what others have to say...

Part of the journey on being vegan is talking to others and listening to what they have to say about their diet choices.

http://www.happycow.net/famous_vegetarians.html

Generally, I find they fall into two distinct but overlapping groups; health and universal good.

I started in the first group. Though I'd long held that if I had to kill and butcher for my dinner, I'd likely not, it was health that made the decision for me. Probably the highest profile celebrity in this category is Bill Clinton. If you saw his speeches during the last US presidential election, you might have noted how healthy and vibrant he was. Then again, skeptics might argue that is the drop in stress. However, he himself would not agree with the skeptics as noted in this Huffington Post story.

The second group are driven by the recognition of animal suffering, which is a legitimate concern for those who are aware of factory farming processes and their environmental impact. If you haven't seen the Food Inc, it's worth a watch. Much of this is driven by a belief system, that all living beings deserve a life free of suffering. This is a cornerstone of Buddhist philosophy; the general inter-connectedness of all things.

The last six months I've been working on a renovation for a family with three children. The middle child, whom I'll call Bob (yeah not his real name) is twelve, As a younger child, he exhibited an aversion to eating meat. On reaching a point of being able to do his own research, he concluded he could no longer eat. Bon is driven by the idea that killing and eating creatures is inherently wrong. How does one look Bessie in the eye, care for her, then kill and eat her? Recently, his older and younger sister have taken up the vegetarion diet. When asked why, the answer is "Bob". Bob is a prime example of the 'respect for life' group. Recenlty making the cirtuit of the internet is this video of a three year old talking about food and animals. I don't know how it started, (kids that age are somewhat spontaneous and scripting doesn't work well,..) but the point is fairly clear.

There comes a point when these two groups overlap, sometimes completely. It is hard not to think about where your food comes from and develop compassion for all living things, especially those in the food chain. Of course, if you are all about animal rights and not eating living things, one is always thinking of what one eats and where it comes from. Making sure you get the right nutrition becomes a cornerstone of your life.

On the naturalness of foods...

There is a growing trend towards eating healthier. Whether including more salads and veg, reducing the meat component, buying organic, or all out vegan, the movement towards a greater recognition the "We are what we eat." can only be a good thing in the long run for everyone. If we all eat healthily, odds are we will all live healthier and happier lives.

Personally, I can attest to feeling much better in general since I can adopted the vegan diet. True, that could be just a mental thing, but I have certainly noticed that I am not looking to doze immediately after dinner, particularly the grand family gatherings. I've also recovered from injury quicker as well.

The last couple of months have seen me very busy with work. I've insisted in not letting my yoga slide, as this is a practice I've noticed has the ability to provide balance when everything else is going 'pete tong'. As a result, I've not been doing much in my own kitchen of late. With the limited hours, I've opted to not spend them shopping for and prepping food, not cleaning up afterwards. Thankfully Vancouver has been doubling down on good veg meal options. Graze, Bodhi Choi, Wallflower, Bandidas, Eternal Abundance and Cafe Kathmandu have been my dinner options.

How old will these be before they finally rot out?

Now ordinarily I tend to opt for the organic produce where available but sometimes the options aren't there. Before work went a little crazy, (read before I took on a whole bunch of stuff at once) I had bought some stuff at Donald's Market, a great source fresh veggies, from their Commercial Drive store. At this time I had bought a package of cherry tomatoes - the very same package as in the photo. This photo was taken yesterday (October 14th). The actual purchase happened, I dunno, somewhere around 6-8 weeks ago. They were not refrigerated, unless you consider being placed on top of my fridge to be refrigerated.

OK, don't bother asking how come they stayed there that long. Cherry tomatoes! Pick 'em up and pop them in your mouth like candy, right? For some reason, I did not. I would look at them and say to myself, "Later".

What is supposed to happen to ripe tomatoes left out for six to eight weeks. I expected to find them to be a gelatinous mess when I finally got around to moving them. Nope. Some fishnet markings on the skin of a few of them, but otherwise in as good a shape as I bought them.

According to eatbydate.com, ripe tomatoes should last 2 weeks when refrigerated, 1 week if left on the counter.

So what the heck is with these tomatoes?

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to witness many 'science experiments' with food forgotten in the corner of the fridge or veg basket. I've also witnessed many 'science experiments gone wrong' and by 'gone wrong' I mean nothing happened. As gross as the former are, I have no problem with them. The latter.... that's just plain wrong in my book.

Everything has a life cycle. Our bodies are designed to absorb nutrients from foods that fit within that range of life cycle. I have no empirical evidence to prove that, It is just my belief. If anyone has information about how the body absorbs nutrient from 'everlasting' food feel free to send it my way. Until then, I'll stick to eating food that can go bad, because I know my body is designed to digest that.