Events Calendar
In This Section
Hobo union picks Akron for national convention
John Rosemond: Children adapt to different discipline styles
'Docs Who Rock' delivers excitement
Cuyahoga Valley volunteer center to be dedicated
Tell us your ornament memories
Two remarkable people enter centennial spotlight
Holiday airfares near '08 rates, keep climbing
Older adults can take steps to prevent abuse by their relatives and hucksters
Most Read Stories
Unusual sports bar to be sold at auction
Motorcyclist killed, wife injured in Stark County crash
Family found dead in Ohio home
Man says he was punched, robbed by 3 people in parking lot
Circle K on Brown Street robbed
Man gets 3 years in prison for having sex with horse
Bank helps more save their homes
Woman says clinic refused to help her get pregnant because she's not married
Blogs:
Pets:
Officials: NYer Had 20 Dead Dogs Buried in Yard
The Heldenfiles:
Monday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Time for Kokinis, Browns to agree and part ways
Akron Zips:
Zips tip off tomorrow
Tribe Matters:
Indians announce spring dates
Cleveland Browns:
Mangini doesn't name a quarterback
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – November 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Shaq: It’s All About Winning Championships
Buckeye Blogging:
Weekly ‘B’ Deck Report – New Mexico St.
Varsity Letters:
Louisville’s Bobby Swigert headed to Boston College
All Da King's Men:
If It Looks Like Islamic Terrorism…
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Dems Message To Women: Don't Enjoy The Sex
Akron Law Café:
Abortion Analogies
See Jane Style:
Muffle Your Muffler
Car Chase:
Clock Tender- Extending the Life of Collector Car Clocks
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Rumors: Akron Starbucks Closing
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jack is looking for a trip to Southern Ohio the week of November 16.
Sound Check:
The Black Keys to perform benefit concert at Musica on November 27
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio
Akron Gamer:
New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
Some animal people are cutting meat, fish, dairy from their meals. Ethics play big role in decision
By Connie Bloom
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Feb 02, 2008
The love of pets has led more than a few local folks to make hard choices where their diet is concerned.
The link between animal people and the vegetarian lifestyle is nothing new, but perhaps more obvious since Akron rocker Chrissie Hynde opened her flashy new restaurant, VegiTerranean at Northside.
Hynde's overwhelming motivation, posted on the walls, is to alleviate the suffering of animals. She's sending a message people seem to want to hear, because the restaurant is packed, reserved at least a week in advance for lunch and dinner, according to chef Scot Jones.
Sure, Hynde's fans are basking in the glow of celebrity, but they are also taking a willing leap into the unfamiliar. They haven't been living underground. They are aware of the plethora of issues swirling around factory farming, from land ecology to slaughter.
A conscientious diet is a simple alignment of conviction and cuisine, of ethics and diet. The cruelty of factory farming (see http://www.goveg.com) has pushed people like Annette Fisher of Ravenna's Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary to quit supporting it, not only shunning meat, fish and fowl, but also dairy and certain product and clothing choices.
''Once you work with animals and see their personalities and what awesome creatures they are, I couldn't imagine eating them,'' she said. Her pets are also her life's work and are slightly larger than the average household's, including chickens, ducks, goats, geese, cows, pigs and horses.
Vegetarians frequently invoke the words of Ghandi, who said the greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated. But it all begins at home, says Paula Moran, executive director of the Summit County Historical Society.
Moran and her husband, Hank Lynch, chief executive at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, are vegetarians of 18 years and doting parents of 16 pets: one rescued house rabbit, four parakeets, eight cats and three dogs.
''I'm an ethical vegetarian,'' she said. ''I could care less whether it is heathy or not. I adhere to the Buddhist principle you don't need to kill anything. . . . I care very much about the environment, but my focus is I don't believe I have to kill another being to nourish myself. I choose to live a life governed by my conscience, not by my appetite.''
Lynch's vanity license plate is all about the message: ''Try tofu.'' He gets a lot of double takes.
