The Vegan Club

Veggie Heroes: The Vampiyans!

2006-09-30T01:12:00.000+02:00

Japan is definitely a progressive country in many aspects, but, as their many Far East neighbours, they do not shine when it comes to compassionate living and show almost no respect towards innocent fishes and seafood (why calling these seafood at all? anybody with a good alternative? what about seafriends?).

Yet, there are some enlightened minds without dubts (check back for future post about the height of Japanese vegan friendliness). In fact, a new cartoon recently released out of Japan is about the Vampyrian. That is a cute and friendly family of Vampires who are... totally Vegetarian!

According to the production site the Vampiyan Kids are

a noble family of vegetarian vampires, banished from Monster Land for their
inability to scare humans. To lift the exile set on the family, Papa, the head
of the household, must scare 1000 humans. To this end, he attempts to use his
magnificent skills in making new inventions, but always and inevitably fails. To
complicate things further, Papa's daughter Sue falls in love with a young
human boy and no longer wants to return to Monster Land. Will Papa ever get
his family back home?

Cute! This seems a rare example of fun yet child proof Japanese animee! And definitely veggie forward! More generation of Japanese veggie kids to come?

Weekly Veggie Tee 6

2006-09-24T15:44:00.000+02:00

Ideal for the young and punk infused, this tee from the lovely Herbivore Clothing hits the spot!
Sold for 21$, helps support Herbivore Magazine as well! And have a look at their other tees for sale: they are all super vegan, opinionated and pretty!

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And it is time to welcome another member! Greet the lovely Mary French from Vegan Grandma! Mary's wish is to publish vegan recipes (check out the vegan Key Lime mousse!), health and nutrition, vegan philosophy, and other items of interest to vegans. Make sure to visit her blog!

And Mary, receive out hugs! Welcome to the Club!

Annoucement, announcement! World Wide Recipe Contest!

2006-09-17T12:40:00.000+02:00

Dear Venerable Vegan Readership, a few days ago I got this message in my inbox, promptly delivered and addressed to me by Jackie, of The Vegan Diet blog.

Take a moment to read! It is definitely worth!

Hi t.
Just thought I'd mention a competition which you might like to mention in your next Vegan Recipe Club posting.

Chefs.com "Treasured Recipes Contest" is your chance to share a family recipe and win a $10,000 grand prize. If you've got a recipe that tastes delicious and expresses your family, culture (being vegan is an expression of culture!) , tradition (and tradition as well!) , or heritage (what about the new vegan offspring? they are all allowed to participate!) , now is the time to try turning that family favorite into cash. You have until November 8th, 2006 to enter the contest. When you submit your recipe, you will submit a story about what the recipe means to you. Is it the naan bread recipe that's been passed down through your family for generations? Is it that potato salad that you always bring to the family reunion? Is it the flourless chocolate cake over which your husband proposed to you? (Is that vegan cheesecake offered to you by your friend your first lesson that being vegan was not about deprivation?)
From all of the entries, Chefs.com judges will select the 100 semi-finalists, who will have their recipes posted on www.treasuredrecipes.chefs.com. From November 15, 2006 to January 27, 2007 Chefs.com members will vote on their favorites from the 100 semi-finalists. The 5 finalists from the voting results will be flown to San Francisco, California, for a cook-off to determine the grand prize winner. All 5 finalists win a set of Hamilton Beach Eclectrics™
All-Metal Appliances, including a toaster, stand mixer, coffee maker,
drink mixer, and blender (approximate retail value $500).

I thought it would be great to see a few Vegan recipes entered by the
members. Membership there is Free and from time to time I have used
their recipes on my blog as they have a wonderful variety.
Best regards

Jackie
"The Vegan Diet"

Jackie is deadly right: first thing is that, statistically, at least a couple out of the 100 semi-finalist will be vegans, and a few more vegetarians. And secondly, this is a great way to allow people to read, learn and appreciate some cruelty-free recipes! And an opportunity to spread the word about tasty veganism!

On top of that, out of all the recipe entered by our club members, we will draw our own finalist here on The Vegan Club: I cannot offer a 10,000 dollars grand price, but some vegan goodie is guaranteed!

So if you submit a recipe to Chefs.com, please make sure to pass it onto us as well! It will also be the occasion to insert on Chefs.com a dedicate list of vegan recipes, since they do not have one yet.

And thanks a lot Jackie for pointing this out for us!

Rainbow tART

2006-09-17T12:07:00.000+02:00

The lovely tART contest Urban Vegan promoted on her blog has ended: the winner was the super lovely Vicki with an adorbale heart shaped tart she baked to celebrate the 14th annivesary of her wedding with... Art! She definitely had a true winner there!

For completeness, this is the recipe of the Rainbow tART we submitted to Urban Vegan: to be honest, I am not even sure this is a tart at all... but it is not even a pie! Let's just say it is a "sweet something"!

Anyhow, this recipe draws from a traditional cake I used to see in my house when I was a child, when we were living in Italy. It is a "crostata", which is not a super typical Italian cake and is mostly diffused in the north. Crostata can be made with jam, and then it is what you would probably call a jam tart, or it can be topped with cream and fresh fruit: the delicious "crostata alla frutta". And this is the route I took. Veganizing everything of course! One difference is that in the real crostata, the crust base (rigorously handmade, as in the Italian tradition: you are not allowed to buy a pie shell. Actually there, they do not even sell them!) is made without yeasts, therefore it is not raised. Instead, since I did not want to make the oven go just for something so small, I baked my base in the microwave, adding some baking powder. But for the rest, we are there.

INGREDIENTS

TART BASE
-1/2 cup flour
-1/2 cup water
-1 dash of salt
-1/3 cup sugar or other sweetener
-1 dash vanilla
-1 teaspoon baking powder

FRUIT
What you like but best if fresh. I used:
-1 peach
-1 kiwi
- cherries
-1/2 apricot

CREAM
Either you use one cup of vegan vanilla custard, or you do your own like this:
-1 cup soy milk
-1/4 cup sugar or other sweetener
-1 tablesppon flour
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

EXTRAS
-agar agar flakes or powder
-1 teaspoon of lemon juice
-1 teaspoon of oil

PREPARATION
-Mix all the ingredients for the base together. Oil a microwavable shallow baking pan and put the mix on it. Bake for about 2 or 3 minutes (it takes this short!) at 750 W. Remote and put on a cooling rack.
-Put in a pot with a heavy bottom the ingredients for the cream without the flour and set to boil. Let boil a couple of minutes and then add in the flour, preferably passing it through a sift to avoid lumps. Lower the boiling and let it become thick. Put immediately on the base, or it will become too thick while cooling. Distribute evenly.
-Slice the fruit: the pieces should be pretty thin or biting through this dessert will not be too easy! Place them in concentric circles on the cream.
-Let the agar dissolve in 3 teaspoons of water, in a pot. Add the lemon and let cook until you have a clear vegan gelatin in your hands. Pour when it is still hot on the fruit, making sure everything is covered. This layer is needed for two reasons: the heat softens the otherwise too cruncy fruit and because it protects the fruit from oxydation, so that you can keep this dessert for a while.

When everything is cool, slice and bite!

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P.S. You did not manage to submit a recipe to Urban but you have got a sure winner in your hands? Check out the next post, for the change to enter a contest and win 10,000 dollars (no, I am not putting these myself!) and promote veganism online!

Product Review: the stylish Hint Mint

2006-09-12T15:42:00.000+02:00

Don't be fooled by the cheeky name: Hint Mint is not a company not taking things seriously. Started in 1999, this small candy venture is deadly serious about three things: ingredients, the planet and style.

Hint Mint is a Los Angeles based company, producing, you guessed it, mints. Since they started out, they have only produced certified vegan (and kosher) products and this is one of their strictest rules: no animal products is a set policy.

But beside for the ingredients, they have tought of other ways to make their product greener: the container for the mints, a slick curved tin to fit your back pocket, beautiful in its original packaging and also available in a wonderful range of designs by some of the most famous contemporary graphic artists of the planet, was created with a secon life in mind. Its proportion were carefully studied to fit notes, coins and even credit cards, thus becoming a durable yet comfortable (the curved tin fits perfectly in your back pocket!) metal wallet, thus reducing basically to zero the material going to the garbage bin (and if you think how much paper/foil/plastic each tiny package of regular gums/candies makes, you realize this is not a neglectible step forward).

And if this was not yet enough, Hint Mint is available in the awareness series as well, where 100% of the profits benefit HIV fighting organization Youth AIDS and breast cancer associations Avon Walkf for Breast Cancer and Walk for Hope to Cure Breast Cancer.

And not only they are really good, but the style of these mints is, as they rightfully put it, unparalleled. Their classic series tin is a beautiful Art Noveau tribute and the latest two artist series are just fantastic: 60s inspired illustration by Shag donned last year packagings and now Gary Baseman, likely the most appericated graphic designer of the planet has signed both the current artist series as well as the holiday edition.
Definitely to be kept in mind for your daily fresher breath needs as well as for a vegan Christmas present.

Available for purchase on the Hint Mint website in bulks or singularly for 2.5 $ at Food Fight. As well available in many vegan shops and cafes, high end hotel and gourmet groceries of the globe.
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Congratulations to Veronica from A Gang of Bunnies Stole My Idea for being featured on the current issue of Sataya Magazine in the Artist of the Month column. Remeber that Veronica is currently collecting grocery bills for an upcoming project: save them for her and mail them once you have a pile over to her in Spain!

Weekly Veggie Tee 5

2006-09-06T22:51:00.000+02:00

Guess what? Oh yes indeed! Another cool vegan tee! This one meant for the sweetest one of us: nicely retro, lovely girlie, yet dropping the vegan hint!

Sold for about 20$ from Vegan of Light (check out their fabulous RainForest Burger tee as well!).

Vegan = Icon? Maybe yes!

2006-08-31T17:52:00.000+02:00

Ok, I should premise that, while not entirely British, there is quite a deal of Saxon blood going through my veins and the UK have indeed seen me growing up, at least for some time. No wonder I am vegan today with this heritage! Or not? Someone is actually out to find out. And polls are open!

The Icons - A Portrait of England website is not a style-file or fashion police kind of deal: no attempt in defining what's cool over what's not. In fact many of the entries listed, alongside us vegans, are historical monuments, works of art, natural beauties (quite nice to be listed alongside the Victoria Memorial, no?). And since it is England we are talking about, a bunch of oddities as well (think of three-wheeler cars, coin operated gas meters, roundabouts (on the behalf of the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society), plimsolls and what not).
Icons.org.uk seems just to be wanting to hold a poll to discover what the currently best recognized British icons are. Rumors are that the result of this massive poll will in the future be used by the British Tourism Board to market better the British Island but so far, it is the respectable and super partes Culture Online to be running the thing.

Well, it turns out that Vegans are entry 26: there are nearly 700 recent entries!
But why are we there at all? Because veganism is a British product: the idea and the concept were both born and developed there, together with the idea of vegetarianism (as non related to religious practices) as well. They definitely have the copyright over veganism and it is rightful to wonder if our small little tribe is indeed a new British Icon. In a way is any vegan a child of Britain and owes something to it?

The current debate is whether vegans are an icon for the British islands. Are we? Or are we not? The submission for "British Icon" is presented in these terms (see the entry here):

Vegans
The vegan movement was started by Donald Watson, who was born in South Yorkshire in 1910. He founded the Vegan Society in 1944, and lived to see veganism spread worldwide. Who would have thought that a movement based on compassion and healthy eating could have originated in the land of lard?

I voted and found out for you.

Suspance.... drum rolls...... and here is the result:

-VEGANS = Icons 21%, Not Icons 79%

What? Oh come on! We definitely are icons! British or not! We want our crown, our red carpet and our stamp!

As you may tell, I was pretty annoyed with the result. So.... since anybody can vote.... what about bumping up out numbers and become a bit more "iconic" than what we currently are? Maybe that way more canteens, schools and hospitals would take the decision to cater for us....

Maybe this number is justifued giving the spreading of vegans around the world, but the one and only vegan society, the only body giving guidance over what this word means has always been located in Britain! I actually have the impression there is either an evil meat-eaters complot behind this OR that people envious of our highly moral status are not willing to recognize the truth, that we are the coolest and most iconic of poeple (OR, but I am not into considering this as an option, I am totally crazy).

I must admit we are in good company there: the famous Rolling Stones tongue logo is considered an icon only for 42% of the people who voted. Yet it is one of the most recognizable logos on the planet! Britpop, still one of the most used definitions for music, is considered an icon only for 34% of voters and Abbey Road studious, of Beatles fame, are a 50-50 tie.

And if this is not cheering you up, the fact that Marmite (how could our friend be missing from this list? and they give a nice, historical description for it as well) has also been rated should, since these are the results:

-Marmite - ICON 80% NOT 20%

Exactly like Cambridge University, very close to British Eccentricity and doing much better than the very British instutional B&B (Bed & Breakfast)...

A quick note to let you know about... Sistah Vegan Project!

2006-08-29T00:56:00.000+02:00

I am afraid to be pretty ignorant upon this issue, but I am pretty sure over at Sistah Vegan Porject you can learn more about it: veganism seems to be a commendable practice in the "black identified females/females of the African diaspora (I assume it's the diaspora towards North America).... This particular demographic is solely invited to share their voices because my research largely focuses on Black female developmental wellness. This research passion encompasses a holistic approach to physical, spiritual, emotional and mental well-being through non-traditional methods such as narrative research, expressive therapies, Ethical Eating Philosophy, research in perceptions of White Privilege, American Privilege Studies, research in Speciesism, and theories of alternative holistic health practices".

This study, which was inspired by the PeTA compaign juxtaposing human slavery with animal suffering, wants to investigate if "women of color who are marginalized within their community sympathize with ethical eating more frequently then those minorities who are not marginalized and (...) more broadly, what prohibits a majority of historically oppressed ethnic minorities in America from embracing the connections that unethical treatment of non-human animals has to their own struggles with human social injustices (i.e.: racism, poverty, homophobia, sexism, environmental racism, etc)?
Ethical eating is the manifestation of one's belief of moral justice through a dietary practice that causes the least amount of ecological and social suffering. For example, purchasing equal exchange coffee instead of regular coffee because it directly supports anti-poverty among Third World coffee growers is a form of ethical eating. Organic and fair-trade food consumption as well as veganism are types of "ethical eating."

I find this research super interesting! Therefore, anybody who belong to the group that is being investigated is strongly encouraged to present a submission to the Sistah Vegan Project! The submission guidelines can be found on the Sistah Vegan Projet website: you have time until September 8th!

Spread the word!

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REMINDER!

You only have until August 31st to submit a tart to Urban Vegan's tART contest! Up for grabs there is a 10 $ coupon for PeTA online store, plus glory, plus showing to everyone how interesting and telented us vegans are!
Don't be shy! Cook a pie!
No forget that. It must be a tart actually!
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And what about welcoming another member? Cheers and hugs to a lovely mom feeding her 4 kids with amazing veggie treats and located in charming Alaska! Have a look at Made In Alaska's blog!

Product Review: enter in the world of Marmite!

2006-08-26T21:52:00.000+02:00

If you have been following closely the wonderful Vegan Lunchbox chronicle, on Aussie day (or something of the like), you should have read about Jennifer's Vegemite sandwich and how Mrs Shmoo herself had a few doubts about serving this typical Aussie spread to a kid.

Instead that reviewing the Australian spin-off, for the love we feel for all vegans out there, we got ourself to review the first and original yeast spread: the proudly English-produced all-mighty Marmite.

If you have never heard of this, Marmite is a thick, dark, brown spread, which looks very much like Nutella, but which has a totally opposite taste and smell. As the really lovely website states (for the more delicate of you, keep away from their viral films), the payoff of Marmite is indeed "Love it or Hate it" since there seems to be no middle ground for this exceedingly strong flavoured spread. And "TO BE USED VERY SPARINGLY" should be written on the packaging.

Those Brits who love Marmite like it on warm toast. The one who hates do not even want to open the lid ever. Since the taste is well... really particular. To say the least.
Marmite, which is incidentally totally vegan (or 100% vegetarian as the packaging states clearly) is very meaty in taste and in your mouth will make you think of strong meat stocking or some kind of super thick (possibly rotting) meat sauce. It is slightly bitterish as well and so dense and flavourfull in taste it is, well, hard for me to swallow it up on toast. Right out impossible to lick what's left on the spreading knife! It's not only the meatish flavour (totally natutal by the way: it comes fromt he yeast, no artificial ingredients added), but the foul smell and sticky texture as well...

However, do not think this is a bad review: on the contrary! Marmite is a very old, typically British product, which has always been vegan (the historical value of this vegan food is in iteself worth a story: it was packed with soldiers rations in WW2 given its nutritional values) and it is definitely worth for you to hunt it down whenever you may live: even if it may be disliked by half of the vegan population on bread due to the taste, it is pretty extraordinary in cooking. Diluted properly, it's excellent for marinading, roasted seitan, tofu cutlets, even as a savoury glue to hold together your veggie burgers (and indeed, I believe a very similar ingredients is what makes some fake meats so meaty in taste)!

So is that all? No, there is more that should definitely convince you to try Marmite out: the vitaminic content is so great it is hard to believe! Each 4 grams (told you it can only be used sparingly!) serving has:

9 kcal
1.5 grams of proteins (!)
16.6% RDA Thiamin
17.5% RDA Riboflavin
35.6% RDA Niacin
50% RDA Folic Acid (!!)
60% RDA B12 (!!!!!!!)

That's right! In 4 grams there is 50% of your needed daily intake of Folic Acid and no less than 60% of your recommendad daily intake of B12!!! Amazing! B12 supplements, goodbye!

Now, go get it, experiment with recipes, post them back to us and let's all join the Marmite lovers club! This lovely British tradition definitely deserve all our love!

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Ladies and Gents, all your attention please: we did not get another person in the club. We got a super lovely family all contributing to these two lovely blogs, posted to you directly from Quebec, Canada! Pay a visit to Gaia and her super family at Live It Up Vegan! (in English) and Vivez Végé for the French speaking of you (I am so excited! French vegan bloggers are soooo creative!): you won;t be disappointed!

And to Gaia + Family, a great and warm welcome to The Vegan Club family!

Weekly Vegan Tee 4

2006-08-23T11:43:00.000+02:00

Pretty explicative right? This is in case someone around you still need explanations...

From Veganstore, for an honest 20$.

A Vegan Recipt installation project needs your help!

2006-08-16T12:44:00.000+02:00

What's going on in veganet? Something really interesting it seems!

