Veggietales

As a young child, I burned the idea that I would never meat again in my mom’s head, but was unfortunate to learn that that was just not going to happen.

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

From being an anemic to on the verge of anorexia, being that I was so light weight, meat was a necessity to my diet, and my mom wouldn’t let me doom myself to such an awful and unhealthy lifestyle. Instead, we agreed upon the fact that it was unevitable that I would one day be a vegetarian, and up until the moment I left home, I would spend all of my time researching what it means to be a vegetarian, how to have a healthy diet, and learn to not live off of cheese and bread.

For the Christmas of 2009, my mom gave me a book. Although this was not out of the ordinary (for I have always been a nerdy child – that was also inevitable), it was a book that changed my overall views of what it meant to be a vegetarian. Before I had a basis that eating meat meant torturing animals, and meat was icky to boot, but I did not know the depths of what that torture was. This book opened my eyes as to what the meat industry is today. This book set my mindset to what it is today, and even gave me the inspiration to start this blog.

This book is Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer.

This is a somewhat short interview about the book between Foer and Ellen. Although the interview does open up to a small bit of what the book is about, I highly suggest that you yourself read the book as well. It’s gruesome, surprising, and highly well written. Foer happens to be one of my favorite authors, on a side note. If you truly are interested, there’s a link in the doobly doo (sidebar) to the book’s website.

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Indian and greek foods often carry vegetarian dishes, and those dishes happen to be quite delicious! One of my favorite Greek recipes is falafel, but before you make this, I must warn you that it’s a bit of an acquired taste and I can’t promise that you’ll love it as much as I do! If you’re feeling daring and want to spend 20 minutes smashing garbanzo beans, then I highly suggest you try out this recipe!
Baked Falafel
(adapted from here)

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (unless you don’t like spicy!)
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans. Put in a medium sized bowl and smash with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Form into small balls, about 1 1/2 in diameter and slightly flatten. Place onto an oiled baking pan.
2. Bake for 15 minutes on each side, until nicely browned (since it’s baked, only the part actually touching the pan will be browned and crispy).
3. Serve with mini pita pockets, hummus, tahini sauce, tomatoes, lettuce and/or cucumber. I put hummus, a little bit of yoghurt, cucumbers, lettuce, and the falafel patties, and it came out great!