BE KIND TO EVERY KIND

It started in a 4th-grade classroom at L.F. Addington Middle School in southwest Virginia.

Our homeroom teacher invited the local 4-H educator, Lucy, to visit. Lucy showed up, prepared to impress, with an incubator and eggs. The 4-H Embryology Project is used throughout the country to teach introductory biology and life science. The program promises to engage young people eagerly looking forward to hatching chicks. I found this to be true. I waited for those eggs to hatch for what felt like an eternity. When they hatched, I was ecstatic. So cute! So fuzzy!

Lucy returned to school that day with a big bag in hand. In my 10- year-old mind, I thought we were having a birthday party.

That did not happen.

Lucy’s bag held a hot plate and more eggs. She made the class omelets. My classmates and Lucy (who I will now lovingly refer to as Dr. Grim) ate and celebrated . . . something? It all gets a bit blurry at that point. I remember asking one of my friends if they realized that omelet came from the same place as those baby chicks we hatched. No one seemed particularly moved by this connection. My classroom just chowed down on those omelets. I, on the other hand, was outraged. I wanted to fight someone over those baby chicks, appalled by their uncertain future. I still wonder where they went. I hope they had a lovely, long life. That’s what happened, right?

That day I became a 10-year-old vegetarian. Suspicious of all, I developed excellent investigative skills for a kid, going to great lengths to learn about the ingredients in dishes I usually ate. I could cross-examine anyone I suspected would think I wouldn’t notice a little chicken broth. I knew what being passionate about a cause was all about.

At the time, back in the 80s, being a vegetarian wasn’t exactly a mainstream lifestyle in rural Virginia. I don’t know what year tofu made it to my hometown, but it was after I moved away. Meat substitutes (think impossible burgers) were not a thing. Yet, I managed to survive. My meals back then consisted of a lot of cheese. Strong bones, I reasoned. Dinner was often a cheese sandwich with fruit, but summer dinners were often directly out of my Granny’s garden – a plate of green beans, potatoes, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and cornbread. I get nostalgic thinking about it now. Other times dinner might include macaroni and tomatoes or greens, beans, and vinegar. In a pinch, I always had oatmeal. I never felt like I was missing something. If I was hungry, I just ate more of what I ate. I turned out ok. My brain is (at least arguably) intact, and I’ve slowly completed several marathons. When I went to college and law school, my food options expanded. Chickpeas replaced my staple green beans. I started cooking with nuts, and I met tofu and tempeh. Living in Knoxville made it easier to eat out too. The Tomato Head Kepner Melt is the best sandwich in town. Martha’s menu at the Bistro always spoils a vegetarian appetite. Yasseins falafel and veggie plate is another favorite.

It is rare for me to go into a restaurant now that doesn’t have at least one vegetarian entrée or filling side dishes. These options allowed me to transition to a primarily vegan diet. So, if eating plant-based meals interests you, start there. There is no need to buy unique ingredients to cook an unfamiliar meal when so many places in Knoxville already do it right. That said, if you are the cooking type, I recommend any cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Her recipes are vegan, but you can adapt them quickly for vegetarians and the ingredients in most family refrigerators and pantries (i.e., substitute regular milk for plantbased milk, etc.).

With a plant-based diet, if you ask yourself why bother? that’s a question only you can answer. Whether for your health, morality, environmental concern, or curiosity, you can find the motivation to adopt a plant-based lifestyle, even part-time. At the end of every day, how we treat our bodies and all creatures around us should matter. Maybe as lawyers it matters even more to us if you believe “he who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealing with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” - Kant

WELLNESS JOURNEY – PART III

By: Allison Starnes-Anglea