Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Soylent Green is People

And flan is gelatin and gelatin is animal parts.

My youngest daughter is a vegetarian and she loves flan. She is not vegan. But lately I've begun to think she may be leaning that way.

She loves flan. Almost as much as I do. Which is, in case you may not know, an awful lot.

I've never made it. I get it at restaurants. And sometimes the grocery store, but not often. And once a student made some for me. But I've never made it.

So I was unaware of the ingredients.

I never thought gelatin.

And frankly, if I had, I probably wouldn't have gotten very excited.

But she did. Very excited indeed. Agitated, you might even say.

She is pretty firm in her conviction, a conviction the rest of the family does not share. As she is never obnoxious or preachy about it, I find it easy to be respectful of her decision. She never says, "you shouldn't do this", she just says, "I won't do this". PETA take note. Much easier to take someone seriously when they express their opinions respectfully. Just sayin'.

The more she is able to research things for herself, though, the more difficult it becomes.

She won't wear leather. Shoes.

Wait'll she finds out the upright bass is held together with hide glue.

Wait'll she hears about the conditions dairy cows endure.

Good bye, milk.

Good bye, cheese.

A little ignorance can be bliss. And bliss tastes a lot like flan.

21 comments:

Pam said...

It does take a lot of conviction to be a vegan (or even a vegetarian). My oldest was a vegetarian for a year and half. It made family meal time a little difficult. We never made a big deal about it and neither did she. She never even told us WHY she decided to be a vegetarian. Not sure it was necessarily about the animals. And PETA - don't get me started. After the Obama fly incident I lost any little bit of respect I *might* have had for them.

bassislife said...

It all becomes very tricky and subjective. I suppose by definition of the term, gelatin is not vegetarian because it requires an animal to be killed. Milk doesn't require this and so can be considered vegetarian, but the dairy industry directly feeds the veal industry (they have to do SOMETHING with the calves).

My bass is held together with glue made from animal hides. The bow is strung with horse hair. You can still buy gut strings, but mine are metal. Leather is still the best body protection available for a motorcycle. No man-made products have come close to replacing these.

These are just things we have to deal with since evolution gave us the ability to reason.

Housewife Savant said...

I've never had flan.
Because I know you love me for more than my worldly wisdom I'm not ashamed to say I don't even know what FLAN is.
I'm fairly certain that since it's made with animal products I simply MUST have it.
What if I eat ONLY animal products?

I ALWAYS love your titles. I get every single reference, and wherever you take it; I know it's gonna be fun.

Sandy said...

Vegetarianism, oh boy, big subject. I'm not one. I'm sure there was a time in my teens when I tried as many do. I do not eat veal, I do have my limits. But I eat chicken and I know about chicken farms so maybe I'm a hypocrite. PETA...they don't impress me, even before the fly incident. Paul is a hunter so I've heard ranting and raving about their actions for years and years. I hope their hearts are in the right places but they do some very stupid things. I'm an animal lover, hate to see anything suffer or hurt. But I sorta figure I'm top of the food chain. I'm also a little lazy and being a true vegan or vegetarian takes a lot of work. I don't eat meat and use animal products without occasionally feeling some guilt. That's the best I can do.

Unknown said...

Such a novel, grabbing title, things that make you go hmmmmm.
I've never entertained vegetarianism, in any way, I enjoy all meat. I'm sort of like Sandy, feeling at the top of the food chain. I think cruelty to animals is wrong, but I guess I just don't want to know where my food comes from. I'm thinking I'm more ignorant than I want to admit.

Grand Pooba said...

Mmmm flan! I'm no vegetarian, I'm just wondering isn't it the whole God's plan food chain of the species?

I say eat what you like, the cows are gonna be killed no matter what right?

Mmmmm flan...

Gibby said...

I would never have guessed about the flan. But good for your daughter sticking to what she believes.

And I could never, ever give up cheese. Never. Feta, Swiss, Mozzarella, Blue, Cheddar, Chevre, Gorgonzola, and on, and on.

Lesley said...

I couldn't imagine...I think if I really thought about the way we get our meats and such...I'd probably be vegan too...I just can't think about it while I'm enjoying my hamburger....

I have a friend who is selective carnivorous...only eats Kosher and small farm raised meats...or catches her own fish etc...so she knows that they are treated humanely before becoming her dinner.

Kathy B! said...

I have all the respect in the world for your daughter for sticking to her convictions. I've often said that if I thought about it hard enough I could become a vegetarian, but I chose not to think about it... Not the best approach to life, is it?!

Alex the Girl said...

Firstly, I loved Soylent Green, sort of, when I was young.

