October 2001

The combination CUFA picnic/ MARV potluck has come and gone. There was a reasonable turnout despite the pouring rain, and we did taste-test nondairy ice creams. My feed-back to the group is that I got quite a few interested phone calls as a result of the dairyless ice cream promise; that opportunity might be something we should offer again some time, as a way of getting the attention of potential new members.

For some (obvious) reason, the vegetarian conference in Istanbul has been postponed until future notice, so Chuck and I will definitely be here on October 7, and we will host the potluck that evening. We do still need a host for the November 4 potluck, so someone please call me (962-2703) to volunteer for that one!!!

These next two potlucks are especially important, since we are now needing to actively plan for the Pre-Thanksgiving Feast, regarding which a new problem has surfaced. It seems that our favorite place to hold it, the North Shore Presbyterian Church, has a church event every other year on the Sunday before Thanks-giving, which is of course the day following our usual PTF date. Last year was the off year, so there was no conflict, but apparently the previous year they found that when we packed the hall on Saturday night, it was too hectic to get it ready for their event on the following day. They have informed me that if we wish to move our event to Friday, Nov. 16 instead of Saturday, Nov. 17 for this year they would be happy to have us, but that the hall is not available on Saturday this year. We therefore have to do some quick and serious decision-making, since there are many reasons why it would be extremely difficult for us to pull off the feast on a Friday (and trying to do so would probably also hurt attendance), yet if we want to keep to the Saturday we’ll have to scramble to find a different site. By the Oct. 7 potluck, we’ll have some options to offer for making that decision, but the more of us we can have there to work on deciding about it, the better. So mark your calendars!

Sunday, Oct. 7, 6 PM, regular potluck at the Quigley house, 2201 E. Jarvis St., Shorewood, at the SE corner of E. Jarvis and N. Maryland Ave., 1 block N of the intersection of N. Mary-land and E. Capitol Dr., 962-2703. Hors d’oeuvres as well as regular potluck dishes, and Pre-Thanksgiving Feast planning

Sunday, Nov. 4, 6 PM, regular potluck. Topic is vegetarian children. Call 962-2703 to offer to host this one.

Saturday, Nov. 17 probably, Pre-Thanks-giving Feast – details to be determined!

Sunday, Dec. 2, 6 PM, regular potluck – a host is needed.

The next macrobiotic potluck will be held on Sunday, Oct. 14, at 5 PM, at the home of Roberta Bass, 4013 N. Downer Ave., in Shorewood. 963-0605

"Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

-- Albert Einstein

Eating animals is still Bad For You. During the past month, there was a first suspected case in Japan of mad cow disease, while here at home, giant meatpacker IBP had to recall some 500,000 pounds of ground beef due to concerns about e. coli contamination. And the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel saw fit recently to run an article on handling eggs safely, explaining that salmonella poisoning is a real danger (as seen in a case this Spring in Minneapolis in which over 50 people at a food stylists conference were sickened by the hollandaise sauce on their eggs Benedict); the article also explained that new rules proposed by the FDA for chicken farmers would not really guarantee that factory farmed eggs would become safe in future….

Other news ranges from exciting-if-true to unsettling to just strange. In the first of these categories is an article Chuck took off the internet about a young British women with new variant CJD (the human form of mad cow disease), who was treated by Professor Stanley Prusiner (the man who identified the prion); she was reported to have made some recovery from the disease. On a different note, one really unsettling item was a photocopy of a photocopy which someone sent me – I don’t know where the original was published – describing all the products which include substances derived from cows. I’m not sure I really wanted to know that the arthritis remedy chondroitin sulfate is made from cow nose parts, or that plywood adhesives can be made from cow blood. Nor was I thrilled to discover, from a NY Times article that someone else sent me, that some mysterious and unexpected DNA fragments were discovered in Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans, suggesting that the bioengineering process may not be nearly as precise as they’d like us to believe. A quite different but also unsettling article was one in the NY Times Science-and-Health section about alfalfa sprouts. For while it seems that many cases of sprout-caused food poisoning are due to such predictable (and therefore preventable) causes as livestock in nearby fields, runoff from livestock pastures, and the use of uncomposted manure and unpotable water, some cases come from tainted sprout seeds – and these are impossible to detect until too late.

Then there are items that are just weird, such as the report that some Department of Agriculture researchers have found a way to boost the protein content of pasta by adding corn gluten meal to it. The speculation was that this might help "vegetarians and others looking for a low-fat, cholesterol-free source of protein." Do they think that vegetarians don’t get enough protein??

On a pathetic if not tragic note, a medico-historical researcher, Dr. Jan V. Hirschmann, recently suggested that perhaps what killed Mozart may have been the meat-borne disease trichinosis.

And on a familiar, enraging note, over 8000 cases of Jungle Jammers Animal Cookies were recently pulled from grocery shelves because their animal food ingredients, milk and eggs, were not listed on the label.

