Oy Vey It's A Food Newsletter - Volume 2, Issue 10
A conversation that's been haunting me
Hi! H̶o̶w̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶?̶
What’s been haunting you this week?
I’ll go first. This week, while cooking dinner one night, I began wondering what type of person I would be if I wasn’t vegan. I have absolutely no desire or plan to find out (as long as I have the ability and resources), but I am curious about what type of meals I’d cook, what restaurants I would try, or even where I would be in both my personal and professional journey if I hadn’t committed to veganism 9 years ago.
I’m not sure why this popped into my head or if it falls into the category of something that’s haunting me, but it is something I keep circling back to. For more of what’s haunting me, be sure to read today’s Kvetch Sesh.
- Kay
What I’ve Read
After Years of Being Vegetarian, They Couldn’t Help But Eat Meat Again - The author interviewed 25 former vegetarians who followed the diet for at least 5 years for a mini-series called “Anxious Carnivores”. Unsurprisingly, the interviews reveal these vegetarians reverted back to eating animal flesh to participate in traditional cultural meals or activities, because of disordered eating, or out of convenience. I never experienced the “meat hunger” phenomenon mentioned here, possibly because I only consumed cows, poultry birds, and fish until the age of 12, have any of you? Also, I think we should start a fun newsletter bingo card or drinking game every time an article like this quotes Alicia Kennedy.
COMPLAINT TO HALT UNLAWFUL “WOOD MILK” ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN - The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filed a complaint to the USDA requesting the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Program (aka Fluid Milk Checkoff aka the marketing campaign behind ads like Got Milk?) “halt unlawful ‘Wood Milk’ advertising campaign”. According to the legal framework section of the complaint, the Milk Processor Education Program (aka MilkPEP) is prohibited by federal law from false or misleading advertising, disparaging other agricultural commodities, making false or unwarranted statements with respect to the attributes of competing products, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices about the quality or value of competing products. The complaint also alleges that the Wood Milk ad campaign is attempting to influence the FDA’s pending guidance on plant-based milk alternatives and the voluntary nutrient statements for labeling them. Stay tuned to see how the USDA responds and if they issue any corrective advertising.
For more of my Wood Milk thoughts be sure to check out the Kvetch Sesh from Vol 2, Issue 8.
Culture Eats Climate – And That Could Save Us - Take a sip or mark your bingo card for the inappropriate use of the term “guru”. According to this article, the IPCC recognition of the role culture plays in climate action a year ago has mobilized the cultural sector (advertisers, movie/tv studios, educational institutions, etc) to mobilize people around climate action. The 6 cultural levers to influence radical change are: language, norms, symbols, customs and traditions, artifacts, and identity.
ChatGPT took their jobs. Now they walk dogs and fix air conditioners - "Technology used to automate dirty and repetitive jobs. Now, artificial intelligence chatbots are coming after high-paid ones." Babe, your classism is showing. Hasn't literally every generation heard this same trope, that technology is taking our jobs? I feel genuinely sorry that people are, allegedly, losing their livelihoods to ChatGPT but this newest technological advancement shaking up our normative idea of what society looks like is a symptom of living in a capitalist hellscape and not the cause. Those in power would rather have a job done semi-well by cost-effective technology than a skilled human working at a human pace contributing to society and making a living wage. Just a couple of years ago we were calling service workers heroes and recognizing, at least for a brief moment, the important role they play in a functioning society. I do not believe that the person who became an HVAC tech instead of a writer is any more or less valuable to our society and it boggles my mind that articles like this just gloss over the racism, xenophobia, and classism that are needed to gatekeep who or what is professional and worthy of a high quality of life. The fragility is demonstrated throughout the article with quotes from people who keep repeating that this fear of AI is based on the fact that it's coming for white-collar workers, higher-earning, creative jobs, that require the most educational background. For an interesting juxtaposition of a society that doesn’t function by pitting humans and their jobs against each other, read Friday Joy: Not Reaching for the Stars by
.Can humans ever understand how animals think? - Shocker, animals are sentient beings with intellect, skills, emotion, and feelings and deserve to be treated with respect and care even if they don’t serve a utilitarian purpose to humans. I do wish articles like this would draw a line to the obvious conclusion between the fascinating abilities and lives of the animals mentioned here and those we have convinced ourselves are inferior and less worthy than human lives and only exist for us to commodify and consume. If you enjoy this longer read and learning fun facts about animals, I recommend reading The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife*.
Q&Kay
Q: Dear Kayla, How would you approach talking to friends or colleagues who receive funding from the beef or dairy industry, or other large food corporations? I am a dietitian, so I see A LOT of sponsored posts on social media from people I otherwise respect, pushing narratives that I definitely don't respect. At the same time, I understand that these are people -- often women of color -- who are trying to make a living in an field that doesn't often provide financial security. I would never make the choices they have made, but is it fair to openly critique their industry-funded narratives, either by approaching them privately with concerns, or leaving comments on their sponsored posts? Right now I mostly ignore the posts, but push back when it is especially egregious. How would you approach it? Thanks!
