Years ago, as a 20-year-old in my first apartment, I started learning to cook because eating boxed stuffing mix every night, tasty as it was, was not really a way for a functional adult to sustain herself. I was a vegetarian and it didn’t have meat in it so I guess it was fine, right? At first it was fun, like having the best part of Thanksgiving every night, and I reveled in my first taste of freedom outside of my childhood home and the dorm. Until I didn’t.
The stuffing became an immediate heavy-hitter but one evening, somehow I…
First, a disclosure: I don’t know everything. I know that is a shocking revelation.
Second, another disclosure: I have been a highly ineffective vegan many times, way more often than I’d like to spend much time ruminating on. I have been vegan since the 1990s, so mistakes have been made along the way; some of these are habits I outline below and are still things I need to remind myself not to do (hello, number five!). All have gotten better with time and a little mindfulness, though. If my ultimate goal is to help more people eat fewer animals, I…
This was my favorite view in my favorite place: Rounding the corner from the locker room and seeing the pool, the surface still as if a piece of plexiglass were pressed over the top. Sometimes when I’d round that corner, there were ripples or more boisterous waves in the pool and that was still okay. It just meant that someone else was in the pool, maybe two, three or more. …
Are you a reliable root vegetable? A sometimes sketchy nightshade? Answer five questions and the answer will be revealed.
Is this quiz even slightly vetted by psychologists? No, not even slightly but with farmers market season happening and bumper crops about to be upon us, I thought it’d be fun. This is not a fancy Buzzfeed-type platform, so grab a pen and paper to keep track yourself. With just five questions, it’ll be a breeze.
1. Which picture comes closest to best describing your ideal home aesthetic?
A
Go for the bathrooms. Or don’t. Hold it in. I don’t care. Go vegan.
Quick note: I haven’t been to all of these chains’ bathrooms. Also, I am not sure why I wrote this.
Arby’s
Not only is Arby’s Jon Stewart’s favorite punchline, I have a vague pre-vegan memory of sticky booths, something called Horsey Sauce (???) and it being the kind of place you could eat at on babysitters’ wages, which, not coincidentally, was what I was earning the last time I ate there.
McDonald’s
Decent bathrooms in a pinch.
That’s all I’ve got.
Burger King
It smells extra charred in here. Beggars can’t be choosers but unless I’m in the middle of nowhere and I have…
Tofu turns boys into girls and more disinformation from a radically nostalgic, dangerously influential organization
When I was in seventh grade, I got a chocolate milkshake in my middle school cafeteria at lunch. My friend, who I presumed knew all the ins-and-outs of everything related to our school because her father was vice principal, told me, “You know, that’s made with soybeans.” She raised an eyebrow, waiting for the news to sink in and was instantly rewarded with my dramatic display. I can only imagine what I looked like: A classic double-take, honed from years of watching Warner Bros. cartoons, as I beheld the milkshake I’d happily guzzled not moments with fresh, newly disgusted eyes…
Grilling without killing has never been easier or more delicious
Who’s up for not heating up their kitchens? Who’s up for cooking al fresco? Who’s up for animal-free deliciousness hot off the grill? Meeeeeee! And maybe you, too.
Let’s make with the freshly-charred inspo, already!
Burgers
Shake out your blanket, pack your sunscreen and get outdoors with these fun al fresco themed menus
According to the CDC, fully vaccinated people in the U.S. can safely gather outdoors in small groups with other fully vaccinated people. As spring settles in and summer is around the corner — after well more than a year of isolation and one lost summer — I can’t think of a better time to plan a picnic. And since Covid times have been so drab and depressing, what would be a better palate cleanser than a themed picnic with friends and family? Nothing. Nothing would be better.
It’s time to gather your accouterments — for example, a blanket, cruelty-free sunblock…
It’s time to expand who we think of when we think of who is considered a mother
Guess what? Sunday is Mother’s Day. As if you didn’t notice with the not-so subtle prompts in your email, the bouquet gauntlet at the checkout counter, the texts with family, nothing stops Mother’s Day, not even pandemic times, and the second Sunday of May is just a few days away.
It’s a little known but interesting fact that Mother’s Day has its roots in social justice and activism, not flowers and Hallmark cards. …
Sherra Aguirre, author of the soon-to-be-released book Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease, discovered the positive health effects of a plant-based diet in her personal life and is passionate about getting the word out. Overcoming her own hypertension as well as mitigating her family history of high blood pressure, heart disease and strokes, Sherra sold her successful business so she could dedicate herself full-time to promote reclaiming one’s health. Her book is going to be released in late May but is available for pre-order and you can find her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and through her website, SherraAguirre.com.
…
Marla Rose
Marla Rose is a Chicago-area writer and co-founder of VeganStreet.com and VeganStreetMedia.com.
