vegansaurus!

We’ve got an insanely delicious Pinterest board that’s teeming with a ridiculous amount of perfect-for-fall vegan recipes! There are breakfasts, lunches, breads, drinks, and desserts galore. If you don’t attempt to eat your computer screen, there’s something wrong with you and you should check yourself into the nearest psych ward immediately.

I know there’s a lot of debate out there about what should go in smoothies. Greens? Nut milk? Berries? Durian mixed with agave and raw cacao sauce? It can be tough to decide what your smoothie should have in it—I know I’ve stood, mouth agape, in front of my blender for upward of two minutes trying to decide whether 1/4 cup of maca is overkill (note: it is).

There are as many ways to blend as their are ingredients under the moon, but I highly recommend whatever you put in your smoothie, you start it with a protein-rich or green-rich base. That way, you’re at least fortifying yourself when your smoothie consists of just cacao nibs and avocado (admit it, you’ve tried that combo at least once!).

Perfect Fit Protein by Tone It Up scared me with its name—I’m not interested in toning anything when I drink smoothies, except maybe my hair if it’s that time of the color cycle—but its ingredients are absolutely non-scary! I love that it has so much protein (15g serving! Woohoo!) yet includes only organic raw, gluten-free, non-GMO brown rice protein, stevia, and no common allergens. The company sent me a bunch of samples and I absolutely could not taste the flavors (in a good way!) in my usual berry-maca-almond milk-chia seed smoothie.

I highly recommend adding this stuff if you’re interested in a no-fuss protein boost without tons of added ingredients you’ll likely find in other vegan protein powders. This is a winner! Find it online.

This is Vegansaurus raw correspondent Sarah E. Brown’s latest post! Read more by Sarah on Vegansaurus, and visit her personal blog, Queer Vegan Food.

Paul Shapiro is back with all the animal news you need. Let’s go:

Ever wonder what the meat industry’s tired of? Well, Pork Magazine’s editor wrote this week, “I am getting tired of the constant barrage of announcements driven by the Humane Society of the United States against the U.S. pork sector, and I know you are too.”

One thing you may not be tired of is good news like this: industry publication Feedstuffs has a story this week about a formerly pro-gestation crate animal scientist who now concludes that a transition away from the crates will indeed work, and that producers seem to be getting dragged “kicking and screaming into another inevitable change.”

Other good news: HSUS is proud to be named this year as VegNews magazine’s “Nonprofit of the Year!”

A new undercover investigation by Mercy For Animals documented egregious cruelty at a large dairy producer.

Finally, an interesting story about how more and more black men are getting into veganism. One guy in particular is a pretty good example, I’d say!

Video of the week: Rescued ducks hit water for the first time! [Ed.: UGH THIS IS TOO AWESOME]

Listen up, Alanis: Here’s something actually ironic. Those fancy New Yorkers who keep chickens in their yards because the eggs are so much healthier might be poisoning their unsuspecting children with that scourge-of-paint-and-pipes, lead. BUMM-er.

The New York Times has the full scoop, but I’ll save you the carpal-tunnel of having to click and save myself the effort of having to write by copying and pasting the nut graf right here:

Preliminary results from a New York State Health Department study show that more than half the eggs tested from chickens kept in community gardens in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens had detectable levels of lead, unlike store-bought counterparts.

Now, I don’t wish lead poisoning on anyone, and I am also of the opinion that eating eggs from backyard chickens is about a zillion times more humane and less environmentally devastating than eating factory-farmed eggs. Nevertheless, go ahead and add this to your quiver of arguments as to why it might be just the bestest most best idea to the leave the eggs alone. Drop it! Drop the egg! Now walk away and no one will get poisoned!

[Link via the incomparable Ken Layne. Photo by wooleywonderworks via Flickr]

Love to eat dead water animals? Well, enjoy some pig and geese shit with your tasty tilapia carcass! YUM YUM. 

