First, to backtrack. Via ecorazzi ( Barack Obama Discusses the Dangers of Modern Factory Agriculture ) I read that Obama mentioned having read a recent Michael Pollan article in the NY Times, and that:

Obama is publicly acknowledging that factory farming contributes more to global warming than all our methods of transportation combined!

Following Ecorazzi’s lead, I went to the original post, on The New Republic ( Obama Channels Michael Pollan ), which claims that:

Obama chats with Time’s Joe Klein and serves up some critical thinking on food policy, laying out the web of incentives and subsidies that distort our agricultural system.

They in turn linked “some critical thinking” to the full interview transcript at the Swampland blog at TIME ( The Full Obama Interview ), from which this quote is drawn:

I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollen about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it’s creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they’re contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs.

Finally, in a link from the New Republic article, I found the original Pollan piece Obama referenced ( An Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief ), in which Pollan says, among other things:

In fact there is nothing inherently efficient or economical about raising vast cities of animals in confinement. Three struts, each put into place by federal policy, support the modern CAFO, and the most important of these — the ability to buy grain for less than it costs to grow it — has just been kicked away. The second strut is F.D.A. approval for the routine use of antibiotics in feed, without which the animals in these places could not survive their crowded, filthy and miserable existence. And the third is that the government does not require CAFOs to treat their wastes as it would require human cities of comparable size to do. The F.D.A. should ban the routine use of antibiotics in livestock feed on public-health grounds, now that we have evidence that the practice is leading to the evolution of drug-resistant bacterial diseases and to outbreaks of E. coli and salmonella poisoning. CAFOs should also be regulated like the factories they are, required to clean up their waste like any other industry or municipality.

While Pollan’s no ethical vegan - and is resolutely clear about that throughout his work - at least he is pointing the way toward the artificial, politically and institutionally created machine that is modern farming, and that there isn’t anything “natural” or “inevitable” about the way it is carried out.

Pollan continues:

It will be argued that moving animals off feedlots and back onto farms will raise the price of meat. It probably will — as it should. You will need to make the case that paying the real cost of meat, and therefore eating less of it, is a good thing for our health, for the environment, for our dwindling reserves of fresh water and for the welfare of the animals. Meat and milk production represent the food industry’s greatest burden on the environment; a recent U.N. study estimated that the world’s livestock alone account for 18 percent of all greenhouse gases, more than all forms of transportation combined. (According to one study, a pound of feedlot beef also takes 5,000 gallons of water to produce.) And while animals living on farms will still emit their share of greenhouse gases, grazing them on grass and returning their waste to the soil will substantially offset their carbon hoof prints, as will getting ruminant animals off grain. A bushel of grain takes approximately a half gallon of oil to produce; grass can be grown with little more than sunshine.

Indeed! While I’d love to see recognition of the ethical rationale behind veganism and animal rights, I also think it’s important for people to understand the broader impact of the “standard American diet” and then connect those impacts to the choices you make every single time you sit down to a meal.

One issue which potentially gets lost in the translation from Pollan’s piece back up to the Ecorazzi article. The U.N. study doesn’t specifically say, I’d argue, that livestock production accounts for more greenhouse gas production than all forms of transportation combined “as a consequence” of “the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil.” The U.N. report is more focused on the consequences and environmental impacts of the food system, not what drives it to be that way.

It may seem like a distinction without a difference, but I think anyone serious about these issues needs to dive into the report itself, not just popularized reporting about it.

At the end of the day, it gives me continued hope that the conversation is even occuring, and that the next President of the United States is cognizant of and apparently taking quite seriously the connections between confinement animal feeding operations (CAFOs), the health care crisis, and the environmental crisis - and the fact that federal policy can and should impact those crises.

Photo from Bob B. on Yelp

Despite the glowing reviews, however, Jo and I haven’t been able to make it there yet. The location (across from the Oak Grove station in Malden at the end of the MBTA orange line) would have been great back when we lived in Medford, but would make for an elaborate multi-stage commute now that I’m on the commuter rail to Newburyport.

We’ll get our chance, soon, at their upcoming Vegan Night of Thanks- Wednesday, November 26th (the night before Thanksgiving), at the Oak Grove Community Center, just a few blocks from the restaurant.

