Al Gore Goes Vegan

[onehandle]

Source: Huffington Post



A Forbes article published on Saturday offhandedly mentioned that the "newly turned vegan" was considering an investment in Hampton Creek Foods, a startup working to replace eggs with a plant-based formula. The Washington Post followed up, learning from "an individual familiar with Gore's decision" that the climate activist resolved several months ago to give up animal products and embrace a vegan diet.

Gore, winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for sounding the alarm about climate change, has faced criticism over the years for eating meat while fingering the meat industry as a global warming contributor. Gore's 2006 film, "An Inconvenient Truth," touched on the issue.

"I'm not a vegetarian, but I have cut back sharply on the meat that I eat," Gore said in a 2009 ABC interview. "And it's absolutely correct that the growing meat intensity of diets across the world is one of the issues connected to this global crisis -- not only because of the [carbon dioxide] involved, but also because of the water consumed in the process."

Some media reports wondered whether Gore had made the switch in February, when he requested a vegan meal be prepared by Local Harvest Cafe & Catering at a book event in St. Louis. At the time, the owner of Local Harvest said a member of Gore's staff contacted him with "fairly precise dietary restrictions," but didn't divulge whether the former vice president had totally gone vegan.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/25/al-gore-vegan_n_4340462.html

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Ralph Nader protested saying, 'There Is No Difference Between Bacon and Garbanzo!'

90,000+ Florida voters fell for this and gave us President George W. Beef.

[ReRe]

1. Wow, if that is a recent photo....

... I like the old Al. He doesn't even look like Al Gore to me. My Mama did that one time. She came to pick me up at the airport and I didn't know her because she had lost so much weight.

[karynnj]

10. Which old Al?

Like many people, his appearance has changed many times in many ways. Not to mention, as a public figure - many real unflattering photos will be shown repeatedly - as will many that are unusually good. (If you doubt this look at ANY politician on Google images - from Hillary to Bill to Kerry to Sarah Palin you will see the best and some REALLY bad ones.)

In Gore's case, in some ways he looks more like an older version of the young Senator put on the Clinton ticket than the pictures of the early 2000s when he gained a huge amount of weight.
https://www.google.com/search?q=al+gore+imAge&client=firefox-a&hs=0hK&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&channel=fflb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=WaiUUqKBIdbJsQTqtoLwDQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=461

[ReRe]

11. I was thinking of...

... the Al that ran for President, I guess. I know he may be healthier, and that is a good thing. But that picture of him just doesn't look like Al Gore. Have you ever known someone who lost 75-100 lbs? It's the same shock one might feel when children that you don't see often (since holidays are upon us) have grown a foot or two since you seen them last. Thanks for the link.

[karynnj]

13. I actually think he was pretty healthy when he ran for President

I actually wonder if seeing how much weight Bill Clinton lost and how BC is likely far less in danger of heart problems than he was when heavier might have influenced Gore.

It was actually MORE shocking to see the relatively fit Gore morph into the extremely heavy Gore. That Gore was the one I thought looked unhealthy.

Compared to 2000, it is important to remember that he is - like all of us - 13 years older. I almost everyone looks healthier at 52 than at 65. If the change is the opposite, you see people unwilling to believe it is natural.

[ReRe]

19. You know what's really happening?

I'm getting old. I saw Arlo Guthrie in concert about 9-10 years ago and his hair was still long, but it was GRAY. It forced me to think about mortality for the first time in my life.

[bigdarryl]

12. You do realize people get OLDER so the Gore of the 2000 campaign isn't going to look

Like the Gore of 2013 JESUS!!!! people

[karynnj]

15. Of course - however, he looks better than the Gore of around 2004 when he had gained

a HUGE amount of weight.

You are completely correct that a 65 year old will never look like a very fit, athletic 52 year old. That's why I referred to him as looking more like an OLDER VERSION of the 44 year old Gore of 1992.

(Both the Clintons and Gores were quite young in 1992)

[Ash_F]

20. Eyebrows

The man needs eyebrows.

*Grabs a sharpie*

[ReRe]

21. .

[Ash_F]

22. I think he looks healthy otherwise

But little things like that can make the whole face seem off.

[ReRe]

27. Would need to be a light brown "sharpie" though... ;-) n/t

[Ninga]

2. K&R for the last two sentences! Very clever! Nt

[bunnies]

3. Smart man.

Now he can be demonized like the rest of us.

