By popular demand, the mint chutney recipe from the HaVen Indian Curry Mac’n’Cheeze, that was a crowd-pleaser at the PEP Foods #VeganMacSmack February 2016 in Baltimore.
The recipe takes about 15 minutes to make, and is made without oil or sugar. You can make it spicier with a bit more curry and cayenne, and you can make it creamier with a bit of coconut milk or oil if you prefer. ENJOY!
Continue reading HaVen Mint Chutney
If you’re like me, the taste and expense of store-bought vegetable broth is just not something you want to deal with, and broth can seem like a crazy undertaking, with millions of ingredients and a long time, but once you get in the habit you’ll be glad you did. The control over your flavors, for different kinds of soups or applications is benefit enough, but you’ll also be producing less packaging waste AND stretching your groceries for every last little penny. Who knew onion skins would become your most treasured kitchen commodity?
It works like this: you go through your week, chop an onion here, smash some garlic there, and various other veggies in your travels. Save them, and especially the skins, the seeds, and the leaves. Have veggies that have gone a little limp or are a bit too near the end of their life? Put em in, they’ll boil down to flavor and the solids will be filtered out! Put all these unwanted scraps in a gallon ziploc bag and keep that baby in your veggie drawer until its full (up to 7 days) combine it with a broth bag, cover with water and BOOM broth.
Here’s one such example (its big, you can make 1/4 size no problem!):
6 mushrooms (and stalks from 5-7 more)
Continue reading Kitchen Scrap Veggie Broth
So many ways to help animals. So many arguments that divide vegans, from each other, from vegetarians, and from the mainstream. And the reasons, all of the reasons, let’s explore some in this introduction to Vegan Concepts through terminology.
Animal Rights- The belief, and movement of working for, rights and protections for nonhumans, in specific the right to avoid suffering, the possession of self-hood and the right not to be forced/compulsory consent, and exploitation. This can include personhood, subject hood, prima facie rights, and abolitionism.
Animal Advocacy- This is similar to animal rights, although advocacy speaks to legal action, petition, or attempting to ban or block laws and practices governed by law that concern animal cruelty. Top 45 Advocacy Blogs
Animal Welfare- This is the approach that tackles the reduction of harm in incremental amounts, such as “humane” farming practices. They typically advocate for the reduction of the use of animal products to non-vegans, and the dissemination of more vegan alternatives in the market. Many vegans believe this approach leads to guilt-absolution of non-vegans, allowing people to believe that their small ethical edits (grass-fed beef, cage-free eggs etc) solve the problem, instead of making a small dent. Animal Welfare Institute
Animal Liberation- The notion that we are not free until all are free. The complete end of animal use for entertainment, agriculture, consumerism, medical testing, or any human-centered need. Occasionally, Liberation groups take matters into their own hands to liberate animals in captivity, or destroying testing cites, and others specifically work to ban or boycott industries that use captive or exploited animals. Also, the name of a book by Peter Singer, himself a controversial figure. Animal Liberation Front.
Continue reading Vegan Activist Lexicon- A Conceptual 101
Before I jump into this, a word on promoting male stereotypes: We do not, in any way, promote an ideal male or female body type or image (please read these articles on toxic masculinity and why we should recognize what we do to reinforce these cultural norms ourselves) . This is intentionally an article about male competitive body building, and why going vegan is totally applicable to this lifestyle, and also healthier. I have included some names of competitive female bodybuilders at the end, but it is not the focus of this article.
We advocate for health, which definitely does not need to involve body building, in fact, I think many or most body builders do ENORMOUS damage to their body in the pursuit of the single minded goal of bulking up, not to mention stress injuries and other common sports injuries that are a risk factor in any athletic pursuit. I (Suzi) am not a physical trainer, but I have clocked several hours in Rehab medicine, assisted on many studies, read many protocols for treatment and do a lot of research. Therefore, I can say it is likely POSSIBLE to be a bodybuilder, maybe even a competitive one, and to be healthy while doing it. I don’t have the answer, but what I do know is that going vegan responsibly would go a LONG WAY to addressing some of the health concerns that would be generated by ingesting that much saturated fat, and animal protein.
