Photo by Jannis Brandt via Uplash.

If you’re anything like me, you might find it easy to fall into a boring and redundant dietary routine. Personally, I love trying new foods, but I often only think to do so when dining out or traveling—neither of which I do frequently as a full-time student with a full-time job. It was only after I read a Healthline article describing the benefits of “eating the rainbow” that I truly realized how dull and colorless my diet had become. Since my realization, adding more diversity to my dietary selection has brought on a number of benefits I’m eager to share with you in this article!

A colorful diet comes with health benefits:

Did you know that diversity in vitamins and minerals is correlated with the color of your food? While eating fruits and vegetables is commonly understood as the ideal strategy to maximize vitamin intake, slimming down your color selection can deprive you of nutrients you might not be getting anywhere else. Here are a few key insights to keep in mind when selecting your produce, courtesy of Healthline:

Red produce is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, may help lower risk of heart disease and certain cancers and may help reduce sun-related skin damage. 

Yellow and orange produce is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, supports eye health and may help lower risk of heart disease and cancer. 

Green produce is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant; cruciferous veggies in particular may help lower risk of cancer and heart disease. 

Blue and purple produce is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, may help improve brain function and may help lower risk of heart disease, neurological disorders, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.

Dark red produce is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, may help support athletic performance through increased oxygen uptake, may help lower risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and certain cancers

White and brown produce is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and may help lower risk of heart disease, colon cancer and other cancers.

According to the National Library of Medicine, a diet containing a vast selection of colorful biolative pigments in fruits and vegetables is linked to positive health outcomes regarding body weight, lipid profile, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, mortality, type 2 diabetes and cancer. 

A colorful diet encourages you to try new foods:

After beginning to practice mindfulness in my diet’s color palette, I quickly noticed that I rarely eat blue or purple foods. As someone who prefers savory foods and saving money, solving this problem with an excess amount of blueberries and blackberries did not seem feasible. As an alternative, I’ve discovered that I really enjoy beet kraut as a sandwich topping along with my usual sauerkraut!

Likewise, yellow and orange foods rarely make their way onto my dinner plate, which encouraged me to recently try yams for the first time. My family wasn’t very fond of sweet vegetables, so foods like sweet potatoes and pumpkins were a rarity. Now, I have been making yam and tofu bowls as part of my regular meal prep—which has become one of my favorite things to eat.

From regional, in-season produce to exotic fruits you didn’t know existed, there are very few limits in selection thanks to the wonders of modern agriculture. You might as well take advantage! What foods do you think you might be missing out on?

A colorful diet promotes well-being:

While subjective, it has been my experience that visually appealing meals make my life feel less bland and more vibrant. The enchantment of a colorful selection of food brings positivity into my life at every step of the process, whether at the grocery store surrounded by a vivid selection or at home preparing my plate with a sense of elation. Pair this appreciation for edible radiance with the sense of adventure and tangible health benefits as mentioned earlier and the result is a profound sense of holistic well-being.

Final thoughts:

Each time I prepare a meal, I now challenge myself to incorporate every color of the rainbow. Doing so has helped me find a new sense of both creativity and balance within my diet. If you find yourself lacking proper nutrients, void of fresh inspiration, or simply feeling bored and underwhelmed with your diet or surroundings, perhaps introducing some color into your diet is the change in pace you didn’t know you were looking for! 

Veganism is the belief that animals should not be killed, harmed or exploited for human gain, and the decision to reflect that belief in your actions to whatever degree is “possible and practicable.” Veganism differs from vegetarianism or a plant-based diet in that this is not a diet or a set of restrictions, but rather a worldview that applies to all areas of life. I am of the belief that everyone should take this approach and adopt a vegan lifestyle for the betterment of ourselves and society. 

In the seven years I’ve spent advocating for the rights of animals, I have heard many people argue that not everyone can be vegan. Some go as far as to claim that veganism is classist, ableist and exclusionary. I do not believe this to be the case and here is why.

