For the past 131 years, all Brooks saddles have been made of leather, and thus irrelevant to vegans, except as objects scorn or guilty envy. No longer! The Brooks Cambium saddle is available for preorder. They’re nearly “all natural”–made mostly of rubber, organic cotton, aluminum, and steel, and the parts are all replaceable or repairable. At £145 (about $225), they’re not cheap, but plenty of Brooks leather saddles cost just as much. And they’ll presumably last longer than you or the rest of your bicycle.

If you want to try one, but aren’t ready to buy one, it looks like they are still registering testers, as they add new models to the Cambium line.

If you like limited editions, note that there’s an “initial limited run of 500 pieces. Each saddle has its number etched to the nose rivet. There are a further 500 in this series (numbered #501 to #1000) which will be made available as soon as the first 500 are gone. And when all one thousand pieces have found homes, the C17 will go on general sale.”

It could take a while to actually get your hands (or, should I say, your scranus or vulvanus) on one. As the Brooks shop says, “beware that it could take up to 3 months before you get your CAMBIUM Saddle. Only 300 Gents and 100 Ladies CAMBIUM Saddles will be delivered within the end of July, the rest are going to be produced and dispatched in September after our dear workers return from their summer holidays.” Yeah, they’re made in England by people with vacation benefits and all that good stuff.

This is a really commendable step for Brooks, and a huge improvement over their “eco-friendly” organic leather saddles from a couple years back (each “marked in such a way that we can identify the exact cow from where the leather came” *shudder*).

Let us know if you’ve tried a Cambium, or if you’re planning to buy one!

MFA will be meeting at the parade’s starting point on the corner of 36th and 5th Ave. at 11am for a complementary bagel breakfast, followed by the march from noon until about 3pm, when the parade ends at Christopher and Greenwich Streets, blocks from the historic Stonewall Inn.

Don’t have any MFA gear to sport? Participants wil be given MFA t-shirts, as well as banners, rainbow flags, whistles and leaflets to be passed out during the march. Those interested can RSVP by e-mailing mikaeln@mercyforanimals.org. Please note an RSVP is required to participate in the march. Have fun!

Feeling classy? How about generous? If so, then you’ll want to check out Sea Shepherd‘s upcoming benefit art show, Waves of Change, on Thursday, June 27th at the Hasted Kraeutler Gallery in Manhattan from 7pm until 11pm. For those who are unfamiliar, Sea Shepherd is a marine conservation organization know for their direct action approach to preserving ocean life, much of which has been documented in the Animal Planet program Whale Wars.

The art show will feature original pieces (many of which are marine-themed, this one is especially excellent), a silent auction, Sea Shepherd merchandise for sale, food and wine from Querciabella and additional food from Chickpea and Olive, featuring Treeline Cheese. Tickets are $20, making this a perfect, affordable excuse to bust out that little black dress or snazzy tie! If you can’t make it, Sea Shepherd always happily accepts donations.

They’ll be providing food, drink and music, with dinner prices starting at $10. They don’t have their menu for this specific event listed yet, but you can browse their full menu to get an idea of what they have to offer. No reservations are required and patrons will be served on a first come, first served basis. They also have a Facebook event, if you’re into that.

The great thing about pop-ups is that they’re usually cheap and they have the flexibility of changing things up, but you never know when they’ll show up next, so get while the gettin’s good! Or, just grab some of Bunna’s Ethiopian eats tomorrow at the Vegan Pop-Up from 12-6pm at Pine Box Rock Shop. Nom!

Is anybody home? (image pilfered from Forgotten NY)

In the middle of a nasty ownership fight, the last thing VegNews needed was the mass resignation of its top editors that occurred on Monday. In a seemingly coordinated action, Elizabeth Castoria, Jennifer Chen and Anna Peraino left the magazine. The news broke after Chen tweeted it to her 1,600+ followers.

The magazine’s website, which has yet to be updated, but hey, it’s not like they have the word “news” in their oh wait — still lists Castoria as its managing editor, Chen as senior editor, and Peraino as online editor. I guess it’s hard to update your masthead online when your online editor has quit.

