Oakland Veg Week is a week-long celebration (April 15-21, 2012) that invites meat-eaters to pledge to be vegetarian for one week. It’s a positive, upbeat event where everyone wins: Meat-eaters who want a little help with their veg experiment, local restaurants who want more customers, the City of Oakland (who, let’s face it, could use some happy press!), and most importantly, the animals who would really, really, really like to see more vegetarians!

Bay Area Vegetarians is going to match every donation made for OVW12 up to $500.00. For real! That means a possible total of $1,000 to buy more vegan food to give to meat-eaters…if you can help us out. Your $50 donation is actually $100 with this match, and it’s tax-deductible! Oakland Veg Week is all volunteer, all free, and all awesome. With your support, OVW can reach more meat-eaters with the veg information and samples.

Please consider donating today to help create more vegetarians!
Bay Area Vegetarians, OVW, P.O. Box 700, Vallejo, CA 94590 credit card also accepted

What we like most about Oakland Veg Week … let us know what you like about OVW in the comments.

10. Eating out!
We love restaurants. Lots of Oakland restaurants have signed up to offer special vegan options for OVW12, and we want to make sure they feel the love from the community. If a meat restaurant gets a positive response, they’ll offer more (and better) veg options. So call your best buddies and make some dinner plans ASAP!

9. OVW12 is an all-volunteer, all-local event.
Five hard-working Oaklanders are spending their evening and weekend hours calling local restaurants, putting up fliers all over town, organizing cool events, and working with the city to promote it. They all have day jobs and they’re dipping into their own pockets to cover expenses. So your dollars will stay right here in the Bay Area!

8. The OVW12 organizers said we could watch this video every single day if we supported their work. Works for us.

7. OVW12 is *totally free* for meat-eaters who take the pledge!
Free recipes every day, free movie screenings, free food samples, free cooking classes, free talks by veg experts. We like how accessible that makes it for meat-eaters. The organizers can’t raise funds from tickets to cover their expenses (like space rental fees), but we can help by donating!

6. OVW12 is geared towards meat-eaters.
We love our veg community, but this is about about reaching new people. OVW12 has been marketed to the City of Oakland; the County of Alameda; Rockridge, Glenview and Montclair communities; Oakland School District and Oakland-based colleges and universities, Oakland churches and more.

5. You don’t have to be local.
Sure, locals can attend the free events and enjoy the local restaurants. But anyone can take the veg pledge and still get the free recipes and email support! Way to be inclusive, OVW12! So no matter where you live, please share the Oakland Veg Week pledge page with all the meat-eaters you know.

4. There’s a party at the end!
They’ll have free prizes, free goody bags, yummy food, and even gift certificates from totally awesome restaurants like this!

3. Our very own local rock band, Tremor Low, will be performing live for Oakland Veg Week…with No No Burger there handing out free burger samples! Top that.

2. We think Jack Norris and Nathan Runkle are both seriously awesome. It’s like Superman and Batman both coming to your hometown at once.

1. And the #1 super most important reason to support OVW: The animals.

According to the awesome blog Counting Animals, a vegetarian saves at least one animal a day! Every time we eat, we can decide to contribute to animal suffering or to eat a healthy, humane meal. Many of you reading this blog have already chosen to eat humanely. Now is your chance to help others make the same choice. The animals are counting on YOU to spread the word, and the volunteers behind Oakland Veg Week have made it easy for you! Read more about farm animal welfare on Vegan Outreach’s website.
Please consider getting involved with this powerful–and fun–week. If you donate to help cover costs and we’ll match it. You can also spread the word about OVW12 to your non-veg friends, and of course, take those same friends out to eat at a participating OVW12 restaurant.

Thank you and Happy Oakland Veg Week!

And that’s the challenge for the party go’er.. deciding what to bring.

Alicia, who is hosting a Vegan Food Party this Sunday in San Rafael, has a straight-forward guideline for deciding what to bring:  “Depends on location–if it’s close, I like to bring something hot.  If it’s far, then I bring something that can be served cold or at room temperature.”

One of her favorite dishes is a linguine with a peanut sauce with steamed broccoli. The peanut sauce has peanut butter, rice vinegar, crushed red pepper flakes, olive oil, soy sauce, and water or veggie stock.

Cheryl, who is hosting a Vegan Food Party next month in Pacifica, shares her strategy: “I have selected what I bring to a food part a few different ways.  The first time I went to a summer Vegan food party, I went online and searched Vegan Summer recipes and found a wonderful vegan potato salad and I still make it to this day.   It was a wonderful way to find a new recipe that became part of my classic recipes.  I have also made something that I had somewhere when I was out and decided to have a go and make it on my own without a receipe.  It was a Cold Asian Tofu Marinate over rice and it turned out to be a huge success.

