Today Jason and John ate some seriously phenomenal cookies from Vegan Sweeties. Jason and John really love their job when it requires them to sample and review some vegan mail-order cookies – especially when the cookies are so good that they make you swoon.  If you would like to send us cookies to sample you're more than welcome to do so, but to be honest, you're going to have a tough time competing against Laurie's Vegan Sweeties.

There were a number of visitors today with lots of good questions:

What about vegan make-up? Visit the Wednesday night Resource Centre crew, or try CaringConsumer.com and DownBound.ca.

What to do when your ten-year-old is questioning their vegetarian diet? Tell them the reasons why you are vegetarian, so that they can make an informed choice. Also, if possible, get them involved in the process of shopping and cooking.

What about vegan/organic wines? Many beers, wines and other alcoholic beverages are filtered with animal ingredients such as isinglass (derived from fish) or bone char. Check out TasteBetter's vegan booze directory.

Delina wrote in to tell us the difference between what constitutes a fruit and a vegetable, thereby clarifying last week's podcast discussion. A fruit is the womb of the plant wherein lie the seeds. Tomatoes are technically fruits. See Wikipedia for more info.

This week's question of the week: What is your least favourite vegetarian product? Related: Veggie Challenge participants weigh in with their Best (and worst) veggie meals.

This week's podcast is a cookielicious 31 minutes.

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Today Jason, John and Colleen were in full effect and awesomer than their bad selves despite the fact that Colleen is feeling sick. She does however have a great recipe for making herself feel better. Jason's solution is the typical "rest and drink plenty of fluids" while John likes to rest and drink plenty of fluids and whine as much as possible.

However, if laughter can cure anything, Colleen will be feeling better in no time because "curved yellow fruit" had all three of the hosts cracking up.

There was some vegetarian product discussion which included bacon salt and truth belts. Did you know that people make cheese smell the way it does by wiping their feet on it?

Jason was the food provider for the day. Can any day really be that bad when you're eating vegan pizza by the slice?

The trio's favourite dining option, that they've yet to try, has a new website that you can check out. Hot Yam! Hot Yam!! Hot Yam!!!

Lastly, the question of the week: What is the best part of being vegan? As usual, John made Colleen and Jason look as deep as a puddle in Phoenix.

This show's run time is a curved yellow 28 minutes.

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Today John and Colleen discussed sports like a couple of dudes pounding back brews (but not root beer for breakfast).  Specifically, Salim Stoudamire is vegan and claims that his diet has improved his endurance on the basketball court. Raja Bell also feels similarly as he too is a vegetarian. However, both John and Colleen feel that it's not necessarily wise to look up to celebrities solely on the basis of their dietary claims as the two discuss in the podcast.

In other news, the two hosts talked about their favourite non-Toronto vegetarian restaurants.  John's (unsurprisingly) was in New York City – actually he has two.  Colleen's was in Philly – no Vegan Philly Cheesesteak sandwich though.

Both John and Colleen are surprised by the large number of listeners who want to tune in to listen to the podcast. Phenomenal!

However, the TVP is not the only podcast on the planet. Let's Get Baked is in Halifax and you should really give them a listen. 

This week's show is a spectacular 25 minutes.

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Today, John and Colleen were here to give you what you want. And what you want is vegetarian restaurant reviews. Colleen recently ate at Camros Organic Eatery just south of Yonge and Bloor. She gives them two thumbs up: "Fantastically good! The food made me feel quite healthy and energized." She especially recommends the kale salad with beets. For those of you on the right side of Canada, Heartwood Bakery and Cafe in Halifax has a new set menu with some delicious options. 

BlogTO recently wrote about The Best Vegetarian Restaurants in Toronto – namely: Fresh, Cafe 668, Urban Herbivore, Fressen, Pulp Kitchen, Live, Jean's, and Cafe Vert (which is not entirely veg). Commenters chip in with Sadie's, Vegetarian Haven and Get Real. And one person says: "I've been on hunger strike until Bo De Duyen reopens. So far I've been fasting since October 1st." Colleen and John think Camros, Simon's Wok, and Buddha's should be on the list. [Note: Buddha's will be closed from Feb. 25 to Mar 20 for renovations, and there is still no sign of life at Bo De Duyen's new location].

In other restaurant news, don't order the garlic pan bread at Jack Astor's as they put chicken broth in their butter. Which makes as much sense as putting beef in your French fries – McDs we're looking at you.