Yep, Americans are consuming insane amounts of dead fish that were raised on feces in China (where, according to Bloomberg, 27 percent of the seafood Americans eat comes from). Check it out:

At Chen Qiang’s tilapia farm in Yangjiang city in China’s Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong, Chen feeds fish partly with feces from hundreds of pigs and geese. That practice is dangerous for American consumers, says Michael Doyle, director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety. ‘The manure the Chinese use to feed fish is frequently contaminated with microbes like salmonella,’ says Doyle, who has studied foodborne diseases in China.

and:

On a sweltering, overcast day in August, the smell of excrement is overpowering. After seeing dead fish on the surface, Chen, 45, wades barefoot into his murky pond to open a pipe that adds fresh water from a nearby canal. Exporters buy his fish to sell to U.S. companies.

So, not only are your dead fish being fed shit, they’re actually being raised in it, too. Well, the ones who even survive the ordeal and make it into your shitty dinner. Pro tip for home cooks: just douse with extra fresh lemon juice to cover up that shit stank! Oh, and maybe get a tetanus shot? And also, a barf bag?

And it’s not just fish! Shrimp, one of the absolute worst things you can eat if you give a shit about the environment or AMAZING SEA TURTLES (Indonesian shrimp trawlers kill 26 pounds of sea creatures for every 1 pound of shrimp they collect! ONE POUND. Please read Eating Animals for more fun facts like this!) is feeling the funk, too. It all starts at Ngoc Sinh Seafoods Trading & Processing Export Enterprise in Vietnam (8 percent of the shrimp Americans eat comes from Vietnam), where dead shrimps are stored in water that’s deemed “not safe for drinking” and “workers stand on a dirty floor sorting shrimp one hot September day. There’s trash on the floor, and flies crawl over baskets of processed shrimp stacked in an unchilled room in Ca Mau.”

Seriously, someone get me to Long John Silver’s for a basket of deep-fried salmonella STAT! USA! USA!

[H/t to genius news juggernaut Eve Batey for the awesome/awful link!]

Thanks to my obsessive personality combined with my penchant for evangelism, I am now lucky enough to have a vegan community that includes my mom, sister and three good friends. It’s really great to get to preach to the choir sometimes. Recently many of us have gathered to rant in perplexed fury about the anti non-dairy milk ads that are popping up on the netwaves recently.

[Can’t see the video? Watch it on Vegansaurus.com!]

The conversations usually go something like this:

“Really? Really? The dairy industry is trying to convince me not to use almond milk because I have to shake the box?” 

“Seriously? The diary industry thinks that the Riboflavin in soy milk is more scary to me than the chemicals, pus, and hormones in cow’s milk?” 

Etc. You get the idea. The ads are doing little more than poking the beehive for my non-diary friends.

Which is the point.

You see, these ads are not actually for us as non-dairy milk drinkers. I realized this after another rant session with a vegan friend, when I came up a little stumped. These ad writers are professionals. I don’t think they are stupid enough to think that a convicted non-dairy drinker is actually going to flip on their decision suddenly because they realize they don’t like to shake a milk box. Also, we are a pretty small minority to target with wide-scale video ads. Yes, we’re growing, but the recent Gallup poll reminds us that vegans only make up about 2% of the population. These ads don’t seem to be targeting people who presumably can’t drink milk from lactose intolerance, but those who are choosing not to because of an anti-dairy bias. So who are the ads for?

These ads are not weak arguments aimed to bring non-dairy drinkers back into the fold. They’re actually aimed at dairy drinkers to prevent them from considering the switch to non-dairy alternatives. This tactic was used recently with the so-dubbed “anti-fanboy ads” that Samsung Galaxy III released earlier this year. These ads showed a crowd lined up at an obvious-imitation of an Apple store being drawn into the benefits of a Galaxy 3 and eventually abandoning their cult-like appreciation of their unnamed phone (clearly an iPhone 4s). A cacophony of internet righteousness ensued with much mockery and name-calling on either side. Many people argued that the internet skirmish was intentionally crafted, that the ads weren’t actually aimed to get Apple users to abandon their iPhone but to give a pat-on-the-back to those who hate “Apple fanboys” and say, “welcome to the team.”

These “non-dairy milk is stupid” ads are using the same tactic: they are intended to  reinforce to dairy drinkers that people who would think of drinking anything other than cow’s milk are ridiculous. So ridiculous, in fact, that we don’t even deserve rational logic to argue against. This serves to assuage any doubt that may be raised by the increasing number of people abandoning cow’s milk and affirms, “look at these crazy people who think cow’s milk isn’t God’s gift to the world. Good thing you’re not one of them.”

