"I tried eating like Leonardo da Vinci" (by Melissa Breyer)

"When I stumbled across some of da Vinci's favorite *vegetarian recipes, I knew I had to try them. Here's how it went..."

I tried eating like Leonardo da Vinci

*Please note: Vegetarian can also mean a vegan diet in some places.

Vegan Airline Dining Guide

"Many airlines offer special meals to accommodate passengers of varying lifestyles and dietary preferences, providing a number of alternative meal types on long-distance flights including Western vegetarian/vegan, vegetarian Jain (pure vegetarian/vegan meal adhering to the principles of the Jain belief system), and raw vegetable and/or fruit plates. These alternative meals must be confirmed in advance at the time of ticket purchase or at least 72 hours prior to check-in. These options might vary according to seasonal availability and changes in budget."

Read more here: 

Vegan In-Flight Dining Guide

American Goldfinches: Strict Vegetarians

Female and Male American Goldfinches

For my Fourth of July blog, I would like to talk about the American Goldfinch.

With a diet consisting entirely of seeds and an anti-confrontational attitude, the American Goldfinch is a vegetarian pacifist!

This bright yellow songbird is one of the strictest vegetarians in the bird world, preferring an entirely vegetable diet and only accidentally eating an occasional insect. Their cruelty-free lifestyle extends to adversaries as well, opting to turn the other cheek rather than join other songbirds mobbing predators.

American Goldfinches are numerous and their populations have been stable from 1966 to 2010. Partners in Flight estimates the global breeding population at 42 million, with 57 percent breeding in Canada, 71 percent spending some part of the year in the U.S., and 5 percent wintering in Mexico.

Habitat

Weedy fields, open floodplains, and other overgrown areas, particularly with sunflower, aster, and thistle plants for food and some shrubs and trees for nesting. Goldfinches are also common in suburbs, parks, and backyards.

Food

Goldfinches eat seeds almost exclusively. Main types include seeds from composite plants (in the family Asteraceae: sunflowers, thistle, asters, etc.), grasses, and trees such as alder, birch, western red cedar, and elm. At feeders prefers nyjer and sunflower.

Behavior

American Goldfinches are active, acrobatic finches that balance on the seed-heads of thistles, dandelions, and other plants to pluck seeds. They have a bouncy flight during which they frequently make their po-ta-to-chip calls. Although males sing exuberantly during spring, pairs do not nest until mid-summer, when thistles and other weeds have gone to seed. Goldfinches do not join other songbirds mobbing predators.

Other Facts

American Goldfinches are the only finch that molts its body feathers twice a year--once in late winter and again in late summer. The brightening, yellow of male goldfinches each spring is one welcome mark of approaching warm months.

American Goldfinches breed later than most North American birds. They wait to nest until June or July when milkweed, thistle, and other plants have produced their fibrous seeds, which goldfinches incorporate into their nests and also feed their young.

When Brown-headed Cowbirds lay eggs in an American Goldfinch nest, the cowbird egg may hatch but the nestling seldom survives longer than three days. The cowbird chick simply can’t survive on the all-seed diet that goldfinches feed their young.

Goldfinches move south in winter following a pattern that seems to coincide with regions where the minimum January temperature is no colder than 0 degrees Fahrenheit on average.

The oldest known American Goldfinch lived to be 10 years 5 months old.

Paired-up goldfinches make virtually identical flight calls; goldfinches may be able to distinguish members of various pairs by these calls.

Vegetarian Heaven

Green Theory restaurant

"Set in an old colonial-style bungalow on Convent Road, Green Theory offers a happy overload of chlorophyll and is peaceful and serene. Started in 2011 by a young entrepreneur Bikash Parik, Green Theory is Bangalore’s first 100 per cent vegetarian world cuisine restaurant that serves a vast spread of food with vegan and Jain options."

Read more about it here:

Green Theory

Charles Fillmore: 19th Century Strict Vegetarian

Charles Sherlock Fillmore (August 22, 1854 – July 5, 1948) founded Unity, a church within the New Thought movement, with his wife, Myrtle Page Fillmore, in 1889. He became known as an American mystic for his contributions to spiritualist interpretations of Biblical scripture.