One of our newest members, Veronica of A gang of bunnies stole my idea, already has a great project running and she need all our help! This is Veronica's message:

HELP NEEDED BADLY !
for my RECEIPT INSTALLATION PROJECT
Thought those bits of paper called "receipts" you get from the supermarkets were useless? Not any more!
Collect them, ask your family and friends to give you theirs, pick them up from the floor not caring if people stare at you ... anything goes... they are a real treasure to me! I need them badly cos' I want to cover a whole room with them.
I'm asking people to please get receipts from supermarkets and other food stores and send them to me by postal mail. I already have hundreds but I need thousands!
The walls of a room will be completely covered with thousands of receipts so the viewers will find themselves surrounded. The food products that contain animal derived ingredients will be underlined. Shopping receipts are the proof (real, symbolic and legal) of what we consume, an activity that has a underestimated effect on non-human animals.
more info here:
http://www.veronicaibarra.com/vero/pages/current_page.html
Thanks for your time!
all the best
Veronica

Great idea! And a strong message will be delivered with this installation: it's about animal rights being denied by aniam products, so us vegans need to make our voice be heard on this topic!

I am collecting my recipes already: make sure to do the same! For me works out much better than crumpling up in balls to recycle! So start keeping them and delight your receipts: they will turn from garbage to art! I am sure they will be glad of the change!

By the way, do not forget to enter the tART contest that Urban Vegan is running: you have time untl August 31st!

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Group hug please! To our newest member that is! Welcome in Candi, of A Vegan Photo Blog. There are lots of very interesting vegan information on her site, plus beautiful pictures! Candi is a photographer and photojournalist! Pay a visit to her site!

Weekly Veggie Tee 3

2006-08-14T22:20:00.000+02:00

Another attention catcher: gone vegan from vegetarian after years of struggling?
This one is for you! (no offense meant to our vegetarian friends!)

Sold (? Let's say maybe! I don't really understand from this site: this image is labeled as "wiki") over at the German site Veg.gs

Oh, and if you are looking for REALLY cheap veggie tees for your or friends, have a look at Vegecentric site: they are closing down and they are selling their tees for as low as less than 6 US$. The "Vegetarianism won't cost the Earth" is a really cool tee! Catch them before they are gone!

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We are growing fast, fast fast! Another welcome to another member!

-Have a look at Jackie's blog over at The Vegan Diet: she is broadcasting from nowhere but South Africa and delivering some wonderful recipe and information! Very much a vegan, South African diamond mine! Welcome Jackie!

-And what about Valentina? Italian living in the Netherlands, she is doing research work at the Dutch Institute Of Ecology! How amazing! Visit Valentina at Along The Sea!

Have your say on what VEGAN means!

2006-08-11T23:54:00.000+02:00

As vegans, we all know the meaning of the word, which according to a pretty accepted definition runs like this:

"a vegan is a person who rejects to use any animal derived products in their diet: meat, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, and often honey. A vegan also rejects animal byproducts, such as whey, casein, gelatin and they do not wear or buy any clothes or furniture item made with fur, leather, silk, wool".

However, it is the general impression not all vegans are the same. Some of us may care just for Meat+Fish+Poultry+Eggs+Dairy. For many others the list may run way longer. And I even met vegans who would wear not only leather but fur as well and they were just avoiding cancer inducing ingredients! (ok, I almost killed her...I confess!)

Some time back, investigating about vegan travelling, I found out about SelectWisely, a company selling multi-language cards with dietary prescriptions to be shown in restaurants in foreign countries when travelling. Many food allergies card are available as well and all cards have images specifying which foods are off limits, for extra clarity.

Since they sell a vegetarian card, but do not have a vegan card in production, I emailed them and suggested one should be created. The reply was a positive one, but they are unsure what to write in it. This is SelectWisely reply email:

Thank you for your interesting and informative email. I have thought about creating a vegan card and have discussed this with other people via email and such. The challenge is one of standardization. In the world of food allergies, people have very specific requirements...'can't eat nuts' for instance. In the world of vegan, the choices are not so standardized. There are so many different variations it's hard to come up with one set of foods that satisfies the majority.

If you were to list the foods that 80% of vegans want to avoid, what would that be?

Best regards,

Jim

Ok, this is our chance and our challenge: these cards, given their small size, do have limits to the amount of to-be-avoided foods they can list. But we do have limitations ourselves about what we eat when travelling, checking about foods we eat in tiny details. So have you say about what VEGAN foods exactly should be on your list: the three-five items which are absolute no go and whatever else it is important to you but not to capital (think of food colourants which may be animal based for example).

The results will be shown back to people at SelectWisely and hopefully a vegan card is soon to be created!
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Please welcome our two newest members:

-VeganCore, of well established and very active and delicious vegan food blog
-A Gang of Bunnies Stole My Idea, a just started personal diary by Spanish artist Veronica (posted in English)

Have a look for what's new and interesting on veganet!

Breaking News by CNN (?really????)

2006-08-09T23:45:00.000+02:00

Copied over here without (err... ) permission from CNN.com.

This news was released first just a few days ago, on July 28th 2006 and was read by millions of people. What about celebrating ourselves a little?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- People who ate a low-fat vegan diet, cutting out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet, researchers said this week.

They lowered their cholesterol more and ended up with better kidney function, according to the report published in Diabetes Care, a journal published by the American Diabetes Association.

Participants said the vegan diet was easier to follow than most because they did not measure portions or count calories. Three of the vegan dieters dropped out of the study, compared with eight on the standard diet.

"I hope this study will rekindle interest in using diet changes first, rather than prescription drugs," Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, which helped conduct the study, told a news conference Thursday.

An estimated 18 million Americans have type-2 diabetes, which results from a combination of genetics and poor eating and exercise habits. They run a high risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and limb loss.

Barnard's team and colleagues at George Washington University, the University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina tested 99 people with type-2 diabetes, assigning them randomly to either a low-fat, low-sugar vegan diet or the standard American Diabetes Association diet.

After 22 weeks on the diet, 43 percent of those on the vegan diet and 26 percent of those on the standard diet were either able to stop taking some of their drugs such as insulin or glucose-control medications, or lowered the doses.

The vegan dieters lost 14 pounds on average while the diabetes association dieters lost 6.8 pounds.

An important level of glucose control called a1c fell by 1.23 points in the vegan group and by 0.38 in the group on the standard diet.

Dropping drugs

A1c gives a measure of how well-controlled blood sugar has been over the preceding three months.

In the dieters who did not change whatever cholesterol drugs they were on during the study, LDL or "bad" cholesterol fell by 21 percent in the vegan group and 10 percent in the standard diet group.

The vegan diet removed all animal products, including meat, fish and dairy. It was also low in added fat and in sugar.

The American Diabetes Association diet is more tailored, taking into account the patient's weight and cholesterol. Most patients on this diet cut calories significantly and were told to eat sugary and starchy foods in moderation.

All 99 participants met weekly with advisers who advised them on recipes, gave them tips for sticking to their respective diets and offered encouragement.

"We have got a combination here that works successfully," said Dr. David Jenkins of the University of Toronto, who worked on the study. "The message that we so often get with diet is that it is no good because nobody follows it for very long."

Dr. Joshua Cohen, George Washington University associate professor of medicine, said everyone found to have diabetes is told to start eating more carefully.

"That may be among the hardest things that any of us can do," Cohen told the news conference.
The vegan diet "is at least as good, if not better than, traditional approaches," Cohen said.
Vance Warren, a 36-year-old retired police officer living in Washington, said he lowered his a1c from 10.4, considered uncontrolled diabetes, to 5.1, considered a healthy level, over 18 months. "My life is much better being 74 pounds lighter," Warren told the news conference.

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Oh! and if you are from Colorado, what about participating into this other vegan study, put on by the Vegan Society Of Colorado! I am not totally sure they are still running this: I have emailed them but got no reply. Anyhow, I thought it was worth posting. Track all your food for one week, help understand the advantages of a vegan diet and get your food evaluation by mail: pretty grand no?

Weekly Veggie Tee 2

2006-08-06T21:59:00.000+02:00

Did we not promise you some more aggressive vegan tees some time ago? We did: we are not all kind girlies in the end (right Ferocious Killer Kat?)! And there is a WAR we are all fighting out there!

Here goes one, especially for Killer Kat!

You are definitely taking a clear stance here! Sold for only 16 $ and shipped internationally from Bant-Shirts.com .

P.S. Are you getting this tee? Please send us a picture! We will put it up here (without your face of course!): we are trying to build a gallery!

Vegan tART Contest!

2006-08-06T21:29:00.000+02:00

Who likes tarts? Who likes art? Who likes both? I bet most of you have your hand raised!

So make some tART yourself and join the most creative (and veganly delicious!) contest ever, created and run by our dear Urban Vegan of the omonimous blog! Up for grabs there is a 10$ gift certificat from PETA!

This is how the idea came about and what the rules are:

"A few weeks ago, our good friend [and renowned sculptor] Leonard Streckfus paid us a visit. His gift of wild raspberries inspired me to make a tart. Back in Baltimore, Leonard had an overabundance of berries and decided to try my tart recipe for himself. But as you can see from this photo he sent, his ravenous friends gobbled it all up and left him tARTless. To help replenish Leonard's cupboard, I decided to hold a tART Gallery Exhibition and Contest.

To enter, send me your tART works--photos of your vegan fruit tARTs--by August 31, 2006. Here are the details:

Rules
• Submit your most creative vegan tART photos. [jpegs].
• All tarts must be vegan--no animal products including dairy, eggs and honey.
• Recipes not required [but greatly appreciated]. It's all about the tART.
• My email: theurbanvegan@yahoo.com

Judging Criteria
• Originality and presentation of the photo.
• Quality of the photo.
• Visual presentation of the tart.
• Accompanying photo caption. [Please keep it short].

Grand Prize
• A $10 gift certificate to the PETA catalog. A portion of the certificate benefits PETA and animals in need.
• All contestants' photos will be published in Urban Vegan's tART Gallery.

Deadline
• Please send your entries to the theurbanvegan@yahoo.com by midnight EST August 31, 2006.

Meet the Judges:
• Leonard Streckfus, sculptor extraordinaire. Leonard designed the famous dolphin sculpture which adorns the entrance of the Baltimore National Aquarium and has exhibited internationally.
• Omniman, an artist with an MFA in printmaking who teaches at a metropolitan Philadelphia museum. He has been interviewed, among other places, in The New Yorker and has appeared on American, Japanese, and French TV.
• Urban Vegan, a writer by trade [MA in English] who has an undergraduate degree in visual arts, and in another lifetime, worked as a graphic designer.

Is this not the coolest initiative around? Find here the link to Urban original post and superb berry tart recipe, so that you can get inspired.
And let me remind you: Urban does not require you send her the tART, which you get to keep and eat at your leasure... another excellent reason to participate!

The Vegan Health Study

2006-08-02T23:23:00.000+02:00

You may have noticed we have put up a link to Vegan Health, a website meant to provide invaluable information for all vegans about our health and special needs.

We have also discovered there is an undergoing study targeting us, the vegan population. The Vegan Health Study questionnaire is a comprehensive survey designed to collect a wide variety of information on a vegan nutritional profile.

It is a pretty long test (not a quick fix!), taking at least 40 minutes to complete and comes with a number of advices about vegan nutriotion. Personally I would like to warn you about these advices: the medical terminology makes it sound liks us vegans are all at risk!

But for the rest, this is a truly appreciable effort to investigate segment of the population that is hardly ever taken into due consideration. The clinical summary for 2005 is already available and it a VERY interesting read (we are not about to die in the end!), not to mention the lifestyle guideline: wonderful in my opinion!

So, do your part! And take part!

http://www.veganhealthstudy.org/

P.S. and please come back to say what you thought about it!

Come with us to a Vegan Pic Nic in sun kissed France!

2006-08-02T23:04:00.000+02:00

Imagine: golden fields, a river nearbye, the birds singings, a colourful tablecloth laid gently on a patch of gren grass under a big tree casting shadow on you and no cheese. You are in the most charming part of France, yet no dairy, or meat or fish or anything non vegan is laid in front of you on the plates...
Even the ants are super happy of this beautiful, creative, original vegan picnic, so watch out!

With this recipe we want to contribute to Virginie's fantastic idea: a vegan picnic over at her space Absolutely Green. Go over to her blog to discover which other recipes are laying on the green green grass! In the meanwhile, we hope you like this recipe!

Zucchini Lasagna

The oginilar idea was taken from a recipe we saw over at the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen: the talented Susan made up there a lasagna using eggplant slices instead than pasta. Since our garden is overproducing zucchini, we took her idea and reworked it into this recipe, easy to carry around and tasty for vegans and not alike.

INGREDIENTS (yields about 4 servings)
-Zucchini, 600 grams
-Tomato Sauce, 2 cup
-Carrots, raw, 1 medium
-Onions, raw, 1 medium (2-1/2" dia)
- TVP, 0.5 cup
-Sun Dried Tomatoes, 10 pieces
-Nutritional Yeast, 4 Tbspn

PREPARATION
With a potato peeler slice lenghtwise in long strips the zucchini.Using a food processor, cut up the carrot, onion and sund dried tomato.
Boil one full cup of water, adding in any spices you like and hydrate the dry TVP in it. Mix the hydrated TVP with the chopped veggies with the tomato sauce and any spices you like. I suggest adding some vegan powdered buillon as well for extra flavour.
Cover with the zucchini strips the bottom of a square or rectangular pan: the zucchini, if cut thinly, should cover the pan with two layers or else the Lasagna will not cut up well. Place some of the sauce on the zucchini and then add another two layers of zucchini before placing on another layer of the sauce. Continue until you have finished both the zucchini and the sauce. Top layer should be the sauce!
Sprinkle on top some nutritional yeast.You can either bake or microwave this lasagna! Microwave at about 750 W for about 13 minutes or bake a 220 degrees celcius for about 30. Eat warm!

P.S. You can easily add some flax meal in the tomato and veggie sauce. It does not add any srange flavour and add a lot of great nutrients! Enjoy!

Weekly Veggie Tee

2006-07-30T04:03:00.000+02:00

I found so many vegan and vegetarian tee shirts, I am going to post one weekly!

Have a look at this one: it says Vegetarian/Vegan (same word apparently) in Irish Gaelic! Is it not cool?

So far found on eBay only.
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Reminder! You still have a few days to submit your recipe for the Vegan pic nic Virginie of Absolutely Green will be helding on August 2nd! Send in your recipe! Her blog is rightfully getting a lot of exposure in her native France and to help spreading the spark in the not overly vegan friendly Central Europe would be an excellent idea!

Vegan Heroes: Veggie Tales!

2006-07-24T15:32:00.000+02:00

First thing rejoice! Veggie bandages do exhist (bandages with Tofutti Cuties not quite though...)! So if you really have the urge of donning some funky coverage for your cuts, you can show your veggie pride (now, whether these are vegan and not tested on animals, it is a totally different deal: any news on this front is appreciated).
Produced by Curad, these promises a smile on any kid (and most adults too!) face (just be careful they do not start to cut themselves intentionally!)!

But bandages are not the only merchandise related to these cute animated veggies! A little further research gave me more insights into what exactly Veggie Tales are....

Mind me, having passed that age, I am not (anymore) following what happens in the kid afternoon television timeframe... I have never heard of Veggie Tales before but they may be as well very well known to you... I just discovered them now: allow me to burst out with happiness!

These vegetables heroes were first born in 1993, an idea from animator and storyteller Phil Vischer, and have grown with time to become movie and video stars! But not your regular "consumerism and money is our drive" kind of movie stars!
Veggie Tales are pretty much the Pamela Anderson of animation! In the mission statement of the producing house, Big Idea, you can read grand ideas like these: "the irresponsible use of popular media (TV, film, music, etc.) has had a profoundly negative impact on America's moral and spiritual health. The same media, used responsibly, can have an equally positive impact. The best way to improve people's lives is to promote biblical values and encourage spiritual growth", "our Core Purpose is to markedly enhance the moral and spiritual fabric of our society through creative media", "most major media companies today name shareholder value or profitability as their top priority. At Big Idea, our priorities are: people first, products second, profits third. Profiting is like breathing. As humans, we must breathe to live, but we do not live to breathe. As a company, Big Idea must profit to exist, but we will not exist merely to profit. Achieving our goal of building a top four family media brand takes a tremendous amount of capital, but we will never sacrifice the needs of kids or of our employees simply to increase our wealth".
I am a fan already!!!

Veggie Tales are regularly appearing in videos (my favourite title is Veggie Tales - Lord of the Beans: you gotta love them!), have produced a number of hit children songs, can be played with in online games (all with a parents guide) and have released a first movie in 2002 (which I totally overlooked, it seems!). But the big news is the following!!! Another movie is being produced by Universal Picture and will be titled: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, to be released in 2008, starring Bob The Tomato and Larry The Cucumber! Almost too good to be true!

And now there is hardly a product you cannot find with Veggie Tales characters on it! From bible holders, to gardening gloves until veggie shaped plush toys: much better than those hideous fleece ham and steaks of a couple of posts back!

But are these really veggie heroes? Premised I am not familiar with the videos or the movie, I am pretty confident these little vegetables have some strong pro-vegan feelings, since in their An Easter Carol video the eggs involved are made of plastic (and the hens are robots!!!)!!! Super!
They may just not for everybody if the religious twist (which is not present in each episode) is not for you, but nevertheless most of their production and the merchandise seems safe and filled with positive values!

A new generation of veggie kids is just about to be born????
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P.S. 1 - The lovely Virginie, of super cool gourmand blog Absolutely Green will be hosting a virtual vegan pic nic on August 2nd! Send in your vegan recipe, your food tradition, your favourite fdish, in any language you like! This is by far the freshest blogging idea seen in a while! Not to be missed!!!!

P.S. 2 - These veggies are cute but not enough Superman like to be called heroes? Next post will hit the spot!

And there is something as bad!!!!

2006-07-20T01:04:00.000+02:00

Did you think that the meat cuts stuffed toys were the bottom of human perversion towards animal? Hold on for a minute... there is worse. Or at least something AS BAD!
And what could it be? What can actually be worst than meat plushes??? If I had to answer this question without knowing what I actually just found, I would not know what to bet on... maybe meat shaped furniture?!!! Clothes? Cars?
It is worse than that!
Have a look... Bacon And Eggs bandages!!!! Are the meat eaters seriously so degenerate?!?!!
Why? How? When? WHO would want to wear bacon and egg shaped bandages??? I seriously have no clue... all I can say are the reasons why, once again this is not only not cool.... but totally crazy!

Reasons why if you want these, there may be something wrong with you...

-you actually are a vegan and think that via your skin, some B12 can be tranfered right into your blood from these: do not know what to tell you.... beside for this: get a shrink!

-you are a new veg*n terribly missing meat : you again??? I thought you got your fix already with the meat toys! You still miss meat so much? I am afraid veg*nism is not for you buddy! Go back to your meat eating diet and clear the scene from fakers, will ya?

-your wife is a veggie and so are your kids: you hope to instill in them some love for meat by using this bandages on their cuts and telling me "let the pretty bacon take care of you"... give up buddy! your wife will win the battle and you know it! Your kids already hate meat! The only thing you have left to do is to veg yourself: you know you want it.

