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Guest post: Vegan friendly vacation to Mexico!

laurahooperb — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:31:00 -0800

Ever been to a MAGICAL city? My idea of a magical city would be one that feeds me truly delicious vegan food from the time I drag my ass out of my 10,000 thread count sheet covered bed until I pass out from too much tequila at night. Have you ever experienced such a thing?

Colibri Custom Catered Travel is committed to serving travelers who seek sustainable and organic farm-to-table, gluten free, and/or vegan cuisine. Now that I have your attention, the locale for this fabulous vacation happens to be Travel + Leisure Magazine’s #4 pick for top ten world destinations: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

For seven days and nights, your trip includes all custom catered meals, outdoor adventure, town and farm tours, musical performances, tequila tastings, cultural experiences and more. A spacious hacienda in the middle of the historic center of town provides both private rooms and spacious dining areas under one roof. Your hostess and founder of Colibri, Cate Lazen is not only a former San Miguel de Allende resident, she was also diagnosed with celiac disease years ago and she knows how hard it can be to trust a restaurant with our vegan or gluten-free needs. Hence, a business built around the freedom to travel and eat well without worry. Cate is quite magical herself and the cost of the trip pays off in spades just to hang out with her!

Hold on to your sombrero, there is MORE! Colibri’s vegan chef Alicia Rivero has fantastic ideas for stuffing our vegan pie holes. Just to mention a few, how do these sound? Artichoke Dip with Basil Infused Olive Oil, Panzanella Bread Salad with Fresh Herbed-Tomato Sauce, Farm to Table Pizzas, Potato Gnocchi with Truffle-scented, Pesto Sauce Braised Eggplant in “Creamy” Saffron Sauce, Root vegetable Latkes with Red Onion Compote, Breakfast Granola with Nut Milks and Fresh Berries, and French Toast.

The list is lengthy, but these are just a few that sound drool worthy. Colibri supports sustainable farming, non-GMO foods, responsible water use and fair treatment of farm workers. San Miguel de Allende’s organic movement is in high gear, promising fresh, seasonal produce that serves as the foundation for vegan dishes. . Through Colibri you will get your foodie on responsibly. Check out how to get a tan, meet a hot lover, and eat your brains out without Montezuma’s revenge on their Facebook page.

Keri Siry lives in New Jersey with her 2 dogs Sammy and Honey Bee, new cat Hank and her 4 year old daughter Gemma and husband Darryl. Vegan for 8 years, Keri loves to share recipes and meatless know how via her blog at the Politics of Food.

You can buy these Vegan Bacon Guinness Salted Caramels on Etsy!...

laurahooperb — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:27:25 -0800

You can buy these Vegan Bacon Guinness Salted Caramels on Etsy! And before anyone freaks, it’s the vegan type of Guinness! That’s bacon and beer in a caramel. EAT IT, OMNIVORE BITCHES. No, I mean, really, eat it. It’s delicious.

Gabby Wild's 12 in 12 for 12 project: fancy clothes for endangered animals!

seriousmeaveness — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:44:36 -0800

Gabby Wild is a young, driven animal activist. This year, to raise awareness of and money for endangered species, she’s wearing exactly one outfit every month, each one designed around a different endangered animal.

January’s animal was the amur leopard, and January’s outfit was this dress, designed by Althea Harper.

February’s animal is the bactrian camel, and February’s outfit is a jacket, top, and pants, designed by Laura Zwanziger and Max Gengos.

You can find out more about Gabby’s 12 in 12 for 12 project at her site, where you can also donate to help save the animals she’s supporting. She’s got some awesome designers participating (love you Jay McCarroll!), and I love the image of a veterinary student (she studies at Cornell) working in a lab in a floor-length gown.

Also this video about why she chose the bactrian camel is pretty charming. [Can’t see it? Watch it on Vegansaurus.com!]

