Monday, March 24, 2008
Sacred Chow & Other Ramblings
This weekend I visited a few vegan hotspots while enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. Sacred Chow, located in the West Village, is a kosher vegan restaurant nestled on a cozy street off the beaten path. I had a chat with Dino, the assistant to the owner Cliff, who (according to Dino), is often inundated with the responsibilities of executing the operations of the restaurant that Dino will represent him with delegated tasks. This interview happened by accident, so I was lucky to get Dino on the spot! Sacred Chow's interior has the feel of an eclectic artsy charm with mismatched chandeliers dangling from the ceiling and still portraits capturing casual moments hanging at eye-level at each table. Dino's start with veganism began after he graduated from college with a bachelor's in biology aiming for a career in biomedical research until he discovered, to his chagrin, the common practice of animal experimentation. Dino, a practicing Brahman, became vegan after college. His parents, also Brahmans, are vegetarian, and, like most of India, worships the cow, but will consume its milk believing no harm is done to the animal. Given that India is the world's number one milk producer since 1998, with 92 billion kg per annum in production, the treatment of dairy cows in a country that quenches the thirst of over one billion of the human inhabitants piqued my interest.Tiny Brouwers, of Milkproduction.com, says in the "India Report" article that "57% of the production consists of buffalo milk and 43% of cow’s milk" while buffalo milk production continues to rise by 4% due in part to buffalo herds growing faster than cows and buffaloes producing higher quantities of milk. Despite that cows are even protected in India's constitution prohibiting the slaughter of a cow, a 2004 expose, "A Beef with India" by Mark Hawthorne, from SATYA magazine, reports a black market for cows to be marched thousands of miles to reach the only two states with legalized slaughter to meet the demands of the meat and leather markets. Furthermore, since the only the mother cow is explicitly protected under the Constitution, calf and bull are often exploited to their deaths. Exhausted animals that collapse during the arduous journey are often tortured to move by having " their eyes smeared with chili peppers and tobacco". This is mild compared to the video footage People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) captured depicting the abuse and neglect of cattle, buffalo, goats and sheep as they are dragged to slaughterhouses only to be "cut open with dull knives in full view of one another on floors covered in feces, entrails and urine. Some animals are skinned and dismembered while still conscious."People for Animals (PFA), an non-governmental organization (NGO) founded by Maneka Gandhi, India’s first Minister of Animal Welfare (1998 to 2001), continues to fight an uphill battle in a country where a "highly profitable meat trade" can supplement a per capita income with an average $800-$750 in 2005. India's pluralistic society, that includes Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians, raises the question of maintaining a secular law which is influenced by Hindu theology. Nevertheless, even Hindus are known to sacrifice other animals (e.g. horses, goats, sheep, etc.). In the face of these daunting challenges, PFA continues to advocate for the enforcement of animal welfare laws and aspires to establish "welfare centres in each of India's 600 districts". So, just as I had suspected, not all is perfect in India, and its animals are in the same great peril as the animals in the United States (and everywhere else). This contradiction of claiming the cow's sacredness while still exploiting its milk and meat compelled Dino to go vegan after college and drop biomedical research. Dino now helps run Sacred Chow which continues to succeed after going kosher vegan. Its modest beginnings saw $5 or $10 days as Cliff tapped out his personal finances and loans barely staying afloat. Now, the restaurant's newest location offers private engagements and catering with seating for 28-35 people. Reservations are strongly preferred. The most popular dishes are the meatball sub smothered in Sicilian sauce with optional vegan mozzarella and the root veggie latkes (which have lower glycemic levels). Everything is baked to perfection and nothing is fried (Sacred Chow's promise). Oh- and the coffee is organic fair trade. All of this sounds great but check out the reviews on yelp.Dino recently published his first cookbook, Alternative Vegan: International Vegan Fare Straight from the Produce Aisle, filled with easy and quick recipes. Over a one-year period his recipes were tested for feasibility by professional chefs, and he conscientiously avoided using ubiquitous ingredients found in most vegan dishes (e.g. tofu). So, eat up and enjoy!