As for the indignation and fury from non-dairy drinkers as a result, that’s minor collateral damage. Or, one could say, just spilt milk.

Lucky for us, if youtube comments and votes indicate anything, no matter who these ads are actually aimed at, they don’t seem to be very successful. In fact, non-dairy are getting an opportunity handed to us to point out the flaws of dairy. Since the ads aren’t using any strong logical arguments against non-dairy milk, even dairy drinkers watch them with a little bit of “WTF?” This gives non-dairy drinkers the chance to make a case against dairy with dairy-drinkers on our side for once. So, show your friends, and make a day out of mocking how ridiculous these ads really are! It’s pretty fun.

Isaak Brown is a writer, youth worker, and highly enthusiastic and evangelistic vegan. Comments and thoughts are welcome at isaakbrown@gmail.com. 

Here’s a handy dandy inforgraphic all about our friend milk. See the whole thing here. Lots of interesting facts in this one. I pulled out the above section because it’s effing shocking that people consume so much more dairy than vegetables. And still the government pushes dairy. I think the public has that under control. Maybe they should go harder on the greens, hmm? 

For today’s Vegan MoFo entry, I want to tell you guys about Marmite, the jarred food of gods. It is like MSG, but good for you, all full of B vitamins and salty, umami punch. I adore it. Seeing photos of it makes me immediately hungry.

Two Decembers ago I made the Great Vegan Conspiracy’s tattie scones with Marmite, but I’m not sure I properly stressed just how crucial Marmite is to both that recipe and my entire life.

Vegans can make gravy with Marmite!

Bread with Marmite!

Art with Marmite!

Add Marmite to your grains-cooking water for superior flavor and health. Put it on toast with vegan butter for a savory snack. Eat it off knifepoint directly from the jar for pure, unadulterated yeasty deliciousness. You can’t go wrong, unless you don’t like it, in which case, out of my kitchen.

[Photos, from top: Martin Weller, chotda, Caro Wallis, RHiNO NEAL, all via Flickr]

Scream Sorbet, who we love, is now serving vegan ice cream sandwiches! And they are hella tasty GET UP ON THIS. I think they might only be available at their store, but it’s well worth going to a farmers’ market location to check and ask. ALWAYS BE ASKING FOR MORE DELICIOUS VEGAN OPTIONS! Where there’s demand, there’s supply! Or, at least we can hope and dream and ask some more and maybe one day that will be the case! Besides, the worst thing that can happen is that you show up at a farmers’ market and all they have is their DELICIOUS SORBET*. Boo fucking hoo!

*please note, I am not normally a fan of sorbet, the poorest excuse for vegan dessert that’s ever been excused, but Scream Sorbet is different. They have amazing flavors that are rich, creamy, and deliciously divine. Get up in it!

Last I checked, Vegansaurus is a vegan lifestyle blog. It’s not called Pescetariansaurus or Vegetariansaurus or Omnivore Rex. I feel the need to point this out because this cookbook, Veggies for Carnivores, mentions many non-vegan things. Most notably is the use of honey in a handful of the recipes. None of the recipes call for meat, though some have little blurbs called “A Carnivore’s Choice” that list different types of meat that would “go” with that particular entry. So after reading the cookbook for the first time I was left a little confused. Why would someone take the time to market to a vegan blog?

Per the back cover, Veggies for Carnivores is supposed to introduce new flavors that “will make veggies irresistible—even to the most die-hard carnivore.” Of the seven chapters, only one is on entrees. The others, not including the introduction, are dressings, dips, soups, salads, and smoothies. If we’re moving vegetables to the center of the plate, shouldn’t we have more than one chapter on veggie-based entrees? Sides and starters are thoroughly covered, but if the basis of the book is to get “die-hard” carnivores to move their meat to the side, I would have assumed there would have been more of an emphasis on plant-central plates.

The book does a great job of promoting healthy eating; it’s ideal for all of our stubborn relations who could use an overhaul in their diets. Krulak does an excellent job of spelling out the benefits of vegetables in her recipes and overall as a staple in our diets. She uses her history of world travel with cute anecdotes and infuses her knowledge of many cultures into most of her recipes. I have never thought to use maple syrup in lieu of olive oil in cooking until I read this book. I tried it while sauteing onions, peppers, and Tofurkey sausage, and I was really impressed.

