vegetarian summer campamericanvegan.org/av0402.pdfeducates on ethical, ecological, aesthetic,...

American Vegan 4-2, FALL 2004 1

INSIDE: World Vegan Day Entertaining Friends and Family The Greatest Diet on Earth

New York’s Pure Food and Wine Learning Without Killing 60 Years Ago California’s Native Foods Vegan Dining Spots in Chicago US Pig Slaughter To Set Record

Stories by Krishna Dosapati Nobel Peace Prize Benefits of Beavers

New Series: Volume 4 Number 2 FALL 2004

American

Ahimsa Lights The Way

13-year-old Dee Parker says, I can’t wait to go to

Vegetarian Summer Camp

All year long I suffer in a school that just doesn't care about or “get” vegetarians, or the animals we care about.

Not only do students tease us vegetarians but teachers do too sometimes. Then it gets even worse when the health teacher tries to tell us that children need meat for growing.

I don't want to cause problems but I don't want to sit there quietly either. It is very frustrating being one of two vegetarians in a school with hundreds of kids.

As bad as it can be at school, it is that much better during the summer. The director of my summer camp is a vegan and he only serves vegan food at camp. I love not having to ask what's in the food and knowing that I can trust it and eat it.

Continued on page 5

Ben rolling Sushi.

2 American Vegan 4-2, FALL 2004

AHIMSA

THE COMPASSIONATE WAY AHIMSA is a Sanskrit term meaning

non-killing, non-injuring, non-harming. AVS defines it in daily life as

Dynamic Harmlessness, spelled out at right.

THE AMERICAN VEGAN SOCIETY is a non-profit, non-sectarian, non-political, tax-exempt educational membership organization teaching a compassionate way of living by Ahimsa (see above) and Reverence for Life. VEGANS — pronounced VEE-guns — live on products of the plant kingdom, so exclude flesh, fish, fowl, dairy products (animal milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, etc.), eggs, honey, animal gelatin, all other items of animal origin. VEGANISM ALSO EXCLUDES animal products such as leather, wool, fur, and silk, in clothing, upholstery, etc. Vegans usually try to avoid the less-than-obvious animal oils, secretions, etc., in many soaps, cosmetics, toiletries, household goods and other common commodities.

AN EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION is held each year, at Malaga or elsewhere.

INDIVIDUAL MEDICAL ADVICE is not given; AVS educates on ethical, ecological, aesthetic, healthful, eco-nomic aspects of vegan living in general.

KNOWLEDGE AND OPINIONS in articles (or books, tapes, etc., listed or reviewed in American Vegan )represent the views of the individual authors, not neces-sarily those of the society or American Vegan.

CONFIDENTIALITY: AVS' membership list is never rented or given out for commercial use or solicitations. NO PAID ADVERTISING: any notices printed are for informational value to our readers, and unpaid.

ARTICLES or items may be submitted for possible publication. Please enclose SASE for return of unac-cepted material.

ABSTINENCE from Animal Products HARMLESSNESS with Reverence for Life INTEGRITY of Thought, Word, and Deed MASTERY over Oneself SERVICE to Humanity, Nature, and Creation ADVANCEMENT of Understanding and Truth

American Vegan Volume 4, Number 2— Fall 2004

ISSN: 1536-3767 © 2004

CONTENTS

1, 5—Vegetarian Summer Camp 3—60 Years Ago 3—World Vegan Day 4—Acting Responsibly 7—Vegan Camp Food 8—A Helping Hand 9—Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right 10—Dinner Guests 13—Raw Vegan+Celebrity Chef+NYC 16—Benjamin Franklin’s Vegetarian Practice 17—Notice: New Vegan Bed & Breakfast 18—Book review: Native Foods 19—Learning Without Killing 20—Vegan Dining in the City of Chicago 22—The Greatest Diet on Earth 24—The Benefits of Beavers 25—Rosenburg Award 25—Brian and Sharon Graff Inducted into Vegetarian Hall of Fame 26—Animal Consultants International 27—Nobel Peace Prize 2004: Wangari Maathai 28, 29—Notices 30—Conference Calendar 30—AVS Conference Tennessee August 2005 30—U.S. Pig Slaughter to Set Record 31—Vegan Health Study 31—AVS membership/subscription

Front Cover Design: Scott Depew Front & Back Cover Photos: Andy Mars Printed by Prompt Printing Press Inc., Camden NJ Updated Book & Video catalog now available from AVS.

AMERICAN VEGAN SOCIETY Since 1960

Founder: H. Jay Dinshah AVS Council Members & Officers

*Freya Dinshah, Malaga NJ –President/Treasurer/Editor Roshan Dinshah, Malaga NJ –1st Vice President *Rosemary O’Brien, Woodbridge NJ –2nd Vice President/Secretary *Anne Dinshah, Erie PA –Assistant Editor *Andy Mars, Los Angeles CA Daniel J. Dinshah, Malaga NJ –Assistant Treasurer * Gabriel Figueroa, Austin TX *Council Website hosted by VegSource


WORLD VEGAN DAY California: A grand cele-bration planned for the Los Angeles area. November 1 2004, 6pm to 10pm, at 5657 Lindley Avenue in Tarzana California. Various vegan food vendors will have samples, and sell an array of food. There will be a full pro-gram of musical entertainment interspersed with speeches about veganism. Attendance at the event will be free of charge. -Andy Mars (818) 344-7838

Illinois: University of Chi-cago Vegans are planning a World Vegan Day celebration on October 30 so that students don't have to miss class in or-der to participate. Tom Regan will speak, and performances by vegan musicians are planned. There will probably also be another Iron Chef, 5K race, and banana-eating con-test. More info will be at http://vegan.uchicago.edu.

New Jersey: Red Bank and Belmar AVS members in Monmouth County invite you to dine at two premier vegan restaurants, and shop. On Oc-tober 30, 31 & November 1, 10% discounts will apply at Down To Earth (732) 747-4542 7 Broad St. Red Bank NJ 07701 www.downtoearthnj.com Veggie Works (732) 280-1141 817 Belmar Plz, Belmar NJ 07719 www.veggieworksworld.com Second Nature Natural Foods & Products (732) 747-6448 65 Broad St Red Bank, NJ 07701 www.monmouth.com/~secondnature Vegan information tables will be at each place. Videos and speakers to be announced. Further information from Lynn Surgalla (732) 571-6840

60 years ago

Donald Watson proposed the word “vegan” to a new group of non-dairy vegetarians in England. We congratulate The Vegan Society on this anniversary of their founding. From Watson’s opening statement in the first Vegan News:

November 1944 The recent articles and letters in “The Vegetarian Messenger” on the question of the use of dairy produce have revealed very strong evidence to show that the production of these foods involves much cruel exploitation and slaughter of highly sentient life. The excuse that it is not necessary to kill in order to obtain dairy produce is untenable for those with a knowledge of livestock farming methods and of the competition which even humanitarian farmers must face if they are to remain in business. For years many of us accepted, as lacto-vegetarians, that the flesh-food industry and the dairy produce industry were related, and that in some ways they subsidised one another. We accepted, therefore, that the case on ethical grounds for the disuse of these foods was exceptionally strong, and we hoped that sooner or later a crisis in our conscience would set us free. That freedom has now come to us. Having followed a diet free from all animal food for periods varying from a few weeks in some cases, to many years in others, we believe our ideas and experiences are sufficiently mature to be recorded. The unquestioned cruelty associated with the production of dairy produce has made it clear that lacto-vegetarianism is but a half-way house between flesh-eating and a truly humane, civilised diet, and we think, therefore, that during our life on earth we should try to evolve sufficiently to make the ‘full journey’. We can see quite plainly that our present civilisation is built on the exploitation of animals, just as past civilisations were built on the exploitation of slaves, and we believe the spiritual destiny of man is such that in time he will view with abhorrence the idea that men once fed on the products of animals’ bodies. Even though the scientific evidence may be lacking, we shrewdly suspect that the great impediment to man’s moral development may be that he is a parasite of lower forms of animal life. ♦

World Vegan Day celebrations in the U.S. are listed at right. For events worldwide see www.worldveganday.com.

The Vegan Society Donald Watson House

7 Battle Road St Leonards-on-Sea E Sussex TN37 7aa

ENGLAND

American Vegan Society 56 Dinshah Ln, PO Box 369

Malaga NJ 08328

Ph: (856) 694-2887 Fax: -2288

www.americanvegan.org

Sign on to our E-Alert


While walking by the deli sec-tion of my local grocery store I couldn’t help but notice one of the employees clearing out one of the hot cases for the day. He was leaning over a huge garbage can and was filling it with dozens of chicken parts! I was shocked and angered by this atrocity, and even more upset when I realized this was not an isolated incident, but one that must happen every day in every such store in every state.

Why wouldn’t the deli em-ployee think he was doing any-thing wrong? He is part of a soci-ety where we are raised to do only what requires minimum thought or effort. This includes throwing out what we don’t want or need, rather than recycling it, or not using or buying it in the first place.

Unfortunately, we as vegans are not exempt from this wasteful attitude and living. If we look around at what we purchase and support, we too may disrespect the earth and our environment. For one thing, every time we read the newspaper, delivered to us in a colorful plastic bag, or use dis-posable diapers, cups and plates, we are reaffirming, to ourselves and others, that it is okay to use something once and throw it away. The recycle bins outside the grocery stores try to comfort us and lead us to believe that our bags get recycled, but if one looks into the resale market for products made from recycled bags, it is very limited. I question what really happens to the bags.

Have you ever thought about the resources that went into the plastic bottle you are drinking from, the carcinogenic substances and dioxins that were released into the air when that plastic was produced? What about the animals that lost their lives or habitat due to the pollution we cause, or our increased need for land and other resources? Hundreds of thousands of marine animals, includ-ing whales and sea turtles, die annu-ally from eating discarded plastic bags that they mistake for food. This tragedy doesn’t stop in the oceans. Many cows, goats and other land animals experience a similar fate when they accidentally consume plastic bags while foraging for food. This unnecessary cruelty is avoid-able if we consciously think about ways we can reduce our dependency on plastic bags. For each cloth bag we use, potentially hundreds of plas-tic bags are kept from accidentally ending up in the environment.

Our earth-destructive habits can be reduced, allowing us to remain true to the commitment we made to the animals, the planet, and our-selves by adopting a vegan lifestyle.

It is so spiritually rewarding to live a greener life and it is so simple to start now. First and foremost, make recycling a part of your life! Even if you don’t have curbside pickup, many cities have recycling drop-off centers that take everything from batteries to phonebooks — find them and make regular trips to visit

them. The next step is to reduce our dependency on disposable items (and the petroleum that is used to produce many of them) and to use cloth bags for ALL shopping needs. Keep them in the car so they are al-ways handy.

When we do something good for the earth, all of her inhabitants reap the rewards. Every time we do some-thing negative to the earth we con-tribute to the poisoning of the air, the water, the forests, and the destruc-tion caused to the animals! Doesn’t that defeat our purpose of pursuing a vegan life — not to harm others? Every action has a reaction, and if we do earth-friendly acts with a kind and loving attitude, we positively encourage others to do the same.

Please visit www.reusablebags.com for more information on plastic bags and www.recycling.com for more infor-mation on recycling facts.

Acting Responsibly Andrea Vendittis

OF THE 47 U.S. CHEMICAL PLANTS THAT PRODUCE THE MOST CARCINOGENIC EMISIONS, 35 ARE INVOLVED IN PLASTIC PRODUCTION.

—ORGANIC STYLE JAN/FEB 2003

Andrea is an environmental educator, master composter, and activist. She has been an ethical vegan for over 14 years and is continuously seeking ways to minimize her impact on the earth.

She has witnessed first hand some of the impact our trash has on the earth's inhabi-tants. When she volunteered at two separate wildlife reha-bilitation centers she would often see ocean birds tangled up in plastic beverage rings, or who had blockages from at-tempting to swallow trash. One time in Colorado, she tried to retrieve a plastic bag from a grazing cow's mouth, but the cow ran away and was unap-proachable. These situations increased Andrea’s awareness and made her look at areas in her life where she might be contribut-ing to the unnecessary suffer-ing of animals.


Even though not all the camp-ers or counselors at camp are vegetarians, I love that at this camp it is acceptable and even normal and even a really good thing to be a vegetarian.