I also appreciate that not all of the animals she’s supporting are cute and cuddly, which can be an issue with “save the animals” causes. Some of the animals she chose are kind of ugly, or terrifying in that way that generally benign animals can totally freak you out (river dolphins give me the ultra-creeps and I don’t know why). But Gabby Wild, being an apparent super-human, cares about animals ugly and adorable, and has a unique way of showing it. What are you doing this year for the world?

The Cute Show visits a guinea pig shelter in the Netherlands! I...

youtalkfunny — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:59:00 -0800

The Cute Show visits a guinea pig shelter in the Netherlands! I checked out the site of the “cavy village” and they say you can buy a cavy, but really I think they mean you can adopt one. And then when they say you can adopt one, really they mean you can symbolically “adopt” one of the old cavies by making a donation. The old ones get their own section of the shelter, an old cavies’ home! They call them “retired.” Aw.

I had a guinea pig when I was little and I feel SO GUILTY about the way I treated her. She spent her life all by herself in what I now know is a gestation cage and I rarely cuddled with her. Poor Speedy! I feel terrible. When I am old and have a farm I’m going to have my own cavy-village dedicated to Speedy! And no cavy will ever be alone ever.

Valentine's Weekend Adoptathon at the SF SPCA!

seriousmeaveness — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:34:46 -0800

Looking for a child or romantic partner, but too busy/tired/misanthropic/low-wage-earning? Room for love in your heart, but no space for another human in your life? You need a pet, my friends! And just in time for Valentine’s Day (and Galentine’s Day, and Palentine’s Day*), the SF SPCA is hosting an Adoptathon! Get the pet you need at the price you can afford! Attend an animal-behavior workshop! Get a tattoo of your pet! Meet an Animal Planet celebrity!

Beginning Friday, Feb. 10, from 4 to 8 p.m., attend a cocktail party at the SF SPCA Adoption Center hosted by Jackson Galaxy of My Cat From Hell. Ken Een of Frisco Tattoo will doing animal-themed tattoos! The next day, Saturday, Feb. 11, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., you can attend Jackson Galaxy’s Cat Mojo Workshop, and get his help finding the adoptable animal for you.

Throughout the weekend, the SF SPCA will offer reduced adoption fees on all cats and dogs over six months of age: $10 on Friday, $11 on Saturday, and $12 on Sunday. Yay, pets! Go find emotional fulfillment in a mammal that won’t ever lose interest in you, or find you anything but perfect.

For details on all the Valentine’s Weekend Adoptathon events, visit the SF SPCA website, or call (415) 912.1742.

*Feb. 13 and 15, respectively.

[photo of actual SF SPCA kitties by Nyxy via Flickr]

PCRM defends their ridiculous cheese thighs campaign

laurahooperb — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:50:00 -0800

We posted last week about PCRM’s* idiotic cheese campaign and just hoped it would go away, but they’re back this week with even more ridiculousness. Neal Barnard, founder and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, wasn’t content with spreading crap on his own site; he wants to infest the rest of the internet with his rationalizations. Barnard’s piece on Crazy Sexy Life is super-disappointing and filled with hateful rhetoric disguised as caring. Moreover, so much of this shit is ludicrous coming from someone who is a PSYCHIATRIST—aren’t you supposed to care about the emotional wellbeing of others? I feel bad for anyone who was under his psychiatric care. BUT MOVING ON.

Here’s the deal with this campaign: If PCRM wanted to tackle the issue of clogged arteries from animal cholesterol, why not show that? Because people of ALL sizes deal with it, and it’s HONEST. Oh, yes, but it’s not as provocative as the big belly.

