TAMALES!

Who doesn’t love tamales? If you haven’t had a chance to taste one of these beauties, let me break it down for you. Tamales are a traditional Latin American dish made by steaming a masa (corn) based dough with spices and various fillings in corn husks or banana leaves. Tamales are an ancient [...]]]>

TAMALES!

Who doesn’t love tamales? If you haven’t had a chance to taste one of these beauties, let me break it down for you. Tamales are a traditional Latin American dish made by steaming a masa (corn) based dough with spices and various fillings in corn husks or banana leaves. Tamales are an ancient street food; they originated in South America as early as 8,000BC. They were much loved by both the Aztec and Mayan civilizations and are still found throughout Latin America with a tamale cart on every street corner. Maybe they were the original fast food!

I spent my later years of university and my first year of grad school in Texas, living it up and loving the local food traditions. I ate tamales everywhere I went, and I knew you could always judge a restaurant’s quality by the authenticity of their tamales.

I haven’t had a tamale since leaving the states and going vegan, so it was way past time to make my own. Veganizing them was easy as could be, and oh yes, they taste just as delicious. Crumbly corn dough filled with Tex Mex flavors, succulent ‘sausage’ and the rich butteryness of roasted garlic and the bright zing of green olives, had me reliving my days of sipping margaritas in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. I hope you love them as much as I do!

Tamales 2 Ways - Makes 8 Tamales

1 head of roasted garlic
3 veggie burger patties, cooked till crispy, then crumbled (1 and 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup chopped green olives
splash of liquid smoke

pinch of cumin

2 cups of masa harina
1 stick of vegan butter
1/4 cup vegetable based shortening
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
parchment paper
pinch of salt and pepper
3/4 – 1 cup water

- Get a steamer on the stove, heat the water to a low simmer

- Mash up the roasted garlic till completely soft

- Splash a bit of liquid smoke onto the crumbled burger patties to create the ‘sausage’

- In a food processor combine the masa, butter, shortening, salt, cumin, pepper, baking powder, and water for 1 minute. You want the dough to be soft and pliable, not too sticky – you need to be able to mold it together, it should not be sloppy and wet, but not too dry and crumbly either.

- Divide the masa mixture into two bowls. Put half of the sausage into each bowl. Put the roasted garlic into one bowl, and into the other bowl put the green olives. Mix up both batches of dough until the respective fillings are completely combined.

- In parchment paper (I couldn’t find the traditional corn husks! Don’t worry, this works fine.) spread a long thin portion of dough and wrap up the parchment paper around the filling, twisting both ends shut, like a tootsie roll.

- Once you have wrapped up all 8 tamales, place them in the steamer, it is okay to stack them loosely, and steam for 1 and 1/2 hours.

- Serve with beans, rice, guacamole, salsa, and LOTS of hot sauce! Enjoy!

Right now he’s on a 2 week business trip [...]]]> Hi everyone! I’m very happy to announce the first ever guest blogger on The Voracious Vegan – my sweet husband Cody! You have all heard me talk about him before, he’s a musician, a vegan, a feminist, a goofball, and he couldn’t be sweeter if he tried.

Right now he’s on a 2 week business trip to Washington DC to get his Saudi employment visa, which, unfortunately, can only be issued from DC. This is the longest we’ve been apart since we first met, nearly 6 years ago! But even though I miss him terribly, I’m enjoying hearing about all the fun he is having. I hope you will, too!

***

The Circle Hotel

Hi, all, Cody here.  As most of you probably know, I’m in Washington DC for a week or two jumping through bureaucratic hoops to get my employment visa for Saudi Arabia.  While I’m here, Tasha asked me to do a series of guest posts detailing my adventures and sharing with you the excellent vegan food I plan on gorging myself with.

Thanks, Tasha, for entrusting me with your blog for a bit.

I hope you all enjoy.

…

I arrived Tuesday afternoon to Dulles airport and grabbed a taxi to the One Washington Circle Hotel, which is my temporary home base while in DC.  The hotel’s great – comfy, roomy (I have a suite since I’m going to be here for a while), friendly staff.  It’s also got a great location.  I’m pretty much in walking distance of everywhere that I need to go as well as many of the great sites and locations.

Suite's living room

My view

The first night here I basically just settled into my hotel.  The definite highlight of my first day back in the US in three years was eating at the Java Green Café.  They are mostly vegan, although a couple of their dishes have organic cheese.  The vast majority of their ingredients are organic.  They offer a variety of raw dishes as well as wheat and gluten free options.  They are totally fair trade with their coffee and chocolate ingredients.  They offset 100% of their carbon footprint by purchasing wind power, all the take out bags and serving ware are corn, sugar cane fiber, and potato starch based, thus completely biodegradable, and, on top of it all, Java Green puts 50% of its profits towards earth-friendly causes.  I mean, come on.  It’s like you’re a bad person if you don’t eat there.

Oh, and the food was AMAZING.  I actually had dinner there the first night and couldn’t help myself from stopping back in for lunch the next day.  The first night I had the Turkey Club as well as what was probably one of the best cups of coffee I’ve ever had.  Also, on instructions from Tasha, I ordered an Independent Pig “Che” sandwich to take back to the hotel for later and also made the last minute decision to grab a chocolate chip cookie sandwich with some sort of vanilla cream icing in the middle.  The “Che” consisted of melted soy cheese stuffed ciabatta bread with veggie soy sausage, mushrooms, and spinach.  Nice and spicy.  So good.  The next day for lunch I had the Free Bird “Che” which had, along with the melted cheese, soy chicken breast and roasted red peppers.  I can’t say enough about how good this restaurant is.  I’m definitely going to be eating there at least a few more times while I’m in town.

