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The world’s first vegetarian spider was just recently discovered! Ok ok, so it may not be a human vegetarian, but I thought this was so interesting! See, even spiders are modifying their diet to their surroundings.

“40,000 or so spiders have been described, all of which have been thought to be strict predators that feed on insects or other animals, trapping their prey in elaborate webs or hunting them down directly. But researchers have found one exception to this rule, a neotropical jumping spider known as Bagheera Kiplingi and the first instance known to science of a spider that dines primarily on vegetarian fare, according to a report published in Current Biology.”

30 Reasons to Become a Vegetarian

“I’m Vegan is a series of short documentary profiles that will feature vegans from all walks of life. The project is being produced to address preconceptions about vegans and veganism. The profiles–or “vignettes”–will be distributed for free over the web so that people can share the videos with family, friends, and visitors to their own sites.”

From what I gathered from the various webpages of the Vegan Documentary project, it appears that these filmmakers are traveling across North America in pursuit of some real-life interviews with everyday vegans. I believe their main objective is to address the stereotypes of ‘animal lovers’ and showcase how living vegan is very possible regardless of location. This is a great idea to put all three stages of pre-production, production, and post-production online so that viewers everywhere can see how the film is progressing and developing over time. I think that’s a really interesting approach to filmmaking and utilizing all the social networks we have available these days. You can see some videos on their website (linked to the logo above) and learn more about the film and it’s creators. Thus far they have completed their casting and mapped out their journey which looks quite ambitious. Check it out! Here are some links to their other networking sites if you want to become a fan, friend, or get some updates.

-miranda

E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection

Published: October 3, 2009

“Stephanie Smith, a children’s dance instructor, thought she had a stomach virus. The aches and cramping were tolerable that first day, and she finished her classes.Then her diarrhea turned bloody. Her kidneys shut down. Seizures knocked her unconscious. The convulsions grew so relentless that doctors had to put her in a coma for nine weeks. When she emerged, she could no longer walk. The affliction had ravaged her nervous system and left her paralyzed.”

 

Ben Garvin for The New York Times

Stephanie Smith, 22, was paralyzed after being stricken by E. coli in 2007. Officials traced the E. Coli to hamburger her family had eaten.

“Ground beef is usually not simply a chunk of meat run through a grinder. Instead, records and interviews show, a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and even from different slaughterhouses. These cuts of meat are particularly vulnerable to E. coli contamination, food experts and officials say. Despite this, there is no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for the pathogen.”

THE THREAT “In a warm kitchen, E. coli cells will double every 45 minutes,” said Dr. Mansour Samadpour, a microbiologist who runs IEH Laboratories.

“On Aug. 16, 2007, the day Ms. Smith’s hamburger was made, the No.3 grinder at the Cargill plant in Butler, Wis., started up at 6:50 a.m. The largest ingredient was beef trimmings known as “50/50” — half fat, half meat — that cost about 60 cents a pound, making them the cheapest component.

Cargill bought these trimmings — fatty edges sliced from better cuts of meat — from Greater Omaha Packing, where some 2,600 cattle are slaughtered daily and processed in a plant the size of four football fields.

As with other slaughterhouses, the potential for contamination is present every step of the way, according to workers and federal inspectors. The cattle often arrive with smears of feedlot feces that harbor the E. coli pathogen, and the hide must be removed carefully to keep it off the meat. This is especially critical for trimmings sliced from the outer surface of the carcass.

Federal inspectors based at the plant are supposed to monitor the hide removal, but much can go wrong. Workers slicing away the hide can inadvertently spread feces to the meat, and large clamps that hold the hide during processing sometimes slip and smear the meat with feces, the workers and inspectors say.

Greater Omaha vacuums and washes carcasses with hot water and lactic acid before sending them to the cutting floor. But these safeguards are not foolproof.”

