Momzilla’s Vegan Week!

This blog post was also featured on Vegansaurus as part of The Vegansaurus Diet!

My mom decided to try to eat vegan for a week while my dad was off visiting his family in Arizona. She didn’t end up doing it 100%, but maybe something like 90% which is still really awesome!

SO. What does a meat-loving omnivore eat when she tries out veganism for a week?

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Is it too early to talk about Christmas?

I know everyone else is worrying about Thanksgiving dinner, but I’m going to give that a break and instead start working on trying to get my family to have a nice vegan Christmas dinner. I feel like I have more of an edge here, because I’m going to ask my parents to not buy me anything but instead have the whole dinner be vegan. They get to save money on presents AND food! Also, holidays here are pretty cozy, just my brother, dad, and I so no worries about getting the whole extended family to give up their beloved traditional carcass.

My mom started Christmas shopping yesterday. Today I was talking to her and told her to go return whatever she may have gotten me because all I want for Christmas is a vegan dinner.

Her response wasn’t too positive, which is to be expected. I think I was just asking because I wanted to see what she would say, though it would be awesome if she actually took me up on the offer. Because I am serious about it.

Her first response: smart-ass. “You can have a vegan dinner!” As in, the usual make my own Tofurky roast and side dishes and sit there while everyone else eats a dead chicken. So I refined my request, saying I don’t want my dead friends on the table.

She asked where I want my dead friends.

I want my friends alive, thankyouverymuch.

At this point there was a slight pause where she looked a little contemplative, maybe possibly considering what if she gave me my wish? After all, she wouldn’t have to buy me any Christmas presents.

But then… Response method #2: Stray from the subject. Quote Rocky Horror Picture Show, something we bond over. “Not meatloaf again.” I brought up the fact that meatloaf had nothing to do with the conversation, we were talking about chickens and vegan meals. So she asks if I heard Mike Tyson went vegan, which is old news to me. Then asks if I know which football player is vegan. I didn’t (it’s Tony Gonzalez).

At this point I excused myself from our conversation by mentioning that I had to do my homework.

I think her biggest concern is that she doesn’t know what she will eat if we have a vegan Christmas dinner, and whether or not my dad will like it. So my next step will be to come up with a prospective menu to show her. But right now I have to go write a five-page analytical paper on a piece of poetry. I’ll keep you updated (on the meal, not the paper).

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The Day I Never Thought Would Come (or: Are Pigs Flying?)

Let me start off by welcoming you to the first day of VeganMoFo! VeganMoFo is a grassroots event that evolved from a community of vegans who love to cook, love to be vegan, and are passionate about sharing their love of vegan food with the rest of the world.

Now down to business. I promised last time that this post would be happy and uplifting, and I will follow through with that promise because I have a few items of wonderful news to share!

1. Remember Almost Heaven Kennels, the puppy mill about 2 miles down the street from my house? The PSPCA raided them a year ago today, and the owner Derbe Eckhart has been on and off of trial ever since then, appealing every charge and denying ever treating his animals poorly regardless of the horrible pictures proving otherwise.

About a week ago, Eckhart FINALLY pleaded guilty to counts of animal cruelty. When my dad read this aloud from the paper, I had to run out from the kitchen and ask him to repeat what he just said, because I couldn’t believe my ears! Now he can finally be sentenced and rightly punished for all the grief he’s caused the animals in his kennel.

Eckhart’s sentencing date is set for November 16. He can get up to 3 years in prison and a fine of up to $7,500, and I hope he gets the full sentence possible because the man deserves it. It’s not like this has been his first time on trial for animal-related charges… it’s actually his third. Multiple animal welfare activists (including myself!) are saying they hope he gets treated in jail the way he treated his dogs in his kennel.

Now, let me ask you something. Would you want the man responsible for this dog to be grooming your dog? When Eckhart pleaded guilty, he asked that he be allowed to continue grooming dogs at a business in Fogelsville. Thanks to the detective work of Bill White, we now know that this business is Wentz Canine, a place notorious for selling dogs from puppy mills and often targeted by the Lehigh Valley Puppy Mill Watch. The owner, Thomas Wentz, isn’t exactly advertising the fact that Eckhart is now working for him… why would he want to?

 
2. On to our next good news, and the connection of this blog entry to day 1 of VeganMoFo. My mom, the ultimate meat-eater, has been reading up on how animals are treated on factory farms (currently reading “Dominion” per recommendation from a coworker), and told me that she would consider going vegan if only she could find vegan food that she liked! She’s a really picky eater, so she challenged me to find vegan foods that she will like. She also requested that I make her a stew for dinner yesterday, so I did:

She shot down any ideas I gave her for a more interesting stew such as squash, black bean & chipotle, or roasted eggplant & tomato, opting instead for a basic veggie stew. It contains onions, garlic, celery, zucchini, carrots, potatoes, roasted red peppers, and tomatoes. She never really liked beans, but for the sake of veganism wants to try incorporating more into her diet so there are some red kidney beans in there as well. I made whole wheat biscuits to make the stew a complete meal.

Yesterday was the perfect day for me to make stew for my mother, because about 10 minutes after I started making it she came home sick from work, so it was good that she didn’t have to worry about making herself something for dinner and would have a healthy, freshly made veggie stew to help her feel better. She was napping when I finished cooking the stew, and then I left to go to dance so I wasn’t there when she ate it, but I got this text message from her:

“Stew is delicious! I’ve packed some 4 lunch. My coworkers will b jealous.”

Success!

My mom has also started eating the vegan bread I eat instead of what she used to get, and using Earth Balance margarine instead of butter! She even had me pick up some canned pumpkin so that she can make pumpkin cake with the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. She still eats meat, but has cut back drastically… she hasn’t bought any from the grocery store in two weeks!

I’m so proud of how far she’s come since I first told her I was going vegetarian, and look forward to keeping this blog updated with her vegan ventures. Although I doubt that she will ever become full-on vegetarian or even vegan, every little bit counts!

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