Category: vegan

Categories
animal welfare compassion cruelty Cruelty-free Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted Recipes vegan vegetarianism

This year, have a compassionate, plant-based Thanksgiving

Try these plant-based ideas for Thanksgiving Dinner

Every year in Canada, 20 million turkeys are slaughtered, with many ending up on dinner tables for Thanksgiving.

Most turkeys are bred for fast growth, which causes them to be top-heavy, leading to painful bone deformities and lameness. Most are raised in cramped conditions on factory farms, where they suffer boredom and frustration because they lack the space to express natural behaviours. They are also subjected to painful beak trimming and toe trimming without pain medication.

A plant-based Thanksgiving is a compassionate alternative to eating turkeys or other animals for the celebration. The good news is that there are plenty of  cruelty-free options and resources for a meat-free holiday.  Here are our suggestions on how to enjoy a compassionate Thanksgiving dinner in Vancouver.

A great option is the Annual Compassionate Thanksgiving Potluck Celebration on October 8th, which this year is being hosted by Vancouver’s Meatless Meetup and Vegans of UBC. Proceeds from this family-friendly event will go to cover costs and to support Earthsave Canada’s school talks program.

If your budget allows some fine dining, Vancouver’s upscale plant-based restaurant, The Acorn, is offering an ‘Everything but the Bird Thanksgiving Feast’ on October 7th and 8th, which it says will be an “indulgent, wildly seasonal” three-course dinner for $45 per person with optional wine pairings.

But if, like most people, you plan to prepare your own holiday dinner, there’s no shortage of alternatives to turkey.  There are a number of great meatless roasts available from Vancouver’s Vegan Supply, including offerings from Gardein, Field Roast and Tofurky.

And, of course, there are plenty of online recipes and suggestions for a plant-based Thanksgiving.  The Oh She Glows recipe website offers lots of ideas, as does The Food Network and even this Toronto yoga centre’s site.

Plant-based choices for special celebrations are increasingly common, making it easy to enjoy a cruelty-free holiday feast. 

Have a happy – and compassionate – Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
animal welfare compassion Cruelty-free News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted vegan vegetarianism

Don’t miss Capilano VegFest on September 27!

Great plant-based food. New vegan products. Compelling speakers.

Delicious plant-based food is just one of the reasons not to miss the first ever Capilano VegFest on September 27 at Capilano University. You’ll also find amazing cruelty-free, vegan products and services – and you’ll have an opportunity to learn more about living a compassionate lifestyle from expert speakers.

The event will feature 20 vendors, including some of Vancouver’s favourite vegan hotspots like Blue Heron Cheese, Nora’s ice cream, Willow’s Wax Bar, and Herbaland.

There will also be 10 presentations throughout the day on intriguing topics such as how the animal agriculture industry markets itself; what it’s like to be a professional vegan athlete; and how to raise a healthy, vegan family. Speakers include notable content creators, athletes, and other local vegan personalities, such as Anna Pippus, an animal rights lawyer and vegan mother; Geoff Regier, a former undercover investigator for Mercy for Animals; and even a 12-year-old passionate vegan advocate, Zoom the Vegan Kid.

You’ll have the chance to win several door prizes including a variety of vegan snacks and other foods from local vendors; gift-cards to vegan restaurants in Vancouver such as Meet, Chickpea, Virtuous Pie, and Heirloom; a signed copy of television host Lauren Toyota’s cookbook “Vegan Comfort Classics”; and several cruelty-free beauty and self-care items. 

The VegFest is being organized by the Capilano Vegan Club, whose president, Maclayne Simone, hopes the idea spreads: “There was all this culture surrounding sustainability and kindness at Capilano, but close to no initiatives involving veganism,” Simone says. “We wanted to change that. All summer, a group of a few women have worked so hard to bring this event to life and really kickstart the vegan community at Capilano and motivate others to host similar events at their schools. Our goal is to approach veganism in a way that is inspiring and to demonstrate how easy it is to make such a huge difference in the world!” 

The Vancouver Humane Society is honoured to sponsor Capilano VegFest because we know it will make difference.  Make sure you’re there so you can too!

