently The Illuminati Ball, an homage and reinterpretation of a legendary surrealist dinner party from 1972. The Illuminati Ball, happening on select dates through August at a secret location an hour outside of NYC (they are taking applications) is described as what happens when you cross “Eyes Wide Shut with Burning Man and mix in a healthy amount of science fiction.” With fire performance, opera and "esoteric ceremonies" as well as audience interaction in the form of animal kinship roles and an appearance from Persephone, Cynthia’s pot-bellied pig, The Illuminati Ball will also feature an all-vegan menu. In other words, this is not your typical potluck or dinner theater experience.

When not developing vegan surrealist immersive theatrical events, Cynthia is a children’s book author, visual artist, performer, and creator of some very cool cat things. She is also a longtime animal advocate and I am honored to feature her today as our Vegan Rock Star.

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?

When I was a girl, my parents got me a de-scented skunk as a pet and it taught me about unconditional love. A skunk is a wild animal and shouldn’t be a pet. She wasn’t remotely cuddly, and would constantly bite me. Even so, I made her meals every day and tenderly cared for her until she died of old age. Later in life I began rescuing feral cats. I even wrote a children’s book about one, The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside (Houghton Mifflin). Feral cats require a high degree of unconditional love. The meaner the cat, the more I want to understand and love it.

My most important value is compassion. If I wouldn’t like to be treated a certain way, why would they? Why is my life more important than theirs? Why would I take their whole life away for one unimportant meal for myself? It just didn't make sense to me — so I stopped eating animals. In the application for The Illuminati Ball, two of the questions I ask candidates are 1) Do they like animals and 2) Do they eat meat? Most people rave about their deep love of animals, but a few questions later they excitedly explain how much they adore eating meat. That doesn’t compute for me at all. There’s a serious disconnect happening here. I always felt it was wrong to eat animals and over the years those feelings have grown stronger. So I educated myself on my own disconnect.

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?

Seeing someone I admire thriving as a vegan was the biggest influence for me. They showed me it is possible. Of course, watching animal cruelty videos affected me, too. We need to face the truth.

I was also influenced by meeting animals face-to-face. Places like Farm Sanctuary are amazing. Take people who eat meat to meet the animals. Quality time with a farm animal can have a profound effect. Posting positive videos of animals released from captivity can also be extremely moving. 

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

I have a large number of followers on social media, and so I try to set an example by posting articles and pictures. I do not constantly barrage people with negative images or videos; I occasionally post something strong, but not often, or it may turn them away. I try to remain upbeat and open to their concerns. I gently express my feelings to naysayers. If they admire my lifestyle, I can influence them when I talk about my own choices. Posting videos of Persephone running happily around my yard, bathing, blowing bubbles in her water bowl and snuggling with me shows people how sensitive and sweet pigs are.

During The Illuminati Ball, kinship leaders give the most compassionate of their seven “Illuminati candidates” an antique key with a note telling them to “see Cynthia.” These people receive private visits with Persephone. They pet her, feed her and give her belly rubs. I also introduce her to everyone at the end of the show. If you pet and feed a living pig, you might think twice about eating bacon the next morning.

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

I think social media is having a profound effect on the movement. We can distribute information and visuals more effectively now.

5. What do you think are our biggest hindrances to getting the word out effectively?

The Ag-Gag laws are a disaster. We need to fight them to the death.

Perception. Some vegans come across as militant or condescending and that scares people away. We need people to perceive us as open-minded, healthy and wise. We should try to be understanding and set a good example. Most of us were once meat eaters (thanks to our parents), and we need to remember that disconnect in order to help others bridge that gap.

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

My best pitch would be to bring Persephone onto the elevator. When they meet her they fall in love. 

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 illustrated a book by Jason Webley and Amanda Palmer, “Evelyn Evelyn, An Unfortunate Tale in Two Tomes.” Investigating and drawing the plight of circus elephants and farmed chickens really affected me. I had already stopped eating most meat by the time I illustrated it, but drawing this book made me stop eating chicken soup, something I once thought I couldn’t live without. I read Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin and Skinny Bitch. I recommend showing people Cowspiracy. This film led me from vegetarianism to veganism. The Chipotle animated factory farming video is also remarkable, having been created and released by such a large fast food corporation. It’s extremely powerful and I wish more people could see it. I’m still evolving. I’m still learning.