[athena]

35. Agreed!

It makes no sense to be an environmentalist while eating a factory-farmed omnivorous diet. I wish it hadn't taken me so long to realize that. I blame environmental groups for not making us aware of the facts.

[Myrina]

4. "replace eggs with a plant-based formula" ...

.... errrrr .... I think I'll just stick with regular old vegetarian-ish. Some things - like baked goods - really need eggs. REAL eggs.

[bitchkitty]

6. I think it's funny that

you use the vomit smiley to illustrate plant-based food. It doesn't make you sick to eat something that is shot out of a chicken's ass?

[Myrina]

17. I guess the concept of "plant based food" sounds too much like Monsanto ...

... or something designed in a mad-science lab.

I don't eat eggs scrambled, fried, whatever ... I use them as an ingredient. I suppose that makes it easier for me to conceptualize.

To each their own, yes?

[Doremus]

28. How far have we moved away from our food source

when we equate the term "plant based food" with mad scientists?

Yowza.

Before you bake, check the internet. It's overrun with recipes for delicious cakes/pastries that don't use eggs (or milk or any other animal protein).

Food tastes so much better without all the stress and growth hormones. Also, the peace of mind that comes from knowing you're not enabling horrific torture and suffering is better than anything.

[pothos]

31. In baked goods, eggs can be replaced with:

pumpkin
applesauce
store bought egg replacer (which is tapioca flour)
flax
bananas

these all work fine and if done correctly will not impart any weird flavors into the dish

[chervilant]

32. Not necessarily.

I have a great Banana bread/muffin recipe that's completely vegan. I have been working on other recipes to make them vegan--pumpkin 'cheesecake' made with soy cream cheese, for example. Very way delish!

[RebelOne]

38. Vegetarian here and not vegan.

I still eat eggs, cheese and drink milk because the animal did not have to be killed for the dairy products.

[athena]

39. Egg and milk production involve killing animals, as well.

The egg industry kills chickens. Half of all chicks are killed outright for the sin of having been born male. The other half are debeaked and live only a tiny fraction of a natural chicken's life. They live that short life in a tiny space: they have less area to stand or sit on than a letter-sized sheet of paper. That's regardless of whether the carton was labeled "free-range" or "cage-free" or "organic."

The milk industry causes cows to be give birth much more frequently than they would if they were left alone. Once the cow gives birth, the calf is separated from its mother so that every drop of milk can be sold to a human. Consider what happens to all those calves. Even if you don't eat veal, by drinking milk, you increase the supply of calves and thereby reduce the price of veal.

Please don't take this as any kind of personal criticism. It is great that you are vegetarian. It's unfortunate that the factory-farm industry has been allowed to get so greedy that even eggs, milk, and cheese now involve death and suffering on the parts of billions of animals.

[KurtNYC]

5. Processed food? Surely one can pursue a vegan diet without resorting to

the same shelf-stable, machine-made, packaged and shipped from factories food?

>>a startup working to replace eggs with a plant-based formula.

Eliminate processing, packaging and transportation -- Legalize backyard chickens.

[glowing]

9. I'm with you on this one. Little harm, little fowl.

[Myrina]

18. So how come I got yelled at for noting that and you didn't?

[bitchkitty]

7. Yet one more reason for me

to love Al Gore!

[rhett o rick]

8. I am disappointed that he sold Current. nm

[PasadenaTrudy]

14. I'm disappointed he had five kids

Now that's a huge carbon footprint!

[Township75]

16. Considering an investment in a vegan company?

Wonder if is currently is and this news is to help advertise vegan food products. He could make a shit ton of money with a well timed sell of an investment.

[Ash_F]

23. I wonder what it would be like to eat vegan for a week.

I'm not exactly sure what the typical vegan diet looks like. What do you eat on a normal day?

[onehandle]

24. My wife was vegan for about 16 years and ate fine.

Next time look at the vegetarian cold case in the grocery store.

A lot of 'fake meat' to choose from to add to vegetables, grains etc.

She recently added organic eggs, milk, and cheeses back into her diet.

[Ash_F]

25. Oh right, I have had those

I was expecting something fancier.

[athena]

34. Take a look at this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Mediterranean-Vegan-Kitchen-Donna-Klein/dp/1557883599

No pictures, but the recipes are excellent. We've tried her tajine, summer stew, and home-made gnocchi.