Like many, I believe that it is wrong for someone to kill another human being. Because of this ethical conviction, I live my life accordingly and refrain from killing other people. This does not mean there are no exceptions. If someone were to attack me, forcing me to choose between preserving my life or terminating theirs, I would not hesitate to protect myself. Because I would be acting in self-defense, I would not be considered a murderer by the standards of any reasonable person or in the eyes of the law. This is a concept that is widely recognized and understood.

If you believe it is wrong to exploit animals for their resources, you might decide to practice veganism. When practicing veganism, the principle I described before still applies. It’s not murder to kill tapeworms, bedbugs or lice. It’s self-defense. Likewise, it is not murder for a person lacking money or shelter to eat a meal that someone gave them while panhandling, or to dumpster dive looking for the only food they might eat that day or even purchase something made with animal products if their only readily available source of food is a gas station with no plant-based options. That is merely self-preservation. 

My understanding of veganism is as follows: when you are presented with a given set of choices, you should choose whichever option harms animals the least. In this way, anyone can be vegan. The consequences of unfavorable circumstances do not strip you of what it means to be vegan.

Veganism is not a purity test. It is a moral philosophy that rejects the commodification of animals and acknowledges that it is unreasonable to maximize harm simply because your very existence warrants at least some level of it. When presented with the option to harm animals and the option not to harm animals, I do not harm animals. There is no acceptable reason not to live this way. To reject veganism is to believe that it is your right to determine whether or not sentient beings should live or die, based solely on palate pleasure, profit incentive and culture/tradition. I struggle to imagine a more entitled worldview.

Not all vegans are likable or reasonable people. Some embrace the “vegan” label without understanding the roots of the vegan movement and speak out of ignorance. Some embrace the “vegan” label without understanding issues of race, class and disability, and let their prejudice get in the way of engaging in meaningful activism. Some embrace the “vegan” label but are so politically incoherent and morally illiterate that informed and reasonable people will have no interest in indulging their ideas. These individuals do not represent vegans or veganism as a whole and should not be used as an excuse to perpetuate the suffering of the most vulnerable creatures on the planet. 

I hope that my understanding and explanation of veganism provides clarity, and persuades you to adopt a vegan philosophy and practice harm reduction in your daily life. To do so is a necessary step to be taken in addition to, not in place of, our efforts to dismantle systematic oppression in all of its forms. Animal rights are essential to any movement claiming to promote freedom, justice, equality and liberation. It is crucial that we empathize with both the exploitation of humans and non-human animals alike. We are not free until we are all free. All means all.

October 1st was World Vegetarian Day, a great day to celebrate a meatless lifestyle and its benefits. The vegetarian diet and lifestyle are widely held worldwide with 8% of the world population identifying as vegetarian.

Historically, people have adopted vegetarianism for religious and cultural reasons. But today, many are embracing the lifestyle for health, environmental and ethical reasons. A vegetable-rich diet holds nutritional value as it’s high in fiber, magnesium, unsaturated fat.

Further, such a diet is more environmentally conscious due to the amount of fossil fuels it takes to produce meat. Many vegetarians who cite ethical reasons for going vegetarian dislike the inhumane practices of the meat industry.

Overall, vegetarianism has become more mainstream, with many restaurants and businesses developing meatless options for consumers. Recently, Burger King announced plans to phase in plant-based chicken nuggets, a successor to their popular impossible burger.

Mason Spiderman Wittmaier, a sophomore, is a vegetarian who adopted the lifestyle at the beginning of 2021. He cited ethical reasons for vegetarianism as he believes the industrial farming of animals is unethical and will be frowned upon in the future.

“I don’t need to eat animals to live,” Wittmaier said. “When I eat meat that is produced unethically I’m choosing personal taste over the quality of lives of animals and supporting unethical production.”

