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Oscar Menu 2009: Spiced Popcorn

In lieu of dessert for my Academy Awards-themed dinner, I opted for making Indian-spiced popcorn, which could be enjoyed during the 4 or so hours of the show. The flavors, of course, were inspired by the Bombay-set Slumdog Millionaire. It fits the bill when you want a simple, light snack, that also feels a little special. (And it makes your kitchen smell wonderful!)

Spiced Popcorn
(serves 2, by my standards!)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
10 cups plain popcorn (I use Bearitos Organic No Oil Microwave Popcorn, 2 bags)
cooking spray

Mix spices together in a small bowl.

Spread a layer of the popcorn on a cookie sheet or piece of parchment/wax paper. Give a light coating of cooking spray, and sprinkle spices over popcorn. (I did this in three shifts, transferring the popcorn to a plastic bag afterward.)

Serve and enjoy.

Oscar Menu 2009: Sausage and Turkey Gumbo

As part of my Oscar-themed dinner, I prepared sausage and turkey gumbo, in honor of New Orleans (setting of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.) Gumbo does take some time, but much of it is unattended. And, the results are delicious, healthy, and highly freezable. Below is my recipe (which has evolved over time, and is based on a Cooking Light version from several years back.)

"Sausage" and "Turkey" Gumbo

(Makes 8-10 generous servings)

Cooking spray

3  tablespoons  canola oil, divided

1 pound  vegan chicken or turkey (or, substitute firm tofu, roasted or pan-fried until browned)

1  pound  vegan sausage (I use Yves breakfast patties, cut into quarters)

2  cups  chopped onion

1  cup  chopped green bell pepper

1/2  cup  chopped celery

1  tablespoon  minced fresh garlic

1  teaspoon  chopped fresh thyme

1/2  teaspoon  ground red pepper

1/3  cup  all-purpose flour

5  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1  (14.5-ounce) can no salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained (I love Muir Glen's Fire-Roasted tomatoes)

3  cups  (1-inch) slices fresh okra

2  bay leaves

rice 

Wash and chop vegetables (pepper, onion, celery, garlic, okra) and set aside.

Heat a large Dutch oven or stock pot over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add 1 teaspoon oil and sausage; sauté for 3 minutes or until browned.

Remove from pan. Add onion, bell pepper, and celery to pan; sauté 4 minutes. (Add additional 1 t oil here if needed.) Add garlic, thyme, and red pepper; sauté 4 minutes or until onion is tender and garlic is fragrant.

Remove from pan.

Add remaining oil to pan. Add flour to pan, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook 10 minutes or until roux is light brown, stirring constantly with a whisk.

Gradually add broth, stirring constantly with a whisk.

Add chopped turkey/chicken/tofu and sausage, onion mixture, tomatoes, okra, and bay leaves.

Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until gumbo is thickened and vegetables have cooked down.

Discard bay leaves, and serve with rice.

And the Oscar goes to... a vegan, Academy Awards-themed menu!

I have always loved the Oscars. Even when I haven't seen any of the movies, even when the show is long and boring, even when the stars are painfully self-indulgent, even when the host is awkward and unlikable. I still love them. 

And, every year since being old enough to have my own kitchen, I have either hosted a full-on Oscar party, or at least prepared a special meal. Always with a theme (obviously.) This year, I crafted a menu inspired by the setting of each best picture nominee:

Mixed greens with avocado, walnuts, dried figs, and lemon-olive oil vinaigrette

Frost/Nixon (Monarch Bay, California)

Sausage and turkey gumbo

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Sourdough bread

Milk (San Francisco, California)

Reisling

The Reader (Heidelberg, Germany)

Spiced popcorn

Slumdog Millionaire (Mumbai, India)

So as to not overload one post, I'll split the recipes (for the salad, gumbo, and popcorn) and photos into separate posts. I'll begin with the salad.

California Salad Ingredients

(Makes 2 generous portions)

Mixed greens

1 ripe tomato, cut into slices

1 stalk celery, cut on a diagonal

3 dried figs, diced

1 small (or 1/2 large) avocado, cut into chunks

4 button mushrooms, quartered

2 T sunflower seeds (roasted, unsalted)

Handful of sprouts

Handful of chopped walnuts

Dressing

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 

1 T neutral oil (peanut or canola) 

2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice 

1T red wine vinegar

1 t agave nectar

1/2 t Dijon-style mustard

3/4 t fresh thyme leaves, chopped 

1 clove garlic, minced 

3/4 t coarse salt 

Pinch freshly cracked black pepper

In a jar or bowl, whisk olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, agave nectar, mustard, thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper. Toss with prepared salad. 