What REALLY sucks about this campaign is that it sounds reasonable and supportive, but it’s actually the same old crap (“I’m not racist, but…”). The hypocrisy of Barnard’s “of course fat people shouldn’t be shamed because they’re HELPLESS VICTIMS OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY but we should totally SHAME FAT PEOPLE SO THEY STOP BEING HELPLESS VICTIMS OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY” approach — it’s so twisted! I’ll leave you with this bit of business that reader/occasional contributor/great person Rick Kelley left in the comments on our last post. It’s outstanding, and helps to explain exactly what’s so fucked about this tactic:

The “angle” these ads use — namely, “fat bodies are disgusting, so go vegan” — is shared with countless advertising campaigns selling every sort of bullshit imaginable, to all of our detriment. They posit a particular kind of “desirable body” and shame those who fail to attain it. Branding veganism as a weight loss strategy doesn’t do anyone any favors, and it doesn’t make new vegans (unless week-long fad dieters count). These ads have nothing to do with health, not anymore than some soap or deodorant company is committed to health (and a garden-fresh scent). No one is disputing the health benefits of a plant-based diet — Forks Over Knives is routinely embraced, recommended, and celebrated throughout vegan circles, most definitely on this site — but rather rejecting the notion that a “vegan brand” to sell “ethical eating” by way of a “stop being so fucking fat, fatties” campaign is anything but mean-spirited and counter-productive.
Here are a few reasons why, from the practical to the ethical:

(1) More than anything else, this resembles diet ads, and constructs veganism as a diet. Diets are by their nature temporary and end-goal oriented. If someone goes vegan to lose weight and they don’t, it seems unlikely they’d continue. If they do, it seems likely they’ll stop after they’ve attained their goal.

(2) Whether or not someone loses weight, the use and property-status of nonhumans isn’t remotely addressed, because there is no framework or analysis to understand it. You can go through a two-week vegan diet weight loss plan cloaked in fur and leather, occasionally shooting a dog, as easily as not.

(3) It’s alienating and reinforces notions of vegan exclusivity, superiority, and contempt for human animals.

(4) By playing into normative ideals of the human body, it reinforces patriarchal notions of beauty. Despite the inclusion of a male-presenting body in the ad, no one being at all serious would argue that advertising (including this one) primarily targets men. The idea here, as FUCKING EVERYWHERE, is that female-presenting bodies are by definition thin; if not, they are gross and in need of recuperation (i.e. shaming).

(5) By focusing on isolated, individual bodies (and certainly not whole bodies) outside of any world they might inhabit, it erases people’s lived experiences. It erases the fact that different cultures view bodies in different ways; it erases the realities of people’s access to healthy foods, which are enormously pre-determined by class structures; and it erases the most basic fact of all, which is that we live in these bodies we find ourselves in, the social value of which is determined by things often outside of our control (like fucking PCRM ads, apparently).

To end this manifesto/comment, I’d just point out that one thing a “vegan movement” (should it ever arrive) needs to do is to link nonhuman animal oppression with all the other oppressive structures that dominate our lives (like patriarchy, class oppression, racism, rigid systems of normative ideals, capitalist marketing as a means of social change, etc.). Damaging nonsense like this hurts that future effort.

SING IT!

I encourage PCRM (and really everyone ever) to read Health at Every Size, learn about our so-called “Obesity Epidemic,” and read up on the big business of fat hate. I wrote this same shit to PETA last year but you know, since PETA and PCRM are literally in bed together (UGH MY EYES! Seriously, picturing that just sent shivers down my spine), it can’t hurt to remind them. Show compassion for everyone and work on effective campaigns that breed love and respect for all. THE END.

*PCRM has such great campaigns, why are they focusing energy and money on this one? My experience is that Animal Rights groups that focus on too many campaigns just do them all poorly. Why not work on one thing and do it really, really well?

Get it together and stop killing horses, HBO's "Luck"

seriousmeaveness — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:23:00 -0800

HBO has a new show called Luck. It’s about horse-racing, a “sport” I understand has been losing popularity for decades and is probably still around because it, like dog-racing, is legal to bet on in states where gambling is only otherwise legal in Indian casinos. Which speaks very highly of it as a “sport,” right? Definitely you want to be in a place people frequent because of the opportunities to gamble while wearing enormous hats presents.

Luck is a show about a dying American pastime made even weirder by the vernacular specific to this pastime that, because it’s dying, very few viewers of the show understand. Have you read the internet during the past six weeks? Everyone who talks about television is all, “Oh Luck, the dialog is impenetrable and the actors are all individually and specifically creepy and threatening, and the last show its creator made was also a thematic mess, but he also did Deadwood and HBO means ‘Serious Television Business,’ so we’re going to pretend to love it! Horses!”

