Common Ground: Avoid Chain Restaurants, Pack Lunch

February 2007 | Letters to the Editor

Avoid Chain Restaurants, Pack Lunch

In his December Editor’s Note, Todd Spencer wrote of eating out at a chain Mexican restaurant hours after GreenFest, and noticing the marked difference between that and the sustainable “fast food” at the GreenFest food court.

Greetings Todd,

I don’t have to send you hate mail because you’re giving yourself enough grief by choosing to eat at the “chain-y taqueria.”

OK, OK ... I forgive you, and I forgive myself for all the second-best choices I’ve made, too!

In the meantime, just pack some food for yourself for the next time.

—Cynthea Denise, Oakland

Humane Society Supports Veggie

Dear Common Ground,

As a former Berkeley resident, I was delighted to see your article addressing the outstanding variety of local vegetarian restaurants (“Beyond Greens and Millennium,” January).

Bay Area residents have strong reasons to eat vegetarian foods. Across the country, factory farms confine ten billion animals in atrocious conditions that would shock any caring person. Nearly 300 million egg-laying hens are crammed in cages so tiny, they cannot even spread their wings. And billions of chickens raised for meat suffer terribly from crippling leg disorders.

Not only does vegetarian food taste great, it’s an important alternative to meat from factory-farmed animals. For more information, visit HumaneEating.com

—Erin Williams, Factory Farming Campaign, The Humane Society of the United States, Washington, D.C.

San Francisco’s Low-buck Healing Spa

Dear Common Ground,

I just saw “11 Holistic Hideaways” in the December issue. Fantastic! It captures our clinic perfectly.

On behalf of the staff, volunteers, and board of IEP, I would like to extend our gratitude for including us. Outreach for us is an important component in our daily mission of providing affordable and accessible complementary healthcare. Your help in this area is greatly appreciated.

It is truly inspiring for our clients to read about their clinic in such an innovative, professional and reputable publication.

Be well,

Robert Goergen, Executive Director, iepclinic.com

Perc-free Marin Drycleaning Tip

Dear Common Ground,

Hi, I’m looking for a dry cleaner in southern Marin that does not use perc. The one in Fairfax [formerly Hogwash —ed.] has been bought and the new owner uses perc. Would you know of any?

—Alison Bowden, via email

Alison,

Just around the corner on Bolinas Road is the Fairfax French Cleaners, which does not use the toxic solvent perchloroethylene. It’s at 101 Bolinas Rd., 415-457-4545.

Thanks for asking.

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