What is all this stuff about being a vegetarian? As a red blooded carnivore I had been ignoring the subject. Then our daughter returned from an extended stay in a Sikh commune in Haight Ashbury and reintroduced herself as a Vegan. She described it as like being a born again vegetarian. Here was my wife's own flesh and blood espousing an elitist form of vegetarianism where it is taboo to eat any animal products, milk, cheese or even honey.Because bees are animals too. Instinctively I knew there had to be money, politics or religion behind this self-destructive scam. So I did some investigation.

I thought perhaps vegetarianism was intended to fill the geo-Political vacuum created by the fall of communism. Remember all those east Germans tearing down the Berlin wall to get to those West German fruit and vegetable stands. There are definitely political overtones pitting one class of citizenry against the other. For example this culinary spin that carnivores are bad and veggie lovers good. My vegan friend - yes, some of my best friends are vegans - is always touting how big and strong elephants get eating peanuts and bananas. My dinosaur loving son enlightened me that God's little animal kingdom is divided into predator versus prey competition where the carnivore lions and tigers like their vegetables after the animal prey have made them edible.

Maybe vegan-vegetarianism is a religist movement, like Buddhism. We know that two of the monotheistic trio, the Jews and the Moslems argue about theology but they both agree that pigs are bad and everything else is fair game - are you ready for this? - as long as you kill it humanly. The Christians are forever standing on every street corner and ringing every doorbell in the universe, yapping about those five loaves and fishes. I know, I know, it's one of those a holy wars - a food jihad - the vegans are out to knock-off the Hindus, the world's first and only true veggie lovers. It will never happen. Those squatting Ayurvedic yogi guru bubbas have been meditating over their veggie recipes for 8,000 years, long before the Wareing blender or smoothie were invented. A yuppie trained Ph.D. vegetarian couldn't tell by sight, smell or taste if the Bombay restaurant had -gods forgive - put meat in saagpanir. The worst Indian cook on the continent could throw together the right combo of curry, turmeric and marsala to make a dish of used car parts edible. This spurious theology of the vegan-vegetarianism will gain few converts until they learn how to cook.

Money must be behind this whole silly distasteful affair. I know, I know, the vegans have no declared spiritual leader like the late Dr. Atkins, or the Tiger's milk slurping Adelle Davis or that berry grubbing guy Uhl Gibbons. The vegans from top to bottom are strictly - are you ready for this?- a GRASS roots organization. The money connection is in the form of a GM manufactured Trojan horse called genetically modified foods. The Europeans came up with this red herring to keep out US agricultural products. But many of the vegan "Leafer Cells" are pushing to adopt the "just say No to GM apples and oranges" motto. They could end up starving themselves and their pocketbook.

Almost 100 years ago, a horticulturist/ botanist/ inventor from Santa Rosa, California, named Luther Burbank, sliced, diced, cloned, grafted and genetically modified over 800 plants, flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables, Including this russet potato. This apple is the quintillionth human altered version of the divinity apple eaten by Adam & Eve. I don't know about you fellow toastmasters but personally I'm sticking with my keep all options open Omnivore menu. I am a social vegetarian and a home boy carnivore because steak is cheaper and better at home. Thank you for letting me share. Mr. Toastmaster.TEG