Friday Food on a Saturday: A Sweet, Savory, and Cruelty-Free Fourth

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Food and Recipes, Friday Food, Vegan

Published July 04, 2009 @ 01:00AM PT

Are you ready for this? Are you sure? Because the sheer awesomeness of these recipes, divided into sweet and savory sections this time, may be more than you can handle. Everything here would be an excellent addition to quiet meals at home or gatherings with friends this weekend or any weekend. (Please read through to the end of this post for a serious note on why you should try out these and other animal-free recipes this weekend.)

First, an abundance of desserts and fruity goodness (and a reminder: those who avoid or limit intake of soy for allergy or other reasons shouldn't disregard these lovely vegan dessert recipes, even the ice creams; coconut milk and other non-soy, non-dairy milks are great substitutes, and indeed, many of these recipes don't call for soy in the first place):

• Apricot Crumble Bar from Raw Epicurean (beautifully pictured courtesy Raw Epicurean at end of this section)
• Sweet Tea Ice Cream from Madcap Cupcake and Wheeler's Frozen Desserts (check this post out not only for this special recipe but also for the official Madcap Cupcake review of the new Vegan Scoop cookbook)
• Strawberry-Blueberry Tapioca Parfaits from FatFree Vegan Kitchen (pictured above courtesy FFVK)
• Blueberries & Cream Ice Cream from the Innocent Primate Vegan Blog

-You will continue after the jump if you know what's good for you-

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U.S. Forest Service, Louisiana Declare "Emergency" to Pander to Hunters

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Companion Animals, Hunting, Politics and Law, Wildlife/FreeLiving Animals

Published July 03, 2009 @ 07:29AM PT

In a move that I haven't yet found a way to make intelligent sense of, the state of Louisiana--upon the U.S. Forest Service's request--declared a "state of emergency" (and no, there's no real emergency) to allow the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission to vote yesterday "to eliminate the need for a special permit to hunt with dogs on Kisatchie National Forest and the requirement that hunters use electronic tracking collars and other forms of identification on their dogs." Even putting aside consideration for the animals intentionally wounded and killed (as everyone involved in this has), this move completely disregards the safety of the dogs exploited and endangered by hunters as well as the other people endangered by hunters.

In Louisiana, hunters barrel recklessly through Kisatchie National Forest to hunt deer, shooting  recklessly as well and not paying much attention to the dogs they're using as hunting tools either, dogs who run off and get lost. And apparently, some landowners have complained (not, it seems, because they're terribly worried about deer or dogs, but because the dogs end up on their property). But the state government (and apparently even the federal government now) has moved to protect hunters' so-called right to do whatever they want, rather than protect animals, public safety, or other non-hunting humans.

Watch how this played out--how the federal and state governments went from moving to limit hunting and promote safety to trying to entrench and protect hunters' practices in law; it's nauseating-fascinating:

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Not-So-Vegan and So, So Vegan

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Vegan, Videos

Published July 02, 2009 @ 02:05PM PT

Two very different items have been making their way around online spaces this past week: (1) a "hipster vegan"-mocking, but still supremely funny, video titled "So, So Vegan" (which is embedded at the end of this post and the circulation of which by vegans is proof that yes, we do indeed have a sense of humor about ourselves and each other!) and (2) a remarkably involved and impressive investigation into vegan Los Angeles eateries by QuarryGirl.com, which I mentioned briefly in one of this week's roundups.

In the latter, the bloggers revealed the results of a grand-scale investigation into 17 LA-area vegan restaurants to see which ones might be serving food that's not actually vegan (whether inadvertently or, it seems in one case, perhaps even consciously). And we're not talking about some easy, uncomplicated, amateur testing process either. The investigators went all-out scientific, and they report every step of the process in extraordinary detail in the post: "Operation Pancake: Undercover Investigation of LA Vegan Restaurants" (with an update post here: "Operation Pancake: The Plot Thickens"). And really, it wouldn't take a scientific analysis for anyone who's been vegan for any length of time to look at Green Leaves' cheese and immediately question whether it's really vegan. [As I prepare to post this, QuarryGirl.com isn't loading--the site's been receiving a lot of traffic in recent days--but keep trying back periodically if you encounter a problem on first attempt. I'm sure they'll have it back up and running in no time.]

And now the "So, So Vegan" video. Enjoy:

Independence Day at the Zoo--Oh, the Irony

by Stephanie Ernst

category: Animals in Entertainment

Published July 02, 2009 @ 07:51AM PT

Zoos across the nation are encouraging people to come visit this holiday weekend, to celebrate Independence Day by gawking at imprisoned stressed-out animals in unnatural climates and inadequate enclosures. That zoo officials and the media can promote zoos as the place to be this weekend and even promote specific Independence Day-themed events at some zoos is a prime example of the way our society can disconnect from what it is we're doing to animals. Celebrating "independence" by supporting and funding other beings' miserable, bored, anything-but-free existence as sources of our entertainment? The irony is obvious. And how many 4th of July fairs and celebrations this weekend will include petting zoos too? How many parents will, in one moment, try to explain to their children what this holiday represents and what freedom means and then, in the next moment, pull out their wallet to pay for that child to ride on the back of a sad, chained pony?

