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The Vegan Way
Meatout Urges People to Try Plant-Based Diet
By Cathy Nelson
The following article appeared in The Daily Tribune (Michigan) on March 18, 2001.
It is still morning at Birmingham Seanholm High School as the group of about 20 students filter into the classroom and sit at desks arranged in a neat semicircle. Although it's a weekday, they're not here because they have to be. They've come by choice to hear the man at the head of the classroom speak.
"I'm here to educate, enlighten and tell you things you aren't supposed to be told," said the speaker, casually dressed in jeans and a black button-down shirt. After a brief introduction, he walks to the VCR and inserts a video. Someone asks if it's OK to leave if she feels sick to her stomach. "It's fine," the speaker answers.
The video is graphic—throats are slit, skin is sliced, blood is spilled. But no one leaves the room.
The lights come on. "That is where your food comes from," the speaker announces. The speaker is Gary Yourofsky, animal rights activist and founder of ADAPTT, an organization that began in Royal Oak and now has chapters in Toledo, Omaha and Tampa.
On this morning, he's talking to students about adopting veganism, a diet that includes no meat, chicken, fish or animal products such as eggs and dairy foods. Yourofsky's been invited to speak as part of Seaholm's "Democracy and Diversity in 21st Century America Teach-In 2001."
"I never pull punches or sugarcoat anything," said Yourofsky, who's lectured at schools including Michigan State University, Bowling Green University and University of Connecticut. "I hit them straight up with the truth, as harsh as it is. But teenagers respond." Recent statistics show there are an estimated 1 million vegetarian school-age children.
Seaholm junior Maisie Distanislao is one of them. She's trying to take her vegetarian diet—meaning no meat, poultry or fish—even further by adopting veganism. "I feel like Gary," said Distanislao, who invited Yourofsky to speak to her peers after meeting him at ADAPTT's Royal Oak Garage Sale table. "Animals should have the same rights as humans because we are animals as well. Therefore, we should be at an equal level with each other."
While Yourofsky's approach might be in-your-face, his subject is one that more and more Americans, especially those under 30, are investigating. According to a 2000 Zogby poll sponsored by the Vegetarian Resource Group, there are 4.8 million vegetarian adults in America—the largest percentage fall in the 18-29 age group. Of these, one-third to one-half are vegans, eschewing all animal-derived products.
On March 20, organizers of the Great American Meatout 2001 are hoping to add to those numbers by asking people to pledge to "kick the meat habit at least for the day and explore a more wholesome, less violent diet."
Many events are planned around the country, including today's 3 p.m. sampling of vegetarian and vegan foods at the Royal Oak Community and Senior Center. Sponsored by the Great Lakes Institute for Plant Based Nutrition, the free event also offers information from health professionals and vegetarian organizations.
The Meatout is traditionally held in mid-March and this year it coincides with a severe outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among European livestock. The highly contagious disease resulted in the slaughter of 170,000 animals in Britain and a U.S. government ban on all meat and livestock imports from the European Union. Foot-and-mouth disease has also been documented in France, Argentina, Mongolia and Saudi Arabia and may have reached Ireland and Italy.
"If this is not a wake-up call for us to embrace a vegan diet, than I don't know what is," Yourofsky said. "I've never heard of a tofu recall."
Caleb Grayson, owner of Xhedo's Cafe in Ferndale, said that although he didn't switch to a vegetarian diet for ethical reasons, hearing reports of foot-and-mouth and mad cow disease have convinced him he made the right decision. "You can really get an attitude when you start hearing that. I have become more moral about it. Some people won't consider the moral perspective and violence of killing animals because they don't want to give meat up."
Grayson was one of the last people who ever thought he'd become a vegetarian. Growing up in the "very carnivorous" state of Texas, meals were generally meat feasts, he said. But after moving to Ferndale and taking over Xhedo's, Grayson started eating from the restaurant's health-conscious, mainly vegetarian menu. Soon, he was holding the pastrami, then the ham and, finally, the turkey.
"I was starting to get nutrients from the food I was now eating. I started having an aversion to meat."
That was until Thanksgiving 1998, when Grayson and his wife, Keri, went back to Texas for the holidays. There, Grayson likens his behavior to a smoker who goes through a carton of cigarettes before quitting. Grayson said he stuffed himself on turkey, ham, beef brisket and tacos during the entire stay. "I felt sluggish. I felt poisoned," Grayson remembered. "On the plane back, I vowed never to eat meat again." He kept his promise and instead of finding fewer food choices, he found more. "There were so many flavors. It wasn't like I was missing out. It was like a whole other world. It just opened my eyes that I didn't have to eat meat to enjoy food."
Grayson and his wife are now raising their 2-year-old daughter Nebraska as a vegan. He said the energetic toddler drinks plenty of soy milk and likes to snack on tofu dogs, vegetables, pickles, and olives. Nebraska is lucky. She'll find more choices than others who've walked the once-lonely vegetarian path before her.
"Today's vegetarian products are good because manufacturers are producing more and more all the time," said Laurelee Blanchard, a spokeswoman for the Maryland-based Farm Animal Reform Movement, a national sponsor of Meatout 2001. "They keep improving quality. You can find plenty of items at the grocery store and health food stores are even better." Blanchard said with almost one-fourth of all Americans purchasing meat alternatives, mainstream manufacturers like Kellogg and Kraft are getting in on what was once a niche market.
Still, there are people like Berkley's Gina Stevens who struggle to give up food they've eaten their whole lives. "I'd like to be vegetarian, but I'm not," said Stevens, 29, who works at Troy's Good Food Co., one of the area's largest vegetarian and vegan food carriers. "I was raised on eating meat. I think it's cruel. I don't like the way it's processed or handled, but it's convenient. When I don't know what to eat, I have chicken, even though I feel guilty afterward."
Yourofsky hopes he can give the educated push to people, like Stevens, who straddle the fence. In addition to alleviating animal suffering, Yourofsky tells his audiences they can lower their risk of cardiovascular disease, strokes, diabetes and cancer through a plant-based diet. "Veganism in and of itself is a preventive medicine," Yourofsky said.
Human beings are herbivores by nature, he tells the Seaholm students. Yourofsky points out that our anatomy—large intestinal tracts, broad, flattened teeth, sweat glands—is that of a plant-eater, absent of carnivorous traits such as claws, fangs or panting. To prove his point, he offers the "Squirrel Challenge" at every talk. "I challenge anyone to go outside, pick up a squirrel and eat it as a true carnivore would—teeth, face, bones, everything. Eat it raw and bloody." Not surprisingly, no one has taken Yourofsky up on his challenge. Still, he's used to meeting occasional resistance to his views, like the outspoken biology teacher at his Seaholm presentation who lashed out at Yourofksy, accusing him of "misinforming" students.
Yourofsky stands firm. "Animal rights people are accused of exaggerating, but we don't. There's no need to."
