-- STRICTLY” PERSONAL

OUR TEENAGER looked
‘down at the sumptuous din-
ner laid out before him,
frowned, and eyed his moth-
er and me suspiciously as he
picked up his knife and fork.

“Are we on a health kick
again?”

“Give ita try,” his mother plead-
ed.

‘With a sigh, the poor, picked-
Upon youth began nibbling suspi-
" clously at his food. |

‘We pretended not to'be watch-
ing.”

“Mmph,” he finally announced.
“He? $ ecstatic,” I assured my
wife...
“Infact; he had seconds. When

. he had finally wolfed down all he
could hold, he actually said: “That
was all right,. Mom.”,,...

Our nine-year-old daughter’: 8:
‘reaction to. the new food was as’
‘expected: “Yuck, what’s this?” .

. . “Batitor we'll cut you out of
the will,” T told her flatly.

In the end, she ate almost ‘half
her ‘plate. with no more than the
* usual moans and groans about adult
cruelty.” :

We waited until then to tell thei
the big secret: “Guess what? There
was no meat, And you didn’t even
notice.”

The cries of anguish were
pitcous. There were threats to move
aut, to go live with Grandia, (0
talk to the counsellor at school,
even phone a lawyer,

But we had our legal and politi-

sal position worked out in advance,
We promised to provide the kids
with meat if they
asked for it, but it
would involve a spe-
cial shopping trip,
because there
woulda't be aay
around the house. -

‘Meals-henceforth
— iat feast until we
broke down —- would
be vegetarian.

“Oh no,” wailed
the teenager, “we're
turning into veggies!”

And then the full
horror of it hit him:
“Does that mean no
more barbecues?”

The answer was: “You know
how to barbecue. if you want steak,
you'll have to cook it yourself.”

Having started our kids off as
meat-eaters, it seemed too cruel to
cut them off from meat immediate-

ly.

Cold turkey — if you'll excuse

the expression — was what we had .

decided on for ourselves, after wad-

ing through such books as Frances

Moore Lappe’s Diet For A Smuill’
Planet, John Robbins’ Diet For A

': New Anierica, and Jim Mason and

Peter Singer’s Animal Factories.
We'll bring the kids along at a
slower pace, und start by re-educat- ‘

_ ing thems, as we had to re-educate
ourselves in order to get to the point’

where, fora combination of health
reasons and ethical and ecological
considerations, we have decided to
eliminate all meat from our diet.
And not just meat. All dairy and

poultry products, toa,

Having decided all this, the
challenge became: how to make the
switch without turing life into a
grim, pinched, tasteless endurance
contest.

The answer was to buy gourmet
vexelarian cookbooks,

» Since the beginning of the year
my wile has been pampering us
with one vegetarian feast after
another, and the kids have only

The way to do it, I have learned, is
to emphasize our concerns about the
long-term health implications for

selves and our children... 99

whined for meat a half a dozen
times each.

The rest of the time, they seem
to be reasonably content to eat what
they are served.

“Milk has been replaced with a
variety of fruit and vegetable

“juices, soya, coconuts, and more |

water, while cutting down on pop.

We are, of course, supplement-
ing our dict with Vitamins and min-
erals.

We have tracked down several
excellent vegetarian restaurants,
and our favorite Indian food restau-
rant has a wide variety of tradition-
al vegetarian dishes.

Rather than suffering, we’re dis-
covering a whole new world of eat-
ing.

At first I felt ike some kind of a
nerd, asking in a restaurant or pub
whether there was any vegetarian
food, but it quickly became clear
that veggies have become a force in

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the marketplace, along with all
those weirdas who wan't buy furs
or leather or preducts tested on ani-
mals,

It's amazing how many places
you can order soyburgers, for
tustance. Somebody must be eating
them.

The business of accepting or
extending invitations lor dinner has
become a slightly more delicate
matier than before, when we would
just cat whatever
appeared un the table.
and invariably atfer
our guests some kind
of charred, broiled,
bastud, stuffed, mari-
nated, fried or steamed —
flesh,

‘The worst part —
the challenge, if you
like — is explaining
why we fave cut out
meat, without sound-
ing sanctimonious
about it and ticking
our meat-caling
friends off completely.

The way to do it, I have learned,
is to emphasize our concerns about
the long-term health implications
for ourscives ind our children of a
diet of meat laced with additives,
antibiotics, probiotics, phosphates,
hormones, growth stimulants, fla-
vor enhancers, aabolic steroids,
nitrofurans — to mention but a few
of the 20,000 to 30,000 different
drugs used in factory farms to con-
trol diseases and hoost productivity.

This seems to make more sense
to people than to fiursue the issues
of animal cruelty and the impact of
modern farming methods on the

Our-

environment, or to vo on about the -

risks involved in bit wtechnology.
But these are big factors, too.

If you’ve gol the ‘stomach for it,
stay tuned. .

“Chris Sjogren

YOUR HOST ON THE COAST |
Let the value in your homo
put value in your life,
Coma to the Sunshine Coast.
_> Telerals available ~

"1994-1995
How wr il budget cuts
affect your children?

The Provincial Government’s control of.
school board budgets has caused the North.
Vancouver Schoo Board to plan cuts, : :

including:
librarians

clerical support staff

counsellors

+ learning assistance teachers’
resources for students with special ©

needs

band and strings program —
district diagnostic centres
support for students with severe
learning difficulties

teaching staff

special education aides

While demand increases, cuts to these
services continue. Programs in‘all North
‘Vancouver Schools will be affected as___.
students have to increasingly compete for ©
resources and instruction in overcrowded

classrooms.

Support Quality Education

Contact _
School Trustees (987-8141)
MLA David Schreck (986-2254)

North Vancouver Teachers’ Association