I started going to the day camp here in Los Angeles a few years ago. My older brother went be-fore me and my sister goes with me too. The camp is a very small camp, which I really like. There are only 12 campers in a group and there are three counselors with us. Camp director Andy Mars is one of the counselors.

Besides being a vegan, Andy is a really conscientious teacher who teaches us about a lot of other things too. His camp van does not even use gasoline. That is so cool. The camp's website, printed on the side of the van, makes it clear what this camp is all about: www.KidsMakeADifference.org.

Our whole group gets in the van to go on trips each day. Every Monday we go hiking and get out to enjoy nature. We also do some things to help make the trails bet-ter. On Tuesday we go to amuse-ment parks. I'm not sure if I like the hiking or the amusement parks better since I love them both so much.

On Wednesday we go to the beach. We have a lot of fun there and then we put on gloves to clean up the beach and we fill out forms to report to the government about the condition of the beach.

On Thursday we stay at camp and play fun games together. We swim in the pool. We do some creative project. We also spend a little time at the retirement house and play games and talk and sing with the older people there. I like that a lot since my grandparents live so far away.

On Friday we do other special trips like skating or museums or laser tag or other fun stuff. My favorite Friday trip was when we went to a blueberry farm and picked blueberries. We had blue-berry fun, throwing them at each other and getting all messy. Andy warned us in advance to bring old clothes. He also wouldn't let us call it blueberry wars and instead called it blueberry fun.

I like the way he does things like that. Sometimes we play with water squirters, not water guns; and we have water fun, not water fights. This camp is so much fun and I learn so much and I am so glad to be in a place that helps us be good people.

And the food that Andy gives us is always vegan. We have great snacks each day like fruit popsicles, watermelon, chips and salsa, and other stuff like that. At the overnight camps, the food is even better. At day camp, every-body brings their own lunches and we eat breakfast and dinner at home.

At overnight camp we help, making breakfast, lunch and din-ner together.

One of the overnight camps is a week hiking trip. We stay in tents and do a lot of hiking. We make our dinners at the campfire. We have barbequed corn and corn dogs and veggie dogs and veggie burgers and chili and other stuff like that. We also make rice

and roll our own sushi. I love that the most. My brother loves mak-ing falafel the most. My sister loves the spaghetti and garlic bread.

Another overnight camp I went to was during Christmas vacation. We go to the snow and ski or snowboard. We stay in a cabin that has a kitchen where we can make other great veggie meals. And I love getting to play in the snow and have snow much fun. : )

Everything we do at these camps is always fun. The best part is being able to eat without having to hide and without being teased. The food at Camp Explo-ration is so yummy and always totally vegetarian. Jen, who is a counselor I really like, decided during the summer that she would become vegetarian. Some kids have done that too. I love Andy's camps and I can't wait for next summer for the fun and for the food and for the friends.

Vegetarian Summer

Camp

Cindy making Burritos

Photos by Andy Mars


About the Camp (Vegetarian Summer Camp on pages 1 & 5)

At Camp Exploration we believe not only in providing a fun, and of course safe, summer program for each child, but we believe strongly in aiding and guiding the optimal development of the whole child. Our trip program offers opportunities for exploring, experiencing and enjoying an array of activities and sites.

Wherever we are, and whatever we are doing, constant caring attention is given to the individual child, their interaction with oth-ers, and their relationship with the world around them.

In our daily routine, we also place a strong emphasis on the role we can take in the world around us. On our weekly beach trips, we not only enjoy our fun in the sun, but we "adopt" the beach and help clean it. Likewise, on our weekly hiking trips, we bring empty trash bags with us, to help clean any garbage others care-lessly leave behind.

Weekly, we visit a retirement home and share mutually valu-able, special time with our newly "adopted grandparents."

Many of our experiences lead to discussion sessions.

Andy Mars

Camp Exploration (Winter, Spring & Summer Programs), Youth Services from Mars (Educational Consulting, Counseling, and Tutoring Services), and Students Taking Action & Respon-sibility Today (Community Service Youth Programs) have all been founded by, and are hands-on directed by, Andy Mars.

Andy has directed day, travel, and resident camps from coast to coast. He has been a lecturer to, and workshop leader for, camp owners and directors at American Camping Association confer-ences. He has directed a boarding school, chaired a department at a preparatory school, and taught in an inner-city public school.

He cares deeply about each and every child with whom he works, and is particularly passionate about community service. From beaches to mountains, he enjoys spending time in nature whenever possible.

He earned his PhD in Education with foci on both Wholistic Health and Learning Differences. He received a Masters Degree in Education, specializing in Critical Thinking and Life Skills Devel-opment. He also holds degrees in Business and in Engineering.

Andy is a Trustee of the American Vegan Society.

STUDENTS TAKING ACTION & RESPONSIBILITY TODAY PO Box 24922, Los Angeles CA 90024-0922

(818) 344-7838, E-mail: [email protected] Photos by Andy Mars. This page from top: Jake eating Sushi at Zion National Park, Plum Mouth Marlan learned to love fruit, Hannah enjoying taco.


Sushi Possibly the most popular

meal at camp is sushi. Rice is made the night before, so that it is room temperature for rolling for lunch the next day. Organic short grain sushi rice is cooked in a portable automatic rice cooker. When camping out and not near outlets, a power inverter is plugged into the camp van and the rice cooker plugged into that.

Campers are each given a bamboo sushi-rolling mat. They are shown how to put a sheet of nori (seaweed) on the mat, a row of rice along the center, and fillings of their own personal choosing along the rice. They are shown how to use the mat to roll their lunches.

Campers love experimenting with a variety of fillings such a s : c u c u m b e r , a v o c a d o , asparagus, spinach, bamboo shoots, baby corn, carrots, s p r o u t s , d a i k o n r a d i s h , mushrooms, soy “crab”, tofu, scallions, umeboshi plum or paste, peppers, and so much more.

Middle Eastern Feast It is not a Camp Exploration

overnight camp program without a Middle Eastern Feast. At the local co-op, tabouli, hummus, and falafel mixes from Fantastic Foods™, and other instant mixes can be purchased in bulk, without e v e n h a v i n g t o w a s t e packaging. The mixes are quite easy to use and the kids enjoy them very much. They especially love rolling the falafel mixture into balls and then frying them.

Lentil Soup We often make this soup. The

lentils are soaked, brought to a boil, then simmered with delightful spices — especially cumin, onion, and plenty of garlic.

Fresh pita (flat-round pocket bread) is bought from a local Arabic market. Baba ghanoush

Eggplant is baked and mixed with tahini (a sesame paste), a little lemon juice, and a lot of garlic, to make a yummy baba ghanoush spread or dip.

Other fixings we use are cucumbers, mint leaves, lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, sesame seeds, etc.

Italian Night Italian Night is enjoyable and

an easy night to pull together. Pasta with Sauce: Usually

DeBoles™ organic pasta and Muir Glen™ organic sauce are used. Water is boiled. Pasta is cooked until tender, and then drained. Sauce is heated. Sauce and pasta are mixed.

Garlic Bread is a regular hit with the kids. Italian bread is sliced in half lengthwise. Olive oil is spread along both interiors, garlic is spread atop that, and the masterpiece is baked — sometimes in an oven, and sometimes on a campfire.

Minestrone Soup is often made, but that recipe is an old Marsi family secret!

Tacos Setting up a taco buffet is

always fun. 1. Heat packages of vegan taco “meat” (textured vegetable protein, reconstituted with water). 2. Make some rice and add some salsa to it to turn it into Spanish Rice. 3. Heat up some vegan Refried Beans (no animal fat). 4. Mash some avocados and mix with a dash of salsa, a little cilantro, and some garl ic for quick yummy Guacamole!

Shred some vegan cheese, (Soyco™ Soymage has a vegan “mozzarella” and a vegan "cheddar" that work quite well).

Dice some olives, tomatoes, mushrooms, lettuce, etc. Let everyone fill their own corn tortilla or taco shell, and enjoy!

Franks & Beans Franks & Beans are a quick

easy campfire dinner — vegan dogs of any kind can be used, but Boca™ Dogs are a camp favorite. They are sliced up and mixed with canned vegan baked beans and put in a pot on the campfire until ready.

Baked Potatoes & Chili A super easy and always

enjoyed campfire dinner is baked potatoes & chili. Potatoes are wrapped in foil and placed in the campfire. Cans of Bearitos™ vegan chili are opened and also put straight in the campfire. Other than stirring the chili in the cans, not much needs to be done. This meal has an extremely easy cleanup too!

Vegan Camp Food

Jenny Romero

Janet Romero is a counselor who has worked with Andy Mars’ Kids Make a Difference programs for a number of years.


“Wake up, my little darlings,” said my

mother. She is a chicken, and we are chicks. I have two siblings, Andrea and Charlotte. I’m Sunny. It was the first day that we opened our eyes. We were one week old. “We’ll go out and see the sunshine,” she said. “Yay!” we chirped.

Our mother looked out the window. “Oh my lord! That looks like a bush, a bear, and a rab-bit!” We laughed. She looked insulted. “Well it does”, she insisted. “Let’s check it out,” I said. “Yeah!” the others chirped. Mother sighed. “Oh, alright.” “Yay!” we cheered.

We all climbed out the window. “Let’s use the door next time,” mother said. “Help!” the bush said. We jumped back. “Don’t be scared. I’m a rabbit, stuck in a bush, on top of this plas-tic bear. Can you help me?” it asked. “ No won-der you look weird!” Charlotte exclaimed. We ran and pulled the rabbit out of the bush.

“Thanks a million!” the rabbit said. “Can you play with us?” Andrea asked. “Please?” the others chirped in. The rabbit shrugged. “OK,” it said. We had a lot of fun that day, and slept well that night.

The next day we went out. We saw a lake. Oh, how it sparkled in the sun. Charlotte was so tempted to touch the lake that she fell in! She didn’t know how to swim. “Oh no!” my mother cried. I started to cry. “Help!” Charlotte chirped gasping for air. Luckily the rabbit heard her. “Don’t worry,” the rabbit said. It brought a stick. “Bite the stick with your beak to climb out,” the rabbit said. Charlotte did as she was told. The rabbit pulled her out. “How can I thank you,” my mother asked. “Anytime,” the rabbit said, and walked away.

So as you see, if you help someone it is very likely that they will help you back. Stretch out a helping hand….

Two stories by

Krishna Dosapati:

A HELPING HAND

Camp Exploration Programs

For the coming Winter Vacation 2004/2005:

Travel Day Camp: December 20 - 24

SNOWvernight Camp: December 26 - 30

Magic Mountain New Year's Eve Overnight Camp: December 31 - January 1

The (Tentative) Program for Summer 2005:

Travel Day Camp: June 20 - June 24

Alien Adventure Overnight Camp: June 26 - July 10

Travel Day Camp: July 11 - July 15

Travel Day Camp: July 18 - July 22 Mountain Retreat Overnight Camp: July 25 - July 30

Travel Day Camp: August 1 - August 5

Vegan Camp: at and in conjunction with The American Vegan Society's Vegan Festival August 8 - August 14, Summertown Tennessee

Travel Day Camp: August 15 - August 19

Hikers' Heaven Overnight Camp: August 21 - August 27

California Cruzin' Overnight Camp: August 29 - September 3

For more information on Camp Exploration, please e-mail, ([email protected]), and peruse the website, (www.kidsmakeadifference.org). Andy Mars, (818) 344-7838 PO Box 24922 Los Angeles CA 90024

————————— Marshmallows are made with animal gelatin.

So for a rare treat get Vegan Marshmallows

(See back cover photo) Vegan marshmallows from Vegan Supreme are distributed by Vegan Essentials and sold at a few select stores. The ingredients are sugar (non-bone- char refined), water, light corn syrup, vegan jel (carageenan, locust bean gum and malto-dextrin), vanilla extract, cornstarch, sea salt. Order from www.VeganEssentials.com or look for a list of stores at www.vegansuprememarshmallows.com Pangea makes marshmallows too which are sold under their VeganSweets label. The ingredients are non-bone-char processed sugar, corn syrup, agar, carageenan, soy protein, pure vanilla and cornstarch. Their website is www.veganstore.com.

(More about Vegan Essentials and Pangea on page 28.)


Krishna is ten years old. She is in 5th grade and loves reading books. She started reading at the age of three. Krishna loves paint-ing. She is a very good singer.

Krishna loves animals and works to raise money to support animal rights.

Krishna’s lives with her mother Sunanda and father Satya in Marlboro New Jersey. They make traditional Indian food the vegan way.

