A trial run of a performance for Animal Rights Awareness Day on June 3rd in Union Square, NYC. I wrote most of the poem (still to be finalized) and I'm speaking, and the dancers are improvising in this video to come up with ideas. The description explains more. Hope you like! And if you're in NYC, come and join us to support the animals!! :)

The event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/180330305423745/

River Ranch Fresh Foods of Salinas issued a voluntary recall of certain bagged salads after routine sampling detected Listeria monocytogenes, the county Health Department said Friday.

The bacterium was detected in two packages of shredded iceberg lettuce bought from retail locations in California and Colorado. No illnesses have been reported.

The bagged salads of various sizes were distributed nationwide to retail and food service outlets. In California, they were packaged under the brand names of River Ranch, Farm Stand, Marketside and Sysco.

The Health Department is warning consumers who may have the salads to discard them. The recalled packages have "best by" dates May 12 to May 22.

Eating food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, an uncommon but potentially fatal disease, the Health Department said. Listeriosis can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea.

Vegans on Yahoo! Answers need help figuring out where to live in Portland, Oregon.

I am SO fed up with listening to the garbage people spew about a little bit of pastured, grassfed, 'happy' meat from magical blissful sacred cows being healthier, greener, and better than vegan food. My smoked tofu and tempeh club sandwich is not a "highly processed meat substitute." Self-righteous omnivores piss me off. /vent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Slime on meat

How important is frosting to cupcakes?

I'm weird and I don't like frosting on cake/cupcakes. I often bring unfrosted cupcakes to parties and potlucks and people like them. They disappear fairly quickly and I've had few complaints about the lack of topping (I've tried a few glazes, but those didn't thrill me either.) I guess I should say that I like creating interesting/unusual flavors for the cake and frosting tends to unbalance it.

I promised to make some for the last day of class--now this class has gotten over the top and has begun baking very nice cookies and even cakes for every workshop session! I've never seen anything like this before. (I'm the prof, and the rule is no eating in class unless you bring for everyone. That usually stops them from bringing in snack foods.) So I promised to make cupcakes for the last day.

The question is, should I frost them? Are they inadequate if they are unfrosted? Will they disappoint? I expect to let the class know they are vegan when I pass them out (in case there are any dietary restrictions.) Obviously, I want them to like the cupcakes. I know that the cake part gets good reviews from omnis, so I'm not concerned about that, but I don't want them feeling deprived over the frosting issue.

And--if I do frost them, does anyone have a good and EASY recipe for said frosting? Since I don't generally like the stuff I've never made it...

I had recently been having (dairy) yogurt for breakfast, but over the weekend I found a soy yogurt that I LOVE and now I can finally get away from that bit of dairy that was still in my diet. (Vegetarian slowly going vegan here~)

But, I have a question.

I live with an omni, and it's just the two of us in the house. Sometimes, she'll buy things like prepackaged deli meat, eat maybe two sandwiches and then the rest of the meat will go to waste. I dislike this because a) it's wasteful and b) it means that that animal died (at least partially) in vain. If the meat isn't used, then what was the purpose of it's death? If the animal is already dead, then wouldn't it make more sense to not let it's death be for nothing?

I have no intention of eating meat ever again (the idea is just icky to me), even in this case, but I was just wondering how you guys feel about stuff like this? If you see meat that is going to waste, do you ever think about eating it? I encourage her to try to buy/make more "single serving" friendly things, but some things, like prepackaged deli meat, only come one way.

Just a small curiosity :)

(Note: I realize that eventually that animal would've died had it lived out in nature anyway, but still. The animals that wind up in omni's fridges are at the most free range--and in this case, they aren't even that.)

I had a two hour debate the other night with a vegan (vegan for a long time) who thinks it's more or less obligatory that all vegans sever ties with anyone they encounter who is not vegan. She says the only reason any vegan should be in contact with a non-vegan is in cases of protest or vegan education. She had a hard time understanding that I loved my family even though they aren't vegan, as she had severed ties with her family and thinks I was an idiot and a hypocrite for not doing the same. That I was failing their victims by maintaining relationships with my siblings and parents, and it really just blew my mind. 

Thoughts? 
Do you think it's realistic for vegans to dissolve all un-vegan relationships? 