-you loooove meat, your drool over it, but no bacon and no eggs these days: you need to loose 150 pounds! Hence, this visual substitute. Well my friend, if you had learnt that only animal products had cholesterole in, maybe you would have not helped yourself to those triple portions or bacon+sauges+ribs+eggs (of course) every single morning.... and now would have not to diet to save your life... We strongly advise you going veggie: your diet (and your cholesterole) would go so much better! Plus, let me remind you one more time, vegan boys are in high demand! (and this can actually even help you pump your post diet self esteem!)

-you think these are pretty and more original than the regular bandages: you surely are right. These are more original! But unfortunately people will not look at you in awe when wearing this: who would want to actually place fried eggs and bacon on skin? On wounded skin?? No sorry, these are not pretty. And if you did not understand the last time, let me show you where these are from and you will agree with me.

-you have the bizzarre need to get meat and eggs straight into your bloodstream: since you were unable to do tha using the real food version, you are trying with the bandages. This person is suicidal, please someone call a mental detention centre now! You really want fat and cholesterole from a corpse to enter in you? Jeez....

I feel dirty just at the idea of putting a slab of bacon on my arm, fake or otherwise.... and I am just not really sure in which direction this world is going! Is this some sort of secret conspiracy to pass on the message that meat is good? Anything I am missing here?

Anyhow, rejoice! After all this ugliness, a veggie hero is just coming you way... (check next post!)

And yeah, if you really need to know, these are from SproutHome.com (I thought it to be a pretty unlikely place to find meat supporters, but apparently I was wrong...).

Reasons Why This Is Not Cool

2006-07-14T00:59:00.000+02:00

We are all aware to live in a world of meat eaters, bound to see meat on others' plates, being advertized on tv, smelled on the streets.

Yet, I think most of us are umprepared for this: plush meat toys by Sweet-Meats. To add to the fact that this idea is pretty bad, they add also the following statements: "every order comes wrapped air-tight on its own tray and date-stamped to ensure super fresh flavor.
Most of our meats can be ordered in individual and family sizes". I wonder if these toys rots with time and smell terribly as well...
And for your information, the combo you see pictured does not come cheap, 70 USD, and they are selling a rib and a sausage chain plush toy as well...

Oh my, oh my...

Reasons Why If You Want This You Are Super Lame

-you love eating meat so much you want to cuddle it while you are sleeping: you are a total freak and your breath must smell really bad! Do not come near me!

-you are a vegetarian who still misses meat: you must be a newbee veg to miss that nasty stuff! Do not buy this toy: it will go away with time OR you are faking you veg*nism and you will go back to real stuff soon.

-you want this so that you can actually have the feeling to have skin contact if not with someone alive, at least with something that once was alive, under your sheets: if your last resort to get some meat to cuddle you is to buy this toy, you are the crowned king of lame men.. no wonder you are still single! Going veg would definitely bumb up your chances by the way: don't you know that veg men are highly sought after items since most veg are girls?

-you want to get this to your son to remind him of your job, since you are a butcher: change job, this is all I have to say. And yes, your son has many chances to develop vegetarian friendly feeling growing up and therefore will grow to hate this toy.

- you find this is pretty: wanna see the real stuff and how they are produced? I promise you will not even want to come close to meat again...

No sorry, I cannot find any justification. Meat is already bad on its own. And does not improve as a stuffed toy. The only way meat is pretty and enjoable is when it is alive. And if you ever got to a farm to spend some time with a cow, a sheep and a a pig, you would agree with me.

The Saucy Vegan dresses like this...

2006-07-11T00:10:00.000+02:00

Ok, so people around you don't know you are vegan. But they will find out soon. Since the barbeque you are attending is about to start. And no, you will not have the meat which is up on the grill: you will have the soy burger (grilled separately), the corn on the cob, the salad without the dressing, the weeds from the grass (depending on how lucky you are...).
And people will start asking/wondering/challenging you with the usual 1000 questions, which is by all means good to answer, firmly and politely, but that may not be entertaining for you... (come on people! I think I have said to half the world population why it is bad to drink milk? Is there seriously someone who still does not know?)

So what to do in order to get a bit more fun from that BBQ get together? Well, we say, stop hiding and attack first! Wear your saucy vegan message on you!
The challenged meat eaters will anyway sort of attack you because hit in the soft spot eating their bloody ribs while you are keeping your conscience clean... so coming out right away and make a statement of your veganism could be a good way to cut conversation short and to keep the meaties away for a while!

And these cheeky vegan tees seems done right for this purpose!

From VeganPride.com (which, by the way, is a Brazilian company! If you have always though South America is not for veggies, think it over!), this great MEAT GAME OVER message surely will make lots of eyebrows raise with amusement.

For the baldest ones of you, MerchRobot.com sells this super saucy message: SAVE A PLANT, EAT A VEGAN. Careful! This is tricky and super fun! The meat eaters will think to have found an alley, but a bitter vegan surprise is waiting for them!

Feeling informative rather than mildy aggressive? With a message like CAN YOUR MEAT DO ALL OF THIS?, this soy tee from Threadless.com is for you!

(by the way, this tee is not on sale right now: you can vote for it to make sure it gets printed: no registration required)

Not feeling any of this? Surely there is the usual and always cute "I am not nugget", "kiss me I am vegan", "Pro-Life, Save Animals" tees... but this post was titled the Saucy Vegan, was it not???

For manhood-proof, cuteness infused, tofu forward, internationally understood, angrily opinionated, music interwined, retro-looking, fashion oriented, stylishly modern (and even Irish-Gaelic targeted) vegan tees, there will be other posts! We honestly found so many that we had to break apart the intended "best vegan tee-shirts" post into chapters!
Because one thing is sure: there is something to fit every vegan taste bud not only with food, but also in the world of tee shirts as well! Wear your pride!

A few words with... Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe

2006-07-08T00:40:00.000+02:00

Another group of super cool people able to make of their veganism their job as well! How amazing is that? Your beliefs paying for your rent!
And where did I find these super cool people? On the internet: over at Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe! Which is owned, run and operated by the a super cute couple (and their cat!): Leigh, Ken and Cosmo!

What I immediately loved about their online store was that:

they named their shop after their cat: how cool is that?
the retro feeling of the name and of the graphics, inspiring a feeling of home made, safe treats, which in fact they sell
their fantastic mission statement, which made me sight with relief (someone IS doing the job for me!): "When you buy from Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe, you can be sure that the items you purchase are 100% vegan. Since we are vegans ourselves, we understand the frustration that can come with pouring over product labels. That's why we do all that for you. But we do much more than read labels. We also contact companies and get their assurance of a vegan product.
If a company can't tell us the source of a questionable ingredient, then we will not carry that product, period. No company that tests on animals will ever be carried by Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe. This guarantee includes our nutritional supplements, which we go to great lengths to make sure are free of lanolin, fish, dairy derivatives, etc. We may carry certain products from a company that also offers non-vegan products, but the items from that company we choose to carry will be completely vegan, and never tested on animals.
We also choose to carry products that are of the highest quality. For example, you will never find synthetic vitamin E in our supplements, or artificial sweeteners in our snacks". And since their product focus seems to be on body products, this assurance is especially relevant!

Could we not ask them how their veganism changed their lives? No we could not, so read and listen the words of Leigh and Ken themselves: they are truly profused of strong and kicking vegan ideals!

1- We already know that Leigh and Ken (and Cosmo!) are the proud owners of Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe. Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? How did the shop came about?

Leigh: Ken and I are both in our early 30's, and we are vegan for ethical reasons. We had the idea for opening up the store a few years before it actually happened. I was working as a buyer at a health food store at the time, so I was learning about which distributors carry the vegan products that we liked and how to deal with companies, sales reps, and so on. It made me feel more confident about my part in our potential retail business. Ken has a very logical business sense about him (from a previous business he owned at one time) and I knew that between the two of us, we could make it happen. We chose a vegan store because being vegan is a huge part of our lives, and because we love being vegan.

Ken: Leigh and I talked about running our own business shortly after we first started dating in 2001. We were both very much into the idea of starting our own vegan webstore where anyone could order without having to worry about reading labels. We wanted to guarantee our customers that every item on our site would be 100% vegan and cruelty-free. I had previously operated a hardcore/punk record distro/label, so I had a basic idea how start a mail-order business.

2-What motivated you to become vegan? When did you start? How was the process?

Leigh: I decided to become vegetarian at age 17. I was working at a pizza place, and I remember a manager there watching me eat some pepperoni and saying, “Do you know what that’s made of??” I laughed and told him that I didn’t want to know. That night I couldn’t stop thinking about the various pig parts that were probably in my pepperoni. I started looking into meat production, factory farming, and so on. There was no way I could continue eating meat after learning about all the cruelty. Soon after I phased out all of my leather shoes, belts, and purses.
I didn’t go vegan until Ken and I started dating. He had already been vegan for about four years, and being around him showed me how easy being vegan really was. I had always wanted to go vegan, but I the idea of it being too difficult had always stopped me. I’ve been vegan for five years now, and it’s definitely for life.

Ken: I first thought about going vegetarian as a freshman at Georgia State University in 1991. While doing research for an English paper on the ivory trade in Africa, I began to question my own actions, such as my diet, and how I affected other lives and the environment. Like some folks, it took some time for my dietary habits to shift and for me to slowly cut out the fast-food junk that I had grown accustomed to eating. Fast-forward three years later and thanks to some positive individuals in the hardcore/punk scene, I learned how easy it was to give up meat. I can say that the hardcore scene during the early to mid 90’s was a definitive time for veganism. Many bands, labels, and show promoters actively promoted the positive aspects of veganism. I then made the transition to veganism in 1997 when I officially wrote off cheese as viable food option. In all honesty, I suffered from cheese overload while on tour with an old band of mine. When I returned from the tour, I swore off cheese and have been vegan ever since.

3-You do some really serious checking over each product you carry: you mentioned you calling each and every company to figure out the exact composition of everything and refuse to carry a product if there are 'grey areas'. A very commendable and probably demanding process, especially thinking you stock a lot of body and skin care products! Is this difficult? How are companies responding to your enquires?

Leigh: Well, lucky for us, the use of animal testing is not nearly as common in the natural products industry as it is in more mainstream products. Staying mostly with the natural products industry (much like your local health food store) helps us, because the companies we speak to tend to be more open and knowledgeable about their animal testing policies. The same goes for ingredients. Basically, we just read labels. If a product is referred to as “vegan” or “vegetarian” by a company, but it has a questionable ingredient, we contact the company and give them a chance to tell us the source of the ingredient. If we get a solid answer, then we carry that product. It’s funny though, because even though a lot of companies are becoming more aware of where they source their ingredients from (mostly because of potential allergies in people) they are not always hip to the less obvious non-vegan ingredients. Just last week we received a packet from a sales rep where she wrote, “All of our products are totally vegan!” But the very first sell-sheet in the packet was for a product that contained both lanolin and beeswax. So even though it has gotten easier to find vegan products, we still have to be careful not to just blindly assume a product is vegan just because a company says so. We have to read every label. And I certainly don’t think that these companies are trying to be deceptive in any way, I just think that the concept of 100% vegan ingredients is still a bit foreign them. We try to be positive and educate these companies just to let them know that the demand for 100% vegan products is out there.
These days, more and more companies are starting up that are completely vegan. We especially want to support those companies and their products. We carry products from NuTru, Liz Lovely, Crazy Rumors, Tree Huggin Treats, Road’s End, Sweet and Sara and others who are either vegans and vegetarians themselves, or who fully support the vegan ethic. They advertise that their products are vegan, and have clear ingredient listings. We appreciate the chance to offer their products to the vegan community, and keep the vegan consumer’s money “in the family”, so to speak. How we, as vegans, choose to spend our money speaks volumes to companies everywhere. Show that the demand is there, and more vegan options are bound to become available.

4-Is Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe your full time job? How hard is it to target to a very narrow (yet super active and rightfully demanding!) slice of the market? And how easy was to open your online shop?

Leigh: Cosmo’s is more than a full-time job, it’s our whole life! Ha ha. We eat, sleep, live and breathe Cosmo’s. It takes up a lot of our time, but we love it.
As far as targeting our core market, I think we are getting the hang of it now. We run a lot of print ads in vegan publications such as VegNews, Herbivore, and Satya. We also have banner ads running on veg-orientated websites. Other than that, we rely on word of mouth. The folks in the vegan community are very supportive- we take care of our own. We are very grateful to be a part of such a compassionate, growing community.

Ken: Quite simply, almost everything we sell on our site is something we could easily sell to ourselves. Leigh and I are good critics of the items we sell and if we do not believe in the company or if we think the item is not good quality, we will not sell it. As far as running the business, it is definitely not as easy as it may seem, but I enjoy every second of it. At the end of the day, it feels great to be a positive part of the veg*n community.

5-You named your shop after your cat: is he vegan as well? Can you tell us more about him?

Leigh: I adopted Moe (Cosmo) ten years ago, when he was just six weeks old. I was a vegetarian at the time, but it hadn’t occurred to me to look into feeding him vegetarian. Later when I turned vegan, I seriously considered switching Moe to a vegan diet, and I did my research. What I found out did not make me feel comfortable about switching his diet. Being a male cat, I was very concerned with potential urinary crystal problems. I saw my best friend go through a difficult time with her male cat after he had a urinary blockage. Her cat almost died, but he had emergency surgery to remove the blockage and is doing well now. I didn’t want to test Moe out on a diet that does have a tendency to cause Ph and urinary problems in males. Even the folks over at VeganCats.com now suggest that male cats not go completely vegan: http://vegancats.com/pages/1007/FAQ.htm#1070
Because of this, I reluctantly decided to keep Moe on a diet of meat-based cat food. If we ever adopt a female cat or a dog, we would definitely re-visit the vegan companion animal idea.
Moe is a real joy to have around! He’s our baby. He’s very spoiled with love, toys, treats, and brushing. He talks to us and follows us around constantly. We just adore him. If you would like to see more of Moe, we have the “obligatory picture of Cosmo” each month in our e-newsletter. Anyone can sign up for the newsletter via our website.

Ken: Unfortunately, Cosmo is not a big fan of tofu, seitan or veggies. But, he has been known to run off with a potato or two from the dinner table : ) Seriously, I echo Leigh’s answer.

6-What's your favourite product and why? (Mine is the chocolate marshmallow, but I have not tried them all!)

Leigh: Hmm… there’s so many! I love the Liz Lovely Cowgirl Cookies. We love them so much that we served them at our wedding. Our family still mentions how good the cookies at the wedding were. I also love my Queen Bee Truckette Bag. It’s a real workhorse of a purse. It’s big and sturdy, and I constantly get compliments on it. My recent favorite is the Soy Whip topping. It’s perfect on top of a vegan ice cream sundae. Oh, and the Harb Chocolate Pecan Caramel Cup. It’s soooo good!

Ken: Wow, that’s a hard question because I like so many items we sell. I would have to agree with Leigh and say the Liz Lovely Cookies are probably my favorite. I would also include the Harb chocolate peanut butter protein cup, Sjaak’s caramel dark chocolate bar, Herbivore’s “Praise Seitan” t-shirt, Chocolate brownie Pure bars and the new Sweet & Sara vegan marshmallows (they are incredible). Do you see the chocolate pattern here?

I do see the chocolate pattern and not only for Ken, but for myself as well (and by the way that RiceMellow Creme seems developed for me, just for me, all must be mine...). I am super happy Cosmo is running such a great shop (to be a cat must not be easy to get all the respect he needs while doing businness!) but to be honest I am just glad I do not work there.. just imagine the scene: wrappings all over the place and someone with a sugar shock going on sitting in the middle of them with hands and face covered in melted chocolate and rice creme!
Leigh and Ken just got a lot of respect from me for actually be able to run their online shop without eating all their delicious vegan supplies before they can ship them out!

Meat can not be murder? Meet 'Artificial Meat'

2006-07-06T01:38:00.000+02:00

No, I am not talking about fake meat, mock meat or anything that want to taste like meat but it is made of x-y-z, all of these being vegetables... I am talking about REAL meat. Just not coming from an animal.

A few months ago I first read about a new experiment related to creating muscle tissue from one single cell: for my understanding it is a pretty standard procedure, which has already been used for years in a variety of medical applications (for example to produce new skin to transplant to patients with severe burns). However, the difference this time was that the purpose is to produce artificially grown muscle meat (here with a video as well)for human consuption... in the form of some sort of steaks!

As much as it first sounded as a joke, it is not at all: scientists are thinking of creating artificial (but on every biological aspect real) meat on a large scale for us to eat it!!!
I thought this idea to be pretty crazy but doing a little more research about this topic, I discovered that they are for real: the development of artificial meat has progressed a lot more than I thought and they are making it sound a less far fetched idea that what I had thought at the beginning.

The first big breakthough for articial meat happened a year ago, when the news that massive production was proven to be possible: "Scientists at the University of Maryland think that large quantities of artificial meat could be produced to supply the world with animal-free meat products, like chickenless nuggets. This is based on experiments for NASA, that created small amounts of muscle fibre cultured from single cells. According to the researchers, larger quantities could be grown in thin sheets and then stacked up to create thickness".

The reasons behind artificial meat are many, the most obvious of a commercial nature, even if developers are keeping in mind that "cultured meat could appeal to people concerned about food safety, the environment, and animal welfare, and people who want to tailor food to their individual tastes".
This experiment is not a one time and soon-to-be-forgotten event either: a non profit foundation to help develop artificial meat was founded, it is called New Harvest (it does sound very much like something that came out of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, does it not??) and on their website they declare that "one novel line of research is to produce meat in vitro, in a cell culture, rather than from an animal. The production of such "cultured meat" begins by taking a number of cells from a farm animal and proliferating them in a nutrient—rich medium. Cells are capable of multiplying so many times in culture that, in theory, a single cell could be used to produce enough meat to feed the global population for a year".

Now, the idea is definitely a bit shocking... and I am not totally sure what I think about it. However, for lay reporters it is VERY clear that the preferred (and in their eyes extremely thankful) target of this new product is us, the vegetarians and vegans.
Almost no article, aside for scientific papers which stick to the principle of science neutrality, mention artificial meat without talking about animal lovers, environmental activists, militant vegetarians! Let me just list here some of the newspaper articles that appeared on the subjedct to give you an idea: "It's time to stop killing meat and start growing it " (Washington Post and Slate), "Will consumers have a beef with test-tube meat?"(Globe And Mail), "Brave New Hamburger "(Village Voice), "When meat is not murder " (Guardian), "Why meat may not be murder " (The Independent).

The problem is... are we really a target for this possibly future product? I immediately asked myself what I was thinking about the issue, me being a vegan. And I am still pretty unsure whether this is ethical or not: I just know I am so turned off by meat that I would not eat it, even if coming from non animal sources (right now the starting for the cell culture is coming by animals but there are plans to totally ditch using animals all together, since this was the scientist's original purpuse)... On the other hand, if mass production was indeed possible, it could mean a huge relief from the terrible impact factory farming is having on the environment.

