Vegan Blogs

An unprecedented commitment today from one of America’s top food service companies. Starting in 2015, none of their food will be produced using battery cages or gestation crates.

Writing for Civil Eats, Helene York, the company’s director of strategic initiatives, explains the numerous challenges that accompany becoming a leader rather than a follower on farmed animal cruelty issues. But efforts here pay off in numerous important ways. York explains:

Good animal welfare isn’t just about the animals. It’s about starting to dismantle a system that has enormous costs for our society, including the loss of medically important antibiotics, the pollution of our air and water from animal waste, and horrible working conditions in factory farms.

Now would be a great time to meet with the director of your college or corporate dining hall, to ask about instituting Meatless Mondays and switching food service providers to Bon Appétit. If the Syscos of the world start seeing that they’re losing major dining hall contracts on account of animal cruelty concerns, we’ll see a stampede of food service companies rushing to follow Bon Appétit’s lead.

Contact me and I can email you information that will enable you to have a productive and persuasive meeting. Link.

For years, it’s been obvious that factory farms enable bacteria from humans to mutate into antibiotic-resistant forms, and then get passed back to people. The evidence that this occurs has been overwhelming, but definitively proving that this happens is extraordinarily difficult. And naturally, agribusiness has demanded conclusive proof, despite their guilt being obvious to any informed observer.

Well, NPR reports that proof of the factory farm/antibiotic connection has at long last emerged, thanks to a study published today from a team led by Lance Price of the Translational Genomics Research Institute. This is a watershed moment in the decades-long struggle to curtail routine antibiotic use on factory farms. It’s now been proven that this practice is leading to the emergence of deadly bacterial infections that are extraordinarily difficult  to treat. Opponents of routine feeding antibiotics to farmed animals now have clear proof of harm rather than just a mountain of evidence.

From here on in, it’s going to be vastly harder for the meat industry to resist the enactment of new antibiotic bans at factory farms. Thanks to this new study, any informed neutral observer is certain to agree that the public health risks brought about by current agribusiness practices are unacceptable. The days of agribusiness doing the tobacco industry shuck and jive on this key topic are over.

With today’s news, nobody with any credibility can oppose banning the routine feeding of antibiotics at factory farms. Link.

Makes 8 mini loaves

I’ve been pushing the loaf gospel for a few months now, but mini loaves are possibly even greater, because they offer faster baking times, portion control and that coveted adorability that we all look for in a baked good.

But why my obsession with loaves lately? I suppose I know. My 39th birthday came and went and I think that means I’m my version of an adult now. Not only do I not want all the excess of buttercream frostings, but I also just plain don’t feel like making a separate topping for my sweets. Confectioners sugar everywhere, a million dishes to do – grumble, grumble, get off my lawn. I guess I’m paring down and simplifying. Everything in one bowl and let’s get this show on the road, I got shtuff to do!

What I love about loaves is that they’re streamlined. They don’t need an icing, and they don’t seem naked without one. And unlike a muffin, they aren’t associated with anything healthy, and so you don’t expect a hemp seed to leap out and bite you on the nose (hate when that happens.) They’re homey and cozy and they’re definitely not attention seekers, unless the knowing glance from another wizened loaf-connoisseur is the attention you’re seeking. And I guess that’s where I am with my life right now. Fire places and bike trails, gardens and knit blankets. Loaves.

But simple doesn’t mean boring! I still want to have fun, and nothing says fun more than oozy chocolate and sweet jubilant cherries. Still fun, but not underwear-in-your-purse-looking-for-a-cab-at-4:15-am fun. That’s cupcake fun. Let’s have some loaf fun.

Recipe notes: I love this method of mixing applesauce with nut butter as your fat. I think I invented it so don’t steal it. (TM!!!!) It gives you fiber and protein and nutrients that oil or straight-up applesauce in baked goods wouldn’t, and it’s also great for structure, crumb and flavor. I believe if you’re following a no-oil diet then this recipe is kosher for you (although you may want to remove the chocolate chips?)

This is the loaf pan I use and I love it.  It makes 8 loaves. Amazon has a similar one that gets good reviews. If you have smaller sized loaf pans, just be mindful that baking times may vary. Give about 3 to 5 more minutes for each extra loaf in your batch. If you want to use an 8×4 loaf pan then bake for about 50 minutes, up to an hour. If you want to use muffins, then 12 muffins should take about 20 minutes.

If you’re subbing for a nut allergy, try 2 tablespoons oil and one more tablespoon applesauce in place of the nut butter, or try sun or soynut butter.

Last note, I love to use chocolate chunks here because of the aforementioned ooziness. You can sub chocolate chips of course.

1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup natural almond butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup almond milk (or your preferred vegan milk), at room temp
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons boiling water, divided
3/4 cup dry sweetener (any type of sugar or evaporated cane juice)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon chocolate extract (optional – you can use another t vanilla)
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 oz chocolate bar, chopped into 1/2 inch or so chunks
1 cup chopped sweet cherries (thawed if using frozen)

Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly spray a mini loaf pan with cooking spray. Also, boil some water in a tea kettle (no need to measure yet.)

Put applesauce, almond butter, milk and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl. Measure out 1/3 cup boiling water and pour into the bowl with the chocolate mixture, mixing quickly with a fork to make a thick chocolate sauce. Add sugar and extracts and mix well.

