by [email protected]
Ring Ring
ParkStRanger: Hello
Teleresearcher: Hello sir, my name is Kay and I am doing research for
the dairy industry about certain dairy products. If I could have a few
minutes of your time to ask you some questions?
ParkStRanger: Ok, but I'm a vegan, I don't use dairy, but I would love
to answer your questions.
Kay: Oh, ok, Which of the following brands have you heard about before?
Bryers.
Park: yes
Kay: Dannon
Park: yes
Kay: Stony Field
Park: yes
Kay: Mountain High
Park: not in the context you are asking about. No.
Kay: (giggle) Yoplait
Park: yes
Kay: And sir, which of the following have you bought in the past three
months.
Park: I have been a vegan for five years, unless Silk brand Soy yogurt
is on your list, then none.
Kay: Ok, let me type that in, it's not on my list. Silk?
Park: Yes S I L K, soy yogurt. However I stopped using Silk now and
usually make my own soy yogurt by putting tofu in the food processor
with some berries and a little sweetener.
Kay: Oh really?
Park: It's pretty good.
Kay: What brand of cheese have you used in the last three months....
Park: Before you go down the list, I use soy cheese, VeganRella brand,
Soymage and Follow Your Heart brand. All pretty good vegan soy based
cheeses.
Kay: Oh really.
Park: You know, most people don't know that to keep dairy cows producing
milk they have to keep them pregnant and so they impregnate them on what
those in the industry call a "rape rack" once a year. The females that
are born replace their mothers in the dairy factories, the males become
veal.
Kay: Oh my god.
Park: When you have time, you should go to www.notmilk.com, you will
find a lot of great information there about dairy products. The NOTMILK
Homepage! (MILK is a bad-news substance!) Next question?
Kay: Do you remember seeing the following commercials....Construction
workers are at a site and the lunch whistle goes off and they sit down
on a beam and open their lunch boxes and take out yogurt and stir in
time to music.
Park: Yes
Kay: Have you seen this commercial......A man at a dinner table asks his
maid to bring dessert and she places a container of yogurt on his plate
and he asks "Is it creamy?" And the maid in a French accent answers
"Very creamy" and she places her lips close to his cheek "Creamy."
Park: Oh My God.
Kay: And then she sits on his lap and spoon feeds him the yogurt. Have
you seen that commercial?
Park: No, but can you tell me where I can get the video?
(We both laugh for a few moments)
Park: You know, if I can interrupt your questions for a minute, that
reminds me of a friend of mine, Carol Adams who wrote a book called "The
Sexual Politics of Meat", about how the meat and dairy industry uses sex
to promote their products, you should check it out. (Learn more about
Carol at http://www.triroc.com/caroladams/ ) Carol J. Adams (Feminist
author)
Kay: I will.
Park: You know what? I bet when the analysis is done, the data received
from my answers will be way to one side of the bell curve.
Kay: (laughs) I suppose so, you don't do any dairy products at all?
Park: No, I have been a vegan for 5 years, did some nonfat dairy for the
previous twenty years that I was a lacto Vegetarian. But I fight against
dairy now. This is really amusing, I am going to have to write this up,
the dairy industry interviewing me. (at this point I find it hard to
stop laughing)
Kay: (laughing too) What is your opinion of store brand yogurts?
Park: Most cheap yogurts, like store brands, use gelatin as a thickening
agent. Did you know that gelatin is made by boiling down the hoofs and
tendons of cows, pigs and even horses?
Kay: Oh my god, I am never eating gelatin again. Yuck.
Park: Next question?
Kay: Have you seen the commercial where a certain yogurt company says
they are giving money to breast cancer research if you mail back the lid
and at the end a group of women throw the yogurt lids in the air?
Park: No, but have you seen the research linking dairy products to
breast cancer?
Kay: No.
Park: It seems the least they can do, give a little bit of their profits
to research for a disease they cause. If I can take a few more moments
of your time, I'd like to tell you that I had dinner with one of the
world's leading authorities on vegetarian nutrition last Friday night,
Brenda Davis, former chair of vegetarian nutrition for the American
Dietetic Association. And she is pretty knowledgeable.
Kay: I bet.
Park: You should check out her books at Amazon.com, "Becoming Vegan"
really gives some great information on living without dairy and other
animal products.
(www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570671036/qid=1007303975/ )
Amazon.com: buying info: Becoming Vegan
Kay: Ok, I will.
Park: She was an advisor on John Robbins last book...you know John
Robbins?
Kay: No.
Park: He was heir to the Baskin Robbins empire but he gave it up because
of his veganism. Check out his webspace at Earthsave. (or go directly to
John's site at www.FoodRevolution.org) The Food Revolution
Park: One other thing I wanted to tell you about Yoplait, if I could.
Kay: Sure.
Park: They make containers that are small at the top and lead to bigger
bottoms and animal rights activists like me have been complaining to the
company for years that their containers trap the heads of small animals
who try to crawl inside them at dumps. But Yoplait is afraid that a
redesign will change customer recognition of their container and cause a
profit loss.
Kay: Oh My God. You are so right. I am going to have to examine my life
tonight. You are really going to love these next questions.
Park: ( Laughing) Ok great, go on.
Kay: Which of the following companies do you consider to be concerned
with people's health beyond those companies efforts to produce a quality
product.
Park: HaHaHa Ha ha ha ha ha (rolling on floor laughing)
Kay: (laughing too)
Bryers
No
Dannon
No
Stony Field
No
Yoplait
No
(A lot more questions followed and most of my answers were "no". And
when the interview ended I could tell I had opened her eyes a bit.)
Kay: You know, I have really enjoyed talking with you.
Park: And I have with you too, Kay, I hope you will look at those
websites I mentioned. You gave me a lot of laughs.
Kay: And you did me too. It was a pleasure talking with you. Bye.
Park: Bye.
Go on to Animal Rights
Conference
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