My first point is, you’re probably not watching Luck, and you shouldn’t, because it’s nonsense. If you are, though, you may have noticed that in place of the standard “No animals were harmed” notation in the credits, there’s a line that says “The American Humane Association Monitored the animal action.” That’s because animals were harmed during the filming of this television show, specifically two horses, which actually suffered such serious injuries they had to be euthanized. No, I don’t know why veterinary medicine hasn’t solved fatal horse injuries; it seems awfully 19th century to still be putting horses down when they break their legs, right?

HBO tells the New York Observer that yeah it was totally tragic that we got those horses killed, but after the second one died we “suspended production” to figure out how not to kill any more horses while filming our television show about this shitty sport that fucking wrecks horses specifically bred to be fucking wrecked and that no one except the people involved in their wrecking gives a fuck about—that is, they’ve “adopt[ed] additional protocols specifically for horse racing sequences” and they’re earning that AHA-trademarked “No animals were harmed” line that will appear in future episodes’ credits.

Sorry two horses had to die before you figured your shit out, HBO and the producers of Luck, but you’ve got David Milch and he’s a genius! And horse racing was once upon a time the sport of kings or whatever. So you’ve got that going for you.

[photo of (Brazilian!) horses by Eduardo Amorim via Flickr]

Vegan Ryan Gosling knows what’s up. I want him to invent...

laurahooperb — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:57:58 -0800

Vegan Ryan Gosling knows what’s up. I want him to invent some cheese in my pants! WHAT SORRY.

Get the tissues: “As bounty hunters with bush knives...

youtalkfunny — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:01:00 -0800

Get the tissues: “As bounty hunters with bush knives entrapped them in a circle and moved in for the kill, the only thing this mother orang-utan could think to do was to wrap a giant protective arm around her daughter.”

Luckily, rescue group Four Paws saved the orangutan and her baby. They were released back into the wild in a more remote and safer area. Jeez, I am so thankful. And what were these men trying to kill the mama and baby for?: palm oil. The Borneo palm oil companies are said to be offering £70 (about $110) for each orangutan killed on their plantations. So sad. And bounty hunters aren’t the only problem, there’s also severe deforestation due, again, to palm oil. One preferred method of clearing is uncontrolled fires that have killed thousands of orangutans. Fucking A.

Four Paws has some really great programs in place to help orangutans, they seem like an awesome organization. You can donate to them here. I found this palm oil free shopping guide. Does anyone have any other resources about palm oil they recommend? I feel like palm oil is my worst issue, it’s just everywhere; it’s overwhelming. Any tips for me? I’ve heard that organic palm oil doesn’t have the same issues and is fine to eat — do you know if that’s true? I quit regular Earth Balance awhile back and only buy the organic kind and the AMAZING coconut spread! It’s amazing!

via Daily Mail

You guys, there are a few places in San Francisco you can get...

laurahooperb — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:32:14 -0800

You guys, there are a few places in San Francisco you can get fried pickles, but maybe you are too lazy to leave your house? DID YOU THINK OF THAT? Yeah you did, lazy. And here at Vegansaurus, we support your right to be as lazy as you wanna be. If you’re one of the unwashed masses that won’t or can’t go outside, who are we to stop you? NOBODY!

We’re here to help you in your agoraphobic craze for fatty fried goodness. Enter a recipe for vegan fried pickles from Vegan Happy Hour! YOU’RE WELCOME AND GOOD NIGHT. We assume you can go to bed right where you’re sitting now, that’s why we say goodnight. Livin’ the dream!

