1. The BEST tofu-scramble I have ever had is at Bliss, an unassuming hole-in-the-wall organic, vegetarian brunch and dinner joint, in a prime location on Bedford Ave in Williamsburg. The music is innocently and charmingly terrible, the staff is adorable and sweet, and the homemade cashew cookies and chocolate cupcakes are addictive. The winner, though, is the amazing, savory, soy scramble that keeps me coming back at least once a week.
718-599-2547
**Cash Only**
191 Bedford Ave Brooklyn, NY 11211 Neighborhood: Williamsburg Cross Street: Btwn N 6th & N 7th Sts Public Transit: L @ Bedford Ave
2. Trader Joe’s has finally abandoned Gemperle Enterprises Eggs after friends of DB, Mercy For Animals, exposed undercover investigative footage of the gross neglect and cruel treatment of hens at Gemperle Enterprises’ factory egg farm in California. Like the Westland Meat/ Hallmark Beef recall, this has generated a flurry of media attention across the nation, including stories on CNN.com and by the LA Times, and the Associated Press. Not surprisingly, when people really see what’s happening on factory farms, it’s almost impossible not to withdraw financial sponsorship of behavior that is so contradictory to our own conscience.
The decision came on the heels of MFA’s news conference in Los Angeles, which revealed the grocery chain’s business relationship with Gemperle Enterprises, where employees were caught on hidden camera kicking, throwing, and stomping on live birds.
Although this announcement is a good first step, Trader Joe’s must do more. Please write to the CEO of Trader Joe’s and urge him to take further action to prevent cruelty to animals by adopting a strict policy against the sale of battery-cage eggs.
Egg Laying chickens are probably the most abused animals, and unfortunately, these behaviors are considered normal on typical egg farms. Egg alternatives, click here:
DB Etiquette Recommendation: The best way to avoid supporting activities with no regard for the suffering of living, feeling animals is to stop eating eggs and adopt a healthy, plant-based diet.
1. Vegan Marshmallow Kits have landed (in your mailbox)!
Our friend Amy, at the VegCookingBlog tells of a New Zealand company that sells vegan marshmallow kits. Use them to make sticky cubes, crispy treats, smores, or meringue topping! Just in time for summertime campfire-roasting! If you are not a fan of DIY Marshmallowing, Sweet & Sarah offers a selection of dangerously delicious fluffy treats.
You all know what’s in conventional marshmallows, right? If not, prepare yourself for a major gross-out. The gelatin you eat in Marshmallows, Jell-O, and other “treats” comes from cow and pig bones, hooves, and connective tissues.
2. Gridthrifter
Gridskipper offers up a thrifting guide for any city you choose! Here is New York’s Top 7 vintage voyages. My addition to the list is Houndstooth, who has amazing vintage menswear. The 1930s undies in my Time Out New York Spread are from the stylish Michael Kimmins & Maria Chavez. Know of a good menswear thrifting spot? Drop me a note and your review!
3. Honeybee Aftershave With a select blend of herbs, essential oils and cooling aloe vera, this cruelty-free aftershave is a fantastic way to soothe newly shaven skin and relieve irritation. Available HERE.
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4. Simple Slip-On
Simple has designed a shoe using recycled bicycle tires & car tires, as well as hemp, organic cotton, recycled PET, 100% post-consumer recycled paper, and no animal products. Available at:
5. Mystery Meat Macrophotography
Mike Adams is a photographer who has taken a series of photos of common processed meats at ever increasing magnifications. If you weren’t grossed out by mystery-meat before, bring a barf bag on this photo tour:
6. For Whom Eight Bells Toll
In the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, Eight Belles ran for her life and was fiercely whipped as she came down the final stretch, when she was no doubt already in a great deal of pain. Like 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, she was destroyed because of her racing injuries, caused by the greed that motivates this dirty “sport.”Eight Belles was yet another victim of the cruel horse racing industry, where animals suffer and die for the sake of sport and entertainment. Like many other horses, she was literally “raced to death”. What you can do to help.
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Mission Playground is an AFFORDABLE organic clothing company with the mission to create awareness through environmentally conscious and globally mindful designs. They use organic, recycled, and eco fibers and vocally oppose sweatshops. Their aesthetic is western-urban - not my favorite, but some dudes will dig it!
8. Fresh Direct Just Got Veggier!
Whether you’re lazy or so busy you can’t cook a decent meal (and Instead of corner-store comestibles), FreshDirect, a leading online gourmet food purveyors and delivery service, announced last week the launch of their very first line of vegetarian & vegan 4-Minute Meals.