Krishna Dosapati

“Get up, sweetie”, my mother said, softly. We are rac-coons. I was two weeks old and had four siblings. I’m Brownie, along with Fluffy, Veronica, Linoone, and Rascal. I was exceptionally small for my age. “We’re going hunt-ing,” my mother said. “Yay!” cried the others. “Boo,” I mut-tered. No one heard me. For some reason, I never liked hunting.

We climbed out of our den. We looked around, when I saw a tiger. “Ahhh”, I said. “What?” my mother asked. “L.L.Look”, I pointed to the tiger. “Run!” she said. By that time, the tiger spotted us. “Tasty meal,” she growled. “Oh, no,” I thought. We were going hunting, and we were being hunted.

There was a gorge. “Oh, no! Dead end,” Fluffy said. “Wait! There’s a tree across it to the other side!” Rascal said. We followed our mother to the other side. The tiger almost came across, when “SNAP!” The tree broke. The tiger clung to the steep wall of the gorge.

“Let’s help,” I said. “But it was hunting us,” Veronica said. “So! Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right,” Linoone said. So my mother, Rascal, and I held on to one paw, while Li-noone, Veronica, and Fluffy held to the other. Finally we pulled the tiger up. “Sorry,” the tiger said. “It’s OK. You were only trying to hunt, to live,” my mother said.

“How are we going to get to the other side? The tree broke, and was sent into the depths of the gorge.” I said. The tiger smiled. “I can solve the problem. I can leap a long way.” “But how about us?” my mother asked. “Climb on my back,” the tiger said. It leaped. “Whoopeee!” I said. The wind brushed against my fur and I’d never felt better be-fore.

When we got to the other side, the tiger said, “Follow me, I want to show you something. We followed her, we went into her den, and saw five tiger pups. “We can be friends,” the tiger said. So my mom became a friend of the tiger, and we were friends with the pups.

So as you see, you shouldn’t do something wrong if somebody does something bad to you. Help them, and make friends with them. Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right….

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

Thank you to Satya Dosapati for all his efforts this year to show the New Jersey public the benefits to be gained by pursuing a vegan diet. First was a free workshop spon-sored by Monmouth County Library in June. In August Satya mounted a huge display and arranged for vegan food at the Clear Water Festival in Asbury Park. He has been to com-munity days. Most recently he scheduled Dr. Joel Fuhrman to speak to AT&T employees, and showed The Peaceable Kingdom. He has been helped by his wife Sunanda, daughter Krishna, and friends. Satya is now campaigning to bring the Healthy School Lunch program to New Jersey schools.

Promote healthful plant-based alternatives to meat in your schools. Consumers for Healthy Options in Children’s Education Susan Wieland (877) 6-CHOICE (246423), www.choiceusa.net


I’m a vegan who likes to inter-act socially with people. I often invite non-vegans to dinner. On these occasions my objectives generally fall into three categories:

1. TO SURVIVE Sometimes I invite guests (they

may be in-laws, boss, etc.) who are not the least interested in vegan living. They will probably never change their diet. But it would be nice to serve them a vegan meal without receiving too much ridi-cule. Sometimes what begins as a survival encounter may result in the guests leaving impressed.

For such an evening I suggest avoiding vegan stereotypes. For-get the salad, and don’t make any obvious use of tofu (although it may be a hidden ingredient in a recipe). Stay away from anything that would be considered weird, such as couscous and kombu. Try pasta or potato dishes, vegetable stew, chips and dips (hummus, etc.), rice and vegetables, and portabella mushrooms. Take vegetables and grains they know about, and prepare them in a tasty new way.

Your guests may be used to thinking of vegetables as just a canned boring side item. They will be surprised at how vibrant and colorful vegetables really are, and how they can even easily become a healthful main dish! Some dishes that go over well are: Eat Your Veggies Spaghetti, Fresh Veggie Stew, Triple Topped-Potatoes and Mushroom Burgers.

2. TO IMPRESS Some guests will arrive

open-minded, interested in learning about vegan foods, and eager to try new dishes. These people may be friends or neighbors. If they are im-pressed enough, they may leave influenced!

For these guests it is good to try some unique innovative un-common items mixed in with the more common foods. They will be excited to learn about interest-ing grains (couscous, millet, qui-noa, etc), main-dish tofu or tem-peh recipes, grated salads, and odd-colored foods. If it is their second or third visit, give them some choices. I ask them to pick from my cookbook, Healthy Hearty Helpings. They are in-trigued by: Couscous Curiosity, Tempting Tempeh, and Fireburst Salad.

3. TO INFLUENCE The guests who are most will-

ing to enjoy vegan meals are of-ten kids, or health-conscious adults. It is a great opportunity for them to learn about healthy choices and compassion.

The menu should be primarily foods that are easy, tasty, and fun to make, such as pizza, desserts, and smoothies. Let the guests help make them. Kids love to try things they make. They develop a sense of pride at learning to cre-ate a meal, and (with proper guid-ance) are a great help in getting dinner prepared. When teaching

other people’s kids, be careful to respect their parents’ views while introducing new ideas. (Two of the kids who like to help me cook are eager to learn, but their dad works for a major meat processor so I have to be careful about how good of an influence to be!) Try-Quick Pizza Slices, Bean Burri-tos, Currant Carrot Cookies, Peach Smoothie, and Fruit Salad.

TO PREPARE FOR ALL TYPES OF GUESTS

Begin by asking if guests have allergies and to name their favorite vegetables. This gives a starting platform from which to be in-spired. If one guest likes corn, po-tatoes, and broccoli, is allergic to peanuts, and hates mushrooms and eggplant, I think of four options:

Brussels Sprout Surprise, a casserole with corn sauce over broccoli instead of Brussels sprouts. I could easily scrub and quarter some potatoes and put them in the oven for crispy-cut baked potatoes while the casse-role cooks.

Triple-Topped Potatoes are potatoes topped with broccoli, beans, and a nutritional yeast cheese. I can also steam a side dish of corn with red and green bell peppers.

Fresh Veggie Stew could take some extra corn and broccoli in it and be served with Smashed Po-tatoes.

Broccoli Soup and Basic Po-tato Salad are great summer fa-vorites served with fresh steamed corn on the cob.

Do not ask guests their favor-ite dish as an open-ended ques-tion. The answer will probably be a meat-cheese item that you wouldn’t want to experiment with copying, and would never match their established taste.

Dinner Guests Entertaining Friends & Family

(Adapted from a lecture to the Erie Vegetarian Society)

Anne Dinshah


PLAN THE MENU

Include beverages, bread, des-sert, and two to four of the fol-lowing: appetizer, salad, main dish, and side dish. (Beverage options are: tea, juice, water, smoothies, house specialty drinks, etc.) The meal should be more elaborate than your every-day dinner. Use only recipes that you have made before and can do with confidence.

If guests offer to bring some-thing, I usually politely refuse — who knows what well-intentioned non-vegan items might sneak onto the table! I tell them they can just relax and enjoy letting me prepare for them. It will be their turn to host dinner another time. Or I give them something easy to bring such as the bever-ages. Even though they might bring something undesirable such as a fruit drink (10 % fruit, mostly corn syrup) instead of a fruit juice (100% fruit juice), at least there’s a good chance it will be vegan. When asked ahead of time about the menu, I try to keep them guessing. For example, if I announce that there will be baked potatoes I don’t want them to bring butter and sour cream to use before giving my incredibly deli-cious toppings a chance. I may tantalize them with “I went out and picked fresh peaches at the local farm last week. Mmm, those peaches will be the most heav-enly of dessert ingredients!”

Dessert offered at the end of the meal is vital to the success of the evening. It is the last chance to impress the guests. Dessert gives them a chance to refuse, or just have a little sample, if they are already stuffed (to their sur-prise) with all the wonderful food already served. They are amazed

at the flavors in a healthful vegan dessert. — “How delicious!” “I love the natural apple flavor in this cobbler!” — They are aston-ished at the ability to indulge with compassion. — “Wow this non-dairy ice cream on top of the chocolate cake is terrific! Can I buy this ice cream at the local supermarket?” — Not offering dessert will lead to gossip as soon as they are out the door. — “I could never be a vegan. They can’t eat ice cream and cake!”

Consider the occasion Formality of the visit often dic-tates the menu. For an evening dinner before going to a play one might offer guests a variety of herb teas followed by celery sticks and crackers with Black Bean Hummus, Couscous Curry-osity (grain and vegetables main dish), and Carrot Cake with a non-dairy ice cream. For a sum-mer casual evening dinner fol-lowed by a light walk or some classic board games: Limeade, Mushroom Burgers, Basic Potato Salad, and Chocorange Cupcakes with Chocorange Icing will be great.

Presentation Think about how dinner will

be served: buffet, family-style (pass the dish around), or restau-rant style. Buffets are great for large groups. I can do this outside on my large porch. People can eat outdoors without much cleanup required. Family-style is most common at my house. I can fit up to ten people around my dining table and still have room for the serving dishes to rotate. Restau-rant-style was great fun when I was a kid and would not only make the meal for my family, but also draw menus for the occasion and play waitress.

Little things make the food more desirable. Something as simple as a few sprigs of parsley, a tender leaf of kale, an orange slice, or an edible flower, may take seconds to do, but sets off dinner as something wonderful.

Timing is essential for suc-cess. Even if some of the items have been time-consuming to make, the host/hostess should ap-pear to float effortlessly through the evening, a vibrant vegan. Plan the amount of time to prepare, cook, and present each item. In-clude extra time for the inevitable distractions. Have ingredients available for one backup standby emergency item, or have one menu item that is optional as time permits. Allow plenty of time for a relaxing nap, bath, or whatever is needed to become personally prepared. Be ready for early arri-vals; have something for them to do (play games, enjoy appetizers, and such).

Pizza “Cheese” Makes 3 to 4 cups

1½ cups nutritional yeast flakes ½ cup whole-wheat pastry flour ⅓ cup cornstarch 3 cups water 2 Tbsp. oil 1 tsp. salt Mix yeast, flour and corn-starch. While stirring, add water gradually to prevent lumps. Heat pot on stove. Stir con-stantly, scraping the bottom un-til it all thickens. Remove from heat. Stir in oil and salt. This recipe is used with items that will be further baked.

Continued next page.


Couscous Curry-osity (with sprigs of sage)

Makes 6 servings

2 large white potatoes 1 small butternut squash 1½ cups water 2 Tbsp. soy sauce, tamari 2 Tbsp. cornstarch 2 tsp. curry powder ½ cup raisins 1 15-oz can chickpeas (garbanzos)

1½ cups couscous 3 cups water

VEGGIES: Peel squash. Wash and chop po-tatoes and squash. Put in pot with 1½ cups water. Bring to boil; reduce heat and cook until po-tatoes are tender. Meanwhile, in separate container, mix soy sauce, cornstarch and curry powder until smooth. Then mix it into the hot water in which the squash and potatoes are still cooking. Remove from heat. Stir in raisins and chickpeas.

COUSCOUS: Put couscous and 3 cups water in a pot. Bring to boil. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Serve the veggies on top of the couscous.

Quick Pizza Slices Makes 4 slices

4 slices whole-wheat bread ½ cup spaghetti sauce 1½ cups black beans (canned, drained) 1 cup Pizza “Cheese” (see recipe) 8 green olives Place bread on baking sheet. Spread spaghetti sauce on bread. Slice olives. Place beans, “cheese”, and olives on sauce. Bake at 350°F. for 15 minutes, or until “cheese” begins to turn golden brown.

Triple-Topped Potatoes Serves 4

1 small head broccoli ¼ cup water 4 large potatoes 1 cup Pizza “Cheese” (see recipe) 1 cup baked beans (canned, vegetarian)

Wash potatoes. Bake them at 375°F. for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, wash and chop broccoli, and steam until slightly tender but still bright green. (Or put broccoli in a microwaveable bowl with water and microwave on high for 3 minutes.) Slice open baked potatoes and place in baking pan. Smother potatoes with beans, broccoli and “cheese”.

Bake at 350°F. for 10 minutes or until “cheese” begins to turn golden brown.

These recipes and others mentioned, from Anne Dinshah’s Healthy Hearty Helpings, $8.95 (from AVS).

Photos by H. Jay Dinshah

Triple-Topped Potatoes


Yes! It has happened! In Man-hattan, a celebrity mainstream chef has become vegan and opened an organic raw-food res-taurant, Pure Food & Wine, in a hip neighborhood with hip decor and hip customers!

