#69: The Pacifist Vegan Fight-Fixer
A pacifist vegan with ties to the mob who fight-fixes, but also would never hurt a fly? Sounds like one big oxymoron, but in fact all of this (and more) is embodied in jazz musician and longtime animal advocate Charles Farrell.
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Hi friends!
What does jazz music, fight-fixing, the mob, and the plant-based lifestyle have in common? You might not think there is anything at all, but our guest on this episode is about to prove that wrong!
Charles Farrell, author of (Low)life: A Memoir of Jazz, Fight-Fixing, and The Mob, is on the show today, and he shares stories unlike anything we’ve heard of before.
We talk about Charles’ life as a jazz musician, his long-time commitment to animal welfare and being vegan, his ties to the mob, and all the ups and downs in between. He shares about what it was like to be the only vegan within a community where saying no to animal products seemed almost completely foreign, and how he stuck to making conscious decisions over and over again.
Charles also offers some solid advice for anything thinking about adopting the vegan lifestyle, or anyone new to it!
He talks about how he would often take boxing and musician friends and clients to Buddha’s Delight, a vegan restaurant in Boston’s Chinatown, to share animal-free cooking with unlikely customers who were always won over by the delicious food. He mentions how he moved tarantulas safely out of his path while walking barefoot through the rainforests of Puerto Rico, and how he often came up against the classic “You don’t eat meat?” incredulous question from hard-boiled Boston and New York mobsters.
Enjoy this fascinating episode!
♡ Toni & Michelle
SHOW NOTES
- Navigating being the only vegan / vegetarian in Boston among his family and friends
- Fluctuating between being a working musician & being a gangster
- Getting out of dangerous situations
- Ethics & decision making
- Exercising empathy & connection with others
- Natural empathy vs. learned empathy
- Making conscious decisions to avoid harm towards all beings
- Tips for maintaining kindness & compassion within different social circles
- Turning bad habits into good ones
- The plant-based food industry & how it is promoted
- Dealing with a population who thought the vegan lifestyle is not healthy
- Charles’ advice for new vegans & those considering the vegan lifestyle
- Thank you to our sponsors, Better Than Bouillon & Maxine's Heavenly
RESOURCES
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
We are so grateful to have the support of some of our favorite vegan-friendly brands this season. Many thanks to the sponsors of this episode, Better Than Bouillon and Maxine's Heavenly.
Better Than Bouillon is one of our all-time favorite vegan pantry staples, and we turn to it all the time for soups, stews, and beyond. The "No Chicken Base" and "Seasoned Vegetable Base" are always in our kitchens. Get free shipping on orders in the US — just use the code PLANTPOWERED at checkout!
Maxine's Heavenly homemade-style cookies are a fantastic healthier way to enjoy store-bought cookies! They are sweetened with unrefined coconut sugar and dates. They have soft-baked cookies that you can find in many natural food stores plus they recently launched crispy cookies available on their site. You can get 25% off at mazinesheavenly.com with our special code PLANTS25 at checkout!
LET'S BE FRIENDS!
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