vegansaurus!

Social Kitchen and Brewery in the Inner Sunset has tasty vegan options!

jennybradley — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:09:00 -0700

Social Kitchen and Brewery serves beer and has vegan options—that’s all you really need to know, right? It’s located in the Inner Sunset, which means even when it’s busy, it’s not like trying to find a seat in a Mission bar, feel me? I love this place ‘cause it’s close to my ‘hood, they always respond to my tweets, and there’s specialty crafted beer.

Vegan chili! So flavorful—I was very impressed!

Roasted Brussels sprouts chips! I loved these babies!

French fries! Standard bar food, but look: They come in little metal pails and are seasoned to perfection!

They have more choices than I’ve shown, but since super-eater Sean Hugunin wasn’t with us, there was no need to order every vegan option on the menu.

Let’s not forget the beer!

I always order IPA because it tastes the best. Featured is Social’s Easy IPA—delicious!

Social Kitchen and Brewery is located at 1326 9th Avenue, in the Inner Sunset. Let’s go, I’m free on Saturday night!

Creamy Avocado Green Tea Popsicles from Munchin with Munchkin...

laurahooperb — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:51:42 -0700

Creamy Avocado Green Tea Popsicles from Munchin with Munchkin and it’s a really great, delicious blog and I totally thought its name was MunchkinMunchkinMunchkin until just now. Maybe it’s because when you look at the URL, THAT’S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE! But I was fooled, it’s not. Anyhow, enjoy!

Beyond Meat: the new vegan meat that's rocking worlds is coming to Northern California Whole Foods!

laurahooperb — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:33:27 -0700

I’ve been hearing about this Beyond Meat stuff for awhile and NPR’s blog has the scoop, which I guess is actually originally from Mark Bittman but the point is, apparently this stuff is insanely realistic (it shreds!?) and super tasty. I know someone who tried it and was so blown away that he invested in it. That’s commitment, people! Money where the mouth is! I really need to get rich so I can invest in wacky vegan shit. I’d so donate to your Kickstarter, I promise*.

Anyway, it’s supposed to be amazing (WE GET IT, LAURA, IT’S GOOD) and I want to try it and LO AND BEHOLD, it’s supposed to be at Northern California Whole Foods soon! Hot damn! Northern California Whole Foods are notoriously way shittier than most Whole Foods because our buyer is an idiot who doesn’t stock vegan stuff because a vegan probably dumped his dumb ass but the point is: WE’RE GETTING IT IN THE BAY AREA FIRST TAKE THAT EVERYONE ELSE. If you see it laying about at a Whole Foods near you, holler at us! We gotta try it! What should we make with it?? What will YOU make with it? What if it’s TOO realistic?? Are we gonna be all “mmmm so good” and then like, “puke this takes like chicken!” and then “mmm so good” again?? I’m developing an eating disorder just thinking about it!

Here’s a picture of Beyond Meat in a chicken salad from the NPR story:

*maybe

Product review: You down with Omega-3? Yeah you know me!

youtalkfunny — Fri, 18 May 2012 07:07:00 -0700

Omega-3 fatty acids are super important, and many, many Americans aren’t getting enough of them. Omega-3 deficiencies can present as depression, and a host of other crappy maladies, including fatigue, dry skin, mood swings, heart problems, and poor memory.

Due to recent increased attention to this crucial brain-healthy and mood-balancing fat, fish oil is selling like crazy at the health food store, and some poor, misguided individuals even fortify laying hens’ feed so their feminized animal protein, a.k.a. eggs, will pop out all omega-3’ed.

The truth is, there is absolutely no reason exploit animals to get omega-3s when good plant-based sources of the supplement abound. Most people can eat chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts, and sachia inchi oil and seeds to satisfy daily omega-3 needs.

For those of us jonesing for a boost of omega-3, a great option is NuTru Omega-Zen, a highly purified omega-3 liquid and capsulated DHA. This vegan supplement is sourced from high-quality algae. It makes sense that golden algae is rife with omega-3—where do you think all those fishies got it from? NuTru’s version of Omega-3 comes with EPA and satisfied daily minimum of Omega-3 and similar EFAs.

NuTru sent me a bottle of their new formula, which contains EPA and tastes like hell—try not to use your tongue as you swallow the capsule. Then again, I’m still grossed about by “fish” taste, which is really just algae taste! Try the non-tasting way and the tasting way and see how you feel. Maybe it will satisfy a fishy craving for some people, I dunno. The Omega-Zen3 + EPA bottle boasts that it will bring you inner peace and tranquility. I have no clue if that’s true, but it’s worth a shot, since omega-3s have been linked to brain health, and y’all know vegans need to take care of our amazing brains/ Get it at various vegan online stores and in local Bay Area health food stores.

