By Josie Moody, VO Office Manager

They say dogs are a man’s—or woman’s!—best friend, and here at Vegan Outreach we consider ourselves a best friend to animals. Our new collar combines the best of both worlds! Show your favorite furry friend how much you care about all animals by ordering one here today!

The VO collar is:

• black synthetic webbing with woven VO logos;
• includes side release buckle, slide adjuster, and D-ring hardware;
• 3/4″ wide and 12″ to 20″ long (size medium);
• made in the USA;
• $12, plus shipping.

(A very special thanks to our adorable model, Tiger!)

By Lisa Rimmert, VO Director of Development

I don’t consider myself a sentimental person, but boy do I love a good wedding. What’s even better? A vegan wedding!

On May 21, 2016, VO donor and volunteer, Corinna Fish, celebrated a vegan and green wedding with her now-husband Chad Stockdale in Sacramento, CA. We asked Corinna to tell us about it, and I think you’ll love how they incorporated VO into their special day. We certainly did!

Lisa Rimmert: Tell us about yourself, Corinna.

Corinna Fish: I’m a proposal writer for the University of California – Davis. When my hands aren’t typing, they’re pressed against my yoga mat or crafting—I love crochet, embroidery, and paper crafts.

Lisa: How did you become involved in animal protection?

Corinna: My best friend became vegan when we were teenagers, and in my early twenties I had a vegan roommate who was an incredible chef and baker. I didn’t know how to cook at all, so I lucked out in that she helped me with my first vegan cooking attempts, and everything she made turned out delicious. She also had a lot of animal rights literature, including Vegan Outreach booklets, that influenced me.

To be honest I’m only vegan when it comes to grocery shopping and cooking at home—I’m still flexitarian at family holiday gatherings and when I’m dining out with friends or coworkers. But part of the reason I support VO is because its work made me realize I can still help animals even if I’m not a perfect vegan. And staying involved with VO inspires me to keep striving toward a completely cruelty-free diet.

Lisa: How did you first get involved with VO and what inspires you to donate and volunteer?

Corinna: In my early twenties I struggled with wanting to be 100% vegan and activism burnout. Around 2004 I read most of what VO had published up to that point and the essays were a huge influence on me, especially the ones about working toward a vegan world instead of a vegan club and making the movement as effective as possible. I appreciated the transparency and solid analysis behind choosing to focus on leafleting, and I really trust that my donation dollars are having the maximum impact on ending animal suffering.

Lisa: You got married this summer. Congratulations! Will you tell us why and how you incorporated VO into your special day? What did your guests think?

Corinna: It was important to Chad and me to have a green wedding, so we looked into purchasing carbon offsets. But after some research we decided they weren’t very effective. So we used a carbon footprint calculator, which also provides a suggested offset cost, and donated that amount to Vegan Outreach instead. We included a short explanation of why we did that on our wedding website, along with a link to VO’s Diet and Global Warming article.

We also displayed a small sign near the guestbook to let guests know we made donations to Vegan Outreach and another animal organization we support. That sign hangs in our house now and is one of our favorite keepsakes from that day.

Lisa: How was it planning a vegan wedding? How did guests respond?

Corinna: We are lucky enough to know Joshua Ploeg—the Touring Vegan Chef and author of many cookbooks including In Search of the Lost Taste—and we both adore his cooking, so it was an easy decision to hire him.

I did read wedding planning forums where there was a passionate consensus against serving vegan food to non-vegan guests, but it seemed like the primary concern was the common perception that vegan food is flavorless. So I think the key is to make the quality of the food a priority. Top shelf alcohol helps too!

We specified on our invitations and wedding website that there would be a vegan buffet. Nobody asked about it before the wedding and as far as we know everyone was happy. Many omnivores commented on how good the food was, including a die-hard carnivore uncle.

Lisa: What is your favorite vegan meal to eat with your new spouse?

Corinna: Our favorite quick-and-easy meal is soyrizo and spinach in a tortilla. When we want something fancy and have the time, we love Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping from Veganomicon. I don’t think we’ve ever tried a recipe by Isa Chandra Moskowitz that we didn’t like!

Lisa: Thank you, Corinna, and congratulations to you and Chad!

