-The faces of The Facebook mounted a campaign to save a ‘Gay Dog‘ from being put down by a Tennessee kill shelter. Gawker covered the story and the dog was rescued! Yay!

-Want to know your state’s animal-related laws and their penalties? The ASPCA has made it easy!

-The European Union is set to ban animal testing for cosmetics forever!

-Will 2013 be the year of ag-gag bills? Our old compatriot Susie Cagle thinks so.

-Arizona lawmaker seeks ban on awarding live animals as carnival prizes. And he’s a Republican!

-”Going Vegan in the NFL” has zero mention of ethics. Do any of these guys care about the leather they’re fumbling?

-Gross. Professional athletes are spraying deer antler velvet into their mouths to stimulate muscle growth. Ew, also.

-Dust off those passports and book your tickets: the biggest vegan festival in the world is coming to London this October! 

-Or, if you’re not up for international travels, here’s the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival lineup for 2013, and there’s more to come! How soon is March again?

Six workers at a Butterball turkey farm in North Carolina face criminal charges after an undercover video revealed alleged animal abuse, and a state employee who tipped off Butterball before a police raid on the farm has pled guilty to obstruction of justice.

Three workers have been arrested, according to Hoke County officials. Terry Johnson has been charged with misdemeanor cruelty to animals, Ruben Mendoza has been charged with animal cruelty and felony identity theft, and Jose Garcia has been charged with felony identity theft. Three other workers are being sought on animal cruelty charges.

I strongly suggest you read the entire ABC News story for the full details.

The arrests and the increase in public awareness of Butterball cruelty are huge steps in the right direction. But we still have two outstandingly awful things happening here: one, of course, is needless cruelty to turkeys, and the other is a state government-employed VETERINARIAN tipping off Butterball about a raid. I’m always flabbergasted by the INSANE hypocrisy of vets who, for example, love parrots but eat chickens. But enabling gratuitous stomping, beating, and otherwise torturing of birds at a factory that rips apart tens of millions of them each year? This person’s license to practice medicine on animals should be revoked and she should be jailed, but instead she’ll be required to take two ethics courses. Whose idea of ethics she’ll be learning about, I don’t know.

This sort of thing reinforces for me in a painfully direct way how important it is to support organizations like MFA who do the very difficult work of confronting animal cruelty head-on every day while I’m sitting at a desk making books. If, like me, it nags at you that you’re not on the front lines, come with me to MFA’s site and make a donation, if you can. Organizations like this need contributions in the form of help AND money.

• Not that you need an excuse to shop, but Mooshoes is celebrating its 10th anniversary this Saturday, Dec. 3, with a 15% discount on all in-store purchases, plus beverages and snacks from Blossom du Jour and Dun-Well Doughnuts.
• Veg Blog has released the third installment of its vegan business profile series, this time featuring cookbook publisher Heritage Press.
• On Wednesday, Dec. 7, head over to Pianos on the Lower East Side for some Freerange Nonfiction and listen while Hannah Tinti, Alison Espach and Alison Smith read from their animal-related books. The event’s $8 cover will directly benefit Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. For more information on this and other happenings in New York City, check out our Events Calendar.
• Speaking of farmed animals, Mercy for Animals has uncovered yet more abuse, this time by Sparboe Egg Farms, the supplier of McDonald’s eggs.
• In other atrocities, the USDA released its 2010 Dairy Checkoff Report, and the results are, well, atrocious: In 2009, $108 million was spent promoting milk, while $283 million was used to push dairy products like cheese. Is this really how we want our tax money spent?
• On a lighter note: Sending out holiday cards? Be sure to order a book of PETA’s stamps featuring veggie celebs, now through January. The stamps, which can be purchased online, are available as of today and feature famous faces such as Woody Harrelson, Chrissie Hynde, Bob Barker and Morrissey, plus historical notables including da Vinci, Tolstoy and Pythagoras. Celebs aren’t always the most consistent carrot eaters, but they do help expose the mainstream to the cause.
• Maybe PETA will consider dedicating a stamp to five-year veghead Jessica Chastain. She’s not the only vegan to make people think the chicken she was chomping was “real.”
• For the young compassionate people in your life: The Vegetarian Resource Group is giving away two $5,000 college scholarships to vegetarian high schoolers graduating in the spring of 2012. If you know a senior who lives and promotes the veg lifestyle, make sure he or she applies by Feb. 20.
• The Clash’s Paul Simonon was arrested earlier this year while working undercover as a vegetarian cook for Greenpeace. He might not have been a vegan pirate cook fighting whalers, but protesting against Artic oil offenders gets a thumbs-up too.
• Jane Brody wrote about vegans’ favorite vitamin in The New York Times: Vitamin B12 Deficiency Can Cause Symptoms That Mimic Aging.
• Arms dealer Viktor Bout, the closest thing to a real-life James Bond villain, is demanding vegan meals in jail.
• Last, I’m sad to say that Marti Kheel has died. I had the privilege of hearing the ecofeminist and the author of Nature Ethics speak a few years ago, and her message was inspiring. RIP, Marti.

Punk rock vegan wine.

Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit is a small, customer-friendly store just west of Union Square. They carefully choose their selection of affordable wines and provide as much information as possible—now listing which wines are vegan!

“Bottlerocket customers frequently ask which of our wines are vegan, so we posted a list!” explains Stephanie Miller, their PR guru.

Stephanie is a dear friend and I look to her for all things wine-related. She has trained as a taster and has worked in the vineyards and cellars of some of the premiere organic and biodynamic wine producers. When I want to know if something fishy (or eggy) has been used in a wine, she’ll know—or find out. So when she told me they investigated which wines at Bottlerocket were vegan, I was tickled.

“It is a great opportunity for us to talk with our customers, offer a bit of wine education and continually get feedback about what is important to shoppers,” she says.

None of the vegan wines sold at Bottlerocket have been processed or fined with animal products or produced with farming practices that specifically use animal products (such as biodynamic). One of their sources is the wonderful Barnivore website.

The store has a fun approach to educating consumers. Next to each wine is posted a card offering details such as region, taste (eyes, nose, mouth), farm production (organic, biodynamic).

Knowing that I like velvety French reds, when I was at the store recently, Stephanie suggested I try the Babiole by Andrea Calek. The huh..? I soon found out that it’s a blend of grapes including Syrah and Grenache. She also told me the story behind the wine. Andrea Calek is something of a punk-rocker of wine-makers. A former Czech soldier, he lives in a trailer amidst his rented grape vines in the Ardeche region of the Rhone. He produces wines that are “blatantly organic, unfiltered and unrefined.”

