Unknown's avatar

Celebrating Seattle Vegfest

by

This past weekend I participated in Vegfest, a healthy food festival in the Seattle Center. The annual event is put on by Vegetarians of Washington. Instead of just attending, I worked a shift at the NARN table.

NARN table

The NARN booth had a great selection of pamphlets and flyers about topics such as how dairy and eggs are cruel and unhealthy, that humane meat is a myth, and why fishing is unsustainable and causes a lot of suffering. We had information for parents who have vegan kids, and a restaurant guide for people looking for vegan places to eat.

A brand new tote was for sale too. They’re made from recycled bottles and have my new favorite slogan printed on them: The future is vegan. I’m not the only one who liked them. People snapped them up! For $20, you can too.tote bag

Attendance was great and we talked to a lot of supportive people. Some were vegan, some were toying with the idea, and some weren’t even vegetarian. But there was something for everyone. No matter where people were on their compassionate journeys, we talked to them and had good conversations.

I was surprised that three people came up to me over the course of my shift to tell me that since becoming vegan they’ve gone off their cholesterol medication. One man was vegan for only three weeks before his doctor retested his blood and told him he no longer needed statins. Amazing!

I became vegan for the animals so I sometimes forget I’ve made a really healthy choice too.

The festival had cooking demos, cookbooks for sale, and tons of free food samples. I was really impressed with Dave’s Killer Bread, Daiya vegan cheese, and juices from Blue Print Cleanse.

Have you been to Vegfest or a similar festival? I highly recommend it. It’s a lot of fun to be around like-minded people and have a wide variety of foods to try.

Unknown's avatar

Anti-fur protest at Nordstrom

by

Protesting on a busy sidewalk with a sign in my hands takes me a bit out of my comfort zone. But compared to the torture and horrendous deaths millions of fur-bearing animals face every year, what’s slight discomfort?

anti-fur

Last Saturday, I joined a dozen or so like-minded people at an anti-fur protest in front of the Nordstrom flagship store in Seattle. The event was organized by Action for Animals.

action for animals

I’m somewhat surprised that in 2013 there’s still a need for an anti-fur demonstration. Don’t people know better? Maybe they do, but do they care? Farmed fur animals gassed, poisoned, or genitally electrocuted. Wild-caught animals suffer for days in traps and break bones and teeth trying to free themselves.

fur is dead

Many of the passerbys nodded in agreement and some thanked us for speaking up. I didn’t see anyone in fur coats–just a faux fur vest and some trim on hoods that I hope was fake.

We protested to raise awareness. As consumers, we vote with our dollars. I’ve shopped at Nordstrom before but from now on I won’t be supporting businesses that sell fur. Luckily, there are loads of other stores that don’t sell fur, as you can see on this handy list.

Tell Nordstrom you won’t shop there either until they stop selling fur. Here’s a petition you can sign and a sample letter. As much as I want all businesses to be ethical “on their own,” it’s usually about the bottom line. If people don’t support cruelty, stores will have to change their business strategies.

margo

Margo looks good in fur. People don’t!

Information:

Unknown's avatar

Josie Maran argan oil and moisturizer

by

A few weeks ago, while poking around the shelves at Sephora, I discovered Josie Maran Argan Oil. I’ve been on a quest to find vegan beauty products. I thought I was shopping cruelty-free but I was horrified to discover a few items in my stash are by companies that still test on animals. Shameful!

Hundreds of thousands of animals are poisoned, blinded and killed every year for cruel and unnecessary tests. It’s not required by law and there are better alternatives. Check for the cruelty-free bunny logo, a vegan logo, or look at PETA’s database to make sure the companies you support don’t make animals suffer in the name of beauty.

The woman at Sephora (edit: was wrong when she) explained that the entire Josie Maran line is vegan and cruelty-free, meaning no animal ingredients and no animal testing. (Update 4/7/15: I found out from a reader that the line isn’t all-vegan. When I checked on the JM site–which I should always do instead of trusting sales people–I found out that not all of the products are vegan. They use beeswax, lanolin, and carmine in some of their products. Check the label for the V to be sure).

argan oil

Josie Maran sources argan oil from co-ops that help women in rural Morocco earn a decent living in good labor conditions, while working toward improved literacy. I love that and I’m willing to pay more for a product with those values.

Besides, the oil is great! It’s not greasy and it absorbs quickly. I use it on my face, the dry ends of my hair, my cuticles, and my elbows. I told my friend Karthik about it and she said she uses Josie Maran products too–specifically their tinted moisturizer. So we planned to stop by Sephora and see if I could get some too.

