Liam and John are on a world tour and are taking a hiatus to podcast. John recently got back from Panama City and New York City - obviously, there is a report as to the food consumed in these two cities. Likewise Liam was recently in Chicago and he reports that Chicago Diner and Trader Joe's are vegan meccas.

The two also discuss tonight's TVA festivities as it relates to Earth Hour. There were also two separate emails from Australia - one is fan mail and the other deals with the Blood Type Diet.

Liam's question of the week: How do you get ten servings of fruits and vegetables a day?

This podcast is a jet-setting 29 minutes.

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It's a Wednesday night and Lisa and Colleen have finally had success in recording the podcast they planned for the previous Saturday. They discuss food, as always, including Organics on Bloor's great produce boxes, the great vegan truffles you can get in Kensington Market, So Delicious coconut ice cream, and the sexy Engine 2 Diet.

Lisa and Colleen also discuss Toronto Sprouts' recent market event and their upcoming move to Etobicoke, Colleen's 3rd copy of The Garden of Vegan, and Lisa's recipe testing for Terry Hope Romero's new cookbook, tentatively titled Vegan Latina.


This podcast is a Ripped and on fire 32 minutes long.

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A healthy eating workshop presented by the Toronto Vegetarian Association

When: Monday, March 23 @ 7 pm
Speaker: Nimisha Raja
Where: The Big Carrot Natural Food Market
348 Danforth Ave. Carrot Common 2nd Floor # 212. Entrance at BookCity

Join Nimisha Raja of Evolving Appetites to learn how you can be a smart shopper and choose foods that are good for you. We'll cover the "New Four Food Groups" and follow up with a cooking demo, so you can put what you've learned into practice.

Registration: This event is open to everyone. To register, please phone the TVA office at 416-544-9800, or send an email to Barbi Lazarus, Administrative Assistant: blazarus (at) veg.ca.  This is a 'pay-what-you-can' event - donations will support the Toronto Vegetarian Association to host more healthy eating workshops like this one.

For details about upcoming events like this one, please visit veg.ca/healthyeating.

By Antoine

	Ken behind the cash at the first all-vegan store in Toronto.

Panacea is a new grocery store that has recently opened in Toronto. It is conveniently located just west of Bloor and Bathurst across from Honest Ed’s at 588 Bloor Street West. It is near Bathurst subway station (in fact the Markham exit is right beside the store). See listing and map on our Annex page.

Panacea is vegan owned and operated.

As an enlightened consumer I can choose to buy sustainable, compassionate and socially responsible products and I can also choose to buy these products in a store that embodies these ethics. If I buy in a large chain store, I may be driving up the demand for sustainable products, but giving my money to a big chain. If I buy from a health food store, these stores also sell lots of meat and other unsustainable products.

Panacea on the other hand, sells only vegan products in-line with social justice, like direct fair-trade (not just fairly traded but directly to the farm), Freeset bags (bags made sustainably in India to give a living wage to women who used to be in the sex trade), plush toys to raise money to protect ourang-outangs, and so much more.

Panacea is not a corporation it is a guy, Ken Bontius, and with his profits he will turn around and buy more of these vegan, social justice and sustainable products. In comparison, other stores may spend their profits on more meat, corporate goods, or even a condo or a yacht for the owner.

Panacea is the real deal. The entire cycle from farming to the final sale is sustainable and goes back to a small local business that in turn helps the local economy. In addition to an extensive line of vegan groceries, Panacea has a number of products from local veg artists and craftspeople, from jewellery, to bags, to books and paintings and chocolate truffles as well as donating food to the Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank.

Continue reading for the other two reasons I shop here: convenience and buying power.

John, Liam and Colleen are in a good mood to start today's podcast namely because of getting nostalgic over classic Canadian hip hop.

There's a lot to discuss on today's podcast and the topics have a wide range.

Liam wants to know more about John's granola.  You'll find out too if you listen to today's podcast.

Colleen offers her advice on what constitutes a wrap and what constitutes a burger.

Liam offers his two cents on the cookie debate that the podcasters had last week.

John thoroughly agrees with Colleen's assertion that the white bean "non"-hummus from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan is phenomenal.

Colleen is ecstatic about Yu milk's return!!!  She is also happy about receiving an apple pan dowdy recipe!!!

The trio also debate the restaurants that they ate at on Thursday night.  Udupi Palace vs. Lahore Tikka House. 

The highlight of the day is also talked about on the podcast:  podcast listeners from New Zealand popped into the Resource Centre today. 

This podcast is a kiwi-licious 33 minutes.  

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Today Angelina, Colleen and John are all over the place with this week's topics of conversation. Angelina replies to last week's podcast conversation by talking about an upscale restaurant in Switzerland that features breast milk on its menu. The three co-hosts debate this issue.

Angelina talks about the Los Angeles restaurants and stores to get your fill of vegan/raw "grab and go" items that she experienced upon her recent sojourn. She recommends Cru, Leaf, and Locali.

