Veggie Heroes: The Vampiyans!

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

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!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!

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

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!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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

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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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

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!

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!

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!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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!