This Saturday, March 16, the very funny, tall, and compassionate KEVIN NEALON will host Fun For Farm Animals: Celebrity Poker Tournament & Cocktail Party to benefit the work of Farm Sanctuary, America’s largest and most effective farm animal rescue and protection organization. This amazing night will feature tasty treats, delicious drinks, and yours truly! Did I mention you don’t have to play poker? You and I can play that game where we stand by the door where the hors d’oeuvres come out from and eat them all. Once that game ends (read: we get full) we can join the carnival atmosphere with psychics (I’m going to ask how fat food blogging is going to make me), magicians (I have bad eyesight, so they always amaze me), caricature artists (like my Bat Mitzvah!), cocktails (like my Bat Mitzvah!) and an intimate acoustic performance by Grammy winning artist COLBIE CAILLAT (like my… nope. Nothing.) If you do want to ante, poker players will battle Farm Sanctuary members, celebrity players, and poker pros to make the final table and win amazing prizes!

Funny, tall, compassionate Kevin Nealon says, “REGISTER HERE.

And if you can’t make it, consider donating anyway!”*

WHAT: Fun For Farm Animals: Celebrity Poker Tournament & Cocktail Party

WHEN: Saturday, March 16, 2013 7:00 p.m. Doors Open / 7:30 p.m. Poker Tournament Begins

WHERE: Petersen Automotive Museum
Connor Penthouse (4th Floor)
6060 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

COST: $200 per person for General Admission and $500 to enter the Celebrity Poker Tournament. Tickets are nonrefundable. Must be 21 or older to register.

PRIZES: Grand Prize: Choose one of three amazing experiences:
- A trip to the tropical paradise of Costa Rica
- An amazing Ski trip to Whistler BC and stay in one of the top hotels in the world
- A trip to the beautiful beaches of Bermuda

Additional prizes:
- 2 Tickets to see Grammy award-winning band FUN at their sold out Greek Theater show in September
- 2 Tickets to the Dancing With The Stars upcoming Season 16 Finale
- A LA Lakers ticket package and more! Read all the details here.

Farm Sanctuary’s three shelters in New York and California provide lifelong care for almost 1,000 rescued farm animals. These animals are ambassadors for the billions on factory farms who have no voice, and their stories help raise awareness about the harsh realities of factory farming.

*That was the Kevin Nealon in my head, not the real Kevin Nealon.

I have a secret to spill:

GoVeggie! or as I like to call it, Go Veggie Exclamation Point (GVEP), formerly known as Galaxy Nutritional Foods (which never had astronomical imagery as part of its branding, nor was it made on the moon), a switch I wrote about earlier, are the makers of the new vegan cheese products available at Trader Joe’s (a store that is so very good to us). Their new and improved shreds are their shreds, and their new and improved cream cheese is their Not Your Average Tub Of Cream Cheese (which I think should be called Above Average Cream Cheese). How did I find this out? I never kiss and tell! Wait. Yes, I do: some good ol’ fashioned sleuthin’ and um, this blog post.

To celebrate all the cheesy goodness, GVEP threw a rager last night that was hosted, and when I say hosted, I mean “Hi, how are you, thanks so much for coming, I’m Heather, let me feed your face!” HOSTED by the effervescent energy balls (but pretty), the Spork Sisters, Jenny and Heather. There were people; like Rory Freedman, who has given up cursing (oh, the irony for a Skinny Bitch!) and has a new book called Beg: A Radical New Way Of Regarding Animals coming out on April 23rd. Television’s Jason Wrobel who is waiting to hear if the pilot episode of his Cooking Channel show How To Live To 100 did well enough to get picked-up and in the interim told us all about the importance of Vitamin K2 (which sounds like Scrubbing Bubbles for your heart). And my friend The Insufferable Vegan and I both masquerading as QuarryGirl.

There was Sporktastic food:

Cream Cheese and Olive Tapenade Layered Dip, Mini Mediterranean Pita Pizza Bites, Saffron Scented Arancini with Mushrooms

There was drink:

Courtesy Frey Wines– America’s First Organic Winery

And there was a cooking demo, where I learned pepper is now just called ‘pep’ and a Vita-Mix is a ‘Vity’:

Heather & Jenny make basil oil!

And best of all, for one lucky SuperVegan reader (that could be you!) there’s a copy of Spork-Fed, the cookbook any vegan who wants to make Strawberry Cream Cheese-Stuffed French Toast must own, the cookbook I personally had signed by both sisters just for you, PLUS a coupon for one free GVEP product!

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment (make sure to leave an e-mail address!) telling us about the best or worst vegan cheese dish you’ve ever eaten, by Monday at noon, PT. Good luck!

Remember way way back to last week, when the famous face of veganism, TV’s Ellen DeGeneres, mentioned, while interviewing Ellen Pompeo, that she gets eggs from her neighbors’ “happy chickens”? Well, who better to talk about Ellen, her diet, and veganism than Roberto Martin, her personal chef! Whether or not you subscribe to their beliefs, it’s wonderful of him to share his thoughts with us, dontchathink? Big thanks to Chef Martin for obliging our Qs with some As and especially for sharing his recipes for Chick’n and Mole Tamales and Black Beast Cake (with a crust!) from his cookbook, Vegan Cooking For Carnivores!

SuperVegan: How long have you been vegan and what’s the best change you’ve seen to the state of veganism since then?

Chef Roberto: Not long, three years. It’s hard to tell because I’m in the middle of it all but it seams that vegan food has exploded in last few years. It is being heavily represented in the best restaurants.

Were you a chef first or a vegan first?

Definitely a chef first! I hated cooking vegan food, I made fun of vegans and dreaded a vegetarian guest at the table. I was a successful personal chef for ten years when I was asked cook for Ellen and Portia. I took the job as a challenge to myself and I never dreamed I would start eating this way

How did you come to be Ellen & Portia’s chef? And do you get to eat the leftovers?

My agent Jack Lippman (Elizabeth Rose Agency) set up the interview and they hired me on the spot. Ellen, Portia, and I got along from the start. They were unhappy with the food they were eating at the time. They are all about the animals. There were a lot of non-vegan foods that they enjoyed in the past but their love for all living things made it impossible for them to go back. They wanted GOOD FOOD that was incidentally vegan and that became my approach.

The Vegan Police were all abuzz about Ellen’s comment on her show the other day about getting eggs from her neighbors’ “happy chickens.” I’m hoping that maybe it was just a one lettered mistake and that she meant ‘got’ instead of ‘get’, as in, past tense– especially seeing as they have you! Can you comment on her comment? Do they, in fact eat eggs? And if so, where do you stand on that?

I can’t comment on that as I have no personal knowledge of the situation. What I can say is my personal opinion is that being vegan is not a religion. It’s simply a non-animal based diet that one chooses to follow. I am not ashamed to call myself 95% vegan because I taste non-vegan food all the time (it helps me make better vegan food.) I couldn’t care less what the “Vegan Police” think of me. These so called Police have been at the helm of the vegan movement since its inception and they have done a lousy job of turning people on to veganism. It’s no wonder that folks are defensive about their meat. I like to think that my personality and cooking style is more relatable to the meat eating world. I see the value in individuals and families eating less meat. It’s about baby steps, we first show how a vegan meal can be easy and yummy…then they try a vegan dish at a restaurant or eat vegan twice a week. This is how you cut down over-all consumption.

I hope I didn’t upset you with the “vegan police” line– I called it that in jest, but I realize now it didn’t quite land the way I intended. I think your answer is really interesting and provides insight into an alternative position, I would hate for that to get lost by semantics.

