VegE-News is a monthly news and events email service. It is free to subscribe. Their latest issue's stories included:

• Meat main source of serious bacteria infection. A new study has found that nearly all of the campylobacteriosis cases in the patients evaluated were caused by bacteria in animals farmed for meat, in particular chicken and cattle. Camplylobacter jejuni causes more cases of gastroenteritis in the West than any other bacterial pathogen, including E. coli, Salmonella, Clostridium and Listeria combined. Meanwhile, resistance to antibacterials in animals is rising. Salmonella and Campylobacter, in particular, are becoming increasingly resistant to current antibiotic treatments.

• Threat of 'major global recession' tied to bird flu. A severe outbreak of flu could kill tens of millions of people and spur a "major global recession," the World Bank is warning world leaders preoccupied with financial, food, and fuel crises. The bank has drawn up a worst-case scenario in which a flu pandemic could kill as many as 71 million people, cost three trillion dollars and cut global gross domestic product (GDP) by almost 5 per cent. [Crowding of domestic poultry has been identified as a major cause of bird flu.]

• Vegan diet good for Type 2 Diabetes. A vegan diet may do a better job of reducing cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients than a diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), according to a new study. Two out of three people with diabetes die of a heart attack or stroke, so reducing cardiovascular disease is a priority.

• Cancer risk in grilled chicken meals at leading restaurants. A new study in Nutrition and Cancer (an International Journal) found that grilled chicken items at leading chain restaurants raise the risk of cancer. An analysis of 100 grilled chicken items from McDonald's, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Chili's, Applebee's and other chains found that they all contained PhIP, the most abundant of a group of carcinogens called heterocyclic amines (HCAs). The levels of PhIP contained in grilled chicken entrées, many of which are considered "healthy" menu selections, could contribute significantly to a person's total intake of carcinogens and may play a role in the development of breast, prostate and other cancers, according to the study.

More news

• New film: Eating Mercifully. The Humane Society of the United States released a film called Eating Mercifully as part of its new "All Creatures Great and Small" campaign. In the film, Dale and Elaine West share how their Christian faith led them to give up their meat consumption. The couple lives on a farm that has been turned into an animal sanctuary. The film examines Christian perspectives on factory farming. View trailer.

• You heard it on Oprah: Factory farms stink. "Oprah Winfrey's [October 14] show, How We Treat The Animals We Eat, blew the lid off the egg industry, shining a long-overdue light on the bleak, black underbelly of sunny-side up. Investigative reporter Lisa Ling had to don a sanitation suit and cap before leading her camera crew through an industrial egg facility where 87,000 chickens were crammed into criminally close quarters and covered in, well, chicken sh*t. Words could hardly convey her revulsion at the stench..." Related: Oprah goes vegan - at least for 21 days.

• New Toronto vegetarian food bank is booming. Canada's only vegetarian food bank is barely five months old and already serving more than 200 people from locations in Scarborough and North York – areas under-served and with large vegetarian Hindu communities. Anyone interested in helping can call 416-744-4357.

• Japan slaughters thousands of dolphins, ignores protests.

• Special extended DVD edition of 'Earthlings' released. Earthlings is an award-winning feature-length documentary about the suffering of animals used for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research. Considered one of the most persuasive documentaries ever made, Earthlings frankly presents the day-to-day practices in some of the world's largest industries. The new edition includes more than 25 minutes of deleted scenes with additional narration by Joaquin Phoenix and two featurettes. Subtitles now are offered in 10 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Russian, Arabic and Hindi. View trailer and first 7 minutes.

• She's raw and loving it. Rose Vasile's life has taken some interesting twists in the past decade, from intense insurance executive and pack-a-day smoker to laid-back advocate for the raw food movement. Once she made the transition, she quickly shed 23 kilograms (50 pounds) and noticed several improvements in her health including sleeping more soundly, clear skin, mental clarity, increased energy and her allergies had disappeared. The 57-year-old Rose is the author of the self-published Uncooking with RawRose: Your Guide to Raw Foods. See www.rawrose.com

The 9th Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival takes place in Toronto October 22-26. There is a spotlight series titled:  "Food: The Big Picture" with over 15 offerings (out of 100+ flicks in the festival) that highlight local and global concerns about food. Topics include: hunger, the slow food movement, raw milk, cheese making, and more.

Check out The Hunger Season
Sun, Oct 26, at 5pm at the ROM – 75 min.

The film examines how a country such as Swaziland became dependent on foreign aid rather than producing its own crops in areas that could easily have been developed for food production. See www.hungerseason.org for a trailer and more information.

Related: Soaring food prices bring fear, but also hope – veg.ca/food-crisis.

