Published: July 11, 2009 12:18 am      

Local conference spotlights benefit of non-meat lifestyle

Steve Nakon of suburban Chicago knows some people think he and other vegans are a little kooky.

He’s cool with it.

“We have no need to defend ourselves,” he said Thursday at Pitt-Johnstown, which is hosting the 2009 Summerfest, sponsored by the North American Vegetarian Society.

“I’m willing to pay in terms of some people’s opinion for the benefits in mind and body I receive. ‘What are you, a hippie?’ ” he said with a chuckle. “Well, that’s OK. Everyone will get it when they get it.”

About 700 fellow presenters and participants from throughout the nation are expected during the five-day conference, which wraps up Sunday.

The confab consists primarily of dozens of classes on topics ranging from world peace and learning hackey-sack to water justice and perspectives on raw food diets.

Society spokeswoman Maribeth Abrams says there’s a reason the topics aren’t confined to food and health.

“A lot of those classes just focus on being a good person,” she said. “People become vegetarian for many different reasons: For health, for animal rights, for compassion, for nonviolence.

“It’s more than that just what people eat. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a way of doing the least harm while we’re living on the planet.

“And we eat really, really incredible food in the process. We’re really happy,” said Abrams, of Glastonbury, Conn., who teaches vegan cooking.

Like Nakon, she has taken some ribbing.

“ ‘Oh, I have a Big Mac. Would you like a bite?’ ” Abrams recalls.

No, she wouldn’t. And no milk, either.

As a vegan, Abrams shuns all animal products – including butter, cheese and milk. Less hard-core vegetarians simply shun meats.

This is the second Johnstown seminar for Tara Petite, 36, and her husband, Darren, 39, of Hagerstown, Md.

“We came here primarily for our kids to socialize with other kids, and to catch up on vegetarian news,” Tara Petite said. The couple have been vegans for six years and enjoy being around “like-minded people.”

Abrams said the seminar is top-notch, with the society advocating casual onlookers become vegetarians and vegetarians become vegans.

As she speaks, she drifts into talking about how animals are treated.

“There’s actually a lot of violence that goes into meat production,” Abrams said.

“Some people argue there’s actually more cruelty in a glass of milk than in a piece of meat,” she says, speaking of how newborn calves are quickly taken from their mothers and saying that cows are not treated well.

With religious zeal, she went on to cite “overwhelming evidence that the less animal products you consume, the more plant products you consume, you’re much less susceptible to chronic disease.”

At a food demonstration class with co-instructor Anne Dinshah, Abrams prepared and passed out samples of Thai vegetable soup and a greens dish.

“Seasonings,” she told the packed room.

“It’s not the flesh that gives it flavor.”

There were dream bars of ice cream made of rice. Soy and coconut also are suitable for making ice cream.

Nakon, a presenter on yoga and the healing energy of food, said, “I’m having a wonderful time. How important in today’s world a green diet is, not only for personal health but planetary health as well.”

And being a vegan must work, the 62-year-old says with an intentional wry smile, bouncing his daughter Rain, 13 months, on his knee. Wife Patricia wasn’t within earshot to elbow him in the ribs.