vegansaurus!

Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss in Cappuccino! PLUS FREE ICE CREAM!

Over at veganbackpacker.com, they are hosting a Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss giveaway! One lucky vegan can win five coupons for free pints of Coconut Bliss. OMG! This is great timing since I was JUST about to write about my new favorite thing: the cappuccino Coconut Bliss. It’s the sheezy! Well, it’s not as amazing as the coffee-flavored ice cream I had in Italy in my pre-vegan days, but it’s the first vegan coffee-related flavor I’ve found and it hits the spot! I like my coffee ice cream to be like straight-up black coffee flavored and this is a little weak. But it’s very creamy; it has a great consistency, much better than other vegan ice creams I’ve had. Sometimes they are more icy and crunchy than creamy, but not Coconut Bliss. There is definitely a bit of coconut flavor and I’m not a superfan of coconuts, but it doesn’t bother me so don’t let the coconut turn you off. Another bonus: it’s got all fair-trade ingredients, including the coffee for the cappuccino one. Yay!

So, fatties (OK, skinnies too) go enter! And if you win, there’s no reason why you can’t share one of your FIVE free pints with, I don’t know, MEGAN RASCAL! HOLLER AT YOUR GIRL!

Los Angeles Road Trip: NiceCream’s dreamy vegan ice cream!

Sorry my northern compadres, but NiceCream is based in LA. While not totally 100 percent vegan (some of their ice cream has honey in it, but these flavors are clearly marked, and they wrote about their use of honey on their website; decide for yourself), this raw ice creamerie is one of the only (or the only?) dedicated nondairy ice creameries in Los Angeles. Located conveniently off of the 101 at Cahuenga Boulevard (and only a few doors away from SunPower Natural), NiceCream has an assortment of rotating raw flavors (notable: maple pecan, banana chocolate swirl, ginger-basil); toppings include Newman O’s, granola (à la Café Gratitude), raw caramel (made up of some sort of desert plant or something pulsed with macadamia nuts and vanilla), raw chocolate sauce, Dagoba chocolate chips, raw cacao nibs, and chopped fruit.

Pictured is a scoop of ginger, beet, and something-else-I’m-a-bad-foodie-I-forgot-sorry next to the mammoth of ice cream porn: raw chocolate soft-serve (first of its kind?!!?) mixed with fresh cut bananas, doused in raw caramel. SO FUCKING CREAMY AND AMAZING AND YUM OMG. The two together were like $10. Steep? Yeah, no kidding. It’s $3.99 for a scoop of ice cream and the soft-serve can range from $3.99 to $7.99 depending on the size you get. Toppings are $0.99/each. Yeah, that’s pretty fucking pricey. But I guess it goes along with being raw, maybe? Well anyways, it would be nice to see a price drop, but it’s great to finally see a vegan ice cream place open up shop in LA. Oh, and did I mention this place also doing smoothies, juices, and milkshakes?!?! DAAAANNGGGG. Gotta go back to try GoGreen the Sequel: cucumber, kale, celery, lemon, and spinach blended with avocado, Himalayan crystal salt, and chile.

Interview: Daniel Clary of Alkemie Dairy-Free Ice Cream!

Daniel Clary is the 28-year-old mastermind behind the raw, delicious and dairy-free Alkemie Ice Cream. His story of how the ice cream begin as an idea a few years back and evolved into something tasty, edible and accessible is not only interesting, but totally inspiring.

How long have you been vegan?
Full-on about seven years now; mostly veggie all my life. My dad went to farmers market every weekend. It was always [a] local and sustainable mindset from a very young age. My mom fed us tofu very young. Carob was my first “chocolate.” I naturally gravitated toward the veggie foods early on.

Are you vegan for health, environmental, animal rights reasons, or a combination?
As much as the environmental aspect and animal rights movement are very important to me, my main reason is health. That’s my mission…to do my part in changing the health of the world. Once I went full vegan, my health improved dramatically. Not that I was ever sick or “unhealthy,” but when the full switch came, it was like my internal lightbulb went on. Huge difference. And now I try to maintain high raw foods, which only created a new level of health and clarity in my life.

