Uh, World Vegan Day in Seoul?

I was stunned to read Mipa’s blog only to find out that there was apparently a celebration for World Vegan Day in Seoul!

WTF?  Is this the same city where people rolled their eyes when I asked for bibimnaengmyun with only gochujang and “none of that beef broth”?  Is this the same city where every single thing I ate except ddeok and maybe some rice was contaminated with fish/meat/dairy? A vegan march?  Free samples of vegan food where I didn’t have to ask ten thousand questions to assure lack of deal animal?  She even states in her blog post that there were actual vegan kids running around.  Vegan Korean kids.

Yes!

The Fall/Winter Garden

Ripe Hachiya/Hongsi type Persimmon

The persimmon harvest was light this year.  I think the trees were pruned too hard last year.  I pruned them a little more lightly and hopefully our harvest will be better next year.   The Hachiya type (Korea’s Hongsi variety is similar or same) varieties need to sit around after being picked, in order to allow the astringent fruit to mellow out and become sweet and succulent.  I used to HATE this type of persimmon, but once we started growing them and ripening them properly, I became a big fan.

Kale. I love kale. Kale is so underrated.  I eat it every morning, in my oatmeal, believe it or not.  I like that combo.  Yes, I know I am really strange, but that is why you can’t stop reading this blog.

Baby Kale

Also, am growing two kinds of Korean lettuce.  One green, one red.  They’re basically butter lettuces, with a loose head.

Korean Lettuce

We’re also growing carrots, minari, beets (my mom loves them for some reason) and trying to keep various fruit trees alive, including: one dwarf tangerine tree that gave out three extremely awesome tangerines last year, two Hachiya-type persimmon trees, one Fuyu-type persimmon tree, two avocado trees, one fig tree, and one loquat tree that I want to chop down because I hate it so much.

The figs were very light as well.  Figs grow really well in Southern California.  We also have a banana plant, but I’m not such a huge fan of the bananas off our plant.  I’m not sure what we’re doing wrong, but I suspect we’re not picking them at the right time.

Ripe Figs

Cheap vegan pie in OC!

Bonerts' Vegan Apple Pie

I know I said I was gone,but cheap vegan pies called me back.

If you were looking for why I did not actually make a pie for Thanksgiving, I will offer to send you over to Mipa, who did it so I wouldn’t have to.  It’s sort of like my friends who are having kids, so I don’t have to.  Too convenient.

Bonerts is a local legend.  Bonerts is reeeeeally big among the (cheap, young) Yelp crowd, due to the $1.50 Friday specials.  Since they’re not open on the weekend, they sell all their remaining pies for $1.50 on Friday afternoons.

Bonerts supplies pies to many of the restaurants around here, as well as to Whole Foods and various supermarkets.  They have a small store in their Santa Ana production warehouse, where they sell pies to the public, at very, very low prices.

You faithful ten readers know by now that I do love a bargain.  Therefore, it is with sadness that I must report that I have not had the pleasure of getting a $1.50 Bonerts pie.  Instead, I paid $7 at Whole Foods for the Bonerts pie I recently purchased.  The pie ended up being the only thing I could eat at the church function I went to, because everything else had animal products in it.  So all’s well that ends well.

It was a decent commercial pie.  It had that thick apple pie filling, like the type that comes in a can.  I made a homemade vegan pie that was ten thousand times better, but hey who has the time these days?

I also saw a vegan cherry pie (mmm!) and vegan mixed berry pie.  I think they have other flavors as well.  When I compared the ingredients to the non-vegan pies, I think the only difference is that the vegan pies aren’t covered in egg wash.

I would love to see Bonerts branch out into vegan pumpkin and pecan pies.  We’ll see!

Happy Thanksgiving, etc.

This Thanksgiving, I gave thanks that I didn’t have to eat turkey and dug into my lovely vegan Thanksgiving dinner that I made with my own two little hands.  Well, they’re not so little, and kind of calloused, but you get the idea.  I wanted to be part of the “in-crowd” and buy a Field Roast or a Tofurkey, but I ended up just making a bunch of vegan sides.  Oh well, I wasn’t with the “in-crowd” in high school, and some things just don’t change with age.

Here’s the money shot.

Thanksgiving Dinner at Chez Vegan Korean

Clockwise from the top:  field greens salad with sliced persimmons and candied walnuts with balsamic vinaigrette; olive oil mashed potatoes (v. good), vegan stuffing made with really good bread (excellent, if I do say so myself), roasted sweet potatoes, rice, various vegan banchan from the store.

