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July 3rd 2009

Ice Age Clip Proves It’s Hard To Make Dinosaurs Go Vegetarian

Filed under: film-tv, food & drink, movies — Michael Andre d'Estries @ 3:40 pm

The Ice Age computer-animated series of movies are great, but for me, the trailers that star Scrat — a fictional “saber-toothed squirrel” — are even better. I enjoy watching his unrelenting efforts to possess an always just-out-of-reach acorn. But I digress…

As you’ll see in this clip, Sid — one of the new characters from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (which opened this weekend) — “adopts” three apparently abandoned eggs; which unfortunately hatch into baby Tyrannosaurus the next morning. Eventually, the mother returns only to find Sid attempting to raise the babies vegetarian, saying it’s a “healthier lifestyle”. Hilarity ensues. Check it out below:

via vegetarianstar

June 30th 2009

Dennis Kucinich Celebrates Vegan Earth Day With A Special VEGGIE Message

Filed under: food & drink, green and famous, video — Michael Parrish DuDell @ 12:59 pm

I’ve interviewed many a famous face, but perhaps one of my favorite memories was chatting with Dennis Kucinich at the Farm Sanctuary Gala in 2008.

This guy is the REAL DEAL and absolutely ahead of his time.

On June 21st, the world’s first annual Vegan Earth Day Celebration was held at Pierce College in Woodland Hills California, and Mr. Kucinich delivered a special video message. 

In the clip below, Dennis says: 

“What does it mean to be a vegan? Well, I can share with you what it’s meant to me. When I made that decision back in 1995, I was in a different state of health. For many years I suffered from what some know as Crohn’s Disease and I was told that there was no cure for it. But by a vegan diet and by the use of Chinese medicine as an extra help, I don’t have a problem anymore.

I just want to tell you that for health reasons, for compassion for animals, there are many reasons that people can make that change.  And also for helping to save the planet. There are as many reasons why a person may be a vegan as there are vegans, I suppose. But for me it’s been one of the most important decisions in my life. It’s enabled me to have increased clarity and vitality, and its given me a joy of life that I can’t say that I really had when I had another diet that was weighing me down physically and spiritually.”

See what I mean? HE’S THE MAN!!

Check out the whole video and then head on over to GoVeg.com to get your free vegetarian starter kit.

June 30th 2009

The Green Quote: Quantum Wellness Author Kathy Freston Praises Meatless Mondays

Filed under: food & drink, green and famous — Michael Parrish DuDell @ 9:02 am

“I know that some vegetarians pooh pooh Meatless Monday as not enough. I’m sympathetic to that view, but I think it’s unnecessarily strident. For people who think that going totally vegetarian is too challenging, the Meatless Monday campaign offers a gentle entrée into the idea of eating without eating animals. My hope is that people will use the campaign as a stepping stone–first one meatless day per week, then three, then five, then seven. As we lean into meatless eating–switching out more and more meat meals for meatless meals–we end up feeling better, both physically and ethically.”

-One of our favorite veggie authors Kathy Freston writing about Meatless Mondays on HuffingtonPost.com. It might be worth noting that the Meatless Monday site recently got a fancy new upgrade. Wanna see for yourself? Visit MeatlessMonday.com and then head on over to HuffingtonPost.com to read the rest of Freston’s article.

via: vegetarianstar.com

June 29th 2009

Heather Mills Gets Down And Dirty Painting Her New Vegan Eatery

Filed under: food & drink — Michael Andre d'Estries @ 5:02 pm

Heather Mills is definitely putting some muscle power into getting her new vegan eatery ready to open next month. The former model turned animal rights activist and charity campaigner brought out a small army of friends to help with the renovations last Saturday — most of which appear to involve some fresh coats of paint. According to the Daily Mail, the “41-year-old appeared to be doing the bulk of the work as she rushed around with pots of paint, brushes and rollers.”

“They just think that it’s boring nut roasts and lots of hippy people who they think haven’t washed for months but they do, but that’s not what being vegan is about,” she told an audience at last month’s Brighton Foodies in East Sussex. “It’s about being animal friendly, saving the environment and the planet. The biggest contributor of global warming is the consumption of meat and dairy, but of course they are not going to tell you that.”

Check out some pics of Mills getting her eatery ready over at Cele|bitchy.

June 29th 2009

Stella McCartney Says Meatless Mondays Won’t Make You A Hemp Wearing Pot Smoker

So you'll just have to try harder to achieve that look.

Filed under: animals, campaigns, food & drink — Michael Andre d'Estries @ 9:49 am

“It’s ok to just give up meat for one day, it doesn’t make you a vegetarian if you hate vegetarians, it doesn’t make you a cranky, hemp wearing pot smoker. It’s alright, it’s allowed - it doesn’t make you a kind of the person you don’t want to be. It just means you are doing something positive.”

