i had breakfast with myself this morning.
Well that’s not entirely true, but the big bearded man who sat across me also goes by the name of Brett [Thompson] and he is a living legend. He also is a vegan, but wait, before you start throwing things, just hear me out for a little bit.
i met Brett through my wild pink-haired You Tube legend of a friend Grant Hinds [go check out his stuff here, especially if you like computer games of any type] and actually blogged about my first fully vegan encounter with both of them [at an amazing Fry’s hosted vegan evening] over here. If you look really carefully, you might spot Grant’s beautiful hair.
But this morning Brett was in Cape Town and so we connected and decided to have breakfast at Martin’s [because Yes, they do do a soy coffee… hee hee i wrote “do do”]. On the way there i was thinking i should totally have a breakfast without bacon just to respect the connection [although, to be fair this is our meat-free week so i shouldn’t have even been considering that at all]. But when Brett arrived he threw a breakfast together of brown bread, avocado, mushrooms and fried tomatoes and mushrooms and it sounded so good that i just “I’ll have what he’s having”ed.
And it was amazing. Although probably not THAT [see above] amazing. It was such a great breakfast and i know i enjoyed it more than i would the eggs on toast i was probably going to have.
My point is not that you should all go vegan now.
But just the thought that maybe, just maybe these people might know a thing or to about good food.
Although that was all just intro, cos the point of this blog post is to announce that the Brett’s are forming a band, okay not quite a band, forming around a brand, something more like that. Brett gifted me a bag of Fry’s frozen foods and i am going to try some of their recipes and journal the process on here, in the hope that SOME OF YOU MIGHT GIVE IT A TRY AS WELL.
Not because i get anything out of this – well, not yet anyways, but i am pushing for a cool apron with some witty Vegan saying on it [i don’t know if Fry’s do witty aprons, but you guy should think about it, really!] – but because it is part of the values tbV and i are trying to live by – one of which has been trying to reduce the amount of meat we eat [which WE do by one week on one week off, and which a lot more people do with Meat-Free Monday where one day a week they commit to not eating meat] and also to try and eat more healthier [a value which we share with Frys].
What is cool is that if you go check out Frys website which you can do by clicking any of these words [but not this one] there are a whole bunch of recipes available for free to get you started. It would be rad if a few of you decided to do this with me and then we could choose a recipe and try it out together and have some joint feedback from all of you.
If you would be up to joining me in that journey, let me know [brettfish@hotmail.com] – i am thinking of making Monday’s the day i try them out [and not sure right now if i’ll get to very Monday or every second Monday] but you can do it whenever and then just write me a short write-up.
i really enjoy Brett [great name] and i love the philosophy behind Fry’s [family business and what i’ve heard and seen from it so far] and so would love to find some ways to partner with them in terms of help getting their message across and introducing people to what they see as a much better way of eating and living.
Have any of you tried Fry’s before? What did you think? What do you recommend of theirs? Come share some thoughts in the comments.
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Yes, I’ve tried the Frys range. They are actually very good and tasty. I used to eat meat years ago, and I actually think the frys burgers are on par with the taste of normal meat, or even better tasting. The reason I don’t eat meat is because of the farming methods, and also because I’ve lived near farms and go to gotten to meet some of the animals like the cows. They are actually very social and when you interact and look at them, they do look like simpler versions of ourselves. They have young that they care for and do cow things like eat grass and park off. They don’t look like they have any bad thoughts at all. Seems like very friendly innocent creatures. I wouldn’t want to inflict any pain or fear onto them. So I made the decision years ago to go vegetarian, mostly vegan actually. At first it was a battle, but later I got more and more healthy and found more recipes and places to go. After say 2 years, I realized wow, I haven’t had meat for 2 years (10 years ago now), and that was the start of my journey into a much healthier life. I feel more energetic and much cleaner. My skin is healthier and I think very clearly – feel mostly happy.
