Not Only Meatless Monday: 03 Feature

Showing posts with label 03 Feature. Show all posts

Sunday, 15 April 2012

If President Ma has his way

,,, expect to see a lot more signs like this ("not US beef")
because Ma called on the country to allow imports of tainted US meat and then for customers to boycott it on a person by person basis

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Feature/Debate: Why youngsters are reaching puberty younger and younger

The scientific aspects to the “are lean-meat additives bad for people?” debate about US beef imports to Taiwan are getting politically tainted with so-called blue (KMT) and green (DPP) food science experts getting wheeled out to make their pontifications.

Although not of direct relevance to the issue of ractopamine but of chemicals in food in general, this called to mind reports last year of recent surveys finding a lowering of the age of puberty in girls, with 15 percent starting as young as seven (CBS article here). This represents a doubling of the number found in 1997, which would seem to be a super fast social change.

CBS put the causes down to “obesity” and “environmental exposures, things like BPA (Bisphenol A, a chemical used in plastic water bottles and lining of canned foods and drinks) that are ubiquitous in our environment can have hormone-like activity”.

Some have blamed hormone residues in milk and meat, particularly the artificial bovine growth hormone rBGH. But this is now less blamed, as it should be destroyed in the human digestive process.

Others (e.g. NaturalNews here) point a more direct finger. Quoting a report in “Public Health Nutrition”, it notes that “while only 35 percent of girls who ate meat four times a week or fewer had reached puberty by age 12.5, 49 percent of those who ate meat 12 times a week had done so.”

This, it suggested, was due to the higher levels of persistent organic pollutants found in animal fat, such as meat and dairy.

And this is not just a Western phenomenon. A 2011 survey in New Delhi, India, found puberty occurring in girls as young as 8 (shouldn't we call them “8-year-old women” if they have already reached puberty?) compared with a previous low of 10.

The Indian Express (full article here) did go on to blame a Western junk food diet, however.

Text © Jiyue Publications 2012

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

Feature: Interview with Bruce's Kitchen's Bruce

Last Saturday, we ate at Bruce’s Kitchen in the Ankang (安康) area of Xindian (新店), New Taipei City (a review will appear soon). Yesterday NOMM met with Bruce to find out more about his restaurant, his vision for a “different” kind of vegetarianism in Taiwan, and future plans. [This is the beginning of the interview, more will appear when time allows.]

NOMM: Perhaps we could start at the beginning: What led you to open a vegetarian restaurant up here in the hills overlooking southern Taipei.

Bruce: I opened my first restaurant in 2002. But its origins date back about three years earlier, to the 921 Earthquake [of September 21, 1999]. I was living in Taipei, on the 5^th floor of a building near Wuxing Street, and suddenly in the middle of the night, the house started rocking, and plates and glasses and stuff was thrown off shelves and smashed on the floor. The next day, after the dust had settled, I brought my wife and daughter up her to the single-story farmhouse where I had grown up and which was then unoccupied. We felt safe here, and enjoyed the clean air, tranquility, and the distance from the chaos of Taipei. We decided to renovate the place and relocate here. I had always enjoyed cooking, and so later we decided to share our special place with other people, and open a restaurant.

NOMM: But not immediately?

Bruce: We immediately planted a herb garden, as I am passionate about herbs in cooking, but at that time I wasn’t even a vegetarian, and my first idea was to open a regular Italian-style restaurant in this nice location. Earlier in my life I’d lived in South Africa, and my favorite restaurant was had a simple menu—just pizzas, pastas and lasagna—but a great location in the vineyard country near Cape Town. That was kind of my ideal. Open style. Part of the environment.

But when we first lived here, I still had my own design company in Taipei doing post-production work. In that industry you tend to work at night and sleep by day, eating unhealthily and drinking too much. It was for my health that I became vegetarian in 2000. I am a Buddhist, but Buddhism for me is about the teachings and meditation, nothing to do with diet. And unlike Taiwan’s Buddhists, I eat onions and garlic. As someone from northern China [Bruce was born in Taiwan but his father, mother and four brothers were all born in pre-Communist China], I can easily go without seafood and meat, but without garlic I will die.

I had also decided not to work in an office again, and my wife backed my idea. For a year we lived on her income, and I traveled around Taiwan learning as much as I could about cooking and running a restaurant.

NOMM:

Saturday, 28 January 2012

Feature: Finding a vegetarian restaurant/store (part III)

well, in taipei anyway:
http://veg.thejamies.com/taiwan/

(part I, part II)

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Feature: what kind of vegetarian is a "Guo Bian Su"?

