Monday, October 27, 2008

Vegan MoFo: The FOOD REVOLUTION*


OK, so previously I might have talked a bit about this, but here's the whole deal. Be prepared for some hardcore rambling.

This summer, I lent Diet for a New America to a friend, and it really had an impact on him (he's now vegetarian and near-vegan). Long story short... with another friend, we've put together a presentation on plant-based diet. And today, we presented for the very first time, to some CALM (Career and Life Management) classes at their school.

It went pretty well! I'm not a huge fan of public speaking, but I did the section on Nutrition and I knew my stuff so I didn't have any huge 'mind-goes-blank' moments. The other parts of the presentation were Animal Rights, Environmental Ethics, and Human Rights. :) My two buddies both did a great job too, needless to say.

Cookies make people like you. It's a fact.


As far as I knew, we totally aced it. Our audience seemed quite interested and the feedback sheets gave us plenty of positive reviews. We brought chocolate chip cookies, too, which were definitely a hit!

In case any of you were wondering... here are just a few of the things that we included in the presentation:

  • A discussion with the class on what they already knew about vegetarianism/veganism/flexitarianism (it worked out quite nicely, since I'm a vegan and my two friends are vegetarian and flexitarian)
  • Dan Piraro's veganism video
  • The first few minutes of Meet Your Meat
  • This great PETA video on 30 reasons to be a vegetarian
  • Graphs from Diet for a New America on disease rates, animal protein, and such
  • A handout with the vegan food pyramid, how you can get everything you need from plant foods, and some practical tips
  • COOKIES :D
  • A question and answer period


:) We're going to be presenting again in November, and maybe even at the local church after mass one day (I don't go to that one, but supposedly the priest there is vegetarian!)

AND, my friend "got an email back from Bruce Friedrich (PETA's vice president of International Grassroots Campaigns -- the guy who wrote veg nutshell) congratulating us on our presentation and asking us to send him the videorecording" (since we recorded the whole thing). Whoaaa! This is so exciting! :D


Anyways, sorry for the wordy and incoherent and rambly post, but I'm just super happy right now. :) I can't believe this is happening!


*We sort of named the presentation after John Robbins book, of the same title. It's a snappy name, plus I did a quick 'commercial' for the book anyways.

13 comments:

Debbie said...

That sounds exciting! I would be won over with those cookies anyday. They look fantastic.

Anonymous said...

That's so awesome that you have the opportunity to spread veganism around!

Bianca said...

That sounds like a good combination of serious and sad material (the meat your meat footage) mixed with good info and the best part — cookies!

Julianne said...

It sounds like a really great presentation...who can resist such delicious-looking cookies?

Peggy said...

Debbie- :) indeed! haha, thanks

Conquerbysmiling- :D I know! I feel so accomplished! it's quite lovely

Bianca- Thanks! Haha, yes it's all about the cookies :P

Julianne- thanks! :)

tofufreak said...

wow congrats!! that sounds awesome!! great cookies too by the way :D

Peggy said...

:D thanks!

Amey said...

wow that's totally awesome. congratulations. more of us vegans should be doing work like that. And it's great that you have a couple of friends to do it with. That's nicer for you and also for the audience, who can see that it's not just one person with a mission.

Peggy said...

thanks! :) it's definitely inspired me to do even more activism. And doing this with 2 friends does indeed help, not to mention the fact that one of them is an avid environmentalist and loves to talk about that aspect of a plant-based diet :)

Anonymous said...

I'm really proud of you Peggy! Once you convinced your Dad, I knew conquering the world was a no brainer!

Love,

Your Mom xoxo

Peggy said...

haha... thanks mom :)

Rachel said...

I think this is seriously amazing what you are doing! I'm 15 and recently became a vegetarian but I can't imagine what a huge commitment being a vegan is, especially at our age. Even better is that you have a passion for something and you are getting you're opinions out there and making a difference. It is so obvious that you are a leader and you will go on to make changes in the world. I'm beyond impressed. Keep up the good work!

The Veggie Polyglotographer said...

I just found your blog by typing " crazy teen cooks vegetarian" into google, and I feel like you are my soul sister!!! :) We have so much in common and when I read your posts I feel like I'm reading mine :D
You have done so many of the things I wish to do one day, like a fundraising vegan bake sale...
I'm not yet vegan but am working towards it. I have been vegetarian since I'm five. And I started my blog in September. Could you stop by my blog? And maybe we could be "bloggy friends"!


http://theveggiepolyglotographer.blogspot.fr/