While I keep hearing that annoying phrase “liberal media bias,” I think we need to be more concerned with lazy reporting, lack of research, and general disinterest in anything beyond shock value.

Paul mentioned a story that aired on the WGN news in Chicago last night, summarized here (scroll to “Vegetarians”). The summary reads:

Vegetarians may be in danger of serious bone loss. Those who eat only raw plant-derived foods have abnormally low bone mass, an early sign of the bone thinning disease osteoporosis. In a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers found the extreme raw food vegetarian diet does not provide enough calcium or Vitamin D, both crucial for bone strength. The study looked at people who ate a vegetarian diet for three years.

In this summary, and according to Paul, even more so in the broadcast, it makes it seem that the raw diet = the vegetarian diet. Look at the opening and closing sentences: “Vegetarians may be in danger of serious bone loss.” and “The study looked at people who ate a vegetarian diet for three years.” That’s just wrong.

This shock value piece makes misleading connections that many people will walk away from thinking, “Vegetarianism isn’t healthy.” Do you have any idea how infinitesimally small the number of pure raw foodists there are in this country? I don’t know the exact number, but I’m willing to bet that not a single one was watching that broadcast.

Of course, you’re unlikely to see any news stories on the studies that have shown that frequent consumers of dairy tend to have more bone breaks and a higher incidence of osteoporosis than those who eat less or no dairy. That might piss off the advertisers.

The original recipe is a wonderful basic vegan chocolate pudding. This version has a very, very slight change to it: 1/2 a teaspoon of the vanilla extract is replaced with peppermint extract for a mint flavored chocolate pudding. It’s way good and super easy. (And forgiving… I forgot the pinch of salt when I made this and it still came out great.)

If orange is your thing, use a 1/2 teaspoon of orange extract instead of the peppermint.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups crumbled firm silken tofu
• 2/3 cup cane sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened or Dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• pinch of salt

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth and creamy.
2. Refrigerate for an hour or two before serving.

Adapted from Vegan Vittles by Joanne Stepaniak.

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This is annoying: Subway’s Vegetarian & Seafood page features two seafood sandwiches, one vegetarian sandwich, and the “Cold Cut Combo” (sliced turkey bologna, turkey ham and turkey salami with your choice of vegetables, condiments, etc. served on freshly baked bread). It’s annoying enough that they lump vegetarian with seafood, but then adding a “Cold Cut Combo” that has nothing to do with anything (it’s a “local special”) on the same page really muddles things up.

And where the heck is the VeggieMax that the used to offer? It’s now called the Veggie Patty, but I can’t seem to find it on their web site. I visited a Subway the other night for the first time in well over a year (I instated a personal boycott when they were in bed with Atkins) and they couldn’t tell me what was in the Veggie Patty because they hadn’t saved any of the boxes the patties are shipped in. They literally showed me the patty to show me to see what was in it. “There are carrots in there, I think,” they told me. I ended up having their Veggie Delite with mustard, sans cheese.

To find anything remotely helpful for vegans, you’ve got to go to their “Ingredient Information for People with Food Allergies” PDF. The good news: all their bread is vegan, except for the ones whose names obviously indicate otherwise (”Italian Herbs and Cheese,” “Monterey Cheddar,” and “Parmesan Oregano”). Some sites I’ve seen have said that the wheat bread has honey added to it… not sure, though, since that’s not shown on the allergin chart. It gets a little trickier with their condoments and dressings, as the only vegan choices there are the yellow and brown mustard, oil and vinegar, and sweet onion sauce.

Subway seriously needs to get some faux meats in the mix. And a vegan saffron aioli. Hey, I can dream, right?

For Easter, I made Bryanna’s Vegan Strata, a bread casserole that’s usually heavy on cheese and eggs. Indeed, it actually does have an “eggy” texture to it. I made the recipe with a few variations, including some dry white wine and cauliflower. It wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever tasted (which may have been due to having to settle for bread that was a bit heavy), but the flavors mixed well and the consistency was right. Leftovers mixed with some mashed potatoes (with soy milk and Earth Balance) tasted awesome.

I was surprised at how difficult it was to find a non-mock-meat-based vegan main dish for Easter. This one did the trick and I’ll likely revisit it.

Isa, the Mighty Queen of The Post Punk Kitchen, is coming out with a cookbook later this year. Want a sneak peak at some of the photos from the book?

You got it.

Tell me that Chocolate Orange Pudding with Citrus Macadamia Creme doesn’t look freakin’ amazing.

Glycerin has always been one of those tricky ingredients for vegetarians because it’s included in so many consumer products and can be either plant or animal derived. One of those items where you’ll frequently find glycerin is toothpaste. So, I wrote to Crest to ask them whether their glycerin comes from. The basic answer (it can come from either, whatever’s more available) didn’t surprised me, but some of the other information in their response did:

Hi Ryan,

Crest Cavity Protection versions (Regular Paste, Cool Mint Gel, Icy Mint Striped and Kid’s Sparkle) don’t have glycerin, so they don’t contain animal by-products. Other versions of Crest contain glycerin which may be derived from vegetable or animal sources.