Sometimes vegetarians in Taiwan will say they are "quán sù" (全素; "completely vegetarian") or "dàn nǎi sù" (蛋奶素' "egg-milk vegetarian"), but one can also hear the expression "guō biān sù" (鍋邊素; "pot-side vegetarian").

The first means strictly "vegan", the second is "ovo-lacto vegetarianism", and the last means that the person is easy-going about not eating meat, that he or she is happy simply to pick the vegetables out of a pot or plate of mixed meat and vegetables, or, similarly, eat vegetables or noodles that have been boiled in water used to cook meat.

Another name sometimes used for this is "fāngbiàn sù" (方便素; "convenient vegetarianism").

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2012

Monday, 19 December 2011

Feature: Interview with Meat-free Monday founder, Alex Su

Alex Su, Meat-free Monday Founder, at home.

NOMM met today with Alex Su (蘇小歡), founder of Taiwan’s Meat-free Monday (周一無肉日) campaign group.

[Interview was undertaken in mixture of English and Chinese, the following is a translated/edited version.]

NOMM: Briefly, about yourself, what was the cause of your conversion to vegetarianism and what led you to launch the Meat-free Monday group in Taiwan?

Alex Su: I chose vegetarianism about 15 years ago out of a desire not to kill or hurt animals unnecessarily. I gave up working fulltime about a decade ago, and withdrew to my home here [between Xindian and Wulai in New Taipei City]. My wife calls me a hermit. But as global warming has become more urgent, I decided to re-engage with the world, and so with a few others established the Meat-free Monday group.

NOMM: I remember hearing of Meat-free Monday being launched in Taipei in 2009, what has it been up to since then?

AS: Over the last two years we have undertaken a three-stage evolution.

That would have been the press conference we held to announce establishment of our association in September 2009. Our main purpose at that time was to raise public understanding that reducing meat consumption is a major environmental contribution through reduction in climate-change emissions.

In November 2009 we held a street parade, which as well as environmentalism, also focused on the health benefits to be gained from vegetarianism.

In October 2010 we promoted vegetarianism as a tasty option, since many people held the misconception that meat is both necessary to diet and also tastier.

NOMM: And over the last year?

AS: We are like a duck floating on water. On the surface little seems to be happening, but beneath we are paddling away with determination. We have little money, and have no wish to apply for government grants or sponsorship by commercial companies. This means that when we speak, people know what we say is said with sincerity. Our main activities are lobbying and a twice-monthly (formerly weekly) newsletter to disseminate information.

NOMM: Who do you lobby?

AS: We continually contact government agencies and members of the legislature to keep vegetarianism on their agendas, our members and supporters in organizations like the Rotary Clubs raise the issue of vegetarianism whenever possible, and I use my contacts from my former occupation in the media to keep the issue in the public eye.

NOMM: What response have you received and, in particular, has there been any noticeable increase in vegetarian numbers in Taiwan?

AS: Before the activities of groups including ours, the number of vegetarians in Taiwan had been stable at around 8 percent for a couple of decades (equivalent to around 2 million people). These figures came from government and academic organizations such as the Ethnology Institute at the Academia Sinica. Although there are no exact new figures, it is apparent that there are more vegetarians, more vegetarian restaurants, as well as more people having meat-free days or meat-free meals.

If seven people follow the idea of a meat-free Monday, that is equivalent to one extra fulltime vegetarian; if 21 people only follow the meat-free idea for one meal per week, that too is equivalent to one extra fulltime vegetarian.

NOMM: Has there been any change in the reasons people are vegetarian, if only for a day or a meal?

AS: Vegetarianism in Taiwan was originally a religious matter, promoted primarily by Buddhist organizations such as Tzu Chi (慈濟) and Foguangshan (佛光山), but also unbeknownst to most people, [the syncretic religion] Yiguandao (一貫道), whose followers operate around 60 percent of Taiwan’s vegetarian restaurants.

Recent converts to vegetarianism, especially young people, tend to be more motivated by environmental concerns. Also, traditional organizations such as Tzu Chi, whereas they previously advocated vegetarianism, are now pushing it much more strongly among their followers. There is also the Loving Hut (愛家) chain of 28 restaurants run by the Supreme Master Ching Hai organization, promoting a strongly environmentalist veganism, even though it started as a religious organization.

NOMM: What is the role of celebrity vegetarians in this rise?

AS: As I said, our organization is not rich, in fact we are an association (協會) not even a foundation (基金會), which needs a substantial “fund,” so we have to make a little money go a long way. The media and high-profile figures can be important in the process of disseminating ideas and practices, therefore.