Mason’s favorite go-to vegetarian food may surprise some people: Taco Bell. He says that Taco Bell has many vegetarian options and his favorite is the spicy potato soft taco. He also substitutes black beans for meat as an alternate source of protein. Eating out at restaurants is not too challenging, he explains further, and he selects restaurants that have good veggie-based dishes such as many Asian restaurants. Mason also enjoys making vegetarian alternatives to traditionally meat-based dishes, such as chicken sandwiches with fake chicken patties. 

The hardest part of vegetarianism for Mason is time, money and finding good protein sources. As a Jewell student, Mason says that more vegetarian and plant-based options in the Cafe would be appreciated since sometimes his only option is pasta or salad. For anyone who wants to go vegetarian, Mason suggests starting with reducing meat intake overall and gradually going meatless by exploring protein alternatives.

The restaurant industry has been hit especially hard throughout 2020. Many restaurants cannot re-open due to COVID-19 precautions, and many patrons do not go to those that are open in an effort to reduce risk in the community. Since the first lockdown in March, the food service industry has lost $165 billion in revenue and is likely to end the year having lost $240 billion. Additionally, customer spending in restaurants has been down 34 percent so far this year. 

Kansas City has experienced the effects of these losses as countless, especially local, restaurants continue to shut down because of the insurmountable disruptions COVID-19 imposed on the industry. This article is the third in a series exploring the effect of COVID-19 losses on individual restaurants in Kansas City. 

Pirate’s Bone Burgers

Pirate’s Bone Burgers took Kansas City by storm when they opened in September of 2019. As the first fully plant-based diner in a veritable cow town, opening the vegan burger restaurant was definitely a risk. However, Pirate’s Bone soon became a staple for many Kansas Citians — even being nominated in four different categories, including Best Burger, in The Pitch’s “Best of Kansas City” awards. 

Even still, keeping such a young business alive during COVID-19 has proved difficult and at some times, disheartening. Zaid Consuegra, the chef and co-owner at Pirate’s Bone Burgers spoke to The Hilltop Monitor about the journey he has taken to keep his restaurant and its mission – to bring more plants to more people– alive. 

“Honestly it’s been pretty hard. We have not… I don’t think that we’ve gotten a sense of direction on how to go about things well. So [restaurant owners are] all going blindly and making the rules as we see fit at each restaurant. We’ve gotten here because of luck to be honest… We’ve crossed our one year anniversary [on] Sept. 16, so it was very close for us to shut down completely. We’re here just making rules as we go. We’re trying to be safe and responsible that way we don’t just get shut down,” Consuegra said.  “We have changed our menu, we have changed the way we do things: so price points, actual items. We don’t have indoor seating right now, we only have outdoor seating.”

The changes in menu items, seating and opening hours are all efforts Consuegra has felt necessary to make in order to keep his business running while maintaining the health of himself and his employees. The pandemic, Consuegra said, changed their main product from $4 sliders to burgers that range in price from $9 to $14. Even though businesses are open and people have been returning to restaurants, Consuegra worries that Kansas City is still hurting. 

“[Before COVID-19] we had so many people coming in and out all day, seven days a week – now we’re only open three days a week, so it’s not that many. As much as people are in and out, the Crossroads has not been the same ever since the pandemic started. We do see people on Friday nights and Saturday nights, but it’s maybe a fourth of what it used to be,” Consuegra said.

Pirate’s Bone is currently only seating outside, as are many Kansas City restaurants. But with the winter cold fast approaching, small restaurants are facing even more complications with not having a place to seat customers inside while still adhering to COVID-19 restrictions. 

“We’re going to try to keep our doors closed [during the winter] but we might be pushed to open back up if it gets really bad [financially]. It’s going to be a scary time to be honest. I don’t want to think about it just yet but we are taking steps to kind of have an idea on how this is going to go,” Consuegra said. “It’s all going to depend on how bad the situation is going to get in the Midwest – we’re monitoring the situation, so that’s going to be pretty scary. Honestly I hate to say this but this is the first time that, even six months in, I’m still unsure on how to handle this in the best way possible.”

