My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard
Actually, a milkshake recipe I posted yesterday brought a vegan fundamentalist to my Twitter and Facebook page.
Today, as most of you know by now, is St. Patrick’s Day.
Yesterday, I shared a recipe from the good folks over at Vita-Mix called the “St. Patty” on their Facebook page. It is a very simple milkshake that called for vanilla ice cream, milk, mint extract and green food coloring. I posted the recipe to my Facebook page wall (which also happens to feed to Twitter), adding that fresh mint could be added to make it a true green, and either skip or choose a plant-based food coloring if using.
This is what followed:
Before or after her comments, she added this little ditty on Twitter.
Now, Vita-Mix posted a recipe for a milkshake. A TREAT, not a smoothie, not a juice, but a MILKSHAKE.
For a special occasion.
But apparently, you’re not allowed to have a treat on a special occasion and you’re not allowed to have dairy.
“Healthy” people eat “healthy” all the time, and that apparently does NOT include dairy.
And a HEALTH coach is certainly not allowed to promote a TREAT for a special occasion.
Well, I don’t know where she lives, but on special occasions, I treat myself to special kinds of foods. Like milkshakes.
And I’m a HEALTH coach that happens to be okay with dairy.
And full-fat dairy at that.
If it works for you and your constitution, go for it.
If you’re not doing dairy, I have options for you.
Vegan fundamentalists irk me.
Like makes my ass itch irk me.
Veganism will save the world one happy cow at a time, even if it means participating in a broken food system that subsidizes their highly subsidized, highly processed fake foods and perpetuates exploitation and poverty of the Global South for their beloved coconut water.
Discovering a way of being that works for you, doesn’t make it the end-all-be-all for the rest of us.
Something that is or isn’t healthy for you doesn’t make it so for the rest of us.
But you, dear reader, are not entitled to a MILKSHAKE, especially one that has REAL MILK in it.
Not ever.
It’s March and I live in New York City, and I’m thinking about her “healthy” makeover of this MILKSHAKE, and how New York is a dairy state. And a lot of my good friends and colleagues are dairy farmers. Dairy farmers who also happen to be conservationists and land stewards by virtue of being farmers.
Coconut water’s accessibility and sustainability is questionable, and frozen fruit – well, what frozen fruit? It’s March in NYC. I promote seasonal, local eating as much as possible, and what if I don’t want frozen fruit from China or some other unaccountable far off place?
And I don’t even like coconut water!
But I’d like to thank Rebecca Morgan aka @CalifRunnerGirl for bringing attention to my Twitter and Facebook profiles, and for giving me something new to write about here.
The next several posts are dedicated to her.
Excellent response. I finally enjoy food and I am going to continue to eat, healthy, without guilt or intimidation.
How about I hate coconut water as well. I have tried three or four different types and I still don’t like it. How about having an analysis on food. Doing this work girl it is still amazing to me how many folks still have no political or social analysis on how the food that they think is so healthy oppresses others and comes off as elitist shit white people say…Homegirl needs to check herself. Thanks for the recipe btw! Will make for my kids this weekend, they will LOVE IT! Especially since I rarely let them have cow’s milk. I might even try it with our beloved almond milk or is that wrong too?
That’s the way to do it! Thanks Hakikah!
I think what makes a milkshake work is the fat content, but try both and see how you like it!
[...] I’m not interested in diet dogma and fundamentalism. [...]
[...] week, Melissa had a “challenging” exchange between herself and another woman. By transforming the energy of this debate into something positive for everyone, I realized that [...]
Great post, Iike how you contrasted local dairy farms to imported non- local products, like coconut water. I, too, tire of the self-righteous vegans. I wish they would eat and let eat and focus on what we can agree on- like stopping GMOs instead of worrying about any whole food. If it existed a hundred years ago it should be non-controversial,unlike all the modern unnatural foods. And a hundred years ago, no vegans could survive a winter in the northern climates, so how natural is that?