More Songs about Food

The buildings will have to wait their turn for a song.

I wish I had something deep, or profound, or amusing, or even gustatorially enlightening to share, but I don't. I keep trying to write about the current dustup over at Twisty's place, but it just annoys me (basically, Twisty has gone vegetarian). On the latest thread (which I do NOT recommend; i read it so you don't have to), one persistent commentator finally inadvertently made it clear what was annoying me: on one hand, she doesn't want to dictate to anyone, blah blah blah, and she resents when people try to tell (poor) women what to do, and she herself is poor, and a feminist, and she's been a social justice worker feminist for 30 years, but she has made it clear that she regards vegan eating as the most moral eating strategy. Anyone who disagrees with her is either participating in the patriarchy, or hasn't realized they're doing so, and, because there are many paths, but maybe they'll eventually come around. You know what? I disagree. I do not think vegan is necessarily the most moral/ethnical eating strategy. It's not that I'd somehow "like" to be vegan but can't, or resist, or whatever: I don't agree that it's the most, or the only, truly moral or ethical eating strategy. One of the other commentators actually has some interesting contributions regarding small sustainable farms, but the former commenter isn't interested.

Anyway, I don't recommend you wander over there. Everyone's entrenched--and so am I, for that matter--and it's not terribly enlightening.

The other thing about the whole discussion (and about an earlier discussion on her site, as well as about a comment kstyle made about being a meat-eater) is that way too many people equate humans and other animals. I don't know exactly how I feel about it--I think it's messy, really--and I certainly think humans have a moral obligation toward other living creatures and toward ecosystems, but I don't see how we're going to have agreement on what that obligation is--not when some people regard cows as sacred while other regard them as dinner, or when some people regard dogs as pets and others regard them as lunch, or when some people regard bugs as vermin and others think they make a nice crunchy snack. Throw in the damage that industrial farming does to land and ground animals and birds (the latter two things I hadn't realized until i read the second commenter mentioned above), and the exploitation of humans that accompanies any large-scale farming, and you've got a big damned mess.

So, on a different food note, Friend is almost out of croissants in his freezer. I want to make (in addition to the tiramisu, on which I'm still meditating) some breakfast muffins. I used to make these maple pecan ones that were pretty good, and not terribly unhealthy, but I'm open to other suggestions. I'm thinking some cranberry orange something, perhaps? I want them to be relatively low-fat, and relatively high in fiber, but that's easily enough accomplished with applesauce or buttermilk or something, and with bran of some kind. What flavors would you like?