Bay Area Vegetarians

The owners of New World Vegan in Oakland have opened Symphonie, a new vegan restaurant in Richmond.

Like New World, it features an international menu featuring Thai, Italian,  Indian, Chinese and Brazilian appetizers, soups and entrees. Low fat or oil-free. Lunch specials $8.25 – $9.50 include soup, salad, rice, and your choice of 16 lunch specials.

This is a new restaurant (opened Feb 2009) so always good to call first and confirm hours.

Thanks to Mike for the information!

Symphonie: read it, rate it, review it

Ari, a local activist and Bay Area Veg volunteer/supporter, is in the running for PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door contest!

To vote for him, go to male contestants and vote for Ari!

Please vote by March 11th

On Sunday, May 3rd, BAVeg is hosting a new activity — an animal rights philosophy discussion.

Organized as part of our Food for Thought book club,  Mike B says “The group will provide a great opportunity to hone our ability to reply to those who ostensibly attack our beliefs on rational grounds, as well as acquaint or re-acquaint ourselves with the excellent work in ethics that’s taken place in the last few decades regarding the moral consideration of nonhuman animals.”

This month’s topic:
Animal Liberation by Peter Singer, Chapters 1 and 6

Specifically, Singer’s argument for equal consideration of interests regardless of species membership (often referred to as “The Argument from Marginal Cases”). Philosophers opposed to animal rights have been trying to overcome this argument for 33 years with no success! We will get clear about what Singer’s argument is, how it can be used, and what some of the major failed objections to the argument are.

And, he adds, “All are welcome:  Whether you’ve never touched a philosophy book or are a fellow philosophy junkie 🙂  “

What: Animals Rights Philosophy Group
Where: SF
When: 5/3/09 Sunday, 1:00 pm

RSVP | Full Details

Bay Area Veg volunteers continue to help the public turn over a new leaf towards veg*nism by distributing Vegetarian Starter Kits.

Elizabeth, who has been leafleting at the Farmer’s Markets in Palo Alto & Menlo Park, uses Compassion over Killing’s VSK and has reached over 300 people in the last 3 months.  (To join Elizabeth at future leafleting activities, see the BAVeg Event calendar)

Volunteers, VSKs, SF Ferry Building

In San Francisco, the monthly Have-a-Heart, Go Veg Leafleting activity continues with a new location – the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market on the Embarcadero.

January was the first outing at the new location.  Kuntal and Mila  joined organizers Alex and Tammy to distribute 300 of PETA’s Vegetarian Starter Kit . Yesterday, Shani, Jason, Sky, Alex and Tammy beat the rain and distributed 500 VSKs.

To join Tammy & Alex at the next Have-a-Heart, Go Veg Leafleting activity, see the BAVeg Event calendar

Thank you to our volunteer leafleters, organizers Alex & Tammy, and to Ann and Anabela who stamp the VSKs to refer readers to bayareaveg.org and our local events, activities, and vegetarian restaurant guide.

Fremont now has it’s second vegetarian restaurant, Chaat Bhavan at 5355 Mowry Avenue.

Ultimate Guide:  Chaat Bhavan – read it, rate it, review it!

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

* New Year (Re)Solutions Dinner/Meeting – 1/29
* Travel the Bay Area with Veganauts
* Look Back at 2008
* News Bites
* Spotlight: I am the owner of this coat
* Ultimate Guide Updates
* Heart Smart Cooking
* Event Calendar

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.

Please add your suggestions and ideas by commenting in this post, or you may also email us privately via the contact page

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Tammy & Chris at BAVeg booth at SF Pride

We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and hope that 2009 will be a great year for advocacy & outreach in the Bay Area and with Bay Area Vegetarians, aka BAVeg aka Be-A-Veg

This is a beginning of a new year, and we’re in search of fresh ideas, energy and talent to help shape the direction of BAVeg for the future. BAVeg is run entirely by volunteers; we have no paid staff or offices.  So, our continued operation really is dependent upon each one of us.

Chris and I have been with BAVeg since its humble beginnings as “SFBAVeg” in October, 2001; we designed and built http://bayareaveg.org, including the custom Ultimate Guide, organized hundreds of events and activities, and incorporated it as a non-profit 501(c)(3).

Through all of this, we have enjoyed working with many wonderful and dedicated people over these years on BAVeg’s core principles of CARE — Community, Advocacy, Resources, and Education.

This dinner meeting will be an opportunity to meet with other like-minded folks and discuss forthcoming projects and volunteer needs, outreach strategies and styles, and just network and socialize, too, all while enjoying delicious vegan food.  Udupi is an all-vegetarian restaurant with many vegan selections of Southern Indian fare, including dosas and uthappam. And, unlike other SF restaurants, it is actually heated during the winter so we won’t need to bundle up just to eat.

What: Volunteer & Activist Community Dinner
Where: Udupi Palace, 1007 Valencia St (21st St), San Francisco
When: 1/29/09 Thursday, 6:00 pm
RSVP | Full Details

So whether you’re new or old BAVeg member, aspiring or experienced activist/volunteer, as long as you are interested in working with BAVeg to promote veganism, please join us for this dinner meeting on January 29th, 2009 at 6 pm at Udupi Palace restaurant in SF.

Turn your resolutions to help animals, be more active, and promote veganism into actionable solutions!

We look forward to meeting and working with you in 2009.

Cheers,
Tammy and Chris
co-founders of BAVeg

Souley Vegan, which closed last September and planned to re-open by end of October after remodelling, has announced its restaurant serving vegan soul food will not be reopening at its current location due to the need for costly structural repairs which the business owners are unable to afford.  Still available for catering and at Lake Merritt Farmer’s Market.  No current date for expected new site opening if and when one is found.

Thanks to Bob for the update.

Ultimate Guide: Souley Vegan