Veg.ca blog scraps

VegE-news

VegE-News is a monthly news and events email service. It is free to subscribe.
Their latest issue’s stories include:

High dairy in childhood linked with cancer risk.   We are what we eat.   Vegans seek grilled meat warning. Legumes linked to lower diabetes risk.   Bird flu may be spread indirectly, WHO says.

Environment Lifestyle changes can curb climate change: UN science panel chief. World Bank backs cattle ranching, helps cut down Amazon forest. Empty seas: Europe’s appetite for seafood propels illegal trade. Update: Rescued pademelons reach home.

Lifestyles and Trends Why not give a vegetarian diet a try for the New Year?   Cutting down on meat is on an upswing. It’s healthy! Shhh … Don’t tell the kids. US approves animal clones as food.

Animal Issues and Advocacy Animal rights group targets KFC.   Taiwan law takes bite out of dog meat sales. Peter Singer on Japanese whaling: Harpooned by hypocrisy. UK film reveals the true cost of cheap chicken.   Chefs’ new goal: Looking dinner in the eye.

Books, Movies and Perspectives Still skinny, but now they can cook. An interview with the force behind thought-provoking film “A Sacred Duty.” Learning to eat, and like, his veggies.

For complete listings of restaurants, natural food stores, organic markets, farmers markets, and groups see vegguide.org‘s Hamilton page. This page also has maps.

link collection

Challenge. Veggie Challenge

Vegetarian Food Fair

available in our Resource Centre. Resource Centre .

see Recommended books for nutrition, health, and other topics. Cookbooks page

The Toronto Vegetarian Podcast (TVP) is recorded weekly by our Resource Centre crew. Each roughly 20 minute show explores what’s new in the RC, upcoming events, and pretty much anything else that comes up.

… our Toronto events page.

Listen to our podcast, recorded after every Saturday

TVA’s Lifelines newsletter.

Vegetarian Directory

pick up a copy of the latest Vegetarian Directory

and discount cardholders are eligible to receive a 10% discount. cardholders

see our How to do a directory page

To find a restaurant near you see our excellent World links page or our detailed pages for Toronto and Southern Ontario.

Speaking of colour and variety, farmers’ markets are great places to find fresh local fare.

Jason likes Buddha’s , Ethiopian House, and King’s Cafe. Colleen’s favourites are Fresh by Juice for Life, Fressen, and Simon’s Wok.

Commensal Vegetarian Restaurant will be serving

Happy Buddha at Yonge and Eglinton is

Ying Ying Soy Foods has

Vegetarian Haven has

Soy-n-Joy has vegan ‘ice cream cakes’ that you can order

Organic

See our environmental section for more on the benefits of eating local and organic.

See our Organics page for services that deliver local organic produce.

For organic Farmers’ Markets see Veg.ca/fm. …shop at your local farmers’ market

Factsheets

Organic free-range eggs. These involve much less cruelty.

Also the Vegetarian Position Paper by the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada has information on pregnancy, infants and children. View as a 20-page pdf.

vegetarian sources of omega-3.

See our Cats & Dogs page for more…

Choose from a wide range of factsheets including:

• Vegetarian Foods – Powerful for Health
• Vegetarian Nutrition
• Meat Production’s Environmental Toll
• Cow’s Milk

raw food diet

See Veggie & Fit website for more information

See our Cats & Dogs page for more

PETA’s “Meet Your Meat” movie

Events

TARS Vegan Potluck & Documentary takes place: Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 5:45 pm. Location: First Unitarian building, 175 St. Clair W. (at Avenue). After the dinner they are showing

Passover

During the eight-day holiday that ends Tuesday evening, observant Jews swear off foods made with yeast and eat unleavened bread like the loaves their foremothers grabbed from ovens in Egypt as they escaped, in a hurry, from slavery.

Passover: Pass the Pesach pasta!
by  Tikka Smiley
Passover, or in Hebrew Pesach, is the Judaic celebration of freedom from slav- ery. During the eight days of Passover, Jews abstain from eating any leavened products and in our modern society, many typically yeasty foods can be found that meet observant requirements. Unleavened cookies, crackers and cakes can be identied with the words “Kosher for Passover” and, like many Kosher products, are guaranteed to be free of any meat or dairy products. Just look for items with the word “Parve” or “Pareve,” essentially Hebrew for containing neither milk nor meat.

One of my favourite year-round foods is “Chicken Flavoured Passover Couscous” made by Savion. I would describe it as comfort food on the same level as macaroni and cheese — the orange kind found in a box — with the added benet of being vegan. Eaten by the bowlful, it’s salty and starchy with the perfect blend of subtle seasoning. I’d suggest looking for it at the No Frills store on the northeast corner of Bathurst and Wilson from late March right through to the end of Passover (which runs from April 2 to 9 this year). Like Cadbury’s Easter Creme Eggs, it’s available for just a short time, so enjoy it while you can!