It is wildly successful! Since the 17th of June 2004, Matthew Kenney and his partner and chef, Sarma Meingailis, have created a “place to be”, with amazing raw food. Each plate should be photo-graphed for its beauty! Here one really understands the reference, “you eat with your eyes first”.

Listing First Course, Second Course, and Third Course sec-tions on the menu helps customers plan the perfect meal. Some look at the Third Course first, deca-dent desserts, and then work backward for best planning. After the Dark Chocolate Ganache Tart with Black Mint Ice Cream it is so easy to see why! All three courses are a must.

The chef suggested the Spicy Thai Vegetable Wraps with Tamarind Dipping Sauce (mango, napa cabbage, ginger and cashews) for the First Course. My favorite Sec-ond Course is the Red Beet Ravioli with Yellow Pepper Puree (cashew cheese filling, tarragon and pista-chio). My Third Course choice changes more frequently, but a favorite is Key-Lime-Mousse Tart (coconut and agave nectar).

There are 50 seats inside, full of super-comfortable and stylish red-upholstered chairs set around beautiful wooden tables; 80 courtyard garden seats, also with the same chic furnishings, and added cushioned banquettes around the perimeter. But it is still difficult to get a table, even midweek in the summer! Mat-thew said he was initially con-cerned that he was doing the right thing at the right time. Now his worries are gone, as he said, “We served over 250 people last night. Good for a summer Tuesday”. Now they have opened a take-away entrance around the corner,

cleverly sharing the same kitchen, to catch busy New Yorkers on the run.

How did this happen? In early 2003, Matthew and Sarma were going to dinner with a friend to a top restaurant owned by another celebrity chef. The friend sud-denly suggested that they eat at a small raw restaurant instead so he could stay true to his way of eat-ing. During dinner they listened to all the reasons why their friend had adopted this diet…live en-zymes, more energy, better health. But, Matthew said, “more than the food, it was the philoso-phy behind raw that stuck in my mind. We went home and did computer research and decided to try it for a week, and then a month, and never looked back.”

This transition is even more amazing considering Matthew is from Maine and was well-known for his lobster dishes. Now such cooking cannot even be consid-ered on moral grounds. The only lobster on the menu is “Lobster” Mushroom and Fava Bean Tart (orange zest, cardamom and chayote crust).

The most noticeable results from eating raw food, Matthew says are, “I just feel a lot more connected with earth and nature, my own body, my own spiritual-ity. And, physically, I began feel-ing I was getting younger where before I was getting older”. With two dark eyes beaming like flash-lights, and his youthful and calm manner in the middle of a buzz-ing and full restaurant, he is the best advertisement for his food.

Matthew says that the most challenging part in keeping such a restaurant organized is

Raw Vegan + Celebrity Chef + NYC by Linda Long

Matthew Kenney


“dehydrating items, since it is dif-ficult to understand the timing because it takes a day to make something. We have to figure out who is going to put it in at night and who will take it out the next day so as not to overheat it”.

Matthew had successful runs with several previous restaurants, Matthew’s, Mezze, Monzu, and Commune, and was at a time where he could re-invent himself. He had also just authored two well-received cookbooks, Mat-thew Kenney’s Mediterranean Cooking and Big City Cooking. Although written in pre-raw ve-gan days, many of the vegetable and grain recipes are wonderful. Or, look forward to an ambitious current work-in-progress, which will, of course, be a reflection of Pure Food & Wine. They are planning to have it out by Spring, one fourth the usual time. Perhaps possible since they are very fa-miliar with the process. Matthew and Sarma met when she was sent to him as a tester for his second book!

Now, what about the wine? As it is difficult to have vegan wines, the huge wine list is considered organic and biodynamic. This means no added sulfites, a pun-gent preservative. They are ex-panding the list while discovering even greater purity. Three spe-cialty drinks, White Sangria, Melon-tini, and Pure Mojito, are worth passing up the wine list completely.

If you think the idea of purity stops with the food and wine, consider that $10,000 was spent to filter the water in the entire restaurant, including the bath-room sinks.

How does a waiter tell custom-ers about the menu offerings when each item is so curious? Training. All staff is schooled for weeks on the composition of each menu item and how it is prepared (such as, no higher than 118 de-grees, and that “baking” is really in a dehydrator, not an oven). They also learn first-class service with all courtesies of a fine res-taurant.

Could this be heaven…gourmet raw vegan, pure water, organic wines, wonderful environment, prime location, top chef, and top service, too?

The reference “celebrity chef” is not to be taken lightly. Mat-thew Kenney was twice nomi-nated for the James Beard Rising Star Award, PBS chose him as a Rising Star Chef in America, and “Food & Wine” Magazine listed him as among the Ten Best New Chefs. He also appeared on the “Today Show”, Food TV Net-work, and many talk shows. .

Linda Long, New York City, grew up in her parents’ restau-rants in Pennsylvania. Later, at The Concord Hotel in the Catskills she became vegetarian at the urg-ing of Dick Gregory while he was traveling with Muhammed Ali who was training for a fight there in ’76. Upon meeting Dr. Michael Klaper through Gentle World in ‘80, she became vegan. She ad-vises non-vegetarian restaurants on offering vegan menu options . (212) 721-1113, [email protected].

Photos by Linda Long

Take any transportation to Union Square, walk eastward to the ground floor of a charming brownstone, and that will be

Pure Food & Wine, (212) 477-1010 54 Irving Place @ 17th Street, NY, NY 10003

www.purefoodandwine.com


Tamarind Dipping Sauce: 1 cup tamarind paste 3 Tbsp. maple syrup 1 Tbsp. soy sauce 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil Pinch of salt

Place all ingredients in blender and puree. May be made ahead of time and refrigerated.

Wraps: 1½ cup chopped cashews 1 Tbsp. sesame oil ½ Tbsp. sea salt ¼ cup maple syrup ½ cup lemon juice 2 Tbsp. chopped ginger 1 Tbsp. chopped red chile, with seeds 1½ Tbsp. soy sauce 1 cup raw almond butter ½ head savoy cabbage, shredded 6 very large collard-green leaves 1 large carrot, julienned 1 small ripe mango, cut lengthwise into batons 2 cup bean sprouts ½ cup cilantro leaves ½ cup torn basil leaves ¼ cup mint leaves

Mix the cashews, sesame oil, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Puree the maple syrup, lemon juice, ginger, red chile, and soy sauce in a blender. Add the al-mond butter, and blend at low speed to combine. Add water to thin if necessary.

Put the shredded cabbage in a bowl, and pour the almond-butter mixture over. Toss well to combine.

Cut out the center rib of each collard-green leaf, dividing the leaf in half. Place a half leaf on a cutting board, underside face up.

Arrange a few tablespoons of the cabbage mixture evenly across a third of the leaf, leaving about 1½ inches clear at the bot-tom. Sprinkle some of the chopped cashews over the cab-bage. Lay a few carrot sticks, a baton of mango, and a few bean sprouts on top. Add a few leaves each of cilantro, basil, and mint. Fold the bottom of the leaf up and over the filling, keeping it tight, and tuck the leaf under the ingre-dients and roll forward. Place the roll, seam-side down, on a serving dish. Repeat with remaining col-lard leaves and ingredients.

Serve with the tamarind sauce.

Red Beet Ravioli with Yellow Pepper Puree,

Cashew Cheese Filling, Tarragon, and Pistachios

Serves 4 (6 or 7 per person)

Cashew Cheese Filling: 2 cup soaked cashews 2½ Tbsp. lemon juice 3 Tbsp. nutritional yeast 1 tsp. grated lemon zest 2-3 tsp. salt 2 Tbsp. minced scallion 2 Tbsp. minced tarragon 2 Tbsp. minced parsley

Blend everything except scal-lion and herbs in the food proces-sor until smooth. Remove from bowl and fold in minced herbs.

Yellow Pepper Sauce: 3 yellow peppers (or try with orange peppers) 1 Tbsp. lemon juice 1 Tbsp. white part of scallion 1 tsp. sea salt 1 Tbsp. olive oil ½ cup soaked pine nuts Small pinch of turmeric (when using yellow peppers)

Puree in blender or Vita-Mix.

To Assemble: -Red Beets: peeled and sliced thin on a mandoline. Stack the slices and cut into ravioli-like squares. -Pistachios: preferably Sicilian, coarsely chopped. -Tarragon: coarsely chopped or torn -Macadamia oil -Lemon juice -Coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Pour macadamia oil into small dish, add the lemon juice. Dip each beet slice in the oil/lemon blend. Place beet slice flat on plate. Sprinkle with sea salt. Add about 1 tsp. of filling on each slice. Top with another beet slice.

Press down gently to secure. Sprinkle with sea salt. Spoon yel-low pepper sauce around it. Sprinkle with pistachios, and tar-ragon and black pepper.

Spicy Thai Vegetable Wraps & Tamarind Dipping Sauce

Makes 12 wraps.

Recipes for Dishes served by

Pure Food & Wine

Frey Vineyards, 14000 Tomki Rd, Redwood Valley CA 95470

Phone: (707).485.5177, (800).760.3739, www.freywine.com

All Frey wines (red & white) are acceptable to vegans. No animal products are used. This information provided for those who drink wine. AVS’ advise is to not drink any alcohol.


Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer, was a quasi-vegetarian.

Born in Boston, he attended school for a brief period of time. He worked in his father’s tallow shop. This work did not please Franklin so he transferred to his brother’s printing shop. Cleverly, he wrote interesting unsigned articles, which he placed under the door of the emporium. His brother liked these articles and printed them without a byline. But sibling jealousy arose when he became aware that Benjamin was the author. In 1723 Benjamin went to work as a printer in Philadelphia. During these years his work performance was excellent and he was sent to England to buy printer’s type.

Franklin had decided to become a vegetarian when he worked for his brother. Benjamin had a most limited income and the price of meat was very high. He went on a strict vegetarian diet. This was necessary to save his money in order to buy the classical books written by historians and philosophers.

1n lieu of meat he substituted bread, fruit and vegetables. As a result of this regimen he felt more energy to work and study. He programmed himself to awake before dawn to read and study foreign languages. He was self-taught and had a reading ability of French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Latin.

As a youth of 17 he was a strong vegetarian and projected that those who ate animals were murderers. On his first trip to England he rejected the cod that his fellow passengers caught to supplement their limited diet. When in his early years in England, he abstained from eating meat and urged his fellow apprentices and journeymen to drink fresh water and avoid alcoholic drinks as part of achieving self-improvement.

He became self-employed and began his ownership of the Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin, the editor, published annually Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732-57), which contained wise sayings and common sense philosophies. Also, the Almanack included astronomical and meteorological data arranged according to the seasons of the year.

At an early stage he developed a list of 12 virtues to guide his moral behavior throughout life:

Virtue 1: Temperance. Eat not to Dullness, Drink not to Elevation.

Franklin retired as a successful businessman in his early 40s so that he could enter public service, which would include service of the newly organized United States.

Franklin became a leader in cultural movements; he founded a debating club which was known as Junto with a membership of young intellectuals. Later, this group developed into the American Philosophical Society.

Franklin was appointed to be the ambassador to France. With fame came a shift of early concept of morality. He began to enjoy court life. He attended banquets and indulged eating al1 the delicacies. There were tables overflowing with all kinds of cooked meats. Apparently, the sweetness of taste overcame Franklin’s pledge to remain a lifelong vegetarian. Human affairs offer no guarantee to respect an oath. As a matter of fact, his wine cellars had varieties of champagne.

He observed Virtue 11: C lean l iness . To le rate no Uncleanness in Body, Clothes or Habitation. He would sit nude in front of an open window to absorb fresh air. At this time in city growth both Paris and Philadelphia had open sewers in the streets where pollution and the causative agents of common diseases could flourish.

Unfortunately, his medical history had a sad story due to his own neglectful behavior.

In the winter of 1775 Franklin, as member of a commission, traveled to French- and English- speaking Canada to urge unity with the colonists in the coming Revolu t ionary War . The Quebecers and Montrealers remembered the military action of the colonists during the recent French and Indian War (1754-1760), and declined to form a united group with the Yankees.

In his trip to Canada during the cold days in the icy season his 1eg swelled and his body developed boils.

There were two major medical ailments that caused the slow deterioration of Franklin’s body in his middle years and old age.