I think she was crazy, but the conversation made me look so bad, because I can love abusers and murderers. Oh man...

ETA: She lives on another continent from her family, easy to sever ties when they don't want to contact you.

A few weeks ago I had to get an extensive blood test done. My mother has a protein S deficiency (as some of you may recall my post from a week or so ago) and she also simply wanted me to make sure I was okay in my normal vitals. (Like vitamin intake, protein, cholesterol, etc.)

I got the results back and the news is pretty good! I do NOT have the deficiency for one thing. (My mother believes that my sister takes after her and that's why she has is, while my brother and I take after my father so we don't have it.) I have a slightly vitamin D deficiency (24 instead of 30+) and my bad cholesterol (LDL) is 101 instead of under 100. It also helps to note that both sides of my family has naturally high cholesterol.

The funniest part about the comments were "eat a diet low in choleric intake" and "increase exercise". My diet is a vegan one, and on average I jog 10 miles a week and do ab-work at least twice a week along with various weight machines. I do plan on working out harder in the future, especially when I'm out of school at the end of the year.

I'm also happy about these results because my mother was so worried about my diet. Not that my family thinks veganism is weird or that vegans will die but she worries about everything, so I'm hoping that this will put her mind at ease since I have always felt fine.

So...YAY! Haha. 

I searched the memories, but couldn't find anything about Belfast! Maybe I just vastly missed it though.

I'm going to Belfast from London over Easter weekend to visit a friend, and I'm wondering what vegan options there may be. From living in London, I've seen that the typical local breakfast isn't too vegan friendly, but are there some places in Belfast that I should definitely aim to stop at? Happy Cow only had a couple places, and they weren't open all that often, so what recommendations are there?

And the friend that I'm visiting is definitely a meat eater, but if I whine he usually will just go along with whatever.

Thanks!

Hey all!

I'm facilitating a discussion on feminism & veganism next week at our campus feminist discussion group. I'm really keen to discuss points raised in "The Sexual Politics of Meat" and I'm sure PETA will be a hot topic. I'm curious to know if you folks have any favourite articles or texts, or key points on this issue that you think are worth discussing.

Cheers in advance
xx

Does anyone know anything about red eared slider turtles? Specifically, can they be vegan? Google tells me that they are omnivores, but lean towards vegetarian as they get older. One was posted on my local freecycle today... Maybe I could give it a good home?

Hey I'm sorry this doesn't belong here but isitveg hasn't updated since last December so I thought I'd ask here... I bought this worcestershire sauce before going vegan last year and I just found it in the very back of my refrigerator. The health nut in me wants to avoid it because of the high fructose corn syrup, but I find it odd that there are no anchovies in the ingredients list? I mean, it LOOKS vegan, but then again I remember that there are accidentally vegan products that aren't labeled as vegan (it's not on PETA's list either).

http://www.shopwell.com/pampa-worcestershire-sauce-original-flavor/condiments/p/7694100208

Ingredients:
Vinegar, Molasses, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Water, Onions, Salt, Garlic, Tamarind Concentrate, Cloves, Natural Flavorings, Chili Pepper, Extract.

Contains soy.

Thank you!!

My friend and I are both vegans going to Santa Fe, NM for spring break.
Are there any especially good vegan, vegetarian or vegan friendly places we should eat at?

Thanks for the pro-tips!

Bonus points: cool places to check out in general (museums, shops, nature)?

Hi veganpeople! I recently moved to Portland, Oregon, and while it is known to be a vegan friendly city, I am having a hard time finding vegan comfort food that does it for me. I understand that food carts are a great option, but what are your favorite sit-down restaurants for vegan burgers, nachos, chili cheese fries and the like in the Portland area?

I went to the Hungry Tiger Too last night, split nachos and BLTs with my friend - the nachos were the fatty spicy goodness I was craving but the cheese left a little something to be desired, and the tempe bacon sandwich was sparse, limp, and lazy. Tragedy! I hail from Boston where my favorite place to eat was Veggie Galaxy, a veg diner with amaaaaazing noms, and I need somewhere to fill the hole in my heart [and stomach].

I have a three year old and I want to get him Easter candy basket this year since he's old enough to see countless packages of non-vegan Easter candy but doesn't quite understand why he can't have any. 

