Living that plant life 🌱🌱🌱
Reducing meat consumption 🐮🐓🍤 to preserve our precious planet 🌍
Contemplations
How do you, or can you, honor your food?
What feelings arise when asking this question?
***
While I was away on retreat, I recommitted to the 5 Mindfulness Trainings. This was Thich Nhat Hanh’s (Thầy) contemporary reimagining of the 5 Precepts which is traditionally taken by Buddhist monastics.
One of the radical and revolutionary approaches Thầy introduced in his tradition was opening up the doors to the dharma and taking traditional monastic-only rituals and vows and opening up a path for lay (non-monastic) folks like me who wanted to more deeply commit to their practice but not necessarily sport the robes.
The 5 Mindfulness Trainings have been in my consciousness since I attended the Action of the Heart retreat three years ago, moved by the teachings and the community. But I would hardly say I adhered to them. We were in the middle of the pandemic at the time and I was very lost in my practice having just witnessed how the yoga studio I trained at imploded from racism and abuse from guru culture.
But since then, my heart has reinvested in a spiritual path, aching for a home and finally finding one at Plum Village. Going into this retreat, I was ready to recommit to the 5 Mindfulness Trainings in a more meaningful way.
***
The 5 Mindfulness Trainings in short are:
Reverence For Life
True Happiness
True Love
Loving Speech and Deep Listening
Nourishment and Healing
Over the past few years, I have naturally and organically practiced Loving Speech and Deep Listening in my everyday; and have been True Love and True Happiness at the non-profit I started GaneshSpace.
What has been less front of mind is having a reverence for life and how that applies to what I consume. Let me translate this in non-Buddhist talk for you:
Abiding by having a Reverence for Life is having the deep understanding that we are all interdependent beings, that we are all a part of each other and everything is in each of us, that any kind of violence or harm inflicted on any sentient beings is actually harmful to not just them, but you. This is most palpable during wars and mass shootings, but not so much when there are fruit flies flooding your kitchen.
But with the recent Canadian wildfire smoke taking over our skies and abnormal flooding happening in upstate New York — only one county over from us — I have taken a deeper spiritual interest in observing this mindfulness training, knowing that my actions and the actions of others are causing global climate change. Since moving to our little mountain home nestled at the foot of the Catskills I can no longer imagine a life where I am not surrounded by nature. The thought of losing it all, to it all burning to the ground breaks my heart deeply.
It is this pain and suffering that I hold onto, that helps propel me into action, that helps me practice all the ways in which I can have more reverence for life — from finding alternative pest control methods to reducing my meat consumption.
***
Growing up in Texas, meat isn’t just a staple, it’s understood, mandatory. It is as just a part of the culture as Ford trucks, cowboy hats, and our pledge of allegiance. Couple that with the fact that Vietnamese food is based mostly on pork and seafood (or at least my favorite dishes my mom cooked us when I was a kid), and I’ve developed quite an appetite for meat.
I have always been an adventurous eater, willing to try anything and everything. I get this from my Dad who has eaten the widest range of things I’ve ever heard of from sharks to bugs. Some from necessity and some from curiosity.
So I’ve always looked at food as a beautiful way to experience the world in ways I never have before. And with that, I have developed a deeply embedded default to eating meat i.e. making sure I have at least one protein with every meal.
When Jess and I started living together, that awareness shifted a bit. Jess, my beautiful wife, is a vegetarian. So when we plan meals together, I suddenly had to ask myself if adding a protein with every meal was actually necessary. Was it something I craved? Did I not feel full if I didn’t eat meat? How much was my head telling me versus my body? What were the truths lying dormant in my stomach?
***
May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.
— an excerpt of Contemplations Before Eating
When one of the monks read this at lunch during the retreat, it hit the pit of my stomach thinking abut the waste that goes into my food consumption. According to Feeding America:
Each year, 119 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion in food thrown away each year. Shockingly, nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted.
Since the retreat I have taken not only a deep look at my animal consumption but also finding ways to be more mindful of only buying enough food that we need for meals, not buying in bulk — a scarcity habit that I learned from being a kid of refugees growing up in a State that wants everything to be bigger there than anywhere else.