Benjamin Franklin’s Vegetarian Practice

Dr. Harry Gershenowitz


They were the gouty fits and bladder stones. Both maladies gave great pain. But Franklin the botanist was determined to find medical relief. He became aware of the bulbous roots of the perennial plant meadow saffron. The roots were boiled and the decoction was allowed to cool. The palliative gave relief to sufferers of gout. It was the active ingredient, alkaloid colchicine, that ameliorated the pain of the long-suffering patient.

Franklin developed bladder stones in his happy times. The pain increased when he was standing, walking or riding in a carriage.

Franklin, using the process of trial and error, picked in the field blackberries and raspberries then boiled these berries in a pot full of sugar and allowed the infusion to remain untouched overnight. The next day he would drink the supernatant liquid above the concentrated mixture. After a number of years he had to resort to oral dosages of opium to ease the distress. But opium takes its price and it curtails the appetite until the body assumes skeletal form.

Yes, Franklin admitted his gluttonous approach to living in an humorous essay

Dialogue With Gout Franklin: Eh! Oh! Eh! What have I done to merit these cruel sufferings? Gout: Many things you have ate and drank too freely, and too much indulged those legs of yours in their indolence.

Gout is caused by an excessive amount of uric acid in the blood producing pain in the joints and big toe. It is associated with eating nucleo-protein food, the kind that Franklin enjoyed the most.

Franklin championed the beginning use of smallpox inoculation. The orthodox medical society expressed their opposition and declared that inoculations were acts of trickery. In 1760, in reply to medical d o u b t e r s , F r a n k l i n t h e p a m p h l e t e e r p u b l i s h e d Inoculation for Smallpox in England and America.

Franklin could not come to terms with his age of 84 and continued his old habit of sitting unclothed in a chilling air for half an hour. This exposure caused the development of pleurisy. The condition worsened and formed an abscess in his lung, which caused the organ to become oppressed. He passed away on April 17 1790.

20,000 Philadelphians walked to the Old Christ Church to pay their respects and admiration to the old sage.

This Renaissance man helped to form the American Anti-Slavery Society.

He founded the Pennsylvania Hospital. He was an advocate of a circulating library (1731) and the formation of the first Philadelphia Fire Company (1736). Franklin supported better treatment for insane patients.

Franklin believed in the advancement of scholarly pursuits. He was one of the most accomplished diplomates at Versailles.

Woefully, he showed his human weakness by eating choice foods that gave him epicurean gratification. This unwise behavior violated his youthful list of virtues and hastened the death of the savant.

The City of Brotherly Love recognized Franklin’s genius and elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1900.

NEW VEGAN BED & BREAKFAST Chez Philippe is a new Vegan Bed & Breakfast located less than a 10-minute walk away from

Papineau Metro station, and from there just a few stops away from Downtown Montreal. We offer four newly decorated rooms, two shared bathrooms, a large terrace to relax in the

summer, and full home cooked vegan breakfast which even non-vegan guests are raving about. No meat, fish, dairy or eggs are used in the preparation of our breakfasts.

Additionally we took particular care not to use any animal products or by-products in the rooms’ amenities (no wool, no down duvet, no silk), or in the bathroom toiletries. For additional information, please check the website at: www.chezphilippe.info Chez Philippe, 2457 rue Sainte Catherine Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2K 2J9 Canada (514) 890-1666 Toll free from US and Canada (877 ) 890-1666 E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. Harry Gershenowitz is Professor Emeritus, Depart-ment of Biological Sciences, Rowan University, Glassboro New Jersey.


In preparation for my vacation in Palm Springs, California last year, I began searching for vegan restaurants in that area. To my great surprise, I found Native Foods, a vegan restaurant serving a variety of vegan treats.

My mouth began to water as I read the menu online, and I couldn’t wait to try it out. I ended up eating there three times! Even my meat-eating travel companion asked to return. I enjoyed the Greek Pizza made with Native “Cheese,” a BLTease with Avocado, and the Bali Surf Burger made with tempeh.

Although all of the desserts were delectable, my favorite was a massive chocolate chip cookie topped with vanilla soy ice cream, chocolate sauce, and almond crème.

I brought the menu home with me hoping to replicate some of the delightful dishes that were made.

I was thrilled to find The Native Foods Restaurant Cookbook when I returned. The cookbook starts with a brief introduction to Native Foods, the owner Tanya Petrovna, and praise from Deborah Madison.

Part one consists of several helpful glossaries of utensils, types of food, cooking terms, and cooking techniques. The author also discusses the origins of soy protein textures, tempeh, seitan, tofu, grains, and beans, and she clearly explains how to work with those different foods. The definitions and explanations are clear and short, making it a quick and easy read.

After going through the information at the beginning of the cookbook I dove in to test the recipes. The Table of Contents organizes the recipes by course and lists the title under each subheading, making it a convenient reference when trying to decide what to make. The cookbook includes a variety of styles, flavors, and cuisine, and the recipes vary in complexity. The author also includes tips, variations, or serving suggestions for many of the recipes.

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed using this cookbook. I would definitely recommend it for veteran vegan chefs as well as people breaking into vegan cooking. It provides simple explanations for people who are not familiar with vegan food and offers many tasty meals.

If you are ever in Palm Springs, Desert Springs, Los Angeles or Costa Mesa, stop by this restaurant!

The NATIVE FOODS Restaurant Cookbook -Tanya Petrovna, 2003, 328 pages 7½x9”, $16.95, from AVS

Toby Calandra is currently a speech-language pathologist in Philadelphia. She also works at Horizon’s Café, a vegetarian restaurant in Wil low Grove, Pennsylvania. Toby has been vegan for 3 years. She enjoys cooking and competing in duathlons.

Book: Reviewed by Toby Calandra

Native Foods has four restaurants in Southern California, in Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Desert Springs, and Costa Mesa.


Hundreds of thousands of ani-mals are needlessly experimented on, killed and dissected each year in schools and universities world-wide. However, increasing num-bers of students and teachers are no longer willing to harm or kill animals. Ethical, compassionate and courageous students have been the most powerful advocates of humane alternatives, and, de-spite frequent faculty opposition, their recent campaigns on several campuses around the world have resulted in the elimination of many labs in which animals were harmed or killed, saving hundreds of dogs, frogs, pigs, sheep, guinea pigs, mice and rats annually.

Unlike academic staff, stu-dents campaigning for humane alternatives cannot be fired, and students with a committed and professional approach and access to the resources they need have proven enormously powerful ad-vocates of humane education in schools and universities around the world.

Created by veterinarian Dr. Andrew Knight, who won several major battles not to kill animals in veterinary school, website www.LearningWithoutKilling.info has just been launched to provide students with easy access to the resources they need to win their campaigns. It includes books on humane alternatives to harmful animal use in education, consci-entious objection student guides, lists of educational studies prov-ing that alternative students per-form at least as well as those

trained via harming animals, al-ternatives submissions (that have already been successful in ending hundreds of animal experiments at several major universities worldwide), and the world’s larg-est photo gallery on the subject, including 125 high-quality photos of animal dissection, experimen-tation, surgical training, computer simulations, mannequins and models, preserved tissues, and humane surgical training alterna-tives. A memorial page contains stories from students about ani-mals they’ve seen harmed or killed.

Said veterinarian Dr. Knight, “As a student I refused to partici-pate in the mass killings of healthy animals that commonly occur during surgical and other veterinary training. I was penal-ized and threatened with failure. But I persisted, and discovered that students with a committed and professional approach can take on their universities and win! Since then colleagues have done the same at several other major universities around the world, ending many labs and sav-ing hundreds of animal lives. I created the website www.LearningWithoutKilling.info to give students around the world access to the resources they need to win these campaigns in the face of faculty opposition. It is my hope that new people will join the growing international community of ethical and compassionate stu-dents unwilling to harm animals during their education.”

Background: Life and health sciences education has tradition-ally involved the harmful use of animals, and countless animals have lost their lives in attempts to teach practical skills and demon-strate scientific principles which have, in most cases, been estab-lished for decades. However, at the start of the 21st century, many thousands of humane educational alternatives exist. These include computer simulations, videos, plasticised specimens, ethically-sourced cadavers (animals that have died naturally, in accidents, or been euthanized for medical reasons), models, diagrams, self-experimentation, and supervised clinical experiences. At least 28 educational studies covering all educational levels and disciplines have proven that students learn-ing via humane methods are at least as competent as those trained via harmful animal use; indeed, 50% actually showed that humane methods produced supe-rior learning outcomes. Despite the overwhelming scientific evi-dence, humane teaching methods are resisted in many schools and universities around the world, resulting in fierce struggles with students unwilling to harm ani-mals during their education.

July 5 2004 Media Release: Launch of

www.LearningWithoutKilling.info Dr. Andrew Knight

Photo: Andre Szekely Dr. Andrew Knight (right), Jasmijn de Boo (left), with Freya Dinshah (center) at Animal Rights 2004 Con-ference, near Washington DC.


Quality vegan dining and the city of Chicago are unlikely bed-fellows. Nearly 100 years after the publication of Upton Sinclair’s Jungle, the skeletons of the meat packing industry loom over much of the South Side of the city. Slaughterhouses are still abundant in many parts of Chicago, albeit relocated to farther-removed loca-tions as real estate prices began to increase. The quintessentially “Chicago” dishes are still brat-wurst and Chicago dogs – literally hot dogs loaded with ground beef, cheese and everything else that makes a vegan cringe. In spite of all this (or, perhaps, as a result) Chicago has seen a recent increase in vegetarian-friendly fare.

The best example of this new-found popularity can be seen in the Soul Vegetarian East. The Soul Vegetarian East has been a vegan soul food restaurant on Chi-cago’s South Side for over 20 years. Until recently, it was a tiny restaurant surrounded by burger joints and barbecue huts, with one room for seating customers. Within the past year it has doubled in size, adding an extra room for seating and completely re-vamping its menu. The entire block surrounding Soul Veg now consists of a health food store, a holistic medicine center, an Afri-can art gallery and a small all-vegan deli owned and operated by the Soul Vegetarian. People come from all over the city and repre-sent a diverse clientele. Despite these changes, the Soul Vegetarian East still provides the same quality home-cooked meals and the same reasonable prices.

Green Zebra is another ex-ample of this recent insurgence of vegetarian food into Chicago cul-ture. While not a pure vegetarian restaurant, Green Zebra has a mostly-vegetarian menu with a considerable number of vegan op-tions (the other menu items are “free range” and “organic” meat). Since its opening last March, Green Zebra has been one of the toughest places in the city to get reservations. While the vegan food tends to be bland and far too ex-pensive for anyone to go there on a frequent basis, it is comforting knowing that the high-culture haute-cuisine aficionados in Chi-cago are eschewing veal and foi gras in favor of something a little less cruel. It also doesn’t hurt that Green Zebra makes an amazing vegan ginger cake with homemade banana soy ice cream.

The North Side of the city is somewhat of a vegetarian Mecca. There are more vegetarian-friendly ethnic restaurants than I can even begin to mention in this article. Any vegan would be content with the abundance of Indian, Ethiopian and Middle Eastern restaurants in the area (many of which have separate vegetarian menus!). On top of that, there are a number of quaint cafes, trendy diners and family-style restaurants that spe-cialize in food to tempt the vege-tarian palate.

The Chicago Diner, perhaps the most well-known vegetarian restaurant in Chicago, boasts a large menu of diner classics gone vegetarian. Most of the items on their menu can be made with soy substitutes for vegans (and a num-ber of items on their menu are ve-gan in the first place). The recent

addition of vegan milk-shakes to their menu (made with Chicago Soydairy —another new local com-pany—milk and ice cream) has made The Diner a popu-lar nighttime hangout. New menu items with Asian and Tex-Mex flavors (tempeh springrolls, seitan soy-quesadillas and Argentinean empanadas) have made it even tougher to choose what it is that you want to order.

Vegan Dining in the City of Chicago Lola Thompson

Typical e-mail to U. Chicago vegans: Tomorrow there will be a trip to The Soul Vegetarian. Soul Veg, as we call it, is a quick car ride from campus and it has tons of CHEAP vegan "fast food," including veggie gyros, corn bread, fake chicken nuggets and a wide variety of cakes. The daily special tomorrow is vegan macaroni and cheese.

Lola, and Eric Purdy are re-flected in Soul Veg window..