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

Because I’m a vocal online advocate for animal rights, other activists send me horrific animal cruelty videos. I’ve seen most of them already and sometimes when I’m feeling angry and overwhelmed I cannot watch them. Many of my activist friends have written me saying that they are so depressed about the plight of animals that they can’t get out of bed. I have been there myself and I tell them they need to stop watching and reading the bad stuff. They will be useless to help if they are paralyzed. Sometimes we need to step away in order to become strong again. Spending time loving the dogs, cats, pigeons and pig I rescued help me recharge.

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

I’m starting an Illuminati for animals. I’m seeking successful people who want to use their talents and businesses to help gain power for the powerless. We will have yearly retreats at my lakefront estate to brainstorm solutions to help animals. I will be sending membership invitations to companies, organizations, artists and activists who have done something exceptional for animal rights. I will also invite people with skills we could use who might not already be involved in animal activism, like animal-friendly journalists, politicians, scientists or lawyers.

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

“…being evolved.”

The Art of Listening (Or Your Allies are More Important Than Your Ego)...

 

“The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.” - Stephen Covey

About a month ago, I observed of one of those little dust-ups that happen fairly often on Facebook. It happened when someone high up with a respected animal advocacy organization was questioned by others about his use of a derogatory term, usually used against women, to insult other vegans whose strategies irritated him. This was on his personal time, not in his official capacity with the organization, but because he’s a fairly high-profile individual and it was publicly said in a way that could be easily shared, it was. Social media being what it is, for better or worse, he was quickly called out for the way he used this term and given the opportunity to make a reasonable case for using it, apologize or dig his heels in and refuse to listen. He chose the last option.

To be fair, I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean to be offensive or sexist. I have never met him in person but my impression is that he is a good guy and he’s one who devotes his time to building a more compassionate world. He is very gifted at what he does. That said, when he was – in my opinion – gently questioned about it, he lashed out in a pretty disproportionate way, not only listing all the ways in which he personally is oppressed by society – mentioning his sexual orientation and his ethnic background – as proof that he could not be sexist (???) but he also chose to dig his heels in and refused to entertain the idea that it was worth considering the voices of those who had differing views. He went further, implying that anyone who had anything to say about the subject that wasn’t supportive of his viewpoint was petty and ineffective. Despite what I felt were some very reasonable points to consider, he basically wrote off anyone who had an opinion to share that contradicted his own as a humorless, unproductive hater and huffed away.

The thing is, I absolutely knew where he was coming from and I empathized with his situation. Nobody likes to feel ganged up on and even when people are pretty careful about not demonizing one another, we can overreact when we feel like we’re under attack and that people are judging us, which is especially amplified by when it happens on a social media platform. With our increased capacity to interact with one another virtually, we also have a potential powder keg that can turn what should be civil disagreements into flame wars that become much more personal, messy and hurtful.

I understand as well as anyone how uncomfortable it is to admit mistakes and apologize. There is almost nothing that sets me off more than feeling like I’m being lectured and nitpicked. I get irritated and angry. When those uncomfortable feelings arise, which is at least a few times a week at this point due to having an active presence on social media, this is when it’s really vital for me to take some deep breaths, step away from my reactive self, and, with my ego removed as much as possible, ask myself if there something of merit and consideration in what is being said to me. I will also ask someone who is more neutral about it, like John, for his thoughts and many times he lets me know that I am overreacting.

Often it is baseless and just part of the social media landscape of, yes, bored people who are looking for something to attack. That is certainly always a distinct possibility. Sometimes it’s not, though. Sometimes there is something valid there. I’ve learned through observing that when people tell you that the words you used are offensive and this is why, these people and their thoughts deserve your consideration. Dismissing the voices of those who care enough to try to bring something they care about to your attention smacks of a conceited, callous attitude.

Years ago, I first became disillusioned with a vegan I once considered a hero because of the arrogant and condescending way that he dismissed anyone who disagreed with a term he created to describe our society’s confused and inconsistent treatment of other animals. It was an expression that he coined that found its basis in a specific mental illness and he applied it in moral terms. It didn’t bother me at first – it seemed to be an accurate descriptor and I had no quarrel with it – but as people who either have or care for those who suffer with this specific condition voiced their opposition to his use of the term and the way he used it, I was so turned off by his defensive and mocking response that I couldn’t help considering more of what they had to say. What they said made me more aware that mental health is a massive privilege that I take for granted; how might I feel if I saw a condition of mine treated like just another a tool in a toolbox to make a point? Might I be offended? Might I be justified in being offended? I had to answer yes to those questions. Through that new lens, seeing this man lash out and continue to deride peoples’ thoughts on a subject that didn’t affect him personally set the wheels in motion for me to scrutinize more of his interactions with the public. With that new perspective, I could see that the traits that I once perceived as confidence and honesty could also be interpreted as cockiness and meanness. It wasn’t long before this man was no longer a hero to me.