Zoo elephants get pals or get going!

youtalkfunny — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:43:00 -0800

Starting in 2016, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums will require room for three elephants (or two if they are both male) if a zoo wants to keep their revered AZA accreditation:

Each zoo holding elephants must hold a minimum of three females (or the space to hold three females), two males or three elephants of mixed gender. If a zoo cannot meet this standard, they must apply for a variance. Before the variance can be issued by the Accreditation Commission the zoo (a) must describe their plan to obtain additional elephants or describe their plan for deacquisitioning their elephants and (b) must describe what will occur if they experience the loss of one elephant. In most cases where an institution has one remaining elephant, the remaining elephant will receive a recommendation for relocation at another AZA institution from the Elephant TAG/SSP. Adult males (6 years and older) may be housed alone, but not in complete isolation. Opportunities for tactile, olfactory, visual, and/or auditory interaction with other elephants must be provided (Rasmussen et al. 1982).

By 1 September 2016, no further variances will be issue

This is because they know elephants are social animals and need friends! The new standard requires three elephants so that if one elephant dies, the other is not left alone. Jeez, a sole elephant in a zoo is so depressing.

This is nice news for the poor elephants stuck in zoos, but do you know why else this is cool? This means a lot of zoos just won’t be able to have any elephants! I’m sure most will be traded to other zoos with enough room for three, but maybe some will be sent to sanctuaries! We can hope. At the very least, the elephants in captivity will have a higher quality of life as socialization is very important to them.

I don’t know much about the AZA; they seem like a confused organization. Of course I don’t support zoos, but if there are going to be zoos, I do support animal care and welfare standards. The AZA proudly claims to have (and seems to have) much higher care standards than the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, and they oppose things like the use of apes in commercials and bullhooks for elephant training. Meanwhile, they accredited Have Trunk Will Travel, a company that trains animal “actors” and also uses bullhooks on its elephants. That doesn’t make much sense. Then again, they are very involved in wildlife conservation and promote the idea that all zoos should be donating to efforts to conserve animals in the wild. Yet they are also super pro-zoo and act like zoos are sanctuaries and education centers instead of animal-exploiting businesses.

I don’t know what to make of the AZA, but I do like this new rule. Let the ellies have pals!

Help out Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary with lingerie and baked goods this week!

seriousmeaveness — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:05:55 -0800

We love Harvest Home, vegan baked goods, and fancy underpants. This week, these entities form a triumvirate of awesome, in which purchasing the latter goes to help the former, by which we mean: Buy some underwear and cupcakes for Harvest Home!

First, on Saturday, Feb. 11, Harvest Home is having a fundraising bake sale! Stop by the corner of Grand and MacArthur in Oakland between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. for vegan treats (and maybe bunnies? maybe?), and help fund the over $4,000 in vet bills Harvest Home has already incurred in 2012. It’s a rough year for rescues, you guys. If you want to bake for the sale, email them ASAP. Get details on the sale at its Facebook event page.

Second, from Feb. 7 (today!) to 14, Purrfect Pineapples is taking donations for Harvest Home! With every minimum $5US donation, you are entered to win one of three Purrfect Pineapples gift certificates! (Brilliant idea: donate $5 10 times.) You may be familiar with the vegan lingerie company from Megan Rascal’s gift guides. Because she’s based in Toronto, Erika has to do a long-distance donation, and being a wonderful person, she’s making it a weeklong public event that rewards you for participating! Vegans are the nicest people.

Baked goods and pretty underpants: Two great vegan things that are easily fetishized together. Wait, no, try again: Two great vegan things that help home bunnies like Twix up there, doing his infamous slipper impression.

[photo of the eminently adoptable Twix by Harvest Home via Flickr]

Do your in-laws just not understand your veganism? Repair your relationship on TV!

laurahooperb — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:35:05 -0800

We love this majestic bitch, but we need more vegans on TV!

There’s a new TV show that’s looking for vegans who have difficult relationships with their in-laws, in regard to their veganism. I KNOW this describes some of our readers, so I’m helping to spread the word in hopes that some super normal and cool vegans will want to be on TV, earn some money, and possibly even maybe get some real help with their relationships. OK? Let’s represent!

