Philip Schein: undercover in uruguayPhilip and Hannah Schein are the Rina Lazarus and Peter Decker of American vegans. This husband and wife team – Philip is forty-three; Hannah, ten years younger – are undercover investigators for the animal rights group PETA. Over the past six years, the duo has taken on almost twenty high profile investigations, including one that shook the Jewish community to its core: Agriprocessors, Inc. in Postville, Iowa, the world’s largest kosher slaughterhouse.

Agriprocessors (the producer of Aaron’s Best, Supreme, Shor HaBor, Rubashkin’s and David’s meats, and owned by Chabad hasidim) is currently in the news for the massive immigration raid that saw close to half of its workforce arrested, and for related allegations of child labor violations, extortion of illegal workers, company-organized identity theft, forced unpaid overtime, and a brutality toward workers reminiscent of the Jim Crow South.

In 2004 the Schein’s went undercover at the plant and found different horrors – including the plant’s practice of ripping out the trachea and esophagus of live cattle with a meat hook. (The Schein’s would uncover a similar practice at the company’s smaller Gordon, Nebraska slaughterhouse in 2007.)

The Schiens are former Jewish community professionals.

What Jewish involvement did you have as a child? Did your family attend synagogue regularly?

Hannah Schein: I was raised in a Conservative family, and my parents were very involved in the synagogue. My mother was the synagogue president at one time. I did not attend every Shabbat, but I wasn't a "High Holiday" Jew either.

Philip Schein: I grew up in a more assimilated household (we later became involved in a Reconstructionist synagogue). Early on, we only celebrated the major holidays: Pesach, etc. I just found documentation that my oldest recorded relatives in the 1700s were actually father-and-son shochtim. So I am sort of carrying on the tradition of being on slaughter floors.

Did you attend Hebrew school or a Jewish day school?

HS: I attended day school for three years, from pre-K through first grade, and then attended public school from second to 12th grade. While attending public school, I participated in my synagogue's Hebrew school. After my bat mitzvah, I attended the Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies (on Sundays).

PS: I didn't become seriously involved until I worked for a Jewish camp for people with disabilities for the Reena Foundation in Toronto. I also attended the Ivy League Torah Study Program, which is run, ironically, by the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE). I say "ironically" because now this organization is the focus of a multi-year PETA investigation into abuses during kapporos. Rabbi Shea Hecht of NCFJE has been completely resistant to making humane changes.

Rubashkin's Glatt Kosher Products: also glatt illegalDid you grow up keeping kosher?

HS: Yes, in a Conservative way. I have never knowingly eaten pork, shellfish, etc., or mixed meat and dairy. Our home was kosher, but we did eat in non-kosher restaurants.

PS: No, but I went vegan as a teenager, which sort of made me kosher "by default" at the time.

What's your favorite childhood memory?

HS: I have so many—I had a very fulfilling and fun childhood! My parents are the kind of people who were truly prepared to have children and nurture them—they were both teachers and ran Jewish camps in the summers. Some of my best memories relate to when my mom would teach me to love and respect nature—for example, crossing paths with a box turtle while picking raspberries on the edge of a meadow.

PS: Unfortunately, as a child, I used to enjoy going to horse races before I knew about all the abuses in the industry. PETA's anti-horse racing campaign is particularly important to me because of my personal history.

Where did you go to college? What type of Jewish affiliations did you have as a college student?

HS: Princeton University. I was active in the Hillel and was very lucky in that the Center for Jewish Life (CJL) opened during my freshman year. I ate at the CJL's kosher dining hall every day for several years, participated in the Conservative minyan, and was a CJL board member (house manager) one year.

PS: Hannah always laughs when I say that I am an "Ivy League" graduate (Ivy League Torah Study Program) because she actually is one. I did my undergraduate work in Canada and became very involved in Holocaust studies. I traveled to Poland to make a film for the Toronto Holocaust archives about a man I was working with in Toronto who sustained a brain injury at the hands of the Nazis and then survived hidden by a Polish family for 22 months in an underground bunker. After college, I worked extensively with people with developmental and psychiatric disabilities in the frum community in Toronto. I later did graduate work in York University in Toronto and then at Syracuse University.

How did you two meet?

HS: I had been hired as the CJL/Princeton Hillel program director and traveled to Washington, D.C., for Hillel's orientation for new professionals in August 1998. At one point, a fellow attendee brought Philip over. He wanted to meet me because he heard I used to work for the Yankees. When the annual Hillel national conference rolled around in December, we got engaged.