This week's surprise question: What famous vegetarian would you date? Colleen apparently likes tortured artists, while John likes 'em smart. You'll have to listen to find out who we're talking about, but our least favourite to go on a date with would be Moby [Steve comes to his rescue with this Moby quote: "Could you look an animal in the eyes and say to it, 'My appetite is more important than your suffering'?"]  We decided, for no apparent reason, that Jason would have picked Carrie Underwood. Carrie was voted sexiest vegetarian celebrity by PETA in 2007.

This week's show is a-veg-stock-in-your-Earth-Balance 19 minutes. Testing. Testing.

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Today John and Jason manned the show, which means they talked about strippers a lot. No, not just because that's what guys do, but because Portland, Oregon has opened the world's first vegan strip bar. We couldn't find a link that didn't involve photos of scantily-clad women or inappropriate language, so Google around if you're curious.

In non-stripper news, Natalie Portman (who is vegan) has a new line of vegetarian shoes. This is great news for anyone who has to walk down a red carpet or attend a gala. In women's shoes, anyway.

TVP listener, Shawn wrote in to let us know that Sarah Kramer is working on a new cookbook (details at the very bottom of the link) and needs your help, so drop her a line, and Michelle wrote in to clarify that the chili cook-off participants did in fact bring the required 5 litres of chili. The TVP regrets the error.

This week's rapid fire debate question: What would you like as your last meal if you were on death row? John opted for a nice bean burrito, and Jason settled for some mock fish like they've got at Full Moon Vegetarian restaurant.

Finally, TVA is hiring, so be sure to get your application in by Feb 22.

Listen Now! – This week's show is a nigh-apocalyptic 24 minutes.

We almost missed it again, but this show marks the start of year three of Toronto Vegetarian Podcasting! W00t!

Pizza seemed to dominate the show this week, with John and Jason discussing a great pizza-making tutorial on the Youtube (followed by a call to get more veg videos and blogs out there!) They also had potato pizza from Pizzaiolo (with whole wheat crust!) and discovered a column by Colleen in a back issue of Lifelines that featured a beer-based pizza crust.

The Resource Centre had some international flair this week, with visitors from Buffalo and Indianapolis. A good time was had comparing accents, health care and taxes, but none of that made it into this week's show - that's why y'all need to visit TVA more often.

Also, TVA is hiring! If you or someone you know would make a good Food Fair Co-ordinator, check out the details and get your application in by Feb 22.

This week's show is a pan-dimensional 24 minutes. 

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John should know better than to leave Jason and Colleen up to their own devices on a show, but he did it anyway. Listen in, to see where it got him!

Last week's Vegan Chili Cook-off was a great success, we think – all the chili was devoured before we could even get there to taste any of it! Magic Oven's chili won first prize, but you won't find it on their menu, at least not yet. Over $750 was raised for Out of the Cold. Check out our wrap-up here:

We also talk about the snow, because Toronto got a lot of it. We discuss how one might have survived in olden times when getting snowed-in meant serious hibernation. It seems that Ye Olde Clif Barres were not available back then.

Music fans take note – not only is Joan Jett vegan, she's also performing soon at Casino Rama. Nobody on the TVP podcast crew is going, but Jason is planning on seeing veg-friendly rockers, The Weakerthans tonight.

The events go global this week, with announcements of shindigs in Paris, Indonesia, and Dresden, among other places that also include California.

Listen Now! – This week's show is a scurvy-free 23 minutes.

This week, Colleen and Jason ran the show while John watched the front section of the Resource Centre. We wanted to record the show early and get out in time to catch some of Left Feet's Vegan Chili Cook-Off.

A few new additions to the Resource Centre this week: Carol Adams has a new book out called The Feminist Care Tradition in Animal Ethics, we review the new cookbook Vegetarian Revenge, and we're still reading Will Tuttle's new book, The World Peace Diet, so no review yet but it's available in our library.

Mayhem in this podcast included some talk about Colleen's new video role, the Jason Smoothie (1 banana, 1 cup of spinach and one cup of water), salad (and how much is too much), Colleen's dislike for salad (unless it is has toasted almonds and is made from spinach or arugula), and 39 more things about salad and chili.

[Note: If you really like ready-made salad, don't read veg.ca expose: Manufactured salad – Behind the convenience of pre-packaged salad greens lurk danger and environmental costs.]

Upcoming: we want to do a rapid fire debate podcast soon, so send in topics! This week's example was "mangos vs avocados." Avocados won.

Listen Now! – 22 minutes 

This week John and Jason tried the old "let's record the show during Resource Centre hours" trick, which worked except for when our visitor from Newfoundland stopped by to join the Association.  Hi Pat!

