Go vegetarian - we dare you!

Vegetarians are challenging non-vegetarians to go meat-free for a month (or just a week or a day if a month is too scary), kicking off on World Vegetarian Day this coming Tuesday, 1 October.

The aim is to win more converts to a meat-free diet - or at least a meat-light one, which, in addition to its health and animal rights benefits, also gives  the environment a break by reducing the demand for livestock farming – the most resource-heavy form of food production with the highest carbon emissions.

Non-vegetarians can return-challenge the herbivores in October by asking them to give  their lifestyle a healthy tweak too: walk to work, say, or cut out the booze.

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Mark Ronson Turned Vegetarian After Paul Sir Paul Mccartney Sessions

Music producer MARK RONSON has given up eating meat after working with vegetarian superstar SIR PAUL McCARTNEY.

The studio wizard was recruited by The Beatles legend to work on his upcoming album New, and he changed his diet after gorging on vegetarian dishes which were available for free during their studio sessions. 

He tells Mojo magazine, "Did the experience (of working with McCartney) change me? Yes, it turned me into a vegetarian! I'm a (late night) studio rat, and if you ordered food at two in the morning it was free if it was veggie. Better than ordering a Nando's. You have more energy, which you can see every day in Paul, he's so driven."

Read Full Story Here 

Latest Rant!

Rant about takeaway food and constantly getting orders wrong.

Is it just me or does anyone else have this problem that you order a vegetarian option from a menu and you end up with flesh!

I order vegetarian (the clue is in the name!) spring rolls from a Chinese, second one in, full of Pork!

Order Mushroom Stroganoff from an Italian, turns up full of BEEF!

I don’t feel safe ordering food anymore!!!

Vegan hiker walks 2,655 miles in record 59 days for animal rights

(from http://www.examiner.com)

Vegan hiker Josh Garrett walked 2,655 miles from Mexico to Canada in a record 59 days to raise awareness for animal cruelty and funds for the animal-rights group Mercy for Animals.

Garrett battled heat stroke, loneliness and exhaustion during his harrowing solo hike, walking an average of 45 miles a day. When he felt like giving up, Josh, 30, said his love for animals kept him going.

"What got me through those difficult times was thinking about why I was out there in the first place," "I was really surprised how mentally challenging it was."

Garrett, who has been a vegan for the past year and a half, subsisted on a diet of vegan bars, peanut butter, kale chips and corn nuts during his grueling trek across the Pacific Crest Trail from June 10 to Aug. 8.

Garrett, a track coach and exercise physiology instructor at Santa Monica College, converted to a vegan diet in 2011 after watching a video of turkeys being processed during Thanksgiving. He was astounded by the senseless cruelty he witnessed.

"Some guy at a slaughterhouse is using live turkeys, suspended upside down on a conveyor belt, as punching bags," Josh recalled. "It made me sick to my stomach. My consciousness started to change."

Read Full Story Here 

The best countries in the world for vegetarians

(from http://www.theguardian.com)

Glasgow has been heralded as the best city in the world for vegans, but where are the best nations for travellers on a meat-free diet?

So now that we've established – or at least Peta has– that Glasgow is the most vegetarian/vegan friendly place in the UK the next question is, which the best country for vegetarians and vegans?

In many countries, eating meat is part of the national identity. Think of Australian barbecues, American cowboys and South American cattle ranchers. There was controversy earlier this year when President Obama hosted a dinner for 12 Republican senators, and one of them ordered a vegetarian meal. The identity of the culprit was protected, for fear that exposure could mean losing their seat. TV host Bill Maher commented that American voters would sooner elect a gay president than a vegetarian.

Republican senators in Iowa and Texas said vegetarians were ''un-American" and made public pledges to eat more meat.

Still, once you've waved the political madness aside, you'll find that cutting-edge vegetarian and vegan cuisine thrives on America's east and west coasts. San Francisco still benefits from its hippie heritage with decent vegetarian and vegan options as standard around the Haight. San Francisco's Zen Center established Greens in 1976, and various cookbooks from its resident chefs continue to influence the menus of vegetarian eateries worldwide. Millennium, in the city centre, ranks as one of the world's top vegan restaurants with impressive high-end cuisine. Seattle and Portland are hot spots, with vegan bakeries, breweries, clothing stores, bike shops and even – in Portland – a vegan strip joint. However, Peta's choice for the top city in the US this year was, surprisingly, Austin, Texas. In the heart of ranching country, vegan entreprenuers have taken to the streets with food trucks offering tempeh burritos and chicken faux-jitas. It can still be a struggle to find vegetarian food in small-town diners, and it makes most sense to look for sustenance in areas that are highly populated and diverse: big cosmopolitan cities are the best place to look for vegetarian and vegan food.

