Vegan eatery's owner offers tips on 'lifestyle'

The difference between a vegetarian and a vegan is worth noting.
By L. CROW
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- Michele Stratton, owner of The Flaming Ice Cube, a vegan caf & eacute; and shop in the township, is eager to share her enthusiasm for the many benefits of a vegan diet.
She points out the difference between vegetarian and vegan: "Vegetarian is a diet, vegan is a lifestyle. Vegetarians do not eat meat, poultry, or seafood, but ovo-lacto vegetarians eat egg and dairy products. Vegetarians abstain from eating animals for ethical, health, or environmental/economic reasons. Vegans do not eat any animal products or bi-products, including honey, gelatin, cheese, and they don't wear silk, wool, or leather. They have chosen this lifestyle for animal compassion."
Vegetarian to vegan
Stratton has been a vegetarian on and off all her life, and became a vegan about five years ago. She opened the caf & eacute; in October 2002, and notes that most of her customers and employees are not vegetarian or vegan.
Her main reason to open the caf & eacute; was to provide delicious, healthful food for her customers. She draws health and diet information from many books and other sources, and attends the North American Vegetarian Summerfest, a symposium of supporters and experts of vegetarianism from across the U.S. and Canada.
Stratton flips through two favorite books, "Cooking With PETA" and "Vegan Vittles," as she reads bits and pieces from each. "Vegan diets are 0 percent cholesterol because all cholesterol comes from animals. Women who eat eggs daily triple their risk of breast cancer. With a switch to a vegan diet, cholesterol levels often drop 25 percent or more, and the risk of heart disease is lowered by 50 percent," she says.
Lower disease risk
"Plant-based diets are associated with a lower incidence of many chronic degenerative diseases and conditions, such as coronary artery disease, some types of cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, kidney and gall stones and many others. The greater the ratio of plant products to animal products, the lesser the risk for these diseases," Stratton adds.
When Stratton opened the caf & eacute;, her goal was to create menus that would satisfy any diet preference. She draws recipe information from cookbooks and her own experience, and regularly changes her offerings based on popularity and consumer demand. So what are the customer favorites?
"The Vegan Burger is the most popular. It is homemade, and people can't tell it isn't meat." It comes with a variety of toppings, including a cilantro- walnut pesto, with vegan mayo, red onion, and lettuce. "The Barbecue Chicken-free Sandwich is also very popular," says Stratton. "It is soy chicken marinated in our homemade sauce and served on a Kaiser roll. All our side dishes are homemade and we also sell frozen foods, such as the soy chicken."
Her favorite
Stratton's personal favorite is the house salad, a mix of lettuces, tomato, cucumber, pepper, peas, corn, carrot, and almonds, served with a homemade vinaigrette. "I believe raw foods are the way to go. At the Vegetarian Summerfest, you could pick out the people who eat only raw foods, because they have such a healthy glow around them," says Stratton.
Many people think that a vegetarian diet will not provide enough protein. "One of the speakers at the Summerfest pointed out that the standard American diet has too much protein, which contributes to degenerative disease," Stratton says. She quotes from Vegan Vittles: "Your body will build proteins from amino acids present in vegetables, grains and legumes, without any conscious or deliberate effort on your part."
Stratton recommends the book "Vegan Vittles" to those exploring the vegetarian and vegan diets because it is easy to understand and use. "Many vegetarian/vegan cookbooks contain ingredients that are difficult to obtain or recipes that are too complicated. This book uses easy-to-find ingredients, is very straightforward, answers beginners' questions, and provides nutritional and substitution information, plus a glossary for special ingredients."
Compassionate quotes
Stratton also likes the animal-compassionate quotes found throughout the book. "Killing two birds with one stone" becomes "Slicing two carrots with one knife," and "The nearer the bone, the sweeter the flesh," is transformed into "The nearer the stone, the sweeter the peach." But one of her favorite quotes is by Bradley Miller: "Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar."
XLaughing Crow is a practitioner of holistic healing. She may be reached at laughingcrow@neo.rr.com.