Show Notes for December 11, 2011

Greetings, listeners!

On Sunday, Meat-Free Mike and Rachel talked up tofu, bantered about beans, and hatched plans for awesome and more compassionate holiday dinners. Here are some helpful links and notes from our latest show.

Vegan Green Bean Casserole - http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6137.0
Thanks to Amelia for providing this yummy recipe for a vegan green bean casserole. Grab your herbs and spices and whip this up from scratch. Meat-Free Mike may take this one to his next family gathering. We'll give you the full report.

Your guests may know the difference, and that's ok - because it will taste a lot better than the traditional recipe with all these fresh ingredients. Fresh or frozen green beans would be better choices over canned.

Another simple green bean recipe
One of our listeners called us and shared a favorite green bean combination: green beans sauteed with olive oil, lemon, pepper, and sunflower seeds. If you try this delicious and simple combination, leave us a comment and tell us what you think.

Vegan gravy
'Tis the season for gravy. If you're vegetarian or vegan, don't feel left out. There are plenty of plant-based gravy options, from green chile to slow cooked mushroom. Some, like the the tomato-based varieties, are even healthy. If you're looking for a little plant-based indulgence at your holiday dinner, Tofu Mom over at Tofu-n-Sprouts blogged an entire month (31 saucy posts!) of delicious vegan gravy options for Vegan Month of Food this October.

Lacinato (dinosaur) kale
Ready Made has a great article with lots of raw and cooked options for lacinato (dinosaur) kale. If you've never eaten kale, try this easy-to-prepare variety. As the article says, "lacinato kale shares its brother kales’ phenomenal nutritional profile: it’s chock-full of vitamins K, A, and C, dietary fiber, calcium, antioxidants, and a host of other nutrients." Tell your kids it's dinosaur food!

Common Ground classes
Meat-Free Mike and Vegan Linda recently attended a class at Common Ground Food Co-Op where they learned to make their own tofu. I was not sure of the coagulant used in the process when we were talking about it on the show. It appears that edible powdered calcium sulfate or lemon juice are two options.

Next Sunday, Vegan Linda and Meat-Free Mike will be back with another hour of Food for Thought on WEFT 90.1. We hope you tune in.

- Rachel

More ThanksLiving Recipes

Hearty Holiday Main Courses for Vegans
What's a Good Entree for a Vegan/Vegetarian Thanksgiving
Vegan Thanksgiving? It done deliciously
A Vegan Thanksgiving: 12 Recipes That Could Change Your Holiday

We are now on FB

Food for Thought now has its own Facebook page. I'll put a icon on this page soon, but if you want to look for us search for "Food for Thought Radio Show". As always, thanks for listening!

The Kind Life Club - THIS SUNDAY!

We are so excited to have The Kind Life Club from Decatur, IL join us this Sunday!

Their description on FB:

The Kind Life Club at Millikin University is a group devoted to developing healthy lifestyles through veganism and vegetarianism, and through leading a life filled with kind intentions towards animals, other people, our community and our planet.

We meet Wednesday's at 4 in Lower Library 28, or outside when the weather is nice! Come join us to learn about what fun projects we have in the works, or just to meet lots of friendly, awesome people!

Pledge and participate in our Meatless Mondays movement and get a pair of bright green shoelaces for FREE! Sport them around campus however you please on Mondays to show your support!

Just in Time for ThanksLIVING!

Check out the Happy Thanks Living coloring zine. How adorable and perfect for veg kids and adults who are kids at heart!

With Thanksgiving or Thanksliving right around the corner, check out several of my favorite blogs for cruelty-free eats.

VegKitchen with recipes from Nava Atlas
Vegan.com's Recipes of the Year 2011
FARM's Gentle Thanksgiving
NYTimes has an article with recipes from Chef Chloe
Savvy Vegetarian's tips and recipes
Canadian veg bloggers are a great resource for Thanksgiving feasts since they have already been there done that this year:
Oh She Glows
Vegan Dad
Bryanna Clark Grogan
VeganMoFo Roundup for Canadian Thanksgiving

Don't feel like cooking? Head to the Chicago Diner for Thanksgiving.

Dining Options on U of I Campus

Veg Options at Dining Halls

Dinner Time at The Red Herring Vegetarian Restaurant - Come ONE Come ALL - Starting Monday 10-31-2011 - Dinners AT THE RED HERRING!!!!!! New hours... M-F 11am - 3pm AND M-F 5pm - 8pm.

