Upon receipt of the beautiful Second Edition of Dining with Friends, I was immediately impressed with the heft, look and feel of the book. While the quality of the recipes is paramount, the quality of the paper, the beauty of the pages and the ease of finding a particular recipe are all important to me. I always insert markers for recipes I want to try and must admit, I used more markers in this volume than in any recent cookbook I have reviewed.* The ingredients are easy to read and the directions are simple to follow. In the back of the book are holiday menus, a temperature conversion chart, a glossary of terms, a shopping guide, information about kitchen equipment, and the all-important index of contents. The foreword to the book was written by John Robbins, and includes a lovely prayer by teacher Thich Nhat Hanh which reads in part:

Everything From Gluten-Free to Raw Foods

Not having much experience with vegan cakes, I tried the German Chocolate cake recipe immediately. This was so much easier than I expected, and the result was a very moist and delicious cake that would surprise the most ardent omnivore. There is a must-try raspberry cheesecake for my next special event, too, and numerous recipes for everything from cookies to crisps, from pies to flummery. There is even a Gluten Free chapter, sure to please those who must avoid those food products.  In keeping with one of my new favorites in food patterns, Dining With Friends has a chapter devoted to raw foods, too. There are also helpful make-it-yourself recipes for things like vegan sour cream,  salsa and salad dressings; I tried the Spiced Tahini Dressing which was both creamy and delicious.

Since I had few ingredients on hand, I was delighted to find a recipe for Carrot and Potato Soup – one that is not only delicious, but a great recipe to pull out when supplies are limited. After I restocked the cupboards, I was ready to try Pasta with Artichoke Hearts. This was again a very easy recipe, but one that is so delicious, I will take this to the very next vegan potluck I attend. Using shallots cooked in oil with garlic, fresh tomatoes, dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes…..well, you just have to try it. It is great left over as well. I would recommend making only half the pasta (8 to 10 ounces) rather than the full pound in order to get plenty of the vegetables in every bite, but this one is going to join my perennial favorites.

Dining With Friends is an Important Contribution to Vegan Cuisine

While I am exposed to many world dishes, I have a dearth of Italian recipes in my repertoire (or I did, until I was enlightened by this book and its companion book, The Best of Vegan Cooking, another truly wonderful cookbook). After making the first Italian recipe, I realized what I had been missing. While Feral and Hall occasionally disagree with me about theoretical perspectives, I know we share a belief in the importance of veganism, and believe that creating and making available delicious and simple vegan recipes is part of helping save animal lives. In that vein, they have added a beautiful and important edition to the current collections of vegan cookbooks. If you have missed this one, be sure to add it to your personal library; it is one of my all-time favorites!

*Bookmarked selections include:

• Believable “Bacon”
• West African Peanut Soup
• Vegetable Bisque
• Greek Bean Soup
• Classic Mediterranean Salad with Fresh Mint
• Orange with Spinach and Romaine
• Italian Vegetable and Potato Stew
• Tempeh London Broil
• Spiced Orange Broccoli
• Sweet Dessert Cream
• Chocolate Marble Cheesecake
• Ginger Lemonade
  

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Lee Hall’s newest book, On Their Own Terms: Bringing Animal Rights Philosophy Down to Earth makes a case for free-living animals. Ms. Hall has a history of undertaking the rights of the oppressed, and is currently the Vice President of Legal Affairs for Friends of Animals. This book seems to parallel the work of Friends of Animals (FoA) in emphasizing that it is wildlife that has the best chance of having rights and being made free of human intervention.  FoA works for domesticates via spay and neuter programs, runs a primate sanctuary which is home to hundreds of formerly traumatized animals, and provides a Marine Animal rescue organization on the West Coast. They have been outspoken about intervening on behalf of local wildlife and have opposed the use of contraceptives for free living animals, insisting that they should only be used for domesticates, who exist solely due to human intervention and cannot sustain themselves without human assistance. Purpose-bred animals such as those used in factory farming are not the primary focus of FoA nor are they the primary focus in Hall’s book.

Hall’s book is easy to read and well organized. She discusses the differences between Utilitarians (Peter Singer) and Abolitionists (Tom Regan and Gary Francione) and suggests that more is needed than what was proposed by any of these theorists, while giving a nod to the abolitionists for their contributions.  Where her books seems to make the most profound addition to literature on this topic is in the challenge she makes to all of us: to imagine the world where animals might be released from the status of property and allowed to live on their own terms. She even suggests (rightly so) that humans need to maintain limitations on their own population numbers and habitat needs to be set aside solely for animals, with humans not interfering with the animals who live therein.

