Susan Labandibar – Activist CEO

Running Tech Networks – Saving the Planet

Chicken-free dining

without comments

We live on very truncated one-way street in South Boston. Ever since one of the ladies on our street was mugged a few years ago, the twenty-odd neighbors on our street have gotten to know each other through Crimewatch meetings, parking struggles, and other neighborhood development issues.We now number among our friends several of these neighbors, all of whom are old-line Democrats. Things can get fairly dicey after a few glasses of scotch when Dave starts maligning the Kennedy family, starting with Joe and working his way all the way up through Teddy.

But politics took a back seat to food last night when six of us gathered at my house for a semi-formal dinner party. I had brought out my grandmother’s china and had spent the day cooking in an effort to impress my guests with my culinary talents. Since I became a vegan a few years ago, each dinner party becomes by necessity an occasion in which I shape the opinions of my guests on the viability of meat and dairy free dining.The meal included one of my favorite dishes, Stuffed Swiss Chard Leaves. This recipe comes to me from the most half-hearted vegetarian cookbook I have ever seen–Classic Armenian Recipes: Cooking without Meat. The section on main dishes begins: It may not seem desirable, or even possible, to prepare main dishes without the addition of meats or poultry… My guests might well sympathize with the cookbook author. Their initial reaction upon hearing that I shun meat and dairy products was as though I had told them that I cultivate pet centipedes for a hobby.

But last night my guests showed how much their feelings towards veganism have evolved since we first became friends. I was intensely gratified when one friend brought Trader Joe’s meatless chicken fingers. They were a huge hit. Everyone was amazed that you could make a chicken finger without meat. (Of course, they did have egg whites in them, which is technically not in my diet, but these are the things I tend to gloss over in trying to win friends and influence people…)

Speaking of influencing people, I was amazed by an article I read in Ode Magazine this morning. It said that one-quarter of the earth’s surface is used for raising animals and one-third of all arable land is given over to cultivating food for animals. 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the livestock industry. And that doesn’t include the 265 gallons of fossil fuel needed annually to produce the meat consumed by the average family of four.

One of the things that puzzles me is the fact that I am the sole vegetarian on the board of the Sustainable Business Network. I wonder if they realize how I feel when bacon and eggs are served at our breakfast meetings? Should I ask them whether they have considered eliminating meat from their diets?

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Written by Susan

January 20th, 2008 at 8:27 am

Posted in veganism

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