Erica Cotter, a Seaholm junior, said she's glad her peers had the opportunity to hear Yourofsky speak. "At least he makes you think," said Cotter, who along with her mother, brother and boyfriend, is a vegan. "If you can sit down with somebody and talk to them, if they're compassionate people, they'll listen. Nowadays, it's not that hard to be vegan."
That's something Grayson, the man who gave up turkey for tofu, agrees with. "There's always choices you have to make. I don't have any problem living outside what's considered the norm."
Animal Rights Activist Encourages Veganism
Alum Speaks About Circuses, Research, Zoos
By Susan Bromley
The following article appeared in The Oakland Post (Oakland U.'s school paper) on February 20, 2002.
The video images are startling and graphic—elephants chained and beaten at the circus. Cows being branded, ears cut and ovaries removed, all without anesthetic.
Gary Yourofsky, an OU graduate, spoke about animal rights to four rhetoric classes last week. During his presentation he showed students a disturbing video where animals were being tortured and killed.
"I did not come here today to convince anyone that animals are more important than human beings because the issue of importance is irrelevant to how animals should be treated," Yourofsky said. "No one's ever said a mouse is more important than your family. Gandhi once said, 'the more helpless a creature, the more it is entitled to protection.'"
Joe Blake, freshman, attended one of the talks and described it as "mind-blowing." He left the room during the video. "Luckily I hadn't eaten, or I would have thrown up. I couldn't get it out of my head."
Yourofsky, 31, is the president and founder of ADAPTT. He has been arrested 13 times, most notably for his participation in freeing 1,542 mink from a Canadian fur farm. He became an activist after going behind the scenes at a circus with his stepfather, a circus clown. Yourofsky describes the circus as slavery, noting that the animals are chained, caged and beaten in an effort to make them perform unnatural tricks. "Fear is the only way to make wild animals submit and perform," he said. "They are shipped around like cargo in boxcars and semis while someone else profits from their labor and misery."
Yourofsky told audiences he is also against zoos, saying that the confinement causes neurotic behavior and lethargy in the animals. When asked about the conservation efforts of zoos, he replied that if zoos only saved endangered species he would give them a thumbs up, but noted that 99 percent of animals in zoos are not endangered.
Yourofsky is also against medical research. "The animal research world has done a masterful job of convincing everyone that your dying mother, your sick baby, will be saved by torturing and killing mice and monkeys. The anatomical, physiological, immunological, genetic, histological and even psychological differences are too great to overcome."
Yourofsky focused a great deal of his speech on humans' consumption of animals for food. Yourofsky said he knows that not everyone can be an activist. But he hopes that by educating people, he can convert them to veganism, a lifestyle in which you consume no food that comes from an animal and wear no clothing that comes from an animal, such as fur, leather, wool, silk or down.
Yourofsky stated that humans are not naturally carnivorous, citing the finding of Dr. William Roberts, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Cardiology. Roberts found that "when we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings who are natural herbivores."
Yourofsky notes that true carnivores do not get clogged arteries and also that humans don't have claws or fangs like carnivores do.
Katie Maloney, freshman, said, "We don't think about where our food comes from as long as it tastes good. I always knew that pork chops came from pigs and that eggs came from chickens, but I never thought of them being beaten to death, living in terrible conditions or being abused throughout their lives," adding that she was rethinking her dietary habits.
John Edrington, freshman, first saw Yourofsky speak last semester and became an animal rights supporter. He was so inspired, he helped establish Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals at OU and became president of that organization. He said SETA's current main goal is to educate its members. Edrington is a vegetarian and is trying veganism but has found that cheese is difficult to give up. He isn't willing to go to jail for his new cause, but Yourofsky said he isn't asking anyone to go to jail because that's his job.
Animal Rights Activist Hounds Berkeley
By Andres Cediel
The following excerpts appeared in The Berkeley Daily Planet (UC Berkeley's school paper) on October 5, 2002.
Animal rights activist Gary Yourofsky is proclaimed an international terrorist by some and savior by others. His most recent feat, which earned him six months in maximum security prison, was releasing 1,500 minks from a farm in Canada where they were being raised for fur.
"I knew I would get out [of prison]," said Yourofsky, "but the animals never would."
Yourofsky is on a nationwide speaking tour as a lecturer for the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Yourofsky spoke to a group of two dozen students and activists at UC Berkeley on Tuesday, alleging cruelties within the meat industry, calling lab testing on animals unscientific and espousing veganism as the path to world peace.
"I'm not an animal lover," he explained. "I just loathe injustice."
Yourofsky's grievance that 10 million adoptable animals are put to death every year is particularly relevant to Berkeley citizens, who will be voting on a ballot initiative this November to rebuild the city's animal shelter. The current facility, built in the 1940s, is thought to be inhospitable to animals. It has sewage problems, a rodent infestation and is unable to provide proper isolation for sick animals, shelter officials say.
Shelter volunteer and co-author of the initiative Jill Posener calls the shelter "Berkeley's dirty little secret" and said that the facility was designed "to hold an animal for 24 hours and then kill it."
Yourofsky's message was not directed at those working to save animals in poor conditions, but aimed at UC Berkeley professors uphill who use animals to advance their field of study.
According to the university's public relations office, more than 40,000 animals are housed on campus for research. Psychology professors who experiment on them receive millions of tax dollars to investigate such things as how the brain analyzes visual motion and the neural mechanisms of sound recognition.
The Berkeley Organization for Animal Advocacy (BOAA) points out that these procedures involve attaching electrode pedestals to the brains of monkeys or zebra finches, and then paralyzing eye movement or subjecting the animal to eight to 16 hours of continuous audio stimulation. In both cases, once the experiment is complete, the animal is killed for brain examination.
"When will we let go of these medieval practices?" Yourofsky asked.
He added that, aside from the ethical contradictions, animal testing is not scientifically valid. There is no correlation between one species' reaction to a stimulus and that of another species, Yourofsky contended.
"I'm still waiting for the scientist who can show me the formula [showing this correlation]," he said.
"I realized that they [university scientists] were treating the animals in a crap manner," said veterinarian Elliot Katz, "because they knew that the experiments they were doing were crap anyway."
In the early 1980s, Katz became involved in animal rights when he organized a defense of Max Redfearn, a university veterinarian who was threatened with his job after refusing to sign USDA papers certifying that animals had been treated humanely.
Katz, Yourofsky and others assert that there are more effective and humane alternatives to testing on live animals, such as computer models and videos.
Members of BOAA have picked up on Katz' work and have drafted resolutions calling for UC Berkeley to phase out animal testing. Both Berkeley City Council and UC Berkeley's student government have officially supported the effort.
PETA Raises Awareness
By Rebecca Jania
The following article appeared in the Western Courier (Western Illinois University's school paper) on October 23, 2002.
Western Illinois University's Associated Students of Philosophy recently offered students the opportunity to learn about the treatment of animals. Monday, the ASP sponsored a lecture by Gary Yourofsky, a national lecturer for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The organization's goal is to end all animal exploitation, according to PETA's Web site. It is the largest animal rights organization in the world, with offices in multiple countries.
