Yves Veggie Cuisine recently sent out a notice that they will be expanding their line in an attempt to draw more non-vegetarians into trying their line of vegetarian meat substitutes. The bad news:

Designed to make it more appealing for current non-vegans and non-vegetarians to eat meat-free, these new products were the result of extensive research into formulations that would elicit a definite intent to purchase. What we found was that the addition of natural dairy and egg ingredients dramatically increased willingness to try meat-free alternatives for current non-users.

The good news: over 30 of Yves’ products will remain vegan and will be clearly marked as such.

The new products are the Veggie Authentic Burger (a meat-like soy-based burger), the Savory Veggie Burger (whole grains, cheddar cheese, and vegetables), and a reformulated Veggie Good Dog.

This brings up the age old argument: is it better to introduce non-vegan products to help introduce meat eaters to vegetarian products or is it selling out ideals to appeal to the masses?

Hard to say and everyone’s going to have a different take on the issue, but at least they were forthcoming with the information.

I don’t see any information on their web site just yet, so here is the full text of their letter [PDF].

And let’s further make things a little… interesting for today. You know how us vegetarians often argue about how we’re the only animal to consume another animal’s milk? Well, Steve agrees and has started drinking a different type of milk.

His wife’s.

… the truth is it’s not that bad at all. It tastes like milk, just slightly more sweet. And just slightly more making me want to gargle with Clorox and assume the fetal position while I question my life.

Not exactly safe for work viewing, but just one of those things I couldn’t pass up linking on a Friday.

(also via Mefi)

It’s no Meatrix, but it’s still amusing: The Exorcist in 30-seconds, re-enacted by bunnies.

No, not real bunnies, so you don’t have to feel guilty for watching.

(via Mefi)

Modern Meat

This is a companion site to PBS’ Frontline of the same title, which looks at how the meat industry has changed and how it affects consumers.

Frontline examines a lawsuit filed by a Texas meat-grinding company, Supreme Beef, against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When the USDA effectively shut down the company after it failed bacterial contamination tests three times — once after nearly 50 percent of its meat was found to be contaminated with salmonella — the company sued. Supported in its lawsuit by the National Meat Association, Supreme Beef charged that the government didn’t have the right to shut down its operations simply because it failed to meet the USDA salmonella standards. Last month, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the company. (More here)

(via the Librarian’s Index)

A new feature article has been posted, a review of Peaceable Kingdom, an amazing new documentary from the makers of The Witness.

“All the darkness cannot extinguish the light of a single candle…”

This weekend, after another rewarding day at the farm, I came home and watched the new documentary about New York’s Farm Sanctuary, Peaceable Kingdom. Directed by Jenny Stein, who also directed The Witness, Peaceable Kingdom is one of the most touching and evocative documentaries I’ve seen in quite a long time.

Farm animals are often left out of animal rights discussions, which tend to center on companion animals and animals used for testing or research, but in recent years, the cruelty and pain behind the walls of factory farms has been exposed by videos like Meet Your Meat and books like Slaughterhouse. As informative as those resources are, and as necessary as they are for the animal rights movement, they’re definite downers (no pun intended). It’s hard to to come away from videos or books focused on farm animal suffering with any sort of optimism that one person can make a difference when millions of food production animals die every hour, many just because they’re the wrong sex.

Peaceable Kingdom is different in that the images of suffering and torture are juxtaposed with images of hope. It’s clear than when each year hundreds of millions of baby male chicks are discarded and left to die and a million veal calves are tortured and purposely malnourished, it can seem a pretty daunting task trying to make a dent in a industry whose cruelty runs so deep. But when those numbers and their accompanying images are followed by footage of Gene and Lorri Bauston rescuing downed cows, discarded chicks, and female chickens trapped in a tornado-ravaged hatchery, one can’t help but feel a sense of hope and inspiration. It’s this juxtaposition that makes Peaceable Kingdom so effective and moving.

Many of the painful images come from the Farm Sanctuary’s own library of rescue footage, as well as footage supplied by Compassion Over Killing, the Humane Society of the United States, and other similar organizations. It’s hard to describe the feelings that wash over you when you see humanity at its most disconnected and cruel. During one scene where baby calves are taken away from right in front of their mothers’ eyes, dragged away by a back leg, and then thrown into a crate and purposely made iron deficient, one will realize that this is why people are vegan.

While the Bauston’s Farm Sanctuary is the main focus of the documentary, we also hear from a number of others associated with the Farm Sanctuary and the animal rights movement. We hear from Howard “Mad Cowboy” Lyman, the cattle rancher-turned vegan activist, perhaps the most atypical vegan you’ll ever see. Also featured is Harold Brown, who tells the emotional story of growing up on a beef farm but having his life turned around after adopting and connecting with Snickers, a rescued male cow at the Farm Sanctuary. And, of course, there are the animals, who are given equal billing in the credits as their human counterparts.

Peaceable Kingdom serves a few purposes. First, it’s perfect for activists looking for new material, especially with the built-in “loops” section of the DVD that allows for easy display from a van or at an event. Second, it will open the eyes of the public who are fully unaware of how a cow becomes a hamburger. It does this in the most effective way possible: by showing, in a non-preachy fashion, what happens to food production animals in the factory farm system, how it got to be that way, and why it doesn’t have to continue. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Peaceable Kingdom helps remind those activists who are feeling burnt out that what they’re doing does matter and that despite all the suffering that continues, our efforts are touching the lives of many animals that would have otherwise died a horrible death on top of a pile of dead cows or buried under thousands of carcasses in a trash can.

Peaceable Kingdom runs 77 minutes and is available on DVD and VHS through Tribe of Heart’s online store for $20. You can also buy “Gifts of Compassion,” copies of the video at a discounted rate that you pledge to donate to organizations or give away to friends.

Now this is just strange: Cow Caught Walking Through Bank.

According to this February news blurb, a dairy cow that was meant to be the “guest of honor” at a wedding in Wunstorf, Germany (presumably the bride was going to milk her, as is tradition) “took a detour” and wandered into a bank. She walked in, looked around a bit, and left without incident. The story above has a slideshow that includes security camera footage from the bank.

(Thanks to Amy for sending this along.)

Tomorrow is Meatout 2004 (and, not coincidentally, the first day of spring). Do you have any plans for the day?

Me, I’ll be going for my second Saturday volunteering for Poplar Spring Farm Animal Sanctuary… which reminds me, I really need to write something up about Poplar Spring and the great job they’re doing.

‘Flexitarians’: Vegetarians who eat meat

I’ll say this one more time: if you eat meat, don’t claim you’re a vegetarian.

Sometimes I feel like labels and classifications just get in the way of the real issues, but if the terms vegetarian and vegan are not very clearly delineated in people’s minds, then vegetarians are going to continue to be served soups based on chicken stock in restaurants because servers or chefs don’t know any better.

To avoid being flogged by meat-eating visitors, I should also repeat this: yes, I think cutting that any effort made to cut back on meat is a good thing. It’s this ambiguous labeling that I have an issue with.

Happiness is 3/4 tablespoon of Golden Vegetable Miso-Cup soup mixed with 3/4 tablespoon of Red Star Nutritional Yeast. Good for breakfast, good for lunch, good for dinner. Probably not as good for dessert.