Since then, I have seen many examples of vegans refusing to budge when asked to be considerate to less advantaged populations and, time and time again, I have seen many who fail to meet the bare minimum of what one should expect, defaulting instead to white, ableist and patriarchal standards. Even worse, I have seen them treating the people who dare to speak up like impudent insubordinates for having the audacity to question their authority. If that’s not reinforcing unjust power structures, I don’t know what is because…

* When we tell people of color that their genuine challenges to veganism, often due to lack of access, time and financial resources, are petty and selfish, they are being told to shut up and deal with it. They are being told that their real lives don’t matter.

* When we tell women that they are being self-absorbed if they speak up about objectification and misogyny in the vegan sphere, they are also being told that their lives don’t matter. I don’t know if sex sells, but I do know that sexism sells out a movement.

* When we assert our intention to use every tactic is on the table if it might possibly sway some people despite negative personal and long-term consequences, we are saying that we care more about tactics than individual lives. As with the detractors above, these people are told that they need to stop whining and get in line.

I believe that the people who refuse to acknowledge the importance of caring for and about one another are setting themselves up for irrelevance. An inability to understand and appreciate the value of respectful, real allyship will ultimately ensure their obsolescence but I hope that too many people don’t become isolated in the process.

As a writer, words matter to me deeply. I am protective of them and I take great pleasure in the delicious variety available to me. At the same time, as a writer who is also a vegan and an activist, I care about being effective and a considerate, reliable ally more than I care about individual words. If I learn that something I’ve said is unintentionally harmful, I can adapt. There are many words out there including, “I’m sorry. I hadn’t thought about that. Let me try again.” There are many options. My guess is that if you want to write off any critique as the “word police” coming after you, your advantages are clouding your ability to understand your own privileged status and clouding your ability to empathize. You need to take a step back. You need to learn that an honest apology isn’t the worst thing in the world.

When people tell us something matters to them, we should listen. Most important, we should hear.

10 Questions: Vegan Foodie with Natalie Slater...

 

Have you ever met anyone who you’d expect be too cool for school because she’s so stylish and effortlessly fabulous but it turns out that she is all that groovy, she’s just not stuck up about it? That is Natalie Slater of Bake and Destroy fame, a tattooed pixie with an enviable bob who has more than a little extra sparkle in her personal faerie dust supply but given her great sense of humor and lack of pretension, you are put at ease right away. A fellow Chicago girl, Natalie has built a name for herself with her very popular, ahead-of-its-time Bake and Destroy brand and website, where she shares about her love of vegan kitchen witchcraft and, you know, pro-wrestling because why not? In addition to having written a well-loved cookbook, Natalie stays busy as the marketing director at I Heart Keenwah, helping to put on Chicago’s ultra-fun Vegan Vortex events (next one is coming up April 17!), caring for her sweet son and adorable dog and never breaking her unapologetically fabulous stride. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram and wherever vegan pixies dwell. I am so happy to be able to feature the delightful Natalie as one of our Vegan Foodies today.

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?

My family is Italian, so to us, food is love. There’s no better way to show someone you care than to stuff them full of carbs and marinara. I was still very young when I realized the freedom you have when you know how to cook. You want cookies? Get out a recipe and make yourself some, kid!


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 mom, who has been a vegetarian for several years now, prepared me well for a life of veganism even when we were still eating an omnivorous diet. We ate a lot of vegetables, and not just as side dishes – that definitely made the transition more of a tiny life change as opposed to a jarring experience.

My grandma’s “famous” spaghetti has been my favorite food since before I can even remember. I talk about her technique in my cookbook – there’s even an illustration of how she cuts the onion for the sauce. I loved eating spaghetti for dinner and then mixing left over sauce with rice for lunch the next day. Did I mention that I love carbs? [I do, too, Natalie! Here is the recipe for all the other carboholics out there: Spaghetti Cake with Grandma Sharon's Hater-Proof Sauce. – Ed.]

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

A girlfriend of mine took me to Shizen Vegan Sushi Bar in San Francisco a few months ago. Honestly I didn’t have high hopes because usually vegan sushi is just “whatever we have that isn’t fish,” but this meal was so amazing no one even noticed how bad I am with chopsticks. My favorite dish was the Surprise Ending – the menu says the ingredients are “Kale, avocado, asparagus, shredded tofu, tapioca, yuba, beets, rice crackers, and suspense” because only one roll contains a dollop of insanely spicy sauce. I was terrified the whole time I was eating it, but it was really tasty and my friend got the hot roll so not only did I get to eat delicious food, I also got to laugh at my friend while she coughed – win-win.


