Diet & Health
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:
Trained on a vegetarian diet by former come-
dian Dick Gregory, challenger Riddick Bowe cut his
weight from 272 pounds to 235, then beat Evander
Holyfield out of the world heavyweight boxing champi-
onship November 13––but celebrated with a meal of fried
chicken. Holyfield’s training diet was heavy on turkey
sandwiches. Fight commentators included defending
world cruiserweight champion Bobby Czyz, who revived
a struggling career after becoming a vegetarian several
years ago. (Other boxers of interest to animal people
include former three-time world heavyweight champion
Muhammed Ali, an outspoken critic of sport hunting,
and former heavyweight champion George Foreman, who
harbors numerous once abused animals adopted from
shelters and sanctuaries, where he makes a point of ask-
ing for, “The ugliest, the ones nobody else will want.”
Feminist Germaine Greer urges women to
give up meat in her new book, The Change: Women,
Aging, and the Menopause. (Knopf, 422 pages, $24.)
Elle magazine food and design editor Jasmin
Nassimi has informed readers who wrote to protest
against publication of a roast veal recipe that the staff was
unaware of the cruelty involved in raising veal calves,
and that “We will not be using any veal or veal products
in our recipes in the future.” Thank Nassimi c/o 1633
Broadway, New York, NY 10019.
Burger King has made pork sandwiches a per-
manent part of its menu following a month-long market
test at 85 of the 6,000 franchise outlets. The participating
restaurants, in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska, sold an
average of 150 pork sandwiches apiece per day. The
Hardee’s chain meanwhile begain test marketing pork ribs
on October 1.
Pork tapeworms, once all but eradicated from
the U.S. pork industry, have returned via afflicted
Mexican immigrants, the El Paso Times reported
November 4. The tapeworms can grow up to 10 feet in
length, and may live for a decade. Brain cysts caused by
pork tapeworm eggs can cause hallucinations, speech and
vision impediments, severe headaches, strokes, epileptic
seizures, and sometimes death.
