Ah, yes, the health benefits of tropical oils (grin). I think most people are trying to get away from them and on to canola oil, due to the unhealthy attributes of tropical oils, with their high degree of saturation. I think Crisco is also very stable at high temperatures.

In our 8 years of marriage, my wife and I have always paid close attention to our diets. Never have red meats or pork been a significant part of it.

We have meat-eating friends and have put those foods out for them … all the while introducing them to vegan dishes. (Sweetened hummus and black + pinto bean burritos seasoned with extra cilantro have gone over pretty well.) Up until recently, though, we have eaten freely of fish, poultry and dairy. Now, since last November, we have been (essentially) down to eggs and the dairy products. Yesterday, I finally came to like soy milk. So, not being a wastrel, the second-from-last egg made an egg sandwich for breakfast today. And I got earnest about searching for ‘vegan cornbread’.

There are humane ways to raise animals for food and humane ways to take their lives. They are not being followed.

For the record, I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I have turned to the vegan diet for reasons of 1)healthful nutrition (out of respect for the life Jehovah has granted me to live) 2)an appreciation that a vegetarian / vegan lifestyle can relieve world hunger (out of respect for the life Jehovah has given others) 3)repulsion at the lack of ethics in current animal husbandry (having the animals ‘in subjection’ does not mean subjecting them to misery … until Noah left the ark, men never found it necessary to eat animals and God gave them no permission to do so, no matter how humanely they had been treated) and 4)concern for the impact large numbers of animals have on our environment (Jehovah declared it ‘good’. Coming from Him, I’d consider that high praise. Perhaps we should try to keep the place up, eh?).