Is Kava Dangerous? My Violent Torpedo of Truth About Kava...

There are not too many cool places for vegetarians to hang out.  Don't get me wrong, vegetarian hangouts are super-cool, but there aren't too many of them.  Vegetarian restaurants are usually pretty awesome, but it's hard to drag your meat-loving friends there.

That's why I love kava bars.  Kava is a funky drink that tastes gross and makes you feel great.  Kava bars are popping up everywhere and have opened the door to introducing carnivores to a more "earthy" environment.  But, there are a lot of places banning, or considering banning kava.

Why, you ask?  Because friendless people hate anything that popular people do to have fun.  Well, maybe that's not the whole story.  To sum it up real unscientific-like, there are reports that kava causes damage to the liver.  Does it?  Yes, kind of.  But also, no.  Through my hours of wiki-research, I have learned that there are chemicals in kava leaves and stems that do cause liver damage.  However, studies have shown that kava drinks that are made from the kava root, DO NOT have these substances and, therefore, DO NOT cause liver damage.

Please don't take my word for it.  I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on tv.  Look it up yourself.  If, after doing your own research, you feel safe drinking kava drinks (which are made from the root) like I do, find your local kava bar and enjoy.

I'll see you on Cloud 9. :-)

 

Typical Kava Set Up

Green Wave Cafe...Raw, Vegan, Delicious!!!

This weekend, I got to experience a real treat.  I had lunch at Green Wave Cafe, in Plantation, Florida.  Now I am not necessarily a raw food person.  I'm not even a vegan.  But I must say, if I could prepare raw foods like they do at Green Wave Cafe, I would be.

It was voted the Best Raw Food Restaurant 2010 by the New Times.  However, it's not easy to find.  It's not big.  It's not fancy.  It's not cheap.  But, when you eat raw, vegan, organic food, you just feel good.  I had every color on my plate and a smile on my face.  I tasted the black bean soup, the creamy asparagus soup, the burrito and the open-faced hummus sandwich.  Neither of them looked at all like I expected.  There were lots of veggies and sprouts and beans, and I didn't even know how to pick it up.  What a delicious mess it was.

After all of that nutritious yumminess, I decided to order the chocolate banana pie.  Wow!!!  It is so, so good!  I don't want to spend a lot of my blog time talking about local spots, but Green Wave Cafe earned it.  Go there and eat a lot.  You'll thank me later.  I hear they have raw food preparation classes.  I have a strong suspicion that I'll be in one before long.

Here's their info:

Green Wave Cafe
5221 West Broward Blvd
Plantation, FL  33317
954-581-8377
www.greenwavecafe.org

New Vegetarian Resources

If you don't want to be vegetarian, don't.  I understand that it's not for everyone (you murderer - just kidding).  But, if you have any inclination to try it out, don't cop out and say that it's too hard.  There are so many resources to help you.  There are plenty of websites and plenty of blogs with all of the information you need to make the transition relatively smooth (and unlike this one, they're not all just incoherent ramblings of a fat vegetarian sociopath).

Here are some sites that can help a lot:

Helps you get started:

http://www.peta2.com/p2vsk_flash/index2.html

Things to cook:  

Lazy Vegetarian - http://thelazyvegetarian.blogspot.com/

A little fancier - http://veganyumyum.com/

Vegan - http://hellyeahitsvegan.com/

For various cities:

Miami - http://www.meatlessmiami.com/

New York - http://supervegan.com/restaurants.php

Charleston, SC - http://veganincharleston.blogspot.com/

Los Angeles - http://www.vegparadise.com/restaurants.html

Houston (yeah, Houston) - http://www.b4-u-eat.com/houston/restaurants/cuisine/vegetarian.asp

Everywhere else - http://www.vegguide.org/

I hope that helps.  Comment, subcribe, share. :)

I ate bacon.

Let me tell you a little story. I went to Outback Steakhouse the other day and ate bacon. That's it. I told you it was a little story.

