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You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: Vegan Society “Ambassador” Claims That Promoting Veganism as a Moral Baseline “Damages” Animals

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Fiona Oakes, Marathon runner and “Ambassador” of The Vegan Society, who stated on BBC Radio that veganism is not “for everyone” and “not probably for very many people” and who reinforced the notion that those who promote veganism as a matter of moral baseline and moral imperative are “aggressive, petty. . .fundamentalist nutters” stated that […]

The post You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: Vegan Society “Ambassador” Claims That Promoting Veganism as a Moral Baseline “Damages” Animals appeared first on Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach.

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MULTI-WHOLE-GRAIN INARI SUSHI (SUSHI GRAINS IN FRIED TOFU POCKETS/AGÉ)

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When I posted this blog post about a recent picnic, I promised to  post the recipe for my multi-grain inari sushi.  It took me a few years to get this recipe right– I had tasted enough bland and either dry or mushy brown rice sushi in my time to make me determined to do better!  I wanted a sushi that was nutritious, and delicious enough so that anyone eating it would enjoy it for what it was and not immediately think ” health food”!
My rice mixture is made from short grain brown rice with some millet or quinoa added, and it is nicely seasoned.  The grain mixture provides variety and extra nutrients, but the texture of the rice predominates, which is what I prefer. (I find the millet or quinoa grains too small and separate to use alone in sushi.) This whole grain sushi mix does not taste heavy or starchy, and I was happy to discover that the seasoned fried tofu pockets or pouches (agé) are less calorific and fat-laden than I had assumed– the seasoned ones contain only about 60 calories per pouch. We love it for summer meals.
BTW, inari sushi is great for anyone (like my husband) who does not like seaweed, and it makes great picnic food.  It should not be refrigerated, since this makes the rice hard, so plan to eat it up in one day (which is not a difficult feat!).

I hope you enjoy this sushi!

This was a batch of my multi-grain inari sushi, tops dipped in toasted sesame seeds, that I made for a picnic with friends a few weeks ago.

Printable Recipe


BRYANNA’S MULTI-WHOLE-GRAIN INARI SUSHI (SUSHI GRAINS IN FRIED TOFU POCKETS/AGÉ)     
Makes 16 pockets
16 storebought seasoned inari sushi pouches (You can buy them refrigerated in Asian grocery stores in small packets, or in cans on amazon and from online Asian food venders.)
OR, if you are preparing your own seasoned inari sushi pouches, you will need:
1 package (80 g– 8 pieces) of abura agé (plain, unseasoned Japanese fried tofu rectangles), cut across in half to make “pouches” (You can buy them refrigerated or frozen in Asian grocery stores and some natural food stores in small packets.)
Flavoring Broth:
2 T. soy sauce or tamari
2 T. dry sherry or mirin (Japanese rice wine) (or a non-alcoholic sweetish white wine)
FILLING:
(To cook the grains, for each one, bring the water and grain to a boil in a heavy pot with a tight lid, turn down to low and cook covered for the time indicated.)

Grain Choice #1:
3/4 c. Japanese short grain brown rice + 1/4 c. toasted millet
, cooked together 40-45 minutes in 
1 1/2 c. water 
(Toast the millet in a dry heavy saute pan or skillet over medium heat, stirring all the while, until light brown and fragrant. If the grains start to pop, reduce the heat.) 
OR Grain Choice #2:
1/2 cup Japanese short grain brown rice cooked in 2/3 cup water for 45 minutes
1/2 cup quinoa cooked separately in 1 cup water for 15 minutes  
(Let the quinoa stand, covered, off the heat 10 minutes.)
Seasoning:
3/8 tsp. salt
Optional but recommended: 1 T. dry sherry or mirin (Japanese rice wine)
Additions: (Traditionally, only seasoned rice is used for filling, but I like to add some color and texture with vegetables.)
1/2 c. frozen baby peas, thawed
1 medium carrot, peeled and finely grated
Optional: toasted sesame seeds to taste
If you are preparing your own seasoned inari sushi pouches, cut each piece of abura agé tofu across in half.  Pour boiling water over them, then drain and squeeze them carefully to remove the oil.
In a medium pot, bring the flavoring broth to a boil, add the tofu pockets and reduce the heat.  Simmer for 5 minutes, turning now and then.  Drain and cool until you can handle them.  Gently squeeze out excess liquid.   

Whichever type of seasoned pouches you are using— store-bought or home-prepared– carefully separate one “wall” of each pocket from the other to make the pouches.