The trio also are confronted with a request which they cannot easily fulfill. BlogTO did a review of the top cookies in Toronto - only one of which is vegan. Hence, they were challenged to veganize this list by making the best vegan cookies in Toronto. The difficulty which arises is that none of the podcasters are huge cookie fans. However, they do suggest that Sweets From the Earth and New Moon Kitchen are the companies which consciously make good vegan cookie products. Colleen also mentions that Dad's traditional oatmeal cookies and Oreos are vegan - although Colleen points out that these companies are likely not going out of their way to create a vegan product.

Other topics covered in this week's episode: Panacea, green juice, "leftover" smoothies, and Earth Hour.

This week's podcast is a tahini-milked 36 minutes.

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John Salley

Colleen will be heading down to Veg Michigan's VegFest on Sunday, April the 26th.  John Salley will be speaking at this event. 

A little closer to home, Nimisha Raja will be speaking at the Ontario Vegetarian Food Bank's (2370 Midland Avenue) workshop on how to create a plant-based menu that is easy, delicious and good for your heart. 

The trio also discuss the worldwide vegan bake sale taking place at the end of June.  If you have a vegetarian group or are willing to organize a bake sale you should get in contact with the organizers.

Liam comes through with another doozie for the question of the week...you'll have to listen to the podcast for all the milky details.

This episode is a pakora-rific 24 minutes.

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Today John and Colleen talk about some of their loves (fitting for Valentine's Day) - namely, Braggs, tahini, and nutritional yeast. Although I doubt either John or Colleen buy these three objects roses, a box of chocolates, or lingerie.

Colleen and John don't always see eye-to-eye and for the first time in a long time John is correct about their disagreement: there is sodium in Braggs. However, it is a lot less than what you would find in your typical soy sauce.

John will be trying his vegan luck when he goes to Panama City, Panama in the next few weeks. He has noticed on Happy Cow that there are some restaurant options, but he feels like he'll have no problems so long as he can get to a grocery store.

If you're looking for some good ol' fashioned rock n' roll you may want to go to Vegan Rock. This will be taking place at The Boat (Kensington Market) on February 26th at 9 p.m. Admission is $10. There will be a bake sale and proceeds will go to the Toronto Vegetarian Association.

This podcast is a nothin' but net 29 minutes.

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Veggie valentinos know that animal suffering – which is inherent in the meat industry – is a big turnoff! Plus being humane and healthy is hot, so this Valentine's Day, treat your sweetie to a romantic vegan dinner.

Today John and Liam need a siesta after eating the vegan platter from Karina's.  Karina's is located in the food court in the village by the grange (109 McCaul Street).  For $9.00 you're guaranteed to have your vegan esophagus stuffed with good vegan food.

Next Saturday Sadie's Diner (504 Adelaide Street West) will be having a special prix-fixe 5 course vegan dinner for $34.99.  You get a soup, salad, appetizer, main and dessert.  Please call 416-777-2343 to RSVP. 

John and Liam also discuss the merits of whole food meal replacements.  Specifically Veganique samples were left in the TVA office and they are tempted to give them a shot.

Shawn writes into the podcast to let everybody know about a vegan "fish sauce" recipe.  Listen to the podcast for details and a list of ingredients.

Lastly, Liam deals with the news story of the week: a Toronto business was euthanizing dogs without a proper license to do so.  For obvious reasons animal lovers everywhere were appalled by this story. 

This podcast is a 2 or 3 times/day 27 minutes.

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An article in today’s Globe and Mail discussed the benefits of a plant-based diet on the reversal of diabetes and heart disease, and the promotion of weight loss.

The article, entitled "Vegan diet has surprising stick-to-it-iveness" focuses on a study recently conducted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Leslie Beck writes:

“The vegan diet dramatically cut consumption of cholesterol, fat and saturated fat and increased fibre intake compared to the conventional diabetes diet. People on the vegan diet lost weight, lowered their blood sugar and LDL cholesterol, and reduced the need for diabetes medication.”

Not only that, the study concluded that switching to such a diet is not only healthy, but it’s also pretty easy!

“In a study of 250 young women who had tried both calorie-controlled weight-loss diets and vegetarian diets, most abandoned their calorie-restricted diet after four months but were able to stick with a vegetarian diet for two years.”

In February, the Toronto Vegetarian Assocition launches a monthly series of Health Eating presentations which explain how each of us can reduce and/or reverse chronic diseases through a vegetarian diet.

Don’t miss our first talk: Heart Healthy Eating presented by Nimisha Raja on February 24 at the Ontario Vegetarian Food Bank. More details coming soon!

TVA Press Release: Meat-centric diets a major culprit in growing obesity crisis

As new studies reveal the obese now outnumber the overweight, governments must do more to aggressively promote vegetarian lifestyles, according to the Toronto Vegetarian Association. Research proves vegetarians are thinner and more apt to avoid weight gain over time than meat-eaters.

Read our full press release below.