PS: Shortly after we met, Hannah made me a wager about the 1994 World Cup (soccer), at which she had volunteered. She went to the nearest computer to look up the info and announced that she would have to "eat crow." I suggested she eat "crowfu" instead.

You both worked for Hillel. Where? In what capacities?

HS: Princeton University, program director.

PS: Syracuse University, program director (3 years)

What is your impression of Jewish campus life? How many Jews are Jewishly involved? Do you see mistakes made by Jewish campus organizations that limit or reduce this number?

HS: I haven't worked at Hillel since the 1998-99 school year, but I think we did a pretty good job of making options available to students seeking any type of Jewish activity. The CJL is centrally located on campus, and its opening made it exponentially easier to facilitate student involvement. At Princeton, the percentage of Jews was probably a little more than 10 percent of the student body (and the school is on the small side), so we didn't have the kinds of numbers you see at some campuses, but we had excellent rates of involvement. We had a very successful Jewish advisor program that reached out to incoming students and let them know what kinds of programs and resources the CJL offered.

PS: At Syracuse, we had to work with the student culture rather than impose some generic brand of Hillel community. So we organized events like multi-university Jewish basketball tournaments to get some of the more unlikely students involved with Hillel and the Jewish community; things like that and Birthright Israel built up a base of students across the spectrum. It was very successful in that sense. However, I found it to be somewhat of an immature Jewish community regarding social action. For example, students had a project to collect 6 million buttons for Holocaust commemoration—I think their energies could have been better used actually doing something concrete and useful that would address current injustices.

Why did you leave the Hillel system to work for PETA?

HS: I left Hillel to move to Syracuse and marry Philip. He stayed on as program director for SU for two more years, while I earned a masters degree in criminal justice. I wanted to work preventing crimes against animals, so I looked into jobs in the animal protection field. PETA is at the vanguard of the animal rights movement, so I was very gratified to get a job where I could make a real difference. On my first day, they had me review new footage from an undercover laboratory investigation, and I was hooked.

PS: Hillel functioned for me more like a graduate assistantship while I was in grad school, and it was never my intended career track. I had worked for more than 10 years with people with disabilities, and during my graduate work in disability studies at Syracuse, it became clearer that all the "-isms" (e.g., racism, speciesism, sexism) are profoundly connected. For example, women, people classified with mental disabilities, and certain races and classes were all historically presumed to not be able to think abstractly, not be individuals, not have complex emotions, etc., and were depicted as being synonymous with nature. The same misunderstandings are continually applied to other species. So I look at the work I'm doing now as the culmination of all the work I did working with marginalized, vulnerable "others"—those who are full beings but falsely characterized as being deficient.

I decided to apply to PETA a few months after watching a TV debate with a PETA vice president. Her arguments and explanations were so reasonable. I had preconceptions of PETA as having extremist views, but the more research I did, the more I found it to be the opposite—advocating for the prevention of unnecessary suffering should just be common sense. The counter-arguments are truly extremist and absurd, such as when the Chief Rabbinate of Israel said, in the words of The Jerusalem Post, that "gratuitous cruelty to animals during the slaughter process does not disqualify the meat." I soon became convinced that this was the most important and urgent work. Hannah started working at PETA first, in the Investigations Department, while I was working on my dissertation, and I saw how everything she was doing was making such a difference for the animals. I felt compelled to apply to PETA and devote all my energies to this cause.

What was the worst thing you saw at Agriprocessors? What shocked you the most?

PS: I was absolutely shocked that workers were ripping the tracheas out of animals while they were still completely conscious. It was such a cruel and brazen violation, and this was standard operating procedure. We knew immediately that AgriProcessors was in enormous trouble.

HS: I think seeing the steer actually struggle to his feet and walk out of the room was most shocking to me. It's shameful that these inhumane slaughter procedures were allowed by all the parties involved.

Hannah's Favorite Vegan: friend of jewcy, alicia silverstoneWhat about on your other investigations? What was the worst you saw? The most shocking?

