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Book
Reviews
The Vegan Sourcebook
By Joanne Stepaniak, M.S.Ed.
Nutrition section by Virginia Messina M.P.H., R.D.
1998
352 pp 7½x9½" card, $21.95 from AVS
Review #1:
 This
book about "1iving with conscience, conviction and compassion"
explains why people become vegan and how this viewpoint affects
daily living; also the practical aspects and social consequences.
It begins with a modern vegan history from England to the U.S.A.,
looks at definitions and how we vegans view ourselves. It exposes
the environmental devastation and human oppression caused by western
ways of meat and dairy consumption, and use of leather and wool.
It examines the shameful use of animals in sport, zoos, circuses,
and medical research; and reveals what's happening on the farms
and behind the scenes in the production of the food, clothing, and
commodities of animal origin.
The second half of the book is devoted to what vegans eat: nutrition
information, menus, recipes; it is helpful and mostly reassuring.
The dietary advice is designed to meet orthodox recommended standards,
with menus built around vegan versions of familiar foods, easing
the reader's transition from a conventional diet. We are pleased
that nuts and seeds are not shunned, but we think there should be
a stronger emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables for their natural
health-giving qualities. We particularly liked the chapter The Vegan
Table.
The author makes personal connections between reader and issues
by quoting many vegans on the contemporary scene, with whom she
spoke or corresponded while researching this informative and inspiring
book.
The Vegan Sourcebook may be compared with Victoria Moran's book,
Compassion The Ultimate Ethic (lst ed. 1981) to the detriment of
neither. Moran's book focused on an earlier generation in England;
Stepaniak's book views current vegan life in the U.S.A. It is well
done, and should reach out to the ever-growing number of people
who will share our vision of a more compassionate world, and help
to bring it about.
-Freya Dinshah
Review #2
I loved reading this book! It made me feel proud to be on the path
that I am. The way that veganism is presented and explored makes
me want to take even more steps towards living a life of "dynamic
harmlessness:" Unlike vegetarianism which is defined simply
by diet, veganism is an ethical approach to life. It is a1l-encompassing
and about compassion. The book opens with a history of the movement,
which I found fascinating. Veganism is a recent movement, so many
of the people mentioned are not only alive, but attend Vegetarian
Summerfests (I see them there each year). I was familiar with bits
and pieces of the history, but never have I seen all the dots connected
like this. The people described are inspiring. Their ideas make
sense and you want to emulate them. Over and over while reading
about this movement, I couldn't help but imagine what it was like
for the early slavery abolitionists in this country. Clearly the
end of animal slavery is an idea whose time is almost here as well.
The entire book is peppered with quotes from famous and not-so-famous
vegans. Their words touched my heart, expressed my feelings and
piqued my intellect.They made the reading go fast, but left me sad-as
if I'd lost a friend-when I had run out of book. Here is one of
my favorites, where Stepaniak quotes Hillary Morris: "The most
challenging aspect of being vegan is confronting every day of your
life the fact that you are most definitely in the minority and that
no matter how unbelievable it seems, other people may simply not
care that the food they eat comes from animals that suffered and
felt agonizing pain. This can be very disheartening. One would think
that as soon as others' eyes were opened to animal suffering, they
would start to take concrete steps toward eliminating animal products
from their diet. But oddly enough, otherwise kind, gentle, openhearted
people still eat meat and use animal products. I am baffled by it
daily". If you are looking for quotes or sound bites for newsletters,
lectures, or media opportunities, this book is a gold mine.
Following the history section is an exhaustive description of the
myriad ways that animal slavery is profitable in our society-important
to know in order to avoid financially supporting these atrocities.
The book also covers the environmental problems with animal agriculture
such as erosion, desertification, deforestation, pollution, extreme
energy demands, and diminishing biological diversity. Stepaniak
does a good job of explaining each of these.
The only part of the book that was less than terrific was the nutrition
section written by Virginia Messina. I found it overly conservative
on the benefits of vegan diets, and very orthodox sounding. There
was no mention of "The Farm", a vegan community with data
on over 1000 births. They had no maternal deaths, only two cases
of pre-eclampsia and a C-section rate of 1.5%. Nor was there mention
of data suggesting that the breast milk of vegans is lower in all
sorts of environmental pollutants. As the mother of two children
(vegan since conception), I was disappointed with the guidelines
for infants. An opportunity was missed to inform parents that exclusive
breast feeding (with no supplemental formula) for a full six months
or so is not only OK, but, very important for building a healthy
body and reducing the risk of allergies. Messina also recommends
supplemental fluoride for infants, and this is very controversial.
For a book that is philosophically so cutting edge, I found it odd
that the nutritional recommendations sounded like they were scripted
to win favor with the ADA.
Fortunately, some wonderful appendixes giving recommended nutrient
intakes, and the nutrient content of lots of foods follow the nutrition
section. There are some sample menus, a nice collection of Stepaniak's
fine recipes (she is also the author of The Uncheese Cookbook, Vegan
Vittles, Table For Two, The Vegan Deli) and even explanations of
special ingredients. Following that is a comprehensive listing of
organizations, mail order sources, products for companion animals,
publications of interest to vegans, a suggested reading list, a
bibliography and an index. It is a voluminous amount of information
filling the 352 pages of an oversized 'paperback' Quite a bargain
for $21.95. You won't be disappointed!
-JoAnn Farb
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