A punk rock vegan wine—what’s not to love? Dark and spicy, I highly recommend Calek’s Babiole ($24). It fabulously complimented the vegan Tuscan white bean and sausage stew I made and enhanced enjoyment of a dark-chocolate dessert.

The list of vegan wines is posted in the store (also pasted below) and will be noted on the cards soon. Just ask their friendly, knowledgeable staff and they’ll point them out. To get the full story behind the wines you purchase, be sure to ask for the flyers at the register.

If you know of other stores that list vegan wines, be sure to let us know, and feel free to encourage your favorite stores to do the same!

Note: each case (12 bottles) of wine (one kind or an assortment) receives a 10% discount. Plus, if you work or live within the neighborhood, they’ll deliver for free! Wines can also be bought online and shipped to your door.

Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit is located at 5 W. 19 Street, a few doors west of 5 Avenue. Tel: (212) 929-2323. (Tell ‘em SuperVegan sent ya!)

Vegan Wines sold at Bottlerocket

Whites
Alban Viognier
Albet y Noya Cava
CalNaturale Chardonnay
Gruet Brut
Hermann Wiemer Dry Riesling
Hermann Wiemer Gewurtztraminer
Lillet
Moet & Chandon Champagne Imeriale
Moet & Chandon Dom Perignon Champagne
Peter Michael Chardonnay
Pine Ridge Chenin-Viognier Blend
Trimbach Gewurtztraminer
Trimbach Riesling
Veuve Clicquot Brut Champagne
Veuve Clicquot Gold Label Brut Vintage Champagne
Vinos Ambiz Airen Young White

Rosé
Veuve Clicquot Rose Champagne

Reds
Alban Syrah Patrina
Alban Syrah Reva
Andrea Calek Babiole
Benmarco Malbec
CalNaturale Cabernet Sauvignon
Chateau des Rontets
Cline Zinfandel
Domaine des Gourbet Gigondas Cuvee Florence
Domaine du Castel Petit Castel
Paul Hobbs Napa Cabernet
Paul Hobbs Crossbarn Cabernet
Peter Michael Les Pavots
Red Truck
Tommasi Amarone
Vina Cobos Bramare Cabernet Sauvignon

A proto of ribs with the rib-bones rubbed out, as highlighted by QuarryGirl.

My SuperVegan colleague Samantha Cohen is ready to forgive and move on, and whistleblower QuarryGirl is giving them a second chance, but VegNews‘s recent apology over the non-vegan photos kerfuffle just makes them look worse in my eyes.

The only problem the letter acknowledges is the one QuarryGirl made it impossible for them to ignore or deny–that they used photos of non-vegan food to illustrate vegan food in a vegan magazine. (Aside: This is the same QuarryGirl who won VegNews‘s Scandal Breaker of the Year award in 2009, for outing other folks lying about what was vegan. She deserves to win it again this year! But of course VegNews awards are for ad-hoc whatever-they-feel-like-promoting achievements, rather than consistent categories of achievement like the Nobels, Oscars, or Pulitzers.)

I’m glad to see that this second response uses apologetic language, and is signed by actual people (rather than the amorphous “VegNews Team” who signed their first response), publishers Joseph Connelly and Colleen Holland, managing editor Elizabeth Castoria, and art director Sutton Long. I’m also pleased by the active, positive commitment to “build and host a vegan photo bank to assure the availability of vegan stock images.” That’s awesome! If done well, this will be a great resource for photographers and all publishers (both print and online).

But let’s pick apart the other commitments:

“We assure you that we will never again use non-vegan photographs in VegNews” and “All stock images used in the magazine and website will be vegan. We will make sure so that you can be sure.” This is meaningless. What the hell is a “vegan photograph,” aside from one that isn’t on gelatin film? Does this mean all their photographers will be vegan and they will never run a picture of a non-vegan animal (human or otherwise) or animal product? Of course not. It means absolutely nothing.

“Recipes in VegNews will be represented only by custom vegan photography. Count on it.” Good. I think it’s safe to assume here that “vegan photography” means photographs of vegan food, kitchen tools, and serving apparatuses. But note that they’re still not saying you’ll get a picture of the dish the recipe is for!

And now for the most important issues:

This new letter does not acknowledge their ongoing efforts to cover up the situation. The deleted comments. The claims by former VegNews staffers that they were not, in fact, given a say in whether photos of non-vegan food were used to represent vegan food.

Nor does it address these other shortcomings of the initial response:

• pretending that using photos of non-vegan food to represent vegan food is a non-issue to a vegan readership
• stating that the use of such images is unavoidable from a practical perspective
• bragging about their high readership while simultaneously bemoaning their lack of money
• bragging about succeeding in an industry stacked against them while simultaneously blaming their screw-ups on a need to hew to the industry standard
• the editors’ and publishers’ failure to sign the letter by name, instead passing it off as a collective response

This new letter is a little bit of apology and a whole lot of half-assed avoidance. They’re still dodging acknowledgement, let alone responsibility, for their biggest ethical gaffes. The first response only served to dig a deeper hole than Quarrygirl had already tossed them in, and now they’ve completely squandered the moment in the spotlight the scandal afforded them (seriously, when next do you think VegNews will land mainstream attention from such sources as the New York Times, the Oregonian, the Washington Post, and NPR?).

Does it matter? I don’t know. I suspect that people who care about the issues I’ve highlighted here don’t read VegNews anyway. Like Erik Marcus (who recently resigned from their advisory board), I consider VegNews a fluffy lifestyle magazine which caters to the lowest-common denominator. And I stand by my comment last week that “VegNews is correctly gauging their readership in assuming that a shiny, well-styled picture is preferable to an accurate one.” Sure, over the years, an article or two has been interesting to me, and I appreciate that VegNews has been helpful and enjoyable to many vegans and aspiring vegans, but I’ve never been a regular reader. (Another aside: I’d read them more if they posted their content on the web; more importantly, this would both spread the word further and save paper and shipping … but at this rate I may as well wish for better content, too!)

