Sometimes life just gets in the way… but now I’m back in action: educating America with facts about what they’re putting in their mouths…

Hey, if you have any article ideas, let me know. Also, if you have an article that just wants publicity, I can’t give it a ton of publicity yet, but it will get some!

Email ideas and articles to imabird@adelphia.net

Grace and peace,

Two years ago 16-year-old Erica Bergstrom decided to just say no to Big Macs, pepperoni pizzas, and sub sandwiches piled high with meats and cheeses.

Because of her love for animals, she joined a small but growing number of young people who are becoming vegetarians.

In fact, when she became a vegan last December, Erica joined an even more exclusive sub-set of vegetarians who nix dairy products and eggs, as well as meat, from their diets.

“At first I was just thinking that I like animals and I didn’t want to eat them,” says Erica, a junior at Fremd High School in Palatine. “When I learned more about how animals are treated at farms and in factories, I really didn’t like how that sounded, the animal cruelty that was going on.

“I didn’t want to be part of it.”

BOB CHWEDYK/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com Erica Bergstrom stirs together soy flour, flax seed, fake eggs and dairy-less chocolate chips to create cookies, below, that fit her vegan lifestyle.

Initially Erica ate family meals minus the meat, adding something extra like a frozen vegetarian dish or fresh fruit. But about a year ago, with almost no previous experience, she started to cook for herself and now prepares her meals four days a week.

She gathers ideas from cookbooks, but often just wings it.

“It doesn’t have to be exact,” she says. “You can mix a bunch of random things together.”

Instead of typical teenage fare, Erica prepares vegetarian stir-fries, soups and wraps. She makes her own granola with oats, almonds and sunflower seeds and occasionally develops desserts made with olive oil instead of butter and tofu instead of milk.

Recently she created a frozen pie with a crust made of crushed, whole-grain cereal, brown sugar and oil. The filling was a blend of pureed silken tofu with dairy-free chocolate chips and raspberry jam.

Erica may be one of a minority, but she is far from alone. According to a 2005 national poll by Vegetarian Resource Group, 2 percent to 3 percent of young people ages 8 to 18 are vegetarian. That’s 1.4 million people. The number is even more dramatic among 13- to 15-year-old girls with 11 percent claiming they never eat meat.

Like many parents of vegetarians, Erica’s mother, Lynn, worried about her daughter getting enough protein.

“When I saw her eating nuts and drinking soy milk, I felt better,” she says. Erica also includes tofu, hummus and textured vegetable protein in her diet, three more good sources of protein.

Now Lynn is just happy that her daughter is eating a healthy diet and that she is learning to cook.

For breakfast Erica might prepare a wrap with hummus, lettuce or spinach and mock chicken made of textured vegetable protein. For lunch she might eat a sandwich of hummus, soy cheese, green peppers and tomatoes. Dinner might be a stir-fry like the recipe she shares today or a prepared veggie burger.

“I never crave meat,” she says, “but sometimes cake or ice cream might look good.”

When she wants something sweet, Erica eats lightly sweetened, whole-grain cereals with soy milk, or she might make a batch of her favorite vegan cookies prepared with whole grain cereal, peanut butter, apple sauce and cinnamon, a favorite spice.

Though Erica knows it is unusual for a teenager to be vegetarian and cook her own meals, some of her friends are vegetarian too, “so it is pretty normal to a lot of them.

“They don’t think it’s weird.”

Remember The Happy Vegan’s post about the Johnny Rocket’s Streamliner? Well, the ever-awesome, ever-sassy Mz. Jaxin decided that the info on their website just wasn’t good enough… so she wrote an email to the Director of Purchasing & Product Development.

For your reading pleasure, this is the response that she was kind enough to share with us:

*begin letter*

Thank you for taking the time to contact us; it is always nice to hear from our guests. I will do my best to answer your questions and add what I can to the information you found on our website:

Streamliner cooking procedures - Johnny Rockets standard operating procedures call for the Boca Burger patty to be cooked on a dedicated portion of our grill space using specially color-coded tools. This is the procedure taught to all employees - corporate of franchise - tasked with cooking Johnny Rockets products and then reinforced during training seminars. While it is hoped that every cook at every restaurant on every day Johnny Rockets is operating follows the exact procedures we cannot guarantee that, on occasion, there may be a momentary lapse in protocol. While we believe that these deviations from cooking specifications are very, very infrequent we cannot guarantee that they will never occur. If it is of concern to you you can ask your server, or the restaurant manager, to make sure that they cook your Streamliner in the proper manner.

Hamburger Buns - The published Johnny Rockets specifications do not call for any animal products in our hamburger or hot dog buns. This does not mean however that, due to shortages or other inventory issues, the restaurant may have to purchase non-specified products to fill the gap until the proper products again become available. Please check with the unit management if you are concerned about the ingredient content.

Fryer Procedures - We designate separate fryers and baskets for the American Fries, Onion Rings, Rocket Wings, and Chicken Tenders. Due to volume and timing requirements one fryer is used almost exclusively for American fries while the other is used for the other items. On occasion however, due to demand, each of the products may be prepared in either fryer. Therefore there is the slight, yet unlikely, possibility that chicken tenders and American fries will be cooked in the same oil. If this cross-contamination is of concern to you please relate your concerns to your server and/or the restaurant manager that they will do their best to honor your dietary needs.

American Fries - As our website states we do not intentionally add beef flavorings or any product derived from animal sources to our American fries. As mentioned our manufacturer feels compelled to list beef tallow as a possible ingredient due to residues which may remain on machinery shared during the manufacturing process. The ingredient statement listed on our website is taken directly from our manufacturer so I will inquire
from them as to why they state it as an ingredient as opposed to listing it as you suggested.

At Johnny Rockets we strive to meet the needs of all of our guests. However due to the limited space and tight kitchen layout at Johnny Rockets we cannot guarantee that there will not be unintentional contact with some small amount of material from an item which is of animal in nature. Therefore, and in respect of an individual’s religious, ethical, or dietary concerns, we cannot claim anything prepared at Johnny Rockets to be vegan or vegetarian.

Thank you aging for taking the time to drop us a note. If you have any additional questions please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Sincerely,
Jeff

Jeffrey Preston
Director of Purchasing & Product Development
The Johnny Rockets Group, Inc.
(949) 643-6116
(949) 643-6200 fax
jpreston@johnnyrockets.com

*end letter*

Thanks, Mz. Jaxin, for sharing this letter with us.