No, I wasn’t upset at all! That’s the problem with print interviews, they can get read so many ways :)

So is what you cook for Ellen & Portia 100% Vegan or more like the 95% you mention?

I make Ellen and Portia 100% vegan food and I label myself 95% because I feel safer that way. I don’t want to give anyone an opportunity to be all, “Gotcha!” on some technicality.

Where’s your favorite place to eat in LA? And what’s your favorite thing to get there?

I know it’s not gourmet but I love Veggie Grill, It’s close by and I know what I’m getting. I always order the Carne Asada Sandwich but I ask them to make it in a burrito instead.

Any plans to open a restaurant in LA or elsewhere?

Huge plans in terms of a restaurant in LA, but it’s too soon to say anything more.

Wow! Please let us know more about your SUPER EXCITING restaurant news when you can! In the meantime, what’s your favorite recipe from your cookbook, that’s good enough for some Super Vegans?

It would have to be the tamales!! The mole is awesome and easy and The Black Beast (chocolate cake) will blow your mind.

CHICK’N AND MOLE TAMALES
Don’t be discouraged by what you hear, tamales are easy to make and delicious any time of year. The simplest way to prepare tamales is in three steps.
Step 1: Make the filling.
Step 2: Prep the masa.
Step 3: Assemble the tamales and steam them.

Step 1: Make the Filling
2 Bags of Gardein Chick’n Scaloppini, defrosted, diced medium and browned in 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil.
1 Batch Dark Red Mole
One Bag Dry Cornhusks (If dry cornhusks are unavailable in your area you can buy them on-line or use parchment paper cut into 6” x 8” rectangles.)

In a large bowl, add the Gardein and just enough mole to coat.
Thin out the remaining mole with a cup of broth and set aside to enjoy later with the cooked tamales.
Place the husks into a large bowl and cover them with hot water. Set a heavy item on top of the husks to keep them submerged. (As you go through the cornhusks, some will be cracked or too small. Save these unusable husks for the steaming process.)

Step 2: Prep the Masa.
4 cups masa harina
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. kosher salt
4 cups warm water
1 cup vegan butter, melted
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Using a stand mixer and the paddle attachment, combine the ingredients in the order in which they are listed. Mix at a low speed until the ingredients are well incorporated. Turn the speed up to medium for a few minutes to fluff the masa. NOTE: This process may be done by hand if necessary. Cover and refrigerate the masa until needed. Masa can be made up to 3 days in advance. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to assembly.

Step 3: Assembly & Steaming.
Assembly:
Have the dry corn husks, Masa, and the filling on one table, ready to go. Remove a large husk from the water and pat dry. Lay the husk on a flat surface with the long end at the top. The husk will resemble a rudimentary triangle with the narrow end pointing toward the bottom. Place about a ¼ cup of masa onto the husk. Starting from the upper left hand corner, spread the Masa about 3.5” across and 3.5” down. Try to keep the masa approximately 1/8” thick. Spread about 2 tablespoons of mole filling down the center of the masa. Fold the husk in half vertically (from left to right), encasing the filling in a pocket of masa. Roll any excess husk around the tamale. Take the bottom of the excess husk and fold it up towards the top. Lay the tamales flat, seam side down until you have enough to steam. It depends on the size of your steaming basket, but I usually can fit about 2-dozen tamales in one basket.

Steaming: 
Set the tamales upright in a steamer. They need to be crowded enough to stand on their own. You can buy large steamers made just for this purpose, or you can rig something up with a large pot and a good-sized steamer basket. The idea is to have simmering water on the bottom of the pot and a steam basket full of up-right tamales secured above the water. Cover the tamales loosely with the wet, unusable cornhusks, then cover the pot with a tight fitting lid. Steam for 1 Hour and 15 minutes over medium-low heat. When the tamales are done, carefully remove them from the steamer and allow them to rest at least 15 minutes. Remove 2 tamales from the husk and spoon a little excess mole over the top and serve. Tamales are good for 5 days in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer. To maintain freshness, it is best to freeze them the day they are made. They can be defrosted and re-steamed until warm if desired, however, I can’t think of any food that can handle being microwaved better than the tamale. Microwaves should come with a “Tamale button” right next to the “popcorn button”.
Makes: about 24 tamales.

Dark Red Mole
4 Cups Better than Bouillon “No Beef” Beef Broth or Vegetable Broth
6 Dried Pasilla or Ancho Chiles
1 tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Large White Onion, chopped
4 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
1 tsp. Dried Oregano
2 Tbsp. Ground Cumin
2 oz. Unsweetened Bakers Chocolate, chopped
½ Cup Slivered Raw Almonds
2 tsp. Kosher Salt

Chile Preparation: Gas Range
Using a small saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer and remove from the heat. Rinse the chiles individually in cold water and shake them dry. Using metal tongs, roast each chile over a high flame. The chile will burn fast. Move the chile quickly over the flame and blow it out if it catches fire. Roast all sides of the chile. When the chiles are cool, cut them open with scissors, and cut out the stem. Remove the ribs and seeds and soak them in the pan with the hot broth to soften for 15 minutes.

Chile Preparation: Electric Stove Top
Using a small saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer then remove from the heat. Rinse the chiles individually in cold water and shake them dry. Working on one chile at a time cut them open with scissors and cut out the stem. Remove the ribs and seeds and open up the chile. Heat a large skillet on medium high heat. Using a spatula, flatten out the dried chiles skin side down on the hot skillet. Press down long enough for the chiles to soften and scorch. Remove the ribs and seeds and soak them in the pan with the hot broth to soften for 15 minutes.

Mole Preparation:
Heat a medium sauté pan over high heat. Add the olive oil and wait until it shimmers. Add the onion and sauté until translucent. Stir in the garlic, oregano, and cumin, and cook 2 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate. Allow the residual heat to melt the chocolate. Remove the chilies from the bowl and place them in a blender. Strain the broth into the blender and add the onion mixture, almonds, and salt. Purée until the sauce is completely smooth.

VEGAN LA BÊTE NOIRE “THE BLACK BEAST”
For the crust:
2 cups blanched almonds
¼ cup organic all purpose flour
¼ cup melted vegan butter
¼ cup organic brown sugar
One 9”-10” spring form pan

Toast the almonds in a large pan over high heat. Keep moving the almonds around (jiffy pop style) until the almonds begin to darken. Lower the heat to medium-low and continue to agitate the almonds until they are a uniform light brown. Place the nuts on a plate to cool. When the almonds are cool, place them in a food processor and chop them into a fine meal. In a medium bowl mix the ground almonds, flour, butter, and sugar with a fork. Secure the sides of a 9”-10” spring form pan. Using the back of a spoon, spread the crust mixture over the bottom of the pan. This crust does not need to be pre-baked.

For the cake:
1.5 cups extra strong coffee or espresso
½ cup organic white sugar
1/3 cup vegan butter
1 lb. chopped bittersweet chocolate (use the best chocolate available that contains no milk and is 70%+ cocoa)
1 (14oz) block silken tofu
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 350°. Wrap 3 layers of foil around the bottom outside of the spring form pan. Be sure the foil covers the entire outside of the pan (This is to prevent water from penetrating). Using a double boiler whisk the coffee and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add the chocolate and butter and stir until the mixture is combined and the chocolate is fully melted. In a food processor puree the tofu, cornstarch, and chocolate mixture until smooth. Pour the batter into the pan with the prepared crust.