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

You know, I flashed on so many famous people and heroes of mine but ultimately, they’ve all had people cook for them and meeting me would be no biggie for them. So I think I’m going to go with roasting a big pan of vegetables and garlic and tossing them with farfalle and olive oil for my great-grandpa Teno. He passed away before I was born but I heard so many sweet stories about him and his beautiful garden from my mom and grandma that I named my son after him. I’d love to be able to get to know him over dinner.

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

Not to discourage anyone who dreams big, but I think the easy access to complex recipes can sometimes make new vegans overly-ambitious. I’m not saying you can’t make homemade cashew mozzarella as your first foray into vegan cooking, I’m just saying you might want to start with like, nutritional yeast cheese sauce. I’ve had a lot of friends go vegan, attempt aquafaba meringue the first day, fail and then just give up like that’s all there is to it. “Well, I can’t make meringues so I’m out!” My advice is, get your hands on a fantastic cookbook like Julie Hasson’s Vegan Casseroles – simple, homey, no weird ingredients you can’t buy at a regular store. Make a few things, feel proud of yourself, and then maybe attempt that raw walnut and date cheesecake thing.

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

This is super general, but I feel like vegetables are finally having their day, right? Like, cheers to nutritional yeast and chickpea brine and cultured non-dairy everything, but how stoked are you that cauliflower steaks are a thing now? [Very! - Ed.] Today I saw a recipe for cabbage steaks. That is awesome! Carrot hot dogs? Yaaaaaas! Vegetables are delicious and I’m just really excited that people are letting them be the star of the plate.

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

Obviously Italian is my #1 girl. Pasta, olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, bread. All the major food groups. After that, it’s a pretty close tie between Indian and Thai food. Indian food is super vegetable-heavy just exploding with flavor – and for the record, Indian food mixed sweet and savory before it was cool. Once I figured out how to replace fish sauce in Thai dishes I fell back in love with all the salty peanut dishes – and I love all the fresh basil and garlic.

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

I worship at the altar of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero and I have told them both that much to their faces and it was as awkward as you are imagining it to be. Post Punk Kitchen came into my life at a time when my idea of feminism was being more like a man – and seeing these two bad ass punk rock girls baking cupcakes and taking charge made me realize that enjoying domestic activities does not make you a bad feminist and, in fact, that cooking and baking is s DIY and punk rock as it gets. I also owe so much to Julie Hasson, who has always been so generous to me as a mentor and whose books have made deciding what’s for dinner so easy over the years. [Julie is pretty fab! - Ed.]

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

OK, promise to stick with me here, but I’m going to talk about Mad Max Fury Road for a second. Without giving away any spoilers here, the basic premise of the movie is that this tyrannical ruler, Immortan Joe has taken over the post-apocalyptic world. One of the many disgusting, psychotic things he does is keep a group of female prisoners – some of them are “breeders,” who he has forcibly impregnated (aka raped), and the other group exist solely to nurse the newborn babies – there’s a scene in the film where you see these miserable women endlessly being “milked.” The whole story really revolves around a group of rebels who rescue the “breeders” and then it goes on from there.

What really struck me about this was how shocking this behavior was to the audience – the idea of imprisoning and forcibly impregnating women is horrifying, as is the idea that women could be viewed as “property” – but isn’t that exactly what we do to dairy animals? I’m not going to get into an argument about whether you can compare women to cows, that’s not the point I’m trying to make. What I mean is that people really, truly do not understand that cows don’t just magically make milk. They make it to feed their babies – then we steal those babies, and their milk, and we keep doing it over and over again until they die. It just boggles my mind that a blockbuster film premise could basically be the story of a dairy cow and everyone would freak out and cheer on the demise of the protagonist and then, by eating certain foods, be that actual protagonist themselves.

You can probably imagine the comments I got when I posted this review as my Facebook status. Also you might not want to go to movies with me, I am zero fun.

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

The easiest way to change the world.

Uninvited Vegan Nutrition Critics: You Need to Stop.

 

An open letter to those vegans who offer unsolicited opinions on my vegan food choices,

Not that I asked for your opinion*, but since you offered it, we should probably just have this conversation. I’ve brought it up before but maybe you need a reminder or you didn’t see it the first time. Or maybe I need to be more direct. In that case, let me cut to the chase: I don’t care what you think of my vegan food choices.

