By Katia Rodríguez, VO Mexico Campaigns and Spanish Media Coordinator

Vegan grilled cheese competition? Count Us In!

The First Annual Vegan Grilled Cheese Competition took place mid-July in the Los Angeles area at Culver City’s Sage Organic Vegan Bistro—the restaurant’s owner, Mollie Engelhart, and her husband, Elias Sosa, organized it.

Ten amazing vegan chefs came together to see who could come up with the most delicious grilled cheese sandwich recipe. VO’s Emmanuel Márquez and I were lucky enough to be in L.A. at the time of this event to partake in the judging! All of the judges were given a ballot with each chef’s name, which was how we voted for our favorite sandwich.

There were also special guest judges, including our amazing VO coworker, David Carter—The 300 Pound Vegan—and TV host Marco Antonio Regil, television journalist and author Jane Velez-Mitchell, Al and Dee Borja of Vegan Food Share, and Asher Brown of Pollution Studios, who’s also the producer of Vegan Food Share’s videos.

The event was a huge success! The place was very crowded and everyone was having fun—chatting, enjoying amazing grilled cheese sandwiches, but having a hard time choosing their favorite.

Now what you’ve been waiting for: The Winners!

People’s choice: Chef Ayindé Howell, author of The Lusty Vegan.
Grilled cheese: Mac and Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

Judges’ favorite: Vinny Blanco, AKA “Gangster Vegan.”
Grilled cheese: Philly Sweet Potato Cheesesteak Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

Vinny told us that he’s going to use his cash award to buy vegan meals to give to hungry inner-city kids!

Needles to say, we had a great time during the event!

Vegan Outreach is a proud sponsor of this year’s Vegan Soul Sunday!

Please note that this event will no longer be held on June 5, 2016. The new date and location will be announced soon!

Vegan Soul Sunday will include cooking demonstrations, music, and health screenings. Presentations will be given by David Carter (The 300 Pound Vegan), Ayinde Howell (executive chef and founder of ieatgrass.com), and Seba Johnson (Olympic athlete).

Registration is free.

If you live in or near Oakland, we hope to see you there!

By Lisa Rimmert, VO Director of Development

If you’re like me, you love wearing shirts with vegan messages on them.

They are great conversation starters, inspiring discussions about vegan eating with people you wouldn’t otherwise meet. I’ve had plenty of positive interactions, as well as a few funny ones—like when an airport TSA agent tried to convince me that fish are vegetables.

Now, for a very limited time, you can start your own conversations with this unique design that states “Eat plants, love animals.” And the best news is that every purchase supports VO’s work to end violence toward animals!

These shirts are only available for one more week—from now until Tuesday, August 16. Buy now and be one of the only people to sport this one-of-a-kind design!  Thank you!

By Brenda Sanders, VO Community Engagement Coordinator

A few weekends ago, I ventured out into the 90+ degree weather to attend Artscape—Baltimore, Maryland’s largest free arts festival—to engage with other attendees about the benefits of veganism.

Artscape brings out more that 350,000 people over the course of three days, and I’m pretty sure I talked to at least half of those people. Okay, I didn’t talk to nearly that many people, the unrelenting heat just made it feel like I did.

I actually spoke with a couple hundred people over the course of the day, and with very few exceptions I got extremely positive responses from folks!

I was pleasantly surprised by the interactions I had during the festival. First off, every single person I spoke to had heard of veganism. That was certainly not the case just a few years ago. I can remember a time when I had to give a long introduction about what veganism meant before I could even talk to people about the benefits of the lifestyle.

This time, however, when I asked the question, “Have you ever heard of veganism?” people were genuinely happy to talk about what they thought it was —“That’s the one where you don’t eat anything, right?” For the most part folks were pretty well-informed.

A few people seemed concerned that I was about to take them on a guilt trip, but once they realized I just wanted to discuss how awesome veganism is, they relaxed and enjoyed the conversation.

I was also encouraged to find that about one third of the people I spoke to were already seriously considering going vegan. This is such a huge thing! The fact that I met so many people in one day who had learned enough about veganism to be considering making such an important life change was just amazing.

