About

Who am I?

Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Sarah, and I am so glad you’re here. I am a student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, however my home and  family are in lovely Kansas City. I will graduate VCU in May of 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in social work- both a terrifying and exhilarating thought! Despite school being a high priority in my life currently, I do still love to make time to cook, read, play music, and surround myself with some truly wonderful people.

 Why do I blog?

The idea to start a food blog was not my idea, but belongs to one of my best friends Emily.  Emily suggested that I start blogging one day after I rambled for far too long about new recipes I had been trying. Her idea sparked something in me- a challenge, a goal, an experience, an opportunity- and I ran with it. Ever since then, I have increased my efforts to try new recipes and step out of my comfort zone in the kitchen. That’s what I hope this blog can do for you as well. I hope it encourages you to try something new, to dig back into your recipe books, and shake things up a bit.

The other undeniable factor about cooking is that it brings people together. Eating is universal.  I love sharing and trading recipes, associating fun memories with a certain dish, and reliving family traditions based around favorite foods and one table.  I hope this blog provides a space and place to connect in those ways , as well as provide documentation of   those family and friend favorite dishes.

Why vegetarian?

I made the transition to being a vegetarian in the summer of 2008. I was about to be a junior in high school.  Someone told me in passing that the meat industry was harmful to the environment. At first I did not want to believe them, but I was too intrigued to leave the matter alone. I did a lot of research, talked to my doctor, and made the decision.  It was an abrupt transition, but thankfully my family rolled with it and was very gracious. My gratitude goes out particularly to my mother who had to adjust some of her cooking habits to accommodate my new dietary decision.

There are many reasons to be a vegetarian, which vary for every individual. Some people are vegetarians for animal rights issues, because they don’t enjoy the taste of meat, or for health reasons. These are all very valid reasons. For me personally, the two main reasons I am a vegetarian is that 1) the way meat is currently produced is extremely harmful to our environment and 2) a vegetarian diet is far less wasteful. Here are a few facts and stats that support these claims. Sources are posted below for this data.

Claim 1: meat production is bad for the environment.

•  “According to the UN, the livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, around 40 percent more than the entire transport sector- cars, trucks, planes, trains, and ships- combined.”- Eating Animals, page 58
• “The most current data even quantifies the role of diet: omnivores contribute seven times the volume of greenhouse gases that vegans do.”- Eating Animals, page 58

Claim 2: A vegetarian diet is less wasteful- much more water, energy, and resources are used to maintain the meat industry opposed to growing crops.

• “It takes five pounds of grain and 2,500 gallons of water to make one pound of beef,… If all households decreased their beef purchases by just one pound per year, 250 billion gallons of water would be saved.  It would take five days for this amount of water to pour over Niagara falls.” – The Green Book, page69-70
• “If just 20 percent of households in the United States and Canada substituted four ounces of beef for four ounces of soy per week, the annual water savings would be enough to provide ten gallons of drinking water to every person in the world.”- The Green Book, page 71

I do not include this section on my vegetarianism as a way to hold something against those who eat meat. Being a vegetarian is not for everyone, I absolutely understand that. However, since being a vegetarian is a life choice I have made for myself, I chose to reflect that in this blog.  For those who cannot imagine that a practical, nutritious, or delicious vegetarian diet – I hope to prove you wrong, and I hope you keep reading this blog. I so appreciate your open mindedness and always invite conversation for those of you who have questions or reservations.

 Sources

Rogers, Elizabeth, and Thomas Kostigen. The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time. New York: Three Rivers, 2007. Print.

Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown and, 2009. Print.