vegansaurus!

Your Precious Backyard Chicken Eggs Are Lead Bombs  »

Listen up, Alanis: Here’s something actually ironic. Those fancy New Yorkers who keep chickens in their yards because the eggs are so much healthier might be poisoning their unsuspecting children with that scourge-of-paint-and-pipes, lead. BUMM-er.

The New York Times has the full scoop, but I’ll save you the carpal-tunnel of having to click and save myself the effort of having to write by copying and pasting the nut graf right here:

Preliminary results from a New York State Health Department study show that more than half the eggs tested from chickens kept in community gardens in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens had detectable levels of lead, unlike store-bought counterparts.

Now, I don’t wish lead poisoning on anyone, and I am also of the opinion that eating eggs from backyard chickens is about a zillion times more humane and less environmentally devastating than eating factory-farmed eggs. Nevertheless, go ahead and add this to your quiver of arguments as to why it might be just the bestest most best idea to the leave the eggs alone. Drop it! Drop the egg! Now walk away and no one will get poisoned!

[Link via the incomparable Ken Layne. Photo by wooleywonderworks via Flickr]

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s that time: WE LOVE PAUL!!!

Big news: We banned gestation crates for pigs, veal crates for calves, and tail-docking for cattle in Rhode Island. The governor just signed the bills! This makes RI the ninth state to ban gestation crates, seventh on veal crates, and third on tail-docking.

Today’s Washington Post has an interesting story about a battery egg producer who started a fake new industry trade group to help the pork and beef lobbies try to kill hen protection legislation. (In fact, the beef industry’s trade group says its “number one priority” is to kill the federal bill.)

Today’s Chicago Tribune has a big story on the battle in California about force-feeding ducks for foie gras. (The ban takes effect July 1 and is being fought by agribusiness interests.)

Back to the Post, it had a good op-ed in Sunday’s paper asking why meat is being served at the Rio climate conference, and HSUS’s CEO had a nice blog about that op-ed.

Video of the week: Baby goats being cruelly exploited for their massage talents… :- )

Vegansaurus new food challenge: Vegg vegan egg!  »

I took Meave’s challenge because you DO NOT FUCK WITH MEAVE. I know everyone else is making delicious veggies and shit but you know what I like to say: FUCK A VEGETABLE/IT’S COOKIE TIME/I’M SLEEPY. So, I made stuff with Vegg, the new vegan egg yolk product stuff! Sarah made a realistic fried egg that looked to be the bomb and I had to get in on the action. Here’s what I made.

1. Scrambled Veggs (using the recipe from their website)—really good! I think it tastes like eggs but what do I know? It has that same consistency, and, for lack of a better way to put it/my limited vocabulary, it’s kinda slimy in the way that eggs are? Like, in a good way. Does that make sense? WHO CARES WHAT DO YOU KNOW.

2. Pad Thai (using Chloe Coscarelli’s DELICIOUS recipe, adding in scrambled veggs, subbing the new chili lime cashews from Trader Joe’s—LOVE THESE—for the peanuts and adding Soy Curls!) IT WAS SO DAMN GOOD. Seriously, stop doing everything and make this right now!

3. WAFFLES! These were eggy and funky fresh! We made regular sized ones and then monster ones and we topped them with maple syrup and ginger syrup and organic Earth Balance (We’re weaning off EB until we know more about the palm oil, but we have tubs left…next time I’ll make this coconut butter!) and we FEASTED!

4. Hollandaise sauce (using the recipe from their website)—HOLY SHIT. My mom used to make this every holiday for breakfast and it was always my favorite seasonal treat. This tasted freakishly like the one my mom used to make! I’m gonna invite her over to confirm my findings but I think we can safely say that IT’S ON HOLLANDAISE. 

Sorry for the shitty photos but I’m an amateur, all right! Anyway, A++++ will do business with again, love Vegg, love what it does, it tastes like egg yolk, it has the consistency of egg yolk, and it’s versatile! I’m gonna make a custard next, and then who knows?! The sky is the limit! Or, my pants size is the limit! LET’S GO. 

Paul Shapiro presents: Big Ag is lying to you about animal welfare!  »

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

Reuters has a good piece on HSUS’s new FTC complaint against the National Pork Producers Council for its grossly misleading claims related to animal welfare in the industry.

Speaking of misleading, you may be amused to see the enormous shifting that Kreider Farms (the battery egg producer HSUS recently investigated) is doing.

And speaking of investigations, a new investigation in Britain reveals horrific cruelty toward pigs at one of the biggest pork suppliers to the country’s supermarkets.

And finally, breaking news: Study shows red meat can takes years off a cow’s life.

Today’s video of the week was suggested by my friend Zoe Weil, and it is seriously amazing. If you were afraid you’d go to your grave before seeing a dog double-dutching, your fear is now over.

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

Yo, vegetarians! New footage from yet another idyllic egg factory!  »

From Paul Shapiro:

I’m about to conduct a press conference in Washington, D.C., to release shocking new footage of HSUS’s latest undercover investigation at a battery cage egg factory.

