Brendan Dever

I didn't like any of the soy hot dogs for a long time. I decided to give them another chance recently, and I actually enjoy the Lightlife jumbo dogs and the Tofurkey kielbasas. Grilling them is best in my opinion, but microwaving is not bad. Or you could cook them in a pan with a little oil. If you use an oil like grapeseed oil then there are some benefits to cooking them that way.

I have been trying to limit the amount of soybean based stuff in my diet, so I don't eat tofu much anymore. My favorite beans are black beans and chickpeas, but I haven't met many beans I didn't like.

I don't think you could possibly argue that consuming cow's milk is natural. Drinking the milk from another animal species just can't be natural. But humans do many things that would be considered unnatural. So it doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong to do something unnatural. In the case of dairy products I do believe it's wrong, but for other reasons. As for the health reasons, I personally think dairy products are the worst "food" a human can eat for their health. Non-fat or whole milk, it doesn't matter. There are so many health problems related to milk consumption that I can't believe anyone would want to eat anything made from it. Then there's the relation between animal proteins and cancer. I don't know if anyone here has read The China Study by T. Colin Cambell, but it's a hell of a book about diet and cancer. The research done was quite thorough and much of it was published in very respected scientific journals. I highly recommend everyone read it. One thing that was found was that casein(milk protein) greatly promotes the growth of cancer at all stages. If you consume milk protein, not only does it make you much more likely to get cancer, you're also more likely to die from it, and faster.

There are 0 vegetarian restaurants around here. The vegan options at restaurants are severely limited. Italian places usually have 1 pasta dish that is vegan. Salad is easy to find. That's pretty much it! Luckily the grocery stores are pretty nice though. There's Whole Foods, Trader Joe's(even though I don't shop there), and Meijer's surprisingly has a lot of stuff(more expensive than even Whole Foods though ). So as long as I don't eat out I'm OK.

The tourist season is typically over in spring and starts again in the fall. I used to live in St. Thomas and I loved it there, but one thing to think about is that when I lived there the vegan options were very limited. Maybe it's better now(hopefully), but it is a pretty expensive place. Grand Cayman is a beautiful island. If you like to dive there are not many better places to visit. I do remember it being extremely expensive, but I did go in the winter so I'm sure it's a lot better in the summer.

Ireland is #1 on my list of places I want to visit. Most of the places I've visited have been in Asia, so I'd like to visit more of Europe. Ireland is definitely first though if I have a choice

Well I had better get to bed before I make myself look even worse Take care

I think you're right... so forget I said that. What I meant to say was that I think I'm god's gift to humanity... err wait that sounds bad too...

And I'm pretty damn good in the kitchen (Honestly though I am a modest person usually )

Wild rice is the best

It's understandable, hijacking requires your full attention But thank you, I appreciate that Unfortunately, the women around here don't seem to think so!

Worry not, I've hijacked my fair share of threads... so I suppose I deserve it And thank you CrispyQ

Welcome

It's sad really. In my opinion, the single best thing humans can do for the environment is to stop using animals for our purposes. Then you look at all the "environmentalists" and so few are vegan, or even vegetarian. I guess everyone wants everything to be easy, and going vegan isn't easy for most people. So they are environmentalists when it's convenient for them. Sounds good Sucks doesn't it? At least there's plenty of us on the internet. I'd probably go insane if the internet didnt exist

Thank you for the warm welcome. It is great to be here I'm currently living in Oxford, Michigan. It's good and bad I guess. I'm the only vegetarian in the area that I know of. I'm sure there are a few, but most likely I'm the only vegan. I just moved back here a few months ago from Phoenix, AZ. I'm trying to finish college, but I've had some trouble finding out what I wanted to do. Luckily, I now know what I'm going to do I'm majoring in Environmental Science and I plan to go to Africa after I get my degree and do community building somewhere there. I guess I just feel like I need to do something worthwhile with my life and I think that's the place where I could do the most good. Basically, I'm just an easygoing guy. I'm very passionate about what I believe in, especially with my veganism and environmentalism. It's gotten me into a bit of trouble, but oh well... sometimes I just can't help it. I try not to be pushy when talking to people about it, so I wouldn't consider myself "militant". I think the best way to change people's minds is to have a nicer approach and try not to alienate them like some people do. But hmmm, anything else you'd like to know feel free to ask. Thanks again for the warm welcome and look forward to getting to know you all