Today John is joined by Colleen who has lots to catch up on with podcast listeners.  She talks about her recent trip to her doctor and her opinions on the vaccinations that were discussed. Colleen is definitely not sold on getting injected.

On a more positive note Colleen did have a great trip to Kingston, ON recently.  She learned how to make pierogies from scratch; prior to this she thought pierogies were a pre-packaged item bought in stores that you kept in your freezer in case of emergencies.

John and Colleen were pleased to help a couple of high school students who came into the office today who were working on a project about vegetarianism.  The students walked away with lots of information.

This week's podcast is a vegan-kimchi 28 minutes.

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Liam starts this week's podcast by singing the praises of the Ethiopian restaurant Nazareth where he had a great experience this week.  Liam enjoyed it because Nazareth serves great food which is filling and it doesn't hurt the pocketbook. 

John joins the fray by talking about a couple of messages TVA received this week.  There is going to be a new restaurant opening in the Yonge/Eglinton area called Kale (website) and the sign outside says that it will serve "veggie, macrobiotic and organic food".  There will be more news about this restaurant when they open.  There was also a request for some vegetarian related help from St. John's, Newfoundland.  John and Liam take a stab at helping out a new vegetarian in a place where vegetarianism isn't so common place. 

The two co-hosts also discuss:
- issues around Halloween
- squash soup
- egg replacers

This week's podcast is a SOUPercharged 33 minutes.

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John and Liam are back after what feels like a very long hiatus.  The two discuss their respective Thanksgivings.  Liam had a more traditional Thanksgiving meal which included a vegan pumpkin "cheese" cake pie, whereas John had a much less typical dinner (take out pizza). 

John recently ate at One Love.  He was impressed with the food and he reports that fried plantains are one of his favourite foods.  Liam also discusses his recent restaurant experience at Z-teca; while he suggests that the burrito he had was OK he expresses his frustration with paying for extra vegetables when he saves the company money by requesting they not put cheese or sour cream on his meal.

Liam also talks about how the Baltimore school system is banning meat from it's cafeterias every Monday. 

Lastly, John mentions his recent cooking episode with the assistance of the Artful Vegan cookbook.

This week's show is a burrito-busting 32 minutes.

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Liam took over the role of segway supervisor, since John was at home resting up for Toronto's Scotiabank marathon, and tried to herd Lisa through a long list of topics. Through his noble efforts the two managed to cover a huge gamut of veg-focused subjects in just 35 minutes.
Lisa encourages Toronto bakers to register for the 2nd Annual Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake-Off before midnight tonight.
Lisa mentions the popularity of go-vegan challenges in the media these days including Dr. Oz's challenge for a cowboy to go vegan for 28 days, PCRMs 21 day vegan kick-start and the Traveling Vegetarians 1-month vegan challenge in Nashville.
Liam shared an email find from Shawn C of a new Vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant called White Lotus located on Landsdowne south of College.
Lisa and Liam discus the email they received about Moe's Southwest Grill which seems to be incredibly vegan friendly. They even make sure to cook their veggies in a separate pan and will replace any meat on the menu with grilled tofu.
Lisa and Liam discuss the Glo Bakery samples they were sent to test out. Tune into the blog for all of the details.
Two visitors came to the resource centre looking for information about Omega 3s. Lisa shares Brenda Davis' website as a great source of information about Essential Fatty Acids for the vegan diet. Liam mentions Nutrition Action as a source he turns to for facts about nutrients and their bioavailability.
 

The 25th annual Vegetarian Food Fair was an extraveganza of delicious food, incredible lectures, and fabulous friends.

Last Sunday evening many of the international speakers gathered for a final meal at Live Organic Food Bar. Lisa asked them each to share their reflections on the weekend. Many of the speakers had never been to Toronto before and were blown away by the energy and excitement they felt at Harbourfront over the three-day celebration of vegetarianism.

Yvonne Smith, the Traveling Vegetarian , shares her experience of meeting a diamond seller on the TTC.

Terry Hope Romero, coauthor of Veganomicon and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World , recalls the fun of judging the first Real Iron Chef competition.

Jae Steele, holistic nutritionist and author of Get It Ripe , reflects on the challenges of live cooking demos and a lovely meeting with a couple of ALF supporters.

John, Terry's husband, shares an interesting moment he witnessed in the Brigatine room.

David, Colleen's husband, gives a shout-out to Toronto.

Doug McNish, chef at Live Food Bar , describes his experience in the Iron Chef competition and his hopes for future Food Fairs.

Colleen Patrick Goudreau , recalls an amazing three-days spent discovering the city and feeling the warmth of the vegetarian community in Toronto.

Lisa wraps-up with her thoughts on the weekend, including amazement that Brenda Davis spent time providing one-on-one dietary counselling, the delicious delights of Living Sweets and the overwhelming experience of seeing a joyful army of green t-shirted volunteers.

