Happy Birthday to Tenderly!
Hi friends, and welcome to a very special Wednesday edition of Tenderly’s newsletter. We’re here today instead of yesterday because it’s our birthday! We’re turning one, having launched on July 8, 2019 — which seems like, honestly, about three decades ago in 2020 time.
In the last year, we’ve published over 800 stories and recipes by over 200 writers, and I am so proud of that work, humbled by your support, and excited about what’s next.
TWO new Sanctuary Stories: Three goats rescued from a petting zoo that’s since been shut down have finally found respite from the stress they’d become accustomed to. Now they’ll get to live a long life free from exploitation — and they have a message about petting zoos. And two little piglets rescued from a factory farm are named for slain animal rights activist Regan Russell, and will carry out her memory exactly as she would have wanted: by living long, full, happy lives.
Birding has taught me to honor the emotions I can’t name as much as the ones that are familiar friends. When my daughters ask what kind of world will welcome us when it is finally safe to play in it again, I tell the truth. “I don’t know,” I say. They grow quiet but the sunlight is steady. So we look skyward, hope beating against our breasts like red wings.
— Dara Mathis, Birding Brings Joy Amidst Pain for My Black Family
How to start composting at home for $0.00.
Laura’s latest 3-ingredient (or 5 if you’re feeling fancy) recipe is for these delicious sausage rolls you can make with your favorite vegan hot dog or sausage. Her secret ingredient? Sweet chili sauce!
Jack’s latest look at the work of photographers documenting the most breathtaking scenes on this earth of ours is 13 Breathtaking Photographs That Celebrate Water and Life. While looking at this post, I thought of an Anne Marrow Lindbergh quote I love (big Cancer ♋︎ energy): “The cure for anything is salt water — sweat, tears and the sea.”
Radically loving my zucchini plants elucidated a new way for me to traverse life’s hardest moments. My plants taught me that love, not self-criticism precedes the most powerful moments of growth. After replanting my zucchini, the plants look visibly depleted and fatigued. But with time and affirmation, they rooted themselves deep into the ground. From this, I learned to trust the process, but even more so, I learned that the process can be gentle and kind, and that I can love myself as I am becoming. I do not have to arrive at some fictitious marker of success to be worthy of self-kindness and self-love. — Ciarra Jones, My Garden Taught Me To Love Myself
Alicia has a new Vintage Veg column on how The Second Seasonal Political Palate helped her find a different way to write about food.
Arabella profiled Te’Lario Watkins II, a 12-year-old mushroom farmer and entrepreneur. He shares how he started his own mushroom farm and his favorite mushroom recip1
Carl Reiner died last week, and I wrote a lil about my favorite episode of my favorite television show, his The Dick Van Dyke Show, in which Dick Van Dyke cries a lot over a stranded kitten.
WEEK ONE
Tenderly ~ July 8–15, 2019
On July 8, 2019, Tenderly started with an introduction. I wrote that “a real reckoning over what we’ve done to the planet and what we do every day to our fellow inhabitants here is overdue. A vegan world may be a distant dream, but Tenderly is a respite — a place where radical empathy for all is the basic standard. We hope you’ll meet us at that place every day.”
SAME.
Here are some of my other favorites from that first week…
The Great Indian Curry Hack by Niranjana Iyer
That base speaks to something in me that has diminished with time. I traveled as a single young woman to a country I’d never visited, to a small town with cruel winters I’d never imagined, to study creative writing with no foreseeable prospect of a job, because I had the belief I’d somehow manage to thrive wherever I found myself. I was good at jugaad — that immigrant ability of making do and adapting and arriving at a solution that, in some ways, surpassed the original. I’m not sure I still have that belief or that skill, but I have the memory of my former self, never more present than when I make my curry recipe.