Beautiful avocado dressing on my frou-frou salad.

The first recipe to really jump out at me was one for Sweet Avocado Dressing. It was super small, ingredients wise, and extremely easy to make. I’ve never made my own dressing before, but have seen my partner make them on numerous occasions. It called for avocado, lime, soy sauce, maple syrup, and olive oil. I cut the amount of olive in half; I use a ton of dressing on my salads so I didn’t want to overload myself on EVOO. The dressing came out pretty awesome, even if my blender doesn’t allow me to blend slowly while drizzling in the olive oil, as the recipe states, without making my kitchen look like a crime scene.

Veggie for Carnivores is a good, short cookbook. It may not be aimed at a vegan household, unless you don’t mind having to make some easy substitutions. (You may need some stickers or white-out to cover up the salmon or tuna suggestions.) And as I stated previously, if you have a relative who is notoriously omnivorous and wouldn’t in a million years give up his meat (like my own dad), and who could stand to eat more vegetables, then yes, this cookbook would be perfect for him. But as a vegan looking for new and exciting dishes? Not so much. Maybe the fine folks at Notreallyveganorvegetariansaurus.com would like to give it a try. 

Andrew E. Irons is a blogger from Long Beach, Calif. He co-created and contributes to Rhode Island-based hip-hop website The Echo Chamber Blog under the pseudonym Verbal Spacey. You can track his daily diatribes by following him on Twitter.

Koja Kitchen, a San Francisco-based food truck, dishes up plenty of meat-mouth entrees, but they really shine in the veg department. (I’ve heard this from vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike, so put that in your pipe and choke on it!)

Their “Teriyaki Zen with Pineapple” is maybe the best thing I’ve eaten all month. That is saying a lot as I’m nearly constantly eating as evidenced by the fact that I am typing this with one hand while eating a hot dog. When people say that they are typing with one hand, it is usually an allusion to jerking it. But not me, I am always talking about eating, ALWAYS.

Koja Kitchen’s Teriyaki Zen with Pineapple’s homemade patty consists of portobellos, soy, and spices all mashed up and mixed into MEATY PERFECTION. It’s then topped with a caramelized pineapple slice, Japanese seasoned romaine lettuce, teriyaki sauce, and served in TOASTED RICE BUNS. The buns are made of rice! It’s sorta like a giant amazing sushi roll IT IS THE VERY BEST. I really can’t stress enough how good this is and you must check their weekly schedule and go eat one immediately. Or three. Three is probably a fair amount and I mean that seriously and with all of my little piggy heart.

Mercy for Animals has released another undercover investigation, this time from a dairy farm that supplies Burger King. A DAIRY farm. Not a meat producer.

Warning: This video is pretty brutal.

[Can’t see the video? Watch it on Vegansaurus.com]

People consuming dairy and eggs contributes to profound abuse of cows and chickens. If you still drink milk and eat cheese, you should watch this. If you don’t, I advise you avoid it. But next time someone says, “but cheese tastes good,” refer them here.

Meet Tuxedo Stan! Although he can’t actually run for mayor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, because of some speciesist Halifax law preventing cats from running for mayor, Stan can raise awareness of the importance of spaying or neutering cats. Also, he and his campaign manager, Hugh Chisolm, are impeccably dressed gentlemen, which we support on principle. I mean, just look at them:

[Can’t see the video? Watch it on Vegansaurus.com!]

You can throw your support to Tuxedo Stan on Facebook and Twitter, and find out all about him on his fine website. According to his bio, Stan and his three brothers were born three weeks after their pregnant mother was rescued from the streets of Nova Scotia. LOOK AT THIS FACE:

Binge on photos of the candidate here and here.

Halifax elections happen on Saturday, Oct. 20. While none of us can vote for Stan, we can vote for his pet cause: Spay Day HRM, which helps “students & low-income families to spay & neuter their cat.” I love political season.

[Photos from Tuxedo Stan’s many internet outlets. Link to story via the wonderful Julie Klausner]

Good news, everyone! Time to go find kittens, puppies, and bunnies online!