Here are the details:

We’re currently casting a powerful new series on A&E that’s dedicated to helping couples — married or unmarried — who for one reason or another are struggling to maintain a civil relationship with an in-law. Specifically, we’re reaching out to couples who feel like their in-laws don’t respect their vegan or vegetarian lifestyles. It’s a topic that plenty of couples can relate to. They can offer one-one-one family counseling with a professional (on AND off camera) as well as a generous financial honorarium [Ed.: !!!] for their time and commitment.

If you’re desperate to repair your relationship with an in-law before it’s too late, we want to hear from you! Families who appear on the show will have the opportunity to work with a professional relationship expert who will help them to identify their issues and repair their relationships.

If you’re interested in being on reality TV (the saddest and greatest of all American dreams!), representing as a non-crazy vegan, making a little cash, and maybe even (MAYBE?) getting some actual help with your relationship,* EMAIL ME!

*Although, let’s be real, this is reality television. You probably have as much of a chance of getting actual help as Lindsay Lohan has of making it to her 30th birthday GOD BLESS HER

[image by kafka4prez via Flickr]

It’s a CHICKEN sitting on a DOG, via COK. I give up! The...

laurahooperb — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:57:46 -0800

It’s a CHICKEN sitting on a DOG, via COK. I give up! The internet wins! I feel like the only way things could get cuter is if they were sitting on top of an elephant and if THAT happened, I honestly would kill myself because that’s IT. That is IT.

Know What App!

laurahooperb — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:58:00 -0800

Hey guys! Vegansaurus is featured in this cool new Know What iPhone app. They gathered a bunch of super-smart experts* to create city guides of awesomeness. We did one for the best veg food in the S.F. Bay Area. So buy it! Because it’s cheap! And fun! And maybe even useful!

The Vegansaurus guide is just $1.99 if you feel like owning it. MAYBE YOU DO, MAYBE YOU DON’T—either way, we still love you! Just a little more if you do and a little less if you don’t, because that’s how love works.

*AND US! WE TOTALLY FOOLED THEM!

Stella McCartney and PETA want you to know leather is cruel and...

youtalkfunny — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:11:09 -0800

Stella McCartney and PETA want you to know leather is cruel and gross, but the NYC taxis don’t want any part of it! While I’d love for every leather-wearing fashion week-goer to see this video, I’m not too surprised the taxi company refused to air it. It’s not like they play political or hot button stuff EVER. They play Jimmy Fallon clips and tutorials on treating your cuticles with pineapple. Which I find super cray because pineapple is a lot more expensive than some CVS cuticle cream.

It’s good that we are finally attacking leather though! And if the taxi co.’s refusal to air this video gets attention, sweet. Now, if only McCartney could dump the wool.

Vegan Grasshopper Pie from delicious vegan food blog Maple...

laurahooperb — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:53:57 -0800

Vegan Grasshopper Pie from delicious vegan food blog Maple Spice! Plus, a recipe! Made with white chocolate creme de menthe mousse. Ridiculous! I want this so badly right now, let’s eat hella pie all the time! Deal? Deal!

McDonald's stopped using ammonia treated pink goo, confirms they had been using it in the past

youtalkfunny — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:09:00 -0800

When we posted this picture in 2010, there was basically a riot in the comments! Some people just refused to believe this is real. Meave told you it was, but some didn’t listen. Well now McDonald’s has confirmed it: until last August, they were feeding people ammonia treated mechanically separated meat (MSM). A statement from McDonald’s:

For a number of years prior to 2011, to assist with supply, McDonald’s USA used some lean beef trimmings treated with ammonia in our burgers. We were among other food retailers who used this safe product.

So there you have it. Meave and Laura were not lying to you. “Lean beef trimmings treated with ammonia,” I’m lovin’ it! Glad to hear they got rid of it but still, VOM. Can’t believe it took them this long. Look at that stuff! LOOK AT IT. Anyway, I’m sure they’ve replaced it with a really high-quality product. That sounds like McDonald’s, always looking out for people.