Karyn’s Fresh Corner, which is just down the street from the Chicago Diner, boasts quite a different offering. Yoga classes, an oxygen bar and holistic medi-cal treatment are all side dishes offered at this raw vegan restau-rant. It is amazing to see what Karyn can do with raw vegeta-bles. Delicately sliced radishes pressed around a cashew nut cheese fashion picture-perfect ravioli. Dehydrated flaxseed crepes flavored with coconut meat (don’t worry, despite the presence of the word “meat,” it’s still vegan) never fail to impress. One cannot help but feel like their meal at Karyn’s was possibly the healthiest thing that they have ever eaten (chances are that they are right).

Although the Pick Me Up Café is not specifically a vege-tarian restaurant, it is noteworthy simply because it is open 24 hours on weekends and makes vegan French toast. It also serves homemade cake, a tofu-cheese pizza and Chicago Soydairy milk-shakes. Basically, if you have a case of the late-night munchies or are trying to find a cool spot to type a paper after the library has closed, Pick Me Up is the place to go.

If you travel westward to Wicker Park, you will find the Earwax Café. It is similar to the Pick Me Up Café in that it serves basic diner fare with some tasty vegan options. Especially noteworthy are their TVP Sloppy Joe sandwiches and huge slices of vegan cake. The ambience is also worth admiring: the entire restau-rant is furnished with old circus decorations. Earwax doubles as a movie rental venue, which makes it another great late-night stop.

Also in Wicker Park is the Handlebar, a bicycle-themed restaurant and bar that serves a plethora of vegan items. While the Handlebar is probably most known for its African ground nut stew, it also makes a number of delicious seitan dishes and a pretty mean chocolate raspberry torte. The food here especially hits the spot when it is washed down with some organic, cruelty-free beer.

Farther north of the city, one will find Alice and Friends Vegetarian Café, a pan-Asian mostly-vegan restaurant that serves disturbingly realistic mock meat items. Alice and Friends also has a good selection of vegan cakes and ice cream, although the dessert item that they were most known for, the vegan version of Asian buns, was recently taken off the menu.

Another Asian-themed restau-rant with an entirely vegan menu (that isn’t too far away from Al-ice’s) is Amitabul. Amitabul serves Korean stir-fry dishes that are known for being incredibly healthy: no oil is used in their cooking. The dishes range from subtle to extremely spicy, but the chef is equipped to adjust the level of spiciness to your taste.

If you venture beyond the city to Evanston, be sure to check out the Blind Faith Café, the Mid-west’s oldest and largest vegetar-ian restaurant. While the menu is a bit irritating since it makes no indication of which items are and are not vegan (and many of the waitstaff themselves do not know //and have to check with the cooks), the delicious desserts make the trip out there worth-while.

The bottom line:

Chicago, operating on a simple system of supply and demand, has begun to notice that there is a sizeable population of us out there and is adjusting to benefit from our business by providing the food we require. If you want to see even more cruelty-free cu-linary choices, it’s time to con-vince more people to go vegan.

Soul Vegetarian East 205 E. 75th, Chicago Phone: (773) 224-0104

Green Zebra 1460 W Chicago Ave, Chicago Phone: (312) 243-7100

The Chicago Diner 3411 N. Halsted, Chicago Phone: (773) 935-6696 and Highland Park, 581 Elm Pl. Phone: (847) 433-1228

Karyn’s Fresh Corner 1901 N. Halsted, Chicago Phone: (773) 296-6990

Pick Me Up Café 3408 N. Clark St, Chicago Phone: (773) 248-6613

Earwax Café 1561 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago Phone: (773) 772-4019

Handlebar 2311 W. North Ave, Chicago Phone: (773) 384-9456

Alice & Friends Vegetarian Café 5812 N Broadway, Chicago Phone: (773) 275-8797

Amitabul 6207 N Milwaukee Ave, Floor 1, Chicago. Phone: (773) 774-0276

Blind Faith Café 525 Dempster St, Evanston, IL Phone: (847)-328-6875

Lola is a co-president of the University of Chicago Vegan So-ciety. She is currently a 3rd-year student in college studying math and economics.


Dr. Joel Fuhrman ad-dressed an audience gathered at the American Vegan Soci-ety Headquarters May 30 2004. His goal is to motivate people by providing informa-tion, and he succeeded in making an impact with this au-dience. Below are some of the important points he made in his lecture.

Americans don’t eat enough

of the best foods. They eat too much of things that should not be considered fit to eat. Conse-quently their diets are lacking in vital nutrients and abound in dangerous levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal pro-tein. No wonder health care costs in the U.S. have been climbing in the last twenty years. We have a health crisis. 80% of Americans are over-weight, and 30% obese. Over-weight raises the risk of chronic disease and shortens life spans. Excess calories, toxic to living species, accelerate aging.

This is a time in history when fresh fruits and vegetables are available year round, and freez-ing them preserves the nutrients at their peak. But in the U.S. food consumption by calories of fruits and vegetables is only 7%, of which almost half are pota-toes mainly eaten as fries or chips. As a nation 42% of calo-ries consumed come from dairy and animal food, and 51% come from refined, processed food.

By shunning fruits and vegeta-bles Americans are missing out on essential-to-health vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phyto-chemicals. This vital array (much still being identified) must be ob-tained from eating plant-foods, not from a pill bottle.

The meat and dairy products people eat do not contain protec-tive nutrients or fiber. The num-ber one contributor of calories to the American diet is dairy. Whole milk and cheese contain a high level of saturated fat. Lean meat and fowl, which contain two to five grams of fat per ounce, con-tain less fat, less saturated fat, and fewer calories than cheese which has eight to nine grams of fat per ounce. Total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol from animal foods have been indicted as contribut-ing to heart and circulatory dis-ease, also diabetes. The protein in

animal foods is coming under scrutiny as a cause of cancer. People getting calories from ani-mal foods are losing out health-wise and nutritionally.

Refined and processed foods such as bread, pasta, and cake are deficient in fiber, phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals, all of which are lost in processing. Their consumption is linked to cancers, diabetes, gallbladder dis-ease, and heart disease. There is general agreement that to lose weight, refined carbohydrates must be curtailed. Refined sugars are not only a cause of dental de-cay; they cause us to be malnour-ished in direct proportion to how much we consume them. Further, they are partially to blame for the high cancer and heart-attack rates we see in America. If a vegetar-ian diet revolves around white bread, white rice and other proc-

essed foods, the nutrient levels can become danger-ously low. Most people are suffering with food addictions. They feel unwell when they do not eat fre-quently, and eat excessively, or drink coffee, to feel better. Food or drink is commonly used as a stimulant to suppress head-aches, lightheaded-ness, or abdominal

Fill your stomach with

THE GREATEST DIET ON EARTH

Nutrient dense vegetables and fruits are key to weight loss and health

Dr. Joel Fuhrman autographing his book. Photos on page 22 & 23 by André Szekely


discomfort, which Dr. Fuhrman calls, “toxic hunger.” In detoxi-fying (eating healthy) people will frequently experience a period of feeling worse. When we eat and drink wisely, we eat in response to natural hunger and always feel comfortable.

Raw vegetable salads are vital and should include lettuces, and other greens. Fresh fruits can be eaten freely. Cooked green vege-tables, other vegetables, and leg-umes (peas, beans, or tofu) are recommended daily. No limits need be set on these items. The amounts of starchy vegetables, whole grains, avocados, nuts and seeds eaten each day by those try-ing to lose weight have to be regulated. Active people can eat more of these foods. Legumes and nuts are satisfying. Raw nuts and seeds have healthful unproc-essed fats.

Greens are foods that are very high in nutrients and low in calo-ries. They provide excellent pro-tein, calcium, other minerals, and vitamins, etc. Greens are key to

optimal health and weight loss because of their high nutrient per calorie ratio. Eating lots of greens is es-sential to good health, and make it difficult to over-consume high-starch vege-tables or grains. A weight-loss diet that is high in nu-trients while low in calories is much safer to follow than diets that restrict food portions. You can fill your stomach with plant-foods and feel nourished and full. (Note that greens alone are not enough; some more

calorie-dense foods are nec-essary.) Starchy vegetables such as

sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and carrots are nutritionally supe-rior to white potatoes. The nutri-tion in whole grains can be en-hanced by soaking them for a day before cooking them.

It is better not to add salt to food. Look for salt-free processed foods, if used. Salt pulls out cal-cium and other trace minerals when it is excreted in the urine. This is a contributory cause of osteoporosis. Other factors that can induce calcium loss in the urine are animal protein, caffeine, refined sugar, nicotine, alumi-num-containing antacids, certain drugs, and vitamin A supple-ments.

The diet Fuhrman recom-mends is rich in calcium and con-tains sufficient iron from greens and beans. The protein is ade-quate and other nutrients are abundant.

However, B12 deficiencies have been found in people fol-lowing a total vegetarian diet. So advice for vegans is to take a vi-tamin B12 supplement or to con-

sume foods that have been forti-fied with B12. Alternatively, they should have their blood tested periodically. Both the B12 level and methylmalonic acid (MMA) must be checked to get an accu-rate picture. (B12 deficiencies are likely caused by purification processes implemented for our food and water supplies. -Ed)

For a fuller coverage of this material we recommend Dr. Fuhrman’s video The Greatest Diet on Earth $19.95 from AVS.

Also, his book Eat to Live, published by Little Brown, is available through mainstream bookstores and his website www.DrFuhrman.com.

The book is not carried by AVS because it is written for a wider audience. Consequently, although Dr. Fuhrman’s greatest diet on earth is vegan; the book allows a 90% adherence to the diet, permitting individuals to util-ize small amounts of foods that are not optimum or vegan, to en-gage their compliance.

Joel Fuhrman MD is a Board certified family physician spe-cializing in preventing and re-versing disease through nutri-tional and natural methods.

He is a graduate of the Uni-versity of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a director of the National Health Association (Tampa Florida). His practice is in Flemington New Jersey, where he lives with his wife, Lisa, and their four children. His office number is (908) 237- 0200. Visit www.drfuhrman.com

Joel Fuhrman is a former member of the U.S. World Fig-ure Skating team.

Lunch buffet included raw vegetable salads and steamed greens, bean bur-gers, potato salad, strawberries, nut cream, and carob cake.


I have had the pleasure of knowing, up-close and personal, a colony of beavers who live in the pond next to my cabin. Some Na-tive Americans called beavers Little People because we have so many traits in common. They vo-calize, they work as individuals to create complex social and physi-cal structures, and they are the only animal, with the exception of humans, who will re-engineer an ecosystem to suit their needs.

Beavers need several feet of water to access food, for housing and to provide protection. This hydrologic transformation is achieved by damming waterways, filling flood plains with water to create ponds. Some people con-sider this destructive; however, it is as natural as rainfall, pollina-tion and fall migration. Take a look at the nearest housing devel-opment if you want to see an-other definition of destructive.

The benefits of beavers not only include the joy of watching them; they provide unparalleled water resource protection for very little investment. When waters are slowed by this keystone spe-cies, it results in less downstream flooding, reduces soil erosion and allows sediments to settle. These ponds increase dissolved oxygen; filter out pesticides, fer-tilizers and other contaminants; and act as terrestrial kidneys, cleansing the water that will ulti-mately recharge our aquifers and rivers. They also provide a lush wetland habitat for all manner of indigenous flora and fauna.

When these incredible crea-tures put their ponds in the wrong place, please remember there are ways to coexist with beavers without taking lethal measures. Fence exclosures can prevent cul-vert damming, water flow level-ing devices allow humans to

maintain reasonable water levels, and there are several effective ways to protect those special trees. Trapping out beavers, with lethal intent or for relocation, is not a long-term solution to a bea-ver problem. It is like evicting a troublesome tenant from an apart-ment: you will be renting it out again in no time.

Anyone who is interested in learning more about beavers and solutions to beaver/human con-flicts is welcome to contact me.

Sarah Summerville, Director Unexpected Wildlife Refuge PO Box 765 ~ Newfield NJ 08344. (856) 697-3541 www.unexpectedwildliferefuge.org

Sarah spoke at the May meet-

ing of American Vegan Society held in Malaga.

The Benefits of Beavers Sarah Summerville

PEANUT BUTTER & CO. Introduces Gourmet Line of Six All-Natural VEGAN Peanut Butters

(New York, NY) – Peanut Butter Fans Rejoice! New York City’s Peanut Butter & Co. is announcing that its unique line of all-natural peanut butter, handmade from American-grown peanuts, is available nationwide through the www.ilovepeanutbutter.com website and through select local retailers. Each one of the peanut butters is certified Vegan by Vegan Action. They are certified Kosher as well.

