Tag Archives: veganism

Book Recommendation: Transfarmation

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One of the best, if not the best, book I read in 2024 was Leah Garcés’ Transfarmation: The Movement to Free Us from Factory Farming.

Garcés and her colleagues at Mercy for Animals are doing amazing work bridging the gap between (a) the many, many farmers who are fed up with being deeply in debt, with polluting the lands they love, with being bullied by multi-national food corporations, and with treating animals like mere machines and (b) the members of the vegan, environmental, and culinary communities who seek to abolish factory farms and transform the food system as a whole.

Transfarmation tells compelling, accessible stories about various individual farmers in different contexts, about the big picture of how the American farm system got so broken in the first place, and the positive impacts the partner farmers are bringing about for themselves and their communities by transitioning away from animal agriculture.

This book really hit home for me. My mom grew up on a farm, which my grandparents were still actively farming when I was little. I also lived in a (different) farming community throughout childhood – I had friends, classmates, teachers, and all sorts of other people around me who I loved and who depended on farming for both a livelihood and an identity. Even then, with very limited understanding, I had plenty of qualms about what happened on those farms.

But things have only gotten worse. American farming has changed virtually beyond recognition in living memory. And the existing farm system’s cruelty to farmers, to agricultural workers, to farm animals, and to the people who must eat the food produced on factory farms is beyond measure. It cannot be allowed to continue. The Transfarmation Project is finding real solutions for everyone impacted, one farm at a time. I found this book so energizing – I can’t recommend it highly enough!

a white bowl filled with smooth, orange, carrot soup

Cozy Carrot Soup

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Simple to make, nutritious, affordable, and satisfying, this soup has a surprisingly complex flavor. Cumin is the spice that makes this (and so many other dishes) nice!

1. Chop a medium onion, mix the bits in a large pot with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, and put the pot on the stove at a medium heat setting, then let the onions cook until you see some good brown color. (It might take longer than you think – I recommend not stirring after you’ve spread the oil-coated onions evenly across the bottom of the pot.)

2. While the onions are cooking, peel, rinse, and chop about 7 large carrots, and add them to the onions once the onions are getting brown.

3. Continue cooking the veggies together for 5-10 minutes, and then add 3-4 hefty dashes of turmeric and 1-2 teaspoons of cumin. Mix all that around and cook for a few more minutes.

4. Add 1-2 tablespoons of Better than Bullion No Chicken Base (I love this stuff, but any vegan broth would do) and a few cups of water – at least enough to fully cover the carrots, or more if you like a thinner soup. Pre-warming it in the microwave or an electric kettle can speed the process along.

5. Bring everything to a boil then simmer until the carrots are tender when you stick a fork in (10-20 minutes), then remove from the heat.

6. Optional, recommended: use an immersion blender, if you’ve got one (or a regular blender for that matter), to whiz up the soup. Careful – it’s hot!

7. Optional: season with black pepper and garlic salt to taste.

8. Enjoy on its own or spooned over a scoop of your favorite grain (I like it with millet), topped with a green vegetable (I recommend peas), or supplement it with croutons or chickpeas. Consider adding a tablespoon of nutritional yeast to your bowl for extra protein, umami, and vitamin B12! The sky is the limit for modifying this one.

“Creating Carnists” published

food, justice, philosophy, , ,

My second co-authored paper with Jeremy Fischer, “Creating Carnists,” has finally, officially been published by Philosophers’ Imprint!

We’re so glad to be able to share our work in another open access venue, so that anyone and everyone can read it free of charge.

In the paper, we argue that there are child-centered reasons (relating to kids’ moral development, autonomy development, and physical health) for all caregivers (individual and institutional) to provide kids with maximally plant-based diets and related education – even if there is no general moral duty for adults to be vegan (although we think there is such a duty).

Since it has been two years (!) since the paper was initially accepted, there are a few things in it that we would say/do differently now. But in the intervening time, we’ve continued developing our arguments in various related works, so stay tuned to learn about how our ideas change (and don’t) over time!