Top to bottom: Renée French, Hazel Newlevant, Ben Snakepit, Liz Prince, and Sam Henderson, a few of the 55 contributors. Buy Digestate here and use code SUPERVEGAN12 for expedited shipping.

If you’re looking for a great holiday gift, or your books-of-the-year list is a little thin, or if you just like thinking about food and you like to read (which probably covers anyone seeing this blog post!) then Digestate: A Food & Eating Themed Anthology is for you.

While Digestate is available in some comic book shops, it’s not sold through the big online book stores like Amazon. The best place to buy it is directly from Birdcage Bottom Books. Usually they ship media mail only, but between now and December 25, use the coupon code SUPERVEGAN12 to get it shipped first class for the same price! (I promoted Digestate‘s Kickstarter campaign here back in June; I got my copy for supporting that.)

Digestate is an anthology featuring 55 comics authors and illustrators. At nearly 300 pages, this is a big book, but quality doesn’t suffer on account of quantity. While the range is wide (fiction and nonfiction, comedy and tragedy; some stories are personal, some more documentary, and some outright surreal), the storytelling and illustration are excellent throughout. Clearly the contributors were genuinely inspired and excited by the concept here. And clearly editor J.T. Yost chose his contributors well!

If you don’t like a huge portion of what’s in here, you’re probably one of those idiotic ingrates who doesn’t deserve books at all. Or food.

Yost is a vegan himself, and while there are several other vegan contributors, plenty more are not. Some of the pieces are even defences of eating animal products. But don’t let that put you off, vegan reader. The honesty of the authors (even when they’re ethically misguided) coupled with the high level of the work, gives this book signifiant intellectual and emotional weight which would be missing from a compilation of vegan propaganda and cheerleading. Digestate‘s diversity of perspectives is it’s biggest strength. This book doesn’t try to convert anyone, nor does it preach to the choir—because of its bredth and inclusiveness, it can’t.

Also, by not having a unified pro-vegan message, this book is going to appeal to a lot more people. Anyone reading it will be forced to think about where our (and other peoples’) food comes from, and that’s never a bad thing. The focus is overwhelmingly on the emotional and ethical aspects of food, how it makes us feel in the mind and soul, and who else is impacted by our food choices.

In a clever touch, Digestate‘s index indicates the dietary preference of each author: “vegan”, “vegetarian”, “omnivore”, “carnivore”, and some more specific: Ayun Halliday is a “lapsed aquariumatarian, current omnivore”, Dan Piraro is an “ethical vegan (as opposed to ‘health vegan’)”, John Kerschbaum is a “pretzel-enthusiast, etc.”, Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg is an “omnivore who loves soy jerky”.

A lot of my favorite pieces in here are endorsements of non-vegan eating. And I suppose that’s how it should be: we share the world with non-vegans, and some of them are great storytellers. James Kochalka and K. Thor Jensen and (“omnivore”s alike) both contribute excellent and rather sweet stories about why they eat meat even though they know it’s wrong. “Successful Slaughter!” by Marek Bennet (“temperate woodland omnivore”) was just great storytelling and great comics; you’d have to hate reading to dislike it. And “How to Eat Chicken” by Sophia Weideman (“om-nom-nom-nivore”) is the least vegan thing in the world, but its themes of family, memory, responsibility, care, and love still make it totally affecting.

There are surprisingly few pieces here dealing directly with nutrition. I didn’t miss it. There are a few about eating disorders, but even those weren’t what I’d have predicted. Tod C. Parkhill (“picky eater”) and Alex Robinson (“omnivore”) contribute almost mirror-image autobiographical stories of men dealing with lifelong food-anxiety problems.

Some pieces are totally upsetting, perhaps none more so than editor J.T. Yost‘s illustrated version of a slaughterhouse worker’s testimony. Plan on at least a few minutes of shaking and trembling after you read that one.

Others are very, very funny. I literally (as in for-real in real life!) laughed out loud at Liz Prince (“vegetarian”)’s autobiographical gag-fest “History of Eating”, Victor Kerlow (“eats anything, preferably in sandwich form”)’s cannibalistic taco, and Ben Snakepit (“eater of tacos”)’s story of punk-commune-feeding-bands gone nauseatingly wrong.

Digestate also managed to throw me a few welcome curveballs. Lulled into readerly complacency by the many stories that pitch their agenda from the first panel, I was not expecting Anuj Shrestha (“omnivore”)’s ‘Foodies’, which begins as a totally pedestrian story of picky eaters at a restaurant, to be the most disgusting thing in the book.

Nor was I was not expecting a story set in a community garden near where I live in Crown Heights, about the chickens and people who look after them in (by Jess Ruliffson, “guilt-laden omnivore”). Something set so literally close to home made me feel a little bad just sitting home with book when I could be out there doing something.

The stories I liked most were the personal memoirs. Those I liked least (just a few) were merely collections of factoids. There are also quite a few jokey gag pages—special mention to the several from Sam Henderson (“vegetarian”) throughout. And there’s a slew of wacky goofs such as the aforementioned taco, Aron Nels Steinke (“vegan”)’s cracked fable “Scrambled Eggs”, Renée French (carnivore)’s animal-fable-without-a-moral, “Hegelbarger”, and Box Brown (“no dietary restrictions, cantaloupe sometims makes my throat itchy”)’s utopian future set “1000 years after meat” in which kids are still total jerks.

I could go on, but then I’d never finish this blog post and you wouldn’t know to go buy this kick-ass book. It’s truly one of the best things I’ve ever encountered (in any medium) concerned with what food means to us and how we experience it, socially, psychologically, and emotionally.