Dump the hot cooked rice (make sure it is tender) and the millet or quinoa into a large shallow baking dish.  Mix the sugar and salt with the vinegar and wine until it is dissolved.  Pour this over the hot rice.  Turn the rice mixture with a small spatula (wooden, preferably, or a bamboo rice paddle), using an over-and-under-motion, until the mixture is cool.  (Traditionally, you fan the rice while you mix.)
Add the peas and carrots and a bit of the optional toasted sesame seeds, if you like.  Stuff the pockets carefully and evenly (there should be just enough filling for 16 pockets).  Traditionally the pouches are not stuffed full and the pouch is pinched closed at the top, but, as you can see in the pictures, I usually fill them full full and leave them open at the top. 

If you like, you can dip the tops in toasted sesame seeds.  Serve at room temperature.  Rice gets hard when refrigerated, which spoils the texture of the dish, so the sushi pouches should be eaten the same day they are made.

Enjoy!


The kitchen journal of a vegan food writer…For the 21st
century we need to learn to cook for ourselves again,
and learning to cook vegan can be a bit intimidating.
I’d like to help with that, from my kitchen to yours.

Bryanna Clark Grogan, author of 8 published vegan cookbooks and The Vegan Feast quarterly cooking newsletter. Moderator of the beginners’ vegetarian forum on vegsource.com.

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VeganWALL: A New Social Network JUST For Vegans

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It’s getting easier to be vegan in this non-vegan world – some days more than others! – but there is a new tool being launched this September that will make it easier than ever. VeganWALL is being developed as an online community specifically for vegans that will help like-minded people to connect and share information about food, clothing, events, products and more

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Vegan Mexican Zucchini Soup

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This is a delicious light soup. We added lime juice as it is typically Mexican and goes well with the zucchini and corn. It’s a lovely soup even in the warm summer temperatures. Serving Size: 2 Ingredients: 1 tablespoon vegan margarine 1 small onion, finely chopped 2 cups zucchini, chopped in small cubes 1½ cups […]

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Youth Empowered Action vegan summer camp? Sign me up!

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… said my inner 13-year-old. When I first heard about Youth Empowered Action (YEA) camp, I started mentally packing my bags. All of the food is vegan, though the campers, kids ages 12 to 17, range from vegan to vegetarian to omnivorous and everywhere in between.

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I got the skinny on YEA from founder and executive director Nora Kramer, and man, does she make me wish I could relive my teenage years. This is not your run-of-the-mill soggy-sandwich, papier-mâché-crafts, learn-to-swim camp. This camp is something incredibly special. Campers who attend YEA are on a mission to make effective change in one area of their choosing — factory farming, vegetarianism, the environment, gay rights, bullying, education. Talk about covering the spread! I don’t remember being half as passionate about anything more than how many inches of exposed leg I could get away with at that age.

At YEA, campers build skills to address the issues most vital to them. YEA covers four core areas of activism: knowledge, skills, confidence, and community. By the end of the weeklong stay, campers will have created an action plan to hopefully implement in the real world. YEA alumni have done some incredible things! Some campers have successfully petitioned for veg options at their schools; others started animal rights clubs, organized fundraisers for charities, created online stores for cruelty-free crafts, and gotten rid of dissection in their classrooms. It’s no wonder YEA camps are fostering the next generation of game-changers, law-makers, activists, environmentalists, and vegans. These kids are set up to succeed through confident and effective activism.

YEA camp is structured to allow every camper to tell their story and share their cause with their peers. By the end of camp, everyone has learned something new about the issues of their peers, and some even take steps to live a cruelty-free life once they leave camp. That, in addition to the vegan camp food, really makes YEA not only the perfect place for budding philanthropists, but for helping shape the future generations of our compassionate world.

A typical day of food at YEA camp looks like this:

  • Breakfast: French toast or pancakes, with cereal, soy milk, and fruit.
  • Lunch: veggie burgers, burritos, and sloppy Joes.
  • Dinner: pizza, pasta, vegan sushi, and a veggie tofu curry.
  • Dessert: brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and s’mores.

ALL VEGAN. You know I had to leave you with the goods.

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These kids not only learn how to better care for the world and solve its problems, but, most importantly, they develop sense of community with their peers who are doing the same. And Nora, if you ever decide to start an adult YEA camp, sign me up!

You can find more info about YEA and their ongoing summer camps online. This year, there are sessions in Oregon, California, and Massachusetts; the California session began on Sunday, and Massachusetts’s begins August 9. If you have a young activist on your hands, check this place out, and help them become the leader they were born to be.

Jessica Schoech is the founder of The Vedge App, an up-and-coming app that will revolutionize the way we find veg food worldwide. She is a self-professed crunchy vegan mom (cloth diapers, anyone?), wife, and foodie, who finds the most joy in welcoming people of all backgrounds to the green side, especially vegan parents and children. You can find her on InstagramFacebookTwitter and at Power to the Veg! on Facebook.