January 2008

GREETINGS

Happy New Year, and welcome to the fourteenth year of continual appearance of this interesting and informative (not to mention well-written) publication, if I do say so myself. Anyway, Happy New Year, and may this be the year that even more loyal readers and new-comers show up at potlucks and help at events and generally enjoy each other’s company.

As mentioned last month, I would like to settle on a place and date for next year’s Pre-Thanksgiving Feast as soon as possible, since it already looks like Chuck and I won’t be available on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, that being our grandson’s actual birthday, so the sooner we find a site, the sooner we could reserve the Saturday… Feedback is wanted on whether to go again to Wil-O-Way Underwood (or look at Wil-O-Way Grant, or speak up if you know of an even better site). Come to the January potluck or phone me at (414) 962-2703 or phone Jody and David at (414) 764-7262, or email us at chuckgyver@aceweb.com.

M.A.R.V. ACTIVITIES

Sunday, Jan. 6, 5 PM, regular potluck at the Friends’ Meeting House, 3224 N. Gordon Pl. in Riverwest (from Humboldt Blvd., go east on Auer a few short blocks to the parking lot).

Theme will be chili and chili-related foods.

Other veg-friendly potlucks

The January macrobiotic potluck will be at Pat O’Neill’s house, 2431 N. Bartlett, on Sun., Jan. 20 at 5 PM. Phone (414) 964-9759.

QUOTES OF THE MONTH

“The act of putting into your mouth what the earth has grown is perhaps your most direct interaction with the Earth.”

-- Frances Moore Lappe

“The alarming presence of the virulent e. coli 0157 in our food system is due to an animal industry allowed to raise cattle in stressful environments on unnatural diets. Allowing such practices to continue while burdening produce growers with the impossible task of sterilizing their farms is folly beyond belief."

NEWS

Bird flu was back in the news this past month, with a major outbreak on a factory farm in Russia and two confirmed cases in England; even more interestingly, a new strain of swine flu this year was found to have bird flu genes. And a new case of mad cow disease was confirmed in Canada.

The USDA announced its 20^th recall this year of beef due to e. coli, despite reportedly gargantuan efforts to clean the meat at the slaughterhouses. (Rules requiring all cattle to be exclusively grass-fed instead of grain-fattened, which would greatly reduce if not eliminate the problem, have not been suggested.) And a Tennessee company recalled cheese sold in seven states and nationwide in gift baskets, due to possible listeria contamination.

Sometimes you don’t even have to eat animals to have problems from animal raising. Thus wild salmon are now in danger from lice that infest fish farms; a truck leaked poultry fat onto a highway in Virginia, causing at least four car crashes and a really bad smell; and 11 workers at a Minnesota pork plant fell ill with neurological symptoms. Also, some 5,500 pounds of Mexican basil were recalled due to possible salmonella in it.

It is also still true that animal foods are not good for your health. Good Medicine, the publication of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, reported on recent findings that linked eating cured meat with decreased lung function, and on another study which found that when a Western diet high in meat, dairy products, and sweets spreads to new places in Asia, the breast cancer incidence rises in tandem. Yet another study found a direct correlation between consuming red and processed meats, sweets, and refined grains and an increased chance of actually dying from colon cancer following an initial diagnosis, while in contrast, a different study found that a lifelong vegetarian diet reduces the rate of colorectal cancer; other studies have found that switching to a plant-based diet following a diagnosis of breast or prostate cancer can increase survival of these diseases.

In follow-up to items previously reported: Monsanto’s efforts to pressure Pennsylvania into banning “rBGH-free” labeling met with such an outcry that the state’s governor issued an order to delay implementation of the ban, probably permanently. But the federal rule that raw almonds must be pasteurized yet still be labeled “raw” is being enforced: be aware.

Another thing to beware of hit the news this month: genetically modified sugar beets have snuck into being permitted, with the result that starting in 2008, processed foods that contain sugar can be assumed to have genetically engineered sugar unless certified organic.

There is still controversy as well about genetically engineered corn, with the U.S., through the World Trade Organization, again pressuring Europe to allow imports of GE corn that no one there wants, and both sides claiming that science backs them up regarding its safety. And industrial-agriculture corn is also under attack from environmentalists, who blame run-off from chemical corn-growing for the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, and fear that a Midwest corn boom will worsen the situation.

