Meier at a VegFest in Massachusetts

I had the pleasure last year of meeting and recently interviewing Erica Meier, Executive Director of Compassion Over Killing (COK).  Vegan for the last 15 years, Meier leads a team of staff and volunteers highly dedicated to helping animals.

COK is a powerful voice for farmed animals, from ending the egg industry’s misleading “Animal Care Certified” logo to launching a pro-veg ad campaign featuring 30-second commercials on MTV stations nationwide to successfully urging BOCA to become a 100% egg-free company, said Meier.

Most recently COK hosted Maryland VegWeek, officially recognized by government officials. Several lawmakers pledged to go vegetarian for a week.

COK is excitedly collaborating with other like-minded organizations like APRL, Vegan Outreach, and Mercy for Animals for various campaigns and projects. COK is based out of Washington DC which has had a recent explosion of vegan options.  A few places Meier suggests are Sticky Fingers Bakery, Java Green, Toscana Grill, Great Sage, My Little Bistro, The Vegetable Garden, and Bread & Brew.

“Now that summer is around the corner, I love shopping at my local farmers market for fresh fruits and vegetables, especially leafy greens like kale, chard, and mustard greens. And I’m also a fan of vegan meats, like Gardein, Tofurky and Field Roast, which are thankfully available year round!” said Meier.

Some favorites cookbooks are The Conscious Cook (by Tal Ronnen), Veganomicon (by Isa Chandra Moskowitz), and How it All Vegan (by Sarah Kramer). She also recommends COK’s  Easy Vegan Recipes.

Meier congratulates those transitioning towards a vegetarian or vegan diet for their positive influence on their health, the environment, and lives of animals raised for food. Vegetarian eating offers a wonderful opportunity to expand our palates, and meat-free options have never been more plentiful in restaurants and grocery stores across the U.S., said Meier.  She suggests encouraging a friend or family member to join you as you try new foods, or consider joining a local Meetup or Vegetarian Society to meet other vegetarians and vegans in your community.

Marie Oser

I first heard of Marie Oser, best-selling author, writer/producer and host of VegTV 15 years ago. I’d been a vegan for only a few years, and bought one of her vegetarian cookbooks called Luscious Low-fat Desserts to learn how to make sweet things without dairy or eggs.

The mission was accomplished, and years later Oser continues to impress with all her pursuits!  She has written more vegetarian cookbooks — Soy of Cooking, More Soy Cooking and The Enlightened Kitchen — and has been a columnist for Vegetarian Times Magazine and other publications.  As President of VegTV for the last 10 years, Oser has  interviewed famous vegetarians including Persia White, Alec Baldwin and Alicia Silverstone, and has traveled to India and beyond.

Currently VegTV is in production with The Enlightened Kitchen, a popular webisode airing in 2010 on a major cable network. Oser is writing her fifth book and is a primary blogger for Ecomii.com, a green lifestyle website. She also has plans to launch vegan and Fair Trade Certified products called “Marie Oser’s Lean and Green” through Smart Planet Kitchen.

To boot, she’s an organic gardener and works with Southern California Labrador Retriever Rescue. Is there anything this woman does not do?

When asked what fuels her to do so many veggie-friendly projects, Oser said, “I am driven to influence consumers to consider a plant-based vegetarian diet through my books, features, blogs, products, videos and TV projects. I hope to strike a chord with my readers and viewers with clear and concise reasoning, great-tasting meals and information about new and exciting plant-based products. VegTV mantra:  Good for you; Good for the planet.”

Oser continued, “Mainstream consumers are interested in eating vegetarian more often, these days. It is less expensive than a meat-centered diet and they have heard that vegetarians weigh less and are more healthy. I am confident that this trend will continue and that consumers will become increasingly aware of what their food actually is and where it originates. It is my hope that, not too far into the future, eating animal products will be a thing of the past.”

Follow Oser on Twitter.

From left: Kramer, Redcross, me, and Scott

Vegan and vegetarian cookbooks are all the rage now, but How it all Vegan, with 1/4 million copies sold, is one of the originals known for making vegan cuisine accessible and easy for newcomers. The book’s 10th anniversary was celebrated at a benefit held by Compassion Over Killing and Positive Television. Sarah Kramer, who co-wrote the cookbook with Tanya Barnard, was honored at the event held at 2HeadedHorse Production/Art Studio in Los Angeles, which has recently been hosting numerous vegan events.