Place the foil-wrapped spring form pan in large roasting pan or hotel pan. Place the two pans inside the oven. Using a pitcher, carefully add enough hot water to the outside pan to come halfway up sides of the cake. Bake the cake for 45 minutes. Using a wooden spoon or wearing an oven mitt, carefully push the cake pan. When the center of the cake is no longer wobbly the cake is done. Carefully remove both pans from the oven. Then remove the cake from the water bath, and carefully remove the foil as well. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan.

For the Chocolate Ganache:
1 cup soy or almond milk (unsweetened)
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli chocolate chips are perfect)

In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the soy or almond milk to a simmer. Remove the milk from the heat. Add the chocolate chips and whisk until completely melted and smooth. Leaving the cake in the pan, pour just enough Ganache to cover the top of the cake. Save the remaining Ganache for another use, like truffles. Refrigerate the cake in the pan until Ganache is set, about 2 hours. The cake can be made up to 3 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Cutting the Cake
Run a warm knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake before releasing the sides. Score the cake in half and then into quarters. Warm a thin knife under hot water and dry the blade. Cut one quarter of the cake, and then cut that quarter into 4 equal pieces. Serve with fresh berries.
Makes 1 9-10” round cake, which serves about 16 individuals. The cake is good for 2 weeks refrigerated.

And maybe those particular chickens are happy. And if they are, good for them. I hope that in addition to being protected from hawks and coyotes as Ellen worries about, they are also well cared for into their old age, just as a family cat or dog would be.

Maybe these chickens don’t dwell on the fact that their brothers, uncles, nephews, and other male relatives were virtually all killed at birth for being “useless”. Maybe they don’t dwell on the fact that many of their mothers, sisters, aunts, nieces, and other female relatives will die from lack of adequate health care, or due to dangerous housing or transport. Maybe they don’t mind that they were bred, raised, sold, and shipped as a commodity. And maybe they don’t care that humans collect and eat their equivalent to menstrual waste. (I’m just talking about rich peoples’ backyard chickens here; not even getting into the horrors that befall their factory-farmed cousins.)

And it seems a safe bet that Ellen’s neighbors’ chickens, happy or not, don’t know what veganism is. But Ellen should know better. If you don’t care how the word “vegan” is used, how it is defined, or what it connotes, then you can probably skip this post. (But then I also wonder why you’re reading a site called SuperVegan?) It’s entirely probable that Ellen is still, in balance, a positive force for lessening animal exploitation. But she’s emphatically not practicing veganism here, and doesn’t seem to be practicing critical thinking or informed common sense either. Her words here are dangerous: if viewers think she’s saying all this as a vegan, we’re running a very real risk of serious dilution of the meaning of the word.

I’m not quibbling edge-case semantics here. There are gray areas to veganism. There might even be gray areas to “vegan” people eating eggs, if, say they’re providing sanctuary for some rescued layers (though I still would never call that vegan). This doesn’t fall into any those gray areas. Is Ellen uncaring or just ignorant?

Ellen has attached herself to veganism and has acted as a spokesperson. In this role, I wish she’d either set a better example or step aside. A celebrity who eats animal products but works towards reforming factory farming can still be a force for good, and maybe that’s Ellen’s role. But an Ellen who doesn’t eat any eggs, and can explain why on national television, well, that would be even better!

In a post from “Going Vegan With Ellen” (a site I criticized when it launched, which has now been killed but had its content folded in with her main site), Ellen says

I personally chose to go vegan because I educated myself on animal cruelty. Suddenly, I realized that what was on my plate were living things, with feelings. And I just couldn’t disconnect myself from it any longer. I read books like “Diet for a New America” and saw documentaries like “Earthlings” and “Meet your Meat,” and it became an easy choice for me.

Maybe she just needs some more reading material, to realize that “happy” chickens almost always come from unhappy backgrounds, and that advocating for backyard chicken-keeping on TV is advocating for suffering, exploitation, and murder, even if it’s not of those particular birds.

Hat tip to Sarah E. Brown, who blogged about this on both Vegansaurus and her own site, for bringing this to our attention.

It’s good to be a Super Vegan in L.A., and it’s about to get better. There’s like a bajillion places to get your Vegan Pizza Day on. And now, or within a matter of minutes from now, not one, not six, but FIVE new Vegan restaurants are opening. They all sound pretty amazing, too. Here’s the rundown:

Maddy’s
This is the second shop, previously known as The Shoppe, from Madeleine Bistro brain–>stomach whizzes, the Andersons. Some of you might remember them from their fundraising efforts for an all Vegan ice cream shoppe slash sandwich spot on Pico and Westwood Boulevard (i.e. near the Westside Pavillion) that was to open in November. Well, howsabout June, or July maybe? Still waiting on word of the official opening but I think I might want to live in there, so landlord, consider yourself noticed.

Shift
Now, you might be judging this place based on the fact that their only web presence thus far is on The Facebook, but before ye cast thine Vegan stones, go look at the pictures of the food this Vegan bar is going to serve. Then wipe the drool off your keyboard and count down the days until it opens. LA’s first all Vegan restaurant, bar and music venue! I hope shoes are not optional.

Cafe Gratitude Venice
They close one, they open two! Due to the star-studded success of the first LA branch, Cafe Gratitude is opening a second in Venice, land of all 2nd branches of things. It was supposed to open today, but didn’t. Maybe Wednesday? Or whenever the tarot/astrologist/numerologist/Psychic Friends Network/Miss Cleo tells them is an auspicious day.

Green Peas
This place is a local favorite for anyone who is in or around Culver City, and has been sorely missed during their, what feels like, 18 year renovation. Jose, the nicest owner in the world, said that they were tentatively going to re-open today, but he also told me they were going to re-open in early June, so I dunno… but don’t give up just yet.
UPDATE! Green Peas to re-open June 28th!

The Village
Now, this is an educated guess, but I believe that the long-hyped, well-anticipated Vegan restaurant from the likes of Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, Chrissie Hynde and Steve Bing with a menu written by none other than Tal Ronnen is called The Village and might open on June 30th. Now any google search will lead you, Super Vegan, to think I’m crazy, as there is no trace whatsoever of this news elsewhere. But! Staywithme: there have been reports for some time that this resty will be housed in the former Bokado space in Studio City. Being the SuperVegan Sleuther that I am, I called the phone number listed for Bokado, and was treated to a voicemail explaining that I had reached the place formerly known as Bokado, and as of June 30th, will be The Village. So, you do the maths. I might be wrong, but let’s hope I’m right, for our guts sake!

UPDATE:
Dangit, looks like my detective cap and I were mistaken.
According to EaterLA, Bokado WILL reopen as The Village, but not with Ellen or any other Vegan star power. And while there will be a few Vegan menu items, it will not be the Tal Ronnen Haven of our dreams.

2nd UPDATE:
It’s now SIX! Another Native Foods will open in Santa Monica on July 3rd! Hurrah!

Where I come from, MFA stands for Master of Fine Arts, but those are just really expensive pieces of paper that don’t do a whole lot. A better use of the acronym is Mercy For Animals because they do awesome things like fight for farmed animals and against the cruelty they are subjected to. Not the other way around. Do you know about this organization? I bet you didn’t know they were this cute.

On Saturday, June 2nd, I was lucky enough to attend a MFA event called Justice For All: A Night For Creatures Big And Small. This was a $500 per VIP ticket cocktail party in the West Hollywood Hills. Pretty swank. Hillary Swank was not there, but other celebrities were, like honoree Emily Deschanel and her Bones co-star Michaela Conlin, Jackass Steve-O and that Skinny Bitch Rory Freedman. The host, Freeway The Dog, and his house were incredible and the bar was not only open, but staffed with swoon-worthy ‘tenders.

