Veganism grows up

July 14, 2008

Once-extreme diet makes inroads into the mainstream

Shelley Boettcher, Calgary HeraldPublished: Sunday, July 13, 2008

Calgarian Diana Stoevelaar hasn't had a hamburger, a bite of cheese or a glass of milk in 21 years.

She's not sick. On the contrary, she says, her health has never been better.

Stoevelaar became a vegan more than two decades ago in her search for a non-medical treatment for her arthritis and lupus.

At first, she decided to give up dairy products, hoping for relief from her chronic pain.

Within 48 hours, her pain was gone, so she decided to make further dietary changes, and on June 23, 1987, she had her last bite of meat -- a hot dog.

She's now vegan, one of a growing number of people across North America who are consciously choosing what they opt to eat.

What exactly are vegans? Think of them as extreme vegetarians. Not only do vegans avoid all types of meat, they also stay away from dairy, honey and eggs, too -- any product that comes from animals of any kind. (Most avoid wearing leather and, it probably goes without saying, fur, too.)

Instead, they eat diets that primarily consist of fruits, vegetables, soy, whole grains, legumes and nuts.

"It's someone who eats only plant food," says Stoevelaar. "I usually joke with people that I don't eat anything that ever had a mother."

Reasons for becoming vegan are myriad. Some people do it because they don't believe in killing animals for food. Others do it for environmental and health reasons.

"Maybe it's just a growing awareness in our society," says West Coast-based cookbook author Dreena Burton.

"We're more aware of where our food comes from and what it does to the environment."

These days, vegan-friendly foods are available in every major grocery store, even Costco; vegan cookbooks are sold in every major bookstore. And numerous Calgary restaurants and natural foods stores -- including Buddha's Veggie Restaurant, Coup restaurant, Planet Organic and Community Natural Foods -- offer plenty of milk-free, meat-free, vegan-friendly options.

Why now? Perhaps we're simply following in the footsteps of the stars. Actresses Pamela Anderson and Natalie Portman; fashion designer Stella McCartney; musicians Moby, Bryan Adams, Prince and k.d. lang; and record producer Rick Rubin are all vegan.

Then there's the weight-control appeal. The bestselling diet book Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman (a former modelling agent) and Kim Barnouin (a former model) is making converts around the world with its promise to help women become thinner if they follow a vegan diet.

"You cannot keep shovelling the same crap into your mouth every day and expect to lose weight," they write on their website skinnybitch.net.

Then there are the Vegan Vixens, a California-based group of scantily clad women who look as if they just stepped off a runway. Their goal? To "inspire men to live a longer and happier life, by making healthier decisions on what they consume," says their website veganvixens.com.

Even Oprah Winfrey recently tried out a vegan diet, giving up all animal products, as well as sugar, alcohol, wheat and caffeine, for three weeks in an effort, she said, to become "a more conscious eater."

"Wow, wow, wow!" she apparently wrote on her website (or at least, various veggie blogs are claiming she did).

"I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying."

They're also healthy. A recent Canadian-American study showed an improvement in health for people with Type 2 diabetes who follow a low-fat vegan diet.

Last month, a study proved a low-fat vegan diet, combined with exercise and yoga, could help fight prostate cancer. And earlier this year, rheumatoid arthritis patients showed dramatic improvement when they followed a gluten-free vegan diet, greatly reducing their high risk of strokes and heart attacks.

Although there are certainly health benefits associated with becoming vegan, it can be difficult for lazy home cooks to maintain a balanced diet, especially if you're used to getting all your calcium from milk, and all your protein from meat.

That's where a good cookbook can come in handy. In fact -- at least in Canada -- much of the popularity of veganism is thanks to a small Canadian publisher, Arsenal Pulp Press.

Arsenal publisher Brian Lam says he first decided to publish a vegan cookbook in 1999, after vegan enthusiasts Sarah Kramer and Tanya Bernard sent him samples of their dishes and a copy of their manuscript -- which eventually became the book, How It All Vegan.

"It was a really refreshing, non-confrontational way of dealing with veganism," Lam says.

"And they brought a really young fresh energy to veganism and the animal rights movement, a provocative way of getting people to think about what we eat and don't eat."

And it was, as it turns out, a corner of the cookbook market that was waiting to be filled. Lam notes that to become a bestseller in Canada, a book has to sell 5,000 copies. How It All Vegan sold 5,000 copies in the first two months. It has since gone on to sell more than 150,000 copies, and it has been reprinted 14 times, Lam says.

"In the 10 years since we published that first book, veganism has really grown up. It's much more mainstream, a legitimate health movement," says Lam.

Recent releases include Toronto holistic nutritionist Jae Steele's cookbook, Get It Ripe (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2008, $23.95) and Dreena Burton's third book, Eat, Drink and Be Vegan (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2007, $23.95).

Like Stoevelaar, Burton grew up eating a typical meat-and-potatoes diet.

Then, after moving to the West Coast about 15 years ago, she started flirting with vegetarianism.

The more she researched, however, the more she realized she wanted to become a vegan, not just a vegetarian.

She didn't like the thought of using animals for food, and she knew a meat-heavy diet was hard on the environment, requiring more water and resources than a typical plant-based diet.

She also knew she wanted to reduce her family's risk of heart disease and obesity, she says.

"My husband and I both tried (being vegan) for a month, and we both felt much, much better," she says.

Since then, she's written three cookbooks, blogs regularly about her vegan lifestyle (vivelevegan.blogspot.com) and is raising two vegan daughters.

Even in Calgary -- with its steakhouses, famous Alberta beef and meat-heavy Stampede parties -- Stoevelaar says she's seen a huge shift in people's perspectives.

Years ago, when her daughters were young, someone once told one of them they'd die if they didn't eat meat.

"But 21 years later, the public mindset has evolved to the point that now people almost apologize for still eating animal foods, saying that they are not quite 'there' yet but are working on it," says Stoevelaar, who is also a raw foodist, meaning she only eats food that hasn't been cooked.

That's good news for publishers like Lam.

This fall, Arsenal Pulp Press will launch its ninth vegan title, Sarah Kramer's Vegan a-Go-Go: A Cookbook and Survival Guide for Vegans on the Go, and Lam has plans to release a vegan calendar, "with recipes and facts and trivia" in 2010.

Although he isn't vegan, Lam says getting to know the authors and working with the manuscripts has made him -- and the rest of his staff -- more aware of what they eat.

"For all of us, it's been about becoming more conscious of what we put in our bodies," he says.

"And I think it's good for everyone, whether you're vegan or not."

sboettcher

Peter vv

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