vegan, have been for some years now, but i will admit to occasional lapses, and i guess at the end of the day i'm okay with it, not the animal-parts-eating as much as the label-evading, though i suppose the two are tied up with one another.

but definitely as organic as possible. there are a few reasons for this. sadly, thus far only one person has brought up the issue of fairly traded foods. for me, eating organics is as much a human rights issue as it is a way for me to insure that i know what's going into my body. one way or the other, someone is going to have the job title "farm worker," and i want to make sure that i do all i can to ensure that said person has some dignity (and capital).

it's never been an issue of money for me. when my wife and i were at our poorest (i was making $8.50/hr working part time at a used bookstore) we made the decision that it was worth it (operative phrase alert) for us to spend the extra money to live by our principles.

also, for what it's worth, while some nutrients are truly more difficult to obtain eating a vegan diet, i'm not sure that it's a long list, and for a savvy cook, i'm certainly not convinced protein should be on it. i don't mean any disrespect, i'm just speaking from my own experience as others have done.