As vegans have probably heard, the co-founders of the magazine, Joseph Connelly and Colleen Holland, can’t even agree on who gets to be called a cofounder. It’s a strange situation. How strange? Well, I decided to reach out to VegNews for comment on the resignations, so I went to the “Press Room” page on their website. Which lists Colleen Holland as the “press contact.” (It also lists her as co-founder, even though her co-founder says she’s not a co-founder.)

Maybe they’ve patched things up, I thought. Or at least settled their legal spat. So I sent off an email asking for comment on the resignations and on the status of their legal woes. I received a friendly reply back from Holland telling me that “given the pending litigation between Mr. Connelly and me” she was unable to address the matter and referring me to her attorneys! So much for any resolution. And for any “press contact.”

It’s hard to imagine an organization being more dysfunctional than asking the media to speak with someone who says they cannot speak to the media because they’re in a dispute with the organization. Not that we should expect more from an organization that claimed to support veganism and vegetarianism but instead used photos of actual meat that it passed off as vegetables, including going so far as to airbrush the bones out of a photo of actual ribs.

That story, broken by Quarrygirl two years ago, led not to an immediate apology but to a pathetic response defending the practice. It was only after VegNews must have realized they were jeopardizing their existence by sticking to their disgusting position that they finally caved on the matter. But by then it was too late and their credibility was gone. Anyone who is vegan for ethical reasons was now aware of the kind of people that must be running that publication. Even the New York Times chimed in on how VegNews was “eating a little crow.”

Oh, and one of the people signing that letter of apology? Managing editor Elizabeth Castoria, who chose to resign on Monday, and not two years ago when it was revealed that her vegan and vegetarian subscribers had been spending their hard earned money on photos of delectable dead animal flesh.

If you’ve never been to Vegan Shop-Up, it’s basically a little vegan oasis in the middle of Bushwick. Pine Box becomes backed with dozens of cruelty-free vendors and filled with people squeezing by one another to sample items from new and up-and-coming companies that don’t have physical storefronts. It’s a lot of fun, but can get pretty crowded, so I’d suggest arriving early, especially because vendors tend to sell out during the event.

Some of my favorite vendors on the current Vegan Shop-Up list inclue Gone Pie (the brownies!), Meow Meow Tweet (soap and candles), Kitty Jones (cat toys), and Alchemy Creamery, which makes yummy gourmet push pops that I tried for the first time at The Seed.

The bottle of sunscreen you bought two years ago is expired, your roommate used up the last of your soap, and don’t you deserve a cupcake? See you June 15th!

To make an appointment, e-mail Kristina at KristinaVaute at gmail.com with your ideal day and hour, and they will email you back with your half hour time slot (you can bring up to 4 friends with you).

Don’t live near Brooklyn and still want cheap post-season winter coats? VauteCouture will be hosting an online coat sample sale on Tuesday, June 11th from 1pm lasting until Thursday, June 13th at 1pm. Or, at their Brooklyn store on June 16th from 1pm – 8pm.

You can find more information on both the summer sample sale and winter coat sale here. Happy shopping!

And, extra special thanks to those organizations and individuals who made Shout Outs:

• VINE Sanctuary
• Sea Shepherd
• NYCLASS
• Punk Rock Karaoke
• TheFoodDuo.com and HugAVegan.com
• Vegan Outreach
• VeganMentors.org
• Vegan Cook-Off
• Empty Cages Collective
• Defeat Christine Quinn

The NEXT Vegan Drinks NYC is happening on Thursday, June 27th at Fontana’s Bar (105 Eldridge Street, Manhattan) from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Join us as we benefit Goosewatch NYC and let the world know you’re going by RSVPing at Facebook.

Do you represent an animal rights group you think should be the beneficiary of an upcoming Vegan Drinks NYC? Visit vegandrinks.org/beneficiaries to learn more about how to make that happen.

Get on our mailing list!

Registration is $75 ($25 for students) until August 1st, when the price jumps to $95 ($35 for students). Financial assistance is available to help offset the cost for those who need it. There’s an optional evening reception after the conference, which can be attended for an extra $30. Additionally, the reception is open to those who don’t attend the conference if you can’t commit to a full day of events but still want to meet the speakers and mingle with like-minded people.

Chloé Jo Davis of Girlie Girl Army, Joshua Katcher of The Discerning Brute/Brave Gentleman, Leanne Mai-Ly Hilgart of Vaute Couture, and Jeremy Davis of Craft & Valor are hosting a vegan potluck in Central Park on Saturday. They will be better dressed than you! (Even Joshua, despite being topless.) That’s OK–go anyway.

