VegWorcester Blog

Oprah is going vegan! How do I know? This is 2008, it’s on her blog. I don’t usually read her blog, but a friend of mine who works for the Humane Society of the US sent me a link. Going vegan shouldn’t come as a complete surprise, this isn’t the first time Oprah has used her TV pulpit to talk about animals and vegetarianism.

From her blog:

“How can you say you’re trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?”

In 1996 Oprah was sued by a horde of Texan farmers after she hosted Howard Lyman on her show to talk about the problems with meat production and his personal transition from a fourth generation cattle rancher to vegan advocate. The Texan farmers argued that Oprah’s show resulted in millions of dollars of damages in the form of lost sales. Boohoo. Of course the lawsuit was thrown out of court. Lyman later wrote Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won’t Eat Meat. It’s fantastic, definitely worth a read.

Back to Oprah going vegan… She promises to chronicle the whole month-long affair on her blog, starting today.

Again, from her blog:

So this first day wasn’t hard at all. For breakfast, I had steel-cut oatmeal with fresh blueberries, strawberries, chopped walnuts and a splash of soy milk and some agave nectar. For lunch, chunky mushroom soup with wild rice and pecans. As a snack, a handful of roasted almonds. And for dinner, a baked potato drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper with a salad of shredded lettuce, cranberries, pine nuts and tiny orange slices with a vinegar and oil dressing.

If you’re vegetarian, but not yet vegan and need some inspiration try taking the challenge along with Oprah’s for 21 days. Erik from Vegan.com is hosting a daily podcast geared at helping you do it.

4 Comments »

This is coming a little late, but the 57th edition of Vegan Radio is now being served (mp3). Vegan Radio is broadcast live from ValleyFree Radio WXOJ-LP 103.3 FM in Northampton, Massachusetts. Shows are on alternate Thursdays at noon.

In this episode they talk about NYC’s first ever Veggie Pride Parade and Karen Dawn’s new book, Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals.

From VeganRadio.com:

Our 57th show features interviews with two prominent animal rights activists who are involved in fun events happening in NYC on Sunday May 18th, 2008. The first is Pamela Rice who has put together the first ever Veggie Pride Parade which will march through the meat district and feature vegan rocker Cheryl Hill and a marriage ceremony officiated by Vegan Radio favorite Dave Warwak. Our second guest is Karen Dawn who is known in the vegan movement for her activist web site Dawn Watch. Karen has a new book called Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals and is hosting a book release party after the parade. Karen regales us with stories of monkeys and pit bulls.

We also have news stories about the vegan diet being greener than eating locally grown meat, meat recalls including a recall of 406,000 pounds of cattle heads, and the influence of Asia’s growing animal agriculture industry on global warming.

Download the show!

You can also subscribe to the Vegan Radio podcast.

No Comments yet »

A giant chicken gets revenge on the Colonel in Moby’s new music video, Disco Lies:

No Comments yet »

The Orlando Sentinel says vegetarianism is hip. They say it’s getting more and more popular, especially among teenage girls. I happen to agree with them. Vegetarianism is hipper than ever. Yeah, hipper. Not hippier.

Patchouli, your days are numbered.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

…

The fastest growing segment of the vegetarian population is teenage girls. Eleven percent of girls ages 13 to 17 identify themselves as vegetarian or vegan, according to the American Dietetic Association. That’s compared with 7 percent of the adult female population who don’t eat meat.

But unlike the granola-crunching, hippie stereotypes once associated with non-meat eaters, being a vegetarian — or a vegan, which means also abstaining from dairy and eggs — is becoming increasingly popular among fashion-conscious girls such as Grissinger.

…

1 Comment »

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you already know that meat grown in a lab (and not on an animal) may soon be a reality. PETA has even thrown it’s weight behind the idea by offering $1 Million to the anyone who can bring lab meat to market at a comparable price to factory-farmed chicken.

So here’s the big question, would you eat it?

No Comments yet »

Two years ago Pamela Rice asked why haven’t vegetarians and vegans jumped on the pride parade  bandwagon and organized veggie pride parade and walks? Afterall, they’ve been doing it for seven years in Paris. So why not here in the USA?

Well, this Sunday Pamela’s wish will come true in New York City. They are having the first ever Veggie Pride Parade in New York City (and the US).

