Foodswings: folks seem to either love ‘em or hate ‘em, or – like me – love ‘em cause they’re so easy to hate. Anyways, Freedom and the gang are celebrating their third birthday this Saturday, March 31 at 5pm.

They’ll be serving their “regular menu, midnite munchies, and the long gone brunch menu” simultaneously and vegan drink specials all night, including “booze milkshakes” (assume real booze and fake milk). Live music death-thrash from Hipster Holocaust, The Brides, Miquiztli, and We Die Only Once starts at 8pm, then DJs take the party into the night.

The party is not at Foodswings itself, but at nearby at The Pub (312 Grand St.). If you need more info, check out Foodswings’s MySpace page.

For Brooklyn vegan fast-food joint Foodswings, “it’s a lot more than the Tofutti.” Owner Freedom estimates that about half the food at Foodswings is made with partially or wholly hydrogenated soybean oil, including most of the faux meats he orders from Asia. I guess they really mean it when they say Vegan Heart Attack.

Freedom didn’t know about the long reach of the trans fat ban’s second wave that goes into effect next summer. Not like he cared. “We’re not gonna stop. It’s either that or we close,” he said. “It would just be too expensive” to change. But don’t fret yet, Billyburg vegans: Freedom and Foodswings are “not gonna go down without a fight.” Famous last words?

If you’re into the trans fats, check out Foodswings’ 3rd Anniversary Party on March 31 at 5pm, with the celebration continuing later on at the Pub at 312 Grand Street. Hey, speaking of anniversary parties…

This is part seven of SuperVegan’s “No more trans fats? But how will I go on?” series on the ban as it affects vegans in New York City (and beyond!). Catch up here.

An oil hydrogenator in action.

A cover story in the Dining section of The New York Times today takes on the city’s trans fat ban and its effects on the food industry far and wide (if you can’t find the article, look under the giant gory meat porn). People are, perhaps for the first time, taking notice of the naturally occurring trans fats that are in all animal products, and whittling them away from old recipes. “It’s causing problems for every big baker in the country,” wholesale baker Matthew Reich told the Times. “I didn’t even know where to find trans-free margarine.” (Earth Balance! Come on!)

But as always, this is a double-edged sword. If restaurants and food manufacturers want to be completely trans-fat-free, they’ll have to get rid of both trans-fatty animal products and hydrogenated oils. But that doesn’t mean they’ll make those products vegan. Take the Anna’s cookie situation, for example: vegan partially-hydrogenated margarine was replaced with non-hydrogenated margarine containing whey. Trans-fat-free, and not vegan. Unless you’re Kathy Freston.

This is part six of SuperVegan’s “No more trans-fats? But how will I go on?” series on the ban as it affects vegans in New York City (and beyond!). Catch up here.

You’d best stock up while you still can.

Another tragic victim of the misguided fight against trans fats: Anna’s Swedish Thins, that tasty mainstay for vegans shopping long days at IKEA. Anna’s has traded their hydrogenated oil for a non-hydrogenated margarine that’s made with whey. While you’ll still be able to find the vegan version on the shelves for a bit longer, North American company manager Keilani Bell says they’re phasing it out in favor of the new milky version–Ginger Thins are the first casualty. “At this point in time there is no plan to have that margarine modified so that it does not contain whey,” Bell told me. “However as many have enjoyed our ‘old’ product because it was suitable for the vegan diet I will address this with our Plant Manager for future consideration.”

You can write to Keilani Bell at kbell@annasthins.ca. Let her know how much you like your ginger thins milk-free. And when you go to the store, make sure you buy the box that doesn’t say “0 Trans Fats!” on the front.

This is part five of SuperVegan’s “No more trans-fats? But how will I go on?” series on the ban as it affects vegans in New York City (and beyond!). Catch up here.

Sweet & Sara croissants: no more trans fats, just as much delicious.

The trans fat saga continues: from the lunch table to the dessert plate. Many bakers rely on hydrogenated products (cream cheeses, margarines, shortenings, etc.) for imparting a richer taste and texture than their healthier, non-hydrogenated counterparts. But vegan baker Sara Sohn of Sweet & Sara contends that the difference isn’t significant enough to rely on the trans fats. Her marshmallows, smores, cookies and cakes are made with non-hydrogenated Earth Balance buttery sticks, but the margarine in S&S croissants was formerly of the hydrogenated variety. “The margarine with hydrogenated oil gives a slighty more rich, ‘buttery’ taste than the non-hydrogenated,” she says.

But while she’s changed her ways for her company, Sohn personally enjoys the trans fats. “The only vegan cheese I can tolerate–and actually like–is Tofutti. And for as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed finishing my meal at VP2 with a scoop of Klein’s pistachio ice cream,” she told me. “I’d be disappointed if I didn’t have access to such products.”

This is part four of SuperVegan’s “No more trans-fats? But how will I go on?” series on the ban as it affects vegans in New York City. Read parts one, two and three to catch up on all the controversy, and stay tuned for more news on the bakerly front.

