The LA SV HQ packed-up the ol’ Prius and headed north for the holidays. We ate a lot of truly delicious things along the way. Here’s our foodiary:

First stop was Sunnyvale, CA. We celefeasted at Great Vegi Land, whose owner stayed open late just for us, so we ordered half the menu! This is the kind of vegan restaurant that also abstains from onions and garlic, two of my favorite things:

Top row: Hot & Sour Soup, Tofu Clay Pot, Mao Pao Tofu With “Fish”
Bottom row: Dry Salted String Beans, Veggie Beef With Black Pepper Sauce, Kung Pao Veggie Chicken

We sandwich’d at Ike’s and then tweeted with the man himself about getting a location for ourselves in LA:

Vegan Captain Kirk, Vegan Pilgrim, Vegan Chocolate Chili Banana Cookie From Cake Monkey

We ate until all the food was gone at Merit Vegetarian, my fav:

Spicy Delight, Mocha Chocolate Cake, Strawberry Cheese Cake, and Vietnamese Crepe

We left Sunnyvale and continued north to Hiouchi, where the food paled in comparison to the trees. We went on a hike through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and found Grove Of The Titans, a secret trove of trees the size of skyscrapers.We actually had a couple other dishes, but they were so good I forgot to photograph them!

That’s SV mascot Argon, a XL dog.

Then our pilgrimage to vegan Mecca began: PORTLAND!

We had sweet and savory vegan waffles from The Heart Cart:

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Banana, Coconut Waffle, The Heart Cart, Gravy & Kale Waffle

We were Hungry Tigers Too!:

Spicy Wings, Corn Dog Basket and Portland Scramble with Biscuits and Gravy

We had Chili Pie at The Bye And Bye:

And a Brussel Sprout Bowl, too.

We had approximately 4 doughnuts each at Voodoo Doughnut:

Check out some video of their revolving doughnut display of doom!

We finished-out 2012 with two exceptional meals, the first was at Blossoming Lotus:

Potato Leek Soup, Crispy Thai Wrap, Whiskey Ginger BBQ Sandwich

And the second was at the dimly lit and hard to photograph Bamboo Sushi:

310 Roll (marinated fried tofu, roasted peppers, cucumbers, asparagus and yamagobo wrapped with avocado and sweet shitake glaze), PDX Roll (tempura shishito pepper, smoked pickled asparagus, pickled shitake, pickled red onion garlic tofu aioli and shitake glaze– so hard to photograph, so delicious to eat), Coconut Panna Cotta in a Yuzu Sour Cherry Reduction and a Sesame Granola Tuile.

An amazing way to ring in the new year!

We started 2013 off right with some pizza at Sizzle Pie:

Apocalypse Dudes Slice, Spinal Tap Slice, Caligula Salad

And a new pair of kicks! Some Movmt sneakers while listening to MGMT courtesy The Shoe Store, which has a fabulous vegan footwear selection.

Sadly, we had to leave Vegadise (vegan paradise) and begin the long journey home. Don’t worry Portland, Jason and I will be back to eat the rest of you during the Vida Vegan Con in May! There was some emergency Taco Belling, but there was also this lovely Summer Harvest Salad (in the middle of winter) with oriental sesame dressing at the Black Bear Diner in Mt. Shasta:

And a tasty lunch at The Plum Cafe in Sacramento.

3 Baha Street Tacos, A Peanut Butter Creamy and an Entertainer, Award Winning California Burger and fries

And after approximately 80,000 hours in the car and one last run for the border, we made it home only to find that our waistlines hadn’t.

Eat anything amazing over the holidays? Let us know in the comments!

When I first started thumbing through the pages of David Stowell and George Black’s The Veganopolis Cookbook: A Manual for Great Vegan Cooking, I was excited. The 70 recipes, taken from those served at Stowell and Black’s former restaurant, the Veganopolis Cafeteria, take you on a culinary tour of the world: Ardennes-Style Vegan Scalloped Potatoes, African Yam and Peanut Soup With Fresh Ginger, Blackened Tofu Etoufée, Stuffed Paisano Roast, Moroccan Vegetable Tagine With Preserved Lemon and Almonds, Moussaka, and Vegan Coq au Vin. If that doesn’t whet your appetite, there’s more: City Cinnamon Pecan Rolls, Stuffed Baby Pumpkins, Butter Bean and Walnut Chorizo, Broiled Sesame Ginger Tofu Sandwich, Roadhouse Vegan Burgers… I could go on.

My mission is always to get more greens in my diet, so I decided to start with the Cajun Slow-Cooked Greens: collards cooked with onion, celery and bell pepper, and seasoned with garlic and onion powders, white and black peppers (I didn’t have any white), cayenne, nutmeg and liquid smoke. The greens get cooked down for 30 minutes, so it’s not a quick steam-and-serve type of side. But the stewy result is worth the wait: The collards were hearty and flavorful. They were also a little peppery for my taste—and that’s with having added only the black pepper. But it was a nice departure from my usual steamed kale with Earth Balance, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. My main issue with the recipe, though, is that the instructions don’t say when to add the stock. It’s easy enough to figure out; all of the other ingredients are used in the order in which they’re listed. But I’d rather not play a game of fill-in-the-blank while I’m testing a recipe. Still, the dish was quite tasty, and I’d make it again, although with considerably less pepper.

