vegansaurus!

Dino Bike raised $521 for Hazel’s surgery last Sunday...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:50:01 -0700

Dino Bike raised $521 for Hazel’s surgery last Sunday night! NOT BAD. We rocked out(-ish) and gave away delicious mini red velvet cupcakes from Fat Bottom Bakery that were a hit GODDAMN THOSE LADIES CAN BAKE. Good times were had by all (we hope?)!

Anyway, that’s video of our Top Gun medley. As you can see, it’s totally insane and disturbing. Fun fact: I’m playing the tambourine on the iPad! Another fun fact: Abby and Mark have formed an offshoot band, Harold & Patsy! They combine the sweet stylings of the ukulele & the omnichord to create a magical musical experience. Seriously, they’re amazing. I’m hoping to link their performance of a mash-up of “Kids” by MGMT with several Disney princess songs. JUST OMG.

Somewhere in America, a pitbull is popping Viagra

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:40:37 -0700

Ingrid the pitbull is fucking adorable. She also needs to take Viagra daily to continue living. It sounds totally crazy, but it’s true. Ingrid suffers from serious heart problems and the Viagra, along with a host of other medications, is keeping her blood flowing and is helping to regulate her condition.

Unfortunately, Ingrid’s heart conditions come from the fact that she’s spent most of her life being tied to a fence and used as a bait dog in pitbull fights. According to NBC New York, which broke the story earlier this year, Ingrid had 14 pounds of fluid in her abdomen when she was rescued by shelter workers in Huntington, NY. However, she’s recovered steadily and according to workers at the shelter where she is currently housed, she is doing really well and is cheerful and a delight to be around. Despite being so mistreated, Ingrid likes EVERYONE. WHO AMONG US CAN SAY THAT?

WAIT A SECOND! IN A SHELTER? That’s right! Despite the fact that this fucking dog is so fucking adorable that I want to go to New York and feed her Viagra myself, NO ONE HAS STEPPED UP TO BRING HER HOME AND GIVE HER THE LIFE SHE DESERVES! What’s up with that? Are you in New York? ARE YOU GOING TO GET UP ON THIS? Her nickname is “The Love Bunny!” Look at this video of Ingrid being hello cute.

And now that you understand how awesome she is, here is her adoption page, but FAIR WARNING! SHE IS ALSO DRESSED AS A SEVENTIES PIMP IN THESE PICTURES! HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THAT? Actually, that may be some kind of “California Girls” get-up, but I prefer the ’70s pimp image. It makes me chuckle!

WHAT AN AWESOME DOG!

Costco "bans" crated veal

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:31:51 -0700

Costco "bans" crated veal:

Hooray?

I mean, every step is a good step. Unless it’s towards eating a BABY ANIMAL. It’s great that Costco at least acknowledges that the way 99 percent of veal is raised in this country is Slit Your Wrists City, Population: Me, but I find it hard to cheer when people are still butchering BABY ANIMALS so that they can have one mediocre meal. I mean, who the fuck buys veal at Costco anyway?? Who needs value packs of DEAD BABY ANIMAL? This kinda reminds me of when Denny’s in Japan started serving Foie Gras. Move over, Scrooge McDuck. The proletariat want their fancified dead animal too!

Oh well, at least Denny’s is serving a vegan burger now.

Harvest Home Sanctuary has a great blog post up about Tracy, an...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:09:29 -0700

Harvest Home Sanctuary has a great blog post up about Tracy, an ex-battery hen. It’s touching in the crying into your keyboard type way. But also inspirational and makes you want to get really upset about shit and change things. I dunno…read it. While you’re at it, Nicholas “is that a toupé?” Kristof has a great piece up in the New York Times about abolishing battery cages. The mainstream heat behind this is building; I hope the momentum keeps up. I want a rallying cry behind the abolition of battery cages that rivals, “DONNA! MARTIN! GRADUATES!” (Happy 90210 Day, btw!). Any ideas???

Vote for a Vegan Food Truck! DO IT!

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:51:00 -0700

Vote for a Vegan Food Truck! DO IT!:

The Food Network is bringing it lately with the vegans. The delightful Chloe Coscarelli won an episode of Cupcake Wars; they’re doing their first-ever veg special; AND NOW they’ve got a vegan in the running for most beloved food truck in America! The vegan food truck in question is Homegrown Smoker, a family-owned vegan BBQ truck (JUST LOOK AT THE FAMILY CUTENESS).

Go to Food Network’s fucked-up site* and VOTE for vegans! Besides, their food looks to be fucking amazing (OMG “Oceanic Tofu Fillet, nori breaded and golden fried. On a grilled bun with tartar, slaw, pickles & lemon with a side of russet fries” OMG) and they’ve got Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s vote so heeeeey, do it up!

This whole post was brought to you by a simple stalking of Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s twitter feed. If you do not follow her, you do now.

*Seriously, they have more money than God and they can’t get this to look nice or run properly? They need to dock Sandra Lee’s pay (one less tequila slammer/Hungry Man dinner ain’t gonna kill her!) and use a little of those funds to create a website that doesn’t make me want to simultaneously murder and cry.

Does your cat have what it takes?!

