Oy Vey It's September

a newsletter that definitely looks vegan

The world continues to feels dire and shitty and on the brink of collapse. My social media and news feeds are jumping from some actor drama at a movie premier to flooding in Pakistan to Jackson, Mississippi failing to have clean or running water to mentions of quiet quitting (aka people simply doing no more or less than their assigned tasks). I don’t have much to offer other than everything feels really fucking weird and hard and fake and isolating, even though every one else is going through their own version of it. Check in on your people, stretch, stay hydrated if you are lucky enough to have clean water, watch a cute video to break up your doomscrolling, lean in to whatever gives you a few minutes of peace.

iamthirtyaf

A post shared by Thirty AF (@iamthirtyaf)

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what i’m reading

• The Café That’s Upending Capitalism - Pretty cool to see people trying radical things and building something new. This article talks examples of cafes that run on a co-op model as well as a combination cafe and thrift shop that uses a sliding scale for their prices.

• Taco Bell Is Testing A Proprietary Plant-Based Meat Alternative - The testing takes place in Birmingham, Alabama and the only reason I’m really sharing this is because of one crucial detail; the plant-based meat alternative menu items are the same cost as menu items made from animals.

• Why Wouldn’t Your Nutritionist Have An Eating Disorder? - (CW for mentions of anti-fatness and eating disorders)
  As someone who has two higher-ed degrees in the nutrition field and a history of disordered eating, I am not even slightly surprised by this article. The more I recovered from my own disordered eating the more frustrated I got when at least one class per semester required me to track meals, calories, nutrients, portion sizes, etc. There are many issues in the field of nutrition and while the conversations addressing some of them seem to be more prevalent in the last few years, there is still so much change that needs to happen. Nutrition science and dietetics are still fairly recent in the realm of science and human history and much of what has been considered standard practice and knowledge is rooted in whiteness, Western-ness, and thinness.
  Also worth noting this article seems to use the titles “dietitian” (it even threw in dietician a couple times) and “nutritionist” seemingly interchangeably

• Precision nutrition: Maintaining scientific integrity while realizing market potential - Huge congrats to my friend Silvia Berciano and her co-authors on this incredible research, I have learned a lot about precision nutrition from Silvia over the years. This article is really informative and provides a basic overview of precision nutrition and nutritional genomics before going in-depth on the intersections of data, nutrition science, personal privacy, healthcare, industry and government regulation, and technology.

• Towards Equitable and Just Food Systems: Exploring Food Justice, Food Sovereignty, and Ending Food Apartheid Policy & Practice - “This resource explores three important approaches or frameworks for advancing equity in the food system: food justice, food sovereignty, and ending food apartheid.”
  Along with detailed discussion of the three main topics this resource offers guiding questions to facilitate discussions and cites additional resources for further learning. It’s a great reference for your own learning or to share with peers or colleagues if you’re a food or nutrition student and/or professional. I really appreciated the policy examples that included ones of Tribal food sovereignty, which is too often overlooked when we discuss U.S. food policy, health, and nutrition.

• The hype over plant-based foods overlooks a key ingredient: Plants - I agree with the article intro that plant-based is too broad of a term to have any real meaning and is not usually associated with strictly plants as food. I did LOL later in the article when they used the term “plant-forward” instead, which I’m reading and hearing a lot more these days. I am also enthusiastic about opportunities to bring more biodiverse, local, seasonal foods into the mainstream market; however, as usual I wish this idea could be presented without the classic “clean label” talking points, including the mention of eating minimally processed foods to lower risk of obesity.
  Bonus points for the article including Courtney Boyd Myers & the akua kelp burger (you can read more about her anti-methylcellulose stance in my kvetch sesh from May)

• Dutch city of Haarlem may be world’s first to ban most meat ads - It hasn’t yet been passed yet but Haarlem in The Netherlands looks as though it will start to ban meat advertisements in 2024. Obviously there is tons of pushback but starting last year Amsterdam and The Hague have already seen bans for aviation and fossil fuel industry advertisements.

  • Meanwhile in the U.S. we have webinars like Choosing a climatarian diet: Beef as an ultimate climate-smart food put on by the Cattelman’s Beef Association who is a contractor of the Beef Checkoff program (aka federally funded marketing and research to promote American beef)…I am registered to attend the webinar, I like to see how these conversations go.

• The Heat Wave Crushing the West Is a Preview of Farmworkers’ Hot Future - The heat is basically the only thing Californians like myself have been talking about for the last week, and I’ve only had to endure it while sitting at my desk with a tower fan cranked all the way up. Farmworker safety is shamefully inadequate. This article gives more insight to the dangers extreme temperatures and climate change pose to California crops and the people who grow and harvest them.