The party was catered by super Vegan chef extraordinaire Dave Anderson from Madeleine Bistro, a restaurant that is open on an intermittent basis, and Maddy’s formerly known as The Shoppe, which hasn’t even opened once yet. Culinary highlights included BBQ seitan skewers, cashew cheese stuffed dates wrapped in a smokey mushroom, filet un-fish sandos, and some sort of donut/beignet thing that I am considering starting a competitive Vegan eating team for.

The party was fun, fancy and kind of like going to the airport. You had to take a shuttle van to get there (Heeeeey, to the people on my party bus!), you had to take your shoes off, and you left with a giant bag (of awesome goodies). LAXPH (Los Angeles International Party House).

There was a silent auction of all kinds of great things n’ stuff:

And after a few hours of free swim there was a short program, the three important parts of which were:

Won.) Nathan Runkle, the founder of MFA is appx. 18 years old. Or maybe that’s how old he was when he started it, either way, I have not done enough with my life.

Too.) This video. Don’t you not even try to don’t not be affected.

Three …) people in the room donated $25,000 each. 3! Nathan raised 200K in less than 10 minutes. This was impressive, but it’s not nearly enough, I’m sure. They are fighting billion dollar industries and winning, but with ag-gag bills passing, life is about to get harder for them and Bessy The Cow. Do you have extra dollars? Doesn’t have to be five figures, if you’re so inclined, they would gladly accept whatever you can give. And/Or, you could invest in the highly anticipated Shift all Vegan restaurant & bar in Venice, as they are still in need of a few chunks of money in order to open before I die from a suspense O.D.

Hold on to your tofu blocks my friends, the fine folks over at Nasoya like us! They like you! And in a More Than Words Meets Weird Al (aka SuperVegan #1!) moment, they have given us some Vegan Treasure to give away to one of you lucky readers.

THE BOOTY:

The Treasure Map: A copy of Spork-Fed, a new cookbook by Wonder Twin SuperVegan Powers Jenny Engel & Heather Goldberg. These ladies have been plundering the LA scene for awhile, teaching cooking classes, catering things I’m not invited to, and cultivating a garden of celebrity fans (e.g. aforementioned Weird Al). And, not to peer pressure you or anything, but 58 out of 63 reviewers on Amazon gave it ***** out of *****.

The Eye Patch/Ruffled Shirt: A pair of Nasoya sweat shorts with the words EXTRA FIRM on the tush so you can show all those Juicy people who’s what at the Crunch, Equinox, or Y. Please don’t wear these outside otherwise, K? Thanks.

The Cure To Scurvy: Five, that’s 1,2,3,4,5 coupons for a FREE Nasoya item. Any item! You want some tofu? FREE. You want a jar of Nayonaise? $0. You want some Super Hummus? Gratis! You can keep all five for yourself or you can make your friends do things for ‘em, s’up to you.

Life is already hard, so instead of making you actually do something to earn this loot, all it takes to enter is a few clicks on the screen you’re already reading this on. Just show us how you feel by following us on Twitter, Facebook and or Instagram (@wearesupervegan) and then (re)tweet at us, “like” something, or heart a pic! If you’re already doing so, you’re already entered to win! We will randomly choose our winner on June 8th. EASY, right? We love you, too.

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

• 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.

I love Jorja Fox, now more than ever.

• One of my favorite people, Jenny Brown, is speaking at Jivamukti Café on Saturday, 11/12, from 7-9pm. In Peace Begins on Your Plate: Why Farm Animals Matter in Our Quest for Peace, the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary cofounder will talk about the way animals are raised for food and how we can be better advocates for our fellow critters.
• O Canada! Why do you get your very own vegan patty from Subway but we don’t? All in good time, I guess.
• Next Monday, 11/14, from 7-9pm, NY CLASS is hosting Happy Hour for the Horses at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street. Join super SuperVegan Patrick Kwan to learn more about the campaign to put the horse-drawn carriages out of business. Drinks specials include the “Horseless Carriage Cocktail” for $3.50, and 2-for-1 beer, wine and well drinks, plus snacks courtesy of Sweet Cheeks Vegan Bakery. Check out these and other events on our NYC Events Calendar.
• I don’t have any ink, but I have a lot of friends who’ll be happy to see there’s a new vegan tattoo balm out there.
• Meatless Every Days is better, but Meatless Mondays is a good start. Share this video with the omnis in your life and get them moving in the right direction.
• Jorja Fox stars in a new ad campaign for PETA, asking people to investigate how their food came to be. How cool is it that the actress’s veg epiphany happened in the greatest borough of all?

-In case Halloveegan isn’t enough to fill your Saturday plate, there’s also an all you can eat Vegan buffet! The brunch, presented by Pop-Up Vegan Brunch Cafe, celebrates Dia de los Muertos and ten percent of all sales will be donated to Animal Media Rescue & Education (ARME). Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Here’s the menu.

-Another day, another celeb opens a restaurant … not quite! The Hollywood Reporter reports that Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi (and Chrissie Hynde and Steve Bing) are opening a Vegan restaurant on Ventura Boulevard in the SFV, menu courtesy none other than Tal Ronnen. Guess we won’t have to drive to Vegas to eat Gardein anymore! Designer to the stars, Waldo Fernandez, will “create the space.”
UPDATE: According to EaterLA, the restaurant will open in January and serve Mediterranean foods.

-Vegans make for more TeeVee fodder. Anyone see this week’s episode of South Park? Can I call a Clam on this one, Guys? Pun intended.

This is one of Supervegan’s posts for Vegan MoFo 2011.

• A screening of Forks Over Knives convinced Ozzy Osbourne to go vegan in an effort to stay healthy. Maybe he can take cooking classes with this guy.
• Same thing happened to Russell Brand after seeing the film. Meanwhile, over at Smith, students were in an uproar over rumors that the school was going completely vegetarian and locavore. Like that’s a bad thing?
• Famous veggie Paul McCartney released his first vegetarian cookbook this week, The Meat-Free Monday Cookbook. And on the other side of the Channel, the French government has said Non! to vegetarian meals in schools. What the foudre?
• Chrissie Hynde’s Akron restaurant, VegiTerranean, might be closing, but the singer is set to open up a new vegan eatery in LA with Ellen and Portia.
• Don’t throw meatballs at vegan actress Lea Michele if you don’t want to get kicked off the set of Glee. Well, unless they’re these.
• I don’t know about you, but I don’t get out to Jersey much. Which is why I’m thrilled the Cinnamon Snail Truck is heading to Manhattan and Brooklyn starting in mid-November.

This is one of Supervegan’s posts for Vegan MoFo 2011.

• Paul McCartney just got married, again, and had a vegan wedding. Yay! But what exactly does it mean when they say that one cake was chocolate and the other one was vegan?!
• Champs Bakery had its own location, then it shared space with Kingsland Sandwich Shop. Now it’s a vegetarian diner. I was excited to try their grub and see how it compares with Chicago Diner’s—best diner food ever!—but now I’m left wondering why they bill themselves as vegan when they serve dairy cheese in addition to Daiya? Thanks to an intrepid SuperVegan reader for the tip, which I confirmed with a call to Champs.
• I’m not a sandwich person, so Subway isn’t really on my radar. But it’s pretty major when a national chain tweets about Vegetarian Awareness Month and asks for food feedback, isn’t it?
• There’s a new mock meat in town, about to make its debut at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary’s ThanksLiving feast this weekend. It’s apparently gluten-free and pretty damned delicious. Look for my full report on Monday!
• Okay, this isn’t explicitly about food, but how much do I love Tobey Maguire for sending back a free car because it had leather seats? That’s what I call a true superhero!