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:25:00 -0700

If there’s anything we learned from the recent posts about ponies and cat models, everyone wants their pet to be a superstar. But they don’t roll out of the SPCA looking like Joe Jonas! It takes training! It takes practice! Luckily, artist Lucy Knisley has created what is basically THE cat modeling bible. Seriously kitties, don’t embarrass yourselves on your next go-see—learn the poses! Be the dream!

(via Pawesome!)

Good morning, adorable! SaveABunny has BABY BUNNIES! On July 26,...

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:57:00 -0700

Good morning, adorable! SaveABunny has BABY BUNNIES! On July 26, Cybele the rabbit was dumped at San Francisco Animal Care and Control, and two days later she popped out a passel of kits (and adult rabbits are “bucks” and “does,” respectively). Good job, mama. There are four* little bitty baby buns, two sisters and two brothers, and they are too young to adopt yet but oh when they are weaned HELLO NEW BEST FRIENDS.

Honestly, just when you think there’s nothing cuter than a bunny video, a baby bunny video appears and basically blinds you with its adorability. Everything that isn’t a baby bunny is hideous to me now. Get out of my sight, fawns. Back off, tiny owls. Even orphan sloths in sock-pajamas look like gargoyles in the brilliant light of these brand-new baby bunnies. Do you think they have a special baby-bunny smell, like baby humans? I want to touch noses with them. You guys I am dead, over here. Dead.

If you’re interested in giving this little family a foster home, get in touch with SaveABunny! They would love to hear from you.

*Yes, there are five little munchkins in the video, but the teensiest one has since died.

UPDATE: Here is ANOTHER VIDEO OF BABY BUNNIES! These are ORPHAN, DWARF BABY BUNNIES, and a very nice man is BOTTLE-FEEDING THEM. Yes, dwarf buns, as in the kind who grow up to be as “big” (read: teeneh-tineh) as Official Vegansaurus Bun Nibbler, who weighs all of 2.5 pounds. Check this out and try not to die all over again. Criminy Christmas, SaveABunny, it is too early in the morning to double the heartbreaking cuteness on a person.

[can’t see this video? watch it at vegansaurus.com!]

Guest post: the Hodo Soy Beanery tour!

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:33:00 -0700

There are three main reasons I was pumped when I found out that Hodo Soy Beanery in Oakland offers tours of their factory: 1. I eat a lot of tofu, and I like to know how stuff I eat is made; 2. I’ve been playing with the idea of making my own tofu and goma dofu (sesame seed tofu) at home and wanted to see a larger version of the process in action; and 3. My favorite part of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was when he’d go to some factory to see how backpacks or pencils are made—and this was my chance to experience that thrill live! So last Wednesday, my childhood friend from Boston, Ivy, and I headed out to Oakland to see how beans become that curd we all love.

A little background: Hodo was co-founded by a former investment banker, Minh Tsai, and his brother-in-law Dean Ku back in 2004. They noticed a gaping hole in the tofu market: freshness. In Asia, tofu is meant to be eaten the day it’s made—not packaged in shrink wrap and refrigerated for weeks. They sold their homemade soy products at farmers’ markets, became very popular, and decided to open a factory in October 2009. They don’t ship very far to maintain freshness; you can buy it at Whole Foods and Rainbow, and they sell to super-fancy restaurants—like Coi and the Slanted Door—in the Bay Area. Also, John Scharffenberger is the CEO. Um, random.

Our tour started in an adorable little room with one wall covered in curtains, where our group of 10 visitors were greeted by two staff members and tiny espresso cups of warm soy milk. The milk tasted more like liquid tofu and not very much like the Silk or Edensoy we all know. My friend and I weren’t fans (although she did down hers ‘cause she felt bad), but I can see how some may find it soothing and very clean-tasting. We then watched a video narrated by Mr. Tsai explaining the history of the factory and the details of the tofu-making process. Then they opened the curtain to reveal the extremely clean—and surprisingly small—factory floor.

[can’t see the video? watch it at vegansaurus.com!]

I was a little sad that we didn’t get to actually go on the factory floor, but you really could see everything from the windows and I totally get that they don’t want us nasty outsiders sneezing in their tofu. Our very friendly guide, Rachel (who knew all about Vegansaurus!), explained what every part of the factory did, including the “soy milk cow” (gross?) and the yuba station. Apparently, all their machinery was made by one of the oldest tofu equipment manufacturers in China.

Yuba is the skin that forms on top of the milk—and no, it’s not gross like the shit on old pudding or gravy. Hodo meticulously lifts each sheet of yuba and hangs it to dry on a rack (the ones that day were being lifted by a cheerful fellow named Binky, or something equally awesome, who wore giant headphones and jammed to his tunes as he worked). I’d never had yuba before, but my Chinese/Japanese friend remembered her childhood experience of it as “soapy/watered-down tofu” that she would only force down if her parents doused it in soy sauce and chili oil. But she agreed with me that Hodo’s yuba was frickin’ goooood. Delicate but kinda chewy, and very tasty! We got a whole table’s worth of samples to try, and I had to stop myself from being THAT GUEST and snarfing down the whole plate myself.