Well, I guess I can elaborate a little bit. It was a business lunch and the person paying with their business card wanted to go to Outback Steakhouse. So, we went to Outback Steakhouse. Anyways, I had heard that they had a nice veggie burger. LIES! They had nothing of the sort. So, I decided to order some vegan kryptonite (a quesadilla). Of course, it was a chicken quesadilla, hold the chicken. I did inform the waitress that I am vegetarian. I find this to be very helpful, just in case something you order has some hidden meat products or are cooked with chicken broth or something.

So, there I was, expecting Brittney to bring me a yummy quesadilla while I talked business. Little did I know, they were cooking up some carcass with my name on it. When I bit into what looked like heaven, I didn't feel anything unusual. Lucky for me, I tasted the bacon way after the fact. The waitress apologized for forgetting that they put bacon in their quesadillas and brought me a new one, meat-free. Now, I'm not militant. I didn't complain to the Manager. I didn't argue or make a mean face. But, I won't be eating at Outback Steakhouse anytime soon. And, I won't be forgetting my own rule. READ THE MENU and LOOK AT YOUR FOOD! Otherwise, you may be in for a surprise.

The Vegetarian Demographic

There are a lot of assumptions that are made about a person when they divulge the the fact that they are vegetarian. I have heard all kinds of misguided stereotypes. Many people think that vegetarians are all on the fringe of society, not like meat-eating "normal" folk. I find that, when I tell people that I don't eat meat, they come to vastly unrelated conclusions about my political stances. Also, every person from every culture tells me that people of THEIR culture or ethnicity can't possibly be vegetarian because THEY eat so much meat (Americans can't go without steak and potatoes, Hispanics can't go without pork, Caribbean people can't go without chicken...and the list goes on).

Some common misconceptions are:

- Vegetarians are all just rebelling
- Vegetarians are all politically liberal
- Vegetarians are all drug users
- Vegetarians are all malcontents

While, of course, some vegetarians are some or all of the above, the same goes for non-vegetarians. In fact, I have vegetarian friends who occupy some of these characteristics. But I also have carnivorous friends that do, too. Now, I'm not naming names, but here are some celebrities that you may know, who represent many different ends of the cultural spectrum AND all of whom are vegetarian or vegan. You can get see the complete list at http://www.happycow.net/famous_vegetarians.html.

Meat is Murder...tasty, tasty murder...so why be a vegetarian?

I hear so many comments about how delicious meat is - how great a nice juicy steak is, and so on.  Now, I admit, I had many delicious racks of barbecue ribs in my time.  I grilled some mean burgers and cooked hotdogs over the campfire.  I dare say I made some of the best Italian meatballs ever (my mom helped a little).  So, why did I stop eating meat?

No.

HOW did I stop eating meat?  I'm asked that on almost a daily basis.  The answer is simple - it makes me feel so much better.  My life after meat has been so much healthier.  My energy level and my general health - my complexion, my memory, my weight, everything benefited.  I normally don't subscribe to listening to or spreading propaganda, but the video I have attached today shows some people who have had many of the same experiences I have had since I stopped eating meat.  It is real.  If you haven't tried it, try it.

Is A Vegetarian Diet A Healthy Diet? from Larry Cook on Vimeo.

Seven vegetarians share how being vegetarian has improved their health. Produced by Larry Cook. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Attack of the Vegans!!!!

So, some of you may find this blog through my posting on vegan or vegetarian message boards on www.craigslist.org.  Well, I made a BIG mistake...I posted a link to my story about supporting meaty restaurants that offer vegetarian selections, such as Applebees, on the vegan forum, rather than the vegetarian forum.

Ohhh, boy!  You see what I always say about hippies?!!! I have spent the past two weeks being verbally assaulted.  Now, being the culinary deviant that I am, I am decidedly thick-skinned and take the insults with a grain of salt (Fairtrade certified sea salt, of course).

But, I do want to use this as an opportunity to point out something that I often point out.  The meat-eating world and the non-meat-eating world often clash because of extremism.  If you want to rage against the food machine, that is your prerogative, but I don't.  I have a job and friends and family who don't all espouse my dietary philosophy.  I choose to coexist with them and apply the peace-loving hippie mentality when it really counts and when it requires some effort on my part.

I suggest you all do the same.  The paradigm is shifting.