This is one of Supervegan’s posts for Vegan MoFo 2011.

Pamela Anderson recently attended a Vivienne Westwood show in London—in a meat market. And she’s been criticized for modeling for Westwood because the designer uses leather (though thankfully she dropped the fur).

So does this make Pam a pariah? Or is attending vegan events only preaching to the choir, missing an opportunity to possibly educate and ignoring the fact that, like it or not, we’re all part of the larger world?

I work at a fashion magazine, and before that I worked for a foodie publication (I barely survived the barbecue issue). I also help take care of my 89-year-old father, which includes ordering his groceries. He’s unabashedly not vegan, and that’s never going to change. Does that make me a sellout too?

Sure, go with her if you must, but I can think of so many better ways…

Ellen DeGeneres (the brand, if not the woman) recently launched a Going Vegan with Ellen site, to acclaim from such varied vegan media outlets as Vegan.com and VegNews. Those folks may like it, but I don’t!

The site probably will help some people be vegan (or closer to vegan), and may in the ultimate balance save some animals. But it’s still a squandered opportunity when you think how much of an effect it could have if it wasn’t so terrible. Ellen’s got a big audience. Imagine how much better the world could be if she gave them a great website instead of this mess.

First problem, it seems to equate “going vegan” with adopting a vegan diet. If you can find any mention of non-dietary aspects of veganism on there, please let me know. You know–leather, ingredients in non-food products, avoiding products tested on animals (like, ahem, Cover Girl), etc.

And it’s a godawful website. The visual design is clunky and unbalanced. The interface is atrocious, breaking what little content the site has is into numerous pieces, requiring dozens of clicks to see information that would make more sense on one page. But, hey, clicks are what you sell ads against!

They manage to cram in some really intrusive ads, too, via tactics like putting them in place of slides in slideshows. And to crown all other sins, they use Tynt, the copy/paste jerks, and Kontera, the useless mouseover popup jerks. And I have a special prize for anyone who can find me someone who likes the fucking Meebo Bar as an end-user. Any visitor with the slightest bit of self respect will run away screaming before they get to any meaningful content.

It doesn’t seem like much of a site for fans of Ellen, either. I couldn’t find any content by Ellen, quoting Ellen, or directly relating to Ellen’s own experiences as a vegan. The Getting Started page would be a great place to hear from Ellen about how she got started on her vegan diet, or at least a few peppy quotes. Instead, we’re mired in a longish and vague chunk of text offering such expertly copyedited advice as “Go to your grocery store and load up on granola (read the labels to make sure they’re vegan) granola…” Sigh.

If Ellen’s goal is to make the maximum number of people go vegan, or even adopt a vegan diet, this site is a poor effort for someone with her resources. She would have done better to just make one page with links to already existing quality vegan websites. I wouldn’t pick on an individual or a mom & pop site for the design issues, but AOL and/or Time Warner know exactly what they’re doing. And I think they’re jerks for it. And good luck finding the infernal thing via Ellen’s main site.

Also, this is the most useless recipe ever. (And I promise I’m not just saying that because it’s attributed to Kathy Freston.)

Actual image from Glenn Beck’s website.

I always like reading about vegan celebrities. Don’t judge. I mean, they have so much influence on people and they can promote veganism, which is just kind of awesome. Who doesn’t like a cool vegan celebrity? Alec Baldwin, Moby, Steve-O, Glenn Beck… Wait. What!? I know that’s what you’re thinking. But yeah, apparently Glenn Beck is one of us now.

I’ll admit, it was tough for me to watch the video Vegetarian Star posted of Beck talking about his veganism, but I wanted to know what he had to say. I mean, maybe I’m wrong about him. Maybe he’s actually a compassionate human being with political views just a tad different than mine. Well, I watched and I listened and I can say this: he’s not. He bitches about drinking wheatgrass and that it’s “not awful, it’s apocalyptic.” “I’m eating crap I don’t even know…” “Last night I had spaghetti and meatballs and there’s no meat! […] How are you getting a meatball?” He’s going vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free for health reasons. Yeah, it’s tough. But I’m sure he has people who cook for him, and they probably make it really tasty for him. Stop bitching, Glenn! Get over it.

I doubt that Beck even considered veganism when he called out celebrity environmentalists such as Al Gore and George Clooney for eating meat back in 2007. “I mean, I like to eat a nice pink-in-the-middle filet stuffed with ham, topped with chicken while wearing a full leather bodysuit!” Yeah, doesn’t sound too compassionate to me.

Anyway, this got me thinking. Aren’t vegans supposed to be all cool and liberal and progressive? I know all of my vegan friends are. But I guess I was wrong. Glenn Beck is actually in good company.

Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes magazine and Republican came out as “(almost) vegan” in HuffPo about a year ago.

Matthew Scully has written countless speeches for George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Sarah Palin. But he’s also written Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy. And he’s vegan. How does that work? How can someone be vegan but at the same time be anti-abortion and pro-war? I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense to me.

Billionnaire vegan Las Vegan casino devleoper Steven Wynn may be a registered Democrat, but he’s loudly criticized the Obama administration for its managing of the federal stimulus and health care.

I bet most of us have been asked “why do you care about animals more than about humans?” Well, I can only speak for myself here, but I care about humans just as much as I care about other animals. The difference for me, though, is that other animals don’t have a voice. And that’s is why I go to protests: to speak for the animals and to give them a voice. And I’ll go to pro-choice protests and anti-war protests, too. It all goes hand in hand. It’s not about choosing animals over humans; it’s about compassion for other beings, humans and animals equally.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy about anyone who switches over to a vegan diet. But this won’t change how I feel about Glenn Beck. How about you?

Comedy for Karma is pig approved

It’s that time of year again — when it’s appropriate to laugh out loud to help rescued farm animals. For the fourth year in a row, the “funny farm” is back with another installment of Comedy for Karma benefitting the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (WFAS).

When: Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Doors at 7:30 pm. Show starts at 8 pm sharp.
Where: Gotham Comedy Club, 208 West 23rd Street between 7th & 8th Avenues in Manhattan.

Tickets are $40 general admission in advance, $50 at the door and there are $75 VIP tickets available as well. You can order tickets online or by calling 845-679-5955.

The line-up of comedians includes:
Olivia Munn of The Daily Show & NBC’s Perfect Couples (if she is indeed still eating chicken, my money’s on WFAS co-founder Jenny Brown to get her to reconsider)
John Oliver & Wyatt Cenac of The Daily Show (note: both are tentative at this time)
Gary Gulman & Myq Kapla, both of whom were Last Comic Standing finalists
Jamie Kilstein of Showtime’s The Green Room
Dan Piraro, Bizarro creator and WFAS board member, will emcee. I, for one, cannot wait for his Viagra jokes that have ruffled some feathers at past WFAS Thanksliving events (and I’m not talking about the turkey feathers).

The funds raised will go directly to the care of over 200 rescued farm animals at the sanctuary and the advocacy work of WFAS. Here’s a video from last year’s show in case you still need convincing that this is an event you don’t want to miss.