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.

This ad is funny! You know me, on the ad beat again; and I gotta...

youtalkfunny — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:40:00 -0700

This ad is funny! You know me, on the ad beat again; and I gotta say, this is a cute video. And I totally learned the message: spay/neuter at four months. And that’s the point, right? To plant the message? They have another video that explains the majority of pet owners believe in fixing their pets, it’s just that many don’t realize their pet can get preggers so early. My vet said to spay my Mitsy at two pounds, but four months is a much more tangible deadline.

OMG Mitsy was so cute at two pounds! And she was a thug about her surgery. She came home from getting spayed like nothing happened and then totally ripped her pain-killer patch off. She was pulling at it and I kept trying to stick it back down, and then she just totally ripped it off, pulling fur out and all! She was like, “sheeeet, I don’t need no pain killers!” Straight thug.

Now we need a series that targets male pet owners who have male pets and have some weird hangup about snipping their pet’s nads. I’m like, dudes, grow the eff up!

Paul Shapiro presents: Is pork the new veal?

seriousmeaveness — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:47:49 -0700

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

Denny’s became the latest national food retailer to send shockwaves through the pork sector by jointly announcing with HSUS that it’s going to phase out pork from gestation crate confinement operations. Amazingly, the pork industry’s leaders still defend this archaic practice, leading to the question: Is pork becoming the new veal?

The latest HSUS gestation crate undercover investigation made headlines across the nation. While there are too many pieces to enumerate here, this Forbes story on it was particularly interesting. (And about a quarter million people have watched the video online in the first week since release.)

The NY Times’ Mark Bittman has a potent piece asserting that if you care about climate change, you really ought to be eating fewer animals. Check it out.

Video of the week: I’ve never wanted an iPad as much as now.

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

Bonus article of interest: Did you know cockroaches “form closely bonded, egalitarian societies, based on social structures and rules”? I didn’t either.

Open discussion: Veganism is a creed, and a creed is a human right! Right?

seriousmeaveness — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:21:01 -0700

Oh, Canada. Camille Labchuck, a Toronto law student, says that “a person’s right to live a vegan lifestyle … is a right that all people should have,” and therefore should be protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code, which is meant to “prevent discrimination and harassment” because of many reasons, including “creed (religion).”

Camille says “creed” is inexactly defined by the legislation, and so including vegan and vegetarian beliefs as protected under the OHRC is possible. I think that’s cool. San Francisco prisoners are supposed to get vegan meals, when requested, but where else are your dietary practices legally protected?

Considering veganism a “religion” makes me feel culty and uncomfortable. But if the legal definition of “creed” matched the dictionary defintion—“a set of beliefs or aims that guide someone’s actions”—I would be all right with that. Because yes, being vegan affects basically everything I do, and I would like my fellow vegans’ right to follow their beliefs protected under law. Even if it is only in one Canadian province (and Britain!). Today Canada, tomorrow the U.N. Human Rights Council!

What do you think? Should the rights of vegans to observe a vegan lifestyle be considered analogous to religious and political groups’ rights to exist? Of course, right?

Unrelatedly, did you know that Canada has a Vegan Danish Bakery?! Ô je t’adore, Canada!

[photo by cacaye via Flickr]

Product review: Galaxy Nutritional Foods' new vegan mozzarella shreds!

youtalkfunny — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:02:09 -0700

Here ye! Here ye! There is a new vegan cheese shred contender! Galaxy Nutritional Foods sent me their new vegan shreds to try and last night I made English muffin pizzas with the mozzarella shreds.

They aren’t just dairy-free, they’re soy-, gluten- and preservative-free, plus they’re non-GMO. The color is not white, like dairy mozzarella; it’s a bit orange. But it smells like mozzarella, and as you can see from the picture above, it totally melts. Like, super-melts—it bubbles and stuff! Very nice consistency. As for flavor, survey says: yum! It’s good! I can’t really deal with Daiya mozzarella anymore so I’ve been off the English muffin pizzas. But now I’m back, baby!

They also sent me the Mexican shreds, so stay tuned, I should have a review later in the week. I’m thinking quesadillas? The mozzarella is so melty, I have high hopes for the Mexican shreds. Maybe quesadillas AND nachos?! Who can say? It’s my world!

