September 2000

This is getting serious, folks. MARV is com-mited to being at the Outpost Wellness Fest in Wauwatosa on Sunday, Sept. 10, and only two people have volunteered to help table, for part of the time each! This will be a lot of fun, and a great way to meet folks who may not be vegetarian but may be interested in hearing more about it – and there’s no way that we can do what we want to do there without a few more warm bodies, especially since I will be bouncing back and forth between the MARV table and my other two little businesses. We need a few of you to please phone (414) 962-2703 to offer a couple of hours of your time on that day between 11 AM and 5 PM.

We have not had a response about doing anything for World Vegetarian Day, so I guess we’ll have to shelve that possibility for now.

On the other hand, this year’s Pre-Thanks-giving Feast will be our best ever. We now not only have our site reserved, but also have a commitment from Erik Marcus, author of Vegan: the new ethic of eating, to be our featured speaker, and both Erik and I will be autographing and selling our books in addi-tion to his talk and the usual wonderful spread. As you may recall, we decided last winter that this year’s Feast will be prepaid-reservation-only, so when you get your flyer be sure to send your preregistration in promptly!

There was some discussion at the August potluck about the problem of avoiding conflict with the macrobiotic potlucks, and the think-ing was that maybe ours should be early or later in the month rather than on Saturdays of the same weekend as their Sundays. However,

The September date was already set, while it was pointed out that the scheduled October date was also the beginning of Yom Kippur. The following two weekends, however, Chuck and I will be away on vacation. We’re therefore changing the October pot-luck to Saturday, October 7, and setting a November potluck for Sunday, Nov. 5 which will allow us some last-fortnight Feast planning. We still need hosts for both the October and the November potlucks. Call 962-2703 to volunteer for this pleasure.

My book, Food Pyramid Feast, is now on sale at the Capitol Drive Outpost. Send all your friends to buy a copy there, or do so yourself, or both.

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Sunday, Sept. 10, Outpost Wellness Fest, 11 AM-5 PM, at Hart Park, 7300 Chestnut St., Wauwatosa, 1 block south of 72d and State St.

Saturday, Sept. 16, 6 PM, regular potluck at the Quigley place, 2201 E. Jarvis St., Shorewood, on the SE corner of E. Jarvis and N. Maryland Ave., 1 long block north of the intersection of N. Maryland and E. Capi-tol Dr. 962-2703

Saturday, Oct. 7, 6 PM, regular potluck. Call 962-2703 to volunteer to host this one.

Sunday, Nov. 5, 6 PM, regular potluck. A host is needed.

Saturday, Nov. 18, Pre-Thanksgiving Feast

Sunday, Sept. 17, 5 PM, Pat O’Neill’s 2431 N. Bartlett, Milwaukee, 964-9759

Sunday, Oct. 15, 5 PM, Melodie Rossen’s, 3850 S. Miner St., 281-0586

Sunday, Nov. 19, 5 PM, Lise Meissner and Marty Malin’s 6522 W. Wright St, Wauwatosa

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"Safe Handling Instructions:

"This product was prepared from inspected and passed meat and/or poultry. Some food products may contain bacteria that could cause illness if the product is mishandled or cooked improperly. For your protection, follow these safe handling instructions….."

-- warning label on a packet of chop-meat bought in a grocery store

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E. coli has continued to be in the news, with an outbreak of e. coli poisonings reported in northeastern Ohio in mid-August and a news item that there were 16 e. coli meat recalls this year so far, the highest number ever. As far as Milwaukee’s recent outbreak goes, the latest numbers I heard were over 60 reported cases and 1 death. At first officials were talking about watermelon as the vector, which made no sense until the Aug. 25 statement from the Health Commissioner that the salad bar pre-paration area at Sizzler was only 1 foot away from the raw-meat slicing area, making con-tamination of the raw vegetables and fruits from the meat highly likely. Apparently meat still isn’t good for you, even if you don’t eat it!

In a related story, it looks like school lunches will be offering less hamburgers and meatballs than they used to, the reason being that since the government imposed new testing for bacteria recently, the Agriculture Depart-ment is having trouble finding meat to buy for school lunch programs that can pass the new inspections, and what they are finding is significantly more expensive, resulting in their buying less of it. Is this an example of doing the right thing for the wrong reason?

In other food-related news, there has been a verdict in the lawsuit of two Florida inves-tigative reporters who were first harrassed and then fired over their story for Fox News that would have exposed the presence of unlabelled rBGH milk in grocery stores; the reporters were very happy that the jury found in favor of at least one of them, Jane Akre. The partial victory did mean that the jury agreed that the couple had been asked to distort a news story to keep from upset-ting Monsanto corporation, which makes rBGH. The news station is appealing.

