Today Liam and John discuss a recent nutritional analysis of Fresh’s Buddha Bowl that appeared in the Toronto Star.  There was some debate amongst the podcast co-hosts about “how bad” is the Buddha Bowl.  On the one hand, it’s about half of one’s daily recommended caloric and sodium intake.  On the other hand, it’s pretty darn healthy for a meal that you would get at a restaurant and it should be pretty filling considering it’s 1.7 lbs of food. 

There are lots of vegetarian and vegan food alternatives in Toronto and Shawn wrote to inform the podcast crew of The Rusholme Park Supper Club’s vegan dinner on Friday, November 18^th.  The dinner will consist of sweet roasted beets, herbed tofu "feta", green bean salad, wild mushroom stroganoff, wide noodles and caramelized cabbage with caraway and coconut butter, and almond frangipane squares with red wine and pear sorbet.

There were more good food recommendations when Liam pronounced his love of pesto on today’s podcast.  The two co-hosts discuss which recipes are their favourites.  After the podcast ended Liam learned that he will be having pesto sauce for dinner this evening and he is presently in an even better mood.

There are lots of cool things going on in Toronto…check out the volunteer opportunities and events to see for yourself.

This week’s show is 41 minutes of basil stuck in between your teeth.

Listen Now!

 Today Lisa and Liam kick off the show by getting the date horribly wrong before correcting both today’s - Saturday November 5 - and the Annual General Meeting’s - Sunday November 20 (not November 21 as published in Lifelines). This year’s AGM is from 3:30 – 6:00 at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre located at 750 Spadina Ave (at Bloor).

Lisa recovers nicely with some sterling segues, taking the hosts from Cruda Café (where Liam had an excellent enchilada), to the Toronto Marlies’ vegan athlete, Mike Zigomanis, to a discussion of vegan restaurants in suburbs of Toronto and in foreign countries (a vegan Danish bakery in India?), to a touching story about a pair of Great Dane buddies who need to find a home. They also discussed a success story from the BeVeg.ca subway ad campaign, and discussed the recent Toronto shark fin ban (Liam brought up the complaint that's been filed against the city, which Lisa wasn't aware of).

They interviewed Tikka Smiley, who will be featured on this week's episode of Recipe to Riches on the Food Network. Let's all cheer her on! You can watch it on Wednesday, November 9th at 9pm.

Today's podcast is 23... wait, 32... no, it's 33 minutes long.

Listen Now!

Today Emily and John start off the show by talking about the latest animal welfare related news in Toronto.  The city has imposed a ban on shark fin and the Toronto Zoo will be moving their three elephants to a sanctuary in California.  Obviously, both podcast co-hosts see this as a victory for the movement.

In good eating news, the Urban Herbivore in the Toronto Eaton Centre gets two thumbs up from Toronto Life magazine.  What’s not to like about a place where you get to choose from five different gourmet vegan sandwiches?  Also, Emily has just purchased The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick Goudreau.  It offers tasty recipes, lovely photos, and the warm and wonderful words of CPG. Emily’s sister will give it to a friend as a birthday gift, so it should be a good choice.

John and Emily were excited to hear about the documentary Vegucated.  There are screenings coming up in DC, Minneapolis, Columbus, Philadelphia and Chicago.  This lead into a discussion about what to do in those social situations where your herbivorous diet may be questioned by the meat eaters who are surrounding you.  John is solving this issue by attending a family dinner tomorrow armed with a vegan icecream cake by Cakes By Jill .

Listen Now!

Today Lisa O. and John are overjoyed to have Colleen return to the podcast.

There is some talk about the recent efforts to ban the sale, possession, and consumption of shark fin in Toronto. Lisa went to the initial city council hearing and she reports that numerous people spoke in favour of the ban. To add your own voice to the argument, email Joanna Hui at jhui@toronto.ca for a list of councilors to email in order to write a letter. With enough support, it should pass and may even lead to a ban of foie gras, as John suggests.

A group of twenty-two runners and walkers took it to the streets of Toronto last Sunday in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, raising over $9000 for TVA! Great job to all those who participated!

We received reports from a few listeners who have had success with raising vegetarian and vegan dogs. A couple of brands of food to check out are V-Dog and Ami. Natural Balance Vegetarian Formula might be easier to come by (but be aware that it contains animal-sourced D3).

