30 Day Vegan Challenge – Day 5 – Get to Know What’s Really in Your Food

Reading Labels

“Being vegan is about doing the best we can in an imperfect world. It’s not about being perfect or pure. If we lose sight of that, if we treat veganism as the ends rather than the means, then we’ll not only drive ourselves crazy, we’ll also forget what being vegan is all about. There are some things we have no control over, and I think it makes more sense to focus on what we can do rather than what we can’t.

And there’s so much we can do.”

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, 30 Day Vegan Challenge

It’s downright depressing how much animal death is in the food we eat. Dairy, meat, fish and eggs are the main and most obvious ones, but all the things you would never expect! Who knew they use dried fish bladders to clarify beer and wine?

Strange – Lettuce and Carrots Can Make You Sick

Here is an odd story. Apparently lettuce and carrots have been making people sick.

Always wash your vegetables before you eat them

In early October, the Ministry of Primary Industries got two reports from ESR updating them on over 120 cases of yersinia pseudotuberculosis (including 38 hospitalisations) that they believe most likely trace back to lettuce and carrots.

According to the Ministry of Health, yersinia pseudotuberculosis is a nasty little bacteria that gives you a super nasty tummy , but is usually quite rare in New Zealand.  Lately though there has been a very noticeable upswing in the number of cases.