The Cajun Slow-Cooked Greens were hearty but a little peppery for my palate.

As far as main dishes go, there was a lot to choose from. I was short on time, so I opted for something a little less involved, the Vegan “Bacon” Loaf: vital wheat gluten, kidney beans, liquid smoke, maple syrup and seasonings. I’d never worked with wheat gluten before, so I was surprised to see how gummy it becomes when it’s combined with liquid—now I understand why bread is so hard on your system! And it was a major pain in the ass to clean up.

Boy, does this stuff get sticky!

All that aside, the “Bacon” Loaf was tasty, and a great alternative to store-bought seitan, if not bacony tasting. And unlike the side dish, it was on the underseasoned side. At first I mixed it with the greens, to see if the overpeppered collards and underseasoned loaf would balance each other out; all I tasted was pepper.

The Vegan “Bacon” Loaf is a tasty, seitan-like main, even if it’s not very bacony tasting.

A couple of days later, I sautéed leftover slices of the loaf in onions and barbecue sauce, placed it on toasted Italian bread and topped it with vegan cheese—the result was pretty damn amazing: It smelled and tasted just like faux barbecue spare ribs (with cheese). So this was how the bready Loaf should be served! With a thick, tasty sauce. Here again, though, the instructions left me scratching my head: Once the dry ingredients are mixed, you add the “remaining stock,” but then later, before placing the loaf in the oven, you add a mixture of lemon juice and the “remaining stock” to the cooking pan.

Guys, what do you have against clarifying how much stock to use and when?

I’m not a huge sandwich fan, but this one—Vegan “Bacon” Loaf cooked with onions and barbecue sauce and topped with vegan cheese on toasted Italian bread—was absolutely divine.

For dessert I went for the Double Evil Brownies: spelt flour, firm tofu, cocoa, rice milk and sugar, with optional chocolate chips. They were very good—sweet but not overly so, and rich without being overwhelming—though I wouldn’t necessarily call them Double Evil, or even plain old Evil. And I wonder how chocolatey they would have been had I left out the chips. Of course, it wouldn’t be me in the kitchen if something weren’t slightly amiss. I didn’t have a hand mixer, so I used a fork to combine the ingredients; this means that every few bites or so, a little nugget of unmashed firm tofu makes itself known. So I suggest you do whatever it takes to procure a hand mixer if you decide to make these brownies. That said, they’re a nice treat, if not the most decadent things I’ve ever tasted.

Chocolate and sugar. ’Nuff said.

All in all, my experience with The Veganopolis Cookbook was mixed. But the range of recipes in the book is enough to warrant another go-round. Next on my list might be the Ecuadorian Yapingachos: seasoned potatoes stuffed with cheese, topped with an onion-pepper-peanut butter sauce and served with a side of avocado. Thankfully there’s no stock to worry about, and I’ll be sure to go easy on the pepper.

Vegan bloggers, UNITE! And get ready to tippity type away with joy this weekend, August 26-28, at the first annual and *sold out* Vida Vegan Conference! A vegan blogging buffet where workshops, panels, speakers, and special events are up for grabs, and I am going to absolutely engorge myself! Figuratively. But also literally! Because it’s in Portland, and I’ve never been there, which means I have to taste the whole city. Lick the sidewalks and such. Mmmm.

In addition to the above mentioned conference-y stuff, there will be goings-on a-plenty: a sneak preview of Vegucated Thursday night followed by a post-screening Q&A with director and creator Marisa Miller Wolfson; a VegNews-sponsored cupcake reception Friday; and the Galarama, a fancy shmancy party and silent auction to benefit Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, on Saturday. (The Galarama is open to the public, so bring your friends! Con attendees’ admission is included with Con tickets; everyone else can still buy tickets here.) For a full schedule, check the con’s fantabulous agenda.

Oh, and hey, is that my name on the list of speakers? Why yes it is! Jason Das and I are attending as speakers on the Travel, Group & Community Blogging, and Dating & Mating panels with a bunch of other super cool vegans. We will try our very best to bring you first-hand accounts from the Con, but if we don’t, we know you’ll look at that schedule and understand.

Vida Vegan’s organizers told me how y’all at home can catch a glimpse of the conference (and watch your loving SuperVegans!), and shared a few other helpful tips for conference-goers and admirers alike.

SuperVegan: How can people at home follow the conference?

Vida Vegan Con: LiveStream, Vida Vegan Blog, Facebook, and Twitter. And we’ve heard rumors of some our attendees liveblogging. We’ll be sure to point you in their direction.

