vegansaurus!

In the spirits of ringing in the new year (WOOOO NEW YEAR WHAT WHAT IN THE BUTT) and reflection and improvement, we Vegansaurs are sharing our new year’s resolutions with you, dear readers. It can be easy to forget that there’s more to being vegan than abstaining from animal products, so we’ve looked really, really hard into our routines, habits, and patterns for ways to do better in 2010, and here they are! Time to get preachy! What! YOU LOVE IT!

1. More activism! Broad, I know. So let’s break it up into two kinds. The armchair kind: Call and write to politicians. The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s state rankings are up and there’s room for much legislative improvement for farm animals (besides, uh, not eating them entirely). The active kind: Spend some time volunteering for the animals each month. Leafletting, vegan bake sales, coastal biking fundraisers, petitioning, volunteering at an animal sanctuary, starting a new animal activism Meetup group—it’s all good! Seriously, you guys. The SF Vegan Bakesale has made over 10 THOUSAND DOLLARS for charities last year. That’s insane. You can totally get that going in your town. Yes, YOU! 

2. Donate! Let’s say you send just 2 percent of your paycheck to an animal organization you support. That could add up to a lot, especially if you’re rolling in it!

3. Bring lunch to work. Every time I buy a salad, a plastic container sits in a landfill for about 450 years. I’m never buying a salad again. AND THOSE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD FOR ME. God, just eating candy from here on out. Candy that I BRING TO WORK WITH ME IN A REUSABLE CONTAINER! Win-win!

4. Along the same lines, cook more, eat out less. And invite people over to eat more often (especially if they’re not vegan!). Hey, that’s one less chicken who has to die, right? Plus, with websites like VegWeb and a million billion new vegan cookbooks out there, you gotta start testing recipes. Your life will be better when it has homemade cookies in it, trust.

5. Start composting. And while we’re at it, do all the Al Gore stuff. Get rid of the car, swap out light bulbs, etc.

6. Stop using palm oil. Why? Harvesting it clears out the rainforest and leaves elephants homeless. 

7. Get more of our meat-eating friends to go vegan, or at least get them to pledge to go meatless a few days a week (for those who need baby steps, you know who they are). Meatless Mondays, anyone? And while you’re at it, for gifts, why not give a copy of Eating Animals, along with some tasty vegan candy? So what if it’s kinda preachy, you’re already their crazy vegan friend and there’s a chance they’ll read it and learn something. If not, it’ll go in a junk pile and someone else will pick it up. Better than than giving lame, generic bath salts or lotion, right? Oooh also, adopting animals from a farm sanctuary is a great gift too! Everyone loves a chicken, even if it’s not dinner! Right? Right!

8. Get the companion animals on a vegan diet. It’s long overdue, guys. Laura feeds V-dog to Hazel and that bitch weighs 70 pounds, you feel me?? 

9. Buy less stuff. Or, at least, buy less NEW stuff. There are a million secondhand, consignment, and used clothing stores around. You can do without that dress from Delia’s. I don’t care that it cost two dollars. Wait, two dollars? Link plz? THAT WAS A TEST.

10. Ask for more vegan options in restaurants. It’s super simple, and it often works. Hypothetical, best-case scenario: I go into Mozzarelli’s and ask if they have vegan cheese. They say no, but they’d love to know which one to buy to offer their customers. I say Daiya (of course). They put it in their restaurant. It can help to bring in samples of excellent vegan products for them to try, like vegenaise and Dandies. Prove that vegan = delicious and MORE CUSTOMERS: CHA-CHING. Done.

11. This is less a resolution and more a request, but if someone could please crack the following vegan foods in 2010: clotted cream; meringue; angel food cake. KTHX BYE.

Got some of your own? Let us know! Happy new year, y’all!

Because I’m Canadian, I got in on the Gardein craze a little before most of you Yankees, as the Great White North had that shizz a full year or more before the US of A. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I know my stuff when it comes to pea-protein-based fake meat, so let me lay on you my review of Gardein’s latest oeuvre, Buffalo Wings!

There are a couple schools of thought when it comes to vegan “wings:” there’s the breaded school (crunchy breading covered with hot sauce) and  the not-breaded school. Gardein’s wings are of the not-breaded variety. They are, rather, wing-sized nuggets of Gardein’s magic “chicken” substance covered with a bright red (so you know they’re Buffalo wings) spicy sauce. They come frozen and in a little pouch with the sauce already on, which brings me to my first quibble—you need a microwave to get these out of the pouch and onto the baking sheet in a dignified way. If, like me, you live in a microwave-free household, you have to do what I did and pry those frozen little things apart with your bare hands, which kind of sucks. I mean, it’s hardly a dealbreaker, but you don’t want to do it while wearing a white shirt is all I’m saying.

