You may have caught my previous blog post rating airlines’ vegetarian and vegan meal options. If not, click here to 
check it out.
United Airlines recently unveiled their new meal-for-purchase options. The verdict? There’s not a vegan option in the line-up and only a few vegetarian options.
Vegetarian options include: granola & yogurt, breakfast muffin, a cheese plate, and a spinach salad (with blue cheese). How difficult would it have been to add a roasted red bell pepper wrap to the options? How about a tray of grapes and almonds? Overall, United still earns a D- in my rating book for veg-friendly options.
When flying a short-to-medium haul flight in the US, I generally pack some items to take onboard. The St. Dalfour “Gourmet on the Go” packs that I pick up at a local natural foods store are perfect (and delicious). LaraBars are generally in my carry-on bag, too.
In the next few weeks I’ll be taking five flights back and forth across the Pacific on Air New Zealand. I’ve ordered veggie meal options for all flights and will post a review on those in the weeks to come.
Maybe you read my previous review of POM Wonderful products here at VegNotes some months back. POM has a great, cheery, chirpy blogger — Molly — who provided me with some samples and asked me to review it here on VegNotes. I did and was honest, as always. Recently Molly sent me two bottles of POM Wonderful’s newest juice flavors: POM Kiwi and POM Nectarine. They haven’t hit the store shelves yet, so this was a bit of a preview.
Pom Kiwi -- even the cap color is cool.
Do you like POM juices? If so, listen to me. Start watching your store shelves for these two new flavors … especially the kiwi. I loved it. But I think you need to be one who likes the bite of pomegranate juice to begin with because that flavor and grab-the-sides-of-your-tongue effect is still there. But the softness and sweetness of the kiwi juice does wonders to make this a refreshingly sweet and clean juice.
POM Nectarine was also good. Honestly, I can’t tell the difference between peach and nectarine flavors. Some people can, I know. I can’t. And this is just me … peach-like flavors remind me of a time in my life (well, okay, one night in my life) when I hade wa-a-a-ay too many fuzzy navels … and my stomach kind of does a flip-flop with peachy kinds of drinks (or, in this case, nectariney flavored drinks). It was good and refreshing … but my heart belongs to kiwi.
The bad news: calories. This is juice, folks. It’s full of calories. Personally, I’d rather have the calories than artificial sweeteners. There are plenty of carbs here, too (again, this is juice!), but there’s also a nice dose of potassium.
Back to the positive: As a Californian, I’m happy that POM still uses 100% Californian pomegranates. This state’s in a fiscal race to the bottom. We can use all the help we can get. Thanks, POM!
Tags: juice, pomegranate, vegan
Gelatin. It’s nearly everywhere damnit. The product from boiled hides and hooves of our farm animal friends has caused me to give up Skittles, Noxema, Altoids, marshmallows … and gelatin desserts.
Well, that was then. Cool Cups is now.
Cool Cups are gelatin-free vegan gel desserts that are a surprisingly similar consistency to gelatin-based dessert cups. But the flavors in Cool Cups’ current three offerings are amazing. The black cherry rocks and the product doesn’t sit around in my fridge for very long. The peach-mango surprised me. Typically I’m not a mango fan at all, but I really liked these.
The one problem? These guys are hard to find. If you live near a Whole Foods, you’re in luck (but I couldn’t find them at Whole Foods in Canada, eh). You might also find them at a natural foods store or coop, but not the ones in my area of the Coachella Valley in California. See http://www.cool-cups.com/ for store location information.
If you like gelatin snacks … these will probably be as much of a hit with you as they were with me.
Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil
The good people at Tropical Traditions sent me a couple copies of their book (read below … you can win one!) and a big ole 32-ounce jar of their coconut oil. As I tell every product manufacturer when they ask me to review their product, I told Tropical Traditions I would be honest in my review. And I will be.