I think it is fun to try new ideas and create your own recipes, but I have also made something that I have made for myself in the past too!  This upcoming party I am making something fun and that I have made in the recent past.”

There’s a variety of ways to decide what to bring.  Tammy and Chris, who hosted the first-ever Vegan Food Party, share a couple of their ideas on how to decide what to bring:  “Sometimes we need inspiration to try a new recipe, so we pick one that sounds interesting and bring it to the VFP to ‘animal test it’.  Or, maybe it’s an excuse to make a favorite dish that we haven’t had in awhile, like macaroni and cheese.  Because we both love vegan desserts, we’ll often bring something in that category, like brownies, chocolate mousse pie, cheesecake, apple cake, or pumpkin pie.”

So, join your fellow vegan food-lovers at an upcoming Vegan Food Party

02/06 VFP – San Rafael
03/12 VFP – Pacifica

Thanks to Cheryl for sharing her favorite potato salad recipe that she’s made twice for summer parties.

Vegan Calico Potato Salad

****SPICEY****

For the Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar (Red Wine Garlic)
1 1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. Sea Salt
Dash of hot pepper sauce

For the Salad:
2 lb. red potatoes, peeled, cooked, and cubed (Organic)
1 1/2 cups cooked whole-kernel corn  (*Can)
1 cup shredded carrot  (Organic)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup diced green pepper (organic)
1/2 cup diced red pepper (Organic)
1/2 cup sliced olives  (Can)

For the Dressing:
• Combine all the ingredients. Cover and chill.

For the Salad:
• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients.

To Assemble:
• Combine the salad and the dressing and toss to mix.

Makes 14 servings

Space is limited and the classes typically fill-up fairly quickly, so please reserve your space today.

Date: Saturday, Nov 6th
Time: 1:00pm – 3:30pm
Location: Whole Foods Market, 1010 Park Place, San Mateo
Cost: $25/person *
Registration | Event Listing

When asked “What did you like most about the baking class?“, class participants replied:

“The taste and texture of the baked goods was very impressive. Very tasty.”

“It gave me confidence that you can make vegan dessert items that taste every bit as good as baked items with animal products.”

“Being with other vegetarians/vegans and learning how to make healthy desserts.”

“Learning all the tips/techniques you can’t get from just a recipe.”

“To meet an actual vegan baker — we need many more of these to progress the “cause” and get/perfect more options.”

“Christine has some good baking humor – she made me laugh”

To learn more about the Secrets of Vegan Baking classes, visit the SecretsOfVeganBaking.com website

For registration, please visit the Bay Area Vegetarians website – http://bayareaveg.org/cooking/

* Thank you to Christine for volunteering her time and expertise; all proceeds benefit Bay Area Vegetarians. In the spirit of promoting vegan baking, these classes are offered below market rate.

Please come by and visit us, and get a free Veg Starter Kit for you and a friend!

Does anyone have a special BAVeg event they’ve been thinking of organizing, but uncertain about how to get started?

Well, the first step is to email us with the date/time and let us know what you want to do. Just about any type of event (as long as all the food is vegan) and it’s open to everyone can be a BAVeg event.

Here are some ideas

• vegan cheese tasting party
• leaflet at a concert or summer fair
• Mission food trek (Cafe Gratitude/Cha Ya/Herbivore/Udupi)
• organize a dinner at your favorite veg restaurant
• organize a Vegan Food Party at your favorite park or home
• DIY skill share: have something to say or something to show related to veganism/animal rights? Let me know, we will be having regular Vegan Food Parties at the ocean-view community room at the Pacifica Library.
• movie night: screen a movie related to veg/AR. either at your home, or community room

We look forward to hearing about the events you’d like to help make happen. Thank you!

Please let us know if you can help.

Once again, BAVeg will have an information booth in front of the Asian Art Museum, giving out thousands of pieces of literature promoting a more compassionate and cruelty-free lifestyle:  veganism!  We will also be leafleting during the Festival.  [ Volunteer Sign-Up ]

Nora has been part of our outreach at Pride since the first year in 2003. She recounted one of her experiences about Pride leafleting:

One older man stopped after taking my brochure, looked at it for maybe 15 seconds, and said, “Wow. Thanks for ruining my day!” I started to reply, saying, “I’m sorry to ruin your day–I know this is upsetting–but thanks for caring so much about animals that it ruined your day to know how they are suffering.”

He said, “Actually, though it does kind of ruin my day to see this, I was being serious in thanking you. We need people like you out doing the dirty work of making people aware of this issue. Thank you for being here.”