(A quick note to anyone who thinks “comics aren’t for me”: you’re probably thinking of the wrong kind of comics. I’m pretty sure this book is just fine for people who don’t read many comics: several of the stories are more akin to picture book pages than rows of panels. Indeed, some of the entries are just two-page-spread illustrations, including the Danny Hellman (“vegetarian”)’s past-present-and-future of meat-eating, and Kevin Cannon (“carnivore”)’s depiction of humans as maggots in a piece of beef (which somehow doesn’t read at all as gross). And the vast range of drawing styles makes it easy to find a comfortable place to start. Anyone who can read the Sunday newspaper funnies can handle this material fine. Feel safe buying this book for folks whose comics experience doesn’t extend beyond Peanuts or airline saftey manuals.)

Cartoonist Ethan Young

Cartoonist Ethan Young is a superhero vegan. So frankly, it’s about time that we interviewed him here. On top of that, Ethan’s new book, Tails: Book 1, is out in stores as of this week. If you don’t know Ethan, or if you only know him through reading his online comic, Tails, then read on, for your life isn’t quite complete until you learn about the life of one of the most well known vegan cartoonists there is. Hilarious and fearless, Ethan isn’t even afraid to be self-deprecating while advertising his own work.

SuperVegan: For newbie readers, tell us what Tails is about. And I’m talking, is it about you? A part of you you’re afraid to show the world? A part of you that you had to tame down because you know you have a wife watching your comic?

Ethan: Yes, Tails is about my life, give or take. I’ve always referred to it as the story of a vegan hippie with super powers. The comic incorporates comedic semi-autobiographical stories combined with epic fantasy. My cartoon facsimile is a bit of a dick at times, but my wife already knows that about me. More importantly, Tails is about arrested maturity, and the struggles of becoming a real adult. It just happens to have super-heroes and kittens. And then some super-kittens.

SuperVegan: I know you’ve done work a lot more raunchy than Tails. Tell us how you went on your strange journey and how Tails serves as the outlet for your angry superhero vegan side.

Ethan: Ha, I don’t know how much I should actually divulge. Well, my raunchiest art gig was illustrating gay porn. It was fun, to say the least; never a dull moment. I can’t remember any other period in my life where my ability to draw cute girls was utterly useless. Other than that, my professional art career is fairly perfunctory, which is why Tails exists for me to explore some zanier artistic endeavors.

I started self-publishing Tails back in 2006. At the time, I was a disgruntled worker at an animal shelter; being an aspiring cartoonist while fostering a dozen cats is generally a recipe for frustration. Not to mention the usual 20-year-old problems like relationships, family issues, and low self-esteem. I channeled all of it into Tails, and it was fairly well-received. I later reworked Tails as a webcomic and now it’s back in print, courtesy of Hermes Press.

SuperVegan: You got featured in some pretty big press before this release, didn’t you? And what’s new in this release?

Ethan: I was featured on MTV Geek last year and got a blurb over at VegNews. As for Tails: Book 1, it reprints the first nine chapters of the online comic (tailscomic.com) with some additional material that’ll only be seen in this collected volume.

SuperVegan: Give us a sneak peak; what’s new in the collected volume that’ll make us drool and go out and buy it now?

Ethan: Just a good story with good art. I don’t know if that’s drool-inducing, but it’s something.

SuperVegan: So, the tough question. Another vegan artist? How did you decide the world needed one of those? ;)

Ethan: That’s probably the most complicated question here. I basically wanted to attack negative stereotypes about vegans. Most times when the word ‘vegan’ is mentioned in pop culture, it’s shrouded in mockery, whether it’s TV, films, comics, or whatever. I wanted to portray a vegan as just a regular person with regular problems that anyone else would have. In fact, my being vegan isn’t even really essential to the story. Most people enjoy the comic for the story and resonate with the broader themes. I’ve only encountered one reviewer who was offended by what she considered, my “extremist views.” (FYI, that reviewer can go suck a turd) Of course, that means you end up reading stories about my being an asshole boyfriend during my petulant youth. Is that a good or bad thing, to have that associated with vegans?

SuperVegan: Saying that you want kittens to have homes is something only an extremist terrorist would say, as that reviewer understands well. So you’d rather be identified as frustrated asshole first, vegan superhero second?

Ethan: God, I don’t want to be identified as an asshole, period. But I’ll let the reader make that decision.

SuperVegan: You’re actually getting well known now, wouldn’t you say? When do you think you’ve “made it?” What’s your big project when you can do anything you want once Tails puts you on a bigger map?

Ethan: I think I’ve ‘made it’ as a professional, for sure. I’m not rich, but I’m way better off than most, and way better off than most freelance artists. I’ve recently bought a house and I’m still south of 30, I think that’s a pretty neat bragging right. However, I haven’t yet ‘made it’ if we’re talking about fame. In my ideal fantasy world, every stray kitten would have a warm home, and my doodles would sell for millions. That’s my greedy, delusional, narcissistic side talking.

If I had it my way, I’d keep doing more Tails for years and years. And years. And then open a vegan café.

SuperVegan: Vegan cafe? Do tell. Comics themed?

Ethan: Well, Foodswings was kinda like a comic-themed vegan joint when it first opened. My wife and I have just talked about opening up a vegan cafe for a very long time. We’re in Ithaca, NY right now, which is very veg-friendly, but there’s no 100% vegan place. The closest vegan place is Strong Hearts in Syracuse, NY. This is just me thinking out loud, by the way.

SuperVegan: Anything new you’d like to add or shamelessly plug about the release?

Ethan: Yeah, buy my book. Now. Don’t wait for it to go on sale. And after you buy my book, go adopt a cat.

