“A missing person’s report has been filed, but if you have further information, visit Reddit and Permission to Heal. Click here, for current photos of Erickson.”
Read more on Ecorazzi.
What Would Julienna Do? premieres tonight at 7 p.m. (EST I think) on the Veria Living channel. I’ve never heard of this woman or this television channel but YOU KNOW I love this trailer because of the hilarious dog at the end! He’s a comedic genius!
So, who will be watching tonight? Do you like this woman more than the Cooking Channel show guy?
Carol J. Adams wrote The Sexual Politics of Meat more than 20 years ago, and since then the dialogue about meat, patriarchy and feminism has continued to flourish. Carol is one of my personal heroes, and I’m delighted to announce that I’m a contributor to a new anthology, Defiant Daughters: 21 Women on Art, Activism, Animals, and The Sexual Politics of Meat (Lantern Books, March 2013), which celebrates Carol J. Adams’ seminal work and how it has impacted new generation(s) of feminist vegans.
The anthology, edited by the fantastic Kara Davis and Wendy Lee with a foreword by Carol J. Adams, features 21 pieces by women artists, feminists, vegans, chefs, professors, and writers from all backgrounds. All proceeds from the anthology go to the wonderful vegan multimedia collective for change, Our Hen House.
I was thrilled to put to paper some of the many ways that Carol J. Adams’ work has impacted my life and activism career, and to share how my relationship with my brother Asher grew due to our mutual love of Carol’s book The Sexual Politics of Meat and shared commitment to veganism!
Here is the description of the book Defiant Daughters from Lantern Books’ website:
One writer attempts to reconcile her feminist-vegan beliefs with her Muslim upbringing; a second makes the connection between animal abuse and her own self-destructive tendencies. A new mother discusses the sexual politics of breastfeeding, while another pens a letter to her young son about all she wishes for him in the future. Many others recall how the book inspired them to start careers in the music business, animal advocacy, and food. No matter whether they first read it in college or later in life, whether they are in their late teens or early forties, these writers all credit The Sexual Politics of Meat in some way with the awakening of their identities as feminists, activists, and women. Even if you haven’t read the original work, you’re sure to be moved and inspired by these tales of growing up and, perhaps more important, waking up to the truths around us.
I am so honored to have been a part of this collection; the other writers are incredibly talented and truly carry the torch of Carol’s work, more than 20 years after The Sexual Politics of Meat was first published. I hope you’ll check out the book when it comes out in March. You can pre-order by clicking here. Additionally, you can “like” the book’s Facebook page and stay tuned for excerpts posted by other contributors in anticipation of the launch. There’s likely going to be a hella fun vegan book launch party in the Bay Area, and there’s already one planned in New York City and Los Angeles, so stay tuned! Yay!
Farm Sanctuary has two genius ideas for showing your honey (there’s an agave joke in there somewhere…) you care this Valentine’s Day.
Gift idea #1:
“Farm Sanctuary’s beautifully-packaged, delectable, organic, fair trade Vegan “Milk” Chocolate Heart, which opens up to reveal even more vegan sweet treats inside! Made from rice/almond “milk” chocolate, it’s the perfect expression of love and compassion this Valentine’s Day. Price: $18.00. Available for Pre-Order. All proceeds go to support Farm Sanctuary’s work on behalf of abused and neglected farm animals.”
Gift idea #2:
“Skip the flowers and Adopt A Farm Animal instead! Sponsoring a rescued cow, pig, sheep, goat, or chicken who resides at one of Farm Sanctuary’s three shelters in NY and CA is a cute, original way to show you care. Gift recipients receive an adorable adoption certificate complete with a color photograph, adoption card, and an invitation to schedule a VIP tour to meet their adopted friend!”
So there you have it, two genius gift ideas that help animals! Also, can we talk about that calf and her/his funny expression? Hilar.
About two weeks ago, I got to attend the opening celebration of the new Bliss Grand restaurant in Williamsburg, BK! Finally I can tell you all about it. The Bliss Grand owners have another venue in the area, a more casual place, but they wanted to open a more upscale restaurant. Mission accomplished! The place is very nice. Here’s the back bar area:
I love the exposed brick! The party was hosted by none other than Joshua Katcher. Here’s our handsome host:
To his right is the main dining area.
I totally drilled Joshua on vegan fashion. He told me he has some more items coming out from Brave GentleMan now that he’s launched the suits. He’s going to have some more affordable accessories and home items to complement his suit line. We also discussed the diligence it takes to create ethically sourced, sweatshop-free fashion. He is thorough!