Java Green Café

The Independent Pig "Che" - soy cheese, soy sausage, spinach mushrooms, mmm...

(Note: The Vegan Turkey Club was basically crumbs before I remembered that I needed to think like a food blogger.)

Day 2 was when the leg work started.

After a quick bowl of cereal, I started out the day by walking down to the Saudi Embassy.  I’m here to secure my employment visa for Saudi – time to make it official – so I started out the day at the embassy just getting them to double check the paperwork that I had to make sure everything was in order before I started out getting the few final documents.  A funny thing about going to the Embassy was that right as I approached the front entrance, I could smell oud burning (incense) and strong cologne.  There were people speaking Arabic waiting to go get some stuff done inside.  It was kind of weird to travel half way around the world and then get the sensory input telling me I’d just walked into a mall in Saudi.

The Saudi Embassy

The Watergate Hotel opposite the Saudi Embassy

Interestingly, the Embassy itself is right across the street from the Watergate Hotel.

I have to have a complete physical to get my visa.  So, after the Embassy I came back to the hotel, found a clinic that could do physicals without an appointment and then headed out again.  I ended up having to go to three separate places because the office I went to didn’t have the specialized blood draining paraphernalia for the malaria blood test and because they couldn’t take X-Rays.  The day was heating up, so in between getting the third vial of blood drawn for the malaria test and getting X-Rays, it dawned on me that I hadn’t eaten and that the world was swaying underneath me ever so subtly.  Blood extraction plus jetlag plus a light breakfast aren’t the best combo apparently.  So I popped into Java Green again for my Free Bird “Che” and then went to get pictures of my lungs taken.

The Free Bird "Che" - soy chicken, soy cheese, roasted red peppers

After taking a break in the hotel for a bit, I next headed out to meet up with some old friends of ours.  Maris and Tasha have been friends for years. Maris actually came to visit us in San Antonio when we lived there (just after we went vegan, actually). She and her partner Andrew have also visited with us in Bahrain.  Like Tasha and me, Maris is also an Aramco brat.

Maris and Andrew are living just outside of DC, so this gave me the chance to meet up with them for the evening.  To meet Andrew outside of his office, it was a scenic walk to say the least.  Most of the walk was right along Pennsylvania Avenue which, as you may know, is home to a rather famous address.

The White House

After a not too long Metro ride out of town, we arrived to the beautiful neighborhood where Maris and Andrew live.  I got to be their inaugural house guest, actually – they’d just moved into their new place.  They were great and, along with their French bulldog Matilde, made me feel right at home.  Although not vegan, Maris cooked up a wonderful vegan meal of quinoa burgers topped with guacamole, lettuce, and tomatoes with some good old fashioned corn on the cob to go along with it.

Andrew and Maris

Maris's Quinoa Burgers

Matilde!

Digging In

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bombs

And then, for dessert, Maris made a Voracious Vegan classic – chocolate peanut butter bombs. And considering the fact that Maris is a professional pastry chef, I have to say that she pulled them off splendidly.  The meal was wonderful, the company even better.  I spent the night in the guest room, waking up bright and early the next day to head back into DC and try to wrap up my paperwork.

Already, today’s been great (as long as I can ignore the void next to me where Tasha should be), but I’ll pick up here next time.

…

Through all of this, I think the only thing keeping me together though (aside from some great friends taking care of me), is being able to come back to the hotel and get on Skype with the Voracious Vegan herself.  We basically live our lives in a bubble with each other, so it’s tough being away from her.  It’s hard enough sitting in an office for nine hours away from her, so you can imagine how difficult it is being on the opposite side of the planet.  Thanks to the fact that we live in the future, though, I’ve been able to talk to her face to face on Skype several times a day.

Tasha and Polly keeping me company

Lobi listening to me via Skype and being confused

Until next time…

If you haven’t already, I really encourage you to go read [...]]]> First of all I want to say a huge thank you to all of the commenters on my last post – Veganism: Where Do You Draw the Line? You were all amazing! Seriously, all 70+ of you! And your emails/tweets/messages were just phenomenal. Thank you.

If you haven’t already, I really encourage you to go read through the comments, you will not regret it. They are so thoughtful and passionate, balanced and insightful – I know I learned a lot! All in all it was a brilliant conversation, I’m so lucky and grateful to have all of you amazing commenters in my life. You are just too amazing!

***

Now onto an entirely overemotional and melodramatic post.

Bon Voyage Coco!

WAAHHHHHH!!!!! Cody left last night to spend 2 weeks in Washington DC on a business trip. And I think I’m going to take to my bed with the vapors and not emerge until he returns bearing gifts. Lots of gifts. I might be a hard-ass broad, but when it comes to my sweet Coco, I crumble. We are ridiculously joined at the hip and have never spent more than 3 nights apart since we first met 6 years ago! And you all know how I feel about the fact that he is traveling by plane.

Oh, and, yes, my nickname for him is Coco. Feel free to wield that little nugget of knowledge as you see fit.

But Cody, always the sweetest person in the world, has left me with a stack of love letters (one to read each day he is gone) and a whole reel of love messages on video he made for me to watch. It’s sweet and utterly ridiculous when you consider we will be talking on the phone nonstop anyway. But can we all say awwwwwww!?!?!

So, Coco just called me from the Heathrow airport in London. We talked on video chat through skype, which I have to say just blew my mind. I love living in the future…and I love embarrassing him by being ‘risque’! Hee hee…

The past few days have been a whirlwind of me sobbing, Coco trying to hide his bemused laughter while he comforts me, and lots of good food and (tear stained) fun.