So you could argue that what I think of VegNews is about as important as what I think of People or, heck, Field and Stream. It’s not a magazine written for me to read. But VegNews matters to all vegans, at least in the U.S., even those of us who don’t really read it. Their distribution, branding, and market-penetration is impressive and laudable, as are their production standards (just not what they sacrifice in service to those production standards). It’s because of the magazine’s role as the preeminent vegan press organ that so many vegans with their heads otherwise screwed on straight are ready to forgive and move on, or assert that nothing bad happened in the first place. When VegNews looks bad, we all look bad; we don’t want to look bad, so it’s tempting to act like VegNews is doing the right thing.

Sorry, but they’re not. I don’t want VegNews to shrivel up and die, nor am I hoping for any self-flagellation on their part. But I do find their attempt at apology inconsiderate and patronizing. They have yet to take full responsibility for their ethical and editorial errors, or to make a real commitment to not fucking up like this in the future. Ultimately, this is the responsibility of VegNews publishers Joseph Connelly and Colleen Holland (who I’ve met and enjoyed spending time with!). They can and should do better than this.

Update: Erik Marcus’s post-mortem went up right around the same time I put my post up. It’s well worth reading.

Update 2: Added the NPR link.

April 18, 2011

Dear VegNews Community,

We screwed up.

With regard to our use of symbolic imagery in VegNews, our readers got it right. We wholeheartedly apologize. We assure you that we will never again use non-vegan photographs in VegNews.

Here’s our commitment to you:

• Recipes in VegNews will be represented only by custom vegan photography.
Count on it.

• All stock images used in the magazine and website will be vegan. We will make sure so that you can be sure.

• VegNews will build and host a vegan photo bank to assure the availability of vegan stock images. Look for details in the coming days.

We thank everyone for the invaluable feedback on this critical issue. We exist only to serve you and the vegan cause, and are grateful that you care so passionately about our work.

The VegNews team is committed to restoring the trust we have earned for eleven years.

Together, let’s build a compassionate future.

With gratitude,
Joseph Connelly, Publisher
Colleen Holland, Associate Publisher
Sutton Long, Art Director
Elizabeth Castoria, Managing Editor

Lukas Volger’s Mushroom Barley Burger in all its glory

With all the delicious vegan fare options these days, I haven’t actually had a veggie burger for a long time. To me they’re more like the default menu option when traveling outside of vegan meccas or when having to make dinner from a box while camping. But lo and behold, people are still eating them, as evidenced from three recent New York Times stories. According to one of the articles, “across the country, chefs and restaurateurs have been taking on the erstwhile health-food punch line with a kind of experimental brio, using it as a noble excuse to fool around with flavor and texture and hue. As a result, veggie burgers haven’t merely become good. They have exploded into countless variations of good, and in doing so they’ve begun to look like a bellwether for the American appetite. If the growing passion for plant-based diets is here to stay, chefs — even in restaurants where you won’t find the slightest trace of spirulina — are paying attention.” (Ah yes, the writer worked in a spirulina reference, conjuring up the tired concept of vegetarianism being the territory of crusty hippies with a fondness for adding strange green powder to their food. Ho hum.)

The article listed some interesting ingredients in a variety of veggie burgers that chefs have created, including beets, which gave one patty a color reminiscent of rare meat (because, really, isn’t that what vegetarians want to visualize while eating mashed vegetables shaped into a patty?), prunes for sweetness and stickiness, wheatberries, and eggs (vegans beware — eggs were referenced as a way to hold the burger together and cheese was added for flavor by some chefs).

In the Diner’s Journal article the writer spoke with Veggie Burgers Every Which Way author Lukas Volger who gave by far the best quote of the three articles: “This isn’t just an approximation of a meat burger. It’s an expression of a vegetable.” The recipe for Volger’s Thai Carrot Burgers was included though the the egg whites would need to be substituted to make it suitable for vegans. For guidance, I’ll go consult Isa or Terry’s cookbooks. I did however find a recipe for Lukas’ Mushroom Barley Burger excerpted on the Ultimate Veggie Burgers blog that looked well worth checking out — and no ingredient swapping necessary for this one.

The third article offered a dining guide to veggie burgers in Manhattan, in which not one vegetarian restaurant was mentioned. It’s beyond me why they didn’t just go to the source and find out which veg restaurants are making soy-based burgers, mashing vegetables and grains together or grilling a portobella and serving it on a nice bun. And so I turn to my fellow SuperVegan readers to fill in the blanks: which veggie burgers, either served in a vegetarian restaurant or pre-packaged from a store, are your favorite expression of a vegetable?

Photo by flickr user wonderyort.

Are you a member of the Park Slope Food Coop, or do you know other animal-concerned folks who are? Make it a point to get to this month’s General Meeting (Tuesday, March 29 at 274 Garfield Place) to vote in the proposed Animal Welfare Committee.

The Coop’s Environmental Policy states “the Coop will strive to support the best products and practices in regard to the health, safety, and preservation of humans, animals, and the overall biosphere that it can achieve” and “assessment of products shall be based upon but not limited to… avoiding animal testing by seeking products which have not been tested on animals.” Frankly we could be doing a lot better on these fronts. This new committee is the way to achieve that.

The Animal Welfare Committee is founded by two people I like very much, who have also written for SuperVegan, Patrick Kwan and Jesse Oldham. They’re both vegan, and ideally part of the committee’s mission will be better labeling, organizing, and ordering of vegan products. But it’s important not to confuse this Animal Welfare Committee with a fantasy “Vegan Committee.”

The committee will include non-vegan members, and a big part of their mission is to ensure that animal products that the Coop does carry (whether we like it or not!) are as ethical and animal friendly as possible. Right now there is little-to-no assessment of conditions on farms where many of the coop’s animal products come from. And a lot of items that are tested on animals are regularly stocked and unlabeled as such. This situation needs to change for the Coop’s existing mission and policies to be fulfilled, and this new committee is the way to get it done.

Because it meets this clear need, the new committee has the blessing of the overburdened Environmental Committee. But it’s not at all a sure thing that the new committee will be approved–your vote will be a huge help.

The meeting starts at 7pm, but the Animal Welfare Committee is the fourth and last item on the agenda, so it’s worth coming even if you can’t be there for the full GM. (Though if you want workslot credit for attending, you’ll need to sign up ahead of time and be there for the whole thing.)

See you there, and let’s vote this in on a landslide!

Vegan poster-girl Alicia Silverstone told UsMagazine.com that on occasion she might eat a piece of cheese. “If I was at a party and there was a tray of cheese sitting there and I had had drinks, then I might have a bite. …It’s human. It’s a really good reminder that sometimes you need to have what you remember is this good thing. Because then you have it, and you’re like, ‘Actually that wasn’t better than the recipes in my book,’” Silverstone told Us.