SV: I want to attend every single session, but my clones are busy this weekend. Will the classes and lectures be recorded for us to view when we get home?

VVC: As a first-year conference, we won’t be able to stream and record every single class offered, but we’ll happily link to all recordings posted by attendees. And check our Livestream for select classes – some total, some partial.

SV: Is there one item every attendee should pack? I’ve never been to Portland — or a blogging conference!

VVC: Look for a blog post up on our site soon! Of course, for a vegan blogger’s convention in Portland, there are a few necessary things–a camera (don’t forget your charger!), layers (rain knows no boundaries here, though it is supposed to be nice), and an extra bag to take home all your swag.

SV: There’s a wonderful list of donors supplying auction items for the Galarama Saturday night. Can you give us a taste of what we’ll be bidding on?

VVC: So many generous folks are coming forward to help support Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary–more stuff shows up every day! We’ve got a Shiraleah Amelie satchel from Alternative Outfitters, some handcrafted items from Kittee Berns, Panda With Cookie, and Late to the Revolution–plus gift certificates, books, wine, and a ticket to Vida Vegan Con 2013!

Keepin’ it real with Food Fight! Vegan Grocery

Get yourself to the new and improved Food Fight! Vegan Grocery website STAT! Our favorite brick-and-mortar vegan convenience store recently relaunched its online store with a greater selection of the products you once could only buy in its Portland storefront. The site boasts a slew of new features, such as “kosher,” “gluten-free” and “organic” search options, user-generated ratings and wish lists that you should populate and share with your family and friends in the days leading up to the winter holidays.

Here’s a shortlist (in no particular order) of the Food Fight! Vegan Grocery items available online that we’re loving as of late:

1. Butler Soy Curls
2. Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter
3. Tartex Organic Pâté
4. Shikai Biker Soap
5. Food Fight! Chico Bag

Food Fight! Vegan Grocery is open 24/7 at www.foodfightgrocery.com and from 10:00am to 8:00pm every day at 1217 SE Stark St., Portland, OR 97214.

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

The Let Live Conference 2010 will be held at Portland State University in Portland, OR, from June 25th to June 27th!

Guess what you’re doing the weekend of June 25-27? You’re going to Portland, OR, for the Let Live Conference! You must be so stoked!

Let Live sets itself apart from other animal rights conferences because of the über practical nature of its panels and, of course, its unbeatable location. Registration is a suggested donation of only $15. (That’s right, a suggested donation.) Register early since space is limited!

Two of the Let Live organizers, Josh Hooten (Herbivore Clothing Company) and Chad Miller (Food Fight Grocery), answered our most pressing Let Live-related questions:

SuperVegan: What do you most hope folks will gain by attending Let Live 2010?

Let Live: There are three main things we hope Let Live does for attendees:

1. We hope people go home with practical skills they can use to make a difference for animals. This can be anything from how to better use social networking sites in their advocacy to effective uses of civil disobedience.

2. We hope people go home inspired to get active, or stay active. We all know this work is hard and often without tangible rewards. We all know it can be discouraging. Our hope is that the speakers and attendees can recharge each other to go home and keep up the fight.

3. We hope people go home feeling that they are part of a community. That community may not exist in their own town or school or at their job, but the rest of us are out here and we’re all pulling for each other. Just getting to meet other folks and hear their triumphs and frustrations can help us all feel like we’re part of something bigger.

SV: How will Let Live 2010 improve upon the awesomeness that was Let Live 2009?

LL: We made a few structural changes in response to feedback we received. One of those changes is that we’ll have some longer panel discussions so topics can be delved into deeper than in previous years. We trimmed down the amount of talks and tightened up the subjects so every talk will be stronger and more focused. We did this because attendees told us there were too many awesome talks going on at the same time and it was difficult to chose which one to attend. As an organizer, this is a great problem to have! But we didn’t want to make people choose and miss out on things they really want to see.

Also, we’re having an art show fundraiser at Portobello Vegan Trattoria on Saturday, June 26th, so folks can unwind and make friends while checking out art by vegan artists. That will be fun, and goes along with the loose theme of this year’s conference, “Creative Activism.”

SV: What’s next for Let Live? Will there be a 2011 conference?

LL: We have a pretty long list of projects we would like to take on, but nothing is definite yet. One idea that keeps coming up is going on tour and doing Let Live events around the country with a rotating cast of speakers. But who knows?! There are lots of local issues we would all like to work on as well. We also discussed publishing “How To” guides on everything from fundraising to putting on a conference. We’ll see what we’re all up for once this conference is done.

SV: I hear there won’t be karaoke this year. So, what do you have planned for the Let Live 2010 kickoff party?

LL: An Animal Rights Spelling Bee! Our friend Liz Pachaud came up with this idea and hosted one in Seattle and it was really fun. A word of warning to potential participants: withstanding the heckling may be harder than the actual spelling you have to do.

