"Dairy is veal" and other thoughts...

Last Sunday 14 of us gathered for our Summer Mindful Cooking Potluck in Portland. Each time we have a different mix of people, but we always end up having a thoughtful and stimulating conversation abut our evolving relationship with food. We remember all of you in other places who are in this project with us and want to include you in the conversation by sharing the highlights.

We had new people with us this time who told us they felt like "freaks" around friends who ridiculed their vegan path. They were delighted to be with us and discover they are not alone! ... Steven spoke of the movie "What the Health" which has caused some controversy in the vegan community, apparently for implying that a vegan diet ensures good health. We wondered whether someone might abandon the diet if it didn't bring all the desired health benefits. This led us to talk of other reasons to stay vegan. Certainly a plant-based diet is necessary to curb global warming.

Going vegan is also essential for ending animal suffering. Beth told us of her realization that "dairy is veal" --- because taking the milk that nature intended for the calf will cause the death of the calf. ... Several of us were reading A Plea for Animals by Matthieu Ricard and finding it powerful. Diane has started an online book group to read this book together. If you are interested in joining that, let me know and I'll connect you with her.

Here is the first of our potluck recipes, Pat's delicious avocado salad:
Avocado Salad

I heard from several of you recently. Ashwani in Illinois offered us his instagram account ... Mindi let us know about Thay's movie, "Walk With Me" ... and Linda recommended an inspiring interview with Sailesh Rao. I'll provide the details below. They and other things are also posted on our PlantPurePod page -- I hope you'll take a look: https://www.plantpurepods.com/podsdirect/mindful-cooking/

Happy cooking,
Eve

from Ashwani:
Dear brothers and sisters in the Sangha, please feel free to view my IG account at instagram.com/agargmd and please comment if you would like any cooking instructions. I've interspersed occasional medical/political/family topics in between the delicious vegan, plant based recipes. Please do not mind them, and if something offends me, I apologize in advance, and please do let me know.

from Linda:
I just listened to a wonderful interview with Dr. Sailesh Rao, executive producer of “Cowspiracy”, and author of “Carbon Dharma”, and “Carbon Yoga: The Vegan Metamorphosis”. So inspiring! I encourage you to listen to the podcast on KBOO-FM: http://kboo.org/audio

from Mindi:
,

We are delighted to announce the theatrical release of Walk With Me. This is an invitation for a meditation - a movie theater experience like no other.

WALK WITH ME officially premieres in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City and Boulder, Colorado beginning August 11th. More information for these events can be found on the Walk With Me website.

If you are not in one of the three cities listed above and you are located in the U.S. you can help us bring WALK WITH ME to a theater near you by using Theatrical On Demand®. With Theatrical On Demand®, you can sign up to host a screening in your local movie theater.