Having said that, I would like to mention one government official whose influence is probably greater than others’ but whose contribution largely passes below the radar. This is Vice Minister of Education Lin Tsong-ming ( 林聰明), himself a vegetarian and former school teacher, who has promoted meat-free days in public schools throughout Taiwan. Around 70 percent of schools now have meat-free days, mostly Mondays but sometimes Fridays.

NOMM: What is next for Meat-free Monday (Taiwan) and for Alex Su?

AS: Having set up the group and got it started, I hope now to pass the running of it to others and return somewhat to my “hermit” life. Having said that, three recent developments will come to fruition early next year.

First, is the launch of “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (2)” (飲食男女二), with which I am involved. The first Oscar-nominated film, made by Ang Lee (李安), dealt with meat dishes, this second one is about vegetarian food.

Second, is a Chinese translation by my wife Caddy Lung and myself of Will Tuttle’s book “A World Peace Diet.”

And third, will be publication of a book of a selection of the information provided in our newsletter over the last two years.

NOMM: Doesn’t sound like much of a return to being a hermit! Good luck with your projects.

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

Saturday, 17 December 2011

Feature: Confucius says "bu shi, bu shi"

不時不食
([if it] is not in season, do not eat [it])

Analects of Confucius (X, viii)

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Feature: Finding a vegetarian restaurant/store (part II)

To find a vegetarian eatery, try looking near a temple.

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Feature: Finding a vegetarian restaurant/store (part I)

Monday, 21 November 2011

Feature: Glosasry III (no talking)

Many vegetarian restaurants are self-serve buffet style (自助式), and the photo above shows a typical sign seen at such places:

(word-by-word horizontally from top left to bottom right):

夾菜時 "tweezering vegetables time
請勿交談 please not exchange talk
謝謝合作 thank-thank combine action!"

i.e. "When selecting vegetables, please do not talk; thank you for your cooperation."

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Feature: Glossary: Religious reasons complicate timing

Most restaurants have regular opening days and times, but with many Taiwanese being irregular vegetarians based around the religious calendar, things can get confusing.

This sign reads (word-by-word, vertically from top right to bottom left):
each week-sun (=Sunday) public rest
(meet with
beginning 1, 15 as
usual operate business)

i.e. Closed on Sundays (unless Sunday is the 1st or 15th of the lunar month, in which case, open as usual).

Monday, 14 November 2011

Feature: Bread in any language --Photo

While in Hengchun, i passed this bakery.
It doesn't say "bread" in English, but in Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese and, I suppose, sort of in Portuguese. (Another Portuguese word to make it to Taiwan via Japan is tempura -->天婦羅 -->甜不辣)

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

Saturday, 12 November 2011

Feature: Vegetarian Riddle

In case this blog is becoming a little "serious news heavy", here is a more light-hearted feature
(apologies for cross-posting):

吃素的人吃/喝什麼牛, 什麼雞, 什麼羊, 什麼馬, 什麼魚, 什麼猴, 什麼鼠, 什麼豬? …
What kind of "cow", "chicken", "sheep", "horse", "fish", "monkey", "rat" and "pig" products can vegetarians eat?
(8 answers in Chinese, each 2 or 3 characters, though other variations perhaps possible.)

[p.s. this is "environmental vegetarianism", therefore not 牛奶 (cow's milk) or 雞蛋 (chicken egg), i.e. no animal products]
[p.p.s. no 素雞 ("vegetarian chicken") or anything like that]

for an example of what is sought:
if it asked for “dragon”, the answer might be 龍眼 (longan; lit. "dragon eye") or 龍鬚菜 ("dragon whisker vegetable"; see photo)

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

Thursday, 10 November 2011

Feature: We're at war, Comrades!

Sometimes it really feels like a war. A war of attrition, in which "they" try to wear "us" down by continual small attacks. They, in this case, are the supermarkets; we are their customers. Sounds like "class war"? I don't mean it to, the "Comrades" was meant as a joke.

But WTF, it sure feels like it sometimes.

Today NOMM bought some leafy greens in Welcome Supermarket (頂好超市), edible chrysanthemum (茼蒿) because it was on offer at NT$19. Still about double the price of any greens in the local wet market, but it was raining outside and ....
    But when they were scanned at the checkout the price came up at NT$24, so i went back to get the ticket off the vegetable shelves... but it had disappeared. A member of staff was arranging stock nearby, but i couldn't be bothered.
     On leaving the shop, however, i had to walk past a large sign advertising "Edible chrysanthemum on special offer, original price NT$49, now NT$19 from November 03-10." [translation from Chinese]
    Also by coincidence the guy from the checkout was unoccupied, so I called him over, pointed to the sign, and asked him why i had paid NT$24.
     He said " The offer has finished."
    I said "It clearly states 'till Nov 10'."
    He said "That's yesterday."
    I said "No, that's today."
    The woman on the shoe repair counter weighed in on my side. The guy gave up, called over the staff member working in the vegetable section. She, refusing to look me in the eye, and not apologizing from first to last, said (as if she was doing me a great favour) "Ok, I'll give them to you for NT$19."
    I said "...