Lee Hall Challenges Animal Rights Activists

Hall charges Whole Foods Market with falsely giving consumers “peace of mind” while they contribute to commodifying animals with their “humane” certification methods for the flesh of animals they sell, and calls on the carpet  (without naming names) some of the large animal protection organizations who partner with animal exploiters. When animal advocates are taught by one organization to kill (euthanize) animals they “rescue,” Hall rightfully challenges how this is in keeping with animal rights. Hall does not champion for larger cages, but wants to see the end of cages altogether. There are some ideas in the book that need challenging, however. Ms. Hall states on page 42: “Some young activists – confused, no wonder, by the derogatory use of the word welfare – avoid caregiving entirely.” While I have never encountered anyone who avoids working on behalf of animals for this reason, they well may exist.  But most advocates seem very clear that the animal rights movement has divided into two major segments: those who believe in using the existing power structures to try to effect minor but more immediate changes in living conditions on behalf of animals who will be used by humans, and those who believe vegan education is essential for increasing animal awareness towards a shift in pardigm towards freeing animals from bondage. Ms. Hall seems to agree that this kind of shift needs to take place as well, (while meanwhile trying to protect existing free-living animals where possible) but wants us to expand our thinking about what the shift might mean. She quotes Harold Brown, (p. 234) “We seek safety, comfort, companionship, shelter, good food — just like all beings. Yet for thirty some years, the movement has been delivering a message of pain, suffering, horror, shame and guilt.” An excellent point, and one that activists may want to consider carefully.

One of the most poignant sections of the book tells the story of Lobo, an elusive wolf living in the wild, avoiding trappers .  He was (p. 79) “the handsomest wolf I have ever seen,” his hunter admits.  The tragic story of the predator who grows to respect the being he is hunting, who increases his understanding of the significant relationships and the individual personality and courage of such an animal, touches the heart. It is a graphic depiction of the metamorphosis of a human being from dominance to understanding with the consequent metamorphosis for Lobo from free-living animal person to surrender and death — and is not a vision that will soon leave this writer. Lobo surrendering to the ultimate destruction and subjugation is an all-too-clear message that the world needs to recognize, now. But will they?

Hall Interjects Theory and Research

Hall spends much time on the hypothetical scenario of two men and a dog in a lifeboat. As Regan has said about this issue (p. 87), “Personally I think the attention showered upon my treatment of such cases is vastly disproportionate to their importance in my general theory.” The only reason that the dog would even be in the boat would be due to human intervention – but, Hall relates, (p. 88) since “animals are not considered persons, so when push comes to shove, they go overboard.”  As a metaphor, this is indeed what happens to animals, who are killed in shelters by the millions as human overpopulation continues unchecked.  However, at times Hall arrests the theories of Regan and Francione to an earlier time, omitting the evolution of their ideas that has taken place in recent years. All in all, despite its usefulness in delineating particulars between competing theories,  I admit the lifeboat parable is my least favorite part of the book.

Hall also introduces some interesting research that has shown that authoritarian type personalities have preferred food items they believed contained beef, whether the item was vegan or not.  The identification of animal flesh with strength is just one more obstacle that needs to be overcome, and it helps advocates to know that this is often the case. Hall is generous in the bites of information that are meted out to her readers. It makes the possibilities of new discovery on each page enticing, indeed.

Lee Hall’s In Their Own Terms Asks for a New Vision for Tomorrow

Hall charges that the term “rights” for purpose-bred animals is “a contradiction in terms,” (p. 105) since they exist only because of human intervention. Yet one wonders: if one is not to become speciesist, does any particular being deserve to live more than another? While it may be important to quit breeding animals into existence, do we not owe a large debt to those that are already in existence?  It would seem problematic that nothing natural will transpire, short of disaster, without human intervention to change the existing structure. It would be humans who would need to arrest their own population growth and it would be humans who would voluntarily need to agree to leave portions of the earth alone, out of bounds and free from human exploitation.  Hall sees clearly that animals have a right to live freely, and with this vision she elaborates and suggest we all need to envision how that would look, this new world with animals living without human intervention.  The problem, however, would be at the margins — when animals hunt near human populations, or humans invade into animal habitat.  Hall seems to think that living dangerously would somehow enhance the experience, but it is not an enhancement most people would be willing to accept. Would such a world mean only the smaller, less dangerous animals would be left to inhabit this Brave New World? Hall’s book does not appear to be her didactic formulaic vision of the future, but rather a challenge to us all to begin envisioning what is possible.  And that, in addition to vegan education, is what much of the today’s animal rights work is about.