As for where you can find these shreds, it’s limited:
They say you should encourage your local store to start carrying them, and you should, because this stuff is hella melty and a great alternative if you aren’t into Daiya. I’m excited for nachos!

Hold the mother-loving phone, what amazingness is this?!...

youtalkfunny — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:09:41 -0700

Hold the mother-loving phone, what amazingness is this?! It’s a pear, raspberry, and vegan bacon grilled cheese sandwich from That Was Vegan? Dang, that sounds awesome times eleven! I want one of these in my mouth, stat!

This is a chart of the amount of advertising companies that sell...

seriousmeaveness — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:14:00 -0700

This is a chart of the amount of advertising companies that sell meat products buy versus the amount of advertising anti-meat-industry organizations buy. It was put together by Harish of Counting Animals, using publicly available information (SEC filings, IRS filings, ad-to-sales ratios).

To quote Harish:

[E]ach red circle represents a meat-promoting entity, with the area of the circle being proportional to just the annual advertising or promotional expenses of that entity. Each green circle represents an animal advocacy organization engaged in promoting vegetarian eating or meat industry reform, with the area of the circle being proportional to the total annual expenses of that organization.

You should click over to Counting Animals to fully understand the amount of money each company spent on advertising. Like some of the little circles you can’t see are Mercy for Animals, which spent just over a half-million dollars on ads, or our nasty liar pals at the American Meat Institute, who spent $11 million trying to convince you to eat American meat. I like the idea that Tyson spent half a billion dollars on ads and the best thing they could come up with were those awful suicidal chickens.

As Harish puts it, with how small the anti-meat-industry organizations are, and how little they spend on awareness campaigns, the fear with which the big ag companies regard them is impressive. All those ag-gag bills? These companies hate and fear the Humane Society, because they know the more people see of the horrible realities of factory farms, the faster they’re run from conventionally produced meat. We hope.

Ten bucks from everyone’s next paycheck goes to HSUS or a similar organization, right? We may never be as loud as the animal abusers, but our message is stronger, because it’s the truth.

How to, yo: Mold the best pizza crust!

jennybradley — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:52:11 -0700

I just had a pizza party with my family! And I broke my mom’s pizza stone, the night before Mother’s Day. I’m a terrible person! I’m not sure the iTunes gift certificate, coconut wax candle and cock blocker I gave her will make up for slamming her stone in the oven and demolishing it. It was an accident! But since she is a great person, she didn’t even get mad at me. My mom is the best.

I want to give props to Chef Mitch at Source for giving me the inside scoop on molding pizza crust. I was a pretty good home cook before; however, working side by side with him every day has taught me so much. If you come into Source, tell him you love the hints on Vegansaurus. It might render him speechless, which is no easy feat—that guy loves to talk! But I love listening, so it is a match made in restaurant heaven.

Now, whether it’s homemade or store-bought pizza dough you are working with, it is the easiest and best to handle at room temperature, so let your dough sit out for an hour or so. That way when you stretch it, it will stay where you put it. Also, play with the outside edge, which will be the uncovered crust, as little as possible. If you can get away with not touching it at all, that is great: It will make for a wonderful, light, “eggshell” crust that will rise beautifully and impress everyone. Shape and stretch your crust from the inside out. However you do this, DON’T TOUCH THE VERY OUTSIDE PART! That’s it. That’s all I’m trying to say.

This outside crust here is a little extreme, as in, it’s HUGE. But the dough was cold and I had a hard time stretching it. You don’t have to go this big, but you know what they say: Go big or go home! The outside crust was so light and fluffy, I felt like a pro. Do you like how I made myself a half-cheese, half-veggie combo? I need options! And remember when some of you were like “Daiya is gross, it tastes like glue”? Well, I really like it. Follow Your Heart soy mozzarella is my numero uno, but Daiya is my mistress! They better not make me choose, because I love them both so much.

Product review: Squarebar! For all your vegan bar needs!

youtalkfunny — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:39:04 -0700

Since Clif Bar got in seriously hot water with ethically minded folks everywhere due to the company’s lack of transparency regarding its cacao-sourcing, I’ve been on the lookout for a bar with the same nutrition content, consistency and crunchiness of a Luna or Clif bar.

Squarebar, a relative newcomer to the vegan bar market, comes in three flavors, and comped me one of each: cocoa almond, cocoa crunch, and cocoa coconut. Each flavor is squishy inside and crunchy outside, and yes, I can honestly say I believe they will definitely satisfy any Clif or Luna cravings.