Can’t make it to Portland this summer? You’ll be able to attend the conference virtually from the comfort of your own couch! The Let Live organizers will post video of the panels on their web site once they’ve gotten a chance to catch up on some much deserved shut-eye. Feel free to watch pantless.

Ms. Moskowitz’s recipes don’t cause nausea.

You can stop searching for the perfect holiday gift for your peoples!

The always awesome Isa Chandra Moskowitz is selling signed cookbooks to benefit Out to Pasture Animal Sanctuary in Portland, Oregon. Isa writes,

[Out to Pasture has] a ton of animals to take care of this winter, including horses, cows, pigs and llamas, and could really use the cash right now!

I’ll sign the books to whomever you like! And I will include a lipstick kiss for 10 bucks extra. Kidding. Sort of.

To get your signed book, send a PayPal to ppkshop@gmail.com and include the book(s) that you would like. If it’s a gift, remember to include the recipient’s address! And please let me know who to sign it to.

100% of the proceeds go to Out To Pasture and directly to the animals so order a book for everyone you know!

Shipping included, prices are:
Vegan With A Vengeance – 28
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World – 28
Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar – 28
Vegan Brunch – 32
Veganomicon – 42

Oh, you don’t exchange winter holiday gifts? Me neither. How about buying some books to give as birthday gifts in the new year?

(My birthday is in April, by the way.)

I flew into Portland on Friday to attend this year’s National Animal Law Conference at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, OR. I visited the “Brooklyn of the West” to make my jeans fit tighter and attend conference sessions on issues relating to the criminal prosecution of animal cruelty, the link between domestic violence and animal abuse, the intersectionality between animal rights and human rights, and so on and so forth.

But, in honor of Vegan MoFo III, you want to hear about the food, right? For the first time in a very long time, I received a vegan meal on the plane. I stopped requesting them long ago, but my Continental Airlines frequent flyer profile still lists me as a scary, radical vegan. Much to my surprise, about an hour into the flight, a box containing a vegan soy patty with cheese on a whole wheat English muffin appeared on my tray table. It was surprisingly good. A partially frozen fruit cocktail, a Sara Lee “bagel”, Smart Balance (the vegan kind) and a packet of Mrs. Dash, which I’m still not sure of its intended use, accompanied it. Continental gets thumbs up on the English muffin sandwich and for getting me to Portland on time.

My first stop in Portland was La Bonita for some of the tastiest black beans to pass through my digestive track. For only $6.95, I procured a large plate with two soft tacos, a heaping mound of rice, a liberal portion of beans and chunky guacamole. Good job, NE Portland.

A few of my friends then piled into a car and we headed off to Seattle for the night. Inappropriate dinner conversation was shared at Teapot in the East Capital Hill neighborhood. I am pretty much a pro at consuming vegan Pan-Asian food, but Teapot introduced me to the Mandarin Crispy Tofu, a thickly battered soy fillet fried to golden brown perfection. Where can I find this in NYC, East Coasters?

The food at the National Animal Law Conference never disappoints. Coffee flows freely. As do the pastries, breads, Tofutti and Earth Balance. (Mom, yes, they serve fruit, too.) During the conference sessions, the snack room provisions are replenished by a mighty team of caterers. Saturday’s lunch included a choice of sandwiches (gluten free option available!). I opted for the butternut squash and caramelized fennel on a baguette, a fitting combination of flavors as we move further into the best season ever.

Equally as important as my attendance at the conference was spending time with my family of Portland friends. On Saturday night, we filed into Portobello, which is currently my favorite Portland restaurant. Chef Aaron makes the kind of Italian food that reminds you that pasta need not be relegated to a lazy weeknight dinner. Take one bite of his lightly pan fried gnocchi or pumpkin cappellacci smothered in cashew cream sauce and hazelnuts and you will become a believer, too.

Saturday nights in Portland should include a trip to Whiffies and Potato Champion. After standing in the carts’ lot at SE 12th Avenue and SE Hawthorne for about an hour whining about how full we were from our Portobello feast, someone who will remain nameless said to herself, “screw it,” and ordered a cone of always-perfect fries with satay sauce and Vegenaise from Potato Champion. Quickly, all of her friends became “a little hungry” and helped her finish the fries. Then her friends carried her home and put her to bed.

After grazing on more pastries and a faux bánh mì mushroom sandwich during Sunday’s animal law conference sessions, I rode a bus to the vegan minimall and filled my bag with such revered vegan staples as Tartex, Dandies marshmallows, Go Max Go’s Jokerz candy bars and Leahy’s Mac and Cheese sauce at Food Fight Vegan Grocery. I snuck into the all-vegan Scapegoat Tattoo and chatted with the über talented Brian Wilson while he made permanent markings on some guy’s back. (You are a strong dude, Scapegoat customer.)