[We] were recently making plans to meet in Central Park for an afternoon of snacking and kiki-ing, as we often do, and we had a revelation.  What if we just go on and invite everyone.  Not just our cliques and friends, but anyone who wants to come.  Vegan or not.  Come and partake in an energetically on point late morning/ early afternoon big bit of summer hang-age where you can meet some people who are totally on your level and play in the grass with no entry fee or silly sign ups.  Maybe you’ll rock your best summer threads and snap an Instagram editorial. Maybe you want to act like a gyrating hippie. Maybe you’ll shmooze new business, maybe your kid will make a friend, maybe you’ll fall asleep after stuffing yourself silly.

I can’t make it myself, as I will be at a different (private) vegan picnic in a different park. But this looks awesome and I hope you all go.

Join us THIS Thursday, May 30, from 7:00pm to 10:00pm for Vegan Drinks NYC to mark our fifth anniversary! Find us at Fontana’s Bar, located at 105 Eldridge Street on the Lower East Side. SoulKofa is back to feed you!

This month, we’ll be benefiting VINE Sanctuary. VINE (“veganism is the next evolution”), located in Springfield, VT, provides a haven for animals who have escaped or been rescued from the meat, dairy and egg industries or other hurtful circumstances. Stuff your dollars in the donation jar, and buy raffle tickets from VINE to win one of these great prizes:

• Gift certificate from Champs
• Cake from Clementine’s Bakery
• Snack Box from Vegan Cuts
• Gift certificate from Terri
• Gift certificate from Vegan Essentials
• T-shirt from Vaute Couture
• Gift certificate from Peacefood
• VegNews subscription and tote bag
• T-shirt and buttons from Compassion & Co.
• Two tickets to the Vegan Cook-Off: Hors D’ouevres Competition (June 2nd at the Bell House, Brooklyn)
• Various vegan cookbooks

Music by DJ Grand Format, DJ Megan Rascal, and DJ Jason Das!

Wanna let all your Internet friends know you’re going? RSVP on Facebook if you’re of the mindset to do so.

Have you read the new and improved Vegan Drinks FAQ? Please read it, even if you’re a regular at our event. (Really, please read it. All of it.)

We’ll turn down the music around 8:30pm and encourage people to promote themselves, their groups and/or causes for 30 seconds. If you represent a veg*n or animal rights group, come prepared with your (very short!) spiel and literature.

If you’re not already following our every move, connect with Vegan Drinks on Facebook, follow us on Twitter (@vegandrinks), and join our e-mail list.

Vegan Drinks NYC is usually held the last Thursday of the month from 7:00pm to 10:00pm. Do you represent an animal rights group you think should be the beneficiary of an upcoming Vegan Drinks NYC? Visit vegandrinks.org/beneficiaries to learn more about how to make that happen.

The Food Experiments is a cook-off series started by Nick Suarez and Theo Peck that takes place in various cities in the U.S. and in Stockholm, with a different food theme in each city. Amateur cooks are encouraged to participate, and the winners of each competition gather in Brooklyn at the end of the year for a grand cook-off. We wish the Sea-Goat guys the best of luck at the championships!

For those who are unfamiliar with Jay and 3 Brothers, 20-year-old Jay Astafa is quickly establishing himself  as a phenomenal vegan chef. He created the excellent vegan menu at 3 Brothers Pizza Cafe in Rockville Center, NY, which was started by his father and has since changed ownership. Jay recently opened up a second 3 Brothers location in Farmingdale and is no longer involved with the original location. He also hosted a pop-up dinner earlier this month in NYC, called Jay Kitchen, and has expressed interest in expanding it to a full-service restaurant in the city. I know nothing about the new 3 Bros RVC owners, and couldn’t find much about the sale online.

I’ll pause here to say that if you haven’t eaten at 3 Bros, it’s amazing. I went to the Rockville Center location last year, when Jay’s family still owned it, and it was probably one of the best vegan eating experiences I’ve had in the NYC area. Jay Astafa and 3 Brother’s are a staple in the Long Island vegan community, and the restaurant’s vegan menu, when I tried it, was exceptional. They even served a complimentary bread basket with Earth Balance. Free Earth Balance. The restaurant also offered plenty of gluten free options. I have yet to go back since the Rockville Center location changed hands, nor have I tried the Farmingdale restaurant.

