Wednesday, April 19, 2006

evil chips…collection collective

i have been a vegetarian
most of my life.
i think that
i was about 9 years old
when i decided
that i wouldn’t
eat meat anymore.
i wanted to be
a veterinarian
and i felt that
it didn’t make sense
to eat some animals
and save others.
i have 3 older brothers
so i have had
my share of
meat jokes
and
meat pranks.
i was a hardcore
vegetarian
throughout my teens
with a brief 2 year bout
into vegan-land.
then i went to europe
for an extended period of time
got sick of bread
and
rediscovered
yogurt and cheese.
i use to be an
animal rights activist
marching with bunnies
against benetton,
wearing vegan shoes,
berading meat eaters
and fur & leather-wearers
then i got older and jaded
and started to study ecology.
i realized that
although politics
has it’s place
research science
in ecology and conservation
really makes
a big difference in
the long-term
protection of organisms
and the environment.
i still try
to avoid buying leather
don’t eat gelatin,
rennet or lard
and try to live a pretty
animal product-free life.
so today
i went with my labmates
to get a sandwich
and chips.
i am not a big
chip eater
but the handcooked
chips sounded simple
and appealing
to compliment the taste
of my veggie sandwich.
so naïve you are bugheart!
while i was eating my lunch
and checking blogs
i noticed the chips
tasted funny.
too rich,
almost sickeningly so...
but i was absorbed in blogs
and i didn’t really
think about it.
but by the bottom
of the bag
i felt sick.

so i looked at the bag
to see the ingredients
(foolishly expecting cocoa butter
or some sort of fattening oil)
and
they were fried in LARD!
oh god- i am going to be sick.
who the hell fries their chips
in LARD anymore!
i thought handcooked
meant handmade!
such an idiot.
evil chips!
yuck. yuck. yuck.
after brushing my teeth
for half an hour
i think
gag
i can start with
my original post…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i have written
a great deal
about collections.
one of the reasons
i thrift shop
is because
i love collections.
i find it pleasing
to group items
that are similar
in form or color
but unique in other ways.
i am always on the hunt
for items
that i collect.
each wednesday
i will post some photos
of one of my collections.
i invite you to do the same.
if lots of people
are interested
we can start a
flickr group.
please let me know
if you are posting
your collections
on wednesdays
and i will link
to your blog.

my collection for
this week
is clothing by
vested gentress:

i first discovered
vested gentress (VG)
because i found
an amazing asparagus dress
at value village.
unfortunately it didn’t fit
so i passed it on to
a stitch-n-bitch friend.
she in turn found
a fabulous
grasshopper skirt
(pictured below).

this is some
background
information
that i found
from this site:
This business, established in 1961, was based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and was known for whimsical screen printed fabrics. These fabrics were made into dresses, slacks and skirts. They also had a line of golf wear. The company closed in the late 80s.

you can tell that it is
a true VG dress
because it will have
this label
or there will be a little VG
somewhere on
the fabric.
i have never been
able to find
any more information
on the creators
but i really adore their prints-
particularly
the whimsical animals.
i am particularly into
the bug prints
so if you ever find one
(especially with caterpillars)
i’ll give
you an arm and a leg
for it!

here are some of my dresses:



and some of my skirts:




i am definitely not
the only collector
out there….
check out
soulemama.
VG items
can be very expensive,
especially if they are
in good condition
i have been lusting after
this skirt
on ebay for weeks.

unfortunately
VG sizes run small.
i wear an 8 (sometimes)
to a 12 (in skirts).
i have found sizes
up to 18.
i have lots of
different sizes
in my collection
(not pictured)
and some may show up
on great monday give-away™.

feel free to email me
if you want to swap.
bugheart(at)gmail(dot)com.

once again,
let me know
if you decide
to join the
all new
wednesday

collection collective!

14 comments:

strangelittlemama said...

As an almost life-long vegetarian, I feel your pain. That is just nasty!!
Living in New Mexico, I have to ask if EVERYTHING is made with lard!

bikeandbeer said...

i am so sorry about the lard! please don't get sick... ooohhhh i'll find you a pair of vg slacks ;-) how come you don't have any? they must be cuuute....

bikeandbeer said...

ps. i'll try to join the collection collective!

Anonymous said...

I was a vegetarian (though ovo-lacto) for 16 years but have now reverted/reformed depending on your point of view. We do try to eat "lower on the food chain" mostly though. Definitely better for people and the planet. -- I would never have guessed there would be Lard in chips. Really weird.

Hmmm, collections. I do have a few so I think I'll try to join up for next week.

f. pea said...

i couldn't believe it when i saw that vested gentress skirt in your give-away on monday!! and sorry about the lard.

bugheart said...

mmm...
i ned to pair down
and i am not wild
about the shells.
i wanted to pass on the VG
wealth.
:)

sooz said...

Yeah, there's lard in a lot of pizza doughs too, and once I discovered that a favourite hand made biscuit I got from a deli was made with lard. I'm not a veggie anymore, but I was still kind of grossed out and very surprised to find lard lurks. Sorry to hear about your run in with the pig.

The fabrics are WAY cool - but you know about my fabric obsession, so what else would I say. I'll keep my eyes peeled, but I won't hold my breath. Such treasures are rarely found in our thrift stores here (which tend to cater more to the cutting edge 80s nostalgics with bad taste. Lucky I left felt too). xx

Eero said...

OOoohh, lurking lard...so sorry.
I want to join the collection collective! I think I only have one, though...and you've added to it more in the past year than I have...good friend.

Michal Wright-Ward said...

as a vegy of 6 years, i share the fury. why can't we be like england here - where every vegy food in the supermarket is marked "suitable for vegeterians" very clearly? we just need more hindu people here, that's what... ; )

Anonymous said...

Lard? Sick. I'm not even a vegetarian and that sounds yuck (my friends call me a "vegetarian sympathizer") I would love to join the collection collective but I am afraid I don't have *true* collections to speak of, though I am starting to collect day of the dead art from Mexico...pricey though. I need a cheap something to collect!

mo wask said...

great skirts and dresses... the grasshoppers and dogs are my favorite.

Anonymous said...

There's a lot going on in this post I want to comment on! I've been a vegetarian for over 10 years and feel your pain. I am very careful about what I put into my body. A couple of years ago, I ordered a veg wrap at lunch - which I'd done many times before - and they gave me the wrong one and I had actual chicken in my mouth. I was so repulsed and felt violated. So sorry! You have the most beautiful clothes. I would love to see your closet sometime... those prints are so glorious! I've never seen any before, so I'll have to keep my eye out now.

Anonymous said...

There was a lard crisis here just over a year ago as the Eastern European countries joined the EU and bought up all the customs-duty-free lard in the rest of Europe for sausage-making.

Lard was so scarce it was going on uk ebay for lots of money as people panicked they wouldn't have it to make mince pies with. People are very odd.

Erin said...

i've got a vested gentress, brand new with tags, on ebay right now if you're interested--i didn't even realise people collected them, so the price is very low --please check it out if you like--i'd rather someone who loved them owned the dress, you know?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=013&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=230094278071&rd=1&rd=1