Haggis was on everyone's mind this week after TVA had an article about quitting meat featured on front page of last Sunday's Toronto Star! Since the Scottish holiday Robbie Burns Day is coming up on Jan 25, the Star thought vegetarian haggis would make a timely impression. As a result, the story was mentioned all over the interwebs, which is great for overall awareness, but John and Jason aren't sure if the public's focus was on the right stuff.

The resource centre received a ton of new material this week, including new DVDs (An Inconvenient Truth, Super Size Me, The Witness, and Peaceable Kingdom), newsletters from various other groups, and the following two items:

Vegetarian Journal has an update on L-Cysteine, a popular amino acid that's added to some baked goods and is typically made out of ... human hair or duck feathers!

Striking at the Roots – A Practical Guide to Animal Activism by Mark Hawthorne is a great resource to anyone who wants to be more effective in spreading the message about how animals are treated. Jason read the book this week and has a lot of nice things to say.

Two new articles on veg.ca are discussed: where to go for brunch (including our new 2008 vegetarian brunch guide), and some news about omega-3 fatty acids – find out why fish oil might not be as great as some people say.

The event highlight this week is the upcoming Vegan Chili Cook-Off – Sat Jan 26th in front of Left Feet. Taste all the recipes and vote for your favourite.

This week's show is a little over 31 minutes.  Enjoy it while waiting for your waffles.

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Today, John and Colleen tried to make up for a MIA (missing in action) Jason by talking about everybody's favourite bean curd. There are lots of running jokes about tofu, perhaps none funnier (or grosser) than this YouTube video parodying a super-size vegan fast food meal complete with three slabs (three slabs!) of tofu on thick kamut bread washed down with a mega 20 ounce (20 ounce!) wheatgrass juice.

But seriously, tofu can be really tasty if you know how to work with it. We discuss some of the best recipes involving tofu. Right in the comfort of your own kitchen, you too can be a tofu master. Check out:

• Mathew's Delicious Tofu, an amazing recipe from The Garden of Vegan cookbook with firm tofu, ginger, maple syrup, lemon juice, almonds, etc.
• Lemon Herb Tofu from Vive La Vegan.
• Pesto Pasta from The Garden of Vegan (silken tofu blended with basil and other fresh herbs, then used to coat pasta).
• Tofu Scramble (see our breakfast page)
• Vegan alfredo sauce.

Winterlicious is happening in Toronto – during this event restaurants offer good deals to their patrons. However, they tend not to understand the whole vegetarian thing. One restaurant offers a salad with a vegan vinaigrette along with bacon and feta cheese! What's the point of a vegan vinaigrette if you're going to ruin the salad with a pig corpse this writer asks.

This week we got some love mail from Calgary, and some unloving mail from British Columbia. Someone wrote to argue that, because Paul McCartney recently had a heart operation, going vegetarian won't improve your health. We point out that as vegetarians, we don't claim to be immortal! Sooner or later sickness (and even death) affects everyone including vegetarians. Colleen talks about how her health has improved since she has been vegetarian. John talks about the dietary double standard: When a non-vegetarian gets sick, people assume it's because of stress, overwork, germs, lack of sleep or just chance; but if a vegetarian comes down with the same illness, often it gets blamed on their diet.

[Not mentioned on the podcast is that other factors besides diet can contribute to heart disease, such as excess drinking, stress and heredity. Apparently stress and alcohol have been factors in this case. Maybe McCartney, who is 65 years old, would have died already were it not for his vegetarian diet. There are many studies that say vegetarians are less likely to get diabetes, cancer and heart disease, but that doesn't mean vegetarians never get these diseases. It just means you have better odds. –Ed]

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John, Colleen and Jason rang in the new year with another mix of topics that you couldn't possibly believe fit together in a logical sequence of segues, but yet they do!

The Resource Centre was hopping today, despite the freezing rain outside, with over a dozen visitors, many of whom took advantage of our lending library.  In between visitors, the podcast crew was well fed with leftovers from the previous night's potluck festivities. Colleen took a chance on some chocolate that had given her problems in the past due to a suspected abuse of the "may contain" ingredient label clause.

Speaking of "may contain,"  we think 2008 should be the last year for that legal dodge. Our suggestions for reform include the mandatory addition of "boogers and poo" to any "may contain" ingredients list, and the addition of a picture of a person shrugging their shoulders. Manufacturers don't seem to know what's in their products anymore!

We also had a chance to watch a video Colleen found of someone dancing to Dead Prez in the Hamilton Farmers' Market (warning, may contain strong language).

The veggie-friendly lyrics start with:

I don't eat no meat, no dairy, no sweets
only ripe vegetables, fresh fruit and whole wheat
I'm from the old school, my household smell like soul food, bro
curried falafel, barbecued tofu
no fish though, no candy bars, no cigarettes ...