They had a number of dishes out for us to try. My favorite thing we had were these little empanadas!:
Well actually, the empanadas were great, but it was the sauce that blew my mind! It’s a cashew margarita cream sauce and it is out of control delicious. It had a rich parmesan cheese flavor. And it totes has tequila in it because they are hardcore.
Other super popular items were these truffle oil fries (we eat truffle oil, no? They don’t still use pigs to find truffles, do they?) and this kale salad. Someone said the fries were possibly the best fries they ever had. And they were definitely delicious:
Other than the amazing food, I must also say the owners were incredibly nice. And not JUST because they kept me rich in delicious vegan wine.
The Bliss Grand is located at 167 Grand street at Bedford. Definitely worth the trip!
I went to one of the veggie Grubwithus dinners, the Vaute Couture one of course, and I met such nice people! One such person was Sarit. I got to talk to her all about her new site, forAnima.com, that’s launching next month. She sent me a little blurb:
forAnima.com is a vegan marketplace that is a cross between Etsy and Macy’s for vegan products and services. forAnima’s mission is to empower both consumers and vegpreneurs, and encourage self-sufficiency within the community. We believe that the more we empower vegan business owners, the more more money will flow back to animal causes. We also believe in the power of consumers to make change.
We were talking about this idea at dinner—you know, the notion that if you hire a vegan lawyer or vegan hairdresser, it’s good for the vegan movement because you know that money isn’t going toward milk or leather or what-have-you.
Like any normal person, I love Etsy, but even with veganetsy, it’s still difficult if you want to shop just from vegan vendors. This will make it so easy!
Like I said, the site isn’t live yet but I saw a preview and it looks awesome:
I can’t wait! I’ll be sure to tell you when it’s live.
It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!
Want to see the future of food? BusinessWeek had a great feature yesterday on the amazing Hampton Creek Foods.
Mom-to-be Hollywood star Kristen Bell cares about other moms-to-be, including pregnant pigs! That’s why she sent a letter this week to the National Pork Producers Council asking that they stop supporting gestation crate confinement. And just this past week alone, Marriott, General Mills, Au Bon Pain, and IHOP/Appleby’s all announced that they’re shifting their pork supply chains away from gestation crate confinement.
In response to the introduction of an anti-whistleblower bill that was just introduced in Wyoming, the opinion page editor of the Casper Star-Tribune blasted the sponsor, saying the “shameful bill is a new low for Wyoming.”
Video of the week: If you think mice can’t play fetch, basketball, or track and field, this stunning video is for you.
today quarrygirl presents goes global as we travel to london to check out ms. cupcake, the uk’s first entirely vegan bakery!
i wish i could be more like owner mellissa morgan aka ms. cupcake. disappointed in the lack of british vegan baked goods when she moved to england from canada, she took matters into her own hands and started making treats in her tiny flat and selling them at a market stall. just three years later, ms. cupcake is a world famous bakery in brixton with over 150 different cupcake varieties, several other dessert lines, savory items, and a cookbook on the way.
we sat down with mellissa to chat about why she started baking, why all people (not just vegans!) enjoy her desserts, and how cupcakes can provide an inclusive experience. when in london, be sure to check out ms. cupcake—you won’t regret it!
Have you subscribed to Quarrygirl’s vegan video series yet? This week’s entry features the queen of British vegan baked goods, Ms. Cupcake! Vegan Philly cheesesteak puffs?! My life is empty with you.
The article I’m referring to, also published on a “science” blog, claims that a raw vegan diet is super unhealthful. I’ll be honest, it’s got some good (if obvious, already widely known) points in support of expanding a raw diet to incorporate cooked food. Yes, some cooked food has value, and yes, if you don’t supplement your B12 or take a multivitamin bad things will happen, but how the author takes these points and comes to such rash conclusions makes me wonder if he had a bad break-up with a raw vegan or something. When I read lines like “You have nothing to gain and much to lose by going totally or even mostly raw,” I wonder if this article was written to prove that the author’s target was on the wrong path, damn it, and look! now it says so on the Internet!
The piece completely misses the point of a high-raw vegan diet, which incorporates tons of raw greens, veggies, and fruits in whole, unprocessed form, and just picks on the zealots who refuse to supplement and only eat bananas. It even brings up the “you’ll kill your kids if you feed them raw food!” argument, which we have heard about all forms of vegan diets and continue to prove wrong.
