FFT for October 10, 2010

Greetings! "Meat-free" Mike here to let you know that we'll be listening to another edition of Deconstructing Dinner on this week's "Food for Thought!" It's a great one! Originally aired in March, 2009, "Hosting a Community Dialogue on Local Food Systems (I)" introduces to the audience a bounty of ways some communities in Canada are making more secure their local food systems. Don't miss it!

On Tap for Today

First, I want to thank Lovely Loretta for being on the show last week while Meat-free Mike was away.  If you missed the show, do not despair, I will ask Loretta back soon.

On tap for today...

I, Vegan Linda, will review The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Eating for Kids.  It caught my eye at the local library and I give it a B.  I'll cover what I liked and didn't like.

Vegan Mania is happening again this year in Chicago.  Saturday October 9, 2010 from 10-ish to 6-ish.  Check it out.

I attended a Vegan Meet-up get together of drinks and games.  It reminded me that I should mention, not all alcoholic drinks are veg.  Check out barnivore if you would like a list.

For our veg celebrity news (we need a name for this segment, my husband suggested OMV - Oh My Vegan!, but I would love for some creative listener to come up with a better name for this portion of the show):

Check out Jane Velez-Mitchell's response to Tim Love's reasons to eat meat.

My favorite vegan musician is in the Midwest.  I highly advise people to try to make it to one of Michael Franti's concerts.

I ran into Meat-free Mike and JQ at Common Ground Co-op this week recording the Common Ground Corner so tune in for this as well.

Veg Camping, Thai restaurant reviews, What's Cookin', and More

The Vegan Linda family went camping recently and vegan camping food is on my mind.  I found some organic veg. camping food packets locally at Champaign Surplus (have not tried them out yet).  Here is a link to veg camping.  We would love to hear your suggestions for tried and true veg camping faves.  I will compare Dandies vegan marshmallows to Sweet and Sara vegan marshmallows.

What's cookin' in Mike's house?  Meat-free Mike will share his recipe for Garlic Rice.

We both have Thai restaurant reviews.  Mike will review the Thai House in Bloomington and I will review the newly opened My Thai (named by local vegan and former guest on FFT, Wade Albright) in Champaign.

Veg Celebrity Watch:

Bill Clinton goes plant-based for his health.
Ellen gives Lady Gaga a kale alternative to her meat attire.

As always, we appreciate your support of community radio and welcome your comments/questions.

Thanks for listening!

Chow Down This Weekend with Food for Thought

Meet-free Mike is out of town on this lovely holiday weekend, but Vegan Linda and her side-kick, Rob, will be laboring at the station, keeping you up to date on all the latest in veg news.

Chow Down, check out the trailer my kids can't stop watching.

Remembering Donald Watson.

Classes and Events being offered this month at Common Ground Co-op.

Find out what is baking in our house and much more!

Wedrose Acres Animal Sanctuary, Half a Billion Eggs Recalled, and More

This week Vegan Linda will talk about her trip last Sunday to Wedrose Acres Animal Sanctuary.

We will also cover:

Huge Egg Recall in the news.  NPR actually ended with "Vegan Anyone?"

Central Illinois Hog Farmer goes vegan.

Dueling B12 Myths;  B12 not an issue, B12 are you getting it.  I think I've gone on record on air several times with my stance on supplementing.  I feel it is better safe than sorry.  See what Jack Norris RD, founder of Vegan Outreach, has to say.  While you are at it, maybe check out his interview with Let Them Eat Meat.

MF Mike will have lots of surprises in store as well.  Don't miss it!

Voices from the Historic N. First St. Market

This week, Meat-free Mike is back and he has a recording from his visit Thursday to the Farmers Market on Historic N. First St. 

Veggie Trails is for sale!  We are sad to see this exciting new business for sale, but V-Jerky is sticking around.  Neil and Hilary are just selling the food cart.  We appreciate all their hard work and inspiring enthusiasm.  We are lucky to have them in our community!  Click on the link for details and if you end up buying, let them know Food for Though sent you.

It seems that everywhere I look or listen the past few weeks, people have been writing/talking about the 21 Dollar Week Challenge.  We'll discuss what it means, hunger and poverty in the community and all that goes along with it.

As always, we welcome any and all feedback/questions.  WEFT is community radio and we love to hear from you!  Thanks for listening!!

Last Week in Review and This Week

Last week we mentioned the untimely loss of a very active community member and chocolate-maker extraordinaire, Daniel Schreiber.  There are several events today to honor and remember Dan.  He is in our thoughts and we extend our deepest sympathy to his family.

We also discussed activism burnout and feelings of frustrating and being overwhelmed by world and local events.  Sometimes it feels like there are so many fights to fight and so many wrongs to right, it can wear even the most positive person down.  How do we seek out help when it is needed?  How are we there for others in our community?  How do we take care of ourselves?  This topic will be ongoing and can't possibly be covered in one show.  Here are some sites I found valuable when preparing for last week's show:

Stress Management and Burnout Prevention
Activist Burnout
Sustainable Activism

A book I suggested and will be reading and reviewing, The Lifelong Activist.

We also talked about gardening and storing food by dehydrating, canning, freezing, etc.  I noticed this week that Common Ground Co-op has several books on storing food and I will check them out next week.  I have Preserving Summer's Bounty in my own library and while it is not veg, it is quite helpful.  The Simply Grande Gardening Cookbook is another useful (but not veg) book on my shelf.

This week, Meat-free Mike will not be with us, but I will have a special guest.  We will talk about the Clintons, raw foods vs. cooked foods, can one be too healthy?, and including veg options in community events.  Don't miss Food for Thought!