Brett, you should go to a place called 13 Bell Crescent, Westlake Business Park, Tokai, Cape Town, 7945. Soaring Foods is the name. They have all kinds of ingredients for making super food smoothies and similar. A bit pricey, but it does last a long time – things like raw cocoa and all.
It also makes one healthy, but also the world a better place. All that land could be used to feed many more people than just say 10 cows. You could grow mieles, spinach, tomatoes and squashes and it could feed say 1000 people instead of those 10 cows feeding say 100 people (you get the idea, my math sux).
Great to see more people trying the veg route. It does seem the more ethical way on so many levels. Feeding more people, healthier, less cruelty (unless people think tomatos feel pain… not sure), but animals we know definitely do.
Thanks for the post 🙂
Hi,
This is so nice to see. Some people are starting to care about other creatures and limiting or reducing their consumption of animals. With no disrespect to the “blacklivesmatter” at all intended, I think even before they started that group, there was a lot of animalrights or animallivesmatter, not in the same form, but there used to be some small protests in cape town. I would often join, but don’t seem to see much of that these days.
I think more and more people are starting to at least think about how we harm animals by eating meat in the little packet. Ask a meat eater if they like animals, and they will say yes, they love all animals. How can this be when they are responsible for what happens in a battery farm or in those pig cages or abbatoirs. Some things happen there that look like they are from a horror movie – really terrible. Is it worth it to eat a tasty meal, when an animal must suffer like that? I can’t do it.
I think many white people are so removed from the suffering of black people. White privige, but even more so from the suffering of animals. Ask the average person and they will say meat comes from a Pick n Pay carton, but in reality its a horrific story to tell.
Some like dogs and cats, but pigs are equally if not more clever than say a dog. Its been proven they are highly intelligent. We don’t eat dogs, complain when Chinese do it, but we eat pigs?
I am a vegan and have been since I was around 8. I don’t even remember the taste of meat. It does smell intriguing, and tempting, but I have to refrain.
Thanks for raising awareness. I think so many are stuck in their own little world of privilge – they are afraid to step out and look at other races – they are afraid to look at other species like animals. I am not saying animals and humans must have the same rights, but at least lets give the animals some rights to have no cruelty and no factory farming.
Thanks for raising this issue. Your blog is very interesting and some good topics on here to discuss. I’ll recommend some friends to come here.
Thanks Tony, really appreciate you stopping by and sharing some thoughts. It is a very complicated conversation and just trying to help people [and ourselves] to at least take a step or steps in the right direction so that we are at least all doing our own little bit. Appreciate you sharing the love.
Its great there are people like you out there. Keep up the good work in promoting non-racism and also the helping people to try other foods that are not meat. Sometimes things become very despairing in this world and we all get very depressed. But then posts like yours come along and it helps a lot. There is a feeling of hope. So thanks for that.
I liked your posts on the blacklivesmatter. Yes, all lives do matter, but we must highlight that black people have been persecuted for being black, so we must highlight this and do something about it to make it right. I think to say, “ahhh but all lives matter” is a bit silly as we know this already. I don’t know why people get so defensive on this issue.
Then when one says, “maybe we need to think of animal rights”, then someone will say, “ahhh but human lives matter – don’t think about that, go feed a child or help an orphan instead”. Yes, I do help poor children, orphans and poor people who ask for food, but I also help the animals. I just help where it is needed or where I am led to help. Sometimes its just rescuing an animal I see on the street, or sometimes I give to a child. I don’t think its, “ahh but this animal is in distress, let me go look for a poor child to help instead”. Its the same as with all causes. We highlight where there is a wrong being done and focus on that. Then we go to another thing to help. I think wherever we are led to help, we must do that.
So your blog is really great and I like the thoughts and challenges in it. Keep up the good work and challenge people from all angles and privileges and all. If it is uncomfortable to think about then its something that we should think about and settle.
I think its about compassion for any other living creature, human, whatever it is besides ourselves that we must try for. Respect for the earth as its our home which God made for us and people and animals.
Have an awesome day.
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