Photos: © The Goodness

By Lori Stultz, VO Rocky Mountain Outreach Coordinator

For anyone who doesn’t consume dairy, we’re all too familiar with the line “hold the whip” when ordering a tasty beverage from our favorite large chain coffee shop.

Good news! Those days are slowly, but surely, coming to a close. Peet’s Coffee and Tea in the U.S. announced earlier this year that they’d be offering a housemade vegan coconut whipped cream as a permanent addition to their menu that will leave your sweet tooth satisfied!

And if you act quickly, you can add this delicious vegan whipped cream to one of four coconut-themed coffee beverages, which can be made vegan upon request. These are part of Peet’s “Coffee Meets Coconut” campaign, but they’re only available through Tuesday, August 30, 2016.

Peet’s coconut whipped cream can be substituted across all beverages offered, and will cost an additional 35 cents.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my coffee date…

By Josie Moody, VO Office Manager

The Compassionate Chick’s Guide to DIY Beauty by Sunny Subramanian and Chrystle Fiedler is so much more than a guide! It’s an awesome, easy-to-read encyclopedia on hair, skin care and beauty products, and, despite the title, it’s not geared only towards women. It’s accessible and full of so much information about why you should be vegan, what ingredients and cruelty go into many traditional beauty products, and of course tons of recipes. Now you’ll know EXACTLY what’s going into your body care products and on to your body! Bonus—it’s chock full of beautiful photography by Vegan Outreach’s own Michelle Cehn!

There was so much that I wanted to share with you, that I’ve decided to divide this blog post into two parts. Stay tuned for Part II!

Peppermint Toothpaste

I’m a practical person, and I just happened to get this book the same day that I wrote “toothpaste” on my shopping list, so that was the first concoction I decided to create.

This recipe was so easy—I thought maybe I’d missed a step! I’d never used essential oils before, and I fell in love with the peppermint scent…it wasn’t overwhelming the way that synthetic fragrances can be, it was just a bright, appealing smell.

There’s an option to add stevia for taste, and I enjoyed it both with and without the added sweetness. I’m a salt-aholic, so I didn’t mind that this was very salty tasting, but for those who aren’t, I’d suggest halving the amount of salt this recipe calls for and then adding more, bit by bit, until you get the taste just right.

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 packet stevia (optional)
• 15 drops peppermint essential oil
• Coconut oil

Directions

1. In a small bowl, stir together baking soda, sea salt, stevia (if using), and peppermint essential oil until well combined.
2. Mash in coconut oil, a little at a time, until a paste forms and the mixture is the desired consistency. Spoon into jar.
3. Dip a clean toothbrush into toothpaste. Moisten with water and brush teeth. Rinse mouth with water.
4. Store at room temperature for up to 6 months.

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Hair Spray-bilizer

This DIY hair spray is no joke! My hair is very fine, so I liked this because it added both texture and control. I’d compare this to an ultra-hold hair spray, so you may want to add less sugar if you’re looking for less hold. My biggest concern was that hummingbirds were going to swarm my head, but as of this writing, it hasn’t happened yet. A final note—the spray bottle I used shot more of a stream than a spray, so make sure that you’re using a bottle that will actually spritz your head to hold that style!

Ingredients

• 1 cup filtered water
• 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 4 to 6 drops essential oil of your choice (optional)

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, bring water just to a simmer. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat. Let cool completely.
2. Stir in essential oil (if using). Using funnel, pour into bottle.
3. Spray mixture over styled hair to set in place.
4. Store at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

There’s more of Sunny and Chrystle’s DIY goodness to come, so be sure to look for more recipes in an upcoming blog post! In the meanwhile, be sure to check out Sunny’s blog, Vegan Beauty Review.

By Katia Rodríguez, Mexico Campaigns and Spanish Media Coordinator

About a month ago, Emmanuel Márquez—VO’s Mexico Outreach Coordinator—and I were invited to a small vegfest called “Bazar la Veganería” held in a public park in Mexico City, Mexico.

Originally, our Mexico City volunteers were going to be in charge of setting up the VO table, but luckily Emmanuel and I were nearby—in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí—finishing a week of leafleting. So we decided to drive to Mexico City to join them for the weekend before heading to another Mexican state to leaflet.

