A Vegan's Ode To The Chickpea

I have very few brilliant ideas of my own and must admit that this one—a poem about chickpeas—was inspired by some friends on twitter—ReluctantVeggie and LeafyV. You can find links to their work and words of wisdom at the end of this post. But first..my ode to everyone’s favorite bean.

A Vegan’s Ode To The Chickpea


If you’ve been to a vegan pot luck
Where everyone brings a dish
You’ve tasted six kinds of hummus
Thank goodness it’s so delish.

It’s tasty because it has chickpeas
A very delectable bean
But hummus is just for starters
‘Cuz chickpeas are worldly cuisine.

In Milan they call them ceci,
They eat them with rigatoni
They’re classic Italian food
As famous as macaroni.

When you pair them up with pasta
You get a protein that’s complete.
Oops, what the heck am I saying?
That theory has met with defeat!

If you’re traveling down Mexico way
And the foods are all topped with cheese
Say “quiero garbanzos por favor”
(That means “I want some chickpeas, please.”)

In India they’re made into flour
For fritters and tasty flat bread
But if you prefer plain old chickpeas
You can have them in curry instead.

Chickpeas have great healthy nutrients
Like potassium and calcium, at least
They’re an excellent source of B12
(Well—if you eat them with nutritional yeast)

You may think that you love chickpeas
You’re convinced you’re their biggest fan
But I’ve got you beat by a mile
I eat them right outta the can.

I’m happy that I’m a vegan
I do it for the animals’ sake
I couldn’t be mean to a chicken
I like cows too much to eat steak

So, you can have your eggs and pork chops
You can have your heart disease
I’m choosing ethical eating
It’s easy—‘cuz I’ve got chickpeas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Some chickpea resources:

The poem that started it all from The Reluctant Vegetarian
Follow her on twitter at www.twitter.com/reluctantveggie


Chickpea recipes from Leafy
Follow her at www.twitter.com/LeafyV


Chickpea recipes on my examiner site

From Nutrition Counseling to Vegan Activism

Some people just don’t like vegans. The fact of our ethical veganism, even if we don’t say a word about it, can be an affront to those who are still eating animal foods. We challenge the way others eat and live just by being vegan. And, understandably, most people feel discomfort when their way of life is challenged.

But it’s more than that. People expect to be scolded by vegans. How many times have you heard that vegans are judgmental, superior and unkind? Is that an unfair assessment or do some vegans alienate the very people they want to convert? Most of us are passionate, after all, about animal rights. It can be hard to keep that from turning into something that is condemnatory and critical.

Before I became an animal rights activist and vegan, I was already a dietitian with a relatively varied background in public health. I worked with migrant farm workers in the rural Midwest, low-income families in urban areas, pregnant teenage girls and well-to-do suburban women seeking weight loss. I learned a lot about working with people whose experiences and world views were different from my own.

One of my clients in a Washington, DC clinic was about the angriest person I had ever met. Her 2-year-old son was iron deficient and the pediatrician insisted that she see me. She would hardly look at me and, when she did, it was with intense and rather unnerving dislike. She was angry because she knew I was going to tell her that she wasn’t taking care of her child. I was going to judge her and find her wanting.

Of course, I didn’t do that at all. I told her all the reasons why kids with loving and attentive parents can have low iron levels. I let her tell me about the challenges of being a single mom without much income. Within 10 minutes, she was completely relaxed, talking and listening. At the end of our session, to my huge surprise she actually apologized for her initial attitude. She volunteered to come back for follow-up.

It really wasn’t that hard to help this woman feel respected and accepted. But I have to admit that I find it much more challenging to do that as a vegan activist. Sometimes I am desperately unhappy with people who won’t do the right thing by going vegan. I have to take a deep breath and remember the kind of conversations and interactions that will win the day for animals.

Be a cheerleader and a giver of positive strokes. Appreciating what people have done so far is likely to make them more receptive to your gentle, respectful prodding to go further. It’s not always easy when you feel like they haven’t done a whole lot. But yelling “You’re still murdering animals!” has never been shown to be an effective technique in getting people to change.

Be concrete in your reasoning and suggestions. People need information that they can understand and act on. A treatise on “the inherent rights of animals” is likely to be far less compelling to the average person than concrete examples of the suffering of factory farm animals.

Keep it simple. Most people can handle only so much information and change all at once. So maybe on the first day of their vegan adventure they really don’t need that list showing which beers are vegan and which aren’t.

Do whatever you can to make change less scary. I’m a big believer in feeding people good vegan food before suggesting that they drop animal foods from their diet. They’ll be that much more open to the reasons for going vegan if they know it’s not a death sentence for their taste buds.

