Food for Thought with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

While it's true that countertop appliances require some space, it's also true that they make it easy to prepare and eat delicious, nutrient-dense, animal-free, plant-based dishes. While you can get along without them, I do think a couple are worth the space they take up on your counter, and their price points are really reasonable these days. In addition, I share some lessons and gifts from our ki...

Creating a daily routine is essential even if we weren't quarantined, sheltering in place, and physically distancing from one another. (Has anyone coined "Quar-routine" yet?)  In a previous episode called "50 Ways to Create a Meaningful Life," I promised I would break out some of the items into their own individual episodes, and so here we are. In this episode, I share 10 ways I organize my day so...

No, this episode is not about denying the life-saving efficacy of vaccinations; it's about all the animal-related words we have for diseases and cures, including the word VACCINE , which comes from the Latin word for a cow or bull. It's just another example of how how deeply rooted animals are in our consciousness, in our history, and in our lives — for better and for worse. Food for Thought is a...

What does the Covid-19 / coronavirus virus mean for non-human animals and the laws and policies that affect our treatment of them? Join me for the first episode in the series, which focuses on wild animals who are poached, farmed, and eaten.  The source of the recent coronavirus outbreak that has led to a worldwide pandemic has been linked to a market in mainland China, where wild animals are sold...

Just a couple quick announcements: There is a NEW episode of Animalogy Podcast called Vaccines Are a Bunch of Bull: Animal-Related Words for Diseases and Cures. Listen and subscribe to Animalogy Podcast. I've been overwhelmed by the number of requests for me to teach an online cooking class, and so I'm making it happen. On Sunday, April 5th at 1:00 p.m. PST I'll be teaching how to make:   Spring V...

Having a well-stocked kitchen is essential whether you’re looking to throw together a last-minute meal, a well-planned meal (which I recommend should be the default), or if you’re just not able to get out of the house because of weather, sickness, or mandated stay-at-home measures such as during the Coronavirus outbreak of 2020. Today’s episode is focused on my personal strategies for buying wisel...

Whether you care about human rights, food safety, wild animals, the environment, world hunger, farmed animals, or your own health, just a cursory look at these issues demonstrates how intricately linked they are to our consumption of animal-based meat, dairy, and eggs. So, pick a reason — any reason — and it alone would be reason enough to justify eating an animal-free diet. Which reason do you ch...

Being animals ourselves, it makes sense that we share many of the same diseases as our non-human cousins. We aren’t – after all – plants. We aren’t at risk for catching aphids or sooty mold or downy mildew. In fact, many of the major killer pandemics we’ve been plagued with were acquired from non-human animals, including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, believed to have been first transmitted to h...

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how,” wrote Viktor Frankl, author of Man's Search for Meaning. The question isn't "how can I be happy in my life?" but rather "how can I create meaning and purpose in my life?" When we seek meaning, happiness follows. Here is a list of 50 ways to create a meaningful, purposeful life that have worked for me. May it be a guide for you.  FOOD...

In other words, if someone is vegan in every other way, but they eat the eggs of their rescued hens (who live in their backyard or at an animal sanctuary):  Is that unethical / problematic / perpetuating animal cruelty AND  Can that person call themselves vegan? Is there such a thing as an egg-eating vegan? That's what we explore on today's episode of Food for Thought with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau...

I love books. My love of reading goes back to my childhood, I have fond memories of the annual Scholastic Book Fair at my grammar school, I worked in bookstores (where I met my husband!), studied English Literature in undergraduate and graduate school, and became an author myself. I don't love books for their own sake but for how they deepen my understanding of the world around me as well as my co...

How do you love someone and let them go? How do you make sure the good intentions you have lead to good results? How do we help the scores of rescued animals who are looking for forever homes? In today's (LONG) episode, I recount my experiences — both stressful and successful — fostering cats. While cats have their own particular needs, my hope is that even if you're looking to foster dogs, rabbit...

Once you decide to make zero-waste, plastic-free, low- or no-packaging a priority in your life, you learn very quickly you have to make some changes when it comes to what you buy, how you shop, what you eat, and how you cook. Some might find this an inconvenience. I find it an adventure. Journey with me as I share some reflections on favorite foods and how my relationship with them has changed sin...