[lady lib]

26. A healthy vegan diet is full of color and variety and flavor.

Here are a few link to get a sense of what we eat. I would encourage everyone to give some of the recipes a try. You might find that giving up meat (even for just a couple of days a week to start) is easy and delicious. Enjoy!

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/
http://www.forksoverknives.com/category/recipes/

[CrispyQ]

29. I love FatFreeVegan.com!

I've made several of her recipes & like them all. This pineapple coffee cake is wonderful!

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/07/pineapple-coffee-cake.html

I'm making this tomorrow: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-meatless-loaf.html


Checking your other two links out next.

[lady lib]

30. Me too. Susan Voisin's recipes are great.

I'm making her Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie this Thanksgiving.

[bitchkitty]

37. She is my hero!

ETA - for Thanksgiving, you might want to check out her Impossible Pumpkin Pie - I've made it twice and it disappeared both times! So delicious!

[athena]

33. Here is what I had yesterday.

I run 20-25 miles a week (although I'm currently recovering from an injury), so I eat a lot.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with crushed flax seed and maple syrup
Toast with vegan butter and raspberry marmalade
Coffee with soymilk

Lunch:
Leftovers (scrambled tofu and herb-roasted potatoes)

Dinner:
Home-made vegan pizza (prepared by my amazing husband!)
Red wine
Home-made flan for dessert (recipe here -- I find that blending the tofu by itself, and then whisking it into the soymilk mixture works better).

[PATRICK]

36. Unless it is really religious

a little protein variety wouldn't hurt the necessary shrinkage of food consuming factory beasts.
Reducing toward Vegan is what a very healthy Mediterranean or non-inflammatory diet does.

I forgot what tofu even is.

[uberblonde]

40. Of course, there's the environmental impact of soybean farming.

Soy presents its own environmental and health problems:

The first big question I had about soy was: does it really reduce carbon emissions? A big part of my choice to be vegan was the belief that I was drastically reducing my carbon footprint in doing so. Unfortunately, I found in some cases, the answer is no. In fact, in the Amazon, where deforestation causes about 20 percent of climate change, it is frequently soy that’s causing the problem.

Fortunately, Greenpeace took the lead in pushing for a soy moratorium in Brazil that disallowed the planting of soy on deforested land and it seems to be working. In 2008, CNN reported no deforested land was used to grow soy. This year’s reports are due in a few weeks, but even if the moratorium proves successful, it doesn’t let us off the hook from being conscientious about our soy consumption, and even reducing it.

Of course, vegetarians, or humans in general, aren’t directly consuming the majority of the soy. The BBC reported that around 80 percent of the crop feeds the animals we eat. So we still need to consume less meat to decrease carbon emissions (and our indirect soy consumption), but if we want to be effective in our crusade, we can’t replace that hamburger with a nice slab of tofu, either. If we’re eating soy, we’re responsible for some of the damage.

Sadly, even organic soy products may not be as green as we think. Now, it’s pretty much confirmed that Silk Soy is using beans from Brazil and China, despite the organic label. The Organic Consumers Organization is encouraging people to boycott Silk Soy (yes, my heart is breaking) because of the way workers in these countries are treated and because even with monitoring, these soy farms still threaten the environment.

Even in the U.S., soy is grown most often industrially as a monocrop — a single crop in a giant field — meaning that it requires plenty of pesticides to maintain. Most of the soy grown on our shores and abroad is also genetically modified, something many argue was not properly tested before being okayed by the USDA. And it is not just vegans who are noshing on it; soy finds its way into most of the products on our supermarket’s shelves these days, in the form of vegetable oil or lecithin, which is used as an emulsifier.

- See more at: http://civileats.com/2009/01/27/a-vegan-reassesses-soy-a-health-and-environmental-perspective/#sthash.M57SS27W.dpuf

[onehandle]

41. That drive me crazy. The U.S. is the biggest producer of soybeans on earth.

And yet I cannot find non-Chinese edamame in any grocery store frozen food case.

Not even Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, or Wegmans.

[athena]

42. That link is almost five years old.

Here is an update on Silk soymilk:

http://www.naturalnews.com/032851_Silk_soymilk_Non-GMO_Project.html#

[Pterodactyl]

43. Are we still supposed to care about what Al Gore does? He's so 1999.