Once you manage to get them on the baking sheet, though, it’s full speed ahead. The wings bake for about 15 minutes, and then you eat them. First things first: spicy alert! Like I said, I am Canadian, and I’m not terribly heat-tolerant, but these things have a kick! Don’t eat them if you have a bleeding ulcer! Personally, I like a touch more sweetness with my wing sauce, but Gardein’s Buffalo sauce does hit the spot. The wings themselves are satisfying and chewy and pleasantly stringy so that they get ever-so-slightly stuck in your teeth. Floss after eating if you have a date later! Serve with vegan ranch if you have it. I love me some vegan ranch and think that any way I can get it into my mouth is a-OK. I ate a whole package of these by myself for lunch (well, I guess I also ate three pickles with them, but since the nutritional value of pickles is “salt,” I don’t count them), which means I ate 2.5 servings, or 10 pieces. At around $4.50 per package, these ain’t no 10-cent wings, that’s for sure, but they’re certainly cheaper than the napalm-coated wings at Weird Fish (which I love, but they are too spicy). All in all, these are some tasty, reasonably-priced, and surprisingly healthy (not that I endorse counting calories at all, but these are pretty low-calorie, soy-free, and low-fat). Perfect for a night in, and, I suspect, highly compatible with beer.

These things are available in the freezer section at Rainbow and at some Bay Area Whole Foods, and if I know Gardein’s marketing and distribution people, I’m sure they’ll be widely available soon, if they aren’t already.

I couldn’t go back to the east coast and not make a trip to DC. So, gosh darn it, that’s what I did! I only had time for a 24-hour whirlwind visit but of course I had time to go to Sticky Fingers! You may have heard of the all-vegan bakery in D.C., as certain Vegansaurs are a wee bit obsessed!!! with the place. There’s even an interview with the creator of their cute (badger?) logo! Ob. Sessed.

Don’t worry guys! You would have been proud! I spent $35 on pastries. YES I DID!

The bakery is in a different location then when I lived in D.C.; now they have this whole cafe thing going on, with brunch and everything. Pretty effing fantastic.

I also managed to stop by my friend Nick’s new wine bar, Room 11, for dinner. Score! They totally make vegan versions of their specials, you just have to ask! Check out this action: VEGAN BRUSSELS SPROUT PANZANELLA. Holy cannoli! It was awesome. And panzanella is fun to say. Then I had a yummy veganized risotto and proceeded to get SHWASTED because that’s just how I roll.

Why am I the last to know about everything?! Many months ago, everyone’s favorite Brazilian shoe brand, Melissa, joined forces with fashion punk queen Vivienne Westwood. Awesomeness ensued! These fly-ass vegan heels are on sale over at Zappos Couture for $125. I’m not mad at them!

In other shoe partnerships, some dude, Christian Siriano who I guess was on Project Runway did a line of shoes for Payless and they are banging! I just picked up these gold flats at a Payless in New York for $29.99. I have no business buying new shoes but they are GOLD. I didn’t have a choice! And read the label: All man-made materials, baby!

Encuentro, a new vegetarian restaurant in Jack London Square, is a pretty modern, minimalist space. Floor-to-ceiling windows and corner wood tables create a hip ambiance. I went with two other people, and a quasi-filling lunch for us cost $30 (which is a bargain, especially compared to its creator’s flagship Millennium in SF). Note that the menu is not entirely vegan—many dishes contain cheese and I believe one menu item has eggs. We got a bunch of dishes and split them; I highly recommend doing this as the portions are on the smaller side, and you want to taste as many different things as possible.

Between the three of us we split the arugula and pear salad with Banyuls vinaigrette, hazelnuts, hazelnut-vanilla oil; avocado, olive oil and cilantro bruschetta with chile jam and black salt; the tempeh bacon sandwich with sun-dried tomato jam and avocado topped with romaine; and a split-pea soup [Ed.: all menu titles are [sic]]. The salad had by far the most interesting flavors. You can really taste the vanilla oil, and the hazelnuts add such an important crunch texture to the dish. The bruschetta had perfectly toasted bread. As a huge fan of avocado, I couldn’t not love the dish. An order consists of two pieces of bruschetta—more than enough for one person, but kind of difficult to split between three! I found the sandwich definitely underwhelming. I think the flavors could have been more pronounced and the tempeh a little crispier to add some texture to counterbalance the gooeyness of the avocado.

Overall, Encuentro strives to create a place where people can gather. I do think that the menu offers ample opportunity for people to share many dishes; however the space and the ambiance did not. It seems a little bourgeois, like it’s catering to a very specific crowd of people—maybe the power/business lunchers. It’s so hip and modern—almost in a frigid way—that I can scarcely envision people hanging out there. The food is very delicious, though, and when ordered smartly you can get a pretty reasonable deal. The portions are a bit smaller, maybe a testament to the bourgeois attitude I couldn’t help but feel. Perhaps their ideal customer has the luxury of not being completely filled up by the food, the luxury to simply order to taste instead of to nourish.

That said, I do recommend that you experience Encuentro for yourself. It may be different things to different people, and I don’t want to color your perceptions too much!! We left the restaurant feeling a bit unsatisfied, like we could go for another light lunch or something. I wouldn’t recommend this place to someone who is completely famished!

