Firefighters Gone Vegan? Even Austin Is Impressed

New York Times

How often do you get to see news stories as positive in their portrayal of veganism as this one? It doesn't even cancel it all out at the end with some wanna-be-clever editorial comment from the writer, who in this case wraps it so:

Even the firehouse carnivores benefit from the vegan cookery, routinely scavenging leftovers. As Edward Roel, a driver on the B shift, admitted, "They taste good."

The firefighters of Team C have been written about before, but this story is pretty fresh and (unfortunately, I suppose) always timely. PETA gave them an award for "Animal-Friendly Firehouse of the Year." That's one of the reasons I like to write about them, too. But, of course, the main reason the five men of Team C went vegan was for their health. As I told someone in an outreach-style conversation today, nothing beats a vegan diet for lowering cholesterol and overall health. Usually not even drugs:

"Seventy percent of our calls are medical," [Rip Esselstyn] said. "Every day we see the ravages of people eating to their heart's content." If not for Specialist Rae's cholesterol, he said, "there would have been someone else, someone prediabetic or obese who would have prompted us."

You can also visit Team C's home page at www.engine2.org for bios, recipes, and more.

Categories: vegan | firefighters | health | cholesterol