This podcast does all that and more in just under 18 minutes.

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Today John and Liam are all over the place with their topics of conversation.  Liam retracts his thoughts about quinoa and its supposed high calcium content - the two then discuss vegetarian ways to get calcium, but you don't want too much.

The two were happy to receive emails this week from the not-too-far-away Pickering/Ajax and the very-far-away Manila; thanks for writing in Mindy and Marie.

The question of the week deals with honey; John and Liam agree to disagree on this subject, but here's a couple of reasons why John doesn't eat honey.

Other noteworthy issues on this edition: 
- Liam is debating the vegan options at Sneaky Dee's, Rancho Relaxo and Queen of Sheba. 
- John is excited about the marathon next week. 
- Georges Laraque is vegan. 
- There's a Sarah Kramer calendar giveaway; Joelle won the Dreena Burton cookbook giveaway.
- There's a new Raw restaurant in Mississauga. 
- The Totally Fabulous Vegan Bakeoff is October 3rd; sign-up and details are here.  You need to sign up by September 26th.
- Vegan soundboard.

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Today's show was recorded live on site of the Toronto Vegetarian Food Fair, so you can hear waves and stuff in the background.  We think it's calming.

Colleen roped in Angela and Jason to talk about just a small smattering of the things they saw, learned, ate and bought on the Friday and Saturday of this event, including some of the new vendors, volunteering experiences, how cool TVA is (no, really!), cool books, and refried beans.

Much time was spent discussing the awesomeness of the Iron Chef competition held Friday night, where two professional Toronto vegetarian chefs battled it out over the course of an hour while giving out a few secrets along the way.  If you only catch one thing on this week's show, you'll want to hear the part about dijon mustard.  We're not sure we believe it ourselves.

Finally, if you've been taking pictures at the Fair (or just want to see some,) be sure to check out the Food Fair Flickr group .

This week's show is a piehole-stuffing 31 minutes. 

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Today John and a recently engaged Liam have a lot to talk about.  Liam wants podcast listeners to voice their opinions on how he can appease the bride's family (who is Filipino) by having traditional dishes at the reception which are vegetarian.  In other words, if you know of any caterers who can produce vegetarian/vegan Filipino dishes please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

The two podcasters also discuss the upcoming Toronto Vegetarian Food Fair (September 11 - 13 at the Harbourfront Centre).  There is a lot going on that weekend - please check here for the schedule.

John is happy to announce that he has joined the Toronto Vegetarian Team for this year's Toronto Waterfront Marathon.  He was also surprised and delighted when he discovered that he had been sponsored by a member of TVA (Thank you!).  If you are interested in sponsoring John, the Toronto Vegetarian Team, or any member you can do so here. 

Other tidbits from this week's podcast: the Dreena Burton cookbook giveaway is still going on, the Totally Fabulous Vegan Bakeoff is taking place on October 3rd, praiseworthy dishes from Veganomicon and Millenium, and a raw desserts wrap up.

This week's show is a Mexican avocado 32 minutes. 

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Lisa attended Vegetarian Summerfest 2009 hosted by the North American Vegetarian Association and had the opportunity to capture a couple of interviews on the spy device. Check out her interviews with Yvonne Smith, the Traveling Vegetarian, who travels the world trying vegetarian dishes and creates videos to share with the masses. Lisa also had the chance to chance with nutritionist, cooking instructor and corporate chef, Maribeth Abrams. In the interview Maribeth shares some fantastic recipes from her upcoming book, the 4-ingredient Vegan. Terry Hope Romero and Lisa chat about Terry's busy recipe creation schedule, her soon to be released cookbooks and her demos at the Toronto Vegetarian Food Fair. The podcast ends with the dulcet tones of Kyle Vincent singing a song during a tree planting event at Summerfest presented by the World Orchard Project. Save your pennies and you might just find yourself in Johnstown next summer.    

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Today John and Colleen have a very short and newsy podcast.   Today's highlights:

- John mentions the Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake-off is coming up (October 3rd); check the blog for more info. 

- If you want to find a DVD copy of Earthlings please go to veganslovelava.ca. 

- The raw desserts recipe sharing is taking place next Saturday in the Resource Centre between 1 and 4 p.m.; come on in and get some free raw dessert samples. 

- Keep your eye on the Dreena Burton cookbook giveaway. 

This episode is a seriously abbreviated 6 minutes.

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John and Colleen are extremely earnest for a little while, while discussing the day's visitors to the Resource Centre and some of the great books they purchased and borrowed from the library. They're also quite serious about the respective awesomenesses that are Isa Moskowitz and Dreena Burton, Isa having opened a vegan cooking school in Portland, Oregon and Dreena, having been interviewed for TVP #154, being part of a giveaway of one of her fabulous books.

In Toronto restaurant news, John and Colleen discuss John's recent visit to Simon's Wok, Colleen's recent pancake feast at Fresh, and Rancho Relaxo deciding to do the right thing and take shark off their menu.