Yourofsky has been working for animal rights since 1996. He founded ADAPTT, a Michigan-based animal rights organization. In May 1997, he participated in a raid on a Canadian mink farm with the Animal Liberation Front. He was sentenced to six months in a maximum-security prison; however, after 77 days he was deported back to the United States. He has participated in multiple protests against organizations that he feels are abusing animals, and he has been arrested 13 times for civil disobedience.
"Breaking laws has always been a part of civil disobedience," Yourofsky said. He added that he doesn't love animals; he loathes injustice. Yourofsky began the lecture with a video clip presenting several commercials that he produced regarding animal testing and meat production. He warned the audience the images would be graphic. "If you feel like crying, go ahead," he said. "That's what people are supposed to do when they see a tragedy like this happening. If you feel like laughing when you see these images, you may want to consult a psychiatrist."
Yourofsky spoke about the concept of Speciesism. "We are taught to hate and discriminate against animals long before we are taught to hate or mistreat gays or blacks or the other sex," he said. "Who taught us that animals were put on the earth for food? Who taught us that it is standard operating procedure to exploit the lives of animals? Who gave us a belief system that embraces misery of animals?"
Yourofsky then went on to speak about the basis of veganism. Vegans do not wear or eat any product that came from an animal, including meat, dairy products and eggs. "I don't eat anything that had a face, a mother or a bowel movement," Yourofsky said. Yourofsky explained some aspects of the meat industry, including the large amounts of animals placed in small cages and the practices of removing parts of animals as infants to prevent "industry-induced aggression" later in life. "Most males (in the meat industry) are considered expendable. This is because the females are artificially inseminated. Many feminists are vegan because they see how their nonhuman sisters are being exploited for their reproductive organs."
In his presentation, Yourofsky explained why human beings are not physiologically carnivores or omnivores. "We have carbohydrate-digesting enzymes in our saliva, which carnivores and omnivores lack. Also, all herbivores have canines; it's not just about the shape, it's about the size (of the teeth)." He also cited the concept that humans are the only animals that have to cook their meat. "I missed the show on the Discovery Channel where the lions had a gazelle barbecue," he said jokingly. "Carnivores and omnivores can eat bacteria-laden flesh. Humans have to cook it because they lack the correct stomach acid to kill the bacteria."
Yourofsky also provided environmental downfalls of the meat industry. "Fifty percent of the water in the United States is used in factory farms. Factory farm animals produce 2.1 trillion pounds of manure. Much of this ends up in water sources. That which doesn't is mixed into the feed of farm animals. Our topsoil is being destroyed by pesticides that are used on factory farms to keep insects off of animals."
He cited research done at Cornell University that showed 69 percent of human intake of pesticides comes from meat and meat byproducts, while 11 percent comes from fruits and vegetables.
Although vegans do not consume eggs or dairy products, according to Yourofsky, vegan women are not overly prone to osteoporosis. "Americans, who are the highest consumers of dairy products, come 18th on a list of countries with the least osteoporosis. The Vietnamese, who are lactose intolerant and don't drink cow's milk, have very low rates of osteoporosis and broken bones. This is because the proteins in milk are so acidic that it causes the kidneys to excrete calcium."
Dr. Peter Cole, an assistant professor in Western's history department, said, "People who drink milk fascinate me. Humans are the only species that drinks another species' milk. It almost makes more sense to be a carnivore because there's more of a precedent (in nature)."
According to Yourofsky, animal experimentation is another problem in the fight for animal rights. "Experimentation on animals lacks an extrapolative coefficient that allows us to apply these experiments to the human body. Drugs have been taken off of the market because they passed animal experimentation but later hurt humans." Yourofsky said companies performing experiments will continue to experiment on a variety of animals until they receive the results they desire. He quoted Dr. Richard Klausner from the National Cancer Institute as saying, "The history of cancer research has been a history of curing cancer in the mouse. We have cured mice of cancer for decades—and it simply didn't work in humans."
Yourofsky is concerned with these problems because he himself has seen many of the problems firsthand. As part of ADAPTT, he visited locations where animals were being held for experiments, entertainment or the meat industry and he filmed these places for documentation. He has shot some of the footage he uses in his presentation himself.
"I present (information) the way I'd want it to be delivered if I were living in a cage," he said. One of the greatest problems, according to Yourofsky, is the way that some people cannot empathize with animals in these situations. "It's not our family members, our dog, or our cat. It is other animals. Some people don't see a problem with hurting these animals because they don't know them. People should realize that violence is violence. One form isn't worse than another. It's all horrible."
PETA Lecturer to Promote Veganism
By Kelly Josephsen
The following article appeared in The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois) on October 23, 2002.
A former "animal liberator" who works with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will be at Illinois State University on Friday to promote the vegan lifestyle. Gary Yourofsky was jailed in 1997 for helping free 1,500 minks at a Canadian fur farm. Now PETA's student lecturer, he visits campuses across the country to talk about veganism, the fur industry, circuses and rodeos, animal experimentation and hunting.
His ISU presentation is at noon Friday in Room 219 of Stevenson Hall. Yourofsky will focus on becoming a vegan, which he calls the "single most important" step people can take to protect animals, safeguard the environment and improve their own health. Vegans do not consume animal-derived products.
Activist Urges Veganism
By Kelly Josephsen
The following article appeared in The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois) on October 26, 2002.
It's morally wrong for humans to torture and kill animals for food, says an activist with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Gary Yourofsky, who has been jailed for "animal liberation" and is now PETA's national student lecturer, spoke to about 20 Illinois State University students Friday. His visit was sponsored by the campus chapter of People Against the Mistreatment of Animals.
Yourofsky said he isn't trying to anger people. "If you want to make me your enemy, go ahead—join the club," he said. "But I came here to educate and enlighten. Today's speech is intended to uplift you."
His main focus was on reasons to become vegan, or not eating or wearing any product derived from an animal. If animal mistreatment isn't enough, said Yourofsky, who became a vegan six years ago, humans should consider their health.
Humans terrorize and enslave domestic animals by the billions so they can kill and eat them. But that kills humans by the millions through heart disease, kidney disease and cancer, he said. Yourofsky said animals are tortured as humans try to find treatments and cures for diseases they bring upon themselves.
Yourofsky used videos and statistics, and said every person who eats meat kills 3,000 (land) animals throughout their lifetime. He said some female pigs have been kept in pens too small for them to turn around and chickens have had their beaks cut off so they won't peck at other chickens. He handed out a vegan "how-to" guide and pointed students toward Web sites such as www.goveg.com.
"Nonviolence through veganism is the only ethical way to live on this planet," he said. "I am simply asking everyone to please re-evaluate their belief system."
Veggie Is The Way To Go
By Jackie Hill
The following article appeared in The Western Courier (Western Illinois University's school paper on October 28, 2002.
After several years of contemplation, I have finally decided to become a vegetarian. This was a personal decision and I have, so far, not regretted it.
A man by the name of Gary Yourofsky put me over the edge. As a national orator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Yourofsky gave a speech and showed a gruesome video of the treatment of animals and their effects on the environment. Yourofsky came to speak in Morgan Hall last Monday. So here I am, a week later, and this is what I have learned.
