I Dare You Not to Drool

Cheezy Mushroom Melt w/ Homemade Mayo

How's this for a tantalizing testimonial to vegan comfort food? It's actually a struggle to avert your eyes because of the warm, homey feeling this image conjures, so you can only imagine the sensory overload you'll experience when this mushroom burger and sweet potato fries combo is placed directly in your face. It's like that for all of the kick-ass food Nature's Express serves up to its appreciative Berkeley clientele.

Oncologist-turned-restaurateur Dr. Carl Myers has fought the effects of poor nutritional choices all his professional life, helping patients make the connection between good health and unadulterated food. Seeing the difference this understanding brought to his limited audience, he eagerly sought to spread this knowledge on a grander scale by introducing the public to the very menu items he urged his patients to consume. Together with the passionate expertise of Chef Joel Daniel, a stellar support team in Molly Patrick (Chief Customer Officer), Brenda Cross (Manager) and Regan Maher (Project Coordinator), and the emotional support of a 40-year marriage to his high school sweetheart, nutritionist Jean Myers, Dr. Myers has cultivated a life force environment that makes it easy for the public to be vegan and healthy.

When Dr. Myers was asked to host a meeting of local AZ medical professionals on behalf of the Obama health care transition team, the focus was simple and straightforward: get back to basics. "We can't afford to pay to fix things that can be prevented through things such as exercising, not smoking and better nutrition." Organizations like Berkeley Vegan Earth Day (BVED) is proud to carry on the legacy of this prudent principle by having Nature's Express as a 2012 event sponsor.

Ethical Eating

Choosing to become vegan or vegetarian is a highly personal lifestyle decision that's more times than not guided by an ethical epiphany: animals are sentient creatures no different from human beings and are therefore not disposable commodities. This hotly debated topic forces people to consider the entire non-human animal kingdom in an completely different light to both understand and appre-ciate the inherent value of every living creature; to ignore this fact is to defend an antiquated and groundless argument that animals are placed on this earth for man's benefit.

Denying that animals harbor consciousness is a conveniently disprovable stance that allows naysayers to claim humans as the only living being with perception and awareness, a coupling that has somehow excused and even justified the atrocious actions people inflict upon food animals.

Factory farming is one of the most valid reasons people choose a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, with others citing different yet just as compelling reasons as Dick Gregory's nutrient density and spiritual cleansing, Forks Over Knives connection to degenerative disease and Gandhi's peaceful resistance.

No matter the motivational factor, it is clearly a decision based upon our own lifelong efforts to become more aware, connected and evolved. To draw that flexible line where it best fits at this moment, knowing that it can -- and likely will -- fluctuate with our ever-changing mindset.

Somewhere in all of this [information about veganism], something will strike you just right and everything will crystalize around you brilliantly–that's your vegan epiphany ... Experiencing [this] can help to make the journey a little easier; suddenly, it doesn’t feel like such a chore or sacrifice or abnormal thing to be choosing veganism. Veganism becomes, simply, the way your world is and the only way you can conceive of living and being. ~ Tess

Man's disquieting ethical egoism has caused significant problems throughout his relatively short reign on this planet; with very few exceptions, everything humanity has done, is doing or will do to progress as a species comes at the cost of other entities. Whether or not animals have the same rights as humans is not the issue but rather that animals have the same expectation as man to a life free of pain, suffering and exploitation.

A good place to encounter your epiphany is in Hal Herzog's book "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat."

Cartoon by Mark Parisi

Can You be an Herbivore and Not Love Vegetables?

"I'm not vegetarian because I love animals, I'm vegetarian because I don't like vegetables." - A. Whitney Brown

It does sound like an oxymoron, but there are folks who, while not wanting to eat flesh foods, have to be more creative with their nutritional preferences. Oftentimes they don't actually dislike veggies, but their taste buds have only been exposed to the standard salad bar fare; what they crave -- but don't yet know it -- is a stroll through the local farmer's market where they'll discover a cornucopia of extraordinary flavors and textures.

Another defense against veggie aversion is to trick yourself by hiding the offending produce with other, more tasty options. So you'll never be a raw foodist, but you will successfully incorporate nutrient-rich plant matter into your daily diet without gagging. Art Gib offers some simple disguises that are as delicious as they are easy:

• Dip, Dip, Dip! Raw veggies are so much more endurable if you have some sort of dressing for them. To pack an extra nutritional punch, use peanut butter instead. Its strong flavor also helps mask the veggie taste you may not like.
• Green Smoothies. You can cram several cups of fresh spinach in your blender along with the traditional fruits, (non-dairy) yogurt, and ice when making smoothies. You still get the flavor of a fruit smoothie with an added tang. Drink it up in a minute and you can check several servings of fruits and vegetables off of your daily list in no time!
• Sundried Tomatoes. These are sweet and can kick up a salad the same way dried cranberries do, but without the added sugar. They also are a great addition to pasta, and tasty straight out of the bag!
• Hate 'Em Raw? Roast 'em! Coarsely chop sweet bell peppers, potatoes, carrots, and zucchini, and toss with garlic and olive oil. Roasting them in the oven brings out some delicious flavor, and the softer texture will help you to consume them faster.
• Add Them to Foods You Eat Normally. Fresh or frozen green beans, broccoli, and carrots can be added easily to pasta dishes, disguised by the pasta sauce.

Steaming, stir-frying and pureeing are additional ways to soften textures and draw out greater flavor. Adding herbs and spices (other than salt) takes the focus away from the taste you don't like, while flavor-packed spreads like hummus and olive tapenade dare you to stop munching those veggies. Sure, there will still be some you may never be able to stomach, but Reed Mangels, Phd, RD says you'll be well ahead of the nutritional game if you just find a "deep orange-colored vegetable or two, a green leafy vegetable or two, and a few other vegetables that you could eat regularly."

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