Following a pit stop at Voodoo Doughnut to procure a small selection of vegan yeast donuts for the trip back to Brooklyn, we worked our way through gigantic, thin crust slices topped with seasoned tempeh at Bella Faccia Pizzeria. We then arrived at the counter in Back to Eden, the Alberta Arts District’s newest vegan bakery boutique. I ordered a cup of Temptation soft serve with white chocolate chips and homemade caramel sauce. One of my nicer friends permitted me to try a bite of her cheesecake, which was delicately flavored with Chai tea and thoroughly refreshing.

With less than half a day of non-conference time to spend in Portland, I think I made a valiant effort to visit the best new eating experiences, as well as the perennial hits the city has to offer.

And so, the 17th National Animal Law Conference has come to a close. I’m a little wiser, a little heavier, and a whole lotta motivated to run the loop in Prospect Park this week.

This is one of Supervegan’s posts for Vegan MoFo 2009.

This May, Josh Hooten, owner of Herbivore Clothing Company, will ride his bicycle 600 miles from his hometown Portland, OR to Farm Sanctuary‘s West Coast headquarters in Orland, CA. The ambitious bike ride is both a celebration of his 10 year veganversary and a benefit for Farm Sanctuary. Hooten hopes his feat will inspire folks to make donations amounting to $10,000 to the 20 year old organization that has rescued thousands of animals, saves even more through education and advocacy, and largely influenced his own decision to go vegan.

Visit Josh Hooten’s fundraising page to make a donation. (Josh encourages you to get drunk before doing this.) Once you’ve emptied your bank account, entertain yourself by reading his blog, which chronicles his transition from a regular dude to a cycling machine putting out a whopping 80 miles a day.

Foxie with Princess. Troll dolls are the hot accessory for the residents of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

This is a lazy blog post to clear out some of my backlong. I think all this stuff’s interesting. Hopefully you will, too!

• Who wrote avid hunter Sarah Palin’s convention speech? Republican animal-rights guy and Dominion author Matthew Scully!
• “Friggin Genius” My Sweet Vegan author Hannah Kaminsky is giving out dessert samples and signing books at the Park Slope Barnes & Noble tomorrow. Check out that and lots more great events on our NYC Calendar!
• Four-year-old elephant Xiguang is receiving methadone injections for a year at five times the human dosage to kick his heroin habit.
• FoodFight! Grocery is celebrating their birthday with the PARTY OF THE CENTURY in Portland on Sunday September 7th. Highlights include: Los Gorditos 2 (all vegan taco truck!), Soft Serve from Blossoming Lotus, Velcro Wall, Bungee Cord Tug o’ War, Gross Out Eating Contest, Pie Eating Contest, and the “DooDoo Storm 2000″ eating contest. There’s also a Facebook event page.
• Field Roast sausages are special. Here’s where they come from.
• The New York Times wonders how animals grieve and mentally process death.
• After way too long as primarily an e-mail-only list, glamazon vegan consumerist queen Chloé Jo Berman’s got a website for her Girlie Girl Army.
• PETA has named the top five veg-friendly rehab centers.
• Wish we’d update more often? Me too, but meanwhile just keep refreshing the “vegan” page at addict-o-matic.

Snag a coupon and this little guy could be all yours, you cheap bastard!

A host of new coconut milk-based vegan ice cream approximations have hit the shelves lately. On the West Coast, we have an especially wide selection: there’s Maggie Mudd in San Francisco and Coconut Bliss in Eugene, Oregon. They’re great for anyone looking to trim a little soy from their diet (seriously, who couldn’t benefit from that?) — but until recently, they’ve been a pricey specialty affair.

But the new flavors from Turtle Mountain’s So Delicious Purely Decadent line (based out of Oregon, natch) are the most widely available, the least tummy-achingly decadent and the most affordable in these tight times of ours. A pint of Mudd will set you back about $5, while Coconut Bliss clocks in closer to $6. They’re tasty, but S.D.’s is more accessible — creamy, but not too sweet (made with agave, not sugar!), though perhaps a little coconutty for some. But if you’re looking for a seriously decadent dessert that’ll knock you out for a good hour and a half after you’ve inhaled it, you’d best look elsewhere.

Maybe that’s why the cookie dough and mint chip versions were kind of disappointing for me. They’re tasty, no doubt, but you can really taste the coconut-milk base, and they’re overall not as rich as I want those flavors to be. The vanilla bean and coconut ones, on the other hand, far surpassed my expectations. The vanilla has now become my go-to summer snack (I have a lot of those “free pint” coupons saved up, okay?). Great for anyone looking to cut some soy and indulge in some summertime junk food. (Might I suggest some ripe summer peaches?) Mix a serving with some fresh cut fruit to cut down on total snack calories and foodie guilt. And then go out trick your favorite omnis because seriously, this stuff ain’t no Tofutti. They’ll be shocked. Then sweet-talk them into buying another carton for sharesies.