And that’s a problem. But not because Alicia sometimes might occasionally/accidentally/drunkenly/whateverly eat a piece of cheese.

Listen, I’m no purist. If you tell me you knowingly scarfed down a pack of Linden’s cookies on a seven-hour flight, I won’t be all, “YOU ARE NOT A VEGAN, MILK-FAT CONSUMER!!! AND HEY, WHAT ARE THOSE SHOES MADE OF? DO I DETECT LEATHER?!” In fact I’m high-fiving everyone, including Alicia, whose lifestyle is mostly vegan or moving in the vegan direction, and mostly not supporting needless suffering, environmental destruction, and the decline of individual and public health. But as vegans trying to proliferate veganism into the mainstream, it’s our responsibility to make clear to an overwhelmingly ignorant public why veganism is the best choice, not treat the subject all willy-nilly-let’s-go-eat-some-mozzarella-sticks. The masses love to pick at what they perceive as inconsistencies in the behavior of people who want to convince them of real, hard facts. I can just imagine some insecure meat-eater saying, “Hey, even Alicia Silverstone indulges in delicious, inimitable cheese! That means she’s not vegan and she hates cows, and therefore all vegans are hypocrites, so let’s pour cow fat on them, light a match, and celebrate by eating steaks wrapped in bacon!”

Alicia, please don’t make us all look like floozies. As a celebrity with wide influence, you more than any of us mere mortals have to make veganism look good and sensical. Do you really need to eat cheese to remind yourself of why you don’t? (When I’m having a weak moment I just pick up Skinny Bitch or visit PETA‘s website and mosey over to the dairy cows section.) Or, hey, if you really need to eat cheese once a month–and I bet you don’t–, how about you just do it in the privacy of your own home where you’re not setting a bad real-life example for other humans who take cues from you like you’re still Cher and not tell a national magazine about it in a poorly veiled attempt to promote your book?

The best figurehead for conscientious eating will keep in mind what’s best for farm animals, the environment, and the vegan movement, and that means making it look easy and right. Alicia, I want you to continue to be that person, so please, bring some Daiya to the next cocktail party. Or maybe a dish made from a recipe in this great vegan cookbook you might have heard of, The Kind Diet.

This is one of Supervegan’s posts for Vegan MoFo 2010.

I was browsing the olive bar at Union Market in Carroll Gardens the other day and was thrilled to see they were selling Faux Gras, a “deliciously decadent, ridiculously healthy, mousse-like, creamy spread that makes toast, crackers and crudite proud,” which is produced by Brooklyn-based The Regal Vegan and offers a cruelty-free alternative to the spread made of the fattened livers of force-fed ducks.

I thought I’d check in with Ella Nemcova of The Regal Vegan for an update on her foray into this upscale gourmet grocery store chain. Ella said that while one Union Market location keeps Faux Gras by the hummus and tapenade spreads, another keeps it by the foie gras, which is disconcerting to her though she can’t decide whether she’d like them to move it or if it’s a good thing to be next to the offending product. She reports that some of the Union Market shoppers are turned off by her product at in-store tastings when she tells them it’s walnut lentil pate–as if their tongues will fall off if they taste it (or like they revert to age 5 when they pitched a fit to avoid eating the lentils mom served).

Rest assured, no one’s tongue will fall off from eating Faux Gras. It’s available at locations around NYC including obvious places like Perelandra and Lifethyme–a full list of stores is at The Regal Vegan. Ella is also donating a whole bunch of it to be served at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary‘s annual Thanksliving celebration on October 10th. If you don’t have tickets yet, get them pronto as this event always sells out.

And if you’re feeling motivated, please join the weekly demonstrations up at the Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market protesting Hudson Valley Foie Gras, one of the country’s top producers, which has been investigated in the past with reports citing egregious cruelty. There’s a Facebook group you can join for more details on the demos. For activities in NYC and elsewhere check out The Animal Protection & Rescue League and Farm Sanctuary for more info.

I also saw Sweet & Sara’s vegan marshmallows and rice crispy treats at Union Market. Not that I need any incentive to snap up the delectable treats but by helping to create a demand for these products, I’m hoping the store will continue to stock them. So, you know, it’s actually kind of an obligation. And I’m happy to oblige.

The UK Telegraph reports that the United Nations International Panel of Sustainable Resource Management has a new report calling the food animal industry a major contributor to harmful climate change, comparable only to fossil fuel consumption.

Old news to most vegans, sure, but it always helps when big, trusted organizations impartial to animal-rights come out with this stuff.

Though the Telegraph trumpets “meat,” it does sound like the UN report also blames the dairy industry (unlike Food, Inc.!). And it’s nice to see some thoughts about systematic economic incentivizing:

Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, said … “The Panel have reviewed all the available science and conclude that two broad areas are currently having a disproportionately high impact on people and the planet’s life support systems—these are energy in the form of fossil fuels and agriculture, especially the raising of livestock for meat and dairy products.”

Mr Steiner said governments could encourage people to eat less meat by reforming the system of taxes and subsidies so vegetarian food is cheaper.

“Smart market mechanisms, more intelligent fiscal policies and creative policy-making are among the options for internalising the costs of unsustainable patterns. Some tough choices are signalled in this report, but it may prove even more challenging for everyone if the current paths continue into the coming decades,” he added.

(The Telegraph‘s link-free old media approach makes it hard to provide any supporting details, and the UN IPSRM’s own site doesn’t seem to mention the report yet.)

This weekend’s going to rock your veggie world, if you’re into that sorta thing! Veggie Prom is tonight, followed by a post-prom potluck picnic at Central Park. Finally, the Veggie Pride Parade rounds out the weekend Sunday starting at 11 a.m. in the Meatpacking district.

Hungry after all the parading, yes? Z Pizza‘s got vegan slices this weekend, starting today! That means no more staring in their window wishing you had friends to go in on a pie with you, and no aging pizza in your fridge. (But leftover pizza is the best, no joke!)

Jonathan Horowitz’s art exhibit at a former meat locker in the Village called “Go Vegan!” looks brilliant. Have you been? What’d ya think?

At least two carriage horses have crashed in the last two weeks, Gothamist reports. It’s been just a month since the City Council approved changes to the carriage horse industry that support more humane treatment of the horses, but the new legislation does nothing to protect horses from injury due to crashes. Hey, it looks like you can’t make carriage-hauling safe or humane for horses unless you eliminate it entirely. News. Flash.

