Reddit mentions of The Jungle (First Edition) (Norton Critical Editions)

I know about Korinthos, that is why it is separated with a comma. My uncle lives in Korinthos. Our paternal village is in Achaia and that is where my father and grandmother live. I figure I can adapt on the ground, my dad who lives in Greece used to be a professional short order cook for years and I will be staying and traveling with him most the time.

I don't feel the need to invent some elaborate lie or backstory, other than the actual truth. I don't believe in what I call consumer choice doctrine, that everyone has a right to live a destructive lifestyle, just because they are hidden by comparative economic privilege. I am an actual vegan and know lots of people who are raised Greek or born there and they seem more supportive than the American mainstream. My mom is non-vegan, so is my grandmother, but they go out their way to make vegan food for me, even making laborious extra batches of spanakopita(I don't really know a food item more time consuming and painful to make than that). My dad who is also very chauvinist to a large extent, while chiding my mother for making me vegan(which is funny because she is not a vegan) took the time to cook vegan meals for me also, last he visited us. From what I understand most American vegans don't get that kind of support from their families. Also Greeks until the last few decades didn't have the resources to eat an animal centered diet complimented with more highly refined plant foods, which is less true for Americans, who have been eating more animal centered diets for much longer. Plus the Greek Orthodox Church has many fast days where you are not supposed to consume animal products. Our local priest who is not vegan pointed out to me, that you are supposed to fast on more days than you are nominally allowed to eat meat. So I don't know why I would have to tip-toe around Greeks from Greece about veganism and act like I am some agent from the CIA, holding top secret information that will offend Greek sensibilities without an elaborate and plausible cover story.

Also I am not vegan out of ideology per se, infact I would say the opposite, that eating meat is an a hidden ideology called carnism, and that I am being anti-ideological. Interestingly growing up in Nassau County the nearest suburb to the Queens borough of NYC as a child, the first time I encountered farm animals was in my paternal village as a pre-schooler at about age four or five. I used to hug the chickens, pet them, play with them. I would also play with the goats, dodge the rams, etc. I considered them friends, but I still ate meat back then, because that is what my parents raised me to do. Infact I played so much with them, my moms tell me I got chicken lice and had to have my head shaved along with my brother. I still have a picture of me hugging a chicken from that visit, but linux doesn't support my scanner. As an adult I watched the speech entitled, Η Πιο Συγκλονιστική Ομιλία Που Θα Ακούσετε Ποτέ(Greek subtitles) and he made a passing comment that everyone is born vegan but raised differently at some point. And reflecting on my past that is very true. Another thing I remember is my grandfather frequently pretended like he caught a rabbit, putting it in a cage for us to play with for a few short hours and days and then him lying and saying it go lost. I assume I ate those rabbits that I considered as friends and pets, because my family lied to me. If people were honest to kids, unlike my family and most other carnists, I don't think many children would be ok with eating meat, since kids are usually much more ethical and don't accept nonsense like, "that is the way it is and always has been." Kids are more questioning of social rules, but the world of adults lies to them.

So to answer your question, for a long time I sort of admired vegetarians, but assumed I couldn't be one because like many young Greek males, my mom cooked almost everything for me, and out of sheer logistics and laziness I couldn't change. One day I decided to read a seminal American novel titled "The Jungle" that exposed the American meat packing and slaughter industry of the early 20th Century that first allowed the economy of scale, distribution and low-cost to make the contemporary eating habits of consuming an animal product for every meal, everyday a possibility for a large portion of the population. I never read the novel, because the Critical Edition had in the back many articles about the past and current slaughter industries. which I read instead and that is the moment I decided I had to go vegetarian. After a few months of that, I listened to a radio program that extolled the health benefits of a vegan diet, and decided to go vegan. My last bloodwork in December 2013, I had a total cholesterol of 136 which means I have almost no chance of having a heart-attack or heart disease.