We had two kinds of pie, but I didn’t have any because I’m trying to lose weight.  Anyway, they weren’t vegan.

Next year, maybe I’ll venture out and do the Celebration Roast.  Ethical Pizza guy had one this year.  It looks so sexy.  Maybe I’ll have one next year.

Happy Early Halloween

This is a picture from emergencyfan that I found on Serious Eats.  It’s a skull pasted over with cream cheese and thinly sliced meat.  Lunch anyone?

Happy Halloween

Do You Want To Be The New Vegan Korean?

Today is a sad, sad day.  As of 6:30 p.m., Pacific Time, October 8, 2009, I am no longer going to refer to myself (rather brashly) as The Vegan Korean.

Oh I’m still vegan.  Actually, now that I’m starting to read up on animal rights stuff more and more, I am leaning more toward that direction than ever before.  I also like the fact that eating vegan is cheap, because I am really cheap.  I would say that I’m also easy but looking at  my sad little love life, apparently that’s just not true.

Also, last time I checked I am still Korean, though the relatives of mine who actually live in Korea would argue that I am 99% American and only 1% Korean, and even that much is questionable.  Luckily, I am still on my father’s family registry (register?), so I can still abuse the Korean social welfare system, if I were to so desire.

Nay, it is work, the bane of all bloggers who haven’t figured out how to sell their $oul, using just the right mix of adspace and timely content, that is sucking up all my life-space.  As much as I love this little blog and all you nine readers (or is it ten now?  Gosh how time flies), I can honestly say I love being a lawyer more.  As always, feel free to flame me/make fun of me in the comment section below.   Also, I can’t stand to let another several months go by without updating.  But let it go I must, because let’s be honest, in reality, I’m not a food blogger.  I mean, did anyone really doubt this? I ask you, who writes about eating tofu out of the package?  I only did, not out of any interest in “keeping it real” but because it’s my sad little reality and you just read about it. Hell, I didn’t even give the damn thing time to warm up on the counter.

But I want to see more vegan-korean goodness, so I can’t just up and pull the plug.  I could say it’s because I’m not a quitter, but obviously that’s a lie since I’m quitting right this very moment as I type this.  No, the solution is to find a younger, hipper, more energetic and (hopefully) better-looking version of myself to carry the torch. Maybe Vegan Korean 2.0 could even let me be, say, a guest blogger, for those of you who need your fix of whining about men and tales of tofu eating.

I know you’re out there Vegan Korean 2.0.  Email me.

LA Times article explaining why I have no osteoporosis

LA Times Article, “Fruits and vegetables, good for the bones?

Two years ago, I was urged to go to the doctor to get checked out for osteoporosis.

I have just about every risk factor imaginable.  I am thin and small.  I am Asian. Relatives have advanced osteoporosis.  I forget to take my calcium.  I was on Depo-Provera for five years (don’t do this, it’s terrible).  Finally, I hate drinking cow’s milk.

I was repeatedly warned by family and friends that I probably had osteoporosis because I never drank milk.  Everyone tells you to drink cow milk because they say you’ll get osteoporosis otherwise.  All the milk ads says it does a body good.  And in school, I learned that in order to grow up big and strong, I had to guzzle down cow milk every day, all day.

The above-mentioned LA Times article connects high protein diets with high bone loss, and milk is very high in protein. The article doesn’t say anything that I haven’t read in The China Study and elsewhere.  Proteins are made up of amino acids.  Lots of (amino) acids in the diet makes your body more acidic and your body compensates by releasing alkaline materials (calcium) into the bloodstream. If the body has to do this too often, the bones empty out and become porous.  Simple and straightforward.

What’s misleading in the article is that it says that the difference in bone loss between people who eat acid-forming (read:  high-protein diets) and alkaline (low protein diets) is small, 2-4%, but then later on in the article, it says that over time, an alkaline diet could decrease the risk of bone fractures by 30%.  I believe that the 2-4% number is reduction of bone loss in one year, and if that’s the case, that is a huge difference, not a small one.  Not stating the time frame in the article is a huge omission.

I personally disagree with the commonly held notion that milk is good for bone health, both through the reading I have done and my own anecdotal evidence.  The China Study and other books clearly show why cow’s milk could not possibly have a good impact on bone health, due to the high protein content relative to the calcium content.  Also, I have a friend who is an avowed milk drinker, who got a hairline fracture in her shin after an easy five mile walk with me.  Finally, every non-vegan female I know in my age range and above has some osteoporosis.  But because “everyone” says so, it must be true, right?

