Colleen interviews Marisa from Comondi. The two discuss all of the wonderful eco-vegan products which you can buy from Comondi.

This episode is a sold-out-catnip-toy 4 minutes.

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Colleen and I (John) discuss some of the events going on at the Vegetarian Food Fair with long-time TVA volunteer Angeline and a long-time podcast listener Gabriel. 

This episode is a Godzilla-bunny 10 minutes.

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I (John) interview Jae Steele who discusses her cooking demo, book launch (Get It Ripe), and nutrition in general.

This episode is a maple-flax-cookie 7 minutes.

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Colleen interviews Kelly who runs LAVA. The two discuss Kelly's business and all of the good eating to be had at the Vegetarian Food Fair.

This episode is a non-volcano-related 5 minutes. 

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In this sub-episode Colleen and I (John) interview Natalie Stephenson, owner of Heart on Your Sleeve. If you're looking for some sound fashion advice – look no further – be sure not to wear your new threads to a fancy vegan chili bake off as you wouldn't want to ruin them. 

Note: Natalie's store was recently featured by NOW. This photo is from their article.

This episode is a heart-on-my-cufflink 6 minutes. 

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Colleen and I (John) have spoken about lots of mouth-watering food in the past, but this episode takes the spelt-flour-agave-nectar cake. Howard knows his way around a kitchen.

He talks about his cooking demo at the Vegetarian Food Fair. He made Risotto Nouveau from powdered sushi rice, flavoured with Indonesian long pepper (available from the Spice Trader at Queen and Euclid) and coffee oil, then topped with crunchy dehydrated greens.

For dessert he made pure chocolate mousse using just chocolate and water, served with thin sheets of corn (made using sorbitol and agar), spicy cookie crumbs and tandoori masala syrup. See recipes below.

Howard talks about his inspiration these days: adapting the popular trend in avant-garde techno cuisine to vegetarian cooking. This approach is also known as molecular gastronomy – the study of the physical and chemical processes that occur in cooking.

This episode is a PB&J 4 minutes.

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Continue reading for the recipes:

Colleen interviews a couple from Michigan (Harry and Carmen Pianko) who are on the board of directors of VegMichigan.  Harry's goal for the food fair was to consume enough food for the entire state of Michigan...you be the judge if he was successful. 

This episode is a four-servings-of-dessert 7 minutes.

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Colleen and I (John) had the privilege of spending a good chunk of time at Toronto Vegetarian Association's 24th Annual Vegetarian Food Fair a couple of weekends ago. We had the chance to interview some key individuals and discuss the weekend's goings-on.

There was a lot of recording done and it has been broken up into smaller segments to hopefully enhance your listening enjoyment – think of it as a gourmet nine course podcast meal. See the podcast page to listen to all the segments.

In podcast 112.1 you will hear about the great food at the Vegetarian Food Fair and our response to "club sandwiches not seals" T-shirts. We are not happy about them, since typically, club sandwiches contain meat from dead animals, (although a vegan version is certainly possible, especially if you use some of the delicious and realistic mock meats available at the Food Fair -Steve).

This podcast is a club-hopping-not-seals 12 minutes.

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Today Colleen and I (John) are up to our necks in Mexican food.  We are celebrating like it's Cinco de Mayo with vast amounts of good quality veganized Mexican dishes, including guacamole, refried beans, tacos, soups and Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes.  ¡Arriba!

The photo to the left is from Maggie, who made these tamales from the cookbook Veganomicon. For good veggie recipes for refried beans check out RecipeZaar.

On the vegan baking front, there is some serious moving and shaking coming up. The Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake-off competition, if you are willing to put your recipe on the line, will take place on Saturday, October the 4th at Grange Park. If you're not willing to compete it is also a spectator sport where you can try the recipes. Prizes include the chance to win one of four $50 vegan gift baskets from Whole Foods and a gift certificate from LAVA. 

Visit the Resource Centre and check out some of our new books, including: Eat Drink and Be Vegan, Get it Ripe, Thrive Diet, Quick Fix Vegetarian, Skinny Bitch, Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, Green for Life and Ecoholic. 

Last weekend was the annual Vegetarian Food Fair.  It was a great success.  There was a podcast done at the event but we are still working on getting this posted for you.  Check back soon. 

Also, if you are interested in volunteering in the Resource Centre, and hence becoming a podcast co-host, please send an email to tvp@veg.ca. 

This podcast is the-genius-of-refried-beans 29 minutes. 

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Colleen and I (John) have a bevy of news items to address. On the fun front: Udupi Palace is having a dosa eating contest. These dosas are supercharged with lots of chlilies so those of you with an iron stomach, you've found your calling. The contest gets going on Sunday, August the 24th at 2pm outside of Udupi Palace (1460 Gerrard Street East).