A pint will set you back less than $3 at the Park Slope Food Co-op, but more like $4 at Whole Paycheck — though S.D. has some generous coupon offerings on their Web site. It comes in vanilla bean, chocolate, coconut, mint chip and cookie dough varieties. They’re up for the VegNews Awards (vote for SV, too!) against Mudd and Bliss. I won’t tell you who I voted for, because that would violate my journalistic integrity — but let’s just say I’m kind of a cheapskate.

The organizers of Vegan Drinks thank Barnivore for making their jobs easier and hope to see you on July 31st. (Photo: greenst on flickr)

Remember when Vegan Porn was shut down to make way for Taste Better? Well Taste Better itself has since gone dormant, but impersario Jason “Herman Thrust” Doucette just launched Barnivore, a site dedicated to tracking vegan alcoholic beverages, “with over 400 companies listed, as checked and double checked by people just like you.” Pretty awesome!! (But of course as sponsors of Vegan Drinks, we would say that!)

We’ve added Barnivore to the Alcoholic Beverages section of our link directory.

(PS: If you’re drinking in Portland, Oregon (like I have been lately) don’t miss the awesomeness at Bye and Bye and the Someday Lounge. I sure wish New York had vegan bar food like these places!)

(PPS: Speaking of Portland, drinking, and things ending in “-ivore”, check out the new blog from Herbivore’s Joshivore, Vegan Metal Bike Dad Punk Blog!)

• I’m in Portland, Oregon for a while. It really is the clean, quiet, inexpensive, leafy, bicycle-and-vegan-friendly town they say it is, dammit. Anyways, if you’re at the Let Live Conference this weekend, say hi! They’ve finally posted the conference schedule (PDF), so check that out.
• One highlight of the conference is Isa Chandra Moskowitz‘s “How To: Culinary Activism” on Sunday afternoon. Isa was just profiled in the Portland Mercury. “America’s Favorite Vegan Cookbook Writer Now Calls Portland Home.” Sob.
• The vegan minimall (home to Food Fight!, Herbivore, Sweetpea Bakery, Scapegoat Tattoo) is even nicer than any pictures I’ve seen led me to believe. And certain amongst our readers will be pleased to know that Herbivore’s got almost nothing brown for sale these days.
• Elsewhere, apes got legal rights in Spain, a country with no wild apes or apes in laboratories. But hey, it may be a start towards rights for apes elsewhere, or for other species in Spain.
• Ram Singh Munda, a single dad in Orissa, India, was arrested for adopting an orphan wild bear cub. Now he’s's in jail, his six-year-old daughter Dulki was sent to a state-run boarding school, and Rani the bear is in an isolation cell at the zoo, refusing to eat. People for Animals is campaigning for Munda’s release and has promised him a job at a wildlife rehabilitation center.
• Tennis fans: Wimbeldon keeps some hawks around who keep most of the pigeons away, but got in trouble recently for shooting some pigeons who were “creating a health risk around the players’ lawn and a restaurant”. Awful of course, but any worse than killing rats and mice and ants and roaches like nearly every institution does?
• What else … oh yeah, Oprah Winfrey’s not vegan anymore. She pledges “I will forever be a more cautious and conscious eater. That’s my commitment for now. To stay awakened.” I wonder how long it will be before she’s enlightened enough to eat that grilled sea bass she’s been missing.

• On Sunday, June 29, at noon, cookbook author Hannah Kaminsky will be at the Herbivore store in the vegan mini mall in Portland. Buy a copy of My Sweet Vegan (I highly recommend it!), meet the fantastically talented sweets guru, have her autograph your tome, and enjoy some of her treats!
• I eat a lot of cashews, but if researchers in Japan have their way, there’ll be less in the supermarket for me and more on feedlots, since the nuts appear to cut greenhouse emissions made by cattle. Not to be outdone, New Zealand scientists are looking for a vaccine.
• ESPN finally gives props to veg*n athletes.
• Boston offenders can now get vegan meals in the clink.

Elle’s Third Annual Green Issue

Now that “green” is mainstream, every May many publications roll out their Green Issues. It almost seems as if green is the new black, which has its pros and cons. Overall, Elle‘s third annual Green Issue was a hit with me. Additionally, thanks to Aveeno Active Naturals, the entire issue was printed on 10% post-consumer recycled paper. Corporate America, can we see that more often, please?

What I loved:
Guest editor Laurie David‘s poignant message about making “global warming the reason you pull the lever at the polls in November.” Their “Green Stars” article (pg. 210), featuring the best natural beauty products out now. Many are organic and vegan. Too many to list here, but if you’re a product junkie, watch out! “Big Gulp” (pg. 232) covers the growing interest in cleansing with juice fasting (aka juice feasting). Their 2008 Green Awards (pg. 252), noting the philanthropic and eco-conscious projects of Brad, Stella (and Sir Paul McCartney for making her), Cate Blanchett, Fiji water, those Google guys and NYC’s local meteorologist Sam Champion. The Madonna cover story (pg. 279), and her work with the HIV-afflicted in Malawi.

