Living Without Meat

I have never watched, or even had the desire to watch, Cesar Millan’s TV show Dog Whisperer … until now!

On the May 8 episode at 9 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel, Millan and the Nat Geo crew will go into a puppy mill!

Dog Whisperer: Puppy Mills Exposed is going to be huge! I just watched a preview of the episode on The Insider (click here to watch it) and it is not going to be a puff piece. They are showing dogs getting beat in the head, living in disgusting conditions, sick and dying, with visible diseases and ailments, going blind, suffering in pain … and they are going to attempt to rescue them!

This is surely a do not miss show! If you can’t wait until May 8 to see the great things Millan is doing, check out the episode’s pictures, videos, and recaps at Nat Geo online.

Spring is definitely the season for deals and discounts! Get ready for freebies, sales, discounts, and contests …

* Kaia Foods wants you to convince your local health food store to carry their brand of granola, and they’ll thank you with a free bag. If you find a store that doesn’t carry it, encourage them to call Kaia at 510-238-0128 and ask for a wholesale sample kit. E-mail Kaia at info@kaiafoods.com to tell them whom you recommended their products to, and if the health food store contacts Kaia you’ll get a free bag of granola!

* Get $10 off any purchase of $50 or more at PETA’s online catalog now through Earth Day, April 22, by entering promo code “Earth” when checking out.

* Also for Earth Day, awesome tee shirt company WE ADD UP is offering 10% off your total purchase by entering promo code “Earth09.” Plus, if you shop from the link in this blurb the Humane League will get a portion of the proceeds.

WE ADD UP shirts are extremely unique. On the front of each shirt is a number unique to the owner, a number that shows a running count of the people that are doing something to help the environment. On the back, is the green action that the person is committing to. You can choose from different green actions such as composting, driving a hybrid, buying local or organic, carpooling or using mass transit, showering in groups, or my favorite - being vegan, shown here.

* Check out the Raw Food Switch blog for a contest going on right now! Write one paragraph about your biggest healthy eating challenge, share it according to the contest specifics, and be entered to win an hour-long one-on-one Eating By Choice Session. Only two more days to enter!

As you watch the kids hunt for eggs. While you bite the head off of your chocolate rabbit. After you attend church during one of the busiest Sunday services of the year. During your family dinner … please, think of the bunnies.

“I should be the poster child for animal rights. I am slaughtered for my fur. I am slaughtered for my meat. I am factory farmed in rabbit mills. I am tortured by vivisectors in their ‘labs.’ I am the third most commonly ‘euthanized’ companion animal. I am hunted and snared. I am the object of blood sports. I am often cruelly abused. I am given as a live animal prize. I languish in pet stores. Why aren’t I?”
— Poster from RabbitWise, Inc., a rabbit advocacy organization.

As this quote from RabbitWise details, the rabbit is one of the most sought after animals. We kill him for his fur, his meat, his ability to take tests. We experiment on him, catch him in traps, skin him alive. We give him as a cute, cuddly gift, then get rid of him a few months later when we realize how much care he needs.

We take our kids to the mall to take their photo with a man dressed like him in a giant furry suit. But we never allow ourselves to think of the truth, to think of what life is like on a day-to-day basis for a rabbit.

As you enjoy your Easter holiday, I sincerely hope that you will also take a moment to look at the picture below and see what a rabbit’s life is like … Exploited, abused, farmed. Treated as an disposable thing. Killed for our beauty, our vanity, our selfishness.

Learn more about rabbits at the Encyclopedia Britannica’s Advocacy for Animals blog post “The Rabbit: ‘Poster Child’ for Animal Rights.” The post was originally from August, 2008. Thanks to Eccentric Vegan for finding and re-posting it today on Vegan Soapbox.

Make sure you are not contributing! If your clothing label includes “angora,” you are wearing rabbit fur. Many sweaters include percentages of this cruel wool - check the tag!

GNC makes me happier every time I visit a store. First, my regular GNC of choice stocked more vegan meal bars based on my suggestion. And now there’s even more: KeriBars and a full range of veg food.

With the influx of vegan bars came two flavors of KeriBar, a brand that I had never heard of before. The apple peanut butter one is good, but I haven’t tried the strawberry chocolate chip flavor because of a labeling mistake. On the front, the bar says “vegan,” but the allergen warnings on the back say “contains milk.” After contacting KeriBar, I can now try this delicious-sounding bar because they have assured me that, despite the printing err, there is no milk in any KeriBars.

Yesterday I visited a different location. I felt like I was cheating, but as I walked toward the back of the store all of my guilt went away. There were multiple aisles full of healthy vegetarian and vegan food at this GNC. There were frozen fake meats, dressings and oils, spices, snacks, drinks, meal bars, nut butters, instant meals and soups, cereals, and so much more! And everything was a good deal!

On top of the already low prices, I have a GNC Gold Card that gives me an additional 20 percent off during the first week of each month. Plus, GNC’s policy is to put food items on clearance a few months before the expiration date. I bought all of the food in this picture - six Simply Asia noodle meals, a bag of cereal, two jars of almond butter, and ten meal bars - for $12!

