Today, Jen and I (John) discuss our experiences with those who question our vegan diets/lifestyles. If you have been vegetarian/vegan for even a short period of time you know that people can sometimes be rude with their responses to our choices. Jen responds by trying to be as civil as possible, but feels it is important to realize that there are times when the person is simply trying to annoy you. I usually try to ignore the questions once the questioner shows that they are more interested in attacking my dietary choices. For more information on how to deal with these situations see Diplomacy: Family, Friends and Social Situations.

This coming Wednesday the podcast team will have a chance to speak with Sarah Kramer at her book launch for Vegan A Go-Go! – a cookbook and survival manual for vegans on the road. She will be at Left Feet (Nassau St & Bellevue Ave) from 7pm to 9pm. Sarah is famous for her cookbooks and my copy of How It All Vegan was the first vegan cookbook I used; it definitely has its share of food splatter marks on it.

Jen reports that she visited Hot Yam this week and ate very well. She got tomato soup, stir fried kale with garlic, roasted sweet potatoes and apple crisp – all for only $4. If I didn't work on Wednesday afternoons I would certainly be a regular visitor to Hot Yam – they are located at the International Student Centre at the University of Toronto and they have two seatings on Wednesdays (12pm and 1pm).

If you're interested in getting involved in supporting eating locally, Jen and I strongly recommend Not Far From The Tree. This Toronto organization harvests fruit from urban trees and donates much of it to shelters. Lisa is an active volunteer, and after one of the picks her share amounted to 15 pounds of apples. That is a lot of apples!

Also up for discussion was the Toronto Vegetarian Association's Annual General Meeting which takes place on Thursday, November the 27th at the Kensington Market Lofts from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. This is a great way to find out more about TVA and you're very likely going to eat some good food too. If you would like to attend, let us know using our contact us form.

Lastly, Shawn (a dedicated listener) sends in word that (not shockingly) another study suggests that eating more fruits and vegetables and less meat and dairy improves one's health. More specifically, the McMaster University study shows that eating a more plant-based diet decreases one's chance of getting a heart attack by at least 35%. There have been so many studies like this that it seems as obvious to me as the sky being blue.

This podcast is a World-Vegan-Day-celebrating 24 minutes.

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Today I (John) am joined by Angelina and Jen as Colleen is in the middle of finishing off her thesis. The three of us had a lot to talk about today. Angelina temps our tastebuds by discussing her love of Nazareth Restaurant, an Ethiopian place at 969 Bloor St W, west of Ossington. She describes the restaurant as "outstanding" and "not as oily as other places" and raves about the salad and cooked greens. As one who is a huge fan of Ethiopian food I can promise that I will be trying this place out ASAP. The photo is from Ashleigh at OurFaves.com.

Today's question of the week:
How was your vegetarian Thanksgiving?

Jen reports that she made a lot of food, including acorn squash stuffed with rice, cranberries and walnuts, which went over well with her non-vegetarian relatives. Angelina is not celebrating Thanksgiving for a few weeks as she is American, but she is looking forward to her homemade tofurkey recipe that requires ten pounds of tofu. Ten pounds of tofu! She says the secret to a good tofu roast is basting it with toasted sesame oil and tamari. Note: See our vegetarian Thanksgiving page for holiday tips and recipes.

The three of us also share our vegetarian histories. Angelina was raised vegan as a child and then was given the choice to eat what she wanted. She remained vegetarian/vegan. Jen grew up in a small town with a father who hunted and a brother who worked in a meat shop. She went vegetarian for mainly health reasons over ten years ago and has been vegan for all reasons since a year ago. I have been vegetarian (then later vegan) for over ten years. The initial inspiration came from teaching English in a small town in Costa Rica after high school. Animal slaughter was not hidden away as it is in Canada.

We also discuss our favourite vegetarian restaurants in Toronto. Angelina's fave is Fresh, especially their Energy Bowl with tempeh – "comfort on a plate." Jen likes Fresh and Vegetarian Haven and also recommends Sadies as long as you are in the mood for diner food. I like Udupi Palace, Fresh and Buddha's depending on what I am in the mood for.