HS: The worst thing I've seen in person was the "shackle and hoist" kosher slaughter of cattle in a slaughterhouse in Uruguay. Workers took minutes hooking and roping each steer's feet in order to trip him onto his side and chain his legs, then they stood with all their body weight on his legs and pinned his head to the floor with a sadistic trident-type tool so that the shochet could cut his throat. The workers then hoisted each steer quickly by one foot, while the steer struggled to breathe and his lifeblood poured on the floor. The worst investigative footage I've seen, period, is the video showing animals being killed for their fur in China: You actually see people peel the pelts off live animals, and you see them suffering horribly, writhing on the ground with no skin. We have footage of one animal who had her fur peeled off—all but her eyelashes—and she raises her head slowly and blinks. Animal behaviorists say that blinking is a sign of consciousness—she was, very likely, still feeling the pain of being skinned alive.

PS: Perhaps the most disturbing single incident I witnessed was during a bear-hunting investigation I conducted last September, when a hunter attempted to shoot a black bear at a bait stand and missed, seriously injuring the bear. They tried to track the trail of blood but were unsuccessful, so the bear most likely suffered for days and died from the injury. One of the most viscerally shocking things I experienced was the stench in the first poultry slaughterhouse Hannah and I investigated.

Has your view of Judaism changed since the Rubashkin scandal of 2004 and the various rabbinic reactions to it? (Especially rabbinic reaction to using a meat hook to excise the trachea and esophagus of a fully conscious animal.)

PS: I used to buy into the image that kosher meat was cleaner and more humanely produced because of the multiple levels of supervision and added scrutiny. However, the kosher meat industry is complicit in all the abuses of the conventional factory-farming and slaughter industries, and we have documented how some of the worst violations—the most inhumane practices—in recent industry history have been perpetrated in the kosher meat industry as standard operating procedure. In many ways, the additional oversight has served only as a buffer, concealing some of the most abusive practices.

HS: It's been very disappointing that the first reaction by the Jewish community to our kosher investigations has been to circle the wagons and scream, "Anti-Semitism!" It is heartening that the Conservative movement has started to take a stand against the cruel practices that we've uncovered, and I have great hopes for Hekhsher Tzedek.

Why do you think Jewish organizations and denominations are for the most part silent on issues of animal welfare? To me, it's as if Jewish soul food – chicken soup, chopped liver, brisket, etc. – has replaced Jewish values. You'd think any rabbi seeing PETA's Agriprocessors footage would say, "Not in my shul." But it rarely happens that way. Why do you think this rabbinic reaction happens so infrequently? What's missing from the equation?

HS: I think there is still shock and disbelief in the Jewish community that the kosher industry could be responsible for such cruelty. There is also confusion about how there could be such a disconnect between Jewish principles about treatment of animals and the reality as it is practiced in the kosher meat industry. But remember, it has been less than four years since the first AgriProcessors investigation was conducted, and there has been a tremendous amount of awareness and action generated since that time.

Also, I think some rabbis are reluctant to be too "preachy" when it comes to telling people what to consume and how to live—in many cases, it's a struggle just to get people in the door. However, I do think the rabbi's role should include guiding people toward deeper consideration of social justice issues, including animal welfare.

PS: Even some who may publicly defend the technical kosher status of the meat produced by AgriProcessors or defend the kosher status of the meat produced through the "shackle and hoist" method in South America may in more private situations condemn these immoral practices. For example, Menachem Genack of the OU—in a lecture at the "Ask OU" conference in August 2006—admitted that PETA was correct that animals were demonstrating prolonged consciousness at AgriProcressors:

"The initial claim from our community was that [the animals] were not conscious, but that's probably not true because that type of complex motor activity means that there is a certain level of consciousness." (Rabbi Genack in a lecture at the AskOU8 conference titled "The PETA Controversy," August 2006)

Rabbi Genack, in that lecture, also said explicitly that AgriProcessors never should have been doing trachea dismemberment on conscious animals:

"It's a procedure that shouldn't have been done, frankly; when the OU found out about it they stopped it right away."

And even before our South American investigation footage was released, Rabbi Genack stated that "shackle and hoist" was "extremely stressful and probably painful" (Rabbi Genack in a lecture at the AskOU8 conference titled "The PETA Controversy," August 2006). Why then can't the OU just suspend its hechsher from these companies in light of these horrible abuses? There is still a paranoid mentality that we should never speak out publicly against our own community. Damage control is the priority. Discrediting the messenger seems to be the tactic of choice. Fortunately, initiatives like Hekhsher Tzedek recognize that the only way to preserve the long-term credibility of the industry is to confront, admit, and resolve the most egregious issues in order to avoid the embarrassment of the magnitude that just occurred with AgriProcessors.

