A Good Website for Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Vegans and animal rights advocates are often asked questions by people who either want to discredit animal rights and veganism, or by people who are truly interested. We are asked questions such as "Humans are at the top of the food chain; aren't they therefore justified in killing and eating anything?"; or "In Nature, animals kill and eat each other; so why should it be wrong for humans?"; or "Isn't it hypocritical to kill and eat plants?" There is a wonderful web site that answers these questions, and more, http://www.animal-rights.com/ .

Here is their answer to one of the questions:

Question 12: "The animals are raised to be eaten; so what is wrong with that? This question has always seemed to me to be a fancy version of "But we want to do these things, so what is wrong with that?" The idea that an act, by virtue of an intention of ours, can be exonerated morally is
totally illogical."

"But worse than that, however, is the fact that such a belief is a
dangerous position to take because it can enable one to justify some
practices that are universally condemned. To see how this is so,
consider the following restatement of the basis of the question:
‘Suffering can be excused so long as we breed them for the purpose.’ "
"Now, cannot an analogous argument be used to defend a group of
slave holders who breed and enslave humans and justify it by saying ‘but
they're bred to be our workers’? Could not the Nazis defend their
murder of the Jews by saying ‘but we rounded them up to be killed’?"
DG

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If a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth - beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals - would you concede them the rights over you that you assume over other animals? ~Attributed to George Bernard Shaw
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Vegan Savory Swiss Chard

I picked Swiss chard this morning from my garden, and I went through my recipe books looking for new chard recipes. I found the following recipe in The Chopra Center Cook Book, by Deepak Chopra, M.D., David Simon, M.D., and Leanne Backer, published 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Many of the recipes in this book are vegan, but not all.

This recipe calls for garam masala. I made the gram masala, which Jackie has at her blog, The Vegan Diet. It’s very good. It was better that any ready made gram masala I have ever used. I was able to find all of the spices and herbs at a natural food store that had spices and herbs in bulk.

I liked the Savory Swiss Chard a lot, but I liked it better when I added a bit more vinegar than the recipe calls for.

Vegan Savory Swiss Chard
serves 4

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1 pinch black pepper
½ cup chopped leeks or onions
1 teaspoon Bragg Liquid Aminos or tamari (I used the Bragg)
8 cups red or white Swiss chard, washed, drained, and torn
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon garam masala


Heat the oil in a large saute pan (on medium, so you don’t burn the spices). Add the mustard seeds and pepper. When the seeds have popped, add the leeks or onions and the aminos. Add the Chard, stirring often so the chard will cook evenly. Cook until the chard begins to look slightly limp but is still a vibrant color. Add the balsamic vinegar and garam masala and simmer for 2 minutes before serving. Add a little more aminos if the chard tastes bitter.

I also had the leftover orange seitan from yesterday. It was better the second day like I thought it would be.