Charles and Myrtle both had health problems and turned to some new ideas which they believed helped to improve these health issues. Their beliefs are centered around two basic propositions: (1) God is good. (2) God is available; in fact, God is in you. About a year after the Fillmores started the magazine Modern Thought, they had the inspiration that if God is what they thought--the principle of love and intelligence, the source of all good--God is wherever needed. 

Both Charles and Myrtle became strict vegetarians in the 1890s, long before the practice caught on in the West. The Fillmores' nutritional convictions were based on their spiritual beliefs. Charles Fillmore was an ethical vegetarian who did not eat animal flesh. He also refused to wear leather and fur.

For over forty years, from the late nineteenth century into the 1930's, Charles Fillmore wrote passionately about the physical, mental, social, and spiritual harmfulness of eating animal foods, and the necessity of a plant-based diet for anyone serious about developing spiritual maturity and contributing to world peace. He and Myrtle were conscientious vegetarians and encouraged their students to be so. 

There was once a village called Unity Village, where it would be a recreational place for Unity workers and in the future, it would develop into a spot where unity people from all parts of the world may come and commune with nature and study Unity principles.

A Unity Inn lunch menu from 1916 included:

vegetable broth

nut loaf

cucumber 

salad

rice peach pudding

rhubarb sauce

fruits

A dinner menu included:

soup

fried eggplant

browned potatoes

cabbage

stewed tomatoes

salads

desserts

In his later years, Fillmore felt so young that he thought that he might be physically immortal, as well as believing that he might be the reincarnation of Paul of Tarsus. 

Defining Vegetarianism and Veganism

I just posted the message below at a blog which asked the question:

"Are Dietary Vegans Vegan At All?"

My response:

A person who only doesn’t eat animal products (and is not ethical or environmental) is a vegetarian–at best, a strict vegetarian. If they chose to only not eat meat then they are a lacto-ovo vegetarian.



Vegetarianism, by definition, in ANY way, shape or form is about health/diet only.


It has ALWAYS been this way by original definition.



We vegans are part of the cause of why the word vegan is now erroneously defined these days. When you go to vegan sites, what do you mostly read about? FOOD. Vegans themselves add to the erroneous way in now what the media and celebs thinks of as veganism being just about what one eats.


Also, veganism is not a “lifestyle” (as some vegans even say). Veganism is a life. Period. And a life is more than just food.

Related article:

Is Veganism a Religion Under Anti-Discrimination Law?

Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home

 

 

Inspired by the idea that one person's change of heart can change the world, Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home explores the ethical awakening of several people who grew up in traditional farming culture and have now come to question the basic assumptions of their way of life. The 78-minute documentary features seven remarkable individuals engaged in a courageous struggle of conscience, each trying to re-integrate the parts of themselves that were fragmented by expectations and experiences that went against their deepest natures. The film provides insight into their sometimes amazing connections with the animals under their care, while also making clear the complex web of social, psychological and economic forces that have led them to their conflict.

Described by many viewers as a life-changing experience, Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home shatters stereotypical notions of farmers, farm life, and perhaps most surprisingly, farm animals themselves.

 



I'm glad their website, Tribe of Heart, gives the correct definition of being vegetarian as many people--including me sometimes--tend to automatically think if a person says they don't eat any animal products at all, they must be vegan--not so!

 

Vegetarian

"A diet that includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and grains and is free from all animal products including dairy and eggs. Also used to describe a person who eats such a diet. Common confusion: Often mistakenly used to describe those who do not eat flesh but do consume other animal products such as diary and eggs. Such a diet would be more accurately described by the term ovo-lacto vegetarian."

http://www.tribeofheart.org/peaceablejourney/mediabase/1363.htm

So remember, all those celebrities announcing to the world that they are "vegan" because of their change in eating are not vegan--they are vegetarians.

