"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." Eldridge Cleaver, 1968 "We've got to get ourselves back to the garden."
Joni Mitchell, 1969
Ah, the sixties -- we had the passion, we had the vision. We did not have the food. A relic dating back to 1971 bears that out, a little pamphlet called Earth Food. It features a handful of earthy, earnest recipes including Nut Savory "A treat from England" -- no one's idea of a culinary hotspot. The recipe -- a dense, bland meatless sort of meatloaf --wouldn't earn any plant-based converts. Nor would the one for aduki rice -- equal parts aduki (Japanese red beans) and brown rice. No seasoning at all. No fresh produce to give a little lift and life force.
VegKitchen's Nava Atlas was a kid back then but remembers that time, when meatless eats meant "things with lentils and barley and wheatberries, anything that was brown or beige." The food might have skewed a little too much towards earth tones, but it was kinder to the earth than the way we eat now. Without even trying, it was all the things we hype -- small-batch, homemade, local. There was little in the way of meatless processed food. Back then, if you wanted to be plant-based, you not only had to get yourself back to the garden, you had to get yourself into the kitchen, too.
Meatless meals are anything but brown and beige these days, and anything but bland. Recipes reflect the whole planet, every ethnicity and cuisine, every spice. Atlas herself has written a crop of cookbooks, including the upcoming Vegan Holiday Kitchen. Of course, the problem is, fewer people cook. And they don't have to, thanks to the whole explosion of meatless products on the market. Notice I say products, not food. Those pretty boxes in pretty colors lining the shelves of your grocery store may be plant-based, but most are pretty far from the plant. Just because it's meatless doesn't mean it's good for you.
It is possible to be meatless without eating a vegetable, without eating anything fresh, just a steady diet of additive-loaded processed food. You can see what it's doing to us. The USDA has drawn a link between processed foods and obesity. For the first time, its new dietary guidelines offer the one-two punch of touting the benefits of a plant-based diet and urging us away from processed foods.
"It may be people get away from the fact a sound vegan diet is based on produce, grains and legumes," says Atlas. "The other stuff should be there for occasional and fun usage. It's expensive and salty or sugary. People have to be careful not to fall into the same bad food traps as nonvegans."
In the introduction to 40-year old Earth Food, author Jim Corlett writes, "The last few years have seen the alarming use of hormones in the breeding and raising of cattle, livestock and poultry. The extensive use of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers on our farmers are slowly but inexorably disturbing the balance of nature. . . . Much of our food is artificial. . . monstrous quantities of our resources are being used up in packaging."
Forty years later, it's all still happening -- like a bad acid flashback, only real. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. The good news is, the solution is at hand, and it's cheap and easy. Turns out it really is about getting back to the garden, to eating food that's grown, not manufactured, food that's plant-based and easily traced to plants. Not only does it nourish your body and the planet it comes from, we've learned to make earth food taste awesome -- hallelujah. Painted with a palate of fresh produce, it's vibrant in the mouth, full of life force and every color but brown. The abundance of farmers markets and community shared agriculture programs across the country means you never have to go far for a fresh vegetable -- the garden comes to you.
Part of the Solution Plant-Based Cassoulet
Sixties era aduki rice is wholesome but lacks flavor. Robust traditional cassoulet has beans at its heart, too -- also sausage, duck and pork -- a virtual menagerie. This vegan one spares all animals and loads up on fresh vegetables, instead. Bean-rich and soul-satisfying, it's got all the passion of the '60s plus this millenium's demand for delicious.
Using dried beans which you cook ahead of time makes for a creamier, dreamier cassoulet, using canned beans save you time -- your call. Either way, this dish takes a bit of cooking time. Most of it, though, happens without you having to mess with it. Think of it not as a nuisance, but as a labor of love. Serve with a simple green salad or steamed broccoli, crusty bread and a cabernet.
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil a large, deep baking dish or casserole.
1 pound dried white beans, like cannellini or navy beans, cooked and drained
or 2 15-ounce cans white beans, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 2 to 3 more for drizzling
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 pound fresh shiitakes or other exotic mushrooms, sliced
2 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (from about 2 sprigs thyme)
1-1/2 cups tomato puree
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
half a bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped onions and garlic and stir until vegetables soften and turn golden, about 4 minutes. Add chopped carrots and celery and cook another 5 minutes, stirring occassionally.
Add sliced mushrooms and continue cooking, stirring for another 4 to 5 minutes or until all the vegetables are softened and fragrant.
Add cloves, bay leaf and thyme leaves. Pour in tomato puree and red wine.
Cook uncovered over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remoce bay leaf and cloves, season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together chopped parsley and dried bread crumbs.
Pour half the white beans into the prepared baking dish. Add half the vegetables and tomato sauce. Layer with second half of the beans and top with the rest of the sauce.
Blanket with the bread crumbs and drizzle with another 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
The bread crumbs form a nice crust and also create an extra seal during the baking, so the beans cook beautifully.
Cover with lid or tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove cover and bake for another 15, or until top is golden brown and crunchy and the cassoulet is bubbling and inviting.
Serves 6 to 8.
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See yourself in Others - Buddha
The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men. - Leonardo Da Vinci
A man can be healthy without killing animals for food: therefore, if he eats meat, he participatÂes in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. - Leo Tolstoy
I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it. - Abraham Lincoln
Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for the survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. - Albert Einstein
Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends. - George Bernard Shaw
"Be the change you want to see in the world." There are many problems in the world we can't change, but with every meal, we have the power to create lasting positive change.