Planet in Focus also has a community Eco Exchange (Sat, Oct. 25, 11am-5pm). We have been invited to set up a Veggie Challenge table there. Groups such as the World Wildlife Fund, Windshare, Bullfrog Power, and Greenpeace will also be present. This eco fair takes place in the same building where many of the films are being shown: Innis College at 2 Sussex Ave (map).

In a Queens Quay condo overlooking the Gardiner Expressway, the kitchen fills with the warm scent of cumin and coriander. Indian food expert Shashi Jain (who owns the condo) is demonstrating how to dry roast spices to maximize flavour [see recipe below]. "Roasting them makes them easier to grind and it brings out the flavour," she explains, passing around a small frying pan filled with coriander seeds so that everyone standing in her cozy kitchen can catch a whiff. She puts the roasted spices into an electric coffee grinder. "Spices are more flavourful when they're fresh ground like this," she says. "Just don't use it to grind coffee afterwards!"

After the spices are ground together, she pulls a box of store-bought spice mix from her cupboard and passes it around so everyone can smell the difference. Fresh-ground spices are the clear winner.

Jain is teaching a vegetarian Indian cooking workshop to a small group of eager students who scribble notes on the recipes handed out at the beginning of class.

Continue reading for the rest of the article, a spice recipe and another photo. Reprinted by permission from "Getting intimate with Indian food" by Alison Broverman, National Post, October 04, 2008. 

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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By Lisa

October 4th was a chilly, blustery fall day. But one park in downtown Toronto was full of hot, sweet, spicy treats. When I arrived at Grange park to set up the gingham draped tables I could not have predicted the incredible sights, smells and tastes that awaited us all.

I was blown away by the amount of effort each of the Totally Fabulous Vegan Bakers put in to carefully preparing their decadent delights.

Plant-based baking provides lots of reason to celebrate and no risk of deprivation!

The Bake off was a strong demonstration that it is possible to live a cruelty free lifestyle without giving up any of life's sweet indulgences. There was so much excitement in the crowd as they sampled each entry, I heard many people discussing recipes and presentation techniques. There was no question that plant-based baking provides lots of reason to celebrate and no risk of deprivation!

A big thank you to all the amazing volunteers who pulled this together, the incredible companies that provided us with fabulous prizes and everyone who showed Toronto that eating vegan is Totally Fabulous!

Here are the winners:

Most Comforting

Spice Route Cupcakes – Nicola, who also won best cake/cupcake (see below).

Vanilla cardamom cupcake with ginger "cream cheese" frosting and candied pistachios.

Best Presentation

Black Forest Cake – Kathryn

"This is my first-time attempt at veganizing my family's traditional Schwarzwaldian dessert!"

Most Creative

Shameless Tarts – Karen

Whipped lemon and avocado custard with a toasted nut crust and fresh berry topping. The ingredients are avocado, toasted walnuts, cashew milk, white flour, raw sugar, baking powder, safflower oil, lemon juice and rind, vanilla and salt. They are topped with a raspberry and mint leaf. 

Continue reading for more photos and prize winners.

Below are some of the latest vegetarian-friendly discoveries and updates.

Kensington Market area

Karine's Vegetarian & All Day Breakfast (113 McCaul St, 416-591-0863) serves Mediterranean and European cuisine in the Village by the Grange food court opposite OCAD. Despite their title, they are not entirely vegetarian due to some breakfast meats. We suggested mock meats but Maggie doesn't want to use any processed foods. The menu includes vegan French toast, egg dishes, pesto, Mushroom Delight, sandwiches, platters, salads, etc. Lots of garlic.

Sneaky Dee’s (431 College St, at Bathurst, 416-603-3090) should be renamed Sneaky V's – Brandy reports: "I was at Sneaky Dee's for the first time in forever and saw that they had a half a dozen vegan items on their menu including vegan nachos, tofu wrap, veggie burger, and even VEGAN CUPCAKES. I asked the server about it. Apparently a new vegan baker working in the kitchen had managed to sneak the items onto the menu. Actually the management agreed, as there has been demand for vegan options. Pretty cool I thought. :)"

Urban Herbivore (Oxford St and Augusta 416-927-1231) now has a living green roof.

Vegetarian Haven (17 Baldwin St, 416-621-3636) has changed their hours. They are open for lunch on Saturday and closed on Monday.

Yonge and Bloor

Camros Organic Eatery (25 Hayden St, 416-960-0723) will be closed from Oct 9, re-opening on Thursday, Oct 16 Friday, Oct 17 at 11:30am due to final phases of renovation work. On that date there will be a celebration and free sampling of their 100% organic dishes. The place is doubling in size and expanding its menu. Coming soon (but not immediately after opening): 100% organic breakfast and juicebar. They also have opened a second location at Sheppard and Leslie. See below.