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Rare sea turtle spotted off British coast

(from www.telegraph.co.uk)

A rare, endangered sea turtle has been spotted off the British coast after getting lost while swimming more than 3,000 miles across the Atlantic.

The 4ft loggerhead turtle surfaced off the Dorset coast during its annual migration from the east coast of America to the Mediterranean. 

It is thought the unusually warm UK waters fooled the creature into thinking it had arrived in the Canary Islands. 

The loggerhead was spotted by sailor Jim Davies off Portland Bill, Dorset. 

Visits to British shores from loggerheads are incredibly rare, with the last reported sighting of a loggerhead off Dorset in 1938. 

In 2012 there were 45 sightings of the more common leatherback turtles in UK waters but only four loggerheads were spotted and all of them were dead. 

Read Full Story Here 

Veg Fest 5th-6th October 2013

VegfestUK London takes place over two days in October 2013, on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th, with the show open 11am - 7pm both days

Up to 190 stalls 

• Stalls on 2 floors
• Stacks of special offers and free tasters!!!
• Huge savings on leading brands
• Cookery Classes both days with special guest Chad Sarno
• Talks and Presentations - Nutrition, Lifestyle, Campaigns
• 2 Workshops areas
• Living Raw Prep Zone
• Performance Stage featuring special guest Macka B (Sunday)
• 2 x Cinemas
• Meet the Experts sessions
• Comedy Hours both days, with Dave Spikey & Andrew O'Neill
• VegfestUK Awards Presentation on Saturday
•  Kids Cookery Classes and activities
• 12 specialist global Caterers plus Snack Bars & many other food stalls
• Expected up to 10,000 visitors throughout the weekend
• Free Nutritional Advice for visitors
• Fun for all the family!!!!
• Everything at the event is 100% plant based - no animal products permitted

Admission £10 each day, £6 Claimants, £2 Kids under 16. Tickets are available in advance or pay on the gate (subject to availability).

Tickets bought in advance are on special offer for a limited period only

Buy One Get One Free

Download the event programme HERE 

Come on down and meet new friends and taste some delicious animal free food!!

I can’t wait -  see you all there!!!!

 

Review of David Bann Restaurant Edinburgh

Based on St Mary's Street in Edinburgh, they have been named the best vegetarian restaurant in Britain! It was time to try them out.....

As it’s a Vegetarian Restaurant everything and anything is for veggies with a whole choice for vegans too!.  This is only a brief description of the items on the menu, see the full menu here for the full description of each dish www.davidbann.com .

Starters

Soup

Tartlet of coriander pesto and slow dried tomato

      Thai fritter of spiced broccoli and smoked tofu

Olive polenta with roasted vegetables and goats curd

Smoked mushroom and basil ravioli with tomato and basil soup

Salad of fennel, beetroot, raspberry and baby potato

Homemade Hummus

Olives

Smoked and Marinated Tofu

Chunky Chips

Main Meals

Chilli pancake with grilled sweet potato, courgette and chocolate sauce

Stir fried vegetables with udon noodles and smoked tofu

Aubergine, chick pea and cashew koftas

Risotto of roasted red pepper with kohlrabi and spinach.

Mushroom strudel with celeriac sauce and dauphinoise.

Baked layered roasted vegetable, Blue Cheese and mash.

Cheese plate with plum chutney

Desserts

Lemon and raspberry posset

Assiette of desserts for two to share

Ice-creams and sorbets

Hot peach and raspberry tart.

Raspberry and mint jelly with pineapple and rum sorbet.

Ginger and lime ice cream with orange cake

Dark chocolate soufflé

Main Review

For my meal I started with the Tartlet of Coriander Pesto followed by the Mushroom Strudel with dauphisoise and could not resist the dark chocolate soufflé to finish with.

What can I say the tartlet was amazing, crumbly, creamy, tasty, the dressing and the salad were also really delicious with it.

I love mushrooms they are my absolute favourite and I was so excited to have the mushroom strudel however I was a bit disappointed as it didn’t really taste of mushrooms.  The dauphinoise were absolutely amazing as was the rest of the dish, I just felt a little let down by the flavour of the strudel.

The dessert was worth the 15 minute wait as it was made fresh.  Gooey chocolatey goodness, shame it was so small though I could have easily eaten 3!

In conclusion, great choice of food, and drinks, fantastic friendly service, was a bit more expensive that what I usually pay but in my opinion was worth the extra money for a special occasion. Would go there again as so much more on their menu I want to try.

4 out of 5 Tomatoes Awarded

Leona Lewis Creates Cruelty-free Fashion Guide

(from http://www.contactmusic.com)

Animal-loving singer Leona Lewis has put together a shopping guide to help fans interested in buying cruelty-free fashion.