We also learned about nama yuba, which is apparently like the vegan version of Burrata cheese, and is a fresh, non-dried version of yuba. It’s not able to be mass-produced, so that shit’s only available to fancy people in fancy restaurants.

Our table o’ soy was adorned with everything from curry-marinated fried tofu chunks to braised firm tofu, spicy yuba strips (holy moly SO GOOD), and hijiki tofu salad, among others. Everything was great and totally made up for not being allowed to get all Mister Rogers on them. There were products that we could purchase, both food and clothing (like t-shirts that said “Who’s your Tofu Master?” and fab hats my friend described as “totally commie Mao with railroad engineer stripes”). We opted for just food and brought home several containers to continue our soy journey later.

While our experience at Hodo was yummy and informative, an aspect of their practices did bug me. The factory produces a massive amount of okara-–bean pulp that’s left over when the soy puree is filtered during the tofu-making process. While some people do eat it in stews or in veggie burgers, the demand is not high enough for Hodo to actually package it for distribution. So they donate it to Magruder Ranch in Mendocino to use as feed. Magruder raises “sustainable” meat in the form of lambs, cows, and heirloom pigs (cause, you know, the fourth most intelligent species on the planet is the same thing as a tomato). They even offer “bucolic weekend getaways” on their death farm, bitchin’ butchering workshops, and “happy” little videos on their Facebook fan page of piglets with their mom-–before they become the subjects of those workshops! SCORE!

I know that Hodo is not a vegan company-–they are just accidentally vegetarian. But I still needed to ask them about their choice of okara beneficiary, since I assume the majority of their customer base is vegetarian, vegan, or at least appreciative of that lifestyle. I asked them why they didn’t donate their feed to a local produce farm for compost instead. They said that they’re in discussion with some farms right now to do that, and that they have so much okara that there is plenty to go around. Perhaps I wimped out, but I didn’t feel that the environment was appropriate to start a heated debate, but I do intend to write to them to encourage them to reconsider their practice, and I think it’d be great if fellow vegans joined me. I understand that to Hodo it’s just waste that they are finding a practical way to dispose of, but it’s also indirectly supporting a meat ranch by helping it spend less money on feed. It would behoove them to consider the demographic that is purchasing their product, and, if nothing else-–even if they don’t care about the ethical implications of their actions—at least see the gesture of giving to a produce farm as a great marketing opportunity. Wouldn’t a vegan or vegetarian feel better about purchasing something without any connection to the meat industry?

I definitely do recommend the tour. I think it’s super-important to know where your food comes from, and having the opportunity to actually see it is pretty rare. Plus, the more vegans that show up and voice their opinion on Hodo’s okara donation practices, the more likely it is they will change them. I don’t believe Hodo is some evil meat-industry supporter—I think that they haven’t looked at what they are doing from a different angle. And what are we vegans good at if not changing someone’s perspective?

Vi Zahajszky left her motherland of Hungary as a child and has spent most of her life in Boston and New York. Two years ago she drove across the country to San Francisco with husband Chris Carlozzi and a rescue pup named The Bandit. Here, among other things, she’s studying fashion design and pattern-making, and has plans to develop a vegan clothing line. Also, she’s enjoying no blizzards. Photo enhancing and video editing by Chris Carlozzi.

Guest post: A vegan in Africa!

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:06:53 -0700

If you’re like me, (and since you’re here I’ll assume you’re at least a little like me), you like animals. You’re even more like me if you hate stupid zoos and much prefer viewing creatures in their natural habitat, running free, wind in their fur or reptilian skin or whatever. Where best to do this? Africa! It’s been my dream forEVER to go on safari in Africa, and this summer I finally went. I mean, there are a gazillion animals there, and you don’t even need to get all National Geographic, camping-out-for-days-in-abandoned-rodent-burrows to see them; basically, you just show up. As soon as I booked my flight, however, I heard the voice in my head say, “What are you going to eat, you dummy? They only serve antelope and alligator over there!” And it’s true that they do serve both those things with alarming frequency, I’m happy to report that being vegan in Africa ain’t so hard! I’ll show you.

View of Capetown’s V&A Waterfront from our room at the Cape Grace Hotel.

My first stop on the trip was Capetown, South Africa, which is basically just San Francisco. Seriously, it bears a striking resemblance to my wonderful hometown: the light, the mountains all around, the fog, the bay complete with an old jail on an island—it was just like being at home, except for all the nasty biltong. Yuck. Anyway, should you find yourself within like 500 miles of Capetown you must stay at the Cape Grace Hotel. No room in the budget for such swankiness? At least save up R550 ($75 U.S.) per person for the insanely amazing vegan tasting menu at the hotel’s restaurant, Signal. That’s the price WITH wine, people. You get five courses, plus a sorbet palate cleanser halfway through (can’t have dirty palates, now can we?), and a different, super-yummy South African wine with each course. It was hard to keep up, but somehow I managed (read: got DRUNK). From the beet carpaccio to the miso risotto, I promise your taste buds have never had it so good. And at the end you get this insane chocolate tart for dessert, complete with a sugar orb full of sorbet! What?! Yes.

Pretty sure this dessert is made exclusively of magic.

