Diets and the Environment: Part Two

The animal agriculture industry represents a lot of ethical issues, from animal welfare to climate change and resource depletion, to public health, to environmental justice. Before I was sure I even believed the magnitude of what was beginning to unravel before me, I was certain that I couldn’t continue to pretend to be outraged at the fate of our environment due to human impact but consciously be supporting an industry so greatly contributing to its degradation. Short showers are still important and so is limiting your immediate water usage, but the drain on resources that our food choices contribute to is equally if not more important. It’s like the plastic straw paradox. People will happily support an initiative to ban plastic straws and encourage their friends, Facebook followers, companies, and local governments to abstain from using plastic straws to save the oceans and protect marine life, yet they won’t stop eating fish to save the oceans and protect marine life.

Fruits and vegetables were easier to grasp. I understood the concept of picking apples or berries and then packaging them for human consumption. (I also just want to add that there are of course certain plants and vegetables that require an unsustainable drain of resources, and that requires attention too, but the volume of meat consumption in the United States is so disproportionate with the rest of the world that factory farming and animal agriculture are an important place to start.) What was more abstract was the process of turning a pig into bacon or a cow into a burger.

Packaged in clear cling wrap, ready to be cooked, the chicken we buy at a store leaves almost no trace of where it comes from or how it was produced. The other day, my roommate came home from Costco, raving about the deal she had just scored – a full rotisserie chicken for $4.99. For her the decision was simple, almost reflexive; cheap poultry was available, so she purchased it because she is benefitted by having access to cheap animal protein. But what that price tag fails to communicate is the negative externalities someone or something must have suffered to get it there in the first place. We’re all familiar with the expression “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”, well I say there’s no such thing as a $4.99 chicken.

What are the hidden costs of raising a chicken? The immense amount of arable land and natural resources needed to cultivate livestock and produce meat for human consumption is something that goes gravely unnoticed. It’s something I never even considered until the information was made plainly clear. Cows natural diet is acquired by grazing on grasslands and eating the plants and shrubs; however, cattle farmers have discovered that transitioning cows to eat grains and corn allows them to grow much bigger in a shorter time frame, ignoring the digestion and intestinal problems created by forcing animals off of their natural diets. Nearly 40% of the world’s grain goes to feeding livestock rather than people, in the United States it’s over half.

What could 40% of the world grain stocks do to help the chronically hungry and malnourished? David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, suggests an estimate of 800 million people that could be nourished if the grain currently devoted to feeding livestock were redistributed to feed people directly. I’m not arguing that we should all start solely consuming grains and subsist off rice and beans. But it’s worth noting how at a time when the world’s population of undernourished and hungry people is growing steadily, we continue to support and invest in a grossly inequitable distribution of resources.

The factory farm system has learned how to feed and raise their animals to grow them as big as they can as quickly as they can. This has caused farming animals to evolve into a very unnatural process, by restricting the animals from engaging in their natural behaviors to feeding the animals large amounts of food outside of their natural diets, creating health problems for the animals that are routinely ignored. Studies indicate that a combination of poor genetics, lack of movement, and poor nutrition leave 10 to 40% of pigs “structurally unsound”, referring to bowed legs, pigeon toes, and buckling at the knees. Factory farming has become so pervasive that it has even altered the genetics of the species we know and eat.

Chickens are a prime example. In the 1940s the USDA was interested in breeding a chicken that could grow the most breast meat with the least feed. They developed a specifically bred chicken and began to manipulate its environment to maximize growth and minimize feed requirements which led to the development of two distinct types of chickens, ones raised for eggs and ones raised for meat. Chickens have been genetically and behaviorally engineered to grow larger than nature intended in far less time. The chickens purchased by KFC, which is responsible for the killing of 850 million birds annually, are almost always killed at 39 days old.

For perspective, the average lifespan of a ‘backyard’ chicken is five to eight years. The short lives the vast majority of chickens are allowed to live is filled with chronic pain and discomfort due to their unnatural growth trajectories.

Books of 2019!








A Vegan Food Diary: Amsterdam

Studying abroad in Amsterdam last semester, one of the things I was most looking forward to was exploring all of the vegan restaurants I knew were hiding throughout the city. I had been to Amsterdam before, and hit a few of the popular vegan sites such as the Vegan Junk Food Bar, which serving exactly what it sounds like is famous on Instagram for over-the-top burgers; and the Happy Pig, a Dutch pancake joint that serves long and rolled-up pancakes.



But living and eating in Amsterdam for four months is different than filling a weekend with outrageous vegan food. I was so impressed with all the vegan options all over the city, from tons of restaurants that are entirely vegan to most places offering at least a vegetarian option, and every establishment offering at least one alternative type of milk. My friends, none of them vegan, were also super into exploring the different options and came with me to all of these restaurants and enjoyed their meals, which any vegan traveling knows can sometimes be a problem.