This is what we are providing when we leaflet. Aren’t you glad you know about how the animals are treated so that you can choose to do something about it? Give others that opportunity to make a difference, as well! And give the animals an opportunity for people to consider their plight.

Please use this sign-up form if you’re interested in helping to make a more veg*n world by:

- staffing the BAVeg booth [ Saturday 10 am-7pm, Sunday 10 am-6 pm ]
- leafleting outside the booth [same time as above]
- leafleting the parade crowd before the parade starts [ Sun 9 am - 10:15 am]
- behind the scenes help [ booth set-up, or cart wrangler on Sunday AM]

While previous outreach experience is helpful, it’s not necessary. We just ask that you’re a friendly person, already vegan, or vegetarian transitioning towards vegan, who can reliably show up at the event. If you have questions, you’re welcome to email us directly or post a comment in the blog.

While financial donations to support the cost of outreach at Pride are gratefully accepted, as a small, grassroots all-volunteer organization, we depend even more on your volunteer support of your time and compassion to make our outreach at Pride successful this year.   Last year, as in previous years, we were the only veg group distributing information at this progressive two-day event. Please sign up to help today to spread the veg message. Donations are welcome via check to Bay Area Vegetarians, P.O. Box 371215, Montara, CA 94037-1215.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our efforts in the past, and to everyone who will help us this year.  Thank you to East Bay Animal Advocates for sponsoring/organizing the marching contingent in the Pride Parade this year.  So be sure to mark your calendars for that weekend, and reserve your spot today!

Where: San Francisco Civic Center
When: Sat Jun 26th – Sun Jun 27th
What: Making a difference – Making new Veg*ns!

Volunteer Sign-Up

Dr. Christine Dickson, Secrets of Vegan Baking

Dr. Christine Dickson relaunched the Secrets of Vegan Baking Classes with theme class of “The Chocolate Trio” on March 27th at the San Mateo Whole Foods.

The class was sold-out, and unfortunately for those anxiously waiting for a cancellation, we had a full house.

Christine started the class with a bonus — sampling her delightful fudgie brownie bites.

Then the class officially began with the featured vegan desserts, Chocolate Cream-Cheese Bundt Cake, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and then the Chocolate Hazelnut Torte.  Christine had prepared samples of each dessert (pictured above at the beginning of the class).

During the class, Christine and volunteer assistants from the audience prepared each vegan delight.  Both the Chocolate Chip Cookies  and Chocolate Cream-Cheese Bundt Cake in class were also baked fresh in class and available for more sampling.

Vegan Baking Class, March 2010

If you love chocolate, visit Christine’s website to watch how to make fudge brownie bites.

Upcoming Secrets of Vegan Baking Class

The next vegan baking class is “Berry Sweets” on Saturday, April 24th, at San Mateo Whole Foods.

Christine will share her secrets of baking delicious old-fashioned strawberry shortcake, raspberry tart, and blueberry muffins.  Cost is $25 per person, and registrations are now being accepted.  [ more info ]

Thank you to Christine for sharing her time and talents for creating egg- and dairy-free desserts.  Most attendees at the class were new to vegan baking, and we look forward to our continued partnership with Christine and the Secrets of Vegan Baking to promote compassionate and cruelty-free baking in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Class participant made Christine's vegan cupcakes for a bakesale

Christine Dickson will once again be offering her popular Secrets of Vegan Baking Classes with Bay Area Vegetarians!  In 2007, many of you will remember the Secrets of Vegan Baking classes held at Sur La Table in SF’s Union Square.   This class is now being held at Whole Foods in San Mateo.

Upcoming Secrets of Vegan Baking Classes include:

03/27 Secrets of Vegan Baking: The Chocolate Trio – San Mateo
04/24 Secrets of Vegan Baking: Berry Sweets – San Mateo

Christine has also created the Secrets of Vegan Baking website with Video Demonstration, Free Sample Recipes, and Baking Tips.

She will be giving a free presentation during our 2/28 Vegan Food Party, and we’ll be giving away one of her vegan cookie mixes!

Christine teaching at Sur La Table in SF

Thank you to  Christine for once again offering these classes, and to Whole Foods for underwriting this class with space and ingredients.  The San Mateo Whole Foods is also offering a vegan raw foods class on 3/9 with Patti Searle ($35 , more info )

This month, we’re introducing a brand-new giveaway for a gift certificate to a San Francisco veg restaurant (this month, it’s a $50 certificate to Herbivore). Raffle tickets are $1, and all money goes to Bay Area Vegetarians! That’s right, enter to win a fabulous meal at Herbivore, and help a great local non-profit at the same time.

Here’s the lowdown:

Thursday, July 30
6pm to 8pm @ Martuni’s

Details at sfvegandrinks.com