That dinner at Signal was one of our first meals in Africa, so we set the bar stratospherically high, but the rest of the food was good too! In Capetown, most places know what vegan is and can accommodate you. Plus there are tons of Turkish and Indian and Asian places that always have at least something vegan-by-default on the menu. Outside of South Africa, it’s a little tougher, but not much. If you’re going on safari (hello, that’s why you’re here right?) then just make super-duper sure to let your outfitter know in advance about your awesomeness. When I was researching the trip, not a single company I talked to told me they couldn’t feed me. They were all happy to make it work. You are paying money, after all! In the end, I went with Sanctuary Lodges, staying at two of their camps in Botswana and one in Uganda. All three were ridiculous—animals everywhere, fantastic guides, breathtaking sunsets—and at all three I was very well fed at every meal. The chefs went out of their way to include me, even going so far as to bake special vegan biscuits (using olive oil instead of butter) for afternoon tea. Man, life ruled on vacation.

Tea time treats including olive oil biscuits in the back.

What’s also super-cool is that in Uganda you can see the endangered mountain gorillas. It costs a shitload, but all the money goes to help protect them, which is (DUH) totally important!

Mountain gorillas have been habituated to humans, but still very much wild.

Uganda also has tons of great Indian food because it used to have tons of people from the Indian subcontinent (before batshit crazy Idi Amin expelled nearly the entire population), which makes eating there pretty easy. Same goes for Kenya, where we stayed with some friends, and which was our penultimate stop on the trip. (Normally I would have just said “second-to-last” but our last stop was so the motherfucking ULTIMATE that it makes sense!)

Curries like this chickpea version are abundant in Uganda and Kenya.

While in Kenya, we only had time to stay in Nairobi, but just like Capetown and other big cities, there was plenty of ex-pat cuisine with vegan items (pizza sans cheese, salads, hummus, etc) so it was no problem. However, due to my not-so-with-it friends, I also found myself at the most horrific place EVER while in Nairobi: a place no vegan should ever know about, let alone visit: Carnivore, the restaurant. Word on the street is that this monstrosity used to serve zebra and cheetah and other wild animals. Now that such things are frowned upon (um, hooray!) the most exotic dish is ostrich. Still, ugh. But, rather than stay in the car and cry, I decided to see what vegan things Carnivore could dish up. Honestly? They did all right! I had a great salad and some curried veggies with plain rice. It still made me mad. I mean, I know so many people who just think it’s too hard to be vegan where they live, and I had a vegan meal at a restaurant called freakin’ CARNIVORE in the middle of Kenya!

Nothing like a good veggie burger to calm your rage.

Want to know how to alleviate frustration like that? Go lay on the beach for five days at the most insanely wonderful, all-inclusive resort where they bring you your every vegan desire (“Champagne and veggie burgers for lunch today, Mrs. Chari?” Surely! “An Arabic feast, complete with hookah delivered to your bungalow?” Of course!) while you lounge in the Indian Ocean wondering however on this planet you got so goddamn lucky. Yeah, that’s how we ended the trip, at Maya in the Seychelles. I know not everyone can do this and I know how blessed I am to have been able to go. Seriously, if you can get there, you will be renewed, re-energized, and catered to beyond your wildest imaginations. They heard we were vegan, and their response was, basically: OK, tell us what you want to eat every day and we’ll make it. Ahhh.

So there you have it. I managed to spend a month traveling around Africa without missing a single meal. Even better, I got to see the animals I love in their homes, and I met many people who are dedicated to keeping them safe. It was life-changing—and I’m already planning my next trip. Who’s in? I mean, baby elephants are CUTE!!!

See? Cute overload.

Sky Chari hails from NJ, so it’s surprising that she bears no resemblance to Snookie (unless she goes on a carrot juice-bender, in which case Sky too can get a little orange). She enjoys traveling this kick-ass world of ours almost as much as she loves eating good vegan food, but she is also quite content to stick around San Francisco, where she’s lived for 10 years, perfecting the art of trying new restaurants and overstaying her welcome at tried-and-true favorites. Read more about her adventures here.

Hey everybody, I’m about to show you a super-sad video!...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:57:00 -0700

Hey everybody, I’m about to show you a super-sad video! However, it’s early and I don’t actually enjoy depressing everyone first thing in the morning, so before we get to the upsetting video, let’s watch the adorable harp seal in the video above! I’ll wait.

Jesus Christmas, so cute! Right? So cute.

Now that I’ve lifted your spirits a bit, time to get real. You know I try to keep you updated on vegan and animal-related advertising so here’s the latest: a Peta commercial about the Canadian seal hunt garnered second place for video advertising in July 2010 over at Ads of the World, a super-popular ad blog. It was second to the Old Spice guy video—that’s pretty high praise! People are bonkers for that Old Spice ad.

The Peta commercial is part of their “Explore Elsewhere” campaign, a rebuttal to the Canadian Tourism Commission’s “Come Explore Canada” campaign. I think “Explore Elsewhere” is a pretty funny tag but I’m not exactly sure why Ads of the World likes the video so much. It’s a pretty standard video by Peta. It’s not bad, it’s just nothing new. I think maybe the reason the ad blog likes the commercial is because Peta used Canada’s national anthem as the soundtrack. That’s a pretty big diss! I’m into it.