• UK Supermarkets Are Throwing Away Expiration Dates on Food Items - Sniff test supremacy, apparently! UK grocery chains Asda, Co-Op, Morrisons, Waitress, Tesco Plc, and Marks & Spencer Group Plc have announced they’re moving away from labeling some products with “best before” and “use by” dates and using codes that can be scanned and handled by grocery staff instead. Expiration dates have been a big topic of discussion in food waste circles for a while as they’re usually fairly cautious and can lead to unnecessary food waste, unfortunately I have sniff tested and thrown out plenty of stuff before it was set to expire, also. Even if it becomes a bigger movement in countries with expiration dates I think it will take some time to sink in as a norm.

• Federal Appeals Court Resurrects Major Lawsuit Against Chiquita for Funding Colombian Terrorist Organization - Food is political! I am familiar with Chiquita’s shitty history but this sheds a lot more detail specifically about the company funding a right-wing terrorist organization in Colombia. I did have to google the legalese but seems like the TLDR is that a federal appeals court ruled that the case against Chiquita can move forward to the next phase of litigation and maybe we will see the company held to some level of accountability (lawyers feel free to correct me in the comments).

• Welcome to the end of universal free school meals - The Friday edition of the Food Fix newsletter walks you through the details of U.S. school meals. Nothing says back to school season in ‘Murica like students who are $8,000 in debt for school meals!

  

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what i’m excited about

• the many upcoming Jewish holidays;hance to celebrate, reflect, mourn, rest, and share food

• putting myself outside of my comfort zone to explore new opportunities (so vague and mysterious ooooh)

  (psst hi i would love to hear what you’re excited about these days, take a moment and let me know in the comments!)

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kvetch sesh

“That doesn’t look vegan,” used to feel like a compliment. 

I would feel a sense of satisfaction that the food I had cooked or chosen to order challenged someone’s perception of what vegan food supposedly looks like. Lately, however, I no longer feel as though the presentation of my food is an accomplishment. My reaction has been a gradual change, no specific conversation or internet comment section replaced my satisfaction with this newer gnawing sensation in my metaphorical gut. 

My newer discomfort manifests, like the majority of my feelings, in ruminations. I hear, “that doesn’t look vegan,” and externally I shrug it off, accepting the backhanded compliment. I know there is no such thing as “vegan food” and the phrase says more about the speaker than it does about my food, myself, or veganism. What they mean by that reaction doesn’t really matter and I’ve learned that my response won’t matter either. Inside my head I mull over our interaction, poking at the words until I find the point that keeps triggering the gnawing so I can reflect and figure out why. 

After all my poking I have come to realize this is what happens when progress is focused at the individual level. For over eight years I have been vegan, I have been sharing content featuring incredible food, and I have gotten the same response; that doesn’t look vegan. Whatever the intent behind that statement, the fact remains that the substance of this interaction isn’t changing, just plugging in different people, different meals, and slight variations in word choice for the same outcome. I know the impact this interaction can have on the non-vegan and I value each time I get to open someone’s mind to new possibilities of food not made from animals. Yet I continue to feel this banal response gnawing at me as the conversation is repeated enough times to gain significance, even if it’s just in my head. 

Now, “that doesn’t look vegan,” is a burst to my vegan bubble. The progress I have seen taking place over the past few years dissipates, each time I hear this it feels like I’m starting over. Of course every person needs to begin somewhere, they deserve a chance to expand their mind. And also, how many times can I go through this loop with enough stamina and patience to get us both to the finish line? Maybe the discomfort is my own exhaustion as I tire of the loop. Sticking with my vaguely athletic metaphor (side note: I do not know anything about any sport) maybe this gnawing sensation is my sign to step away from the starting line and move over to being a coach. I’m not straying from practicing veganism or vegan advocacy but I want to focus on strategy instead and try to change the game.

Zooming out from this loop I see a bigger picture and I feel the spark that used to come from being at the starting line challenging the basic and ignorant preconceived notion of “vegan food”. When I take a systems-minded approach these individual interactions weigh on me less, I don’t feel responsible for getting people across the finish line. Instead I feel motivated to find where the track can change. I still value challenging people’s expectations of “vegan food” and I also know this isn’t a winning strategy for veganism as an anti-oppression movement. My everyday interactions are enough data to make me feel certain about that. So I shift my place in the conversation and push myself beyond finding satisfaction that my food looks or does not look a certain way. 

Food is still an incredible tool but it won’t be my metric of success because veganism is so much more than food itself. In my ruminations I have accepted that “vegan food” isn’t real, it’s a caricature in the minds of those who don’t want to see beyond a plain salad, mealy veggie patty, or pile of steamed tofu. I have found stamina by being more strategic with my engagement and altering how I move through the world. There is something powerful in disengaging and not playing into the role of the opposition. I even kind of enjoy letting someone’s ignorance hang in the air, merely reflecting their statement back to them without offering additional information or my usual snark in response. 

They’ll say, “that doesn’t look vegan,” and I will nod in agreement knowing nothing can look vegan.

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ginny soaking up some sun