In this installment of VegDining's Vegetarian Books & Authors, we chat with Tina Volpe, author and radio host. This month marks the second anniversary of The Fast Food Craze ...

Tina Volpe:  Thanks Dennis. The childhood trauma I suffered made me painfully aware that animals were not meant to suffer, be brutally slaughtered, or eaten. They have their own personalities, feelings, emotions - including love, joy, sadness and they feel pain. I saw that first hand when my pet pig was hanging from a tree when I got home from school one day. I've since stayed away from flesh, but it wasn't until I started doing some research for an article that I came across Farm Sanctuary's website.

Also about that time, I was reading John Robbin's "Diet for a New America" and it hit me like a ton of bricks. If I (being vegetarian) was sadly unaware of how much cruelty went on every second of every day, what must the rest of the US be aware of? I felt I'd found my calling. I knew right then and there, after leafletting and protesting, that something more had to be done and fast, this was a huge task. I also discovered that the fast food joints were a large cause of the suffering due to the demand for mass production. I wrote The Fast Food Craze, in abridged form to try and reach the people who were totally unaware.

Tina Volpe:  I had no idea that it was as bad as it was. I think like most people, I chose to conveniently believe the television and magazine ads that showed the idyllic farms of animals grazing like it was meant to be. It felt better to see it that way. Then when I discovered what they do to male chicks at birth, shoving them into plastic bags to suffocate among their brothers, de-beaking baby chickens and cutting off their toenails with no pain killers, the battery cages so full of feces and sickness. The gestation crates that pigs actually have to spend their entire pregnancies in. And the baby cows. I've seen a cow cry, being raised on a small farm, and let me tell you, those baby cows cry when they are ripped from their mothers so that Americans can drink her milk and so do the mothers. These are things that are blatantly wrong. Anyone experiencing these horrors first hand would be appalled. I was. I couldn't get this book out fast enough. I felt that it was an avenue for me to release some of this rage and injustice. And save animals at the same time.

Tina Volpe:  I did visit a slaughterhouse in my youth and the smells and the sounds have never left me ... ever. The research had me sleepless for almost a year. I lost 25 lbs and found myself crying in the middle of the night, actually hearing baby cows crying for their Mommies. I was so horrified when I started to realize that this wasn't just suffering, this was horrendously immoral and the pain that these precious creatures had to endure every single solitary day of their lives was unthinkably barbaric. The videos I'd watched and the feelings I had during that period in my life were that of rage and horror.

What has helped me deal with those unhealthy emotions was a single book ... Reverend Andrew Linzey wrote "Animal Gospel' so that I could endure. (:-> He taught me that 'loving them out of their darkness was the only way to effect a change'. I slowly changed my rage into love and I now send them all love every time I think about them. If I see a truck hauling pigs or chickens ... I send them love. It helps me cope and to realize that love is the only energy that will somehow correct this major human mistake.

Tina Volpe:  Well, I'm happy to say that the responses I've gotten from some of my readers is none other than 'change'. 90% of the people who have commented on my book have either gone vegetarian or have decided to make major changes to their diets. I feel blessed that I can reach out to people without even having to be in the same room, meaning that the numbers could be in the thousands. That is such a rewarding feeling. I am thankful every day for the people who actually pick up a copy and read it. It has my heart and soul inside those covers.

Tina Volpe:  Not a chance ... back then anyone who was vegetarian, in my world at least, was an alien. People barely even knew what the word meant. I was fortunate to have an 'enlightened' mother who was vegetarian and who spent her life cleansing all of us and teaching us about proper nutrition and diet. We practically lived on salads. I remember eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and lots of fruit. When I'd have friends over, at mealtime, they thought we were from another planet ... 'where's the meat'? they would ask. Back in the 50's and 60's flesh was essential on every plate or it wasn't a meal (much like today). But we didn't have all the healthier choices available today. The veggie burgers, textured vegetable protein, soy cheeses and soy-milks.

It is simply insane in today's world to partake in animal products/flesh when it is becoming so inherently clear that doing so causes major disease. But the light at the end of the tunnel is that almost all of Americans know what vegetarianism is, some even understand the word vegan. I've gone to restaurants and mentioned being vegan and 80% of them knew what I was talking about. So, we are making changes, one plate at a time. And each person that refrains from eating animal flesh, saves over 100 animals per year. Things are looking up!

Tina Volpe:  Another bright idea ... how can I reach the masses in the shortest time possible, to eliminate as much suffering as humanly possible. Wake Up America was born. And is the best part of my life at this point. I'm talking with people that I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to speak with on such a personal level, and to get the education I'm getting. Dr. Joel Fuhrman who was just on my show was so informative and helpful. Dr. John McDougall was on Jan 8th and my hero (probably everyone's hero), John Robbins will be on Feb 8th. These shows are all archived for people who can't listen live, by the way. I feel that we are reaching the masses with this important message. Again, there is no way to tell how many people are actually converting, but I know it's happening just from the responses to date. I love this show and hope that it continues to be a success through the years. Being in the 'animal rights' world, and being an author with the research I've done certainly gave me the right contacts and I know exactly who I want to talk with next!

Tina Volpe:  Yes! I've just finished a children's book about farm animals, titled "Hanna the Hen and Her Unlikely Friends". It's about a bunch of sweet, loving and corny farm animals who meet a turkey that stumbled onto the farm after falling off of a transport truck going to the slaughterhouse. They learn about the 'bad place' (factory farming) and what they endure inside (gently). It was fun to write. And I have a third book almost completed, mostly about early religion (ALL religions) and how well animals were treated back then ... and what went wrong!? I feel we need to address the Church and the religious groups in America to start being accountable to some of this suffering and to quit contributing to this insane cruelty by eating animals. That's what I am hoping my next book will help with! Andrew Linzey had a lot to do with this book.

Photos courtesy of Tina Volpe.