Diet & Health
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:
“Jack Sprat is the only per-
son in the English lexicon to promote
vegetarianism,” claim Jeff and Dana
Dorson, who recently opened the first
of a projected chain of vegan fast food
restaurants called Jack Sprat’s
Vegetarian Grill in the French Quarter
of New Orleans. “We’re going to make
Sprat into a character in costume, have
him go around in public places, pass
out vegetables, and teach people how to
eat healthy,” the Dorsons continue.
“We hope to stage a national debate
with Ronald McDonald.” The Dorsons
have shown their ability to build a
strong organization via Legislation In
Support of Animals, now six years old,
with 1,200 members (profiled in the
January 1994 issue of ANIMAL PEO-
PLE). Their menu already gets raves
from New Orleans restaurant critics.
Mexican food is dangerously
high in fat, the Center for Science in
the Public Interest recently reported,
after testing 15 popular dishes at 19
restaurants in four cities––but the fat
can be avoided by avoiding meat dishes,
making sure refried beans don’t contain
lard, and skipping sour cream or
cheese-topped items. This leaves most
staples of the authentic Mexican diet.
Agriculture Secretary Mike
Espy on September 15 introduced the
Pathogen Reduction Act, billed as the
biggest proposed reform of U.S. meat
inspection since 1906.
Plant estrogens believed to
help prevent breast cancer are abun-
dant in soybeans, tofu, buckwheat,
alfalfa, raspberry leaves, fennel, anise,
and the inner peel of citrus fruits.
Alarmed by “anti-meat”
messages in the TV programs Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine and SeaQuest
DSV, the Beef Council is buying com-
mercial time on both programs––to
counteract the messages, and perhaps,
to apply leverage to the producers.
Bobbi Pasternak of the
Vegetarian Resource Group has com-
piled a list of online vegetarian discus-
sion groups and information sources.
Contact her at either <Nursebobbi
@aol.com>, or <bobbi@clark.net>.
Linda McCartney’s Home-
style Cooking frozen vegetarian entrees
are to be introduced on the west coast
this month, and on the east coast by
year’s end, says Fairmount Foods. A
hit in England since 1991, the frozen
entrees have already been successfully
test-marketed in the midwest. The price
is about $3.00 per single portion. Linda
and Paul McCartney have been vegetar-
ians for more than 20 years.
The VivaVegie Society plans
to form “a vegetarian resource and com-
munity center in Manhattan,” says
founder Pamela Teisler-Rice. Get
details from POB 294, Prince St.
Station, New York, NY 10012.
Vegetarians are 40% less
likely than meat-eaters to die of can-
cer, according to a study of 11,000 res-
idents of Great Britain and New
Zealand recently published in the
British Medical Journal.
After briefly gorging on
meat, newly prosperous Chinese– –
especially women––tend to return to a
vegetable-based diet, according to an
August 29 Xinua news service report.