The day Cody left started out like any other -

Greeeeeen smoothie!

Then, for lunch, I cooked up his very favorite meal – mac and no cheese! He asks for this on every birthday, anniversary, any special occassion really.

It is one of the first vegan recipes I ever created, more than 3 years ago….and I’ve still never written it down! It is tasty and easy with a nooch based roux and homemade bread crumbs. I promise I’ll get around to it!

HOT SAUCED!

Flights only leave this part of the world at obscene hours like 1 o’clock in the morning, so we were able to relax and have a leisurely afternoon and evening.

We spent the evening before Cody left out in the desert hiking with the dogs. The humidity and heat magically dissapeared and it was actually fairly pleasant. We even had a nice, gentle breeze which is unheard of this time of year.

Now, as if the day wasn’t awesome enough, we returned home to one of the best dinners I’ve ever had. Ever.

I received American Vegan Kitchen by Tamasin Noyes in the mail yesterday and as I was flipping through the recipes I knew I had found the cookbook of my dreams. I wanted to make everything. The recipes are exactly my style, down home cooking, lots of American favorites, really simple, hearty, delicious food.

And what could be more delicious than fried avocados?!?!! Anyone who knows me knows that avocados are my favorite thing to eat, and that I am in love with all things fried. So, for me, the combination was too unbelievably good to be true. Imagine the lightest, crispiest, saltiest crust surrounding a rich, fatty, creamy wedge of avocado….I’m drooling just remembering it.

Yes.

YES.

It was THAT good.

Okay, folks. I’m exhausted. It has been an emotionally draining few days for this neurotic worrier. I’m off to veg out on the couch, cuddle my dingos, and count down the days till my love returns.

I’ve taken a lot of criticism for proclaiming more than one dessert ‘the best dessert in the world’ but you know what, I don’t care – this vegan buttermilk pie is the best dessert in the world! What can I say, I get really excited about my food and whatever tasty [...]]]>

I’ve taken a lot of criticism for proclaiming more than one dessert ‘the best dessert in the world’ but you know what, I don’t care – this vegan buttermilk pie is the best dessert in the world! What can I say, I get really excited about my food and whatever tasty treat I’m feasting on at the moment usually sends me over the moon.

Buttermilk Pie is a Southern classic, and a real Texas specialty, traditionally made with cow’s buttermilk, vinegar, eggs, and sugar. To give you an idea how delicious it is you should know that even thought I’ve only ever tasted it once before, nearly a decade ago, the memory has stuck with me tenaciously through the years.  The fact that I ate the entire pie all by myself all those many years ago has probably helped to cement my glowing memory.

Once I went vegan I mistakenly thought I would never again enjoy the rich, luscious, tangy sweetness of buttermilk pie, but, just like all my baby vegan misconceptions, I was so, so wrong.

This recipe was like a gift from the kitchen gods; it came to me fully formed and absolutely perfect. I literally had the idea, jotted it down, stood up to go to my kitchen and bake, and a few hours later I was rewarded with vegan buttermilk pie perfection.

And here’s the thing….this IS buttermilk pie. There’s no similarity, no replication…it completely and totally IS buttermilk pie. It’s got it all: the creamy custard-like texture, the dreamy sweetness and the tangy bite at the end. I do believe it would even please the Queen of Southern Cuisine Paula Deen herself. Perfection. And you know what else? This recipe is ridiculously simple and cruelty free. Veganism really does taste better.

This pie is tangy and sweet with a crumbly, buttery crust. It has a texture that is thick and rich, like a whipped custard, and it melts in your mouth and will always put a smile on your lips.

Ingredients
300 grams HobNobs or Graham Crackers or Oat Biscuits
2 pinches of salt
1/2 cup of melted room temperature vegan butter
1 box of Mori Nu Silken Extra Firm Tofu (12.3 oz)
1/4 cup of room temperature vegan butter
3/4 cup coconut milk
4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp of vanilla essence
5 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cup white sugar

- In a food processor or blender (or using your hands) completely crush the hobnobs and then combine completely with the 1/2 cup of melted vegan butter and pinch of salt. Spread into a greased pie pan and press firmly along the bottom and up the sides to form the pie crust. Put in the freezer for one hour.

- Once the pie crust has been in the freezer for an hour place the coconut milk into a bowl and add the vinegar. Do not stir. Allow to curdle while preparing the rest of the pie.

- In a food processor combine the tofu, 1/4 cup of butter, and vanilla. Blend until completely smooth with no lumps and no grittiness.

- Add to the food processor the curdled coconut milk and the flour and blend together completely until smooth.

- Then add the sugar and a pinch of salt and blend completely together. It might be a bit gritty from the sugar but that is fine.

- Pour into the pie crust and bake for 1 hour at 325F. Check the pie after 45 minutes to make sure it isn’t getting to brown on top. You want a bit of caramelization but not too much.

- When you remove the pie from the oven it will be VERY wobbly in the center, that is okay. Let it come to room temperature and then store it in the fridge for several hours, preferably overnight, before cutting into it. Enjoy!

First of all, to all of those who followed me, supported me, and encouraged me through my 7 day world hunger journey – THANK YOU. I cannot tell you how much your words of kindness meant to me. To all of the people who shared their expertise and knowledge with me, guided me along [...]]]> Hi Everyone!

First of all, to all of those who followed me, supported me, and encouraged me through my 7 day world hunger journey – THANK YOU. I cannot tell you how much your words of kindness meant to me. To all of the people who shared their expertise and knowledge with me, guided me along the way, and offered their support – I couldn’t have done it without you. And to the kind editors at Conducive Chronicle, I really appreciate being given such a wide reaching platform with which to share my story. Thank you.

