Peta Boycott Canadian Maple Syrup Tour

From July 6-10 I joined Peta for their Pennsylvania tour for the Boycott on Canadian Maple Syrup to bring an end to Canada's annual seal slaughter. We did four demonstrations in Scranton, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia. The Scranton demo was rather quiet and had very little media coverage, probably due to the fact that it was raining right up until we started at noon and began raining again just after we finished. At the Pittsburgh demo the media was there right when we arrived. The Harrisburg demo had a couple different media sources and one additional activist came out to join us. Philadelphia was by far our best demo as we had four additional activists show up. We also had several media sources come to the demonstration including TV and radio anchors. The photo above is from our Pittsburgh demonstration. Jena and Michael were awesome and I really hope I get to do demos again with them in the future.

Overall I would say the demonstrations went really well and got better and better each day. One of the other great things about the tour was some of the awesome restaurants we got to try. We ate at Govinda's to go Vegetarian Restaurant in Philadelphia for lunch on both Monday and Friday. I had the Yellow Split Pea soup on Monday and the Red Bean Soup of the Day on Friday, both were delicious. On Tuesday we had lunch at Taco Bell which was an experience, but I got some sort of salad with beans. Tuesday night we ate at the Double Wide Grill in Pittsburgh which I was totally skeptical about because of the name, but they label everything that is vegetarian, vegan, and wheat free on their menu which is awesome. I got the Cal-i-forn-i-a Salad with no tomatoes or dressing. The salad had lettuce, avocado, red onions, portabella, grapes, pears, and sunflower seeds and was delicious! Wednesday we had Denny's for breakfast so I had grits and fruit salad. For lunch we stopped at Kiva Han in Pittsburgh and I got the hummus & veg sandwich without the bread and the house salad with no dressing or almonds. Kiva Han also labeled vegan items on their menu. For dinner we went to Miyako in Harrisburg which was a Japanese restaurant. I got the avocado roll and vegetable soba soup without the tofu. I had never tried soba soup before but have been meaning to since soba is gluten free and I really enjoyed it. Thursday night we at the the Black Olive in Philadelphia, and it is definitely my new favorite restaurant! Their entire menu is vegan, they don't fry anything, like only use sesame oil and olive oil and are willing to switch which oil they use or omit the oils on request. The staff was extremely friendly and encouraged me to ask questions, whereas most restaurants get annoyed with all my questions about ingredients. I got the Black Olive Gourmet Burger without the bun and tomato and with no dressing on the coleslaw. It was absolutely delicious! For dessert I got lemon sorbet and it was equally amazing! I definitely plan on going back the next time I'm in Philadelphia.

Apple Pancakes

Hodgson Mill sells Apple Cinnamon Muffin Mix that is gluten free and that can be used to make some really tasty pancakes. There is a recipe on the back of their box but I have to tweak it a bit to fit my allergies and vegan lifestyle. I've only made it in half batches but I'm sure it would work just fine making the whole batch at once. For a half batch I use:

-1/2 Box Hogson Mill Apple Cinnamon Muffin Mix
-1/2 cup Rice Milk (plus a tad extra)
-EnerG Egg Replacer for 1/2 an egg (3/4 tsp EnerG + 1 Tbsp warm water)
-1 and 1/2 tsp water (instead of vegetable oil, but I'm sure it would work the same with oil)
-1 Tbsp + 1 tsp sugar

I combine the muffin mix, water, and sugar first then mix in the milk and egg replacer. The box says to cook them on a griddle, I just do it on a frying pan and it works just fine. There is a touch of an apple taste but it isn't that strong, I'm thinking about putting fresh apples into the mix next time.

McCruelty Petitioning and Protest

So last Friday, June 26, I focused on Peta's McCruelty campaign. I started the day with petitioning in D.C. with Peta2. Regina, Peta2's D.C. coordinator, and Ryan, Peta2's college coordinator, organized the petitioning in McPherson Square where the Animal Liberation Project was temporarily set up. Although this location was less than ideal for petitioning since most of the people walking through the area were business people rushing on lunch break or homeless people giving us a hard time we did collect a good number of signatures and explained our cause to everyone willing to listen. I also got to walk through the Animal Liberation Project, which was great because I had heard about it but hadn't seen it yet.

After the petitioning I drove up to Philly and did a demonstration at a McDonalds in South Philly. We had ten activists, including one in a chicken suit which attracted a lot of attention from everyone driving by. If the chicken suit didn't catch their attention our posters were sure to. We had a graphic poster of a chicken reading "Scaled Alive", as well as others that read "Boycott McDonald's Cruelty", "Broken Legs and Wings", and "McCruelty, I'm Hatin' It". We also gave out free UN-happy meals. My next McCruelty event will be a huge demonstration in D.C. that is being filmed for a documentry on July 11.

Olympic Shame Day

Last Tuesday, June 23, I organized an Olympic Shame Day Demo for the Canadian Seal Slaughter that was held at the Canadian Consulate in Philadelphia, PA. It was the first demo I've ever organized and it was a great experience! Peta sent me several posters and a stack of leaflets, and I made several posters as well. A fellow activist had told me that creating posters was like therapy to her, and I couldn't agree more. Ten activists showed up for the demonstration, and for the most part everyone was really receptive and willing to take leaflets and even talk to us about the cause, which was awesome. I'm doing a tour through Pennsylvania with Peta for the boycott of Canadian Maple Syrup to stop the Canadian Seal Slaughter next week, so I'll let you know how that goes!

Sunshine Burgers = Amazing

So I am absolutely in love with sunshine burgers. They are one of the few kinds of vegan veggie burgers that are soy free and gluten free out there. I have only tried the original and garden herb but both were fantastic! I personally like to eat them Food for Life Brown Rice toast, since I have yet to find a hamburger bun that I can actually eat. In addition to original and garden herb they sell barbecue, southwest, falafel, and breakfast, so I'll let you know how they are once I try them! All of their burgers are vegan, soy free, and gluten free!

Philly Zoo "Zoobilee" Demo

So I went to my first zoo demonstration tonight. The Philly Zoo hosts a "fundraiser" every year called "Zoobilee" that actually LOSES money every single year yet they continue to host it. Just over a year ago, one of their elephants, Petal, died after collapsing at 4am and being unable to rise for 5 hours until she finally died at 9am. Her necropsy report showed that she was suffering from undiagnosed arthritis and a chronic heart condition. The arthritis was so severe in her hips, elbows, and knees that it prevented her from rising. These conditions are only found in zoo captive elephants; they are never found in elephants in the wild. The Philadelphia Zoo is currently planning on sending its two remaining elephants, Bettie and Kallie, to a breeding facility. Both Bettie and Kallie are 27 years old and breeding for the first time at their age is not only unlikely to happen, but also puts them at an increased risk of health problems. Through petitions, it is our goal that the Philadelphia Zoo will decide to send Bettie and Kallie to a sanctuary instead.

Grilled "Cheese" for the Kids at Heart

As a soy-free vegan I've never tried any cheese alternatives, up until now, because almost all of them are soy based. However, I recently decided to attempt to make grilled cheese. Considering I despise every gluten-free bread I've ever tried, I was skeptical about how it would turn out. I was pleasantly surprised to actually like it!

For the grilled "cheese" I used Kinnikinnick's Sunflower Flax Seed Bread and Galaxy Nutritional Foods American Flavor Rice. I cooked it using a George Foreman Grill, the cheese melted great, and the bread grilled great! I made Ian's Alphatots and steamed broccoli with it. For those of you who have never heard of Ian's check out their website here, they have a lot of allergy friendly foods that actually taste good!