To start, I cringed a bit at the thought of using coconut oil in my food prep. Coconut oil to me was synonymous with things like heart disease, clogged arteries, obesity, etc. That’s where their book (and some of my own research) helped out. Before I even cracked up the lid to the jar of oil, I learned that there’s quite a bit of misperception out there about coconut oil. I won’t go into all of the research and assertions made on both sides about coconut oil’s benefits or evils. Suffice it to say, though, that my mind was changed … and I see coconut oil as a much better fat than many of the fats that are in far too many of today’s processed foods we buy at our markets.
What I was really concerned with, though, was how the product was going to taste and hold up in my kitchen. My first attempt: mayonnaise. Sorry vegans, I did use an egg yolk (but remember, I’m a lowly vegetarian). My results were unimpressive. I couldn’t get the mixture to emulsify. I used the recipe in their book, then I tried a batch using my own recipe with the same result. It was a drippy, runny mess. It tasted okay, though. I must admit, it may have had something to do with my preparation. I can’t be sure it was the oil.
Next, I tried to use the oil as a base for frying up some tempeh. I used Trader Joe’s tempeh, which I really like, cut into slices and placed in a saute pan with about 1.5 tablespoons of coconut oil. The smell as the tempeh cooked was fantastic. It gave off the nutty smell that tempeh usually gives off when cooking, but the coconut oil had a tropical, coconutty (go figure!) smell that was not over-powering, but nice nonetheless. I added some sliced sweet onions and green and yellow bell peppers and continued to saute. I finished with a some sweet Maui gold pineapple spears and cooked it for a bit longer, adding a dash of tamari. I served it over jasmine rice and was ready for my first bite. The tempeh fried up nicely and had an ever-so-slight tropical taste, especially in this Southeast Asian-inspired dish. I was pleased.
Finally, I tried the coconut oil out of the kitchen. I live in the desert and man, oh man do my heels crack in the dry heat here. I had read that coconut oil is excellent for the skin. So I applied it to my cracked heels. I’m always a little leery of store-bought heel creems … one had emu oil in it and I don’t even want to start to imagine how they collect emu oil. The coconut oil, applied nightly over a few nights, did a nice job of softening up my rough skin. Now if I could make it a nightly habit, I’d be better off.
Have you had some experience with coconut oil in or out of the kitchen? What’s been your experience? Post a non-commercial newsy comment about your thoughts/opinions and get a copy of the Virgin Coconut Oil book provided to me by Tropical Traditions (offer open to residents of the US only).
Tags: coconut, oil, vegan, vegetarian
Okay, I’m a pretty liberal and open-minded guy. I’m not opposed to bananas being used in a variety of interesting ways. But when I saw this (link) I about barfed. I mean, really. Bananas are so good, so tasty, so satisfying. Why ruin it with sliced pork carcass wrapped around it?!? I can think of no worse way to enjoy a nanner.
So, here, my friends is a list of much more animal-friendly ways to enjoy our favorite phallic-shaped fruit:
Banana Fritters … golden fried vegan delight
Bananas Tempura … similar to the fritters, but with panko bread coating. <Slup!>
Banana Flan … vegetarian and the banana liqueur alone makes this one sound delish.
Vegan Banana French Toast … sounds like a tasty Sunday morning treat
Banana Sticky Rice with Cinnamon Coconut Sauce … OMG, I can hardly finish writing this post; I want to try this right now.
Vegan Morning Glory Muffins … am not a muffin fan, but these actually sound pretty good
So now you know what to do with your banana. Just don’t wrap it in bacon, please. Thank you.
It happens all the time. I go to a farmer’s market or just the local grocery store’s produce section and I buy too many veggies. Inevitably, there are a few carrots, some herbs, an part of an onion, maybe half a pepper or two that sit at the bottom of my refigerator’s crisper just crying to be used. In the winter, I make stock like crazy and use it for soups and rice cooking. But soup is not something I’m craving in the California desert in the middle of summer. So this recipe is great. I can create my stock, then dry it for future use. I love it! You will, too!
