Do you remember Potluck #1? Of course you do, it was super exciting, and all about holidays. I am pleased to announce that I am hosting Potluck #2: Comfort Food. Submissions can cover anything you like, and you do not have to stick to the theme! but please remember that we are trying to talk about intersections. Potluck is, after all, intended to be a carnival for multicultural and intersectional discussions of food, including but not limited to food discussions intersecting with disability, gender, sexuality, fat, animal rights, and cultural and racial issues. How many times have you gone to eat your comfort food, only to be told it's gross and weird and disgusting? How many times has advertising told you that your comfort food is wrong and terrible?
Submissions are open until May 15th, giving you a comfortable six weeks to get something in. You can leave submissions in this post (please note that comments are moderated but will eventually appear!). Please feel free to submit links to your own posts or to someone else's. You may submit multiple links. Links will be included at the discretion of the host.
Please note that this is not just for vegans! It is just here because this is where my food stuff, and also I am pretty sure glass icarus is not vegan. :o)
Also we are looking for the next host, so if you are interested feel free to get in contact.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
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9 comments:
Could you use the Potluck to signal boost? http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/675735677/counter-culture
I know this is after our funding deadline, but having more ppl into buying the book would rock these kids' minds. :)
Maria, absolutely!
Dear Vegan About Town,
I’ve included below an essay I wrote about how veganism comforts me during times of high-stress for you to consider as you compile “Potluck #2: Comfort Food.” Thank you in advance for looking at my work.
Sincerely,
Sam Miskiv
***
I am a vegan living with a condition that has yet to be defined by medical professionals but which may be referred to as “sunshine brain.” Those afflicted with sunshine brain are optimistic, upbeat, cheery people pleasers. I wake up early every morning, not wanting to miss a single moment of another beautiful day. Some mornings I literally jump out of bed, and I can be heard exclaiming, ‘I LOVE MY LIFE” much more frequently than is normal and perhaps socially acceptable.
Though few people know, I expect that they would be surprised to lean that I struggle with disordered eating and a range of anxieties surrounding food, health, and body image. Certainly, this is not exceptional for an American female, but I sometimes find myself paralyzed by these issues and they occasionally severely disrupt my life.
I have struggled with disordered eating for as long as I can remember. The first “diet” I went on was in the first grade, at the age of six or seven, and consisted of me eschewing lunch for a week. As I grew up, my own anxieties were often reflected in my eating habits, whether it meant eating too much or not enough.
Combined with the stresses of college life (when they finally caught up with me) my eating and body image anxieties began spiraling out of control. My normal, sunshiney outlook was replaced by a new apprehensive and self-critical attitude. I’m still reeling from this period. At times I feel that fueling my body is the biggest source of stress in my life: there are days when I think about almost nothing else.
For someone looking at all this from outside veganism, it may seem unhealthy to engage in a lifestyle that has apparently influenced me to maintain a “restricted diet.” I worry that if I ever need to seek help, that my veganism would be targeted. Throughout the last four years, however, being a vegan has helped to improve my relationship with food, and perhaps keep me sane.
Any joyful vegan will attest that a vegan diet opens more doors than it closes, and that the stereotype that we are restricted, humorless, and hungry simply is not true. I have expanded my diet to include obscurely awesome foods that blow the minds of my friends and family. Whether I’m introducing vegan standards like tempeh, TVP, and nutritional yeast or preparing a familiar food in a new way (kale in a smoothie, a pumpkin in the chili) the curiosity peaked by the unfamiliar dish invariably incites questions. I love it when a new taste, a spin on a familiar flavor, or an unexpectedly veganized dish (yes, donuts can be vegan and delicious) provokes the type of open-minded inquisition that lets me share my reasons for being vegan and speak of the benefits. I also just like making people happy by showing up with tasty treats.
In addition to my small, personal advocacy efforts, going vegan and educating myself about the origins of food and the role their nutrients play in building a thriving body has given me confidence at times when my self-esteem supply was low. To know that I have the power to make informed decisions, even when I feel debilitated by anxiety, makes the act of decision making less intimidating.
Throughout periods of guilt, self-loathing, or times when my habits have made me weak or ill, I know that I can turn to a healthy vegan diet to help recover. The fact that I made the choice to eat in a way that inflicts less suffering than another diet buoys me up. It is compassionate choice to be vegan. Seeing my own compassion reflected in my daily decisions reminds me that I’m not so terrible after all, and at times reminds me to treat myself with compassion as well.
'crooked rice pudding': http://azuire.dreamwidth.org/86272.html
It's private for the moment but will be unlocked soon enough.
- azuire.
Reposting something I'd written to Tumblr: http://vi.dreamwidth.org/215690.html <3
In under the wire: comfort fooding- http://glass-icarus.dreamwidth.org/292110.html
<3!
I hope it is not too late!
http://ephemere.dreamwidth.org/67868.html
Also hoping I am not too late:
http://linstar.dreamwidth.org/168973.html?#cutid1
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