Kramer’s sassy, down-to-earth personality shined as she autographed books and 2010 GO VEGAN wall calendars full of fun photographs. Many dedicated folks making their mark in the vegan world attended, including Shaun Monson who made the film Earthlings, Stephanie Redcross who markets vegan and vegetarian businesses via Vegan Mainstream, Carolyn Scott of Healthy Voyager,  and others.

After writing four vegetarian cookbooks, Kramer told the group she will pursue different projects. With mixed feelings, she discussed with the audience that which can’t be ignored — veganism is suddenly becoming a fad, and vegan and vegetarian cookbooks are everywhere, including the top 100 list on Amazon.com. Kramer is concerned the conversation is more about getting skinny than about helping the animals.

“Ellen’s talking about it and Oprah’s talking about it (veganism) – it’s freaking me out,” she said.

Still, the attendees enjoyed the company and inspiration of Kramer and others sharing the same passion, and dined on delicious vegan cuisine – some of it raw – provided by Veggie Grill, Happy Veggie, Cinnamon Vegetarian Restaurant, The Spot, and SunPower Natural Cafe.

Kramer Jokes with the Audience

Kath Rogers and Annie

Kath Rogers became a vegetarian at age 9, when as an only child very bonded to her dog, she felt like animals were meant to be friends.  At 13, she looked up “animal rights” on the Internet, realized eggs and dairy involved cruelty to animals, and became a vegan.

“Once you know (about cruelty), then it’s a conscious choice,” said Rogers, 24.

In 2003, at just 19, she co-founded a non-profit, Animal Protection and Rescue League (APRL), with her husband Bryan Pease as Pro Bono Attorney. Now volunteering at APRL, Rogers is also a full-time student finishing her Bachelor’s degree.

Today, APRL is powered by seven employees and about 50 active volunteers.  Through APRL, five California cities passed resolutions regarding foie gras. Pease spearheaded the passing of a state law allowing the seals to stay at the Children’s Pool in La Jolla, and APRL urged the City of San Diego to install hundreds of educational signs about feeding squirrels leading to unnecessary poisoning. Rogers and company led one of the largest signature-gathering efforts to support Proposition 2, setting more humane standards for confining farm animals. Persistence was the key to making a big impact.

In early 2009, Rogers was one of the activists featured in VegNews article “20 Under 30.”

“If you have confidence, you can make change. In the coming generations, we’ll see a vegan world. Most social movements have seen that a small percentage leads the rest of society to do the right thing,” Rogers said.

To fuel her body for her busy life, Rogers mainly eats fruits, vegetables, beans, and grains – from teff and quinoa to amaranth and millet. Another daily boost is her smoothie with frozen mangos/berries/spinach, spirulina, acai, hemp, soymilk, and cocoa. A favorite meal is blended cashew cream over rice noodles with tempeh bacon.

She suggests people wanting to become vegetarian or vegan try new foods at the grocery store, and explore cookbooks like How it all Vegan and recipes at vegcooking.com.

Market in Ecuador

As the weather gets colder and soup cravings begin, one book stares out from the shelf after years of enticing me with nurturing meals — May All Be Fed: Diet for a New World by John Robbins. Since a pivotal point on my lifelong veggie adventure was contributing to the Healthy School Lunch Action Guide at EarthSave, my copy of May All Be Fed autographed by John Robbins has accompanied me through numerous lifetimes.  The book review below, written when working at Amazon.com in the late 90s, still rings true today.

With a more personal style than Diet For a New America, John Robbins teaches us about the production and consumption of meat, chicken, fish, dairy and eggs. What I like about this book is how he comes from a spiritual rather than statistics-only perspective. Robbins encourages us to remember the simple health-nourishing habits like giving thanks and chewing your food slowly, those simple things we can easily forget in our modern ironic eat-quick-so-you-can-make-it-to-yoga-class lifestyles. I especially like the “What You Can Do” section, inspiring readers to educate themselves and others, giving tips on shopping/ cooking healthy foods and a listing of resources.

Jia Patton’s recipes make the book for me. I had the privilege of taking some of her cooking classes with gourmet vegan food which melts your taste buds in its richness and diversity of flavor. In May All Be Fed, Jia abolishes stereotypes of vegan food being bland. Every time I have made the “Cream of Broccoli Soup” for friends they ask for the recipe and love it, deservedly so, with its creamy cashew base. The “Spinach Tofu Quiche” is wonderful too (people don’t seem to miss the dairy); the “Plum Cobbler” feels healthy yet satisfies the sweet tooth going down. I recommend this book for anyone who is open to learning about the vegan diet, and who enjoys cooking and eating fulfilling and jazzy meals.