Greetings from Anaheim, California where I have just been rolled out the door of the Natural Products Expo West after 4.5 hours of eating my way through the 5 rooms and a gajillion booths of convention. It was kinda the best day ever: not only did I get to meet the people who make the products that change my life, but I got to snack on said products and taste brand new ones! There was even a special surprise at the end. So here for you, is the highlight reel in photo blogeristic style (my apologies for the sub-par pics due to iPhone 3GS).

Part I: Cheeese Wars

Follow Your Heart
One of my first stops on the Expo Express was at Follow Your Heart, inconveniently out of snacks until my 4th visit. I finally got to taste their cheesecake, which was really yummy, their new line of vegan dressings (caesar!), and toasted cheezy bread. Yum.

Daiya
I was excited to find the Daiya booth and try their new Pepperjack flavor in the form of a quesadilla slice. It’s definitely got a li’l kick! No softballs from this SuperVegan, I asked the Daiya representative why o why are their bags not re-sealable? He told me that 8 oz bags don’t need to be, cause it’s not enough product to warrant it. I disagreed. I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually use a $5 bag of Daiya all at once. Then he gave me a story about a zipper being cost prohibitive. That the price of a seal that does the re is so exorbitant it’d make the resale price (even more) impossibly expensive. Hmm… I asked about slices or blocks in addition to shreds. If I want a grilled cheese, shreds are a messy, wasteful, pain, I explained. He said they aren’t working on that, but they are working on a version of their cheeses that are meant to eat cold. Weird. I also got to eat some pizza and a spoonful of mac ‘n’ cheese.

Teese
I was even more excited to come upon the Teese (Chicago SoyDairy) booth. I had heard tell they were offering samples of their mozzarella sticks and I heard right. Oh my holy wow. Not only were they delicious, but the CSD people are super cool. I chatted with Dan Reed, their marketing whiz, and told him about my tete a tete with Mr. Daiya. Their response: Hunh. OUR bags have a zipper! And lookee– they do! Hurrah! They said the zipper didn’t break their budget either, so something’s rotten in Canada, or wherever Daiya is made these days. Score one for Teese in the Vegan Cheese Wars. I also got to taste a marshmallow dandie, a slice of pizza, and a Dandie Tweet. How cute are these Peep alternatives? I promise you, they are so good they will blow your Eastery vegan minds.

Vegan Queso
Crystal Tate and her Vegan Queso is my favorite story of the day. Everyone was talking about her vegan nacho cheese sauce, and with good reason. It is insanely delicious, and I’m not just saying that because she gave me a whole jar to take home. Available in Spicy and Original (which still has kick), this creamy sauce is fat, soy, nut, dairy and cholesterol free. All mouth love aside, the rags to riches **she’s probably not rich yet** tale is adorable. Crystal, a young Texan lady with a Mexican heritage, started dating Chris, a vegan. She was not even vegetarian! They were young, they were in love, and they were broke. They pooled their money for food– $20/week. Crystal became a vegan and loved it, but missed some of her Mexican food stuffs. So, what does she do? She straps on an apron and invents it, of course! Voila, Vegan Queso is born. Chris and Crystal get married and their slogan? Food for lovers. Love it!

Part II: I Scream

So Delicious
When I finally made my through the crowd that had formed around the So Delicious booth (elbows out!) to the ice cream samples, I just assumed that the masses were of like-minded people, screaming for ice cream. I grabbed some samples (chocolate ice cream bar and butter pecan) when I noticed 6 or 7 policemen. Ok, what’s goin on? “It’s for a big loser.” Um, what? “One of the trainers from The Biggest Loser is here.” Ah, ok. I grabbed some coconut based blueberry greek yogurt and fled.

Coconut Bliss
Coconut Bliss had a whole station set up where you could choose from about 8 flavors. It was a decision making moment I’m calling Andrea’s Choice. Brutal! I went with Ginger Cookie Caramel. How could that not be good?

Soylato
I stumbled upon a booth called Soylato. They had two flavors– chocolate and berry. I went for chocolate (duh), was not expecting it to be good, and was happy to be totally wrong. This stuff was creamy, smooth and rich. Not gritty at all and a true chocolate taste. It’s brand new so I hope this stuff takes off!

Double Rainbow
Not the viral video. I gotta say, this one was my favorite. It was so good, and they gave out such generous portions. I had the mint chip and it was a check plus plus.

Part III: Meet Your Meats

The world of Meatless Technologies continues to advance. I tasted science. I also made sure to give the Morningstar Farms booth a giant FU for putting egg whites in … everything.

Lightlife
These guys had some serious real estate. They set up a whole hot dog cart in their city block sized booth! I happened upon them at the beginning of my pilgrimage and wisely decided to skip it in favor of saving stomach space for new products. I never would’ve made it as far as I did if I had partaken, but my stomach’s heart shed a tear not to!

Hodo Soy
Technology from the past, meet the future. Hodo makes some insane soy. I’m not sure I’ve ever had Yuba before but I hope to have it again. And again.

Sophie’s Kitchen Vegan Seafood
I appreciate Vegan Seafood on a conceptual level– I was never a fan of real seafood, so I’m not so into the convincing replicas either, but boy they’re convincing, aren’t they?

May Wah by any other name
For those of us in NYC, May Wah is a prized retailer possession. If you’ve left NYC, it’s loss is poignant. Finally, an American company, VegeUSA, is importing those same Taiwanese meats, repackaging them in English boxes and selling them to Whole Foods shoppers! Citrus Spare Ribs for all!

Turtle Island
Tofurky makes some of my favorite meat-like products. Have you tried their new Pepperoni? I wanted to grab a fistful of toothpicks, but I controlled myself and took one. I also tasted their frozen pizzas, but compared to the 4 others I tried, I gotta say, they have room for improvement. Check minus.

Gardein
Gardein’s next product to hit shelves is their Ultimate Beefless Burger. By the time I tasted it my mouth was numb and my tum tum was angry, but it went down easy! There are a lot of veggie burgers out there, I’m not sure what makes this one the Ultimate but it definitely wasn’t bad. I’ve written about Gardein products before– their sauces kill their meats, but this one doesn’t succumb to that problem as it’s sauce free.The problem instead was the sample sliders were loaded with mustard so I couldn’t really tell you how the actual patty tasted. I think it was good, but I’ll have to give it a 2nd try to be sure. I also tasted their Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers (minus the finger), my fav product in the Gardein line (also sauce free).

Amy’s
I’m glad to be able to tell you about a couple new Amy’s products that were quite good. Glad because that means I successfully waded through the mob of people in their booth and managed to secure myself some samples– quite an accomplishment, really. First, they too have a new burger– the Sonoma. I’m not gonna fib, I can’t recall how it tasted at all, except to say I remember liking it. Sorry, but in case you can’t tell from this mega-post, I got in a bit over my veg-head! I also tried their vegan burrito, which was just okay (to be fair, I grew up in Los Angeles; I’m a Mexican food snob) and their new vegan pizza! Thumbs up. Better than Tofurky, but also made with Daiya. It went fast. I also hunted down their marketing rep and made plans for some exciting SuperVegan contests– keep one eye out!

Asherahs
By the time I got to Asherah’s I was so full I hurt. (where is the vegan Tums booth?!) I was afraid one more sample would be the straw to break my stomach’s back. I couldn’t do it. But these looked good. Another new burger to try. Be forewarned, their website has bad music. Also, the trend seems to be that every new vegan product is also gluten free. Are all special needs eaters being lumped into the same category? I heart gluten.