I was surprised to see that there are only five shades. I chose crème. Karthik wears desert. To find a product that we can both wear–with our different skin types and colors–was pretty impressive (Karthik was born in India and has wonderful, warm brown skin. My light skin is a reflection of my German and Scottish roots). We both love that it’s got SPF 30. No more greasy sunscreen on our faces! (And yes, skin cancer and wrinkles affect all skin types, so slather up!)

Karthik’s issue with sunscreens is that most leave a whitish residue on her face. The Josie Maran moisturizer doesn’t. My issue is that even the lightest tinted moisturizer looks orange on my skin and you can see where the product stops and my natural color begins.

This moisturizer is tinted just right. It blends in, it’s lightweight, and left us glowing, not greasy. I’ve even stopped wearing pressed powder. I really only ever used it to hide the shine of sunscreen. I can’t wait to try their cosmetics too. Argan oil mascara? Sign me up!

We also tried products by other cruelty-free companies (Tarte and Stila) and popped into Lush, so come on back for more of our reviews!

Note: This isn’t a sponsored post. I wasn’t compensated to review these products. I just really like them. Also, the content of this post was originally published on my other blog, Jean of all Trades.

Unknown's avatar

Meatout 2013

by

Since 1985 March 20th has been synonymous with Meatout. It’s the first day of spring and a chance to pledge to go meat-free for a day, one day a week, or for life!

To promote Meatout, I joined Action for Animals in Seattle’s busy Westlake Park yesterday. The St. Patrick’s Day parade was ending, and the streets were packed. We handed out meatout flyers and gave out free samples of Tofurky slices and Silk soy and almond milk.

Rachel and Paris offering flyers and samples

Rachel and Paris offering flyers and samples

The reception was great! people loved the free food and most commented on how delicious it was. We wanted to show people that you can eat healthy, tasty food and be cruelty-free.

Why pledge to be meat-free?

  • For the animals. In the US alone, over 10 billion land animals (chickens, pigs, and cows primarily) are raised cruelly, and slaughtered painfully.
  • For the planet. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, global warming, and water use.
  • For our health. Heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and many types of cancer are diet-related and what we eat can improve the quality–and length–of our lives.

meatout

So this Wednesday ditch the meat! If you want to take it further, try Meatless Mondays every week, or go all the way and be vegan!

Get your free vegan starter guide with delicious recipes at meatout.org or by texting meatout to 55678.

Unknown's avatar

Spinach and lentils with pita

by

Here’s a meal I made on the fly. I didn’t have a recipe in mind when I started but I had a package of Trader Joe’s lentils. They’re ready to serve–hot or cold–and easy to use at mealtime.

spinach and lentils

I had a package of frozen spinach so I cooked it briefly (blanched?) and sautéed it with the lentils. I added a touch of garlic and served it up with a sprinkle of vegan parmesan. I toasted some whole wheat mini pitas and added a dollop of sundried-tomato hummus on the side.

This meal took less than 15 minutes to prepare, was filling and satisfying, and after serving up two plates, I had enough lentil-spinach mix left for lunch. I’m going add diced tomatoes to the leftovers and use the mix as a filling for a tasty wrap.

pita and hummous on the side

Lentils are a legume, and are high in fiber and protein while being low in fat. they have folate and B6 and magnesium. They’re a complex carbohydrate (the good kind!) and supply lots of energy. Spinach is a good source of vitamins A and C as well as iron.

Healthy, nutritious, and cruelty-free!

I’ve linked up to my first ever Healthy Vegan Friday and I’m looking forward to discovering lots of other vegan recipes. You should check it out too!

Unknown's avatar

Becoming vegetarian

by

I’m a vegan now, but I wasn’t always.

At age three I had an epiphany and made the connection between what I was eating and where it came from. But being young, I was easily fooled. Call it “chicken” and I wouldn’t eat it; call it “meat” and I would.

For me, meat was a frozen patty in a box in the freezer. I hadn’t really thought about the connection until I was ten. That’s when I moved from Toronto, a large metropolis where it’s easy to be removed from the origins of food, to a tiny, farming town in Germany.

Jean and AlineI was already shunning fish. Especially if I’d bite in and see a chunk of scaly skin. I started passing fish sticks under the table to my dog. But when I saw the local butcher kill a pig in the driveway of a neighbor’s house, my meat-eating days ended. I was in the back seat of the family car and we were driving away. To this day, I can picture the scene in slow motion. The blood, the cruel smiles on the kids’ faces as they participated in the event. Ugh. It was a nightmare. I’ve always loved animals and I didn’t want to be part of that.