Even the folks who hadn’t considered going vegan were very open to receiving information about how veganism can benefit their health, the earth, and the animals with which we share the planet.

After only a brief conversation, the majority of the people I talked to expressed a definite interest in learning how they could start making kinder, healthier choices in their everyday lives.

The Compassionate Athlete booklet was a huge hit—shout-out to David Carter, Seba Johnson, and all the other amazing athletes who were featured—and a lot of the people I met expressed a desire to connect with the growing vegan community in Baltimore.

Overall, I would say that, despite the irrationally hot temperatures, my day of outreach at Artscape was a roaring success!

I’m especially thankful to Vegan Outreach for being so supportive of community-based projects that are aimed at engaging people in marginalized communities. Baltimore has a strong base of local groups and activists. If it weren’t for this kind of support from groups like VO, we wouldn’t be able to reach so many people with such vital, life-saving information.

By Melissa Li, MD, VO Board of Directors Vice-Chair

Kathy Freston does it again! Vegan Outreach is thrilled to have received an advance copy of her new book, The Book of Veganish. Freston is the author of numerous books on health and wellness, including most recently Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World. Her latest work, co-authored with Rachel Cohn, is aimed at teens and college students, people who might just be beginning to learn about the vegan lifestyle.

Even though I’m decades beyond my adolescent years, I found this book very enjoyable. Kathy Freston writes in an easygoing, conversational style, and she appropriately cites statistics and data in a way that won’t discourage the casual reader. She provides just enough nutritional facts to persuade readers to abandon a standard American diet in favor of a vegan one, without hitting hard on the studies themselves.

It’s great to have a book that targets a young audience because this is a crucial period of time when young adults are becoming invested in social media and finding the peers with whom they want to associate. They may be learning independence and finding out how animals are raised for consumption and what impact they as individuals have on the environment.

It’s a time when self-esteem is also an issue, and it may be scary to stand alone in pursuing an unconventional lifestyle. In each chapter, Freston includes comments from other young adults from all over: small towns such as Mukilteo, Washington; established vegan-friendly cities such as Portland, Oregon; and venturing beyond the U.S., less-established outposts of veganism such as Scotland.

These young people form the community that can become peers, and they offer suggestions, tips, and stories about their processes of becoming vegan. Freston coins the term “veganish” to emphasize that turning away from animal products is a process, and that it’s all about doing the best one can, without judgment.

The book has a lot of frequently asked questions and great answers to help young adults navigate their way, and also to provide them answers to the questions that will be commonly asked of them. The recipes provided towards the end of the book are easy and delicious, and just right for college students’ tight budgets. Freston also offers helpful suggestions for grocery shopping, veganizing dishes, and meal plans.

Lastly, the book includes interviews with some young people about their diet and activism for animals, and it’s a pleasure to learn about the new generation of animal rights activists. I believe more people, at younger ages, are learning about the way animals are treated on factory farms and want to do something about it.

By Jamila Alfred, VO Maryland/DC Events and Outreach Coordinator

As you might have heard, the Vegan Outreach Super Team attended the 2016 Animal Rights National Conference in Los Angeles the second weekend of July, and what a culinary adventure that was!

We indulged in delicious vegan fare from a number of wonderful restaurants—mostly from ethnic restaurants with unique dishes and colorful atmospheres.

After our cozy flights and road trips from all parts of the world, we congregated at the sassy Equelecuá Cuban Cafe where we enjoyed vegan wings, garlic “shrimp,” and tasty Cuban sandwiches that are a rarity to find in vegan form. Then a few of us ended the night with cupcakes and rice pudding!

For our productive team meeting the next morning, we were treated with donuts for breakfast and pizza for lunch. Needless to say, we were very pleased!

We then went to Rahel Ethiopian Vegan Cuisine after a lengthy day of becoming acquainted with each other and discussing the future of the organization. The scenery was magical and so was the food. The servers recommended that we order trays of food meant for big groups to share. No surprise, we were met with a smorgasbord of yummy veggie stews on one giant plate with injera bread on the side! We shared as much as we could.