At last, what do you think? Would you abandon your veg*n habits if meat was made a healthy and completely cruelty free viable option? What is your position on this experiment? A marginal break thought that will never develop or the hope for humanity?

Submitted by G. Luisi

A few words with.... Beverly Lynn Bennett, AKA The Vegan Chef

2006-07-03T22:44:00.000+02:00

Ever since landing on her website, I always wanted to ask a few question to the woman, no, the chef, no, the brave food inventor, who started a site called The Vegan Chef. On her page, on my internet perusing among people who made of their veganism their job as well, I think I first found out that working as a vegan chef is possible, that a career in the cooking industry must not necessarily be a veg*n-free zone, thing that I thought not possible since in many vegan restaurant today the chef is a (male) meat eater who just settled with a job in a vegan eatery. Beverly proved me delightfully wrong! And shared some of her very inspiring experiences in being a vegan chef in a painfully oh-not-vegan-at-all cooking world.

Lynn, you have been a vegan chef for some time now. Did you go to cooking school as a vegan or vegetarian or you became one after? Was it difficult to be at cooking school as a vegetarian?
In the late 80’s, I became a vegetarian while pursuing my culinary arts degree at the University of Akron in Ohio. I had to deal with handling animal products to varying degrees while finishing my education, which was really awful. Most chefs are required to take classes on butchering techniques, not to mention all of the ways to cook meats. Fortunately, we were allowed to work in teams, and I was able to have other students do most of the things that I was opposed to. It was still horrific to even be in the same room. I began to focus more on baking, and less on the various line cook positions and stations, which allowed me to deal with meat as little as possible.

That's awful! I cannot image how bad butchering must be for a meat-eater, let alone for a vegetarian! When and how you became a vegan? What were your motivations?
As a teenager, I ventured into eating vegetarian with the influence of my synchronized swimming coach, both for the health benefits and to drop a few pounds, but unfortunately I did not stick with it then. It was meeting my husband Ray, who went vegetarian when he was 16, that changed everything for me several years later. Through him, I began learning more about the moral and ethical aspects of vegetarianism, especially the horrors of factory farming and animal abuse and suffering, and I began to question our society’s heavy reliance on animals. I began educating myself about all sorts of issues from animal rights and the environment to the health benefits of a plant-based diet, organics, and even special diets and food allergies. Ray and I began to eliminate more and more animal products from our diet and our lives, and in the early 90s we went vegan for good.

Your job definitely poses some challenges to a vegan: vegetarian restaurants are not very widespread (yet!!!). Has this been a big hurdle? Have you moved around more than your meat-cooking colleagues because of this fact? Were you ever forced to settle with working at a non veggie restaurant after you became a vegan? After graduating, I worked for various bakeries and took jobs in cafes that had as few meat offerings on their menus as possible, and I always tried to incorporate more vegetarian dishes wherever I went. I’ve never let being a vegetarian and now a vegan stop me from cooking or baking professionally. Rather, it encouraged and inspired me to independently develop my own style, talents, recipes, a website, and a writing career. Fortunately, I started working in vegetarian restaurants and natural foods store kitchens, and for the last decade I have been able to prepare only vegetarian food with almost all of it being vegan during the past 6 years. Wanting to cook or bake only vegan foods has dramatically reduced my number of opportunities as a chef, which is one reason I left Ohio, where I was born and raised, to relocate to the more veg-friendly city of Eugene, Oregon. The opportunities are still limited for vegans here, but there are still more than any other town that I know of. Things are getting better throughout the country for vegan culinary professionals as more and more people embrace the lifestyle and way of eating, so I am very optimistic about the future for myself and others that share my passion!

Chefs are often looked at as celebrities, the more our life revolves about food and the least we cook at home: how do other chefs look at you? Are they interested in your living and working choices or they just fail to understand? How different is your career when compared to theirs?
Reactions of non-veggie chefs to my chosen vegan path have ranged from ridicule to respect. Some have a genuine interest in the vegan approach to food preparation, while others can barely hide their disapproval or amusement. In recent years, with plant-based cuisine gaining more attention and acceptance than ever before, I’ve noticed an increase in a genuine and respectful interest in the way I cook (or uncook, if it’s raw) among fellow chefs. In terms of how a vegan chef’s career compares to that of a traditional meaty chef, we generally get paid less, for one, and we have fewer employment opportunities, for another. Ethical and moral concerns generally don’t figure a whole lot into the reasons that a traditional chef goes into the restaurant biz, whereas it’s usually the driving force behind a vegan chef’s. That and a lack of enough vegan restaurants to work in can often add another layer of complexity to one’s career. As vegans, we often have to create our own opportunities rather than have a wide assortment of already-established restaurants to work for. Traditional chefs may consider it just a job or paycheck but for me it’s more like a mission. I don’t always get paid as well as someone with my experience should, but money isn’t what motivates me. I love being and cooking vegan, and I want to share this with everyone else for their health, the animals, the planet, and our future.

There seem to be a tragical luck of a proper and established vegan cooking school. Yet, the demand seems to be pretty high! Vegans cook a lot, both because of interest, control over the ingredients and lack of vegan resources out there and many would like to attend cooking school. Why do you think a proper school has not been established yet? When will you start one?
Cooking schools are way behind the times in keeping up with food trends, to say the least. Veggie food sales have been increasing exponentially for the past decade or two, yet only a very few schools even offer vegetarian cooking as a course of study with maybe one or two classes thrown in on vegan, raw foods, or special diets. Why? I wish I knew. Vegan cooking schools are usually what people ask me about the most, whether in person or through my website. I direct them to the various schools that I know of, but many are expensive and not what they are looking for. It’s for this reason that I have been toying with the idea of starting something on my own here in Eugene. Not necessarily a formal cooking school, but more of a vegan cooking and baking instructional series focusing on specific topics of interest and skills that one could use in their everyday life as well as professionally. As vegans, when we see a void or the need for something, in this case a cooking school, we have to try to fulfill it ourselves. If we wait for someone else to do it, particularly those who don’t share our passion, it may never happen!

I was jaded to discover that a proper vegan cooking school may just be a few months away. As Beverly would out it, peas out!

Beverly Lynn Bennett has a more than excellent 'vegan pedigree' and I am in trouble listing here all her accomplishments. Here are just a few: beside for having her own website (which I am sure most of you are already familiar with), she is the co-author with her husband of the recently released The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living, has just relased her e-cookbook "Eat your Veggies! Recipes from the Kitchen of The Vegan Chef" with new, never released recipe, since 2002 has a regular column on the vegan oriented VegNews Magazine titled "Dairy-Free Desserts", which also recived the 2005 Veggie Award for favorite VegNews column.
And finally, along with personalities like T.Colin Campbell (authoer of The China Study), Carol J. Adams (author of The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory) and my beloved Dan Piraro (the vegan cartoonist), she is one of the invited speakers at the Vegetarian Summerfest happening between July 5th and July 9th in Johnstown, PA.
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For anyone in the area with nothing to do for the upcoming weekend, the Vegetarian Summerfest is still accepting registrations: in the participations fees all food is included and, you guessed it right, all food provided will be vegan and delicious! Unfortunately participations is not particularly cheap, but it included accomodation as well (doubles as well, if you are thinking of taking hubby along), if you are driving to get there. You can register for either the full lenght of the event of just for the weekend. If anybody end up there, please give us a shout: we want to hear your report!

Quinoa Contest Winner!

2006-06-30T23:59:00.000+02:00

And the winner is.... drum roll... Dori!
Congratulations to Dori for her California Quinoa Rolls, recipe with which she wins our very first contest!
This recipe really caught the voters eye for its originality: who would have thought to use quinoa to make Sushi?? As someone said, South America meets Asia, and the meeting is a flavourful indeed!

Truly deserved compliments to EVERYONE who entered! Every single recipe (see them all here) was mouthwatering good (we tried virtually all of them and they were terrific! Now the quinoa is over and our stomachs are totally satisfied!) and easy to follow too! No kitchen disaster while following any of them (and if nothing happened while WE cooked, you are pretty dead sure these recipes are dumb proof and terribly delicious) so you are very encouraged to try them out!
Thanks a lot to every participant for the great work!
To everyone who entered, please drop us an email for your well deserved price! Buttons (and blog makeover for Dori) are just a click away!

Now we definitey do not have any excuse to forget Quinoa in the cupboard!
To everyone who was motivated to buy some by these recipes, please remember to buy a kind which support fair trade: quinoa is a typical product of the Andean region and it is mostly grown in Peru', Bolivia and Ecuador. These countries are all considered as belonging to the Third World and also they rank between the worst in the global poverty scale, especially Bolivia: Boliva, Peru' and Ecuador sit in the list of the 35 poorest countries in the world, and they are together with other 2 South American countries and 30 African nations, the target of the Live 8 manifestation and movement happened on July 2nd 2005.
One of the people involved with The Vegan Club has been to those countries and the poverty which can be seen there is just painfully striking.
Quinoa is a great product to buy Fair Trade, since it is still mostly produced in those countries and, differently from cocoa for example, it is not yet a widespread product in the West, making choices easier: please help support Fair Trade. It can help one family, a female group or farmers, the building of a school (you can learn something more here).

This is the winning recipe, posted here as it appears on Dori's blog. Read here her original entry for more images and her own comments!

Dori's Winning California Quinoa Sushi Rolls

RICE MAKER MIXTURE
-2/3 C quinoa grain,
-3 Tbsp red split lentils (opt),
-1/4 C seasoned rice vinegar (it's sweet),
-3/4 tsp salt,
-about 1 cup diced veggies (4 shredded baby carrots, chopped canned mushrooms, and shallots sliced thin),
-1 1/3 C water.

PREPARATION
I made my quinoa in the rice maker. It took 20 minutes using a 1 part grain 2 part water ratio and salt. I am SO very impressed. This is a non allergen for my son and high in protein and has so many other benefits I don't know why I haven't used this grain sooner. I really like this stuff and these ecclectic sushi rolls I made with it. Click on and wait about 20 minutes, use when freshly done (while the grains are still somewhat wet and clumpy a little, after a bit they will separate to be more like a pilaf grain). Oh, don't use a cheap (non high temp) "rubber" spatula to get the grains out of the rice maker pot. I'm not telling why or posting pictures.
I was so happy to FINALLY pull out the bamboo mat that I got for Christmas last year (along with a book titled sushi for dummies). I scooped about 1/3 C quinoa grain onto my 1/2 sheet seaweed. Laid 2 thin sliced carrot, celery, and mushroom onto it and rolled. After making 4 rolls, slice into 1/4 - 1/2"pieces with a very sharp jagged knife. Here they are served with a side of my homemade pickled ginger (thanks for a food network pointer from amy's comfort kitchen) and Newman's Lite Sesame Ginger dressing. I really didn't think I liked this dressing until I dipped one of these into it and then decided to make a salad from the leftover quinoa. I added about 2 cups more chopped, shredded, or diced veggies to it and 1/4 cup of the newman's dressing. I will do this again. Good stuff, just don't expect to frig them and eat them later, they seem to dry out.

HOMEMADE PICKLED GINGER
-2 cups rice wine vinegar
-1 tablespoon salt
-1/2 cup sugar (or sub 1/2 tsp KAL brand stevia extract powder)
-1 small red beet, peeled and halved
-2 bay leaves
-1/2 tablespoon white peppercorns
-2 cups ginger slices, peeled (1/8-inch thick)

PREPARATION
Combine everything but ginger in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add ginger and turn heat down to a simmer for 1/2 an hour. Pull off heat and let stand until cool, about 1 hour. Place in jar and refrigerate overnight. Will keep for 1 month. Weird maybe, but I've been throwing some slices of this into my salad, topping with some lemon juice, sweetener, salt and pepper. I'm not raving about it, but it was pleasingly different. Maybe a little coconut will take this salad to the thai extreme.

Vegan Visuals

2006-06-29T23:01:00.000+02:00

What does vegan means? This is what the word vegan represents in the image world (as browsed on google): pretty cool, uh? But again, you KNEW you are cool! Believe me, meat eaters do not do half as good...

COMICS

PHOTOS

GRAPHICS

What's your favourite out of the above? We like a lot the SuperVeganMan! Got any more to share?
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P.S.1 - One of our member, Allie of A Vegan Life, has started her own cooking contest about vegan desserts: she is going to try each recipe and submit it to her family for ratings. We think this is SUPER cool since Allie is our youngest member (I am sure she is not very happy to always hear comments about how young she is: sorry Allie!) and she is just 14 years old!
Have you got a recipe for her? Send her one by email, after having read the rules here.

P.S.2 - July seems to be the great celebrations month: Canada Day on July 1st, Independece Day on July 4th and the Pres De La Bastille on July 14th! Wherever you are, happy celebration! I just rencelty discovered it is a custom for Indepence Day to eat read, white and blue food: pretty challenging to get anything but blueberries to count for the blue! If you are considering food colouring for your dishes and have missed the great baseball lunch at Vegan Lunchbox, have a look at this product from Vegan Essentials: vegan, totally natural and safe for everybody!

Vegan information overload

2006-06-28T17:39:00.000+02:00

You have probably know this for long. We reached this stage only now, after countless hours of browsing the net for vegan information.
We discovered that there is too much to talk about: too much to choose from!
We have run into stories of vegan vixens and vegan cartoonists, vegan country premiers and vegan company presidents, vegan weddings and vegan pastry shops. There is too much to talk about: vegan mints, vegan tanning lotions, vegan clothing lines, vegan conferences, vegan anything... all done by dedicated vegan people, like yourself. This is just too much to talk about!

So where to start? Maybe with one of the most bizarre news on the vegan planet.

The title of the article was definitely NOT promising: Vegetarian Artist to Eat a Whole Cow for Charity(here). It reminded me of a really nightmarous story many Canadians and Torontonians will remember (I am referring to the brutal cat skinning and beheading by the hands of the former vegetarian, self declared "artist" Matthew Kaczorowski) and I just was not impressed. but reading futher the story became a lot more interesting and filled with positive connotations:

(as appearing on PRWeb)
British artist Damian Hurst famously pickled whole animals. Now, a Portuguese vegan artist from Glasgow School of Fine Art has arranged an installation that will encourage members of the public to eat a whole cow. But is it art?

Glasgow, UK (PRWEB) June 18, 2006 -- 25 year old artist Zoe Birrell’s work is featured as part of Glasgow School of Arts’ Degree Show -- An annual exhibition of final year work from Fine Art, Architecture and Design.

The Times Newspaper and the Independent Newspaper have both chosen Glasgow School of Arts’ Degree show as the best Art show to visit in Scotland.

The Times said: "This is the best opportunity to discover artists before their reputations and prices soar; the Independent described the event as ‘one of the 'best degree shows' outside of London."

Vegetarian since the age of 14 and a Vegan for the last 5 years Zoe decided to explore the issues of intensively farmed animals related to her own femininity. The life of the modern dairy cow, kept perpetually pregnant and thus full of hormones whilst suffering the emotional stress of loss of her baby calf inspired Zoe to focus on these psychological and physiological issues and the ethical alternatives.

Zoe has cast her own body weight of delicious dairy free vegan chocolate, donated by Plamil Foods, into a herd of 420 chocolate cows, 300 of which the public will be invited to purchase and eat.

It’s hoped the money raised will go to a animal sanctuary such as Hillside where they can save the life of a dairy cow (who typically have a working life of only 2-5 years) or a male calf destined for the veal crates of Europe or catfood.

There will be a small booklet that accompanies the exhibition and discusses some of the wider issues relating to human health and nutrition and environmental concerns raised by treating animals the way we do.

The Exhibition at The Mackintosh building in Renfrew street is open to the public every day from 10 am to 9 pm until June 25th.

Glasgow School Of Art, Mackintosh Gallery, 167 Renfrew Street
Glasgow Lanarkshire G3 6RQ –
0141 353 4500 - http://www.gsa.ac.uk
From Jun 17, Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 10am-2pm, ends Jun 24 2006 Entrance - Free

Artist's Statement
A model of a dairy herd made from organic vegan chocolate composes the main body of this work. Each cow is a solid cast made out of 87% cocoa chocolate produced by a vegan company (in which no animal ingredients are ever used). The cocoa's from a fairtrade scheme in the Dominican Republic that pays particular attention to women's rights. The number of cows in this herd is defined by my own body weight (53kg) as this is the amount of chocolate being used for the casts. This makes a total of roughly 480 cows. Some of these will be used in an installation but the majority of them have been packaged as consumer goods and will be sold individually. All these cows have been made in a food safe environment and are intended for consumption. The funds raised from selling these model cows will be divided into two part: the first will be used to rescue and re-home a calve (who would be considered surplus and put down) from the dairy industry and find it a suitable and safe home to live in, the second half will be used to fund similar projects in the future. All the packaging used is, as far as possible, eco friendly. The installation space used a series of alternative ways of refrigeration in order to create an adequate storage environment for the chocolate.

At the core of this project there is a desire to look at the way we perceive and engage with ourselves, and other around us in the society we live in, be these human or non-human animals. I am also looking at how this affects the environment we live in. My role and place as an individual in this equation is manifest by my body weight defining the size of the herd. The fact that I am a woman and I am creating an entirely female herd is not a coincidence as this herd is the result of the exploitation of another animals’ sexuality. The use of fairtrade organic vegan chocolate is specific in that it highlights how our consumer habits affect the rest of the world. The use of ecological and sustainable alternative refrigeration systems is a reflection of the effects of cattle farming on the release of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. This work came about as a culmination of the collision of my love for other animals and art. It is the fruit of research, practice and education in both these fields.

Artist who interest me and have in some way influenced this work are people like Sue Coe, Janine Antoni, and Jethro Brice. Sue Coe’s prints intrigue me in that she is one of the few artists who used nonhuman animals in her work in a direct reference to themselves and welfare concerns surrounding them. In all my studies I have found that there are a lot of nonhuman animals in art but a very limited amount of art about nonhumans. Janine Antoni interests me in her use of consumables such as chocolate and lard to relate to herself. Jethro Brice’s work interests me in his engagement in the environment that surrounds us and almost his obsessive concern in making work from sustainable materials that have been recycled from the world around him.

Wow, I am glad and impressed! As bizarre this may sound (some website reporting the news thought it was pretty funny), the initiative seems sound to me: I have visited GSA (Glasgow School of Arts) a few years back and it is definitely on of the top 3 art schools in the UK if not the entire Europe. It is great to see such an awareness campaign to start from there! Go Zoe!

Plus, I confess I would gladly buy one of those small cows, even if slightly pricey for my pockets (5 pounds each for about 100 grams of chocolate)... and I would definitely be unable to hold myself from eating it!

Recipe: Delightful Millet

2006-06-25T11:59:00.000+02:00

Mind you, I wanted to title the post "Millet, the Friendly Stranger", since it rarely enters in my grocery list (I use it only in one recipe for soup, of all things) and despite loving it, as most dry foods, I tend to forget it in the pantry. So for me it is some sort of friendly stranger. But wait: that is also the name of a well known.... ermh.... herb shop. Not 'herbal': that place sells weed. Legally or illegally, I don't know. And since this wants to be a kid-save zone, that title started to sound wrong in my head: I do not want to promote any sort of smoking activity in here!