It is definitely a lot more difficult to find things you can eat, especially on campus. I was told that Thompson Hall has a new section in their cafeteria called Sun Creek which serves a vegetarian cuisine. I have not been able to make it over there yet, but I definitely plan on it in the near future. Hy-Vee has been surprisingly helpful. They have a decent selection of substitute meat products. You should try the tofu hotdogs because and I've found that they are pretty good.
Although I am just starting out as a vegetarian, I understand that it is a very big step and there are important issues that are crucial to one's dietary needs. I'm making myself aware of my nutritional needs because not all vegetarian diets are healthy. "Vegetarian is not synonymous with good health," says Jean Bigaouette, a nutritionist in Albany, N.Y.
Bigaouette stresses that being a healthy vegetarian means more than not eating meat. Vegetarians need to replace meat with foods that have similar nutritional value, such as vegetables, beans, peas, tofu and soy products. It is also important for vegetarians to get the right amount of vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin B-12. Taking vitamin supplements might be a wise choice for vegetarians, especially on a college campus where the food selection is limited. Also, talking with a dietician or nutritionist on campus might be very beneficial to a diet.
A good resource to check out is the American Dietetic Association. It provides information for planning a balanced diet. I never thought I, out of all people, would become a vegetarian. But, if I can get the same amount of nutrients from not eating meat, while standing against the slaughtering of animals, then I guess it's no more Burger King for me...unless it's a Veggie Burger.
PETA Speaker Presents Proper, Healthy Veganism
By Colleen Schorn
The following article appeared in The Breeze (James Madison University's school paper) on November 25, 2002.
Telling students not to drink milk or eat meat, a national lecturer for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spoke Wednesday night. Sponsored by JMU's Animal Rights Coalition, Gary Yourofsky presented "Veganism: Health, Environment and Ethics" to a crowd of about 40 students in Taylor hall.
Yourofsky began by saying he has been arrested 13 times for various animal liberation acts, or as he referred to them, "random acts of kindness or compassion," including liberating more than 1,500 minks in 1997 from death on a fur farm in Canada. In 1996, he founded ADAPTT. However, he said he is not an animal lover, but rather a person who empathizes with the injustice that animals have faced.
"I came to show you what you are not supposed to see," Yourofsky said before showing a gruesome video on animal mistreatment in circuses and killing methods in the factory farms that he referred to as "concentration camps." Scenes included two men who threw large rocks onto a pig to crush its skull, slitting a cow's throat to let it bleed to death and the decapitation of live chickens. Before the short video, Yourofsky asked, "If it is not good enough for your eyes, then why is it good enough for your stomach?"
He said vegans do not consume or buy products that come from anything that once had a face, mother or bowel movement. According to Yourofsky, many significant people in history were vegans: Plato, Socrates, Leo Tolstoy, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison.
According to Yourofsky, human beings are not natural carnivores because the cholesterol can kill us. Human intestines are proportionally the same length as herbivores, whereas carnivores have much shorter intestines, he said. Also, our teeth are not sharp and are better suited for plants, according to Yourofsky. Humans do not catch meat like other carnivores, he said, adding that we do not have the stomach acids to digest meat correctly either.
According to Yourofsky, no carnivore ever has had clogged arteries because carnivores' bodies are more suited to digesting meat. There are many health reasons behind veganism as well, Yourofsky said. He said that according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a diet that is high in fiber and low in fat (especially animal fat) is likely to prevent cancer.
Student reaction to the lecture was positive. "This lecture certainly strengthened my views that veganism is right," sophomore Jared Bowie said. "I have been trying to get rid of meat and animal products out of my diet."
Freshman Sharid Kamal said, "What Yourofsky said is true, unfortunately. I am a vegetarian and I don't drink milk. It is certainly hard, but my beliefs were strengthened now, especially after seeing that video."
PETA Rep Pitches Turkey-less Holiday
By Brye Butler
The following article appeared in the Wichita Falls Times Record News (Midwestern State University's school paper) on November 26, 2002.
If Gary Yourofsky had his way, it would be a tofurky Thanksgiving for all, with vegetarian gravy and pumpkin pie with vegan whipped cream, all washed down with a big glass of soy milk. Yourofsky, national lecturer for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA, is a vegan traveling the country challenging others to change their carnivorous ways and give up eating meat or animal by-products as well as stop wearing animal skins or furs.
This means faux fur fashionables and leather knock-offs, and tofu and soy as meat substitutes.
"I do not eat anything—or a product of anything—with a face, a mother or a bowel movement," he told about 30 Midwestern State University students Monday morning, the first of four lectures he delivered on campus Monday during part of a tour of 30 schools nationwide.
"Once a liberator, now an educator," he said, explaining he has been arrested 13 times in the name of animal rights. "But I'm not an animal lover. Call me anything but an animal lover." Yourofsky said he just wants "simple decency" extended to other life forms. "Of all the exploited beings on earth, animals are the most terrorized."
He reinforced this point through graphic video footage with his own harsh narrative. Images of meat-processing plants and meat-producing farms showed small dirty quarters with too many animals vying for space, causing neurotic and hostile behavior. Footage also showed physical cruelty. Pigs' teeth are sawed off to prevent them from gnawing on their cages; chickens are de-beaked to prevent pecking each other; bulls' horns are cut off at the head. The slaughtering footage was even bloodier: cows dangled by one leg and were gutted, chickens were hung upside-down and beheaded, live sheep were slit at the throat and left to bleed to death, a pig was bashed in the head until it stopped moving. "It's very harsh; it's very truthful," he said. "The truth is harsh."
The MSU students were stone-faced and sober. One student walked out of the room. Yourofsky didn't say where the video footage came from or when it was filmed, but he did say 10 billion cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys were raised in meat-producing farms. Yourofsky scoffs at the Animal Welfare Act and free-range farms, saying neither prevent animal exploitation. The only solution to this treatment: join the 17 million vegetarians in the United States, he said. About one million carnivores are becoming vegetarians each year, according to the PETA Web site.
Yourofsky said this dietary change is healthier physically and morally, and more natural. "You are not carnivores and omnivores. Our bodies are not designed to eat meat," he said, explaining how a human's colon, intestines and teeth shape are similar to plant-eaters. "Up and down, we fall into the herbivore category." This means a soy, wheat gluten, veggie Thanksgiving.
"Instead of stuffing yourself on the corpse of a tortured turkey, feast on meaty—but meat-free—mouth-watering tofurky roast," the PETA Web site recommends for Thursday's holiday.
Peta Speaker to Bring Discussion
By Geoff Higgins
The following excerpts appeared in The University Chronicle (St. Cloud State University's school paper) on February 24, 2003.
Animal rights and veganism will be the topic of discussion Tuesday at SCSU. PETA is bringing speaker Gary Yourofsky to SCSU while he's in Minnesota this week to speak at different schools across the state.