There were a couple of days the VO crew couldn’t resist ducking out of the conference for an hour or two to enjoy the many options of Veggie Grill, a West Coast-based vegan fast food restaurant. This place had everything from grilled chickin’ and crab cake sandwiches to buffalo wing and banh mi salads.

The restaurant’s laid-back, comfortable feel made it a great place for light-hearted conversation and for talking business. If it weren’t for the sake of exploring other vegan restaurants, I’m sure we would eat here every day!

Last, but certainly not least, was our lovely experience at LA Vegan—an Asian fusion restaurant we chose for our final meeting and dining place. We filled up the whole restaurant—literally—excited to try their diverse menu made up of pancake platters, burritos, curry and noodle dishes, and vegetable soups. They were as delicious as expected!

It was an intimate place perfect for wrapping up a wonderful weekend with awesome people.

We will miss you Los Angeles—not only for your palm trees and beautiful weather—but also for your incredibly fantastic vegan eats scene!

Do you know a vegan activist who puts in hours of work to help raise awareness about animal cruelty, but doesn’t receive a great deal of recognition for their tireless efforts?

The Pollination Project’s Lisa Shapiro Awards for Unsung Vegan Heroes is your chance to bring that activist to the forefront.

For all of the details about this award—including nomination and prize information—check out this page.

Act quickly! Nominations are open through Friday, August 12, 2016. Our Hen House will announce the winners publicly on Saturday, October 1, 2016.

Are you interested in taking part in a health survey about hormones, sex, and aging?

When the drug sildenafil citrate (trade name Viagra®) was introduced in 1998, it was an immediate huge seller, underscoring how prevalent and important erectile dysfunction (ED) had become. Although Viagra and other similarly acting medications remain widely prescribed, there are side effects and the potential for adverse interactions with other medications. Consequently, some men may not be able to take these medications while others may prefer not to or may be unable to afford them. For these individuals, effective lifestyle modifications would be an attractive option for addressing ED.

As men age, changes occur that affect both circulation and testosterone levels, which, in turn, affect male sexual functioning. Atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaques in blood vessels, which can impede circulation throughout the body, is the most common cause of erectile dysfunction. Diet and lifestyle factors are undoubtedly linked to circulation, which may explain why some men can maintain healthy sexual functioning well into old age. At the same time, testosterone is known to decrease with age, such that on average the mean levels in men over 60 are on the low end of normal. Just as they affect the circulatory system, diet, lifestyle factors, and overall health have been correlated with testosterone levels and sexual functioning. For example, obesity is linked to low testosterone.

Similarly, many women report symptoms of menopause that are highly problematic, such as hot flashes, decreased sex drive, vaginal dryness, and weight gain. In these cases, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is considered the treatment of choice; however, a large number of women forego this option as taking these medications puts them at increased risk for breast cancer, blood clots, heart disease, and stroke, as well as side effects such as headaches, bloating, nausea, vaginal bleeding, and mood changes. Both diet and lifestyle factors may affect how women experience menopausal symptoms. For example, sources of phytoestrogens (e.g., soy), which are thought to substitute for declining estrogen levels, have been investigated as a dietary intervention for menopause with mixed results.

Although there is evidence that diet and lifestyle factors are associated with hormonal and sexual health as people age, there are still many open questions, especially regarding how people following diverse diets age, and how lifestyle factors and overall health interact with diet.

We are currently recruiting a diverse sample of participants, representing a variety of lifestyle and diet choices, for two survey studies, which we hope will be the largest to date investigating these questions. If you would like to be a part of these studies and are between the ages of 45 and 80, please enter one of the following links:

For women: surveymonkey.com/r/healthywoman2

For men: surveymonkey.com/r/Healthyman2

Cynthia Radnitz, Ph.D.
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Teaneck, NJ

Bonnie Beezhold, Ph.D.
Benedictine University
Lisle, Illinois