This ad is also important now because the European Union’s general court just put a suspension on the legislation that would ban the sale of seal products in Europe that passed last year. The suspension came about because an Inuit group is claiming that the ban will hurt the market for them, even though it does not include products from their seal hunt. I think that’s an unreasonable argument; I know I’m not an economist but I don’t think that argument is reason enough to maintain an entire industry that’s nothing short of despicable.

Luckily! The badasses of the EU decided to go along with the ban anyway! Yee-ha, cowboys! Still, any group that already filed court actions appealing the ban aren’t yet included in it. LAME. Oh, I have a question: who in Europe was buying all these seal products? People are saying the ban will be a huge blow to the seal-product market—that means there are a bunch of mofos in Europe that have been buying the hell out of seal products. Who are these freaks?

OK, without further ado, let’s watch the Peta commercial. Wait, there’s some ado left: WARNING! THIS VIDEO IS GRAPHIC, WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK! Seriously, I won’t be mad if you can’t watch it, it’s very upsetting. If you think you can stomach it, here it is:

[can’t see the video? watch it on vegansaurus.com]

Jeez louise, I’m about to cry! But I have work to do today! Let’s all go listen to Cee-lo Green’s latest, greatest song and try to pull it together.

How to party like a coffeehouse: punish a pony!

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:03:49 -0700

How to party like a coffeehouse: punish a pony!:

Four Barrel Coffee celebrates its second birthday today with a lovely gesture of customer appreciation: free coffee until 4 p.m.! Also, inexplicably, two hours of free pony rides “for the kiddies.” How happy the child and the pony appear!

We’ve never had a problem with Four Barrel—yes they sell bacon donuts, but that’s their choice, and they’ve got soy milk—but PONY RIDES? What did a pony ever do to you that you think it’s OK to force one to walk up and down the 300 block of Valencia Street for two hours in the middle of the day? Why not just give them all free foamed milk, or animalicious bacon donut pieces, or anything that doesn’t involve making an animal perform a ridiculous task?

Although this could be a genius idea: kids could see the miserable pony, realize that using animals for our personal enjoyment is wrong—real ponies aren’t toys!—and take their first little steps on the road to animal-rights activism. It’s probably much more effective than explaining you drink soy milk because cows don’t “give” anything and aren’t the least bit “happy.”

Cats in clothes! Don't be upset!

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:38:16 -0700

Clothing company United Bamboo is making their second annual cat calendar! The calender features cat-sized versions of the company’s fall, winter and spring lines. Say hello to the cuteness!

Every time we post about cats in clothes, some people get upset. But really, I don’t see the big deal. Well, if your cat hates it, I don’t think you should dress fluffers up; but if your cat doesn’t mind, I don’t see the problem.

Sorry for the picture quality (pre-iphone days, the horror!) but below is my cat Mitsy. The sweater vest was too tiny for fat old Figaro (who totally loves wearing clothes by the way. Like, freaks the frick out when I show him one of his shirts. My theory is it’s because we are usually going to a party or something when I put him in clothes and he loves going to parties) so I thought, “I wonder if it fits lil’ Mitsy?” And it totally did! I had no trouble putting it on her, no protests. I would have taken it off her right after I put it on but it was apparent that she really didn’t care that she was wearing it. She went about her business stalking Fig, scratching my dad’s precious oriental rugs, you know, the usual.

Cats can be very communicative when they are displeased—ever heard of hissing? And claws? I think you’ll know if the cat doesn’t like it but if your cat doesn’t mind, what’s the harm?

Finally, don’t fucking tattoo your cats!

Thanks to our sponsors, two sad dogs and cake in a jar, it's this week's link-o-rama!

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:57:30 -0700

A long-tailed macaque living in Bali adopted a lost kitten! He just found the kitten wandering around his home in Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Bali, and brought the kitten back to his troop (“a troop of macaques”), and now they are pals. Please excuse your Vegansaurus, whose eyes have begun leaking. [photo by Anne Young]

Events! Events events events!
We already told you about Dusker tonight at Hayes Valley Farm—really, why aren’t you there now, hippie? And tomorrow is Sábado Gigante!, a.k.a. the start of Oakland’s Eat Real Festival. Now here are even more ways to spend your time!

Vegans in the Washington, D.C. metro area should head out to the annual Columbia Heights Day, which happens tomorrow, Saturday Aug. 28 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Harriet Tubman Elementary Field at 11th and Kenyon Sts. NW. Why? Because at 3:30 there’s a Sticky Fingers cupcake-eating contest on the second stage!! Live out one of your Vegansaurus’ dreams! Or at least take a photo for us DEAR LORD.

VERY IMPORTANT: Dino Bike at the Hemlock on Sunday, Aug. 29 at 9 p.m. Pay $5 and see our Laura, Jonas and possibly Jordan—plus other guaranteed-cramazing humans—do things on stage that you could not possibly imagine. There will be vegan cupcakes for free and booze for sale and all the money raised goes to pay for sweet, sweet Hazel’s nauseatingly expensive surgery. BE THERE!