[All photos by Brianna]

If you had to pick a single word for vegan in the ’00s, it would be “mainstream,” as we watched veganism get wrestled away from the Birkenstocks-and-hemp set. Celebrity vegans and vegan fashion changed the public face of a movement that had been left for dead, and the food came along for the ride, with cupcakes and melty cheese pizza replacing granola. We even went political, passed some laws, lost some rights, and ran for president. Our fad diets beat their fad diets, and now here we are, 10 years later. Older? Wiser? Better dressed and topped with frosting? Let’s see how it all went down.

2000: Alicia Silverstone goes vegan and ushers in the Celebrity Vegan Decade. Yes, there were vegans before 2000, like Ian Mackaye, but it was still a fringe thing, for college activists and crusty old punks. In the ’00s, going vegan equals getting press, with celebrities coming out of the pantry left and right. It was the decade that gave us PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian Alive award, and high profile announcements from Natalie Portman, Ellen Degeneres, Jonathan Safran Foer, Kristin Bell, and other stars like supermodel Petra Němcová and MMA cage fighter Mac Danzig. Love or hate celebrity culture, it’s here to stay, and now it’s going veg

an.

2001: Stella McCartney leaves Chloe to start her own designer label, starting the first high fashion vegan shoe line. While most of what she does is out of the price range of mere mortals, in a very real way, this was a good thing for the perception of vegan fashion. “But if I went vegan, I would have to shop at Payless” would no longer be an excuse, and the false dilemma between ethics and looking good was finally gone.

2002: Atkins Diet goes mainstream and gets cred. Dr. Atkins’ book had been out since 1972, but it wasn’t until the early ’00s that people gave it a real try. In 2002, a Duke University study appeared to confirm the worst fears of vegans, that Atkins dieters lost weight and lowered their cholesterol. Of course we all know what happened in the end. Like any fad diet, the guru died and the company went bankrupt, leading to its fiery demise. Why was the Atkins diet such a big deal for vegans? It was the first fad diet to attack the “eating less meat is healthy” argument at the jugular. In the end, we were still right, but not without spending a few years in the low carb wilderness. Dark times.

2003: Dennis Kucinich announces that he will run as the first vegan for president of the

U.S. of A., then wins the election with 76 percent of the vote, dissolves the Senate, and ends factory farming by executive decree. Okay I made up like half of that. But admit it, you decided to vote for this guy, sight unseen, the second you heard he was vegan, and his flappy ears or anti-abortion stance didn’t scare you away. Hell, I did. He also helped heal the left after the Green Party split in 2000 that gave us George W. Bush, by giving all of us lefties some hope that the Democratic party doesn’t have to completely suck. After all, any political party with a high-profile vegan politician couldn’t be that bad, could it? Okay don’t answer that. Anyway, give it up for the D-Kuch for making vegan history! Dennis, I present you with this gold plated dino-statue as Vegansaurus’s highest honor. As soon as I have a sec to ‘shop

that up.

2004: Wayne Pacelle becomes the first vegan president of the Humane Society of the United States, making that one for two in the “first” and “vegan president” category. For the first time, a vegan is president of the largest animal protection group in the world. He completely broadened/shifted its focus on to farm animals. It makes sense because the vast majority of animals suffering in this world are the ones we eat.

2005: Vegan cheese that melts hits the stores, with the first known appearance of Follow Your Heart’s Vegan Gourmet. “It melts!” the label proudly

trumpeted, reminding us of past disappointments, fraught with casein and other milk-based substances that were needlessly present in the so-called cheese replacements of the day. True vegan pizza was finally possible, and so was GRILLED CHEESE (and the great pre-Vegansaurus Mac and Cheese Bake-Off). And with that, we kicked off a revolution in the greatest vegan technology advancement of all. Teese, Dr. Cow, Follow Your Heart, Daiya—before the ’00s, such things were only found at the Whole Foods on Fantasy Island.

2006: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World takes over the world. Seriously, where would we be without this book? It combined every element of vegan baking into a single handbook, a canonical scripture to be read aloud during holy days of rest. Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World appeared at exactly the right time, just as the global cupcake phenomenon was reaching a fever pitch, and convinced a skeptical omnivorous world that vegan baking is not only passable, but preferable.

2006: The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act passes, expanding the War on Terror to tofu. Last I checked, violence was already illegal, and politically motivated violence was already doubleplus illegal, but apparently we needed a special law to target animal rights activists. I’ll be the first to admit that our cause, just like every other cause, has its extremists that could use a chill pill. However, the new law did nothing to provide exemptions for whistle-blowing and other undercover investigations, and codified the right of animal enterprises to uninterrupted profits at the expense of free speech. The ACLU, unfortunately, allowed this abomination to pass. Thanks, jerks!

2007: Spotted: Victoria Beckham carrying a copy of Skinny Bitch while shoppin

g in Los Angeles. Skinny Bitch had been out since 2005, but it took Posh Spice to get it on the bestseller lists. While the idea of going vegan to lose weight is hardly new, this was the first successful attempt to bring animal rights philosophy and PCRM’s nutritional science to the diet frenzy mainstream, by weaving our beliefs in with the ideals of Americans who desire “skinny” over “healthy” (these ladies are NOT actual nutritionists, you guys). Those of us on the vegan-lifer side of the fence know that being vegan is anything but a fad diet (and come on, we have pizza and cupcakes now, we’re enjoying life as much a

s anyone else) but as a subversive social experiment, Skinny Bitch was the first of its kind.