Create a good environment for change. My activist soul has a tough time embracing “flexitarian” measures like Meatless Monday and Vegan Before 6. But anything that pushes the world toward more plant-based eating can help create an environment in which the “Go Vegan” message sounds less foreign. If it gets us a step closer to our goal, it’s good.

Can Vegans Be Fun?

My local newspaper has recently been running a string of letters to the editor about diet. I wrote last week defending the healthfulness of veganism and advocating for this way of eating. Several replies popped up on the paper’s website. They were mostly the usual stuff: Vegan diets are too hard to plan, too expensive, vegans have a moral superiority complex, how do you know that plants don’t feel pain, etc, etc.

But the comment that caught my attention was from a guy who noted that I could eat what I want but he was headed out to throw a steak on the grill--and open up a cold beer from the local microbrewery.

It’s the kind of retort that makes me realize—once again—that people have absolutely no sense of what it means to be vegan. What does beer have to do with anything? I fired off a response to assure him that (some) vegans do in fact drink beer—and wine, and cocktails, and we eat chocolate and potato chips and French fries. I know it isn’t going to make a difference where he’s concerned. His mind was made up and nothing would convince him that a vegan diet can be fun and delicious.

But I would really like the world to know this: We vegans are just like everyone else. We like food that is tasty and fun and convenient. We like to be warm in the winter. Some of us like cute shoes. We just happen to believe that it’s not our right to use animals to fulfill those desires.

Yes, it’s important to eat healthfully, and I blogged recently about good health as good animal advocacy. But fun vegan food is good activism, too. And you don’t have to eat “whole plant foods” 100% of the time to be healthy, anyway. An all-or-nothing approach to healthful eating only undermines efforts to attract people to a vegan diet.

The best moments in vegan activism come when someone looks at the way we eat and says “Wow—I could do that.” And let’s face it—the more vegan brownies we bake, the better our chances of eliciting that response.

Vegan Tuna Burgers: Old-fashioned Comfort

When I attended Gregory Elementary School in West Orange, N.J., our infrequent art and cooking classes were always an exciting break from the classroom. They were held in a big activities room filled with long tables and lined on one wall with a kitchen. Once a month or so we trudged up there for “home economics,” which always involved preparation and tasting of a simple recipe.

An absolute favorite and one I always remembered was the tuna burger recipe we made in 4th grade. My mom made them at home for me several times over the next couple of years. While I was writing an article this week about vegan sandwiches, tuna burgers popped into my head.

So I pulled out my mom’s old Betty Crocker Cookbook, a loose leaf style book into which she had added her own favorite recipes. And sure enough, there in the luncheon section was the torn stained copy of Tuna Burgers, with my mom’s handwritten notation that it was from my 4th grade class.

It was fun to veganize and I was pretty pleased with the result. The recipe below calls for kelp granules which are essential to get that seafood flavor. Most natural foods grocery stores carry this product or you can order it directly from Maine Coast Sea Vegetables.

Here is vegan comfort food at its best:

Vegan Tuna Burgers

1 15-ounce can or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas, drained
1 cup chopped celery
½ cup finely chopped onion
½ cup cubed yellow vegan cheese (I used Vegan Gourmet Cheddar-style)
½ cup vegan mayonnaise (I used Vegenaise)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp kelp granules
5-6 whole wheat hamburger rolls


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Process the chickpeas in a food processor until coarsely chopped. (Or if you don’t feel like getting the food processor dirty, you could do this by hand with a pastry blender). Be careful not to over-process; the chickpeas should not be pureed.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the burger rolls, of course) and mix by hand to blend. Spread the mixture on the bottom halves of the rolls and cover with the tops. Wrap each burger loosely in aluminum foil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The inside should be hot and a little melty and the roll should be toasted.

Can a Vegan Support Meatless Monday?

I’ve been in this business a long time—as both an activist and a dietitian—and I must say, I’ve never been so confused about all of the terminology and events and opportunities surrounding plant-based eating. My head is often spinning but I’m starting to see that this is a good thing. The reason there is so much going on is that lots of people are talking about animal agriculture.

When I first became a vegan the only people who even knew the term factory farming were other vegans. Now almost everyone knows what it is and that it’s bad. And little by little, people are starting to respond. The responses are often weak, that’s for sure. And the activist part of me feels disappointed about that.

But as a dietitian, I have a somewhat different take on it. Spend a few years providing dietary counseling to mainstream Americans and you develop a rather different idea about what constitutes progress. Anything that gets people thinking about the reasons to decrease intake of animal products is good. In that respect, even lukewarm efforts like Meatless Monday can make a contribution.

