Dover Sherborn Press

Family describes vegan lifestyle, prepares for annual potluck
By Amy Reay/Correspondent
Wed Jul 11, 2007

Sherborn -

Susan Costello was born into a devastating legacy. Her mother died age 62 of heart disease and her father died from colon cancer. Costello’s grandmother and great-uncles all died age 52 of diabetes and heart disease, and her brother has been living with colon cancer since his early 40s.

Now 52, Costello, a psychotherapist and counselor, has a clean bill of health and believes she has bucked the illnesses that have plagued her family. Her solution? Veganism.

This coming Sunday, July 15, Costello will be indulging her passion at Sherborn’s Peace Abbey, which will be host to the Boston Vegetarian Society’s 10th annual event. The event includes a potluck dinner to which each guest is asked to bring one vegan dish free of meat, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs and honey to share.

But for Costello, vegan-eating is not just a one-day affair. It’s a way of life.

“Veganism is looked at as a freakish lifestyle, but it isn’t. I’m a regular Joe,” said Costello, whose husband John, 51, and 16 year-old son, Brenny, are also vegans. Costello refers to veganism as her religion, not just a way of eating.

Vegans abstain from eating or using animal products and promote the compassionate treatment of all animals. Vegans do not wear leather or wool; they do not eat eggs or cheese or drink milk because they believe that methods of rearing cows are cruel. Vegans also cite livestock production as a large contributing factor to global warming, stating that 80 percent of ammonia emissions in the U.S. come from livestock production.

“Aside from the ethical concerns [of veganism],” Costello said, “I realized that to be vegan is the healthiest way of life.”

According to Costello, diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and cancer are found regularly in meat-eaters and rarely in vegans.

Having been vegetarian for 14 years, Costello became a vegan five years ago out of compassion for animals. Her husband became a vegan as an extension of his already health conscious nonsmoking, nondrinking lifestyle. Since then, Costello has become more health conscious and her husband more animal-aware.

Fourteen years ago, the Costello family still ate cheese, eggs and dairy, but their decision that they could no longer support the industries that harm animals led them to make the switch to veganism, a transition that Costello SAID wasn’t difficult.

“I don’t feel deprived,” she said of her current diet. “there are healthy vegans and unhealthy ones.” The unhealthy ones can, according to Costello, eat crackers and Twinkies and still call themselves vegans.

Yet when it comes to meals in the Costello home, soy, wheat gluten, chick peas and leafy greens make up just a small percentage of the variety of food that is on offer to them. The family combines their diet with weight-bearing exercise. Costello’s son and husband ran a triathlon last year, proving that vegans can remain healthy and strong without eating meat or dairy.

“Most people look perplexed and ask how we get our protein,” Costello said of her experiences of telling people she is vegan. “I eat peanut butter,” she said, and adds that she drinks soy milk, takes calcium supplements and eats tofu. According to Costello, her last bone density test showed she had “the bones of a 21-year-old.”

Of the foods Costello gave up five years ago, she says she misses cheese pizza the most, although she has found vegan mozzarella cheese that melts the way regular cheese does. The family is limited in the restaurants they can go to in Boston; however, they favor Indian food, which is predominantly vegetarian and vegan. “[Boston] isn’t as friendly an area as New York or Los Angeles,” Costello said of local restaurants.

Although her son is also a vegan, Costello said he has always been given the chance to try meat if he so wished, although she said she would never allow him to go to a circus or a rodeo, both of which she has philosophical problems with.

Costello believes veganism, like many movements, will take a while to come to the forefront of society’s consciousness, but she believes that when her son goes to college he will be in good company. “Lots of young people have opened their eyes and are fighting on campuses to get more vegan food,” Costello explained. In an era of childhood obesity, Costello said her son doesn’t have an ounce of unnecessary fat on his body.

At this Sunday’s potluck, including whatever the Costellos bring, there will be more than 100 dishes to sample, including vegan chocolate mousse, said Evelyn Kimber of the Boston Vegetarian Society. The potluck is free and open to the public.

The Boston Vegetarian Society hosts year-round events, including the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival, a Fourth of July picnic, vegan Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Banquet. The society also offers vegan cooking classes and publishes an e-news letter containing useful local news as well as breaking environmental issues. BVS events attract some of the top nation speakers, according to Kimber.

The event, which begins at 1 p.m., will run until around 5 p.m. and is open to the public, including nonvegetarians, and will run rain or shine. Attendees are asked to make a donation to the Peace Abbey.

“The Boston Vegetarian Society is truly welcoming of nonvegetarians,” said Kimber. “We are an organization that invites nonvegetarians so they can explore and learn what it’s all about and give it a try.”

Dr. Will Tuttle, composer and author of “The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony” will speak in the neighboring church and will play the piano for guests. Guests can also stroll the Abbey’s grounds and take in the Pacifist Memorial and Gandhi statue, and the Emily the Sacred Cow Animal Rights Memorial.