2008: Oprah goes vegan for 21 days. You don’t mess with the Oprahnator. Oprah speaks, everyone listens, and in 2008, she spoke about going vegan. “How can you say you’re trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?” she wrote at the time. Which is a nice thought, but do we stop thinking about what happens to the animals after 21 days? I didn’t really get it. Anyway, Oprah has a way of sprinkling her magic credibility fairy dust on everything she touts, which means “You’re what?” is no longer the Jeopardy answer to “I’m vegan.”

2008: Proposition 2 wins in California! Although not the first animal protection law to win by popular referendum (voters in Florida and Arizona passed laws of their own in 2004 and 2006) we won a truly epic battle that will protect calves, hens, and pigs from horrible confinement. Prop. 2 won with 63 percent of the vote in the U.S.’s most populous state, and as they say, as California goes, so goes the nation. Put that in your gestation crate and smoke it.

2009: Martha Stewart has a vegetarian Thanksgiving, Obama adopts a breeder dog instead of a shelter dog, and Jonathan Safran Foer proposes that we all eat our pets or give up meat. It was a freaky-ass year.

Erika, Maria, Laura, Megan Rascal, and Meave also contributed to this post. We are fam-i-ly! I got all my sisters with me! OK I’ll stop now.

The Humane Society gives the Obama Administration a B- for animal protection, based on the Change Agenda for Animals the HSUS set at the beginning of 2009. The full report is in this pdf.

Every country is crazy and racist in its own way: in Japan, you can buy a box of tissues shaped like a bucket of KFC “chicken” with Obama styled as Col. Sanders and emblazoned with the English word CHANGE. I don’t know.

Next Saturday, Jan. 9 at Mix (4086 18th St. at Castro Street) from 3 to 7 p.m., Rocket Dog Rescue and Muttville Senior Dog Rescue are cohosting Iris’ Memorial Fundraiser! There’ll be music, art, a raffle, snacks, and drink specials, with all proceeds to benefit Rocket Dog and Muttville.

Our friends at VegNews point us to the super-disturbing news that a “medium-sized” dog eats about 360 pounds of meat per year, which “combined with the land required to generate its food” means that a medium-sized dog has twice the carbon footprint of an SUV driving 6,200 miles per year, “including the energy to build the car.” In short: VEGAN DOGS 4 LYFE. The authors are also heartless advocates of keeping rabbits for company and supper, which obviously we do not support, but COME ON, vegans, are you really feeding your companion animals other animals?

Update: Just like Michael “shut up” Pollan’s “a Hummer-driving vegan has a lighter carbon footprint than a Prius-driving omnivore” (or whatever) comment, the above “facts” regarding the environmental impact of your meat-eating pets have been proven false by actual science. Vegansaurus maintains that giving your companion animals food like V-Dog instead of vile shit even offal connoisseurs wouldn’t touch is better for everyone.

Gracias Madre finally opened and we have a first report. (Should you go? YES you should. duh.)

Arizmendi Bakery, creators of amazing mint-chocolate-chip cookies the size of your face, among other phenomenal vegan baked goods about which Megan Allison has been known to wax rhapsodic, is expanding to the Mission! We are quite pleased.

Oh hey, the recipients of the Ed Block Courage Award were announced just last week Tuesday—NFL players are nominated by and voted on by their teammates—and guess who won for the Philadelphia Eagles? YES! Everyone’s favorite dog-abusing sociopath, Michael Vick! The Ed Block Foundation “celebrate[s] players in the NFL” while “improving the lives of neglected children and ending the cycle of abuse.” I can’t imagine what kind of courage it took to STOP TORTURING AND MURDERING DOGS and START PLAYING FOOTBALL AGAIN, Michael VIck; apparently, enough to reward you for it. A-plus, then. I guess neglected, abused kids have a lot to learn from such an upstanding citizen. Have fun at dinner.

The deer at Valley Forge got a “holiday reprieve,” as the National Park’s plan to have “sharpshooters” kill 1,500 deer over four winters (a November-to-March period), beginning with 500 in 2009, was indefinitely postponed by two lawsuits. The slaughter of these 1,500 deer would destroy 85 percent of the herd presently living in Valley Forge National Park.

LA Weekly says, Meyer lemons and red cabbage are where it’s at. I say, have you ever had German braised red cabbage, all sweet and sour and delicious? It tastes like staying warm on a snowy night, highly recommended.

There’s a new chef at Weird Fish who is reportedly changing the brunch menu and eliminating lunch altogether. Um. Do we have reason to worry, here? The brunch at Weird Fish is great, we fucking love Weird Fish, please do not mess around with our vegan brunch PLEASE PLEASE.

The Guardian has food writers name the most important (for varying reasons) food books of the decade. Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma get mentions, how broad-minded. Or, you know, shut up, England.

And speaking of publications that irritate me right out of my holiday booze-haze, Bon Appetit lists “the 10 best dishes under $10.” Repping for San Francisco—and the meatless—Harvey Slocombe’s tin roof sundae. Shut up, Bon Appetit.