Posted by Carrie A. Smith 1 comments
Labels: Christians, Dino Sarma, Hinduism, India, Maneka Gandhi, Muslims, People for Animals, PETA, PFA, Sacred Chow, SATYA, Sikhs
Sacred Chow & Other Ramblings
This weekend I visited a few vegan hotspots while enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. Sacred Chow, located in the West Village, is a kosher vegan restaurant nestled on a cozy street off the beaten path. I had a chat with Dino, the assistant to the owner Cliff, who (according to Dino), is often inundated with the responsibilities of executing the operations of the restaurant that Dino will represent him with delegated tasks. This interview happened by accident, so I was lucky to get Dino on the spot! Sacred Chow's interior has the feel of an eclectic artsy charm with mismatched chandeliers dangling from the ceiling and still portraits capturing casual moments hanging at eye-level at each table. Dino's start with veganism began after he graduated from college with a bachelor's in biology aiming for a career in biomedical research until he discovered, to his chagrin, the common practice of animal experimentation. Dino, a practicing Brahman, became vegan after college. His parents, also Brahmans, are vegetarian, and, like most of India, worships the cow, but will consume its milk believing no harm is done to the animal. Given that India is the world's number one milk producer since 1998, with 92 billion kg per annum in production, the treatment of dairy cows in a country that quenches the thirst of over one billion of the human inhabitants piqued my interest.Tiny Brouwers, of Milkproduction.com, says in the "India Report" article that "57% of the production consists of buffalo milk and 43% of cow’s milk" while buffalo milk production continues to rise by 4% due in part to buffalo herds growing faster than cows and buffaloes producing higher quantities of milk. Despite that cows are even protected in India's constitution prohibiting the slaughter of a cow, a 2004 expose, "A Beef with India" by Mark Hawthorne, from SATYA magazine, reports a black market for cows to be marched thousands of miles to reach the only two states with legalized slaughter to meet the demands of the meat and leather markets. Furthermore, since the only the mother cow is explicitly protected under the Constitution, calf and bull are often exploited to their deaths. Exhausted animals that collapse during the arduous journey are often tortured to move by having " their eyes smeared with chili peppers and tobacco". This is mild compared to the video footage People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) captured depicting the abuse and neglect of cattle, buffalo, goats and sheep as they are dragged to slaughterhouses only to be "cut open with dull knives in full view of one another on floors covered in feces, entrails and urine. Some animals are skinned and dismembered while still conscious."People for Animals (PFA), an non-governmental organization (NGO) founded by Maneka Gandhi, India’s first Minister of Animal Welfare (1998 to 2001), continues to fight an uphill battle in a country where a "highly profitable meat trade" can supplement a per capita income with an average $800-$750 in 2005. India's pluralistic society, that includes Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians, raises the question of maintaining a secular law which is influenced by Hindu theology. Nevertheless, even Hindus are known to sacrifice other animals (e.g. horses, goats, sheep, etc.). In the face of these daunting challenges, PFA continues to advocate for the enforcement of animal welfare laws and aspires to establish "welfare centres in each of India's 600 districts". So, just as I had suspected, not all is perfect in India, and its animals are in the same great peril as the animals in the United States (and everywhere else). This contradiction of claiming the cow's sacredness while still exploiting its milk and meat compelled Dino to go vegan after college and drop biomedical research. Dino now helps run Sacred Chow which continues to succeed after going kosher vegan. Its modest beginnings saw $5 or $10 days as Cliff tapped out his personal finances and loans barely staying afloat. Now, the restaurant's newest location offers private engagements and catering with seating for 28-35 people. Reservations are strongly preferred. The most popular dishes are the meatball sub smothered in Sicilian sauce with optional vegan mozzarella and the root veggie latkes (which have lower glycemic levels). Everything is baked to perfection and nothing is fried (Sacred Chow's promise). Oh- and the coffee is organic fair trade. All of this sounds great but check out the reviews on yelp.Dino recently published his first cookbook, Alternative Vegan: International Vegan Fare Straight from the Produce Aisle, filled with easy and quick recipes. Over a one-year period his recipes were tested for feasibility by professional chefs, and he conscientiously avoided using ubiquitous ingredients found in most vegan dishes (e.g. tofu). So, eat up and enjoy!
Posted by Carrie A. Smith 1 comments
Labels: Christians, Dino Sarma, Hinduism, India, Maneka Gandhi, Muslims, People for Animals, PETA, PFA, Sacred Chow, SATYA, Sikhs
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