vegoftheweek

Singer Missy Higgins kicked off her U.S. tour last week. When I spoke with her over the phone a couple of weeks ago, she mentioned it was going to be hard to stay green with her tour bus since only a couple of cities she was traveling through offered biodiesel fuel. But that doesn’t stop this vegan from doing all she can to help the environment as you’ll learn below. And is it just me or does she sound like Edie Brickell of the New Bohemians when she sings, “Peachy.” Just take a look at her Myspace and listen to it in the player. For those that don’t remember Edie Brickell, she was the one who was not aware of too many things, but knew what she wanted if you knew what she meant…Well, never mind, just go to Edie Brickell’s video and compare the two. Vocal twins? I think so.

What she’s eaten for the week:
I go to the farmer’s market every Saturday and stock up on a lot of yummy fruits so I’ve been eating some yummy local fruits and berries. And I’ve been eating a lot of raw foods because I’ve lived near raw restaurants. Last night, I had some tabbouleh and tomato and basil soup. A couple of days ago, I made a dish with coconut milk (and) raisins in it. And I’ve been drinking ginger juice lately too. My friend works at a juicer and she thinks it’s the wonder drug-so she’s been giving me shots. And I’m really into hemp milk at the moment.

Tofu or Tempeh: Tofu because it’s more hearty and I like the idea of the soybean being in the earlier stage than what tofu is. I feel like it’s better for you.
Roasted Red Pepper or Baba Ghanoush Hummus: Anything other than red bell pepper is good. I have a thing with peppers and cilantro-they are the 2 things I just can’t eat and the two things that are in absolutely everything.
Peanut Butter or Almond Butter: Well, I’ve got almond butter in my cabinet so I’d have to say almond butter. Although I do love peanut butter. Peanut butter and sliced banana on toast is one of the best things ever.
Seitan or Texturized Soy Crumbles:I’ve never had texturized soy crumbles, but they sound delicious!

On Being Stuck In A Food Monotony:
It’s really hard to eat vegetarian and vegan on tour. I make a real point of sourcing out nature marts or vegan restaurants or co-ops in every city that we visit beforehand. But some of the cities…they have no concept of any sort of vegetarian dish. So I end up just eating raw veggies and dip from the supermarket every night because the only other option is fries or beans and rice.

Learn what Missy wouldn’t mind eating over and over again and how her father gave her “the talk” after the break…

On Her Decision To Go Veg:
I’m just a real lover of animals and I think when I was a kid that’s why I became a vegetarian. I went to boarding school and the meat that was served…disgusting…mass manufactured mystery meat and so it wasn’t very hard to get motivated not to eat that.

I became anemic because I wasn’t eating well so I decided that I needed meat for some reason. And I guess when I was older I realized I just got sick because I wasn’t eating properly and I wasn’t making sure that I was getting all my vitamins from food. So I became vegetarian again and made a conscious decision to really look at what I ate and choose wisely…

And then I looked into the ethical side of it even more and I realized that I really just didn’t approve of the way animals are treated in factory farms and I couldn’t possibly justify eating it…a bit of health, a bit of ethics in my decision.

On Her Father Giving Her “The Responsibility Talk”:
I think at the time I was getting a bit overwhelmed with the success in Australia. I didn’t really know how I could utilize that for some greater good. My dad just kind of sat me down and told me that he thought I was given the opportunity for a reason and it’s a real blessing and I have to learn to see the positive side of it because it’s an amazing opportunity. And with this kind of exposure you’re given (both) the gift and also the responsibility to speak up about matters greater than yourself because you have the power to be heard by a lot of people.

I had to suck up the courage because I’m not really much of a public speaker-I’m actually quite shy.

VOTW: So you’re not a public person and a public speaker but you are still able to go onstage and sing in front of many people?
Missy Higgins: Isn’t that strange? I feel so much more comfortable going on stage and singing a song than I would just going onstage and talking to an audience. When I’m singing, I’m completely comfortable, completely at home. But when I have to talk about things other than music or my songs it’s completely nerve wracking.

What She Wouldn’t Mind Eating Over and Over Again:
I’ve been really into raw foods lately. There’s some really great raw restaurants in L.A….There’s this one place in Santa Monica…they have this Nori Roll-I think it’s called the Monster Wrap or something and it’s just Nori with a whole lot of yummy stuff inside like avocado…(maybe) tahini sauce, (maybe) nut cream, (maybe) seaweed (laughs). I actually don’t have a clue what’s in it. I wish I could make it.

On Her Green Tour:
I did a 2 week tour of the U.S. in a hybrid and we had a couple of video cameras. I went to a few different little spots in the U.S. I spoke to people who were being environmentally conscious and proactive…I realized after that it is such a massive problem and it’s not going to be fixed by me just recycling and buying green bags and that kind of thing. I felt overwhelmed basically and helpless, but I realized that you can’t just sit on your butt and do nothing because that’s even more helpless so you’ve got to at least try to make a difference.

How She’s Making A Difference:
We always have organic and local food whenver possible (for the tour crew when traveling on her concert tours). I’ve been making my merchandise environmentally conscious-my T-shirts organic and we designed a little cotton canvas bag. I was hoping with these (the bags) that people can take them and start shopping with them instead of using plastic bags. And we try to use biodiesel whenever possible although it gets a little bit difficult (because not every city has biodiesel)…(On her current tour) there’s 1 on the way from Louisville to Cleveland and there’s 2 on the way from Philadelphia to Kansas city.

VOTW has learned that talking to celebrities who talk about food when you’re hungry is not such as good idea. Now off to find out what’s in that Monster Wrap…

As always, if you’re interested in being featured and profiled in vegoftheweek, please contact me using the form on the contact page.