The Times-Union (Albany, NY) has quite a story titled “The Moosewood effect that covers Moosewood Restaurant’s history and philosophy. For related reading, see Vegetarian Times’ April 2003 feature about Moosewood’s 30th Anniversary (lots of good recipes and pictures are included in the VT article).

The Times-Union article mentions Moosewood’s new book Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates: Festive Meals for Holidays and Special Occasions, due out on September 23, which looks to be another good addition to the Moosewood catalog.

The Los Angeles Times ran a nice piece a few weeks back titled “Vegan cuisine gets innovative and delicious spin,” that discusses how chefs are more in tune with vegan cooking with fresh ingredients.

Vegan cuisine has adopted a more progressive attitude. Making pretend “lamb chops” or using vegetable ingredients to mimic other animal-based foods is passe. Chefs are maximizing fresh produce with simple dressings and purees, and creating beautiful plates of artfully combined ingredients. Eric Tucker at Millennium in San Francisco has helped make vegan home cooking more interesting, too.

Recipes for “Roasted Beets Napoleon with Cumin, Heirloom Tomatoes, and Avocado,” “Sushi-Rice Risotto in Tomato Cups with Black Olive Soy Sauce,” and “Caramelized Fig Cake with Lemon Anglaise.”

In this Washington Post article about Gary Coleman and his tongue-in-cheek run for the California governor’s office, there’s one moderately interesting nugget that’s quickly glossed over. Apparently Coleman is in a recently-filmed independent movie titled A Christmas Too Many, which Coleman describes only as being about “a dysfunctional family who has a vegan Christmas.” It will also feature Mickey Rooney, Marla Maples, Clint Howard, Andrew Keegan, Austin O’Brien, Sean Young, and Ruta Lee. From the scarce information available online, it looks like this movie is scheduled for release in 2004.

My 10-month-old niece eating tofu:

I’m so proud. :)

Thumbs up to Long Life Beverages‘ (warning: annoying music on the front page) Sencha Green & White Tea with Mint and Osthmanthus organic iced tea. I had never heard of Long Life before, but when I see “white tea” on a product, I’ll buy anything. I wasn’t excited about the addition of mint to the tea, but its impact was minimal. The taste was just outstanding and is one of the best iced teas available. I’m also a fan of Honest Tea, but they have no white teas available. Both Honest Tea and Long Life teas are a bit expensive (a 16 oz. bottle costs $1.50), but both are totally worth the price. I look forward to trying out more of Long Life’s flavors in the future, especially their White Tea with Lemon Myrtle and Chrysanthemum.

The Long Life site has a good little FAQ about teas that’s worth checking out if you’re interested in some of the basics (like amounts of caffeine, the difference between black and green teas, etc.) as well as an interesting piece titled “How to Make a 3,000 Gallon Cup of Tea.”

There are reports that Gardenburger is having some financial trouble. This is a quite a shame, as their products seem to be getting significantly better (have you tried their vegan ribs? man oh man.) and I absolutely love their new box design. It’s cool in that retro-way without feeling cheesy.

Gardenburger has struggled, despite becoming a product sold in 24,000 stores nationwide. The company’s sales soared in the mid-1990s during the nation’s health-food craze, peaking at $100 million in its fiscal 1998 … Gardenburger sales had plummeted to $51 million by fiscal 2001.

Here’s to hoping that Gardenburger, founded in 1985, hangs in there and can work through these troublesome times. As one of the few veggie-friendly companies that hasn’t been swallowed by a multi-national, their success is even more dependent on sales and support of the vegetarian community.

Two arrested trying to save beached whale in Oregon

Bystanders tried to help a beached whale get back to sea, but were unable to as the animal thrashed about. Police came and got everyone out of the water for safety reasons, but they had to arrest a man after he pushed past police and went past a police rope in an attempt to get back to the whale. A woman who “interfered” with police after the incident was also arrested.

Penis in stew turn her veggie

[Sixty-year-old Sophie Matala, an employee at the Pretoria (India) Medforum Hospital] said that her ordeal started on May 11, 1999 when she sat down for lunch at the hospital canteen and ordered her favourite plate of goulash and began to take a few bites of the meat.

Matala said she found the meat slippery and could not cut it with a knife. She then placed it in her mouth but the meat was so tough that she could not bite it.

She then took the meat out of her mouth and inspected it with her colleagues. To her horror she found that it was a piece of penis …

Matala was so traumatised that she vomitted for the rest of the day and from that day was put-off by meat. She had since become a vegetarian.

Yeah, I would think unexpectedly finding a penis in your food might be a good impetus to go veggie.

Soy long, meat

This great article in the Toronto Star looks at mock meats from a meat-eaters perspective and generally heaps praise upon soy-based fake meats, touting their lower fat and lower caloric content as big benefits over the real deal. Well worth a look with some background, taste tests, and consumer opinion included.

(Vegan.com)