For a listing of Kosher stores in Toronto, check out www.cor.ca/en/50.

VegSource offers two individual vegetarian Passover menus.

Recipe Zaar
30,000+ | Ratings | Nutrition info | Change servings | Flag recipes | Many photos
They have 30 recipes marked as vegetarian and Passover. 30 are vegan. Excellent search and sort feature.

Passover: Why Is This Seder Different from All Others?

Matzoh ball soup!

Health

Fetal Meat Syndrome

OK, so there is plenty of talk about the whole meat-eating/impotence connection. I mean, who can forget Rocket Boy, Brad and all the rest? But the new research in the UK linking meat consumption by pregnant women with low sperm counts in their sons 25+ years later is seriously disturbing.

The gist of it is that scientists now believe that steroids and sex hormones, like estrogen and testosterone—used to make cows grow faster—could interfere with the development of unborn babies, affecting male sperm production later in life. It makes perfect sense if you think about it: cows eat hormones/steroids, women eat cows, fetuses exposed to insane levels of hormones. As if there aren’t enough reasons to stop eating animals already …

You can check out what the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has to say about vegan diets during pregnancy here, and if you’re already a parent, there’s some good information on raising healthy veggie kids here.

Easter eggs

Cruel Eggs off the menu at Canada’s premier agriculture university

University of Guelph becomes first in Canada to stop using eggs from
caged hens

GUELPH, ON, VANCOUVER, March 22 /CNW/ - Two years after a shocking undercover investigation exposed the deplorable conditions of egg-laying hens on a farm owned by a poultry veterinarian closely linked to the University of Guelph, the venerable agricultural institution has decided to remove eggs from caged hens from all its food services starting September 2007.

“In a vote of eleven to six, the university’s Hospitality Services Advisory Committee voted to accept the proposed policy to buy only eggs that come from hens who were given the chance to flap their wings,” said Misha Buob, a member of the committee and strong supporter of the initiative. “Guelph will be the first university in Canada to make the switch, joining over 90 US universities and colleges. It is fitting that it happened here first.”

“The science is clear, hens suffer in cages,” says Bruce Passmore, a Guelph graduate and coordinator for the Vancouver Humane Society’s Chicken Out! project. “Battery cages represent one of the worst forms of animal cruelty in our society, but the problem is also one of the easiest to fix. If you buy eggs, choose cage-free options such as certified organic, free-range or free-run. Watch out for misleading labels like ‘Omega-3’, ‘Born-3’, ‘vegetarian fed’ or ‘natural’ as they are from caged hens.”

Approximately 98 percent of egg-laying hens in Canada are kept in tiny wire battery cages, where five to seven hens are crammed so tightly together that the hens can barely move, let alone flap their wings. Countries such as Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands have banned the use of battery cages, as will the entire European Union beginning in 2012.

Photos and video of an Ontario battery egg barn are available by request or online at www.chickenout.ca.

Culture

INTERNATIONAL VEGAN ART EXHIBITION

Ni Musculos Ni Secreciones (Neither Muscles nor Secretions) is an international art event happening in Madrid in May, 2007. The idea is to promote veganism and respect for non-human animals. On display will be art that expresses ideas of veganism and animal issues in very different ways and styles. Opening night will feature a party with free vegan food and a vegan DJ will play music.

Check out their website for samples of some of the art and links to the artistis. Larger exhibitions involving more vegan artists in London, Berlin and NYC are planned.

waste

The debate over wearing latex gloves vs hand washing.

Hands contains millions of bacteria, including harmful ones like staph and strep. Gloves can prevent most of those bacteria from being transmitted to food. But only if the gloves are clean. “The problem is that a worker may never change the gloves or clean them, thinking that the gloves themselves are sufficient protection.”

Thousands of United States restaurant workers were surveyed for a study published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health in 2005. More than a third said they did not always change their gloves between touching raw meat or poultry and ready-to-eat food.

Moreover, most gloves are made of latex that can cause allergic reactions. As a result, three states have banned latex gloves in restaurants. Vinyl is not much better.

“The reason that workers wear gloves is that they don’t wash their hands as much as they should,” said Denise Korniewicz, a professor who has studied the efficacy of rubber gloves for more than 20 years. “If you walk into any fast-food restaurant and observe people, they use the cash register, they wipe their nose and then they make your sandwich.”

“When your hands are bare you can tell if you get something on them, and you immediately wash,” said Debra Silva, who owns a seafood restaurant in Provincetown, Mass. “But if you’re wearing gloves, you might have no idea that you’ve touched something dirty.” Ms. Silva said she spends thousands of dollars a year on gloves.

From the New York Times, March 14, 2007: Latex, Vinyl, or Soap? (paid link)