Fortunately, my family was practically vegetarian. My mother has never liked meat and didn’t object to my change in eating habits. I still ate eggs and cheese and drank milk, but I was becoming a conscientious consumer. I started to learn about food and what we need to be healthy.

The next year, I moved back to Canada. I packed PB&J for lunch and blended in with the other kids. I didn’t make a big deal about my choices and neither did they.

Not everyone thought me being a vegetarian was a good idea. When I was 15, a boyfriend begged me to eat a burger. That’s the only time I’ve fallen for peer pressure. I ate the burger but told him I wouldn’t do that again. He relented. A few months later though, just to be polite, I had a chicken casserole at his mom’s house. I realized that I couldn’t keep “being nice” so I explained to her that I didn’t eat meat and I didn’t lapse again.

My grandmother’s husband said I’d be dead by twenty if I stuck with a vegetarian diet. I called him on my twentieth birthday to remind him that not only was I very much alive, but I’d grown nine inches and gained about 40 pounds since I was ten (gained in a good way–I was tall and slim and healthy). He forgot his warnings though, so I didn’t have the pleasure of gloating.

Being a vegetarian suited me fine. I’d met a couple of vegans when I in college but thought they were a bit extreme. I mean, what was wrong with dairy and eggs? Luckily, in my mid twenties, a friend handed me a copy of John Robbins, Diet for a New America. It’s a book that changed my life. It was absolutely eye-opening. It led me on my path to veganism.

But that’s a post for another day.

Unknown's avatar

SNL brings it on down to Veganville

by

I never thought I’d be writing about Saturday Night Live and Justin Timberlake on my vegan blog, but after watching JT host SNL last Saturday, I’m, well, a little verklempt. SNL and JT are my new vegan allies, it would seem.

For his fifth time hosting, Timberlake brought back a skit he’s done variations of before (Omletteville and Liqourville being two of them). This time, it was Veganville. Timberlake, dressed up as a huge block of Tofu, starts the skit as a mascot for a new vegan store. He runs into a guy from the Sausage Depot (played by Bobby Moynihan) who chides his meat-free choices. Timberlake retorts with parodies of songs in a Weird Al kind of way (same tune, new words). There was Vegout (to the tune of Chic’s Le Freak), Brown Rice Baby (to Vanilla Ice’s Ice, Ice Baby), and my favorite, We found Love in a Meatless Place (to the tune of Rhianna’s We Found Love), among others.

Mr. Sausage urges Timberlake’s character to try some meat but is reminded about how animals raised for meat are killed. Mr. Sausage breaks down and cries about eating “Babe’s grandbabes.” Timberlake’s character poignantly replies, “It’s never too late to do the right thing.” Then, in true comedic, timely fashion, he starts the Harlem Shake (well, Veggie Shake) and the stage fills with costumed dancers.

veganville

Perhaps this is just a silly sketch, but I love the message. I especially appreciate how they carried it out to the end and didn’t backtrack. I was half expecting JT to switch teams and drive off in the Oscar Meyer weinermobile. I was heartened when the studio audience cheered for Veganville (of course they were cheering JT too). I’d love to know who wrote this, how it got include in the show, and if Timberlake had anything to do with it.

Justin Timberlake is reported to be a vegetarian, although I haven’t found definitive proof. To me, it’s heart-warming to think that after years of being “the weird one” maybe veganism is starting to be seen as a realistic choice.

Then again, maybe it’s just a skit.

Unknown's avatar

Protesting Dolphin Slaughter

by

A couple of weeks ago, February 22nd to be precise, I took a long lunch break and drove to the Consulate of Japan in Seattle’s downtown core, and stood in the wind and rain with a sign and a stack of pamphlets.

Seems like an odd way to spend lunch, but I was there with a dedicated group of people to stand up to injustice. If you’ve seen the documentary The Cove, you know all about the dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend it.

dolphin protest

In Taiji, a village in Japan, a group of fishermen round up thousands of dolphins every year. Dolphin families are separated for the main goal of finding a few suitable candidates for marine parks. Selling a dolphin to a SeaWorld-type place is lucrative business. A life of slavery is no life at all. But the ones who don’t make the cut are slaughtered. The normally blue water turns red with the blood of dolphins as families of cetaceans watch each other die.

The rest of the animals are sold for meat (dolphin meat is intentionally mislabeled and sold in supermarkets) despite the high mercury content.