SuperVegan: Which stores can we find your book at? Barnes & Noble?

Ethan: Yes, Barnes & Noble should have copies. The book was released in comic shops last Wednesday, and Amazon will have it available on September 4th (you can still pre-order it right now). You’d have a better shot of finding the book in a comic shop, but it’d be great if people would flock to Barnes & Noble, because they return all the books they don’t sell.

Preorder this book!

Longtime friend-of-SuperVegan J.T. Yost is Kickstarting a sure-to-be excellent comics anthology, Digestate: a food & eating themed comic anthology.

Now, he made the first mistake of Kickstarter, which is meeting the goal too soon. But he still really could use more money. And you could really use a copy of this book, so go pledge and preorder. Or throw in 10 extra bucks to get a couple of minicomics on the side, like I did.

J.T.’s own comic is based on an affidavit from a slaughterhouse worker that he got from Gail Eisnitz (author of Slaughterhouse). In addition to J.T. himself, other vegan contributors to DIGESTATE include (some famous names in here!)
Berkeley Breathed, Neil Brideau, J.T. Dockery, Nicole J. Georges, Adam Hines, Jonas Madden-Connor, Hazel Newlevant, Dan Piraro, Aron Nels Steinke, and James Turek.

There’s over 50 contributors in all. This is a pretty great anthology for just learning who’s who in indie comics. Here’s a bunch of non-vegan famous names in there: Jeffrey Brown, Renée French, Alex Robinson, James Kochalka, Marc Bell, Box Brown, Noah Van Sciver, and Sam Henderson. Top drawer stuff.

I asked J.T. some questions and he answered so well I’m just gonna quote liberally here:

Originally this was going to be a comic anthology split between vegans and carnivores (omnivores, technically, but ‘carnivore’ sounds more extreme!). Once I’d made sure I had enough vegans contributing I made up a list of non-vegan artists I hoped might contribute. Once I started asking around I realized that my original idea would end up excluding a lot of talented people that either didn’t identify as carnivorous or fell somewhere further down the dietary preference chain. I thought it would probably turn out more interesting to dial back the theme to anything having to do with food and eating and allow the artists to decide how to approach the theme. Judging from the comics I’ve received thus far, I think my instincts were correct! There’s a huge variety in subject matter and tone. Some gave me autobiographical pieces, some were purely fictional, some are akin to essays and just about everything in-between. I like to think a dialogue has been created that can help all of us understand each other’s point of view when it comes to our choices about food & eating.

I hope you’ll join me in supporting this awesome project. You’ve got only a few days left.

Cruel by Sue Coe

The inimitable visual artist Sue Coe will be at MooShoes on Thursday, April 19, at 7:00 p.m. to celebrate the launch of her newest book of drawings, paintings and text, Cruel (expect a review on SuperVegan in the nearish future). Cruel revisits the slaughterhouses and factory farming Coe reported on in 1996′s Dead Meat and addresses their continued impact on animals, workers and consumers some 15 years later.

Coe will sign copies of her books and 10 percent of all sales (books, shoes, bags, etc.!) will be donated to United Poultry Concerns. (Thanks, MooShoes!!!)

The fun spills out onto the street where everyone’s favorite mobile restaurant, Cinnamon Snail, will be parked and feeding the masses with its gourmet savory and sweet eats.

Be sure to watch Our Hen House‘s superb interview with Sue Coe:

Sue Coe: Art of the Animal from Our Hen House on Vimeo.

MooShoes is located at 78 Orchard Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. 212-254-6512

Happy, attractive people flock to the Vegan Shop-Up! (Photo courtesy of VeganShopUp.com)

We’re excitedly counting down the days until we can shop with abandon at the February 12th Vegan Shop-Up at Pine Box Rock Shop in Brooklyn! To take our minds off how to balance being in our favorite bar in such close proximity to sweets, savories, wearables, washables and other assorted odds and ends, we sent Sarah Peltier, the founder of Vegan Shop-Up, our ten most pressing questions! In turn, Sarah sent us her ten best answers! Feel free to read out loud to your loved one(s).

Deborah Diamant: You’re a year old! How does a vegan pop-up shop celebrate this achievement?
Sarah Peltier: We plan to celebrate our first birthday with lots of freebies for everyone! Some of the best vegan-friendly companies around have donated treats: VegNews, Babycakes, Terri, MooShoes, Foodswings, and Babeland.

DD: Why do you think pop-up shops have gotten so popular the last year or so?
SP: They’re the perfect low-risk venue for companies without a regular location to reach the public. They’re an enticing shopping experience and a great way for smaller businesses to get noticed.

DD: How many vendors were at your first shop-up, and how many do you expect this weekend?
SP: We had a whopping five vendors at the very first Shop-Up last February, and now we are at 32! It grows more and more each time around.

DD: The rumor is that you keep Pine Box Rock Shop really packed during your event. Do you have plans to move to a bigger space?
SP: Perhaps if the right space came along we’d consider it. But, of course, we’d hate to leave Pine Box Rock Shop, which we really love and appreciate. It’s a possibility we could span the event over two days next time, too. Our eyes and ears are open!

DD: Are vendors vetted in any way? What do you require from your vendors? Have you had to turn any vendors away?
SP: Vendors have to be local and produce quality vegan products. We shy away from having too many of one thing and love variety. We’ve been turning vendors away from a lack of space! The next Shop-Up is in April and we will have a better approach to accommodating all of our vendors.

