VEGAN POETRY

After ten years of struggle, I FINALLY ate my last piece of meat. My next struggle: Becoming Vegan. This blog will feature the ups and down on the long and booby-trapped road to a more compassionate way of eating. Fuck ups WILL be included.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Vegetarian Heaven at Mi Mi Gardens, Windsor

Mi Mi Gardens is just TOTALLY INCREDIBLE.
They have an EXTEND-O Vegetarian / Vegan menu that spans LITERALLy two full pages.
Their tofu roll, wrapped in rice paper and filled with rice noodles and tofu - served with a DELICIOUS peanut-thai type sauce, is to die for.
Their spicy Hot and Sour soup (be sure to specify vegetarian) is to die for - and I am one picky kid when it comes to Hot and Sour.
Lemon Tofu with rice, BBQ Mushroom on Rice Noodle Salad, Curry Vegetables with pan fried Vermicelli, Rice stick noodles sauteed w/ onions and bean sprouts -there is SERIOUSLy not a single bad item on this menu!
If you have a carnivorous party - or you're going on a date and you're not sure if the other half of your party eats meat - this is the place...very small inside, but cozy and cute - and trust me - the food is so spectacular you WILL be a returning customer.
Mi Mi Gardens - Vietnamese & Chinese Cuisine - they DO deliver!!
Located at 440 Tecumseh Road East (just off Highland, across from the Lumberjack!).
All dishes can be made with no msg or peanut, if necessary - and they are also known for catering to special diets, like diabetic.
BROWN RICE DISHES available.
call 519-258-1893 for delivery!

SEAL DEMONSTRATION

SEAL HUNT DEMONSTRATION


WHAT: This is an international seal hunt demonstration on both sides of the CANADA-US border to protest Canada’s seal hunt, the largest marine mammal slaughter in the world. We are inviting people to come out, support the rally, and send a message to the Canadian government that we want the seal hunt to end.


WHEN: Thursday, March 22nd. starting at 4:30 for the Canadian demo. (The American demonstration starts at 4:30 p.m. also.)

* In Windsor, the demonstration is located on Park St. across from the CAN-US tunnel exit.
* In Detroit, it is located across from the Consulate General of Canada on Jefferson St. alongside the Old Mariner’s Church, in front of the CAN-US entrance.


WHY:

CRUELTY: 1) Studies showing that some 42% of seal pups were skinned while alive
1. Video documentary showing seals shot and left to suffer and slowly die
2. Videos of live seals dragged by hooks across the ice for long distances


UNSUSTAINABLE: This is the largest marine mammal slaughter in the world. Over 300,000 seal pups will be killed this year. It is a drastic loss of marine life. Scientists and conservationists are critical of this management plan. At its present numbers, this hunt is not sustainable and could very well endanger the future of the harp seal population.


NOT ECONOMICALLY VIABLE: Less than one-half of one percent of Newfoundland’s economy is generated by the hunt, and sealers earn less than 5% of annual income from hunt, yet global opposition to the seal hunt has already cost fisheries $350 million in lost snow crab exports to the U.S.

RISK TO CANADA’S REPUTATION: Intense opposition to the seal hunt expressed in protests around the world. Politically, a number of countries have introduced resolutions calling on Canada to end the seal hunt or have introduced legislation banning the import and sale of harp seal products.


PLEASE JOIN US IN PROTESTING CANADA’S CRUEL SEAL HUNT

Monday, March 19, 2007

Attention All Vegetable-atarians!

Hey Windsor and Detroit people - there is an upcoming event which will probably interest anyone remotely interested in vegetarianism and what not.
It's in honour of a VERY special day:
MEAT OUT DAY!
Even if you aren't a vegetarian - how bout you do it for ONE DAY and help the world out in extending a great big "F-YOU" towards every company and every person who has not yet adopted "humane" methods in "manufactoring" food.
Hell - you might end up becoming a convert yourself - and join the rest of us tofu-shovelling hippies in the cult of vegetarianism.
I assure you though - it's not that bad.

Here's some info on the event:

WINDSOR-ESSEX VEGETARIAN SOCIETY

Presents a lecture

On the
ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL

MEAT-OUT DAY

By
Dr. Harshad Joshi

Followed by
Dinner ($6.00)

Saturday, March 24th, 2007, 5:30-8:30 PM

Optimist Community Center
1075 Ypres, Windsor

For information call
776-4796, 254-3504
250-7693


Admission Free
Hope to see some of you there,
laters,
Dan

Saturday, March 17, 2007

NOT Proud to be Canadian...when it comes to the Seal Hunt.

The LARGEST slaughter of marine mammals on EARTH - happens in Canada with the annual Seal Hunt.
Not a proud moment for this Canadian.