Justin Mott for The New York Times

By GREGORY DICUM
Published: March 1, 2009

“FIRECRACKERS rained down like hail, filling the street with sulfurous billows. Young men, dressed in white, waved towels, trying to keep the explosives away from the black-faced god seated in the ornate sedan chair that some of them held aloft. There, in the center of it all, Phuket Town fell away; the formerly opulent Portuguese-Chinese mansions and rows of boxy concrete shops faded as the hot morning sun swooned before clouds of acrid smoke…”

Amy’s products just about save my life when I’m really hungry and need to take my food to go. They provide all kinds of vegan dishes from the one I’m currently eating ‘ Santa Fe Enchilada’ to ‘Teriyaki Bowl and Brown Rice.’ The bowls are completely vegan and uses 100% organic ingredients. Most bowls are gluten-free and don’t contain any bioengineered  ingredients. They taste delicious and smell delectable. The only downside to this cuisine bliss is that they’re a bit pricey. My Fuze Tea and Amy’s Enchilada Bowl cost me a whole $9, but with all things considered I don’t mind dishing out the pennies for a complete organic vegan experience.

From pizza to desert Amy’s Kitchen has covered all the bases in the food realm and are continuing to expand their production and variety of dishes. “Since then [the first Amy's dish: vegetable pot pie] Amy’s has created over 88 frozen meals, including pizzas, pocket sandwiches, pot pies, entrées, snacks and whole meals. In 1999, we introduced a grocery line that now includes canned soups, beans and chili as well as jarred pasta sauces and salsas. Our foods are carried by all natural food stores, supermarkets and some club stores in the United States, Canada and abroad”

So go look for an Amy’s frozen food bowl at your local grocery store and taste the goodness!

Saving animals from factory farming cruelty and promoting ethical animal treatment is one of the many reasons to cut back on meat and other animal-derived products. And you don’t have to be a dedicated vegan in order to help out! Although, of course, your impact will be much more significant while maintaining a vegan diet; I’d still encourage everyone to try and eat less animal by-products.  Your diet can still effect other important aspects of life, like previously mentioned: the environment, your health, and even your wallet! 

A popular argument over vegetarian and vegan diets is that ‘its not healthy’ and ‘you won’t get enough protein without meat’. This is a sort of lame argument since theres plenty of sources for protein and its possible to be unhealthy whether you don’t eat meat or you do! Being vegetarian/vegan doesn’t automatically make someone healthier, it requires conscious eating just like people who eat meat. The difference is that once you cut meat or dairy out of your diet it limits and even eliminates the consumption of fast-food and other health risk foods. Like the Nutrigrain commercials say, ‘one healthy choice can lead to others’!

When I decided to stop eating meat I started with cutting out chicken, beef, and pork. I figured quitting these cold turkey would be challenging enough since I’d been eating meat my whole life. After a while I eventually stopped drinking milk and I only ate eggs on rare occasions. I try to eat vegan as much as possible and rarely consume any fish or dairy. It’s rather complicated to put a label on that. Nomilksometimesseafoodrarelyeggsmostlyvegan vegetarian! I call myself a pescovegetarian simply because I do eat fish maybe once a week or even less sometimes.

An important aspect of being pesco-vegetarian or anyone who eats seafood is being aware of where the fish and seafood you’re eating comes from. Sensible Seafood is a program run by the Virginia Aquarium Marine Science Center in order to ‘ promote seafood choices that make sense for a healthy marine environment.’ The guide can inform you what seafood is safe to eat and which is promoting a natural marine life. Many popular seafood dishes are being endangered and even have the risk of becoming extinct in the near future. So if we want crabs in the future, we better start eating more responsibly now! The guide divides seafood into three categories: best, good, and avoid. The lists include almost every option you can think of and divides them so you know which are safe to eat and which you should avoid. They also prompt you to ask questions when buying seafood such as: Where is the seafood from, is it farmed or wild-caught and how was it caught? These are important questions since many non-traditionally consumed sea creatures, such as dolphins, frequently get caught in fish farming nets and often die or are seriously injured.

Basically, if you decide that completely cutting out meat or dairy is impossible for your lifestyle, then you can at least try to cut back and be conscious of the food you do eat.  Unfortunately, our eating habits don’t only affect our weight but it can affect entire ecosystems and life as we know it.

It may be old, but I really enjoyed watching these short episodes. They’re informing and comedic! Just FYI: After traveling extensively throughout Japan, they really do have a TON of these ‘Hanko’ stamps. They’re used for signatures on documents and other paperwork. People can find their name and buy a stamp at almost any convenience store and some people have they custom made.

This video is kind of hilarious, but kind of sad at the same time if you know what I mean. I’m also giggling about the video comments, people just can’t take jokes these days! Check out more of ZapRoot’s old youtube videos online. I think the most recent on is 4 months old but they’re quite funny and you might learn something!