And to the many, many of you who tweeted, posted to facebook, blogged about, or emailed, or in any other way spread the word about world hunger – thank you so much. Because of you we raised awareness about this topic and inspired many more people to take action. We also raised a nice sum of money for a few very amazing vegan organizations that are committed to fighting poverty and world hunger.

I’d like to say a special thank you to Kenda Swartz Pepper, the brilliant and compassionate woman whose 21 day Souljourn inspired my own journey. I could barely manage for 7 days, and she managed for 21! From the moment I reached out to her she was generous, encouraging, and a non-stop source of support and knowledge. Thank you Kenda!

***

The 7 days that I spent mimicking the diet of the world’s hungriest people affected me deeply. More than the hunger, more than the exhaustion, more than any physical discomfort, was the alternating sadness and anger that I felt as I studied the causes of the poverty and chronic undernourishment that is affecting 1 out of every 6 human beings alive. The one fact that I couldn’t get out of my head was – the planet produces more than enough food for every person to live comfortably, it is just not shared equitably. Tens of thousands of people die every year from hunger and hunger related diseases not because there isn’t enough food, but because of inequality and oppression.

It would be completely false and morally reprehensible for me to suggest that the hunger and weariness that accompanied my journey of voluntary undernourishment can in any way even remotely compare to the challenges facing the 1.2 billion people struggling with world hunger. I knew that logically going in, but I know it viscerally now. For me there was always the option of quitting, I had a kitchen full of food available to me at all times. I could have put a stop to my hunger at any time. This is an option that 1.2 billion peopled do not have and may never have.

The 7 days took a toll on me that was even more emotional than physical. I feel overwhelmed and drained, just completely frustrated at the injustices in the world that we all accept as normal. People ask me how I’m doing now that it is over and I find I’m having trouble answering them. It has been several days now but I still haven’t even begun to process the experience, I don’t think I have the strength yet.

I’m tired and angry and raw, my emotional armor has been completely obliterated, but it would be wrong to say that I have no hope. While I’ve been heartbroken and depressed by this journey, I’ve also been inspired and made hopeful by the brave and valiant people who are making a difference every single day. Therefore, I still have 2 articles planned for Conducive Chronicle detailing various solutions to world hunger and strategies we can begin enacting in our own lives to address poverty and inequality. I will also be sharing my interviews with Kenda Swartz Pepper and Anna Lappe. I will post the articles here as well, so stay tuned.

***

It feels very strange to try to transition back to a happy, light-hearted food blog after the past few weeks. I’m not exactly sure how to do it without seeming heavy  handed and forced. A part of me even feels guilty for switching so suddenly from discussing the people in the world who have no food, to celebrating the bounty of food that I am lucky enough to have.

But the fact is: I am lucky, so very lucky to have this life with so much richness and comfort. I am healthy, my friends and family are healthy, I have enough money to buy the food that I want, whenever I want, and I have never had to worry about my next meal. And I don’t think it is wrong to celebrate that. What would be wrong would be to forget that this is not the case for the majority of people in the world. I stand in solidarity every single day of my life alongside those who do not have enough, people and animals who are literally fighting for survival. And while I will never stop fighting, and I will never forget the job I have to do, I also know that it won’t help anyone to deny the pleasures that I am able to enjoy.

On that note, on my first day off of the world hunger ‘diet’, I indulged in some of my very favorite foods and took the entire day to rest and recuperate and fortify my strength. It was such a beautiful experience to be able to eat freely again. As you all know, I have never in my life gone on a diet or restricted myself in any way. Food has always been a source of joy and delight to me, a necessity of life that has superseded the mundane habit it requires and taken on the status of something extraordinary. I cherished my meals before, but now they have taken on a whole new level of significance. Each of these meals was eaten in reverence and gratitude.

Breakfast

All week long I had been desperately missing my usual green smoothie breakfast. Oh leafy greens, you mean so much to me! Love doesn’t even begin to cover the rapture I felt as I took that first icy cold sip. And the pancakes were super jam packed with spelt flour and flax seeds, and topped with a ton of earth balance and 100% pure maple syrup. I wanted to start the day off right and I definitely did!

Lunch

During the week I had also ravenously missed giant raw veggie salads. Fresh fruits and vegetables are not always readily available to people living in poverty, so they had not been a huge part of my diet while I was mimicking the food choices of the chronically hungry. In my ‘regular’ life, however, they are a huge part of my daily meals and I was glad to have them back. I also feasted on an absolutely delicious black bean burrito, dunked in plenty of barbecue sauce, and a sea salt covered pile of edamame.

Dinner

There was never any doubt what my dinner was going to be. It had to be my now famous Mediterranean Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers with a ton of oven roasted fries. If you haven’t tried these burgers yet – what are you waiting for? The recipe still gets hundreds and sometimes thousands of page views a day, and that many people cannot be wrong. This burger was so good  I think I groaned throughout every bite. Pure yum and so hearty (and gluten free for all my celiac friends!)! And yes, that is more barbecue sauce for the fries. I LOVE barbeuce sauce!

Dessert

This is, without a doubt, the very best dessert I have ever created. In all honesty, it is the best dessert, vegan or not, that I have ever in my life enjoyed. It tastes like pure luscious, dense, chocolate. If chocolate has a soul, this is it. I won’t tell you what it is yet, because I’m going to devote an entire post to it soon, but I’ll give you a hint: to make it, you only need 4 ingredients. Can you believe that you can create heaven on earth with only 4 ingredients?

