Vegetarianism and Our Animal Friends

Bhaktin Sharon Winner-Allamon

When shopping for food or preparing prasadam we always remember our vegetarian lifestyle. Yet in this age of Kali, it has become extremely difficult to really know what is in the food that we are buying and preparing with all of these modern chemicals and preservatives. Unfortunately many of these ingredients are animal by-products disguised by long chemical names. Many devotees are aware of this, yet there are many who are not.

Believe it or not, the current list of animal by-products published by various vegetarian/vegan organizations often turns out to be approximately 10 pages long. So of course it is impossible to avoid all of them, but we should try. Examples of such ingredients include mono- and di- glycerides, polysorbates, pepsin, rennet, mono/di/tri calcium phosphate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, and lecithin. And the list continues on.

Other areas of concern involve the milk industry. Because of my disgust with the current practices of this industry I have removed dairy from my diet every day except Sunday. Cows on factory farms are manually impregnated through injection over and over so that they are always lactating. Their calves are then taken off to the veal factory and the milk is used for human consumption. This is an incredible insult to Krsna’s cows! I know that milk is a very spiritual thing to consume. But if you can not get organic milk make sure that when you are offering your dairy to Krsna you ask Him to help and heal the cows that have suffered so that you may take their milk. Devotees should also try to abstain from wearing leather. Leather is not a necessity in this modern age and there is no reason one should slaughter the cows for the use of their skin. You may also decide to abstain from buying/using goods that contain wool, lanolin, silk, honey or beeswax derivatives, etc., especially if they were produced on factory farms. Also remember that animal by-products occur not only in food but in toiletries and other goodies. There are many inexpensive alternatives that do not contain animal products. If you are really serious about protecting our animal friends and vegetarianism, one should consider all of these things and make attempts not to support the industries that exploit our friends.

For more information on animal ingredients contact:

The Vegetarian Resource Group PO Box 1463 Baltimore, MD 21203

PETA PO Box 42516 Washington, DC 20015

Vegan Outreach 10410 Forbes Rd Pittsburgh, PA 15235

Or order The EG Smith Collective Animal Ingredients from A to Z book for $6.95, contact AK Press Distr. PO Box 40682 San Francisco, CA 94140-0682 or at akpress@org.org to learn how to order. It’s worth the buy. Krsna’s cows will thank you!