Broccoli Rising, Group Hug, and Mac and Cheese
How magnificent you are. I mean, I’ve always known that, but even so, the outpouring of love and kindness you sent my way after last week’s weirdly personal Broccoli Rising knocked me out. Thank you. There’s a vegan mac and cheese recipe in it for you this week, so stick around.
After my newsletter about Potcake, several of you wrote to say how good it was for me to have cared for one of the unfortunate mutts of the world. Well, isn’t that what we all are? You’re magnificent and all, but I think we’re all strays and mutts at heart, scrounging our way and trying to make sense of the world. Compassion and humanity may be the best tools we have, and you brought them.
You didn’t need a prompt to reach out. You just knew and cared enough to do it. Wow. It proves what I’ve always wanted to believe — that together, we can accomplish miracles.
Good, because we need to. So have lunch. Really. I wish I could make you lunch, but failing that, take a moment, sit yourself down to a comforting, nourishing meal, maybe with some beans and broccoli. We can’t resolve global conflict or even get through the day when we’re undernourished. I wish your lunch, my lunch, a single lunch could put an end to the world’s health and hunger issues.
Hunger, nutrition, and health are all intertwined, or maybe knotted together is a better way to put it. It’s a problem that goes beyond lunch, beyond what any one org or individual can tackle, so in 2022, the Biden administration hosted the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. The White House assembled a team, tapping nonprofits, businesses, and community initiatives to address hunger and nutrition and improve public health.
As a result, national food insecurity dropped — yay, team. However, that still leaves 44 million of us at risk and hungry and forced to make poor food choices.
A bunch of broccoli at my local grocery store is $2.50, I’m fortunate that I can afford to buy it, but I admit, I sometimes burst into tears when I do. For too many families, fresh broccoli just isn’t an option, not when boxed mac and cheese at Walmart costs less than a dollar. It feeds more people, but it nourishes them less, being basically simple carbs, sodium, and odd chemicals and additives I can’t make sense of.
Subsidies to the meat industry mean you pay $5 for a hamburger that really costs three times more. But there are hidden costs. Animal agriculture accounts for 15% of greenhouse gas emissions, requires extensive land and water, and isn’t doing you any favors. Meat consumption ups your chances for heart disease, diabetes and cancer. It gives dark meaning to the phrase, your money or your life.
Here’s a thought — why not make produce more affordable instead? The easiest, most delicious and affordable way to improve human health isn’t pills, it’s produce. That’s what the government should subsidize. I don’t care who you’re voting for (well, I do), this is about something bigger. This is about all of us. We all deserve compassion and humanity. We all deserve access to fresh, healthy, culturally appropriate food. We all deserve to be fed better.
Some nonprofits like Wholesome Wave help work with local communities to get fresh produce to the people who need it. We need more of them. We need more of you. We need all of us together. Let’s stand up for each other and stand together like you stood up for me. Now go have lunch.
March 5 305 day in Miami — Third month, fifth day, get it? 305 is not just Miami’s area code, it’s an attitude
March 8 International Women’s Day — Let’s Inspire Inclusion
March 11 First night of Ramadan — Ramadan, the Muslim holiday of reflection, is always sacred, but this year, inshallah, may Ramadan lead to a time of peace.
March 14 Pi Day
March 15-24 World Happiness Festival
March 17 St. Patrick’s Day —feel the green, skip the corned beef and cabbage (not vegan, not Irish) and dish up some bubble and squeak instead
March 19 Vernal Equinox — keep it green
March 25 Holi — India’s rainbow-hued spring celebration of good over evil.
March 25 Special Broccoli Rising Zoom interview with The Mango Tree author Annabelle Tometich
March 31 Easter
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Vegan Macaroni and Cheese
There are gooey stovetop vegan mac and cheese recipes, like Elephantasticvegan’s.
There are elaborate vegan mac and cheese recipes, like Allison Rivers Samson’s. VegNews loves it, and I love VegNews — you should too. But I take issue with their comment that this mac and cheese is extra good because it sneaks in a few vegetables. Ahem. Vegetables are not to be sneaked, they’re to be savored. So pair my mac and cheese recipe with a bright almost-spring salad or quick and fabulous Catalan spinach.
I’m with Allison on one count — baked mac and cheese with a crumb topping makes for a brilliant creamy-meets-crunchy experience. My recipe is a vegan riff on the macaroni and cheese recipe I made as a kid from. It’s from The Young French Chef. Yeah, I still have it.