Sift about half of the flour, along with the baking soda and salt, into the chocolate mixture, and gently stir just to incorporate, then measure out 1 tablespoon of boiling water and stir again. Now add the rest of the flour mixture and another tablespoon of boiling water and stir just until smooth. Take care not to overmix. Fold in the chocolate chunks and the cherries.

Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pans, about 3/4 of the way.

Bake for 26 to 28 minutes. The tops should be puffy and firm. Stick a steak knife into the center of the loaf to check for doneness. A little bit of wetness is okay since it could be from a chocolate chunk or a cherry, but the knife should come out mostly dry.

Let cool for 10 minutes, then invert pan and place loaves on a cooling rack to cool some of the way. It’s yummy when still a bit warm, with the chocolate chunks oozy and melty. Wrap extra loaves in plastic wrap to keep from drying out. If not using within a day, refrigerate wrapped loaves.

A galling New York Times opinion piece by former pig farmer Blake Hurst belittles efforts to improve welfare and ban gestation crates. Hurst doesn’t so much as acknowledge a single pork farming practice as being unacceptably cruel. Rather, he suggests that efforts to ban the cruelest farming practices amount to “selling expensive pork chops with heaping sides of nostalgia.”

There’s room for meat producers and animal advocates to have a productive conversation on this subject, but it starts with both sides honestly examining the compromises the industry makes in regard to animal welfare for the sake of reducing production costs. The only reference to this topic Hurst makes is that he says gestation crates, “do restrict pigs’ movements.”

That’s an interesting way of putting it. Gestation crates restrict pigs’ movements by keeping them confined, for months at a time, in a space so tiny they can’t even turn around.

By trying to sidestep this fundamental point, Hurst amply demonstrates that he’s not to be trusted about anything else he says regarding pork industry cruelty. Link.

If a molecular biologist’s claims are anything close to being accurate, the meat industry could be on the brink of some ruinous competition:

We have a class of products that totally rocks, and cannot be distinguished from the animal-based product it replaces, even by hardcore foodies.

An extraordinarily bold claim, but then the underdog Giants predicted they’d beat the contemptible Patriots in the last two Super Bowls they played and look what happened. (Via Merberg.) Link.

USA Today:

Two commonly ridiculed “junk” foods — the Doritos chip and the Taco Bell taco — are being rolled into one.

Another step toward the lowest-common-denominator abyss. Meanwhile, Chipotle Mexican Grill keeps growing and growing by offering healthful traditional Mexican food with no gimmicks. Link.

BBC News’ front page links to an article detailing recent progress. One research group expects to produce its first cultured hamburger patty later this year. But at a cost of $200,000, it’ll be more proof of concept than something ready to join McDonald’s Dollar Menu.

Still, the researchers sound convinced they’ll quickly get costs under control. And that forthcoming burger patty will be a key milestone on the road to making farmed animals and slaughterhouses obsolete. (Thanks, John.) Link.

I’m writing this from a hotel on St. Charles Avenue after a night of revelry in the streets of New Orleans. If you’ve never been to Mardi Gras, you might assume that the partying is confined to Fat Tuesday itself, but Mardi Gras day is just the culmination of all the parties and parades that have been going on over the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, out on the street for over twelve hours, my family and I were able to catch six parades (and a couple of bags of purple, green, and gold beads). Tonight we’ll be back out there for four more, and we’ll stay to see Zulu and Rex on Tuesday before we return to real life.

You would think that because we’re in New Orleans we’d get to sample a lot of great New Orleans-style food, but the truth is that, though N.O. has become more vegan-friendly over the last few years, there don’t seem to be many restaurants that offer meatless versions of gumbo, etoufee, or even red beans and rice. While we’re here, we’ll seek out great Vietnamese food or maybe Tapas, but we won’t be able to find Eggplant Creole. Last week, in anticipation of our trip, I began craving spicy New Orleans food, and since I knew I probably couldn’t get it here, I made it myself.

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Read the rest of Vegan Sausage and Mushroom Etoufee (764 words)

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Post tags: higher-fat, holidays, louisiana, Southern cooking

If you’re into vegan baking and would like to use this talent to raise money for animal-friendly causes, it’s time to start thinking about the fourth annual Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. Link.

For everyone who thinks dairy products are high in calcium – check this out!

Hello Collard Greens. How youuuu doing?

Interview with Will Potter from Because We Must

Interview with Will Potter from Because We Must on Vimeo.

Hey Kids
My friend Dave (from Friends of Animals) and I are trying to organize a Vegan Festival for this summer and we’d love your help!!

On Wed Feb 15th we are having a meeting at Green Cuisine (6pm) to discuss a possible Victoria Vegan Fair (for the end of July) but we need to gauge how many volunteers we can count on to help us pull this off. 

We will also be discussing the plans for the 3rd Annual World Vegan Bake Sale Day (on April 29th).

I hope you can make it!!
See you tomorrow!

Sarah’s Place just got in the most beautiful necklace!! The rare and wonderful Decorus globosa, plucked and strung for you to treasure.

This beauty hangs on a delicate, hand oxidized chain of solid brass measuring 56cm (22 in) in length from clasp to end. The bulb flower hangs about 4cm (1 1/2 in)from the chain which is finished with a lobster clasp. The whole piece was constructed of solid, nickel free brass.

I only have 3 of these in stock. Don’t miss out! Purchase HERE.