Gack Yack

IHOP is cruel and Bill Mahr is not happy about it. In the video below, Mahr teams up with the Humane Society of the United States to shed light on IHOP’s support of cruel animal slaughters through the use of caged eggs. You may now weep in your pancakes.

Reprinted from The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/jun/13/foodanddrink
by Julie Bindel

Eating in a meat-free restaurant the other day made me realise why I hate vegetarians. The food, unlike the tasteless, bland rubbish often served up in such places, was delicious. Unusually for meatless cuisine, it had flavour and texture, and had even been seasoned. What was unpalatable were the customers and waiting staff, all of whom seemed to believe that what they were eating made them superior. They all looked smug and self-satisfied. It brought it home to me that most vegetarians – and I am largely excluding those who eschew meat for religious and cultural reasons – give themselves a bad name. They are better than you, don’t you know? The atmosphere in the restaurant was one of pompous aloofness. I left with indigestion.

People often assume I don’t eat meat, because I am a feminist and vaguely of the left. I have turned up at dinner parties to find the host has assumed that at least one guest would be vegetarian, and served undercooked baked potatoes. What an atrocity! Why can they not put a chicken in the oven at the same time? Or is the sight of meat so offensive to veggies that they would pass out at the table?

Recent converts can be the worst. I have lost friends to the cult who, once they get fed the mantra from the militants, become something akin to ex-smokers. I am tired of feeling self-conscious in restaurants when ordering meat in front of them. No one should deny that factory-farmed animals are kept in the most appalling conditions, and that eating too much meat is bad for you. But look at their claims. Crusaders promote vegetarianism not only as healthy but as a solution to world hunger and a safeguard of the planet.

Do not assume living without animal products is always a positive, healthy choice. A vegan couple in American have recently been charged with child abuse for malnourishing their three small children. They had been brought up on a vegan diet from birth. There have been similar cases where children, who cannot choose what they eat, have had their health severely damaged because of their parents’ principles. They are putting the welfare of animals before that of their children. Giving up meat and dairy has been linked to anorexia and other eating disorders in teenage girls. Lack of vitamin B12, found mainly in meats, eggs, dairy and fish, can cause brain damage. Most vegans, and some non-meat-eaters, have to supplement their diet with pills. In the developed world, vegetarianism is a privileged choice. How many working-class vegetarians do you know? It is not an option for most poor people in this country.

A veggie colleague once said of a woman with her three young children in a supermarket, “Have you seen those cheap beefburgers and pies she’s feeding them? Why does she not go to the market, buy some fresh vegetables and make them all some nice, healthy soup?” Again that assumption that vegetarian and vegan foods are cheaper, which they are not, and that the mother had all the time in the world to prepare food from scratch.

Let’s get our priorities right. People who put foxes and lambs before people do not have my vote. Animal liberationists blowing up scientists for conducting experiments that might lead to a cure for cancer are odious. There are more refuge spaces for cats than there are for women and their children fleeing domestic violence. While rape crisis centres are closing due to lack of funds, animal charities are raking it in.

Although vegetarianism is often seen as a “women’s issue”, there is a nasty, misogynistic wing that relies on sexist images and messages to convince people that meat is murder. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) are the worst offenders. One of their early adverts features a woman dragging a fur coat behind her. She is captioned as a “dumb animal”. Another has a woman having her fur coat ripped off in the street and clubbed to death by a man, to make the point that it is not nice to be killed for your coat. The actor who played Lolita in the 1997 remake became “the youngest star to pose naked for Peta’s anti-fur campaign”. The message is: treat women, not animals, like meat.

Those who think we should not eat meat because all life is sacred are naive. Would they be happy allowing mosquitoes to spread malaria, or having rats run loose in their home? Not all creatures are equal. There are natural hierarchies in the food chain.

People should be allowed to make their own choices and not be bullied or frightened into giving up meat. In the US recently, children in a secondary school were taken by their teachers to a slaughterhouse to show them how animals are killed for food. This tactic is a form of mind control, as unethical as discouraging young girls from having sex by making them watch a difficult childbirth.

I may hate vegetarians because they make me feel guilty, or because, meat being so delicious, they must have lots of willpower. But as an animal lover who agrees in principle with most reasons for giving up meat, I would rather not join that band of humourless, judgmental souls. It would seem that you are indeed what you eat.

· Julie Bindel is the founder of Justice for Women

As a card-carrying member of the carnivore family, I spent most of my young adult life dining on the weekly T-bone steaks and shredded chicken fajitas provided to me by my parents. And I’ll admit–even now, I can still smell how delicious those grilled, spicy fajitas were. *sigh.

The first time I ever thought about giving up meat was my junior year in college. One of my old high school pals came in town for the night to visit, and we went to Rockfish for dinner. I had chicken something. The next day, we went to Taco Cabana for lunch. I had chicken quesadillas. I thought both would be harmless since I’d eaten chicken in restaurants hundreds of times before, but both proved to be a ginormous mistake. And the next day, as I laid in my hospital bed and watched the IV drip into my arm, experiencing such intense abdominal pain that I could barely move, I told myself I would never eat chicken again. Nothing in the entire world was worth salmonella poisoning.

But it wasn’t as easy as I thought, and I ended up wavering on my promise. Four years later, I decided to give up chicken for good, and that I would say good-bye with one last favorite dish: chicken spaghetti. Since I’m cooking it, I thought, I can be extra careful so I won’t give myself salmonella. Totally safe. Totally wrong. The only thing worse than getting salmonella twice is knowing that the second time you gave it to yourself and you can’t call the health department to complain this time. After that, chicken and I were no longer friends.

A few months later, a coworker forced me to watch a lovely little video called Meat Your Meat. I didn’t think it would have much of an impact on me, and I didn’t even take it seriously in the beginning because it was narrated by Alec Baldwin. (If you watch 30 Rock, you get where I’m coming from.) But afterward, I was incredibly horrified. I’d never really thought about what meat went through to get to my plate before–just that it was usually bathed in something magically delicious when it was served to me. So, I gave up pork. The pigs seemed to be the worst off in the video, and it felt like the right thing to do.

Beef was the last meat to go for me. Every time I considered giving it up, my mind immediately thought of the delicious smell of a grilled steak or smoked brisket. But it wasn’t until a few months after the video that it happened: while eating a piece of cold brisket one night, I unknowingly bit down on a huge chunk of cold marbled fat. I immediately gagged and spit it out in the sink, and after a massive wave of nausea passed, I knew: I was done with beef. (In my mind, the incident was comparable to the scene in the first Ace Ventura movie when Ace realizes that “Finkle is Einhorn,” and “The Crying Game” begins to play.)

I realize that this entry may make me seem like a fair-weathered, cause-and-effect vegetarian, but with some things you really do have to learn the hard way. I’ve lived a much healthier life since I gave up meat, so I believe the struggle was worth it. It’s not always easy, but it’s a work-in-progress, just like me.

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a large high-sided skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
2. Add fish, tomatoes and their juices, chile pepper, cilantro, olives, capers, oregano and salt; stir to combine. Add up to 1/2 cup water if the mixture seems dry. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with avocado (if using).

Nutrition

Per serving: 215 calories; 8 g fat (1 g sat, 6 g mono); 65 mg cholesterol; 9 g carbohydrates; 23 g protein; 2 g fiber; 697 mg sodium; 475 mg potassium.

1/2 Carbohydrate Serving