Last year, our peace-loving government permitted the slaughter of more than 330,000 harp seals.
These beautiful baby animals - all usually under 3 months of age are shot or repeatedly clubbed during this horrific "Canadian Tradition".
Sealers bludgeon the animals with clubs and “hakapiks” (clubs with metal hooks on their ends) and drag the seals—who are still conscious—across the ice floes with boat hooks. An estimated 42 percent of the animals are skinned alive. Hunters toss dead and dying seals into heaps and leave their carcasses to rot on the ice floes because there is no market for seal meat. Veterinarians who have investigated the hunt have found that hunters routinely fail to comply with Canada’s animal welfare standards.
It is legal in Canada to kill seal pups when they are about 12 days old. Many seals killed in last years hunt had not yet learned how to swim or eaten their first solid meals. Baby seals are helpless and have no way to escape from the sealers’ clubs.
These are puppies being slaughtered.
PUPPIES. In this country.
There is NO MARKET FOR SEAL MEAT.
This is a HUNT that is based SOLELY on FASHION - for their fur.
The sealing industry claims that it is killing more seals because of an increased demand for fur. Although the U.S. banned the sale of seal fur in 1972, anyone wearing the fur of minks, rabbits, foxes, or any other kind of animal is responsible for creating a demand for fur, which pushes Canadian hunters to club more seals each year.
Click here to help stop the slaughter.
Please tell everyone you know about Canada’s cruel slaughter of baby seals and urge them to contact the Canadian government. Forward this page to a friend.
We live in the year 2007.
We do not need fur to keep warm any more than we need fur as a status symbol.
We need to tell "rich" people that fur only makes them look STUPID.
Disgusting.
IDIOTIC.
Cruel. Inhumane.
FUR is not a status symbol - unless you want your status to read "Heartless ASSHOLE".
Canada is NOT benefitting from this HORRIBLE tradition.
Seals are peaceful, sweet creatures - and although there is a plethora of HORRIFIC seal hunt pictures - I chose to post this picture - which I feel captures the essence and beauty and peacefulness of this hunted animal.
Seriously - no one can justify this practice.
It's cruel - any way you slice it - and no matter what kind of market we are in - no one can justify profit off suffering or killing for something as trivial as fashion.
You disappoint me, Canada.
Please do anything you can - this is one part of a heritage we need to disown.

Peace,


Dan

FLAMING TIPS: Vegan Candles?!?!?!?!


When I first started looking into veganism - I was shocked at all the surprising places animal by-product showed up.
For example: Candles.
And it's more than just the beeswax (stolen from industrious bees' hives) that make most candles a vegan no-no.


Many candles are also made with tallow (a slaughterhouse product derived from beef or sheep fat), and cetyl palmitate, a waxy oil taken from sperm whales' heads or from dolphins.
How insane is that!?!
Seriously - WHY? Why must there be animal product in something as simple as a candle?
I don't get it.
So - below is a list of companies that sell "Vegan" candles - usually made with soy wax. Just check them out - and think about it the next time you light your favourite candle - what (or WHO) it is you are REALLY burning....

Artistic Candle Company
1-877-557-4940 (fax)
customerservice@artisticcandleco.com
www.artisticcandleco.com

Barn Loft Soy Candles 574-643-2500






Hanna’s Candles 1-888-242-6627




Kiss My Face 1-800-262-KISS



Lamplight Farms 1-800-328-7717




NaturaLights Candle Boutiques 1-800-774-0104



Natural Soy Scented Candles 830-896-3221830-792-3221




Nature’s Gifts, Inc. 1-877-464-4929





Pangea Vegan Products 1-800-340-1200



Pier 1 Imports 1-800-245-4595



Rudgewick Candles (UK) +44 01543 428 882


Sensia 1-800-777-8027




Soy Candle Works1-800-470-4061




Soy Scentsations440-260-9708







Vegan Essentials 414-607-19531-866-88-VEGAN



The Vegan Store (UK)+44 1273 302 979


Bad News means Good News

Well folks,

Since we last spoke, which was back in early December of 2006 - I am happy to report that I have remained 100% vegan!
YAY! YAY! APPLAUSE SOUND! APPLAUSE SOUND!
Perhaps everything DOES happen for a reason..who knows...but just after the ball dropped in Times Square NY and 2007 paraded its purrrty face in like a storm of confetti and glitter - my gallbladder exploded and had to be removed.
This forced me on a VERY low-fat diet for QUITE a while, and franky - after doing that - veganism feels easier than ever, which rocks.
Here's the secret: Just don't buy non-vegan shit!
Done!
If you don't buy ANY non-vegan food...then there is NOTHING in the house you CANNOT EAT!! An entire WORLD of possiblity opened up.
okay, I'm being a little stupid now.
But seriously - the whole point of this blog was my struggle with becoming vegan...and perhaps i am speaking too soon...but something is different now.
It's just...easier. It just...is.
Period.
Go figure.
At any rate, rather than continue on about my struggles with being a vegan - I am going to shift the content of this blog more on animal activism, insteresting articles about current issues regarding animal rights - and maybe cover some of the demonstrations that take place in and around Windsor - Detroit.

Look forward to reading me!

Dan