Talofa, Sister Rasela in the belly chair this morning on a beautiful grey day – beautiful because no matter what the weather is doing out there, here in the BayFM studios we are constantly striving to bring a sparkle to your day – every day on this, your diverse and divinely delicious community radio station.

It’s like a family up here with everyone sharing the most important room in the house, coming and going all day every day in and out of the studios. Is there a secret recipe for this flow on fluidity and heartfelt happiness you may well wonder ?? Well if there is i think I’ve found it …

A Happy Home Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups of LOVE

2 cups of loyalty

2 cups of forgiveness

1 cup of friendship

5 spoons of hope

2 spoons of tenderness

3 litres of faith

1 barrel of laughter

Now all you have to do is:

– Take LOVE and LOYALTY, mix thoroughly with FAITH

– Blend it with TENDERNESS, KINDNESS and UNDERSTANDING

– Add FRIENDSHIP and HOPE

– Sprinkle abundantly with LAUGHTER

– Bake it with SUNSHINE

– Serve daily with generous helpings and always offer seconds !!!

You will notice that the above recipe is totally vegan. I thought it was about time i slipped in a little bit of belly veganism on the show. I am not insisting that you all become vegans, i just feel the need to speak for the creatures that can’t. To be the voice of the little piggies, the baby calf separated from it’s mother at birth, the terrified cow standing next in the cue at the abattoir, our oceanic creatures, fellow living beings  … and Mother Earth.

Look away NOW if you don’t wish to read some facts and figures relating to the brutal murder of other living beings for our own – dare i say – “pleasure” …

THREE GREAT REASONS TO BECOME VEGAN

1) Animals will be saved – Turning animals into food generally causes horrific suffering and billions of creatures are slaughtered each year. By being vegan you can ‘vote with your dollar’ and know that you are not responsible for anyone else’s slavery, torment and death.

2) You could end up healthier –  If you decide to cut out animal fat you could also greatly reduce your risk of many major illnesses which may include heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, and high cholesterol. You may discover a more positive lifestyle and frame of mind and experience more energy, enthusiasm and good health.

3) The EARTH will be cleaner – The production and waste from processing billions of animals into food and dairy each year is a very real cause of global pollution amongst other things. By making the choice to be a vegan, you will also be contributing to a much cleaner, kinder and more gentle world.

Over the years we have tackled AGEISM/HOMOPHOBIA/SEXISM/RACISM … but what about SPECIESISM ??

Animals are not ours to do whatever we want with. No living creature on this planet should have the right to decide whether another lives or dies for their own personal use and satisfaction. Every living creature and species is an individual sentient being. Whatever colour your skin may be, whether male or female, whether we have fur, scales, feathers or skin, we ALL feel pain and pleasure.

All life is interconnected and it is unfair for one species to enslave another for their own selfish purposes. It has a huge detrimental effect on the biodiversity and balance of nature.A healthy and sustainable world respects the lives of ALL that live here. As long as we continue to treat animals as though they belong to us and choose kill them at leisure, we are still living in the dark ages !!

50 billion animals or more are killed each year and this doesn’t even include the water animals. Here we are, us humans, intelligent enough to fly to the moon, build computers and skyscrapers, read, write, paint, cure diseases and compose masterpieces, yet in our bloodthirsty-ness we are also the only species on the planet to design and build massive killing stations and slaughter houses where we routinely murder billions upon billions of animals. These terrified individuals are forced to wait in queues watching and waiting for their turn to come.

Cows for example are intelligent creatures who form lifelong bonds with each other. Thanks to us their lives are usually miserable as they are routinely desexed, de-horned and hot ironed without any pain relief. They are also forced into a relentless cycle of pregnancy, birthing and milk production which often leaves them with chronic mastitis (causing blood and mucus to seep from their udders and combine into the milk), lameness, severe liver damage and very painful digestive disorders.

Cows and their calves are separated at birth. Mums break down fences and walk miles to be reunited with their babies.Both bellow and cry for days to be reunited ….

…. DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS TREATMENT ??

I could go on … and on … and on … but i think this is enough to bring a glimmer of awareness or if you so desire, denial. It is YOUR CHOICE to live the way you choose but PLEASE spare a thought for those creatures that have NO CHOICE, NO VOICE. They cannot speak for themselves and tell us their stories of sorrow and depression, of friends and families murdered and slaughtered. If they could, I’m sure we would be morbidly horrified.  

A note from Mother EARTH

In Australia, methane emissions from livestock (breathing, burping and flatulence) are greater than the carbon dioxide emmisions from all of our coal-fired power stations combined. Carbon dioxide takes hundreds of years to break down and disappear from the atmosphere, whereas methane is a short lived gas and breaks down in the atmosphere after 8-10 years. Reducing methane is the key to rapidly cool the planet. CSIRO Perfidy (Russell 2009)

A vegan driving a hummer contributes less to greenhouse gas than a meat eater riding a bicycle !!!

An organic vegan diet produces 94% less greenhouse gas emissions than the average meat and dairy diet. Foodwatch Report (Germany 2009)  

I leave it in your minds and hands to do what you think is best for yourself, our fellow living creatures and MOTHER EARTH.