The LA Times blog’s “L.A. Unleashed” column has a snappy animal round-up of its own: Labradoodle breeder’s regrets, gray whale in Israel, and researchers hurt mice to see the looks on their faces. Guh.

The Humane Society of the United States gives us a peek into Richard Berman’s absurdly shady lobbying tactics and how they threaten animals. You wanna read this!

Remember when Compassion Over Killing encouraged us to enter Dunkin’ Donuts’s “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut Contest,” and asked us to share our vegan creations with them? They’ve picked their favorite 12 contestants’ dreamed-up sweets and will make one of those dreams come true! Vote for your favorite by next Friday, May 21 (and you’ll be entered to win one of 10 prizes, too). Vegan Treats will produce the winning doughnut, which will be announced in June. I will take a box of each!

Daiya-serving pizza chain Z Pizza opened in the West Village this week. Gluten-free crust available! Huzzah! Fill out a two-minute survey (really, I tested it out for ya) to get a $5 coupon delivered to your inbox.

Even better: the largest foie gras farm in the U.S., Hudson Valley Foie Gras, will pay $50,000 for violating the federal clean water act after a judge ruled against them in a lawsuit brought by the Humane Society of the United States.

Pepperidge Farm is way behind the times, still using eggs from caged hens. Join East Bay Animal Advocates in telling Pepperidge Farm’s parent, Campbell Soup Company, that cage-free is the way to go by e-mailing Douglas Conant at douglas_r_conant@campbellsoup.com or calling him at (856) 342-4800, ext. 3752.

Haven’t seen Fowl Play yet? MFA has organized a screening at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center for Thursday, May 13 at 6:30 p.m. The movie will be followed by a Q&A with MFA campaign coordinator Matt Rice, Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary founder Jenny Brown, chicken keeper and blogger Martha Lazar, and Elizabeth Ayer, BK Farmyard’s farm director and consultant and caretaker at Wyckoff Community Garden and Farmers Market. Tickets are $12, or $8 for students and seniors.

VegNews won the best lifestyle mag category for the third consecutive year at the Maggie Awards this week! Yaaaay VegNews!

A mere round-up mention of Mia MacDonald’s HuffPo article about the relationships between Goldman Sachs and agribusiness and your tax dollars, “Investment Bankers with Wings: Making a Killing”, doesn’t do the story justice, so go read. You will be horrified.

And finally: Holy cannoli! Mike Tyson is vegan!

This is a real promotional image from KFC

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to strike the ban on the sale of videos depicting cruelty to animals, Representative Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and 55 other representatives introduced H.R. 5092, a bill to ban the distribution and sale of crush videos. The Humane Society of the United States reminds us that we can help by contacting our representatives asking them to support the law.

We added 27 new restaurants to the guide this week (Thanks, Cathy!), including Organic Village in Forest Hills, Victory Bhaven in Staten Island, and Sunlife Health Food and Juice Bar in the Bronx. See all the new restaurants here, and don’t forget to leave a review if you’ve been!

This week on “Law & Order: SVU,” the show whose following, I’m guessing, is rivaled only by Oprah’s, a woman is murdered while filming “an unflinching expose of meat,” NBC’s description says. Did you catch it? If so, how much did they get into the business of slaughter?

KFC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure launched their “Buckets for the Cure” promotion. For every bucket of chicken sold, KFC will donate 50 cents to Komen now through 5/9. People are rightfully grossed out. I mean, shit is crazy! Since when is the relationship between fried dead chicken pieces and cancer-fighting a mutually symbiotic one? Never ever ever!

Quarrygirl let us know that Starbucks is going to sell vegan frappuccinos. I hate coffee, but whatever! Yay!

Do you like your shredded carrots raw? Birdbath Bakery has your hippie food right here: the Old School Vegetarian Sandwich.

A few reminders for ya:

Our very own Patrick Kwan will be a judge at Veggie Conquest Sunday. (Hint: toss some Daiya cheese on that shit and he will love it!)

The Sea Shepherd’s flagship, the Steve Irwin is docked right here in NYC and you can go INSIDE it!

The bake sale to support Darwin Animal Doctors at Vegan Drinks is Thursday, April 29, 7-9 p.m. at Angels & Kings. Bring a to-go container — Laura Dakin of Sea Shepherd will be baking some serious treats!

Looking for that special vegan with whom you can celebrate/not have to think about your lifestyle? Let us help. Check out Date This Vegan and you might just find the one.

The commercial makes no effort to hide the soybean farmers’ agenda. After an intro segment, it begins: “From across our heartland, soybean, livestock, and poultry farmers are working together to feed the world.”

We get the usual appeals to patriotism (“heartland”), community (“working together”), and an unquestionable common goal (“feed the world”). So, as united Americans, the soybean and meat farmers are going to stamp out hunger. Brilliant!

But let’s back up. Why don’t they tell us how much soy it takes to feed a cow (whose natural diet consists of grass), and then tell us how many humans you could have fed with that? Also, perhaps they could let us know how feeding an animal an unnatural diet of soy (and corn) affects its immune system and actually costs even more because they have to dose it with antibiotics to keep it healthy? Let’s not forget the costs to human health of eating animal meat. And while they’re analyzing the true cost of meat production, why not tell us the costs to other species as the soybean farmers mow down animals’ natural habitats to make space for more soybeans?

“We need to do a better story of telling the benefits” of meat consumption, they say. I didn’t hear about a single benefit of meat consumption in this commercial. I did hear plenty about the industry’s “commitment” to human health and animal welfare (What??), but not a single representation of benefits. Show me proof that eating animals is good for my health or their welfare. C’mon, Soybean Board, show me what’s really going on behind the curtain — the animals as they’re typically raised and slaughtered — and try to tell me that this is humane and healthy.

The Soybean Board is clearly looking where the money is, and right now that’s in the meat industry. But hey, I love edamame, tofu, and tempeh, just to name a few delicious soy-based foods. Let’s remind the Soybean Board of the truth about the costs and “benefits” of meat production and consumption, and let’s let ‘em know that we’re happy to eat soybeans, but not in the form of meat. Write them at info@nebraskasoybeans.org.

Babeland’s Jaguar Harness is now vegan, according to Shewired. No leather necessary for super good times!

