Today, Colleen and Lisa (from the Wednesday night Resource Centre crew) celebrate the late arrival of something resembling spring in Toronto by discussing the city's great farmers’ markets as well as vegetarian summer events, like Summerfest in Johnstown, PA on June 18-22 (which they, unfortunately, can't attend this year).

The topic of celebrities trying out vegetarianism came up again, this time in relation to the queens of the daytime talk show: Oprah is going vegan for 21 days, and Ellen DeGeneres may be next, after the vegan authors of Skinny Bitch were on her show on May 23rd. 

Lisa saw some good in it all, because of the discussions that would ensue. Colleen agreed that discussion is always good but, as always, was skeptical about the whole celebrity endorsement thing.

They discus the meaning of "vegan" and whether changing one's diet for only health reasons is enough to make a lasting commitment. Lisa talks about how her mom tried going vegetarian for three weeks but committed to sticking with it after only a week, once she saw how easy it was and how much energy she had. Her diabetes has since improved dramatically and wishes she had become vegetarian ten years ago! But Colleen tells a story about a friend who went traveling to spiritual places around India for nine months maintaining a vegetarian diet the whole time. When he got back he went back to eating meat, even though felt initially sick doing so. His only reason was that he didn't want his family bugging him.

The question of the week: What is your favourite brunch recipes?

Colleen likes the Tofu Scramble in Vegan with a Vengeance, and the Apricot Oat Pancakes in Via la Vegan. Lisa likes the Banana Pancakes in the latter cookbook. Also see veg.ca's Breakfast & brunch page for tips and recipes.

They also talked about good food, with Lisa giving Hema Parekh's new cookbook, The Asian Vegan Kitchen, two thumbs up and both Lisa and Colleen raving about the great vegan Ethiopian food they had the Friday before (with the rest of the RC crew) at Rendez-Vous (1408 Danforth Ave).

This podcast is an injera-wrapped 29 minutes long.

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