What I loathed:
“Beauty And The Beast” (pg. 245) was a major let-down for any “green” issue. The article covers “Beast,” a popular restaurant in Portland, Oregon, where allegedly the chef “has found an elegant, dare we say feminine, solution to the ethical eater’s dilemma: how to eat pig without being one.” Umm… excuse me darlings, but ethical eaters and anyone claiming to be an environmentalist doesn’t do animals. Period.

The June issue of Elle is already on newsstands. The subject of being green is not in the press as much now that Earth Day has passed and we’re halfway through May. I still continue hoping this green thing continues gaining steam so that we don’t have to wait until May for the media to note more ways to save the day.

Nothing screams cross country road trip like an animal rights conference organized by the kick-ass vegan businesses and non-profits Food Fight Grocery, Herbivore, No Compromise, and Vegans for Animal Advocacy. So I’m ready to hop on the Greyhound bus ride of my life to make it out to the Let Live Northwest Animal Rights Conference, which is taking place June 27th to June 29th on the Portland State University campus.

Billed as a grassroots conference, Let Live aims to create an “open, respectful, and friendly environment that will provide an opportunity for attendees to learn skills and strategies to become better advocates for the animals, no matter ones experience level in activism.” The cost of attendance is a suggested donation of $10 (or more, if you can swing it).

Visit (and RSS) the website for information on registering or becoming a sponsor, and to watch the speaker schedule grow. Oh yeah, book your train, plane, or bus tickets early too!

Suicide Girls featured in peta2′s MySpace photo album

Today The New York Times reports on the riff in the vegan community over whether or not using female sexuality to animal rights is ethical.

Vegan Vixens founder Sky Valencia, Suicide Girls founder Missy Suicide, Skinny Bitch Rory Freeman, and the everclassy vegan strip club owner Johnny Diablo were quoted as being among those who don’t have a problem with the use of sexuality to promote animal rights. Sexual Politics of Meat author Carol J. Adams, chef/Vegan Freak Bob Torres were also interviewed and clearly aren’t buying into the idea that the path to animal liberation will be paved with dropped panties.

In related news, Isa Chandra Moskowitz will soon be abandoning Brooklyn for Portland! We’ll miss her and all the vegan street creds her residency lent our fair borough.

As one door opens for the Portland vegan community, another door closes. Johnny Diablo has put Casa Diablo, the world’s first and only vegan strip club, on the real estate market a mere 2 months after an extremely well-publicized opening.

Snacks and snatch.

Portland seems to be a veritable vegan paradise, complete with an all vegan strip mall and now an all vegan strip club.

Johnny Diablo, an ethical vegan of 23 years, opened Casa Diablo Gentlemen’s Club earlier this month in the site of his now closed pirate themed vegan family restaurant, Pirates Tavern– a business that, according to The Willamette Weekly, Diablo claims didn’t thrive because most vegans live at the poverty level or below.

Though Casa Diablo dancers are forbidden to wear animal products, Diablo doesn’t boast the establishment’s vegan status (except when courting the press). Neither its flier nor its Mexican menu mention the V-word. This time around, Diablo hopes to strike gold with an alluring combo of T&A and a smoke-free environment–things he hopes the moneyed non-vegan masses and privileged vegans with pockets full of dollar bills can enjoy.

For juicy gossip and strong opinions about the hypocrisy of this business, check out The PPK and The Portland Mercury.

For a fun look inside the place, check out this news clip from Fox’s Good Morning Portland where Diablo says, “Vixens, not veal. Sizzle, not steak. We put the meat on the pole, not on the plate.” Awesome! Johnny Diablo is officially my favorite dirty old man.

Visit the site of the crime!

Portland’s Vegan Minimall is having its grand opening party on Sunday, January 6th.

Sweetpea Baking Company, Herbivore, Food Fight!, and Scapegoat Tattoo are all there now and will be open. Free food at 3pm from Yellow Rose Recipes (Herbivore’s new cookbook), and live music from Cars and Trains, Old Growth, Superbad, and Rough Chukar starts at 6pm. (More details on Josh Herbivore’s blog.)

I think it’s a little weird that the place doesn’t have a name yet. We at least need to impose a nickname on it. What should we call it? (And you can think of something better than “Fort Awesome.”)

That vegan minimall we’ve all been waiting for is now very real and very awesome.

The new Herbivore store looks absolutely amazing and Food Fight! is serving up cheeze dogs. I don’t think Sweet Pea Bakery or Scapegoat Tattoo are there yet, but I guess I’m not sure.

Congratulations to all involved! Please post comments with links to more pictures. There’s really not enough drool on my keyboard yet.

I think this is a cake.

Foodfight Grocery just announced that they’re moving. Their new space will be twice as big and include a hot dog steamer and nacho cheese pump. Not only that, but it’s in a new all-vegan building!