*

]]> http://thevoraciousvegan.com/2010/05/10/world-hunger-recovery-day-1/feed/ 23 http://thevoraciousvegan.com/2010/05/07/souljourn-for-world-hunger-day-6-hunger-in-america/ http://thevoraciousvegan.com/2010/05/07/souljourn-for-world-hunger-day-6-hunger-in-america/#comments Fri, 07 May 2010 10:49:49 +0000 thevoraciousvegan http://thevoraciousvegan.com/?p=1070

This series is also being posted at The Conducive Chronicle. Please head over there to check it out!

***

I was so hungry this morning when I woke up that for a full five minutes before getting out of bed I was determined to quit this world hunger journey, call the [...]]]>

This series is also being posted at The Conducive Chronicle. Please head over there to check it out!

***

I was so hungry this morning when I woke up that for a full five minutes before getting out of bed I was determined to quit this world hunger journey, call the whole thing off, and spend all day in the kitchen eating everything I could get my hands on. For the past six days I have been mimicking the diet of the world’s 1.2 billion chronically hungry people and I am absolutely sick of it. I truly believe that if every person on earth, not just 1 out of 6 of us, felt like this for just one week in their lives, chronic hunger would be completely eliminated. After all, there is more than enough food for everyone to live comfortably, and once you experience this stomach clenching emptiness and leg shaking weakness, there really is no way you would willingly allow other human beings to suffer like this. So, after a full five minutes of self-pity and frustration, I dragged myself out of bed, put all thoughts of pancakes, hashbrowns, and chocolate out of my mind and began to explore today’s topic: hunger in the developed world, specifically the United States of America. I will also be sharing an interview from People’s Grocery, a community based organization in West Oakland, California developing creative solutions to the health problems in their community that stem from a lack of access to, and education about, healthy, fresh foods.

Last night’s Cambodian inspired meal of tofu, veggies, and rice kept me satisfied and totally full for hours after dinner. I rarely ever eat tofu, but it was a nice change of pace from the beans that have made up the majority of this past week’s meals. After dinner I fell asleep easily, a welcome change to the tossing and turning I’ve become accustomed to on this world hunger journey. Unfortunately, however, my body doesn’t hold on to 1,000 calories for long and, like I said, I woke up absolutely ravenous. Waking up has been the hardest part of this experience, even harder than the hunger pangs keeping me awake at night. Morning seems to be when my body’s demand for food is hardest to ignore and my resolve against giving in is weakest. Again, I am in awe that Kenda Swartz Pepper managed to do this for 21 days, and humbled by the knowledge that so much of humanity has no other choice but to feel like this always.

Today my virtual world tour of chronic hunger focuses on hunger in the developed world, specifically the United State of America. Many people in the rich global north think of hunger as something that happens ‘over there’, in a vague, unspecified country on the other side of the globe where people are poor and life is hard. What they don’t know is that there are 49 million Americans facing chronic hunger. Poverty and hunger aren’t conditions specific to only a few geographic locations, they are world wide, and the numbers of people afflicted are growing, even in the U.S. Nearly 50 million Americans, and almost 1 in 4 children, were facing chronic hunger in 2009. Prompted by the economic crisis this is the highest number of Americans facing hunger since the government began keeping track of the statistic.

1 in 9 Americans are currently on food stamps, receiving government assistance so they can afford to buy food, and half of all American children will be fed by food stamps at one point during their childhood. It seems that for many people the American Dream has turned out to be just a figment of the imagination. One of the great enduring myths about the U.S. is that it is the land of opportunity, a place where anyone can make it to the top. And while technically that may be true, in actual practice this kind of bootstrap self leveraging is nothing but a fantasy. America has both a high rate of income inequality and very low rate of social mobility, meaning that children don’t usually exceed their parent’s level of wealth and economic standing. In the United States children from low income families have only a 1% chance of reaching the top 5% of income distribution, as compared to the children from wealthy families who enjoy a 22% chance. Children from middle class families have a slightly higher chance of ending up in the lower income bracket than they do of reaching the higher income bracket. And their chances of ending up in the top 5% of income distribution is only 1.8%, barely higher than the children from low income families. This stagnation of progress builds a growing underclass of people who end their lives where they started: in poverty.

“By international standards, the United States has an unusually low level of intergenerational mobility: our parents’ income is highly predictive of our incomes as adults. Intergenerational mobility in the United States is lower than in France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Among high-income countries for which comparable estimates are available, only the United Kingdom had a lower rate of mobility than the United States.” ~ American Progress.org

Poverty, and therefore chronic hunger, in the US often falls along racial lines. According to the 2008 US Census 13.2% of all Americans are experiencing poverty. However, in the African American community the percentage of people struggling with poverty rises to 24.7%, nearly 1 in 4 people. While 1 in 4 American children will at some point be fed by food stamps, a shocking 90% of all black children will be fed by food stamps during their childhood. 59% of Latino children in the US grow up in low income families, 20% more than the national average. African American and Latino families are more than twice as likely to report that food in their home is scarce.

“So long as low-income minority children have to fight racism and multi-generational poverty from birth onwards, they’ll never truly experience the land of opportunity we read about in our elementary school textbooks, the country that so many immigrants still desperately search for upon their arrival to our ‘city upon a hill’.” ~ Charlotte Hill

African Americans are also much more likely than white Americans to face the problem of food deserts. Food deserts, large geographic areas with no or only distant grocery stores, are a growing problem in the United States. Food deserts are concentrated in low income neighborhoods that have an imbalance of food choice. While these areas have a predominance of fast food restaurants, liquor stores, and convenience stores they lack easy and affordable access to healthy, fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Convenience stores only carry a small selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, that is often much more expensive than the processed junk food items also on the shelves. According to the 2000 US Census, 23.5 million Americans, 8.4% of the population, live in low-income neighborhoods that are a mile or more away from the nearest grocery store. 2.3 million Americans living in food deserts do not have access to a car. Lack of time to devote to traveling and a lack of money or ability to utilize transportation strands these people in a barren nutritional wasteland, where the only option is often the poisonous offerings of fast food restaurants and the empty calories found on convenience store shelves. The calorie laden food people in food deserts are often forced to rely on is actually nutritionally lacking, bereft of the vitamins and minerals necessary for health, which leads to a higher than average incidence of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and premature death.