In other news:
- Keep your eye out for the new BeVeg.ca/TVA posters on the TTC!
- Shape Magazine has nominated two vegan blogs for awards. Vote for the Diet, Dessert, and Dogs Blog by Ricki Heller (a local!) and Susan V.’s Fat Free Vegan Blog (voting closes on Friday the 28th).
- Canada no longer uses pigs in med-school trauma training. Hooray! If you’re vegan and want to knit or learn how to knit (or crochet), you’ve got it made.
- Join the Toronto Vegan Knitting Group, which will be getting together regularly to knit (among other things) sweaters for battery cage hens. If you’re not a knitter but you want to help the hens, you can make a fleece version as well (pattern at the same link). Lisa is making some for Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary, which was discussed on last week's podcast.
- A new supper club has vegan events. Check it out at The Depanneur.
- If you like reading and you’re interested in eating delicious vegan food and meeting like-minded people, join TVA Reads.

Today's podcast is an all-over-the-place 33 minutes. Listen Now!

Today on the podcast, Emily and Liam make keen observations about life and vegetarianism, interspersed with highly insightful comments like "ummm."  Emily shares some experiences from visiting Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary for their open house on the Thanksgiving weekend, and mentions a new book out by Rob Laidlaw , a speaker at the open house. Getting political, Liam highlights some ongoing antitrust issues in the dairy industry, in response to which several groups - including members of Compassion Over Killing - have filed a lawsuit in U.S. courts.

Gossip Corner this week covers Paul McCartney's recent marriage and vegan wedding cake (yay!), and the closure of Chrissie Hynde's restaurant VegiTerranean in Ohio (boo!). 

There are still plenty of places to eat in Toronto, and Liam lists a few menu items at Disgraceland (more like Elvis, less like Paul Simon) - sounds like some tasty meals are available there. If you've been missing eating at Subway because you aren't thrilled by the prospect of paying 5 bucks for lettuce on a bun, take action!  Check out this campaign to encourage Subway to add Tofurky slices to its menu. Look out, Veggie Delite.  

As usual, there are a number of volunteer opportunities and talks coming up - explore the website to find out more details.  That's it for now!  Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

This week's podcast is ummmmmmmmm 32 minutes?

Listen Now!

After a long absence, the podcast has returned! Liam and Lisa O. discuss the recent Food Festival, which was a great success. During their time away from the podcast, Lisa went to California and had some great meals at the restaurants Gracias Madre and Cafe Gratitude, among others. Liam went to Montreal and enjoyed food from Aux Vivres, ChuChai, and Yuan. He also discovered a vegan-friendly ice cream shop called Cremerie Meu Meu.  

A lot of other veg-related items have recently popped up in the news lately: The Star positively reviewed brunch at Hibiscus, Now Magazine highlighted vegan restaurants in their Cheap Eats section, The Star published a piece on the new upscale food court in the Eaton Centre, which features Urban Herbivore's newest location, and also published a piece on tattooed chefs, which features vegan chef Doug McNish.

In other local food news, Hot Yam! (a volunteer-run vegan food collective on the UofT campus) will soon be open daily. Hot Beans and The Hogtown Vegan have made some changes to their menus - Hot Beans will now be serving gluten-free and somewhat healthier dessert items, though their popular donuts will be available at The Hogtown Vegan (which now serves brunch). Lisa recently discovered that Dvine Gelato Cafe in the Beaches area has a number of vegan dessert items available on a daily basis. This is good news for those wanting to avoid all the nasty things that scientists have just discovered in commercial cow's milk. 

We've had some updates on the What's New section of the website, so take a look if you haven't already, and come visit us during RC hours (1-4pm) next Saturday for a book sale in honour of World Vegetarian Day!

Listen Now!

Today John and Lisa O. have some sad news articles to share, but they end on a happier note, discussing food (as usual).

Bear bile farms are horrifying places. Vegansaurus posted an article this week about a mother bear who killed her baby and then herself to escape. If you’d like to help the plight of other bears in China and help to end bear farming, Animals Asia is a worthy organization. In other bad news, there’s been an e. coli-driven beef recall in the US. Beef prices are on the rise, which is good in that there will be fewer cattle raised in the coming years, but bad in that the beef industry is doing everything it can to keep people buying meat. The USDA has “bailed out” the chicken industry with a $40 million emergency purchase.

On to the good news! Congratulations to Lisa P., whose recipe for Petit Fours won Yum Universe’s recent birthday contest! If you’d like to consume some sweets as well, you can head to the BeVeg.ca bake sale tomorrow afternoon at Panacea from 1-5pm. If you’re in the mood for something savoury instead, check out Noan “Meats” from BJ Supermarket in Little India, or try a veggie platter or a samosa from M&B Yummy. If you want both sweet and savoury, reserve a space for yourself at Doug McNish’s upcoming multi-course dinner at Didier on September 8th.

