Food is Activism: Aunt Candy Dazzles Thanksgiving 2011 with Vegan Dessert

I am thankful for my aunt.

She was fifteen when I was born and has pretty much been my pal from day one of my life.  She still has letters I sent her when I was in high school and college.  She would send me fun care packages. When my mother and I drove to Chicago to move me into my first apartment after graduate school Aunt Candy met us and the two of them decorated my place (I had no clue where to begin).

In my thirties, we started a new tradition. Each year we would meet “half-way” for a girl’s weekend. Our meeting point was South Bend, Indiana.  A few years later I announced that Dave and I were moving to New York.  Her first question?  “Where will we meet?”  I pulled out a map of the U.S., did some mileage calculation and discovered that Clarion, Pennsylvania was just about half-way between her town in Indiana and mine in New York. We’ve been meeting in Clarion for nearly 11 years.

Things changed during those trips to Clarion. One year I announced I was no longer eating red meat, then no poultry, then no fish, eventually vegetarian and, a few years ago, I was vegan. During that time Aunt Candy began to change the way she ate, too. We’ve enjoyed vegan eats at Double Wide Grill and Abay in Pittsburgh and The Wayside Inn in Lucinda, PA.

Several years ago, on one of our weekend visits in Clarion she proclaimed that she was vegetarian. It became so clear to her. She has two cats, two dogs and a bird –when a  gecko gets in her Florida house she rushes to get it out so the cats won’t get it; when she found baby mice in a drawer in her house in Indiana, she just gave them food and was sad when they grew up and left the drawer and her house.  My point is that she is intensely protective of animals and she began to see that there was no difference between the cat curled up on her lap and the cow out on the field. She didn’t want to hurt, or eat, either.

She’s not vegan yet, but she’s really open.  We recently had a conversation about eggs and dairy.  I talked to her about what I have learned about dairy-farming and the egg industry.  She didn’t get defensive; she was curious.  Three hours later Aunt Candy sent me a message on Facebook:

I have had an egg white sandwich on a bagel for breakfast every day for a year and a half with a yogurt. Today at the grocery store I am getting oatmeal and a soy or almond milk of my choice….. baby steps, baby steps.

Love her.

Today Aunt Candy went to my Mom and Dad’s house in Florida for Thanksgiving Dinner after she, at the age of 61, participated in her first 5k!  She was the only vegetarian at dinner. Dad promised to make her a portion of dressing made in vegetable stock (yay, Dad!).  All week she tested some of her favorite recipes, attempting to make them vegan.

There may have been a fail

before she found a recipe that she loved.

Aunt Candy’s Vegan Magic Cookie Bars
Makes 12 bars

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs  (make sure there is no honey)
• 1/3 cup Earth Balance coconut spread
• 1 and 1/4 cup cream of coconut
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• All natural dark chocolate chips
• Sweetened flaked coconut
• Chopped walnuts

1. Mix crumbs and coconut spread and pat into 9×13 pan
2. Mix cream of coconut and peanut butter together and spread over crust
3. Sprinkle chocolate chips
4. Sprinkle coconut
5. Sprinkle nuts
6. Pat everything down
7. Bake at 350F until golden (about 15 minutes)
8. Cool and refrigerate until it sets up
9. Cut into bars

She didn’t tell anyone at dinner that the bars were vegan…until after they ate them.  They loved them.  Food is Activism!

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