Secondly, my eldest is a vegetarian, not a vegan, too. She will eat seafood because it's wild caught and with no forced, unheard of living conditions (fortunately, we live in the south). Like your daughter, she's done the research and came to the decision based on that. She isn't bossy or pushy about it (but amazingly, her boyfriend is a new vegetarian...go figure huh? Father's Day steak just about killed him). She gets the veggie burgers, chicken patties, i.e. and has stuck to her conviction for quite sometime now. Of course, when she checks out the dairy farms, I don't know how she's going to handle the milk. Big milk fan. Her main staple is cheerios and skim milk!

And she still says NO to broccoli

Macey said...

See? PETA should take note from you daughter! They are so over the top it makes me want to eat more meat, and I don't even care about it that much!
I think she has to be pretty mature to give up cheeseburgers and stuff to be a vegetarian. Seriously. I couldn't, and I'm 32.
Macey

Brandy said...

I had flan from a place once and HATED it! It was cold and icky. Then a co-worker brought some homemade flan with caramel topping to work...omg. It was so good.

Claudya Martinez said...

Flan is my absolute favorite dessert. I think it's a little piece of heaven in my mouth.

It's pretty amazing when you consider how many things are made from animals.

Mrs. Jelly Belly said...

I've never had flan. But you sure make me want to try it...animal parts and all.

I have all the respect in the world for people who can maintain vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. It's not easy. Especially when you have a group of nutjobs like PETA making them all look bad.

AiringMyLaundry said...

I could never get a taste for flan. It looks really cool though.

Mama-Face said...

first of all...that picture is amazing.

How old is your daughter? To have such a conviction is truly great...not that many kids do.

I love the title of your post. Not that I understand it, but it looks and sounds way cool. I do have to expose myself here though...I hate flan. Please forgive me!!

:)

MaryRC said...

PEEOPLE... PEEEEOPLE! loved that skit, was so bad it was good. i like the idea of vegas or vegetarian, im just lazy. i love dairy, but dairy doesnt love me. my husband's family almost all wend vegetarian on us for about a year. we showed up to thanksgiving dinner and no turkey, oh but they did have a package of lunch meat for us. im still bitter, were not allowed to have eating holidays with them anymore, even though most of them have reverted to carnivorous practices. i head the cookin when we have a get together, although recently ive tried to give up the reigns as the sisters mature and come to their senses.

the girl with the pink teacup said...

Oh, Tammy, this is a post close to my heart!

(I think I may be the only vegetarian who's commented so far - don't hurt me...)

I've been a vegetarian (lacto-ovo - ie. eats dairy and eggs) since I was very young, about four or five. Once I was old enough to realise where my sausages were coming from, I refused to eat meat ever again. Almost twenty years (!) later, I've never once regretted that decision.

I was vegan for about three years (from around age 18-21), but switched back to regular vegetarianism after (unrelated) health stuff made it way too hard to do the vegan thing. It's tricky, but it absolutely can be done once you get the hang of it.

Having supportive, loving parents who were willing to accept my very strange choice (no-one else in my family is a vegetarian) made all the difference to my health and happiness as a little veggie kid. They allowed me the freedom to live as I thought was best for me, which was so wonderful. Seems like you're doing the same with your lovely daughter... You're awesome!

My advice to other young veggies:

* KNOW YOUR NUTRITION: get real dietary advice and recipes from a nutritionist or dietician about vegetarian/vegan nutrition. Especially if you're a teenage girl, and have HUGE demands on your body (from growth spurts and periods). I seriously cannot stress this enough.

* IGNORE PETA: Their aggressive and frankly stupid tactics give vegetarians everywhere a bad name. Be your own quiet example of a peaceful vegetarian life. Sounds like your girl's already got this one sorted out!

Sorry for the long comment! GAH!

Anonymous said...

Over from SITs...nice blog here, I'll be back!

I've been thinking more and more about the whole vegetarian thing - but like you said, so many things we don't even realize come from animals.

Hard choices. Sounds like you have a smart girl on your hands...enjoy :)

Carma Sez said...

I've been a vegetarian for over 20 years, although not the healthiest eater as you can tell from my blog. Anyway, once I realized gelatin was made from horses hooves, I would no longer eat regular jello so my mom used to get a special gelatin-free one, which was actually quite good. But rest assured, I'm not a PETA fanatic or anything like that and I wear leather shoes.
Don't believe I've ever had any flans (is that the plural of flan?)

Tammy said...

Bravo to your daughter for learning the fine art of following through with one's convictions without disregarding the rights and choices of others! Sounds like many of us, myself included, could learn a thing or two from her.