FreshDirect’s EatingWell menu includes:– Hoppin’ John with Vegetarian Chorizo (Vegan) — $7.99 – Indian-Spiced Lentil & Quinoa Ragout with Roasted Vegetables (Vegan) — $8.99 – Balsamic-Roasted Seitan with Beets, Basil & Farro Pilaf (Vegan) — $8.99 – White Beans, Pearl Pasta & Artichokes with Roasted Tomatoes & Rapini (Vegan) — $9.99
9. Smell Ya’ Later
The range of mens scents at The Body Shop are totally vegan, and totally affordable!
Seitan made me do it! I was recently featured in Time Out New York’s ‘Horny Issue‘. I got down and dirty about eating local, vegan, and choosing good food over mediocre sex. Yes, that’s a local, organic beet leaf on my balls.
The amazingly talented (and friend of DB) Ryan Pfluger took the pictures, and we used the gorgeous home of Pablo & Veronica of Dr. Cow.
“It was a philosophical struggle for me to pose naked, but you do what you have to do to get your message out there. All forms of oppression are connected: mainstream-media sex, violence, social justice, environmental issues, animal exploitation. When you perpetuate one of them, you perpetuate all of them. But I believe you can live ethically and fabulously.”
“I’ve been vegan for 12 years. For the shoot, I went to the Union Square farmers’ market and bought a bunch of local, organic veggies, fruits and roots. The green movement isfinallybecoming sexy—and it’s because of food. Food is like sex: You interact with it physically, you put it in your body. I’d rather have an amazing meal than mediocre sex.”
Check me out and the other hot-blooded New Yorkers, on stands tomorrow!
UPDATE: New York Magazine Bloggers go at me! Get the New York Magazine dirt here.
1. The Mens Store at Matt & Nat offers by far, the best selection of well-made veg and eco mens’ accessories that I have seen to date. My favorite bag is the Kravitz Brazen:
Also check out these handsome, cruelty-free adornments:
2. Vogue attempted to do an article about Mens’ green fashion in their March issue. The article, “Good to be Green” gave friend of DB, John Patrick of Organic, a big shout-out (Yay Patrick!). Bramfod & Sons, Loomstate, and Earnest Sewn are mentioned, and whispers of the green capsule line from Theory are discussed, but clearly they didn’t have me writing the article or it would have been much more thorough…(pats self on back). The deal on Theory is:
“…Theory is excited to announce our first-ever organic collection for Summer 2008. Made from certified organic materials, the capsule collection includes 24 styles–jackets, dresses, knitwear and more. Theory’s organic collection will be available at Theory retail stores Barney’s New York, and Holt Renfrew, and shortly to follow at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, and Bergdorf Goodman in May.”
1. The newest FEED bag, the FEED 100 bag is available now exclusively at Whole Foods Market nation-wide! Each FEED 100 bag will provide 100 school meals to hungry children in Rwanda through the UN World Food Program (www.wfp.org). Help them reach their goal of provide all the WFP school meals in Rwanda for 2008 and buy your FEED 100 bag!
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2. I’ve often wondered why certain unethical products and practices persist in consumer culture. One theory is that there is a paradox pertaining to accountability. The consumer rationalizes, “If this were unethical, they wouldn’t be selling it“, and at the same time the producer justifies, “if making this were unethical, there wouldn’t be a demand for it“. Something as simple as ordering foie gras at a restaurant presents this cultural paradox. The restaurant continues to sell foie gras because people are still demanding it - and people are still choosing foie gras from the menu because the ostensibly virtuous authority of the producer is invoked, and the submissive consumer believes that if it really were that bad, it wouldn’t be on the menu in the first place. The producer makes their money, and the consumer - well, consumes.
One explanation for this phenomenon is that the consumer has been trained to grant authority and power to
retailers and corporations - and with that, many people believe these authorities aim to ‘do the right thing‘. On the other hand, the producer believes that, even up against the amazing influence of advertising, the consumer will make educated purchasing decisions.
Whether this is a relationship of convenience (profit & hedonism) or an oversight of economic ethics, the outcome typically results in the perpetuation of destructive things.
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• I would love to hear your thoughts on this phenomenon - is there an actual term for this?