DD: Do you yourself operate as a vendor during the Shop-Up? What’s your business?
SP: I have been selling for my own business as well, though it’s getting harder and harder each time as there is just more to do at the events now. I’ve had Woodside Bakehouse since 2009, and this Sunday we will be selling handmade organic vanilla extract and Peanutella, plus our signature El Conejo granola bars.

DD: Are there any success stories from the Shop-Up? Like, has anyone been able to quit their soul-sucking graphic design day job yet?
SP: Hmm, not that I’ve heard of, but I’m excited to see the day! There are a few vendors that sold with us early on but now are just too busy with their rocketing business to take part anymore. Sprout Skincare and Barry’s Tempeh are a few!

DD: Can you gauge what percentage of the items for sale are fair trade, organic and/or recycled?
SP: I’d say a good 70 percent are – it’s definitely a majority!

DD: I know you’re gonna tell me you don’t play favorites, but what vendors are you most excited for this weekend?
SP: YES, no favorites. Very important. Each and every vendor is worthy of your time and money, that’s why it’s so great! On that note: CakeBites (gluten-free cake truffles), Scintilla Microconfections (homemade sprinkles, etc.), Fresh to Death (nut mylk blends), Kitty Jones (handmade catnip mice), Clementine Bakery (soon to open vegan Bed-Stuy bakery)…

DD: Let’s close with a really hard question: What’s your favorite cocktail on the Pine Box Rock Shop menu?
SP: Spicy Virgin Mary! [Ed. note: We can't get enough of the "Sam in a Sweater" ourselves.]

Vegan Shop-Up is happening this Sunday, February 12th from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Pine Box Rock Shop, 12 Grattan Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Now’s your chance to read all those vegan/AR books you’ve been hearing about!

• Still need to come up with another Thanksgiving side dish? How about our latest reader submission: Sweet Potatoes Caribbean.
• And Turtle Mountain has launched two brand-new holiday drinks: Coconut Nog and Mint Chocolate.
• Holiday fare often leads to excess weight gain (if you’re doing it right). Need to lose those extra pounds? Check in with Dr. Frank Sabatino for some plant-based weight loss ideas.
• Speaking of eating, if sandcastle cookies, fried pickles and kale chips spell holiday spirit to you, you won’t want to miss the Vegan Holiday Shop-Up, on Sunday, Dec. 4 from 12-5pm, at the Pine Box Rock Shop.
• Then on Dec. 10, join our very own Livi Lane in the County of Kings for Vegan/Animal Rights Book Swap for Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary 2.0. Stock up on all the tomes you’ve been dying to read, and grab some issue-oriented stocking stuffers!
• Speaking of Woodstock FAS, the Guesthouse is open for business! Well, almost. Make your reservations now: Rooms are available starting Jan. 6. I got a sneak peek during Thanksliving, and let me tell you, it’s a sweet place to stay!
• Thanksgiving is followed by Black Friday, which means holiday shopping is upon us. Want to be sure all your gifts come from cruelty-free sources? The Veg Blog just launched a series of vegan-business profiles, the first of which features Herbivore Clothing Company, and the second, jewelry maker McFarland Designs.
• Still haven’t made much of a dent in that list? On Dec. 11, head over to the Green Holiday Festival, an eco-friendly, cruelty-free shopping event. It’s $20 to get in, but part of that benefits For the Animals Sanctuary.
• For more information about these and other happenings in the NYC area, check out our Events Calendar.

I’m home sick with a sinus infection, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay in and miss all the fun (like Saturday’s Smorgasburg, which for the first time featured items from the Vegan Bodega). But thankfully Smorgasburg happens every Saturday, so you’ll have another chance to go next week, and the week after that.

Two other very cool events are happening Sunday, 10/23:

• Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals, which starts at 11am in Central Park. If you can’t walk, be sure to donate!
• The Vegan Fall Shop-Up, taking place at the Pine Box Rock Shop, from 12-5pm. Check out the artisanal tempeh, kale chips, hummus made in Brooklyn, farm-fresh veggies, stationery, soy candles, and more. The Vegan Bodega is making an appearance at the Shop-Up, too, so be sure to check them out!

Someone bring me a doggie bag!

I don’t know about you, but I love art. But other than stumbling into the odd gallery on my way to dinner every once in a while, I don’t really follow contemporary artists, and I couldn’t tell you who’s who or what their work is like. That goes double for vegan artists. Right now the Metropolitan Community Church of New York is giving us a chance to change that, by hosting a Vegan Art Show, with an opening night reception this Wednesday, Sept. 21.

The exhibit, which opened Sept. 4 and runs through Oct. 28, features 19 vegan artists working in a variety of mediums (the only participant whose name I recognized was Mickey Z., but you might also know Antonia Barbano, Pam Curry, Alyssa Diaz, Daniel Dunbar, Shoshana Frishberg-Izzo, Danielle Geist, Thomas Good, Valerie King, Lauren Krohn, Les LaRue, Kerry Lea, Sara Pegarella, Jennifer Powell, Jody Rasch, Karen Stevenson, Greg Straight Edge, Frances Wood and Claire Zeaman.) And the free fete this Wednesday, from 5pm to 8pm, will be replete with vegan wine (from Vegan Vine, perhaps?), hors d’oeuvres from Caravan of Dreams, and music. Some of the proceeds will benefit the church and other charities, while a portion of handmade jewelry sales will go to New Jersey’s For the Animals Sanctuary.

I’d be first in line if I could get out of work at a decent hour, but hopefully your job is more conducive to socializing than mine is. If so, get yourself to the church’s Jackson Hall Art Gallery and soak it all in. Then leave a comment and let us know which artists’ work spoke to you. As Georgia O’Keeffe said, “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way—things I had no words for.”

Of course you want one!