On Monday, Aug. 30, the Green Arcade bookstore in San Francisco will host a free discussion with Chris Palmer, author of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider’s Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom. It sounds like Chris Palmer does our favorite thing: “pulls back the curtain on the dark side of wildlife filmmaking, revealing an industry driven by money, sensationalism, extreme risk-taking, misrepresentation, staging, fabrication, and even abuse and harassment of animals,” actually naming names! Of course he also offers solutions and praises the people who are not total dicks (hint: Bear Grylls is not on the “good” list). The discussion begins at 7 p.m. at the Green Arcade, 1680 Market St. at Gough Street.

On Sunday, Aug. 29, LGBT Compassion will hold a peaceful demonstration against animal cruelty—specifically, the live-chicken vendor—from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Northeast corner of the Heart of the City Farmers Market at U.N. Plaza. For further information, visit their website, and please RSVP if you plan to attend!

West Contra Costa Adult Education will offer a series on vegan cuisine this fall, beginning on Sept. 14 with “Italian style.” Each class meets once for four hours at the Richmond campus and costs $45. Enrollment is limited to 16 students, so you might think about registering sooner than later. Chef Panos Ly of Symphonie Vegan Restaurant in Point Richmond will lead the class.

News! Articles and essays and news!
A woman was caught attempting to smuggle a tiger cub from Thailand to Iran. The three-month-old cub had been drugged and stuffed in her suitcase—along with some stuffed toy tigers, for camouflage? He’s now recovering at a wildlife conservation center in Bangkok, and DNA testing should reveal more precisely where he came from. Residents of Taiji, a.k.a. “the place from The Cove where they murder all the dolphins,” are totally nonchalant about the documentary and its effects. “They’re not going to stop the hunts,” says a councilman, basically because it’s tradition and also dolphin is tasty. Neat! “You race camels, why not milk them?” Excellent question, Occident-man! And what was Orient-man’s response? He didn’t have one, so the western dudes went out and began camel-exploitation for themselves. Now they are milked in metal stalls by automated pumps, just like number-one most delicious American cows! It can’t come to the U.S. fast enough. What we won’t get, because the FDA are total Puritan prudes, are eating-cows fed with wine to make their flesh taste even better when we devour it. I mean, pigs get to drink beer, why can’t cows have some red wine with their all-natural COWFEED 3000?

What’s been going on with the Great Egg Recall of aught-10? This week we learned that the FDA rejected a vaccine for hens that British egg producers have been using for over a decade and that would have cost “less than a penny per a dozen eggs.” Ha ha whoops! Your Vegansaurus loves the cheap choices: “We have a problem with Salmonella infecting these eggs!” “How can we solve it?” “We could stop feeding chickens bone meal, maybe.” “But that’s like recycling! And it makes them grow SO FAST!” “What about making the cages we force the hens into a little larger, or not smashing so many of them into those tiny cages at once?” “And lose production space? No way!” “What about pasteurizing the fuck out of the poisonous death-eggs, then putting them in ice cream and mayonnaise?” “BRILLIANT! We won’t even have to disclose that on the food labels! The company is saved!” A deli meat company recalled nearly 400,000 pounds of its products due to contamination with Listeria, but that was really hard to pay attention to this week.

Hey L.A., have you been to Millions of Milkshakes: Our Brianna writes: “IT IS SO FUCKING YUMMY I WANTED TO CAMP OUT THERE. I went two times in the span of four days. Yeah, it’s really tacky, but I think it pretty adequately encompasses LA culture. I got a peanut butter-oreo shake the first time, and a peanut butter-banana shake the second time. Best milkshakes I’ve ever had.” Ooh, celebrity vegan shakes! Ooh again: a totally polite and helpful thread on Serious Eats about cooking for vegans and omnivores in the same kitchen—they even discuss sharing pans! How heartwarming. Hey Las Vegans (har har), your life just got better thanks to Steve Wynn, who’s expanded (read: brought into existance) the vegan dishes on all his hotels’ menus. Finally, an interview with Jack Norris of Vegan Outreach by (the infamous) Rhys Southan. Naturally your Vegansaurus recommends ignoring the comments, one of which implies that nectarines are certain squirrels’ only food source and that to eat said nectarines is tantamount to murdering said squirrels.

One of Scott “model-senator” Brown’s staffers found a cat on the street in Washington, D.C., and she has since been named Lucky and become the office kitty. Look, there are photos! This is arguably the most selfless act performed by any member of the Senate in several years, and Scott Brown didn’t actually rescue the cat himself. Even suffering the pressures of political life, Lucky is considerably better off than nearly half the pets in Coachella Valley: 44 percent of the 40,000 animals who have been left at shelters in Riverside County were euthanized this year, and Save-a-Pet of Desert Hot Springs, a no-kill shelter, has no room for animals. Thanks, Depression 2.0!

So which would you rather eat: Magical salmon genetically engineered by AquaBounty Corp. to grow twice as quickly as evolutionarily engineered salmon by natural selection; or willingly donated human meat? Whatever, our “agricultural empire” is DOOMED, DOOMED anyway, let’s just eat (easily veganized and very tasty) jar cake to keep the end-of-the-world panic attacks down for another day.

