Just the other day, yet another celebrity announced the opening of their high end vegan restaurant. For many people this conjures an image of a large, fancy plate decorated with artsy swirls of soy paste sauce, centered with a tiny mound of alfalfa sprouts and organic carrot shavings. The presentation is completed with a bill for $45 handed over by a skeletal, pasty-faced waiter who hasn't cracked a smile since he last peeked beneath a sesame seed bun.

It can be a hard sell for many.

I've mentioned the carnivorous Kev before: a guy whose idea of a vegetable is meat that has turned green and who can't look at a cow without imagining it between two slices of bread or a fork in it. He is one of the great cadre of meat eaters joining Henry VIII, Attila the Hun and Fred Flintstone in the Meat Eater Hall of Fame. Vegetables have their place...usually in the home of someone else.

Recently PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) announced an Eat Vegetarian for a Week campaign. Kev got excited. I got suspicious. Kev has little patience for "bleeding heart greenies whinging about animal issues they don't deal with", so why get stirred up? PETA aside, he saw this as a challenge. Could he survive a week without meat--of any color? Eventually assured of his commitment to the concept, we started planning. First step: eat all the meat currently in the fridge.

O.K. now we're ready to start. This requires careful menu planning for meals without meat or fish --he considers eating fish to be 'cheating' by those claiming to be vegetarians. Pasta, eggplant, bulgur wheat fill out his meatless imagination and cooking ability. It will be up to me to manage the rest. It is imperative that there be leftovers so he has something to take for lunch. Twenty-one meals and counting.

Truth is, Kev fared pretty well. One day I roasted a whole bunch of root vegetables plus a squash and called it supper. He completely filled up the empty space in his gut and fled the table to distract himself from the missing main entree. Weekends-where breakfast is bacon & eggs- were particularly difficult. Surprisingly, for a guy who goes through a loaf of bread about every three days, he ate very little bread. No particular reason, maybe just totally tapping into his inner ascetic. He insists that he never cheated. Not even once.


meatlover's breakfast

So, what is the upshot of the grand experiment? No grand revelations. "What's the point?" he asked. No real protein means no real energy. "Now I know why (a co-worker) walks in slow-mo all the time." he said with a dismissive wave of a hand. The other hand was busy frying up three different kinds of meat for his first post experiment meal. Not a vegetable in sight.

The Aussie Dagwood

You might ask, does Kev eat any vegetables? Yes, but only couched in the right circumstance. Like in an Aussie-style hamburger which must include slices of beets and a fried egg. [Actually, a fried egg on anything makes it "Aussie-style".] He'll also slip in a slice of tomato and onion. Looks more like a Dagwood to me. Looks like one happy eater. Bon Apetit!

Perth was invaded last week.

Politicians constituted one major front, met by an army of law enforcement, witnessed by thousands of celebrating citizenry and all covered in digital detail by a battalion of media. The official code name of this action? The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting or CHOGM (pronounced as a word, not a series of letters.) It is a biennial meeting of the British Commonwealth nations led by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. The voluntary congress talks about issues of mutual interest (trade, immigration, polio eradication, climate change) and individual gain (nuclear power/weapons, resource attainment, operating funds to keep the country going.) Two related forums immediately precede these foreign Heads of State meetings: the Business Conference [where the host country is likely to gain some benefit from all the hoopla] and the Young People's Conference [where 21 year-olds tell themselves that they should be running countries and companies.]

Police guard VIP hotels

So what does this mean to the citizens of Perth hosting this event this year? The added security (police brought in from all states and New Zealand) especially around the ministerial hotels guarding delegations and hovering like raptors seemed a bit much. Barricades, street closures, burly men with earwigs "magging and bagging" (magnetometer and bag check) everyone and rooftop snipers being vigilant every time the Queen surfaced gave this otherwise laidback city the look and feel of being occupied by a military force.

staff security

Even the people working the event got used to forever walking (or wheeling themselves) through ID doorways despite wearing identity tags and anti-designer shirts few felons would don to get access to third tier delegates and heavily guarded national leaders. Five hundred Perthians were needed to volunteer their time to move general citizenry and dignitaries on to where they needed to be with the least amount of disruption. Hard to believe but a thousand people applied to be goodwill ambassadors of the city for this event.

CHOGM Festival corner

Not to be totally left out of the excitement the federal government was creating, the state of Western Australia sponsored a CHOGM Festival for its citizens and visitors. Concerts, community art , Speaker's Corner, public movies, Exhibitions, performances, lectures and even international athletic competitions in netball and field hockey. Something for everyone. And most of it free.

press conference prep

So where do I fit in in all this? I was one of the volunteer force with a collective resume to match any in the corporate world. Doing two days work in the busport, I was moved up into the convention center on Saturday morning. A big press conference on the eradication of polio was being held. I had the distinct pleasure of escorting some of the participating Heads of State to the media room. First, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Gilani (not as warm and friendly as his delegate whom I found delightful) and then (drumroll, please) the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard! The PM and I shared pleasantries about the weather and the exercise we were getting trotting from one event to another ["And still not enough." "I know what you mean."] PMs Gillard and Cameron (UK) were notable amongst the lucky few volunteers to get close to any VIPs for being warm to the insignificant people leading them around. Of course they wouldn't remember us 15 seconds after we delivered them where they needed to be but their acknowledgment of our existence was as good as recognition for a job well done.

There were plenty of detractors to this whole event (we won't mention the objectors to individual rulers) usually about the amount of money spent for so little outcome. Politicians would have us believe that all this would put Perth on the real world map. I have to agree, in part, with the negative assessment. Just about everyone paid to plan and organize CHOGM was imported from the east coast, including the lowest tier people like graphic artists, volunteer liaisons and venue managers. And those folks had to be fed and housed. Yes, the CHOGM Taskforce needed 500 WA people to volunteer to help save money for their six months hotel bill. Many people started to rename CHOGM as Chaps Holidaying On Government Money. Heaven knows the state paid enough money for the Festival and additional police hours not covered by CHOGM security budget. But all that said, I hope people availed themselves of some of the culture offerings laid out for them. The party was paid for, they may as well attend.

SOME FACTOIDS