Keeping himself, his employees and his customers safe has changed the restaurant for the foreseeable future. Even though he took these measures for everyone’s safety during COVID-19, Consuegra believes there should have been better guidance from national and local officials alike. In closing earlier than necessary back in March, Consuegra had to pay over $10,000 in bills while the business was getting virtually no income. 

“It’s not just me, I have other people to think about and then myself. I honestly wish we had more intake from the government – down from the national government to our local government officials – on how this was going to go. I wish they would have started that early on, because I don’t think we would have closed if we had enough information. I think we would have kept open, but the way that we’re doing it now. That way we wouldn’t have lost so much money by closing down and reopening back up,” Consuegra said. “Also with the close, I lost more than half of my staff – and that’s why we only open on weekends – so I think we would have done it a lot differently if we had more information on this. And that’s taken a toll on me for sure, financially, physically and mentally, emotionally… If I cannot grow mentally with what’s happening and adapt to it then there would be no Pirate’s Bone Burgers.”

Part of that overall strain has been trying to keep the business exciting even while burnout is high among restaurateurs. 

“I’m doing it all. Trying to come up with new items, which is already hard enough. I don’t think people realize what it takes to come up with new food… We need to make something that’s good for 100, 200, 300 people and make it the same way every time and that’s the hard part,” said Consuegra. “Because before it was just so much different. You had a lot more chances to just test out things and to mess up things because you knew that there were 100 people coming the next day and you could test something out – and if it wasn’t great it just wasn’t great. Now we have to make sure it’s a burger that everyone is going to like. We can’t have negative reviews right now. There’s already a negative review over the whole world, so we can’t have a negative review over the restaurant.”

Pirate’s Bone now does a weekly or monthly special burger, so there is reliably something new to try upon every visit. They’ve also begun making their own aioli after supply ran out during COVID-19, which Consuegra is looking into bottling and selling from the restaurant. 

“Maybe [the aioli] helps us more with the financial things… [Running the restaurant during COVID-19] has been interesting. It’s kept us on our toes and it’s made us hustle again. But I gotta say this: as a person who has been hustling for most of my life, it’s not something you want to do at all times because you start to run on fumes every now and then. So if everybody knows what a hustle is, they know that they don’t want to do that for the rest of their lives,” said Consuegra. 

Customer support has helped Consuegra keep going through COVID-19 and the subsequent difficulties the pandemic has put on his business. 

“Community response has been great. Obviously we would like more. We have great staff, I trained them well. We could probably easily do twice as much as we’re doing right now but we’re getting by. We need the overall support of the community, the general public… I just received an email from The Pitch. We didn’t win any first place [awards] on their top Kansas City categories, but we were second place for four categories: Best Burger in Kansas City, Best Vegan, Best Vegetarian and Best Cheap Eats,” Consuegra said. “The fact that we got into best burger… that is all the burgers in Kansas City that were voted for. That’s amazing for us, so we’re thrilled and we just want to keep on doing what we’re doing. We have something that is good and we’d hate to lose it. We put our foot forward every time, every weekend we do our best and we can tell that people have noticed that we put effort into what we do.”

Like every restaurant right now, Pirate’s Bone Burgers needs the constant and determined support of patrons – loyal and new customers alike – to weather the seemingly insurmountable challenges COVID-19 has caused. The shuttering of restaurants like The Rieger and Black Sheep has served as a stark reminder that no restaurant is safe from the ever-growing list of COVID-19 caused closures. To continue the success of what is already one of the best burger places in the city, Kansas Citians must consistently buy from Pirate’s Bone Burgers and all of their other favorite restaurants. Eating outside (while wearing plenty of layers) and ordering takeout have never been more important to the culture of Kansas City.  

Pirate’s Bone Burgers is located in the Crossroads Art District and is open Friday-Sunday 12-7 p.m. Keep updated with what’s going on at the restaurant and any specials they have via their Instagram and Facebook pages.