We received a nice response from Pho on 7 regarding a letter we’d sent on a TVA member’s behalf. The restaurant's staff has now been well educated on all of their vegetarian products, and a special code for all vegetarian orders has been added to prevent mishaps. For tips on how to approach restaurants about vegetarian and vegan menu options, you can check out this episode of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s Food for Thought podcast. We’re also happy to send letters on behalf of TVA members!

 This podcast is an all's well that ends well 33 minutes long.

Listen Now!

Today John and Emily discuss going vegan with Ellen, or rather, Going Vegan with Ellen, Ellen's new resource website.  The site has recipes, tips, resources, and discussion spaces and is all about giving people the tools to develop a vegan approach that works for them. Emily also mentions that some people have expressed concern that Ellen still models for Cover Girl, a company that tests its products on animals, which sends John into a tangent discussion about leather belts, avoiding wastefulness, and how some people will always find something to criticize in someone else's behaviour. Someone whose behaviour you can't criticize is Gene Baur, keynote speaker at the 10 Thousand Tastes, 10 Billion Reasons evening portion. Emily may have almost swooned from Gene's potent combination of good looks and compassionate words, but she revived in time to collect her raffle prize, a fabulous package with totes and t-shirts from Karmavore, a gift certificate to Ying Ying soy foods, and a gift certificate for Ami Vegan Dog and Cat food. Emily and John discuss vegan cat food, and the difficulties of weighing ethics against biology. For now, Emily thinks her kitties will stay on their regular food, but if there is a dog in her future, those gift cards will come in handy.

From cat food to cake food, John discusses an amazing vegan dessert company offering vegan ice cream cakes, among others. Reasonably priced and delicious, keep this place in mind when you have a hankering for sweets. If you prefer to whip things up from scratch, consider the new Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Baking. Emily thinks the recipes looks pretty interesting, and is planning to test out the Yellow "Butter" Cake recipe tomorrow - she'll report back in a couple of weeks on how it all went.  To help guarantee a baking success, vote for Lisa P's Petit Four recipe by "liking" it on the YumUniverse Facebook page.

A few other things from today's podcast: a new "Go Veg" subway ad might be appearing in TTC subway trains. If you're stuck in an old subway car one day, with no air conditioning, hopefully this will lift your spirits. If you'd like to lift your feet, take part in the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon. You can run, walk, or theoretically, skip or cartwheel along to help raise money for the TVA, though, given how many people participate, maybe stick to running or walking to avoid litigation.  The Vegetarian Food Festival is also coming up, and there are still come volunteer positions available, so come on out and meet some great people while sampling some delicious food. Vegan chef Doug McNish will also be cooking up some delicious vegan meals at Didier Restaurant, and reports have it that the University of Northern Texas has switched to all vegan-friendly food in its cafeteria. Been thinking about getting that Astrology degree? Be sure to factor UNT into your decision!

This week's podcast was a Mint Monster 35 minutes.

Listen Now!

Today Lisa O. and Liam (aka. Lisa Liam Cult Jam) discuss such delicious topis as Eli's Earth Bars candy bars, Lisa P.'s delicious-looking petit fours, the Seabirds Food Truck, easy-to-make coconut whipped cream, newly-available Babycakes offerings at Yankee Stadium, and Boardwalk Chocolates' ice cream, which is now available at Sadie's Juice Bar.

In other news, Ellen Degeneres has launched a website called Going Vegan with Ellen, which appears to be a great resource for her vegetarian and omnivorous fans alike. Vegans Love Lava is shutting down its e-store, so it's a great time to get a good deal on vegan goods, although we're sad to see it go. It's time to vote on VegNews's latest poll and be entered to win great prizes. Be sure to check the boxes next to Panacea and Boardwalk Chocolates and Sweets from the Earth . Don't forget to mention Toronto as the most Veggie Friendly City and Veg.ca as your fav website! 

There was some bad industrial-farm-related news this week: a salmonella scare and trouble with waste runoff.

It's your last chance to buy tickets for the 10,000 Tastes 10,000,000,000 Reasons Event and Gene Baur's talk on Wednesday, August 10th. Call the TVA office or go to the event website for more information. 

This week's podcast was a brevity is the soul of wit 23 minutes.

Listen Now!

Today John and Lisa O. discuss ways of coping with the heat, and what to make for dinner on the hottest days. Lisa's using her Vitamix to avoid turning on the oven, and John is eating a lot of raw foods, especially Ani Phyo's recipes. They discussed the Coke or yogurt debate. Which is more offensive?