While Emmanuel drove us to Mexico City, I took that time to send out some emails to our vegan mentors in Mexico City. We told them that we’d soon be visiting the area and would love to meet with them. Emmanuel and I wanted to get to know them, hear about their experiences of being mentors, and see if they had any suggestions for how we can improve the mentor program.

Four Spanish vegan mentors in Mexico City—Carla Ríos, Claudia Zamora, Jessica Hernández, and Martha Castillo—came to see us while we were there in town. We could hardly contain our excitement after talking with them and hearing all of their positive feedback. They told us how excited and happy they are to be helping other people achieve their goal of consuming less animal food products. We can’t wait to return to Mexico City someday to meet up with these star mentors again!

Then, at the Bazar la Veganería vegfest, we set up a table with leaflets, stickers, pins, and VO shirts. We were so happy with the response—our table was constantly busy. The leaflet take rate was great, and some people even asked if they could take leaflets to share with their family and friends. You could see our leaflets everywhere you looked around. We also had a lot of people stopping by to ask about our Spanish Vegan Mentor Program, and the Spanish section of the VO website.

I should mention that this was my first time visiting Mexico City, so I was really excited to do outreach and try all of the amazing vegan food the city has to offer.

During the vegfest event, there was a lot of delicious vegan food being sold—including ice cream, chocolates, traditional Mexican food, desserts, and other handmade products.

This is what being vegan in Mexico City looks like!

Can you tell I loved my first time in Mexico City!

I can’t wait to share more with you about what it’s like being vegan in Mexico!

By Josie Moody, VO Office Manager

The Compassionate Chick’s Guide to DIY Beauty was so full of wonderful recipes, and I just had to share more with you here (see Part I as well). For those who aren’t familiar with how the beauty industry contributes to animal cruelty, authors Sunny Subramanian and Chrystle Fiedler gently walk you through the issues involved, outlining why “animal testing is cruel, unnecessary, and inaccurate.”

I love all the tidbits explaining the various uses of common household ingredients—I’m talking about you, coconut oil!—as well as the appendices that include a list of favorite natural, organic ingredients and what they do, and a list of vegan-friendly beauty brands.

Enjoy another sampling of these compassionate recipes below!

Lavender Mint No-Poo

I hate washing my hair, but my hair can look oily if I go more than two days without. Enter this fabulous (dry) shampoo! Hair powders such as this (aka dry shampoo) absorb the excess oil from your scalp between washings. If your hair is dark, some powders can be visible on the hair, so the authors offer helpful variations for folks with dark or red hair that will blend better. Kaolin clay was not available at the natural foods co-op where I bought my supplies, but the helpful woman in the Wellness Department suggested I use French green clay instead. As the name states, it is indeed green clay, but the color was not noticeable in my highlighted hair.

Ingredients

• 5 teaspoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons kaolin clay (I used French green clay)
• 5 drops lavender essential oil (or essential oil of your choice)
• 5 drops peppermint essential oil (or essential oil of your choice)

Directions

1. In blender, combine arrowroot powder, kaolin clay, lavender essential oil, and peppermint essential oil. Blend until well combined. Pour into jar.
2. Shake mixture or apply with a clean makeup brush onto roots of dry, unwashed hair. Let stand on hair for a few minutes.
3. Brush hair until all powder is removed.
4. Store at room temperature for up to 6 months.

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Flax Seed Body Scrub

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sweet almond, coconut, olive, or jojoba oil
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions

1. In a blender, puree together sweet almond oil, flax seeds, and sugar until smooth. (Or, in a small bowl, whisk ingredients together.)
2. Using hands, massage a small amount of scrub all over skin in the shower, using circular motions.
3. Rinse skin with warm water and pat dry with a towel. Follow with your favorite body moisturizer.

Pro-tip

• Be sure to use a hair trap in the bathtub when you use this, and be prepared to wipe down the tub afterwards. I ground my own flax seed in a coffee grinder, so I think that next time I’ll make sure to grind it finer. I modified the recipe by adding orange essential oil, now that, thanks to this book, I’ve discovered how great essential oils are! They mention that you can follow this scrub with a favorite body moisturizer, but I found that I didn’t need to, since this scrub exfoliates and moisturizes.

Do you have a favorite body care recipe or site you’d like to share with us? Mention it in the comments below!