 

Peaceable Kingdom's definition of vegan is found at: Peaceable Journey: Food & Daily Life: Vegan 

Veganism and Vegetarianism

I agree with everything Gary L. Francione says in this commentary below except he is wrong about one thing. Many, many people--including me--became vegan via being a vegetarian first. When I found out how cruel it is to eat animal flesh, being a vegetarian made me want to learn more about the subject and that naturally led me to veganism studies.

So, although I definitely do agree with Gary in that it is better to be a vegan for a day, or several days, or a week, etc., at first to eventually become a vegan, being a vegetarian first does work sometimes too on the road to being vegan. But yes, as Gary said, vegetarianism and veganism are very separate diets/lifestyles and should be promoted as such.

Commentary #1: Vegetarianism as a “Gateway” to Veganism?

Peace Pilgrim

Mildred Lisette Norman (July 18, 1908-July 7, 1981), known to all as Peace Pilgrim, was a U.S. pacifist, strict vegetarian, and peace activist. In 1952, she became the first woman to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in one season. Starting on January 1, 1953. In Pasadena, California, she adopted the name "Peace Pilgrim" and walked across the United States for 28 years.

Peace Pilgrim said, "Our present lesson is to stop killing each other. The lesson of non-killing of creatures is a little bit into the future, though those of us who know better need to live up to the highest light. Now, I wouldn't kill any creature--I wouldn't even kill a chicken or a fish--and therefore I stopped immediately eating all flesh. I have learned since that it is bad for your health, but at that time, I just extended my love to include not only all my fellow human beings but also my fellow creatures, and so I stopped hurting them and I stopped eating them. Then I learned from a college professor...that it takes many times the land to raise the creatures we eat as it would to raise fruits or vegetables or grains. Since I want the maximum number of God's children to be fed, that also would make me a vegetarian. I enjoy my food, but I eat to live. I do not live to eat, as some people do, and I know when to stop eating. I am not enslaved by food."

As a strict vegetarian, Peace Pilgrim also did not use fur, feathers, leather or bone.

Peace Pilgrim was also an early advocate for tolerance for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. She did not believe in discrimination against any being.

Familiar Strangers

Familiar Strangers: The Church and the Vegetarian Movement in Britain (1809-2009) is a book about the history of the relationship between the Churches and organized vegetarianism in Britain over two centuries.

Within the name, Familiar Strangers, author John Gilheany captures the essence of the struggle that has existed between the church and the vegetarian movements for the past 2,000 years, and his study of the last 200 years in Britain highlights the continued struggle, as well as the advances that have occurred.

For far too many years the majority of churches and church leaders have turned a blind eye and heart toward the suffering of animals, and the health problems to human beings that an animal product based diet causes. In Familiar Strangers, John Gilheany brings to light the historical documentation and the need for all of us to become vegetarian/vegan, for it is God's heavenly will for our lives, and the best thing for the animals and the environment.

In Familiar Strangers, we also see how the animal rights movement was a natural progression of the vegetarian influence with it's concern for the suffering of animals.

In 1809, the origins of the vegetarian movement were set in place with the foundation of the Bible Christian Church of Salford. The radical sect, whose congregation included local Civic leaders and the first M.P. for Salford, Joseph Brotherton (1783 - 1857) was instrumental in the formation of the Vegetarian Society, in 1847. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the wider Food Reform movement had developed both secular and spiritual ideals which attracted a notable proportion of Christians.

Among the more prominent religious figures to have shared an association with Christian vegetarianism have been John and Charles Wesley; General William Booth, C.H Spurgeon, Leo Tolstoy, Lord Soper, and even Mahatma Gandhi.

The reluctance of the Vegetarian Society to adopt an overtly theological stance led to the formation of related but distinctly religious organizations. The Order of the Golden Age became particularly influential during the Edwardian period whilst operating from prestigious offices in London's Knightsbridge. The most remarkable achievement of the forgotten organization occurred in 1907, when their propaganda was met with a change in diet on the part of Pope Pius X.

The vegetarian movement entered into a decline after the Second World War from which it was unable to recover until the Counter Culture of the 1960s eventually gave rise to the modern animal rights movement.