vegansaurus!

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

I’ve been waiting for a good anti-down video to come out and PETA has just released one (warning: it’s a bit graphic). I feel like omnis never think about down when it’s actually totally awful. I didn’t even know about the foie gras connection. And down is totally unnecessary in these modern times! There are super-alternatives! 

So spread the word: don’t buy down!

Two weeks ago, on a recent trip in a paradise I like to call LA, I hit up one of my fave spots — Pressed Juicery in West Hollywood! While purchasing a mass amount of juice and trying to make small talk with the register dude, I was told two incredible things: that it was their one year anniversary, so I’d be getting 10% off my order and that they were planning on opening up an SF location. I was very excited upon hearing this, but while walking away I couldn’t help but think of the lip service and broken promises we in the Bay Area have been given about getting our own Babycakes and Native Foods, and so I promptly let it go. 

However, it looks as though we actually are getting a Pressed Juicery and soon too! Eater SF says it’s going to be in Noe Vally; that the space is already available! I’m not going to hold my breath or anything, but I’m pretty stoked about this — I think my heart even skipped a beat. I’ll be here waiting for you, Pressed Juicery. I love you so! 

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I miss seafood. Thankfully, many a talented chef and  vegan company have heard my incredibly influential sobs, and risen to the challenge of putting this kind of delectable food item on the market! Today, we talk about Sophie’s Kitchen — specifically the crab cakes. 

 

I got these bad boys at Whole Foods, a market I did not previously notice them at until recently. Here’s what I have to say — if you see them, grab them up. Honestly, I could not be more stoked with this product. 

I am not a fan of frying my food my food at home, which some of you might find surprising since I eat so much of it when going out. Whatever, let’s move on. I baked them, at 350, for about 15 minutes, or golden brown on the edges. I immediately ate one of them plain, because waiting for both the oven to pre-heat and then the cakes to bake was excruciating. Delicious! I don’t know how Sophie’s Kitchen does it! The best part is that these are gluten and soy-free! The texture is spot on, without being too much, if you aren’t a fan of faux-meats that are exactly like the real thing. The taste itself is also pretty spot-on, without being overly “fishy”, thanks to the wakame powder. 

Baked to perfection and demolished in 30 seconds.  

Being a San Francisco Bay Area native, hot crab sandwiches were a part of my childhood. They bring back family lunches out, in Marin County while visiting my grandparents, and then my mom replicating those same sandwiches in our kitchen at home. Sometimes the hardest part of being vegan is not being able to eat the food that is linked to my family and our memories. Sophie’s Kitchen Vegan Crab Cakes are delightful to me, not only because they are scrumptious, but also because for the first time in over a decade I got to eat a hot ‘crab’ sandwich! 

My crab sandwich was nothing too spectacular, as I made it at my grandma’s house with only the crab cake, some french bread and Veganaise on hand. You can bet when I make them at home, I’ll be going all out with an english muffin, green onion, Veganaise and  melted vegan cheese. I can’t wait. However plain this one may seem, I was happy none-the-less!

The crab cakes are somewhat small, so I thought I could eat all four that come in a box, no problem. I actually could only get through two, because they are quite decadent! 

Last but not least — the ingredients! I know a bunch of you are into analyzing this part of processed and packaged food items, so have at it! 

I can’t wait to try all of this company’s other products! 

Last weekend, New York hosted the Hack//Meat conference, where experts gathered to “brainstorm the issue of meat.” Per Businessweek:

One of the more interesting proposals to come out of Hack//Meat is from Foodpairing, a food industry research company and app developer. Foodpairing has broken down flavor to its molecular components and has compiled databases that can match the flavor of those ingredients against other completely different ingredients. By compiling “foodpairing trees” its technology can identify vegetable or seafood ingredients that reinforce the flavor of different meats, or in some cases, can act as a substitute for a meat entirely.

Yes, “molecular gastronomy” gives you a case of the eyerolls, but past the “sciencing your food all up” part, this sounds like an interesting way of making meat substitutes that meat-eaters will accept and maybe even embrace. Let’s go science!

[Photo by Rick Harrison via Flickr]

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!

To all my Arizona peeps out there who worked so hard on Prop 204 six years ago (the ballot measure banning veal and gestation crates), the historic law you helped enact takes effect in a couple weeks. The state’s largest paper editorialized this week telling you how awesome you are for ushering in this important law—check it out.

The Wall Street Journal had a large feature this week about the fact that US milk consumption has declined nearly 30% since 1975, and how the industry is responding.

I’ve got a couple new online pieces this week, one for a sustainable ag site about the need to reduce per capita meat consumption and another on the Civil Eats site about the pork industry’s Onion-like defense of indefensible animal abuse.

P.S. Video of the week: If you’ve ever wondered what your party would be like with a cat DJing it, wonder no more. (Related: Yes, it exists, and yes, we sell it.)

Look at them! Lurking just under the water! I have said forever that fish are entirely untrustworthy, that if they had any sense at all they’d all go full piranha and start devouring us air-breathing, water-defiling jerks. And now, they’ve begun.

Per Ed Yong at Not Exactly Rocket Science, European catfish in the River Tarn are hunting pigeons on a gravel island in the city of Albi. The pigeons innocently step into the water to bathe, and the catfish leap out of the water to catch a bird, drag it under, and swallow it whole. WELCOME TO NIGHTMARE TOWN:

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

See? Terrifying. And the speculation just makes it worse:

The European catfish is an alien, introduced into the Tarn in 1983, and currently flourishing there. Is it possible that these invaders have eaten too many local fish and are forced to seek sustenance elsewhere? Does this explain why it seems to be the smaller catfish that go after pigeons? Or is it that the smaller individuals are less likely to be permanently stranded on shore, or expend less energy in wiggling back into the water? Why, essentially, is a bird in the mouth worth being a fish out of water?