The insanely timely hilarious geniuses at Vegansaurus gave us a recipe for a vegan version of KFC’s heart-clogging, rotting body parts, media darling sandwich, the Double Down. Oh my god, Rudy, get your deep fryer.

As of this week, Mondays are vegetarian days in San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors declared in a resolution Tuesday. Yaaaayyyy! Whatever it means in practice, we like the theory and hope it means more delicious veggies for all.

Since life isn’t all fried seitan and Meatless Mondays, and because you need something to show your friend who doesn’t understand that egg farming causes suffering, we give you the Humane Society of the United States’s latest undercover investigation, released Wednesday. Warning: you might puke.

In restaurant news, Souen on 13th Street will close for several months starting next week to renovate, so if you like your hippie food served in a hippie restaurant, go eat there right now, hippie.

‘sNice Soho will open NEXT WEEK so get in a sandwich-y, coffee-y mood with me!

Oh, and in other ‘sNice news! Two of their employees were stabbed last month (shocking and horrible, i know!), so ‘sNice in the West Village is having a benefit to support them on Sunday, April 11, 6-9 p.m. $10 at the door. There will be vegan pigs in a blanket! And me! I will be there!

Enough about restaurants. Registration for the Let Live conference in Portland is open. June 25-27 at Portland State University. Speakers will include Gene Baur, Josh Hooten, Andy Stephanian, Isa Moskowitz, Jasmin Singer, and others TBA.

A nice-looking wild oyster bed on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina. (Photo by Joe Brent on Flickr). By contrast, many commercial beds are just acre after acre of metal cages.

There’s a lot of noise on the internet today about Christopher Cox’s “Consider the Oyster” which carries the slug/page title “It’s OK for vegans to eat oysters” and the subhead “Why even strict vegans should feel comfortable eating oysters by the boatload.”

Cox’s basic thesis is that oysters don’t feel pain and that commercial oyster production/harvesting is far more ecologically friendly than most other industrial food production. He goes out of his way to say that oysters are sustainable for food use in a way that clams and mussels are not. He gets a qualified endorsement from Peter Singer. One can certainly argue with these things, but he’s basically done his homework. Except for seeming to have no clue what it means to be vegan.

When I became a vegan, I didn’t draw an X through everything marked “Animalia” on the tree of life. And when I pick out my dinner, I don’t ask myself: What do I have to do to remain a vegan? I ask myself: What is the right choice in this situation? Eating ethically is not a purity pissing contest, and the more vegans or vegetarians pretend that it is, the more their diets start to resemble mere fashion—and thus risk being dismissed as such. Emerson wrote, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

The only way for me to read this is that Cox doesn’t know what “vegan” means. He never became a vegan, and needn’t worry himself over remaining a vegan. Because of our very consistency (foolish or not) there’s no gray area for vegans when it comes to eating animals. Cox is trying to be ethical about his consumerism, and that’s great. I just don’t understand how the hell anyone thinks the way he’s going about it can be described as any form of veganism. It isn’t.

Vegans do not knowingly/willingly/actively consume or purchase any part or bodily product of an animal that was taken from a living animal or for which an animal was killed. (I know that’s a lot to pack into a sentence, but there it is. End of story.) You can argue that this isn’t the most constructive approach to ethical consumerism, as Peter Singer does. But Peter Singer does not claim to be vegan, nor does he endorse the point of view that eating oysters can ever be vegan.

Cox makes some worthy arguments. I’m sure eating local oysters is (in an immediate, direct sense) more environmentally friendly than, say, eating vegan fake meat shipped from a factory halfway around the world. But that’s neither here nor there in regards to veganism.

He relates how his editor told him “I won’t lie—you’ll be attacked viciously for being a vegan, and attacked equally viciously for not being a strict enough vegan.” Both of her concerns are beside the point. As to the first, of course meat-trolls will jump at any mention of veganism on the web. As to the second, it’s not that he’s not a strict-enough vegan. It’s that he’s not even remotely vegan, by any definition. If you want to argue about strict-enough-veganism, discuss the ethics of riding on a leather seat or accepting animal-based medicine in the emergency room. Not eating fucking meat.

To Cox’s credit, he does say: “Because I eat oysters, I shouldn’t call myself a vegan. I’m not even a vegetarian. I am a pescetarian, or a flexitarian, or maybe there’s an even more awkward word to describe my diet.” Great! So then why did he and/or his editors plaster “vegan” all over the top of the piece and e-mail us (and presumably other vegan publications) with “thought you might enjoy an essay we published today on why it’s ethically OK for even strict vegans to eat oysters.”

I’d fully understand Cox saying he’s vegan in various situations as a shorthand to getting a better meal or whatever. (For years before I was vegetarian, I knew saying I was one would often get me fresher, more palatable food in institutional settings and airplanes.) But that’s a different from stating it in the lede of an essay in a very prominent web magazine. Slate is either being stupid or cynically trying to rile people up. Or, I worry, both.

It’s fair enough for Cox to say is that veganism can become disconnected from the reasons some people become vegans. But if a person starts eating eggs from backyard chickens, or knowingly consuming a modicum of butter, or eats vegan for only part of the day, they aren’t vegan, let alone strict ones.

Deciding to be vegan means you prioritize the avoidance of animal products over other concerns. That’s not what Cox is doing. Whether or not he considers himself vegan (I honestly can’t tell), his claiming so prominently that his oyster-eating has anything to do with veganism just muddies the waters in a way that works against the causes he means to advocate.

The NYC Animal Advocacy meetup is heading to Columbus Circle-area restaurant Telepan Saturday to protest its use of foie gras, and the owner is getting ready by preparing some bullshit spiel about how he’s a beacon of awareness who champions hormone-free milk in schools, serves grass-fed cows, and “won a merit batdge from Animal Welfare Approved.” Congratulations, Bill Telepan, for caring about what affects your bottom-line. That’s capitalism, not compassion. Go to the protest tomorrow, Saturday, March 27, 7-9 p.m.

HEY YOU GUYS OUT IN BAY RIDGE, CAN YOU HEAR ME? The Village Voice tells us there’s this delish vegan sandwich at Casa Calamari in your ‘hood — puffy hero bread overstuffed with loads of sauteed broccoli rabe. Yum!

Food banks for companion animals! Thanks, Petco Foundation! Next step: make ‘em vegan!

Hey, it’s Alicia Silverstone at Candle 79, talking up veganism!