Well, you can imagine what i said.

Yesterday, a similar thing happened in A.mart (愛買, literally something like "Love of Shopping"): NT$129 for something marked NT$99, and a woman behind me in the queue said "This always happens on special items."
    I said "You think this is bad, try Carrefour."

And at QuanLian (全聯 , literally something like "Completely Unified" but possibly bearing the English name Pxmart) on Thursday last week, my "free gift" for the NT$30 fee to join its membership scheme (so it can keep a track of what i buy) of a 1.5 litre bottle of sports drink transmogrified into a packet of toilet paper.
    "We've run out of sports drink," the checkout woman said.
    "Then i won't join the scheme," I said
     "I'll go and get a bottle," the lazy so-and-so said

Day after day, week after week, it never stops, it just wears us down. What i don't understand is why they don't care that we get fed up. We're already tired, we're spending money on ever-increasing prices, we've queued for tens of minutes for the right to pay, and THEN they stiff us on the shelf prices. Don't they care we'll go somewhere else? Of course not, because everyone else is doing the same.

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

Monday, 31 October 2011

Discussion Topic: Should "environmental vegetarians" eat seafood?

Should I or shouldn't I?

For Buddhists, Yiguandao followers and other vegetarians motivated by a desire not to kill animals, the answer is easy: they view all meat eating as wrong.

For those following a vegetarian diet for health reasons, the issue is perhaps equally straight forward.

But for vegetarians whose primary motivation is environmental, in particular, the contribution to climate-change gas emissions of meat production, it is not. If harvested sustainably, what is the harm in eating fish and other seafood, such as these crabs currently promoted in Yeliu?

Crabs for sale at Yeliu, New Taipei City

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

Photo: Crab festival in Yeliu

Shortly after dawn, 漁山 168 steams into Yeliu Harbor


Sorting crabs on the quayside, Yeliu

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Feature: RTM "Vegetarian Chicken" is NOT Vegetarian

One standard of vegetarian life in Taiwan is "vegetarian chicken" (素雞; su ji), which is made from tofu skin (豆皮 or 腐皮), tied into bundles and dried. Apparently, someone thought it looks like chicken breast.

Not an NOMM favorite, at least it offers a protein-rich vegetarian option. Not at RT Mart (大潤發), however, where it is served in a non-vegetarian sauce (see photo below).

While the sign is quite clear, and so the hypermarket is doing nothing wrong, perhaps not all foreigners will know that 葷 (hun) means "meat dish". This is especially true since the character contains the semantic element 艹, which normally indicates a botanical meaning.

Thursday, 13 October 2011

Feature: Don't buy fruit in Carrefour

Consumers buying tomatoes (and other fruit and vegetables) from Carrefour (and other supermarkets) risk a high probability of being ripped off. It seems that the plastic packaging stores use hides a multiple of sins.

It is both unnecessary and forces customers to buy more fruit than they might otherwise need, meaning its use is difficult to reconcile with any company’s claim to environmental “greenness”. Moreover, with one transparent side and one opaque, it affords consumers a less-than-50-percent view of the contents, allowing unscrupulous vendors the means to sell fruit that is partially damaged or rotten.

Yesterday, NOMM bought two 500g packets of 5 tomatoes from Carrefour on Taipei’s Chongqing N. Road, which, to judge from the visible evidence, were ripe and in excellent condition (see photo above). Upon opening the packets at the customer service desk in front of a staff member, however, it transpired that 2 of one packet and 3 of the other were showing early signs of rotting (photo below).

After a few minutes of form filling (time consuming and further unnecessary waste), Carrefour retuned the NT$90 (US$3) purchase price. NOMM asked for explanation from a manager or other spokesperson.

The following is an edited translation of the interview held with Ms. Gao Gui-qiu (高桂秋).

NOMM: Why does Carrefour cheat its customers?

Gao: We don’t cheat our customers.

NOMM: But you turn your tomatoes over so that only the good part shows and the rotten part is hidden. Isn’t that ‘cheating your customers’?

Gao: We don’t do that. It’s done by the supplier. We don’t package the product ourselves.