“I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.” ~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

(PCRM)

Federal subsidies play a large role in determining what kind of food Americans are able to afford. As you can see in the diagram above, 73.8% of government food subsidies go to the producers of meat and dairy, two products which, according to a substantial body of research including The China Study, one of the largest nutritional studies every undertaken, are completely unnecessary to human health and have been linked to high rates of heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes of death in the United States. Many people in America are still victims of the protein myth, the belief that animal protein is needed in large quantities to ensure health, which leads to the average American consuming twice the amount of daily recommended protein. The fact is, protein is one of the last things you need to worry about getting enough of. If you eat a calorie sufficient and varied plant based vegan diet you will easily consume the recommended daily allowance of protein. When I’m not mimicking the diet of the world’s 1.2 billion hungry people, I easily exceed the amount of protein I need to eat, and I do it on a whole food vegan diet, without any supplementation or protein powders and only a very minimal amount of soy.

The protein myth that pushes dairy and meat products on Americans at astronomical levels has given the U.S. one of the highest rates of cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis in the world. But still, the myth persists and the government funds it to the tune of millions of dollars a year. Producers do everything they can to keep consumers buying animal products, including formulating industry wide ‘happy meat’ marketing ploys like ‘free-range’ and ‘cage-free’. A piece of meat might cost few dollars at the store, but the actual, unseen price, in addition to the vast tax payer funded subsidies, is the environmental destruction caused in the production process; the waste of corn, grain, and water, needed to raise a cow for slaughter; and the health issues inherent in a high animal protein diet. When a person only has a small amount of money to purchase food for themselves and their family and they are faced with the onslaught of the pervasive protein myth, the growing problem of food deserts, and the fact that you can often buy a burger for less than the cost of a salad, making smart and sustainable food choices often becomes a hopeless dream.

Big agriculture, propped up by taxpayer’s money, has promoted the idea that sustainable, egalitarian food production is an elitist fantasy, but the truth is it is a necessary component to human dignity that they purposefully try to keep out of our reach. I have written before on the need for the American people to demand the best for their bodies, and insist on a move towards organic, healthy food that is accessible to all people. As Kenda covered during her 21 day world hunger “Souljourn”, supporting local farmers markets and requesting organic, local produce at your grocery store is a great way to start. However, these two options can sometimes seem unrealistic for people living with poverty.

People’s Grocery is changing all of that. A unique West Oakland organization, People’s Grocery is changing the way the food system works. They believe that everyone, regardless of income, should have access to healthy, fresh foods. They call this belief that food is a human right ‘food justice’.

“People’s Grocery works toward creating a food system that centralize the needs of the urban poor and develop programs and enterprises that produce and distribute fresh foods, provide nutrition education, promote urban agriculture and create local jobs.” ~ People’s Grocery

I would like to share with you the interview I had with Nikki Henderson, Executive Director of People’s Grocery.

Burge: People’s Grocery is committed to changing the way the food system works and fighting food insecurity. What is wrong with the way the food system works in America today?

Henderson: Limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables for people in vulnerable communities creates health problems that become serious human rights violations. The fact that people born of a particular ethnicity, in a particular location are categorically more likely to die earlier with more disease is a blight on this country. It’s our duty and obligation to make sure these health impacts due to limited access to a healthy diet are corrected.

Burge: How did the idea of People’s Grocery originate?

Henderson: People’s Grocery was founded in 2003 by three residents who saw that limited access to nutritious and affordable foods, a lack of stable jobs and limited opportunities for enterprise development in West Oakland were having negative impacts on the quality of life of low-income families.

Burge: It can be hard for people to believe that in a country as wealthy as the US, hunger and food insecurity affects as many as 1 out of every 9 people. How widespread is the problem of hunger in the community that you work with?

Henderson: We see the effects of hunger everyday. Something people don’t realize is that hunger affects more than just one’s stomach—it affects their worldview, and their ability to function. When young black men kill each other during the high summer days in Oakland, did anyone ask them what they’d eaten recently?

Burge: You believe that food is a human right. How can this simple concept change the world?

Henderson: If we saw food as a human right, we would re-establish the value that certain basic needs are not private property. If someone cannot afford food, they should have it anyway. This would translate into: if someone cannot afford water, housing, etc, they should have it anyway. It would open the door to evolved economic systems that serve the people and the greater good.

Burge: What were some of the struggles People’s Grocery experienced during its creation?

Henderson: Because we are attempting something fairly new, a systematic altering of the food system in our neighborhood, People’s Grocery has had to be as adaptable as we are visionary. Not just in the beginning, but also throughout our work, we’ve had to learn the lessons of the market, the neighborhood, and where our strengths and challenges lie within a changing economy and city. We have let go of programs we love and start programs where we had to acquire or build new competencies.  That way of working is a challenge, but we are moving in a great direction.

Burge: Can you explain how and why food deserts have originated in parts of America and the effects they have on the health and well being of the citizens?

