I belong to a sewing class. About 12- 15 of us get together once a week to sew together, with the help of an experienced, funny, thoughtful teacher. Most of us take two classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and we share a lunch together. From the beginning I have let my veganism be known, and my classmates have been great about it. The teacher never fails to provide for me whenever she brings food for our potluck lunches, and others consider me as well as the gluten-sensitive class member much of the time. I don’t starve.

Last week the gluten-free person told me, during a break, that she had just seen Food, Inc and she is now a vegetarian for real. She was really horrified. I nodded, smiled, generally agreed with her comments but did not add to them.

Today that movie was well as King Corn came up at lunch.  There was pretty much universal disgust at the factory farming model. There was discussion of where to get so-called free-range chicken, and some clarification  a little of it by me) that free-range means nothing.

This group is intelligent and aware and many have seen these films and more, but they still eat meat (other than the one who went veg). I do not want to become the proselytizer but I feel I can probably do more.  I’m wondering what I might do. Bring leaflets? books? I am not a confrontational person by nature and when I do go that way the results are usually disastrous. I would love to be able to handle some of these questions and comments as well as Colleen Patrick-Goudreau does, for example, but I don’t see myself going there.

I bring food to the potlucks and hope that my vegan offerings will make a difference. I prefer to bring food that is friendly and familiar rather than introduce complicated and unnecessary vegan options. Over time, perhaps I will have an effect. Do any of you have these questions? These limitations?

Footballs, soccer balls, baseballs and other sports equipment can usually be made from synthetic materials. In the case of some equipment, the synthetic stuff is actually superior to the stuff made from dead animal skins. But old habits die hard and so professional American football games are still played using a leather ball.

Even though pro footballs are leather, that doesn’t mean vegans should boycott the Super Bowl. Particularly when a Super Bowl party is a perfectly good excuse for sharing vegan food at a vegan potluck!

Traditionally, Super Bowl parties are filled with things like buffalo wings and beer. I suggest sticking to tradition, just omit the cruelty. So, for example, offer vegan versions of traditional favorites. Here are some ideas for vegan Super Bowl party potluck items for this year’s game:

• veggie burgers and veggie hot dogs
• vegan buffalo wings (try Gardien’s ideas)
• Saints fans: veganized New Orleans themed foods like red beans and rice or gumbo
• Saints: vegan king cake
• Colts fans: blue horseshoe shaped cake
• carrots and celery with vegan ranch dip
• fruit salad in a watermelon bowl that’s been painted to look like a football
• corn chips and bean dip
• quesadillas made with vegan cheese (try Daiya or may your own cashew nut cheese)
• vegan cupcakes or cookies with either Saints or Colts decorations on top

For the record, I’m rooting for the Saints!

According to the speaker (a vegan), this national charity (consisting of a mostly vegan board of directors) is working to improve the conditions of farm animals by trying to eliminate battery cages, reduce transport times for animals on their way to slaughter, provide sick and injured animals with proper veterinary care, and generally make the lives of “food” animals better during their exploitation and as they’re killed.

Did I mention they also promote “certified organic, humane certified, free range or free-run” animal products? I thought I was dreaming, and pinched myself to make sure. Then I asked how a group of vegans can, in good conscience, promote the killing and consuming of animals in any way, shape or form, and suggested that it might be a better use of their time, energy and money to actually promote veganism instead.

That didn’t go over too well with a number of vegans in the room, who accused me of being too extreme. They also told me that vegan education and legislative reforms are not mutually exclusive and since everybody reacts differently to different approaches based on their life experiences, all forms of awareness need to be utilized, including happy meat campaigns, instead of just vegan outreach.

Someone said that people can’t just go vegan overnight because it’s too hard, so baby steps are necessary (baby steps in this case meaning animal welfare reforms and humane meat campaigns) to help the animals. Another said it would be counterproductive if all animal rights groups were only promoting veganism, because people aren’t ready to embrace it yet.

I had to think about that one for a minute – all the animal rights organizations in the world only promoting veganism. Yeah, that would be horrible. And for the record, I’m so tired of animal rights people and vegans saying veganism is hard. It’s not, especially with all the meat and dairy alternatives available today.