I can't find what I'm looking for locally, so where online could I order a vegan Easter basket? 

So I'm going in for a blood test soon. My mother has had a protein S deficiency for a while and when my sister got tested, she had the same thing. (She was vegan for years and now has gone back to omnivorism... *eyeroll*) My brother and I have yet to be tested. 

Anyway. In case I do have this deficiency, does anyone have any ideas of what I can eat? The only thing I know is that you can't have "vitamin K" or something, and that's often found in dark leafy greens. I'm also a bit worried because I take a multivitamin and I don't want to have to stop taking it because of certain vitamin(s) I can't have.

I'm nervous because I'm passionate about veganism and I'm afraid that if I have said deficiency, doctors will try to be like "OMG YOU HAVE TO EAT ANIMAL PRODUCTS OR YOU WILL DIE" and the thought of that makes me physically sick to my stomach. D: I also don't want to have to live on medications my whole life for moral and "do not want" reasons; I try to take as little meds as possible.

so, i own a brita filter pitcher and only today thought about it's origins.  so i looked it up and while brita seems like a cool company and they use coconut shells for their carbon, they are now owned by clorox who does animal testing.  so i started to look up pur but theyre owned by p&g.  i'll keep looking, but i thought i'd check on here to see if anyone could give me a recommendation?  thanks!

So I know that Portland is the vegan food Mecca of the US. And I get to go there, or rather go to Vancouver, WA next month. I'm super excited. Now, I'm traveling with my husband, who is vegan, and a friend, who is not. Thai food is usually a safe bet for us as a group, as are Mexican and Italian places with good vegan options.

What I'm looking for is a couple of budget friendly restaurants that are good for a mixed crowd, dinner, and if there's a good Sunday brunch option, awesome. Also, if there is some place that I just flat cannot skip that you want to recommend, I can probably sneak out with just my husband at some point during the trip.

We're staying at a hotel just on the other side of the river from Portland, so north edge of town = good.

This article and site is from the EU--very interesting and has lots of links. (I'm currently in the middle of an argument with some folks who say things like not testing on animals=teenagers going blind.) Having good information and resources is useful to everyone and if anyone else has helpful links of this nature--please share!

http://ihcp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/our_activities/alt-animal-testing/alt_test_cosmetics

I just saw this and it made me sick.

Avon, Mary Kay and Estee Lauder, after *decades* of not testing on animals, have gone back to this evil to market in China!

https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=OnScreenThanks&id=3875

I've been using Estee Lauder and Clinique cosmetics regularly for many years. Today on Facebook was the first I'd seen so I'm passing this along...

Read an interesting article yesterday.

"[PETA] last week went to court, accusing Sea World of enslaving orcas used in one of its shows. The judge dismissed the case, ruling that PETA’s invoking of the term 'slavery' was at odds with its 'historical and contemporaneous' usage."

First of all: Wow! PETA seems to be doing something kinda useful!

B: I never knew this was a 'thing'. I always thought of captive, exploited non-human animals as 'slaves' and didn't think that anyone would actually have a problem with this term being applied to non-humans. Apparently, people get offended at this usage, claiming that it 'brings the difficult plight of humans down to the level of lesser beings' or whatever.

(It reminds me of a discussion had here years ago about a (possibly PETA, again) campaign that used the word 'holocaust' and how many (including those in this community) found that terminology offensive in that context. My view: if the word uses a lower-case 'h', rather than referring to 'The Holocaust', then it's acceptable as it's accurately describing a "mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life". Similarly, I see no reason why the definition of 'slavery' should be considered a human-exclusive term.)

Has anyone else experienced this argument before?

And after a couple of hours' spent thinking, 'hey, perhaps PETA may not be so bad after all', I stumbled across PETA's new video, 'Boyfriend Went Vegan', and all was right with the world once again. (Really, how can any organisation be so batshit insane as to think this was a good idea?! There are so, so many problems with this!)

  I posted a few days ago, but got only one reply. I suppose we're all recycling used/second hand beds. I was up until this point, when I just absolutely wanted a new mattress, but no one was wanting rid of their old ones. (used beds from strangers sound like used underwear, so I only accept from friends/family.)