Kay: Wouldn’t it be nice if we had conflict of interest disclosures IRL? Not that they are always accurate or effective when attached to published work. I imagine a little asterisk popping up above someone’s head, like a Sims plumbob that indicates when the speaker has been paid or otherwise compensated for making certain statements. On social media, at least we’re supposed to be able to see #ad or #sponsored noted in the caption.
Unfortunately, there is little in this world that industry-funded narratives haven’t touched. This is especially true in nutrition science research, for more information, I highly recommend Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat* by Marion Nestle. I of course can’t (and won’t) speak to what is acceptable by the scope and standards of practice for registered dietitians, but I can (and will) sympathize with watching your peers act in ways that feel in conflict with your personal ethics.
As to the fairness of giving feedback to or critiquing your peers, I definitely think it’s fair. You’re approaching it as a respectful person with an acknowledgment of the complicated nature of making a living in a capitalist world— and for women of color, a misogynist, racist, capitalist world. The animal agriculture industry in particular is incredibly predatory and scummy. I am definitely concerned at how much influence that industry has on, practically, every part of our lives but I’m much more concerned with how that power influences politicians, industries, policies, and the many systems that run our country. I believe in the power of transparency. In this instance that looks like being honest with our peers and communities; accountability is essential to promoting transparency and it starts with being able to acknowledge that there is an issue before we can move on to mitigating or repairing the harm it causes.
Hate the game, not the players, right?
Submit your question for me here!
Kvetch Sesh
Sometimes my brain won’t be quiet until I write. Cheesy, right? But it’s true, just check my notes app. Nine out of ten times, whatever I am confessing in my notes app or one of my many untitled Google docs stays there forever. Probably because of my ADHD and lack of object permanence (if it’s out of sight it is way out of mind) or because I have a really hard time re-reading my own writing and it ends up giving me “the ick”.
Let’s just agree it’s a creative exercise that is one of the ways I cope with a brain that is constantly running with 100 open tabs, 10 of which are playing different songs or videos. Today, I’m resurrecting this essay from my notes app. It feels weird to write about how nervous I am for you to read my writing when you literally subscribed to do exactly that, so I’ll stop here.
A Conversation
You asked me, "what kind of exercise do you do?"
I told you I walk my dog daily and stretch a couple of times per week.
You probed again, inferring that they must be long walks.
How else would I stay so fit?
I swallowed taking a few milliseconds to process.
You didn't care about my answers, you didn't want my truth.
My mind started to race.
I stared blankly, body buffering as I worked to keep my outside expression neutral. I resorted to brushing off the questions. I wouldn't want to ruin your afternoon. On autopilot, I sat across the table making more chit chat. Arguing fervently in silence with the angel and devil on each shoulder.
"Be honest", the angel said. "You should feel comfortable sharing that those questions cut this deeply, wouldn't you want to know if you had caused someone discomfort so you could avoid it in the future?"
"Fuck that", the devil replied, "You know exactly how that will go. You'll be deemed overly sensitive, clearly, it was intended as a compliment. They learned the same things you did. You know exactly why they said what they said."
"Intentions aren't everything," was the angel's earnest response. "If they feel comfortable saying this to you, imagine what they say to other people."
The devil rolls its eyes.
I keep thinking about how disappointed I am in myself.
Why can't I exist in real life with the confidence I portray to the friends in my phone?
Those twisted, passive aggressive words meant to be compliments quickly burst my thinly veiled bubble.
My discomfort is self-imposed.
I tell myself this is a necessary reminder, my unlearning means little if I don't utilize my relearned knowledge in moments just like this.
I should probably shrug it off.
If only they knew how my injury from six years ago has ruined my relationship with movement.
If only they knew how hard I worked as a teenager for the salvation of those passive aggressive words.
If only they knew I would never outlive this brief interaction, driving myself into anxiety purgatory over what I could have said.
"You're being dramatic," the angel and devil shouted in tandem.
The angel tried to soothe me, "be uncomfortable, you'll be okay, you're always okay. Unfortunately, you'll have the opportunity again, you will do better next time."
"Yeah, you're always okay," scoffed the devil, "it's selfish of you, taking these words so hard. Do you think unlearning and relearning is the hard part? You know better."
I know better.
If only they knew how often I force myself to eat enough so that I'm not too lightheaded to walk my dog.
If only they knew how much of my life I have satiated my hunger cues with words like theirs rather than actual food.
If only they knew how freeing it is to stop policing bodies based on their proximity to thinness.
We both should know better.
I should do better.
Please note: The links noted with an asterisk(*) are Bookshop affiliate links
Beautiful essay at the end. That deeply resonated with me, thank you for sharing. I just don’t have it in me to respond to questions about the way my body looks and works anymore… but I also don’t have the wherewithal to shut people down when they ask. Having a body is such inherently such a minefield for so many and I also need to do better.