Capilano VegFest
Thursday Sept 27, 2018
11:30am – 4:00pm
Capilano University’s
Birch Building

 

Categories
animal welfare compassion cruelty Cruelty-free Food and Drink News/Blog Promoted vegan vegetarianism

Best way to improve chicken welfare? Don’t eat chicken.

The meat and livestock industry has been under sustained pressure to improve animal welfare but sometimes their responses to that pressure, even when genuine, can create complicated new problems.

Recently, the Globe & Mail published an article on the challenges of producing “slow growth” chickens. It described the efforts by producers to address the consequences of selective breeding in the poultry industry, which has led to fast-growing chickens with horrific health problems.

Chickens raised in the 1950s weighed about two pounds when full grown. Now chickens weigh more than nine pounds.  Breeding for unnatural fast growth and more breast meat has created birds that suffer from painful broken bones, lameness, and heart disease.

The Globe piece details how industry, agricultural scientists and animal welfare experts are trying to produce a “better bird” that will appeal to consumers, have better health, be profitable to raise and be environmentally sustainable.  This is proving to be challenging, as slower-growth birds require substantially more water and feed (because they live longer), which means more impact on the environment and higher production costs.  Considerable resources are now being devoted to solving this conundrum.

While any effort to improve animal welfare is laudable, it’s hard to avoid the obvious question: Why not just stop eating chicken?  The advantages of switching to a plant-based diet are clear and well-documented.  For animals, lower demand for meat means less factory farming and slaughter. For the environment it means less deforestation, lower greenhouse gas emissions and less demand for land, water and other resources.  For human health, it means fewer chronic health problems linked to meat consumption.

The resources currently being devoted to producing “better” factory-farmed animals could be devoted to developing a new, plant-based food system.  Science funding could be applied to research into alternatives to animal protein, improvements to protein crops such as pulses and ways to use these crops in new food products.  Government could support public information campaigns to promote a plant-based diet, help plant-based start-ups and invest in research and development to underpin a new agricultural economy that no longer depends on inhumanely incarcerating and slaughtering billions of animals.

To a small degree, this is already happening.  The new Canada Food Guide is expected to put more emphasis on the benefits of a plant-based diet.  The federal government has started to fund major initiatives to develop plant-based foods.  And polls show many Canadians are open to reducing meat consumption.  The opportunity is there, but is the political will?

While a transition to a plant-based food system faces many barriers and will take time, it is the simplest and most effective way to address the unacceptable consequences of our current cruel, unhealthy and environmentally disastrous food system. 

Categories
animal welfare compassion Cruelty-free Dairy Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted vegan vegetarianism

Wild Trails Coffee in North Vancouver goes vegan

Wild Trails Coffee is a family-run coffee shop based in North Vancouver. VHS spoke with this mother-daughter team about their decision to make the coffee shop fully vegan and their commitment to helping protect animal welfare, the environment and public health. 

What inspired you to open Wild Trails Coffee and what do you think sets you apart from other coffee shops? 

We’re a mother-daughter team and my mom opened this shop about 30 years ago. It used to be called Mothers Herbs. When I became involved about five years ago I wanted to focus on coffees and a lot of inspiration came from my love of hiking. I spent a year working on our coffee syrups, perfecting them using real organic ingredients and no chemicals or fake added sugars.

As a business owner I didn’t want to cut corners and care only about profit. You can be a business that does well while caring about the Earth, animals and people, and that’s what we do at Wild Trails Coffee and what we’re about. We are a business that cares about doing our part to make the world a better place and will go the extra mile for people, animals and the planet.

You recently posted online about the shop’s decision to ditch dairy and go fully vegan – can you tell us about the motivation behind that decision?

I’ve been vegan for a long time now and it just never felt right using dairy, so my mom and I decided to replace it with dairy-free alternatives in the shop and now our shop is 100% vegan! We didn’t think so many people would care, but we were blown away by the support and we knew we made the right choice.

You also talk about the shop’s commitment to sustainability on your website – can you tell us about that?

We work hard to reduce our environmental footprint. All of our cups, straws and lids are compostable and we also compost everything we can within the shop. We work with a company to recycle the rest and even go through our garbage at the end of the day to make sure everything that can be recycled is.