You realize what’s going to happen, right? Humans are going to empty the seas of all but the least edible fishes, which, denied every other form of sustenance, will have to turn to eating bathing animals of all species to survive. WE ARE THE CREATORS OF OUR OWN DESTRUCTION.

[Photo and video via Not Exactly Rocket Science]

Victory Burger, the burger joint that Kickstarter built, is open! And it is damn good. DAMN GOOD. Since it’s steps from my front door, I’ve eaten there about 50 times and confirm that everything is extremely legit. Also, I CAN’T FIT INTO MY PANTS DONT LOOK AT ME. As soon as I’m done writing this, it’s off to the Y to exercise (for health! and also because I can’t afford to buy new clothes right now!) but first, let’s drool.

Here’s the menu; you can see the incredible amount of tasty vegan food up on it. Two different types of vegan sandwiches (a curried burger YUM or an arepa filled with marinated tofu, plantains, avocado, and an addictive slaw!), coconut ice cream milkshakes (with add-ins! I’ve had peanut butter-chocolate, chocolate-banana, and strawberry-balsamic!), and tasty-ass deep-fried pickled veggies and fries with AVOCADO MAYO. It’s seriously the best place for your vegan burger and fries fix in town. It’s a classy-ass diner and I’m in love.

Now, some pictures:

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Victory Burger is on Alcatraz at San Pablo, right next to Actual Cafe, and is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Hopefully their hours will expand but they’re a brand-new baby restaurant so give these fools some time, OK?

Mayim Bialik shared her vegan sufganiyot recipe with PETA, because they’re pals, and it sounds delicious because when do jelly donuts not sound delicious? When you’re dead, I imagine. Unfortunately, PETA didn’t include a photo of these little treats, so we found a couple of other vegan sufganiyot recipes with gorgeous photos, because what’s a recipe without a picture?

The above is of Season of Karen’s baked vegan sufganiyot, a variation on a recipe from Vegan Yum Yum. Below, Inhabitat’s vegan and gluten-free version, adapted from a Babycakes recipe.

Which are you making? All three, right? Happy Hanukkah, let’s eat fried dough and potatoes until we pop!

Have you been wanting to burst out of your comfortable vegan shell and upgrade to an ultra-genius-hottie vegan? Laika magazine is here to help you out!

I went to the launch of Laika a few nights ago and what a party. With eco-friendly mojitos and delicious food from Cinnamon Snail, you know I was happy. And my favorite NYC vegan fashion plate, Leanne of Vaute Couture, was there, as was the ever-talented Joshua Katcher. Both made contributions to this inaugural issue. And of course, Laika creator Julie Gueraseva was there too. I spoke to her briefly, she’s plain lovely. Basically: I’m drinking the Laika Kool-Aid. 

The spread at the launch. Hubba hubba!

The only thing I regret about the party—and I know you’re going to kill me for this—there was an elaborate cheese spread from new vegan cheese company Treeline Cheese and I didn’t try any. I know! I’m sorry! But people were buzzing around the cheese plates like cray and I actually had to run back to work because I’m hella important so I didn’t have time to muscle my way in. But I swear to the Vegansaur gods, I will try the cheese and tell you how it is.

So Laika covers vegan fashion but also food and travel. Plus this issue profiles several young vegan activists. There’s something for everyone. If you’ve been wondering where the title comes from, that’s my favorite part:

LAIKA Magazine is named after the stray dog who died within hours of being launched into outer space inside Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. About sending Laika into space, scientist Oleg Gozanko, part of the original mission, said “We shouldn’t have done it … We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog.”

Aw, sad. But that dog does deserve a namesake. R.I.P. little pal. Get your subscription to Laika here!

Katieg’s Entry: Lemon Curd Cake with Coconut Glaze

This is a super-hard contest, but I though the overachievers among us ought to know about it (the rest of us can just profit from the results): Earth Balance wants you to make delicious baked goods with their products. Duh, easy. Does anyone NOT use Earth Balance in baking?

Except here’s the catch: You have to invent the recipe yourself. That usually doesn’t go so well in my house; we’re still rehashing the Chutney Pie Debacle of 2006. But if you fancy yourself an up-and-coming Isa or Colleen, then by all means, invent away. That’s not the hardest part!

After slaving away over 17 drafts of the perfect Peanut Butter Banana Chia Açai Spice Drops, YOU HAVE TO TAKE A PRETTY PICTURE OF IT! I shall never be a professional chef in the internet age. My food photos are all grainy and dark and show how messy my house is.

After all that, you could win a sweet trip to Vegas, which you will need to recover from the stress of entering this contest. Oh, and there are categories. We already missed pies and cake. 

• Cupcakes: Dec. 10 to 16 
• Cookies and Bars: Dec. 17 to 23

Go Vegansaurs! Bake and invent! Then share your recipes with us! Those of you who aren’t sneaking in moments to write posts at work can go browse the recipe collection and tell us about the gems.

Tom Ford did a vegan version of his spring 2013 boots for Anne Hathaway to wear at the New York premiere of Les Misérables, because she is a famous vegan movie star, and why wouldn’t Tom Ford make you, famous vegan movie star, fabulous a vegan version of his elaborate bondage-sandal boots for the premiere of your latest, biggest movie in New York City?

I’m not in love with the actual boots, but I am in love with the idea of designers accommodating their vegan movie star fans with ethically appropriate fashion pieces. Dear Anne Hathaway, please wear these to the grocery store.

[photos via TLo and NYMag]