Dusker at Hayes Valley Farm tonight!

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:00:00 -0700

Usually this would go in the links, but it’s happening early and the links are not an “early afternoon” kind of post, so we’re giving you plenty of warning so you can be there!

What is Dusker? It’s “an end-of-summer celebration,” dummies! There’ll be music, a whole bunch of food for sale—produce, booze, and edibles—Hayes Valley Farm merchandise, “multi-screen visuals,” “live henna tattooing,” and more. Not being hippies, your Vegansaurus strongly advises against henna tattooing (whether live or recorded from a previous broadcast), but if Gaia tells you to cover your white skin from elbows to fingertips in pretty swirls, you listen to her.

The event runs from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., and a $5 donation is requested, which will benefit the Hayes Valley Farm Structures Fund. There will be hot cider, and dancing on the former freeway is ~~threatened~~ mentioned as a possible activity as well. Hayes Valley Farm is located at 450 Laguna St. at Fell Street, which they are now calling “Greenhouse Plaza.”

~~Incidentally, there’s a rumor that our own Laura will be there tonight “selling” as well! Selling what, we cannot say, but look for the hot redhead and you’ll find out.~~

Alas, it was unfounded. You weren’t going just to ogle Laura though, right? Of course not, grossy. You’re going for the Farm.

Guest post: Ride to the Light--participate or donate! Ow!

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:03:00 -0700

Hi y’all! I know there must be at least a couple people here who like animals and bikes, right? (I mean, this IS commie liberal West Coast vegan cupcake heaven awesome San Francisco, CA.) But anyway, I’m hoping that if you do, you will support Ride to the Light, which is right around the corner!

The Ride to the Light is an annual 100-mile bike ride (a “century” in cycling terminology) to benefit Lighthouse Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, Out to Pasture Sanctuary, and Project Hope Sanctuary. Some fearless folks from PDX started it in 2009, and that ride raised over $10,000. We’re hoping to smash that record this year by raising $15,000.

The ride takes place on Saturday, Sept. 25. We’ll be leaving from the IDA office in Portland and riding to Out to Pasture in Estacada, Ore., then on to Lighthouse in Scio, Ore. Project Hope is in Mississippi, so we won’t be making a stop there, but they’ll be with us in spirit.

Come along for the ride, or make a donation and help us reach (or even better, exceed) our goal for these three very worthy causes. People from all over (including the Bay Area! Me! Me!) are coming on this fantastic voyage, and we’d really appreciate your support! Any donation is much appreciated and we’d love to see your name on the donation page.

Please also check out our Facebook fan page to find out more about the ride. We’ve got a blog as well! Here’s a video of last year’s ride, too!

Thanks to Megan of Such a Vegan for this guest post! Read it, she’s awesome! Now, DONATE!

Catalonia bans bullfighting! Viva España!

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:32:42 -0700

Bullfighting is so nasty and I fucking* hate it! So I was very glad when Meave reported that an amendment to the animal protection laws in Catalonia, Spain passed! Bullfighting is so over, jack!

I was totally happy about this animal victory but on Facebook today, one of my Spanish friends criticized the motives behind the ban, claiming it’s a matter of politics and not concern for animals. My friend Santi, who says he hates bullfighting, also had this to say:

They are doing it to say we are not Spanish. Make no mistake, Catalans also like bullfighting considering the number of people turning up to arenas. They have used this to say we are not like them to the world!

I do have to point out that the anti-bullfighting side used the fact that bullfighting has been declining in popularity as an indicator of public thought, so I question just how much Catalans like the “sport.” According to the Barcelona Reporter, “Barcelona’s last bullring is so unprofitable that the company managing it intends to give up the business next year.” The Guardian also reported the ban, focusing on the political implications of the issue. Pro-bullfighting peeps are saying Catalonia is using the ban as a big fuck-you to the rest of Spain.

Guess what has two thumbs and couldn’t give a shit about the motives that ban bullfighting?! THIS GUY! Bullfighting is disgusting and anyone who likes it is despicable. I said it! I don’t care why, I’m just glad it’s on its way out. Another thing I’m a fan of: matadors getting totally thrashed by bulls. I’m pro that. Fuck those douchebags.

Many of the bullfighting supporters also say the ban is an attack on Spain’s cultural heritage. An op-ed on cnn.com from last month addressed this cultural heritage argument. See, major news outlets aren’t always big ol’ jerkwads! The author, Jordi Casamitjana, is a consultant for PROU, a super-dope anti-bullfighting organization. Casamitjana says:

Many pro-bullfighting activists have argued that the “sport” is an important part of the Spanish culture and should not be banned. But cultural heritage is no excuse for inflicting pain on a frightened and confused animal. This campaign is not a matter of arbitrary prohibitions or of stomping on people’s individual freedoms. It is a matter of suffering.

Do you love this guy or what?

If you don’t think bullfighting is fucking repulsive, watch a few youtube videos like this one supplied by SHARKonline. I don’t want to post them on here because they make me cry and I don’t want to make you guys cry because then you’ll all be at work looking like a bunch of nancies.

Bonus! The story of Ferdinand the bull! Of course in real life, they’d totally stab him to death but still, Ferdinand is totally adorbs:

[can’t see the video? watch it on vegansaurus.com!]