How much of your diet is raw?
I would say about 65 to 70 percent on any given day; some days it’s 100 percent. I’m vegan before I’m raw for sure. But raw foods really changed my life.

What is your favorite animal?
Dogs! Just got a puppy! He’s 12 weeks old now. A springer spaniel named Winston. [Vegansaurus PSA (per usual, we always be judging you): Always rescue a dog! Even if it’s a purebred! All purebreds have rescues, including the ADORABLE springer spaniel!]

Favorite vegan food to make?
As a chef, my favorite foods/flavors to work with would have to be Thai. I spent two months last year in Southeast Asia—mostly in Thailand—and I fell in love with the food. My heritage is half-Latin, [and] my mom’s side is from Central America, so Latin/Spanish flavors would be second. Fusing the two together excites me as well.

And as a chef?
I was a personal vegan chef for four years before taking this project on full-time. I worked for families throughout the peninsula, weekly service, catering events, private dinner parties…

Favorite vegan dish at a restaurant/favorite vegan restaurant?
Favorite restaurant would be Millennium in SF, and Pure Food in NYC. Favorite dish—hmmm, so many! I would say a killer Thai curry, or my vegan paella.

How long ago did the idea for Alkemie begin, and what are its origins?
It all started when I began absorbing myself in raw foods, about 2006-07. I worked at a small raw vegan cafe part-time to really dive into the art of preparing it (versus spending an ungodly amount of money to go to a raw school). I was blown away by what I was creating: the textures, flavors, specifically the desserts. I have a HUGE sweet tooth, and these desserts were blowing my mind—better than any standard cooked vegan desserts. Initially my mission was to create a business model around that. I wanted to open my own raw vegan bakery. But the costs, overhead, labor, etc. just didn’t pan out to be a viable business.

Then I thought of just doing one thing, and doing that one thing well. I literally one day was eating some Coconut Bliss, and thought: ICE CREAM! Why not ice cream? Who doesn’t like ice cream? And at that point I had NEVER experimented or created a raw ice cream, but I have never been satisfied with ANY of the vegan ice creams out there. They just didn’t embody what classic dairy ice cream does, and I knew that with the raw foods, I could potentially come up with something stellar, so I started experimenting.

How long was it between the time you perfected the recipe to the time you were packaging and selling the product?
The formula was perfected in spring ‘08. Then I decided to take some time off, travel, do some soul searching, research…I came back from Thailand and then went straight into selling at farmers market in fall ‘08, and was doing that about a year. The response was amazing. People were floored by the ice cream. So without knowing exactly where to go next, I just kept on selling every week, until things started happening last summer.

I met my investor/business partner. I met the VP of Whole Foods. I was networking and meeting amazing connections. We then took this idea [and] started researching on how to take it to the next level. Found Boulder Ice Cream. Fell in love with the staff, did our tasting for NorCal, and got the green light a week later.

Honestly, it’s surreal. I’ve worked so hard my entire life, to finally have my dreams manifested—it’s, well, words can’t describe.

How did the name come about?
It all started in Thailand. I went there also to get inspired with a name for the company. I knew it was a beautiful land and people and surely I would come up with something. Halfway through the trip, after meeting so many people and telling them my story, vision, et cetera, I was coming up with nothing. When I was in Chiang Mai, I met a fellow traveler from London. We were talking one day about traveling, books, following your signs, et cetera. She said if I really wanted to read a book that will change [my] life, I should read The Alchemist.

So I bought the book when I was in Bangkok, [and] brought it down to the islands with me. One day, I had nothing to do; decided to pull the book out, head to the beach in the morning and start reading. I didn’t put the book down.

The message had such an impact on me. It was very simplistic in what it was saying: follow your dreams; trust your heart; follow the signs. But it was like that “a-ha!” moment for me.

So, after putting the book down, the name stuck in my head. I knew what alchemy meant literally: a transmutation of metal into gold. But I wanted to know more. So I went straight to the computer and looked the word up. The very first definition I found was: “any seemingly magical process of transforming ordinary ingredients into something of true merit.” The name of the company was born.

