Meatless Mondays
One of our favorite vegan recipe websites is responsible for this week’s debauchery: Forks Over Knives. Their Blueberry Oat Breakfast Muffins are easy to make, and so super tasty, they’ll disappear in a heartbeat!
Even though a lot of us don’t necessarily think of sweet treats when we’re thinking of “Meatless Mondays”, an interesting correlation to make is surrounding the dairy and egg industries. Most recipes for muffins call for butter and eggs.
Where does butter come from? Dairy cows.
How does the farmer get the cows to continually produce milk for making butter? By artificially inseminating her at least once a year.
What happens to her babies? That depends on the gender of the calf.
According to an article posted in the Guardian by Chas Newkey-Burden,
“When she gives birth, her calf will typically be removed within 36 hours, so the farmers can steal and sell you the milk that is meant for her baby. Wildlife experts say that a strong bond between cow and calf is formed quickly after birth. Following that callous separation, the mother will bellow and scream for days, wondering where her baby is. The answer depends on the gender of the calf. If male, he will probably either be shot and tossed into a bin, or sold to be raised for veal, which delays his death by just a matter of months. But if the calf is female, she will usually be prepared for her own entry into dairy production, where she will face the same cycle of hell that her mother is trapped in: forced impregnation, the theft of her baby, and a return to the cattle crush two or three months later.”
At the very least, choosing a recipe that doesn’t use butter is choosing a kinder way of connecting with our food. At best, we are preventing the needless suffering of dairy cows. We’ll save the discussion about eggs for another time.
For now, get out your baking utensils. Make these fabulous muffins, and let us know how they turned out. My mouth is watering just imagining pulling them out of the oven, and eating one before it has time to cool! Oh my goodness!
This post was originally published March 12, 2019 by Amy A. Ehn.