anonymous comments. course of action.

[supercarrot]

i think vegancooking is an amazing community. not only because of you guys, but the majority of anonymous comments that i've seen throughout the long history of the community have all been so awesome and informative. (we're lucky that we haven't encountered any trolls or spambots. to my knowledge, at least.) we recently ran across one today that

Comments

[kingfissure]

As easy as it is to obtain an openID/livejournal account, I don't think it's a high bar to joining the conversation; therefore I don't think it'd be a big deal to close anon commenting. They're so few and far between, really, that it shouldn't have a big impact.

That being said, I'm a bit surprised that this comes in response to today's incident. Perhaps I'm missing something or am not privy to some information (in which case I apologize), but I just can't see that this is definitively intentional pimpage. People have recommended non-vegan vegetarian books before; while usually with the note that most things in it are easily veganizable, not exclusively so, and it hasn't warranted backlash. Personally, if I'm cooking niche Cuisine, I have found that I have to refer to non-vegan sources and adapt them myself, as little (or none) exists otherwise. Also, the initial response seemed to me to be based on an opinion of Hare Krishna that was frankly a bit insulting, and not the actual book. I wrestled earlier today with making a point

[semi_eunoia]

Thanks. I agree with this comment.

[marinatempest]

Yeah, I completely agree! I have that cookbook, and it's a totally valid suggestion. Lots of vegan or vegan-izable recipes, and as far as I can tell it is devoid of any "cult" agendas or leanings!

[giantsloths]

I agree with this. I was going to comment in the actually post, but this is probably a better place to do so

[bizwac]

I agree with this. Mentioning that it isn't entirely vegan - perfectly acceptable.
Attacking a religion some of our members may adhere to - unacceptable.

[miiindy]

i see you're from philly-- i assume you worked at govindas? i am a little confused by their status as a hari krishna restaurant, as my friend worked there and he said there is garlic and onions in the soy cheese...do you know annything about that?

[giantsloths]

I did work at Govinda's! But it was about 4-5 years ago (boy that makes me feel old), and I have since moved to San Francisco, so I can't comment on any of the recipes they use now.

When I did work there, the owner and two managers were definitely Hari Krisha, and did not use onion/garlic in any of the foods. Instead they used a spice called Asafoetida, or Hing powder. At that time they were making their own soy cheese/sauce. I'm not sure what they are doing now, although I would be surprised if they are using onions/garlic.

[kcanadensis]

I agree as well.

[supercarrot]

i've sent feorag a message about your concern. it's 2am in scotland right now, so it's likely she's asleep.

she pointed out to me that the curt "This is the book you are looking for:" seemed "written in Marketing" (and didn't have any personal recommendations or experience attached to the comment) so that's what really prompted this post, not that it may have been someone in a cult pressing their beliefs.

i've been friends with vedic folks in philadelphia, and they've never been pushy. i'm wondering if it's quite different in scotland.

i never read the book, so i took it on faith that it really was propaganda-y, and that feorag was writing from experience with the book. for that i apologize, and should have explained the impetus for this post better.

[kingfissure]

Thanks, I appreciate it. I also have friends who are vedic, so I was a bit shocked to see the response.

[ashbloem]

I don't comment much, but I wanted to add that I also agree with this statement. I didn't think it seemed like spam at all, and the response seemed unwarranted.