Vegan & ethical living

Added 5/8/13: Real vegan children (scroll down to red “new”) 3/8/13:  Vegan Mexican Food website 3/22: Goodie Ville Bakery

Here at Other Nations, we don’t hammer on veganism as the best and only thing one can do to effectively end massive amounts of animal suffering…even though (let’s face it) it’s pretty darn effective. Folks need to arrive at the place where they’re comfortable with their food choices on their own terms and in their own time.  But still, according to Socrates, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” So we do advocate that food choices be made consciously, with full and honest information about farmed animals’ lives and deaths. You can find much of that info on the “Factory farming/CAFOs” page of our website (under “Issues” in the menu bar).

If you love animals but feel that you just can’t go vegan, then go vegetarian. If  you aren’t ready to go vegetarian (yet), go meatless one or two days a week. Or eliminate fast food that includes meat. Start somewhere, do something…and animal suffering will be reduced. It really IS that easy!

The term “vegan” was coined in England in 1944 by Donald Watson, co-founder of the British Vegan Society, to mean “non-dairy vegetarian”; the society also opposed the consumption of eggs. In 1951, the society extended the definition of “veganism” to mean “the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals,” and in 1960 H. Jay Dinshah started the American Vegan Society, linking veganism to the Jain concept of ahimsa, the avoidance of violence against living things.  ~Wikipedia

First, a few resources for Montanans…
*Western Montana Vegetarian Society (sponsors potlucks in Missoula) - here & here
*Garden City Vegans – here
*Vegans Rock Montana — a cool website
*Missoula vegan friendly restaurants – here
*UM Kaimin article: “Vegans have options at UM” here (no longer available online)
*Tandem Doughnuts – vegan and gluten free here & Clark Fork River Market, Missoula
*Peter the Pie Guy – Traditional, Gluten-free and Vegan. Website; Facebook; backstory. 
*Goodie Ville Bakery, Missoula; gluten-free, vegetarian & vegan offerings – Facebook
*VegGuide.org for Montana here

Vegan Resources (a few of many)
*ChooseVeg.com: For the animals, for our earth, for your health here
*Vegan Outreach here
*Vegan Action here
*Vegan Peace: Striving towards peacefully sharing our Earth here
*Vegan.com: “Cutting through the BS” here
*The Vegan Society (U.K.) here
*North American Vegetarian Society here
*Vegan Zombie here
*Best vegan blogs-food-recipes here
*Chic Vegan: food, beauty, health, earth, fashion, etc. here
*Carnism Awareness & Action Network (CAAN) offers a page of support links for vegans
*Vegan Cookbooks Illustrated (check out the centerfolds!) (just kidding) here
*A Well-Fed World: feeding families/saving animals. It’s a great resource.
*VegGuide.org here; check vegan-friendly establishments in your area.
*Evolve! Campaigns here
*Vegan Mexican Food – Muy bien, gracias! Click here.

Faith Resources - an incomplete list 
All Creatures.org: Animals-Tradition, Philosophy, Religion
Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (interfaith)
Religion and Vegetarianism (interfaith)
Jewish Vegetarians of North America; Judaism and Vegetarianism (blog post)
Our Heritage: Judaism and Animals; Animal Rights – Torah (awesome video!)
Choose veganism, honor Judaism, and kvell (most recent addition)
Christian Vegetarian Association;
Would Jesus Eat Meat Today?
Vegetarian Muslim;    Islamic Concern
Catholic Concern for Animals (no policy on vegetarianism, tho recommended)
Unitarian Universalist Animal Ministry; UU’s Ethical Eating
Vegan 2000: Religious reasons for veganism
The concepts of ahimsa or nonviolence: Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism
One Voice: Ministry in Motion; Ministry in Motion proclamation
Seventh-Day Adventist (HSUS); Ellen White quotes (a founder of S-DA)
Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians: a great “links” page; also, “what’s new” for articles like How to Encourage Christians to Become Vegan and Does God Support Factory Farms?
Episcopalian Church
Not one sparrow: a Christian voice for animals
Lutheran (ELCA) official statements on animals
 ”Scientists claim kosher and halal animal slaughter is ‘inhumane and cruel’”
Read a letter from 90 Polish scientists concerned about ritual slaughter; find it here.

Miscellaneous
*Montana-made animal-friendly & vegan jewelry
*Vegan Junk Food cookbook: 225 sinful snacks here
*VegNews Magazine: Vegan news, food, planet, travel, buzz. A subscription makes a great          gift for a vegan!
*No Meat Athlete: Runs on plants (vegetarian/vegan) here
*Vegan Pizza dot com here
*New York City Vegan Weekend (on a budget!) from Our Hen House; watch it here
*“How to go vegan” from the New York Times ”well column” 1/14/13
*NEW: Real vegan children – vegan from birth and thriving! Find it here.

Frequently Asked Questions: A philosopher and animal rights theorist answers frequently asked questions about the abolition of animal exploitation. These are the questions often asked by status quo defenders (but not exclusively) attempting to prove that perceived inconsistencies in the vegan approach vindicate the cruelty of meat production.  You’ll find the questions and answers at the Abolitionist Approach website, whose mission follows:

The mission of this website is to provide a clear statement of an approach to animal rights that (1) requires the abolition of animal exploitation and rejects the regulation of animal exploitation; (2) is based only on animal sentience and no other cognitive characteristic, (3) regards veganism as the moral baseline of the animal rights position; and (4) rejects all violence and promotes activism in the form of creative, non-violent vegan education. 

Vegans are label-readers–and that’s a fact. But analyzing ingredients and ferreting out (that’s not speciesist, is it?) trace amounts of this or that animal-related substance should not be seen as a obstacle to (nor an excuse for not) becoming vegan. But for those who want to make food and other product decisions that cause the least animal suffering, ingredients do matter. Check out this animal-derived ingredient list as the next assignment in your vegucation.

Bill Gates says future of meat is vegan–  “Here is a video (phone video) where Bill Gates predicts that plant protein foods will be a part of the mainstream within 5 years–also an enormous business opportunity. Taking Bill Gates up on his prediction for fantastic financial returns are the co-founders of Twitter Biz Stone and Evan Williams who are rolling out Beyond Meat their new investment in plant based protein foods.” Source: Daily Kos

Subway offers vegan sammiches…
Subway recently offered up three vegan sandwich options in test markets in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.  A review (written by a vegan) is in the Washington Post. Compassion Over Killing will help connect you to Subway decision-makers who could take it nationwide. Bring it on!

Going vegan, family style: from the Denver Post.com
Excerpt from the article: “It wasn’t long ago that vegan meant brown rice, lentils, salads and noodles. Vegan was like vegetarian without the dollops of fun — the cheese, the cream, the butter.

“It’s different now. The supermarket aisle for vegan products is growing, and offerings taste better than ever. Publishers release new vegan cookbooks every week, containing thousands of recipes for things that require quotation marks: macaroni and “cheese,” pulled “pork” sandwiches, “chicken” pot pie.”

MUTILATED FOR EGG PRODUCTION–Even cage-free chickens are debeaked to prevent stress pecking in severely crowded conditions. Check out this awesome video–Baking Without Eggs. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Sinfully good and cruelty-free: Vegan recipes for Valentine’s Day–here. 

” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]