Sigh. I love GNC.

From Sad to Raw has one of the best collections of free raw recipes that I have found online. This past Sunday, while my bread maker was baking my latest cooked carb creation, I decided to make a raw counterpart in my dehydrator. This site has a section called “Crackers, Chips, Bread” that I poured over before, of course, making up my own mixture based on what I had in the pantry.

Spicy Sesame Crackers

In a food processor of Vita-Mix, create a dry dough-like mixture by blending:
1 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup ground flax seeds
1 Tbsp. oil
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
Small amount of sea salt
2 small or one very large garlic clove
1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
Water as needed to make a pasty texture

Spread the mixture on a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 110 degrees. When it starts to harden, after about 4 hours, break it into cracker-size pieces and flip them. Continue dehydrating until crisp.

Just last Thursday I asked my friend if there was a difference between the dandelion greens that you buy in the grocery store and the ones that grow wild alongside every sidewalk in Philly. Her response? “The ones in the store probably don’t have dog pee on them.”

It seemed a logical question to me, and, unfortunately, a logical answer. But still, I can’t bring myself to pay for something that I pass by everyday.

Apparently I’m not the only one on this train of thought as the weather warms and the tasty plants start growing all around: The Best of Raw Food just posted “Wild Edible Plants”, a look at which wild plants are okay to eat and what considerations need to be taken. Check it out to learn about wild strawberries, dandelions, lambsquarters, nettle, clover, garlic mustards, daisies, greater plantains, and grasses.

In fall 2007, when handbag designer Hogan created a ponyskin leather purse and named it “the Chrissie” after Pretenders’ lead singer and PETA activist Chrissie Hynde, she successfully sued. So I’m wondering - now that designer Chloe has created a calfskin leather purse named “Sally,” can I sue?

Aside from the color, which I love, what about this bag made you think of me, Chloe? I am vegan, the shoulder bag is leather. I am cute, the bag is not. Please don’t use my name to promote your cruel fashions.

But anyway, speaking of Chrissie Hynde … In a recent interview with her Akron, Ohio, hometown news, Chrissie talked about her vegan restaurant, the VegiTerranean, and why she is a vegan: “For me it’s about [the animals] health. If I get any (nutritional) benefits from not killing them, I guess that’s a bonus.”

Hynde’s restaurant is making the news a lot lately as her Executive Chef Scot Jones is making a name for himself in the vegan health food world. When he’s not working up new creations at the VegiTerranean, he’s been writing for vegan cookbooks and developing recipes for Oprah’s 21 Day vegan cleanse. Ironically, this master veg chef isn’t even vegetarian, let alone vegan. But since his life is increasingly saturated with all things veg, he has been incorporating more vegan food into his regular diet.

The cookbook that Jones wrote for is due out this fall, and currently has a working title of The Conscious Vegan. Chef Tal Ronnen, founder of Veg Advantage, a non-profit organization that helps restaurants put vegetarian items on their menus, is the main author of the book.

Fortunately for our cats and dogs, Bob Barker will never quit. The man just doesn’t stop speaking out about spaying and neutering your pets. Since retiring from The Price Is Right, he has continued to be an outspoken friend to the animals. Earlier this month he hosted the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida Gala, and now he’s written a book.

Priceless Memories, which is due to hit shelves April 6, is not an animal rights read exactly. It is Barker’s memoir about life as a TV host, his time spent on a Native American reservation, and being raised by a single mother through the Great Depression. He recalls meeting and falling in love with his wife, and training as a fighter pilot with the Navy during World War II. But, since animal rights has always been a large part of his life, he also discusses the importance of animals in his life. Plus, proceeds will benefit the D&T Foundation, which he founded in 1994 to help foot the bill of spaying and neutering animals.

This past weekend Reading Terminal Market hosted ScrappleFest 2009. I will never understand this city’s obsession with a “meat” made by grinding up all of the unusable pieces of the pig (eyes, ears, snouts, bones …), but I have become obsessed with the results of the contest.

Coming in second out of eight competitors, Vrapple, a vegan scrapple imitation, was the talk of the day. Vrapple creator Sarah Cain, owner of Fair Food Farmstand in the Market, and chef John Blanche created a maple-roasted pumpkin dish using the faux scrapple for the (second)prize-winning. I must confess, despite my feelings about scrapple, I may have to go try a bite. Especially after Cain left me a comment on my post about this on VEGdaily:

“You really should try it! Vrapple has it’s own unique flavor and texture,” commented Cain. “I always tell people who are squeamish about it being ‘too much like scrapple’ that it’s like polenta, with different seasoning - because what is scrapple, but a cornmeal mush with pork, set into a loaf pan. Vrapple is a cornmeal mush with wheat gluten, set into a loaf pan. Try it, you may just love it!”

I’m having a lot of fun playing around with raw food concoctions! I even created my own nut-based, raw, vegan apple pie (follow my recipe by clicking here).

