Mark your calendars and ensure your presence at the next NCVA pub night!
The Lieutenant’s Pump venue has various veg*n options on their menu for those who come with an appetite.
PLEASE RSVP if you are coming to the event since we must reserve a spot for you in advance! Email us at ncva.avcn (at) gmail.com (don’t forget to replace the @ symbol where needed) to confirm or join the Facebook event.
(You can’t go wrong with veg*ns and beer.)
Thursday, March 24 from 6:30pm-9:30pm at 361 Elgin St.
By Pamela
The third annual Go Green Expo is this coming weekend (March 19 and 20) at Lansdowne Park, and for the first time the NCVA will be participating as an exhibitor.
This interactive two-day show is dedicated to providing consumers with the latest information, environmentally friendly products and services, and alternatives that are available for going green and helping the planet one step at a time. The NCVA will be there to promote the many benefits of plant-based diets, including the environmental ones. Even the United Nations is calling on people to adopt plant based diets to avoid environmental catastrophe (read this article for additional information.)
It’s a fabulous opportunity for us to reacher a wider audience, and benefit from the publicity leading up to the show. We are hoping to do our traditional vegan cookie outreach, so if you’re able to help us out swing by the table with your contribution so that we can show as many people as possible that vegan = delicious. Or, just come by to say hello, talk to NCVA volunteers, or become a member.
In addition to exhibiting, the NCVA has two volunteers giving food demonstrations at the Taste of Green Cooking Theatre. On Saturday at 2:15 the NCVA’s Deb Gleason will demo Veganize Your Brunch: Learn How to Prepare French Toast, Omelets & Tofu Chocolate Cheesecake and on Sunday also at 2:15, Erin O’Sullivan will demo A Vegan Dinner: Spicy Peanut Soup, Curried Vegetable Pie & Orange Sweet Potato Cake With Raspberry Sauce.
Vegans will have a strong presence at the Taste of Green Cooking Theatre; Ottawa’s beloved Auntie Loo will also be presenting on both Saturday and Sunday at 1:30, and SimplyRaw’s Natasha Kyssa will be presenting on Saturday at 3:30. Auntie Loo’s demo is called Gluten Free Vanilla Lemon Cake: Cooking Without Dairy, Eggs or Wheat Products and Natasha’s is SimplyRaw, Simply Delicious…Finally Real Foods!
Admission is free, but donations to WaterCan in celebration of World Water Day are encouraged.
The NCVA is very happy to have secured VegNews columnist Dr. Kerrie Saunders, MS, LLP, PhD as our third Veg Fest speaker.
Dr. Kerrie Saunders MS, LLP, PhD is the author of “The Vegan Diet as Chronic Disease Prevention” (Lantern Books), a must-have resource for anyone serious about health. This physician-patient resource book was published in 2003 and is currently in its third printing.
She began her career in 1987 as a Master’s level clinical psychologist. After post-graduate work in research at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, she earned her Doctoral degree in Natural Health.
Dr. Saunders is one of four Global Diabetes Moderators for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. She is an internationally known presenter and author with work featured in numerous newspapers, magazines, e-zines, and on radio. She has presented to audiences from Hawaii to Toronto, and her popular advice column “Dear Dr. Kerrie” has been regularly featured in the award-winning vegan lifestyle magazine, VegNews.
While working as the Food and Fitness Consultant at the McIntyre Health Center for Integrated Medicine, she earned the nickname, “Dr. Food.” Dr. Saunders teaches clients and medical professionals to use controllable lifestyle factors like food and fitness to help prevent or reverse food cravings and many chronic disease processes like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, IBS and obesity.
At Veg Fest, Dr. Saunders’ presentation will be about using diet as a method of disease prevention. For more on her visit www.drfood.citymax.com/
Although we had to change venues last minute and we arrived to half the number of tables we had reserved at Ahora restaurant for the pub night, it was, as expected, a huge success. Clearly, little will deter veg*ns from social drinking and Mexican food. The atmosphere was cozy. The restaurant was packed. And we dominated the booth section, to the extent that we had to ask some omnis to move to another table to accommodate our significant numbers.
Some expressed disappointment that Burrito Borracho hadn’t finished its renovations in time to host us, but hopefully the knowledge that they will be ready soon and that I plan to have an upcoming pub night there once they are should alleviate any long term symptoms of related sadness.
In any event, we made up for it easily at Ahora restaurant with plenty of conversation and good times, even if you may have had to sit on the lap of another veg*n stranger in the beginning. The initial forced intimacy of the event only helped develop the ongoing relaxed atmosphere later. Well, that and the beer.