*UPDATE* FOX News… I mean New York Magazine (I kid, I kid) Food Bloggers had their (inaccurate) fun with this entry. Truth be told, Fiore is a decent, affordable restaurant in my hood - I just wish they had a few more options for conscientious eaters and that they dealt with customer feedback in a more positive way. ‘Nuff said…
I attended a birthday dinner at a new Italian place, Fiore, in Brooklyn. I was shocked to find that the only vegan options were salad, and the spaghetti with tomato sauce entreé. In New York City - especially in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I expect the restaurants to not only be smart enough to cater to the burgeoning vegan population (if not simply as an intelligent financial decision), but to be sensitive to general customer feedback of informed customers. After my meal of pasta and salad, I kindly suggested to a manager that, “my meal was tasty, and it would be fantastic if you added a few more vegan options to the menu - like a grilled portabello cap, or mushroom ravioli, or pasta primavera.” With all of the amazing vegan sausages and meat alternatives, dairy alternatives and veg-friendliness of traditional Italian food in general, I expected anything but the response I got. Not “thanks for the feedback” or “we value our customers, so we’ll see what we can do”. In a defensive tone, she said: “Portobellos cause cancer”. What? Excuse me? In an establishment serving up tons of conventional, hormone-ridden, pesticide-pumped ribs, beef, chicken, lamb, cheese, and butter - you’re telling me that portobello mushrooms cause cancer? Needless to say, I was so caught off guard that I was at a loss for words.
After a few hours of research, I’ve discovered that this is total nonsense, of course. Not only that, but the Stanford Cancer Center has recipes for portobellos on their website. Go figure. In fact, mushrooms contain selenium, potassium, copper, and B-complex vitamins, and are purported to have anti-cancer properties. Vegans have been shown to have 40% less chance of getting cancer, and meat and dairy products have been shown to cause cancer. There are mushrooms, that if eaten raw, have certain carcinogenic toxins (that cook or wash off). My only explanation for this ridiculous response of hers is that she was so offended by my vegan request that she said the first terrible thing that came to her mind.
So in the spirit of the slandered portobello, I give you a plethora of mushroom recipes from our friends at Post Punk Kitchen:
1. Today, and all this week are National Call-In Days for Downed Farm Animals! The recent Human Society undercover investigation of the cruel treatment of cows at a California slaughter plant has sparked renewed attention to the downer issue, with several Congressional hearings and bills introduced. Now it’s essential that we keep Congress focused on the issue and ensure they take action.
At the California slaughter plant, “downed” animals — those too sick or injured to stand and walk on their own — were prodded with electric shocks, dragged with chains, rammed with forklifts, and subjected to other egregious abuse in efforts to forcibly move them to slaughter. Downed animals may also be left to languish without food, water, or veterinary care, and they are at a higher risk of carrying harmful diseases.
The following bills have already been introduced and others are in the works:
Downed Animal and Food Safety Protection Act (H.R. 661/S. 394) to ban slaughter of downed livestock and require their immediate humane euthanasia.
Downed Animal Enforcement Act (S. 2770) to ban slaughter of downed livestock and establish stricter penalties for violations of the downer ban and humane slaughter law.
Food Safety Recall Information Act (H.R. 5762) to require release of names of retailers and school districts that purchased meat, poultry, or egg products subject to recall, and ban slaughter of downed livestock.
TAKE ACTION
When you call, you will speak to a staff member who will pass your message along to your legislator. Remember to be polite and professional, and leave your name and address so it is clear that you are a constituent.
• Please call your U.S. Representative.
FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVES HERE
You can say: “Hello, my name is [your name] and I’m calling from [your town] to urge Representative Maloney to do everything possible to enact legislation to protect downed animals — including H.R. 661, the Downed Animal and Food Safety Protection Act, and H.R. 5762, the Food Safety Recall Information Act. It’s time to ensure that animals unable to stand are humanely euthanized and do not enter the food supply. Thank you.”
• Please call Your Senator
FIND YOUR SENATORS’ CONTACT INFO HERE
You can say: “Hello, my name is [your name] and I’m calling from [your town] to urge [senator's name] to do everything possible to enact legislation to protect downed animals — including S. 394, the Downed Animal and Food Safety Protection Act, and S. 2770, the Downed Animal Enforcement Act. It’s time to ensure that animals unable to stand are humanely euthanized and do not enter the food supply. Thank you.”
• HSUS is tracking the impact of your calls, so click here to let us know you called your legislators:
• Finally, please tell all of your friends and family to call their legislators today and throughout this week.
2. Organic Dress Shirts
A lot of you have asked for resources on standard organic dress shirts, so here ye, here ye! These are some styles from Organic and Arbitrage.
(Above: Arbitrage, designed to benefit charity: water, an organization that provides clean, safe drinking water to people in the developing world by constructing freshwater wells. For each shirt purchased, Saks will donate $25 to charity: water.)