They also discuss cool upcoming events in Toronto, including the free raw vegan desserts giveaway at the RC and Moon Over Mumbai, both on Aug 22.

Discussing an interesting looking book John discovered in the RC today, Ben Shaberman's The Vegan Monologues, Colleen asks the question of the week: What would be the title of your monologue in the live version of The Vegan Monologues? Silliness ensues.

This podcast is a you said the v-word 40 minutes long.

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Lisa has the opportunity to interview the (un)disputed vegan cookbook champion of the world Dreena Burton in this podcast episode.  If you have not been properly exposed to Dreena's recipes you are really missing out, but click here to find out about how you can win yourself one of Dreena's cookbooks.

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On today's podcast, John and Colleen give Happy Cow the love it deserves, discussing the amazing resource it is for vegetarians generally and specifically how it's helped them out in various ways as they've travelled the globe. As John points out, Happy Cow is a great resource for getting to know your own city's veg options better too, and they discuss Hibiscus and the Calico Cafe, the latter of which is a new veg restaurant recently opened near Bloor St. West and Dufferin.

Keeping things internationally focused at the same time that they celebrate the local, John and Colleen also recommend you check out Moon Over Mumbai, which will be occur on August 22, 2009. Moon Over Mumbai will form a sort of pre-celebration for this year's annual vegetarian food fair (Sept.11-13); there will be dancing, delicious veg eats, and an auction - be sure to wear your Bollywood gear.  Call 416.544.9800 for your tickets.

Another cool veg event going on this year in the GTA is the first annual Durham Vegetarian Festival, to be held in Whitby on Sunday, August 9, from 11-4. Speakers there will include Nimisha Raja, Erika Sullivan, and David Alexander.

Because John and Colleen are generally obsessed with food, as you know, they also discuss John's summer basil extravaganzas and Colleen's recent resolution to try eating savoury breakfasts. Feel free to send your favourite basil and savoury vegan breakfast ideas and recipes to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Finally, Colleen is feeling even sillier than usual and recites her 7 favourite rejected write-ups about the TVP for the 2010 Veg Directory (to be unveiled at the food fair in September).

The Resource Centre will be closed and there will be no podcast on Saturday, August 1.

This podcast is a terrifying rotating sammich 30 minutes long.

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This week, sun kissed Lisa joins John and Liam to recount her experiences at Summerfest in the southern state of Pennsylvania. If Liam didn't eat such a huge meal from Vegetarian Haven he might have gone back for some "decadent" which combines vegan cake, ice cream and soy milk in glass. John joined Colleen in his praise of the ice cream at Hibiscus in Kensington Market where unlike the gluttons at the spicy dosa eating contest, he had only one serving. Lisa is looking for a location to host this year's Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake Off - suggestions for a location are appreciated (please email them here). Additionally, John offers some running tips to Mindy and all of the others who are part of Team Vegetarian or others who are training for this year's races at the Scotiabank Marathon. Lastly, Liam gets his hate on for the fast food giants.

You got what I need.

This week's podcast is a marathon approaching 38 minutes.

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Today, John and Colleen gear up for next weekend's Festival of India by interviewing Krishna, who's been involved in organizing this event for 10 years now. As a precursor to the Festival of India, be sure to check out the Spicy Dosa Eating Contest, to take place Monday, July 13 at Yonge Dundas Square; the spiciness is going to be off the charts.

Because food is their number one priority, John and Colleen also discuss Colleen's mixed results with cooking from Vegan Brunch, as well as the three new recipes John tried this week (Super Charge Me Cookies and vegan mac & cheese from Dreena Burton's website, and Mexican Millet from Veganomicon).

Speaking of food, when John and Liam write their vegan cookbook for herbivores with man-sized appetites, they might use one of the following ten titles, created by John, Colleen, and Jason:

10. Manly Vegan Meals: There ain't no pork in these beans
9. Manly Vegan Meals: Sausage schmossage
8. Manly Vegan Meals: Let's consume in excess of 5000 calories per day
7. Manly Vegan Meals: Milk is for babies
6. Manly Vegan Meals: Meals that rock me like a hurricane when I'm hungry like the wolf
5. Manly Vegan Meals: Two chickpeas at the same time
4. Manly Vegan Meals: Veggie burgers and a punch in the face
3. Manly Vegan Meals: For those who don't prance around in a dewy meadow wearing a sundress
2. Manly Vegan Meals: Eat more tofu, bitches!
1. Manly Vegan Meals: Tastetosterone

John and Colleen also address this week's emails, which discuss TVA's presence in this year Veg News awards voting, non-vegan vegan meat and dairy analogues in LA restaurants, and how Value Village is not, in fact, owned by Walmart.

Lastly if you're interested in volunteering at this year's Vegetarian Food Fair please click here.

This podcast is a more optimistic even than Radiohead 32 minutes long.

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