El Burrito
I have been a vegetarian since 1991 and a vegan since 1999. Even though I’m old, I can still remember what it was like back in those days– the only meat substitutes that existed in my local market were Gardenburger (the original flavor only, with cheese in the patty) and SoyRizo. We have come a long way, people. That said, SoyRizo is still delicious, and El Burrito now has a line of great tasting products. Three of them are vegan (Soyrizo, SoyTaco and Soy Sausage) and I got to taste them in the form of a lovely plate of food prepared for me by this nice lady.

ecoVegan
The show was almost over when I finally came across ecoVegan. They had run out of or packed up their samples. Has anyone tried it? They look like they might be good maybe.

Food For Life
In the utmost of irony, Food For Life’s booth was abandoned when I got there. No food for me & my life, apparently. And for full non-linear confusion, this happened at the beginning of my day (around 2pm)– it wasn’t even closing time. But I hear they have two new vegan products.: a burger (SHOCKER!) and chicken nuggets, called Moophrey and Cluckphrey, respectively. Here’s what the packaging looks like.

Part IV: Count Chocdrea

There must’ve been 100 (approx.) booths sampling organic chocolates, and if you can believe it, I abstained from almost all of them. I was on a mission– there was no time or inside space for them all! Here are the two stand-outs.

Justin’s
Justin’s claims to make the only vegan chocolate peanut butter cups. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but what is true is that these were ridiculous. I want them in my life on a semi-regular basis. They also have a line of nut butters that reach illegal levels of goodness. Warning: another music heavy web site.

Xan
I can’t remember where, but I’ve tried these before. They are the most beautiful chocolates with the most interesting flavors. I tried each of the four vegan ones they had there (raspberry, strawberry, coconut and ancho chili caramel). The ancho chili caramel (with purple metallic dust) was my fav. If you’re looking to win the heart of a vegan, I recommend these. Each one is like a piece of edible cocoa art.

Part V: Special Mentions

WARNING: Super Hummus contains soy
I got a good laugh at the Nasoya booth, who felt obligated to post this warning sign at the sample table for their new Super Hummus, that is actually made from soy beans instead of chickpeas. I’d like to think they took inspirado from us for the name.

Appropriately named, this stuff was super. Thicker than regular hummus, and creamier, the spinach garlic flavor I tried was exceptional. One of my favorite things of the day. Who’da thought?

They also brought in the lovely ladies from Spork Foods to make some tofu scrambles!

Tia’s
Have you heard the rumor going around that Kettle Brand has made vegan Doritos? Well it’s true! The Salsa Picante flavor of Kettle Chips new Tia’s line taste remarkably like some old school Doritos. They gave me a whole big bag! Sorry, no sharing.

Ethical Bean Coffee
There were a bunch of coffee companies at the show, and I am an unabashed addict, but by far the best was from Vancouver, Canada and Ethical Bean. This was the fanciest, techiest, and yummiest jolt of caffeine ever. Even Oprah said so, apparently. O, Oprah. Each bag is fair-trade, organic, roasted in a carbon neutral facility and comes with a unique QR code. If you have an iPhone, you can download the Ethical Bean App and scan your bag. It will take you to a site created for your specific bag of beans. It’ll tell you all kinds of stuff like where your beans were grown, a snapshot of the person who roasted them, tips for brewing. I have no idea how much this coffee costs, but I do know you need to be caffeinated in order to comprehend all the data available about it.

Montage: Earth Balance has a new line of coconut based products coming out, including a margarine, a spread, and a mayo. There was some line of vegan dairy replacements I’d never heard of before called WayFare to be on the lookout for; none were available for the tastin’. (If Andrea actually read SuperVegan, she’d have heard of Wayfare when Rudy reviewed their spreads–Ed.). I tried a really delicious bavarian pretzel from Kim & Scott’s. There are a lot of new vegan Indian food products coming (curries, samosas, etc). And someone has made chips out of falafel.

I called it quits and made my way back to my friends at the VegNews booth only to discover (from the founder of Veggie Grill and his friend) that Fabio was downstairs in a booth, right by the Chicago SoyDairy. Whaaaaaaaaaat? My belly and I ran downstairs, with 5 minutes remaining, past the Teesers. “How could you not tell me Fabio was here?!” “You don’t want to take your picture with him, take one with me!”

I found the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter but it’s still dairy salesman, got an autographed 8×10 glossy and my shoulder dislocated (not really, but almost). He was there hawking his line of non-vegan protein powder– Healthy Planet Nutrition.

Then I doubled back to Mr. Teese March, who I got to pose the same way, for comparison and my upcoming Natural Mens Calendar 2012.

My evening ended at the Irvine Veggie Grill with the fine fine folks of VegNews Magazine, Allison from Allison’s Gourmet (I learned I must try her vegan mac & cheese recipe) and Chicago SoyDairy. Sadly, even thinking about more eating hurt at this point, so I had some strawberry lemonade and watched, knowing I was missing out on the deliciousness. The company was excellent though.

So there you have it, my Natural Products Expo West Triathalon of Snacking, Chatting, and Drinking. I didn’t have time for beverages (Acai, acai, acai! And 40 tons of coconut water), supplements, or personal products like cosmetics. Next year I will fast beforehand, wear a muumuu, bring an assistant and go twice. Any volunteers?

On Feb. 8, I went to the Tribeca Grand for the first screening of Chow Down, a documentary that shows the turnaround that two men with heart disease achieved by switching to a plant-based diet. (By turnaround I mean that they didn’t die.) If you’re looking for an outreach tool that comes from a health perspective, this is it. Doctors like Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., Neal Barnard and Joel Fuhrman, as well as T. Colin Campbell, lay the facts out on the table, including the discovery that nutrition controls the expression of certain genes, including those that govern disease. The movie also addresses the government’s complicity in Americans’ nutrition-poor diet and the hold big-money interests like the meat and dairy industries have over what we’re told we should eat.

The editing was a little choppy in places—for example, there were supposed to be three participants, but the third, a woman, dropped out, and no other explanation was given except that she just couldn’t do it right then. But overall the movie delivered its message with simplicity, humor and truth.

Because it doesn’t address the cruelty issue, it was followed by a screening of Glass Walls, narrated by Paul McCartney. It was at this point that a lot of people left the room, while the rest of us covered our eyes and tried to plug up our ears. Make no mistake: This seven-minute film pulls no punches and is extremely explicit about what happens to the animals we use for food. I’d recommend this as an outreach tool, but most vegans aren’t able to sit through it, so I can’t imagine any guilty omnivores sticking it out.

The panel afterward included vegan (and one nonvegan) authors, activists and foodies: Gene Baur, Victoria Moran, Bart Potenza, Simone Reyes, Michael Parrish Dudell, Alex Jamieson and Annemarie Colbin. Responses to audience questions ranged from impassioned to no-holds-barred. Gene responded to one query in a very diplomatic yet matter-of-fact way: When he was asked that age-old question—What about humane meat and eggs?—he told it like it is: At the end of the day, no matter how much respect the farmer says he has for his animals, he slaughters them, it’s a violent and tragic end, and he does it simply because he makes money from it. The end.

The only cringe-worthy moments of the evening (well, aside from the screening of Glass Walls) were provided by Colbin, who seemed to be pushing to include meat in our diet and actually uttered the confounding statement I thought only ignorant omnis sometimes pulled out of their back pocket: Plants have a consciousness too, so if you care about them, being vegan isn’t the answer. What all of these people forget is that the majority of the grain we grow is used to feed the animals we slaughter for meat, rather than feeding the many, many hungry people in this country.