The Teal Cat Project is a great new fundraising/awareness-raising initiative benefitting feral cats.

The basic gist is: you donate $25. The money goes to a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) group. You get a unique teal cat sculpture in the mail. The project is a collaboration between Everyone’s Favorite Vegan Celebrity Chef (and NYC-deserter) Isa Chandra Moskowitz and fellow Omahan Denise Muller.

The first recipient organization is New York City Feral Cat Initiative–so awesome!

The cats are “upcycled” old tchotchkes. They’ve collected a ginormous colony of these vintage ceramic cats, spray-painted them teal, and given each a numbered tag. They look great, and are more unique, cheaper, and more deserving than anything similar looking you might pick up at Jonathan Adler. The website, looks great, too!

You can also help by donating cat tchotchkes or donating smaller amounts of money.

I kinda wished they’d eartipped them all, but I guess that’d be too much delicate work with ceramic cats.

I just bought mine. Go get your kitty!

Chef Matteo and the Samburu warriors pose for pictures in the Saveur test kitchen.

How do four African warriors become the guests of honor at a private gourmet vegan lunch at the New York City office of one of the most-beloved food magazines around?

About a decade ago, former advertising executive Jane Newman set out on an epic adventure. But when her car broke down in Kenya and warriors in full tribal gear emerged from the bush, she didn’t know what to expect. It certainly wasn’t for the chief to ask her, in perfect English, if she needed help and to invite her to stay with his tribe until her car was fixed. So began Jane’s odyssey with the Samburu, whose kindness she’s spent the last decade repaying by raising money, through the Thorn Tree Project, for food and clothing, dormitories and educational materials so that the nomadic people’s children can attend school.

In New York for a fund-raiser at Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Center this Thursday, Chief George and three of his warriors visited our office at Saveur magazine yesterday and enjoyed what for them was an incredibly unusual feast, worlds away from their staple of cow’s blood and milk (yes, cow’s blood and milk). Chef Matteo of 4-Course Vegan prepared an incredible repast of yellow split pea soup with toasted sesame and chive sour cream, baby arugula Caesar salad with roasted garlic croutons and miso celery dressing, spring vegetable quiche with tarragon asparagus and smoky mushrooms, and for dessert, pine nut and fennel biscuits with Meyer lemon and chocolate mousse. If you’ve ever been to one of Matteo’s Saturday-night dinners, you know how amazing the food was!

During the lunch, Chief George told us about tribal justice, marriage customs, warrior initiations, and how odd it was to see people of so many different colors—and so many different kinds of dogs! (The Samburu have two, apparently, neither of which is of the small, yippy variety.) Then he and the other warriors performed a tribal dance and song (see part of it in the video below).

So how on earth did warriors from a cow-based culture in Sereolipi end up eating vegan with staffers from an omnivorous foodie mag? The credit goes to Clodagh, the vegan interior designer who conceived the magazine’s office space and wanted to celebrate the Samburu’s stay while making sure there was something for her (and by default, me!) to eat. Thanks, Clodagh!

To help the Samburu, you can make a direct donation—a little money goes a very long way. Or learn more about the tribe firsthand and get your hands on some African crafts at the bazaar and silent auction this Thursday night, starting at 6:30.

Holy craft, Batman!

If your mom ever made an excellent treasure hunt for you and your greedy, unappreciative siblings, you remember how tingly your toes and fingers got when you finally reached the treasure chest full of whoknowswhat. Now you can have that transcendent shivery feeling and a box of crafty vegan surprise in the mail, and you don’t have to share them…or fish clues out of the toilet.

It’s All in the Bag is providing that service. Buy a bag of vegan, handmade crafts for $15 (small), $25 (medium), or $35 (large holiday bag, now sold out) from their website and receive a mixed bag of vegan sample stuff donated by crafters on Etsy. All profits from the bags go to Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary out in Deer Trail, Colorado. (Oh, check out their site! It is so pretty and soft and delicate and just like being in the womb!) So what’s not to like?

The generous organizers at It’s All in the Bag sent me a medium-sized box of mine very own. First thing I saw when I opened the priority mail box is a handmade tote bag hiding all the goods. This one, I am SO sorry to say, looks like something I might have made before taking that gender role-affirming eighth-grade home ec. class. At the top of the bag were some sort of confusing coupons and business cards for things like reusable menstrual pads, dressmaking and alterations (send my baggy-in-the-ass pants to Etsy?), prayer beads, and various cosmetics. I dug a little further and found:

• A beautiful penguin holiday-themed card
• Teeny tiny soap samples
• Yummy lip balms, salty scrubs, smelly lotions, and other miniature cosmetics
• Doggy biscuits that expired just a couple days after I received the box
• Single servings of tea
• A necklace and pair of earrings made of plastic beads
• Hella-lotta packaging, most of which was decorative/unnecessary
• More coupons for Etsy stores I probably won’t visit

http://supervegan.com/blog/if-you-havent-been-to-banksys-pet-shop-yet-haul-your-ass-the-hell-over-there-already/

We blogged it a few weeks ago, but this is worth another mention. If you are anywhere near New York City, and you care at all about animal issues, you are a fool and a loser if you don’t visit Banksy’s “Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill” at 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street.

The shop touches on humans’ exploitation of animals for food, chemical and behavioral testing, fur, and entertainment. I’ve never been a big fan of Banksy’s drawing/stencil work, but this show is just great, conceptually technologically, and aesthetically. It’s subversive and clever, sure, but also quite touching and unnerving.

It’s great how it’s just a store-front. I suspect most visitors stumbled upon the place, rather than seeking it out. Even if you don’t think you like or understand fine art, you’ll be OK here. It’s just a mock store, with animatronics, just like at Disneyland.

