Vegetarian Star

Julian Winter

Julian Winter is the male winner (along with his female counterpart, Mimi Kirk) in PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian over 50 contest. for 2009.  Julian is 51 and resides in the Framingham Massachusetts area.

VS: What led you to go veg?
JW: The first one involved shooting a deer. I grew up in an agricultural community and hunting is pretty common. I was young, I think I was 13 and I shot my first deer. It was kind of dramatic because it wasn’t a clean kill and we had to take care of it by hand, which wasn’t fun.

And ironically, it was sort of a bit of cosmic trickery, the following year we were out pheasant hunting and I got shot by another hunter. I was lucky I got out of that. That turned me off to hunting and at that point too I was just sort of considering [it]. Where we lived-I’m not disparaging agriculture-I grew up with the slaughterhouses. I know how animals are dealt with, I’ve watched it all the time-cattle and pigs and chickens and sheep. When I got old enough I kind of decided it was a choice. I didn’t have to eat that stuff. I was 17. Senior in high school. I’ve been vegan since ’99. The longer you’re a vegetarian, you just sort of keep going that way [toward veganism].

VS:Life changes since winning Sexiest Contest
JW: I actually take more grief from my daughters now. They’ve always liked to make fun of dad-old geezer according to them. I grew up, if you were 50 you’re over the Hill. I’ve got four daughters, I’ve never made it any kind of a mandate, but two of them are [vegetarian].

Food Voyeurism
JW: I love Morningstar; they have these veggie cakes that I eat. I love those. I usually have one of those a day in a sandwich. On a regular basis, I’m going to eat salad probably daily. Every type of vegetable I can get my hands on. I eat a lot of fruit. The Ezekiel Bread too. They make one with seeds and sprouts-it’s really good. There’s one dish that’s really good too. You take sprouted soy beans and sauté it, put sesame oil and soy sauce on it and sesame seeds on top. It’s really simple. Doesn’t sound like much, but it tastes so good. They’re some nice vegetarian and vegan restaurants in the Boston area, but I haven’t been there a lot because I work a lot and it’s hard to get out.

What’s on Julian’s wikipedia page? Find out after the jump…

Like Clint Eastwood being a vegan rumor, not everything on Wikipedia is true.
JW: The Wikipedia page is not me. When the Internet came along, I registered the domain name, JulianWinter.com. When Google first started there was nothing except me. Now they’re all over the place. But JulianWinter.com is me.

VS: Tofu or Tempeh
JW: Tofu. It’s so versatile. It can go in anything.

VS: Peanut butter or almond butter
JW: I gotta go with almond butter. More exotic. Have you ever tried sunflower seed butter? I think they call it Sunbutter. My mom turned me on to the sunflower one and it’s less expensive than your like almond or cashew [butter].

VS: You’re a financial advisor. Any financial advice on how a vegetarian or vegan diet can improve your financial health.
JW: You’re going to probably think clear-you’re going to make more holistic decisions [about your finances]. I do a lot of yoga too and that type of stuff really helps your thinking and just kind of clarifies your day.

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