I don’t mean to sound snippy but that’s kind of the long and short of it. I will continue to return the favor and most assuredly not care about your food – at least not enough to voice concern or condemnation – because as long as it’s vegan, I truly don’t care. And I think you should do the same thing.

Because…

I don’t care if you think I should be raw.

I don’t care if you think I should be a fruitarian.

I don’t care if you think I should be raw until a certain hour of the day.

I don’t care if you think I should re-examine my relationship to nightshades.

I never made a promise to be raw, a fruitarian, raw until a certain hour of the day or apprehensive about nightshades so you don’t need to supervise or patrol me on that. I’m good. I hereby relieve you of this role that you seem to have assigned yourself. I have no ethical attachment to those other dietary choices and I also feel no responsibility to speak up about your vegan dietary choices. I have, however, made a promise to be vegan and I do have an ethical attachment and responsibility to maintain it.

In the same vein, I don’t care if you think I eat too many or too few many carbs as evidenced by the occasional food photographs I may share. It seems that you think you can extrapolate from a single photograph that this picture represents the entirety of my diet and I don’t want to waste a lot of time wondering why you’ve reached this bizarre conclusion because even if it were accurate, which it isn’t, it is fundamentally besides the point because it’s not your business.

And, again, I really don’t care.

Eat all the mono-fruit meals you want and if that makes you feel great, I am happy for you. Truly. Non-sarcastically. Happier people create a happier world and maybe one with fewer unsolicited opinions about someone based on whether nuts are consumed or are verboten. So post your gigantic produce hauls – go ahead. Eat barrels of rice and mountains of potatoes if that is your thing. Similarly, you can scrupulously avoid soy, gluten and sugar: I promise you that it has no bearing on my life. See how easy this is? Imagine how great you're going to feel to be relieved of the burden of ensuring the optimal dietary practices of someone else.

I have to say that for a vegan to be so bothered by the presumed nutritional standards of other vegans, I cannot imagine how you get by in life, being offended enough by a picture of pasta, tofu and broccoli that you would think berating a stranger is an appropriate response. What does your nervous system do in the case of, I don’t know, Donald Trump? Ted Cruz? The trickle down, institutionalized racism that obstructs access to a fair education? The cesspools of fecal waste leaching into our groundwater as the polluters are given tax exemptions and no penalties? Carpet-bombing random Muslim communities? What do these things do to your emotional health knowing how upsetting it is to you that I may have cavalierly combined starch with protein?  

I suppose in this increasingly stressful world, it’s easier to care about things like whether someone else is eating a diet that is not high-alkaline or raw enough for your standards than those things I mentioned above. I believe that we’d live in a better world, though, if we cared more about those other issues and less about rushing to judgement about what is on another vegan’s plate.

So here is what I propose -- if you see a vegan food photo of mine that makes your fingers tingle with a desire to post a critique, I’d ask you to ask yourself one simple question: Did I ask for anyone’s opinion on the nutritional value of what I was eating? If yes, feel free to offer it. If no, don’t. It really isn’t so complicated and we’ll be on better terms if you don’t jump to conclusions and voice opinions about the kind of person I am based on the vegetable-to-starch ratio represented in a single photo. It’s not fair, it’s nosy and it’s obnoxious. If, however, you want to ensure that the viewing public feels justified in believing that vegans are a bunch of joyless scolds who micromanage one another and are pushy about whatever personal dietary preferences they have, by all means, continue. I know that this is not what veganism is about, though, and I’d be really grateful if I didn’t feel obligated to reverse the messaging you put into the public realm so that the animals could actually stand a chance of not being born into oppression.

Does that work for you? I hope so. Have some pancakes. Or don’t. I really don’t care.  

xo -

Marla

*This does not mean that I don’t care about health and that I am recommending that people eat junk food. Having been down this road before, I know that to an absolutist mindset, everything I have written here becomes, “Oh, she’s telling people to eat processed foods! She’s the one who is ruining veganism!” If that if your conclusion after reading what I’ve written, this disclaimer is for you: Read this again if you need to but I never said anything of that nature. Everyone has a different opinion about what constitutes processed or harmful foods and it is very open to individual interpretations. Some people think hummus is processed; others think walnuts are evil. The take-away is that I am vegan, I never promised to follow anyone else’s dietary advice and nor did I ask for it. I am not “asking” for help or advice so unless I am, don’t offer it. It is controlling, presumptuous and condescending. Now was that an endorsement of “junk” food?