The Facebook meltdown that occurred last night has since been taken down, but luckily I took some screen caps on my phone. I’ve pasted them below, with commentary. Please note that I didn’t grab shots of the entire incident, only parts of it.

First, it appears that when the 3 Brothers RVC location was sold, it wasn’t a smooth transaction..

The new 3 Brothers RVC owners responded:

Jay fires back from his personal Facebook account:

Think this can’t get any more ridiculous? It does!

Holy crap, People’s Court! Veganism really has gone mainstream. This is all I managed to get, and who knows if any of it is actually true, but let this be a lesson that whatever you put online is forever. So if you’re gonna talk shit, don’t do it in front of an audience of billions. Someone might just blog about it.

On Sunday June 2 from 7:30pm – 10pm, Bunna Cafe and A+S Works are hosting The Farmraiser at Dun-Well Doughnuts in Brooklyn as part of Bushwick Open Studios. Tickets are $20 in advance ($25 at the door) and will get you dinner and live entertainment, as well as access to a supposedly cheap cash bar. All proceeds will benefit A+S Works on the Farm, a weekend dance workshop in rural New York put on by A+S Works, an organization that aims to “creates contemporary dance to investigate the intimacy of the human experience through the ceremony of live performance.”

Dinner will be provided by Bunna, the almost all vegan Ethiopian pop-up cafe in Brooklyn that I have yet to try (I actually tried to go there earlier this week, not realizing it was a pop-up), but have heard wonderful things about. Entertainment will consist of dancing and art, as well as live music. There will also presumably be sweet treats available, as the event is taking place in New York’s only all-vegan doughnut shop. If there are, I recommend a doughnut sundae!

I can kind of excuse the first reason because Bittman is a food writer. Perhaps everything is about food for him. That he’s not a vegan because he buys leather shoes wouldn’t even cross his mind. He wrote a whole book about being vegan for a few hours a day, and he sure as heck just means in terms of diet.

As to the other two points, I’ll let him speak for himself:

I can see three scenarios that might lead to universal, full-time veganism: An indisputable series of research results proving that consuming animal products is unquestionably “bad” for us; the emerging dominance of a morality that asserts that we have no right to “exploit” our fellow animals for our own benefit; or an environmental catastrophe that makes agriculture as we know it untenable. All seem unlikely.

I’ve been thinking about it for three days and I still have no idea what the quote marks around  “exploit” mean. But I’m pretty sure that at the very least they mean Bittman doesn’t think “we” exploit “our fellow animals”. No, we just …

…produce most animal products in deplorable conditions, and some of our health and environmental problems can be traced both to dominant production methods and our overconsumption. But we like to eat them, and they’re a pleasurable and even healthy part of many traditional diets and even sound agricultural practices.

“We like to eat them.” “They’re…pleasurable.” Great reasons to commission vast networks of institutionalized rape, murder, and slavery, Mark. Really top-drawer ethical thinking there.

But then we hit the nut of it, in the last of his eight footnotes:

A vegan diet is no guarantee of a good diet, unless the only goal is to avoid killing animals. Sugar-sweetened beverages, French fries and doughnuts can all be vegan.

That’s a bingo! That is indeed the goal of veganism. (Well, and not exploiting the animals while they’re alive, either.) Sugar-sweetened beverages, French fries and doughnuts can all be vegan. And that’s a good thing.

The second Vegan Cook-Off, taking place Sunday, June 2 at 2pm at The Bell House in Brooklyn and presented by The Skint (a website run by a vegan who wishes to remain anonymous), has extended their deadline for competitor applications to Tuesday, May 28. The tasty theme this time around is Hors d’Oeuvres and the competition is open to everyday cooks brave enough to prepare vegan finger foods for 250+ attendees. To help decide whose tapas reign supreme, judges Terry Hope Romero, Blossom Restaurant Managing Partner Michael Parkin, and carnivore and BBQ master Dan Delaney will crown the top 3 dishes. Attendees will also help with the judging by selecting three People’s Choice winners. The event will be hosted by Brooklyn’s own vegan sideshow performer, Bobby Phobia.