What are your most popular items?

Our specialty coffee drinks, like our Wedgemount Lake Vanilla Latte and Elsay Lake Pumpkin Spice Latte are among our most popular items. We use real pumpkin and vanilla bean for our syrups. Our smoothies are very popular as well and we don’t use any ice, just frozen organic fruit. We also use water kefir as the base for our smoothies, which is a dairy-free probiotic that’s made in-house with spring water collected weekly from a local spring.

Elsay Lake Pumpkin Spice Latte
Wedgemount Lake Vanilla Latte

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

.

Do you have any helpful advice for other restaurants and businesses who might be considering going vegan?

Go for it! We need more businesses to stand up for animals and as business owners who care about these issues we recognized we were in a position to do more. There’s growing support and more people are embracing veganism every day! It’s also a great way to educate people about the impact of our food choices and to lead by example.

Wild Trails Coffee is located at 134 East 14th Street, North Vancouver. You can reach them at 604-988-4372 or follow them on facebook and instagram. 

Categories
compassion Cruelty-free Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted school Uncategorized vegan vegetarianism

Handsworth student wins award for Meatless Monday efforts

Handsworth Secondary student, Meghan Little, was recently presented with a Student Recognition Award for her efforts to bring Meatless Monday to her school. Meghan’s peers and teachers nominated her for the award and even put together a video highlighting her work. The Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) was honoured to be in attendance at the awards ceremony to celebrate Meghan’s success.

VHS Program Coordinator, Emily Pickett, first met Meghan at Handsworth’s Be Aware Fair, where VHS was tabling and talking to students about our Meatless Monday program. Meghan was keen to bring the initiative to Handsworth and so she worked with VHS, the school’s Environmental Club (of which she was a member) and the food service provider to get more veg options on the menu.

Handsworth’s Meatless Monday initiative was successfully launched on November 20, 2017 and Meghan and fellow Environmental Club members have been raising awareness of the benefits of going meatless and encouraging students and staff to opt for the Meatless Monday special ever since!

Meghan’s leadership and dedication to protecting animal welfare, the environment and public health were instrumental in improving student access to plant-based foods at multiple North Vancouver secondary schools. Meghan’s efforts inspired students at other schools to get involved and ultimately helped contribute to the recent commitment by local food service provider, Amaga Food, to expand on Meatless Monday by transitioning 20 per cent of the regular menu to plant-based at five North Vancouver secondary schools (Handsworth, Sutherland, Argyle, Windsor and Seycove secondary), starting this fall. This means students and staff will have access to humane, healthy and sustainable plant-based options every day!

“It’s exciting to see all the positive changes at Handsworth,” said Meghan. “The 20 per cent increase in plant-based options shows how open our community is to change and progress. I’m hoping our efforts for Meatless Monday will inspire other students to follow their passions and to make positive changes as well.”

This achievement would not have been possible without the help of Meghan, Handsworth’s Environmental Club and the incredibly dedicated students involved at the other participating North Vancouver secondary schools. As a grade 12 graduate, Meghan leaves behind a meaningful and inspirational legacy at Handsworth and is excited to attend the University of British Columbia in the fall, where we look forward to continuing to support her efforts to spread the “go veg” message!

Learn more about Meatless Monday and donate today to help us improve access to plant-based options at more schools and institutions.

You can also check out a recent feature on Meghan’s efforts in the North Shore News!

Categories
animal welfare compassion cruelty Cruelty-free Dairy Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted Uncategorized vegan vegetarianism

Ditch dairy for these great alternatives

In an effort to promote the consumption of dairy products, the dairy industry has dubbed June “National Dairy Month”. But with milk consumption steadily declining in Canada and more people embracing healthier, humane and less resource-intensive dairy alternatives, we prefer to celebrate June as “National Dairy-Free Month”.

In the last few years the variety of dairy-free products on grocery store shelves has grown significantly, including almond, soy, coconut, pea and oat milks and creamers and dairy-free butters, sour cream, cheeses, ice creams and yogurts.