Henderson: A few decades ago, the grocery stores in urban areas began moving to suburban areas because the profit was higher. Large chains have a number of reasons why it’s difficult to operate a grocery store in an inner-city neighborhood: employee turnover is high, demand is low, etc. These widespread beliefs have filtered through the mainstream food distribution system, and now we have similar neighborhoods around the country with no grocery stores. Luckily, local, sustainable movements have prospered over the years, so the lack of grocery stores will be replaced in part by small markets, farmer’s markets, etc.

Burge: People in the U.S. are experiencing a profound disconnection from the way their food is grown. Do you think this is a contributing factor to the decline of health in America? In your experience, how has urban farming transformed this lack of connection?

Henderson: When people don’t know where their food comes from, the connection between diet and health is lost. It makes intuitive sense to someone that a vegetable eaten fresh out of the ground after harvesting is healthier than a vegetable that has been canned for years. Urban Farming provides every day people with the opportunity to learn how to interact with fresh produce, and this interaction leads to a deeper ongoing relationship with fruits and vegetables. This leads to healthier eating!

Burge: Have you come up against any political challenges in your work? How does the U.S. political and agricultural infrastructure hinder the actions of people trying to enjoy local, sustainable food?

Henderson: We come up against the same political challenges all small organizations do: the larger political system does not fully support local, sustainable food systems. The political and legislative machine of the Food and Farm Bill supports commodity crops en masse more than local systems. Current agricultural practices not only damage the land, but the people who farm in America.

Burge: I’m very interested in your work with community outreach and education, especially in regards to young people. What have you found to be a successful strategy to ignite the desire to change the status quo and learn more about food and nutrition?

Henderson: Youth speaking to youth has been very successful. We had a Peer-to-Peer program that allowed graduates of our youth program to design their own curriculum and encourage other youth to care more about their health and well being.

Burge: Can you tell us about some of your success stories? How has People’s Grocery changed the lives of the people in the community?

Henderson: At the moment, my favorite success stories are from the cooking class. I spoke to a gentleman who used salt in enormous amounts and would never have a meal without meat. After the cooking class, he now uses extra virgin olive oil, Bragg amino acids instead of salt, and has an occasion meatless meal! His entire attitude changed, and we have plenty of those stories.

Thank you so much to the inspiring people from People’s Grocery for their help in my research and for the world changing work that they do. And thank you to Nikki Henderson for sharing her knowledge and experience. Be sure to check out their website, spread the news about their vision, and maybe start your own version in your community!

***

Every day I send these articles off to be published later and later. As my body slows down and cries out for food and rest, my brain responds with sluggish thoughts and an inability to focus. I  need more breaks during the day, I close my eyes and doze for longer stretches, and it is starting to feel as if I’m moving underwater, against the stream. Simple, easy things take a lot of my attention and I honestly do not know if I could continue like this if I had longer than one day to go.

Today’s post was difficult for more reasons than just exhaustion. America is such a land of extremes and my mind couldn’t make the two ends of the spectrum match up. At one end, you have millions and millions of people struggling with chronic hunger, and at the other end you have a country that, according to the USDA, throws out 263,013,699 lbs of food a day. 1.5 tons of edible food is wasted per year for every hungry American woman, man and child. Twenty seven % of all food produced in the U.S. each year is lost at the retail, consumer, and food service levels. I had to check these numbers more than once, and i even comically rubbed my eyes on occasion. They seem outlandish and unreal, don’t they? What a disgusting travesty, what a slap in the face to the 49 million Americans who are chronically hungry. Like I said before, some people have so much they literally throw it out, while others have none at all and they starve.

After reading about the astronomic levels of food waste in the U.S., there was no way I could let any of my own food go to waste. I never can, actually, I’m usually pretty diligent about using up everything we’ve got. On those rare occasions when I unearth a moldy, forgotten tomato, or a wilted and soggy bunch of cilantro, I feel annoyed and angry with myself, and that was before going on this world hunger project. If I wasted food now, I think I might cry. So, I took some of the beans and rice dinner that I enjoyed on my day spent focused on hunger in Latin America, and I added a zucchini and bell pepper and it was delicious.

Total Calories: 1,067
Total Fat: 41.7
Total Carbohydrates: 149
Total Protein: 26.6

To Follow Natasha’s World Hunger Journey

7 Days for World Hunger: Day 1

7 Days for World Hunger: Day 2

7 Days for World Hunger: Day 3

7 Days for World Hunger: Day 4

7 Days for World Hunger: Day 5

Sustainable giving programs dedicated to providing solutions that help eliminate poverty and world hunger.

• Food For Life
• Trees for Life
• Community Action Fund for Women in Africa
• Fruit Tree Planting Foundation
• Women’s Bean Project
• Sustainable Harvest International
  International Fund for Africa

If you would like to help in the fight against world hunger please spread the word about this Souljourn, we are trying to build a movement! If you would like to join in, let us know!

You can also donate to Food for Life and International Fund for Africa, they are both 100% vegan organizations dedicated to ending poverty and chronic hunger while spreading the benefits of a cruelty free vegan diet.

Thank you to BookPubCo for their support!

I wish I could adequately explain how outrageously authentic this gumbo is. I wish I could send you all a bowl so you could taste for yourself the smokey, thick, rich lusciousness of the broth, and the melt in your mouth softness of all the vegetables. The broth is so silky and thick, almost like [...]]]>

I wish I could adequately explain how outrageously authentic this gumbo is. I wish I could send you all a bowl so you could taste for yourself the smokey, thick, rich lusciousness of the broth, and the melt in your mouth softness of all the vegetables. The broth is so silky and thick, almost like a very thin gravy, and the rich, smoky roux flavor will have you swooing at the first bite. Please believe me when I say you have GOT to make this gumbo.