My biggest complaint about Meatless Monday is the focus on climate change and health, two virtually useless arguments for veganism. I refuse to let that stop me from taking advantage of Meatless Monday to promote my own agenda, though. I perceive it as an invitation to talk about factory farming and animal rights with all the Meatless Monday-ers I meet. It’s also a great opening for letters to the editor to share reasons for going vegan.

All by itself, Meatless Monday doesn’t get me too excited. As a springboard to more meaningful activism, though, it might have some merit.

Best Vegan Nutrition Websites

I’ve been writing in my examiner column about some things to watch for when evaluating vegan nutrition resources. Today I listed my favorite websites for finding reliable information on vegan diet and, for those who don’t read the Seattle Vegan Examiner, I want to reprint them here.

Eating well—both from a culinary standpoint and a health standpoint—is good activism for animals. After all, when studies reveal health problems among vegans, it’s obviously bad for the image of vegan diets. And when vegans make diets needlessly complicated, it makes others view veganism as a chore.

So, when it comes to sources of vegan nutrition information, I’m picky. There are very few websites that I can comfortably recommend. The list below is short, but you can always rely on these sites to provide good nutrition information. In no particular order, these are my top picks for reliable information about vegan diets.

veganhealth.org

Developed by dietitian Jack Norris, who is also co-founder of Vegan Outreach, this is the most comprehensive overview of information pertaining to vegan health on the internet. Jack includes great background information on all of the topics as well as links to other helpful articles. If you need to know something—it’s here! And it’s 100% reliable.

vrg.org/nutrition

The Vegetarian Resource Group promotes vegan diet and their materials are almost exclusively oriented toward vegans. This page is an index of articles on a wide variety of topics related to vegan nutrition. Many of them are written by VRG’s nutrition advisor Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, who is among the most knowledgeable and respected vegan nutritionists in the country. She’s also a vegan mom!

vegetarian-nutrition

This collection of articles was compiled by Winston Craig, PhD, RD, nutrition professor at Andrews University. Dr Craig is also among the most respected and reliable sources of vegan information. He is very well-known among vegan nutritionists. He has written many of these articles himself and also reprints pieces written by other professionals. You’ll find a lot to read here, all of it very interesting! I find myself dipping into his website all of the time.

vegnutrition.com

This is me! I put this site together primarily to help new vegans and those making the transition from lacto-ovo vegetarian to vegan diet. It covers the bare basics—enough to allow you to plan a healthful vegan diet but not a whole lot of background material. Needless to say, I consider it to be reliable information.

Between these four sites, you truly should find everything you need to know about vegan nutrition.

Easy Vegan Dinner: Tequila Tempeh & Coconut Lime Rice

I blog recipes only occasionally since there are so many great vegan cooks on the internet—and I’m merely a good-enough cook. But sometimes I stumble over a recipe that is so fantastic or I find myself pulling together such an exceptional menu that I feel compelled to share. And that’s the case with last night’s dinner. Here is the menu:

~Tempeh Marinated in Tequila

~Rice with Corn, Coconut Milk and Lime

~Spinach (fresh from the garden)

~Salad (even fresher from the garden)

I think this menu sounds a little fancy, and it would, in fact, be perfect for company. But believe me, it was super easy. Once you have the tempeh marinating and, if you cook the brown rice ahead of time, the whole meal can be prepared in about 20 minutes. The tempeh is spicy and goes well with the more tropical and breezy flavor of the rice dish. I had red wine with this, but it really is a menu that calls for beer or margaritas.


Tequila Tempeh (recipe is from Turtle Island Foods)

8 oz tempeh
¼ cup oil (I used canola)
¼ cup rice vinegar
1 tbsp dried red chili flakes
¼ cup tequila
2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
2 cloves minced garlic

Whisk together the marinade ingredients (that would be everything except the tempeh.) Cut the tempeh into thin cubes. Pour marinade over the tempeh and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least two hours. Longer is better.

When you’re ready to cook, you can skewer the tempeh and cook on a hot grill, basting with the marinade. I don’t have a grill, though, so I poured the whole thing into a skillet and let the marinade cook down and the tempeh get a little brown.

The recipe for Coconut Lime Corn and Rice is from the Dine Dish Delish blog. I used brown jasmine rice rather than wild rice and parsley instead of cilantro. (I didn’t have any cilantro on hand, mostly because I don’t like it that much.) I also made this a one pot meal by simply stirring the corn, lime and coconut milk into the cooked rice and then gently heating it. Frozen corn just needs to be heated; it doesn’t need to be cooked.