I found this quote in the veganism community on LiveJournal. (I really have to emphasize how friendly and useful this community is. Highly recommended for all veg*ans who know English.)

“Isn’t man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife - birds, kangaroos, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice, foxes and dingoes - by the million in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billion and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal - health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year, sends out cards praying for Peace on Earth.”

-David Coats, Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm

I have a new ‘toy’ in the kitchen. It’s not very common here in Sweden, I think. Here’s a bit of background for my new purchase: I have a friend in the UK who has been using his cooker for years and he convinced me how great it was. After searching for it online, to begin with I was put off by the high prices. They were far too high to fit into my budget. and one of the reasons I wanted it was to save money.

My friend suggested that he buy the cooker in the UK and send it to me. It worked out fine. The price for the cooker, including transport, was a fourth of what I’d have had to pay for it in Sweden. What’s the reason for that price difference?

I was very excited the first time I unpacked my new cooker from the wrappings. It was shiny and nice in stainless steel, and looked very complicated to use. And sure enough, I failed at my first attempt to use it. I recommend you read the manual before getting started on your culinary experiments.

Now what are the good points of using a cooker like this? I mean apart from how much fun it is to cook when you have a new toy to play with.

1. The cooking times are shortened considerably. Shorter cooking times makes it easier to feel up to making good, well-planned meals. Above all you save energy and that’s a must if we want to save our environment.

2. It’s easier. You put all kinds of vegetables into the same pot. By making that easier it helps me use more of the season’s veggies. This too, saves much energy, in that you don’t need to use as many imported veggies or frozen ones.

3. It’s tastier, because the aroma stays in the veggies. This decreases the need for taste enhancers like cream, margarine, extra salt and so on. Taste is very important and the fact that it helps our environment makes it all the better.

4. The food ends up being healthier because nutrients aren’t drained away with the cooking water. Instead it stays in your food.

5. Your food gets prettier. This may sound like an odd argument, but you actually eat with all your senses. The color of the food and the smell is just as important a part of the experience as the actual taste.

To sum things up: Buy a pressure cooker and save the environment, save time and have even tastier and healthier food.

Happy World Vegan Day everyone! Celebrate it by eating something really tasty and vegan or - I don’t know - do something fun together! Here are some green, friendly hugs to all you other veggie people out there!

Lately I’ve read a lot about adoption of children. More precisely, about who is not considered good enough to be allowed to help a child from less privileged circumstances. I mean, as everyone knows, it’s far better for a child to starve and/or be sexually exploited than ending up in the hands of someone, say - a little more chubby than the average parent, or a little older than the ‘family police’ approves of, or of course the classic - horrible single woman. Right?

Perhaps it would be better to simply ban adoption outright. Well, if you think about it, any child would prefer starvation and/or exploitation to living with a fat person, or a middleaged one or heaven forbid, an unmarried woman. Let’s just pack the whole thing in and get back to living the real life - running the rat race, shop ’til you drop and fly all over the world using up the last of our clean oxygen. Because that’s what the authorities would prefer, really. Wouldn’t they?

I’d just like to add that for me, personally, a slightly overweight, single woman, adoption has never been an option, so I won’t have to deal with the disappointment and the humiliation of being snubbed as a potential parent. That’s great, isn’t it? Good for me.

And as everyone knows, no young, slim, married parent has ever abused and/or killed their children, right?

Problem solved. Bring on the next one.

Since it’s the international Go Vegan week, I wanted to share this quote:

“Veganism gives us all the opportunity to say what we ’stand for’ in life– the ideal of healthy, humane living. Add decades of health to your life, with a clear conscience as a bonus.”
-Donald Watson

October doesn’t just bring World Vegetarian Day (October 1) but also the World Animal Day (October 4). In fact, that works out really well. If you eat less meat (preferably none at all) fewer animals will die. On the World Animal Day, at least here in Sweden, it’s the day for making cinnamon buns. That too, fits in very well. You see, it’s perfectly possible to make buns without using any kind of animal products.

