vegan recipes for lent: introduction

This is a new series of food blog posts that will include some easy, inexpensive and DIFFERENT options for those observing lent. I know we're all about the fish and fish sticks, tuna, grilled cheese, and cheese pizzas but I hope to encourage more people to try some of these fabulous meatless dishes. Hopefully they will provide some healthy alternatives to our usual lenten fare.

Fish
Most people don't regard fish as sentient beings capable of suffering, but in fact they are.
http://www.awionline.org/pubs/quarterly/05_54_04/05_54_4p19.htm

The mercury issue:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-mercury-htmlpage,0,6027124.htmlpage

The over-fishing issue:
http://www.un.org/events/tenstories/06/story.asp?storyID=800

The factory-farmed fish issue(s):
http://www.fishinghurts.com/fishFarms.asp

Dairy
Milk is a product designed to feed an infant mammal. Cow milk for baby cows, human milk for baby humans. Humans are the only species on the planet that consume the mammary secretions of other animals as food. And, like other species on the planet, as humans get older, they can gradually lose their ability to digest lactose (milk sugar). Although medical science calls it a "disorder", it is completely natural - mammals are not designed to suckle for an entire lifespan! Western cultures are so accustomed to being told that they "need" dairy, that lactose intolerance is often ignored as the culprit for numerous digestive ailments. Speaking for myself, I was run through a battery of inconclusive tests for digestive problems that went away on their own when I removed dairy from my diet.

During lent, many Catholics tend to fall back on cheese and other dairy products in lieu of meat, thinking they cannot get enough protein without it. This is not only not true, but eating more dairy than usual can trigger digestive upsets and other health problems among those who even have a mild intolerance to lactose or issues with dairy. For anyone watching their weight, dairy products tend to be very high in fat and calories - so your lenten "fast" could actually cause you to gain weight if you are consuming a lot of dairy.

Here are some links with information about milk (and thus cheese, which is made from milk):

http://www.townsendletter.com/Oct_2002/milk1002.htm

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/rbgh2.cfm

http://www.american.edu/ted/bst.htm

http://www.milksucks.com/index2.asp