Celebrities love the Alkaline diet. Just go vegan already, you dopes

seriousmeaveness — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:52:06 -0800

Details has this little sneeze of an article, just a hiccup really, about the popularity of the Alkaline diet with the muscled bo-hunks of Hollywood. Yes! “The hardened Spam tower known as Channing Tatum” (LAWSON) appreciates a daily high-alkaline smoothie, as does Mr. The Dutchess (the Dutke?), Josh Duhamel.

The Alkaline diet seeks to balance the body’s pH levels by eating a diet heavy on “fresh citrus and other low-sugar fruits, vegetables, tubers, nuts, and legumes and avoiding grains, dairy, meat, sugar, alcohol, caffeine and fungi.” The idea is that high-alkaline or alkaline-forming foods are more easily processed by the body.

One might say that this is another way of describing the diet every nutritionist and dietician worth their salt advocates, with the usual terrifying caveats (it’s not a diet if you don’t have to give up at least two foods that make life worth living). One might say that people love pseudoscientific explanations for their choices—“I’m not eating bread because carbs kill!” “I’m not eating sugar because acid!”—but one might also say that if people are eating a plant-based diet and laying off the g-d meat then who cares what kind of nonsense is influencing them to do it.

I don’t understand why people who eschew meat and dairy in favor of beans and greens are eager to call themselves followers of all kinds of scientifically unsupported diets, instead of using the word “vegan.” Bill Clinton isn’t afraid of saying it! Why are you dummies?

[photo by Belinda via Flickr]

Get to work: Vegan business accessories!

youtalkfunny — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:28:42 -0800

A pal of Vegansaurus just got a fancy new job and wants to know what fancy vegan shoes and accessories she should buy, so here are some of my suggestions! This is for chicks. Men, check out my men’s dress shoe round-up from last year because that list was the hotness.

I’ve said it a million times, but Beyond Skin is definitely my favorite vegan shoe brand. Eco-friendly and worker-friendly, they are also beautiful. If you want a simple pump, I love a good kitten heel like the Leona:

I have these and they look sexy, clean, and chic. The low heel makes them good for wearing for extended periods of time. They have limited sizes now (though there’s a few other colors that might be in your size), so get on that if they have yours.

If you want to go with a classic menswear look, I like oxfords like this Antique Brogue from Vegetarian Shoes on Mooshoes:

Very nice. You can go for a Katharine Hepburn style and complete the look! And be awesome!

Sorry for the bitty picture, but I like the Selene from Bourgeois Boheme:

This mary jane comes in black and brown. Black shoes are great for work but you should have at least one pair of brown shoes.

Basically, one pair of brown dress shoes, black heels, and a nice pair of oxfords is a good work shoe collection to start with. Then you can build your collection from there with some more exciting shoes! I love this new Eva flat from Beyond Skin:

I’d expect you have to break these in a little but it will be so worth it! These are very stylish but conservative enough for an office. I love these so very much. Cally says they are great too! So you know they’re great.

If you want to go taller (and cheaper), Lulu’s is a great resource. I like this GoMax Oksana pump:

I doubt I could wear these but women in offices definitely do wear shoes like this. If you can do it, go for it.

Now that we have some nice shoe options, let’s look at bags! Matt and Nat is definitely the best brand for vegan professional looking bags. I really like this laptop bag, the Creed:

This is super-pro. It’s classic but sleek and modern.

Another Matt and Nat bag, the Barnes has that whole lit professor look:

If you have a smaller laptop and want to go more feminine, check out this Taylor Satchel from Reveal:

Very pretty. But my laptop is large and in charge.

As for other things you may need, a belt is nice. I like the Garrison from The Vegan Colleciton because it has a gold buckle and I’m all about gold (silver is 90s!):

For nice wallets, Matt and Nat is again great but I’m also a big fan of Shiraleah. The Sutton wallet by Shiraleah is pretty smart:

I used to have a Shiraleah but I lost it. It was so great though, really good quality. Looks like Shiraleah has a laptop bag or two as well.

Once you have your accessories, you can get non-wool trousers and top with non-wool dress coat or classic trench and you are set! Anything else you need to know you can learn from Working Girl.