On the sad front: Maple Leaf foods has had to recall their packaged meats due to a listeriosis outbreak. Four people have died so far and another couple dozen are seriously ill.

On the cool front: Sneaky Dee's (a popular restaurant/bar at the Bathurst/College intersection) has lots of vegan items on their menu now. Some of these items include: vegan nachos, a tofu wrap, veggie burger and cupcakes. Indeed, vegan cupcakes do take over the world.

But it's not just fun and games on today's podcast as there is news of a new soy milk which will be of interest to Torontonians. Yoso (based in Cambridge, Ontario) is a local producer of soy milk and yogurt. Colleen reports that the milk is delicious and can be purchased at the Big Carrot. Update: "Last night it had thickened considerably and by this morning it had curdled completely. The due date wasn't until Aug 29. So, I'm going to have to retract my good review of it," writes Colleen. Perhaps it really wants to be yogurt?

I am happy to report that my marathon training is going well which means I'm burning a lot of calories - I can stare down massive portions of food and know that there will be no leftovers.

There are lots of awesome upcoming events with the Toronto Vegetarian Association. On Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 8pm there is the Shades of Green Party (a semi-formal silent auction) taking place at Vegetarian Haven. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $20 or $50 qualifies you for a charitable donation receipt. Call 416-544-9800 if you're interested. The Vegetarian Food Fair is a mere two weeks away. Lastly, there will be a vegan Bake-on taking place October 4, 2008 - listen to future podcasts and check veg.ca for more information.

This podcast is a spicy dosa 32 minutes.

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Colleen and I (John) discuss many a far off place in today's podcast. First, we thank David from Atlanta (Hotlanta!) for sending us two Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe t-shirts. In order to receive these t-shirts we answered a question (posed by David) on podcast 107 about the "un-vegan" things that we do. I still wear a 15-year-old leather belt fairly regularly and Colleen sometimes kills cockroaches.

There is also some discussion about "Korean Night". This is an evening where friends get together to try out the Korean recipes from The Asian Vegan Kitchen cookbook. I am making Hodo Kwaja (Korean Walnut Cakes) and Colleen (via her husband) is making Bibim Bop (Spicy Rice).

Next on the world tour is Argentina and Uruguay. There is good vegan eating to be had in these two countries which are known for steak. I highly recommend the following three restaurants in Buenos Aires: Verde Llama, Krishna and Bio. Also, you can eat well in Montevideo and specifically at Bambu. This just proves that there are vegetarian options in parts of the world where you wouldn't expect it. Heck, there's even a vegetarian organization in Argentina and vegan graffiti.

Colleen discusses her love of the raw vegan restaurant, Cilantro in San Diego, and her tempeh salad of which she is equally fond.

This week's question of the week: what are you most looking forward to at this year's food fair? My answer: Brendan Brazier. Colleen's answer: the raw burger in the Food Fair's world café.

This week's podcast is a grade-11-belt-sized 28 minutes.

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Today, we (Colleen and Angeline) discussed the great visitors we had at the Resource Centre, including honey-mooners from VegMichigan. They visited more of Toronto's vegetarian restaurants than we have eaten at! Their biggest event of the year is VegFest in April. Road trip anyone? We were also visited by a vegetarian doctor who must, unfortunately, remain nameless because he's not taking new patients.

We also waxed poetic on the Vegetarian Food Fair which is coming up soon (Sept. 5, 6, 7), veg-friendly cities in North America, the advantages and disadvantages of watching upsetting films like Earthlings (available at our Resource Centre. View trailer), the vegan bake sale Colleen recently participated in to raise money for Rabbit Rescue, and fakey meats.

This podcast is a quotation mark enclosed, "seafood"-wrapped 34 minutes long.

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John is joined by Angeline for today's podcast episode. There are several questions and tips from listeners. Shawn writes in and wants to know about making soy milk. While the two podcast hosts have no experience with soy milk makers Angeline describes how she has experience with making the product sans soy milk maker. There is also the suggestion of visiting "The Tofu Guy" in St. Lawrence Market. Steve suggests checking out VeganYumYum's post on making soy milk from scratch. See comment 54 where he writes: "I have a SoyQuick machine and love the taste and ease. I cringed reading your process. The machine method is so easy, and clean up is not that bad."

Shawn also has some great links from BlogTO - the best vegetarian restaurants in Toronto and the best lunches in Kensington Market. In position number one is Urban Herbivore. BlogTO calls them a "vegan paradise."

Another letter comes from David in HOT-lanta. He points out that KFC's veggie burger is reportedly fried in the same fryer as meat, and thus raises the question as to whether it is actually "vegetarian". David is partaking in a 24-hour bike relay which is sponsored by Cosmos Vegan Shoppe. He is also the inspiration for this week's "Question of the week": "When was the last time you did something that wasn't vegan, you knew it wasn't vegan, but you did it anyway?" 'Fess up! John admits to wearing a 15-year-old leather belt fairly regularly. Angeline was volunteering at a vegan farm recently and flicked a cricket off her pants and may have "traumatized it."

