vegoftheweek

Farm Sanctuary Gala 2004

Dan Piraro is a cartoonist and comedian best known for his website, Bizarro.com, where he often incorporates his vegan and animal rights beliefs into his works.

His thoughts on hunting:
Well, I certainly think that if there are degrees of cruelty, and you can argue philosophically about that, I think that hunting is far less cruel than raising an animal uncomfortably in a cage with a lot of others (animals). It’s certainly kinder than factory farming to let an animal live its life in the wild, unmolested, until a bullet strikes it dead. I know that I would prefer a life like that rather than a life in prison until I was killed for someone’s food. I would prefer a free life until I was killed for someone’s food. To me there’s a huge moral dilemma. Hunting in our culture quite frankly is killing for fun, whether you eat it or not. If you pass a grocery store on your way to hunt, you’re killing for fun, not killing for necessity. I think killing for fun is certainly a no brainer. It’s sort of difficult to justify in my mind.
I went hunting with my dad (years ago). It’s interesting, my dad is a terrific person, not a vegetarian, but he’s a terrific person, still alive. He and I are very close. He had these very strict ideas about how animals should be treated and he taught them to me as a kid. You never kill anything that you’re not going to eat. And you never kill more than you can eat. He was very strict about that. He took me bird hunting and I remember one time when he caught me trying to shoot a sparrow in the backyard with a Bebe gun. He came down on me so hard. Took the gun away from me and gave me a big lecture, “You do not kill things just for fun.”
…It’s just wrong to kill things for fun. You can’t justify that. If I was an Eskimo, maybe, and there were no grocery stores. ..

An example of one of his cartoons that illustrates his beliefs:
It’s a laboratory with a scientist mixing stuff up. And behind him are cages of all sorts of animals. And the monkey says through the cage, “Hey, Einstein. How about working on a cure for insensitivity to other species.” To me that concept says it all, because that’s really what it’s about. It’s about something being not enough like us to care. We see this in society all over the place: There are people who think that foreigners are not enough like us to care what happens to them. Or people of another race are “not enough like me” to care what happens to them. It’s about the circle of compassion. I extend my circle of compassion to any sentient being. Anything that knows it’s alive, in my mind, has the same philosophical rights to an unmolested life as I do or you do. That cartoon to me kind of says that very thing.

On the vegan tattoos on his body:
(There’s) a little group of cartoon birds (on my arm) and then underneath that it says fly. And that to me is just the idea of letting animals be who they are. And then on my arm I have a banner that says vegan…And on my other arm I have a monkey’s head and he has a little banner that crosses and curls underneath his head that says “liberation,” which to me is just about the liberation of the slavery of animals.
My wife has a little small square battery cage with a chicken flying out of it. And then it says vegan next to that. And she has a full size spider monkey with a broken chain and it says, “liberation.” And she has a rooster with a bunch of baby chicks all around him with a banner across that says “unlucky.”
That tattoo is really interesting. In restaurants and bars, if a guy ever wants to start up a conversation with the pretty blond he says, “Oh, those are interesting tattoos. What does that “unlucky” mean?” And 45 minutes later, they’re sorry they ever asked. She launches into an entire story about what happens to male chicks in egg factories. The male chicks are all killed at birth because they’re not going to be egg layers.

Learn how Dan survives when wife Ashley Lou isn’t around to cook after the break… (more…)

Inside The Oven: My top posts. Week Links: Ditto.

So most of you have seen the T-Mobile “Who’s In You Fave 5?” commercials. Perhaps you’ve even been scorned after learning your not as important to your grandma as she tells you after looking through her purse for her blood pressure medicine and discovering, “Ruth, Herbert, Bob’s Pharmacy, Pastor Mark, and 1-800-Dial-a-Happy-Story have left no room for your seven digits. Not to fear, because you can be in at least someone’s Fave 5: mine. By visiting my blog, you have created my Fave 5: the top five most popular posts I’ve made so far.

I’d thought it’d be nice to share it with you in case you’ve just climbed aboard or missed a couple of weeks. (Shame on you for doing so. Start feeding yourself already.) So take a look at my top five posts, play catch-up if you have to, or refresh your memory and tastebuds.

Meat and Greet: List of Vegetarian Meat-By far the most viewed. Everything you ever wanted to know about what’s out there in terms of fake meat from Fakin Bacon Tempeh to Boca Burgers. 

Vegan Nacho Cheese Dip. Ah…Those Festival and Sports Arena Memories-Because all the other vegan nacho cheeses don’t spread and melt to my liking.

The Quest For Uncle Eddie’s, The Best Vegan Cookies, Wherever They May Be-I think most of the Whole Foods have had their transition from Wild Oats complete by now, but you never know. A post born out of my frustration of not being able to find my favorite vegan cookies. A real transcript of the types of conversations I had with the employees is included.

Interview With Singer Missy Higgins: She really digs her monster wraps-Did you know this lady doesn’t believe in encores? But it’s a good thing. Let me explain. At one of her concerts I attended, she stated that she really didn’t believe in them because it’s not fair to have your audience standing around and clapping for an eternity in hopes of having your favorite band come back out and play a couple of songs after you’ve already clapped for them a dozen times and been standing on your feet forever. Good deal. So she will let you know when it really will be her last song. Oh, and she can’t eat anything with red peppers in it. She didn’t give the details. Many that was for the best.

Marinated Tempeh Recipe: 3rd Time Really Was A Charm-I gave tempeh the ultimatum. We had so many bad experiences in our relationship. Taste good or I’m moving on to commit with tofu. Tempeh stepped up now I still see it from time to time. Tofu doesn’t mind, as it’s quite open.

Even though this list represents the most popular posts, I’m sure it doesn’t include everyone’s favorites. What’s your favorite post or recipe? Any topic you’d like to see me cover more?

Week Links:

Haven’t I given you enough already?

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…

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