(limited menu
10-11am and
3-5pm and soon
... during the RH Coffeehouse Fri-Sat 8pm till Midnight)

Free parking in our lot after 6pm. Most days... lots of street meter parking is available. Since they raised the meters to 75 cents/hour... spaces are usually available during lunch as well.

Local Veg Bloggers

Here are a few local veg bloggers (the ones I am aware of, please let me know if you are local and want to be added to this list). We talk about veg blogs quite a bit on FFT and I thought it would be nice to have the local blogs listed in one place:

Creating with Parker (my son's blog)
The Hannah Cafe (Jacqueline is often on the Common Ground Corner segment of FFT)
I Eat Grains (Rachel is also on the FFT team)
Just Another Vegan Blog
Loves to Eat Vegan
Necessary Strangeness
Theme from an Imaginary Film
Vegan Linda (me)

Pea Counter from Jack Norris

Jack Norris created a new website for all you out there interested in nutrition. I mentioned it last week on our program and didn't want you all to miss it.

Halloween Doesn't Have to be Mean

Want to have a cruelty-free Halloween celebration? Boy do we have ya covered.

Check out these links for luscious homemade treats:
Fork and Beans - now you can make your favorite candy bars at home in a humane and healthier way, also sans gluten.
Bittersweet - if you don't own one of Hannah's awesome dessert cookbooks, you can still make some of her creations by checking out her blog. I linked to her Chocolate Candy Cups.
Eat Drink Better - recipes which go beyond chocolate, you can even make your own candy corn.

We need more than candy to sustain us, even on Halloween:
Vegetarians in Paradise - hosting your own party? A Halloween-themed party menu all put together for you.
If you have Party Vegan (you still have time to buy it or check it out from your local library), Robin has a section just for Halloween.

Homemade not your thing or want to know what to hand out to the neighborhood kiddos? Lists of candy that is accidentally or intentionally vegan:
VegNews
PETA Kids
 Our lovely friends over at Pangea have you covered for ready made treats. My kids love their pumpkin cookies.

Hosting a veg Halloween party or handing out special candy or have an alternative way to celebrate the holiday? We'd love to hear from you.

Friday Fun

Listen to this from Leslie Hall! Thanks to VeganMoFo and Get Sconed! for posting this awesomeness.

I Eat Grains

This Sunday, we have a special treat...Rachel from I Eat Grains will be on Food For Thought for the second time, but this time she will hopefully become part of the regular show! I'll be gone Sunday and more often as Rachel becomes more a part of the show. Tune in!

Dada Veda

Thanks for listening today. I promised some links so you can check out Dada Veda, his yoga blog, and Ananda Liina. Dada Veda also shared two songs with us:

A Better Deal

and
I Don't Eat Meat


We hope to have Dada Veda on the show again and thank him for spending some time with us today.

DADA VEDA TO BE ON "FOOD FOR THOUGHT" THIS SUNDAY!

Greetings! The day is near! Dada Veda will be making a visit to WEFT THIS SUNDAY, August 21 as a guest on "Food For Thought!" Please tune in or listen on line to experience a different perspective on vegetarianism! Don't miss it!

The Face Behind the Voice and Loads of Links

Okay, a bunch of links for you all and a special treat...

Here is Meat-free Mike (he's the one with the hat on and anticipating all the wonderful food on his plate) at the last Vegan Meet-up. Now you can put a smiling face with the voice you hear every Sunday. See what you are missing if you don't come to the meet-ups?

Okay now to links to much of what we've been discussing the last few weeks:

Vegan for Life - this is the essential guide to living well on a vegan diet. I am a long-time fan of Jack Norris and Virginia Messina and mention them often on-air. Now they have put all the latest vegan nutrition advice in one book!

Mark Bittman on taxing junk food and subsidizing vegetables to feed people. I couldn't agree more!

Meat Eaters Guide to Climate Change and Health (interesting read for anyone interested in/worried about the environment). For those of us who like pictures, don't skip this graphic.

We've been talking a lot about local farmers markets. Like the Farmers Market on Historic N. 1st St., Market at the Square, Sustainable Student Farm on the U of I quad, etc.

My friends have started a mini CSC and weekly farm stand for their farm, The Mulberries Farm and Orchard.

We played a song last week from Dada Veda and hope to have him on the show in the near future.


We have several guests we need to schedule and we'll let you know when and who very soon!

Great Minds Think Alike

Two of the sources I site the most on FFT, both wrote about understanding nutrition research this week. Check out the post from Jack Norris, here, and Virginia Messina, here. I might have linked to Jack's before because it was posted a little while back, but worth a second looksie.