''You're seeing more and more people eat more vegetarian meals,'' Moran said. ''People are trying to eat less meat if for no reason other than a heavy meat-based diet is not healthy. The only diet that has been shown to reduce the effects of heart disease is primarily vegan.''
Moran and Lynch are so committed, they carefully craft vegetarian diets for their pets, with the exception of the cats. ''Cats cannot be vegetarians,'' Moran said, because they can't get the correct amino acid balance without meat, not even with supplements.
''The joke around our house is the kids come down and look at the stove and say dog food or people food?'' Moran laughed.
At VegiTerranean, Hynde is presenting us with options, showing us that delicious, unprocessed, fresh, hormone-, antibiotic- and pesticide-free food (like Grandma and Grandpa ate) puts us on a higher plane. In making more mindful choices, we also leave a smaller footprint on the planet, bring balance to body and spirit and hand a winning, positive legacy to our families.
''It has been very well received, even among carnivores,'' chef and partner Jones said. The restaurant uses no animal products in the food, wine or liquor. That makes it vegan, one step beyond vegetarian. ''It's very kosher in style, there is no animal fat, no cholesterol,'' he said. ''The butter is all soy based, the cheeses are soy based. It's very healthy.''
The food is exciting, full of flavor and teeming with color, each individual plate an artwork.
Customers like it so much, he said, they can't help but consider taking animal products out of their lifestyle a few times a week.
Vegetarianism is topic
As busy as she is feeding her pets at the sanctuary, Fisher still finds time to be a regular guest speaker in ethics and social problems classes at the University of Akron, in addition to other clubs, schools and organizations.
''Vegetarianism is always the topic,'' she said. ''They always ask me about my experiences so people can make that connection. . . . I'll show slides of cute animals and talk about their personalities and feelings and how they are sensitive and then tell them how they got to Happy Trails in the first place.''
Fisher regularly works with law-enforcement officers to pull animals out of cruelty and neglect investigations on small Ohio farms.
''What changed it for me is that I see the suffering of what the animals go through before they get to the dinner plate,'' she said. ''I don't want to contribute to that in any way. . . . I'm sure there's farms that are well maintained, but because of the line of work I'm in, I normally don't see those. If I had to go get some cheese or milk from one of those farms, I would not choose to do it.
''People who love animals in general and have pets, when they're made more aware of the conditions some animals live in, animals we don't normally call pets, and the cruelty that goes on, they want to do something in their own lives to change that. The way they can do that is to adopt a vegan lifestyle.''
Note:
The vegetarian curious can check out these resources:
http://www.goveg.com will send you a free vegetarian starter kit. Just fill out the online form.http://www.vegsource.com
Here are a few well-known vegetarians:
Bob Dylan, Bryan Adams, Eddie Vedder, Janet Jackson, k.d. lang, Lenny Kravitz, Melissa Ethridge, Michael Bolton, Moby, Natalie Imbruglia, Olivia Newton-John, Ozzy Osborne, Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel, Prince, Shania Twain, Sting, Tina Turner, Linda McCartney, Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Mahatma Gandhi, Buddha, Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates, Alex Baldwin, Alicia Silverstone, Angela Bassett, Anna Paquin, Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, Ashley Judd, Barbara Feldon, Brad Pitt, Brooke Shields, Danny DeVito, Daryl Hannah, Demi Moore, Doris Day, Drew Barrymore, George Harrison, Gillian Anderson, Jennie Garth, Joaquin Phoenix, Jude Law, Julia Stiles, Kim Basinger, Leonardo DiCaprio, Liv Tyler, Loretta Swit, Mena Suvari, Michael J. Fox, Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Pamela Anderson, Richard Gere, Tobey Maguire and Steven Spielberg.
Connie Bloom can be reached at 330-996-3568 or cbloom@ thebeaconjournal.com.
The love of pets has led more than a few local folks to make hard choices where their diet is concerned.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
