harm.less

Last year, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker made major news when he announced he’d be making the leap from long-term vegetarian to vegan. His Twitter feed was a flood of well-wishes, recipe links and sage advice on making the transition.

“I wasn’t living my truth,” he told Philly.com about why he decided to take the plunge. A social justice advocate, animal lover and environmentalist, he’s the poster child for progressive.

Initially, however, his vegan pledge was only for “the rest of 2014”, and that was starting in November of last year. When January rolled out, some folks were wondering, did he stick with his plant-based ways?

Well, he answered that question via a Twitter conversation (his favorite medium) on March 20 — MeatOut, and the answer was yes, Senator Cory Booker is still vegan.

Needless to say, this is fantastic news. The vegan movement couldn’t ask for a better proponent than Senator Booker. The following excerpt from his QA with Philly.com says it all:

Q: You came into the Senate with a full plate of progressive causes. Is there any room to address animal agribusiness?

A: Absolutely. I’m very concerned about U.S. food policy. I posted a graphic yesterday comparing what our government says we should be eating – the My Plate, you know – and then you look at how we apply our subsidies. It’s dramatically out of whack. We’re subsidizing the very thing we tell people they should be eating less of.

If we’re concerned about climate change as a country, we should have policies that make sure our great-grandchildren have a planet that’s healthy and strong.

If we’re concerned about high medical costs, we should have a government that’s making sound investments with taxpayer dollars that don’t contribute to the problem but actually help [solve] the problem.

Food is at the core of our lives in ways we don’t always think about – how it affects our environment, how it affects our health and well-being, how it affects the expense of society, the expense of government.

Senator Booker has even taken the time to send encouraging Tweets to White Castle, mail personalized thank you notes to helpful advocates and ask Ben & Jerry’s to create a vegan ice cream (YES PLEASE).  As activist Jon Camp said, “Nice that there exists a politician who is so bold, mission-driven, and thoughtful. Hope I get to vote for Cory Booker for president one day.”

Ditto Mr. Camp, ditto. #corybookerforprez