Northern California Dungeness crab fishing: the season is short, the majority of the dead crabs are canned and shipped out of state, and it has nothing to do with honoring the values of Slow Food goddamn Nation. Color me shocked.

But HEY! here is a video of some pigs getting presents! Aren’t they adorable?

This year I forced the fam to make vegan gingerbread houses. Shweet! My family is super into holiday fun-times like these. We made mini houses so that everyone could decorate their own. I don’t like sharing! Mine is the minimalist (by comparison) one on the left, my mom’s is the fancy one in the center gentrifying the neighborhood with its thatched roof (made with shredded wheat!), and my sister’s is the wacky yellow one on the right, bringing down our property values.

We borrowed the recipe from a whole gingerbread house cookbook by Christa Currie—it’s a fanatical gingerbread bible and I’m drinking her Kool-Aid! We made a few minor changes but the gingerbread recipe was already vegan! Yay! We found a vegan gingerbread frosting recipe over at ecochildsplay.com. Ok, now the slightly arduous fun begins!

The first thing you do is cut your gingerbread house pattern out of paper. If you have graph paper, it’s pretty easy to design your own pattern! Look at you! Designing your own pattern! If you’d rather not make your own, there are many online. Here’s a simple one and here’s a whole crapload of patterns.

Gingerbread
Line some cookie sheets with parchment paper. Tip: If you don’t have parchment paper, you can actually just use brown grocery bag paper. Totes works.
Preheat over to 375 F.
In a large pot on low heat, melt:
•    1 cup vegetable shortening
•    1 cup sugar
•    1 cup dark molasses

Remove from heat and mix in:
•    1 tsp. baking soda
•    1/2 tsp. salt
•    2 tsp. cinnamon
•    2 tsp. ginger

Stir in 4 1/2 to 5 cups flour, one cup at a time.
Mix and knead dough until it’s even and smooth, not crumbly or dry. Divide the dough into three pieces; wrap two in plastic wrap while you’re working with one, so they don’t dry out.

Now it’s time to roll and cut out your gingerbread house! Put your dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it out flat with a rolling pin. place your pattern on the dough and cut around it with a knife.

When you’re done cutting your pieces out, place them on a cookie sheet and bake those bastards. It depends on how thin you rolled the dough but cook for 10 to 14 minutes. If you touch the dough and your finger leaves an imprint, bake a few more minutes.

Frosting
3 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons of Silk Nog or soy milk
Egg replacer for three eggs

Beat the soy milk, egg replacer and vanilla together, then add powdered sugar and beat until thickened. Add more sugar as needed to thicken the frosting. You might need to make a second batch later, depending on when you decorate and how much frosting you use when decorating—but don’t make it all at once because it’ll just get hard and dry out.

Now it’s time to assemble your house! Fun! If you have a piping bag, put the frosting in a piping bag. If you are normal and don’t have a piping bag, you can make a makeshift one with a plastic bag. A large Ziplock-style bag works best. Put the frosting in there, dumping the majority into one corner. Twist the bag on the end diagonal from that corner. Cut the tip of the corner off, and you have a piping bag! This is my preferred method but if you want, you’ll probably be fine just putting the frosting on with a butter knife.

When adhering the pieces, put a generous amount of frosting on both edges and stick them together. First use the frosting to glue one of the long sides to whatever tray or plate you are using—trust me, it’s much easier to put together if you adhere the whole house to the plate/tray. While setting up the sides, it helps if you use glasses or jars to prop them up while the frosting hardens. Once you have all the sides done, leave them alone for a while so the frosting can harden and fortify that mofo. Do the roof last. If you’re having trouble getting the roof to stay on, it helps if you kind of hold it in place for a little while until the frosting dries for a bit. Let the whole house dry for a while before you start decorating.

Decorating!
•    Lots o’ vegan candy!
•    Pretzels, mini shredded wheat (not frosted—it has gelatin in it), chocolate chips, whatever you want!
•    Using the frosting, decorate your house with your vegan candy! Go wild! Get crazy! It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be AWESOME.

J.T. Yost is a cartoonist and portrait artist. His book Old Man Winter, which won the prestigious Xeric grant, features a mix of humorous and heartbreaking stories, animal rights-related and otherwise. Another, considerably lighter work of his is the minicomic “Tales of Good Ol’ Snoop Doggy Dogg,” a book filled predominantly with comics based on dreams Yost has had about everybody’s favorite stoner. The January/February issue of VegNews wisely includes Yost in their feature on vegan fiction writers (along with a plug for Vegansaurus! and a piece on Chicago by Laura! Everyone subscribe now because it’s on holiday sale & you need excellent last minute xmas gifts!), and we’re giving him some bonus spotlight time here!

How long have you been vegan?
I became a vegetarian after biting into a fried chicken drumstick at Mrs. Winner’s (a southern fried chicken chain) in 1990. Although I’d been eating meat without much thought for the duration of my life thus far, that day was different. I flashed back to a Bloom County comic I’d read in which Opus the penguin berates a KFC cashier for frying his brethren and serving them as food. At that moment, I made the connection that the crispy skin I was biting into used to belong to a living being. I was repulsed and never touched the stuff again.