Along with Foodfight, the building will be the new home of Sweet Pea Bakery, Scapegoat Tattoo, Herbivore Magazine and Clothing, and an acupuncture clinic called Seven Star Collective. It will be located at the northeast corner of 12th and SE Stark. They’re planning to be all moved in and open by November.

World Week for Animals in Laboratories 2007, an annual event seeking to expose the plight of animals used for testing and research, runs from today through Saturday the 28th. In Defense of Animals coordinates the events each year, which aim to educate the public about the scientific, moral and economic objections to animal experimentation. Events will be held all over the U.S. and in Europe. Most are protests of hospitals and research facilities, but others include marches for charity, distribution of anti-vivisection leaflets, educational lectures and benefit dinners. In New York, residents can protest alongside People for Animal Rights in East Syracuse on April 28.

Last week, Los Angeles’ Entertainment Today published a vegan hipster travelogue/guide to Portland, Oregon–maybe because it’s a veritable vegan playground, with an average age of 35 to boot. PeTA calls Portland the most vegetarian-friendly city in the country (up from 4th place in ’05): it’s home to the newly re-hashed Herbivore magazine and shop, Food Fight! Vegan Grocery and tasty vegan chow at Veganopolis and Voodoo Donuts. And if you’re in the area this weekend, there’s a sweet vegan potluck party and a free Meatout afternoon event. Do I sound jealous? Because I am.

But not all is sunny on the left coast. Last Friday, beloved vegan-friendly alterna-publishers Microcosm closed their Portland shop; mail order ops will now be headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana (not even in the top ten). But a bite of some Portland-only eats will help the news go down a little easier. Damn you’re spoiled.

Update: There’s even more sweet listings over at the VegPortland guide if you’re feeling masochistic or if you live in Portland (jerk).

Such Glorious Hair!

Slate’s recent feature, ‘Why is meat the most shoplifted item in America?’, brought to mind a scene from the film Light of Day, in which Cleveland sibling rockers Patti and Joe, played by real-life vegetarians Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox, furtively stuff steaks down the jacket of Patti’s small son. “I’m cold, Mommy.”

It also begged the question, what gets shoplifted the most at a vegan grocery? According to Emiko at Portland’s Food Fight!:

We’ve never caught anyone shoplifting luckily. I think we like to ignorantly believe no one would steal from a small, independent business. But we seem to think our spices get stolen because we never remember selling any, yet they always seem to be missing here and there.

At the Herbivore real world store

Besides my birthday on Saturday, there are lots of other fun things going on this weekend in NYC, Woodstock, San Mateo, and Portland.

NYC
Farm Sanctuary‘s NYC Walk for Farm Animals will be held on Saturday at Columbus Circle (59th St and Central Park West). Dan Piraro, the vegan artist behind Bizarro, will be MC’ing the event! Kenneth Williams, vegan body builder, will speak at 11:30am. Entertainers include: musicians Joy Askew and Cheryl Hill and juggler/stilt performer Tanya Turgeon.
Info.

On Sunday between 4 and 7pm, come out to Red Bamboo Brooklyn for the Vegan Buddies Project Launch Party. Dan Piraro, Kenneth Williams, and Joy Askew will be there providing entertainment. Also, Marisa Miller will screen a sneak preview of her fun new vegan film. SuperVegan is a proud sponsor of the event, so members of the SV team will be there!
RSVP & Info: 212-989-VIVA or claudia@vivausa.org

While you’re in Brooklyn, swing by Foodswings for a special Andy Stepanian Mystery Milkshake. All Sunday, the Billsburg restaurant will be serving the shake in order to help raise funds for the SHAC 7 activist’s legal fees.

Woodstock
On Sunday at 2pm, Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary is hosting a Blessing of the Animals with Tibetan Buddhist Lamas from the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD) Monastery in Woodstock. (The sanctuary is just a two hour drive from NYC.)

San Mateo, CA
In celebration of World Farm Animals Day, on Sunday from 11am-3pm Bay Area Vegetararians will team up with the local SPCA to present a kick-ass fair. There’ll be great speakers, vegan cooking demos, lots of food samples (including MaggieMudd vegan ice-cream!), childrens’ activities, a letter writing corner, veggie and animal rights books for sale, and lots of displays.

Portland, OR
Herbivore Store Grand Opening happens Saturday from 6-10 pm. Josh writes, “There is so much cool vegan stuff in our store you will cry into your vegan cake or baklava or random munchie that you’ll be enjoying at the party.” Highlights from the new well-curated shop include Splaff recycled rubber belts and bags, cookbooks galore, art by tattoo artist Jennifer Billig and Daniele Young, Birdhead Designs shirts, orangyporangy skirts, Truth belts…” Oh my, I wish I lived in Portland now more than ever! Check out these great photos of the shop. The shop is located at 5519 NE 30th Ave, Portland, OR. Phone: (503) 281-TOFU