Photograph by Phillip Toledano - Vanity Fair ‘Green Issue’ 2008
Right before Earth Day, Todd Paglia, Executive Director of Forest Ethics, a forest protection organization, blogged about the hypocricies of Vanity Fair and other copycat magazines’ so-called ‘green’ issues in the Huffington Post. Vanity Fair is printed on paper from clearcut forests. None of its 12 issues per year are ‘green.’ In his editor’s letter, Graydon Carter laments the lack of stage time some of our largest looming challenges — global warming, the true costs of the US’s energy-ineptitude — have received in our current presidential race. While he goes on to say that those topics get their due in the subsequent pages, he conveniently neglects to mention another problem: the fact that every year, the magazine industry destroys an area the size of Rocky Mountain National Park — at an average of one tree per second — to print its 12 billion magazines.Read more…
I wish these were organic, but at least they’re not leather! These hot shoes are as sophisticated as they are bad-ass. I spoke to their super-friendly and helpful US agent (BRNDNU, also associated with Good Society) to find out about their labor policies and ecological footprint. I was informed over the telephone that Gram is made in China by a Japanese owned and staffed factory. They are paid living wages, so no sweatshops. The fabrics are from England, and the design headquarters are in Sweden. Their new range is entirely nylon & denim, but in the past they’ve used leather, suede, and lambskin. Buy them at Mauve.
Marinated Portobello-Steak with Sautéed Purple-Scallions & Steamed Baby Bok Choy with Beets
I prepared this dish with all local, organic farm produce and bread from the Union Square Farmer’s Market in New York City. The farmers markets in New York are amazing - there is no reason not to buy ALL your produce locally. If you live in the northeast, this is a great vegan meal that’s fresh, local, and organic!
What you’ll need for dinner for 2:
2 large potobello mushroom caps
2 cups of baby bok choy
4 purple scallion
2 medium beets
2 pieces of whole wheat sourdough bread
Oil & Vinegar
2 Tablespoons of Tahini
2 Tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
pinch of sea salt
pinch of pepper
Directions:
Gently remove the stem, and rinse the dirt from the mushroom caps.
In a shallow bowl, marinate the mushroom caps in the balsamic, tahini, salt & pepper while you prepare the veggies (about 15 minutes).
Rinse the beets thoroughly, and cut off any undesired parts, but leave the skin (it’s full of nutrients).
Chop Beets into medium cubes. Steam for about 20 minutes (or until fork penetrates it easily).
Rinse the bok choy, and steam for about 8-10 minutes. These should stay somewhat crisp and sweet. If you steam too long they will get mushy.
Sauté the scallions and mushroom caps on medium heat until caps have become flat and throughly cooked, and scallions have caramelized - about 10 minutes. Flip the caps twice.
Serve the mushrooms on a ripped piece of organic, local bread. Top it off with the caramelized scallions.
Serve the beets and bok choy beside the mushrooms, and drizzle with a touch of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste
DB’s Etiquette Recommendation: I recommend serving this with a local, dry white wine. Be sure to tell you guest(s) about how your meal was prepared and where it came from. It makes for a more enjoyable food experience if people can understand how the food got from farm to table.Hereis a list of all Greenmarkets in NYC
Dine at Candle 79 and Make Dreams Come True for Compassionate Kids!
It’s always a beautiful experience when city kids (some of whom have never seen a farm animal in person) can visit Farm Sanctuary. Students from the Lexington School for the Deaf in New York City are trying to raise funds to make their dream to meet the animals come true with a Fundraiser for Deaf Students at Candle 79 on Wednesday, April 30 from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Simply make reservations for that evening at Candle 79, and a portion of your bill will go directly toward the children’s visit to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York. Additional donations for the kids can also be made at the restaurant.
Where:Candle 79, 154 East 79th St.(near Lexington Avenue), New York, NY 10021 Directions:Take the 6 train to 77th Street and Lexington Avenue. Reservations: Call Candle 79 at 212-537-7179, or visit their Web site at candlecafe.com and select “Click here” to make your reservation. Be sure to indicate, “for Lexington Fundraiser,” when making your reservation.
For more information on the fundraiser, please contact Alyssa Banner at 718-350-3275 or abanner@lexnyc.org. If you can’t attend the fundraiser, donations for the kid’s trip can be sent directly to the school. Please make checks payable to Lexington School for the Deaf CORE Class of 2009 and mail to the address below.
Attention: Alyssa Banner
Lexington School for the Deaf
30th Avenue and 75th Street
Jackson Heights, NY 11370
Come to Candle 79 with friends, family and loved ones and support the students’ trip to the farm. A compassionate world begins with you!
1 Comment | 
Health, activism, food, green, organic, restaurant, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged: associated press, bliss, chicken cruelty, cnn, egg cruelty, egg farm, eggs, factory farm, gemperle, hallmark meat recall, humane, la times, mercy for animals, mfa, tofu scramble, trader joe's, vegan, vegetarian, williamsburg | 
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Posted by joshuakatcher
6. For Whom Eight Bells Toll
2. Vogue attempted to do an article about Mens’ green fashion in their March issue. The article, 
It’s always a beautiful experience when city kids (some of whom have never seen a farm animal in person) can visit 