If you sadly missed out on this pub night, stay tuned for the next one. I can’t imagine coping with missing two in a row.
So you think you bake Ottawa’s best vegan cupcake?
Well now’s your chance to PROVE IT!
On May 1st Ottawa’s best bakers of vegan cupcakes will face-off in the NCVA Cupcake Challenge.
Our panel of culinary experts will judge your cupcakes on flavour, appearance and creativity.
The grand prize is an opportunity to partner up with Mandi from Auntie Loo’s treats (http://auntieloostreats.blogspot.com/) and have your cupcake available at her shop as well as all over Ottawa where Auntie Loo’s cupcakes are sold for one week. The winner will also receive a vegan friendly gift basket.
All you have to do to sign up is send an email to ncvacupcakechallenge@gmail.com with your name, email address and phone number. We’ll get in touch with you after with all the details.
Join our facebook group for even more info and news. Just search for NCVA Cupcake Challenge.
This is sure to be an AWESOME event!
Next week: We’ll introduce you to the judges right here on the NCVA blog!
NCVA Cupcake Challenge – Part of the 3rd annual Veg Fest festivities
When: May 1 2011
Where:
Glebe Community Centre
175 Third Avenue (corner of Third Avenue and Lyon Street South)
By Erin
Today is my birthday, but since Neil went to such incredible lengths on my belated Valentine’s Day breakfast, I thought I’d spare him having to make me a birthday cake.
I suggested that we instead get a few cupcakes from the new cupcake place on Bank Street – rumored to have several clearly marked vegan varieties daily.
So we suited up the dogs and off we went.
I’d already checked Thimble Cakes out online, so I wasn’t surprised by the loveliness of the shop itself. It really is a fantastic space, whose high ceilings and French decor give it the air of a Parisian loft owned by someone far more stylish than me.
The staff were vey friendly, so much so that I can even forgive one fellow’s tittering assertion that my dogs are “weird looking.”
I was a bit disappointed that the vegan flavours of the day were not more exotic. Chocolate, Vanilla, Banana Vanilla and Chocolate Coconut. I cast a sad eye on the rather more interesting non-vegan offerings like Strawberry Cheesecake. There were a couple of other vegan ones, but they were gluten and sugar free, respectively, which caused me to scowl so hard that I think I unnerved my server a bit. She did come to their defense – but cautiously, possibly fearing I’d make a scene.
So I guess there’s not much else to do now but tell you how the cupcakes were.
They were good. They were really good. In fact, apart from the crunchy sprinkles, which detract from the texture of a cupcake more than they add to its appearance, they were pretty much perfect.
And that’s saying a lot given how fully prepared I was to utterly trash them out of loyalty to Auntie Loo.
But alas, I cannot. The new kid on the block is a true contender for the prize of best vegan cupcake in town.
Not that I’d advise Auntie Loo to start shaking in her saddle shoes, of course…but I smell a cupcake war in the air, and it does smell fine.
By Erin
When Neil and I walked into Vitae-Mine,
a build-your-own sandwich and salad bar in the heart of downtown Ottawa, I felt almost like I was walking onto a beach boardwalk in Miami. The palette is pure citrus, and the high ceilings and bright lights give the impression of a clear, sunny sky.
The feeling was entrenched as we perused the colourful display of fresh sandwich and salad fixings and were greeted by one of the near gleeful “sandwich fabricators.”
My lunch was prepared by owner Marc, whose previous gig at a coffee shop had him weighing in at 240 pounds, but whose year and a half at Vitae-Mine have whittled him into a svelte stunner whose teeth are apparently polished daily by angels.
I had a spinach salad with miso ginger dressing and marinated tofu, as well as a “booty shaker” smoothie. Neil had a veganized sumo tofu sandwich, a “bossa nova” smoothie and a B-goods cookie.
Now, you know how I feel about salads that are not wrapped in rice paper or bread or pizza, but I thought that I really should try the salad since it was sort of Vitae-mine “in the raw.” If the dressing was bland, if the greens were limp, if the tofu was mushy, there’d be no hiding it.
I’m pleased to report that none of these deficiencies were evident. The dressing was interesting – spicy, which was unusual and neat. The tofu was tasty and had that neither too-soft-nor-too-leathery texture that is surprisingly hard to achieve. The spinach was also unusually good – noticeably less bitter then most of the stuff I’ve bought of late.
Neil’s meal was even better – it was basically the same thing I had, only piled upon a crusty (in the good way) and seedy (also in the good way) roll.
My smoothie beat out Neil’s, though. The booty shaker was far more flavourful than the bossa nova, and earned Marc a lecture by me on the merits of stevia extract.