A number of factors have contributed to the growing demand for dairy alternatives, including increased public awareness of both animal welfare and environmental issues related to the dairy industry, as well as a growing body of scientific evidence that questions the industry’s health claims.

Take the Chilliwack Cattle Sales cruelty case as an example. Chilliwack Cattle Sales is one of Canada’s largest dairy farms and a major supplier to Dairyland. In 2014 an undercover investigation revealed horrendous acts of animal cruelty taking place on the farm. While the farm’s owners claimed to have no knowledge of the abuse and suggested it was not reflective of their company’s standards, the undercover investigator repeatedly reported concerns to the owners and no corrective action was taken. In addition, a lawyer for one of the workers charged painted a picture of a “toxic” work culture at Chilliwack Cattle Sales and the same farm had also previously been investigated for animal welfare issues back in 2008.

Time and again, undercover investigations have shed light on what is a systemic culture of cruelty within today’s animal agriculture industry.  Meanwhile, animal welfare is routinely compromised through standard practices in dairy farming. B.C. Milk Marketing Board inspection documents over an 18-month period revealed that one in four farms in the province failed to comply with the provincial animal-welfare Code of Practice. Starting in January, 2015, the inspections revealed cases of overcrowding, lame or soiled cattle, tails torn off by machinery, branding and dehorning of calves without pain medication, and cows lying on concrete. 20 of 73 farms, or 27 per cent, required “corrective action” after on-site inspections. About 10 per cent were still not compliant on a follow-up inspection. Another inherent issue with this industry is the separation of dairy calves from their mothers in order to collect the milk for human consumption.

It’s no wonder that consumers are increasingly dropping dairy and instead opting for alternatives. So, in honour of “National Dairy-Free Month”, we’d like to highlight just a few of our favourite dairy alternatives:

Milks & Creamers

Cheese

Ice Cream

Yogurt

Categories
advertising animal welfare compassion Cruelty-free Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted Recipes Uncategorized vegan vegetarianism

New bus ad reminds us that animals are friends, not food

VHS’s new Translink bus ad highlighting our Go Veg campaign recently hit the streets of Vancouver. The ad, which features a young girl petting a pig, aims to remind us that when we were children we instinctively saw animals as friends and not food.

VHS’s Go Veg campaign works to help people rediscover that innate love for animals and to raise awareness of the power behind what we put on our plate.
In 2017, over 800 million land animals were killed for food in Canada. They are crammed, shackled and caged in filthy conditions that don’t permit them to perform the most basic natural behaviours. Most will never feel the sun on their backs or grass under their feet and their transport and slaughter conditions are equally horrific.

Every time we sit down to eat, we have an opportunity to stand up for a kinder world for animals. By choosing to leave animal products off our plates we’re helping to reduce the demand for meat that drives factory farming and we’re setting a positive example for others. You can download our Live Well booklet to learn more and get free vegan recipes.

French Toast Coffee Cake, Mac & Cheese Onion Rings, and Stuffed Crust Pizza – sound delicious?! These are just a few of the 101 recipes featured in Lauren Toyota’s new “Vegan Comfort Classics” cookbook. Help us spread the “go veg” message and you’ll be entered for a chance to win Lauren’s new cookbook! Keep an eye out for our bus ad, take a photo and post it to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and tag VHS. Use the hashtag #govegvancouver and we’ll select a winner at random.

Categories
compassion Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted vegan vegetarianism

Delicious cakes from a creative vegan baker

Level V Bakery’s Monica Tang with some of her delicious creations

 

Level V Bakery is an online plant-based business in Richmond, BC, run by Monica Tang.  We talked to Monica about the challenges and rewards of starting a business… and her amazing vegan cakes!

 

Why did you decide to start Level V Bakery?

I always had dabbled in baking, but it wasn’t until January of 2017 that I took it more seriously, after my vegan BFF Maria ordered my very first cake.

Baking gives me a creative outlet since I need to be creative in order to replace eggs and dairy with vegan substitutes.

I wanted to impress people and show that vegan desserts can be delicious and look amazing too.

 

 

What has been the reaction from consumers so far?