Do you see yourself dedicating yourself 100 percent to this, or do you still eventually want to open that bakery?
Good question! I do eventually want to venture out, and take on other projects, whether its the bakery, a small restaurant, an actual ice cream shop…still not sure yet. Once this business takes off and I can focus on other things, then I’ll decide.

Anything else you wanted to add or share?
We will be coming out with new flavors soon. Also, a little insider info: one of the flavors had a small error in production—the dark chocolate. The end product had too much free water added, which made it less creamy and more icy than the other two stellar flavors. It’s still good, just not perfect. It has since been corrected on the most recent production run and should be in the stock as the others are sold and rotated out. Just one of the inevitable growing pains small businesses go through.

If you want to stay in the loop about this product (because, let’s face it, ice cream is the best food ever), you can become a fan on Facebook, download the iPhone application, and even follow Alkemie on Twitter. Also, be sure to check out the blog for dates and information on in-store appearances.

Natalye just started graduate school studying creative writing, which means that she no longer has a social life, and her drinking has increased exponentially. She has a shiny but relatively useless college degree in journalism and music, and does freelance work, sometimes writing about indie music in Oakland. When she has down time, she’s usually sleeping, but rides her road bike when she can and makes both a killer vegan pizza and the most amazing mixtapes ever. Her updates are private, but you can follow her on Twitter and she’ll probably accept your request if you’re cute enough.

Free shit, Peta’s non-crazy iphone app and WOODY HARRELSON’S WEBSITE O’CRAZY! All this and more in Friday Link-o-rama!

Hey, we’re nothing if we’re not inconsistent. And attractive. And very inconsistent. But whatevs, here we go.

Want to win a free copy of The Vegan Scoop and make really delicious vegan ice cream all summer long? Yeah you do, fatty. Head on over to VegWeb giveaway thread and let them know your favorite vegan ice cream flavor is for a chance to win! Speaking of ice cream because I CAN’T SEEM TO STOP HELP ME, Vegan Dad has a delicious-looking recipe for Strawberry Ice Cream up. Do want!

“Put the Lime in the Coconut” Vegan-themed potluck over at Notes from the Vegan Feast/21st Century Table. Jonas really loves that song, it’s his favorite, so this is up here for him.

Fancy Nancy just sent us a recipe for Rhubarb Puff Pie along with the words, “even I would eat this.” Strong endorsement! Speaking of delicious looking vegan pie things, the kitchn has up a photo of the most amazing looking plum and fig tart i want to eat it all night long, luckily they link to the recipe too! It’s no surprise they are from Vegan Feast…everything she makes looks to be made of magic!

Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto executive, had joined the FDA as “senior advisor to the commissioner.” Essentially, that means that he has tons and tons of power. This is the same dude who approved the use of Monsanto’s genetically engineered growth hormone in dairy cows. OBAMA WTF? (link)

Peta’s done something useful! That involves neither fake blood nor (nearly) nude ladies! Yes, everyone is surprised. Be Nice to Bunnies is a fancy new iPhone app that, among other things: gives you access to Peta’s Cruelty-Free Database; provides multiple search options; and is regularly updated to coincide with the actual CFD. With regular use, this will change your shopping habits, starting with its purchase for $1.99.

Are you aware of Voice Yourself, Woody Harrelson’s insanator website? I’ve been exploring it for hours and have yet to determine its reason for existing. Pertinently, I did learn that Woody and his wife, Laura Louie, consider themselves to be “raw food, vegans [sic] who flow with the ever-changing aspects of [their] lives. [They] eat predominantly raw food, consume honey and enjoy a balanced diet.” I did not understand their “Mission Statement,” like, at all, so here is a description for you instead: Voice Yourself is: another half-baked celebrity vanity project an impenetrable hodgepodge of neo-hippie crap a nice-enough effort to built a socially conscious online community.

Vegan spinster aunt explains her guilt for accidentally killing a centipede in a glue trap meant for spiders, and how she, a true insect-loving person, came to commit such a foul deed.

That’s it for today. Next week maybe we will have more links. Definitely, if you send us some.