Meanwhile, of course, and in spite of everything, eating plant foods remains very good for you. The Asian herb turmeric, which is what gives curries that nice yellow color, has recently proven to have excellent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cancer, and liver protective properties – so add it to foods freely! Folate, found primarily in dark green leafy vegetables and also whole grains and oranges, helps prevent breast cancer. And the anthocyanins in purple-black colored produce such as grapes, plums, blackberries, and Mission figs may prevent heart disease and cancer-causing inflammation, according to Prevention magazine.

Vitamin C turns out to help protect the knees against arthritis; it is found in much produce but especially in citrus fruits, which are a featured seasonal food this month. Delicious Living named blood oranges as full of fiber and anthocyanins as well as C, while Outpost Exchange featured the family farm which is their source for organic satsuma/mandarin oranges.

It was nice to note that Delicious Living ran an item on different kinds of nondairy milks, with tips on their various flavors and how to use them. And the rather posh M Magazine, in its article on “11 Steps to a Greener Lifestyle in 2008” included “Reduce meat consumption” as one of those steps, quoting the Urban Ecology Center’s executive director Ken Leinbach as calling vegetarianism “The most impactful thing one person can do for the earth.” Hey!!

Prevention ran a couple of features with interesting food advice. One was on what to do and avoid in health food stores; “Dos” included checking out the vegetarian fake meats, eating vegetables and fruits rather than supplements to get vitamins and related nutrients, gobbling up the whole grains, and stocking up on dairy OR dairy substitutes; “don’ts” included thinking that saturated fat is good even in artisan cheese or that sugar is okay when it’s “natural”.

CONNECTIONS

A post card has informed me that the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) will be holding its annual Vegetarian Summerfest on June 18-22, 2008, in Johnstown, PA. If you are interested in attending, you can phone (518) 568-7970 or go to their website at www.vegetariansummerfest.org.

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I have mentioned that the Organic Consumers Association is polling its members and readers regarding the question, “Is it okay to eat meat?”

DIALOG

Part One

In Congress, the House and Senate have each passed a Farm Bill. The bad news is that quite a lot of business-as-usual subsidies for commodity crops (corn, rice, cotton, soy, and wheat) have been left in, and a boost for biofuels such as corn ethanol has been included. The good news, besides that Bush may veto this, is that the House and Senate bills must now be reconciled in committee, so that what ultimately gets sent to the president’s desk is one bill and not

two different ones. What this means is that citizens still have a chance to affect what the bill will ultimately be. Specifically, it would be improved by decreasing money for subsidies to the richest and largest agricultural operations while increasing spending on farmers’ markets, organic growing, conservation practices, support for small family-size farms, and forms of renewable energy that do not use food (i.e., corn) for fuel.

So there is still time and reason to contact your congresscritters on this; phone the DC Capitol switchboard and ask for each one by name; the number is 202-224-3121. Or send them an email to http://www.congress.org. This bill influences so very much about the social fabric of our country and the environment that it’s worth trying to make it a good one.

Part Two

On a different note, I have been noticing with relief that the environment, especially global climate change, is finally front page news, and something people are taking seriously. Yet I am disturbed that the “more inconvenient truth” – how much the climate is affected by livestock agriculture – is still pretty much under the radar. It is true that a small bit of notice is beginning to be taken (such as the M article cited above), and this is very heartening – but for the most part, discussion of a need for everyone to curtail their meat-eating enormously, at the very least, has yet to be voiced in a really attention-getting way.

For vegetarianism is not just about personal health or animal welfare any more. It’s about the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, not to mention declining populations of frogs and songbirds, which are all directly related to corn- and soy-fed livestock and high-fructose corn syrup (and now corn ethanol). It’s about the 2500 to 5000 gallons of water that it takes to grow each pound of meat – at a time when world and national water shortages are in the news almost every week. And it’s about global climate change due to greenhouse gases: the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that a good one sixth of all greenhouse gases are the result of livestock raising.

Whether all humans should or must or want to become vegans or complete vegetarians, or whether many will only need to go most of the way, and end up eating meat just a little bit occasionally instead of in large amounts daily, is not really the issue. Implementing any of these strategies would drastically help the climate and environmental situation (while also eliminating factory farms and making people healthier). But someone needs to be saying this in public so that everyone hears it, and then showing people exactly how they can actually eat in less meat-heavy ways and still have good nutrition and pleasure. And if vegetarians don’t do this, who will?

I would like to see us find ways to bring this topic to the forefront of the public agenda, whether this means generating some sort of media event, or series of events, or funding billboard ads, or – what can you come up with?