On the other hand, it should no longer be at all strange that the American Institute for Cancer Research is now working to convince people not to make meat the center of their dinner plates any more, but to put vegetables, whole grains, and beans at the center, with animal products occupying only one-third or less of the plate. An article reporting this also mentioned a recent study which found that Americans as an average get more than a quarter of our calories from junk food (fats, sweeteners, dressings and gravies, desserts, and salty snacks) – which certainly tend to crowd out good stuff, and indicates a national diet in serious need of such modification as the AICR is suggesting.

In general there has been quite a bit of attention paid lately to foods that fight cancer, perhaps because cancer is the second-highest cause of death in this country, and we already know what to do about heart disease, which is the highest. The real cure and preventative for heart disease is of course a Dean Ornish-type vegetarian diet, along with appropriate exercise, stress reduction, and not smoking. And it turns out that, as the AICR seems to be realizing, vegetarianism is also good for both preventing cancer and helping cure it.

Thus one recent development was a study released at a conference in France which found that eating lots of red meat, and especially preserved red meat such as cured ham and salami, may create high levels of carcinogenic chemicals in the body, obviously suggesting that avoiding such meats would be preventative. The same study, which included over 400,000 people whose diets represented the largest range of fiber content in any study to date, also did find a clear correlation between high fiber intake and colon cancer prevention – and of course fiber is found in (vegetarian) whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans. Regarding prostate cancer, Healthwise answered a question about diet by confirming that a growing body of preliminary evidence does suggest that a diet high in fat and animal products seems to be linked with a higher risk of prostate cancer, while diets high in grains, soybeans, nuts, and lycopene (which is found in tomatoes and tomato products) seems to be preventative.

The most recent issue of Good Medicine, the publication of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, announced the PCRM’s new Cancer Project, and offered many bits of data along the same lines. Not only do tomatoes provide cancer-fighting lycopenes in the diet, for example, but researchers found that lycopene actually destroys cancer cells in the lab, giving hope that there may be a way to make them do that in live people’s bodies. (In fact, an Israeli company is now actually marketing a lycopene supplement, which was found in trials to help reduce blood pressure – though why anyone would rather take a pill than a plateful of spaghetti-and-sauce, the report didn’t say). Similarly, British researchers found that a plant hormone, combined with a certain enzyme, can destroy cancerous tumors while leaving healthy cells unharmed. Good Medicine also confirmed the report that the dangerous chemical dioxin is present in the American diet mostly in meat and dairy products, with nursing infants of non-vegan mothers receiving the highest doses.

Even the September Prevention got in on the anti-cancer hoopla, suggesting eating less fatty foods and more fruits and vegetables – at least 5 servings per day and up to 9 or 10-- as part of an anti-cancer program. Tomato juice for lycopene, and blueberries and strawberries for antioxidents, were especially recommended, along with suggestions to decrease stress in one’s life and learn to look at a plant-centered diet as fun and pleasurable.

THE VEGGIE TABLE

by guest reviewer Jody Johnson

If your travels take you toward the Detroit area, stop in Ann Arbor at the vegetarian/vegan restaurant Seva for "fresh imaginative vegetarian cuisine." You will not be disappointed. It has an inviting raised deck for outdoor dining; the interior is spacious, stylish, and large. The "bar" at this restaurant has wheatgrass growing on it for juicing. They have a juice bar menu, a wine list, and a dessert menu as well as food, and much of the food is organic. Prices range from $5.95 for a lunch salad plate to $10.95 for their Spicy Green Curry. I had a chargrilled vegetable salad of mushrooms, red and yellow peppers, red onions and zucchini on a bed of romaine lettuce with croutons. The tahini dressing made it one of the best salads I’ve tasted! Dustin liked their soy "sausage" and David had the Indian Summer Pita with guacamole, fresh sunflower sprouts, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, lettuce and shredded carrots. The menu indicated which entrees are vegan, can be ordered vegan, or are low fat. It took us some time to order because the menu covered 6 or 7 pages with appetizers, salads, sandwiches, pastas, and chargrilled entrees. Items available include Mexican food, curries, stir-frys, and breakfast (served all day except for the pancakes and omelettes). We never had room left to try the vegan chocolate cake! Seva is at 314 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor, MI, (734) 662-1111, open Mon.-Thurs.10:30-9, Fri./Sat. til 10 PM, Sun 10-3 brunch, 3-9 dinner. [Chuck, who has also eaten at Seva, agrees on its excellence.]

Member Diane Bahr has asked me to inform readers that a documentary film entitled "The Witness" will be shown on October 2, which is World Farm Animals Day. This documentary, which has won awards, traces the experience of a real man named Eddie Lama as he learned about modern animal-factory and slaughterhouse conditions, a journey which transformed him into a vegetarian and animalrights activist. Disturbing footage is thus interwoven with a message of the hope that comes from acting on what one has learned. The screening will take place at 7 PM at the Peace Action Center, 1001 E. Keefe in the Riverwest area of Milwaukee (the building on the corner a block or two west of Humboldt Ave. and a few blocks south of Capitol Dr.).