I wanted to test myself and see if and how I craved eating meat and have noticed that I don’t. That I don’t ever think I’ll be vegetarian, but have seen how much I have eaten now out of habit and that in itself has radically reduced my consumption and hopefully has been a real effective way that I, personally, can lower my contribution to the increase in carbon emissions.
And with that, much joy has come from discovering new recipes and innovative ways to eating the foods that have so much possibility for play other than just being a side dish. I have been spending much more time cooking and caring what is going into my body in a way that I was as conscious of before. Now, I am delighted to go on new adventures of pickling and roasting and enjoying feeling good in my body, thanks to whole foods that I’m trying to prioritize.
Now let’s get it straight that I’m not a going to start proselytize everyone on becoming a vegetarian. Just yesterday, I happily enjoyed a fried chicken skin taco and East Coast oysters. But it felt different this time. It felt special. Not just the thing that my body and mind expected. And in that small way, I am thankful for this practice — for adding just a bit more space for me to be delighted, surprised, and most of all, nourished.
To practice continuing to honor my food, I’m sharing my latest creations, most of which are from PlantYou, an incredible plant-based resource for folks who want easy recipes. (And no, I’m not getting any kind of commission, it’s just great!) If you have any great recipes, I would be grateful if you would share any in the comments ❤️
***
Contemplations
How do you, or can you, honor your food?
What feelings arise when asking this question?
***
Going clockwise, starting in the top left-hand corner and then ending on the middle, we have:
No modifications on this one. Just a straight up incredible Strawberry Cucumber Salad that’s f*cking perfect for summer. I recommend trying PlantYou’s take on tofu-based vegan feta!
My take on the Cauliflower Salad from PlantYou. I call this the Goddamn Green Goddess Bowl: Trust me when I say that herbal tofu dressing might be the best thing you eat this summer.
Penne with veggie bolognese, roasted asparagus and Texas toast.
Not sure if anyone remembers this Bennigan’s salad, but I call this the Kil-kimmy’s Chick’n Salad, which is basically a chopped salad with a hardboiled egg, fried shallots, Gardein’s ultimate chicken tenders and Bolt’s yogurt ranch dressing.
I call this BúnBúnBún, a Vietnamese rice noodle bowl: mixed lettuces, shredded red cabbage (make your life easier and get one of those pre-made bags), rice noodles, cucumbers, fried tofu, pickled carrots, Mama Thai eggrolls, pickled red onion, fried shallots and fresh mint and basil on top. And of course, vegetarian fish sauce that I use from base of fermented pineapple.
My new favorite meal — my morning oatmeal. Jess calls it the Five-Act Opera Oatmeal”: McCann’s steel cut oats, natural creamy peanut butter, your jelly of choice (I love grape or raspberry), fruit of your choice (I usually have banana and some kind of berry), dried cranberries (and sometimes tart cherries), nuts nuts nuts (I add slivered almonds, pistachios, pumpkin seeds and walnuts), splash of oat milk and a drizzle of honey.
Veggie sub sam: Impossible veggie meatballs, Newman’s red sauce, fresh mozz, basil on a whole wheat roll. Ruffle potato chips.
My take on the Thai noodle salad from PlantYou. I added sesame crackers, baby corn, edamame and sautéed mushrooms.
To a T: PlantYou’s Apple Walnut Salad with Tahini Maple Dressing. Delicious and great if you want something a bit heartier.
Being a writer requires a certain level of drive, love, tenacity and faith. So if you’re feeling inspired and find value in my work, please consider sending me $1.11 to encourage me to keep going.
Your love motivates me to keep this newsletter going, and allows me to keep my writing practice as an act of service. I’m committed to sending a portion of any monthly donations to a social justice organization I am supporting. Your investment helps support that donation — from protecting abortion access to healthcare services for trans youth. So sending me a few dollars via Venmo (@kthai6) with the note “✨ ✨ ✨” is a way of telling my heart to keep writing, and a small little affirmation from you to me that I am on the right path. It also helps me understand the value of my writing as I continue to navigate capitalism as a writer and teacher.
I love this framing and perspective, kindness rather than self-flagellation. 🙏