*My parents are dedicated Vegansaurus readers and they get upset at the foul language because they are so very old and square. So to them, I must apologize for dropping the f-bomb but bullfighting makes me so mad!

[bull illustration from PROU website]

The Vegansaurus guide to the Eat Real Festival!

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:32:00 -0700

Eat Real Festival starts TODAY in Oakland’s Jack London Square. It goes through Sunday, when I’ll be participating in the Porchlight Storytelling Slam from 3 to 5 p.m.! Should be terrifying and humiliating, stop by!

We’ve compiled a list of all the vegan deliciousness there is to eat. Unfortunately, they’re having all sorts of nasty-ass shit going on like butchering contests and other disgusting “urban homesteading” garbage that all the white people in West Oakland are into*.

Here’s your list of all vegan businesses selling eats:
Fat Bottom Bakery (YES!!) and Raw Daddy! Two vegan vendors at a food fest dedicated to food sustainability! It’s a start; hopefully next year they can do more outreach to veg businesses? A festival like this should be crawling with them!

Here’s a list of places selling all vegetarian food & will have vegan items to sell:
A La Cart; Cranky Boots Cold Confections; Fat Face; Ear-good Corn Roast; La Placita Center/Rising Sun Entrepreneurs; Liba Falafel Truk (been wanting to try this place!!); Saul’s Restaurant and Deli; Sweet (if they have vegan tarts GET THEM—upcoming review planned over their amazingness!); and Tante’s.

Plus, a lot of the ice cream and sorbet vendors will have vegan options (HELLO, SCREAM SORBET!) Also, 90 percent of the non-veg vendors selling will have vegan items—check out the selection! Food-wise, it seems like a solidly tasty weekend time investment. Let’s swarm the vegan businesses and have them sell out first! Further date/times/location info for the festival can be found here.

When you’re done with the festival on Sunday, come check out DINO BIKE, playing at the Hemlock in San Francisco! It’s a fundraiser for my dog, Hazel, who just had $4,000 surgery yesterday. And actually, it didn’t go super- well so she might need more and is on complete bed rest for two months. Like, literally no walking. We have to take her outside in a red Radio Flyer wagon so she can go to the bathroom. Seriously.

*Oh calm down, I’m one of you too! I’m just making my own booze and pickling everything in sight instead of getting chickens in the mail (great idea!) to raise like pets and then slaughter because I NEED MEAT TO SURVIVE.

Vegansaurus on SFist! Again!

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:59:00 -0700

Vegansaurus on SFist! Again!:

You are all remembering to check out our Laura’s regular (-ish) feature on SFist, right? Maybe you’ll learn something new! Maybe you want to read SFist anyway—sometimes our spheres of coverage overlap and they will have more information about things than we do. Sometimes.

This time, though, it is only Pro Tips for the inexperienced vegan diner. But they’re gems!

Late-breaking news: SF Vegan Drinks is TONIGHT!

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:02:00 -0700

Because by “late-breaking” we actually mean “late.” But everything is always more exciting when it’s “breaking” so let’s go with it. BREAKING! You’re canceling your plans (read: Netflix Roulette), hiring the dogsitter, and going to SF Vegan Drinks. Happy summer everyone! It’s over. So let’s drown our fogged-over sorrows after a solid half-week of “layers? who wears layers? not this vegan!” by drinking Berry Harvest martinis, grown and harvested somewhere sunny by even sunnier underpaid immigrant labor. (kidding! Berry-picking for $2 an hour is the American Dream. And kids love it.) SF Vegan Drinks is, as always, sponsored by your Vegansaurus, and by VegNews, who brings you this important message:

Just a heads up that the August installment of Vegan Drinks is tonight Martuni’s (Valencia @ Market). Come on out to mingle with other interesting vegans while enjoying drink specials (This Month: $5 vegan Berry Harvest martinis) and a host of non-alcoholic beverage options!

We’ll also be cooking up some more vegan hot dogs. For only 98 cents a piece, you can satisfy your after-work hunger. There will also be all the vegan popcorn you can eat!

This is btw all lies, because I “can” eat a fuckton of popcorn. And a fuckton of just about anything else, even though we’re all secretly anorexics with latent foie gras desires. So join the rest of us at the hot dog/popcorn feeding trough from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight. I’ll be the one not wearing a name tag. Again.

WTF, Curbed SF???

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:42:00 -0700

WTF, Curbed SF???:

This Philip Ferrato is a real jackass. What the fuck is the point of this post? Did a bunny violate his mom or something? So, he posted bunny adoptions on a site about real estate just so he could be all HAHAHA FUNNY TO EAT RABBITS LOLZ. It seriously makes no sense. Were there no new Pac Heights homes for sale today? No uber-mod living rooms to ham-handedly criticize?

Ferrato, I know you want that $3 per post, sir, but really, me thinks the folks at Curbed are getting ripped off. Well, actually, you finally produced a headline that I was willing to click through on. KUDOS FOR THAT!

I’ve been a fan of Curbed SF in the past (we seriously miss Susie Cagle!) but it’s been removed from my RSS feed! AND MY LIFE!