Vegan Mofo Post #3

Quakers, as you might know from my earlier posts (or maybe not!), come in several different branches-'Conservative,' 'Liberal,' and 'Evangelical.' There are more Evangelical Quakers because, you guessed it, they evangelize. Most of the Quakers in the world are Evangelical Quakers. There are very small pockets of Conservative (Conservative in the traditional/true sense of the word, meaning they haven't changed much from the original form of Quakerism) and some larger pockets of Liberal Quakers (who tend to be liberal in politics. I usually equate them/us somewhat to UUs, but we don't have a sermon of any kind.)

One of the shared tenets is a belief in that of God in everyone (or light. Or whatever. I'm not a devout Christian but nor am I an Atheist. The closest easy definition is Atheist but to really explain my belief system I'd have to have a little longer than I wish to devote here.) and you'll find some kind of recognizance of that in each. Perhaps more so in Conservative and Liberal than evangelical-who have pastors, but do have some silent worship during the regular hour of prayer filled gathering. So. Most Quakers in the world are Evangelical. But there are Quakers who feel lead to visit with other Quakers of all kinds and there was one called a Quaker Study Tour. When Friends gathered together, Friends from the US felt lead to better support our fellow Friends in Bolivia, which was how the Bolivian Quaker Education Fund was started. They say it better, so I'm quoting:

Dona Manoukian (Langley Hill Meeting) and Newton Garver (Buffalo Meeting) arranged for two young Bolivian teachers, Cecilia Paco and Loida Cutipa, to visit the US for seven weeks in June and July of 2001. They spoke to ten different Friends gatherings in the eastern states (interest groups at FCE, FGC, PYM and BYM, as well as informal groups at two Quaker retirement communities, two monthly meetings, and gatherings at AFSC and USFW) about Quaker schools in Bolivia. 

The plan's original focus was on scholarships for post-secondary education of Bolivian Friends, an urgent need because of the large number of qualified but impoverished young Friends in Bolivia.

It was soon apparent, however, that there were also other needs and desires. In response to those needs, four dimensions of the BQEF program were established:

• Scholarships for post-secondary education
• Exchanges between Quaker schools in Bolivia and the US
• Instructional enhancement in English, science and computer literacy
• Infrastructure development in support of needs ranging from books to buildings

Quakers have a strong affinity for education-there are Quaker based schools all over (Some colleges you've definitely heard of: Earlham, Guilford, Haverford, and a whole lot of elementary-high school schools).

As I've said this zine was created in order to raise money for Quakers in Bolivia to better increase their access to education. One of the recipes I've made was the Cucumber Potato Salad. I made it as a side to the Saltenas. While I was super impressed with the Saltenas, I found myself underwhelmed by this recipe. Low on flavor. I like cucumber tomato salads (that's essentially what this is) far better when it's simply cucumbers and tomatoes. Instead, this one called for cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, cilantro, potatoes and olive oil and white wine vinegar as the dressing.

I made a substitute 'feta' (and honestly, you would find way better vegan subs out there by googling. I just made do with what I had) with pressed crumbled firm tofu, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and nutritional yeast chopped up everything else and tossed it together. Here it is: