Welcome Home, Hennys!

Yesterday we added four new girls to our feathered flock. They are rescued factory farm laying hens, considered 'spent' by the industry after just two years of life (hard to believe, since I've gotten six eggs from them already in the last 36 hours, but whatever). They came to us through Animal Place, and with the help of Jenny, a fabulous Animal Place volunteer who helped with transportation.

I've named them Louise, Henrietta, Opal, and Mavis, though I can't tell them apart so I don't know who is who... I think I need to order some of those numbered leg bands.

(That's Rosa in front, one of our older girls, with a couple of the new girls in the background.)

If you'd like to learn more about what these hens' lives were like back on the 'farm' (I hesitate to even use that word; it conjures images far more idyllic than the grim reality), check out this virtual battery cage. The first two years of these girls' lives contained far too much suffering - they were de-beaked and crowded into small, overcrowded cages, and endured discomfort and indignity beyond anything we humans can imagine. As baby chicks, they saw their brothers die horrible deaths, and as they grew, they watched their sisters suffer endless neglect and abuse.

I'm happy to know that the rest of their lives will be filled with sunshine, cool breezes, grassy fields, juicy bugs, grapes, and as much freedom as it is possible for us to provide for them.

If you're not already vegan, please consider the cruelty that these precious creatures are forced to endure to put eggs on your plate. I honestly think that in terms of animal suffering, egg and dairy production is far crueler than meat production. Go vegan!!! :-)

Rants and Raves

We just got back from a fabulous trip to San Francisco and LA - we spent time with my brother and his girlfriend in SF, plus two of our best pals in LA. It was a really magical trip; by far the best we've had as a family since we brought Carlos home nearly three years ago. He's finally at an age where traveling is starting to be pleasant again.

So first, the raves -

The food was amazing. We ate so much fantastic vegan food, I'm not sure if I can remember it all, but I'll try. Sorry, I was too busy stuffing my face to take pictures.

Love & Haight Deli in SF - I had a delicious 'chicken' steak deli sandwich. I can't remember the last time I had a decent deli sandwich. Yum. My only regret was that I didn't think to add avocado.

Cafe Gratitude in SF - our meal was slightly marred by our very cranky and over-tired four-year-old, but this was still a fun experience. Definitely not mainstream, but worth trying at least once.

Rainbow Grocery in SF - I went here for the sole purpose of purchasing mass amounts of Daiya vegan cheese. I ended up buying five pounds, and immediately upon leaving the store, regretted not buying ten. They only carry the Italian-style shreds (not the orange kind), but that's better than nothing (which is what I have up here in this rural wasteland I call home). When I told the cheese counter lady that I came from out of town to get the Daiya, she said she sees a lot of that, and wanted to know where I was from. She then declared that I won the long-distance award. I consider it a badge of honor.

Five pounds of Daiya cheese.

Pure Luck Cafe in LA - WOW. This place was incredible... they make an amazing marinaded mock-meat from jackfruit, of all things. I had it in a burrito, but they put it in all kinds of other things as well. The fried pickles, sweet potato fries, and Caesar salad were all also great.

Tierra Cafe in LA - decent vegan taquitos, crappy service.

Native Foods in Costa Mesa - I think this was the highlight for me. I loved the atmosphere (it's the only restaurant in North America that's in a yurt, who knew?), and the food was excellent (although I think the desserts could be better). I had pizza and salad, and also sampled Carlos' mac and cheese - everything was really, really tasty. So much so that I had to buy the cookbook.

Golden Mean Vegan Cafe in Santa Monica - this was enjoyable, but not the best I've ever had. I was excited to see a panini on the menu, and specifically asked if it included Daiya cheese (yes, I'm a little nuts over the stuff), to which the server responded yes; however, when I received my sandwich, there was no cheese to be seen. I still enjoyed it, but it wasn't the best thing I've ever had. I also thought that their cookies were kind of dry and just so-so. Of the four things ordered by my group, I definitely thought that 'the works' burger looked the best.

Cruzer Pizza in LA - it's neck and neck between Cruzer Pizza and Native Foods for top honors on this trip. We got takeout pizza with Daiya cheese (again! I know...) and it was totally awesome. I don't know what else to say about pizza... the crust was good? It was just an all-around spectacular pizza, vegan or otherwise.

Okay, that's the end of the raves. On to the rants. (Is anyone still with me?)

On the plane on the way home, I found myself reading the Southwest Airlines in-flight magazine. Yes, I was hard up for reading material. Anyways, the theme of this particular issue was how geeks are going to save us from our current environmental mess. For a split second, I was so thrilled to turn the page and see a giant headline stating that 20% of all methane emissions come from the agriculture industry. It's so gratifying to see this fact finally getting the public exposure it deserves. However, all too often, like in this case, the emphasis is all wrong. The solution that this particular magazine put forward was the work of some scientists to create genetically modified cattle who produce less methane.

Is it just me, or is this seriously messed up? It seems to me that absolutely the last thing we need right now is more genetically modified food. It truly amazes me to see how attached people are to the idea of eating flesh; so much so that they would rather mess with nature in bizarre and possibly dangerous ways to create animals who burp a little less, thereby making a small dent in the problem, rather than reduce (or eliminate) meat and dairy from their diets, which would make a much larger impact, as well as improve their health and the lives of animals in the process. It's such a no-brainer to me, I really can't wrap my brain around it.

On to rant number two...

I was listening to a (mainstream; non vegan) podcast this morning and was again momentarily happy to hear the host saying that it's becoming increasingly difficult to defend eating meat due to the increasing evidence of the environmental and health risks associated with this behavior. But then, of course, he has to go on to make some lame comment about how good it tastes.

So rant 2(a) is - why, oh why, is it okay to justify torturing and killing sentient beings for the sake of our tastebuds? Would these same people say that it's okay to rape an animal because they are horny? Seriously people, these are living, feeling creatures. The bottom line is that we don't have any dietary requirement for animal flesh or secretions; therefore, making animals suffer and die to become human food is just plain wrong.

After that, the podcaster said something like "but as it turns out, it's not such a great time to be a vegetarian either, because a recent study just listed leafy greens as the most likely food item to be contaminated by e-coli."

Rant 2(b) - Whaaaaaat? How in the world does this mean that it's a bad time to be vegetarian? I know plenty of vegetarians who eat very few leafy greens, and plenty of omnivores who eat lots of leafy greens. Leafy greens are not the sole property of vegetarians. Geez. What an idiotic thing to say.

Okay, I'm done now. I have to go bathe my skunky dog.

Reunited (and it feels so good)

Woo-hoo! Skittles has changed their formula and these colorful, delicious candies are now vegan!

Just what I need... more sweets. (ugh.)

The magic words: GELATIN-FREE

An Awesome Article

Via Foreign Policy -

Meat: the slavery of our time

How the coming vegetarian revolution will arrive by force.

By Jim Motavalli

I have a prediction: Sooner than you might think, this will be a vegetarian world. Future generations will find the idea of eating meat both morally absurd and logistically impossible. Of course, one need only look at the booming meat industry, the climbing rates of meat consumption in the developing world, and the menu of just about any restaurant to call me crazy. But already, most people know that eating red meat is bad for their health and harmful for the planet. It's getting them to actually change their diet that's the hard part... [read more]

April Jewelry for Charity Recap & May Kick-Off

Wow, guys. I continue to be grateful and amazed for the love you have shown for each of my two Etsy shops. April set a new sales record for me, and you know what that means - big bucks for one of my favorite nonprofits - Vegan Outreach! To everyone who helped make this month a success, both for me as an artist, and for the awesome folks pounding the pavement over at Vegan Outreach in support of animals, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

This month we raised (drum roll, please)... a whopping $646 for charity!!! Not only is this my biggest monthly donation yet, it also marks what feels like a significant milestone for me in my fund raising work - this month, I surpassed $10,000 in donations since the beginning of my Jewelry for Charity project in May of 2007. Not bad for two years' work! I couldn't do it without all of you, so thanks again; it really means a lot to me.


For those who may not be familiar with the work Vegan Outreach does, they are basically a group that advocates for animals by spreading the word about the benefits of a vegan diet and exposing the cruelty that takes place on modern factory farms. They have done a lot of research to find out what ways of reaching out to people are most effective, and have determined that leafleting, especially at colleges, is the best way to encourage positive changes for farmed animals, so this is one of their main focus areas.


Since we're on the topic of Vegan Outreach, I have a little something else to share with you all - something I hope you'll consider supporting alongside me. I have decided to participate in the Team Vegan program organized by Vegan Outreach. It's a training team based in the San Francisco bay area with free professional running coaching leading up to participants competing in either a 5k, half marathon, or full marathon in July.

People like me who live too far away to participate in the actual race are encouraged to participate remotely, keeping in touch with team members online, following the same training schedule, and with virtual access to the professional coaches working with the team. The point of all of this, aside from better health, is to raise funds for Vegan Outreach through sponsorships (that's where you come in; more on that in a moment).

Now, for those of you who know me in real life, I know it's hard to believe that I have become a runner*, but it's really true! I've never been the athletic type; from my earliest school days, I have avoided competitive sports like the plague. And even now, I really have no desire to 'compete' per se; it's just fun to challenge myself to do more and go farther than I ever have before. Up until now, my usual running routine has been three miles, three times a week. This is my first week training with Team Vegan (I'm shooting for either a 10k (6.2 miles) or a half marathon; I haven't decided yet), and so far I've done two four-mile runs and am planning on completing my first ever five mile run this Sunday.

* In the spirit of full disclosure, I should say that while I use the term 'running,' in reality, what I actually do is much more like a slow jog. :-)

These feet were made for... running???

Anyways, I hope that you might be moved by the efforts of this extremely-unathletic vegan attempting to become healthier and more active, and consider supporting the awesome work that Vegan Outreach does by sponsoring me through the Team Vegan website. Any little bit helps; I know times are tough, but remember that the animals need our help now more than ever - they pay every day with their lives, so please do what you can to help them out!

Whew! Okay, enough about Vegan Outreach. I mean, they are amazing and all, but onwards and upwards... May has arrived, and my featured charity this month is the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group working for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equal rights. I am trying to channel my frustration over the passage of Prop 8 last November, as well as my outrage over the brutal attack earlier this year on Nathan Runkle, founder and director of animal rights group Mercy for Animals, who also happens to be gay, towards something more positive by beginning to feature equal rights charities from time to time along with my other favorite causes (animal rights, vegan education/outreach, and womens/childrens issues).


The Human Rights Campaign has an awesome website with tons of informative features, including a short daily video broadcast called 'Equally Speaking - your daily dose of LGBT news from the Human Rights Campaign', as well as an interactive state-by-state listing of local news and events. So check it out, get involved, and remember that 5% any money you spend in either my bead shop or my jewelry shop this month will go straight to supporting equal rights.

This breaks my heart.

What a powerful new visual from Mark Middleton at AnimalVisuals.org -

Pics from the road

Carlos and I are out on the road, adventuring in the bay area. Thought I'd share a few photos of our trip so far - not surprisingly, they are mostly food-related. This is like vegan food paradise compared to where I live...

View across the bay from the hills above Berkeley
(a token non-food photo)

On to lunch at Cha-Ya (an all-vegan Japanese restaurant) -

Hallelujah! - vegan miso soup.
(Can't find it anywhere in Humboldt - everyone puts fish stock in it - yuck!)

Agedashi tofu

I spotted these little cuties in a (non-vegan) bakery window just down from Cha-Ya - don't they look super easy to make and really cute?

Dinner at Pizza Plaza in Oakland, CA -

I loved this funky little place. And check out that sweet delivery van! Classic.

Vegan menu options were staggering...

...they just went on and on.

Carlos and I scarfed our pizza down too quickly to get a photo, but here's dessert -

- we shared a piece of vegan German chocolate cake. Not the best I've ever had, but it's always nice to at least have vegan options. And I'm not one to turn down chocolate.

That's all for today. Hope you're all doing well.

March Jewelry for Charity Recap & April Kick-Off

Just a quick post to report that, with your help, I raised $415.00 for United Poultry Concerns during the month of March. I sincerely thank you for your help (in the form of purchases from either of my shops), as do the chickens, turkeys, and other birds that benefit from UPC's important work.

This month, I'm featuring one of my perennial favorites, Vegan Outreach. Although I haven't managed to make much time for personally going out and leafleting over the past month or two, this is a cause that is near to my heart, and it makes me happy to support VO in any way I can. So remember, 5% of anything you spend in either my bead shop or my jewelry shop this month goes directly to Vegan Outreach!

March's donation brings my total donations to $9,685.00 since I began this program in May 2007. Hopefully I'll break the $10,000.00 mark after this month - wow! As always, thank you so much for helping me help others. It brings great meaning to my work.

'Toon Time

Dan Piraro (vegan extraordinaire and Bizarro comic strip author) has come out with a little animated video you might enjoy...

Easy Vegan - Getting Started

Okay, so maybe you're finally convinced that reducing your consumption of animal products is a good idea. Awesome! But now what???

Inspired by Skila's comment on my last post, I'm launching a series called 'Easy Vegan'. Skila writes, "Tell me an easy cookbook or website for vegetarian meals that you like. Here's what I mean by easy - small amount of ingredients, basic stuff here, no hour long prep. I HATE to cook... Get me started. P.S. Without the 'fake meat' would be even better."

Your wish is my command. This will be the first in an ongoing series of posts aimed at inspiring and guiding the veg-curious (but possibly culinarily-challenged) along the path to a more plant-based diet. I'm going to focus on practical, easy ideas and recipes to make the transition as smooth as possible.


First, I'd like to point out that reducing your intake of animal products does not have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Of course, I am a strong proponent of a vegan diet, and I will always encourage that choice; however, I realize that it may not be realistic for every person at this moment in time. But as one of my vegan idols often says, "Don't do nothing because you can't do everything." In other words, if you don't feel able to make a huge change, make small changes instead. Pledge to reduce your meat consumption by half, or eliminate animal products from your diet during two meals a day - whatever works for you. Any movement in that direction is an improvement, and who knows, once you experience the amazing foods, health benefits, and peace of mind that comes with eating vegetarian some of the time, you might just be inspired to take the full-time plunge.


Moving on... let's talk about familiar foods. Swapping out your old omnivorous standards for healthier vegan options doesn't have to feel totally foreign and unfamiliar. Start with what you already know and like; many of the typical foods enjoyed by most American families can easily be made vegan or vegetarian. Consider the following:

• Pizza - vegetarian toppings for pizzas are plentiful and delicious, from veggies such as onions, bell peppers, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and olives, to tofu- and seitan-based 'meats', if you like that sort of thing!

• Burritos - in fact, almost all Mexican foods are easily veganized - think tacos, enchiladas, tostadas, fajitas, layered dip, nachos... heat up some beans, chop up a few veggies, throw on some salsa, and you're done! If you have a bit more time, rice is a nice addition, as well as sauteed or roasted veggies for an extra boost of vitamins and minerals.

• Pastas - spaghetti is a no-brainer here - either a simple marinara sauce over noodles, with some bread and a salad on the side, or with some mix-ins... veggie 'meat' balls (available in the frozen foods section), chopped veggies (zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, spinach...). Asian pasta dishes also lend themselves well to the vegan touch - veggie stir-fries, either with or without tofu or seitan, pad thai, etc.

• Burgers - whether you opt to make your own or buy one of the myriad varieties now available pre-made, your options here are endless. Go traditional with all the fixings, or try one of my family's favorites, a 'Luigi burger' - top your burger patty with caramelized onions, marinara sauce, and vegan mozzarella.

• Baked Goods - granted, most baked goods are already free of meat, but you can still do better - swapping out eggs and dairy products for more healthful (and certainly more humane) vegan alternatives is as easy as pie (ha ha). Milk is an easy one - simply replace dairy milk with soy, almond, rice, or hemp milk. Eggs can take a little more experimenting, but you have several options - egg replacer, flax seeds, applesauce, and bananas can all be used successfully in place of eggs. I recommend 'The Joy of Vegan Baking' for simple baked goods recipes and some great basic information on stocking a vegan kitchen and making substitutes for dairy and eggs.
  

I could go on (and on, and on), but I'd better save some information for future posts.


I'd love for this series to be interactive and collaborative, so please, if you're among the ranks of the currently-omnivorous-but-veg-curious, leave a comment letting me know what information I can share that would be most helpful to you at this stage of your journey. And to my readers who are already enjoying the vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, please chime in with suggestions for books, websites, or specific recipes that you think qualify as 'Easy Vegan'!

I don't want to ramble on too long, so I'll wrap up this first installment with a plug for VegWeb, a website with tons of vegan recipes that are conveniently categorized and searchable. Skila, you might want to check out their 'Quick and Easy' section.

Further Evidence - If You Care About the Environment, Ditch the Meat and Dairy!!!

Written by Becky Striepe

Published on March 2nd, 2009 on ecolocalizer.com

A German study found that cows are major contributors to global warming, and it doesn't matter if they're raised on a conventional or an organic farm.

Foodwatch, an independent German research group, conducts studies on our diets’ impact on the environment. They are not an animal rights group; they’re a consumer rights group, and their findings led them to recommend that “agriculture must finally become part of climate change policy.”

The really shocking part of this Foodwatch study is that in many ways, organic meat is worse because it uses more land and resources. The problem is that no matter how you raise a cow, “they burp and fart to their hearts’ content.” Foodwatch is saying that we need to reduce our milk and meat production by 70% to mitigate the global warming implications.

Take Action in Your Kitchen

Seventy percent! For someone living on the Standard American Diet, that sounds pretty dramatic. So how can we cut back on the meat we eat? Check out these great vegetarian recipes. Veg Web has a huge database of tasty vegan recipes, too! to get you going.

Eating less dairy might seem tougher than reducing meat consumption for a lot of folks. Don’t worry that cutting dairy means you have to give up your favorite treats! Online shops like Atlanta’s Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe and Portland’s Food Fight Grocery offer tasty dairy alternatives. Follow Your Heart makes a mean vegan “cheese.” You can find tasty cream cheesesour cream alternatives. You don’t even have to give up chocolate! and

It might feel a bit trickier if you have kids, since you want to be careful with how much soy you’re feeding those little ones. Luckily, there are all sorts of soy-free dairy alternatives. Full disclosure here: I’m one of those hippie vegan types. For some reason, avocado really helped quell the cheese cravings when I gave up dairy. For a milk alternative, give almond milk a try! You can even find tasty ice creams that are totally soy free! Jennifer McCann’s site Vegan Lunch Box is full of kid-friendly vegan recipes.

Looking for more information on meat’s environmental impact? The Price of Meat has you covered. Stay tuned over there for their petition on livestock and climate policy.

My new obsession

Green smoothies.

February Jewelry For Charity Recap and March Kick-Off

I'm thrilled to report that February was my best sales month yet, which makes me extra happy because it means I get to send a whopping $630.00 to help the amazing creatures at Animal Place! Thanks to everyone who patronized my bead shop and my jewelry shop during the month of February - your purchases really do add up to help animals.


And continuing on a similar theme for the month of March, my featured charity is United Poultry Concerns, a wonderful group dedicated to promoting compassion towards domestic fowl. As you can probably tell if you've read my blog much before, chickens, turkeys, and ducks are some of my favorite animals. They have brought a lot of joy to our lives in the year since we've added them to our family.

It saddens me greatly to know that in the US alone, nine billion chickens are raised and killed for food each year - that's 90% of all land animals killed for food in this country. Nine billion! That's mind-boggling. These creatures are not inanimate objects - far from it! Each of our birds has her own personality, complete with likes and dislikes. They feel pain, and they know joy and sadness. If you eat chicken (or even eggs), you are essentially paying someone to imprison, torture, and kill these unique and lovely animals simply to please your own taste buds.

I have great respect for groups like UPC, whose members work tirelessly to educate people about the value of these birds' lives. I hope one day to be able to add on to my own little poultry haven so that I can rescue even more of these wonderful beings. In the meantime, please join me this month in supporting UPC by either donating directly or by making a purchase from my bead shop or my jewelry shop. As always, thank you for caring!

Making Responsible Food Choices, Part Four

Here it is, the fourth and final post in my 'Making Responsible Food Choices' series. I hope I've been able to shed some light on the ethical problems that go along with some common vegan foods, as well as provide some solutions. In case you missed them, feel free to check out parts one, two, and three.

Today I'm going to discuss palm oil, a substance often found in crackers, pastries, cereals, and microwave popcorn. Keebler, Oreo, Mrs. Fields, Pepperidge Farm and other companies use palm oil in some of their cookies. Of particular interest to vegans, palm oil is a major ingredient in our beloved Earth Balance buttery spread.

According to a report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), "Though not as unhealthy as partially hydrogenated oil, palm oil still promotes heart disease." Going beyond palm oil's consequences at the individual health level, the cultivation of oil palm is a major factor in the destruction of the rainforests in Southeast Asia. These rapidly shrinking forests are home to the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran and Bornean orangutans, Asian elephant, and Sumatran rhinoceros. CSPI reports "Each of those species is endangered, with the three eponymous Sumatran species critically endangered. They once flourished in precisely those areas where rainforests have since been cleared for oil palm."


Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas has been studying orangutans in Indonesia for nearly forty years. According to a recent AP report, "the red apes she studies in Indonesia are on the verge of extinction because forests are being clear-cut and burned to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations." Galdikas has established a non-profit to help protect these threatened animals - Orangutan Foundation International - and has published an autobiography detailing her many years working with these amazing creatures.

Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any fair-trade, environmentally-friendly versions of palm oil, so the best solutions I can think of are as follows:

1. Contact companies whose products contain palm oil and let them know that you support the elimination of palm oil from their food lineup. (You can start with Earth Balance!)

2. Reduce or eliminate your use of palm oil. Personally, since coming across this disturbing information, I've been able to drastically reduce my consumption of Earth Balance (probably a good thing for my figure too!) - there are a lot of ways I used to use it that were easy to give up... jam instead of butter on toast, always using olive or canola oil for sauteing rather than Earth Balance, and choosing recipes for baked goods that call for non-palm-oil fats, to name a few (be careful though, and be sure to actually check the label - the other day I thought, 'oh, I'll use non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening instead of EB for these cookies,' but when I checked the shortening label, it was 100% palm oil!!! Eek.)

If anyone else has suggestions for ways that we can advocate to end the habitat destruction currently taking place for the sake of our collective palates, please post 'em here!

PS - Be sure to read the comments; Richard Zimmerman, Director of Orangutan Outreach, posted some very valuable, albeit sad, details about the plight of the endangered orangutans in Indonesia.

Making Responsible Food Choices, Part Three

This here is the third installment in my four-part series* examining the ethical issues surrounding a few vegetarian diet staples. Today's subject is rice.

* In case you missed them, you might want to read part one and part two first.


While most of the white and brown rice we eat in the US is grown domestically, the majority of the aromatics, such as basmati and jasmine, are grown in Thailand, India, and Pakistan. It is mainly harvested by hand on small farms in rural communities. These small-scale growers are at the mercy of a volatile market and are often exploited by middle merchants, who frequently underpay the farmers.

In addition, profits for these small family farmers are diminishing due to the use of expensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which are also, not surprisingly, adversely affecting workers' health as well as polluting the water and eroding the topsoil of these rural communities.

If this topic interests you and you'd like to learn more, you can read more about the issues surrounding fair trade rice here.

So as I mentioned before in the case of bananas and chocolate, the solution to these problems lies in supporting the growing fair trade market. You can buy fair trade rice online or find it at your local natural foods store.


I'd like to take a moment to discuss what you can do if your local store doesn't carry the fair trade products you seek, so this applies equally to rice, chocolate, bananas, and a whole score of products with growing fair trade availability. Personally, I spend a fair amount of time (and money) at our local natural foods store, and I make an effort to be friendly with the people who work there. They are generally a nice bunch of people who care, like I do, about eating responsibly, and in my experience, they are very open to stocking new products to meet customer demand. The key is to take the legwork out of it for them; find the product you want them to carry (the specific product, brand and all, not just a general idea), print out the name of the product and the details of how the store can contact the company who distributes the product, then pass this information on to a manager at the store, either in person or with a hand-written note explaining why you would like to see it in their store. Only through customer requests like these will stores learn what is important to us, and by helping to bring these fair trade options to the grocery store shelves, we can expose many other shoppers to the choices that exist for eating in a way that supports humane ways of life on this earth.

This post wraps up the information I wanted to share from the 'Food, Inc.' article in the Jan-Feb '09 issue of VegNews magazine. This is an excellent article that goes into more detail than I have provided here, so if it's something you care about, I highly recommend getting your hands on this magazine, or better yet, subscribing. (They just added a tree-free subscription option, so you can get all the good stuff without wasting paper - hooray!)

Stay tuned for one final installment in this series on making responsible food choices within the framework of a veg*n diet...

Making Responsible Food Choices, Part Two (aka, 'Oh No! Cocoa?')

Yep, that's right. This second installment in my four-part series* focuses on our beloved chocolate. But wait - before you cover your eyes and run screaming from the computer - calm down. Sit, relax, and read. Don't worry, I'll show you how you can enjoy this delicious confection with a clear conscience.

* In case you missed it, you might want to read part one first.


Consumers in the United States alone spend $13 billion per year on chocolate, an understandable indulgence given its luscious flavor and its unique power to calm many of us in times of crisis. :-) But what are the hidden costs of our love affair with chocolate? Let's take a closer look.

70% of the world's cocoa is supplied by West Africa, a country where poverty is widespread and child slavery and labor abuses are rampant. A major contributing factor to these horrible problems are the low prices farm workers are paid by companies like M&M/Mars, the largest chocolate company in the world.

West African cocoa plantation laborers are paid between $30 and $108 per year; these astonishingly low wages, combined with the lack of human-rights standards enforced by the large chocolate companies, has resulted in a huge exploitation and abuse problem for the most vulnerable workers - the children.

According to the US State Department, there are currently 284,000 children in abusive child-labor conditions in West Africa. Thousands of these children have been trafficked into the area and live in slavery.

What can you do to help? Well, the answer is the same as for bananas; money talks, so be sure that your hard-earned dollars are only being spent on fair trade certified cocoa and chocolate products.

Aaahhh... Sjaaks organic, fair trade, vegan chocolates

(made right here in lil' old Humboldt County)

"The key to Fair-Trade-Certified cocoa is that it is grown by small farmers, enabling them to build a better future for their families," says Adrienne Fitch-Frankel, Fair Trade Campaign Director of Global Exchange. "The Fair Trade system gives [workers] the pride and dignity of being independent, sustaining their own farms. This is a quantum leap from being a worker on a plantation."

According to TransFair USA, Fair Trade Certification assures that the following responsible, sustainable business practices are in place:

• Fair wages
• Better labor conditions (safer conditions, no enforced child labor)
• Direct trade, eliminating exploitative middlemen
• Democratic and transparent organizations
• Community development
• Environmental sustainability
  

Beyond reflecting your ideals through your dollars, there are lots of other ways to get involved, and with Valentine's Day quickly approaching, this is the perfect time of year to educate friends and family about the importance of fair trade chocolate. And while you're at it, why don't you make sure that chocolate you're eating and gifting is vegan? After all, cows don't deserve to be slaves either!

Once again, the information in this post came from the Jan-Feb '09 issue of VegNews magazine (see Food, Inc., beginning on page 40).

New Bloggity-Blog

I don't know how many local readers I actually have here, but for anyone who's interested, I'm co-authoring a new blog called Humboldt Vegans. As the name implies, it's a blog for vegans (and aspiring vegans) living in Humboldt County, California. There may be some overlap in posts between this blog and the new one, but I'll try to keep it interesting...

Making Responsible Food Choices, Part One

As a vegan, it's easy to walk around in a haze of self-congratulatory bliss, feeling proud knowing that our food choices are helping to protect animals, improve our own health, support the planet, and make more food and water resources available to the people of developing nations. Yay you! You're vegan! Everything would be perfect in the world if everyone went vegan, right?

Right? *

Well, not so fast - as it turns out, there are a whole host of problems associated with many staple vegan foods, and several in particular deserve our closer attention. Today I will begin with a discussion of one of our contry's favorite fruits. Watch for three more installments in the coming days or weeks... I have lots to say.


Let's start with bananas.

Did you know that when bananas first became available to US consumers, just after the Civil War, they were considered a luxury item, and were sold wrapped in foil, peeled and pre-sliced to protect those gentile 19th century citizens from embarrassment over the fruit's indiscreet form? (Thought I'd warm you up with a little entertaining banana trivia.)

Anyway, on to the serious stuff... in order to transform bananas from an expensive indulgence into an affordable snack for the masses, large companies (i.e. Dole, as well as the company that has come to be known in modern times as Chiquita), identified Central America as the ideal place to supply us with inexpensive, delicious bananas. Then they proceeded to clear-cut the rich forests of Nicaragua, Columbia, and Guatemala, and transform them into banana plantations.

In addition to the obvious environmental problems associated with clear-cutting native rain forests and shipping bananas thousands of miles from Central America to wherever you happen to reside, other problems have come to light -

• In the 1950's, Central America's first democratically elected leader, Jacobo Arbenz, was ousted in a US-sponsored coup. His offense? Asking United Fruit (now Chiquita) to pay fair prices for land and obey the Guatemalan constitution.
• For decades, this kind of intervention in Central American politics has been commonplace as a means for keeping bananas cheap and plentiful. It has also been instrumental in keeping plantation workers overworked and underpaid.
• As recently as 2007, Chiquita was fined $25 million by the US government for giving $1.7 million to a right-wing death squad organization in Columbia.

So what, you ask, is a compassionate gal (or guy) to do? Must we give up our beloved banana-laden breakfast smoothies? Fear not, my friend - fair trade is the answer! By purchasing fair trade bananas, you can rest assured that plantation workers are paid a living wage, receive benefits, job security, and better treatment. Fair trade certified farmers are also more likely to use sustainable, traditional growing methods (whether or not they have yet obtained an organic certification, which can be a difficult and costly process).

Although I find myself wondering - how much can the fair trade certification help in ending the massive deforestation in Central America? I mean, if the demand for bananas remains strong, they are going to continue clear-cutting to make room for more farms, right? Even if the workers are treated better on those farms... so maybe we should give some thought to at least moderately reducing our consumption of bananas overall, in addition to buying fair trade.

* Just to be clear, of course I agree that the world would be a much better place if everyone went vegan right now. But I think it's important to continue to explore food choices, and not just rest on our morally superior laurels while we eat our tofu and nutritional yeast. Agreed?

The information in this post came from the Jan-Feb '09 issue of VegNews magazine (see Food, Inc., beginning on page 40).

So. Much. Hope.

Wow, what a day. I watched a lot of the lead-up to the swearing-in today, but sadly, I had to leave the house before Obama's speech, so I need to go watch it on the internet ASAP. And where was I off to so bright-and-early in the morning, you ask? Well, I enjoyed my first morning of leafleting today at our local junior college. A friend and I handed out around 400 brochures in under four hours - we gave out Compassionate Choices, Why Vegan, Even If You Like Meat..., and Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating. It was a little scary at first, but overall pretty fun and fulfilling. I met quite a few fellow vegans and vegetarians, and only encountered a few mildly rude people.

Isn't it amazing the way this election has galvanized so many people to become more involved and give back to their communities? My work of choice is vegan outreach. What's yours?

Doing my vegan civic duty...

Here I am, once again, to warn you of culinary danger. I implore you, from the deepest corners of my joyful little vegan heart, not to cook the Vegan Alfreda recipe from Vegan With A Vengeance. You will regret it. Consider yourself warned.

Unfortunately, I had high hopes for this one, expecting against all odds to create a rich, delicious, dairy-free white sauce with fettuccine noodles, which made reality all the more painful. What I ended up with was a strangely brownish-orange, oddly spiced, impossible-to-choke-down pile of crap. Shocking, really, since normally I am thrilled with Isa's recipes. I guess even the best among us have our bad days (fortunately for me, mine don't end up on the pages of a best selling book to haunt me for all of eternity).

So now I am left with a haunting emptiness in my soul - a chasm aching to be filled with rich, creamy white sauce and noodles. Can anyone help? Are there any truly yummy vegan alfredo recipes out there?