The usual response I receive from vegans and non-vegans is that they cannot believe that my cakes tastes better than non-vegan cakes. They are also usually impressed at how moist my cakes are and yet also not too sweet. 

 

What are your most popular items?

My most requested cakes are the tiramisu, cookie dough, and chocolate peanut butter banana. 

The tiramisu was one my first cake flavours I developed. It’s an interpretation of a traditional tiramisu because one of my favourite non-vegan cakes I used to eat was a tiramisu from a Chinese bakery in Kerrisdale. It has three layers of vanilla sponge cake soaked in coffee, chocolate aquafaba mousse and is topped with a layer of coconut whipped cream. 

The cookie dough cake gives you the best of both worlds of chocolate and vanilla. This cake has five layers of vanilla sponge cake speckled with chocolate shavings – and in between each layer is a light chocolate frosting. It’s decorated with a chocolate ganache drip and cookie dough truffles. 

The chocolate PB banana cake was first created for my boyfriend (now husband) because it encompasses all of his favourite flavours. This cake has fresh bananas and peanut butter frosting in between five layers of chocolate cake. It’s also decorated with a chocolate ganache drip and addictive peanut butter pretzel chocolate gems.

Although these are my most popular flavours, I am always trying out new flavours and coming up with new creations.

 

What are the biggest challenges in making vegan desserts?

The largest hurdle I face making vegan desserts is finding the time and energy to try new recipes and to replicate items that need eggs. Things I’d like to achieve one day is to develop a vegan cream puff and vegan bubble waffles! 

  

Who are your customers?  

My main customers are vegans who share their cakes with their fellow vegan friends and omnivorous buddies. It’s great to know that my cakes can be enjoyed by everyone and doesn’t make one or the other feel excluded from the occasion they are celebrating. 

  

Do you plan to expand the business?

I may have the opportunity to provide vegan baked goods to a local organic grocer in the near future!

 

What is the hardest part about opening a vegan business?

I think the hardest part is to get started, even though there is a growing trend of vegan companies out there. I don’t really feel like it is about competing against each other, but to support other businesses, welcome new ideas, and to work together to achieve the goal of a vegan mecca.

 

What do you like best about your work?

The best part of making vegan desserts is to share them with other people and receive their reaction! I love it when people tell me what they think, how they like it, and what I could improve on.  

 

Do you think demand is growing for plant-based foods?

I do believe there is a growing demand. As more people become exposed to words like “plant based” and “vegan” and with an abundance of vegan options now available, people are starting to become more aware that the choices they make have a great impact on their health and the environment. 

  

Where do you see Level V Bakery in five years?

I haven’t even gave that a thought. Hopefully making desserts on a larger scale and providing to local grocers, cafes, and restaurants. But my dream would be to open my own bakery and have my own bricks and mortar store! 

 

Level V Bakery
Email: levelVvegan@gmail.com

 

 

Categories
Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted Recipes Uncategorized vegan vegetarianism

Earth Day: Go plant-based for the planet

Today marks the 48th annual Earth Day celebration and around the world events and efforts will be taking place to draw attention to the need for stronger environmental protections.

As the global community reflects today on the increasingly sensitive state of the planet and what role we as individuals can play in tackling what can sometimes feel like an overwhelming issue, it’s important to remember that every time we sit down to eat, we have an opportunity to stand up for a better world.

Animal agriculture has been identified as a leading contributor not only to climate change, but to air and water pollution, water use, land degradation, deforestation and biodiversity decline.

In fact, animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire global transportation sector. This is because animal-based foods are incredibly inefficient to produce and are very resource-intensive. The processes involved when it comes to raising, transporting and slaughtering animals for food are responsible for potent greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. To put this in perspective, beef production requires 20 times more land and emits 20 times more greenhouse gas emissions per unit of edible protein than common plant-based protein sources such as beans, peas and lentils.[1]

The production of animal-based foods also requires and pollutes large amounts of water. Agriculture accounts for 92% of our global freshwater footprint; approximately one third relates to animal products.[2] The water footprint per gram of protein for milk, eggs and chicken is approximately 1.5 times larger than for pulses (beans, lentils, peas). For beef, it is six times larger than for pulses.[3] The sheer volume of animal waste, along with fertilizers and pesticides used for feed crops, as well as hormones and antibiotics used on livestock create major water pollution issues. These pollutants seep into waterways, threatening water quality, ecosystems and animal and human health.[4]