To assure yourself, we suggest checking the ingredient statement on Crest before you buy it. If glycerin isn’t listed, the Crest version contains no animal by-products. If glycerin is listed, it may be derived synthetically from either vegetable or animal sources, depending on which type is available at the time we buy it. If it’s made from animal sources, it may come from either beef or pork. There’s no way we can determine which form is in any particular package. However, any animal by-product used is chemically altered during manufacture and no longer resembles the original substance by the time it’s added to our product. Currently, we are in the process of converting to purely vegetable sources.

If religious beliefs, dietary preferences or medical conditions prevent your using products containing animal ingredients, share this information with your physician, dentist, minister, or rabbi. This person can better decide if you can use our product.

Hope this is helpful.

Barb
Crest Team

While I couldn’t care less if the product is “chemically altered” and “no longer resembles the original substance,” I was pleased to see that Crest is “in the process of converting to purely vegetable sources.” Good stuff and I hope they note that on their label when the time comes.

The other day I was thinking, “What would be something really nice that I could do for both Veg Blog readers and people that make products that I really support?” It didn’t take me long to think, “Monthly contest!” After all, one lucky reader per month will get something cool and a company that I am comfortable supporting gets a month of exposure on the site. I’m “giving back,” but twice! It’s like resurrecting two birds with one incantation.

Since March is already nine days gone and I have to do a little legwork to lineup sponsors for the contest, I decided to go ahead and give away a copy of my hip-hop mix CD Conspicuous Absence. It’s not veggie-themed or anything, but it was mixed by a vegan. That’s good enough, right?

Conspicuous Absence is also reviewed in the new issue of Herbivore (#7). Also in that issue is my interview with the PCRM’s Dr. Neal Barnard who plays in a pretty wicked band named Verdun.

Let’s see if I can stretch this series out for the rest of the week.

• Tazo Matcha Tea Latte (click on Products -> Tea Lattes… damn non-bookmarkable Flash) - Or as I so cleverly call it, a “lat-tea.” I’m absolutely hooked on this: mix half a mug of this concentrated Japanese green tea (with honeydew accents) with half a mug of soy milk (OK, it has to be a little less than half since otherwise the mug would overflow after one step) and microwave for three minutes. The result is a creamy, green tea-y hot beverage that will make your eyes roll into the back of your head. Also quite awesome is their Vanilla Black lat-tea.
• Vice Cream - I’m not about to go out and spend $16 on two vanilla beans, but most of the recipes in this book make it fun to break out the ice cream maker (~$25) and make some homemade frozen desserts. I really liked the vanilla chocolate chip recipe… you’re not going to mistake it for Breyer’s, but an ice cream whose base is cashew nuts (!!!) instead of dairy has a very unique and interesting taste. Good stuff. Also good: the apple cinnamon flavor.
• Silk Enhanced - The most nutrient-dense soy milk on the market (as far as I know) also tastes good on cereal. Interestingly, this was originally designed as a soymilk for women because of its vitamin C, folic acid, and omega-3s… but don’t men need those, too?

Three more foods I’ve been loving:

• Newman’s Own slightly hot Salt and Pepper Pretzels dipped in Tribe of Two Sheiks Hummus with Roasted Red Pepper (the “party size” tub, of course) - Seriously. Just so good.
• Kashi Organic Promise Autumn Wheat cereal - There’s nothing fancy about this cereal, but since I tried it first a few months ago, I can’t get enough of it.
• Vegan Gourmet Cheese - Hard as hell to find, but worth the trouble. It took my local health food store six months to get it through their distributor, dispite the fact they carry other Follow Your Heart products. This stuff is definitely the best vegan cheese out there. It melts wonderfully and has a nice flavor and consistency. For those days when Veganrella just won’t cut it. (Cut it? Cut the cheese? Har!)

If there was ever any doubt that the mass production of animals for food is just out of hand, witness the Bright Coop E-Z Catch Chicken Harvester, a scary ass looking machine that scoops up groups of birds with its foot-long rubber fingers (insert joke here) and sends them flying into cages in the back of a truck.

Be sure to watch the video.

It’s probably more humane than workers grabbing the chickens by their necks and throwing them, but look at those birds, man, they’re freaking out. Sadly, with the number of chickens required for food (meat or eggs), there’s no other way to deal with that many chickens than automating the process with scary rubber fingers.

In their lifetime, the average American eats (or eats the eggs of) 2,700 chickens (versus 10 cows or calves). Perhaps we should cut back on the chicken and egg consumption a bit?

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