For the panel following the Feb. 19 screening, two new speakers have been added: Julie Grayer and Gage Johnston, the producers and directors of the film. And if it’s organized like last time, there will be drink tickets available for the cocktail hour in the lobby bar following the Q&A, at which point you can ask any questions and make any comments there wasn’t enough time for during the panel.

If you’d like to attend the screening, RSVP here—but do it quickly, because it’s a small screening room, and the last showing had a waiting list four times over. If you can’t get in this time, you can always subscribe to the mailing list. And if you do go, let us know what you think in the comments!

Time was, if you were a foodie and wanted to see food being prepared by someone other than yourself, you’d have to go online or wait for a live version of a TV show to take place at a venue near you. Because if Food Network stars even heard the word “vegan,” they’d run from you. But supposedly, tomorrow night at 9pm, there will finally be something on the Cooking Channel for the rest of us: The Veg Edge.

Now, I say supposedly because when’s the last time a vegan cooking show actually aired on a food-centric channel? Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but the show’s link isn’t working, and that makes me a little nervous. That said, the episode description intrigues: “The Veg Edge journeys the country unearthing a new breed of vegetarians. From a punk rock vegan in L.A. to vegetable-loving firemen deep in the heart of Texas to a kickboxing chef who serves up meatless Mondays at his high-end NYC restaurant.” And some of the recipes sound amazing—Chocolate Mousse Served in Edible Chocolate Dessert Cups With Raspberry Sauce, anyone?—while others come from decidedly familiar sources. Speaking of which, anyone know who the other featured vegheads will be?

If you forget to set your DVR—or if for some reason the show doesn’t air…—there’s something new online, too. Howard Stern sidekick Robin Quivers just launched her own vegan cooking show, Vegucating Robin, where chef Gavan Murphy teaches her how to incorporate variety into her diet.

But back to the Edge: Now that one vegan show has slipped through the Cooking Channel cracks, will an avalanche of them follow, or is this a one-shot deal? A vegan can hope!

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.

Carol Adams will be at MooShoes on Thursday, September 16th at 7pm to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her ground-breaking book The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory. She’ll be discussing and signing copies of the new edition of the book.

Speaking of, I couldn’t help but notice that Pamela Anderson’s recent Peta ad–the one that was banned in Canada-–looks so darn similar to the cover of The Sexual Politics of Meat. I know the Canadians got hot and bothered about it (a Montreal official explained that the city’s decision was based on being pro-equality, not puritanical) but the image wasn’t all that shocking in my opinion–more a riff on the book cover. So I thought I’d check in with Carol and PETA and get their takes on the ad.

The ad in question

Carol Adams:

Regarding the book cover: it is misogynistic. It is a (male) fantasy about metaphorical sexual butchering of women.

Regarding the poster: actually, I have never seen anyone point out [that the Pam ad riffs on the book's cover image]. While many things could be said–that this image is misogynistic, that this image is an anti-homage to The Sexual Politics of Meat, a sort of “f you” to all feminist-vegans who have been saying, for gee, almost 40 years, that meat eating arises from and exists with a patriarchal world and we can’t end meat eating if we don’t challenge the patriarchal world view, here is a different, vegan-based response, a vegan challenge to a vegan organization: what vegan do you know thinks of animals like this, a living animal divided into parts of (future) meat? PETA, if your goal is to create a vegan world, why sexualize body parts and make them enticing? Why not either tell the truth (body parts are muscle and bone, bleeding) or show the animal her or himself and let the animal represent her need to be seen as individual, not as fragmented body parts? I don’t expect anything feminist to arise from PETA institutionally (the proclamations from women like Ingrid to the contrary that they are women and thus they are feminist). But shouldn’t we as vegans, expect PETA to represent a vegan consciousness?

Dan Matthews, Senior VP, PETA:

The iconic butcher’s diagram showing how animals are dismembered for their various cuts of meat was an ideal thing to parody. It allows us to focus on the how animals and humans have so much in common. As the ad says, “we all have the same parts – have a heart and go vegetarian.” Within 3 days of the ad being released PETA received over 800 requests for our vegetarian starter kits, so we consider the ad a huge success.

Dan also did a CTV interview about the issue in which similar questions were posed.

I guess it’s time for me to revisit Carol’s book and get a refresher course–the larger issues at hand are no doubt still relevant. But if Pam Anderson wants to speak up for animals and chooses to use nudity to express herself and her ideals, perhaps it’s patriarchal to ask her to put her clothes back on when this is how she’s comfortable exposing (oops, I mean expressing) herself.

Mr. Mraz only eats eggs this big

Jason Mraz is some guy who plays music of some sort. I guess he’s pretty popular. He has a fedora growing out of his head. He was a strict vegan until recently. He’s decided to eat eggs. Not just any eggs mind you: eggs from his neighbor’s chicken. Here’s the scramble from Spin.com.

What made you become a vegan?
I’m actually no longer a strict vegan. I don’t hang out in the cheese section—I don’t even eat cheese. I don’t drink milk. But every once in a while I’ll have an egg. I’m going to eat eggs that come out of my next-door neighbors farm, that’s just the way it is. I just choose not to eat factory food, the processed food, just whole foods, real food. It all started with watching one too many documentaries, or reading one too many books. After a while you just lose your appetite.

I suppose I could go all haterade on the guy. I’m not. I haven’t had coffee yet. I will say two things though: 1. Vegan celebrities can be a double edge sword. 2. Mraz’s song I’m Yours is gonna’ be a big hit someday. It’s really catchy. It could even be in a commercial! Huzzah!

Jack White

I was excited to see Jack White of the White Stripes‘ side project Dead Weather perform in Prospect Park’s Bandshell the other night. But I walked out scratching my head about a couple of things. First, what was the point of the three dead animal heads that his roadie dragged out on stage right before the band came on? Seriously, I know he’s a rock star with Michigan roots but I didn’t take that to mean he was anything like that other one.

Then, as I was bumping around a dark Port-O-Potty during the set, I heard Jack say “I bet you read Brooklyn Vegan too. Any other vegans in the crowd out there? Come on stage and we’ll kill a cow together.” And then it sounded like he mentioned something about bringing an Amish person on stage (again, I was temporarily confined in a small, stinky potty at the time). He continued on to say something about people eating only “salmon and avocado,” which seemed to upset him so he blurted out “get the fuck out of here.”

OK, so a couple of issues: What was the Amish thing about? And since when did vegans eat salmon? (Avocado, well yes, obviously). And finally, WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM JACK WHITE? What did I (or any other vegans in the audience for that matter) do exactly–other than purchase a ticket (with Ticketmaster fees, mind you) and support the Bandshell?

Perhaps he was pandering to the lowest common denominator in the crowd–the frat boys. They were definitely there and aren’t they normally down for some violence-against-animals humor? Har!

Maybe Jack’s got conflicted feelings about the animal heads with which he shares the stage. Kinda like those people who profess their love of meat and then confess to their vegan friends that the blood actually grosses them out. Yeah, like them.

Meanwhile, at another recent Prospect Park show (which I didn’t attend) the band The National dedicated their song “The Geese of Beverly Road” to the slain geese of Prospect Park as reported by Brooklyn Vegan. Though BV’s writer pointed out that the gesture wasn’t made with complete sincerity as the band’s singer Matt Berninger also mentioned that he likes to know he’s safer flying out of La Guardia. Woah boy, if he truly buys into the over-hyped fear of geese hitting planes–an excuse used by officials eager to cull geese populations–then perhaps he should rethink his decision to make a living as a traveling musician.

Just a thought…from a Brooklyn vegan.