On being vegan in Vancouver
Today I must first apologize for not writing in quite some time. I was fully consumed with tidying things up with our business so I could spend a week with my husband in the lovely Whistler, Vancouver, British Columbia. Alas the life of a small business owner … but I would not trade it for anything.
Now on to more important topics. I have not been to Canada since I was a wee child. In my mind I had a flowery idea of what this country would be like. Love everywhere, free health care … and optimistically I envisioned more compassionate food choices. Unfortunately the Canadians proved me wrong on all of these. I must have watched too many Michael Moore films. Don’t get me wrong, this is a beautiful part of the world. Greenery and natural wonder are everywhere. People seem fit and healthy when compared to Americans (in Whistler at least where locals probably ski 100+ days a year!).
Yet I have found the food choices to be less than what I hoped for. In all honesty I found it easier to eat vegan in Nebraska. Shock, I know! At least in Nebraska we stay with family. I can go to the grocery store and buy ingredients to make vegan foods. In Whistler were are staying in a fantastic hotel yet lack access to a kitchen. So I find myself at the mercy of the airport, restaurant and ski lodge menus. Every place has allowed me to choose a vegetarian meal but sadly none have had vegan choices. Worse yet, several of the restaurants here serve foie gras and veal! I am shocked to see these horrific food choices on menus! I feel compelled to walk into each restaurant and ask the manager why they feel the need to serve foods that require so much cruelty in order to reach a person’s palette. What I have decided instead is to boycott any restaurant serving foie gras. Veal on the other hand seems to be served in every single one! ARGH!
It seems on the whole, Canadians (at least in this part of the province) are a bit more ecologically minded than the whole of Americans. I know full well I could be sitting in the San Francisco of Canada so I don’t want to make this generalization to the entire country. In the National Post (Canadian newspaper) today I read an article about Albertans (in Calgary) making the earth-conscious decision to use beef tallow as fuel for city vehicles in an effort to make Calgary a “sustainable city”. WHAT? Are Calgary officials ignoring the devastating effects of cattle production on the environment. The city manager claims that beef tallow is a “waste product” of the cattle industry. Ahem … just like leather, right? They believe that using beef tallow for fuel will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90%. In actuality, what they are doing is creating a demand for a “byproduct” that we wouldn’t need if cattle were not slaughtered and consumed anyway!
Luckily the reporter was wise enough to quote a Greenpeace coordinator in addition to the “environmentally-minded” city officials. Dave Martin, from Greenpeace, said “It’s (beef tallow) is only cleaner if you ignore the environmental cost of production…But what happens if you take into account the carbon from the feedlots, growing corn for feed, getting those cattle to market?…There’s no free lunch for any fuel.”1 Thank you Dave. At least other forms of fuel do not require the torture and slaughter of animals in their production.
Alas, Canada is not what I thought it would be. The national health care system does not cover things such as cancer drugs. Citizens experience bankruptcy as a result of medical costs just as Americans do albeit at a smaller percentage. They have an army just like we do that trains young people to kill others with guns not kindness. Vancouver is home to gangs that wear body armour to spare their lives from rival gangs. I will say however that Canada does know how to treat its elementary and secondary education teachers who earn nearly $90,000 Canadian (roughly $73,770 US) per year. Now if only Canadians could be more enlightened about their food choices and philosophies about reducing greehhouse gas emissions. Could Michael Moore create a film about that?
1. Libin, Kevin. “Calgary looks at beef tallow as fuel for its vehicles,” National Post. Feb. 11, 2009. Vol 11, No. 89. Page A3.