The Taiji Day of Action was a global event, and even though we were only a dozen strong, other groups all over the world were also protesting the slaughter of dolphins in Japan. We were targeting the Japanese Consulate and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because the IOC is considering Tokyo as an Olympic host city in 2020. We say stop the slaughter or lose the bid!

dolphin banner

No country is innocent. Canada slaughters seals, Spain conducts gruesome bullfights, animals are killed for food in every place on earth. But since the Olympics (and the money the games bring in) are part of the equation, there’s more leverage. It’s not an anti-Japanese cause. It’s a pro-animal one. In fact, Japan has a growing animal rights movement and I believe change will happen “from the inside.” Japanese people were once unaware of the slaughter, but now most disagree with it and some are even protesting it!

Want to help? Here’s a petition that you can sign.

Unknown's avatar

Morrissey at The Moore

by

Yesterday I had the privilege to see Morrissey play a concert at The Moore Theatre in Seattle, WA. What a show! I’m so in awe. I’ve loved his music since the early days of The Smiths but I hadn’t had the chance to see him until now.

Morrissey is a musical icon and a champion for animals. He’s an outspoken vegan and stands up for animal wrongs. Those qualities makes me love him even more than if he were simply a performer.

MorrisseyMorrissey opened with Shoplifters of the World Unite and continued on with songs from virtually all of his albums–with a few Smiths songs thrown in for good measure: Every Day is Like Sunday, Ouija Board, This Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore, Irish Heart, English Blood, and Haven’t had a Dream in a Long Time.

The show was energetic and exciting but the mood got serious when Morrissey sang a rendition of Meat is Murder.

The disturbing Meet Your Meat video, which shows undercover footage of factory farms and slaughterhouses, played on the huge screen behind the band while Morrissey sang. The imagery combined with the haunting music and heavy percussion was powerful.

After the song, Morrissey said, “Everyone should know everything.” Someone in the crowd yelled, “Tell us the truth!” to which Morrissey pointed at the screen and responded, “That is the truth. I’ve been telling you the truth for a long time.”

PETA had a table in the lobby where people could pick up vegan brochures. I’m so happy that the animals have Morrissey in their corner. I could stand on the street all day and tell people about the cruel treatment of animals but it wouldn’t have the same effect as being in a theater watching your idol and listening to what he has to say. Morrissey had a captive audience and the message hit home.

If you ever have a chance to see Morrissey, go to the show! He doesn’t disappoint.

Meat Is Murder

Heifer whines could be human cries
Closer comes the screaming knife
This beautiful creature must die
This beautiful creature must die
A death for no reason
And death for no reason is MURDER

And the flesh you so fancifully fry
Is not succulent, tasty or kind
It’s death for no reason
And death for no reason is MURDER

And the calf that you carve with a smile
Is MURDER
And the turkey you festively slice
Is MURDER
Do you know how animals die ?

Kitchen aromas aren’t very homely
It’s not “comforting”, cheery or kind
It’s sizzling blood and the unholy stench
Of MURDER

It’s not “natural”, “normal” or kind
The flesh you so fancifully fry
The meat in your mouth
As you savour the flavour
Of MURDER

NO, NO, NO, IT’S MURDER
NO, NO, NO, IT’S MURDER
Oh … and who hears when animals cry?

Unknown's avatar

Rotini with cherry tomatoes

by

I’m not a great cook. In fact, I don’t really enjoy cooking. But I do like eating, so sometimes you’ll find me in the kitchen. Here’s a simple dish I made after work recently.

rotini and tomatoes

I cooked and drained whole wheat pasta and tossed it with olive oil, cherry tomatoes, a touch of soy sauce, and garlic paste. I had store-bought paste in a container, but fresh, sautéed garlic would be better. Add salt and pepper to taste and you’re done. For more flavor, you could add zucchini slices, mushrooms, and tofu.

As with most of my dinners, I paired it with wine–a pinot gris blend in this case.

I liked how this got me out of a pasta and red sauce rut. The olive oil was a nice change–and you can chill this meal if you want a salad!

If you’re not sure about whole wheat pasta, you can buy pasta that’s 50/50. But I encourage you to work up to whole wheat. It tasted different to me at first–the texture was rougher–but I like it now. Whole foods are vital and staying away from refined sugars and flour is healthy.

I’m not on the gluten-free train. I don’t think most people need to avoid it. Fill up on fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes and add whole grains into the mix and I think you’ll be fine.

Of course, I’m not a nutritionist, so I can only relay what works for me and what I’ve read.

Do you have any quick vegan go-to meals?