Veganauts Mission: To explore, celebrate and share vegan food with new and old friends at vegetarian restaurants throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Join the January Mission Commander Mila for the 1st expedition of 2009 to Loving Hut on Saturday, Jan 17th.

Expedition proposals for March and future missions are now being accepted.

 

January is our annual opportunity to look back at the year that just ended, and to look forward and plan for the new year.

Bay Area Veg was first established in October, 2001 to address a need in the community for one organization that would support both the vegan and vegetarian community, as well as activists interested in veganism and animal rights. That twin dynamic continues to be reflected in the type of events and activities that our members have organized.

In 2008, BAVeg volunteers hosted 168 events:

• 93 community/social events: Vegan Food parties, restaurant dinners, book club meetings for general fiction as well as non-fiction veg and animal rights topics, volunteer work events, and fundraisers for Animal Place and Farm Sanctuary

• 75 advocacy/outreach events: letter writing parties, veg leafleting (just under 25K distributed), KFC cruelty protests, tabling outreach, and rodeo and circus protests

The community scene has changed vastly since BAVeg was created in 2001. There are several other ways for veg*ns to connect with each other, including new organizations and new social networking communities like Facebook and meetup.

What is needed now? That is the question for 2009 and beyond. Help us chart our future and influence our growth with your participation. Please, don't take your veg community and organizations for granted. The reason this is a cliche is because it's true - many hands make light work. So give us your hand .. and your most brilliant ideas for an awesome 2009.

To submit your suggestions and ideas, click here.

• Join Patti Breitman, co-author of How to Eat Like a Vegetarian, Even If You Never Want To Be One, at her popular winter cooking class on January 22nd in Fairfax.
  

• Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism by local author Mark Hawthorne was selected as the March book by the Food for Thought Book Club. See the event calendar listing for information about the March 1st meeting or the book.
  

• Bay Area Wordsmiths: If you are a San Francisco Bay Area writer or blogger, and routinely write about veg*n or animal rights topics, we want to hear from you. We know local bloggers include Tammy & Chris who focus on their experiences and insights as vegans and activists; their most recent post at generationV.org is "Whale Wars, the Rebel Force". Who knows, maybe you'll see your name mentioned in a future newsletter.

 

Check out this beautiful pro-animal song by Maria Danes.

I am the owner, the owner of this coat
Brown eyed, small
Without a hope,
Soon to perish, soon to cry
Just so you may wear, my fur with pride...

Read / listen to the rest here.

 

Vegetarian restaurant news include two closures - Souley Vegan (Oakland) and Global Vegetarian Bistro (San Jose), offset by three openings - Tony Tutto Pizza (Mill Valley), Dandelion Vegetarian Cafe (San Jose), and Cafe Gratitude (Healdsburg). And, when our weather returns back to its normal chill, customers will appreciate that Herbivore on Valencia is providing space heaters to warm its restaurant.

For more details on the above, and regular updates, check out our Guide News blog

Have Your Say -- voice your opinion with an Ultimate Guide review. With 1,619 reviews in the Ultimate Guide, these vegetarian restaurants are ranked the best.

Top Ten Vegetarian Restaurants

1) The Happy Bamboo, San Jose - 4.85
2) Merit Vegetarian, Sunnyvale - 4.68
3) Fragrance Land, Cupertino - 4.59
4) Vegetarian House, San Jose - 4.57
5) Garden Fresh, Mtn View - 4.54
6) Pizza Plaza, Oakland - 4.52
7) Vital Ital Calabash - 4.46
8) Good Karma, San Jose - 4.38
9) Cha-Ya, Berkeley - 4.33
10) Millennium, SF - 4.2 (Re-entry)

 

I had a craving for carrot cake last week, so I pulled up this recipe. It looked a little boring, but I figured it couldn’t be that bad…and I was in a hurry.

I decided to double it so I could bring one cake to the office and keep one at home to score points with the honey. I purchased twice the amount of carrots, and grated them in my food processor. Unfortunately, I did not purchase twice the other ingredients! The result? Keep reading for a carrot and lentil soup recipe.

 

Jan (weekends vary) - Farmer's Market Leafleting - Menlo Park/ Palo Alto
01/17 Veganauts: Mission to Loving Hut - SF
01/18 Activist Writers' Salon - San Jose
01/24 Have a Heart, Go Veg Leafleting & Dinner - SF
01/25 East Bay Vegan Brunch/Lunch - Herbivore / Berkeley
01/25 Marin Vegan Potluck - Muir Beach Community Center
01/28 Garden Fresh Vegan Dinner - Mountain View
01/29 New Year (Re)Solutions Dinner & Meeting - SF

Feb (weekends vary) - Farmer's Market Leafleting - Menlo Park/Palo Alto
02/05 Monthly Vegan Dinner at Loving Hut, Palo Alto - Palo Alto
02/07 KFC Cruelty Protest - San Jose
02/08 KFC Cruelty Protest - SF
02/10 Happy Bamboo Dinner - San Jose
02/15 Activist Writers' Salon - San Jose
02/19 Fragrance Land Dinner - Cupertino
02/25 Garden Fresh Vegan Dinner - Mountain View

03/01 Food for Thought: Striking at the Roots (new members welcome) - Emeryville

Outlook users can use the 'calendar' icon link () to add this event to their calendar.

For latest news and events for Bay Area Vegetarians, check out the News Blog and Event Calendar. We don't always announce it, but event photos are added periodically to the gallery, too.