When you throw a mouse a birthday party…
Hola, friends!
Thank you so much for subscribing to Tenderly’s newsletter. Love Me, Tenderly is your one-stop shop for vegan recipes, liberated animals, brief interludes of joy, philosophy, and thoughtful essays and reported stories about this planet and all of the life therein. At Tenderly HQ, it’s been a lovely week — I finished watching The Leftovers (wah!), it’s been sunny and warm, and I made a giant batch of mapo tofu that’s been sustaining me for three days (I used a great recipe from Vegan Japaneasy). How are you holding up? Let us know what kind of advice, recipes, and happiness you need during this weird time — you can reply to this email to reach me!
Bless Arabella for introducing us to TOBY TOAD, the most important new influencer of our time. This week Arabella also showed Instagram how to make a (booze optional) watermelon slushie! 🍉🍉🍉
Impossible Foods announced Impossible Pork at CES this year. But China’s Omnipork has already been at work figuring how how to replace pork for Eastern diets. Alexis Ong tried it out and dug into what the company’s next big moves are going to be.
“You can’t see the life hidden underneath every rock. You can’t know how much longer this planet will tolerate our abuse. But you can tread lightly. And you can imagine how lonely it would feel to be the last one standing.” —Melissa Toldy, How to Care About the Animals You Can’t See
Tenderly OG columnist Alicia Kennedy shared five of her favorite spices and condiments from small businesses that will greatly enhance your pantry cooking.
Marla Rose wrote a great piece about how vegans are getting sucked into right-wing conspiracy theories on the Coronavirus. She touches on how being vegan means being skeptical of what’s considered normal and what most powerful people push upon us — but how that doesn’t mean rejecting science and what the actual experts are telling us about how to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities.
As part of an ongoing series on starting with sourdough, Alicia also recommended her favorite accounts of other people’s sourdough journeys to help you on your own.
Please, I’m Begging You, Start Putting Potatoes on Sandwiches — in which I rail against the “roasted vegetable sandwich” wedding industrial complex and encourage you to put some goddamn potatoes on your sandwiches. You’ll thank me later!
Arabella’s report on a vegan ice cream shop in Chicago that’s working to fund social justice is so inspiring and exciting — more new ventures like this, please.
How Social Distancing Can Help You Live More Sustainably — this moment isn’t fun, but it’s teaching many of us a lot about how to simplify, get the most out of what we have, and focus on what’s really important. That’s good news for the planet.
“Even if their stories make one other human see these wonderful beings as I see them — not as dirty pests but as beautiful, smart animals to be admired and respected — I think it’s worth the effort.” — Abhijit Muduganti on the beloved mice he cares for.
HISTORICAL COMPASSION
Glimpses at animal rights history from late 19th / early 20th century animal advocacy publications
Thanks to digitized libraries at Google Books, I’ve developed an obsession with diving into the writings of animal advocates who lived and fought for the well-being of animals over 100 years ago. Vegetarians and vegans were rare, but these merciful humans advocated for better treatment of farm animals, dogs, animals used in zoos and for entertertainment, and published radical (for the times) ideas about animal intelligence and emotion. In some ways, the main animal advocacy publication of the late 1800s / early 1900s — Our Dumb Animals — feels like Tenderly’s ancestor — a mix of philosophy, news, cat pictures, pet obits, and personal reflections on the relationships between humans and other animals. I’ll occasionally feature glimpses of the work of those early animal advocates here in the Tenderly newsletter.
“Our Dumb Animals,” 1913:
THE PIG — Whether the flesh of this animal was ever intended for human food may be a subject for debate. […] We want to say a good word for the pig. In the first place he is not nearly so stupid as many imagine. We have seen him pick out numbers, and letter of the alphabet. and do some of the same tricks that are taught intelligent horses and dogs. Then he is not a creature that by nature prefers filth and mire. Give him a clean sty and, in hot weather, a wholesome pool of water to lie in and he’ll keep himself looking very respectable. It is by his wallowing in good clean mud that he keeps his skin in healthy condition. When the mud dries and flakes off it carries the impurities of the skin with it. But shut him in a foul pen or confine him in an undrained mudhole of a barnyard, and what can he do but look up at you out of his degradation and shame?
TENDERLY REC ROOM
On Fridays, we tell you about things we like.
“Union-busting, a delay in getting PPE, and an unfair hazard pay policy — this is all happening at vegan meat company No Evil Foods. These first-hand accounts of what is going on No Evil Foods published by writer Kim Kelly and this more recent story from The Appeal are important reminders that as vegans fight against animal cruelty, we must also fight for workers’ rights and safety.’ — Arabella
“I’m a loyal paying subscriber of Eat Your Books, an incredible independent site that allows you to input every cookbook you own, along with any favorite recipe sites, and then makes your entire recipe library searchable. This is a godsend for finding dishes that will use up your CSA box or for trying to find a reliable recipe for Pad Thai without searching the pages of every cookbook you own. I especially like the mobile version and keep a shortcut for it on the homepage of my phone so I have my recipe library at my fingertips when I’m at the grocery store.” —Summer Anne
“A photographer organizing a wedding photoshoot captured this gorgeous footage of deer enjoying the cherry blossoms in Nara Park, Japan. Knowing deer, it’s not a huge surprise to learn that they like to gracefully lounge under cherry blossom trees, but it’s certainly nice to watch.” — Jack
“Whether I am just jotting down a to-do list or having a full journaling session, I’ve been trying to get away from staring at screens so much by making my way through my stash of unused/barely used notebooks. Recently, I’ve been using these two that feature these chic animals, who are now also my style icons.” — Arabella
“Director Lynn Shelton tragically and unexpectedly passed away earlier this week. I watched her film Laggies for the first time a couple days later, and it was such a joy. It’s a rom-com that pulls off both the rom and the com beautifully, and I can tell it’ll be a comfort movie for me for years to come.” — Summer Anne
“This emotional reunion between a man emerging from a 2-month lockdown in Andalusia, Spain, with his beloved donkey friend will bring you to tears. In a good way!” — Jack
“I really loved Navneet Alang’s piece for Eater on the ongoing lack of true representation in food media, even as the global pantry becomes increasingly popular. It touches on the Alison Roman saga but is about so much more, and it’s beautifully written and felt incredibly important for me to take in as an editor working partially in food and on recipes.” — Summer Anne
“Even if you don’t know the first thing about Sudoku, you are going to be completely riveted by this video of a Sudoku expert encountering and attempting to solve a totally unique puzzle. There’s something wonderful about watching people this engaged with something they love, and the drama of this video is so real.” — Jack
WHAT SHOULD YOU EAT?
A vegan recipe recommendation from the Tenderly archives
Laura’s Tofu Vegan Meatballs. This recipe, which is dedicated to Glee’s resident vegetarian, is the perfect way to get some delicious, rich meatiness into your spaghetti dinner without buying expensive packaged meatballs. You’ll need tofu, but most of the recipe is made of staples you likely already have on hand. Have a spaghetti night!
Thanks for reading and supporting Tenderly, friends. See you on Tuesday! You can also follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest to keep Tenderly in your life all week long.
And if you have ideas, contributions, questions, or requests for our newsletter — send me a note by replying to this email. If you’re interested in contributing to Tenderly on the web, we’re currently accepting submissions through Medium’s partner program.
Stay safe out there — and wear a mask!
— Summer Anne Burton, EIC of Tenderly