Awhile back, I ran a survey on Vegnotes.com asking people:
1) Why they are vegan/vegetarian;
2) Whether they consider themselves a vegan/vegetarian activist; and
3) What issue(s) were more important to them than vegan/vegetarian issues.
The results are interesting:
On the question of what issues are more important than one’s veganism/vegetarianism, there were a myriad of responses. Although, 48% said that there are no other more important issue to them. Remaining responses included: Palestine, human rights/social justice, reducing animal suffering/animal rights, spirituality, breastfeeding, sustainability, world peace, family, gay rights, global ecology, HIV/AIDS, and enjoying life.
We are certainly a diverse group. I’m sure, too, that you could take any one of the responses and split that hair even more. What does unite us? Is it simply what we do/don’t eat? Even then, there are so many variations on what it means to be vegan or vegetarian. Instead, maybe it is a loose federation of interests that somewhat link us together and there is no strong bond that exists. We’re not a religion, we’re not a political party … so we don’t necessarily need the same dogma, doctrine, or platform … and I think that’s pretty great, really.
Tags: survey, vegan, vegetarian
In an article printed today in the Vancouver Sun, Stephen Hume asserts that the controversial seal hunt in northern Canada that is allowed (and, in some ways, even promoted) by the Canadian Government is a sort of necessity … because fruits and vegetables are just too expensive in that region. Says Hume, “The Arctic is extraordinarily poor in vegetal resources. The kind of diet that vegan animal rights enthusiasts espouse is simply unattainable, precluded by the prohibitive expense of importing alien foods to remote settlements” and that “wild meat, fish and fowl is a nutritious bargain …”
He also asserts that “a diet rich in sea mammals, caribou and migratory birds is the healthiest available.”
Lastly, Hume suggests that there are so many seals present in the Arctic that it doesn’t really matter how many are bludgeoned to death. He says, “There are 10 million seals in Canada and 50,000 Inuit. Seals outnumber Inuit by 200 to one. In the bigger picture, given the intolerance of the animal rights lobby, perhaps the Inuit deserve to be considered more at risk than the seals.”
Wow.
Hume’s assertion that orange juice and apple juice are just too expensive and that you can’t grow pineapple very well in the Arctic raises an interesting question for the Canadian government. In February, the government announced at $400 million program to assist Africa, which includes $72.5 million for food aid initiatives there. Further, Canada’s funding to sub-Saharan Africa rose by nearly 52% in 2008, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Now, I’m not suggesting that the Canadian government suspend economic and food aid initiatives to Africa. And I’m sure the Canadian government’s programs, like the Food Mail initiatve, are well-intended. I would suggest, though, that we not use the cost of humanely-attained food as an excuse in today’s modern world … anywhere. If governments can bail out banking systems and provide Coast Guard ships to cut through the ice for seal hunting activities, governments can (should) provide proper funding for their own people’s balanced nutrition.
And then there’s the claim that a diet rich in these mammals and fish is the healthiest around. Please. While their rates of heart disease and cancer may be low, I hardly think that the majority of dietitians would say that a diet high in meat consumption and low in fruit & vegetable consumption is the healthiest choice.
Of course, as Hume points out, there are just too many seals anyhow. Right.
While Hume’s article may tug at the heart strings of some who feel the Canadian government is being unduly targeted by animal rights organizations and governments around the world for what is otherwise a cultural experience, I want to remind us that the controversy is much more about the commerical seal hunt going on in Canada.
Earlier this month, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to ban the import of seal products from Canada: fur coats, bags, oil blubber, organs, and seal oil, which is used in some Omega-3 supplements. These commercially exported products are the fruits of the labor at the heart of this controversy. And while the Vancouver Sun article would like us to think the controversy is about taking away the only food supply left for the aboriginal Canadian people, it isn’t.
Tags: animal rights, Canada