Anyhow, I will hand out the post to Danielle from Supper And The Single Girl now, who was so kind to donate to the club a fantastic millet recipe (very worth trying, especially if you like those half salty/half sweet dishes. I have also tried it with quinoa and dried prunes and raisins and it was delish!), which you can see pictured below.

DELIGHTFUL MILLET

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 cup millet
2 cups water
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1 tsp coriander
1 tbsp nutritional yeast

PREPARATION

Rinse millet in a strainer and set aside. Toast pine nuts until they brown a bit. Add millet and stir for about a minute.
Add water, dried fruit, and seasonings and stir until water comes to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Serve.

I have to confess I keep playing with the coriander and nutritional yeast amounts. I'm also playing with the instructions a bit.

Enjoy!

"Cooking with Quinoa Contest"

2006-06-23T16:02:00.000+02:00

Ladies and Gents, come and see the quinoa fair! Our first contest has started!

We asked you to come up with quinoa recipes and these are the wonderful recipes you invented! Compliments to everyone: your creativity seems without borders! From breakfast creation to desserts, quinoa has stretched over any meal! Thanks a million to everyone for joining in!

This is the list of wonderful dishes you have invented, published in the order I recieved them.

1- Dori at The Bakehouse - California Quinoa Sushi rolls
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2- Dori generously entered also this recipe - Quinoa Burgers
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3- Bea at Vegan Fields - Quinoa "blanc-manger" with lytchees & rose jelly (here in English)
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4- Erin at Zenpawn - Qalming Quinoa
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5- Melody at Melo Meals - Quinoa Sushi Salad
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6- Primary Consumer at A Day In The Life of a Vegan- Creamed Mushroom and Spinach with Quinoa
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7- Virginie at Absolute Green - Clafouti au Quinoa (here the recipe and here the post in English)
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8-Teddy at Fun With Your Food - Extra Simple Quinoa Recipe
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9- Vicki at Vegetarian Family -Toasted Quinoa Salad
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Please cast a vote!

We want to know what recipe you think is the best! Votes will be open for one week(closing date: June 30th night): to cast a vote, leave a comment mentioning either the recipe name or the entry number. You can also tell us what you liked the msot out of this recipe! The meter of judgement is up to you: criteria may vary! We just want to know what you think is the best! You do not need to be a regular here to express your preference!

Super Three Layers Chocolate Cake

2006-06-22T11:59:00.000+02:00

Today we had a (vegan) birthday in the "Club family". Hence, we though of a super cake to celebrate: by far our most daring cake project so far!

We truly liked the idea of a three layers chocolate cake with different fillings and so we decided to go that way. Using online resources and a variety of cookbooks, we finally came to this recipe (a bit improvised to be honest!): it seems VERY elaborated but it is not really. We managed to clean after ourselves and the final result was pretty worth the effort!

SUPER THREE LAYERS CHOCOLATE CAKE

INGREDIENTS

For the chocolate sponge layers:
(adapted from this recipe from Fat Free Vegan to be cooked in a microwave)
Biggest sponge:
-1 cup flour
-3/4 cup water
-one dash of salt
-2/3 cup sugar
-1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
-2 tablespoons cocoa
-2 teaspoons baking powder
Medium Sponge:
-1/2 cup flour
-3/8 cup water
-one dash of salt
-half a teaspoon natural vanilla extract
-1 tablespoon cocoa
-1 teaspoon baking powder
Smallest Sponge:
-1/4 cup flour
-1/4 cup water
-one dash of salt
-1/4 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
-1/2 tablespoon cocoa
-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the fruit fillings:
-one banana
-200 grams of cherries
-one and a half kiwis
-half a cup of soy milk
-150 grams of sugar
-agar agar flakes

For the chocolate filling and frosting:
-200 grams dark chocolate
-200 grams sugar
-half a cup of soy milk

For the pink icing:
-half a cup of icing sugar
-5 red cherries

Plus you will need three pyrex microwaveble deep dishes to cook the sponge cakes in.

PREPARATION
Start making the three spongy layers.
Start with the biggest one. Mix all ingredients and put in the largest pyrex deep dish, previously well oiled on the bottom and sides and generously dusted with cocoa powder (use a fine colinder for this operation, needed to take out the cake easily from the baking dish). Cook at 750 W for about 7 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. After the cake has rised and cooked, take it out of the pyrex using a lid or a plate (for us was enough to turn the cake upside down to make it come out easily). Put on a cooling rack and when the cake is at room temperature, slice it in two disks.
Do the same for the other two layers. The medium one should cook about 5.5 minutes, while the smallest one should cook for about 4 minutes.

While the layers cool, start preparing the fruit fillings, one for each sponge you made.
Start with the banana, which in our case went at the bottom. Put the banana in a blender and blend until it is a smooth cream. Add 75 grams of sugar, about 1 teaspoon of agar agar flakes and some soy milk to get a smooth, liquid cream. Put in a small pot and bring to boil. Boil until the cream starts to thicken. Spread on the bottom layer of the largest sponge cake. Cover with the other half.
Take the kernel out of the cherries and blend with 50 grams of sugar and 3/4 teaspoons of agar agar. Add soy milk as needed to get the same consistency of the banana cream. Put on the stove and boil until it thickens. Spread in between the two middle disks.
Do the same with the kiwi, adding the remaining sugar and just half a teaspoon of agar agar and place in between the two smallest disks.

Now, to 'glue' the three layers together, prepare a creamy and soft chocolate frosting.
Melt the dark chocolate with the sugar and the soy milk. Make sure all the sugar has dissolved. Spread a generious layer of cream on the top of the largest sponge and put the medium on it. Then coat the top of the medium layer with the same cream and put the smallest sponge in place.
Don't give up now! You are almost done!
Carefully fill all the holes with the chocolate cream and then proceed to cover with it the entire cake, proceeding from top to bottom. Make sure to put an even layer on the cake and to cover well all areas! Try to even the surface as much as you can.
Let the chocolate frosting set for at least one hours before doing anything else.

At this point squeeze in your hand the cherries (with a knife make some cuts on the cherry skin before, so to get out as much juice as you can), collecting the red juice in a small cup. Add in the icing sugar (enough to get a pretty solid consistency). This extremely simple procedure gave us a fantastically pink icing sugar (our celebrated one was a girlie!), just that shade of pink that screams 'artificial colourings!' Yet, it is totally natural! We were super happy of the result.

Put the icing sugar in a decorating pen (or a clean plastic glove with a small hole in one of the fingers) and decorate the three layers with the best design you can think of and let it set.

Wait for the candles to blow and slice your deliciously sinful three layers cake! Enjoy!
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We believe we got all the entries for the "Cooking with Quinoa contest" and we plan on opening the votes tomorrow. Any late comer?

People Watching: ENGINE 2

2006-06-20T18:16:00.000+02:00

Think well: what is the most unlikely environment to see people consuming vegan meals?

A gym? Ok, the guys on steroids are not very likely to gorge on tofu, but gyms are full of healthy conscious individuals, no? And within those, there must be vegans... Plus, we have proofs of the exhistance of vegan body builders if you thought making it a body builders gym would have done the trick. No, a gym does not sound like a good bet at all.

A poultry farm? I am pretty damn sure there are vegans in there! With what people must see everyday, who would not become one? Plus, there always is that occasional undercover animal right activist (who receives all our love), on sight to tape a shocking documentary.

A police station? Uhm... this seems a tough one. But we have faith there are some vegan policemen since at least one made it to on-silver-screen glory (Christopher Walken in the 2001 movie titled Scotland, Pa., in which he acts in fact as a vegan policeman).

A firefighter station? This must be it: one of the most unlikely environment on the planet to see people eating vegan. Firefighters, a bit like policemen, are those donut eating people with sky high cholesterol level and a friendly smile, no? No doubt they are heroes, but they are definitely not known to be the kind-on-the-animals type.

Yet, we are so glad to discover we were totally wrong! Thanks to a link from What Do Vegans Eat, we landed on the super nice Engine 2 website, collecting the bios, press articles, recipes of... 4 vegan firefighters located in Austin, Texas!

Almost unbelievable, right??? Yet, Lieutenant Scott Walters, Specialist James Rae, Firefighter Matt Moore, Firefighter Derick Zwerneman and Firefighter Rip Esselstyn are the living proof that stereotypes are false and that vegans are already to be found in every working environment and are soon to conquer to world!

These initially four, now five firefighters two years ago started an adventure that finished in press glory: motivated to cook for each other by their schedule, which sees them working a 24 hours shift every three days and pushed by alarming facts about cholesterole related health problems running in their own families (James Rae's cholesterol level was then sitting at an allarming 344 and he was coming with a family with a long history in heart diseases), they started a plant-based, whole grain diet.

Originally our heroes' wagons (this is the word used for meals in a fire station) were flexitarians, with the occasional chicken and fish, but in a year time they had turned to a strict vegetarian diet, based on the 4 foud groups, in their own words, "the fantastic four"(which is also a nice alter ego name for our firefighters heroes!): fruits, veggies, whole-grains and legumes. Now, in the name of their quest for health, they avoid all animal products! The perfect way to become heart attack proof, as it was in their intent!

Their adveture, which has turned Engine 2 into The House of Health (as you can see in the picture here), paved the way for many welcomed recognitions: not only the New York Times and National Public Radio wrote and talked about them, but they started reciving free meals from vegetarian restaurants, not to mention the great deal of interest they caused in the female population... Their collegues are stopped by attractive women asking if they are the 'vegetarian firefighters' and with requests for a calendar and their recipes!
(apparently the most popular one is Paul McCartney Enchilladas! Engine 2 has been so nice to publish recipes on their website)

Despite all this fame, Engine 2 cannot afford to forget about their duties: on the contrary, to promote their quest for health, they have developed the Engine 2 High 5 Challenge, to inspire all of us to follow a healthier life avoiding useless risks (in the end it is often up to them to come and rescue us from troubles we caused ourselves!):

EAT:
5 pieces of fruit each day
5 different colored vegetables a day
5 helpings of brown rice, whole grain breads, or whole wheat pastas a day

DRINK:
5 glasses of water each day

RECRUIT:
5 people to join you

WALK:
1 mile per day, 5 days a week

CHECK:
the batteries in your smoke detector the 5th of each month

As they say:

FIGHT FIRE - FIGHT CHOLESTEROLE - FIGHT FAT

and if we can add:

GO VEGAN!

Friendly Publication: The Vegan Passport

2006-06-19T23:53:00.000+02:00

The summer is here. And we all want/dream to travel: exotic destinatins, the white, soft sand, the hammock between the palm trees, the crystal clear water... Well, this sounds too much like a commercial for animal tested tanning lotion, does it not? So let's leave it at that: imagine what you want of your dream vacation! It does not matter what the setting is like: the important thing is that you manage to enjoy your vacation, including the food!
Because food can definitely be one of the biggest problems of travelling on a vegan diet...

You know how it is: if you have the luck to have a semi-kitchen when on vacation (often just a burner and a pot), you end up having pasta for days on end. If not, it is a hit-or-miss kind of deal: supermarket, bakeries, street joints... And often you are not able to find much at all. Everything looks tempting and at the same time not vegan, the ingredients lists on supermarket products are written in.. oh! Czech! Swahili! Korean!

Damn it! There must be a way to find vegan food without wasting hours otherwise devoted to sightseeing on this nerve wracking hunt!

Well, rejoice! Apparently there is a way! Some fellow vegan has investigated the problem and has come up with a brillian solution. The Vegan Passport was born!

The Vegan passport is a great little book first published in 1996 and written by George Rodger, chair of The Vegan Society, and just recently (not even a year ago: July 2005) re-edited. What's in it? Basically it is a way for vegans to communitcate our needs with restaurant/supermarket/street seller staff in order to grant ourself a vegan meal while travelling the world!
But there is more! Read on to find out!

"The essential passport sized travelling companion for vegans has now increased from 38 to 56 languages, covering 93% of the world's population, with a page saying what vegans do and don't eat in great detail. Let the waiter show it to the cook and you'll be sure of a totally vegan, animal free feast in restaurants anywhere even if no one speaks a word of your language. Includes:
English,
Afrikaans,
Albanian / Shqip,
Arabic,
Basque / Euskera,
Bengali,
Bulgarian,
Catalan,
Chinese,
Croatian / Hrvatski,
Czech,
Danish,
Dutch / Nederlands,
Finnish / Suomi,
French,
German / Deutsch,
Goan / Konkanim,
Greek,
Gujurati,
Hebrew,
Hindi,
Hungarian / Magyar,
Indonesian,
Italian,
Japanese,
Kannada,
Korean,
Malagasay / Malagache,
Malay,
Maltese / Malti,
Marathi,
Mongolian,
Nepali,
Norwegian / Norsk,
Persian / Farsi,
Polish,
Portuguese,
Romanian,
Russian,
Serbian / Srpski,
Shona,
Sinhalese,
Slovak / Slovensky,
Somali,
Spanish,
Swahili,
Swedish / Svenska,
Tagalog / Filipino / Pilipino,
Tamil,
Thai,
Turkish,
Ukrainian,
Urdu,
Vietnamese,
Yoruba,
Esperanto."
(source: Vegetarian Guides- mapping the world for vegetarians and vegans)

Now. We think this is definitely a comprehensive list! Unless you are going to... uhm... the north pole?
Anyhow, consireding the passport is not very expensive (about 7 US $ and it pretty easy to carry!), it is a excellent thing to keep handy when abroad!

We suggest you to make sure to buy the updated, most recent edition, thing you cand do from the following websites (buying from these directly means helping these companies instead than giant online sellers like Amazon, which has anyway run out):

-The Vegan Society Online Shop
-Vegetarian Guides (shipping worldwide)
-Food Fight

Not going all the way to the Philippines but still worried about finding vegan food? There are other guides which may just be for you. We particularly like:

-Vegetarian Europe: "Edited by Alex Bourke & 29 bilingual Veggie Guides authors.
Detailed descriptions include animal, dairy and egg free dishes and desserts, plus prices and opening hours, for a wonderful holiday in 23 countries from Scotland to Greece, Portugal to Russia. Plus veggie vocabulary, maps and addresses of local groups for long stayers" (here you can read a sample about Paris and here about Prague).

-Vegetarian France: "By Alex Bourke & Alan Todd. Researched by France's leading vegetarian publishers Editions La Plage, translated and adapted by Veggie Guides founder Alex Bourke, who lived in France for two years".

-The New Spain - Vegan & Vegetarian Restaurants: "By vegan chef and restaurateur Jean-Claude Juston. Over 100 vegetarian and vegan restaurants throughout Spain, Mallorca and the Canary islands. Also things to do in each area, places to see and shop, bookshops, cinemas, tourist offices, vegetarian magazines and websites and associations in Spain, and even some Spanish vegan recipes, for when you get home".

-Vegetarian Israel: "By Mark Weintraub. More than just falafels, Israel is a vegetarian and vegan paradise. Includes restaurants in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Haifa, Tiberias, Galilee resorts, Moshav Amirim, and top winter destination Eilat on the Red Sea. Also health food stores in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa".

-Vegan Guide to New York City: "By Rynn Berry & Chris Abreu-Suzuki with Barry Litsky. From Harlem to Wall Street, Manhattan is vegan and veggie nirvana. Over 100 restaurants plus health food stores, ethnic cuisine, famer's markets, raw food places, top 10 juice bars, bookstores, even where to buy vegan shoes".

-Vegetarian Britain 2006: "Edited by Alex Bourke. This new edition has over 25% more entries, more maps and indexes. 170 vegetarian, vegan and veg-friendly hotels and guest houses. 600 cafes and restaurants. 500 city center wholefood and health food stores" (you can read a sample here and see some of the pages here).

-The Vegetarian Traveler : Where to Stay if you are vegetarian, vegan, environmetally sensitive: "By Susan Civic. The Civics are the owners of Environmental Travel, an agency that caters specifically to the vegetarian community. Here they offer a travel guide of accommodations for vegetarians, vegans, and the environmentally sensitive, listing bed-and-breakfasts, spas, and hotels worldwide".

-Veg Out Vegetarian Guide to San Francisco Bay Area: "By Michele anna Jordan. Gibbs Smith, Publisher, offers two new installments in our groundbreaking new series of restaurant guidebooks for vegetarian and vegan diners. VegOutTM vegetarian guide books virtually eliminate the difficulty of finding vegetarian and vegan offerings in a world of shish-kabob street vendors and hot dog hawkers".

Any other book you have sampled? Share your knowledge with us!
And see you at that tiny vegan joint in Malaysia!

P.S. Not even 5 years ago, a book shortly appeared on the shelves of Chapters. We cannot remember the title but was a 200 about pages paperback book working on the same concept of the vegan passport: many languages featured and a lot of sentences to ask for vegetarian/dairy free/vegan meals in the most unlikely languages spoken on the globe. We bought one as a present and did not pick up our own copy. Anybody has it or know the title? It seemed an excellent vegan travelling reference book, we would love to be able to find somewhere!
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Still about the topic of vegan travelling, have a look at one of our newest member page: What Do Vegans Eat. The interesting thing of this page is that anybody can log in and publish pictures and reviews of vegan food you find on your way to work/at the local market. We think it is a great idea to provide locals as well as passerbys directions to vegan food in your own area. So if you have pictures and directions to spare, take a moment to log in your entry, wherever you are on the planet! Your imput may be useful to other vegans : )

Spotlight on a Website: DA VEGAN CODE

2006-06-16T18:49:00.000+02:00

Shhhh... Don't tell anyone! Did you know of the exhistance of a secret society, named Da Illuminati di Veganique Ancienti, holder of the ancients, hidden secrets of Da Vegan Code?
As much as you may think I made it up, I claim not to know anything about it: KleoPatra, over at Pisces Place, a few posts back linked to this page (is she a member maybe?), and, since it is our desire to present you with the best of the vegan world, I had to dutyful investigate the matter.

For centuries Da Illuminati di Veganique Ancienti have preserved the code and kept it secret, bearing struggles and fighting battles: many men and women have died, others have survived, passing on their (vegan) children the bearing marks of Da Illuminati di Veganique Ancienti secret society, which is still thriving today.

Not much is known about them and their secrets are still hidden in the deepest mystery, but recently the society has revealed through Da Vegan Code website some of their beliefs, 'revealing that the code of ethics began long before carpenter Donald Watson first coined the word vegan and founded The Vegan Society in 1944. The Vegan diet and Vegan code of ethics that Da Vinci advocated 400 years previously shows clearly that vegan values are truly ancient and far from being a modern phenomenon. Da Vegan Code has origins reaching back to the dawn of mankind'.

But that is not all: a mysterious decalogue of rules (possible meant to initiate novices into the secret society) also appeared.