So, I took matters into my own hands, and started google researching, made a few phone calls, and have been hitting up business's facebook pages to talk to reps.Since this is not a request for review, I didn't figure editing my old post was a valid way to go.

I have come up with three contenders that fit the criteria of Vegan, low VOC/VOC free, and environmentally friendly. I have listed the cheapest king size options, because that's what I'm searching for. Want a queen size yourself? Minus anywhere from 1500-200 from the prices I've listed.

( Spaldin (Petro/plant non-memory foam wrapped in Organic Cotton )

( Essentia(Organic denim + Natural Memory Foam wrapped in organic cotton) )

( Pranasleep (Latex + latex wrapped in cotton): )

( What do the labels mean! )

( Royal Pedic (Inner spring wrapped in Organic Cotton-Flame Retardent Free) )
Organic/Eco friendly mattresses that didn't make the cut:

Keetsa - Wool

Habitat Furnishings – Wool

Green Sleep - Wool

Vanguard Mattress – Wool

Savvy Rest – Wool

Hello everyone!

I looked in the stickies but found only ONE entry from 2009 under that tag (products-bedding). Most of the replies consisted of, "Why aren't mattresses vegan?" and then there was a conversation about vegan paint. As you may guess, neither really did me any good. I'm wanting to buy one in the next 6 weeks and live in Kentucky, USA.

I was looking at this brand, although I need to send them an email about whether or not milk is in their latex:.

http://www.myessentia.com/product-info.php?jeanius-pid24.html

It's pretty pricy, so I'm trying to find out if anyone on here has purchased one, to relate their thoughts on it. Or if any one of you have purchased a different brand and would recommend that instead.

Or perhaps there is another tag I should have looked under?

TIA

EDIT on 1/31/2011:
I haven't received an email back from them yet, but I found this website while looking for reviews. 

http://www.luxuryorganicmattress.com/essentia-review.html

and here, they elaborate on what their bed is sourced from:

http://www.myessentia.com/eco


( Bed Material Source text )

And if it's right, then essentia is milk derivative free.


~E

I have a pretty bad chronic illness at the moment that's taking me years/months to even get having manageable days. I've lost something like 40 pounds with it too so now my drs are all concerned I'm severely underweight. I started drinking the Vega protein powder shakes I've seen recommended here but they haven't really made me gain anything. Also when I'm having really bad days I'm unable to leave the house to go buy groceries let alone cook anything for myself. Luckily we live in NYC and I can always find something that can be delivered and is doable. My biggest worry though is my different drs. along with the nurses there keep telling me that my diet is holding me back from recovering as fast as I'd like to. I take supplements, including a ton of acidophilous to try and balance out all the antibiotics but they say simply by not eating animal products I'm missing out on nutrients that my body needs to heal. Obviously I know the medical industry is biased to the idea of veganism as a whole so I just straight up tell them no, I could never do that so considering it's not even an option. But does anyone know of any books or websites I could look into for vegan health and/or wellness? Not to stay or become healthy (which is all I've found) but rather for people who're already sick and wish to stay on a vegan diet -something that could include things like advice, tips, maybe even comparisons to how overall healing on the standard American diet isn't any better. I was just curious if there's anything like that out there or if in fact they may be right and I may just have to eventually take a break. I've been on IV antibiotics for roughly 17 months now and before that was just taking multiple pills every 2 hours a day, every day. I've made some remarkable progress but I just want to do everything I can to eventually get off all these drugs, you know? As the bad days get worse, I lose hope, and feel so desperate. I just want to know if I'm still doing the right thing. I can't be a help anywhere if I can't even live a normal life at the moment.

Sorry if I bummed anyone out! Not my intention. Thanks if anyone can point me in the right direction.

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to become a vegan after watching the documentaries "Food Matters" and "Forks Over Knives". Having been a carnivore all of my life I have never really attempted this sort of life style. It is something I have become very serious about. I am an all or nothing type of gal so I have been excluding animal products cold turkey. Problem is I am having a bit of a tough time. It requires a lot of cooking on my part which I don't have a lot of time to do with my work schedule. Also I get really bad cravings which has been making me miserable to be honest. I do not want to give this up. Does anyone have any tips, tricks, or ideas for my transitioning? I am also hoping this change will help me lose the extra weight I am carrying as well.