John recently ate at several restaurants, including Fresh, where he tried the Prix Fixe meal for the first time, Ka Chi, which has a handful of vegan offerings, and Urban Herbivore, which also has delicious options (but get there early). The two are looking forward to trying Hogtown Vegan this week, and now know what dishes to order thanks to a review on BlogTO. Starbucks is now offering a vegan sesame noodle bistro box.

In not-so-delicious news, there's a restaurant in Brooklyn offering foie gras doughnuts. You can sign this petition to let the owner know how you feel about this (Hint: tell them it sucks). People eating a lot of foie gras doughnuts might suffer from diverticulitis. Luckily, a new study has found that vegetarians have a 31% lower chance of developing the disease, and that those with very high-fiber diets have a 41% lower chance than their very low fiber counterparts.

The Environmental Working Group has released a report called the Meat Eater's Guide to Climate and Health, which contains a lot of really interesting information. It's definitely worth checking out and passing along to friends.

John went to the Festival of India on Toronto Island last weekend and enjoyed a free meal. Lisa enjoyed a free meal at the VAST potluck yesterday.  

The Resource Centre will be closed next Saturday for the upcoming long weekend but will be open the following Saturday (August 6). Come on by for our $5 t-shirt sale in honour of Vegan T-Shirt Day.

Today's podcast is a low-carbon-footprint 34 minutes. Listen Now!

Today Emily, Lisa, and Liam (aka Emilylilili) discuss travel, criminal activity, and free hot dogs. 

If you get arrested in San Francisco, you're in luck! They offer vegan meals to prisoners, even though they're not required to by law. However, soon to be required by law are stamps and labelling indicating whether eggs come from caged hens. It's a step in the right direction. Lisa discovered last weekend that chickens enjoy spreading their wings (and also sunbathing) while on a working visit at Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary. Highly recommended! Emily will be going next week.

 If you want to travel to more exotic locales, you might want to check out Colombia World. They offer a number of tours and are vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free friendly. If you want to be fed on your flight, don't fly Porter! They've recently suspended their vegetarian meal options due to low demand. If you're looking for a free vegan meal, on the other hand, you can attend the 10,000 Tastes, 10 Billion Reasons event on August 10. There are some great sponsors, including Tofurkey, which will be giving out free hot dogs. Tickets to Gene Baur's talk at Hart House may be purchased at the TVA, Panacea, or online.

Those with a more refined palate can experience Doug McNish's triumphant return to Raw Aura, with a great-sounding tasting menu. The Secret Pickle Supper Club is holding a vegan night. Unfortunately, it's too late to buy tickets, but perhaps they'll offer more vegan meals in the future. On the other end of the spectrum, you can ogle this list of the least healthful restaurant meals available in the US, as ranked by Men's Health Magazine. 

Get ready for the Vegan T-shirt sale on August 6! Now's the time to sign up for Food Festival volunteer positions. You can check out the volunteer opportunities list at veg.ca/festival .

Today's podcast is a spiralized 37 minutes long. Listen Now!

Today Liam and John bring you their second straight dudecast, although they had some female visitors to break up the testosterone-fest.  Sari from Las Vegas came into the Resource Centre and discussed some of Toronto’s local sanctuaries which include The Roosters Inn B&B in Port Perry (TVA discount card holders get 10% off), The Donkey Sanctuary in Guelph, and Snooters just north of Toronto.

John and Liam are still digesting the pizzas that they ate a couple of weeks ago from the Magic Oven’s all you can eat Wednesday night extravaganza.  The Magic Oven at Queen and Parliament offers all you can eat pizza and salad on Wednesday nights for about $15.  The hosts agree this is a great deal for some quality grub.   

Liam was in such a pizza-eating mode that he considered driving to Syracuse, NY to go to Strong Hearts Café.  If you take a look at the menu on their website you’ll understand why Liam seriously considered the 4.5 hour drive just to go this restaurant. 

Po Boy sandwhich at Hogtown. Source

However, Liam’s desire for comfort food maybe satiated closer to home with the opening of The Hogtown Vegan.  This is the sister restaurant of Hot Beans and is located at 834 Bloor Street West.  Their menu includes such classics as mac ‘n cheese and po’ boys. Read a review  and see great pictures of their food from Luke, TVA's Food Fair Coordinator.

Liam almost began to sing Take Me Out To The Ballgame, but instead simply began to tell podcast listeners about Soy Happy.  Soy Happy is known for trying to get veggie options into Major League Baseball stadiums.    