The menu? a buffet of:

• Herb Brined Roasted Tofu
• Roast Seitan Duxelles
• Corn Bread Stuffing
• Mashed Potatoes
• Savory Herb Gravy
• Cranberry Sauce with Pinot Noir
• Cranberry Relish with Citrus Zest
• Classic Green Bean Casserole
• Candied Yams
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Caramelized Onions
• Root Vegetable Melange
• Gingered Butternut Squash Puree
• Braised Winter Greens

And for dessert:

• Apple Crisp
• Pumpkin Pie

RSVP is required, so use their contact form if you’re interested in attending.

See also these other reviews:

• VegGuide.org
• Chow
• Yelp
• Happy Cow

The first is Lindsay Campbell, from MobLogic.tv:

The second, from Countdown with Keith Olberman on MSNBC:

I’m simultaneously very proud we managed to elect Obama; equally sad we chose to remove rights from gay and lesbian Americans in the very same election.

I was also happy to get my hands on a fresh from the printer copy of the recently published BVA  pamphlet, “Respecting Animals Means Going Vegan.” You can get a pdf version from the site:

It’s got great content and is also nicely designed, including a preview of the new BVA logo (which you’ll see more of  when the redesigned bostonvegan.org site goes live later this year):

This year’s speakers include:

• Blogger and cookbook author Sarah Kramer talking about her new book Vegan a Go-Go, “a cookbook and advice book for veg travellers.”
• Danielle Nierenberg from the Worldwatch Institute on “Meat Production’s Impact on Climate Change and the Environment” (the other inconvenient truth) (she authored their report: Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry)
• jae steele, the author of Get It Ripe: a fresh take on vegan cooking and living, which focuses on unprocessed, whole food ingredients
• T. Colin Campbell, the author of The China Study on the medical impact of plant-based diets
• Karen Dawn, the author of Thanking the Monkey (and founder of DawnWatch)
• Michael Greger, the author of BIRD FLU: A Virus of Our Own Hatching, and CARBOPHOBIA: The Scary Truth Behind America’s Low Carb Craze
• Hannah Kaminsky, the author of My Sweet Vegan and blogger at BitterSweetBlog

Like the festival as a whole, all the talks are free - see the schedule for times and for more detail. There will also be tons of food for sampling, and vendors who offer animal-friendly options.

UpStairs at the Square

Earlier this week Jo and I went to one of the Harvest Vegan Dinners at UpStairs on the Square. They’ve been doing a four course, gourmet vegan tasting menu (with optional wine pairings) monthly.

The next is scheduled for Tuesday, November 25th, and if you haven’t been you should absolutely check it out whether you’re vegan or just interested in gourmet food - call 617-864-1933 for reservations.

Here’s the menu from last week:

Chopped Salad of Endives, Pears & Spiced Walnuts
Soup of Locally-Foraged Wild Mushrooms, with Crispy Frybread
Baked Siena Farm Delecata Squash, Stuffed with Dried Fall Fruits with Grains & Herbs
Chocolate Glazed Pumpkin Cake
Sweet Cranberry Coulis

We also had delicious (vegan) wines from Marc Kreydenweiss - a Pinot Blanc, a Chardonnay, and (I believe) a Syrah.

Thanks to Eric and the Boston Vegan Association for encouraging / promoting dinners like this one.

Perhaps the best central resource is the aptly-named Vegan London, which provides among things a Google Map of restaurants. (On the basis of this map I guess I need to try to stay closer to Tottenham Court Road next time).

Three specific tips I’ll share from my most recent two trips:

1. Don’t forget to request the airline meal.
2. Go out of your way for better food.
3. Don’t overlook smaller or lesser known spots

Don’t forget to request the airline meal.

Virgin Atlantic, which I’ve been flying recently as they go direct from Boston Logan to Heathrow on a schedule that is good for work, has what they call a “Vegan Vegetarian” meal if you request it when you book. The plain old “Vegetarian” option is generally full of cheese, but I’ve found the vegan meals quite good. They often do not have a vegan option for the “snack” that comes in the morning (if you’re headed towards the UK overnight) or just before landing (coming the other way during the afternoon horus) so packing a light snack is a good idea as well. (Continental Airlines also has a “Vegetarian, Non-Dairy” option which is fairly reliable.).

Go out of your way for better food.

Based on the recommendation by the Vegan London list of restaurants, I ventured out a bit beyond my immediate hotel->work->hotel routine and got a wonderful dinner at 222 Veggie Vegan, in West Kensington. (I’ve been staying near Kengsington Olympia station, so in reality it was not so far an excursion - but it reminded me of the general principal that when I make the effort to go 3-4 tube stops away from the direct route, and aim for specific restuarants rather than making do, the food quality goes up several hundred percent).