"I heard that he was going to be in Minnesota giving speeches so I knew that I wanted him to come here," said Ayoko Mochizuki, a member of the Campus Green Party (CGP). Yourofsky has spoken...to thousands of students in more than 100 schools around the US.
He will be speaking twice on Tuesday. His first lecture will be 12:30-1:45 and his second speech is scheduled for 3:30-4:45. Both presentations will take place in the Atwood Little Theatre.
Mochizuki said that the CGP has arranged for two educational videos to be shown during the time between Yourofsky's lectures. The first video is titled "Animals in the Service of the Military." The second video that Mochizuki has chosen to feature is "Lethal Medicine." Both are about 30 minutes in length.
Yourofsky has a speaking style that his supporters call "thought-provoking." He has been known to use inspiring stories, indisputable facts and quotes from great thinkers to get his listeners thinking about cruelty towards animals. Anther technique that Yourofsky uses in his speeches is the use of documentaries that show graphic footage from fur farms, laboratories and factory farms. His goal is to encourage people to be kind to animals.
He is also a strong advocate of veganism, a lifestyle where there is no use of any product that comes from animals. This includes clothing materials and food products.
Yourofsky holds a B.A. in journalism from Oakland U. and a radio/broadcasting degree from Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts. Good communication skills are in Yourofsky's background and both Campus Greens and Earth Action Coalition (EAC) encourage students to show up to this event to gain some important knowledge.
"Students need to understand that they are not separate from the environment but a part of it," said EAC's Kari Block. "It is time to recognize and respect the rights of other species to exist and thrive alongside humans. We need to try new and more sustainable ways to live on this planet because these changes will benefit all of us. Thus, what we do to the environment, we do to ourselves."
Animal Rights Activist Speaks to UM-D
By Michelle Darwish
The following excerpts appeared in The Michigan Journal (University of Michigan-Dearborn's school paper) on November 4, 2003.
Gary Yourofsky has picketed prominent businesses, chained his neck to the axle of his car, been arrested at least ten times, and spent 77 days in a maximum security detention center—all in the name of animal rights. Yourofsky, advocate for animal protection and a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, has degrees in journalism and broadcasting but prefers to dedicate his life to animal rights, encouraging others to open their eyes to animal cruelty. Cathy Nelson attested to Yourofsky's conviction in The Daily Tribune (Feb. 27, 2000): "When Yourofsky speaks about animal rights, things change," she said.
He is the Founder of ADAPTT (Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow) and lecturer endorsed by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
Nevertheless, Yourofsky remains one of the most controversial animal rights activists.
In the June 24, 2001, issue of The Toledo Blade, Yourofsky said, "We must be willing to do whatever it takes to gain their [animal] freedom and stop their torture."
Even though his personal preference is nonviolent lectures, he does not condemn others for using different approaches. "Do not be afraid to condone arsons at places of animal torture," he has written to supporters. If an "animal abuser" were to get killed in the process of burning down a research lab, "I would unequivocally support that, too."
However, Ingrid Newkirk, founder and president of PETA insists, "Yourofsky's passionate speech reaches countless people at a real gut level. Yourofsky uses a forceful combination of history, statistics, compassion and good old-fashioned logic to blow out of the water any argument that animals are here to be used and abused."
The Student Activities Board will host Gary Yourofsky's talk "From Liberator to Educator" on Wed., Nov. 5 at 12:30 in CB 1030.
Halifax Community College Students Encouraged To Go Vegan
By Jennifer Heaslip
The following article appeared in The Daily Herald (Roanoke Rapids, Virginia) on April 27, 2004.
Sometimes the truth is hard to swallow. Gary Yourofsky and Kate Timko, from Royal Oak, Michigan, have stopped in Halifax County for two days to explain the benefits of a vegan lifestyle, and, what they believe are, the cruel methods used to supply humans with meat. As vegans, they do not eat anything with a face, a mother or a bowel movement, or anything that comes from an animal, such as milk, eggs, cheese and honey. They also don't wear animal skin, such as leather, wool or fur.
The two are members of ADAPTT. They travel to schools and towns all over the country to spread their message, and stopped at Halifax Community College Monday and today to speak to students. They will also speak to any members of the public Thursday at 6 p.m. in room 401, building 400.
They cite kindness to animals as the main reason for not eating meat or animal by-products, as well as health and environmental reasons. Their style is more informational than forced-down-your-throat. They provide the information, aiming to open people's eyes, and then let the chips fall as they may. "We're just here today to take the blinders off and talk about the realities," Yourofsky said.
They showed seven minutes of video footage and TV ads. The ads focused on dogs and cats euthanized at shelters, the fur industry, traps, unscientific research, circus practices and slaughterhouses.
Video footage, some filmed by Yourofsky himself, shows chickens having their heads cut off, pigs being beaten to death, animals being dismembered while fully conscious, a sheep getting its neck cut, geese with poles shoved down their throats, birds and chickens living in cages in their own filth, bulls being de-horned and castrated without anesthetics, and much more. "Nothing on this tape is illegal," Yourofsky said.
The video clips also showed baby pigs having their tails cut off and their teeth cut out to prevent damage from fighting when crowded together, then their testicles ripped out and holes punched in their ears, all without anesthetics. "All this cruelty and suffering for a sandwich," Yourofsky said.
In the U.S., 10 billion cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys and other land animals are raised in concentration camps until they die unmercifully by being hung upside down and having their throats slit, they said. They are then dismembered, and cooked and eaten by humans. Others are beaten or shocked to death.
"I think they did a good job as far as getting the message across to people as far as slaughter, because I for one didn't know that happened," said HCC public speaking student Dora Peterson. "It's eye-opening to anyone who wants to go vegetarian." She said she had a taste for a cheeseburger before the speech; but not after seeing the video. "I don't know what I want to eat now," she said. The video clips were graphic enough to prove the point, but not enough to make you sick to your stomach, she said. "It really makes you sit back and think about what you're doing to yourself. It's very educational."
Female animals are baby machines that live in crates and cages, and are then cruelly killed when they are no longer able to produce offspring, Timko said. She asked, whatever happened to decency and truth and compassion, especially for those who are weaker? Birds are de-beaked without anesthetic and then live in piles of their own waste, just to be killed and eaten. "All of a sudden, people think all that feces and urine magically goes away," Yourofsky said.
It isn't natural for people to eat meat, he said. Humans are plant eaters, and are not natural carnivores. People acquire a taste for meat once it is given to them at a young age. "We are not meat-eating creatures," Yourofsky said. "We're all born vegans."
Eating meat is also bad for your health. We kill and eat animals, and then the animals end up killing us, Yourofsky said. Heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes and other diseases are directly linked to eating meat, and the number one killer of Americans is heart disease from clogged arteries because of meat. "Folks, eat what comes from the ground. It is natural," Timko said.
Yourofsky and Timko have hope that there will some day be equal rights for animals. It may seem like a radical idea, but it's not the first idea to be opposed and then accepted, Timko said. About 150 years ago, white men owned slaves. Eighty years ago, women couldn't vote, and 40 years ago, there was still segregation. Who knows where animal rights will be in 150 years?