Another Link for You

We discussed the German E. coli outbreak, see here. Don't forget where E. coli comes from. Plants don't have E. coli without animal poop getting in the picture some how.

Can we all agree that intensive factory farming practices are harmful to everyone involved? Good. Let's abandon the insanity.

Interesting Links for Today's Show

Mark Bittman rounds up some "must read" articles about meat eating. Check out the link here. He is a big proponant of "less meat". While, I love my veg*ns, it is nice to have meat-eaters who espouse being more plant-based. I feel like Mark Bittman "gets it" in a way that Michael Pollan doesn't yet, but they both get people talking and that is important.

As if there weren't enough reasons to not eat fish (mercury, genetic-engineering, by-catch, environmental impact, human working conditions), now fish caught in US is sent to China then back. See link here.

New USDA food guide graphic. See here.

Vegan research subjects needed. See here.

Happy Mother's Day from FfT!

I hope everyone had an fun Cinco de Mayo! Meat-free Mike is giving me Mother's Day off, thanks Mike!! I'm sure he has lots of awesome stuff planned for you all this Sunday, so tune in. I'll be back the next Sunday to hopefully share some information my family has been learning about chocolate and sugar. A sweet show indeed! Don't miss it!

Josie's Radio Debut and Karma-free Dining

 Last week Meat-free Mike was busy bailing his basement after the Illinois monsoon so I recruited a new co-host, Josie, my three year old daughter. Josie shared her views on veganism, foods she enjoys, cooking tips, pitched for the WEFT Spring pledge drive, and much more. She loved her first time on air and has several fans already. We might have to ask her back again sometime.

We also replayed Mike's interview with the folks who run the Krishna dinners at The Channing-Murray Foundation. We highly suggest you check out the delicious Karma-free dining for a price that won't stretch your budget.

You never know what useful information we might be dishing out on Food for Thought, so don't miss it!

Spring Pledge Drive

Spring is in the air, people are planting gardens, cleaning house, and looking for worthy organizations to donate money. We can help you with the last one. WEFT is a non-profit community radio station and we depend on listener, like you, to keep us on the air. No donation is too little or too large. You can call in during Food for Thought today or donate online. I will be flying solo and I want to be available for your pledge call, so for most of the show I'll play Dr. Will Tuttle's Livving in Harmoney with All Life. If you have not heard about The World Peace Diet, you will want to listen to today's show. We'll also have the Common Ground Corner from our local food co-op.

Please show your support for YOUR community radio station today!!

On Tap Today

Some of the things we'll be covering of FFT today:

Passover the vegan way. Check out Alicia Silverstone's post from last year to for tips. Another great resource is Jewish Vegetarians of North America.

VegNews blues. Quarrygirl blew the whistle on doctored photos in VegNews. The news travels fast and even The New York Times covered the scandal. Some responses to this news can be seen here, here, and here. Listen today to see what we think. Leave a comment and tell us your reaction.

Other sad news for vegans this week was pregnant Natalie Portman's comments about eating dairy and eggs again. She has been a long-time vegetarian and went vegan after reading Eating Animals (reviewed previously on FFT).

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is finding it difficult to get their foot in the door of the LA school system. At the same time, Chicago schools ban homemade lunches.

Want to raise your HDL (good cholesterol), maybe dried apples could be a tasty solution.

I talked about the French couple who's baby died a couple weeks ago. Here is the link I promised to Virginia Messina's response.

The local humane society is taking donations for their garage sale benefiting homeless companion animals. They also need volunteers and of course people to come out and shop.

As the weather warms up, many people get ready for outdoor events. If you are including alcohol, you might want to consult barnivore to ensure your drinks are veg. Please drink responsibly!

Tune in for more on these stories and much, much more!

Last Sunday on FFT

Last Sunday, Steve Coxon was my guest on Food for Thought. We discussed veganism, favorite recipes, effective vegan activism, the veg scene in St. Louis, and much more. You can check out his link for his favorite vegan recipes and lots of other interesting things like his time in Malawi and Lego. It was great to meet Steve and his family and I appreciate him taking time out of his weekend visiting friends to come in a talk with me.

FFT on the Road

Both Mike and I traveled (in different states) a bit the last couple weeks and shared some of the restaurants they visited. Here are some links to the restaurants we covered:

Mellow Mushroom (ironically, we both went to a Mellow Mushroom, Mike in KY and Linda in NC) has been a great place for veg*n to eat for years. The Mega Veggie (without cheese for vegans) is always yummy, but they now have Daiya cheese as an option.

