Smarties are vegan (M & M’s are not). That is fun news for Halloween or the junk food snack cravings that sometimes sneak up on us when we are weak (read: hangry and at the grocery store). Eliminating dairy, eggs, all animal products as well as nuts from their line of candies was just how the company began making its …
Definition of the word ‘butcher’ (Mirriam Webster): 1) a person who slaughters animals or dresses their flesh 2) a dealer in meat 3) one that kills ruthlessly or brutally Becoming a butcher is culinary trade that typically involves hours and years of learning, training and apprenticing. What you see when you choose an animal for dinner is the end result of a …
This week, McDonald’s launched the McVegan burger in Tampere, Finland. If this passes the test, we could see the animal product juggernaut bring it to North America. Clearly this is not without controversy and a whole range of opinions. First of all, this is not the first time McDonald’s has tried to bring a veggie burger to its restaurants. Over …
Thanksgiving weekend in Canada – this weekend – is a celebration of family and often means a turkey dinner. Some of you think that buying some sort of ‘free range’ or ‘humanely raised’ or organic bird means you are doing better than that frozen Butterball but are you? The intention of this blog is to present information and to educate. …
Skin is the largest organ of the human body. It covers us from head to toe. It is porous, which is why and how we sweat. Porous also means our skin absorbs much of what comes in contact with it. There are estimates in the 60%-70% range as to how much of what touches our skin is fully absorbed into …
Yesterday’s blog was pretty heavy stuff. Leather may be the one animal non-food product that people would begrudge giving up (sort of like cheese, which is often the last food holdout). I just wanted to share with you two items that I found here in Vancouver over the past month which have enabled me to retire an old leather everyday …
It is an interesting thing to ponder why so many who eschew fur continue to buy leather for shoes, bags, clothing, home interiors and so many other applications. I made reference yesterday to the poorest sweatshops in Bangledesh that make so much of the fashion that Westerners purchase. In the film “True Cost” (on Netflix) you will see this as …
Lately I’ve found my brain-to hand connection paralyzed with what is going on in the world in 2017. How do I blog about one thing when there is so much to discuss? What is most important? What is of interest? What is our role as members of the local, national and global communities? In short, the world is in chaos …
Summer 2017 was strange. It brought awareness closer to home that Planet Earth is not super happy with us. Fires closed to within 3 km from our cabin in the tinder-dry-woods in the Cariboo. Vancouver was caked in smoke for days. People lost homes and rural livelihoods. Animals perished as did their winter food supply. While the temperatures are finally …
It is July 25th. Evening. A really nice summer evening here in Vancouver. Yet the fires still burn and thousands are still out of their homes only a few hundred kms away. Here in the city, life goes on somewhat obliviously. Traffic is still bad (is no one on summer vacation?). The berries and produce are not quite as abundant …