On the whole then, Vitae-Mine is a great place for the sort of veg*n lunch which is hearty enough to be satisfying, while healthy enough to entitle you to something smothered in Daiya for dinner.
I should note that Vitae-Mine’s menu is a bit deceiving, actually containing no vegan options. I can state with certainty, however, that the staff are well-aware of what “vegan” means, and that they’ll happily accommodate us by swapping in tofu and nuts for meat and cheese. Also, all of their salad dressings are vegan!
What’s more, owner Marc is keen to respond to the needs of his customers. He’s expanded the restaurant to include both a smoothie and a coffee bar, as well as a number of gluten-free options. He’s eager to understand us veggies better and is slated for a consultation with our restaurant outreach program.
So if you work downtown, take advantage of your NCVA member discount and head to Vitae-Mine for a sammich and a smoothie; and maybe take a second to tell the staff how they might attract more vegan customers. In fact, tell Marc himself, if only for a glimpse of those pearly whites :).
In the time since this post was written, Trella restaurant has closed.
Hi all:
Just a brief note to tell you that Trella is not serving pancakes and french toast for brunch after all. Those items are proving a bit harder to work in, requiring new recipes etc. rather than simple swaps. We’ll see if we can get them back on the menu in the future. In the meantime, Trella still does have a some vegan breakfast options. But Cafe My House or The Imperial are going to have to give you your vegan pancake/french toast fix for now.
I’ll keep you posted!
Riding on the success of the inaugural pub night, we have planned to have another one in less than two weeks. A.k.a. you now have plans for Thurs. Feb. 24, 2011 after work/school. So come and be a part of this new movement of vegetarian pub-goers who are not only trend-setters, but pretty fabulous at any rate.
In support of the NCVA Restaurant Outreach program, we are duly holding the upcoming pub social at Burrito Borracho in Byward Market. This new Mexican restaurant has just been newly renovated and is bound to impress with a brand new liquor license and everything on their menu prepared to be veganised. Who wants delicious Mexican grub and beer? Todos nosotros!
So, mis amigos, below are the details to note in your social agenda:
To RSVP, please check out the NCVA Facebook event page. Hope to see you there!
By Kim
A couple of weeks ago Oprah aired an episode about she and her staff taking a one week challenge to be vegan. Great! I am happy that such a respected and well-watched celebrity would do something like that, and bring veganism to a wide audience. I missed most of the show and only caught the ending so I went to her website so check out some clips and see what she had up. It was great, for the most part, but I do have a few critiques.
Firstly it is presented as a challenge, which reinforces the misconception that eating a vegan diet is difficult. I recently had some colleagues ask me about what kind of meals they should start with or where they can take their reluctant spouse out to eat to show them that animal-less food really can be delicious. While it can be a steep learning curve, there are tonnes of resources out there and it gets easier with practice. The NCVA has a very thorough business directory, for example:
Sometimes, I ask them to think about what they ate for their past few meals. Then, I asked them to eat that without meat/cheese/eggs. Sometimes you can’t just remove the animal product, but you need to replace it with something. Kathy Freston, author of The Veganist and the driving force behind Oprah’s challenge, had some good substitutes on Oprah’s Web site. The NCVA also has a thorough listing of substitutions, including ratings and where to buy them. The hard work has already been done for you!
The grocery list on Oprah’s site is a bit ridiculous. How many of us have the funds to support such a crazy grocery bill? You don’t need to buy organic to be vegan. Although, it is sometimes healthier for you and the planet (only if the food doesn’t travel 2000-km to get to you), it’s a little unreasonable of Oprah to mostly include organic brand names on her shopping list. The last time I checked, normal Heinz Ketchup or even No-Name is just as vegan as Annie’s Natural Organic Ketchup!
If we want everyone to consider a vegan lifestyle, we should include things that everyone has access to. How many of us have regular access to a Whole Foods? No, most of us shop at the local Food Basics and pick up the specialties at Market Organics, Herb and Spice, or Rainbow Foods. While many vegans make an effort to buy organic, it is not accurate to imply that eating vegan requires buying only expensive organic specialty products.
So, I suggest doing your research as to what you can afford and what you want to spend on food. Something that I always tell people is that it’s much cheaper to buy dried beans and rehydrate them yourself than to buy the canned stuff. It is also healthier because there is less sodium. Organic tofu is cheaper than almost any meat out there. And lentils are very cheap, but a nutritional powerhouse.
For more info speak to a vegan friend, colleague, or an NCVA volunteer. We can steer you in the right direction. Just email us at ncva.avcn@gmail.com.
VegOttawa Association 