NOMM: Is this the first time this has happened, that someone has complained about fruit rotten on the side concealed from view?

Gao: No.

NOMM: Is it just the second or third time?

Gao: No.

NOMM: And is it fair to say that most customers don’t open the packaging here in the store, but wait until they get home, by which time it would be wasteful of time and gasoline to come back and complain?

Gao: Possibly.

NOMM: So Carrefour knowingly sells produce that it can confidently predict will include some damaged and rotten items, but that customers are not in a position to identify? Isn’t that ‘cheating your customers’?

Gao: When we receive a batch from the suppliers, we open one or two samples to make sure the shipment is ok.

NOMM: Well, here we have a sample of 2 packets, both of which are substandard.

(At this point, Ms. Gao disappeared, then reappeared with two more packets of tomatoes, which to judge from the condensation had come out of a cold store. She opened them at the customer service counter and examined the underside of the fruit. One was of acceptable quality; 3 of the other were showing signs of rot.)

Gao: We don’t do that. It’s done by the supplier. We don’t package the product ourselves. When we receive a batch from the suppliers, we open one or two samples to make sure the shipment is ok

NOMM: But why use packaging at all? It is unnecessary, it makes it easy for you, or the supplier, to cheat the customer into buying inedible food, and it also means that customers cannot buy exactly the quantity they require, examining each one for quality.

GAO: I understand your concerns and will make a report.

NOMM: Why doesn’t Carrefour care what customers feel?

GAO: We do care.

NOMM: Why don’t you care that customers will get angry when they arrive home and discover their expensive fruit is inedible? Maybe you should care more, since disappointed and angry customers might decide not to buy fruit here anymore, they may even decide not to buy anything from a store that knowingly cheats them.

GAO: I understand your concerns and will make a report.

Friday, 7 October 2011

Feature: Milk and coffee price hikes make soy option worth another glance

When switching from dairy creamers, many would-be vegans find that soymilk tends to dominate the sought-after pleasant taste of coffee, often citing it as one of the common hurdles encountered in trying to change lifestyles for ethical or health reasons.


Explanation of product price change: Due to a rise in the price of fresh milk, the price of drinks containing milk are being changed with immediate effect (Americano and Iced Coffee remain unchanged. ... City Cafe

Perhaps this week’s 10-15 percent hikes to the prices of take-away coffee imposed by at least three of Taiwan’s largest convenience-store chains (and following a similar price rise at Starbucks) will encourage vegetarians and other consumers (as well as more coffee vendors to join Starbucks) to give the environmentally friendlier soymilk another chance. The price increase comes on top of last month’s rise of NT$1.9/litre set by the Council of Agriculture (COA) for milk bought from local farmers, which has raised retail prices to around NT$70/litre in supermarkets and almost NT$90/litre in convenience stores. This compares to prices of NT$20 to NT$40/litre for soymilk.

While those whose vegetarianism is inspired by desire not to kill animals can maintain that drinking milk does not harm the producing cow (even though the male 50 percent of her necessary offspring as well as many of the females enter the food chain), this argument is not available to environmentally concerned vegetarians. A cow emits climate-changing methane with each exhalation whether it is being fed to make steak or to make milk.

(On the other hand, of course, imported soybeans, which essentially means all soybeans sold in Taiwan other than the immature, green “hairy bean” 毛豆 snack, are not without their own carbon footprint. In addition to the emissions associated with shipping them—mostly from the Americas—there is the nastier issue of destruction of forests to make way for soybean plantations if consumers do not buy “Amazon-friendly” soy products[1].)

Not surprisingly, Taiwan’s coffee drinkers (who consume around 5 million cups per day according to the London-based International Coffee Organization) are peeved by the news, with some talking about boycotting take-away coffee until prices are lowered. Similarly, the Consumer Foundation has suggested the convenience stores are operating a cartel, since three of the largest, 7-Eleven, Hi-Life and Family Mart, imposed hikes of the same magnitude on the same day. It has demanded the government’s Fair Trade Commission undertake an investigation, and even threatened to take the FTC to the Control Yuan if it fails to act. The COA under the Executive Yuan said it suspected coffee vendors were taking advantage of milk farmers.

Perhaps the soft-power solution amidst these hard-sounding responses is, therefore, to give the soymilk (or other non-dairy creamer) option a chance, or better still, to drink coffee black and sugar-free.

It is possibly with this in mind, and to soften the blow of its price increases, that 7-Eleven is also offering a "buy-1-get-a-second-cup-half-price" on Americano coffee this week.

[1] More problems relating to soybean consumption will be discussed in a future column.