1) ABSTAIN from the Eating and Wearing of beasts

2) AVOID the Exploitation of all living creatures

3) Tread lightly upon the Earth for the benefit of People , Environment and Animals

4) Seek out Health and Happiness

5) With Knowledge comes Responsibility disperse it wisely

6) Vegducation is salvation - spare no one

7) Seek out the truth - The Sharpest Sword

8 ) Spread Chocolate generously - especially on Loved ones

9) See, Hear , Listen, Smell, Touch, Think - Taste Nature's Force

10) Shine brightly and Illuminate the World - Pity those swimming the Wrong Way for they may drown.

Pretty mysterious, uh? It's a secret society in the end (by the way, I especially like number 8!).

It is all too intriguing not to investigate further, so I decided to test it all out on myself and undergo the procedure needed to become a novice of the secret society: if I survive, I will present you an accurate report about the hidden secrets of veganism.

If I do not, I guess I should inform you now that Da Vegan Code, as it is, rocks! Their website is the funniest spin-off the much more boring Da Vinci Code I have seen so far and an excellent counterculture idea! Way to go for using mainstream mass products like this book/movie to promote veganism!

Also, if you click on the 'Shop' button, you are presented with a super exclusive selection of uber trendy t-shirts, aprons (one of my favourites: who would not want a kitchen apron saying "Secret Society Of Vegans"?)), buttons and what not, all shipping worldwide! So if you need an extra t-shirt, you want to check out their selection.

My dear fellow vegans, I bid you farewell: we may never see each other again if I die in the process, but may the though of your make me stronger in the hard journey I have in front of me: Da Vegan Code, here I come!

Sunday Update.

The mystery just get thicker and deeper.... an anonymous (they are a secret society in the end no? there are sooo mysterious) claimed that Da Vegan Code and The Secret Society Of Vegans are unrelated: well, nothing too strange here, this is obviously a move to make things as unclear as possible. I am telling you, we are already uncovering some of their secrets! Anyhow, if you want to investigate the matter further, the SSOV (Secret (keep this word well in mind!) Society of Vegans) has indeed a separate website you can view here (keeping in mind there are two links to this page from the Da Vegan Code homepage: things are getting confused... time to get out my Sherlock hat!).

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You are all still in time to drop by here and leave a quinoa recipe! Just a reminder!

S.P.Q.R.

2006-06-15T21:20:00.000+02:00

You will excuse me for writing something so far fetched. But outside of our friendly and welcoming vegan circles, being vegan in today's society is far fetched. Hence, I though that moving at the fringes of the culinary discussion may be interesting.

What did i do? I went looking for old recipe books, to find proof of vegan dishes dating back in the centuries. But unhappy of that (we all know how our ancestors were unable to put meats on their plates most of the days, therefore, unsurprisingly, vegan recipes abunds in old cooking text), I went as far as I could strech it in history: the first cookbook recorded in the Western World that has survived to us, De Re Coquinaria, written by Apicius, in the last decades of the 1 st centuryA.D. Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the ancient Rome!

First a few words about the author and the time this recipe book was written.
Marcus Gavius Apicius (you can find some information about him on ViciPeadia, that's right folks, WikiPedia in LATIN! Alternatively, here in English) was one of the greatest gourmet of his times: he was so in love with food that the legend states he suicided because scared of dieing of starvation, unable to afford the sumptous banquets he got famous for, when he ran out of money at the end of his life: fear of death by starvation caused him to take his own life!
He wrote in the 1st century A.D., in the high time of the emperial era of the Roman Empire, closed the Republican time with the deth of Ceasar in 44 B.C. While the Republican time was a period when morigeration was considered a sign of virtue and was applied to as many public and private occasions as possible, with an emperor sitting on a throne things changed dramatically. The presence of one family dominating clearly above all the others meant that everybody tried to show off their money in every way possible: morigeration was thrown to the wind, and display of luxury became the rule.
In fact Apicius wrote the De Re Coquinaria as a guide for the lucullian banquets of his time: and indeed he was a contemporary of Lucullus himself, even if likely the two weren't friends since Apicius never make any reference of him in his book.

Was I going to find vegan recipe in this book, almost 2000 years old, together with recipes to cook cranes??? Well, keep on reading to discover!

I have been having this short book for years, but put off from the introductory chapter on minced meats, I never gave it too much thought. Until curiosity clicked in. And I became able to skip chapter I and II to land pretty safely on chapter III: Cepuros - The Vegetables.
Do not think this is a classic recipe book: there is no ingredient list nor exact quantities. Everything is pretty approximated, since anyway a scale was not a kitchen tool at the time! Each recipe is just given a title and the preparation instruction, giving the chef an idea of the ingredients to be used. Nevertheless, each recipe is pretty clear and not hard to follow.
Also, remember that Romans cooked without potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, chocolate and lots of other ingredients that are staples of our diet nowadays. Cherries had just ben introduced, honey was the only sweetener known, desserts were pretty rare and seldom prepared.
Yet, the recipes are interesting and they seem pretty tasty!

In my browsing throught the chapters, especially the III and even more so the V, titled Ospreon - The Legumes, I found a number of recipes based on vegatables, legumes and fruit. And, hidden in the lines, even a hiddedn gem: the reference of an ente-litteram vegan!!!
This little discovery made my day! The first recipe for moist bread is named after Didus Julianus, Roman emperor who was said to eat vegetables only! Now, this emperor was not particularly famous or deserving praise (as a matter of fact he does not seem to be a ruler gifted with a strong sense of morals, since he got his title basically with bribe): nevertheless, I am willing to break a lance in his favour, since he was a vegan in those ancient times (think! No carob chocolate, not vegan ice cream, no vegan chips available. No wait: none of this exhisted in the non vegan variety anyway!).

And flipping the page over, voila'! I found my vegan recipe: "Fave beans cooked at the manner of Vitellium". It has been a pretty hard task and for a pretty silly reason: while vegatbles based recipes not calling for meat, fish or dairy abunds, I had not kept into account the fact that salt in the Roman times was a luxury good and not very widespread. For this reason, to flavour food, most recipes calls for (a pretty nasty) fish sauce. But swapping it with salt, many recipes are easily veganized.

This one does not even need that extra step. So I cooked and taste and approved the flavour!
The onyl thing you are left to do is to treat yourself to a 2000 years old recipe!

Snow Peas or Fava Beans at the manner of Vitellium

Pisam sive fabam vitellianam:
Pisam sive fabam coques. Cum despumaverit, mittis porrum, coriandrum et flores malvaru. Dum coquitur, teres piper, ligusticum, origanum, feniculi semen, suffundis salem et vinum, mittis in caccabum, adiecies oleum, cum ferbuerit, agitas. Oleum viride insuper mittis et inferes.

And now in English, shall we? Keep in mind I improvised quantities, so feel free to change amounts as it feels good.

INGREDIENTS
-240 grams cooked or almost cooked fava beans (can be substituted with snow peas)
-half a leek
-coriander
-some malva flowers (it is a medial plant I was so luck to discover in my garden: looking at the picture should give you and idea of how they look like, but if you do not find any, no worries. In my opinion their presence did not change the taste that much!)
-one stem of wild (or regular) celery
-some fennel seeds
-oregan
-about a third of a cup of wine (I used white cooking wine)
-olive oil
-pepper
-salt

PREPARATION
Cook the beans or peas. When they will have produced the typical foam, remove it and add the sliced leek, the coriander and the malva flowers. While the beans are cooking, grind some pepper together with the fennel seeds, the oregan and the celery. Add the mixture to the beans and add the wine, salt and a tablespoon of olive oil. Stir when boiling and when ready, serve with a teaspoon of olive oil on top.

The oregan, coriander, fennel and celery add quite a bit of flavour to this dish: dose to fit your taste. I served the fava beans just like that, but I guess they would go well on a typical cereal of the time: bulgour (cracked wheat). Otherwise, if you are ok loosing the historical fidelity of the recipe, they could taste even better on steamed rice.
Enjoy!
By S.P.Q.R. (Senatus PopolusQue Romanorum = the Senat and of the People of Rome, to whom this recipe belong and who have gifted us with it today)!

P.S. Given the fact that Apicius has been dead for over 1900 years, we could not get permission from him to repost this recipe. Nevertheless, we are pretty sure he would be pretty happy to see his recipes prepared in today's kitchens, after so long since they were popular!
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Once again, we would like to compliment Virginie of Absolute Green: not only she managed, at her total surprise, to be featured in the super prestigious Elle Magazine (French edition) as one of the favourite food blogs of the editors, but she was also mentioned in the newspaper Ouest-France, as one of the most interesting blogger of the city of Nantes! Once again, deserved congratulations!

The “forgotten” fifth flavour: Umami

2006-06-13T17:18:00.000+02:00

By Bryanna Clark Grogan

Ever wondered how to make your cooking something special? I am always in pursuit of flavor, partly because I love full-bodied, savory dishes, and partly because I want to show vegans how you can make wonderfully tasty plant-based cuisine.

It was no secret in Japan or China, but only recently has the West heard about “the fifth flavor”: umami in Japanese, or xian in Chinese. (The first four accepted flavors were sweet, salty, sour and bitter.) Our tongues (through special receptors in our taste buds) can detect these five basic tastes. The other flavors we know are combinations of those basic tastes and are recognizable with the help of our sense of smell. (We have more than 300 receptor genes that, between them, account for every possible flavor known to man.)

The term umami was first popularized by the scientist Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University in 1908, but xian goes back to 3000 year-old Chinese book called the “Yellow Emperor’s Book of Internal Medicine” (thus it is sometimes also called the “forgotten flavor”). Although physiologists have long known the chemical compounds that provide its taste, only recently (in this decade) have they discovered the human tongue's receptors for umami. Particular amino acids and nucleotides, produced in foods when enzymes break down their proteins (through cooking or fermentation), stimulate these receptors, which then message our brain to register the deliciously savory taste of umami.

Heston Blumenthal wrote in The Guardian:
“In the west, for years we've used fat to add richness and fullness to the food we cook. In the Far East, however - and in Japan in particular - that added richness has long been provided by foods with a high umami content, most notably kelp and konbu, the dried seaweed that is used to make that versatile and essential Japanese broth, dashi. This broth really does lend a full-ness of flavor and a meaty tone - and with none of the fattiness that comes from using butter or cream, either.

Ikeda looked at the constituents of konbu, and found that the umami character was created by the presence of glutamates. It has since been found that other substances also carry these properties, notably inosinate and nucleotides. When foods containing these were combined in the right proportions, it was found that the umami character was magnified quite substantially.”

Actually, there are studies showing that umami-tasting compounds have magnifying effects on one another—combining two umami compounds produces 8 times more flavor than you would get from a single umami compound alone! A flavor explosion!

Although difficult to put into words, umami has variously been described as “savoriness”, “deliciousness”, “meatiness”, “tastiness”, “mouth satisfaction”, “the good taste of food”, or “brothlike”. I particularly like the definition “essence of deliciousness”. “Umami can be described as intensity, what helps us determine whether we like something or not, and carries a whole constellation of physical reactions,” says Doug Frost, Master Sommelier and Master of Wine. As Seattle Post-Intelligencer food writer Hsiao-Ching Chou wrote: “Explaining umami can get a bit convoluted. But, your taste buds understand, and that's what matters.”

What plant-based foods contain umami compounds? Fermented foods such as soy sauce, miso, balsamic vinegar, and wine (which also has its own special flavor-enhancing qualities—but that’s another column!); dried shiitake or matsutake mushrooms; sea vegetables; green tea; vegetarian bouillon; tomato juice and other tomato products. Browning foods by sautéing, grilling, and caramelizing also produces umami compounds.

Umami is a powerhouse in meatless dishes, where it supplies the robust element that usually comes from meat or poultry. Try it yourself, by using deeply browned, or caramelized, onions in a vegetarian soup or stew, for instance, or in the following easy recipe, which employs Chinese ingredients containing umami compounds to produce a richly satisfying dish from what many consider to be a bland food-- tofu. The mushrooms are utterly delicious when cooked this way. An explosion of umami!

BRYANNA’S BRAISED TOFU WITH CHINESE BLACK MUSHROOMS
Serves 4
From my book, Authentic Chinese Cuisine for the Contemporary Kitchen.

- 12-14 oz. Oven-Fried Tofu (see below)
- 10 dried Chinese black mushrooms, soaked, stemmed, then cut in half (save soaking water)
- 2 green onions cut into 1" lengths
- 1/2 T. oil

Braising Liquid:

- 1 c. vegetarian broth
- 1/4 c. of the saved mushroom soaking water
- 1 and 1/2 T. soy sauce
- 1 tsp. vegetarian stir-fry sauce (vegetarian "oyster" sauce—Lee Kum Kee brand)
- 1/2 T. dry sherry
- 1/2 tsp. sugar

Finishing:
- 1/2 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 T. cold water
- 1 tsp. Asian roasted sesame oil

Heat a large wok or heavy skillet over high heat. When hot, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the green onions and soaked mushrooms and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the braising liquid ingredients and bring to a boil. Add the Oven-fried Tofu and let the mixture boil until it reduces by half, which takes 5-10 minutes. Add the dissolved cornstarch and stir until it thickens, then stir in the sesame oil.

OVEN-FRIED TOFU

Use firm tofu. Pat dry. For triangles, cut the block in half crosswise if the block is rectangular rather than square, then each half in half horizontally. Then cut each of the four resulting pieces into four triangles. For cubes, cut into 1/2-1" cubes, depending on your needs.

Place the tofu on dark oiled cookie sheets (dark sheets brown foods better) and oil the tops lightly, using an oil-spray mister or a brush). Bake at 500 degrees F, 5-7 minutes per side, or until golden and puffy. These may be frozen for future use.
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Article, photo and recipe reposted with author's permission.

Thanks a lot Bryanna for one of your always fantastic gourmet recipes and for the really interesting article!
Bryanna is currently working on her next eBook, which will be about Seitan and that we cannot wait to read. Currently, she has also opened a contest to decide on the book title: the winner will recive a free copy and that is the best incentive for all of us to come up with an interesting title and drop our suggestion on her page!

Spaghetti squash with basil, sweet tomatoes, shallots and olive oil

2006-06-12T18:10:00.000+02:00

After titillating our taste buds with the pictures of this dish from her site, Teddy is now kindly sharing with us the details of this great recipe! It looks so yummy I am calling all the supermarket of the area to find out who is now selling a Spaghetti squash (unfortunately, I am not having much luck...)

First a few nutrional facts:
Spaghetti squash originated in Mexico/Central America. There are different varieties, with interesting names as "Orangetti", originally developed as an orange varity in Israel in 1986, and "Hasta La Pasta" (!!!), more similar to zucchini.
Spaghetti squash is considered a fruit: the flesh is very low in calories (50 per 100 g edible portion VS. about 350 calories per 100 grams dry pasta), an excellent source of folic acid, high in fiber, contribute a fair amount of potassium, and small amounts of vitamin A to the diet, and are very low in sodium (source)
The more yellow the squash, the more flavorful.

Spaghetti Squash can be baked, boiled or steamed, and served with sauce as for pasta.

Spaghetti squash with basil, sweet tomatoes, shallots and olive oil

What you need:

-1 Spaghetti SquashBasil (preferably fresh)
-2 Tomatoes (Roma or vine fresh)
-1 Shallot (you can use one small -onion and some garlic if you cant find shallots in your area)
-Olive oil

Preparation:
Slice the spaghetti squash in half length wise. Rub on olive oil, salt, pepper and some finely chopped basil. Place plastic wrap over the squash and put it in the microwave for about 12 minutes (until the flesh of the squash is easily removed with a fork).
While the squash is microwaving take out a large skillet. Place chopped shallots, tomatoes and olive oil over medium heat. Saute for about 5 minutes then add in some freshly chopped basil.
Once your squash has finished, fork out the insides and spread your sauteed mixture on top.

An easy oven free, summer time meal!

Recipe, words and images reposted with author's permission.

CONTEST! Cooking with quinoa!

2006-06-12T16:29:00.000+02:00

As anticipated a couple of days back, we have got our first vegan cooking contest lined up, on the theme of "Cooking with Quinoa"! We are hoping to present different and creative ways to prepare this highly nutriotious and delicious cereal!

So, how it does work? Starting today you can send in by email your recipe, or alternatively you can post a comment to this message with the URL of your blog where the recipe is already published. Ideally, everyone should have on their blog their quinoa recipe, so to allow people to visit your blog and learn more about your page! But you do not need to publish the recipe right away. If you want you can first send it in via email and then publish it later on, when the contest will officially open: all I need to know is that you will have a quinoa recipe on your page during the week of the contest.
When we get 7 or more, we will open the contest and let people vote from this page for what they think is the best recipe! If you know you want to submit but you still need some time, leave us a message and we will wait for your recipe to open the contest. Votes will be casted for one week.

What is up for grabs? Since we are unable at the moment to offer vegan goodies, we have decided to offer :

an original button of your own site to each contestant, to show with pride on your own blog and to allow others to put on their site
a blog/site makeover for the winner: if you think your blog could do with a change of look (how dramatic, you decide: we are committing ourselves to go as far as our knowledges can go), or if you are tired with blogger standard templates, all you have to do is to enter the contest with the most amazing quinoa recipe on the planet!

All courtesy of Jo, who kindly did all the design job for this page.

There are just a few rules and guidelines you need to follow:

the recipe must be either original (never published previously) or recently published on your blog
you can use one of your old recipes, but you must change it a bit, so not to post an all time favourite we have all tried in our kitchens before
it would be best to have a picture of the finished dish as well
do you need to be part of this club/registered to participate? no: everyone is welcomed, as long as you keep it vegan!

Pretty simple no? If you have any questions, just ask.

Beside for the contest, we have other things coming up: today's recipe, submitted by Teddy (we cannot wait to try it!), an article and a recipe submitted by super vegan chef Bryanna and then some vegan history from long time ago.

So check back for updates and get to cook with quinoa this week!

Service Note

2006-06-11T00:44:00.000+02:00

Ladies and Gents, we are almost ready to share the magic codes to the two blog rolls you see on the left column with you. Once you will be given the magic code, you will be able to magically add the entire list of participants to your blog with one simple, smooth movement. Or not, if you do not want to.

Also, if you are coming over here every now and then and would like to be added to the list, leave us a comment! We are definitely still looking for other vegan blogs to add to both rolls!

In the meanwhile, we would like to tell you what is coming up: a number of recipes submitted by you, a poll and our first CONTEST! The topic will be "cooking with quinoa" and you are invited to create your own original quinoa dish and submit it for votes on this site! So get yourself sme dry "Inca gold", cook it up deliciusly, take a picture of it and get ready to fight for leadership!!! Unfortunately we cannot yet provide vegan goodies for the winner, but we are working on it! In this first contest, you will be fighting for something more important: glory!

Crazy talking aside, please read the following message I received from Kai Vegan and be ready to update your link section: her blog has been hijacked!