Finally, Colleen's dinner plans were discussed at length, if only because she was making 38 different dishes for 2 dinner guests, including the increasingly famous chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon.

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Today John and Colleen didn't reinvent the wheel: they talked about food. They expressed their frustrations about being invited to dinners where they are expected to BYOF (Bring Your Own Food).  They showed their joy over going shopping for mason jars.  They discussed their surprise at how many visitors came into the Resource Centre on the Saturday before Christmas.

There were other issues to talk about too, namely new vegetarian restaurants in Kingston, the yumminess of celery root sandwiches, preserving the shelf life of fresh basil, and how you can donate to TVA before the end of the year.


This podcast is a basilicious 27 minutes long.

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John, Colleen and Jason dug through mounds of snow to get into the Resource Centre today and managed to record this podcast during the shift thanks to the help of AngelA and Jason's Mom.

A new DVD, called A Sacred Duty about how to apply Jewish values to help heal the world, was added to the library today.  It's presented by Jewish Vegetarians of North America, but we aren't sure what exactly is discussed, as the movie starts with a "disturbing images" warning, which is as far as we got.

Veg.ca has a new article titled Tofu turkey, Tortière, vegan fruit cake: Where to find holiday fare in Toronto, so if you're planning some kind of holiday soon, that'd be where you want to be going next. Or if making things from scratch is your gig, check out this video (and recipe) where AngelA shows you how to make a tofu "turkey," complete with stuffing. Or you can just buy soda. Jones makes Turkey & Gravy, Wild Herb Stuffing, and Pumpkin Pie sodas that are completely vegetarian.

AngelA brought in some snacks, including a "really tasty" holiday orange cake from New Moon Kitchen that, as the name implies, won't be available for much longer.  Would you like some cake?  Don't we all?

Innovations of the future this week included cheese-flavoured beverages, a deep fryer in the Resource Centre, and jingles and theme songs for when volunteers arrive.

Listen Now! – This week's show is a savage orange blizzard of 24 minutes.

Today John and Colleen were ecstatic to be joined by the dearly missed AngelA who returned after a long hiatus.

Today the three stooges discussed UFC fighter and vegan extraordinaire Mac Danzig. UFC stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed martial arts organization. While we are impressed by Danzig's physical dedication, the jury is still out on the whole "my job is to beat another dude into the ground and stomp a mud hole in him."

John was recently in Memphis doing a marathon. Vegetarian restaurants were non-existent so he resorted to eating at Olive Garden, a chain of Italian-style restaurants that have some vegan options. He fared less well at the airport where he had trouble buying a sandwich free of cheese and "schmeer" spread. And getting on an airplane with your own food is not easy these post 9-11 days. John wasn't allowed to bring pudding on board because it resembled a gel. Colleen has had trouble getting homemade curry approved. She recommends only bringing on packaged things like energy bars or nuts. Fortunately, most airlines serve vegetarian or vegan in-flight meals if you order in advance.

Also covered in this episode are: fan mail from Atlanta, John's duffel bag of compost, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World ("awesome" cookbook and blog), Vegan Soups for All Seasons (the latest addition to the Resource Centre), broken sundials, and getting knocked out cold (both John and Colleen share stories).

Listen Now! – This episode is a delicious 27 minutes long. And that's no lie.

Today was Toronto Vegetarian Association's Holiday Open House, and while Colleen and Jason had some help to deal with the 75 or so visitors that came by, they were left on their own to record this latest podcast.  As a result, some goofiness ensued. Yip yip, yip!

We did manage to remember some of the events of the day, including a huge number of sign-outs from TVA's lending library, visitors from as far away as London and Ottawa, and an awesome bake sale that seemed to go over really well with the younger members of the crowd. Pictured here is girl indulging in a frosted vegan cupcake. Many thanks to Whole Foods Market for donating the ingredients! 

All in all, the day was a huge success, and a sincere thank you goes out to everyone who braved the cold to make an appearance.  A lot of visitors had never been to the Resource Centre before, and most people stayed for a while to really get a good feeling for the services that we provide.

Also mentioned were Dr. Shiv, Evel Knievel (not vegetarian), winter cycling (Jason took a spill and needs to brush up on cold weather riding tips ), an abominable banana, cake in a glass (related to cookie soup but this actually exists at Vegetarian Haven and is yummy), The China Study book, and the Vegan Social Club of Beijing.

If you liked the giggle-fest that came out of last week's reading of the events, you'll love this one.

Listen Now! – This week's show is almost - but not quite - 27 minutes.