Vegan Action
Carole Sargent
Peace Advocate
by Amy Burger
Carole Sargent
Peace Advocate
by Amy Burger
Carole Sargent made the connection between advocating for peace and choosing a vegan lifestyle while writing her latest book, Transform Now Plowshares. It chronicles the story of Sister Megan Rice, a biologist and nuclear disarmament activist who was arrested in 2012 at the age of 82 for breaching the site where the atomic bomb was developed.
Sister Megan, a biologist, nun, and advocate for nonviolence, lived in West Africa for 40 years. While there, she found that local cuisine was less dependent on animal products compared to her familiar American diet. Sister Megan's love of animals, background in biology, and commitment to peace led her to quietly stop consuming animal products. In turn, writing about Sister Megan and her fellow activists influenced Sargent to strive for unity between her words and her lifestyle.
One of the foremost ways Sargent puts this harmony into practice is by offering vegetarian meals at the Beehive Interfaith House, a hospitality house for visiting scholars located in Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown neighborhood. The facility, which Sargent calls "a house of peace and prayer," opened in May of 2019. One early resident was a vegetarian theologian, so, to honor her, the kitchen adopted the practice of serving vegetarian meals.
Residents take turns cooking, and many offer their own culinary contributions. One Italian resident helped Sargent develop a deeper appreciation for zucchini, which she says is a staple in Italian cuisine. Her favorite preparation is the plant's blossoms, fried, but she notes that stuffed zucchini is a great way to use the fruit. Sargent also points out that it was Italians who persuaded diners to embrace the tomato, previously suspected of being poisonous.
A love of produce comes naturally to Sargent; her mother was from Oklahoma, and enjoyed gardening, especially okra, corn, squash, and broad beans. Sargent remembers a garden of plants that dwarfed her mother. She adds that plants have uses outside of the kitchen, detailing how Sister Megan and fellow activists planted seeds, especially those of sunflowers, when they visited nuclear sites to help clean contaminants from the soil (a technique also used in Japan after the 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima).
Sargent's goal is for peace to flow through her in both her words and her actions. She aims to do so through her writing and her kitchen.
To learn more about Sargent and her work, check out the Beehive Interfaith House's website at publishingadvising.com/house.html, on Facebook at facebook.com/gtownbookhouse, or Sargent's faculty page at gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014RlViAAK/carole-sargent
Amy Burger is a former VRG intern. She has been vegan for four years and lives in the southeast with her husband and their companion animals.
