A couple of days ago I was privy to this interesting exchange between some 5 year olds at the school I work at.
Their class had recently hatched some chicks as part of the Living Eggs program (which is extremely cruel, unethical, and not endorsed by the RSPCA! See the following links for more information: Oppose Living Eggs Facebook group, Edgar's Mission, PETA Australia).
First, some background information: My experience in early childhood education has taught me that a favourite game between children of this age is the "Who likes...?" survey. Children ask "Who likes (topic or item)?" and they all put their hands up if they like it, and so on. Usually the topic is food and as you can imagine there is a lot of silliness involved and it invariably ends up at "Who likes to eat poo?" This was the game being played in this scenario.
4 children (2 girls and 2 boys) were sitting around a table doing a pasting activity. While working, they were playing the "Who likes to eat...?" game. After a few quick-fire rounds, one boy asked "Who likes to eat chicken?" All of the children put their hands up and giggled. "Who likes to eat baby chicks?" he asked. More giggles and a resounding "Ewww!" from everyone at the table, including the questioner. Next, "Who likes to eat big grown-up chickens?" the boy asked with a smile. The other children's faces were about to break into more laughter but then they faltered, the boy's smile slipped, they all avoided each others eye contact, and their body language indicated awkwardness. "Well... I do sometimes" said one girl, her voice sad. They all silently went back to work before one of them brought up a new subject of conversation.
I found this exchange really sad. Children know in their hearts that eating animals is wrong, there are so many examples of this and it is clear to see everyday if you look, in little exchanges such as these. Yet they are taught by others in society that they should blind their hearts to animals' suffering and the blatant wrongness of ending another's life so that you can indulge in its flesh.
There is so much more that I could say about this issue and so much more that I could pull out from this brief moment in time in the lives of these 4 young children. Instead, I'm going to say nothing. I'm going to leave this moment in time as it is, for you all to see, and ponder in your own minds.
Starting with the Tour Down Under in January and running through to Oz Comic-Con in April, Adelaide becomes a very very busy place! Between those times, there's the Adelaide Fringe Festival (and its mini festival - the Adelaide Street Theatre Festival), Adelaide Festival of the Arts, Clipsal 500 V8 racing, WOMADelaide, and numerous music festivals (Big Day out, Day on the Green, Soundwave, Future Music Festival).... I've probably forgotten other things as well. Anyway, you get the picture, very busy time of the year!
As well as seeing a few Fringe shows and attending a few street events, the major events on our festival calender are Soundwave, WOMADelaide, and Oz Comic-Con. First up, Soundwave.
For those who don't know, Soundwave is a metal/punk/hardcore/grunge music festival and in Adelaide it is held in one of the many large parks that surround the city. It is almost always extremely hot (last year it was over 40 degrees C) and with so many people walking on the grass it becomes very dusty very quickly. However, this year the weather was very nice, the dust mostly stayed down, and I didn't get sunburned, so it was very pleasant! I also got hugged by a stranger because I was wearing my Black Sabbath concert t-shirt and she was at the same concert and had the same t-shirt at home. Apparently "we are connected now".
I saw Placebo, Alice in Chains, Alterbridge, Living Colour, and Richie Sambora, popped my head in on Korn but got bored and ended up leaving, and watched an hour of Green Day who I've seen before anyway. But my absolute favourite performance and the reason I was there this year was Rob Zombie.
But I digress, this is not a music blog, it is a food blog and a vegan one at that. 'What did you eat Kayla?' I hear you ask, 'do the metal/punk/hardcore/grunge types prove a market for tasty vegan food at their music festivals?' Why yes, being largely cheery anti-establishment types, a large number of Soundwave patrons are vegan or vegetarian meaning that there are plenty of vegan options - not just hot chips! This also means, I learned, that the Sea Shepherd stall is the busiest of all and very hard to get into!
So what did I eat? Well after a hearty breakfast of a large fruit smoothie and baked beans on wholemeal English muffins to set me up for the day, I started with a smoky Cajun tofu wrap:
It was actually really funny because unlike the chicken and beef wraps, the tofu ones were made fresh to order (which is better and the service was really fast anyway). However, I don't think that the people at this particular stall had expected such a demand for veg*n food, in the approximately 4 minutes that I was waiting for mine, 8 other people ordered tofu wraps as well!
When the sun started to shine down in the early afternoon with its strong, burny rays, I relaxed under a tree with a lovely frosty fruits ice-block:
Then in the evening, I filled my hungry belly with a feast of rice, mixed vegetable curry, kofta balls and tomato chutney thanks to the Hare Krishnas:
All in all, an excellent day of food and rocking out.
Happy eating! :)