The New York Times covers our investigation today in a powerful column by Nicholas Kristof, “Is an Egg for Breakfast Worth This?” [Ed.: Kristof, have all our babies.]

This investigation of course underscores the need to pass HR 3798, federal legislation that would reduce the suffering of hundreds of millions of animals in the egg industry.

GO ON, HSUS! GO ON, KRISTOF! FUCK OFF, EGG INDUSTRY!

[Can’t see the video? Watch it on Vegansaurus! And then make all your egg-eating friends enjoy it, too!]

Product reviews: The Vegg, part 1  »

As a onetime lover of fried eggs, I was really excited by the promo photos of The Vegg. It proclaimed itself “the first vegan fried egg!” So, this was the first recipe I wanted to try when I received it this weekend.

Unfortunately, the Vegg is merely a powder for a vegan egg yolk. The recipe for the whites was not on the Vegg’s website, nor was it easily accessible on the Vegg’s Facebook page, nor had anyone else (according to Google) created said fried vegan eggs, nor was it in the materials sent with the Vegg:
I was on my own. This is what I did.

Fried Vegg
Makes 4 fried “eggs”

For the yolk
2 tsp. Vegg powder
1/2 cup water

Instructions
Blend together. Pour into some container and pop in the freezer for a while, some hours. Maybe do this the night before if you’re gonna be making Veggs for breakfast.

For the white
1 12 oz. package of extra-firm silken tofu
2 tsp. agar powder
1/4 tsp. black salt (aka kala namak)

Instructions
Blend all this stuff in a food processor. Set aside.

Put it together
Take your yolk out of the freezer. Run the container under hot water to loosen it up a little bit.

Heat your nonstick skillet to medium-high and grease it—I like to use Earth Balance. You could also spray oil. When that’s good and hot, use a spatula to spread 1/4 of the silken tofu mixture onto the skillet. Try to get it so it’s flat. It’ll be tricky, but stick with it.

You’re gonna let that cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Then you’re gonna try to flip it over. This is kind of hard, but it’ll be worth it. Then quick! Scoop out 1/4 of the yolk mixture. Maybe use a spoon to shape it into a yolky shape. Slap it on the white, and put a lid on that skillet for two minutes or so. You want it to be not frozen through, but you don’t want it to melt and fall apart.

Vegg is really yummy. God DAMN, this is so good. It is precisely how I remember egg yolks tasting, and when it’s warm, it’s the perfect consistency, too. It’s also composed of ingredients that I recognize, nothing too weird. But all in all, I’m not nuts about this preparation. It was the best just rubbing my toast all over the Vegg yolk and eating that like the slob that I am.

Stay tuned for more Vegg talk. I think I’ll try a Vegg custard next! But until then I will just be dribbling Vegg mixture all over my naked body, hopefully hitting my open mouth at some point.

Paul Shapiro presents: Animal News You Can Use!  »

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

I’m honored to be on CNN Headline News this weekend with the great Jane Velez-Mitchell discussing progress for pigs and HSUS’s latest undercover investigations into gestation crate factory farms. Check it out.

In a new piece about HSUS, the editor of Pork Magazine calls us “well organized, well funded and relentless.” Always nice to be able to agree on something…

NPR did a nice piece on Morning Edition this past Friday about the federal effort to ban barren battery cages and require “eggs from caged hens” labeling on egg cartons. While we’re on the topic of NPR, Marketplace had a great piece by the awesome Mark Bittman about why Americans are eating fewer animals.

Want to read a new interview with Wayne Pacelle about his campus dining hall advocacy when he was in college? Your wish = my command.

But wait, there’s more!

Compassion Over Killing this morning released a new undercover investigation at a gestation crate factory farm in Iowa, a state where big ag interests are currently trying to ban such exposés with an “ag-gag” bill. Check it out and share.

The media coverage on our announcement that McDonald’s is moving to end gestation crate confinement in its US supply chain was significant. There’s too much to include here, but just a few selected excerpts:

CNN Money: “McDonald’s said it will get its pork suppliers to phase out the use of immobilizing cages for pregnant pigs, a move that was applauded by the Humane Society of the United States, but not the pork industry.”

MSNBC: “Earthquake in the pig business: McDonald’s to end use of restraining crates”

NY Times: “The buying power of McDonald’s adds a significant new dimension to the war on the practice.”

Chicago Sun-Times editorial board: “Now let’s ban those torture pens for pigs in Illinois.”

NY Times blog: “In the world of big-time meat supply, there are two kinds of producers: those who sell to McDonald’s and those wish they could.”

Chicago Tribune: “By setting the process in motion, McDonald’s could be providing the tipping point to change in the $97 billion pork industry.”

Lincoln Journal Star: “In calling for phasing out gestation crates for pregnant hogs, the world’s largest restaurant chain will put much more pressure on pork producers than any state ever could.”

Video of the week: I’ve been shocked by how many people actually cared to watch my winning contribution to a Super Bowl party food contest, but here you go:

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