Philip's Favorite Vegan: jewcy friend, isa chandra moskowitzA bad but still necessary existential question: In front of you is a lake. In it, equidistant from you and from each other are a man and a dog. Both are drowning. The man is a total stranger. The dog belongs to your neighbor and is a kind, loving creature you really like. You're alone. You can only save one. You must act now. Which one do you save?

PS: This is not a useful exercise. In all real-life cases, doing something to reduce the suffering of animals is not at the expense of some human interest. For example, banning the cutting out of ear tags on conscious animals (this cruel procedure was done at the Rubashkins' Local Pride slaughterhouse in Nebraska) would not result in the ear mutilations of humans. Except in some fantasy/hypothetical situation, it is never the choice of one at the expense of the other. In real life, it is often the opposite. It is no coincidence that the Rubashkins, whose slaughterhouses are so abusive to animals, also extended this lack of compassion to exploit humans.

Carry the thought to medical research. Obviously, some medical research can be done using computer models and the like. But some cannot be done that way. The only way to do the research is to test on animals. In one hypothetical case, a particular drug that reverses Alzheimer's Disease needs to be tested before going into human trials. The only way to test this new drug is on animals – there really is no other way. If animal testing is not done, the drug will not be used to help humans, to alleviate human suffering and to save human lives. But if animal testing is done, the animals will suffer. Researchers will do everything possible to curtail that suffering. Still animals will suffer. What should be done?

HS: Experimenting on animals is not an effective way of advancing human health. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported in 2004 that 92 percent of drugs tested that were found to be safe and effective in animals were unsafe or ineffective in humans. Drug trials on animals are not predictive of efficacy in humans. Reactions to drugs vary enormously from species to species. Penicillin kills guinea pigs despite being inactive in rabbits; aspirin kills cats and causes birth defects in rats, mice, guinea pigs, dogs, and monkeys; and morphine, a depressant in humans, stimulates goats, cats, and horses. Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, remarked, "How fortunate we didn't have these animal tests in the 1940s, for penicillin would probably have never been granted a license, and probably the whole field of antibiotics might never have been realized."

If you could tell every Jew only one thing about why you spend your lives working to reduce animal suffering, what would it be?

PS & HS: Unthinkable things are happening to animals all over the world, right now, because people are paying for them to happen. Our work helps open a window so that people can view these uncomfortable scenes and hopefully reconsider the necessity of their turkey bacon or fur-trimmed coat.

Besides each other, who is your favorite Jewish vegan? Why?

HS: Alicia Silverstone. She walks the walk and has been a super-strong advocate for animals.

PS: Vegan chef and cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I tend to improvise in the kitchen, but we love her books Vegan With a Vengeance and Veganomicon.

Animal Testing: glatt kosher, or glatt retarded?Again, aside from each other, who is your hero? Why?

HS: I learned long ago not to idolize people. I aspire to embody characteristics of people I admire, like PETA vice president Bruce Friedrich's generosity, cruelty caseworker Peter Wood's persistence, casework manager Martin Mersereau's unflagging dedication, and PETA president Ingrid Newkirk's integrity.

PS: I actually am a nervous public speaker and would much rather be working undercover than in front of cameras, so I absolutely admire people such as PETA Vice President Lisa Lange who welcome the toughest media interviews and are so cool under fire.

Hannah – what did you do for the Yankees? Philip – be absolutely honest. If you could work for the Yankees or the Blue Jays, be at the park every day – every boy's dream – would you do it? Would you take an extended leave from PETA and play ball? Hannah, would you go with him?

HS: I was an editorial assistant for Yankees Magazine, which produced the monthly magazine and game-day programs. In addition to more mundane chores, I was able to write content for the magazine and got to interview players, coaches, and visiting celebrities. Unfortunately, I left for another job right after I was granted a clubhouse (locker room) pass. Of course, I also heard plenty of predictable George Costanza (Seinfeld) references from friends.

PS: I was at the Blue Jays' first loss ever and celebrated on the street when they finally won their first World Series, so it will always be in my blood. But I don't romanticize it anymore. Every industry has its sordid underbelly, and after hearing Hannah's stories about interning/working with World Cup '94, Major League Soccer, the Yankees, the NHL, and ESPN Magazine, I wouldn't even dream about leaving a fulfilling career helping animals to work in sports.

Sadly, the same type of steroids that scoundrels like Roger Clemens inject are rampantly being given to horses to make them run beyond their physical limits. So stopping this cruel behavior in an industry where the participants have no choice is obviously much more important.