At 222 VV, they have a 100% vegan menu, including beers and wines. (Apparently you can request dairy-based milk in some of the hot drinks; but everthing is clearly labelled). I had the Tofu Medallion Piccata with Spaghetti, which is described as “Marinated organic tofu slices, baked in oat crumbs, and served on a nest of our own tomato wholemeal spaghetti. It was very well prepared and excellent, but was overshadowed by dessert, the 222 Pancake:

Best dessert I’ve had in my last two London trips - “Vanilla ice cream wrapped in a wholemeal pancake, topped with warm vanilla and chocolate sauce.” Not sure if they’re using rice-milk or soy-based ice “cream” but it was really good.

Serves me right for being too lazy most nights to go the extra mile that I only had dinner here one night.

Don’t overlook smaller or lesser known spots

Even when I wasn’t willing to deviate from a more or less straight line from work to hotel, excellent food was to be had. Between High Street Kensington station and Kensington Olympia there’s a Thai place called Papaya Tree. It’s a rather unassuming place from the outside - since it is in the basement, there’s no view out onto the High Street, and you’ll miss the fashion parade.

But the ambiance inside is actually not bad (a bit too well lit for my tastes) and the food is fantastic. Not a specifically vegetarian-focused place, but like most Thai restaurants they have a decent vegetarian section: 4 starters (including an excellent TomYum soup, as below) and 13 entrees, most of which are vegan or can be made vegan. (Skip the egg noodles, obviously, but also watch out for fish-based sauces).

The menu wasn’t particularly well annotated, but the staff seemed quite knowledgeable about what’s in and not in the various options.

Looking forward to the next trip - there are plenty more places I haven’t yet tried.

Hadley Hooper posted this image, which she created for the exhibition (click through for her blog post and full size image):

Free Range by Hadley Hooper

She describes the inspiration for the piece:

I consulted Jo Tyler to get her thoughts on what what might be interesting to cover; she is very active in the world of animal rights issues and I knew that she’d have some great advice. Jo came up with some topics and the one I chose was about the misnomer ‘Free Range’ used in relation to chicken and egg production.  Michael Pollan in the Omnivore’s Dilemma wrote of hens laying eggs in large metal storage buildings, dimly lit but uncaged - thus the phrase ‘free-range’- with a small door on one end that leads outside. The door opens so infrequently the chickens close to the exit are the only to take advantage, that is if they realize what it is. Typically chickens get about a square foot  to ‘range’ in with up to 2,000 other individuals and are debeaked so that they don’t hurt each other.  I believe that people who are making these shopping choices are trying to do the right thing, it’s disappointing that these impulses are taken advantage of still at the detriment to millions of animals daily.

Very powerful work - also check out FactoryFarm.org, whose url is actually in the image, if you scan it closely.

Thanks for posting Hadley - always great to see your work even if we can’t be there to see it in person.

The best SSB creator, at the moment, is Fluid for Mac OS X - though Mozilla Prism is coming along nicely as well.

Here’s my latest two SSBs: Instant Rimshot and Sad Trombone

Instant Rimshot, Sad Trombone

Now, whenever I like I can alternate between the joyous humour of an instant rimshot or the whah whah whah of the sad trombone. I find it useful to have these open while on conference calls. Just remember to keep the phone on mute.

Thanks to Alex Payne for putting the two urls together in a tweet.

But this one I think has a chance:

If Sen. Barack Obama becomes president, he’ll instantly be faced with decisions that will affect millions of Americans. Obama will also soon be making a decision that could affect millions of American dogs. It has been reported that once the election is over, the Obamas will be looking for a new four-legged family member (much to his daughters’ delight).

The American Kennel Club (AKC) has suggested five types of purebred dogs that would fit the Obamas’ lifestyle. While we don’t disagree that it’s important to choose a dog that matches well with the family, mixed breeds should certainly be considered along with pure breeds. Also, whether purebred or mutt, we believe the Obamas should make a winning choice and adopt a family dog, not buy one.

Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, left-wing, right-wing or any other wing, please sign our petition urging the Obama Family to adopt, and encourage all your friends and family to sign it, too.

Go here to sign the petition.

I don’t think I could ever get another dog that wasn’t from either a rescue organization or a shelter - there are just too many dogs (and cats, and others) put to death each year to subsidize the breeding of yet another.