Go Dairy Free rounds up 20 new dairy-free (mostly vegan) foods from Natural Products Expo West 2010. Nut butters! (Stop cringing, boys.) Gluten-free breads, Tofurkey frozen pizza, new Gardein stuff! Check it!

Finally, don’t forget to turn off the lights during Earth Hour Saturday, 8:30 p.m. local time!

When Andy Stepanian and Dara Lovitz gave a talk on SHAC7 and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) at NYU Law School on Tuesday, most of the audience came half-expecting to hear a legal seminar (Lovitz is the author of Muzzling a Movement). Almost no one expected to laugh or cry with inspiration before the talk ended, although almost everyone did. (We interviewed Andy before this event.)

This was not a speech or a classroom teaching. Dara spoke so candidly about the absurdities of animal enterprise terrorism laws that even the law students had to start laughing with her. Andy spoke so painfully earnestly to everyone that few had dry eyes by the end of the talk. No one walked away depressed, though, as the duo were determined to show everyone exactly how much potential we all have to effect positive change, despite how much money and effort the animal enterprises dump into making us feel powerless and small.

Dara, the lawyer, spoke first. And the takeaway of her talk wasn’t “the history and overview of AETA,” but rather just how impressively unconstitutional the AETA is, and how it managed to be drafted anyway. She explained very frankly how a series of unconscionably illegal laws culminating in AETA were pulled over everyone’s eyes through passionately written passages. Passages about how animal activists victimize dying people who can only get a cure through animal testing. Passages that literally say that we owe so much of our lives to the selfless people in charge of the factory farm industry. And she put us face to face with how so many of our senators and policymakers are CEO’s and beneficiaries of devastating animal enterprises.

Dara Lovitz, left, and Andy Stepanion, right. Photo by Robyn Lazara.

When Andy spoke, most anticipated hearing intense stories about how he boldly protested the animal testing giant Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), and how those bold actions got him jailed as a terrorist. He nipped that in the bud right away by saying it wouldn’t do anyone any good to recall stories that make him seem so “badass” as he put it. After pointing out how much he was dressed as Mr. Rogers and that he’s remarkably un-badass, Andy spoke disarmingly openly, in an attempt to answer everyone’s questions as well as he could despite being so muzzled by legal restraints. During the talk, he was constantly torn between telling us what we needed to know, and not wanting us to be scared into silence by the information he has.

He constantly pointed out how animal enterprises want us to fall into the trap of, “Wow, did you hear what happened to Andy? It’s crazy how much the federal government, huge industries, and millions of dollars went into crushing him and his rights because of his stand against animal testing!” Andy explained how falling into that trap leads to spreading fear, and making people hesitant to take a stand because they don’t want to end up a victim like Andy. So, instead of regurgitating what happened to him, he consciously chose to cut off such stories and instead focus on exactly why huge industries and powerful policymakers are so willing to spend so many resources on fighting animal activists. The ultimate reason is that these powerful giants truly care about what people have to say, and are truly scared of what we do say, because they know we all have the power to take them down. HLS eventually admitted that Andy and the other six SHAC defendants, through their penniless protests, caused HLS to lose over $360 million and the ability to be publicly traded in the stock market. After driving this point home, Andy pointed to us all and asked us to think about how much a classroom full of determined individuals can do. Or two classrooms full of such people. Or even just you.

The biggest message of all, though, was that all the money-grubbing companies, the big industries, and the power players were immensely fearful in their paper palaces. Fearful of losing money, of losing power, of being exposed for what they are. And that love and compassion are their biggest enemies. Because an act of love and compassion towards a helpless lab animal can set you free and make you feel more love and freedom than almost anything you can imagine. And that’s simply a feeling that companies like HLS cannot afford to let anyone feel.

Murry, 10, is up for adoption at NYACC.

• The Humane Society of the United States will sell organic vegan vegetarian dog food, called Humane Choice. Let’s hope they kick Purina’s ass to next Tuesday! Also, cat food next, pls!
• The Superbowl happened; the underdog won; and Roberto Martin and Tal Ronnen prepared for Ellen yummy vegan nachos, pot pie, stew, and more. Rah, rah, rah!
• Olympic ice skater Johnny Weir is going to don fake fur rather than real fur over his manitard because some muddling vegans tried to take the focus off his triple axel for a second to talk about his anally-electrocuted outfit, and he just CANNOT BE DISTRACTED FROM WHAT’S IMPORTANT. Weir gets what’s wrong with fur, he told the AP, “but it’s not something that’s the number-one priority in my life. There are humans dying every day. … Look at what just happened in Haiti.” LOOK OVER THERE! LOOK OVER THERE!
• You know things are bad when people are giving up their orange tabbies. Animal Care & Control of New York City is apparently full of them. If you have room for a furry one at home, maybe consider these guys?
• How about this: a slice of your debit transaction fees could support animals instead of banks. In Defense of Animals launched a debit card that will direct a portion of transaction fees to IDA, which they will use to fund “our chimpanzee sanctuary in Cameroon, Africa; our veterinary clinics and ambulance service for the thousands of street animals of Mumbai, India; and for our investigative and sanctuary work in rural Mississippi,” IDA founder and President Elliot M. Katz said. For use wherever Mastercard is accepted. No details yet on how to get one, but I’ll update if I find out.
• Food Fight! Vegan Grocery needs our $$ to help cover their taxes. They’re offering a 5-percent discount with code “FUTAXES10″ (heh) good through Monday, 2/15. Time to stock up on chocolates and Ricemellow, MMMMHMMM.
• New iPhone app from the vegan boozemeisters at Barnivore. Search for “vegan is easy” in the iTunes store. Update (2/15): Per Jason Doucette’s comment below, the app was not made by Barnivore, but it uses data from Barnivore.

Well, there you have it — the week that was. Did we miss anything? Let us know!

Correction (2/16): HSUS’s new dog food contains supplements that they say might come from animal sources. Drat.

The Ady Gil

The Sea Shepherd fleet has been chasing the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctica for about a month now, continually fighting off attacks from the harpoon vessel the Shonan Maru No. 2. Yesterday revealed quite a bit about the players on both sides of the conflict.

The Japanese harpoon ship Shonan Maru No. 2 rammed the tiny Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil. The attack ripped about eight feet of the Ady Gil’s bow completely off the ship. The Ady Gil is sinking and will, most likely, be unsalvageable. As the Ady Gil lurched during the ramming and the crew struggled to keep from falling overboard, the Shonan Maru No. 2 fired high-powered water cannons at the teetering Sea Shepherd members while shooting their LRAD at the Ady Gil. View video of the attack here.