PETA Calls Olsen Twins "Tramps," Trying Once Again to Convince the World that Vegetarians Are Both Kooky AND Mean

PETA's at it again, using sexism as a mechanism for advancing their animal-rights advocacy platform. (Read my previous rant on this issue.) The group has launched a campaign against Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, whose clothing line features fur. Fair enough. The fur industry in inexcusable, and putting pressure on fashion designers to recognize fur as a sign of suffering and not glamor is essential to curbing consumer demand.

So there is plenty to get onto the twins about here. And what approach does PETA take? They launched a Halloween-themed Web site, branding them "Hairy Kate and Trashley Olsen: Fur Tramps" and "Trollsens: Fur Hags From Hell." Terms like "tramps" and "hags," while having ZERO to do with animal cruelty or PETA's mission or any of the pertinent issues at hand, uses gender as a basis for attack. Furthermore, the site's "Dress Up the Olsens" feature, in a clear reference to their struggles with eating disorders, lets users choose clothes for the cartoonish, yet frighteningly-thin women.

What is all this about again? Oh, right, the fur industry. Uh huh. See, I'm not opposed, necessarily, to using the media to shame public figures for reprehensible behavior and to call out those who make money off the suffering of animals. But see, let's keep on topic, at least, because failing to do so puts the whole thing in jeopardy by risking more broad-based public support. If using animal fur in your products is as heinous as we say it is, then that's enough. There is sufficient ammo already. So call them what they are. Animal abusers. Baby bunny killers. Mink murderers. Bad people. Whatever! But tramps? Come on!

I know, "bad people" doesn't make for a shocking headline. But, (and I know I sound like a broken record on this topic), whatever attention such tactics might get is offset by the fact that millions of thoughtful, rational people, who might otherwise be persuaded by sound argument, are instead just repulsed by the sexism and downright perversity of the campaign. Sometimes I question PETA's true intentions: To improve the lives of animals, or to be a media darling? So often I fear their work only serves to further brand vegetarianism as an "extremist" position, alienating those thoughtful individuals who might otherwise be interested in learning more.

Interestingly, in my Animal Ingredients A to Z book, there is an introduction by Bruce Friedrich, the director of vegan outreach for PETA. He makes an impassioned and persuasive plea to vegans not to undermine the greater efforts of the movement by alienating would-be vegans. He says, "PETA wants to show people that veganism is easy and mainstream because that's what is best for animals." Funny, because in this quote, PETA seems to understand that the only way this whole "end animal suffering" thing is going to work is if it appeals to regular, mainstream people as being the right thing to do.

Yet, this current campaign goes out of its way to demonstrate how different PETA and its followers are from regular, mainstream folk. Is alienating and irritating untold numbers of people not exactly what PETA is doing by attacking the Olsen twins on the basis of gender and their history of mental illness? PETA is exchanging the opportunity to criticize an industry and those who participate in it on legitimate grounds for some self-satisfied chuckles at their own cleverness (and maybe garner a mention on PerezHilton.com.) Makes for a fun time around PETA headquarters, no doubt, but I'm not sure how many animals' lives it's ever saved.

Heather Mills Donates Vegan Food to Low-Income Families in NYC

Heather Mills recently held a meatless barbecue for poor families in a South Bronx neighborhood. She also plans to donate three years' worth of meat substitutes to the residents. The intent to introduce concepts of healthy (and ethical) dietary practices as well as expanded food choices to an area with high rates of obesity and other chronic illnesses is admirable. However, is a three-year supply of frozen, packaged, processed, sodium-laden products really the way to do it? Low-income, urban areas often struggle with having access to a variety of fresh, high-quality, pesticide-free produce, and may need additional support to learn how to store and prepare fruits and vegetables in convenient yet healthy ways. Better something than nothing, I know, and she is only one person. But, it's a reminder that we need a comprehensive effort to improve the quality and availability of fresh, healthy food to many communities across the U.S.

A shocking (and presumably true) statistic, courtesy of Chrissie Hynde

In an interview last week with Rolling Stone about her new vegan restaurant in Akron, Ohio, the Pretenders' front-woman Chrissie Hynde claims that a vegetarian in a Hummer has less environmental impact than a meat-eater on a bicycle. Yowsas, Chrissie! It's hard to believe, yet also not that hard to believe at the same time.