The podcast team also recently learned that Dwayne De Rosario is vegan. Say what you will about "vegan celebrities", but John is more impressed by "vegan athletes" because they are very dependent on the food that they are putting in their bodies.

There is also some banter about good food ideas to bring on a plane. The best snacks are dried fruit and trail mix, but there are others up for debate too. Bottom line: don't bring pudding.

This podcast is a "chick-lit"-reference-free 30 minutes.

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Colleen and I (John) were discussing our usual podcast material when Peter and Jenny McQueen entered the room. Hence, lots of additional opinions abound...especially when it comes to the debate about PETA and KFC's relationship regarding the latter's new vegetarian menu option.

However, there is a general consensus that going to the World Vegetarian Congress is a pretty awesome idea – Peter and Jenny will be doing that in the next couple of weeks.

Now Magazine writes about their favourite selection of sandwiches. Urban Herbivore's BBQ tofu made the list along with a breaded eggplant sandwich from Uno Mustachio in the St. Lawrence Market. It features a pound of eggplant! For those of you keeping score at home, that's a lot of eggplant.

Colleen has some great tips on where to eat if you are in Vienna, Prague, Dresden or Cairo. But if you are eating on the Danforth in Toronto, don't go to Diner's Thai. There is fish sauce in all their dishes. See Hidden fish ingredients at Asian restaurants for more information.

Shawn (an avid listener) wrote to inform us that packaged smoked tofu is presently sparse in the city, but it will be back soon. The "tofuery" which produces smoked tofu is presently relocating. Bryanna Clark Grogan's blog has some good smoked tofu info and a recipe. Shawn also mentions Govinda's restaurant (attached to Toronto's Hare Krishna temple) as being a good vegetarian option, but Steve informs us that this restaurant has recently closed.

John has a great tip for eating locally and it involves the catchy (and annoying) song from Foodland Ontario. There are presently lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in season, including musk melon (or cantaloupe for those not in the know) coming up in August. Check out your local farmers’ market.

This week's question of the week: What is your favourite "hot weather" food? John's response is hummus sandwiches. Colleen's reply is green smoothies and corn on the cob.

Lastly, it is pretty darn easy to discover whether or not your favourite alcoholic beverages are vegan.

This week's podcast is a BBQ tofued 30 minutes long.

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Today, John and Colleen speak about some good recipes and some bad recipes. The good recipes are Dreena Burton's "Spicolli" Burgers (from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan). The bad recipes include forgetting to put yeast into your pizza dough, a triple sesame tofu, and using sweet potato soup instead of mango juice for a smoothie.

However, apparently there are only good recipes at The Graceful Vegetarian Restaurant. A visitor (Patrick) gave the place a ringing endorsement and suggests that it really needs to be experienced. He even claims that it is way better than Simon's Wok, but recommends saying "no egg" when you order. It is located in Markham in the Pacific Mall - a mini Chinatown and hot spot for pirated DVDs.

There was a Globe and Mail article about soy being linked to memory loss which Colleen addresses. She feels that studies such as this one needs to be taken with a grain of salt. According to the BBC's version of the story, only people over the age of 68 may be affected. This Indonsian study also found that eating tempeh, a fermented soy product, was actually associated with better memory. Tempeh contains high levels of the vitamin folate, which is known to reduce dementia risk.

How to create a vegan pizza on the BBQ:
1) Divide basic pizza dough into six equal pieces. Roll dough into rounds approximately 1/4 inch think on a flour-dusted cutting board.
2) Place rounds on an oiled tray and brush the tops with more olive oil.
3) Bring all toppings with the dough to the BBQ.
4) Preheat BBQ to 375°F.
5) Place pizza rounds directly on the oiled grill.
6) Close lid and grill for one to two minutes or until pizza puffs up and has nice grill marks. Flip over. Start adding the sauce, then the toppings.

The question of the week: "What is your favourite ethnic food?" For John it is Ethiopian, especially at Rendez Vous and Ethiopian House. Colleen loves South Korean. She spent some time living there and loves Soon Tubu Jjigae, a spicy silken tofu soup that you dip sticky rice into, glass noodles, all the little side dishes (panchan), kimchi (watch out for shrimp), kimchi soup ("so good!"), and black bean sauce. Check out vegetarian-friendly HoSu Bistro in Toronto. They have two locations: 254 Queen St. W (at John) and 2352 Yonge St (at Eglinton). A lot of Korean restaurants include fish sauce and egg in their tofu and vegetable dishes. "Hosu Bistro is actually the only Korean place I'll go in Toronto."

John and Colleen also debate over the existence of "Dr. John".

This podcast is a triple-sesame-coated 29 minutes.

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