There are six varieties of peanut butter. Smooth Operator is 100% natural peanut butter made from a special blend of perfectly roasted peanuts and just a small amount of salt. No added sugar. The other five are Crunch Time, Cinnamon Raisin Swirl, The Heat Is On, White Chocolate Wonderful, and Dark Chocolate Dreams –made fresh daily in a 1950s-vintage peanut butter mill at Peanut Butter & Co.’s Greenpoint Brooklyn factory. They are packaged in 16 oz. recyclable glass jars with a suggested retail price of $3.99 per jar for the smooth and crunchy and $4.99 per jar for the flavored varieties. The line can also be ordered from the company’s toll-free number (866) ILOVEPB (886) 456-8372.

In a taste test by a couple of dozen people at AVS’ HQ, top choices were the white, and dark chocolate varieties followed by Cinnamon Raisin Swirl. The hot spicy peanut butter, The Heat Is On, got a love or hate reaction; it was liked by a few but rejected by most. Smooth and Crunchy had deli-cate flavors compared to familiar brands.

(Vegan Action, PO Box 4288, Richmond VA 23220, www.vegan.org (804) 254-8346)

Hope Sawyer Buyukmihci


Aryenish Birdie was recipient of the 2004 Bill Rosenberg Award, which is given to a young person for animal rights activism while under 18 years of age, at the National Animal Rights Conference, July 10.

While in high school, she organized a debate be-tween the Future Farmers of America and People for Animal Rights (a Kansas City group) as a way to cre-ate dialogue among students. She was also active with Animal Outreach of Kansas (AOK), setting up a weekly showing of the PETA (People for the Ethical treatment of Animals) documentary Meet Your Meat, and organizing annual events for the Great American Meatout. As a uni-versity student in Amherst Massachusetts, she is Director of Outreach for SHARE (Students of Hampshire for Ani-mal Rights Education), which has successfully campaigned to exclude all cosmetics and household products tested on animals from the bookstore. Aryenish has interned with PETA, and distributed Why Vegan? for Vegan Outreach.

At 15 Aryenish learned how animals are raised and killed for food. “I just couldn’t pretend it wasn’t happen-ing”, she says. She felt compelled to become vegetarian and soon adopted a vegan lifestyle. The rest of the Birdie family became vegetarian too, a process made easier be-cause Aryenish’s mom, Purviz is an excellent cook, now skilled at making meals without meat or any animal by-products. The family emigrated to the U.S. from Karachi Pakistan in 1984.

Aryenish is an asset to society in the widest sense.

FARM ANIMAL REFORM MOVEMENT 10101 Ashburton Lane, Bethesda MD 20817 (888) FARM USA 327-6872 www.meatoutmondays.org

Aryenish Birdie (left) with her mother, Purviz

Rosenberg Award winner

Aryenish Birdie

Photo by Andre Szekely

Brian and Sharon Graff Inducted into the

Vegetarian Hall of Fame When the North American Vegetarian Society

celebrated its 30th anniversary at this year’s Vegetarian Summerfest, it thanked and honored Brian and Sharon Graff by inducting them into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame, on July 24.

As NAVS’ President Jennie Kerwood ex-plained, Some people are spotlight people -- and some prefer to work their magic behind the scenes. So it is with our co-directors Sharon and Brian Graff. They are people who are doers, thinkers, planners and strategists. While other VHF honorees have prominent profiles in the vegetarian movement, this year’s award went to two people who have provided the glue to keep NAVS going for 30 years, and run the office, in their home since 1979.

Accomplishments over the years include an annual vegetarian conference at which the best vegetarian speakers have educated a growing movement, and university food services have learned how to prepare vegan food.

Vegetarian Voice is the NAVS publication. In 30 years local vegetarian societies affiliated with NAVS have grown from eight to over 160. World Vegetarian Day (proposed by Brian Graff in 1977) is celebrated October 1 by many groups with supporting literature from NAVS.

It is not easy to keep a nonprofit going. NAVS has prevailed because Sharon and Brian make huge sacrifices in terms of time and money (working at times without salary) to keep it run-ning on a daily basis. We know them well be-cause they met and began this work when they came to stay at American Vegan Society HQ back in 1974. Freya Dinshah North American Vegetarian Society PO Box 72, Dolgeville NY 13329

(518) 568-7970

www.navs-online.org

Sharon & Brian Graff Photo by Gareth Graff


Getting people to care about animal cruelty can be tough. De-spite the clear validity of the ar-guments against intensive farm-ing, animal experimentation, hunting, and numerous other uses and abuses of animals, it can be incredibly frustrating when legis-lators, reporters, and the general public are unwilling to act.

“If only we had an expert on our side,” so many campaigners have wished. Animal Consultants International (ACI) was recently created to fulfill that need.

ACI is an internationally-based group of animal-friendly veterinarians, physicians, biolo-gists, animal welfare scientists, and others who are keen to use their skills and qualifications in support of animal protection cam-paigns. ACI consultants offer free expert quotations in support of worthy campaigns, and inter-views and presentations on a range of pro-animal topics. Con-tracts are also available for longer

projects. ACI is presently ex-panding to include consultants with a wide range of additional skills of importance to animal protection campaigns.

Using animal consultants as a complement to local staff offers important advantages. Despite minimizing the costs of maintain-ing offices and supplying sick, holiday and retirement benefits for full-time employees, organi-zations are able to gain access to international animal protection experts able to maximize the ef-fectiveness of campaigns and pro-jects, regardless of their location. Aided by the internet, several ani-mal consultants presently work for animal protection organiza-tions halfway around the world.

Said Animal Consultants President and veterinarian Dr. Andrew Knight, “We aim to maximize the accessibility of people with especially valuable qualifications, knowledge, skills or experience, to animal protec-

tion campaigns and projects worldwide. We also aim to maxi-mize the involvement of such po-tentially powerful people in ani-mal protection campaigns. It is my hope that Animal Consultants will encourage the rise of ethics and compassion in our relation-ships with the other sentient crea-tures with whom we share our world.”

Animal Consultants is looking for new consultants with special-ized knowledge, experience, skills or qualifications and the desire to assist animal protection campaigns. Legal, computer and graphic design skills are just some of those presently sought, as is expertise in intensive farm-ing and some other animal pro-tection issues. Application in-structions and the resumes of our existing consultants are all at

www.animalconsultants.org.

Further information: [email protected]

Launch of

Animal Consultants International

www.animalconsultants.org

Expert assistance for animal protection campaigns worldwide

Legal Fund for Dr. Michael Greger Dr. Michael Greger’s website www.AtkinsFacts.org has drawn a complaint in the form of a letter

from the legal department of Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. Stephen Wise JD (Rattling the Cage) has stepped forward to help Michael fend off threats. Those who want to support Dr. Greger’s defense of his position regarding the Atkins Diet can donate to the "Michael Greger Legal Fund" by going to his website www.veganmd.org and clicking the donate link. Or send a check to Michael Greger at 185 South St #6, Jamaica Plain MA 02130.

Vegetarian Nutrition Course for Credit at Cornell University

T. Colin Campbell PhD has initiated an introductory course which surveys vegetarianism from a vari-ety of nutrition and health considerations. Dr. Michael Greger is one of the course instructors this Fall.


Oslo, 8 October 2004

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004 to Wangari Maathai for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.

Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment. Maathai stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa.

She has taken a holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights, and particularly women's rights She thinks globally and acts locally.

Maathai stood up courageously against the former oppressive regime in Kenya. She combines science, social commitment and active politics.

More than simply protecting the existing environment, her strategy is to secure and strengthen the very basis for ecologically sustainable development. She founded the Green Belt Movement where, for nearly thirty years, she has mobilized poor women to plant 30 million trees. Other countries have adopted her methods as well. We are all witness to how deforestation and forest loss have led to desertification in Africa and threatened many other regions of the world, in Europe too.

Protecting forests against desertification is a vital factor in the struggle to strengthen the living environment of our common Earth.

We believe that Wangari Maathai is a strong voice speaking for the best forces in Africa to promote peace and good living conditions on that continent. She will be the first woman from Africa to be honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Nobel Peace Prize 2004 The people of Kenya are

learning about the importance of environmental conservation to poverty eradication. Through the Green Belt Movement they, especially the poor, can im-prove the state of the land, and provide for their own needs.

Wood is used for cooking and heat but becomes scarce when forests are cleared for large areas of monoculture cash crops. The land suffers too, eroded by the elements; and reliance on chemical fertilizers reduces soil quality. Cash crops are supposed to provide money to buy food, clothing and other necessities. This often does not happen because of mismanage-ment or because of poor yield. People eat inferior food, and often go hungry.

Now the land is being re-claimed, and the people, princi-pally women, enabled to grow nutritious crops for themselves.

Wangari Maathai, working with the National Council of Women of Kenya, is behind this positive change. She in turn gives credit to others who inspired and taught her. Rich-ard St. Barbe Baker and his Men of the Trees introduced participatory community refor-estation programs as early as the 1920s. The United Nations Environment Program was es-tablished in Nairobi in 1972 as a result of a conference held in Stockholm Sweden that year.

Participants in tree planting ceremonies recite a committal which reinforces their under-standing of what they are doing and why.

Photo courtesy Lantern Books Wangari Maathai

recounts her story in, The Green Belt Movement Published in 2003 by Martin Rowe at Lantern Books, with help from the government of Austria, it is available from AVS. 128 pages, 5½x8½” $15.00 postpaid.

In phase I of the program funding was sought in its sup-port. Moving on, phase II is designed for sustainability.

The people are planting in-digenous trees including fruit trees on their farms and in pub-lic places. The roots of the trees hold the soil; the shade and leaves protect the land and hold moisture.

Crops for local consumption are root crops: cassava, yams, peanuts, sweet potatoes and arrowroots; legumes: pigeon peas, black beans, butter beans, climbing beans; and cereals: indigenous maize, millet, sor-ghum; and simsim (sesame). Growing methods are low-tech designed to improve soil fertil-ity through composting, mulch-ing, and terracing. FD

Preserving & Reclaiming the Land


CONSUMER NEWS:

Earth Vegan Shoes are among the latest celebrity fashion state-ments. They are worn today by Pierce Brosnan and his wife Keely Shaye, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cheryl Hines, Jennie Garth, Tatum O’Neal, Alexandra Paul, Ed Be-gley Jr, Mindy Cohn, and Cloris Leachman –from Market Wire, Waltham MA, October 4 2004.

Made of soft, breathable simu-lated leather uppers and linings, \with multi-density cushioned foot-bed, natural latex rubber sole and KALSO® Negative Heel™ Tech-nology.

(UK) Vegan Society certified com-ponents & construction. Many styles of Vegan casuals for men and women. Earth Vegan Footwear *New line of vegan shoes* 151 Newton St Waltham MA 02453 (877) 746-3364 www.earthvegan.us

Amberwood Route 2 Box 300, Milford Road Leary GA 31762 (912) 792-6246 Laundry/household cleaning prod-ucts, toiletries/cosmetics, women's quality belts/bags/wallets. Beauty Without Cruelty (USA) 175 West 12th Street New York NY 10011 Lists items non-animal-tested, and non-animal products. List, info: $5

Different Daisy Webstore Christi Wymer 10766 State Route 139 Minford OH 45653 www.DifferentDaisy.com Supplements, apparel, cosmetics, body care, household cleaners, first aid, + info, recipes, events, & more. Working Vegan Network.

Heartland Products Ltd. Box 218 Dakota City IA 50529 (515) 332-3087, (800)-441-4692 www.trvnet.net/~hrtlndp Men’s/women’s footwear: safety, athletic, hiking, dress; also, luggage, belts, baseball gloves.

moo shoes: alternatives to leather 207 East 26th Street New York NY 10010 (212) 481-5792 www.mooshoes.com Non-leather shoes and accessories.

Pangea 2381 Lewis Avenue Rockville MD 20851 (800)-340-1200 www.veganstore.com Toiletries, shoes, T-shirts, clothing, bags, food items, dog food, etc.

soles of the earth Roger Romanelli 2046 West Charleston Sreet. Chicago IL 60647 (773) 252-SOLE (7653) [email protected] Footwear and accessories.