Continue reading Vegan Body Building
Whether you are aiming for a guilt-free dessert, pudding topping or filling, this creamy delicious sweet indulgence is loaded with a nutrient density that is nothing to sneeze at! The optional chia seeds add a lovely texture and pack this baby full of omegas too. Don’t forget, you can leave the salt out or simply add a splash of lemon juice instead to make this healthy raw dessert completely Sugar Oil and Salt (SOS) free.
Continue reading Chocolate Mousse
Conversations about air pollution, carbon footprints, greenhouse gases usually focus on cars/transportation and the nebulous concept of “industry” calling to mind post-industrial brick smoke towers pumping black smoke into the sky for some factory that is as monolithic and ominous at it is cartoonish and NOT the biggest contributor to toxic air pollution.
Several studies on the sources and causes of emissions have been done, like this 2006 study and many responses by agriculture and commentaries have monitored small changes, talking about industry practice reform, such as the independent.
Detractors argue that the 3.5% decrease to observable methane emissions over 8 years is PROOF that the agricultural industry simply needs reforms to correct the issue…ignoring the fact that at 14.5% (whether we agree with this figures or not) still makes livestock the #2 ABOVE transportation, and behind the nebulous “industry”. 
Continue reading Emissions: Cars vs Cattle?
Baltimore is home to a fantastic Vegan community, and coming soon is an event presented by the beloved monthly Bmore Vegan Drinks and the emerging Pep Foods Collective, which will be part battle royal, and part fundraiser.
Pep Foods is part social initiative, part multi-company collective, and part Vegan food producer and distributor. Healthy foods as an affordable alternative to animal products, through cooking, urban farming, and The Eating for Life Program. The Smackdown is one of several upcoming fundraising initiatives the collective is undertaking to fund the completion of their kitchen and get their food distributed at low cost to communities in need, and businesses who want to offer more tasty and nutritious vegan options.
February 20th, 2016 Baltimore City, come sample the culinary best from 20+ local vegan chefs, meet other vegans, chefs, foodies, activists, and new friends!
#VeganMacSmack #VeganBaltimore #PEPFoods #BmoreVegan
Korean traditional kimchi includes fish paste, Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste), cabbage and daikon, which means not only is it not vegan, but is uses obscure ingredients. Tradition is important, and is a food obstacle for many vegans, but so is accuracy.
Never fear!
Did you know that basically every Korean with a mother and a kitchen has done their Kimchi differently? So let’s make our own!
Here is an easy recipe with 9 grocery store ingredients, many you already have:
Continue reading Kimchi- Delicious Recipe for Digestive Health
A public place, a restaurant, a grocery store. These are all places where people gather, and they are also places where decisions get made. Some of these decisions can effect the rest of someone’s life, and to people working for Animal Rights this fact is very true.
On Saturday January 30th, a group of people self-organized with DXE- Direct Action Everywhere did several “disruptions” in Washington, DC in order to encourage people to question the choices in what they eat, what they buy, and in general to attempt to break down the denial we all have about what goes into our choices: the human, environmental, and animal costs of consumer goods and our lifestyles.
Using song, calling out facts, and signs, all over the world activists disrupt the daily “ignore what we don’t see” patterns we all fall into, and encourage a deeper investigation to these issues.
Calling out: “Their Bodies,” or “Their eggs” or “Their children” and the response “Not ours”
Calling out: “They have families,” or “They feel pain” and the response “Just like us”
Powerful stuff. DXE has organized activist efforts all over, connect with them, link above, to find out how you too can get involved raising awareness and advocating for animals who can’t speak up for themselves.
One of the biggest obstacles towards a healthy lifestyle (not to mention an ethical one!) is sifting through all the misinformation. We grow up with one set of food traditions, and encounter a million different messages: low-fat, low-cost, low-carb, brain food, organic etc etc. Many people describe being told contradictory messaging from one group or era and some conclude “well everything will kill you, so just eat what tastes good”
What if what tastes good, also looked good, was good for you, and didn’t break your bank?
Big Picture Vegan 