These are high in protein, which is pretty groovy if you plan to use these to fuel your hike from a meditation circle in Dolores Park to your girlfriend’s sixth-floor walkup in the ‘loin. The cocoa chocolate tastes the most like chocolate Clif bars, but without the gunky vitamin aftertaste. Perfect!

While not raw, these bars are gluten-free, organic, non-GMO, and sweetened with two of my fave low-glycemic sweeteners, coconut nectar and stevia. I’m partial to raw things, but if you like Luna or Clif bars, these will seriously satisfy without the guilt of supporting a company that won’t expose its sourcing practices. Squarebars are available at local health food store or order them 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.

CLOSED: Win a copy of John Schlimm's Grilling Vegan Style!

seriousmeaveness — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:10:00 -0700

Hey good-looking! You like to grill? Summer’s right on our doorstep, here in the northern hemisphere, and John Schlimm, author of The Tipsy Vegan,* has a new cookbook to teach us vegans how to grill as seriously as those meat-eaters. It’s called Grilling Vegan Style, and you totally want to own it.

This book looks extensive, too. Learn how to grill watermelon! Sandwiches! Pies! S’mores! Basically everything you can physically place on a grill, John Schlimm will teach you to grill, but, you know, Vegan Style, because dang it, barbecue isn’t just for dead animals.

Impress your friends this summer at the park with your grilling genius! Finally host those backyard barbecues with the skills to back up all that panache (I’ve always loved your panache). Show the grilling fanatic in your life that you, too, have mastered the art of cooking over an open flame!

Want a preview? Here’s a trailer:

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

We’re so excited about this because we have a copy of Grilling Vegan Style to give away! All you have to do is leave us comment telling us either your highest vegan grilling achievement, or your greatest vegan grilling disaster, by noon PDT on Friday, May 18. We’ll pick a winner and send the book your way! Even if you live outside of the 48 contiguous states of America! So please, comment, enter, and get ready to spend the summer reeking of smoke and pride of accomplishment.

*Endorsed by Megan Rascal!

Update: Contest is closed! Thanks for playing, everyone!

Bust Magazine Craftacular, at the Seed in New York! June! Go there!

jennybradley — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:22:25 -0700

Aw, remember the early 2000s, when I was a budding feminist at Humboldt State, taking my women’s studies classes and reading Bust magazine? No? I loved Bust’s feminist/pop culture flair, and if you’ve ever been to Arcata, you’d know why it’s referred to as “behind the redwood curtain;” things like technology and pop culture do not easily get through. It was like living in the ’70s! It took four days to get a Netflix DVD in the mail! I didn’t know how an iPod worked until late 2006! Man, I miss that place.*

I still pick up the odd copy of Bust, usually when I’m in Rainbow, reliving my hippie college days (being in Rainbow IS the Arcata experience, right here in SF). Except now I know how to use an iPod! And I listen to pop music!

Bust is hosting a Vegan Craftacular in New York this summer! They are teaming up with The Seed to bring you a two-day expo of food, art, crafts, demos, and speakers! How fun! Go to it, and then tell me everything!

Bust Magazine Craftacular at the Seed: A vegan experience
82 Mercer St., between Broome and Spring, New York City
Saturday, June 16, 10 a.m to 7 p.m.
Sunday, June 17, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Buy your tickets here!

*Sounds a lot like my experience at Davis in the early ’00s, says the editor who did not own an iPod or a cell phone until 2006.

Meredith Vieira is vegan because she "didn't want to be a hypocrite anymore"

seriousmeaveness — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:50:27 -0700

Meredith Vieira, onetime ringmaster of The View and current Lady About Television, has been vegan for going on two months! Good job, Meredith!

She discussed it on an episode of ABC’s The Chew, which is, um, an eating talk show? D-list celebrities talking with their mouths full? Not entirely sure. But ol’ Meredith was on the May 2 episode, and Mario Batali made her vegan fritto misto, which you can make too thanks to the magic of TV on the internet:

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

Ecorazzi brings us the money quote:

I’ve done a lot of stories on the way food is, you know, processed in this country—animals—and it’s very disturbing. And so that was part—I didn’t want to be a hypocrite anymore, and also health reasons.

Our advice to you, Meredith, is to work those celebrity-chef connections and middling star power to eat as deliciously as possible all the time. Show off how well vegans eat, influence some fence-sitters not to be hypocrites, too!