Meanwhile, animal agriculture is a key contributor to land degradation and deforestation, with one-quarter of the earth’s land surface (excluding Antarctica) being used as pastureland. [5] The conversion of natural habitat to accommodate livestock and feed crops puts immense pressure on wildlife that struggle to survive in increasingly fragmented and degraded environments. Ineffective and ill-informed cull programs put additional pressure on predator populations, due to the perceived threat they pose to livestock profits.

While our diet can be a major part of the problem when it comes to protecting the planet, that also means it is a crucial part of the solution. A 2016 Oxford Martin School study found that the adoption of global dietary guidelines would cut food-related emissions by 29%, vegetarian diets by 63%, and vegan diets by 70%.[6] By reducing and eliminating resource-intensive animal products from our diet and supporting efforts to make more sustainable plant-based foods widely accessible, we can drastically decrease our individual and societal environmental footprints.

This Earth Day, join the growing number of people around the world who are recognizing the power behind what we put on our plate. Take our Meatless Monday pledge for recipe ideas and download our Live Well booklet to learn more about a plant-based diet. You can also support VHS’s efforts to introduce more healthy, humane and sustainable plant-based menu options in schools and other institutions.

[1] http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/04/sustainable-diets-what-you-need-know-12-charts

[2] http://waterfootprint.org/media/downloads/Gerbens-et-al-2013-waterfootprint-poultry-pork-beef_1.pdf

[3] http://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/product-water-footprint/water-footprint-crop-and-animal-products/

[4] http://www.fao.org/3/a-i7754e.pdf

[5] http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/04/sustainable-diets-what-you-need-know-12-charts

[6] https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/news/201603_Plant_based_diets

Categories
animal welfare compassion Cruelty-free Dairy Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted school Uncategorized vegan vegetarianism

Meatless Monday is on the menu at Kwantlen Polytechnic

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s food service provider, Sodexo, and the school’s “Let’s Be Compassionate” club recently joined forces to raise awareness of the University’s involvement in the increasingly popular Meatless Monday movement.

The two groups organized a Meatless Monday outreach event at the Surrey campus, where they distributed information about the benefits of a plant-based diet and samples of the cafeteria’s Meatless Monday options. Students who stopped by the table were able to sample wraps, chili, 3-bean soup and hummus with pita chips and learn about how a plant-based diet helps tackle factory farming and climate change, while also protecting against preventable health conditions like heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.

“Being able to educate and share information about veganism, plant-based eating and animal welfare with the students at Kwantlen has been a really positive experience so far,” said club member, Sasha. “One of the greatest parts of promoting a plant-based diet is the satisfied and surprised look on people’s faces when they try the samples. We’re helping show them that meals without meat can taste even better and that eliminating meat from their diet one day a week can easily turn into seven days a week!”

A recent survey by Dalhousie University revealed similar enthusiasm for meat reduction, with nearly 40% of British Columbians 35 and under indicating they follow a vegetarian or vegan diet. The national survey also suggested that British Columbia is leading the way when it comes to eating meatless.

“Skipping meat one day a week is good for you and better for the planet,” said Sodexo Marketing Coordinator, Colleen Dang-Wong. “Together with the Let’s Be Compassionate Club, we can educate our campus community on the benefits of plant-based eating and what we offer on campus to support this global initiative.”

Kwantlen joins 16 other Metro Vancouver secondary and post-secondary schools that are participating in Meatless Monday. In addition to the items sampled during the outreach event, other meatless menu options include a veggie burger (which can be made vegan), as well as grab and go vegan salad options.

Follow Kwantlen’s lead by pledging to go meatless on Mondays and we’ll send you a weekly recipe to help you along! Check out meatlessmonday.ca to learn more and to support our effort to bring the initiative to more classrooms, cafeterias and communities. Interested in bringing Meatless Monday to your school, workplace or community? Get in touch with Program Coordinator, Emily Pickett, to learn more.