Oh, wait, you asked how long I’ve been vegan. I went vegan in 1992.

Are you vegan for health, environmental, animal rights reasons, or a combination?
It started out purely for animal rights reasons. My parents were worried about my being vegetarian, so I did lots of research to make sure it was a healthy way to live. After reading John Robbins’ Diet For a New America which details animals’ treatment in factory farms as well as delving into the healthful benefits of a vegan diet, I decided to become a full-fledged card-carrying vegan (still haven’t received my card). Since then, most every book I’ve read that deals with health, environmental and/or animal rights in relation to veganism only further reinforces my decision.

How has being vegan influenced your comics?
It’s funny. When I was in fifth or sixth grade, I used to draw these serialized comic strips. I remember one of the first ones I did dealt with a bunch of lab animals that had various deformities or psychological problems. That doesn’t sound very funny, does it? Anyhow, I’ve always had an affinity for animals, and they’ve always figured prominently in my work.

I was introduced to the work of my all-time favorite comic artist and greatest inspiration Chris Ware by a roommate in college. He caused that “Ah-ha!” moment in which I realized that comics did not have to be simply funny or entertaining. They could be powerful, subtle and emotionally resonant. I’m not a confrontational person, and although I’ve done my share of protests I’ve never felt comfortable getting the message out that way. Comics provide an ideal outlet for me.

Do you find people have a different reaction to reading a vegan message in comics format, as opposed to say, reading a leaflet, or watching a documentary?
Yes. For one thing, I think most people feel compelled to read a comic put in front of them, whereas a pamphlet with graphic photos may be off putting. I mean, those pamphlets can connect as well, but each person reacts differently to different types of media. Some of my comics have been used as vegan outreach, which is flattering.

My worry is that my vegan-themed comics tend to be heavy-handed. I’ve certainly been accused of that in reviews, and I have to agree. I’m trying to find a way to tone it down without watering it down or losing the message. I want the story to be compelling to everyone, not just those who already have an interest in animal welfare.

Why do you dream about Snoop Dogg so much?
I wish I knew so that I could dream about him even more! I always enjoy our virtual hanging out sessions. In fact, after I finished the comic you’re referring to, I had yet another dream about Snoop. I’ve had other celebrity guests in my dreams, but none have ever revisited me. I had to exorcise demons from Roseanne Barr’s four headboards (she had four beds). Dick Cheney tried to poison me. Tom Waits, MC Hammer, Henry Rollins, The Golden Girls, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Bill Cosby…they’ve all made appearances in my dreams.

Even though I don’t smoke weed, I think Snoop and I would get along well. I listen to The Chronic and Doggy Style fairly often. I only drink out of my Tha Doggfather glass even though Snoop’s face has been all but worn off. I guess he’s just in my consciousness.

Who are some of your favorite cartoonists, vegan/vegetarian or not?
Well, I can count the vegan cartoonists on one hand – Dan Piraro, Patrick McDonnell (not sure if he’s vegan, but he’s definitely an animal welfare activist), Berkley Breathed, [Ed.: past interviewee!] Jesse Reklaw and [another] one of your past interviewees Susie Cagle. I’m sure there are others, but those are the ones that come to mind.

There are too many amazing comic artists out there, so I’ll just list a handful. Ken Dahl’s Monsters was the best thing I’ve read this year.

There are the big hitters like James Kochalka, Jeffrey Brown, Seth, Ralph Steadman, Daniel Clowes, Lynda Barry, Craig Thompson, Edward Gorey, R. Crumb, Joe Sacco, B. Kliban and of course Charles Schulz.

There are the relatively known up-and-comers like Jordan Crane, Brian Ralph, Julia Wertz, Renee French, Lewis Trondheim, Guy Delisle, Dupuy & Berberian, Aaron Renier, Scott Campbell, Nate Doyle and Laura Park.

Then there are people who should be widely known, but may not be like Tom Neely, Ben Snakepit, Graham Annable, John Pham, Kazimir Strzepek, Kevin Cannon, Michel Rabagliati, John Kerschbaum, Aaron Renier, Victor Kerlow, Adam Kidder, Sophia Wiedeman, L. Nichols, Nate Doyle, Matt Wiegle and James Turek.

I could go on and on…

What is your favorite animal?
You just witnessed my inability to pare down my favorites. I’ve always been a cat person, but I harbor not-so-secret aspirations to care for a giant hog as well. I’m not sure how that would work logistically in my small Brooklyn apartment. I’d also be in heaven working at a primate sanctuary.

You also paint pet portraits! Have you painted any particularly amazing/crazy animals?
Most of my oil portraits are pretty straightforward, although I did get to paint a lop-eared bunny wearing a pirate’s hat. I have more freedom with my anthropomorphic “peculiar”portraits. Heavy-metal cats, pugs as Antony & Cleopatra, a black lab dining on a buffet of toilet paper, socks and bras…stuff like that. The weirdest request was to depict a male dog with long flowing blond hair driving an air-boat through the swamp.

