Jane Goodall, Food and Hope

 L.A.B. Rats -

We've made it 12 more months huh?

 The Last American Baker has a new Mantra for this year....

DAMAGED BUT OPTIMISTIC

As we embark on a new year of love, service and culinary trends, let's try to do so with a heart that doesn't recoil from hope.

Let's become bullet proof.

Other than the Polish Christ, I can't think of anyone greater to get you where you might like to be than the monkey chick herself....................

 One-on-One with Jane Goodall

BY Michael Kaminer
Nearly 50 years after she first joined legendary anthropologist Louis Leakey to study chimps in Africa, Jane Goodall, PhD, remains a force of nature herself. As leader of the international Jane Goodall Institute (janegoodall.org)—which she founded in 1977 to protect primates and their habitats—she travels the world teaching about the interconnectedness of all life and how we can help overcome ecological crises. Her 17th book, Hope for Animals and Their World, offers a renewed optimism about animals, humans, and our future together. VT caught up with Goodall, 75, a longtime vegetarian, at her family home in Bournemouth, England.

Q: You write about “symbols of hope” you’ve collected— a leaf, a feather, tree bark. What symbols can we find in our own backyards?

A: A symbol of hope could be a little plant coming up through concrete. You can treasure a child who’s survived cancer. There are all kinds of symbols.

Q: What changes can we make in our own lives to perpetuate the arc of hope you write about?

A: The most important thing is changing the meat diet. And eat organic as much as possible. Buy locally grown foods. Boosting small farmers and family farms is incredibly important.

Q: During your travels, you must have sampled some exotic vegetarian dishes. Can you recall your favorite?

A: There is one I loved best. I was literally in the middle of nowhere, in a forest in the northern Republic of Congo, visiting people studying chimps. We were out one evening in the forest with pygmy trackers. They picked these orange mushrooms, along with a large leaf from a low-lying plant—I have no idea of its name. They cooked them together; the leaves made a kind of broth. It was absolutely delicious, and the vibrant orange and green colors were so beautiful. And it was definitely vegetarian.

THE END

Alright friends, the Queen of the jungle is getting you out of the gate with hope.

After spending time with you cats for the last couple of years, I've learned a few things......

One is that you guys really are damaged......LOL, I shouldn't laugh, but let's face it....

How can we not be?

This year I will turning 50, so to think that I came off God's production line a 1/2 century ago, and don't have a fair share of dents, rust and maybe even a broken axle would be insane.

But damaged isn't so bad.

Damaged doesn't have to be the end.

Damaged might even lead to insight........

As long as we remain optimistic.

Jane Goodall spoke here about how we can heal, or move forward with food.

I hope each of us will take that challenge this year.

 Don't you love how Jane discusses "Symbols of Hope"?

And she isn't doing this with expensive art, tattoo's, materialism or flighty intellectual concepts.

Instead she is plucking God's creations from her own back yard.

L.A.B. Rats.....WAKE UP!!!!!!

Each and everyone of you.

Each and everyone of you.

Each and everyone of you..................

Has the power to have incredible impact on YOUR world.

All you need to do is serve your community...........

All you need to do is feed your friends.................

All you need to do is gather the dishes, embrace those that are important to you while they have a full stomach, make certain you tell them how much you love them.

Our lives and successes are as simple as that.

Remember, the people that will surround you this year.....each and everyone of them will be damaged.

Let's try to give them a reason to be optimistic.

Your contribution will make this planet a better place.

I love most of you...........................

The Last American Baker