The Bleeding Love hitmaker, a staunch vegetarian and longtime animal rights campaigner, admits she would love to purchase leather shoes and handbags, but she is committed to only buying items made without animals products.

In a post on her blog, Lewis writes, "Yes, it's true I do often drool over the latest Laboutin (sic) collections. How I'd love to run around and catch a glimpse of that red sole on my feet. Oh how I daydreamed of owning an oversized tote a la Mulberry... But I soon snap out of it when I realise that the chemically treated, drummed, stretched, dyed leather in that pretty pink shoe or the slouchy Topshop bag was once part of a beautiful creature that suffered at the hands of humans."

Lewis goes on to list her top tips for finding animal-friendly outfits, including brands and websites selling faux-skin designs, and she also explains the different symbols printed on labels that indicate materials used.

Read Full Story Here 

Civet cat coffee's animal cruelty secrets

Animal cruelty during the production of one of the world's priciest coffees has been exposed by a BBC investigation.

Kopi luwak is made from coffee beans excreted by Indonesian palm civets - small, mongoose-like creatures.

But undercover reporters in Indonesia witnessed civets held in battery-cage conditions to produce the coffee.
 

Kopi luwak has surged in popularity, featuring on the Oprah Winfrey Show and in the 2007 film The Bucket List.

Many retailers sell the product as "wild", sourced in the jungle from the droppings of free-roaming animals.

In restaurants its price can reach £60 per cup, with claims of wild origin attracting the premium.
Posing as buyers, the BBC visited farmers in Sumatra, Indonesia.  Reporters witnessed battery-style conditions, animals in cramped cages and a severely injured civet cat, contradicting the "wild" claims marketed to consumers.

Farmers in Takengon, north Sumatra, told the BBC they supplied to exporters whose produce ends up in Europe and Asia.

After viewing secretly recorded footage of caged civet cats, Dr Neil D'Cruze, of the World Society for the Protection of Animals, said they appeared "absolutely depressed and miserable"

 Read Full Story Here

(from bbc.co.uk)

Western black rhino officially extinct

(from yahoo.com)

The western black rhino has officially become extinct reports CNN. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which compiles an annual Red List of Threatened Species this subspecies of the African rhinoceros was last spotted in 2006.

The two greatest threats facing the western black rhino, the report notes, have been increased poaching and a lack of conservation efforts. According to a statement released by the IUCN rhino poaching shot up by almost 50 percent between 2011 and 2012, with nearly 2,400 killed by hunters across Africa since 2006.

“Well-organized and well-funded crime syndicates are continuing to feed the growing black market with rhino horn,” said Mike Knight, chairman of the Species Survival Commission's African Rhino Specialist Group, in the statement.

The IUCN, the world’s largest conservation network, also warned that Africa’s northern white rhino and Asia’s Javan rhino could face similar fates if preventive measures are not taken immediately.

Such conservation efforts have paid off in the past, the group says. The southern white rhino was threatened by extinction in the late 19th century, but conservation measures, which included the maintenance of their natural habitats, helped revive the dwindling population to an estimated 20,000.

Read Full Story Here 

Blobfish wins ugliest animal vote

(from bbc.co.uk)

The grumpy-looking, gelatinous blobfish has won a public vote to become the official mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society.

This gives the fish the unofficial title of world's ugliest animal.

The society began as a science-themed comedy night and devised its mascot campaign to draw attention to "aesthetically challenged" threatened species.

The winner was announced at the British Science Festival in Newcastle.

The blobfish tops a list that includes the huge-nosed proboscis monkey, the similarly afflicted pig-nosed turtle, an amphibian affectionately known as a "scrotum frog" and pubic lice.

Read Full Story Here

Potato and Sweet Corn Chowder

Really quick and easy but tasty soup for veggies and vegans.

Ingredients 

2 Cobs Sweetcorn

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

½  Onion finely diced

1 Garlic Clove crushed

½  Stick of Celery

1 Small Carrot peeled and diced

1 Potato peeled and diced

400ml vegetable Stock

1 Tablespoon Parsley

Makes 2 Portions

Instructions

 

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the sweetcorn for 5 minutes.  Keep 80ml of the cooking liquid.  Cut the corn kernels from the cob, place half in a blender with the reserved liquid and blend until smooth. 

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion, garlic, celery and a good pinch of salt and cook for 5 mins.  Add the carrot and potato, cook for a further 5 mins then add the stock, corn kernels and blended corn mixture.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Season well and stir in the chopped parsley before serving

	EASE (1 Easy-5 Hard) - Nice and Easy
	COST (1 Cheap-5 Expensive)- Not many ingredients to use so cheap as chips well soup!
	TASTE (1 Yuck - 5 Yum) - Really warming would be a nice winter soup.

 

Recipe from The Ultimate Student Vegetarian Cookbook