Here are some of the best spots I’ve found over the last couple of months for vegan fare in Amsterdam!

If you’re looking for a cozy Sunday morning brunch, Mr. Stacks is a pancake restaurant with plenty of options for everyone in the group. At this restaurant, the items marked with an asterisk show that they are not vegan, which is a nice change of pace from the usual breakfast restaurant. I ordered the savory stack both times I dined here, which along with three fluffy pancakes came with pink beetroot hummus, avocado, and a side salad. My friends chose to satisfy their sweet tooth, one of them ordering cinnamon roll pancakes with “cream cheese” icing, and the other ordered the most decadent chocolate pancakes I had ever seen. I snagged a bite from both of them and they were obviously delicious.



Another go-to brunch restaurant for my friends and I was Coffee and Coconuts, a three-story coffee house and cafe with unique and comfortable seating and an inviting ambiance. The restaurant’s menu rotates, but they always have a vegan option on it. Last I went, I ordered an open face mushroom sandwich with an amazing pomegranate garnish and dressing, but I’ve since heard they’ve changed it for something new!

Amsterdam has a few vegan restaurants with a fun concept to them such as the Dutch Weed Burger Joint, where each menu item is infused with seaweed in some way, offering plant-based versions of the fast food items every vegan sometimes craves. I was intrigued at the idea of seaweed burgers and nuggets and convinced my family to come to try out this unique restaurant with me, and we were all extremely impressed with the options and the taste.


If you’re traveling on a budget, there are a ton of accessible and affordable vegan options in Amsterdam. Some of the bigger fast food chains have vegan options. Dominos, Papa Johns, and New York pizza all serve vegan cheese upon request. If you’re looking for “fancier” pizza, Sugo Pizza is right across from the De Pijp metro station and has 3 different vegan slices, all loaded with a tasty mix of veggies.

Another place my friends and I frequented was Maoz, an entirely vegan fast-food chain serving falafel sandwiches with a complimentary salad bar with dozens of toppings, and delicious hot fries with a variety of sauces. Either for a casual lunch in between classes or a late night snack at the end of a night out Maoz, definitely gives you a great meal at a very reasonable price.

Food Hallen is a large indoor food court with a really inviting and communal environment, housing a variety of high-end food stands with an international focus. From sushi and poke to barbecue, to Mediterranean and Mexican cuisine, there are options for every type of palate and eater.

In Amsterdam, while I didn’t feel pressured to google vegan restaurants in advance – because so many places were naturally very accommodating and vegan options were always readily accessible – I did enjoy doing some research to discover some gems I may have otherwise missed! If you’re planning a trip to Amsterdam, or are someone who’s lived there and is looking for new options, I encourage you to try any and all of these restaurants! You’re in for a delicious and (sometimes) healthy treat.



The Travels Continue! (Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna)





Church in the Kalemegdan


Széchenyi Baths




Lake Wolfgang

Lake Wolfgang



Our Perfect Meadow


Summer Travels!

As I write this post, I am sitting in a little train car on my way from Athens, Greece to Thessaloniki, a city further north. Not originally on our itinerary, we chose to make a one-night stop in this new city as a buffer on our twisted journey to Belgrade, Serbia. A train to Thessaloniki, and two busses between Macedonia and Serbia will do the trick – though more convoluted than our original intention of a singular night train from Athens to Belgrade.

Athens had been kind of a whirlwind for Zac and me. We arrived early in the morning, around 10:00, and were ravenous for breakfast. We dropped our things at our hostel, nearby the main square, and then doubled back to find food. Santorini, as beautiful and farm fresh as it was had little in terms of vegan food (falafel and tomato croquettes) so I was eager to find a vegan-friendly restaurant being in a bustling city. We were quickly surprised and happy to settle on a place called “vegan nation” – aptly named and quite tasty. The much-anticipated experience would have been perfect had two young kids begging for money not approached our table; unbeknownst to either Zac or me, swiped my phone from the table in the process. After a few minutes when I looked down from my food and realized what had happened we spent a few minutes being angry, then twenty minutes traipsing around the 2-block radius of the restaurant in search of the phone-thieves before quickly giving up. We decided the best thing to do would be to cut our losses and just accept that I would need to get a new phone in Greece. We still have over a month of the trip ahead of us and to do that without a phone would’ve been challenging, so our first day in Athens was spent dealing with the aftermath of our breakfast gone awry. Of course we woke up early the next day to see the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the Roman Agora, the Theatre of Dionysos, and all of the other historic and ancient sites in Athens. We spent the rest of our time in Athens just enjoying the change of scenery, spending one day reading at a rooftop bar with a stunning view of the main square and the Parthenon.


