Big whiff on vegetarian issue
It was like vegan Christmas picking up your Vegetarian Issue (NOW, August 11-17). Thank you!
One big miss, though: Doug McNish’s Public Kitchen. Toronto’s top vegan chef and his unbelievably delectable brunch spot are currently nominated for three NOW Readers’ Choice Awards (including best chef), yet he’s nowhere to be found on your list of the 25 best vegetarian and vegan restaurants. Whoops.
Kimberly Carroll, Toronto
Our vegetarian cover was elitist, apparently
NOW’s choice of a thin, attractive white woman for the cover of the Vegetarian Issue sends a clear message that heavier-set, low-income people of colour are not welcome in the vegetarian community/movement. This was an opportunity to show that vegetarianism can be accessible to people of colour and disadvantaged people, but you have proven that it is an elitist, beauty-obsessed fad and minorities shouldn’t bother. You might as well have put a white male on the cover, but that would have been too obvious, right?
Chris Michael Burns, Toronto
A world of animal companionship
Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving the endless fight for animal rights the platform it deserves by telling Anita Krajnc’s story (NOW, August 11-17). The ethical and environmental effects of animal agriculture desperately need to be showcased, and I thank NOW for your infinite bravery in reporting on the subject and for continuing to represent positive change.
I was already thrilled to see an issue dedicated to vegetarian and vegan restaurants but was even happier to see space dedicated to animal sanctuaries and the hard-working, long-running grassroots Toronto Pig Save movement. Zach Ruiter did a fabulous job of highlighting a world of animal companionship as an alternative to the vile treatment of animals raised for food and by-products.
Cheryl Sileikis, Toronto
Lessons humans can learn from pigs
Having had contact with pigs in Cape Breton in my younger days, I found them unique animals. Potbellied pigs are nice to have around because they are attracted to people they like and are not difficult to housebreak. Learning about pigs can be as simple as picking up a book.
If you want to get educated on what happens to pigs once they get to the slaughterhouse, proceed at your own risk. Anita Krajnc’s giving water to pigs on their way to the slaughterhouse was an act of mercy not mischief.
David Booth, Agincourt
Paying homage to Chihuly
The arrogance of Fran Schechter’s review of Dale Chihuly’s artwork (NOW, August 11-17) left me almost speechless. Schechter’s haute art education has apparently left her in a pickle. Chihuly’s glass work is dismissed as “empty.” Why can it not simply be?
Most distasteful was her falling for the politically correct bait of the appropriation of First Nations culture. It is not the artist’s fault that the blankets on display were “made by a white-owned Oregon company for the Aboriginal market” or that Edward S. Curtis was photo-recording the remnants of a white Christian-sanctioned genocide. (At least somebody did.) Chihuly was not appropriating by paying homage.
Harry Staple, Toronto
Med Hondo a giant of Africa
I’ll be forever grateful to Rad Simonpillai for his review of Soleil O, by Mauritania-born director Med Hon-do (NOW, August 4-10). Watch-ing Soleil O, it became apparent that this was the work of a true genius, compelling a number of us to attend all the Med Hondo screenings held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Each film brings insight into African culture, history and politics.
How is it possible that a filmmaker of such import, such vision, is not known here?
It is not only African artists who lose when African culture is marginalized. We all do.
Susan De Rosa, Toronto
Real terror targets are minorities abroad
Letter writer J.D. says terrorism is a response to Western actions (NOW, August 11-17). This argument is highly tenuous when terrorists, or governments that fund terrorism, frequently disproportionately target minorities that are often native.
Examples include ISIS’s targeting of Assyrians and Yazidis, Houthi attacks on Yemenite Jews, FARC’s killings of Indigenous Colombians and Iran’s second-class citizenship for Zoroastrians.
Margot Davis, Toronto
Fat Bastard’s logo satirical, not racist
Fat Bastard Burrito’s logo is not racist (NOW, August 11-17) it’s satire. However, the most shocking thing about the article is the weird paragraph on the annual income of “Latin Americans” in Canada, which is apparently $3,000 less than the median income of people of colour.
Holy shit! The article [seems to say] these people are poor!
My single-mother, privileged, cis white ass lives in Toronto, makes $36,000, and I don’t feel poor.
Melanie Ross, Toronto