After contacting two animal rights organizations (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Friends of Animals) that were embroiled in a lawsuit over a primate sanctuary, I was confused by the conflicting information I received from both organizations.  I had been seeking a group that supported veganism rather than vegetarianism; that supported an abolitionist approach rather than pursuing the long-failed single-issue welfare track; and that was using their funding to help actual living animals rather than just espousing theories, controlling them, or worse yet, killing them.  After several headlines in the animal newsfeed I read, I became interested in the plight of sanctuaries and decided to make it my mission to visit as many as I could in the Texas region where I live. When I was invited to visit Primarily Primates, I could hardly refuse. The timing was a bit intense, coming exactly one week after my visit to Serenity Springs farm animal sanctuary in Forestburg, Texas.  Despite some misgivings about spending the time and energy to travel to this second sanctuary, I made my travel plans anyway. It meant getting up in the wee hours of the morning to arrive on time, but I am very glad I did. The day before I arrived, the lawsuit between the two animal rights organizations had been settled and the sanctuary was secure. Friends of Animals is the parent organization for the sanctuary, Primarily Primates; I would have a chance to see for myself what kind of condition it was in.

There was a nice straight road leading out of San Antonio into the hill country towards the sanctuary.  I had imagined it far from any signs of life and was prepared to be on a deserted road, but that turned out to be erroneous thinking on my part.  Sadly, the press of human population growth has moved ever closer to the sanctuary.  While it is still in the hills far from the city, I could see the housing tracts moving slowly closer to the hill country.  When I was leaving, I saw a doe walking about in the yard of a home as I descended the hills, looking so out of place as she foraged for an existence here among the homeowners.  We take their habitat and then consider them pests – hardly fair.

When I pulled into the sanctuary, I was surprised at all the cars parked along the dirt road.  I had not realized how many animals lived at PPI (about 450), nor how many caretakers, and even a veterinarian would be onsite working.  The day I arrived, a group of Boy Scouts was busy building some climbing and shelter structures, replacing the basic existing ones for a luxury model. These Scouts were very much appreciated by the staff; the sense of community was wonderful to witness as the boys and their leader invested in this beautiful place. The sanctuary is private, which affords the animals some serenity, so my visit was a bit disruptive for them.  To soften the intrusion, I was allowed to bring a large bunch of grapes to share.  A small group of us wandered through the acreage, Stephen Tello, the Executive Director of PPI; Priscilla Feral, President of Friends of Animals; Kaz Sephton (President) and Jack Olmer of the San Antonio Vegetarian Society. I was fortunate to also meet the sanctuary veterinarian and primate specialist, Dr. Valerie Kirk, before we started off from the sanctuary office. The grounds are very green and forested, with most of the large housing structures grass-bottomed, keeping as close to natural habitat as possible. Here were over four hundred animals that one organization was helping to save from death or worse.  The enormity of the task of feeding and caring for so many animals suddenly struck me; no wonder there were more than a dozen cars parked out front, permanent staff to maintain the grounds, care for the animals, and support the sanctuary. It is a seven-days-per-week activity.

The sanctuary is 78 acres of rolling green with mostly shady areas. The housing areas are not  simple cubes, but structures several stories high which allow for climbing and swinging.  Some have large cargo nets, swings, and tubular climbing devices. Most have connecting upper-story tunnels that go from one housing structure to the other, giving the primates more territory to explore. Some even have rooms with air conditioning where they can crawl out of the hot Texas sun.  Although it was a warm August day,  I was surprised at the temperature – with all the trees, it was much more comfortable than I had expected. Despite the comfort, I did feel a bit guilty to be able to walk about freely when they were confined, but I knew their confinement was for their own protection. They appeared active and healthy and seemed to enjoy the small group of people walking through their home. We were both diversion and entertainment.

The first primates I met were a couple of gibbons.  I was standing back several feet from the edge of the housing, but one recognized a rookie when he saw one and grabbed me by the hair – hard! I was surprised by the telescopic abilities of those arms, but the strength of their tails surpasses it, I was told. Once he let go of my hair, he grabbed me by the arm.  While I appreciate direct communication, I couldn’t tarry, because there were 78 acres to see and I had to move on.  I wanted to get to know them as much as they wanted to check me out; those two did grab my attention — literally. I left some grapes in a feeding tray before I moved on.

