I can't remember to be honest - I've not tasted UK baked beans for nearly 3 years now!!! I think they taste pretty good and they don't cost $2.50 that's for sure!

Lucy, my girlfriend is an animal lover and a veggie so not sure she'll enjoy those links. Probably best not to show her them!!!!!!!!!

It's a brave move to take a vegetarian to Calgary but to take one to a rodeo is madness.

I think the availability of vegetarian food in Calgary has been, for me, one of the bigger surprises about living here. Though I no longer eat a strictly vegetarian diet, I'm well aware of what one is after eating like that for 20 years. I have had no problems when eating out and no problems finding anything vegetarian in terms of groceries, etc... I've even seen grits.

OMG, do you get cheese grits too? If so I'm not going to be able to wriggle out of going to the Stampede this year.

That I don't know and I'm not sure if I want to.

I'm sure you'll just love the Stampede.

We do enjoy rodeos. Anything with gaited horses is a bit too cruel for me but I can cope with chuck wagon races, bullfighting, processed battery hens. The idea is to drive and meet some people who would drive up from Colorado and go on to BC. We'll see, lots else happening at the moment.

What I like the most about the Stampede is wondering around the corporate prisons downtown and watching stuffy types trying to look at ease with wearing the compulsory demin/cowboy hat getup.... anthropological heyday!

Will you go all the way to the coast?

What I liked about the Fruita Rim Rock Rodeo (a very dusty small town event) was that no one bothered trying to be cowboys, many people there actually were farmhands and dressed the part but the rest just were who they were. Incongruously, I heard a mother shouting out to one of the sheep riding kids "Oliver! Do try to stay on, Oliver!" in pure home counties posh.

The parents-in-law have a long "camping" (actually fifth wheeling) trip in mind but I don't think I can be gone long enough to make the coast. Shame, I've been along the sea from Northern California to Mexico but never north of Seattle. Still, a lot could happen between now and the summer, I might get there.

I was making the point about the cruelty of this activity, not the availability of vegetarian food....but I'm sure you knew that. The Stampede involves incredible cruelty but the majority of people who attend are blind to it, or don't care.

Doesn't it involve risk to the animals more than explicit cruelty? Something like the Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration is all about torturing the animals whereas something like chuck wagon racing or the National Hunt only entails suffering if the horse happens to fall. One could well argue that a life of being pampered with a risk of injury is better than a life of neglect, life on a PMU farm, or a trip to the slaughterhouse.

Hi dbd33
I have to take issue with you on this - take a look at the links Snowgoose provided. Whether or not the cruelty is intended is irrelevant - for instance, I'm sure battery hens are not kept that way because the egg-producer wants to be cruel, but it IS cruel There are so many examples and I don't want to preach - if you are interested have a look at www.peta.org

Cruelty is defined as " behaviour or attitudes" & "behaviour which causes physiacl or mental harm to another, whether intentionally or not." this is the OED definition....my italics.

How about the bit in between? The Oregon coast, IMO, is one of the most beautiful coastlines I've ever seen.

Maybe you'll get to see Bountiful!

I'm not quibbling over the intent of the animal owners. I'm saying that, while some forms of farming and entertainment are neccessarily cruel, some, such as the chuck wagon racing at the stampede are not; if a horse falls that's arguably cruel, if it doesn't fall, there's no cruelty.

I won't look at the peta sites because they irk me over their whinny attitude to fur. I love fur coats (on women, less so on me) and think that it's anti-Canadian not to support the wearing of fur.

Alas, I've never been. I've driven from Eureka to Mexico along the coast but have never had an excuse to do the last bit. If only we could find a client in BC I'd get there but I think only CanFor has the right technology and they bought by phone.