There are plenty of "fake" meat alternatives, Timko said. Yourofsky ate meat for 25 years, and Timko for 23 years, but animal cruelty conditions convinced them to change.
Veganism: A Fix for Animal Abuse
Activist Promotes Harm-Free Living
By Nick Maxwell
The following article appeared in The Daily Aztec (San Diego State's school paper) on December 5, 2006.
Ninety-nine percent of the abuse and killings of animals around the world can be attributed to the dairy, egg and meat industries. This is what animal rights advocate Gary Yourofsky said last Friday in Aztec Center during his lecture about the ethical treatment of animals and humankind's moral obligation to become vegan.
"In my early life, I had the blinders on," Yourofsky said. "Nobody ate more meat than me. And in high school, embarrassingly and shamefully, I used to own a fur coat."
Yourofsky tried to have the audience tap into past childhood innocence, a time before "mistakes" such as buying fur coats were made. He said reconnecting the audience with their youthful innocence would mean that people would never intentionally harm another living being on this planet. "When we were kids, we used to smile and giggle at animals," Yourofsky said. "Then we were taught to ignore animals' feelings; hatred is a learned behavior."
Yourofsky's lecture promoted the end of all forms of discrimination including speciesism, the unfounded, unethical and unprecedented belief in the right to slaughter animals because humans believe they are so much more important than every other species on earth. He spoke about how carnivores have to lie to themselves in order to justify their inexcusable actions. "(Animals) don't look like us," Yourofsky said. "(Animals) don't act like us. (Animals) are not as smart as us, and (animals) don't talk like us." He then compared this way of thinking about animals to the excuses and logic people used to use to justify 400 years of enslaving black people, calling it a "vile excuse."
The presentation included a graphic four-minute video of animals being killed in slaughterhouses. "If you have to turn away, you should ask yourself: If it's not good enough for my eyes, why does it belong in my stomach?" Yourofsky said of the video. The video portrayed many live animals on hooks being either cut open or shot in the head while Jo Dee Messina's "Even God Must Get the Blues" played in the background.
Images, such as these, of animals being slaughtered are what prompted Yourofsky to perform "numerous acts of compassion," which he has been arrested 13 times for. Yourofsky detailed his experience when he freed 1,542 minks from a farm in Ontario, Canada, which was aiming to slaughter the animals for coats. Setting the minks free eliminated more than $2 million in profits for the mink farm before he was caught by authorities and sentenced to 77 days in a maximum-security prison. He was labeled an international terrorist by the media.
Setting animals free, though, is Yourofsky's way of avoiding their slaughter. The average American eats more than 3,000 land animals in their lifetime. "You can stop a slaughter when you leave today," Yourofsky said. He expressed feelings of disgust for people who attempt to be compassionate but take no action. "Since when does opposing an atrocity make the world a better place?" he said. "Everyone says that they're against the genocide in Darfur. Well, who isn't?"
Yourofsky lectured about the health benefits of becoming a vegan although he said that health is a selfish reason for going vegan. Yourofsky said that humans are biologically designed to be herbivores and a vegan diet can eliminate osteoporosis and all cholesterol.
"Even as a vegetarian person, I feel like I'm more informed," English senior Alfredo Soria said.
English senior Danielle Katz organized the event. Katz has been a vegan for four years after having an epiphany while cutting chicken meat. "I thought, 'Oh my god, I'm cutting this chicken used to alive,'" Katz said. Katz is part of the San Diego Animal Advocates group who is campaigning for more vegan meal choices on campus. "Food services has been very receptive to us," Katz said. "(Animal rights) is all about supply and demand. If people stop demanding animal products, corporations will stop slaughtering animals."
Lecture on Veganism
By Seth Grundhoefer
The following article appeared in The Shield (U. of Southern Indiana's school paper) on January 31, 2008.
Over 100 people gathered in Mitchell Auditorium to hear animal rights activist and founder of ADAPTT Gary Yourofsky lecture on "ethical veganism" Tuesday night. The Society of Professional Journalists extended an invitation to Yourofsky for the first time since April of 2007, when he was denied an opportunity to speak due to USI's outside speakers policy, which has since been revised.
The event itself was SPJ's "Free Speech Lecture," which included a talk by Yourofsky, along with the distribution of the 2006 Aerie magazines still in circulation. "This discussion is about the symbolic healing of our public forum," said Chad Tew, associate professor of journalism and faculty sponsor of SPJ.
Yourofsky's lecture included a four-minute video featuring slaughterhouses and dairy farms, a discussion on "ethical veganism" and a brief Q&A session.
To Yourofsky, veganism is the true path to enlightenment, and a way of life that many humanitarians such as Pythagoras, Gandhi, Socrates and Plato followed.
"I want to awaken those emotions that have been buried by society. All I'm asking is for people to show compassion towards their animal brothers and sisters," Yourofsky said.
During Yourofsky's graphic video, some of which he captured himself, he asked people not to turn away. "If you feel the need to turn away or close your eyes during this video, you might want to ask yourself a question: 'If it's not good enough for my eyes, then why is it good enough for my stomach? I want to remove your blinders," Yourofsky said.
For audience member and Evansville citizen Sharon Happe, Yourofsky did just that. Happe said Yourofsky wasn't calling anyone to arms, he was simply telling people to show compassion towards the animal kingdom. "He mentioned things I have always felt, but until now, I never saw the reality of it all," Happe said.
Mary Stoll, assistant professor of philosophy, considered Yourofsky's animal rights presentation as a standard part of ethics. "Animal rights is an old ethical topic, and it's nice to see a talk about it outside the classroom," Stoll said.
Yourofsky acknowledged that his tone in his writings and lectures are different, however, he proclaims them both as truthful and honest. Yourofsky said that stopping "animal oppression" is one of the few issues people can actively change immediately. "For the first time ever, when you walk out this door, you can effectively end a massacre," Yourofsky said.
To Meat or Not to Meat
By Veronica Isidron
The following article appeared in The Current (NOVA Southeastern University's school paper) on February 9, 2010.
Last week, the large lecture room at the Shepard Broad Law Center was filled with students and faculty who are vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters, all there to hear a lecture from animal rights activist, Gary Yourofsky.
During the lecture came a four minute video, some of it filmed by Yourofsky himself. The audience was warned that the images would be graphic. With the anticipation that many would look away, Yourofsky told the audience to ask themselves, "If it's not good enough for your eyes, why is it good enough for your stomach?"
The video started with little, pink baby pigs being thrown onto the ground. As they hit the ground, many struggled to move around but there was no escape from the torture that would eventually result in death. Cows, pigs and sheep suspended upside down by chains, while workers sliced body after body and the blood poured out of them onto the floor. A pig fell to the ground and was beaten to death. A dolphin struggled to stay alive while chained to a truck. Beaks cut, horns snapped, genitalia sliced and all while the animals were conscious. These were just some of the images in the video. These animals were tortured and left to suffer until their last breath. Soon after that, their meat is sold and later served on a plate for people to eat.