Today I recreated Kristen’s Raw’s Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce, which was one of the featured recipes in the raw prep class that I went to this weekend. Kristen Suzanne is a raw recipe guru who has written a number of raw recipe books that are available in both e-book and printed formats. This recipe is a sample from her all-hemp book Kristen Suzanne’s Ultimate Raw Vegan Hemp Recipes.

The recipe blends red pepper for color, nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor, chili and other spices for some heat, and hemp for the base. Get the exact recipe from Kristen’s Raw blog.

Happy MeatOut 2009!

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Spend your day spreading the veg love today! Don’t eat any meat, and encourage your friends to do the same … for the animals, for personal health, and for the environment. Take a page from the book of Bones star Emily Deschanel, who recently convinced former Chairman of Fox, Peter Ligouri, to go vegan, and help your friends and family with encouragement, support, and education.

“We were at a party, and I said, ‘You’d make a big difference by just trying it for a week.’ I sent him food, and he really stuck to it,” said Deschanel about helping Ligouri find the vegan light.

One day not a challenge? Try a week, or every Monday. The same folks that encourage to spread the veg word every year with Meatout Day, also host Meatout Mondays. Every meat-free meal makes a difference!

There are a lot of things happening tomorrow, March 20, the first day of spring. The Twilight movie will be released on DVD. It’s the 20th anniversary of Eric Carle’s classic picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It is also National AIDS/HIV Awareness Day. And, of course, it’s the day when Rita’s give out free water ice!

But more relevantly … it’s Meatout!

Meatout day has been an international celebration since 1985 and is held annually to “expose the public to the joys and benefits of a plant-based diet, while promoting the availability and selection alternatives to meat and dairy in mainstream grocery stores, restaurants, and catering operations.”

What will you to tomorrow to share the veg love? There are thousands of events already planned worldwide that you can join. Invite all of your friends out to dinner, and talk to the restaurant ahead of time about having vegan options available. Hand out pamphlets on the street. Send your friends a Meatout e-card. Tell random people that you don’t eat meat. Shout “Happy Meatout Day!” from the roof. Wear a veg shirt and carry a reusable veg tote. Donate to an animal charity. If you’re not veg, refrain from eating any meat!

And, of course, order a vegan water ice for free at Rita’s!

******

My plans for the day, after getting some work done and my hair cut, are to grab my free Rita’s, and then meet up with Humane League members and volunteers to leaflet in the heart of the city. After, we’ll be having dinner at a tiny little restaurant that has agreed to add more vegan options to their menu and will be offering a special three-course, all-vegan dinner for the evening. And then I’ll need to find another Rita’s and get another free one!

Have you heard about Vegan Drinks? It’s taking the veg world by storm! Find out how the social event got started, what cities host one regularly, and how you can get one started in your hometown by checking out my first post as a writer for the brand new blog VEGdaily!

A lot of big names have been popping up with new veg blogs lately. Here are some to check out:

Farm Sanctuary now has multiple blogs and bloggers to follow. Gene Baur’s Bloggings features just that - the words, wisdom, and thoughts of Gene Baur, the Farm’s co-founder and president. Making Hay is all about speaking up, advocating, and generally stirring up the dirt for the benefit of animals. It is co-written by Danielle Bays, advocacy and outreach manager, and New York City-based Jasmin Singer, national advocacy organizer. Sanctuary Tails provides “news from behind the barn doors” from the fingers of Susie Coston, national shelter director, and Leanne Cronquist, the California shelter director.

And, the newbie veg blog that I am proudest to announce … top-rated green gossip blog Ecorazzi recently gave birth to two new special topic blogs. The first, Ecorattle, provides readers will all things green for the babies in the family. Then there’s VEGdaily for all things veg. Both sites are written by a team of writers, as Ecorazzi is, and the VEGdaily team will feature your truly!

Have you noticed any other new veg-related blogs popping up? Share them with us!

Being without a car, it’s hard for me to get a lot of fresh produce at once. Plus, the most convenient grocery store to me always has rotting, molded foods with fruit flies! For awhile, I was using a delivery service that sent me a large box of fruits and veggies every other week, but when ownership changed, service declined. My food began arriving dirty, wilted, and with bugs. So I cancelled, and haven’t replaced them yet. Until …

This morning I received a box, pictured here, with 30 different pieces of fruit, including three varieties of apples, four different citrus choices, kiwis, bananas, pears, passion fruit, plums, avocado, and more from the FruitGuys! All of the fruit is clean, and all of it is a day or two away from being perfectly ripe.

The FruitGuys know that fresh, local, organic fruit is important to today’s health-conscious eaters. So their mission is to bring it to you regularly, conveniently, and at an affordable rate. If that’s not enough, all of their packaging is eco-friendly.

You can get a 25- or 50-serving box delivered weekly to your home or office. Boxes can be all organic, full of several different basic and exotic selections, or just the staples - bananas, apples, and oranges. Along with the fruit comes info about the health and nutrition of you and your fruit.

Can you imagine if your fruit basket was always full? Or if your employer had fresh fruit available for you to snack on? If you are lucky enough to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can also order veggies.

I’m in juicing vegan heaven!