Bay Area Vegetarians

A third San Francisco location of Cafe Gratitude will arrive near the corner of Mission and 18th Street (next door to the 99-cent store).

[via Eater]

DIY Vegan:  A vegan conference FOR the community, BY the community

DIY is short-hand for “do it yourself”, and that speaks to the essential spirit we’d like to capture for this conference.  What would you like to say or hear at a grassroots vegan conference?

With the DIY Vegan conference model, anyone will be able to submit a topic proposal — the only requirement will be that it involves some aspect of veganism, which could include animal rights, philosophy, environmental, social justice, religion, edible, ethics, advocacy strategies, “how to” type topics (raise vegan children, bake vegan, leaflet, etc).  The proposals received will then drive the content of the conference.

At this point in time, this is just an “idea”.   Do we have enough support and/or interest in the community for an event like this?  Support would be needed from both speakers and volunteers in  administrative areas,  i.e. marketing, organizing, logistics, administrative help, etc.

Event: DIY Vegan Conference
Date:  Early Feb 2009 (weekend)
Location:  Oakland, CA (Lake Merritt area)

And, there is always the possibility that if this event is success, it could happen again in different parts of the Bay Area.

Your early feedback will be our gauge whether there’s enough interest and support within the community to proceed with this event.

Please reply via email or leave us a blog comment and indicate whether you would submit a proposal, volunteer at the event, attend the event, or, have no interest at all in the event.  Please ask your interested friends to do the same.

Thanks to Eric for letting us know that Deedee’s Indian Fast Food merely moved to Santa Clara, not closed.

Ultimate Guide – read it, rate it, review it!

Wild Greens, closed its doors on August 1st, less than 6 months after it opened.

Thanks to sevachef and Eric for the update.

Ultimate Guide – Wild Greens

A new vegan restaurant opened in Milpitas last month called Loving Hut.  Beautiful website includes a photo menu.  Emphasis is on Vietnamese cuisine, but also includes a few western dishes like burgers or spaghetti.

Loving Hut:  Ultimate Guide – read it, rate it, review it

Thanks to Winnie for the update.

Deedee’s Indian Fast Food, located in Mountain View, is closed. Thanks to Dan for the update.

There are still over 30 entirely vegetarian restaurants in the South Bay.  So check ’em out and post your ‘feed’back in an Ultimate Guide review.

Read it online or subscribe to have it delivered directly to your inbox.

* BAVeg Today
* Hearts in Action
* Full Day, Full Belly
* Home, Sweet Home for Animal Place
* Food for Thought:  Specious Science
* Spotlight:  Humane Charity Seal
* New East Bay Dining Event
* Ultimate Guide Updates
* Heart Smart Cooking
* Event Calendar

This month’s recipes are dedicated to the most amazing Cindy and Tom of Granite Falls, WA.  They made the following recipes while I was visiting last week.  Incredibly gracious and generous hosts, I mention them here for BAV because they often host meat-eaters and use food as veg-conversion tools.

Cindy and Tom set the standard for effective advocacy.  They are positive and fun, active and glowing with health, and oh my can they cook.  They make it hard for meat-eaters to not like veganism!  They spend a lot of time and money feeding their non-veg acquaintances mouth-watering meals, and they’re just as generous when a hungry activist comes knocking.

When I first got to their house, they made fresh veg BLT’s and orange creamsicle drinks.  The BLT’s you can imagine—just use vegan mayo and your favorite faux bacon.  The drink deserves a recipe, and I have it here, but keep in mind these measurements are only guidelines.  Please taste and adjust to your own taste buds.

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Please join us in welcoming Roni, who is hosting a new vegan dining event in the East Bay.  This new event series will occur on the 4th Sunday of every month at different restaurants throughout the East Bay.

“This event is meant for like minded vegans to enjoy getting together discussing veganism over a nice vegan lunch!” says Roni. “You don’t necessarily have to be vegan, you can be vegetarian or just curious what being vegan is all about. We each have our own story to tell. Getting together will be a positive experience and not for people to debate our choices.”

Please join us at Herbivore for a brunch/lunch in Berkeley at 11:00am Aug. 24th. As with all of our BAVeg events, it’s a wonderful opportunity to meet up with new & old friends. Please RSVP if you’d like to join.

Want to learn more about animal rights or veganism?

Enjoy reading a thought-provoking book and then discussing it with like-minded people in a friendly, supportive atmosphere?

Then join the Bay Area Vegetarians Food for Thought Book Club.  We typically meet on 5-6 Sundays a year, and discuss the book over vegan food.  Our locations rotate throughout the Bay Area, primarily SF and South Bay/Peninsula.  Books are suggested and decided upon by the group.  Ideally we would like to have 8 people at each discussion, but it’s varied from 4 to 12.  It’s always fun to use this meeting as an opportunity to try different vegan foods at local restaurants or picnic-style at Yerba Buena Gardens.

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