As for me, I was urged to go to the doctor. I finally made an appointment with a doctor who does bone density scans.  Before the scan, I told her I probably had osteoporosis and wen through all my risk factors with her.  The doctor peered into the screen and mentioned that even women in their twenties usually have some small signs.  However, she said I didn’t have any osteoporosis at all!  She said that was really rare.  She said that most women she sees have at least the beginning signs of osteoporosis.  She said that she has even seen women in their twenties with full-blown osteoporosis! She was really shocked by me and kept looking at the screen. To be perfectly honest, I was just as stunned as she was because I had steeled myself for a not-so-good diagnosis.  But I shouldn’t have been.  I had known that eating a vegan diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in protein-rich foods (milk/meat) would protect my bones and this was the proof.

another blog link

Jessica’s Dinner Party posted a really awesomely easy recipe from A Korean Mother’s Cooking Notes for a cucumber banchan.  What I like is that the cucumbers are sliced thin before dressing, which makes this recipe very fast.

Her pic which is actually on her blog and not mine:

http://www.jessicasdinnerparty.com/2009/08/sweet-and-spicy-cucumbers/

The Face On Your Plate, by Jeffrey Masson (2009)

I never saw myself as an animal rights activist.  I’m not a particularly kind person.  Also, I don’t particularly like animals.  I mean, I like animals, but I don’t necessarily LOVE all of them.  For instance, I’m not a big fan of my neighbor’s cat.  I actually don’t even like cats much, being a dog person.  I also don’t care for bugs and having lived in the city, never had access to farm animals as pets.

But other signs are there.  I go to the PETA.org website and check out the “Hottest Vegetarians over 50″ every year.  I like Toby Maguire.  I LOVE Chris Evans though apparently he is eating meat now, in order to bulk up (what a shame, he didn’t need to bulk up for me).  I love whole grains, especially brown rice.  Tofu also has never done me wrong.  I love my dog, even when he smells.  I even tsk tsked when I read Quarrygirl’s expose on LA “vegan” restaurants .

So why the longtime resistance?  I guess it boils down to personality differences.  I tend not to be into shock value unless comfortably hidden behind an anonymous blog name.  I didn’t see myself as the type of person who would throw paint on someone.  That’s strange, considering my career path as a lawyer, but I digress.

I just read this awesome book.  It’s called “The Face On Your Plate” by Jeffrey Masson (2009).  I must say it was surprisingly compelling, and I say “surprising” only because I have read or at least skimmed through a lot of these kinds of books and thought I had seen it all.

Jeffrey Masson is a lifelong vegetarian and so it was very interesting to read his point of view.  I liked reading about how he grew up in a vegetarian household.  I liked reading about his philosophy that I guess stemmed from that.  Even his brief foray into tuna-eating (experimental college years) was enlightening to me.  Finally, it was very interesting to see how he evolved into who he is now.

His research was interesting to me as well.  He found a study that concluded that fish do feel pain (the indicator was apparently that when injected with some substance, they rubbed their lips and apparently the study authors were able to conclude that this was not just a reaction to the injection).  Also, he commented on some story about a female chef who said that she took really good care of the pigs for the restaurant, but in the end, slaughtering the pigs who trusted her enough to go with her to their death was a betrayal by her to them.

In any case, I don’t know why I’ve resisted all this time.  I still admire people like T. Colin Campbell who are vegans for primarily health reasons, but Masson and my friends have really convinced me that I was just resisting the inevitable.   BTW, you guys really should read Campbell’s book, “The China Study”, because if there is any doubt that vegan eating is better for your health, this book will kill it.  That’s assuming your diet doesn’t consist of vegan cupcakes and whole packages of tofu.  *blink* *blink*

Blog Name Change

I had a good discussion with Mipa and Lu and have thus changed the name of this blog to reflect that.

If you look at the website for the Vegan Society, or even just do a wiki search, you’ll find that the original meaning of the word veganism “denotes a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals” (copied and pasted from wikipedia since I just don’t want to look stuff up right now).

Do I fit this definition?  No.  While I don’t like the use of animal products, my primary reason for not eating/wearing animal products is definitely more environmental/health related.

I can see why vegans get up in arms when non-vegans use their term.  However, I have to admit to seeing a very distinct change in the way the word is used these days.  I think that is where my confusion was.

Who knows?  Maybe I’ll change to being a true vegan.  I stopped being an atheist after twelve years, so anything is possible.

BTW, thanks to Lu and Mipa for being such good sports and also, of course, being two of my eight (oh wait, is it nine now?) awesome readers.

Now I just have to move the url and we’re set.