Think you’ve got the chops to take home the $250 cash prize? Fill out an entry form. Are you better at eating than cooking? Tickets are still available, but are very close to selling out, so if you want to attend, don’t sleep on it.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will  say that I won first prize at The Skint’s Vegan Bake-Off back in February. I also took home a People’s Choice win. Additionally, I will be competing in this competition as well.

My experience at the first event was awesome. Hectic and crazy, but really wonderful (And not just because I won! Although that was really cool, too). I met several excellent vegan cooks, many of whom are involved in other AR and vegan organizations, and everyone was super friendly. The event ran smoothly and those who put it on did a fantastic job. It was also well worth the price of admission for the amount of food that was served.

This time around, I’m equally excited but don’t quite know how to feel about an omnivore judge. I understand it’s something that’s meant to mix things up, and I’m really interested in seeing Dan Delaney’s reaction to the food, but it’s a little too close to the idea of “passing” vegan food so that it’s palatable to omnivores (I don’t care if you like our food, omnivores). Still, I want to impress Terry Hope Romero like she’s my super hot prom date and I’m a pimply, 16-year-old nerd.

Buying a ticket to stuff your face? I look forward to feeding you. Joining me as a competitor? I’m gonna kick your butt! Since this isn’t my first rodeo, if you have any questions about the competition from a competitor’s perspective,  you can leave a comment here or shoot me an e-mail at elisa@supervegan.com.

My ideal Tuesday lunch

It’s 80 degrees in Brooklyn today and I just happened to be right around the corner from Van Leeuwen’s Boerum Hill location during my lunch break, which meant that I was obligated to taste-test the new ice cream. I brought a friend, because I just had to try both flavors for any curious parties out there (you’re welcome). I know, ice cream for lunch. Us vegans have it rough.

The chocolate was extremely chocolate-y and not too sweet, with no hint of coconut flavor. The vanilla had a hint of coconut-y taste, but was good. Overall, I’ve had better, but I’ve also had worse. And yes, Van Leeuwen serves vegan ice cream cones, according to the nice lady who served my scoop.

Walking down the street and grabbing a cone when the craving hits has just become a little bit easier for vegans in New York City, but I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to try this ice cream. It’s no Lula’s (which is temporarily closed, unfortunately), and costs about as much of a pint of vegan ice cream from Whole Foods. Still, kudos to Van Leeuwen for taking the leap and reaching out to the vegan community. We can only hope other business will follow suit.

NYC’s fourth annual Veggie Prom returns for another night of snazzy outfits, dancing, munchies and of course prom court. This year the event is being held at Fontana’s and starts at 8pm. Tickets are $15 in advance, or $20 at the door. DJ Lil Ray will provide jams for the evening and all proceeds from the event will go to HEART, an organization that provides humane education training to teachers.

But why would you want to relive prom, you ask? Well, because you’re an adult, first of all. One who probably has a fancy outfit in their closet that they never get to wear. And, if you can’t dance you can always sit in the corner and eat tons of the free food that will be available, including candy from Go Max Go Foods (yes, you read that correctly), cookies from Vegan O’Brien Baking Co., nut cheese from Treeline Cheese, treats from Gone Pie, cupcakes from Terri, and presumably a whole lot more. Bring your insulin.

Nominations for prom court are open until May 24. If you know an awesome vegan (or non-vegan, but clearly vegans are the most awesome) who deserves to win, e-mail nominations@veggieprom.com with the person’s full name in the subject line and a few sentences in the body of the e-mail about why that person should win. Winners get a whole lot of goodies, including a gift certificate to Terri, candy bars from Rescue Chocolate, and items from Vegan Bodega.

If you’re stumped on what to wear to Veggie Prom, there’s still time to buy this banana dress or this bass print dress. Or check out photos from the 2012 Veggie Prom for inspiration.

But seriously, if I see anyone wearing that bass dress I will buy you a drink.

A packed room attentively listening to Brendan Brazier

People seemed pretty thrilled to watch Brendan Brazier, triathlete and founder of Vega nutritional supplements, speak. To be honest, I had no idea who he was until I looked him up while writing this, but apparently he’s also written some books, which he signed after his talk. I didn’t see a ton of lines at the Seed this weekend, but there was definitely one to meet Brazier. I guess I don’t know who’s who when it comes to vegan athletes (with the exception of the WWE’s Daniel Bryan, but he’s no longer vegan, anyway), but he gave a pretty decent speech. Mostly about how being vegan is really good for your health, which I think I’ve heard somewhere  before.