Many thanks to ‘Alive’ and veganeasy.org for the information gathered and shared. Please visit the website and discover further the vast world of veganism. 

Moving and Grooving right along …

My lovely guest in the studio was Camilla Chamberlen who is self  diagnosed as being MAD … about FOOD. Just what the doctor ordered here on belly !!

Here’s a serving of words she very kindly provided me with for your perusal although you really should have heard her sweet dulcet tones across the airwaves on the day. Hmmm perhaps i can learn to download interviews as sister Tess has been doing and bring it to you alive and kicking. I’ll see what i can do but i’m sure you can make do with this for now.

Camilla Chamberlen

0450 732336

cjchamberlen@gmail.com

I was a very willing guest on the Belly Sisters show this morning, 17th October 2011, and have been invited to post a bio on the website. This is my colloquial version of my story so far, and of my plan for what next.

I realise how lucky I am to have lived and worked in some of the most beautiful parts of the world, the mountains of France, Ireland – both North and South – Canada, Greece, the West Country of England and more recently, New Zealand and Byron Bay, Australia. I have been able to indulge my passions for nature, photography, writing, music and food – following my trail with all these very much a part of my life.

I have been nomadic for the past seven years – finding my natural curiosity for new experience and my interest in food combining naturally to present me with varied and sometimes challenging opportunities to put bread on my table. I have worked with and met some fascinating, wholesome, forward thinking characters who have housed me, employed me and inspired me along the way.

I have contributed to food/travel guidebooks both in Ireland and New Zealand, nationwide and local, reviewing restaurants, secret dining and compiling regional, seasonal articles to direct the discerning visitor. I have learned about the issues that affect the communities I have temporarily been part of, have tapped into the passions of small producers of beautiful products – edible, wearable and collectable -, contributed to the success of homegrown businesses and thankfully survived and been humbled by the Christchurch earthquake earlier this year.

I have made new friends, walked many paths and discovered much. I have experimented with holistic treatments, learned about eastern philosophy and medicine, learned the word for ʻbeautifulʼ in many languages and tried my hand at a ridiculous array of whatever may be on offer in each locality that I have found myself living in. Bikram hot yoga and long distance kayaking being my least wise choices – and acupuncture and Les Mills Body Balance classes being two of my best.

Having Time has been a blessing. To make ends meet, alongside writing for websites or books and the occasional photography commission, I have cooked for families, private clients and friends. Covering all aspects of catering support – from quiet suppers at home to full blown parties – to stocking the fridge or freezer or making a special occasion feel effortless for the hosts, thereby allowing them to enjoy the party.

All these experiences have one thing in common – they feel like an exchange – they are of great value to me and to those that request them – giving me the opportunity to give what I can and my friends and clients the time they need with guests or family plus the peace of mind and trust that all will be well on the day/night.

Having Time has also been a curse. The slow burn of living a life without a home base, unforeseen and for so many years, has at times been both wonderfully inspiring and equally quite debilitating. The choices I have made are ones I stand by and would not exchange and in the difficult times I have learned much.

One of the most valuable perhaps is that I have come to understand the complexities of too much attention on food becoming a fixation, and from there a disorder. It is debilitating beyond comprehension for those that have not physically experienced the grip of the mental illness that is complicated and fuelled by the body chemistry involved in the extraordinary survival instinct that the human body naturally produces in order to save itself. Helping people in this situation is difficult to get right – the catalyst for change is always within them – and the sensitive nature of a personʼs appearance and suffering is one that often makes friends and family uncomfortable and therefore less forthcoming with their own contribution to recovery. Hence the professionals that are highly skilled and necessary in many cases. I believe that simply knowing, subtle understanding similar to using animals as healers, is a hand to hold when words are too much to take in. The solution has to be the focus, not the problem, and one of my intentions for the future is to help people who may be ready to come back to us from this dark and difficult place.

Otherwise, I am ready to make a base somewhere and set up a viable home business based on the joys and appreciation that life is about pooling resources, inspiring eachother and making everyday existence more fun.

My varied experience with food and catering steers me naturally to continue to make my living from it. We all have to eat – everyday – so one idea of mine is to start a series of short cooking courses – inviting small groups to come and learn simple, nutritious recipes to help make their everyday cooking more enjoyable. These could be themed by country, by season or at the request of those participating – and all the ingredients would be locally sourced, thereby supporting and connecting with the suppliers and producers that we all want to keep.

As I have already mentioned, helping recovering eating disorder sufferers relax into a healthier food regime, compiling recipes that gradually increase in calories whilst supporting a system that has been under pressure due to lack of nourishment is another way I would like to contribute.

I also want to continue to write promotional material, edit websites or compose copy for those that find self promotion so difficult – and to capture evocative images and compile a series of postcard collections or possibly even books one day. So much to do!

I would love to connect with people of like mind and similar interests and I hope that BayFM listeners enjoyed my story – and perhaps the show and this bio will be a catalyst for the next chapter of it.

THANKS CAMILLA … YOU ROCK !!

SISTER RASELA xoxoxo