The Political Palate by the Bloodroot Collective

A recent addition to my animal rights archive was made by lauren Ornelas. She kindly gave me a copy of The Second Seasonal Political Palate: A Feminist Vegetarian Cookbook by the Bloodroot Collective. What is particularly important about this book is that it belonged to Marti Kheel who died in 2011. lauren is like me (and many others) in that we are both big fans of Marti and her innovative work establishing ecofeminism.

Marti Kheel was a prominent writer and activist in the areas of ecofeminism, animal advocacy, and environmental ethics.

Marti wrote Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective, in which she describes ecofeminism as a “loosely knit philosophical and practical orientation linking the concerns of women to the larger natural world. More specifically, ecofeminism examines and critiques the historical and mutually reinforcing devaluation of women and nature with a view to transforming existing forms of exploitation” (8).

Marti’s cookbook is a wonderful artefact in that it is was clearly one of her favourite cookbooks. The cover is stained and the pages are warped. It also has a lovely bookplate.

I’m also a big fan of lauren whose work with the Food Empowerment Project is unique and special. FEP’s mission is to create a more just and sustainable world by recognizing the power of one’s food choices. I appreciate how FEP situates veganism as integral to making

healthy food choices that reflect a more compassionate society by spotlighting the abuse of animals on farms, the depletion of natural resources, unfair working conditions for produce workers, and the unavailability of healthy foods in low-income areas.

Marti’s bookplate

Founded in the mid-1970s, the Bloodroot Collective manages the Bloodroot vegan/vegetarian restaurant in Bridgeport, CT. During my first trip to the USA in 1980, I stayed with author Jim Mason who at that time was living nearby in Westport. I recall him taking me to Bloodroot during that trip. It is pleasing to see that Bloodroot is still going strong!

To learn more about the books in my archive, please visit my page on LibraryThing. This is a searchable database of more than 2,000 books mostly about animal rights and related matters.