‘sNice owner Mike Walter has been scrambling to get rid of all hydrogenated oils on his menu since New York City passed a ban on trans-fats last year. First it was the cream cheese (Tofutti); then the more insidious margarine (Willow Run soy-based – three grams each serving, and three boxes in my freezer right now). Mike Walter thought his Tofutti American cheese was okay. Mike Walter was wrong.

“You can go to McDonalds,” Walter said when I broke the bad news. “You can sit on the couch all day smoking Marlboros. But you can’t have Tofutti.”

So why didn’t Walter know that? Because Tofutti flouts the law. Food manufacturers are required to include a “trans fat” count on the Nutritional Information of all products. Tofutti cheese lacks this basic info, and so, in turn, do restaurants such as s’Nice and Foodswings. It’s great to see Walter and ‘sNice making an effort to change. But perhaps a mystery has been solved: is this where that awful plastic cheese smell comes from..?

This is part three of SuperVegan’s “No more trans-fats? But how will I go on?” series on the ban as it affects vegans in New York City (unlike those in LA – see, I don’t hate everything about LA!). Read part one and part two, and eat Tofutti cheese on your sandwiches here and here – if you’re into that sort of thing.

Tofutti hard cheese is the most widely-available vegan cheese in the country. If you look at the label, you won’t see any trans-fat count — just that the second top ingredient is partially hydrogenated soybean oil, the most popular source of man-made trans-fats the NYC law seeks to ban.

“If you create a proper vegan recipe, it won’t include trans-fats,” says Cliff Preefer, the chef at Sacred Chow. Not only proper according to Cliff, but lawful according to the City of New York: as of July 2008, restaurants are banned from using trans-fats in any of their foods. And unlike with their cream cheese, Tofutti doesn’t offer a non-hydrogenated version. But out of the six restaurants I contacted, Foodswings is the only one using Tofutti — and the only one without a plan for change.

This is part two of SuperVegan’s “No more trans-fats? But how will I go on?” series on the ban as it affects vegans in New York City. You can read part one here. After the jump, a brief run-down of some of the top vegan-cheesy restauranteurs in the city. (P.S. Get your act together, Kate’s.)

Fortunately, most places aren’t in for big changes — because fortunately they didn’t use Tofutti cheeses in the first place. The V-Spot uses the SoyCo soy and casein-free Rice American Cheese slices, as well as Vegan Gourmet’s Follow Your Heart Mozzarella, which is also the vegan cheese of choice at Slice pizza on the Upper East Side. The Cafe Viva pizzeria on the Upper West Side uses a casein-free mozzarella distributed by Natural Farms.

Sacred Chow uses vegan Vegi-Kaas cheese — casein-free, unlike their non-vegan Soya-Kaas brethren. Now, Foodswings: that venerable source of vegan fast-food as greasy as the noisepiece on a Williamsburg hipster’s aviator sunglasses. Granted, they, too, use Vegi-Kaas on pizzas and quesadillas (mozzarella and cheddar, respectively), but their sandwiches are loaded with Tofutti slices. When I called to ask if they were planning a switch, the woman I spoke with paused and stammered, “That’s a good question.”

So are Foodswings sandwiches in for a change? I’ll let you know if Freedom ever calls me back.

Better than hydrogenated?

For the trans-fat ban, of course! Phase one goes into effect this summer, barring the use of partially hydrogenated oils for frying foods in restaurants. By July 2008, they have to eliminate trans-fats from all food. But Steve Kass, PR for Tofutti, Inc., says this doesn’t affect his company, which delivers trans-fatty Better than Cream Cheese and Sour Supreme as a food manufacturer.

This is part one of SuperVegan’s “No more trans-fats? But how will I go on?” series on the ban as it affects vegans in New York City. Kass explains Tofutti’s part after the jump.

Tofutti introduced trans-fat-free versions of their cream cheese and sour cream four years ago to resounding public response. “We were inundated with complaints that nobody liked it. They all thought we’d switched because it was cheaper,” says Kass. Four years later, the non-hydrogenated spread costs 10-30 cents more to produce per package and has a far smaller following than the original, which performs much better when baked. Still, its popularity is steadily growing, almost exclusively amongst hyper-health-conscious consumers who wouldn’t consider using the hydrogenated version. Stores such as Whole Foods and the Park Slope Food Co-op only purchase the trans-fat-free versions (but Trader Joe’s still carries the original). However, the legality of individual bagel shops buying the original cream cheese in bulk and using it to make their own flavored vegan spreads after the July 2008 deadline is vague, and Kass admits that some will probably switch to the non-hydrogenated version – even if you don’t like how it tastes. I mean, they’re just looking out for you, right?

Personally I think there’s a huge difference in taste between the two versions. Even though it contains just as much saturated fat as the original does trans (the fat goes to your thighs instead of your arteries), the non-hydrogenated version is decidedly less creamy and flavorful in comparison. When you mix half hydro and half non, though, the difference is far less noticeable. I haven’t cooked with either, but I’d love to hear from any SuperVegan readers who could impart some of their bakerly wisdom here.