Deejai Thai is a mom and pop restaurant and the best Thai food in Charlotte, NC (at least of all the places we've tried). Easy to order a vegetarian entry and brown rice is available. The staff is helpful and while the ambiance is nice enough for a date night, children are welcome.

Common Market has two locations in Charlotte, NC and I recommend them both. They are little neighborhood convenience/specialty shops with a deli that makes me want to move south. Their vegan breakfast/brunch options are spectacular. I would kiss someone if they opened up a similar place in C-U!

Whole World Natural Restaurant and Cafe in Columbus, OH is a long established veg eatery. We had the pleasure of dining there for Sunday brunch. The portions were big, food was excellent, the vegan options were many. We will return again when we are in Columbus.

Anna Lappé Interview

This Sunday we will be airing Mike's Anna Lappé interview, for the first time. If you didn't get a chance to see her while she was guest in residence at Allen Hall, you won't want to to miss this interview!

Food for Thought - At the Movies

I promised two weeks ago, I would post a list of food related movies (and a couple more animal related, at the bottom of the list), which might interest our listeners. If you have a chance to watch some of these, we'd love to hear your reactions. If you have a favorite which isn't listed, let us know. You can click on the links to see trailers and/or information on the movies.

*Food, Inc. (we've talked about this one in the past, although I don't think it goes far enough, it is worth a viewing.
Food Fight
*The Future of Food
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
Earth Voice Food Choice
*Food Matters
*The Meaning of Food
Fast Food Nation (I've mentioned Eric Schlosser's nonfiction book on air and this is the fictional movie based on the book)
*King Corn (this is another one we've discussed on the show)
Our Daily Bread
Fed Up!
*Deconstructing Supper
Chow Down
*Super Size Me
I Am An Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA
*Change Your Food, Change Your Life
Vegan Cooking for Animal Lovers
Fresh

*The Cove
*The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

*These movies are available, at the time of my posting, to watch instantly on Netflix.

Anna Lappé to be in Residence at UIUC Allen Hall Next Week!

Heads up! Another wonderful guest at Unit One/Allen Hall on the UIUC campus next week! "Vegan" Linda and I hope to secure an interview with Anna to play on FFT Radio on a future broadcast.

Hope to see you at some of these sessions!

- "Meat-free" Mike

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Bestselling author on food politics, sustainable agriculture, globalization, and social change,
Anna Lappé will be a Unit One/Allen Hall Guest-in-Residence February 21-24 . All programs are open to the public and take place in the South Rec Room of Allen Hall, 1005 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana.

Monday, February 21 7pm - Hope’s Edge: Fighting Hunger, Building Communities Around the World Based on her extensive research travel, Anna Lappé shares stories of social movements addressing the root causes of hunger in Bangladesh, Brazil, Poland, Kenya, France, and here in the United States.

Tuesday, February 22 7pm - Eat the Sky: The Climate Crisis at the End of Our Fork and What We Can Do About It The food-climate connection, why and how food contributes to global warming, and what we can each do to support a climate-friendly food chain.

Wednesday, February 23 7pm - Froot Loops, Pop Tarts, and Big Macs: The Selling of Our Selves What role do the media and advertisements play in informing our taste buds? How does the food industry use media to shape our demand for certain foods? How can we be “food sleuths” and be equipped to be wise consumers of food—and media messages?

Thursday, February 24 7pm - Fresh Ideas: Grassroots Solutions to Creating Healthy, Sustainable, Affordable Food for All in the US A film screening of Ana Joanes’s documentary FRESH, will be followed by a discussion with Anna Lappé. The film and conversation will touch on on-the-ground efforts throughout the United States to address the underlying forces behind hunger and malnourishment in America.

Anna Lappé is a bestselling author and public speaker on food politics, sustainable agriculture, globalization, and social change. Named among the fourteen forward-thinking Who’s Who in Time Magazine’s Eco-Guide, Lappé and her work have been featured in The New York Times, Gourmet, O Magazine, OrganicStyle, and Vibe, among other publications. Lappé’s first book, Hope’s Edge, co-written with her mother Frances Moore Lappé, chronicles courageous social movements around the world that address the root causes of hunger and poverty. Her second book, Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, with chef Bryant Terry, offers readers ideas, hands-on tools, and menus to create healthy lives for themselves and their communities. Lappé has appeared on television on Fox, NBC, PBS, and the CBC in Canada, as well as numerous nationally syndicated radio programs, including National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, The Diane Rehm Show, and Talk to America. Lappé’s writing has been widely published in The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, and Canada’s Globe and Mail.