Hi. I'm on your Vegan Recipe Club as Kaivegan. My blog got hijacked the other day, so you probably want that junk out of your list ASAP. In the meantime, I started a new blog which is housed here:http://kaivegan.com/. From what I know, that could happen to anybody. The blog gets so many hits/visits a day, and the site is vulnerable. The account itself is not what they're up to, but the URL. I still have the archives and was able to transfer them to the new account. I just wish blogger could give me some explanations or help, but I never heard from them.
Thanks and apologies for the inconvenience.

Kai Vegan was so popular that we are not surprised but we are nevertheless sorry to hear something like that can happen. Make sure to change your link section to the new, correct address: http://kaivegan.com/

Quinoa 'blanc manger' with lytchee and rose jelly.

2006-06-09T16:51:00.000+02:00

Blanc-Manger is a typical French sort-of-but-not-quite pudding: you can read some fascinating information about it here. There are a number of traditional and nouvelle cuisine recipes and when travelling throught France, I would definitely suggest you to try at least one!

This is the English translation of Bea's recipe.

For two glasses, 180 ml in volume each.

Blanc-manger :
* 50 gr of quinoa
* 2. 5 tablespoons of cane sugar
* 100 ml of coconut milk (7 tablespoons) + 60 ml of water (4 tablespoons)

* 2 gr of agar-agar for the blanc manger
* 40 ml of coconut milk(2.5 tablespoons)

**

For the bottom of the glasses :

* 2 tablespoons of coconut jam (If you do not have coconut jam, prepare in less than two minutes and excellent substitute making boil the same quantity of cane sugar together with water, until the sugar has completely dissolved. At this point add some grated coconut: you should get a thick coconut paste.)

**

Lytchee and rose jelly :

* 8 preserved lytchees
* 120 ml of the syrup the lytchees were preserved in (about 1/2 cup)
* 2 teaspoons of rose water
* 1 gr of agar-agar

**

PREPARATION:
Rinse the quinoa and eliminate all water. Bring to a boil the cane sugar and the coconut milk+water mix, add the quinoa and let it cook on very low fire until the ring separate from the quinoa and the quinoa grain has absorbed a good portion of the liquid and has become tender.
Mix the agar agar powder in the 40 ml of coconut milk and then pour over the quinoa mix and let it boil for 2 or 3 minutes.

During this time, put 1 tablespoon of coconut jam at the bottom of each glass, which you will then put into the freezer for 10 minutes.

Let the blanc-manger cool 5 minutes and then place it, one spoonful at the time, over the coconut jam. Cool for half an hour in the fridge or freezer.

Open a bottle of preserved lytchees. Melt the gram (about 1 teaspoon) of agar agar powder in 120 ml of the lytchee syrup on the stove, together with 2 teaspoons of rose water. Bring to a boil for 2 or 3 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Cut each lytchee in three pieces, and place them on the blanc-manger. Then pour the lythcee syrup and rose jelly. Cool util room temperature before putting in the fridge.

Finally, take a little spoon and dive with it in the heart of Paradise, melting jelly, lytchee petals, crunchy quinoa dressed in cocnut pudding, bottom layer of sweet jam.....

A few words with.... Heather Shenkman, the Vegan Doc!

2006-06-08T23:22:00.000+02:00

I am not sure about yours, but my general doctor is a lady in her mid fifties, quiet, smily, a bit bored with her patients, with little to no idea of what veganism is all about and not likely to ever find out. Not to talk about my cardiologist, who is a balding, boring man able to look at my heart on the ecography screen with the same passion and enthusiasm you would devote to a brick in a wall.
So when I found out there was a young, cool cardiologist, keeping a blog, who is incidentally vegan, I could not refrain from asking her a few questions! And she has been kind enough not only to allow me to add her to The Vegan Club blog roll, but also to answer me: meet Heather Shenkman, the Vegan Doc behind the blog Out Of My Vegan Mind!

Heather, when lay people hear I am a vegan, thinking they know more than me and that they are 'doing better', usually they start commenting I may lack calcium, iron, proteins, blah, blah, blah.... But you are a doctor! No arguing who knows most here! What do people untrained in the medical field tell you about your veganism? What is the typical conversation like?
I hear the same things! But, honestly, it's the standard American diet that is deficient, because it is lacking in fiber and antioxidants that are found in fruits and vegetables and contains way too much fat and cholesterol. With a well balanced vegan diet, it is possible to get all of the nutrients needed in a more healthful manner.

What about the doctor community? How do they react to the fact you are vegan? Do they raise objections?
These days, I don't think you'll find a single physician who will tell their patients that they need to include meat in their diet. I think that other physicians respect me for my choice of a vegan lifestyle and realize that it is healthier.

So when and why you became vegan? Were you motivated by sheer health reasons or moral motivations were also a push?
I went vegetarian at age 16 because I thought it was cruel to eat animals when there were plenty of other options. As I learned more about the horrors of factory farming, and about the health and environmental impact of animal products, I went vegan. I've been vegan now for a year and a half.

You are seriously training. Can you share with us some secrets about becoming athletic/staying fit on a vegan diet?
The most important part of becoming and staying fit is finding activities that you love, and to change your routine to keep exercise from becoming dull. For example, someone who loves to swim could join a masters swim group, or in the summer swim in the open water instead of in a pool.
My diet is full of fruits and vegetables, well more than the five servings a day that are recommended. I also eat whole grains whenever possible instead of white flour. My main sources of protein are soy, beans, seitan, and lentils. And, since I love dessert, I have something "sinful" every day, such as a serving on Soy Dream ice cream or a couple of Fig Newmans.

Finally, what do you enjoy most about being a vegan?
I love how great I feel, that at age 30 I am at my peak athletic performance. It's also nice to have a clean conscience, to know that my lifestyle is kinder to the animals and the environment.

Thanks a lot and our compliments for your graduation, Heather! Our Vegan Doc graduated from her Cardiology Fellowship on June 4th! Congratulations!!!
___________________________________________________
Many compliments also to Virgine of Absolute Green, who ended up winning the "Power to the culinary imagination" contest on the topic of cooking with flowers with the recipe re-posted below! Many non veggie people contacted Virginie praising her creativity and ability in creating such a recipe not using any animal product and we thought this to be pretty awesome! Comgratulations!

Recipe: Vegan Cherry Pie

2006-06-07T18:48:00.000+02:00

This is our first "in-house" recipe. We tested it a couple of days back and we hope you will like it!
It should be mentioned that we tried to keep low in fat since there are two members of our household who are dieting.
However, the recipe is probably best experienced full-fat! For directions on how to obtain better results, read the very bottom.

INGREDIENTS
Pate Brisee Crust:
-250 gr regular flour
-50 gr non-hydrogenated vegan margarine
-a dash of salt
-one glass of warm water
Filling:
-800 grams fresh sweet cherries
-250 grams vegan granulated sugar
-1 tablespoon cornstarch

PREPARATION
Start making the Pate Brisee by putting flour and salt in a bowl. Let the margarine soften at air temperature if needed and cut it into small flakes: add them to the flour. At this point you need to kneed the butter into the flour, so to get some small crumbles of flour and margarine. Make sure not to leave any big pieces of margarine in there: everything hould be pretty small. At this point, when no more flour can be made to stick to the margarine, add the warm water, one tablespoon at the time and just enough to make a non sticky ball out of the flour mix. This ball is supposed to be elastic, resistant and non sticky. Make sure not add too much water or you will have to restart everything over!
At this point roll the ball, over it with plastic foil and put in the fridge for at least half an hour.
Slowly, boringly and painfully take away all the kernels from the cherries (we promise you it is worth the time and effort!), collecting also all the juice this process may create. Add to the cherries the cornstarch, needed to get the juice out of the cherries and to make a denser syrup, and the sugar. Let sit for at least half an hour.
Take the dough out of the fridge and cut it into two parts, one double of the other. Take the bigger portion and roll it thinly with a pinroll over some baking paper to make it big enough to spill out of the edges of your cake baking pan about 1 inch (3 cm). Place it inside the pan and fill with the cherries. Roll out what is left of the ball and place it on top of the cherried.
Make sure to glue well together the edges of the two disks, since you do not want syrup to come out from the edges. Cut the excess dough and set aside.
Now you have to create a small hole (many holes also works!) in the centre of your cake: this step is needed in order to allow steam to come out. If you force the steam to stay inside, the syrup will be too runny and potentially the pressure will make the syrup come out from the edges anyway. In the hole, place a cone of paper covered with tinfoil or use directly baking paper.
With the excess of dough, create some leaves to decorate your pie. They are really easy to make and the result is visually really pleasing! Glue the leaves to the pie with some water.
At this point, using your fingers or a cooking paintbrush, brush the entire surface with a thin layer of soymilk.
Bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

The cake is best eaten at room temperature or slightly warm. We suggest not to eat it very hot. The slightly saltiness of the crust mixes really well with the sweetness of the filling!

Also, in case you do not have cherries, other fruits work as well: strawberries, blueberries, blueberries and pears, prunes. These fruits instead leave a bitter taste behind, so avoid: kiwis, oranges. We think fruit melanges do not work all that well, but should you find a good combination of fruits, please let us know!

If you want a richer dough, use 100 grams of margarine instead than 50 and less water: the dough will seem dried when handled, but once cooked it will be a lot softer and more deliciously fat in your mouth!

A few words with.... Hema Batther

2006-06-06T18:09:00.000+02:00

With today The Vegan Club opens the interview season, which in our opinion should completely substitute the hunting season: relating to fellow human being by asking questions and reciving interesting answers must definitely be more interesting than shooting animals unaware to be part of a 'game'!
We decided to start by asking a few questions to Hema Batther, a Nepalese lady able just to turn any dish into a concoction of sublime vegan goodness (my favourite is Zuccotto)! She shares with us her views on the dairy issue, her vegan cooking experience and even one of her recipes!
More interviews are yet to come, together with recipes, product reviews, initiatives and anything that crosses our vegan minds, so check back for updates!

Hema Bhatter is Nepalese, raised in a traditional Hindu family as a vegetarian. After learning all the cooking tricks of her own cuisine (Indian and Nepalese), newly married Hema started travelling the world, greatly expading her cooking repertoire. While in Brussels,she started giving vegetarian cooking classes to an enthusiastic international crowd, who immediately asked her to publish her recipes. At that point, Hema decided to create the VegCooking website as a hobby, which first collected her best creations and later on was donated to PeTAand now gathers Hema's original recipes and many others.
Hema currently lives in Malaysia and is also featured at Recipes Taj Online and provides cooking tips and lessons locally and internationally via email.
Needed disclaimer: even if PeTA is mentioned in this interview, we are not in any way associated to them. We simply liked VegCooking and wanted to know more about it.

Hema answering some questions from Malaysia.

Hema, in our email exchange you mentioned that,while supporting both equally, you are a vegetarian, not a vegan, since you drink milk and make your own butter and yoghurt out of it. However, you do not get just any milk: you buy it from a small cowkeeper. Such a different perspective from the western experience! Could you tell us a bit more about it and explain us in which ways cows are revered in the Hindu culture?
Well, in Hindu culture, a cow is revered as a mother. I am not sure where exactly this comes from, but I believe it was because once a cow gave shelter and nourished a young lord Krishna (one of the main Hindu dieties) and since then, most Hindu families give offerings of grass to cows (via the cow owners) on festivals. In fact, until just 6 years ago, we raised our own cow at our family home in Nepal (which a lot of Indian village homes used to do). In most parts of India and Nepal, slaughter of cows is illegal and a majority of the milk in India comes from small farmers who tend cows and locally distribute fresh milk. I was fortunate to find the same set up here in Malaysia, run by local Malaysians (Hindus of Indian origin). In India, most households do typically make their own yoghurt and butter from the cream in the cows milk. We also make our own cheese (paneer - a cousin of tofu, which is made from soymilk) and other dairy products at home.

You are a vegetarian by birth. Have you evertasted meat or fish? What do you feel when you see non-vegetarian friends eating meat?
No, I have never tasted meat or fish. It reallydoesn't bother me to see others (friends or otherwise) eating meat. Everyone is free to make their own choice really.... I only feel queasy when I see "weird" meats and bloody dishes that one can sometimes see in parts of Asia and China or seeing live animals slaughtered "fresh" in Chinese markets. Otherwise, most friends are curious as to how one can be vegetarian and enjoy good food at home and also while travelling.

You have travelled exstensively. Which countrywould you say is the most welcoming for vegans? What is and where is your favourite restaurant?
I would think probably the U.K. (London or metro areas mainly) and California in the U.S. are the most vegan and vegetarian friendly places I have been to. As for restaurants, I don't really have a favourite, as it depends on what cuisine I am in the mood of....my favourite cuisine is probably Italian and I have had the most wonderful Italian food in a tiny trattoria in Napoli a while back - that was probably my most memorable meal. Other than that, I enjoy Thai and Mexican food in addition to Indian.

After starting VegCooking, you later on donatedthe site to PeTA. How did that happened? Do you share their views and moral commitments?
I had taken on VegCooking.com as a hobby and wasn't really maintaining that site well or publicizing it.... One day, I got a call from PeTa asking if they could buy the domain from me... We talked some more and in the end agreed that I will simply donate the site to them, and in return, they would help me get a wider audience by featuring my recipes. This worked out well for both of us as I needed to expand and they would do all the technical work, which was slowing me down, whereas they needed recipes, which I was providing. The only issue was that they wanted vegan recipes....which is your next question....
As for moral views - yes - part of the reason to agreeto donate to them was that I supported most of their views - about treating animals humanely and also promoting vegetarianism. I don't always have to agree with their methods to get their point across, but sometimes I guess they have to be aggressive to be heard.

The collection of recipes on VegCooking is truly extensive! How long did it take you to veganize all these dishes? What are you personal favourites and what the most succesful with others? Is there a dish you think it is not possible to veganize succesfully?
I had built up a database of over 200 recipes on my own over the years.... It took me over 3 months to veganize many of them and the process continues even today as I search for vegan alternatives for some of the ingredients in a few recipes.... it's also harder as not all vegan product substitutes are available everywhere. In the US, the main market for PeTA, you can get vegan everything - cheddar, parmesan etc, but it's next to impossible in Asia, where I am now - so it's been slow here to get the correct ingredients and test the vegan versions....
My favorite dishes are: it's very difficult to list my favorite dishes, I have tried to name a few, which are

Rice Lasagna
Frankie
MOMOs (or see below!)
Tortilla Casserole

Others have liked:

Pita Pizza
Couscous Bake
Couscous Salad
Tortilla Casserole
Paneer Sticks
Iiranga Paneer
Tikki Chole Bake
Carrot Halwa

I am still working to veganize these dishes: there are many dishes which are very hard to be veganised because it is hard to substitute the cream as a soya substitute sometimes tastes very strange in certain dishes. For example carrot halwa, just doesn’t taste good with a soya substitute.

She may still be struggling, but we are sure that eventually Hema will succeed in veganizing any dish... For now, she leaves us with one of her recipes, a typical and delicious Nepalese dish: Momos!

MOMO (Serves 4)
This Nepalese delicacy served with fiery tomato chutney is just perfect to tickle your taste buds.
For the covering:

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp. vegetable oil
some cold water (about 100ml)

Method:

Sift the flour and salt.
Add oil and mix properly with your fingers.
Add water gradually and keep mixing with your fingers till you get a firm dough.
Cover with a damp muslin cloth and keep aside for half an hour.

For the filling:

Ingredients:

2 tsp. vegetable oil
¼ tsp. cumin seeds
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
1 tsp. grated ginger or ginger juice
1 green chili, chopped finely
1 onion, chopped finely
½ cup finely chopped cabbage
1 carrot, chopped finely into tiny cubes
1 potato, chopped finely into tiny cubes
3 fluid oz/90ml water
salt to taste
¼ tsp. garam masala

Method:

Heat oil and pop cumin seeds in it.
Add garlic, ginger, green chili and onions in it and stir for a minute.
Add cabbage, carrots and potatoes and stir again.
Add some water and cook covered for about 7-8 minutes till the vegetables become soft and the water is dried up.
Add salt and garam masala and stir well.
Remove from heat and keep aside.

For the salad:

Ingredients:

½ cup fine strips of cabbage
½ cup fine strips of carrots
¼ tsp. lemon juice
salt to taste

Mix together all the ingredients for salad.

For Tomato Chutney

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. brown sesame seeds
4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tsp. grated ginger
3 dried whole red chilies, soaked in warm water for half hour (or less to suit your taste)
4 tomatoes, chopped
pinch of turmeric powder
1/3 tsp. chili powder
¼ tsp. sugar
salt to taste

For Garnishing:
some fresh coriander, chopped

Method:

Heat oil. Put sesame seeds in it.
Add garlic, green chili and ginger. Stir for a couple of minutes.
Add tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes stirring in between.
Add chili powder, sugar and salt and stir well.
Shift to a blender and blend the mixture to a smooth paste.
Shift to a serving bowl and garnish with the chopped coriander.
Serve at room temperature.

Making Momos:

Make 3 portions of the dough.
Take one portion and make a ball of it and flatten it on your rolling board.
Roll evenly with a rolling pin trying to get a square of about 9-inches. (If the dough sticks to the rolling board then cover both the sides with some dry flour and roll again.)
Cut this square into 9 small squares of about 3-inches.
Put about 1½ tsp. (or little less) filling in each square.
Lift one corner of a square and join to the opposite corner to get a triangle.
Stick the sides properly. (Use some water to stick the sides.)
Now join all the 3 corners of the triangle and give a little gentle twist to the tip.
All the sides should be properly stuck.
Momos can be made in different shapes like little moneybags, envelopes etc.
Similarly prepare all the momos.
Steam the momos for about 12 minutes till they are swollen.

Serving the Momos:
Place the salad in the center of the serving dish and arrange the hot momos on the sides.
Serve with tomato chutney as a dip.

If you do not have a steamer, here is an easy way to steam the momos.
Take a big pan with a tight lid. Arrange the momos in a steel plate. Put about 2 cups water in the pan. Place a steel bowl in the pan and put the plate of momos on that steel bowlt.
Cover the lid and steam for about 12 minutes on medium flame.

First Recipe! Coconut-Magnolia Sorbet on Gingerbread Flowerets

2006-06-05T18:22:00.000+02:00

Here we are posting our very first vegan recipe!

For the occasion we thought of posting something very fancy and special, helping at the same time the promotion of veganism!

Virginie, of Absolute Green, entered a blog-wide coulinary contest in her native France with a vegan recipe. She is the only vegan contestant and she is looking for supporters!

Therefore we thought of helping her advertise her gourmet recipe here: she truly deserves some recognition! The challenge was to create recipes with flowers: a hard task in our opinion! What Virginie came out with in our opinion is very impressive and we cannot wait to try it out.
Beside, who can resist a gently blue ball of ice cream?

