Tonya Kay is a professional dancer, TV personality, film actress and danger artist living in Los Angeles. A vegetarian of 25 years, vegan for 15 of those and raw vegan for the last 7, Tonya Kay pioneers the green health movement with appearances, publications and green media (available at 
| Organic, Biodynamic and Sustainable Eco Wines, Part 1: An Introduction to Eco-Friendly Wine Certifications |
| Tuesday, 12 January 2010 | Tonya Kay | Blog Entry |
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I choose to eat living fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Taking it a step further, I also choose to eat those living foods in season, organically grown and locally harvested. But I can eat anything I want. It's all a choice. The second question I am asked is, “Isn't eating that way difficult?” To which I reply that eating processed, dead foods is a lot like hitting myself on the thumb with a hammer. Is it hard not to hit myself with a hammer after I know what's causing the pain? No. In the same way, it's very easy to eat living, local, organic, in-season food. It's my pleasure. The third most popular interrogative demand I am implored with as a raw vegan is the inevitable, “Do you drink alcohol?” And with a fervent cry I respond, “Wine is fermented, not distilled and that means yes, yes, I do drink alcohol.” At that point the questioner decides that I am in their eyes “normal enough” and that they, too, may consider eating more raw food themselves… as long as they “get to” drink alcohol, of course. It's all just conscious choice in my opinion. Just because I drink alcohol does not mean I drink a lot or even often. As much as I am a wholehearted wine enthusiast, I am still a health-living raw foodie and I don't have time for hangovers or an overtaxed liver. And I am still a sassy kind of eco gal, so the standards I apply to my food choices also apply to my fermented beverage choices. Four years ago I began educating my mind and taste buds about organic, biodynamic and sustainable wines. And of course, living in sweet southern California, it's quite easy to keep my purchases local. In fact, everything I've learned about wine—from its certifications to its terroir (distinctive personality)—has happened in the tasting rooms. It doesn't get more local than that. I am a hands-on kind of woman who wants more than to “know” about something and repeat that knowing to others. Rather, I prefer to experience something and share whom I've become with others. And what I've experienced as a farmtown-raw-vegan-nature-worshiper-turned-wine-geek is that certifying produce and boxes of crackers is a lot easier than certifying wines. Over the next several weeks, I intend to share what I’ve learned about wines with you. I’ll cover how to read wine labels, as well as the ins and outs of organics, biodynamics and sustainability as applied to wine. See Part 2: Certified Organic Wine [See a complete list of writing by Tonya Kay on EcoHearth.com or visit her Clean and Green Everyday blog. – Ed.]
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Written by gerald c , January 12, 2010
I agree. It's all about choice. I choose keeping my body and the earth healthy.
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As a raw vegan I am commonly first asked, “What can you eat?” To which I reply, “Anything I want,” reminding people that this is a choice, not a disease. Quite the opposite, in fact.
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