John Joseph McGovan

I was looking forward to watching John Joseph McGovan’s talk. Mostly known as the singer of NYC hardcore band the Cro-Mags, he now spends his days participating in ironman competitions and writing and speaking about veganism and food politics. His speech was a little unorganized, but I wasn’t exactly expecting an eloquent delivery from John Joseph. He spoke a lot about the Farmer Assurance Provision, which we all know as the Monsanto Protection Act, and expressed his lack of trust in Big Pharma when it comes to personal health, while sharing how a vegan lifestyle addresses these issues.

Chef Juan Pablo Chavez prepared Escribano Areqipeno (a mashed potato dish) and Guacamole Kale Salad

Other worthwhile moments included Chef Juan Pablo Chavez‘s cooking demo and JL Fields‘s talk earlier in the day about expanding vegan activism from blogging to offline advocacy. Other than that, many of the same vendors were doling out samples and selling their goods, although by midafternoon it looked like several had run out of food and were packing up.

Overall, the Seed wasn’t bad this year, but it also wasn’t amazing. It may have been worthwhile for new vegans or those curious about the lifestyle, but as a longtime vegan, I wasn’t particularly impressed. Still, it’s nice to have options.

Cinnamon Snail parked out front

Sarah Gross of Rescue Chocolate

I arrived bright and early (hey, noon is pretty early on a Saturday) to the Seed‘s second annual “vegan experience” today, and what an experience it was. Many of the usual suspects were there, including Vitamix, Tasty Bite, Sea Shepherd, Mercy For Animals, and Rescue Chocolate. However, many of last year’s local vendors didn’t make an appearance this time around, such as Compassion Co., the Regal Vegan, Terri  and MooShoes (you were not missed, Yelp booth). You know who was at The Seed this year, though? Herstyler! That’s right, after stuffing your face with Dandies and Treeline Cheese, you could get your hair curled for free. Mostly, the Herstyler booth just annoyed me because they were clearly just trying to capitalize on the high concentration of women at the event. Regardless, day one of the Seed wasn’t all that bad.

After stuffing my face with the Cinnamon Snail, the lone food truck parked in front of the Seed (which surprisingly had a pretty short line), I headed upstairs for even more food, speakers and vegan product sampling. Unlike the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival or other similar vegan product expos around the country, the Seed is, well, merely a seed in comparison. If they want to hang with the big kids, they have a lot of growing to do.

The eye-roll inducing Herstyler station

There were two primary rooms with about 80 different vendors this year, and if you weren’t planning on listening to speakers or doing yoga, you could probably experience everything in about an hour. Probably not worth the $20 door price, or whatever you happened to pay for your ticket (there were numerous discounts available), especially considering the lack of free samples this year. I know, you actually had to buy food if you wanted something to eat.

But I did, and my favorite new vendor by far was NYC-based Alchemy Creamery, which sells push pops (aka “Magic Wands,” which makes me think of something else entirely) that put the Flintstones Push-Ups of my childhood to shame. They’re essentially ice cream treats with a cake layer. I tried the cherry pie flavor, which was a tart, sweet cherry ice cream with a crumbly topping that I had to throw back like a shot before eating the ice cream. I’ll admit the treat wasn’t very big for $5, but it was a nice splurge. Alchemy Creamery is a fairly new company with a few kinks to work out (they push up mechanism kind of fell apart in my hands), but offer an inventive product that’s very, very tasty. Definitely a company to keep an eye on.

Cherry pie “magic wand” from Alchemy Creamery

Other yummy foodstuffs included Vegan Bodega, which has now become a regular staple in the NYC vegan shop-up circuit, who were selling hard to find (in physical stores, at least) edibles such as Bee-Free Honee and the Vegg, and Balasia, an underground supper cub from Eastern PA, who were selling plates of wholesome looking raw eats.

Two non-food vendors that caught my interest were local companies Splice Photography, a vegan-owned business that employs vegan photographers and offers non-leather, eco-friendly photo albums, and Salon Champu, a vegan salon in the East Village that provided the hair styling for Vaute Couture’s NYFW debut.