“If everyone gave it up on a Monday it would be more effective than everyone stopping driving their car on a Monday. We are not perfect. It’s so important to get that across because it’s like oh, those bloody Maccas, talking again about not killing cows! It is boring. But the reality is, I like to think I am trying to do my little bit. I will turn off a light when I leave a room; I will turn off a socket if I don’t want to be using the socket. And those are tiny little things.”

– Stella McCartney speaking with the UK Telegraph on her family’s new campaign to get people to go meat-free one day a week.

UK Telegraph via Vegetarian Star

June 25th 2009

Good Charlotte Goes VEG On Denny’s Rockstar Menu

Filed under: campaigns, food & drink, green and famous — Michael Parrish DuDell @ 8:23 am

Well there’s 4 words I never thought I’d use in one sentence: Good, VEG, Denny’s, Rockstar. But yes, it’s true! 

Good Charlotte recently teamed up with Denny’s to contribute a vegetarian burrito using Boca burgers for their new Rockstar Menu — a series of offerings created by some of the world’s most well-known musicians.

For any international readers who perhaps aren’t familiar with the paltry chain “restaurant”, let me try and help you understand. You know that dingy diner down the street that you only go to drunk at three in the morning to order french fries and sober up? This is Denny’s in a nutshell.

On Benji Madden’s twitter page, he says: “Kids when you order this, I want you to imagine that we’re back here, making it for you, with love.” Kinda creepy, but whatever. 

According to Denny’s website, the Boca Burgers they serve DO indeed have dairy in them — so vegans beware! 

Check out the video below and watch Good Charlotte get there VEG on!

via: vegetarianstar.com

June 23rd 2009

The Green Quote: Jeremy Piven Won’t Eat Seafood — Doesn’t Blame The Fish

Filed under: animals, food & drink — Michael Parrish DuDell @ 9:48 am

“I haven’t had a piece of fish since the doctor told me to lower my blood mercury level.”

“By the way, for the record, it’s the not the fish’s fault,” Piven says. “It’s a man-made problem. It’s all the mercury being dumped. Women shouldn’t eat tuna, especially when you’re pregnant.”

- Jeremy Piven announcing to People.com that he’s been fish-free for 10 months. Are you prego and still eating the stuff? Yikes! Visit AmericanPregnancy.org and find out why you should drop the habit!

June 23rd 2009

Moby’s NYC Vegan Restaurant “Teany” Gets Destroyed In Fire

Filed under: food & drink, green and famous — Michael Parrish DuDell @ 8:49 am

Bad news for all those tea drinking vegans on the lower east side. 

Late last week, Teany Cafe — an NYC vegan eatery co-founded by Moby —  was destroyed in a fire.  According to reports, an electrical fire ignited the vegan restaurant and gutted the building on Rivington Street.

Moby opened the joint in 2002 with this his then girlfriend Kelly Tisdale, and later turned it over to Tisdale exclusively. 

On his blog, Moby wrote:

 ”Apparently Kelly is working hard to repair it and get it re-opened. So there’s a good chance that Teany will re-open at some point in the next month or two.”

Woo! We’re happy to hear that the veggie restaurant will once again stand tall. Oh wait…I mean stand “Teany.”

June 22nd 2009

Andy Dick Leads PETA Protest Against McDonalds

Filed under: animals, food & drink — Michael Parrish DuDell @ 9:22 am

Oh Andy Dick — you so crazy! 

Andy recently suited up in his best clown outfit and joined a team of PETA members outside the Clark Street McDonald’s to convince the fast-food executives to switch their current method of chicken slaughter. 

McDonalds currently uses electric immobilization which is the pretty damn cruel conventional method of slaughter in North American poultry slaughterhouses. PETA is pushing McDonalds to switch to controlled-atmosphere killing —  A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-approved slaughter method that emoves oxygen from the birds’ atmosphere while they are still in their transport crates. 

Sounds a bit more humane to me!

Check out the video below and to see Andy Dick getting his protest on!

June 18th 2009

Che Guevara’s Granddaughter Goes Naked For Veggies

I can't wait for the t-shirts.

Filed under: animals, campaigns, food & drink — Michael Andre d'Estries @ 9:28 pm

For the first time ever, PETA is readying a campaign to promote vegetarianism in South America. How fitting then that the woman they chose to front it is none other than the 24-year-old granddaughter of Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

The animal rights group approached Lydia Guevara in recent months after finding out that she was vegetarian. In the ad, Guevara wears camouflage pants, a red beret, and bandoliers of baby carrots while standing with one fist on her hip and the other outstretched.

“It very much evokes the tag line of the ad, which is ‘Join the vegetarian revolution,’” PETA spokesman Michael McGraw told the AP. “It’s an homage of sorts to her late grandfather.”

The full print is expected to hit magazines and posters this coming October.

H/T Linton!