From SuperVegan:

The parade procession will begin at 12 Noon in the Old Meat District of Greenwich Village. The parade will then culminate in Washington Square Park, where a festival of rock music, speakers, and exhibitors will take place. The press release doesn’t mention anything about hook-ups, but if this is anything like Gay Pride, you can expect ample opportunity to spice up your love life.

For updates, check the Veggie Pride Parade Blog.

1 Comment »

Johnny Rockets and PETA are teaming up for a Buy One Get One Free veggie burger giveaway to celebrate World Vegetarian Week (May 19-25).

Johnny Rockets has been offering their Steamliner veggie burger for a couple of years now. They’re good! Unfortunately, there aren’t any Johnny Rockets in Worcester but there’s one in the Natick Mall, just off of Route 9. Johnny Rocket’s website also lists ones in the Boston Logan Airport, the Burlington Mall in Burlington and at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree. So if you’re planning to be in any of those places, you should stop by the Johnny Rockets with a friend and get a couple of Steamliners.

Johnny Rockets is cool and all, but Worcester is the home of the diner. We have a ton of diners in Worcester and there are a handful that stock veggie burger. Ralph’s Diner at 148 Grove Street is good choice. Ralph’s also hosts shows pretty regularly, so if you go at the right time you might get some music to go with your burger.

No Comments yet »

Boston-based filmmaker and activist Eric Prescott is raising money for a new film called “I’m Vegan”. Maybe you know Eric from the Boston Vegan Association or his blog, An Animal-Friendly Life.

In any case, the film sounds like a neat idea. This is how he describes it in his own words:

“I’m Vegan” is a series of short documentary profiles featuring vegans from all walks of life, produced with an eye toward addressing preconceived notions about vegans and veganism.
…
The various profile subjects are followed by a camera as they go about their daily business, all of which is edited around the central narrative of an interview that provides the structure and the context to counter negative stereotypes of vegans and veganism, and to promote veganism by portraying it as healthy and positive.

To maximize variety and diversity, interviews will be conducted with vegans around the country to meet a goal of capturing a few dozen profiles. These profiles will stand alone on the internet, but the director and cinematographer will also capture “b roll” footage to add to a feature-length documentary that weaves all the profiles together as part of a road trip to meet vegans around the U.S. With contacts at PBS and other potential avenues for distribution, it makes sense to take the footage we have and try to reach a less web-focused audience as well.

I hope he can get the dough!

No Comments yet »

The fine folks at Compassion Over Killing in Washington DC have successfully convinced 2 DC-area Dunkin Donuts to offer soymilk. Hooray!

Dunkin Donuts is the world’s largest coffee and baked good chain. Just imagine if they were to offer soymilk at each of their 5,500 stores. Actually, that’s exactly what Compassion Over Killing is trying to get DD to do. They’re calling on people across the country to meet with Dunkin Donuts store managers in their area to request soymilk at all of the 5,500 locations.

We definitely need to get some Worcester DD’s to sell soymilk. We have over a dozen in our little city.

Want to help get soymilk at a local Dunkin Donuts? Here are some tips from the COK feature:

• Contact your local Dunkin’ Donuts store. Click here for store locations and phone numbers. Or, better yet, stop in to your local Dunkin’ Donuts and ask to speak to the manager about adding soy milk. Be sure to let him or her know that there are other Dunkin’ Donuts stores already making this option available to customers.
• Email Dunkin Donuts’ Consumer Care Office and thank them for adding soy milk to two DC-area locations, and ask them to make soy milk available in all locations, like most national coffee chains already do.
• Call Dunkin’ Donuts’ Consumer Care hotline at 1-800-859-5339.
• Write to Dunkin’ Donuts. Express your concerns in a letter and send it to:
  Dunkin’ Donuts Consumer Care
  130 Royall Street
  Canton, MA 02021

No Comments yet »

Ingrid Newkirk, the president and a co-founder of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is a big fan of lab-grown meat. She is such a big of a fan of it that she has convinced her organization to pledge one million dollars to the “first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012.”

From the New York Times:

The idea of getting the next Chicken McNugget out of a test tube is not new. For several years, scientists have worked to develop technologies to grow tissue cultures that could be consumed like meat without the expense of land or feed and the disease potential of real meat. An international symposium on the topic was held this month in Norway. The tissue, once grown, could be shaped and given texture with the kinds of additives and structural agents that are now used to give products like soy burgers a more meaty texture.

Definitely read the whole New York Times article.

1 Comment »