In our recent Q&A with Alicia Silverstone, she offered a few of her favorite recipes. This week's Tuesday Taste Test leaves the hard work up to you. Alicia promises that you'll love this sweetly humane snack. You tell us--how do her Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats measure up?

Alicia Silverstone doesn't require much introducing. If you don't recognize that pouting punim, you've likely been living under a rock since, oh, about 1993. Fourteen years ago she rocked our worlds with debut appearances in a few highly memorable Aerosmith videos, and later she won our hearts with roles in films like Clueless and Blast from the Past. With her talents for both serious acting and comedy, Alicia has continued to perform and produce, but there's much more to her than what you see on screen. A vegan and outspoken activist for animal rights, she's been known to lend her name (and hot bod) to PETA campaigns, recently appearing in a controversial PSA directed by acclaimed director Dave Meyers. We asked her to tell us about her Jewish upbringing, path to veganism, and favorite recipes. Here's what she had to say.

I've read that you went from a meat and potatoes diet to a vegan diet overnight. What were the biggest stumbling blocks that you faced in making such an abrupt change? What were the hardest foods and items to give up, and how did you deal with those challenges?
It kind of happened overnight. I had tried to go vegetarian before. Once, when I was 8, again at 11. I would try without any guidance or inspiration. My brother would make animal noises of the animal I was eating and I thought, "I have to go vegetarian!" But I was so young and it didn't stick then.

It wasn't until I was 21 that I really started to understand the puzzle of the whole thing. I realized that if I wanted animal cruelty to end, it would have to start here. I never went back after that. Before then, I was on a meat and donuts diet!

Other than the first couple of weeks, I don't think there really were many stumbling blocks. It was just learning to adjust. For instance, buying potato chips. Most of them are vegan, but you have to read everything to know for sure. It was learning what ingredients actually count as vegan....having to think "does this have dairy in it, or gelatin from cow bones" that was most difficult. I found the experience to be really exciting. I was so passionate about what I was doing. It was a fun adventure for me.

The hardest food to give up was definitely Brie cheese. It's funny because it doesn't appeal to me at all now. It was also hard to realize you can't just go into any shoe store and buy any kind of shoe you like….that is until Stella McCartney started making the most sexy, awesome vegetarian shoes. It's much easier now!

I may see something that I want and I immediately get such a visual of the animal and the production involved. For instance, because I knew how cheese was made and the suffering involved in the process, it became instinct to no longer want it. Yes, sometimes I really want to eat some cheese, and sometimes my desire overtakes me and I have a bite. It makes me feel guilty and sad because it truly wasn't worth it. It tasted great for a second but then it makes you gain weight and break out and fart the next day. It makes me feel icky and phlegmy in my throat. Most of the time I am able to say no because of the visual I get of the animal suffering, but sometimes I am weak.

Ultimately I believe the more effort you put forth to be a vegan, the better, but if you don't try at all, that is what sucks. It's not all or nothing. You do the best you can, make as many awesome veggie choices as possible. If you slip, don't fall off, just get back on. No one is perfect all the time, but hey....let's try to be!

I came to the conclusion that for most everything in the meat world, there is an alternative that is just as yummy. It is not a sacrifice for me. I think vegan cookies and desserts are just as good, if not better than regular desserts. I could go to a bakery, or just drive down the street to a vegan bakery! I don't feel like I am ever missing out on anything. I know it's not all the same…for instance, vegan cheese is not as good as regular cheese, but the nachos at Real Food Daily with the cashew cheese are so insane: It is even better than Brie, or at least on the same level! The same goes for rice krispie treats, you can make amazing brown rice krispie treats. Both are equally tasty. One option causes suffering and torture and hurts your body, and the other doesn't. That's just how it works.

She'd rather go naked: Silverstone's PETA adWhat kind of an effect has your veganism had on your family? Has anyone close to you followed in your footsteps?
Yes, it's really awesome. It is the most amazing thing for me when people go vegan or make an attempt to go vegan. Most of my family is vegetarian. I have a lot of meat-eating friends, and a lot of vegan friends, and some that are trying to make changes. I love to see people get excited and inspired. There is nothing more thrilling than when people stop eating meat and suddenly feel so much better. It makes my whole year and it happens all the time! I am very grateful for that.