Do you have any cute pets of your own?
We currently have a Chihuahua and a cat who I’m guessing has some Maine Coon in her. Unfortunately, I had to put down my other cat, Linus, recently. He was the sweetest and most silly looking cat I’ve ever had. He was what they call a “pet-quality” Persian, which is a nice way of saying that he looked absolutely insane.

Favorite vegan food to make?
I don’t know that I have a “signature dish.” I like to constantly try new things. I suppose the dish I’ve been making the longest is something I lovingly call “bean gruel.” You sauté some garlic and onions until they caramelize, throw in some cumin and good salsa, mix in refried beans and whole black beans, fresh steamed corn off the cob, fresh cilantro and squeeze half a lemon into it just before removing from the stove. It’s good as a dip, over rice or spread between two flour tortillas and fry to make a Mexican pizza.

Favorite vegan dish at a restaurant/favorite vegan restaurant?
Red Bamboo in Manhattan is my favorite vegan restaurant. [Ed.: Bad news, then!] We had them cater our wedding (well, we picked up a bunch of food from them and brought it to the wedding). They specialize in soul food. For the best vegan desserts, you have to travel to Sticky Fingers Bakery in Washington D.C. They provided our wedding cake (and I drew their logo!). Luckily, the owners are good friends of mine, so they were coming to the wedding anyway (which cut down on delivery costs!).

Based on food options alone, which is your favorite comics show to travel to?
To tell the truth, I haven’t traveled too far for comic shows. This year I’ve sold at MoCCA in Manhattan, King Con here in Brooklyn and SPX in Maryland. Foodwise, I know what I’m in for at MoCCA and King Con. Luckily, there is a great Asian vegan restaurant right next to the conference center at SPX. I lived in Austin for a few years, and they now have a comic fest (“Staple,” I think). I’d love to go to that sometime to revisit all the great Mexican and vegan food I used to indulge in. If I could afford it, I’d fly out for APE and maybe you all could recommend some restaurants!

Any eating tips for traveling cartoonists?
I used to tour in various bands, and am therefore permanently burned out on Taco Bell and Subway, your two basic choices in highway dining. I have heard that you can now order a bean burrito (or taco) “fresco” at Taco Bell (no cheese, add salsa), which eliminates a lot of clunky explanation.

If you are able to avoid fast food, I don’t think it’s terribly hard to find vegetarian options anymore. When I first started out, people generally thought “vegan” was another planet or something. These days, most every restaurant offers at least one veggie option, and they don’t even look at you funny or spit in your food (that I know of).

Basically, you can always find something to eat at Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Middle Eastern and Mexican restaurants. American, French, and Italian restaurants can be a bit tougher.

Do you have one drawing tip to share?
Never accept wooden nickels, but always accept non-photo blue pencils.

Do you have a day job, or do you draw comics full-time?
None of my jobs pay well, so I “spread the wealth,” if you will. I received a grant to self-publish my first comic collection, so I now run a very tiny comic publishing company. I do traditional oil portraits of both pets and people, “peculiar” portraits in inks & watercolors, and a variety of hand-carved and painted block prints, mostly of dogs. I also do editorial illustration, logos, children’s book illustration, and holiday cards. One day a week I work at Utrecht Art Supply, and one day a week I work as an artist assistant to my father-in-law, Burton Silverman. In addition, I sometimes get freelance work doing storyboards.

What exciting upcoming projects can we look forward to?
Since I last spoke with you, I put out a 44 page mini-comic called “Losers Weepers #1.” It’s the first chapter in a series that creates a narrative based around some of my real-life finds (journals, notes, letters, etc.) from the streets. In vega- related news, I’m adapting Gail Eisnitz’s Slaughterhouse into a graphic novel. She was kind enough to supply me with a giant stack of affidavits and interviews with slaughterhouse workers that she used to write her incredibly powerful book.

Also, I don’t know if this counts as a “project,” but we’re having a little girl in the next few weeks (due date is 12/21)!

Any questions for Vegansaurus? Anything!
Who’s zooming whom? Asking Aretha Franklin constitutes cheating.

A: The fish jumped off the hook(?)!

* In light of our upcoming baby birth, I don’t have time to draw the Vegansaurus-themed sketch I’d planned (Vegansaurus patiently explaining to Barney the Dinosaur that children are not part of a vegan diet). With my apologies, please accept this page of primates that I drew at last month’s King Con.

We’ll take a raincheck on that sketch! We still want/need it! Thanks, J.T.!

If you’re like me, or any vegan I know really, one of the things you’re constantly lamenting not being able to eat is Pop Tarts! Well, here’s a recipe that might just rock your world like it did mine! No, seriously.

This recipe makes six generous-sized Pop Tarts; however, considering the time I put into making these, I would suggest doubling or tripling the recipe (particularly if you’re a Pop Tart fiend) or you’ll eat them all in like, a day, and then be bummed you have to make your kitchen messy all over again.

Ingredients
dough
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter substitute
1/4 cup soy milk

filling
1 jar of fruit preserves, your choice (I used blueberry because blueberry is

the best, duh)

icing
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. fruit preserves
1 Tbsp. soy milk

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line a baking sheet with PARCHMENT PAPER and not aluminum foil, otherwise your pastries will stick like a motherfucker.
In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Add the butter substitute by cutting it in with a fork, or your hands, or whatever works. Once the consistency is crumbly, add in the soy milk bit by bit until the dough becomes more doughy, but not too mixed.