The show closes on October 31st, Halloween. The price and the hours are friendly–free admission, open 10am-midnight. Go!

(There’s lots more there than what’s in the video.)

]]> http://supervegan.com/blog/if-you-havent-been-to-banksys-pet-shop-yet-haul-your-ass-the-hell-over-there-already/feed/ 1 http://supervegan.com/blog/guerrilla-art-or-gorilla-art-banksys-pet-store-hits-new-york/ http://supervegan.com/blog/guerrilla-art-or-gorilla-art-banksys-pet-store-hits-new-york/#comments Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:20:01 +0000 Anne Sullivan http://supervegan.com/blog/guerrilla-art-or-gorilla-art-banksys-pet-store-hits-new-york/

Free Range Nuggets

Guerrilla artist Banksy has opened his first official exhibition in New York yesterday. “Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill” is at 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street. The fake pet shop he’s created aims to question “our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming.”

The BBC has more photos and full info and video is available from Wooster Collective. Finally, an art exhibit that I care enough to go see. Take that Damien Hirst, you sick bastard.

I’ll post a full report after I pay a visit to the exhibit, which runs until October 31st and is open daily from 10am until midnight.

Check out a flickr photostream of the awesome stuff for sale at the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary benefit tag sale.

Looking for something to fill the void that’s in your life? Find that perfect little black dress, comfy vegan shoe, elusive vintage veggie cookbook, and more while doing good at today’s Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary benefit tag sale!

If you didn’t get a chance to stop by Williamsburg at the Aurora Lampworks Showroom yesterday at North 11th Street between Bedford and Driggs, the benefit continues on today from Noon to 4pm. And even if you did stop by yesterday, make sure to stop by again today as there are many more new items and yesterday’s leftovers are now priced to sell!

Here’s a flickr photostream of some of the many awesome items available for sale (as of yesterday) such as: $5 activist and just plain fashionable t-shirts and tanks, jewelry, cute jackets, vintage and refurbished lamps and metal accessories, posters and artwork, Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, and more!

All proceeds benefit the wonderful critters at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary! Even if you can’t make it, you can still make an online donation and sponsor an animal at their website.

“Excessory Baggage” by Meryl Smith

Too much news piling up, so I’m just gonna spew it atcha:

• Jessica Simpson is “deeply hurt,” “disgusted,” and “upset” that Pamela Anderson called her “bitch” and “whore” for wearing that “Real Girls Eat Meat” T-shirt. Thankfully, Pam ain’t apologizing (though she does claim she was only “kidding” … we can let a little damage control pass, and still be proud of her, right?).
• A giraffe at a circus in Amsterdam led a jailbreak, helping 15 camels, 2 zebras, and some llamas and pot-bellied pigs escape. (They were later recaptured.) Anyone have links to pictures or video of this?
• The New Scientist tells us that “Rhesus macaques have been shown to possess yet another numerical talent once thought unique to humans – they can simultaneously count audible beeps and dots on a computer screen.” Good to know, but can we stop experimenting on them, please?
• Ryan from VegBlog points us to a list of “The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1” and notes “17 of the top 20 (and 9 of the top 10) are vegan. Show this to the next dummy that says, ‘Being vegan is too expensive.’”
• The Food Fight! Grocery blog continues to be your go-to source for headlines such as “Dog Meat Off the Menu for Olympics”“, “Woman Shoots Herself While Trying to Kill Mice”“, “Woman’s fingertip bitten off at meat market“. Go read. And buy some unhealthy vegan food that costs over $1 while you’re at it.
• Lewis Cicero of Fairfield, Connecticut faced either execution or declawing after scratching some of his human neighbors in 2006. His guardian Ruth demanded a trial on criminal charges. The case was just dismissed, as Lewis has kept out of trouble under house arrest.
• The Discerning Brute checks in with some stylish non-silk ties, non-leather martial arts gloves, non-wool post-consumer recycled suits, and more.
• Boing Boing Gadgets points us to this fake Louis Vuitton Piglet Dog purse by artist Meryl Smith (see picture). I don’t know where she falls on animal issues, but a lot of her work is animal-related, and her sad greyhound piece The Last Race is pretty affecting.

For two weeks in May, Brooklyn artist Jillian May set up an unmanned kiosk teeming with vegan cupcakes and cookies and a sign prompting passersby to take a treat and leave a quarter in the jar to pay for it. The stand was an art project on honesty and culture called Conzept Kiosk and it soon developed quite a following from many Prospect Heights locals.

The cupcakes were a steal, considering vegan cupcakes usually go for a whopping $2.50, but that didn’t stop people from purloining the pastries or the jar full of change. New York mag’s Daily Intel reports that folks walked away with, broke, and melted her change jar. Brooklyn Paper reports that there were also folks who turned down the treats altogether. May surmises such people are “suspicious of generosity in an urban culture.”

Victimless Leather, part of the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit at MoMA.

Some things that raise interesting questions have been collecting in my browser tabs bar. I thought I’d share them with you.