One of the many problems, as I see it, with animal rights groups promoting animal welfare is that it’s dishonest. These groups don’t really want people to eat certified organic or humanely-raised animals at all but they’re afraid to say so out of fear of alienating people. So they lobby governments for more humane methods of confining, transporting and killing animals, hoping the public will jump on that bandwagon and pressure the government for reforms.

And if the government listens to them and passes legislation five or ten years down the road, then they can claim victory: the animals are now a little bit more comfortable and killed a little bit more humanely (whatever that means) and that’s great because it’s what these animal rights groups wanted all along, right? Wrong. What they really wanted was for people to stop killing and eating animals.

Still unsatisfied (even though it’s what they said they wanted), they’ll start a new campaign for even more humane treatment of animals being exploited and killed for their flesh, fluids and eggs, and if they get that, they’ll ask for even more! This song and dance will go on and on until one day, perhaps a million years from now, they might actually get around to encouraging people to give up animal products altogether.

What a monumental waste of time, energy and animal lives! It’s also deceitful. If you want people to stop eating animal products, say so. If veganism is your end goal, then have the conviction to state it up front. If you don’t, the public will feel that they’ve been lied to and you’ll lose all credibility, with those you’re trying to educate, and with those fighting for animal liberation. Have a little bit of faith in the people you’re trying to educate. Not everyone is going to become vegan but a lot will. And we’re only going to find out how many are willing to embrace veganism when we start promoting it.

The other problem with these kinds of campaigns is that it confuses people. Upon hearing about the horrors of factory farms, a person at the potluck asked, “So you’re saying free-range is good, right?” And that’s when the “ums”, “wells” and “actuallys” started. The speaker said that um, well, she wasn’t actually personally endorsing free-range (but the group’s literature and website does) and um, well, they would actually prefer that people eat less, or no meat. These are mixed messages. People concerned about animal suffering are looking for leadership and direction. And young people are the next wave of vegan activists so we have to be clear about what we’re trying to do and teach them the right way from the start.

If you think that negotiating with the exploiters or petitioning the government to do the right thing is the way to go, you’re sadly mistaken. And tricking the public into believing you’re for one thing when you’re really for another is false advertising. The answer is vegan education, at the grass-roots level, one person at a time, one day at a time. As the number of vegans increase, the demand for animal products will decrease. It’s as simple as that.

But if vegans aren’t going to promote veganism, who will?

Here is a list of some vegan options for your next BBQ:

• veggie burgers – grill ‘em up to your liking and sandwich ‘em between vegan buns or pita bread.
• veggie dogs (I like to call them “notdogs”) – just heat and serve
• corn on the cob – foil or without, either way it’s tasty! Top with margarine or salt.
• veggie shish-ka-bobs – these are probably the most common vegan item at any BBQ
• grilled tofu or seitan – be gentle with the tofu or freeze it the night before to keep it from crumbling on the grill. Seitan is a better option since it holds it shape.
• baked beans – these can take a while to cook on a BBQ flame so prepare them the night before on your stove and then just re-heat and serve.
• baked potatoes – just like corn, you can cook them wrapped in foil
• sweet potatoes or yams – wrap in foil, brush with margarine or maple syrup and grill
• veggie chili – you can use beans only or you can toss in some TVP for the chewy, meaty texture.
• veggie sloppy-joes – similar to baked beans or chili.
• veggie packets – take your favorite veggies and put them on foil. Season with your favorite spices and water or oil, and wrap the foil up. Toss on the grill til they’re ready to eat.
• panini - use vegan cheese
• grilled portobello mushrooms – make these the “burgers”

Then, of course, there are all the Summer side dishes that don’t go on the grill. Some ideas: watermelon, fruit salad with agave, balsamic potato salad, macaroni salad with vegan mayo, green salad, vegan sugar cookies or vegan chocolate cupcakes… the list goes on and on…

Find some vegan BBQ recipes here:

• Recipe Zaar vegan BBQ section
• About.com vegetarian BBQ section – double check, some things are lacto-ovo vegetarian, not vegan

More recipes:

• ‘No Blues’ BBQ
• BBQ Stuffed Potato With Fried Onions and Artichokes
• BBQ Tofu Salad
• Korean BBQ Sauce
• Sweet Tofu BBQ
• The Mad Cowboy
• Vegan Barbecue Ribz
• Fesenjun Tofu