(Side note: I hate it when vegan doctors are cited to prove that one vegan diet is better than another. This article cites Dr. Eseystein and Dr. McDougal, both of whom have made millions hawking their unique brands of veganism, as evidence against a high-raw vegan diet, which has its own doctors rooting for and staking millions in its value.)
I really appreciate Gena Hamshaw’s balanced, science-driven approach to raw food in her post “Why Raw? Revisiting the Question.” I love Vegan RD Ginny Messina’s compassionate post, “Raw or Cooked Foods? Which Is the Best Diet for Vegans?,” on why raw foodists should consider incorporating some (or lots) of cooked vegan foods to round out their diets and have an easier time staying vegan. There are plenty of folks who jettison veganism or raw veganism when health issues come up, and while I have no judgement for them I supremely admire folks who take every measure to hold true to their values while minding their health needs. Bonzai Aphrodite recently posted this beautiful long-read about how she’s navigated health issues while staying vegan. Brava! I wrote a Vegansaurus post about why there are so many ex-raw vegans and advocated for folks to consider adopting a more expansive raw vegan diet. In the context of these articles, the anger and all-or-nothing conclusions made by this article and many like it baffle me and make me think there’s a personal grudge.
Closing thoughts: Some (but not all) raw foodies are inflexible and unrealistic, just like some (but not all) vegans and some (OK, most) meat-eaters. Everyone should be taking B12, and probably a multivitamin, omega-3, and maybe a D supplement, too. Mostly raw vegans can be very happy and healthy. I am doing pretty damn well on a high-raw vegan diet that includes lots of raw greens-rich salads and raw smoothies and juices on the reg, as well as a variety of cooked foods. I just got my bloodwork done as a routine every-few-years thing so I can brag in articles like this, and my doctor said my blood is so groovy it makes her want to go vegan. So to the author of these articles, I say this: Please don’t judge all high-raw vegans based on a tiny fraction of us who go to extremes, and in return, I promise not to call the raw vegan who broke your heart and alert this person that you’re hella casting aspersions on them.
[Photo of Pure Food and Wine’s tacos by Edsel Little via Flickr]
Last year Animals Asia’s $2 million, 29-acre Rescue Center in Tam Dao National Park was threatened with eviction by the Vietnamese government. But they worked it out, and can stay! “Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has concluded that the rescue center’s operation should be maintained, and that construction on the project’s second phase should continue,” said Communications Manager Maya Gottfried.
[Photos via Animals Asia]
Puppy Bowl is back! We love Puppy Bowl, because puppies + adoption = television GOLD, and we are super-happy to alert you to this year’s starting lineup. The Puppy Bowl IX players are here! Let’s size them up!
My favorites this year are Daffodil, of Harley’s Haven Rescue in Souderton, Pa., because look at THAT FACE. She is like the platonic ideal of That Puppy in the Window and I just want to make her happy.
I am also pretty enamored of Sally, from North Smithfield, R.I.’s Furever Dachshund Rescue. She is long of ear and body, and short of leg, which are qualities I appreciate in a dog.
Finally, ol’ Lenny here, from Gimme Shelter in Sagaponack, N.Y., because he looks tough. It’s hard to look tough when you’re an itty-bitty puppy with tiny milk teeth and awkwardly oversized paws.
Who are your favorites? I’ve never picked an MVP, but that doesn’t matter when you’ve got a football field full of puppies. Puppy Bowl IX airs at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 3, on Animal Planet.
Update: Blitz is totally going to kick A because her name is Blitz and she’s wild-eyed! -Megan
[Photos by Keith Barraclough | DCL via Animal Planet]
If you don’t like junkfood, move on. For everybody else, these crackers are for you! They are totally great. I want to marry them. They remind me of Cool Ranch Doritos, I think? Is that what it is?
I wrote to the company about the “natural flavors” and they said the “vegetarian natural flavors” are vegetarian…I was like, yes, but it just says “natural flavors.” And they wrote back again to inform me that vegetarian natural flavors are both vegetarian and natural…so, not clear. But you can decide on your own if that makes it or breaks it for you. They also have monoglycerides and diglycerides which I don’t really know anything about but someone else wrote them and got a response stating those are from vegetable oils. And PETA does have them on the “Accidentally Vegan” list. I don’t know much about the parent company Nabisco though.
If you are comfortable with those answers and supporting the company, then go get these because they are AMAZINGFANTASTIC!