Dufferin Grove Area

Two new natural food stores have opened here: Multiple Organics (1545 Dundas St W, w. of Dufferin, 647-435-5340), a storefront place with lots of organic produce, local foods, prepared foods, Indian curries, and more, and The Nutritionista (1255 Dundas St W, e. of Dovercourt, 647-427-5081) run by a holistic nutritionist.

The Junction

Eco-friendly The Beet Organic Café & Market (2945 Dundas St W, w. of Keele, 416-916-2368) has transformed into a restaurant with a patio and weekend brunch. They still have a take-out deli counter with some delicious vegan dishes to choose from.

A famous Vancouver restaurant is opening a location in the neighbourhood: The Foundation (2955 Dundas St, w. of Keele). In Vancouver, they play cool hip hop music and the menu is a big fusion of Mexican, Asian and traditional North American food including a vegan BLT. No website or phone number yet.

The Beaches

Dufflet Pastries (1917 Queen St E, e. of Woodbine, 416-699-4900) has a new location here. They sell fine cakes and pastries. Cakes by the slice (or whole), chocolates, light lunches, coffee, tea and more.

Kakayo Chocolate Company (1584 Queen St E, w. of Coxwell, 647-346-2936) makes organic and vegan chocolate truffles. Brandy writes that: "They are delicious and decadent!" Lisa calls them, "the most incredible vegan truffles I have ever tried." Flavours include: Banana Split, Chai Masala and Ginger Pecan.

Suburbs

Hopper Hut (880 Ellesmere Rd, Unit 217, at Kennedy, 416-299-4311 ) is a very popular Sri Lankan neighbourhood restaurant. Spicy vegan-friendly curries and dosas. Take-out plus 45-seat dining area with TV.

Camros Organic Eatery (at CCNM) (1255 Sheppard Ave E, at Leslie subway, 416-960-0723) has opened a new location at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. Same vegan aromatic Persian cuisine as their downtown spot plus the addition of breakfast and wraps that contain eggs. Note: Their contract with CCNM requires that they serve some organic meat options at this location.

Suprabhat (Richmond Hill, 905-709-3672 www.suprabhat.ca) is a new South and North Indian place serving traditional vegetarian cuisine. Located in the Sheraton Parkway Complex at East Bever Creek.

Gurulukshmi (2555 Erin Centre Blvd #3, Mississauga, 905-803-8310) is a fancy South Indian vegetarian restaurant serving different types of dosas. They suggest avoiding Fri/Sat/Sun nights as the place can get crowded. Located near Eglinton and Erin Mills Pkwy.

Organic delivery

Mama Earth Organics (416-850-8662) delivers farm fresh organic fruits and vegetables to homes throughout most areas of Toronto. In addition to working with local farms, they also work with local businesses and artisans (freshly baked organic breads, hand made organic cheeses, etc.)

Organics on Bloor Delivery offers weekly food-box delivery available south of Eglinton and east of Jane. Three sizes.

Classes

Hearty Vegetarian & Raw Classes (416-410-2928) teaches raw meal preparation and vegetarian cooking workshops. Starting Oct 2008.

Meghan Telpner’s Cooking Parties (416-558-0233) are hands-on cooking classes in a loft space in the Queen West / Parkdale area. Six people maximum. Also see Meghan Telpner, Certified Nutritionist and Holistic Lifestyle Consultant.

Online shopping

LAVA - Vegan Online Store (www.veganslovelava.ca) sells non-leather cruelty free shoes, belts, bags, t-shirts, aprons, books, DVD's and more!

Simply British Foods (www.simplybritishfoods.com) is an-line store carrying British foods based out of Whitby, Ontario.

Hot Yam is a University of Toronto student-run, all vegan, mostly local and organic, four dollar lunch party! It is happening again this school year at 33 St George St (north of College) every Wednesday, noon-2pm.

This Wednesday there is a special event. Check out Eat Local! Oct 8th, 2008 from noon-4pm! It takes place at Hot Yam:

"Featuring a FREE delicious lunch that's vegan and mostly local and organic! Take home some free sprout seeds and recipe cards, and check out displays from organizations that support local foods! Attend a speaker's series and engage in the local food discussion and support local farmers by checking out our mini farmer's market!"

In the above photo, three students enjoy the Oct 1st menu of stuffed peppers, garden salad, "groovy" grapes and Selamine baked squares (a tasty grainy dessert).

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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The new 2009 web edition of the Toronto Vegetarian Directory is now available online. This year, we have expanded the selection of neighbourhoods. A new East of Toronto webpage has been added for Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa, and separate pages have been created for the Junction, Riverdale, Little India, The Beaches, and York University. The neighbourhoods with the most vegetarian eateries (5 or more) are: The Annex, Kensington Market / Chinatown and Queen St. West.

Click on a neighbourhood below to find
restaurants and food stores.

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 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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