veganhacker.com

Epicurious is in the kitchen with Moby!

In these 4 short videos, Moby offers a glimpse into his small and humble, 30 square foot kitchen where he keeps his favorite, well-worn kitchen equipment and staples such as home-made garlic-infused olive oil, miso paste, brown rice, apple butter, pickles, sea salt and sesame seeds (”sprinkle sea salt and sesame seeds on anything to make it taste fantastic!”).

He also makes his favorite recipe, blueberry pancakes, and talks briefly about his philosophy and one of the best things about being vegan: experiencing new foods and becoming a more discriminating eater.

Other Moby links:
Moby’s Online Journal
Teany Cafe and a Teany Book
The Offical Moby Website

[via Ecorazzi]

For all you busy vegans out there, the urban vegan has a list of 101 vegan meals that take 10 minutes or less to prepare.

Got a favorite quickie meal you’d like to share? Please post in the comments!

Sometimes there isn’t time (or energy!) to cook and sometimes you’re surrounded by nothing but fast food chains. Gratefully, there are useful guides on veg*n fast food options currently available online. Check out PETA’s Quick Picks on their VegCooking site, Vegetarian-Restaurants.net’s compilation of options, or the vegan-specific list posted on My Life as a Vegan. There are some surprises amidst the listings — who knew there’d be anything vegan at Arby’s, but apparently, their fruit turnovers are. Also, Round Table and Pizza Hut do not offer vegan crust and only one of Domino’s 4 crusts is vegan (but it is not available at all stores); Chuck E. Cheese, of all places, does use a vegan crust….

SFVegan.org has developed a widget which displays the number of animals killed world-wide by the meat, dairy and egg industries.

The counter is based on 2004 statistics from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the resulting data tables and methodology used in creating them have been detailed in the Worldwide Animal Slaughter Statistics document.

Even though the data comes from 2004, the Animal Kill Counter offers a compelling visual representation of just how many animals die every second (one can only imagine the figures have gone up since then, not down).

Not only can you embed it in your blog, you can also add it to your profile in Facebook or Myspace.

Update: Crediting Vegan Soapbox for bringing this to our attention by displaying it on their site.

It should come as no surprise that eating conventionally-grown produce puts you at greater risk of exposure to pesticides. But, which fruits and veggies are the worst offenders and when should you buy organic versus conventionally-grown?

Organic Essentials has produced a free, downloadable (PDF) pocket-guide listing both domestic and imported produce to help you determine which produce “pose the most significant pesticide-related risks and – therefore – are the most critical produce items for consumers to purchase as organic.”

The following fruits and vegetables currently present the highest risk:
Domestically Grown Conventional Fruits
1. Cranberries
2. Nectarines
3. Peaches
4. Strawberries
5. Pears

Domestically Grown Conventional Vegetables
1. Green beans
2. Sweet bell peppers
3. Celery
4. Cucumbers
5. Potatoes

Imported Conventional Fruits
1. Grapes
2. Nectarines
3. Peaches
4. Pears
5. Strawberries

Imported Conventional Vegetables
1. Sweet bell peppers
2. Lettuce
3. Cucumbers
4. Celery
5. Tomatoes

For more on using PLU codes to verify you’re buying organic, see our earlier post on the topic.

Via the Vegan Lunch Box: Baskin-Robbins has added a couple of new vegan flavors — Tropical Ice and Strawberry Sorbet — to their list of currently existing ones, Lemon Sorbet and Lime Daiquiri Ice.

It looks like their Fruit Blast Bars and Fruit Blast drinks are also vegan.

If you’re nowhere near Maggie Mudd or Wheeler’s, and non-vegan folk want to enjoy some frozen goodies with you, it’s nice to know you have a national chain like Baskin-Robbins as an option. Now, if you join their Birthday Club, you can enjoy a free scoop of a different flavor for four years in a row!

Do note, though, that the ingredients for most of these products contain artificial colors (Red 40, Red 3, Yellow 5, etc.), additives that seem worth generally avoiding.

Straight from Barnivore (and via JasonDoucette):

It might seem weird at first, but your favourite drink might have more than just alcohol in it.

Brewmasters, winemakers, and distillers may include animal ingredients in their products directly, or they might use them in the processing and filtration.

These ingredients don’t usually show up on the label, so the only way to find out is to ask.

More specifically, edible gelatins (made from bones), honey, isinglass (made from the swim bladders of fish), casein and potassium caseinate (milk proteins) and animal albumin (egg albumin and dried blood powder) may be used as ingredients or in processing and filtration.

Barnivore has provided the vital service of doing the legwork for us vegans! Enter the booze in question in the search field and get details on its vegan-friendly status.

Other on-line Vegan Beer and Wine resources:

• Vegan Vanguard’s Is Your Beer Vegan
• The Vegan Wine Guide
• List of Vegan Wine Retailers

Please feel free to contribute other resources in the comments! Cheers!

• PETA’s Golden Bun Awards - the best veggie burger brands available in North America and the best veggie burgers from a restaurant chain
• A greener BBQ - The Baja BBB Firepack, the lighter-fluid-free, eco-friendly alternative to your standard charcoal grill
• VegFamily News Vegan BBQ Ribs
• PETA’s 4th of July Menu ideas.
• Vegan BBQ with Compassionate Cooks on YouTube
• BBQ Tips from the autonomieproject

Happy 4th of July!

Yep. Jamba Juice’s Apple Cinnamon Pretzel is vegan! So, if you’re hankering for some nibbly to go with your nice, cold summer smoothie, feel free to order away.

Their entire vegan menu includes the following items (including the boosts):

• Orange Mango Passion
• Orange Carrot Banana
• 3G Charger Super Boost
• Omega-3 Super Boost
• Matcha Green Tea Shot - Soy Milk
• Wheat Grass Shot
• Green Caffeine Boost
• Antioxidant Power Super Boost
• Soy Protein Boost
• Energy Boost
• Immunity Boost
• Apple Cinnamon Pretzel
• Carrot Juice
• Orange Juice
• Protein Berry Workout with Soy Protein
• Mega Mango
• Strawberry Whirl
• Peach Perfection
• Pomegranate Paradise

.

View their vegan menu on the Jamba Juice website.

New York Times food critic Mark Bittman, a self-proclaimed omnivore who will probably never stop eating animals, lays it on the line: over-production and over-consumption of meat and junk food must stop. This “odd form of malnutrition”, is killing individuals (via “lifestyle diseases” such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some cancers) as well as the planet (via industrialized food production). It’s 20 minutes and it’s brilliant…and it’s worth sharing with both vegan and non-vegan friends and family. [hat tip to Goatless]