In 2010 the release of the veg documentary "Forks over knives" arrived in theaters with a diktat: cure yourself and save the animals .
Let's take the opportunity to talk a little about the basic principles of vegan cuisine.
Principles of vegan cuisine
Vegan cuisine excludes meat, fish, eggs, honey, milk and dairy products from the diet. Practically, they only choose foods that contain vegetable proteins, while foods containing animal proteins are replaced in favor of legumes (chickpeas, beans and lentils), which vegans often combine with soy and azuki .
The vegan cuisine also includes the consumption of algae, fruit and vegetables, preferably in season and they make much use of seitan, as a meat substitute.
Combining cereals and legumes on the same plate, then, they ensure a complete meal. It should not be thought that vegans consume only vegetables; in reality, vegan cuisine is distinguished by a great variety of recipes: penne with zucchini and tofu cream, polenta croutons with mushrooms, seitan meatballs, risotto with radicchio or saffron, up to Roman artichokes.
Forks over knives, the videomanifesto of vegan principles
After Michael Moore described rotten slices of the Big Apple and brought US-made political and health scandals to the screen, Forks Over Knives was launched in Italy. The documentary, shot in the United States, Canada and China, has as its theoretical basis the studies of a nutritionist and a surgeon engaged in the battle against cancer.
These are, respectively, Dr. Campbell, a professor at Cornell University, and Dr. Esselstyn, engaged in a cancer research project at the Cleveland Clinic.
Although they did not know each other, the two reached the same conclusions. The trailer paints theoretical pioneers of a truth that must be revealed to the world and that the documentary itself wants to divulge: the abuse of meat and milk causes damage to health .
Lee Fulkerson, who wrote and directed the documentary, followed the two experts in their respective research paths, assembled the results of their studies to produce this documentary which is both a summary of the disadvantages of diets based only on animal flesh and a manifesto of a new form of care in which food itself becomes medicine.
In a nutshell, the message is: if you know the power of food, you learn to interpret both its therapeutic potential and its harmful potential.
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Some truths about vegan cuisine
Beyond the propaganda, fed by the film industry, which often takes on out-of-control dimensions, the documentary contains truths.
For example, it is partially true that vegan nutrition decreases the risk of colon and rectal cancer by 30%. The abuse of red meat and some cheeses increases the risk for these two types of cancer, since it is a category of foods rich in fats that are dangerous to health.
It has also been proved that feeding according to the principles of vegan cuisine greatly reduces the risk of heart attack and diabetes; vegan dishes contain fewer calories, less fat and zero cholesterol. When you follow high-protein diets, the mineral at risk is calcium.
Vegans tend to consume foods rich in this mineral such as dark green leafy vegetables, tofu, which is obtained with calcium sulfate, and supplements. Overdoing with meat and dairy products would cause a loss of calcium due to an increased urinary excretion of the mineral.
