Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Cookin' with Coolio






So...Coolio has a cookbook. It's called Cookin' with Coolio: 5 star meals at a 1 star price. "It's the Ghetto Gourmet!" and includes both Ghettalian and Blasian cuisine. It's definitely not vegan in the least bit, buuut his interview on npr is hilarious as is the entire Cookin' With Coolio Channel on youtube.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

T-Gives 2k10



This is the first year of my life that I will be out of America for Thanksgiving. Even though I was not a turkey eater for most of my life, I still loved the tradition of sitting around a table filled with friends and family, laughing and talking about what we are most thankful for. That is, until I realized the reality that is the carcass of a bird in the middle of our table. Alicia Silverstone, as always, says it best " I mean, if we are being grateful, it would be beautiful if we were mindful of non-violence and looked to see how we can give back, instead of just taking. We feel terrible at the end of the meal anyway because we gorged ourselves on food that our bodies don't handle well. These are the foods that are nasty to our bodies and nasty to the planet…. and not to mention nasty to the turkeys!" It can be a kinda hard being the only vegan at a non-vegan gathering, especially one that is centered around gorging oneself with meat until the point of near explosion. Just a few fun-facts about Turkeys from The Girlie Girl Army:
-Between 1965 and 2000, the weight of the average turkey raised commercially in the U.S. increased by 57 percent, from an average of 18 pounds to an average of 28.2 pounds, causing commercially-bred turkeys to suffer from crippling foot and leg problems.
-Also catering to consumer preferences for “white meat,” the industry has selectively bred turkeys to have abnormally large breasts. This anatomical manipulation makes it difficult for male turkeys to mount the females, eliminating these birds’ ability to reproduce naturally. As a result, artificial insemination is now the sole means of reproduction on factory farms, where breeder birds are confined for months on end.
-Every year, more than 46 million turkeys are killed for Thanksgiving holiday dinners, but it doesn’t have to be this way. If you think these birds are as incredible as we do, you can join talk show host and animal advocate Ellen DeGeneres, Farm Sanctuary’s 2010 Adopt-A-Turkey Project spokesperson, in starting a new tradition this year by adopting a turkey instead of eating. Visit adoptaturkey.org for details or call the Turkey Adoption Hotline at 1-888-SPONSOR

Here are some good links from around the web to help plan an amazing turkey-less T-Gives:
-Farm Sanctuary
-Operation Turkey Undercover: The Frightening Truth About Your Thanksgiving Day Bird. Yeeek.
-Guest blog post from Farm Sanctuary's Gene Baur on The Kind Life plus this recipe for Wild rice cornbread stuffing that looks so so flame!
-Ten fascinating facts about Turkeys and Thanksgiving alternative traditions.
-The New York Times published a collection of vegetarian Thanksgiving ideas
-Archive recipes from Fat Free Vegan blog
-Care2.com wants you to have a very vegan Thanksgiving and shares some myths about Turkeys too!
-Forgo the highly caloric meal altogether: try out this five-course Thanksgiving meal in songs
-Thanksgiving is not just about gorging yourself and being wasteful. Read: how to have and eco-friendly Thanksgiving.
-Recipe: Vegan and gluten-free Cranberry Quinoa Stuffing. yum!
-Or if you plan to go out for Thanksgiving dinner, CleanplatesNYC shares their top picks for a veg-friendly Thanksgiving.

Friday, November 19, 2010

World Go Vegan Month


November is World Go Vegan Month-the perfect time to celebrate veganism and encourage non-vegans around you to try it out. Here are some vegan resources I would like to share:

ARTICLES:
-how to avoid being a judgmental vegan.
-Planet Green's 10 Vegan recipes for fall
-all you need to know about factory farming.
**Bloomburg Businessweek published an article on November 4 called “The Rise of the Power Vegans.” The article features vegans such as Las Vegas entrepreneur Steve Wynn, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, and high-profile Americans such as Bill Clinton who are experimenting with a plant-based diet.

RECIPES/ FOODBLOGS:
-Barnivore (vegan bear and wine guide)
-cute and delicious (crafts & vegan treats)
-Elana's Pantry (Gluten Free)
-Golubka (raw)
-Gone Raw (raw)
-The Kind Life (bible, also new recipe index)
-PETA's Vegan Startup Kit
-stonesoup (5 ingredient recipes)
-Vegan Coach (good basic how-to guides)

OTHER RESOURCES:
-Butterball (Calculators and Conversions )
-Still Tasty (Ultimate shelf life guide)
-Clean Plates NYC (like zaggets but for healthy restaurants)
-4coursevegan (check out the archives for menu planning ideas)
-had to include this bit of food porn
-The Vegan RD Thoughts on being vegan from a dietitian's perspective
-Care2 Food and Recipes
-Recipe Matcher (find recipes using what you already have)
-Vegan Porn (News and Information for the vegans who get it)
-VegNews Magazine


Tuesday, November 16, 2010

November Linky-Links

Today is America Recycles Day! Woo. Even though I am not in America, I would like to celebrate by noting some dope recycled things out there

-these bangles made out of recycled newspaper are real cute. and they're made in Brooklyn!
-I recently discovered and quickly became obsessed with Osborn handcrafted shoes. They started to ditch leather soles use recycled rubber tires aka also vegan! yeeee!
-Genius! Jar tops that allow you to transform your old jars into real kitchenware. So futuristic.
-Bodkin often uses vintage or salvaged textiles in combination with other eco-fabrics like organic cotton. I was totally blown away by the hand-dyed cotton pieces in their Autumn/ Winter 2010 collection. Check out the laundry list of natural items used to make the dye!!
-8 ways to reuse a t-shirt. dope!
-"Just because it's a green shoe doesn't mean it has to look like an Earth shoe or Birkenstock." True that. And if you don't already agree, check out these awesome shoes by Olsenhaus made out of recycled T.V. screens.

in other eco news...
-The Free People blog is has a ton of great diy projects, like this diy dream catcher. Who would have thought to use it for anything besides catching your dreams?
-VOTE for your favorite eco-fashion designer
-The Rise of the Power Vegans:Steve Wynn, Russell Simmons, Bill Clinton and a comparable cast of heavies are now using tempeh to assert their superiority. A look at what gives.
-The only reason I an excited to return to cold weather: new vegan boots!
-Food as art: art as food.
-Why you should bake with weed!
-A look at fashion industry labor regulations- or should I say not-so-regulations?

Oh, and couldn't leave out these gems...
-Four Loko banned in New York. Probably a good thing?
-The Sabbath Manifesto:designed to slow down lives in an increasingly hectic world. So jumpin on the band wagon on this one!
-50 reasons to be pretty damn euphoric you live in New York City.