Health is a privilege, not a virtue
Hi Tenderfriends,
How does 2020 feel to you? For me, your pen-pal and Editor-in-Chief of Tenderly, Summer Anne, it’s been… kinda rough! My husband has been injured, I’ve been battling some intense allergies, and January turns out NOT to be the best time to try to evolve into a new and better version of yourself overnight. I’m trying to go easy on myself and ease into the New Year with the comfort of delicious food, watching a lot of great movies (I may have seen Greta Gerwig’s Little Women three times in theaters already), and letting the laundry pile up a little (ok, a lot).
We’ve also been publishing some incredible work by great writers that I’m proud to host on Tenderly — for some of these stories, it’s hard to imagine a place for them anywhere else on the internet. We made that place — where compassion for all creatures is the baseline, but where we can be honest and real and vulnerable about how complicated (and joyful and frustrating and contradictory and tasty) striving towards that compassionate life can be. I’ve been thinking a lot about this quote, from Leah Kirts’ When Vegan Cheat piece from October:
Damn. You get me, Drew.
The subject line of this email is drawn from Emma Green’s piece about healthism in the vegan movement. It’s worth reading the whole article for a valuable perspective on why it can bee bad for people AND animals in the long run to position veganism as an “optimal diet” or focus on personal health as though it is something that everyone can control or that veganism is a solution for.
“Vegans should question mainstream, biased assumptions made about health and weight. Vegan activists must acknowledge the multiple societal determinants of health and help to address them, rather than inaccurately deeming ‘health’ as something anyone can achieve with a plant-based diet. Vegans should be elevating the voices and experiences of those in marginalized identities, and listening to their experiences.”
Yes.
I was humbled to be able to publish the story of Amy Jones of Moving Animals, and the time she stayed in an apartment overlooking the kill floor at a Cambodian slaughterhouse. Although she watched men bludgeon innocent pigs to death in front of her, she urges that we view these workers as victims of the same systemic oppression that animals suffer every day, and show them compassion. “Slaughterhouses take the lives of animals, and the souls of the people who work there.”
If you had a meat-free holiday, celebrate by reading the story of five young turkey ladies who were (somewhat inexplicably) saved from the turkey industrial complex and are now living lives of joy of luxury at Luvin Arms Sanctuary. Hooray!
Laura Vincent wrote an ode to one of the first vegetarians many ’90s kids came across — Dawn Schafer of the Baby-Sitter’s Club. Dawn was an environmental activist before “cool teen girl environmental activists” were the global phenomenon they are today, and although her vegetarian ethics were not always consistent, her passion for the planet and the animals on it had a listing impact on Laura and many other young readers.
Laura also launched a new pickle column this month, kicking things off with an easy one for those of us who are pickling newbs — quick-pickled scallions can make nearly any meal a little more special, and they’re super simple to make in your own fridge! Speaking of pickling, we also published a new recipe haiku by Sarah Ridgeway, and this one is on KIMCHI!
Genevieve D’Jones shared some beautiful memories from her trip to Georgia (the country), along with this incredible recipe for Georgian Mushroom Khinkali — even just the instructions on how to eat it made me drool. “The technique for eating these is to hold the stem (which is not usually eaten) in one hand, and take a bite from the bottom. Be ready to catch the filling in your mouth!”
Get inspired by the story of Carrots, a vegan restaurant in Bangalore, India, who are partnering with their customers to provide free meals to anyone who’s hungry. More like this, please!
Can you say “yuba reuben” three times fast? Maybe not, but you’ll definitely want to make and eat one after reading Jessie Roth’s delectable recipe.
Did you resolve to use less plastic in 2020? Danielli Marzouca has got a hot tip for you: invest in one of those chalk markers! She explains how using a chalk marker helped her get a lot closer to her plastic-free goals, and shares her tips for grocery shopping in bulk and keeping yourself organized, all with the help of one little marker.
Miyoko Schinner’s (yes that Miyoko) cookbook The Homemade Vegan Pantry is a new classic that should be on every serious vegan cook’s shelf. Alicia Kennedy wrote an ode to its magic. I bet that after reading Alicia’s smart explanation of why this book is so great, you’ll pull it off your shelf or put it on your wishlist.
Casey Walker’s latest “Vegans of Color” interview is with RG Enriquez, a Filipino chef and blogger who has spent the last year in her home country learning from culinary experts as part of her mission to veganize authentic Filipino dishes with the love and care they deserve.
In Cape Town, one vegan ice cream maker is using his weekend business as a way to rehabilitate the self-esteem of Africans when it comes to local flavors and food traditions, while also dreaming big towards a vegan commune completely free of ties to capitalism. That’s Tapi Tapi!
Marla Rose shared no less than 50 delicious casserole recipes to get you through the wintertime sads. If you cook one per day, you’ll be set until the sun is shining again.
Four simple words: VEGAN TAHINI HAZELNUT BROWNIES. Thank you from the bottom of my stomach, Sara Kidd! Be sure to keep your eye on Tenderly tomorrow for another one of her incredible recipes, this time for petite, adorable, delicious lemon blueberry cakes.
If you’re having trouble getting inspired at work in the new year, don’t worry! Ella Figg asked a cat to share their best productivity tips and they’re incredibly useful — “Think outside the box. Or climb in the box. Perhaps hide in the box. You can also shred the box to make sure you aren’t missing any good ideas.”
Can someone make me these cheesy, sausage-y gluten-free AND vegan grits, please? Thanks!
I loved reading this warm interview between friends Rachel Krantz and Our Hen House host and VegNews columnist Jasmin Singer — Jasmin’s vulnerability in sharing her own stories of struggling with her body image really resonate with me and I think it’s an incredibly important frontier for vegan activism to engage in liberating all bodies, animal and human.
Macken Murphy is now a Tenderly columnist and you’ll get to read his smart, compelling work every other week. So far this year, he’s shared his thoughts On Meat & Masculinity, as well as advice for vegan activists on showing compassion towards meat-eaters. In the latter, he basically wrote Tenderly’s mission statement:
The words friendly and radical are so rarely used together that they almost seem to make for a paradox, and yet, it is entirely possible to be both at once. It is possible to be gentle and firm, kind and revolutionary, compassionate and stubborn. We can be all of these at once, and if we want to help animals, we must be.
Chickens are so beautiful!!!!!!!!!
Love y’all — don’t forget to share our stories if you love them. It really makes a difference.
-Summer Anne / TENDERLY