Many people look at me with suspicion when I say how tasty vegan gumbo is. They would have you believe you need sausage or some kind of meat to get the fatty smokiness that is essential to good gumbo. But they would be wrong! The smoky flavor we associate with meat doesn’t come from meat at all, it is a flavor that can be imparted on many other things with the right cooking technique (especially mushrooms!) or added easily to any dish with a few drops of liquid smoke. And that fatty, mouth coating creaminess doesn’t come from dead animals, either. It is created by the roux, that magical mixture of oil and flour, that is cooked slowly and gently for nearly an hour to create the base of any decent gumbo. It really is magic, you’ve just got to try it for yourself.

To me, anytime I make or eat Gumbo, or, in fact, any Cajun dish, I instantly think of my amazing father in law: Stafford.

See the glint of mischief in his eyes? Well, that captures him perfectly! Just looking at this picture puts a huge smile on my face. I wish you could all meet Stafford because he really is one of the best people I have ever known.

He is 73 years old and is fitter than I could ever hope to be, and displays his youthful energy in frequent impromptu wrestling matches with his two sons, where he is always the victor.

As soon as he met me he welcomed me into his family with open arms and treated me like the daughter he never had. When Cody and I first got engaged I’m not sure who was happier, us, or him! He is charismatic, down to earth, incredibly friendly and so generous he would literally give you the shirt off his back if you asked for it. I am not exaggerating or flattering him, he really is one of the best, kindest, most wonderful men I know.

Most amazingly of all there is nothing he wouldn’t do for his family. He loves them so much that when you spend time with them it is palpable. He never misses an opportunity to tell his wife and his sons how much he adores them, how lucky he is to have them, and how wonderful they all are.

Stafford told me before that he never thought he would have a family, so when he got one, a bit later in life than most people, he considered himself the luckiest man on earth. Just thinking about his kindness, his craziness, and his awesome sense of humor is making me tear up right now. He lives in the US and Cody and I are over here in Saudi Arabia and we talk about how much we miss him frequently. (Stafford! If you are reading this hurry up and come visit!)

The reason Cajun food always reminds me of Stafford is because he is from the great and quirky state of Louisiana. You see, Cody is a true mutt. His mother, Shirley, is from England, and his father, Stafford, is a true Southern boy at heart.

When Cody and I first started dating his parents still lived in Louisiana (they have since moved to Texas) and we went to visit them several times and had a blast. I had never been to Louisiana before and it was everything I had imagined it to be. Muggy, sweltering, primordial, almost! There was so much green and lush wilderness everywhere it was like being transported back in time.

(Don’t worry! Even before going vegan there is no way I could have ever gone hunting. We were shooting clay discs that shot out of this little machine. )

Gumbo, to me and many other people, is synonymous with Louisiana. Its muddy, rich flavors and full bodied spices are a true symbol of the melting pot that is the American Gulf Coast. French cooking techniques, West African flavors, and American Pioneer ingenuity combine to make a unique and quintessentially southern dish. It is a simple soup, but when you have the patience to cook it for as long as it needs, it transforms into something truly magical.

Gumbo
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup all purpose flour
1 yellow onion, chopped small (you want all the pieces about the same size as the black beans you will be adding)
2 red bell peppers, chopped small
2 green bell peppers, chopped small
6 ribs of celery, chopped small
4 cups of chopped okra
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
4 cloves of garlic, diced fine
4 liters of water
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
3 tsp liquid smoke
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
a few cups of cooked rice and parsley to garnish

- In a large soup pot add the oil and flour, cook on low heat, constantly stirring for 45 minutes until the roux has turned a golden, caramel color. This part is THE MOST IMPORTANT. Cook slowly and VERY gently, do not ever stop stirring and BE PATIENT. If you don’t let it gently cook for at least 30 minutes to an hour it will not be roux! This is they key to the magical flavor. Don’t let it go too far past a golden caramel color, or else it will burn and you’ll have to start over!

- After about 45 minutes, once the roux is a deep golden color and smells rich and nutty, add the onions, celery, bell peppers, okra, and garlic. Stir and coat with the roux. Raise heat to medium and cook for about ten minutes.

- Add the 4 liters of water, beans and corn, and all the dried spices plus salt and pepper. Raise heat to high, bring to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to simmer.

- Simmer for at least 3 hours. AT LEAST 3 HOURS. Really, do not try to rush gumbo, it just won’t work. If you want to taste the magic you’ve got to be patient!

- After about 2 hours of simmering add the liquid smoke, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar and continue cooking for at least another hour.

- After 3 hours serve it on top of rice with lots of crusty bread for dipping.

These were so delicious and also a complete surprise! My usually overflowing kitchen was a bit barren, all the ingredients mismatched and out of place. For a long time I walked back and forth between my fridge and my pantry, trying to figure out what to make. I’m not sure why but somehow I decided [...]]]>

These were so delicious and also a complete surprise! My usually overflowing kitchen was a bit barren, all the ingredients mismatched and out of place. For a long time I walked back and forth between my fridge and my pantry, trying to figure out what to make. I’m not sure why but somehow I decided to make black bean quesadillas with a cajun flair and I am SO glad I did. I love lightly fried tortillas and when their insides are stuffed with spicy, smoky black beans it is even better!

I sauted an onion and garlic until they were very caramelized and brown. I then added cooked black beans, mashed them up with liquid smoke and a cajun spice mix and spread it into the center of a folded tortilla. It is important to mash the beans up, it helps the tortilla stick together. Then I lightly buttered the outside of the tortillas, fried them up and served them topped with tofutti vegan sour cream. (And a side of roasted veg, including kohlrabi – my new favorite.) So good!