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There are good reasons, even noble ones, why people stop eating dairy and meat.
Animal ethics. Health concerns. Lessening one’s impact on an overheated planet, because plant-based is the most environmentally-friendly diet around.
I, meanwhile, went vegan because of a chocolate cake.
I wrote about the cake in a recent dispatch for our 50 States, 50 Fixes series, which highlights an environmental solution in every state. The cake was created in 2018 by Nora Taylor, a vegan food blogger and mother of three who lives outside Portland, Ore., a hot spot for plant-based food. The recipe has since become a sensation, with more than 1,900 five-star reviews.
I first encountered the cake at a backyard wedding in 2018, where it sat under a tent with other desserts. I’d been chocolate obsessed since childhood, spent in Ireland, where Cadbury was balm against the cold and rain. I was drawn to Taylor’s cake like a sailor to a siren. It was sumptuous, and when I learned that it contained no dairy or eggs, I was stunned.
At the time, I was wrestling with climate anxiety, as well as society’s profound disconnect from the destruction of the natural world. My dismay was amplified by the ways we condemn billions of farmed animals to hidden, cramped dungeons and violent deaths. Animal agriculture also pollutes waterways and drives greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation.
I didn’t want to be party to any of it. But I was still focusing on everything I’d have to give up. Sure, I like a livable planet. Yes, I’d prefer to eat food that didn’t entail putting other sentient beings through hell. But what was life, really, without Dubliner cheese?
Taylor’s chocolate cake, a decadence, helped shift my framing. I realized plant-based eating could be delicious.
Taylor went vegan in her mid-20s, after a co-worker made peanut butter stuffed vegan chocolate cookies. She had been vegetarian, having never really liked meat, but then researched what the dairy and egg industries involved.
“It hit me, that animal connection,” she said.
I began making the cake with regularity. Like many of Taylor’s recipes — her other hits include chocolate chip cookies, lasagna, and marry-me chickpeas — it’s pretty easy to make.
“I’m honestly quite lazy in the kitchen,” said Taylor. “That’s really part of the goal. I want to make even my dinner recipes just as easy as possible, using as little dishes as possible.”
Last week, for the sake of journalistic integrity, I decided to see what my workers thought of the cake. So I baked it, popped it into a container and schlepped it by subway to the office.
The cake has always drawn raves. I’ve even been stopped on the street by someone who’d had it at a party I’d brought it to. “That cake!” she said. But my colleagues could prove a tougher crowd. A lot was riding on the cake.
But once again, it wowed. We took the cake review discussion to Slack. Here is some of that conversation, edited for brevity:
Claire O’Neill (visual editor): I don’t really have a sweet tooth. More of a salty snacks (Doritos) gal. But I really liked this cake, especially the texture, which was almost brownie-ish?
Claire Brown (reporter): The texture of this cake blew me away. I’ve had many fantastic olive oil-based vegan cakes, but this is the closest one has ever come to my platonic (but non-vegan) ideal — the Costco sheet cake.
Christina Kelso (reporter): I also wasn’t surprised this was good, but I was delighted! It had a nice cake/frosting balance.
Elijah Walker (photo editor): I am usually more of a pie guy myself BUT this cake could change my mind. I am not being hyperbolic when I say it was one of the top tier cakes I have had.
Doug Alteen (editor): What I especially liked: The tangy note that came from the applesauce and the vinegar. And the texture. It was lovely.
Jesse Pesta (editor): Years ago I was at a cake-centered event on a rooftop and, as we all ate some a really delicious cake, one person blurted out: “Wow this cake is juicy!” When I had this one I immediately thought of that — that cake sure was juicy! It was better than lots of normal cakes in terms of richness and moistness. Maybe it’s the applesauce trick?
David Gelles (reporter): I say with no hyperbole or exaggeration: This was the best cake I’ve ever had. As an indiscriminate eater of cake and other foodstuffs, the absence of animal products is, to me, a curiosity more than a call to action, and is unlikely to inform my future eating habits. Nevertheless, the cake was a revelation.
An Illinois building was a bird killer. A simple change made a world of difference.
Researchers have estimated that hundreds of millions of birds die hitting buildings every year in the United States. These strikes are believed to be one of the factors behind an almost 30 percent drop in North American birds since 1970.
Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in the country for migrating birds, according to research by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. And no building was known to be more lethal than McCormick Place’s Lakeside Center.
But last summer, the vast glass windows and doors of the building were overlaid with a pattern of close, opaque dots to help birds perceive the glass. The treatment’s early results are nothing short of remarkable. During fall migration, deaths were down by about 95 percent when compared with the two previous autumns. — Catrin Einhorn
And read more from the 50 States, 50 Fixes series:
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Cara Buckley is a reporter on the climate team at The Times who focuses on people working toward climate solutions.
The post The Chocolate Cake That Made a Times Reporter Go Vegan appeared first on New York Times.
