Eating Our Friends

In the past few months, our house has become vegetarian. I have toyed with the idea for awhile now and I would say that I cooked 75% vegetarian beforehand, so it has not been a shock to my kitchen.

How did it happen?

My husband, meat lover, had an epiphany after listening to a song by a rockin’ kids band called Lunch Money. We saw them perform live and they sang a song that included the lyrics, “We gotta watch out for our animal friends”. That was enough for my husband. Our son lasted a few weeks until he announced that he “wanted to eat his friends”. How about me? I’m thinking of eating meat as a special treat. If someone is serving it I may have some. It has been really fun to discover meat substitutes and grains like quinoa and red lentils. We also got a really great cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. We keep kosher in our house, so it’s made that easier as well.

Does Barefoot have a book about being vegetarian? You bet. Our brave hero is Herb the Vegetarian Dragon. His fellow dragons are Meat eaters and scare the local townspeople but not Herb. He peacefully tends to his organic vegetable garden and makes Leek and potato soup (yum!). He is an outsider in the Dragon world and at one point is pressured to eat meat to save his life. Herb stays true to himself and helps the dragons make peace with the townspeople.  The book is beautifully illustrated by Debbie Harter.

The web has been a great resource for vegetarian cooking. Do you know of any great blogs or websites about vegetarian cooking? Any recipes to share?

Life in Africa

Mama Panya’s Pancakes

Set in Kenya, Mama Panya’s Pancakes is the story of Adika and his mom and their trip to the market for dinner provisions. Adika is a friendly young boy and like my son invites all of his friends home for dinner. Everyone says yes and Mama Panya is concerned about having enough food to serve. She introduces a concept that we’ve often used in my family called “family hold back” (fhb), serve your guests first and eat what is left. The result is a wonderful tale about community and sharing what you have with others. The book also includes information about life in an African village, greetings in Kiswahili, animals and plants found in Africa, a map of the region and the recipe for Mama Panya’s pancakes. This is a great addition to a lesson plan about sharing, life in Africa or cooking.

Masai Man

This award-winning book tells a solemn but uplifting tale about our connection to animals in captivity. The Masai Man helps the animal realize life in the wild. The illustrations are mesmerizing with close-ups of the man’s intense face and visions of animal life.

We All Went on Safari, A Counting Journey through Tanzania

One of Barefoot’s most popular books. We all Went of Safari, follows a group of Masai children through the grasslands of Tanzania. It’s a counting book with different animals discovered on every page and numbers in English and Swahili. Proceeds of the book go to African Wildlife Foundation, to aid their wildlife conservation and community building efforts in Tanzania. This title is also available is Spanish. Author Laurie Krebs helps children discover many different cultures through her writing. She is also the author of Off We go To Mexico, We’re Sailing to Galapagos and the new title, We’re Sailing Down the Nile.

Catch that Goat! A Market Day in Nigeria

Written by Polly Alakija, a resident of Nigeria, Catch That Goat!, follows Ayoka through the busy market to find her goat. The goat enjoys the market and takes items along the way including boli, roasted plantain, (yum). The illustrations are quite striking in this book. As with other Barefoot Books, at the end of the book, there is a description of Yoruban life and Market day and greetings in Yoruba.

To learn more about these titles, please visit:

www.discoverbarefootbooks.com