"I was deeply disturbed and moved by the video that was showed. It's amazing how much we take for granted the tremendous amount of suffering animals experience just to satisfy human's insatiable desires for meat and other product derived from them," said George Alvarado, junior business major, shortly after viewing the video.
Several people in the audience turned their eyes from the video. Many placed their hands over their mouths. The question remains, will the audience now hold their hands over their mouths when it comes to being served food derived from animals?
At the lecture students were told being a consumer of meat and food derived from animals, not only adds to the abuse and killing of animals, but also can be bad for your health. Yourofsky related animal consumption to diseases such as heart disease and cancer, as well as cases of osteoporosis due to the body needing calcium from your bones to regulate the acidity from the absorption of meat. Yourofsky explained that eating meat is a learned behavior and with time becomes an addiction. Realizing that giving up meat can be very difficult for people, Yourofsky provided the audience with many alternative food options, showing pictures of burgers, ribs, chicken, turkey and bacon made without any animal flesh. Yourofsky suggested that the effect of changing one's diet to not include food derived from animals would help with maintaining a healthy body and contribute to stop the massacre of animals.
Alvarado commented on the lecture by saying, "I was impressed with Gary's passion and determination for expressing his message of intolerance for animal cruelty of any kind." Five days after the lecture, Alvarado had not forgotten the facts or the visuals that were presented to him that day. He states, "My life has changed dramatically since seeing Gary Yourofsky's presentation. I can no longer look at meat the same way nor have the desire to consume meat as a result of all the information that I took in. I feel that changing my eating habits to not eat meat or any meat whatsoever is a good beginning to ending animal cruelty."
For more information you may visit Gary Yourofsky's Web site.
And Milk and Honey Stopped Flowing in Israel
Exit shawarma, schnitzel, and even honey and dairy products. With pressure from animal rights activists, the vegan craze is gaining
more and more traction among Israelis
By Marie de Vergès
The following article, originally written in French, appeared in the French publication Le Monde on December 6, 2013.
A nice piece of beef filet. That is what Benyamin Netanyahu offered for dinner to Francois Hollande, during the visit of the French president in Jerusalem in the middle of November. The master of the house probably didn’t chose that menu because, as he admits himself, he almost never consumes meat. Very impressed by his recent reading of the book-plea ‘Eating Animals’ from the American Jonathan Safran Foer, the Prime Minister has just joined the international campaign of ‘Meatless Monday’ launched one year ago in Israel.
Those who will share a meal with ‘Bibi’ will from now on, only have served a 100% vegetarian meal. In his way, Benyamin Nétanyahu follows a trend which gains an increasing number of followers in the Hebrew State. Exit Shawarma of lamb, schnitzel, kebabs and meat balls! For the most radical, it is even all the animal products that are banished, such as the milk, the eggs and the honey. For the last two years, the number of vegetarians, and especially vegans, grows at top speed in Israel.
This new community has a guru: the American Jew Gary Yourofsky, the hard-line animal rights activist. One of his lectures, posted online in 2011, with Hebrew subtitles was viewed on more than 700 000 occasions in a country that counts hardly 8 million inhabitants. The activist arrived in Israel in December for a three-week tour, with non-stop full-house lectures.
Why does his speech meet such a success in a country where the barbecue is a national sport and where the meal of the Sabbath can hardly be conceived without meat or fish? "There is a depth of the message but also the way he expresses it, very direct, a little bit rough, very close to our Israelis way of communicating," explains Ori Shavit, one of the movement’s leader, a food critic converted to the veganism two years ago, after having listened to Gary Yourofsky's speech.
Vegan “Coming-Out”
It is necessary to say that he collects shock formulas appropriate to get his public attention.
Honey? ‘Bee vomit’ he calls, after having evoked "the biggest holocaust of all times: the one of land and marine animals." Combining statistics, nutritional information and notions of morality, his speech is interrupted with extracts of videos of a harsh violence, shot in slaughterhouses.
"After that, we can never picture a piece chicken as anything but a corpse," explains Ori Shavit. Just like this young woman, a stream of Israeli personalities made their vegan "coming-out" these last months. Among them, the singer Noa, the radio presenter Eli Israeli and the broadcast presenter Miki Haimovich.
For these new converts, nothing is simpler today than to calm one’s hunger without compromising on one’s principles. New specialized stores open every week, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Haifa. Just like vegan cooking courses offering, for example, classes on how to prepare a cheesecake without cheese but with tofu. A Facebook page has been created for vegan parents about the way to feed their kids. And phone apps allow locating the closest restaurant serving vegan dishes, duly certified "vegan friendly."
It is not even necessary to look too far, as the activists point out: Israel lends itself marvelously to such a diet because hummus, tabbouleh and falafels are part of the traditional dishes and can be found everywhere. Three food specialties perfectly corresponding to the dogma.
Why Domino's only sells vegan pizza in Israel
In Tel Aviv, about 400 restaurants are certified as "vegan friendly," including Domino's Pizza, the first in the global chain to sell vegan
pizza topped with non-dairy cheese.
By Tova Cohen
The following article appeared in the July 21, 2015 issue of The Christian Science Monitor.
TEL AVIV — Nana Shrier, owner of the stylish Georgian restaurant Nanuchka in downtown Tel Aviv, shocked Israel's culinary world when she removed all animal-based products from the menu. A year later business is thriving, defying those who predicted its demise.
Nanuchka is part of a growing trend that has transformed Israel's financial center into a haven for meatless cuisine. Some 400 food establishments are certified "vegan friendly," including Domino's Pizza, the first in the global chain to sell vegan pizza topped with non-dairy cheese.
"There is a good crowd for it, a very loyal one," vice president of marketing Ido Fridman said, noting Domino's Israel sold over half a million vegan pizzas in the past year.
Veganism has gained popularity along with the surge in nutrition awareness worldwide. But the rapid growth in Israel, which goes beyond initiatives like "Meatless Mondays," could signal more is in store elsewhere.
Like vegetarians, vegans don't eat meat, but they also eschew animal-based products including eggs, dairy and honey.
Tel Aviv beat out Berlin, New York and Chennai, India as U.S. food website The Daily Meal's top destination for vegan travelers. The website praised the vegan staple falafel, found on many street corners, and cited Nanuchka as having "a fresh take on meat-heavy Eastern European food."
Even the Israeli army has started offering vegan meals on its bases and supplies vegan soldiers with leatherless boots and wool-free berets.
A study prepared for the Globes newspaper and Israel's Channel Two found 5 percent of Israelis identify as vegan and 8 percent as vegetarian while 13 percent are weighing going vegan or vegetarian. In 2010 just 2.6 percent were vegetarian or vegan.
This compares with an estimated 2 percent of the U.S. and UK populations being vegan and just 1 percent in German.
Georgian-born Shrier was strongly advised not to convert her 14-year-old restaurant to vegan.
"My workers, accountant, lawyer, financial adviser, friends, even my psychologist said such a successful restaurant needs to be left alone," she said in an interview in Nanuchka's shady outdoor patio. "But I understood I have the privilege to influence through the restaurant."