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." - Mahatma Ghandi.
"Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punisments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way". - Martin Luther King, JR.(Many people don’t realize that his wife, Correta and son Dexter are both vegan).
-Hitler
-Pol Pot
-Charles Manson
-Volkert van der Graaf
-Ghengis Kahn
Arguments from authority almost always loose, for among the reasons that there are always "anti-authorities" your opponent can use. This is a perfect example. You say, "vegetarianism is good because all these wonderful people practiced it." I can easily make the counter argument, "vegetarianism is bad because all these bad people practiced it." There are plenty of good arguments for a diet that includes a lot less meat than we Americans consume. This ain't one of them.
"For of the fruits of the trees and the seeds of the herbs alone do I partake".
The main Essene scripture is the Gospel of the Holy Twelve, rediscoverÂed in 1888 and translated from the Aramaic by Rev. Gideon Jasper Ouseley. This version of the New Testament differs markedly from those generally accepted in that it portrays Jesus as a strict vegetarianÂ, to whom other creatures flocked:
"And the birds gathered around him and welcomed him with their song and other living creatures came unto his feet and he fed them and they ate out of his hands."
The feeding of the human multitude is also reported, but the food involved is bread and grapes. Of the animals, it states:
"These are your fellow creatures of the great household of God, yea they are your brethren and sisters, having the same breath of life in the Eternal. And whosoever careth for one of the least of these, and giveth it to eat and drink in its need, the same doeth it unto me."
The Essenes believe in the sacredness and unity of all life and many passages in the Essene gospel refer to the doctrine of boundless love: for God, for humanity and for all creation:
"Before all things is love, love ye one another and all the creatures of God, and by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples.Â"
Hinduism.
1. The Dharmic Law Reason
Ahinsa, the law of noninjury, is the Hindu's first duty in fulfilling religious obligations to God and God's creation as defined by Vedic scripture.
2. The Karmic Consequences Reason
All of our actions, including our choice of food, have Karmic consequences. By involving oneself in the cycle of inflicting injury, pain and death, even indirectly by eating other creatures, one must in the future experience in equal measure the suffering caused.
3. The Spiritual Reason
Food is the source of the body's chemistry, and what we ingest affects our consciousnes, emotions and experiential patterns. If one wants to live in higher consciousness, in peace and happiness and love for all creatures, then he cannot eat meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs. By ingesting the grosser chemistries of animal foods, one introduces into the body and mind anger, jealousy, anxiety, suspicion and a terrible fear of death, all of which are locked into the the flesh of the butchered creatures. For these reasons, vegetarians live in higher consciousness and meat-eaters abide in lower consciousness.
I'm a Taoist, our first Law, Thou Shall Not Kill.
Yet many in their arrogance, think this only applies to Man...
How is it we know that they wish to live, for the same reason we all wish to live, to be, to exist. That is the driving force of life itself, to flourish, to enjoy the physical realm, this universe, for the brief moments we all have. The Milky Way takes 250 millions years to revolved once, how much time do we all have, and to rob others of that experienceÂÂ, how selfish ?
Cattle and all live stock are born to hell in our world, yet we selectivelÂÂy choose, who to be humane to, like our pets we love so dearly, it' a shame you cannot find it in your hearts to extend that love to other higher lifeforms. Ever meet a Cow, good folks, would never do you wrong.
We speak for those, you cannot hear !
Ancient saying: When the blind lead the blind, they both fall off the cliff lol
Save a Life, not take one.
Peace, Life and Love...
If you want to add even more to the solution, learn how to cook with a pressure cooker. You don't have to buy canned beans any more. You can cook a lot at one time and freeze them for the next time. Presoaked white beans take only 6 to 8 minutes at pressure. This would be an easy recipe to recreate in the cooker with great results. You could pop it into the oven for crisping only.
Meatless Monday is a good start, which can be followed up with many more meatless meals.
Thanks for sharing this.
Better than "Meatless Monday," if you eat meat, have it only two days a week. Better for you, five times the benefit of not adding to meat consumerism.
For all practical intents and purposes, all major market varieties of beans, lentils, and split peas are essential amino acid complete. They're not "as complete" as animal proteins, hempseeds, and soybeans, but they have more than enough of all of the essential amino acids to avoid any deficiencies.
The whole protein completeness issue is largely overblown. Unless you're subsisting entirely on corn or cassava, you're very unlikely to encounter a protein deficiency. Even rice on its own is not low enough in lysine to cause a deficiency syndrome (although the lack of other nutrients might).
Soybeans (and to a much lesser extent garbanzo beans) have a significant amount of omega-6 linoleic acid (which most Americans consume in worrisomely excessive quantities). Most other beans don't have significant amounts of fat of any kind.
Beans are also a fantastic source of most minerals and folate.
It's hard to go wrong with beans. They're a fantastic lean protein. They're cheap and filling and they play exceptionally well with spices. They also play exceptionally well simmered with the cheapest and toughest cuts of meat, but meat is far from essential to bean cookery.
Even our ancestors ate insects. Some cultures who haven't been influenced by Monsanto or factory farms, eat beetles, larve, and various other insects.
You're better off eating a big bowl of lemon-marinated, sauteed cockroaches, than you are a big bowl of genetically modified Tofu (grown with Monsanto Soy beans and Round-Up Ready pesticides.)