Another interesting figure: Australia's Canberra Times cites a new study claiming that a vegetarian diet is 20% cheaper than a meat diet.

"The findings show it costs $508 a week to feed four adults on a traditional meat diet. A reduced meat diet costs $418 a week, while a vegetarian diet costs $394."

(Google's trusty currency converter says $394 Australian dollars is about $330 in U.S. dollars.)

Alright, so maybe I'm spending less money because I had dried kidney beans and brown rice for dinner instead of rack of lamb, but groceries sure don't feel like much of a bargain lately. I do try to buy almost exclusively organic, but that should be a choice that is economically and logistically possible for everyone - not a luxury.

I guess I will just have remind myself of these stats next time I feel the pain at the checkout counter and remind myself that if I was a meat-eater, it would be even worse.

At least I still get to drive my Hummer. That is a comfort.

Buckingham Palace Considers Trading in Guards' Bearskin Hats

You know those tall furry hats that the Guardsmen wear at Buckingham Palace? (The ones inevitably highlighted in every touristy representation of London, that kinda look like Marge Simpson's hairdo?) Well they are indeed made of real fur -- bear fur. Each hat takes the entire skin of a black bear, and between 50 and 100 are ordered each year. The bears are hunted in Canada, even though only 600,000 black bears remain in all of North America (down from 2 million.)

But there is reason to be optimistic. (How surprising!) As The Independent reports, the Minister for Defence Procurement has agreed to consider switching to a synthetic material for the hats and will be meeting with representatives from PETA next week. In fact, designers Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney (among others) have been asked to create new, modern designs for the hats, using alternatives to bearskin.

Fingers crossed that the Brits have learned something since 1815 (the year bearskin went into service) and end this completely unnecessary and brutal practice. Oh, and below is a picture of a black bear cub, in case you were wondering whether or not they are TOTALLY ADORABLE.

More Veginspiration from Sir Paul

Sir Paul has a new ad out for PETA. The text above the image reads:

"Many years ago, I was fishing, and as I was reeling in the poor fish, I realized, 'I am killing him--all for the passing pleasure it brings me.' And something inside me clicked. I realized as I watched him fight for breath, that his life was as important to him as mine is to me."

Oh, Pammy. I expected more from you. (Not much more, but more.)

Surely most everyone in the vegetarian community was a bit put-off when Jessica Simpson, attempting to make a subtle dig at boyfriend Tony Romo's vegetarian ex-girlfriend Carrie Underwood, be-bopped around town in a t-shirt that read "Real girls eat meat." While I responded with an eyeroll, which is all such a juvenile media stunt deserves in my opinion, some celebrities used it as an opportunity to speak out about the cruelty, exploitation, and environmental degradation that result from the meat industry. Fair enough. 

One might think that Pamela Anderson, a long-time animal rights activist and PETA spokesperson, would respond in such a mature, thoughtful, and informed way. (Okay, okay. One would not likely think that. But still.) It was not even close. Pamela, instead, publicly calls Simpson both a (language warning) "bitch" and a "whore" over the incident in a recent interview, SFGate reports.

Sigh.

Anderson's name-calling rant is based specifically on Simpson's sexuality and being female. Last time I checked, neither of these had much to do with eating meat. What is so unfortunate is that there are so many legitimate bases upon which one might want to criticize Jessica Simpson! (Including, for example, the topic at hand - using her celebrity to publicly promote the meat industry.)

Yet, this happens all the time. Why, why, why do women fall back on those tired old partriarchal notions of tearing down a woman for simply being a woman or for being a sexual woman--or even rumored to be a sexual woman? Patriarchy thrives on instilling horizontal hostility, which pits woman against woman. (Keep the in-fighting going.) So, although one might want to think that Pamela Anderson might reasonably be more aware of society's double-standard towards women in this regard, or more sensitive to how bright and successful women are regularly dismissed/demonized/ridiculed/degraded for acknowledging that they are indeed sexual beings (in other words, human), it's apparently too much to hope for. It is, after all, only 2008.

Sir Paul McCartney Pushes Meatless Mondays

Long time veggie Beatle Paul is asking Brits to refrain from meat just one day a week. If the Pope can make everyone steer clear of meat on Fridays, surely Sir Paul can persuade a few million for meatless Mondays, right? Paul's popularity quotient has got to be higher, and he has sway over more than just Catholics. If this goes over well, maybe he'll add another day on to the request.

I keep trying to come up with some kind of "Eight Days a Week" joke here but am drawing a blank.