Shrier said turnover is up, with rave dishes including a Georgian dough stuffed with mushrooms, and spinach and nuts hinkali - stuffed dumplings served with soy yogurt.
But the well-stocked, popular bar saw a drop in customers, which Shrier attributed to a "hedonistic crowd that can't understand how they can do without meat."
Animal Rights
Omri Paz, head of the non-profit group Vegan Friendly, has been working with Israeli cafes and restaurants to offer vegan dishes alongside their usual fare and estimates about 700 outlets are certified as vegan friendly.
He attributed the recent rise in veganism in part to a lecture on YouTube by American animal rights activist Gary Yourofsky that has about 1.5 million views in Israel.
"It helps that Israel is a small country where things quickly go viral," he said.
Israeli television has aired several investigations into animal abuse in the meat and dairy industry. And, Israeli animal rights activists are very vocal - just last week they chained themselves to the gate of a meat processing plant.
One of those activists was Tal Gilboa, winner of last year's popular "Big Brother" reality show, whose vegan agenda helped convert thousands, according to Paz. (Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
Big in Israel: Vegan Soldiers
How the IDF is handling the changing dietary preferences of its servicemen and women.
By Debra Kamin
The following article appeared in the December 2015 issue of The Atlantic.
Last december, Colonel Avi Harel, a commander in the Israel Defense Forces, was facing a strategic quandary. According to media reports, protesters were threatening revolt from within. They were not satisfied with previous concessions; the status quo, they said, had to change. In hopes of staving off conflict, Harel extended a peace offering: soybeans, legumes, and lentil-based hamburgers.
Veganism has surged in Israel in recent years. According to Israeli news sources, nearly five percent of Israelis now forgo meat, dairy, and eggs, making the Jewish state the most vegan nation, per capita, in the world. Vegan activists point to a 2012 visit from Gary Yourofsky, an American animal-rights crusader, as a turning point. One Yourofsky YouTube video with Hebrew subtitles racked up 1 million views, a substantial number in a country of 8 million people. Israeli restaurants soon jumped on the bandwagon, with Tel Aviv brasseries and Domino’s franchises alike rolling out special vegan menus.
Because Israel has mandatory military service, the surge in vegan citizens has translated into a bumper crop of vegan soldiers. Last year, some of them banded together to protest the lack of animal-free options in mess halls. “We are striving for equal opportunity, to allow vegan soldiers to live honorably and serve the country in the best manner possible,” Major Omer Yuval, a reservist and one of the protest leaders, told Bamahane, the IDF’s weekly magazine.
Which is how Harel, the commander of the IDF’s Food Center, found himself tasked with an unexpected challenge: figuring out how to provide soldiers the fuel necessary to fight, without harming any animals. The resulting vegan meal plan, which debuted in February, includes breakfast boxes packed with tahini, nuts, and dried fruit, as well as soy-based meat substitutes for dinner.
The IDF is also issuing leather-free combat boots and wool-free berets to soldiers who register as vegan, so they can march into battle knowing that no living creature has been harmed in their provisioning. (What happens during battle is, of course, harder to control.)
Support for reduced-cruelty meal plans appears to go all the way to the top. The Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed support for Israel’s “Meatless Monday” movement, adopting a vegetarian day for his staff, security guards, and family at his residence in Jerusalem each week. According to Haaretz, Netanyahu has been reading up on the topic. “[I] understood that animals are more conscious than we thought, which is bothering me and making me think twice,” he said at a cabinet meeting.
Israeli veganism takes root in land of milk and honey
By Erica Chernofsky
The following article appeared in the January 2016 issue of the BBC News-Jerusalem.
On a typical evening at Nanuchka, a popular Georgian restaurant in the middle of Israel's bustling Tel Aviv, music fills the air and alcohol flows freely.
Until a few years ago, Nanuchka was just a conventional Georgian pub serving traditional food like khachapuri, a cheesy bread, and khinkali, a meat-stuffed dumpling.
But then Nana Shrier, the flamboyant owner of the venue, where the walls are adorned with erotic art, became a strict vegan - in what is said to be the most vegan country in the world per capita.
She decided to convert her entire restaurant to a meatless and dairy-free establishment despite being advised against it by friends and business colleagues.
Israelis are flocking to it - and business is more successful than ever.
For vegans, everything derived from animals is off-limits. Similar to - but stricter than - vegetarians, vegans do not eat eggs and cheese, or drink milk, and in some cases even avoid honey. Leather, wool and silk are also avoided.
Sitting at Nanuchka, eating a meal of vegan tsatsivi (where cauliflower is substituted for chicken), Nana says that consuming animals is both inhumane and unhealthy.
"I don't like it," she explains, scrunching her nose in disgust. "I feel the body of the animals in the steak, I feel the animal in the fillet, and the blood. I don't like it so much."
Nana argues there is another benefit to veganism as well.
She says that sometimes, after eating a large steak, or a cheeseburger, for example, people can feel tired and lethargic.
"When you eat vegan food, you have a lot of energy to do very good and nice things," she says with a coy smile.
When asked if she is implying that vegans have a better sex life than their meat-eating counterparts, she laughs heartily and says, "of course!"
Vegan soldiers
Veganism has become so prominent in Israel that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has started catering to followers in its ranks by offering vegan-friendly ration packs, non-leather boots and wool-less berets.
From an army base in southern Israel, Cpl Daniella Yoeli says the food is not exactly worth writing home about but she is happy to have the option of eating couscous and lentils over schnitzel and schwarma.
She has always loved animals, she explains, and became a vegetarian as a child, converting to veganism only recently.
Her diet is so important to her that had the army not been able to provide conditions that had harmed no living creatures, she might not have enlisted in a combat unit where she would not have been able to provide her own food.
While a vegan combat soldier might seem contradictory, Yoeli politely disagrees.
"In Israel, in the army, what we do in our service is defend the citizens, so I don't think it's a paradox, " she says, M-16 rifle slung over her shoulder.
"Like I want to defend animals, I want to defend people, so this is why I'm in combat and this is why I'm in the army."
'Species revolution'
According to Omri Paz, the head of the Israeli organisation Vegan Friendly, 5% of Israelis are vegan and the number is growing. Israel boasts some 400 vegan-friendly restaurants, including the world's first vegan Domino's Pizza.
Mr Paz attributes the rise of veganism here to a YouTube video by US animal rights activist Gary Yourofsky, which garnered millions of hits worldwide, and more than a million in Israel alone, a lot for a country of only some eight million people.
Mr Yourofsky lectures about the cruelty of the meat industry and, controversially, compares the treatment of animals to the Nazi Holocaust.
Omri Paz says he watched the video and did not leave his room for a week. He says this is the civil rights issue of our century.
"Just like 300 years ago, blacks weren't equal to whites and that changed with time, and then 100 years ago with the women's revolution, so I think now, the 21st Century, is the animal species revolution," he says.
"Treating them not as humans, but not as slaves."