• There’s a thorough post over at U.S. Food Policy about the scope of meat in rising food costs. It takes into account the rising cost of animal feed (and competition from the biofuels industry) and also the dramatic increases in meat consumption, especially in developing nations.
• A turtle named Myrtle, who was well known in the backyards of her block in Williamsburg was painted pink, presumably by some construction workers. It became quite a local “human interest” story. It seems like Myrtle will be OK, which is great, but I’m sure that most of those sympathizing with her story would have no moral qualms eating turtle soup.
• I’ve been noticing a similar disconnect in regards to Eight Belles, the racehorse who was driven to her death last week at the Kentucky Derby. The mainstream seems sort of upset about the abuse and effective murder of Eight Belles, but not really enough to realize that horse racing can be just as evil as their favorite bugaboo, dog fighting.
• And finally, Paola Antonelli, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art has “killed” a piece by artists Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr called Victimless Leather. The tiny jacket-shaped object/creature was made of mouse stem cells and was kept alive via a nutrient tube. It (I actually feel OK using an inanimate pronoun here) grew faster than expected and clogged its own life-support system. Says Antonelli:
  

  [It] started growing, growing, growing until it became too big. And [the artists] were back in Australia, so I had to make the decision to kill it. And you know what? I felt I could not make that decision. I’ve always been pro-choice and all of a sudden I’m here not sleeping at night about killing a coat…That thing was never alive before it was grown.

  I wonder how Antonelli thinks other “things” become alive?

You may be familiar with Boston-based Bexx as the creator of the awesome online restaurant guide, VeganBoston, but did you know she also makes books?

In addition to an assortment of adorable journals, sketchbooks, and albums, Bexx has created two outstanding miniature books, How I Get My Protein and How I Get My Calcium. Each illustrated, handsewn book contains a short list of vegan nutrient sources, the amount of nutrient per serving, and percentage of daily value. Also included is information on how much protein or calcium the average person needs each day and a list of resources on vegan nutrition. Bexx recommends: “The next time someone asks you ‘How do you get your protein?’, suppress the urge to strangle them by handing them this cute little book!”

Books By Bexx are sold on Etsy, Little Paper Planes, and Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe. Books by Bexx is also a member of Vegan Etsy, an etsy team made up of vegans that maintain completely vegan shops.

Through the magic of Myspace, I sent Bexx a few questions about her bookmaking business. She was kind enough to respond.

SuperVegan: What are some of the non-vegan tools/ materials used in traditional bookbinding and what do you substitute them with?
Bexx: Traditional bookbinding tools include leather, vellum, hide glue, beeswax (for waxing thread), silk, and bone folders made of real animal bone. For cover materials, I stick to cloth, decorative paper, and the occasional faux leather instead of using animal skins. I use wheat startch paste or PVA (synthetic) instead of that smelly hide glue. Instead of beeswax, I use microcrystaline wax, which is what they use for industrial sewing. To sew endbands, I use very fine linen thread instead of silk. I use a teflon or wood folder instead of one made from bone to fold my paper. Some of these materials are more expensive or harder to find, but I think the extra cost is worth it. Because all animal based materials are organic and therefore will decay over time, I think that staying away from them means my work has more archival posibilities!

How did you get started binding books?
While getting my Masters in Library Science, I began taking book repair classes, which led to some basic bookbinding workshops. I was hooked from the start. Now I’m back in school doing a full-time bookbinding program.

What inspired you to create How I get my protein and How I get my calcium?
As a vegan, I get asked these two questions CONSTANTLY. Most people really and truly believe that you cannot get enough calcium or protein from a vegetable based diet and they aren’t willing to take your word on it without some cold, hard facts. I wanted to have something to present to naysayers of the veg diet to show them that I can avoid animal products and still be healthy. These cute little books are portable, and help me to avoid getting flustered or feeling attacked.

Why did you decide to take an artisan approach to sharing this info, rather than running off a Word document at Kinko’s or posting the info on a web page?
The internet isn’t always at your fingertips. Flyers tend to get lost, thrown away, or aren’t considered trustworthy source of information. But adorable miniature books? Who can resist?

What other book and or web projects are you working on?
I make a variety of vegan books, photo ablums, and journals, all of which are for sale at www.thisisbexx.etsy.com. To complement the protein and calcium books, I am also working on a book called How I Get My Iron.

I also run a web based dining and shopping guide for the Boston area, www.veganboston.com. I’ve been neglecting it lately, but I hope to add a lot of new stores and restaurants over the summer.

What other crafts do you enjoy?
I used to sew a lot, but my sewing machine is now a very large, dusty paperweight. Books have taken over my life.

New Yorkers inspired by Bexx’s handiwork should check out Booklyn, a Greenpoint-based artists alliance that “works tirelessly to put books in the hands of the people and to encourage the people’s hands to make more books.” The nonprofit will teach you a bookmaking skill over the course of an entire month for a mere $20. The group also hosts a free open salon the first Tuesday of each month from 8 to 10pm; the next one is this week on May 6th.

Two stories have been jumping very aggressively from the internet into my face lately and aroused and aggravated my skepticism. First, that an artist is starving dog; and second, that PETA is offering $1 million for in vitro meat.

Costa Rican artist Guillermo “Habacuc” Vargas may or may not have starved a dog to death as a piece of art (alongside “175 pieces of crack cocaine alight in a massive incense burner”) in August 2007 at the Códice Gallery in Managua, Nicaragua, and he may or may not be doing it again at the the Bienal de Artes Visuales de Honduras 2008. Real information is spotty, and this one article from the Guardian (which mostly implies that it was just a stunt and no one was starved to death) seems to be the only actual reportage about any of it.

Habacuc’s primary goal is getting a lot of attention, and that’s certainly working. As of this writing, 2,206,525 people have signed an online petition demanding Habacuc be banned from the Bienal (an additional 666,241 people have signed the embarrassingly slapdash English version.) And it took some serious Googling skillz to find out anything about the Bienal that wasn’t about Habacuc. I’d argue that the public’s outrage is the main component of the piece. It’s up to you if you want to help him or not. Personally, I’m mostly upset at the ratio of outrage to investigation on the part of the pro-animal community. Do we want to be taken seriously or be a bunch of raving ignorant people?