Wired Science reports on a new study that suggests looking at cute animal pictures can improve your concentration. The research was done in Japan, where cute overload is basically the national condition.

Cute baby animals help you concentrate, but they don’t help you just generally be smarter, though, so probably better to use kitten flashcards while studying but not while at cocktail parties. Though that would make you popular in other ways, so go for it! Bring kitten flashcards!

[Photo via cute overload]

IT’S ALIVE!!! Vegansaurus has been part of the Know What app for awhile and we’re excited to announce that we have our very own app! It’s a guide to all the best in S.F. Bay Area vegan dining with mini-reviews, maps, and more! It’s super handy, I’ve been using it for a couple weeks now and I can’t stop looking at it, it’s so much fun! I’m like, “What do I feel like eating? Let’s see what the app says!” It’s like a Magic 8 Ball but the answer is always, “HELL YES DO IT.” 

From the press release:

The Bay Area probably has more veg food than any other place in the universe, and yet, believe it or not, not all of it is delicious. In fact, some of it is not even good. Which is why Vegansaurus, the bicoastal juggernaut of all things vegan, has eaten every single vegan dish in the entire Bay Area (* okay, not every single one) to make sure that you only put absolutely awesome vegan deliciousness in your mouth. You’re welcome.

It has 77 restaurants and is basically a pocket guide to S.F. Bay Area vegan eats! It’s available for Apple products now with an Android version coming soon! So buy it and have all the awesomeness of Vegansaurus with you when you’re on the go! Seriously, we will just be there in your pocket, cursing and screaming to get out. For only $1.99, it’s impossible to not unleash the beast! 

For your enjoyment, here’s what it looks like (isn’t it great??) (don’t answer that unless you agree, it’s kind-of an unofficial site rule):

You know how when you first go vegan you’re totally not into tempeh? It’s like, “WHAT’S THAT SMELL YO?” But then you start being all, “mmm what’s that smell YO BREAK ME OFF A PIECE OF THAT!” Something like that. That was my journey to tempeh lover, I’m obsessed with it now but it took me a good five years as a vegan to be into it and now I’m like, “WTF IS WRONG WITH ME?” I realize it’s that I was brainwashed by my SAD to not think that fresh food tastes delicious and I was an idiot listening to my creepy old brain! Be smart, eat tempeh. I think maybe I also just had some shitty tempeh in my life, like stuff that wasn’t steamed or had been sitting alone in the bulk bins too long, you know? Or a well-meaning friend made me a plain slab of tempeh as an alternative to their meaty entrees. So many mistakes were made.

At its best, tempeh is nutty, meaty, and hella tasty — and Alive & Healing, a new company out of Northern California, knows it. THEIR TEMPEH IS AMAZING. So good, not at all funky tunky (you know what I’m talking about with that tempeh smell!), and just absolutely scrumptious. SCRUMPTIOUS!

I made quite a few things with the insane amounts I purchased, including the tasty sandwich below and MY FAVORITE TEMPEH RECIPE OF ALL TIME, DEBBIE’S TEMPEH. It’s available exclusively in Lisa Jervis’ Cook Food cookbook, which I find to be a kitchen imperative. I adapted the recipe and my version is tasty but not nearly as stellar as the one in the book. If you’re looking for a good cooking basics book that has staple recipes to use and remix for years, Cook Food has your back. Anyway, here’s the pics of some of the yummy things I eat it is great to be me:

I also made a lentil soup with tempeh crumbles, a slow cooker Shepherd’s Pie, and I don’t remember what else — mainly just hella delicious stuff. Alive & Healing is available at lots of S.F. Bay Area stores (and expanding!), you can have it shipped to you (er, or wait, this might only be available in the S.F. Bay Area? I can’t tell for sure!) if you’re outside of the SF Bay Area or you’re very lazy, and they have a Tempeh Club! Which, as soon as I figure out what it is, I’m joining. I think it’s just bulk tempeh delivered to your mouth I’LL TAKE IT. If you’re ready to become a tempeh lover, today is the day, this high-protein tastiness is meant for you and so GIVE IN to tempeh and finally let two become one EW SORRY.

(I’m also counting this as my International Vegan MoFo for the day because tempeh is hella Indonesian THE MORE YOU KNOW. )