On Saturdays there is the Brickworks Farmer’s Market where you can get fresh Ontario produce and some prepared vegan snacks.  Liam enjoyed eating raw salads prepared by Oakville’s very own Nzyme.

This episode is a strong-hearted 35 minutes.

Today Lisa O. and Emily try to figure out ways to out-segue John and Liam's 'dudecast' while handling all of the vegan scavenger hunt excitement ongoing at the resource centre.  The 'ladycast' opens with a special shout out from one vegan scavenger hunt team, and includes three other 'hellos' mid-way through the podcast - so look out!  Things on the scavenger hunt list this year included pictures with TVA RC members, photos of vegans reading animal rights books, and photos of vegans flexing. 

Speaking of flexing, Lisa mentions a vegan body builder who is currently in Toronto.  People who think vegans don't get enough protein or can't build muscle mass should take a look at this guy.  If you are a body builder, and use bronze tanner to highlight your physique, or if you are just a regular person who cleans now and again, you might enjoy some eco-friendly DIY cleaning products that make use of things you have right in your cupboard. Things that might not be in your cupboard?  Breast milk from a cow.  Yes, you heard right.  Scientists in China have found a way to genetically-manipulate cows to produce human breast milk.  Lisa and Emily think that this is not a good use of scientific dollars, and that cows should be left to live peaceful un-exploited lives in the country.  You might find Carrie Underwood in the country too, since she grew on a farm, and sings country music.  A vegetarian since 13, Underwood recently announced she has become vegan, for health reasons.  Whatever your reason for being veggie or vegan, you probably like to go out now and again for dinner at a restaurant.  Lisa O. mentions a site from which you can order free cards to give to different restaurant managers, to let them know you'd like to see more (or any) delicious vegetarian and vegan options available on the menu.  For vegetarians or vegans who like vegetables and fruits, or people who like things clean, Lisa and Emily discuss the EWG's Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists, highlighting the best produce to buy organic, and the ones that it won't hurt to buy conventional.  Lisa closes the podcast with a shout-out to some special listeners that visited the resource centre all the way from Cleveland, Ohio and recommended the restaurant The Flaming Ice Cube.  She and Emily hope they enjoyed their stay in Toronto!

This podcast was a segue-spectacular 22 minutes.

Listen Now!

Listen Now!

This week, John and Emily talk about compassion, cooking, kittens, and scavengers hunts, among others.  First and foremost, Compassion Week comes to a close today with a talk by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau at 4pm and the Compassion Marketplace which runs until 6pm.  Tickets are still available at the door for the talk and admission to the marketplace is free.  If you can't make it to Christie St for Colleen and the marketplace, come out to the Raw/Vegan Food Festival on Bathurst to check out other food, clothing, and information options.  If you find that neither of these plans work for you, maybe you can find some time in your schedule to join the Toronto Vegan Scavenger Hunt and spend the day finding things (count how many times 'find' appeared in that sentence.  See?  You're a natural!) on June 25th.  Or, if you are looking to volunteer, check out some of the great volunteer opportunities now available at the TVA.

In terms of food, John mentions that there is a new Pizzaiolo open on the Danforth for pizza lovers (or pizza-likers).  There is also a Pizzaiolo on Queen that apparently is not new, except to Emily who has only recently discovered it. For those who prefer to cook at home, consider trying the vegan quiche recipe from Colleen Patrick-Goudrea's The Vegan Table or the peanut butter cups from Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet for a gourmet meal that is sure to please.  The recipes are Emily tested and approved. For that final bunch of you who prefer to eat at home but not necessarily cook at home, word on the street has it that Udupi Palace now delivers! If you are one of those lucky individuals who finds your address falls within their delivery zone, add the number to your speed dial now.

If you've been thinking about finding a special someone to snuggle with now that summer has come, consider checking out one of the numerous animal shelters and rescues in the city to secure your very own special animal friend.  There are lots of cats and dogs available, and now that spring has sprung and the summer is here, there are lots of kittens too.  Any one of these little folks would be happy to find a new friend in you.  So check it out!

Finally, Emily comments on some gossip delivered to her by her sister about a new feature in Elle magazine in which Emma Stone wears an ostrich feather dress and a pair of lambskin overalls.  The moral of this story?  Don't forget to ask questions about where things come from and what they're made of - and don't be afraid to say "no thanks" if something doesn't fill your ethical standards.  Emily and John only hope more celebs will do the same.

This podcast was a compassionate 29 minutes.

Listen Now!