Instead of the customary cow’s milk, which is the result of exploitation of cows, and which can cause stomach problems, arthritic pain and harm your ability to digest calcium. You might think that it sounds like a contradiction. Calcium in milk should be great for your bones. No? Consider this: why is there so much calcium in milk? Maybe because there has to be, because of the problem with metabolizing calcium. You can get osteoporosis (brittle bones) from drinking milk.

There are many different kinds of replacements for cow’s milk, like soy milk (won’t work if you’re allergic to soy), oat milk (might be a problem if you suffer from gluten intolerance, though if you do, you probably can’t eat cinnamon buns at all) or rice milk. I’ve heard of other cool replacements but where I live they aren’t available commercially. However, I have tried almond cream/milk, which is yummy and sesamy seed milk, which wasn’t very tasty, I’m afraid, but sesamy seeds are good for all kinds of other things. In some countries hemp milk is also available.

Recently I read in the paper that one of our tv channels was showing the movie Lilja4ever. I haven’t seen it myself. It seemed to be so tragic and that type of movie is just too painful for me to watch. I’m guessing most grown women and the majority of teenage girls react that way too. Hopefully, most grown men will feel that way as well.

Unfortunately, it seems teenage guys don’t react like normal humans. A friend of mine watched the movie years ago when it was in the cinema. While he was sitting there, there was also a gang of teenage boys. Each time Lilja was raped or whatever happens in the movie (I didn’t want to find out exactly what happens in the movie), those guys were cheering.

If Lukas Moodyson had wanted to get to most members of the audience, the main character should have been a guy being abused. That might have gotten to the guys too, because it would have hit closer to home. Shook them up more. And that’s probably what it takes. As long as that sort of thing only happens to ‘others’ and not ‘us/normal people/guys, the majority of guys in the audience will feel pretty secure. Cool. Awesome. And so on.

It’s time for those guys to wake up and realize that more or less anyone can be a victim, if you’re unlucky. Abusers, on the other hand, are still, if not all of them, mainly men.

So now I’m looking for a movie like Lilja 4ever, but where the violence and the degradation happens to a guy. Because that happens too. Then maybe at last part of the movie audience will wake up and see what’s going on. Not cool entertainment, but a wakeup call. A plea for them to care or at least not hop on the abuser train, or maybe be a spectator and cheer the others on, those who dare.

Today I read on Metro that a rapist was acquitted because the woman/victim was sleeping in her underwear.

So it was perfectly ok for him to get into her home and check what she was wearing?

What?

Ok, right.

Then picture, if you please, this scene:

A young, hot guy is asleep in his own home, wearing only his underwear, or nothing at all. A gay rapist gets into his home and sees the guy lying there looking sexy. After that, he’s all set to go. Or…?

Competely insane. I hope that the people responsible for the verdict will get the same treatment. It won’t be more than they deserve.

Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about the Eurovision Song Contest, and frankly, I don’t feel qualified to comment on the actual contest or the actual music. I don’t watch and I don’t really care which song wins. However, there are a few related issues that bother me.

Here in Sweden there’s been a fierce debate about the song we sent to Belgrade. Was it good? Did it suck? Etc. Early on, some heavy names in the music industry here claimed that it’s the latter. Our song sucked. Ok. Maybe you’re right. What did strike me as wrong, was the solution these people suggested. Send a song people will like better in Europe, or more adequately, in Eastern Europe.

If all you care about is winning and making money, that might be a good idea. But personally, I can’t help thinking that we Swedish people are entitled to liking any kind of music we care to. If the point is merely to win and make money, (see above,) then I guess they can do so. But if you want us, the Swedish people to enjoy the music you’ve created, then maybe it’s time to stop participating in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Like I mentioned above, I don’t care either way, about the type of music here, or the contest itself, but again, in my opinion if it’s for us, then we should like it. If we can do both, then fine. If not, then forget about the contest.