Quite different but completely food-related was the recent news story about the sharp rise of diabetes in the United States between 1990 and 1998 (and presumably still climbing), including a 76% rise in cases among people in their 30s. This creeping public health disaster is almost entirely in adult-onset diabetes, the kind which is caused by diet and lifestyle factors and thus pretty much completely preventable. So it is not unrelated that a study of Finnish child-ren found that it was safe for their physical and mental development to somewhat restrict fat in their diet. It is known that some fat is needed for the brain develop-ment and rapid growth of babies and young children, so U.S. guidelines currently recommend against restricting fat before the age of two. The Finnish study followed children from 7 months to 5 years, and found no developmental differences between children on a restricted-fat diet compared to those on a regular diet. Very-low-fat diets should still not be used for young children, but in a society whose big problem is gallop-ing obesity, it is good to learn that if parents feed their kids in ways which will develop a taste for relatively lower fat levels than the U.S. average, so that they’ll grow up with healthy tastes, it won’t harm their growth.

For those of us who eat some dairy, a whole article in the Shepherd Express about organic dairy operations included confirmation that organic practices really are much pleasanter and more humane for the cows than non-organic dairies, as well as better for the envi-ronment and financially feasible for family farmers. Not only that , but despite some really bad "reporting" on ABC’s 20/20, organic produce certainly is safer and more

nutritious for you. Last winter, John Stossel did a segment that made it look as if organic produce is full of dangerous bacteria as well as overpriced, and environmentalists have been challenging the report and demanding retrac-tions ever since. It now seems clear that the lab tests Stossel and his guest described as evidence never really existed, and what was tested for specifically did not prove what they said it did. If you’re eating as much produce as vegetarians are likely to do, don’t be scared off the better taste and nutrition of organic! Even if you don’t buy organic for your taste-buds, you might do it for the environment: an AP report noted that over 80% of 72 Wiscon-sin wells studied by the Department of Agri-culture, Trade, and Consumer Protection showed evidence of contamination by agricul-tural herbicides. And another reason to buy organic is that it cannot have been irradiated; consumers should be aware that food irradiation is now occurring, but labels are only required on foods that are sold whole.

Meanwhile, vegetarianism is still good for you. An article in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported finding that people who ate the equivalent of one apple a day had fewer strokes than people who ate no apples. But fruit alone is not enough, according to Prevention magazine, which points out that vegetables offer many phyto-chemicals that are not found in fruits but which can help protect against cancer. In this area, I came across a publication called Cancer & You, which had an article on 10 cancer-fighting foods. Their candidates were strawberries, tomatoes, oranges, garlic, tea, whole wheat, carrots, cabbage, spinach, and beans. Another of their articles praised the healthfulness of soy, especially in its most traditional manifestations such as miso, soy milk, soy sauce, tempeh, tofu, and green soybeans; there was also a short piece on the healthy antioxidents found in chocolate, especially dark chocolate. Similarly, the June Healthwise publication had an article on foods that protect against cancer. Their list was: dark green, yellow and orange vegetables and fruits; red grapes; cabbage, kale, and cauliflower; asparagus, broccoli, and orange juice; tomatoes; olive oil; canola oil; flaxseed; green tea; garlic; whole grains and whole grain breads and cereals; and legumes. We note that none of these lists of cancer-fighting foods contain any animal products at all.

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THE VEGGIE TABLE

Members Jody and David were in Minnesota recently, and bring back a report on a vegeta-rian restaurant in Minneapolis. Mud Pie Rest-aurant, named for one of its desserts, is at 2549 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, (612) 872-9435; "easy to find" on Lyndale Ave. about 5 blocks south of the exit from I-94.

The restaurant is nearly vegan, offering dairy substitutes for dishes usually made with soy, instead of the other way around as is more common. It features booths, tables, and an outdoor screened-in proch, and a pretty wide-ranging menu including kids’ choices, a vari-ety of dips, Mexican foods, a Middle Eastern platter, sandwiches, various sides, and of course desserts; the menu features handy labels for vegan dishes. Our intrepid review-ers tried a tofu scrambler and the tater plate with vegetables, and a pancake for Dustin which filled the plate. They found their food excellent, abundant, tasty, and reasonably priced.

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We received a mailing from a pair of travel agents who have teamed up to offer their clients "the best in Vegetarian Eco-Travel." Donna Zeigfinger and Stephen Abelsohn specialize in both vegetarian/vegan and green/environmentally sound accomodations and restaurant recommendations and also run adventure tours that are environmentally and culturally sensistive. East coast travellers can contact Donna at (888) 246-8343, or contact GREENEATVL@AOL.ORG or www.vegtravel.com. On the west coast, Stephen can be reached at (800) 443-9216 or SABLE@JEFFNET.COM or www.adventurehealthtravel.com.

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The Preservation of Essential Antibiotics for Human Disease Act, (Bill HR 3266) would be a federal law that would prohibit antibiotics from being used to promote livestock growth if those drugs were also used to treat human diseases. It would thus put a significant dent into factory farming. To help it along, contact your Congressional Representative through the Capitol switch-board at (202) 224-3121, or phone his local office (the number should be in the phone book), or write to him at U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.

The Humane Farming Association has documented incredible cruelty at an IBP slaughter house inWallula, Washington, and wants the State Attorney General, Christine Gregoire, to investigate the allegations and vigorously enforce state anti-cruelty laws. To encourage her to do so, phone her at (360) 753-6200 or fax (360) 664-0228, or e-mail her at emailago@atg.wa.gov or write her at: 1125 Washington St. SE, Olympia, WA 98504.