Balasia serving up raw food

When it came to the speakers, nothing really jumped out at me today. I will say that most of the speakers seemed to be gearing their talks to omnivores, the veg-curious and vegetarians, rather than seasoned vegans.

Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan of Our Hen House offered an overzealous pep talk about their vegan journey and how going vegan really isn’t that hard. While they offered the crowd a heaping dose of positivity, I would have rather heard more about their organization and what they’re doing to further the animal rights movement.

I stopped by the demo area for chef Chloe Coscarelli‘s (the woman who made moms hip to veganism after she won Cupcake Wars on the Food Network) Q&A, but she was a no show. I wanted to stay and watch Micahel Weber, of FARM, discuss vegan advocacy, but after I overheard an attendee ask Cornelia Guest what the different between vegetarianism and veganism is, I decided it was time to call it a day.

Here’s hoping day two of The Seed is more inspiring, and has more free samples.

If you didn’t want to shell out $40 for a 2-day pass, individual tickets and weekend passes are currently discounted on The Seed’s website (add the promo code VEGAN20 for an extra 20% off). Amazon Local is also currently running a deal on tickets, as is Groupon. But apparently all the discounts are hurting more than they’re helping, because The Seed is asking for donations for this year’s event via their indiegogo campaign; they desperately need your money.

We hope to see you there, unless you plan on cutting in front of us in line for free samples.

Photo by flickr user (vincent desjardins)

SuperVegan is hiring a New York City Editor. This person will write blog posts, update our NYC events calendar, do some social media work, and help maintain the NYC Restaurant Guide.

We used to do a great job covering the NYC vegan scene. We’ve been slipping lately. But lots of people on the internet still get their NYC vegan info from us and we’d like to provide more of it, more often.

This will be a paid, very part time, contract position. The work will be erratic but regular. Potentially daily, maybe 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there, that kind of thing. The money is real but not amazing*. The ideal candidate is posting all this stuff to their own blog/social media accounts already anyway.

Other attributes of the ideal candidate include:

• Residency in and familiarity with the NYC Metro Area.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Decent self-copyediting skills (ain’t no one else gonna do it for you).
• Familiarity with popular social media platforms.
• Extensive blogging experience.
• A personality that comes through in your writing.
• Can accept editorial guidance without taking personal offense.
• Photography skills.
• Anger and optimism in equal measure.
• Online all the damn time.

(If these aren’t all true for you, we might still want you—just let us know which when you apply.)

To apply, send an e-mail to jobs@supervegan.com with:

• A note describing why you’re the best person for this job.
• A brief description of the last good NYC restaurant meal you ate.
• Links to five examples (that you’re proud of!) of your writing on the web.
• A list of three great vegan-related things that happened in NYC in 2013.
• A list of three great vegan-related things that happened in NYC in 2012.
• A list of three great vegan-related things that are happening in NYC later in 2013.
• An explanation of what makes a good SEO-optimized headline.
• Something you’re pissed-off about.
• Something you’re happy about.
• Zero attachments! We won’t look at them. And they may even disqualify your entire message.

Questions welcome via e-mail or in the comments.

*The exact amount will vary depending on how much work is taken on. But they pay will probably be at least $50/week.

From yoga classes to cooking demonstrations, to group activities and film screenings, to big-time vegan speakers, The Seed is 25,000 square feet of your vegan fix.

This year’s speakers include personalities like vegan athlete and entrepreneur Brendan Brazier, punk singer and author John Joseph, activist and Russell Simmon’s executive assistant Simone Reyes, and vegan podcasters Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan.

Exhibitors attending The Seed will include activist groups, artists and artisans, and food and product companies, including sponsors Whole Foods Market, Vitamix, and Vega.

If you want to register to attend, use discount code “vegan20″ to get 20% off the ticket price. See you there!

The Seed Experience

May 18^th and 19^th

82 Mercer Street

10:00am – 6:00pm

This event is so important and having big turnout is key—for the first time in NYC history, animals are a part of the political conversation, as horse drawn carriages and animal shelter reform are big issues in the NYC Mayor’s race.

Confirmed candidates attending are Bill de Blasio, Bill Thompson, John Liu, Sal Albanese and John Catsimatides. (Shockingly, Christine Quinn declined)

Congrats to NYCLASS for pulling this off and we hop it will be a packed hall full of NYC’s best animal advocates (including you!)