The Last Cheesecake

                   

     A cow is a loving, thinking, gentle creature, who like all mammals, produces rich and nutritious milk for her baby when it is born. It is heartbreaking to think that in this country, the young is snatched from her within hours of delivery, and she cries for him or her longingly. If the calf is female, it is destined to the same fate as she, to be confined in a small stall hooked up perpetually to a milking machine while pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. If the child is male, he is kept in a tiny cubicle until he is 3-4 months old, often in earshot of his mother whom he longs for until the day he dies, and becomes veal for humans to eat. This is only part of the cruelty of animal agriculture, so much unnecessary pain and suffering is perpetrated daily upon our fellow earthlings. It is not necessary to have meat, or dairy, to be healthy. Why then do we murder them, is it simply because we can?

     When I first asked myself this question, my response was deciding never to eat meat, eggs, or dairy again, to become vegan. I already had been researching the health benefits of a vegetarian diet and was leaning that way. On that day, I decided once and for all to become vegan, to not participate any longer in the senseless suffering of animals that the eating of cause most health problems rampant in our country and other meat eating countries. We are killing ourselves with the Diet of Affluence!

     Once my decision was made, I felt an immense peace. Also, a sadness! Why? because I love cheesecake. No, I adore cheesecake. If I could have, I would have married cheesecake! So I had to plan for the ultimate, the richest, creamiest, most decadent cheesecake ever made for my final farewell to dairy. I thought about if for days; dreamed about it in color! It was going to be 3 inches thick, creamy and dense, topped with sugary cherries, and nestled in a fat-laden graham crust. It would melt in my mouth. It would propel me from this plane of existence into another, almost heavenly realm. The flavor would surpass anything my taste buds had ever known. It would be, "to die for." The day arrived, the plan was about to culminate. Before me sat the cheesecake I had longed for, dreamed of, waited for. No one in the history of humanity has ever lusted after cheesecake like this before. Now is the time! My husband and children sit around me, all aware of the significance of The Last Cheesecake. Sure, it was my birthday, but celebrating cheesecake seemed so much more important!

     The slice in my plate and the fork in my hand, I sat motionless. The family wondered why I wasn't devouring the cheesecake whose calories did not matter on this day. A tear developed in the right eye, as a watery path unveiled itself on the left cheek. I stared somberly at the confection before me, and saw not creamy, rich, decadence; I saw a calf deprived of its milk to make it, and a mother who made milk for her baby only to have it stolen. I thought of the dairy cows who are slaughtered for steak, hamburgers, and chili. I thought of the reality of animal suffering at the hands of merciless humans. I could not take a single bite. I knew now I just could not ever again take that suffering and pain into my being. And that was The Last Cheesecake made of pain and suffering to ever sit upon my plate. I now eat only delicious, cruelty free non-dairy cheesecake made perhaps of coconut cream, cashew cream, or tofu that contains neither suffering nor cholesterol, and I am so very happy about that! Oh, and of course it is drenched in decadent sweet cherry topping, like this recipe from Amber at The Tasty Alternative that is my new favorite!

 The Tasty Alternative's cheesecake