This weeks podcast is a mouth-watering 23 minutes.

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Today Colleen and I (John) are pleased with the results of the Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake Off! No, I didn't win any prizes personally, but the celebration of great vegan desserts is enough to put smiles on the faces of any herbivorous human. We were amazed at how beautiful everything was. Colleen's favourite was the Spice Route Cupcakes by Nicola that won a prize for being the most comforting. They contained candied ginger and pistachios. See veg.ca/bakeoff for photos of all the winning entries. The Bake-off served as a way of celebrating World Vegetarian Day.

Colleen also discusses her desire for kale juice and unsweetened soy milk while I talk about my three rounds of cupcake making this week, and burning 3000 kilometres calories during my recent marathon.

This podcast is a way-too-heavy-gift-basket 15 minutes.

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Today, Lisa and I (Colleen) discuss a number of awesome things about vegetarianism in the Fall, including the Oct. 4 Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake-Off (to be held from 1-4 pm in Grange Park), World Vegetarian Day on Oct. 1 and being vegan at Thanksgiving.

Question of the week: What is your favourite Fall food? Lisa says pumpkin and cinnamon. My favourite is squash, preferably butternut. I make a delicious butternut squash chai soup based on a recipe in How it All Vegan.

We talk about the Kakayo Chocolate Company who make a line of organic vegan chocolate truffles in the Beaches. Lisa calls them, "the most incredible vegan truffles I have ever tried." Flavours include: Banana Split, Chai Masala and Ginger Pecan. Lisa loves ginger. She even eats the ginger pieces after making tea.

We have some new books in the Resource Centre. Veganomican and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World are available for sale, and Get It Ripe (Jae Steele's new cookbook),  The Thrive Diet (by vegan athlete Brendan Brazier who writes about how nutrient-dense foods can reduce nutritional stress),  The Global Food Economy (by Tony Weis who provides a rare Canadian perspective), and Green For Life (by Gill Deacon) have been added to our lending library.

We discuss Ellen DeGeneres’s increasing interest in animal welfare issues, including the fact that she had vegan doctor, Neal Barnard on the show Sept 29, 2008. He talked about alternatives to sugar, chocolate, cheese and meat.

Speaking of Neal, we also had a number of visitors in the Resource Centre looking for recipes and information about vegan nutrition. One of them was at the Toronto Reference Library two years ago when Toronto Vegetarian Association was presenting a talk by Neal Barnard. He decided to check it out and has been vegan ever since! His mother also visited us today. She switched from cow's milk to soymilk recently. That one substitution was enough to bring her high blood pressure into a normal range. I had a similar story when I first became vegan at age 26. I had high cholesterol that completely went away due to my diet change. In the podcast, I also discuss how my bouts of bronchitis went away.

The next podcast will be Oct. 18 after the Vegan Bakeoff and Thanksgiving.

This podcast is a fabulous vegan 35 minutes long.

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Today, Colleen and I (John) discuss the beauty that is a Mexican themed vegan potluck. Much good food was consumed last weekend.

The preparations for the Vegan Bake-off are going well. Entries are due Friday, September 26th. There are so many good prizes that you'd be silly not to enter. Silly, I tell you.

We also discuss some of the farmers’ markets that we attended this week. Interesting things to be had at these markets included plum lemon heirloom tomatoes and basketball-sized cauliflowers.

This episode is a golden-calculator-to-divide 24 minutes.

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Colleen interviews long-time TVA volunteer Steve Leckie. Steve speaks about the connection between diet and the environment, fruit picking with a new group in Toronto called Not Far From the Tree, the latest Vegetarian Directory, green restaurant trends, and all the food he ate at the Vegetarian Food Fair.

This episode is a herbicide-free 9 minutes.

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Colleen and I (John) interview Brendan Brazier.  Brendan discusses his experiences at the Food Fair, his new book (Thrive Fitness), his upcoming University tour with David Suzuki, and life as a vegan athlete.

This episode is an elite-athlete-certified 8 minutes.

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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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