On Compassionate Cooks and Bycatch
If you’re still eating fish, or you’ve convinced yourself that shrimp is the way to go because you’ve never seen one with his head intact, check out Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s (the founder of Compassionate Cooks and author of The Joy of Vegan Baking, which I just pre-ordered) May 30 podcast, "Fish Consumption and By-Catch." I started to take notes on all of the juicy stats and interesting verbiage, then I decided to refrain from deconstructing to gently prod you to listen to the entire segment (it’s not long, but it’s jam-packed with facts like how many shrimp die for each one in an eponymous cocktail, why the tsunami of 2004 was so devastating, and what happened to Canada’s cod).
While you’re at Compassionate Cooks, you can purchase sets of recipes on-the-cheap or check out some freebees. The recipes-for-purchase is a great service, as every time I buy a cookbook, I use maybe three recipes and the rest collect dust. This way, I can put my own cookbook together, according to what and how I like to cook. There’s also a catalog of downloadable resources on cooking and nutrition that address many of the basic questions and concerns people new to veganism are likely to raise. And if you’re in or near the San Francisco Bay Area, you can attend reasonably-priced classes and learn-from the experts-how to cook vegan meals and desserts (and if you can’t, and even if you can, there are DVDs for purchase that teach you). I’m thinking of going to San Francisco just to take a bunch of classes.
Finally, I’m referring my friend Lynn to Compassionate Cooks, as she is a fabulous vegan cook in need of new ideas, and what I really want is someone to cook all of my meals. In fact, I’ve recently done some informal market research and determined that Lynn (or someone else–maybe you!) can start an enormously lucrative business providing ready-made vegan and raw meals for lazy people like me in Palm Beach County. As my husband, the man who would pay someone to play golf for him if he could, would say, "That’s what I’m talkin’ about!"