Now take a cutting board and douse it in flour. Since you’ll be rolling the dough out until it’s nearly the consistency of phyllo dough, you’re going to want liberal amounts of flour at hand so you don’t mess it up like I kept doing. Use whatever method is best for you to create 12 rectangles that are the same size. If you’re bad at math and shapes like I am, it’s handy to have an appropriately-sized mold or tray at hand to be your guide.

Once the rectangles are made, transfer them onto your baking sheet. Take the preserves and apply them to each of the six squares, leaving room around the border. The first time through I put way too much in the center of each one and it

was just messy (think like when you’re making burritos at home and you put in too much filling and after your first bite half your burrito filling ends up in your lap -it’s like that). In this case, less is more. When finished, place the six remaining rectangles on top and pinch the edges together until they’re closed around the edges.
Bake for seven to 10 minutes, but if your oven is especially dysfunc

tional like mine is, go for a bit longer. When done, put them on the stovetop to cool for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix together the icing ingredients (HINT: This is the best part), and when the pop tarts have cooled, spread it on top. They might look messy BUT TRUST ME THEY TASTE LIKE HEAVEN. Let them sit until they’ve cooled completely. Then you can A) re-toast and devour them B) freeze them and take out when you want to eat them later C) send some to me!

The pizza at NYC’s Viva Herbal Pizzeria is so good, I would brave a blizzard for it, which is exactly what I did last Saturday. As 13 inches were falling from the sky, I managed to finish off two huge slices of vegan pie at this kosher, vegetarian-menu-only spot on the Lower East Side. And when I say HUGE, I mean the size-of-your-head big. With plenty of exotic, fresh, vegan options, this place is a dreamland for the indecisive–-especially when it comes to crust. You can choose from wheat-free, yeast-free, whole wheat, corn meal, spelt, green tea herbal, hemp herbed or traditional crust. And even if you’re consuming a few pizza slices as big as a spaceship, it still feels healthy.

I ordered my fave, the Zen, which is green tea herbed miso tofu, green tea basil pesto, shiitake mushrooms, maitake mushrooms, caramelized onions, sun-dried tomato and roasted garlic, on a green tea herbed spelt crust, and a slice of the La Vita: roasted red peppers, soy sausage, mushrooms, broccoli, roasted garlic, tomato sauce, and corn kernels on a spelt crust. The Zen is majorly flavorful, not to mention colorful, and one of the most popular menu items. I guarantee it’s unlike any slice of

pizza you’ve ever had. The La Vita, which I had never tried, blew my mind. (It was so yummy, I couldn’t bear waiting to take a picture before I tore into it.) Although it wasn’t as good as the Zen, the flavors were tangy, hearty and saucy. I haven’t tested it out on any carnivores, but I’m willing to bet this slice with soy sausage would fool them and the spelt crust is the icing on the vegan cake. I’m not sure how it’s possible to be both crunchy and chewy, but this crust does it.

As far as I know, the only downside is that their soy cheese is not vegan, but you won’t miss it. Slices run about $4 a pop; full pies are also available. They offer a selection of vegan desserts, including whoopee pies, in case you are craving sweets.

Check it out! A friend sent us some scans of an article in the January 2010 issue of

Bon Appetit—it’s a vegan dinner party, with pretty pictures and recipes! AWESOME.

Would anyone like some cake? How about cake on the beach?

On the menu
Guacamole with basil and shallots
Fried sunchoke chips with rosemary salt
Pan-seared polenta with spicy tomato-basil sauce
Quick-sauteed kale with toasted pine nuts
Prosecco
Italian beer
Italian red blend
Arugula salad with oranges and caramelized fennel
Chocolate cake with chocolate-orange frosting
Pinot grigio
Oatmeal, fig, and walnut bars

After the jump, the (pertinent) photos and (all!) the recipes are presented to you, from us, without comment. Because we love you!

Peanut motherlovin’ chews. They are MY JAM. They’re a chocolate-and-peanut candy from a Philly company and they are delicious. Falling under the accidentally vegan category, they are enjoyed by vegans and non-vegans alike. I grew up on these! They were my big brother’s favorite candy, and as he’s the first-born male and no cares what girls think (what about MY needs, dad!), we’d all get peanut chews. I haven’t seen them ANYWHERE in San Francisco! WTF? You people need to import these mofos! Better yet, I should import them and make a million dollars selling them to you non-peanut-chew-having Bay Area folk! Every day I’m hustling.

PS, you can also order them online. Laura believes that you might be able to get them at Phat Philly but it’s unconfirmed because we’re the laziest.

There is a Nog-In (which is more of a holiday nog-off because there will be a winner! with prizes! I think!) on Sunday, Dec. 27 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Fabric8 in SF. We want a vegan to win this piece! If you think your nog has what it takes to reign supreme, email them to enter! Remember, the secret to any delicious nog is just a shitload of booze. Also maybe a couple of twenties. And it might help if you’re attractive and willing to sleep with the judges. You are, right?