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Happy New Year dear readers! I hope 2011 brings you much joy and happiness, and that you accomplish culinary magic in your kitchen.
Butter + Cream turned one last weekend. It has been beyond rewarding for Allison and I to share our food, our friends, and stories with all of you. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for reading and sharing all of your kind comments. We were both complete novices to blogging, and have learned a lot. If you read the site regularly, you know that things have been on the sparse side in terms of posting. I wanted to share a bit of what is going on with me, and shed some light on the future of Butter + Cream.
Back in September I read the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, and it turned out to be a real game changer for me. Honestly, I think it should be required reading for anyone who spends their hard earned money on food, whether it be in a grocery store, at a white-tablecloth restaurant, or a taco truck.
After Eating Animals, I read The Kind Diet, and now I'm reading Mad Cowboy and The Conscious Cook. You can probably see where this is going. My intention for 2011 is to focus on eating a plant-based diet. This means a completely new way of cooking, without the yumminess that is meat, dairy, or eggs. The explanation of why could fill its own blog post, and there are plenty of people who feel emotionally charged on both sides of the meat-eating issue. In fact, I don't even like using the V-word (vegan) because many people assume that I'm a freaky judgmental hippie. The short version is that I don't agree with the way the majority of farm animals in the US are raised and processed. The meat and dairy industries have monumental impacts on our environment, our health, and the millions of animals who suffer each day in factory farms, and I'm ready to opt out.
I was really hesitant for a long time to get into the gory details of where our food comes from. We have such a deep attachment to the foods we grew up eating, and I'm still wondering if I can live in a world without cream cheese frosting, or my mom's lasagna. These changes don't have to take place overnight, or at all, but what I would suggest and encourage would be for all of you fabulous home cooks to do a bit of research on where your food is coming from. Read about the US factory farm system, watch Food, Inc, and make your decision based on knowledge. I realize that I'm coming to this choice from a very privileged position. I live in Los Angeles, where our farmers' markets run year round. I have a 9-5 Monday-Friday job, and I have the luxury of time (and desire) to cook my own meals nearly every night. In addition, I don't have the duty of feeding picky kids at the end of a hectic day. So I'm not suggesting that this is a realistic shift for everyone to make. But the fact is that it is a realistic change for me, and one that I feel to be meaningful.
In making this shift, John and I have talked a lot about goals, and what we consider to be successful. Will I do this perfectly all the time? Of course not. Eating in restaurants is hard. And as someone who loves to entertain, I'm not ready to begin turning down food that others have lovingly prepared for me. But my sister-in-law and I had a life talk a while back, and she very wisely said, "I believe in what you do most of the time." This is where I'm starting. Eating a plant-based diet will begin in our kitchen, and we will take the rest on as it comes. John's still eating meat and dairy in restaurants, but I'm grateful for him being so receptive to the changes on the homefront. We started the shift to vegan at the beginning of December, and I already feel a difference in my health, my mood, my body, and my conscience.
This obviously puts us in an interesting position here at Butter + Cream. Butter and cream are ingredients that I am consciously trying to let go of, or at least eat a LOT less of. I do know that I want to keep blogging, and I want to share this period of transition and new cooking. Luckily, I have some good friends who are on the same path, and I think the plan will be for us to bring the veggie conversation to its own separate website. We don't have any details as of yet, but I will surely keep you posted. But don't worry, we won't replace cupcakes with tempeh loaves here at B + C.
Allison is still around, and is going to take the lead on things for the time being, but I'll still post when I stumble upon something I think you guys will love. Butter + Cream isn't going anywhere, especially with some big baking events in the new year. With the first half of 2011 bringing us baby showers, weddings, and birthdays, I'm sure we will bring you some good stuff. Best of luck on all of your resolutions this year. I hope 2011 is amazing to you!
xoxo,
Mary
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Mary,
ReplyDeleteI started eating a largely meatless diet a little over two years ago. For a year I was pretty strict about it and ate no meat (although I continued to eat fish).
This past year I have made a conscious decision to only eat meat when I have more of an idea of where it comes from and/or when it's lovingly prepared still only eating meat about once every few months. Some of the times have included some deer my relatives in MI hunted and chickens they raised on their land. I also have tried to eat less dairy, only cage-free eggs, and only buy locally grown produce.
I wouldn't say I feel different physically, but I definitely have a clearer conscious and feel more like I'm doing my part to take care of our environment as well. I haven't found myself craving bacon and burgers like I thought I might.
Good luck on your journey and remember that you don't need to conform to someone else's version of vegetarianism or veganism. Your decisions only have to make sense to you.
Good for you! While I'm not ready to completely forego meat, I am trying to only buy farm-raised meat/poultry that have no added anything to them, hormones, antibiotics, etc. I have, however, had to go somewhat gluten-free and being the baker that I am, this is an interesting switch. But, I'm actually not missing bread, so it's been easier than I thought. I bet you're not really missing meat & dairy, as in your body isn't craving it now that you've cut it out. Anyway, I'd love to learn more hearty veggie dish recipes that can take over the majority of our meals in the week, so meat can play a lesser part. I just need to learn good dishes that my husband will like. So, I'm excited to see what you post and where the blog is going. :)
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