Veg Essentials 7722 W. Menomonee River Pkwy. Wauwatosa WI 53213 Ph/Fax: (414) 607-1953 (866) 88VEGAN (888-3426) www.veganessentials.com Soap; bath, body, dental-care items; cosmetics; flavorings, and sweets.

The Vegetarian Site David Sudarsky PO Box 64956 Tucson AZ 85728 www.thevegetariansite.com

NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS ►Vegans generally obtain vitamins and minerals in natural foods rather than extracts or supplements. (See Do You Need Vitamin Supple-ments? article by Dr. Agatha Thrash, from AVS.)

Freeda Vitamins, Inc. 36 East 41st Street New York NY 10017 (800) 777-3737 www.freedavitamins.com Non-animal supplements.

Pioneer Nutritional Formulas, Inc. 304 Shelburne Center Road Shelburne Falls MA 01370 (800) 458-8483 orders (413) 625-8212 www.pioneernutritional.com Some Pioneer Formulas have Vegan Action’s seal of approval.

Prescription 2000: 3301 Arden Way, Suite 2 Sacramento CA 95825 (916) 483-1020 (877) DO-VEGAN (368-3426) www.prescription2000.com

NOT A SUPPLEMENT BUT A COMPLETE MEAL The Ultimate Life Box 4308 Santa Barbara CA 93140 (800) THE MEAL (843-6325) www.ultimatelife.com

Sources of Non-Animal Items

Commercial products today are often advertised as "wholesome", "natural", or "cruelty-free", with no clear standard of what is really meant. Some firms don't see insects as animal; products us-ing lanolin (wool fat) or fish parts are sometimes sold as "non-animal". We are pleased to list some mail-order catalogs and websites you’ll find help-ful, selling vegan clothing, shoes, cosmetics, toiletries, etc. For a list of 200+ ingredients commonly used in foods, cos-metics, etc., see VEGANISM: Getting Started (AVS/Ahimsa publication).


VEGFAM Feeds the hungry without

exploiting animals VEGFAM

The Sanctuary, Lydford, Nr. Okehampton

Devon EX20 4AL, UK Checks to American Vegan Soc., marked for overseas relief will be

forwarded in £s

VEGFAM PROJECTS, 2002 & 2003 AFGHANISTAN: Water for villages and vegetable gardens. IRAQ: Water. KENYA: Upgrading shallow water wells. MALAWI Dedza: Seeds (corn, beans, vegetables, white & sweet potatoes, and cassava). Mzimba: Emergency feeding, garden tools, water, seeds (soybeans, sunflower, corn, peanuts, phaseolous beans), and support for veganic farming initiative. SOUTH AFRICA: Seeds for planting (drought-tolerant traditional local varieties of grains and leg-umes), tools SUDAN: seeds for planting.

INSTITUTE for PLANT BASED NUTRITION.

●CONSULTING SERVICE ●DEMO GARDENS ●COOKING DEMOS

JIM & DOROTHY OSWALD, COFOUNDERS 333 Bryn Mawr Ave, Bala Cynwyd PA 19004 Phone: (610) 667-6876, Fax: (610) 667-1501,

web: www.plantbased.org

GO VEGAN Radio with Bob Linden is a one-hour weekly syndicated radio show heard on Sundays at 1 pm Pacific Time in Los Angeles on HOT TALK AM–830 KPLS, and 6 pm in San Francisco on owned and operated CBS/Infinity’s KYCY – 1550 AM.

BIG NEWS: 9 radio stations “GO VEGAN”… Along with LA & SF above, now we're on WBPS-890 Boston Sunday 7PM-Eastern, WRMN-1410 Chicago Wednesday 3PM-Central, KSHP-1400 Las Vegas Monday 10PM-Pacific, KLMO-1060 Boul-der-Denver Sunday 8PM-Mt, KSKE-610 Aspen-Breckinridge-Vail Sunday 8PM-Mt, KWYD-1580 Colo Springs Sunday 8PM-Mt, KDMN-1450 Buena Vista CO Sunday 8PM-Mt Archived for worldwide replay at www.GoVeganRadio.com.

Go Vegan has been on the air over 2 years now at a cost of $2000 each week for radio and network airtime. Donations are being sought by this regis-tered nonprofit to keep the show going. Make checks payable to Go Vegan/SEE, and mail to

Bob Linden/SEE, PO Box 220025 Newhall CA 91322. Ph: (818) 623-6477

The Vegan Society was formed in England in 1944 by a group of vegetarians who rec-ognized the ethical compromises implicit in dairy vegetarianism. Vegans can help you live a full, healthy life free from any dependence on the factory farm, veal calf unit, and slaughterhouse. For free information, Outside England please include an International Reply Cou-pon (available from your local post office).

Dairy Products are not necessary. Plant Foods are Healthier

The Vegan Society Donald Watson House

7 Battle Road St Leonards-on-Sea E Sussex TN37 7aa

ENGLAND

Compassionate people will end their support of animal exploitation when they realize the suffering a non-vegan lifestyle causes.

VEGAN OUTREACH seeks to engage those peo-ple through the widespread distribution of its illustrated booklets, Why Vegan? & Vegetarian Living.

VEGAN OUTREACH 211 Indian Dr. Pittsburgh, PA 15238-1222

www.veganoutreach.org


MEETINGS & CONFERENCES NEW JERSEY American Vegan Society May Meeting Sunday May 29 2005, Noon picnic lunch. Afternoon speaker Dr. Milton Mills. Monday May 30 2005, 10 am AVS Council of Trustees Meeting (members invited). Event to be held at American Vegan Society HQ, Dinshah Lane, Malaga New Jersey 08328 (856) 694-2887, www.americanvegan.org

PENNSYLVANIA Vegetarian Summerfest, Wed. June 29 to Sun. July 3 2005 at University of Pittsburgh at Johns-town PA. Presented by North American Vegetarian Society PO Box 72, Dolgeville NY 13329. (518) 568-7970, www.navs-online.org

TENNESSEE American Vegan Society Summer Conference, Wednesday August 10 to Sunday August 14 2005 at The Farm, Summertown Tennessee.

The Farm is known for its pioneering soy food production, vegetarian and vegan practice, non-violent and socially responsible community, midwifery, Book Publishing, and international aid and famine relief work (Plenty). It has interesting projects such as mushroom growing and the Ecovillage training center. Speakers will be a unique blend of Farm experts, and authors with Book Publishing Company. The site is restful, peaceful, and of great interest. This conference will offer a unique experience, and valuable interac-tion between vegan activists on and off The Farm.

A youth camp is proposed to run in conjunction with the conference. Accommodation options will be camping, dormitory, and housing with Farm families, or off site at a motel. Details available in January.

U.S. PIG SLAUGHTER TO SET RECORD DESPITE SMALL FARM CLOSURES The U.S. pig industry is slaughtering animals at a brisk pace and is set to slaughter a record number

of pigs in 2004. Economists estimate that two million more pigs will be slaughtered this year than the current record of 102 million slaughtered in 1998. The year-to-date number of pigs slaughtered is up 3.1% and is expected to end the year at 2.5% over the 2003 number. Typically such record slaughter numbers are met with capacity constraints and/or weakening prices, but this year the industry is experi-encing both excess capacity and even stronger prices. Such an industry dynamic points to significantly stronger consumer demand, attributed in part to the popularity of high-protein diets. According to a pork industry publication, "Most of the credit for this (combination of high slaughter and high prices) should go to Dr. Atkins and the other proponents of high protein diets."

The record pig slaughter in the U.S. comes at the same time that some smaller pig farms are being bought out by state governments. In North Carolina, more than 26 pig farms have been shut down per-manently, their owners opting to sign agreements not to raise pigs on the land for at least 100 years. Owners are receiving between $90,000 and $900,000 for their properties, part of $12 million that the state has allocated so far to decommission pig farms that are located in the state's flood plain. "US Swine Economics Report," The Pig Site, Ron Plain, September 6 2004 http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=7733681&u=63771 "More NC Flood-Prone Hog Farms to be Closed Down," Pork Magazine, Bill Raufer, September 3 2004 http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=7733681&u=63772

From Farmed Animal Watch 9/9/2004, www.farmedanimal.net


DEFINITIONS

VEGAN: Uses no animal-source food or clothing. TOTAL VEGETARIAN: Uses no animal-source food, vegan in diet only; still using some animal items such as leather, wool. VEGETARIAN: Uses no flesh, fish, fowl (products of slaughter),

AMERICAN VEGAN SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP BASIC MEMBERSHIP is open to all: vegan, vegetarian, or non-vegetarian. ADVANCED Membership (voting, office holding) is open to vegans practicing Ahimsa (send for application form). MEMBERSHIP/SUBSCRIPTION is $20 per calendar year (or 4 issues). ($10 student/low-income within U.S.A). Join before midyear, receive back issues from Spring Issue or join later and you’re on to end of next year. Use form below, copy, or just write information. Pay by check/money order/credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Ex-press). LIFE MEMBERSHIP IS $200; Life Patron $500 or more; Life Benefactor $1000 or more. Each type includes lifetime (your or AVS, as the case may be) American Vegan subscription. Each type payable at one time or in installments, nor-mally completed within two years. IRS REGULATIONS permit tax-deductibility for all actual contributions (including Life Membership donation beyond the first $100—due to the value of the lifetime American Vegan subscription). FEES paid for annual membership, or books, tapes, conventions, etc. are paid for value received so are not tax-deductible according to IRS regulations. CANADA: Please remit in $U.S. only, by International Postal Money Order, or Bank Cashier’s Draft on account in a U.S.A. bank. Or use credit card. OVERSEAS: $20 sea mail; $25 air mail. As above; or United Kingdom personal check in ₤ Sterling at current exchange rate.

American Vegan Together we explore and apply compassionate living concepts, and reflect on the beauty of life. We learn

How to save the animals How to revere the Earth How to care for ourselves

Ethics●Food●Clothes, & more

People follow a vegan lifestyle for ethical reasons, for health, for the environment.

A vegan diet is an adventure in taste offering an amazing variety to please the palate. Vegetables, grains, fruits and leg-umes are the basics from which delicious meals are made. Foods from plants best provide for all people in the world.

Vegans exclude flesh, fish, fowl, dairy products, eggs, honey, animal broths and gelatin, and other items of animal origin.

Vegans dress with care; fashion with compassion is the style. We do not use leather, wool, fur, or silk, and choose animal-free soaps, toiletries, and consumer products.

Learn to live in harmony, creating a better world for all.

Subscribe to American Vegan A-V 4-2

…..$20 per year …..$10 Student/Low Income Check or credit card accepted ….New subs. …Renewal

Send with name and mail address to: American Vegan Society PO Box 369 Malaga NJ 08328 Phone : (856) 694-2887 Fax: (856) 694-2288 www.americanvegan.org

VEGAN HEALTH STUDY Vegans, vegetarians, and supporters are asked to participate in nutrition

research investigating the long-term effects of vegan diets. Michael Klaper, MD is directing the Study which is designed to develop guidelines to help those fol-lowing vegan and vegetarian diets to do so with optimum benefit to their health.

You can take part in this study in any or all of the following ways: 1. Complete the questionnaire survey and follow-up reports–online or by mail.. 2. Provide blood and urine samples for laboratory testing (fee required). (Includes 1-hour telephone consultation with Dr. Klaper to interpret lab results.). 3. Be a sponsor or benefactor–donate tax-deductible funding for the study.

For further information, and to enroll online, visit: www.veganhealthstudy.org

To request a printed questionnaire, write: Vegan Health Study

c/o Institute of Nutrition Education & Research 1601 N Sepulveda Blvd #342 Manhattan Beach CA 90266

Your Address Label shows above your name the year at the end of which your mem-bership expires. If you are a Life member, you will see “Life”. If you have inquired but not yet joined “Inq” appears above your name.


American Vegan Published quarterly by The American Vegan Society A NONPROFIT EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION

56 Dinshah Lane P.O. Box 369 Malaga, NJ 08328-0908 Phone: (856) 694-2887 Fax: (856) 694-2288 www.americanvegan.org CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Nonprofit org. U.S.

POSTAGE PAID

MALAGA NJ Permit No. 5

Permit can only be used by Publisher, at Malaga P.O.

Ty Roasting a Vegan Marshmallow (See page 8)

vegetarian summer campamericanvegan.org/av0402.pdfeducates on ethical, ecological, aesthetic,...

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