Travel Tips

I will try not to sermonize when I discuss this topic very important to me that is somewhat related to my VT travel pages. If you've browsed through them, you probably noticed that my restaurant listings are not the standard Bennigans/Hard Rock Cafe sort-they are listings of vegetarian/vegan restaurants that I have experienced while travelling. I'm sure you've guessed that I'm at least a vegetarian. And for those who are thinking, "Doesn't she care about humans?" Yes, I do. So much so I became a social worker and spend 37 hours a week helping homeless, drug-addicted, mentally-ill, and an assorted variety of parents and children receiving public assistance.

Well, the story goes here: I was eating at a Cheesecake Factory in Bethesda, Maryland in 1993. My entree was shepard's pie and I was enjoying it until I ate all the mashed potatoe covering and noticed the large lump of shredded cow tissue underneath. Nothing was wrong with the dish, it tasted great and of course, I knew that I had ordered dead animal and had eaten dead animals for my entire life up to this point. There was something that snapped in my brain that said, "How can I eat this murdered cow when I love animals, I wouldn't eat my dog or cat so what makes this animal any less worth?"

I didn't become totally vegetarian immediately, I still ate seafood for another 6 months and had a couple of fallings during that time when I ate dead animal but ultimately, by 1996, I was completely vegetarian.

I met my husband about 8 months after this. This was a man who ate steak & eggs for breakfast and 1 pound hamburgers for dinner. We respected each other and it worked though he wasn't allowed to bring dead animal into our apartment and I wouldn't kiss him after he ate an animal until he brushed his teeth. He continued eating dead animal and I continued educating him about exactly what he was eating. My husband made the move to a vegetarian diet in October 2001 after reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. This book describes the food industry from an approach that really opens your eyes.

Chris (my husband) made the conversion from vegetarian to vegan October 2002 and I soon followed suit. Now we are happy and healthier than ever and can look at our cat and other animals without any regret or embarrasment.

Back to some simple facts and definitions. A vegetarian is someone who does not eat meat, fish, or poultry. No, you are not a vegetarian if you only eat chicken a few times a month or eat only seafood. A vegan, in addition to being vegetarian, does not use other animal products and by-products such as eggs, dairy, honey, leather, silk, wool, and products derived from animals like cosmetics, soaps and cleaning products.

Scientific evidence is showing that people who eat a vegan diet live longer and healthier lives. According to the American Dietetic Association, various studies have shown that vegetarians and vegans have lower risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes mellitus, gallstones, heart disease, hypertension, kidney stones, osteoporosis and stroke.

But it really comes down to: STOP EATING DEAD ANIMALS for any reason you want. Look at the environmental impact that meat consumption has, look at the ecological harm that factory-farmed animals cause, look at the suffering of sentient beings and think about the fact that you are partly responsible for that suffering, just look and think about what you put into your mouths, body and your loved ones as well.

These websites provide great information/recipes/shopping/dining tips etc.:

www.meat.org (very graphic)
www.meetyourmeat.com (also very graphic)
www.hsus.org www.farmsanctuary.org
www.DumpDairy.com
www.ivu.org (International Vegetarian Union, global restaurants and recipes)
www.vegan.org
www.veganoutreach.org
www.vegdining.com
www.vrg.org (terrific articles and international restaurants/health food store listings)
www.veganessentials.com (great shopping site)
www.mooshoes.com (vegan shoes, belts, wallets)