The chimps have so many stories – some were “pets” whose owners grew tired of them, some were used in labs, some were removed from unusual circumstances, like the one removed from a drug dealer. Like humans, these primates also show signs of neurotic, repetitive behavior when their formative years are traumatic.  The sensitive methods for rehabilitating the animals when they are new to the sanctuary provides a segue to their new life and aids in their adjustment.  Stephen, the man in charge of their care, knew all of their stories and habits.  Like the father of a large and somewhat dysfunctional family, he was aware of the troubled primates and seemed empathic towards them all. The teen chimps made a lot of noise, banging against the bars and demonstrating their importance – like teens everywhere, trying to establish a sense of themselves during their identity-formation stage of development. All male animals that can reproduce are given vasectomies so that reproduction is not possible; the goal is to provide sanctuary, not to increase the number of confined animals.  There is a huge aviary, so large that birds can fly within it – it requires daily checks to keep out racoons and snakes.  There are macacques, lemurs, lions, wild cats and a couple of animals that looked like members of the macropod family. I was able to feed a macacque, something I was told was unusual. My knowledge of these beautiful animals is minimal, so I paid attention to all admonitions — especially after the hair-pulling incident. (One group of chimps had a couple of know feces-flingers – I stood way back. I didn’t want to provide too much entertainment!)

The lemurs are sociable and so gentle. When feeding them grapes, many would gingerly take a grape out of my hand with their soft, dark little fingers.  Others wanted me to put the grape directly into their mouth. They looked right at me with those big, beautiful golden eyes and oh so tenderly would hold out their hands.  Their noises were reminiscent of a small kitten, correspondingly  soft, pleasant noises. But watch them climb – what strength and speed! In some housing areas, it was important to feed the dominant animal first, so the others would get a chance for  their own grapes.  Heirarchy, just like at work! I felt right at home.  The beautiful spider monkeys will grab your heart – Their ability to transport through branches, swing, and climb is inspiring.  So much spirit!

Not only has PPI rescued dozens of animals, they have also saved many humans from the consequences of their own poor choices. Whatever leads people to be enchanted with the idea of exotic pets, the end result is almost always disastrous for all concerned. (A recent news article highlighted how one family pet became an attacker, something that can happen when the animals are not understood). One of the chimps was self-mutilating before being brought to the sanctuary, when his human started leaving him home alone for long periods of time. The damage resulted in circles of red, raw flesh. Some have been raised solely with fast food and would not even eat bananas or other healthy food; it took a good deal of patience to introduce them to sanctuary life. All animals are originally rehabilitated and monitored before being put into habitats.  Compatible groups live in some of the larger enclosures, mimicking what takes place in the wild.  Of course, all of the animals are non-native and due to the diverse backgrounds from which they come, it is challenging to help them adapt to their new home and fellow primates.  Phoebe, I was told,  was getting ready to move into a habitat with Logan and Harley, so they could all adjust together. Imagine knowing over 400 names, stories, and personalities! The serene appearance belies the thoughtful and somewhat complex methods behind each animal’s adjustment period, allowing them to be on equal footing, to keep the sanctuary a haven rather than a horror.

Jordan was the last lemur I met before I headed back to the airport; he let me scratch his back and put grapes right in his mouth. It is amazing that these animals would ever trust a human being after what so many have been through. I began thinking about the tremendous financial commitment to these animals. With chimps living into their fifties and some of the other primates into their thirties, this a a long-term commitment to hundreds of animals, many of whom are traumatized and have suffered physical and psychological damage. They are dependent on humans because we have used them in sad and sadistic ways, and neglected them as individual feeling beings. This sanctuary, like most of the sanctuaries I am learning about, have to fight for their very existence by remaining ever vigilant, fiscally responsible, and watchful against all threats to the preservation of a peaceful place for these animals. What a shame that hundreds of thousands of dollars had to be diverted into a legal defense rather than towards improving the sanctuary. Whatever shape the sanctuary was in over the past several years, it is a beautiful place now.  Of course, ideally the animals would be living in their native land in natural habitat; sanctuaries would be unnecessary.  Meanwhile, with all the billions of animals that suffer and are slaughtered, vivisected, used for entertainment, neglected and abused, it is helpful to know that dozens of compassionate people are working to maintain a place for these few hundred animals to survive and flourish.  I am all for that.

To see what is going on at PPI these days, check out the stories and many videos below:

Primarily Primates website

Primarily Primates videos

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