Lady Gaga has a new meat dress; I'm torn between disgust and indifference

youtalkfunny — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:52:46 -0700

Yes, this is Lady Gaga’s new meat dress. I find it disgusting but I’m also like, um, it’s no worse than a leather dress. Then again, leather is made of animals but it’s kind of hush-hush; people like to pretend it comes from a tree, whereas this dress is a celebration of killing animals. Then again-again, maybe it’s better to stick it in their faces, like yeah, this is totally gross, but it’s no different than your leather dress.

Those giant meat things around her, those are fake, right? They look fake but I don’t know, meat looks crazy. If they were real, I’d be like eff you to effing hell.

God! I hate everybody! Why can’t they just stop torturing animals? They get mad AT ME for being vocal about my veganism, and I’m like, OK, what’s something that actually upsets you? How about sex trafficking? What if sex trafficking was in your face every waking hour and everyone you know and love isn’t just compliant, they are standing in a line leading out of the brothel eagerly awaiting their turn. Fuck.

The weeklong vegan experiment failure: How was your first vegan week?

seriousmeaveness — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:07:10 -0700

Whitney Filoon of the Dallas Observer* tried to follow a vegan diet for a week, but only lasted five days. She says she was “grossly unprepared, and too busy to cook many meals” and so set herself up for failure. I’m sorry, Whitney! You really should try again. As evidenced by the above photo of the Dream Cafe’s You’re So Vegan breakfast, Dallas isn’t a vegan wasteland.

It seems like a lot of these “vegan for a week” writers don’t last very long, or are very happy, and I feel like a lot of the time it’s because of poor planning before going vegan, and then not making much of an effort to be vegan during the experiment. Like, what if Whitney here had asked her friends to meet her at a vegan restaurant, or stopped by a place for a giant delicious vegan sandwich before going to the non-vegan place with her boyfriend where she finally quit? Adopting a new diet can pose challenges, but that’s true for every change in routine.

What I want to know is, what was your first week as a vegan like? Has it been too long for you to remember? Or was it just last week? My first week of the first time I went vegan was like a magical adventure—my then-roommate and best friend convinced me to try being vegan with her, and I said, Sure!, and we went shopping for soy milk and hummus and ate bean-and-avocado sandwiches, and it was great. Of course, whenever I get to explore new sections of a supermarket is a good time to me, and also I was 19 and into experimentation. But what about you? Spill your first-vegan-week guts!

*Disclosure: The Dallas Observer is owned by Village Voice Media, which also owns the paper I work for.

[photo by madame.furie via Flickr]

Awesome blog alert: Vegan Miss!

jennybradley — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:02:00 -0700

I don’t remember how I stumbled across this vegan blog, Vegan Miss, but it was pretty recently, and I was like “man, this chica is brilliant.” Then I realized I knew her. Kind of.

Lexy is from the Bay Area, and lives in Chicago! Back in 2008, I went to an event she organized at her college (she was president of the Vegan Society at Loyola—she’s a real go-getter), at which she got Colleen Patrick-Goudreau to speak! It was amazing, and I got my copy of The Joy of Vegan Baking signed! I emailed Lexy shortly afterward to thank her, and thus began my first friendship conducted exclusively over social media.

The years passed and we fell out of contact, but then I found her blog. Check it out! As if you needed further incentive than my enthusiastic “DO IT,” take a look:

Country fried steak. Thank me by inviting me over for dinner when you make this, deal?

Vegan puff pastry sticks with creamy onion filling from Soy...

youtalkfunny — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:09:00 -0700

Vegan puff pastry sticks with creamy onion filling from Soy Division! This German (I think? But it’s in English) blog sent us a link to check out and there are so many great recipes! Definitely a good food blog to look into. This happens to be an über easy to make (über is German talk). But boy is this up my alley! I love savory stick things and “creamy onion” is like my favorite song.

I also want these pudding-jam-rolls! For reezy.

According to Grist, when “elephant whisperer”...

youtalkfunny — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:29:00 -0700

According to Grist, when “elephant whisperer” Lawrence Anthony died in March, two herds of his elephant friends came to his house to stand vigil:

Anthony had spent time living with the elephants, in order to care for traumatized animals who were considered violent and unruly. But at the time of his death, of a heart attack, Anthony was living in a house on the Thula Thula game reserve in South Africa. The park’s elephants hadn’t visited the house in a year and a half, but Anthony’s son Dylan says that the herds traveled 12 hours to arrive shortly after his father’s death.

Read more on Grist. Or just cry and wish you knew some eles. That’s my plan.