Been busy. Wolfman the little tuxedo kitten was in a real bad way, demanding middle of the night (9am) trips to the vet hospital, and lots of meds twice a day. Happily he's now a bouncing, biting, jumping, tumbling, Buddha-bellied maniac - thanks to a switch to kibble and Metronidazole.
Like Tom Waits sang "but the work never stops-z, n' I'll be bustin' my chops"...
On recovering from a nightmare "Friday" late into my "Sunday", I wanted to treat my woman to a good meal and a relaxing evening at home. Drive a half hour to Modesto for some more Fresh Choice? No dice, we were both starving. We headed out to tried and true Le Kim's Restaurant, only to find them closing early. Where to find a vegan (or at least vegetarian conscious) eatery, quickly, in Stockton? Happy Cow dot net that's where. What came up in the listings? A natural foods store. Nearby cities had nothing either, except Fresh Choice in Modesto - so we're back to square one.
This got me to thinking as we broke down and looked up the nearest Thai place on yelp.com - (I thought to myself something to this effect) "if I'm going to tell people how easy it is to go vegan, and we can't even find anywhere to eat out, what kind of man am I anyway?" I had to start getting active for the animals that I think deserve the respect and rights that they do, I had to join forces against the unseen, unquestioned speciesism permeating our minds! So I added the first of hopefully many entries for Stockton on Happycow.net. --click here for the entry--
I do have to voice my disappointment about some of the "Guidelines for submitting NON-veg "vegetarian-friendly" restaurants" on Happycow.net, like this one:
--- update ---
Happy Cow has some baggage, to put it mildly, and I got tired of waiting for my post to be approved (which was 24+ hours after I wrote it), so I found VegGuide.org and put the first Stockton listing up there (it showed up immediately). I like VegGuide.org's ease of use, but I have to object to the Mercy For Animals connection as a partner, because MFA is a welfare org that promotes reducing animal product consumption, eating "humanely" raised and slaughtered animals, bigger cages, etc. - instead of a clear all vegan message. Be that as it may, the easier it is for folks to find great plant-based meals to compliment a serious ethical vegan commitment to other animals, the better.
Like Tom Waits sang "but the work never stops-z, n' I'll be bustin' my chops"...
On recovering from a nightmare "Friday" late into my "Sunday", I wanted to treat my woman to a good meal and a relaxing evening at home. Drive a half hour to Modesto for some more Fresh Choice? No dice, we were both starving. We headed out to tried and true Le Kim's Restaurant, only to find them closing early. Where to find a vegan (or at least vegetarian conscious) eatery, quickly, in Stockton? Happy Cow dot net that's where. What came up in the listings? A natural foods store. Nearby cities had nothing either, except Fresh Choice in Modesto - so we're back to square one.
This got me to thinking as we broke down and looked up the nearest Thai place on yelp.com - (I thought to myself something to this effect) "if I'm going to tell people how easy it is to go vegan, and we can't even find anywhere to eat out, what kind of man am I anyway?" I had to start getting active for the animals that I think deserve the respect and rights that they do, I had to join forces against the unseen, unquestioned speciesism permeating our minds! So I added the first of hopefully many entries for Stockton on Happycow.net. --click here for the entry--
I do have to voice my disappointment about some of the "Guidelines for submitting NON-veg "vegetarian-friendly" restaurants" on Happycow.net, like this one:
"An attitude by the restaurant management of respecting vegans and working toward accommodating us as well as showing compassion for animals served as food (i.e. free-range, cage free, no antibiotics and hormones )"Sorry, but free-range, cage-free, etc. are simply ways to treat other animals as property to breed and kill, to be used as the owner sees fit, they have nothing whatsoever to do with veganism. We've got to start somewhere, and there are no 100% vegan eating establishments in Stockton, such as the first one I listed, but if the word vegan is used, especially in the same sentence as this compassionate welfare nonsense, vegan has to mean something more. Otherwise it's just the same old lacto-ovo, (maybe some white-meat, maybe some seafood, maybe some local humanely-raised and slaughtered beef, pork, poultry) cheese pizza vegetarianism that the average woman on the streets has heard of. Welfare for farmed animals is not vegan. A vegetarian section on a menu is a good starting point for vegans to politely ask for vegan options in my opinion, so I won't throw the baby out with the bathwater over this distinction, but I will keep repeating it and clarifying it - ending animal use good, welfare bad. One more thing, it's vegan not veg, not veg*n, vegan.
--- update ---
Happy Cow has some baggage, to put it mildly, and I got tired of waiting for my post to be approved (which was 24+ hours after I wrote it), so I found VegGuide.org and put the first Stockton listing up there (it showed up immediately). I like VegGuide.org's ease of use, but I have to object to the Mercy For Animals connection as a partner, because MFA is a welfare org that promotes reducing animal product consumption, eating "humanely" raised and slaughtered animals, bigger cages, etc. - instead of a clear all vegan message. Be that as it may, the easier it is for folks to find great plant-based meals to compliment a serious ethical vegan commitment to other animals, the better.