PETA seems to agree with me, and quite rightly points out that “if we can muster up this degree of outrage about one incident of animal suffering, why are we any less horrified by the billions upon billions of similar or worse cases of abuse that we can personally help to prevent?” Good question. But perhaps they’re also jealous of all the attention Habacuc is getting. PETA’s latest ploy is their offer of a $1 million prize to the “first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012.” Like many vegans, I have conflicted feelings about in vitro meat (and about PETA, for that matter), but mostly I see this as a pure publicity stunt. 2012 is really soon for something like this. And $1 million isn’t all that much money for something like this. I don’t think PETA’s actually going to inspire anyone to develop better “fake” meat faster, and I think they know that. But the promise of $1 million is a quick way to get a lot of press attention and discussion.

• Friday on Oprah: Taking a cue from HSUS, Lisa Ling uses a hidden camera to investigate the cruelty of puppy mills. (When did Ling become the reporter of all things freegan and animal-related?)
• The San Francisco Art Institute has taken down an exhibit that featured videos of six animals being bludgeoned to death. Unfortunately, it did so before the public forum was held because of death threats to its staffers. Go hypocrisy!
• The Canadian seal hunt began earlier this week.
• The Rotterdam Zoo is making all of its animals go veg, for health reasons. Even the carnivores…?
• Meanwhile, in Germany, apparently ”zoo” is synonymous with “factory farm.”
• In another giant step for I don’t know what, scientists are hoping to train fish to “catch” themselves. Because why do the harvesting, too, when you can confine your actions to killing and consuming? (At least then maybe there’d be no call for shows like this.)
• And because I can’t handle any more depressing stuff today: Enter your film, poem, needlepoint, etc., in NAVS’ 19th Annual Art for Animals Classic. If your piece wins, it will grace National Anti-Vivisection Society materials (plus you’ll get some cash). Click here for the PDF entry form and rules, or call 800-888-NAVS (6287). The deadline is May 2.

I thought I was making a big effort because I’m baking the Triple Threat Chocolate “Cheese” Cake from My Sweet Vegan for my cousin’s birthday (review TK). Well, when it comes to cake, “effort” has just been redefined.

Someone on the Post Punk Kitchen message boards wanted to do something special for her boyfriend, who’s a huge David Lynch fan, so she put it out to the forum: How should I decorate his vegan birthday cake? How about a Blue Velvet cake with severed ear on top? Van Gogh would be so proud.

Meanwhile, my birthday’s next week, and I don’t expect anything remotely as artistic. Anyway, what would it look like given that one of my all-time favorite movies is Harold and Maude? Have you ever baked anything this creative? We’d love to see pictures!

First a dog was starved to death in a gallery in Costa Rica. Now the San Francisco Art Institute is displaying “Don’t Trust Me,” a video installation in which six animals are shown being bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer by the “artist.”

What else is there to say? In Defense of Animals has created a petition asking the SFAI to remove the exhibit and to refrain from featuring such horrific acts of cruelty in the future. Sign it!

UPDATE: The SFAI has temporarily suspended the exhibit, and it’s holding a public meeting on Monday. Be there and speak your piece, if you can.
What: Public forum to discuss art and ethics and whether killing animals can ever be considered art
When: Monday, March 31 at noon
Where: San Francisco Art Institute Main Campus (in the lecture hall), 800 Chestnut Street

I was all excited about this test lab bunny doll, but it’s made of wool and alpaca. Boo!

• The Philadelphia City Paper published a nice rundown of Vegan Takes on Classic Sandwiches in their city. A nice companion to Your Daughter’s Tied Up In a Brooklyn Basement, a comprehensive guide to (what else?) vegetarian cheesesteaks in Philly.
• Remember when alpha-asshole superchef Anthony Bourdain described vegans as a “Hezbollah-like splinter faction” of vegetarianism? Well, Hezbollah Tofu has taken him at his word and is on a mission to veganize Bourdain recipes. The public is encouraged to contribute recipes and ideas.
• There’s a neat piece in the New York Times today about the Humane Society and PETA’s use of hidden cameras to document horrific –and, on a more practically relevant level, illegal– goings-ons at slaughterhouses, and how the videos are able to reach a wide audience in the age of YouTube.
• In interspecies cooperation news, Moko the dolphin rescued a couple of stranded whales in New Zealand after humans proved powerless to help.

Part of Julie McConnell’s Animals in Mind installation

An exhibit called Enantiomorphic Chamber opened Friday at the NURTUREart Gallery in Williamsburg. I can’t even begin to explain the theme, but it has something to do with humans’ “two-eyed nature” and the metaphysical. What I do know is that it features a fantastic vegan photographer, Julie McConnell.

A friend turned me on to Julie’s work last year, and I saw her Animals in Mind show at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea. Using human hair and silhouettes of combined animal bodies, Julie explores the interspecies bond and the way we separate ourselves from animals in order to exploit them. Her work is disturbing, but in a good way. And I love that an entire page of her website is dedicated to vegan links.

There are a bunch of other artists in the show, but I don’t know much about contemporary art, so I have no idea if they’re any good. But it’s worth the trip just to see Julie’s stuff. And if you want to find out what an enantiomorphic chamber is, the curators are giving a talk on Sun., March 9. Call 718-782-7755 for details.

Where: NURTUREArt Gallery, 910 Grand St., Brooklyn
When: Through March 23; Fri., Sat. & Sun. from noon to 6 and by appointment
How: Take the L to Grand St. On Grand, walk a block east of Bushwick Ave. (past a school); the gallery is right past the traffic light at Waterbury St.