Please, if your weekend plans are going to include animals, make it a visit to a sanctuary or an hour volunteering at a shelter or time spent with (and, during loud fireworks, spent protecting/comforting) your animal companions.

Edit:

In preparation for the comments that I worry may come streaming in now that this post has been featured in the weekly newsletter, including remarks about how necessary zoos are for "education," I add this:

Two common reasons given to justify the existence of zoos include education and conservation. Some people believe that zoos are good because they educate people about animals in general and also about animal species they would otherwise never get to see. However, Michael Kreger, at the Animal Welfare Information Center, found that the average visitor spends only about thirty seconds to two minutes at a typical exhibit and only reads some of the informational signs about the animals. A number of surveys have shown that the predominant reason people go to the zoo is to be entertained. In one study at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, only 4% of zoo visitors went there to be educated, and no one specifically stated they went to support conservation. There is very little evidence that much educational information is learned and retained that will help animals in the future. . . .

Zoos, wildlife parks, and aquariums, even the best of them, are mostly examples of human exploitation and domination of animals, just as are circuses, rodeos, and most recreational hunting and fishing. If the gates of zoos were left open, there would be no animals in them after a very short while. . . .

As Vicki Croke concluded: "While the zoo can be an intriguing place to visit, it can be an awfully boring place to live."

-Marc Bekoff, Animals Matter (2007), pp. 96-97, 101

Bekoff, in this thoughtful, easy-to-read book that covers many animal issues, goes into much more depth in preceding and succeeding pages about various zoo issues (including the conservation argument and the horrible conditions in which many animals live). It's a book I recommend, along with his other books (including The Emotional Lives of Animals). Also, I share this note from commenter Olivia:

NYU philosophy professor Dale Jamieson has written two well-thought-through essays on zoos, one or both of which appear in his compendium, Morality's Progress: Essays on Humans, Other Animals, and the Rest of Nature. It's an expensive book, and very academic, but it can be borrowed from a library. He makes many of the points [fellow commenter] Jen raises and concludes that there is no legitimate place for zoos in a truly humane world.

---
Photo of bear at San Diego Zoo uploaded by Tombre at stock.xchng

Do I Have to Change My Life? Yes, Kind Of, But That's a Good Thing

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Animals in the Blogs roundups, Farm Animals, Vegan

Published July 01, 2009 @ 02:41PM PT

Somehow, when I was putting together the recent roundups, I accidentally looked past a post that I knew I wanted to share the moment it was published over a week ago. Ryan of Veg Blog recently received--and shared--an e-mail from a Saudi reader asking some questions about going vegan or vegetarian. Included in his response to the reader was the following bit of thoughtfulness:

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On Comments and the Purpose of This Blog

by Stephanie Ernst

Published July 01, 2009 @ 08:59AM PT

Yesterday, some of you got to witness me lose my cool. Yesterday, the stars aligned such that dealing with commenters representing varying perspectives on various threads, who would have disagreed with one another vehemently on most issues, but who had in common adamant disagreement with me on one topic or another, wore me down; a combination of patronizing, insulting, and/or repetitive comments led me to the point where I lost my ability to respond calmly and wanted to close every comment thread in sight, with a less-than-polite closing remark. But though that experience is what's finally leading me to write this post, this post is not a response to those commenters alone or to what happened yesterday. It is a response to what has happened in comment threads--and my inbox--repeatedly over several months. So if you're someone with whom I've had strained interactions, do not assume that anything here is leveled directly at you.

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Animals in the Blogs: The Great June Roundup, June 21-29

by Stephanie Ernst

category: Animals in the Blogs roundups

Published June 30, 2009 @ 04:03PM PT

So, soooo long. And they take a really long time to compile when I let them build up like this too. So for your benefit as well as my own, I'll make sure to get back onto an at-least-once-a-week schedule now.

On Cat Killers and Mental Competency from Animal Person

Mute Swans--Scapegoat for the Chesapeake Marsh Grasses from Invisible Voices

Yet Another Example of Moral Schizophrenia from the Abolitionist Approach (on the comparison of great white sharks to Hannibal Lecter)

10 Simple Ways to Advocate for Animals from Striking at the Roots

Libbie and Louie, A Love Story from Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary (in case you missed it when I wrote about it and linked to it here)

Justice to the Max from the ALDF Blog

-More than a dozen more after the jump-

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