I often find that omnivores are defensive when faced with my veganism, asking questions to bait me in argument, and just generally writing me off as a crazy hippie. You've taken a very vocal stance, discussing your lifestyle in the press and appearing in PETA campaigns. Why do you think so many non-veg*ans are up-at-arms about veg*anism, and how do you deal with that personally and publicly?
The best way I have found to deal with situations like these is to be as informed as possible. I try to have all the information I can so I can answer any question calmly and happily. This way, they can't frame you as a crazy hippie. I do have a lot of hippie in me, but also some rock 'n' roll and also some lady. We are all mixes of all sorts of things. I like that. By focusing on being the best example of health, eating your greens and seaweeds, beans and whole grains (on a side note, macrobiotics is very helpful for becoming superwoman or man) you can lure people in with your radiant gorgeous self.

I try to focus on myself and be the healthiest and happiest possible. People come to me wondering how they can be as happy or not as constipated or have better skin, the list goes on...by being my healthiest, I am promoting my lifestyle and this makes people more interested in the subject. The truth is hard for people to look at sometimes. If we treat those people who are asking baiting questions with grace and intelligence, they may think twice later on and maybe they'll even try some vegan cookies!

PETA often takes their message to the extreme, staging protests and using tactics that can alienate people, rather than gently bringing them into the fold. How and why did you choose to align yourself with them?
I work with PETA on campaigns where I feel I can be instrumental in creating change. I think that no matter what they do, they are trying to end the suffering of animals. I am not familiar with any specific PETA campaign that was inappropriate. I imagine that whatever they do is for the purpose of drawing attention to the issue. Unfortunately, the press isn't interested in just the facts. PETA needs a little something to get their attention.

I know that you were raised in a Jewish household. What Jewish traditions have you held onto as an adult? How do you celebrate and maintain your Jewish identity? Vegan challah? Latkes made with egg replacer? What does being Jewish mean to you?
I remember going to Temple as a little girl and singing prayers. I love the sense of community that comes from singing prayers together. It's a really neat thing. I get the same feeling when I chant in yoga. A lot of my spirituality has transferred into yoga and vegetarianism. Trying to make the world a better place every day is also part of my spiritual living. I do not regularly attend a specific temple but I do dabble in them. I'm searching and seeing what it might add to my life. I don't feel that I need to have a regular Temple right now, but I am very open and interested and continue to investigate. I am looking for what this experience will add to my life. I do not want it to be something I feel I have to do or should do. I get spiritual fulfillment from yoga, meditation, and writing in my journal. When I do those things, I feel closest to the Earth and to God.

I love that I am Jewish. I loved growing up in a Jewish community. I thought it was really neat, but it doesn't define me. My heart and spirit define me. My dedication to non-violence and being the best person I can be in this world define me. Judaism talks about all this, but I don't look to Judaism to find those things. I find them in myself, in spiritual teachers and yoga and vegetarianism. It is not the most important thing in my life, but I am very proud to be Jewish and am interested in seeing what else it might have to offer me in my adulthood.

Do you cook? What are your favorite cookbooks? Favorite cuisines and dishes?
Yes, I do cook, but not nearly as much as I would like! My favorite cookbooks are the Real Food Daily Cookbook and the Candle Café Cookbook.

I love making Rice Krispie treats. I have an amazing vegan Peanut Butter Rice Krispie treat recipe. I also love this vegan Tostada recipe with tofu cream, and a cabbage and leek recipe.

Are there any tools, ingredients, or recipes that are essential staples in your kitchen?
A good quality miso, from a natural foods store is absolute essential. I have miso soup almost every day for breakfast. It is a natural antibiotic and it is loaded with vitamins and minerals.

Umeboshi plums and Umeboshi plum vinegar are other must haves. The plums are excellent if you've had anything acidic, or anything that has made you feel a little funny. They are like a magic tool, incredibly healing. You can make an Ume Sho Bancha tea with them. Make a hot cup of Kukicha tea. Put a quarter of an Umeboshi plum in it and a few drops of Shoyu and let it simmer together. This is a great healthy drink. Also the Umeboshi vinegar is delicious, I use it all the time in recipes.

I also like to have a good quality Shoyu sauce, Earth Balance Butter, and Vegenaise instead of mayonnaise for sure. Other tasty items that are also great transitional items are the tempeh bacon strips…and all the great "ice cream" options. I think some of the best ones are the vanilla bars dipped in chocolate with nuts that Rice Dream makes and the Soy Delicious ice creams. They have so many flavors!

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