Our few days in Athens marks the end of our two week stay in Santorini, a smaller Greek island south east of the mainland. Santorini is a beautiful little island famous to tourists and travelers for its facade of white and blue buildings along the island’s coast. We we’re able to stay in Santorini for two weeks through the worldwide organization of organic farming (WWOOF), a program allowing us to live and work on an organic farm in exchange for free accommodations. Our host farm was a quaint little place in between Karterados and Monolithos – two of santorini’s smaller villages. Nestled right on the water we woke up each morning to walk the four dogs – always accompanied by two strays – and then to help with whatever task needed to be completed until it got to be noon and it was far too hot to continue working outside.

With the rest of the afternoons at our disposal we often spent the first few hours of the days reading and relaxing on the beach until we’d make the trek, often by foot, to Fira. Fira is one of the main parts of Santorini with the famous Caldera adorned with traditional Greek restaurants, shops, and bars. Here you’ll find a beautiful view of the sunset along the cliff’s edge, however you have to stake out your spot lest you be standing behind a few rows of other travelers inching forward to see the sun’s glow cast over the city.

sunset in Fira!

When the walk to Fira became too exhausting at a little over an hour each way, we rented 4×4 motorbikes to help us get around the island. I must say if you visit Santorini I can’t recommend this method of travel enough. The island is small so the motorbikes make all of its corners accessible whereas both the bus system and renting a car present certain impediments to prime site seeing. With the 4×4 you can essentially park anywhere, and the hour walk to Fira diminishes to less than 10 minutes. We took the 4x4s all over: to Fira then to Oía, to Kamari, and to Akrotiri.

The drive from Fira to Oía is a beautiful coastal drive along a winding road. There’s also an 11km walking trail too if you want to really take in the ocean expanse. I took the bus to Oía once: for €1.60 I boarded a coach bus and was terrified for 45 minutes as the bus attempted to traverse the turns and curves of the narrow coastal drive, but if you want to see Oía for a bargain – the bus is not a bad option.

Oía, Santorini

Oía, Santorini

Oía, Santorini

The lighthouse, ruins, and red beach are all sights to see in Akrotiri and would have been inaccessible to us without the 4x4s and had some of the most beautiful views of the island.

Red Beach, Santorini
View at the lighthouse, Akrotiri

Kamari is another beach town on the island that has a lot to offer, including a close-up view of the big mountain that was always visible from our farm. There’s a promenade on the beach with restaurants that set up lounge chairs next to the water. The Main Street also turns into a pedestrian walkway at night making it the perfect place to take a stroll or eat a late dinner in the company of others.

Attempting to sum up almost three weeks in Greece in a short blogpost is a challenging task, yet I hope this gave you a small glimpse into my recent adventures! Onwards and upwards!

It’s Been a While!



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Big Easy Express

Thousands of miles of train track from Oakland to New Orleans covers some of America’s most scenic views, taking one through beautiful sights you’d all but miss on the more efficient plane ride. In 2012, three bands, folk-rock, indie, and bluegrass – Mumford and Sons, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show – rented a vintage train in California, creating the musical tour of dreams, playing shows along the way as they took the infamous train journey from Oakland to New Orleans covering four thousand miles.

The Big Easy Express is a cinematic music experience that combines a concert movie with a roadie documentary, bringing you in and behind the action of incredible music being made. The quality of the sound makes you feel as though you’re one of the spectators, tagging along at the train stops, dancing in the vibrant crowd at the shows and having a front row seat to their late-night jam sessions as the train speeds through the backcountry.

Baffled by the fact that such a movie could pay homage to New Orleans and I hadn’t yet seen it, a friend and I rented the movie and watched it two times through, and if you haven’t seen it I implore you to do so.

The three band’s sounds collaborate perfectly; in fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find three bands who so humbly and beautifully respect and enhance each other’s music in such an inspiring setting. There’s a fleeting scene where the Ed Sharp guys are singing “All Wash Out” in between train stops, and you begin to notice the crowd of musicians encircling the band is also strumming along, adding their notes and rhythms to the song.

At the concerts along the way, the bands take turns performing their own songs for crowds jumping with excitement and anticipation, but the finale of the show is worth watching even if you don’t consider yourself a fan of any of the three bands. Mumford and Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, take the stage together to cover Jonny Cash’s “This Train was Bound for Glory” which so perfectly captures the spirit and message behind the “tour of dreams” as the bands refer to it as. The energy on stage when the all of those talented people are together on stage is nothing short of magical – a symphony of country instruments all playing their hearts out.

Often you think of music as being the brainchild of one musician or at best an impressive feat of collective imagination, but sometimes it’s easy to forget how great music can come from anywhere. The closing scene of the film shows the bands sitting in a train car strumming a melody and brainstorming lyrics about the train experience. Seemingly out of nowhere the poignant lyrics come to fruition – “on a train to New Orleans, and all that country in between. Friends you and I, playing for our lives singing sweet dreams forever on a train in the sky.”

After watching the film, all I can say is how much I wish I was in New Orleans in the summer of 2012.