World Hunger Recovery – Day 1

thevoraciousvegan — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:13:32 +0000

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?

Pumpkin Pancakes

thevoraciousvegan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:32:00 +0000

Another great recipe from Vegan Brunch. I had actually planned to make my own pumpkin pancakes but my brain was just not functioning and the thought of figuring out yet another recipe completely eluded me that morning. So, I opened my trusty copy of Vegan Brunch and flipped straight to this recipe.

These were not what I expected. Once I whipped up the batter I gave it a quick taste test and I was shocked. It was spicy and sharp, not sweet at all. I added a few tablespoons of evaporated cane juice to sweeten everything up and then, once satisfied with the now slightly sweet taste, ladled the batter into the frying pan. The texture of these pancakes is extremely luscious and moist, absolutely dense with pumpkin and spice, not the fluffy and light pancakes you would usually think of. But they were good, in fact, as I took bite after bite, I realized that I really liked them! And they were the perfect way to start our Halloween weekend. My only regret is that I didn’t fill these with chocolate chips, the combination of chocolate and pumpkin is one of my favorite.

The Voracious Vegan » pancakes

World Hunger Recovery – Day 1

Pumpkin Pancakes