(Asian) Indian Cooking Class in C-U area!

Hey there fellow foodies!

"Meat-free" Mike here to let you know about a cooking class that'll be offered this Saturday, February 19, 2011! Sorry for the short notice...will try to keep y'all informed sooner next time. This sounds like a good chance to learn how to cook basic Indian vegetarian food! Note advance registration is required.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Shuchi has been teaching culinary skills across continents to people of all age groups and ethnicities for many years. We are offering an introductory class open to people of all age groups, ethnicities, and affiliations. You do not have to be a part of University of Illinois or Asha member to signup for this class.

PRICE: $20 for individual, $35 for couple.
TIME: 1130am - 200pm
DATE: Feb 19th, 2011 Saturday
LOCATION: AACC kitchen (Asian American Cultural Center, 1210 West Nevada Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801)
SIGN UP: email to uiuc@ashanet.org with confirmation to reserve your seat.

Suggestions:
Come in comfortable clothes ready to learn. There is free parking in the parking lot of AACC over the weekends. If parking by meters, make sure it says Saturday is free (I cant remember). Bring your cameras to take pictures. Teaching would be very relaxed and you may ask questions regarding the course selected for you, or other Indian recipes. The class is more on the lines of - instruction, demonstration, and tasting. At the end you will have fair understanding of the spices, their use, recipe of the cooked food.

Following things would be offered to the students:

Opportunity to learn basics of Indian cuisine and cooking in a small interactive group.
Taste the main course, and dessert (description below). Enjoy the drink khatta-meetha pana.
Detailed Menu and recipe so that you can follow the simple steps back at home.
Raw ingredients for purchase after the class (original grocery store price.)
Opportunity to make requests on what you want to learn for future classes.

Main Course
Chole - Chole are also known as Chickpeas or Garbanzo beans. This is a north Indian style of making Chole in mildly spicy curry of onion and tomato.

Shahi Pulav - A royal rice preparation; made with basmati rice, dry fruits and mildly flavored with whole spices.

Dessert
Meethi Seviyan (sweet vermicelli preparation) is a very delicious and quick dessert. Seviyan (vermicelli) is an Urdu word. In Indian cuisine it has come from Mughal period. For this recipe Seviyan are made in milk and garnished with dry fruits.

Apart from this, in drinks, Khatta-Meetha Pana would be offered to students. This is a sweet and sour drink made from mango, mint, herbs and spices.

To learn more about Indian cuisine, recipes, and your teaching Instructor, visit http://chezshuchi.com/. And stay tuned for future classes with Shuchi. Only 10 seats are available to keep this class small and interactive. Pass on the word to your friends you might enjoy this class!

Please signup by confirming your participation at uiuc@ashanet.org.

Palm Oil

Last week, Meat-free Mike and I discussed palm oil and some of the issues surrounding this product. Here are a few links you might want to read prior to this Sunday's show.

What is Palm Oil?

Cargill's Problems with Palm Oil

What's Wrong with Palm Oil

Palm oil: the biofuel of the future driving an ecological disaster now

Palm Oil Not a Healthy Substitute for Trans Fats, Study Finds

Cruel Oil

What I've Been Reading

Here are links to a coupe books I've read recently and talked about on Food for Thought. I highly recommend both books.

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safron Foer

I put off reading Eating Animals for a while because I have literally dozens of books on how "food" animals are treated. I really didn't think I would learn much and frankly, it is depressing. I was wrong to avoid this book. It is a great read and Foer addresses the issue as no one else. This book is interesting and has some humor mixed in with what can be an overwhelmingly sad topic. I hope anyone who has any interest in animals or food, veg or non-veg reads this book. I promise you will be glad you did.

Thanking the Monkey Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals by Karen Dawn

Karen Dawn is hip and fun. I see Thanking the Monkey appealing to the same crowd as Skinny Bitch (although, I have to admit, I still have not read this one). If you are interested in animal welfare, animal rights, activism, etc. or you think activists are crazy, I think you will really like this book. There are lots of quotes by famous people, pictures, cartoons, and funny (sometimes sexual, of course) comments splattered among all the hard information on how animals are treated in all aspects of our culture. Dawn leaves no stone unturned and covers animals in entertainment to animals used for "science". Lots of important information in a package which is easily accessible to everyone.

Happy reading everyone!