Here is Virginie original post and recipe:

Leeloo, of the blog Quoique asked me on several occasions to take part in his contest “Power to the culinary imagination” by submitting some of my recipes with flowers. But such a contest well deserved a little creative effort…
I wanted a recipe as accessible to city people as to those with gardens and green meadows available (for example, the flowers of elder tree aren't available to many people…), and the recipe should as well present multiple approaches to cooking with flowers (fresh, dry, essential oil and floral water). A slightly eccentric idea came to me at last, and you know how it is: when one has an obsession… The only risk being I could test the recipe only last Monday. Luckily, it was superbly successful.
My perfectionist tendency will note two defects:
1- too fascinated by the color, I had the hand a little too heavy on the methylene blue, which bequeathed a back bitter taste to the ice - do not seek the color of a cornflower sorbet, a bluish ice will be enough.
2 - I wanted to put a ball of ice on a gingerbread slice in the shape of floweret. However, since I was due to help out at the restaurant du Petite Manor all the weekend, I ended up staying over at my mother's and testing the recipe there: her ice spoon formed balls larger than mine, i.e. a ball of ice was almost as large as a floweret…

Let us pass these details, I propose the recipe to you:

Coconut-magnolia cornflower buttons
It is the plastics technician Yves Klein who has first modified the traditional use of the methylene blue (used to disinfect throat and urinary tracts, and in particular as a relief for diphteria) to fit in other fields. One of the performances of this artist consisted in asking someone to drink a liquid with the methylene blue, so that the participant urinates blue thereafter. I took as a starting point this idea to create a sorbet with the intense color of field cornflowers. No “bad” surprises: the amount of blue recommended here will not dye your urine…

For this recipe, an ice cream/sherbet maker is necessary. No need for a sophisticated one(mine is an old woman model inherited by my grandmother, so that you know), a simple machine with a capacity of half to 1 liter will make the deal. If that's not available to you, follow this method:
1. pour the cream in a plastic vat which you will deposit with the freezer.
2. as soon as the ice solidifies, pass it in the mixer.
3. pour it in your vat again and leave it in the freezer at least half an hour.
The fructose (fruit sugar) is a more intense sweetener than sugar. Here in particular it is also beneficial since it sweetens without bringing in other flavours (cane sugar would have masked the perfume of magniolia) and because it is colourless (since I wished to exploit the colours).

In the mouth, the flavour of coconut leaves room to that, very delicate, of the flower of magniolia in a perfect continuity.

Ingredients
-500 ml of coconut milk
-4 table spoons of fructose
-2 essential oil drops of magniolia (in herbalist shops, check that your oil is pure and natural - criteria HEBBD)
-1 dash of methylene blue (sold in pharmacies) and two water drops

Preparation
Whip the coconut milk with the fructose.
Dilute the methylene blue in one or two water drops and mix with the coconut milk. Attention, this blue stains. Put on latex gloves and protect your working area with a plastic bag while handling the powder.
Pour this cream in your ice-cream maker which you will place in the freezer. As soon as the beaters stop, put in your sorbet the essential oil drops of magniolia and let again set in the freezer, for at least half an hour.
You will store your sorbet in the refrigerator half an hour before forming your balls.

Matricaire (German Camomille) and Dianthus Gingerbread
With this consistent, slightly exotic and very floral sorbet, I associated a spiced bread, which makes this dish even more special. Matricaire is German camomile. Coarser in appearance, it does not have the unpleasant bitterness which turn many people off the regular camomile, and enchants by its apple taste. In addition, the medicinal virtues of these two plants are similar. At the end of May, the matricaire is not in bloom yet. But one can get it dry easily in herbal or organism stores. This flower softens the hotness of the spices, and gives the depth and the fruitiness so appealing in this cake.
I added to it a little orange tree water to fully develop its perfume.
The Dianthus, many are its varieties (India, Of The Poets, etc) is edible and brings a strong spiced note. An astonishing flower which has already bloomed. Take advantage of it and plant some in your gardens and balcony flowers stand (but especially make sure not to eat the flowers cut by the florists - they are treated).

Ingredients
-200 G of German wheat flour
-150 G of beet sugar
-115 G of buckwheat flour
-40 G of of pine nuts
-200 ml of water
-3 tablespoons of Matricaireflowers
-3 tablespoons of Dhiantus flowers
-2 tablespoons of liquid soya cream
-2 tablespoons of sugar muscovado (very black sugar)
-1 tablespoons of floral orange tree water
-1 tablespoons of cider vinegar
-1 tablespoons of maple syrup
-1 tablespoons of lupin flour of (or chick-pea flour)
-1 tablespoons of arrowroot (or of maïzena)
-2/3 tablespoons of powdered spices for pastry making (my mixture contains cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander, clove and mild Jamaican pepper)
-1 die of fresh ginger
-1 coffee spoon of baking powder
-1 coffee spoon of edible bicarbonate

Preparation
In a pot, combine the matricaire and water. Bring to the boiling point but turn the fire off right then. Cover and let infuse a quarter of an hour.
During this time, mix in a salad bowl all the dry ingredients (except pinions and Dhiantus), and in another bowl the other liquid ingredients. Detach the petals of Dhiantus from their corolla.
Pass through a fine colinder the matricaire infusion and mix it with the other liquid ingredients (press the flowers soaked in water with a fork to extract the most liquid from them). Create a well in the dry ingredients and pour the liquids inside. Mix well. The paste will be thick. Add the pinions and petals of Dhiantus. Mix again. Pour in an oiled cake mould and put in a preheated hoven and temperature 4 for 1h - 1h 10 minutes. Let cool.

And the final key…
Unmould and slice your cake. Cut out flowerets using a cookie cutter.
Place a ball of coconut-magniolia sorbet on a floweret.
And if the balls are too large for the flowerets, then, well juxtapose them. This works very well also… you can decorate the plate with Dhiantus flowers like in the picture above.
Guaranteed effect!

Alternatives: my mother asked me to make again the gingerbread for her. Having done it for her, I took the first loaf with me to Nantes without guilty feeling, cut it out in small heart shapes with a cookie cutter, coated them with chocolate melted with the bain-marie method, and, after cooling, offered them to my friend in a tea box.

Did you like this receipt? Appointment on the blog Quoique to discover other receipts with the flowers and play the game: vote!

Votes can be casted by anyone until June 7th, midnight, Paris time!!! Virginie entry is number 17.

Recipe and post republished with permission of the author.

Furnishing the Club

2006-06-03T15:39:00.000+02:00

You may be wondering what we are doing over here. Harrassing everybody to join a yet empty club and not publishing any content! Well, we promise you, we are working on it!

We are currently furnishing the club! Imagine a plush/lush private club with (cotton!) velvet on the walls, quiet and private. Well, that is what we are doing right now! We are inviting virtual club members and virtually furnishing the virtual space! In other words, we are fighting with the blog rolling code before making it public as we keep inviting people!
So many great blogs and sites out there!!! We got a much better response for The Vegan Recipe Club so far, but we have hopes to be able to publish The Vegan Life Club soon!

Anyhow, what will be in here anyway?
Furniture wise, so far we have just chosen the carpet.

Isn't it cool? It is a design by Jon Male, who was tired to see cow or zebra skins on the floors and though of creating this smart carpet recycling an old persian rug: the prefect mockery of a cruel concept! Exactly what we were looking for to furnish elegantly our club!

At least, if nothing else, we will be able to sit on virtual carpets rather than on virtual bare floors when at the club!

Virtual talking aside, check back here for our first contents. This is what we have lined up for you: a couple of interviews with a super cool veg*n Indian lady and with a vegan doctor (I cannot wait to ask her a thousand questions!), plus some recipes from 'the house' and your blogs. Plus a lot more we are just not disclosing yet!

And the tech guy is telling me soon we will have a button as well (what is a button ladies and gents? I am not totally sure!).

Ok, thank you for your patience and for joining in! We do hope you will enjoy the ride!

How to submit a recipe

2006-06-01T16:08:00.000+02:00

The Vegan Club is looking for submissions!
We are trying to get as many vegan voices as possible in here and for this reason we would love to hear from you!

If there is a recipe you though to be particularly interesting/quick/valid/fit to a particular occasion, we would love if you could share it with us!
It is a great way to promote your blog, since we credit your work and link to your URL, and to let us know a bit more about yourself.

There are no real guidelines to post a recipe: we just ask you to submit to us your original, recent work, possibly together with a picture of the finished dish. And obviously to keep it vegan!

You can definitely have the same recipe as one of your recent entries of your own webpage: we will then repost your own work on The Vegan Club as well.

Please do not feel shy about something to us: no vegan food is not worth some extra exposure! Sure, there are some great vegan chefs out there, with delicious, elaborate recipes we would all love to try, but most of us are always looking for quick and easy options to fix ourself a meal, a sandwitch or a sweet treat. As you can imagine, nothing is not worth of publication!

To submit a recipe, email us at wild treehugger at yahoo dot com.

We are looking forward hearing from you!

First batch of invitations mailed!

2006-05-30T18:45:00.000+02:00

I have finished emailing the first batch of invitations! I am happy even if I am not so sure the invitations presented as comments will be noticed at all! On the other side, I was unable to find everyone's email address and leaving a comment was the only thing I thought of doing.

I already got the first replies and the code will be available soon, when a number of people will have joined both groups!

In the meanwhile, I think I should give some clearer explanation as I know there is some confusion about what people need to do.

First thing first, sorry for the general lack of clarity: I am not a totally techy person and I am also navigating in unknown waters for some of the technical details (I am having problems understanding them: imagine to explain them to others!!!). I will try to do better!

Then I must say that you DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING for us or with us! We are just asking your permission to add your site to a site listing, which will soon become available under the form of a blog roll to anyone to display on their site. You do not need to display such list if you prefer not to, nor you need to link back to this page.
If you would like to present us with anything (artwork, recipe, writing of any kind, blog entry, referral to some cool site so far missed out) original or already published, that would be great! But it is an extra, not a requirement in any way! You must not feel obliged.

We are looking forward building a live community to share ideas, thoughts, addresses, good food. Nothing more, nothing less.

For you to join can be a really good occasion to have a a link to your page appearing from many blogs and sites: you can definitely get some extra exposure this way! For us instead, to have you on the list means to have the most comprehensive selection of vegan listings possible.

Down sides? None I can think of!

Invitation to Join the Vegan Club

2006-05-28T17:57:00.000+02:00

Dear friend,
we have been reading your site for a while and now we would like to invite you to join The Vegan Club a just born (it is still a baby!) online community devoted to group together vegans active on the internet from all over the world!

The club is hosted on Blogger, at the following URL: www.theveganclub.blogspot.com and there are two distinct groups active in it: one is The Vegan Recipe Club, gathering in a webring and a blog roll (more information about what these are on the site) blogs and websites presenting vegan recipes, nutrition information and all that relates to delicious cruelty free food.
The other is The Vegan Life Club, which is a collection of blogs and websites (also put into a webring and a blog roll) about what being vegan is all about: ethical issues, environmental friendly ideas as well as all your thoughts and experiencing on being vegan.

The site itself hosts both blog rolls and web rings and publishes daily articles, entries from participants blogs, interviews, recipes.

Well, the thing is we would love to have you on board! We are building both the webring and the blog roll and we are making the codes available to everyone. Basically, by joining your website or blog will be added to our directories and people displaying the roll on their webpage will have immediate access to your content (and they will also be instantly updated when you publish something new!).

It all sounds a bit complicated but I promise you it is very simple! And there are no obligations on your part at all.

For your information, we are not associated to any organization: we are just a group of vegan people, in love with this life choice, who would like to ease the diffusion of information, recipes and ideas about veganism, without wanting to be preachy.
It goes without saying that there is no membership fee to this club. No actually there is one: to be vegan in this world! A price you pay every day for choosing the compassionate way!

Please pay us a visit for more information about the club and how it works!

I if we convinced you, please reply to the email you have received stating that you would like to join in! If you are interested in re-publishing your most current entry here every now and then or submit original content, let us know! We would LOVE to have your voice on our page! Hope to receive your affirmative response very soon!

T.C. Vero' of The Vegan Club

Very temporary list of invited Partecipants

2006-05-26T15:47:00.000+02:00

Do you need an invitation to join The Club?
Definitely NOT!

This list is just meant to get us started: we are invitings blogs/websites already known to us to join, but is far from an exclusive thing!

You have a site/blog and would like to jump onboard but you have not been invited? Our most sincere apologies! It just means we did not get to your website as of yet, but we definitely want you on board nevertheless!

We cannot stress this enough: INVITATIONS ARE NOT REQUIRED!

On the other side, in order to improve our lists, if you are a member of the roll with a friend with a vegan blog, fell free to invite her/him over yourself!

Anybody can join! You just need to register!

Is there a price to pay for the membership to The Vegan Club?
Yes, there is: to be a vegan in this world. A price you pay every day and that fully cover your entrance in this virtual club.

These are some vegan blogs known to us we have invited to join the club (listed in NO particular order: as a matter of fact, feeling that alphabetical order was not what we wanted to do, we picked the names from a hat!). We are waiting for your blog as well! So, join in and keep it vegan!

The Vegan Recipe Club

The Vegan Life Club

As you can see, this list is still VERY uncomplete! It will grow with time, as we find some to do more research. We just want to get started at the moment and there are other aspects of the site we need to work on. Once again, sincere apologies to all the ones of you who got left out. Let me reassure you we definitely WANT you on our lists!

I actually would like to recommend all the ones of you who are not from English Speaking countries to join in! We definitely accept blogs/website wirtten in other languages!

What is a Web Ring and what is a Blog Roll?

2006-05-26T15:38:00.000+02:00

Web rings and blog rolls are tools developed to facilitate online communities.
Basically is a list of links to all the pages of the members of the community.

BLOG ROLLS
You may have created your own blog roll and have it on your page. This is working in the same way, but it is public, the code can be pasted by anyone on their site.
If you do not have one and are not familiar with them. these are a few facts about them. The neat thing is that you do not need to go hunting (methaphorical sense only, people!) for vegan sites to add to your 'link' section and update it every now and then. The roll does all the job for you! Will this modify/cancel/prejudicate in any way your own Link section? Not at all! These two are not even related, even if they are both listing of links. And our roll will not even conflict with your own personal blog roll! You can display The Vegan Club rolls just as an addition to your site, not a substitution!

All you need to do (and this is ONLY if you wish to add the link list to your page, thing we do not require, unlike most other roll communities) is to copy a short code to your blog/website template. The roll will display itself from there AND will be updated automatically every time a new member gets onboard. So the only required steps for you are:

register
copy (once and for all, until you will decide to cancel it) the code to your page

Pretty easy, uh?

On top of this, we will provide you with instructions on how to insert the code. Believe me, you will be set in less than 2 minutes!

With the roll displayed on your page, every other member will be able to get to your page from their in no time and you will even be able to see when your favourite blog has recently been updated!

Honestly, it is harder to explain than to experience: no techinical skill is involved and if in need, we are here to help you!

WEB RINGS
Web rings works very much in the same way as blog rolls, but the difference is that they do not diplay the list of links: they are about 2 or three lines in lenght and they allow you to move from one site to another registered in the ring in a random fashion. It is all pretty neat!

Rolls and rings are great navigation tools and this will certain fit your vegan tastebuds! All so easily available at your finger tips!

The Vegan Club

2006-05-21T17:35:00.000+02:00

The Vegan Club is a meeting place for vegans active on the net, where to share recipes, ideas, product reviews, initiatives matching our vegan lifestyle and sensibility.

There are two vegan rolls (also know as web rings: you can read about what these are here) incorporated to our Club.
One is the Vegan Recipe Club, where some of the best vegan recipe websites and blogs are collected: watch out for some super delicious recipes!
The other is the Vegan Life Club, grouping together all those blogs and sites presenting and discussing the choices, environmental and moral commitments, products reviews of members of the worldwide vegan community.

This blog will host both rolls and it will present articles and recipes written by the willing ones of you specifically for the Club or taken from daily entries of both groups, to help built a community sense and to present us some new ideas and personality just landed on the vegan scene. But do not feel pressured: we do not require any commitment on your part! If you want to share some of your wisdom, that's great, but if you prefer reading over writing, that is just as great!

You can decide to join one or both of the rolls, if your blog/website applies to both cathegories: we would be jaded to have you on board! At the moment there is not set limit for the number of participants to our rolls and you are given full control over your participation to this site: if you do not want your entries to be re-published here, you can just specify that when you join and we will not use any of your content. Otherwise, we will give full credits (and a link back) to any participation.

If instead you do not want to be listed just as of yet, but still would like to display on your page our vegan directories, you can download the code(will be available soon), so to have super easy access at your favourite recipes and to know who has recently updated their list of entries!

At this stage, and likely forever, you do not need to display on your page our directories, even if that step is encouraged, to increase the coverage of our vegan spiderweb! Anyhow, it is really up to you: if you are afraid you will loose viewers, you can still participate to the roll without displaying it on yur site.

Please note that Vegetarians are welcomed! This site and its features are developed for vegans but if you do not eat meat, fish or seadfood (that is a PROPER vegetarian, not someone who just eat meat once a month and fish twice a week), you are free to join either of the rolls. Why? Because you, our vegetarian sisters and brothers, have guested the vegan community in countless forums, discussion boards and websites. And I feel this is my little contribution to a general payback.

Finally a word about the reasons behind this site: this space has not been created for commercial reasons or it is in any way related to a a registered organization. We are vegans ourselves who have seen many GREAT vegan websites and blogs who just would deserve a bit more exposure and to make those sites easier to access is our only goal. Period. The net is a great place where to spread our ideas and acting as a group should make it easier for others to access ach information about what being vegan is all about.

Ok, I think I have said it all. Now, to join The Vegan Club, all you have to do is to register!

Add the blog rolls to your page

2006-05-19T15:04:00.000+02:00

Below you find the codes you need to copy paste on your template page to add the blog rolls to your own page. This is a convenient way to keep some of the best vegan blogs handy and the real advantage is any addition will be made to the list (as more and more great sites are discovered and added), the list you have on your page will automatically be updated and expanded: nothing you need to do. It is a once and for all procedure, or until when you want to display the roll on your website!

It is a straightforward procedure. Say you want to add the links above your Archive section: open the template page and find out where your archive section is in the hmtl code (an easy way to do so is by pressing Ctrl+F and write in "Archives"). The line above, you must simple code the code selected below and the blog roll will appear on your page. For any problem, contact us.

We would like to remind everyone that adding the blog rolls to your site is not mandatory at all: you can do so if you wish to keep these links handy, both if you are part of any of the Clubs or if you are not. It is a step we encourage to promote the creation of a vegan internet community, but we are not enforcing anything on anyone. It is your own choice!

These are the codes for The Vegan Recipe Club.

Listed below are the ways you can add your blogroll to your website. The most common way is through simple JavaScript (I suggest if you are not familiar with basic programming you try this first)and ranging to putting PHP code on your page. Please select the code for the method you wish to implement.

Javascript
Most people use this method to put the blogrolls on their sites.

Copy and paste the code from the form field below into your blog where you want your blogroll to be.