When is a banana not simply a banana? Which food (on my least-favorite food list) is an animalogy? How many ways can you eat cauliflower? Which olive was my "gateway olive" to loving olives? How (strangely) do I eat popcorn? Answers to these and many more questions, particularly, "what are your favorite foods?" can be found within. Grab some popcorn balls and take a listen, then let me know your f...

This end-of-year episode is based on my motto that life is made up of a series of lessons and gifts, an appropriate topic as we reflect on the lessons of the past year, create plans for the next, and offer gifts to one another. This episode is about creating meaningful holidays (and lives) and includes a list of 25 Meaningful Zero-Waste, Ethical Gifts we can give during the holidays or anytime of...

Every year as Thanksgiving approaches, it seems there isn’t a magazine, newspaper, or website that doesn’t feature recipes for every means and method of stuffing, brining, and roasting turkeys. And every year, vegetarians, vegans, and animal advocates urge the public (and their family members) to leave the turkey off the menu in favor of plant-based sides and mains. The problem is that by the time...

I'm gobsmacked by the number of people who think traveling while vegan is difficult or who tell me they just accept "good enough" because they don't want to put anyone out. If you're staying at a hotel, eating in a restaurant, or booking a room at a bed and breakfast, you are engaging with someone in the service industry, and as such...they want to make you happy. Enjoy this episode about how I fo...

What does it take to become (and stay) a joyful vegan? The answer is in ... The Joyful Vegan. Listen to today's podcast episode. JoyfulVegan.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.colleenpatrickgoudreau.com/subscribe

One of my goals has always been to take the word "vegan" out of the box called "vegan." My goal is constantly thwarted by *the overuse of the word vegan *the use of "vegan" to refer to people as well as food *the attempt by some vegans to narrow the definition and make the word "vegan" refer to every social problem that exists in the world If you call yourself vegan or have ever been told you can'...

There has been such a proliferation of such terms as "eco-tourism," "wildlife tourism," and "sustainable tourism" that one wonders what is legitimate and what is just greenwashing. But is there such a thing as wildlife tourism; i.e. paying to see wild animals in their homes, without contributing to exploitation, such as going on a safari in Botswana or a mountain gorilla trek in Rwanda? Today's ep...

Remember when Lisa Simpson proudly declared to her eco-warrior idol that she was vegetarian? He poo-pooed her. When she said she was thinking of becoming vegan, he haughtily responded that he "doesn't eat anything that casts a shadow" and declared that he was a "Level 5 Vegan." When she said she started an organic compost pile at home, he said, "Just at home? You mean you don't pocket-mulch??" Whi...

"When creatures don't have an extraordinary beauty, it's because the person in contact with them is not seeing it," said pulitzer-prize winning poet Galway Kinnell, whose poem about pigs ends this episode. It's not an easy episode, but nothing worth talking about ever is.  From Original Broadcast:  Today’s episode is dedicated to pigs – how wonderful they are, how we misrepresent them, and what af...

Just coming up for air as I finish re-writes and edits on The Joyful Vegan: How to Stay Vegan in a World That Wants You to Eat Meat, Dairy, and Eggs . Here are some updates with light at the end of the tunnel.  RECEIVE SPECIAL RECOGNITION IN THE BOOK! Become a patron at $20/month or more, and your name will be printed in The Joyful Vegan as my thanks to you! This is a public episode. If you'd like...

Being animals ourselves, it makes sense that we share many of the same diseases as our non-human cousins. We aren’t – after all – plants. We aren’t at risk for catching aphids or sooty mold or downy mildew. In fact, many of the major killer pandemics we’ve been plagued with were acquired from non-human animals. Here are just a few: we got tuberculosis from cattle, influenza from pigs and birds, wh...

There’s a presumption among some vegans that if you’re vegan, you’re also liberal, socialist, atheist, feminist, intersectionalist, progressive, and leftist, that you’re pro-choice, anti-vaccine, anti-GMO’s — and that if you’re not any or all of these things and everything that they entail, you’re unwelcome — or at least you don’t belong. Or that you’re an imposter. Or that you welcome oppression....