At first the Japanese did not acknowledge the Ady Gil’s post-attack distress signal. The Nisshin Maru finally acknowledged the signal without offering assistance to the ship sinking in Antarctica.

This behavior is getting a bit lethal for even the Japanese Antarctic crew. Even when they chucked grenades at my friends and I on the Steve Irwin two years ago, they weren’t quite so brazen about trying to cause fatalities. New attacks like these suggest they’re more malevolent towards humans than even we thought.

Luckily, the Japanese didn’t know that Sea Shepherd has secretly acquired a third ship for the fleet this year, which has now caught up with the Japanese fleet and rescued the six crew members of the sinking Ady Gil. I’m personally quite glad my friends are now safe and not sinking alone in Antarctica.

Perhaps understandably, the people of Australia are a tad annoyed that their federal government is letting the Japanese sink a ship full of Australians with impunity.

The Australian people and the Green Party of Australia have been wonderful, level-headed supporters of Sea Shepherd, and we think they have a right to be miffed about the Australian aid given to the Japanese whalers to help them attack Australians.

Update: This post at first stated that the Ady Gil wasn’t moving when the Shonan Maru No. 2 rammed and dragged the Ady’s bow before ripping it off. I since removed that statement because the debate of “was it moving?” became everyone’s sole focus of the attack. I’m keeping that statement off since the rest of the post seems to go unread if that statement is in, even though I stand by Captain Chuck Swift. But in case people are still curious to see if the Shonan Maru No. 2 actually did swerve to hit the Ady, here’s video of the ramming from the point of view of the vessel the Bob Barker.

Guys, so much happened this week, I don’t know where to begin. So let’s just start with restaurant openings, yes?

• Sun in Bloom opened Saturday, January 2 and, because I am a man of my word, I went for brunch. It was good. Really good. I mean, check out that loaded burrito — avocado, beans, tofu scramble, and all sorts of tastiness up in that bitch. And no nutritional yeast, thank you.
• On that same magical day, Vinnie’s Pizza in Greenpoint opened. Almost makes you want to move back to Greenpoint, doesn’t it? (Actually, no, Pizza Plus is right here and I’m laaaazy.)
• Babycakes opened its LA location Sunday, January 3. I know, you’re in NYC and you can’t do a thing about it except drool. Well, drool on this!
• And in restaurant closings, Red Bamboo Brooklyn closed.
• The New Yorker profiled Whole Foods co-founder and CEO John Mackey.
• Food, Inc. is online and free, so no more excuses.
• Hospitals in the UK’s publicly funded healthcare system will take meat off the menu to cut carbon emissions and costs, The Guardian reports. Yes, less pollution AND less expense! ALL SIGNS POINT TO NOT EATING ANIMALS.
• 

  Sweden is using bunnies as fuel. They are shooting bunnies, “deep freezing” them, burning them, and then calling it biofuel! COME ON. BUNNIES, NOT BIOFUEL.

The Mouse King, played here by Willie Anderson, is about to get a ballet shoe in the face. Image via Ballet San Jose.

It happens every year — well, it could. Cast as little Clara or Marie in the Nutcracker, every night you have to take off one of your shoes and hurl it at the Mouse King to deter him from devouring your precious Nutcracker. But you’re concerned about this stage direction, key plot point though it is. Is this violent action reconcilable with the vegan way?

At the very least, you can make sure the shoe you throw is a vegan shoe. Before choreographer and animal activist Cynthia King — an alumna of The Boston Conservatory, The Ailey School, and The Rod Rodgers Dance Company — opened her Brooklyn dance studio in 2002, a canvas shoe with a leather sole was the concerned dancer’s only option. I confirmed this after purchasing a bizarre pink plastic pair of something that came to a point in the middle and molded to the arch with all the flexibility of a flip-flop. Whatever it was, it was not a dancing shoe.

Cynthia’s ballet shoes
are available at her
studio in Brooklyn.

The decision to betray my principles and buy real, foot-shaped ballet slippers was traumatic and confusing, and none of you will have to make it, thanks to Cynthia. In 2003 she worked with a local shoemaker to develop gorgeous, durable, and affordable ($24.95 per pair) split-sole canvas shoes, using vinyl instead of suede on the bottom (your feet won’t know the difference!), that hug the foot like a sock and create a more flattering shape than any of the Capezios, Sanshas, or Blochs of the pre-vegan past. So even though I’m told that Capezio can now do a special-order vegan slipper with a six- to eight-week waiting period (if so, they keep it quiet on their website), I’m sticking with Cynthia’s. They’re available immediately from her website and from Karmavore in Canada, and are simply the best slippers you’re going to find.

If you’re having a more iconoclastic winter season, perhaps as one of Mark Morris‘s snowflakes, you probably know about Dance Paws, an accidentally vegan product made with synthetic suede, for the modern, belly, or other barefoot dancer who wants a little protection from the stage or floor. Lovetoknow.com lists Alternative Stores, Discount Dance Supply, and Ethical Wares as sources for a limited selection of vegan jazz, tap, and ballroom shoes, and you’ll want to stay tuned for the jazz shoe Cynthia King is developing, too.

I’m not sure if I’m going to be in a position any time soon to review the special-order vegan pointe shoes the site indicates are available from Grishko, because pointe is a whole other thing, or at least it feels that way if you try stuffing your feet into a pair after you’ve let a few years go by, but word has it that the Maya and 2007 models are available in animal-free versions. (Where are the paper-soled Sansha Recitals I wore once upon a time? Those were cool! I’ve asked the company’s USA general manager, and she’s not talking.)

And if you come across a vegan baroque or character shoe, will you let me know about it, please? After all, why shouldn’t every minuet be a vegan minuet? I’ll just leave you with that bit of holiday inspiration.

UPDATE: The comfortable and long-lasting Sansha Recital, with the cellulose sole, is still readily available; it’s just not listed on the company’s website. (Apparently the site represents their international outlets, which don’t carry this model.) After you’ve found the right fit at the Sansha store on Eighth Avenue at 53rd Street, if you need to order a pair from outside New York you can find one at New York Dance Store. Thanks to Cynthia King and the Sansha staff for this good news.

Sarah Gallogly has spent more time in ballet slippers than some of you have been alive. This is her first post for SuperVegan and we can’t wait for more!