These Portraits Show the Beauty of Farm Animals Who Are ‘Allowed to Grow Old’ by Brigit Katz on the work of Isa Leshko
Should Vegans Eat Honey? by Jay Vera Summer
It turns out the honey question is even more complicated than I originally thought. Because of the massive decline in bees and other pollinators and the rise in unsustainable agriculture practices, thousands of honeybee hives are needed to travel the country, providing pollinating services for crops. According to the USDA, the top crops pollinated are almonds (which wouldn’t exist in the U.S. without pollination services), sunflowers, canola, grapes, and apples.
Bring Salad to the BBQ by Ariana DiValentino
Creamy Italian Hemp Dressing
(from Show Up For Salad by Terry Hope Romero)
- 3 tablespoons shelled hemp seeds
- ¼ cup unsweetened plain almond milk or nut-free plain vegan milk
- ½ cup mild-tasting olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon off-the-shelf Italian seasoning dried herb blend
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
In a blender, pulse together the hemp seeds and the almond milk for 30 seconds. Slowly stream in the oil and pulse until the dressing is thick and silky. Add the remaining ingredients and blend for another 30 seconds until evenly blended. Taste the dressing; if it needs a little more salt, add a pinch of kosher salt, or if it tastes a little flat, add a few drops of lemon juice. If possible, chill for 30 minutes and allow the flavors to meld. Use within 3 days for the best flavor.
The Animal Rights Activists of Occupied Palestine by Jasmine Owens
“No matter what you are doing here, whether you like it or not, whether you want it or not, it will be connected some way or another to the dream of liberation.” Tarayra says, “It’s inevitable, it’s not optional. You cannot just pretend you are living in a normal situation in an independent country, and you can just work on this issue or that issue. It’s connected to the occupation.”
Delicious Bradley #1 by Adam Ellis
The Stolen Luxuries of Grocery Outlet, Bargain Market by Rachel Krantz
What a sense of calm I feel upon entering fluorescent Grocery Outlet and not knowing what I’ll find. I smell each and every soy candle before I reject them all. This is an important part of the ritual. You can get carried away quickly, looking for what you’re not looking for. Self-restraint is part of the dance. You can buy off-brand razors, perhaps, but only if you resolve not to shave your legs before the third date.
What Vegans Actually Eat by Holly Amos
Instagram would also have you believe that every day as a vegan means perfectly-yeasty donuts, mozzarella sticks, and chili cheese tater tots. But a breakfast this amazing only happens IN BROOKLYN, people! (I’m serious — you can drool over the Instagrams of Champs Diner and Dun-Well Doughnuts, or you can look at how close they are on Google maps and tell your landlord you’re breaking your lease.)
Salsa Verde: An Illustrated Recipe by Jef Harmatz
My Home is the Taste of Eggplant by Zinara Rathnayake
Some days in the evenings, I would sit on the green grass by the small bamboo gate at home. Every evening, a middle-aged man rode his bread truck along the dusty narrow lane in front of our house. He went through the paddy fields into the village beyond visible sight. We called him Choon Paan Uncle. Choon is a Sinhalese term which indicates fun and happiness — something like good vibes. Paan is the Sinhalese name for bread. The truck was Choon because he played music. It was a distinctive sound unique to Choon Paan trucks around the island. When I would hear the first sound of Choon Paan Uncle, I’d call my mum and we’d buy a loaf of bread from the truck, fresh off the oven. During dinner, I’d eat two slices of bread with my mother’s tempered eggplant dish.
WHAT SHOULD YOU EAT?
A vegan recipe recommendation from the Tenderly archives
Laura’s Five-Spice Chips and Roast Carrot “Bacon” Butty. In Tenderly’s week one, Laura wrote about the joys of Spice World, and based on one perfectly comforting scene, created this vegan version of a classic British comfort meal. Serves one, generously. :)
Thank you for reading Tenderly and supporting independent vegan media, whether you started one year ago or one day ago. We love you!!!
Sincerely yours,
Summer Anne Burton, Editor-in-Chief of Tenderly
