Vegan bake sale for Chile

After Vancouver's successful vegan bake sale to benefit Haiti, one for Chile is set for Friday

The day after Gabrielle Pope learned of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, she decided to organize an old-fashioned fundraiser with a modern twist: a vegan bake sale. She teamed up with three fellow Vancouverites she knew from the forums of vegan author Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Post Punk Kitchen and got things rolling.

The Let’s Help Haiti Vegan Bake Sale, held February 4 at Radha Yoga & Eatery, was a big success. The event, which benefitted the Humanitarian Coalition, sold out of goodies and raised more than $3,000, which was then matched by the Canadian government.

Pope, an avid vegan cook, was surprised by the support, which included volunteers and supporters of the non-vegan sort, too.

“Vancouver isn’t known for having a vegan community that bands together,” she says. “It was exciting to see so much interest.”

So when another major earthquake hit Chile a month later, the group and other volunteers knew what they had to do.

Chilean Earthquake Relief Vegan Bake Sale

March 12, 6:30–10 p.m.
Radha Yoga & Eatery
728 Main St, Vancouver
Facebook

And so, the Chilean Earthquake Relief Vegan Bake Sale will be held Friday, March 12, 2010, once again at Radha, this time with funds going to Doctors Without Borders. 

The sale, which will feature treats by amateur and professional bakers (including everybody's favourite Veganmania), will be held during Radha’s dinner service, 6:30 to 10 p.m., which means you can dine (reservations recommended) then pick up dessert after. Take your goods to go, or stay and enjoy a performance by local crooner Reid Jamieson.

Here's but a sampling of what to expect: wild blueberry doughnut holes, chocolates truffles, tomato-rosemary scones, mini quiches, chocolate-mint shortbread, pesto-sourdough biscuits... Be sure to bring your own containers.

Mmm... fundraising is so delicious.

   

Gorilla Foods likes it raw

Raw, organic and vegan are on order at downtown Vancouver’s Gorilla Foods

Looking for a healthy alternative to fast food? Gorilla Foods is making a difference downtown, serving up a satisfying menu of raw, organic and vegan food that’s good tasting, good for you and good for the environment.

Many people immediately dismiss a place when they hear the words “vegan food,” but hear me out. I'm neither a vegan nor a vegetarian, but Gorilla Foods is a regular lunch and snack stop for me because the food is, simply put, tasty!

Owner Aaron Ash says the vision for Gorilla Foods is "organic vegan food available and convenient for people," and about "…creating a marriage between great food and encouraging people to eat vegetarian."

Ash delivers his vision in a menu that offers lots of variety and something for everyone. The restaurant updated and expanded their menu this past January to include wraps, sandwiches, soups, salads, veggie burgers, pizzas, drinks and desserts.

Top menu picks for Gorilla Foods

There's a choice of 10 fresh organic fruit smoothies, such as my usual Strawberry Fields, a sweet and icy blend of strawberries, bananas, orange juice, and hempseed. Or, try the rich Choco-Gorilla creamy almond shake, the most popular drink on the menu, which includes a mix of almonds, cacao, bananas, hempseeds, sweet dates and coconut oil.

When I want some solid food, I dig into the falafel wrap, a salty and spicy creation of romaine lettuce around veggie falafel balls and a creamy zucchini hummus.

Ash says the sandwiches are a top seller, especially the Main St. Monkey sandwich of avocado, zucchini, hummus, olive tapenade, sprouts, tomatoes and cucumber in between slices of curry squash bread.


If you like super spicy food, Ash guarantees that the Rawmen “New”dles, tossed with spicy veggies, chili sauce and sprouts are for lovers of hot spice only.

The veggie burgers come in four different flavours but all start with a walnut-hempseed veggie patty while the pizzas include the pesto, with a sun-dried tomato sauce and a rich hempseed basil pesto over a wheat and gluten-free crust.

And don’t forget dessert: rich and decadent chocolate fudge and truffles, or sweet and crunchy cookies and macaroons.

The Gorilla Foods sustainability story

Gorilla Foods opened three and half years ago as a take-out window. After two years, the restaurant expanded to become a take-out restaurant with an open kitchen and sitting area.

The restaurant encourages sustainability in everything it does. On the take-out front, all packaging is derived from sugarcane, corn or potatoes, and all are biodegradable.

The restaurant itself was designed and renovated with sustainability in mind. The design and finishing work was done by Sunshine Coast artist Cody Chancellor. Almost all the wood used in the restaurant is reclaimed wood from beaches along the Sunshine Coast. The colourful, jungle-feeling interior was created with natural stains coloured with spirulina, turmeric root and cayenne pepper.

What's next for Gorilla Foods? A packaged foods line, featuring sun-dried fruits and hard to find raw, dried goods, including unpasteurized almonds from California, direct from the farm they were grown on, and packs of raw cashews, which are mechanically opened (most via steam). Labels are being finalized now, and the packaged food line will be rolled out later this year.

Gorilla Foods is an eatery serving up food that is substantial, delicious, and it just happens to be vegan. Go give it a try.

Gorilla Foods

www.gorillafood.com
101 – 436 Richards St, Vancouver
604-684-3663

Open Monday–Saturday 11–7 p.m., 11–5:30 p.m. Sunday

Vancouver blogger Angie Schick spends all her spare time eating, shopping and spa-ing her way through the city. She writes primarily about independent restaurants that offer experiences unique to Vancouver. She expects a lot (just ask her friends!) and will always post honest thoughts and recommend places where she would actually go herself. Blog / Twitter

   

'Yarn Bombing' a new kind of grafitti

Vancouver locals release inspirational book on crocheted grafitti

Yarn bombing is a type of street art (graffiti) that uses knit or crocheted pieces instead of tagging with a spray can. And after reading the book Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti, I realized that I had actually "yarn bombed" before I even knew that the term existed.

When Got Craft? started back in May 2007, I decided to make as many knit cozies as I could to go all over the city with tags marketing our event. I knew about Knitta and their work across the US. I actually contacted them before I installed the Got Craft? pieces to make sure that I wasn’t violating anything.

Unfortunately, when my pieces took to the streets, they were taken down faster than we could put them up. All of our hard work didn’t go unnoticed though. One day, surfing the Internet, we found a picture of one of our creations on the blog magpie & cake and it made all that knitting worth it!

Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti by Vancouver locals Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain (Arsenal Pulp Press, $19.95) is divided into four general parts:

Patterns – A how-to featuring more than a dozen tutorials suitable for all levels of knitters and crocheters, including my favourite projects: the tree sweater (pg 167) and crocheted scallop tags (pg 184).

Interviews with guerilla yarn bombers – I had the opportunity to meet Magda, founder of Knitta, at the Austin, Texas, premiere of Handmade Nation last September, so I was glad to see her featured with a Q&A.

How-to – Everything you need to know to yarn bomb, from where to begin to what to do if you get caught. Mandy and Leanne have all of your bases covered!

Installations from around the world – It is truly amazing what some people can do! The 200-foot knitted pink hare stuffed with straw!? (Pictured right) Wow!

I have to admit that I’m not a very strong knitter or crocheter, but you don’t have to be. Newbies may not understand all of the technical terms, but with plenty of beautiful images and stories, Yarn Bombing is an inspirational book for crafters of all levels and those looking for a creative outlet.


A big thank you to Mandy and Leanne for creating an A+ book and for the opportunity to review it. You can catch up on all the latest news on the Yarn Bombing blog.

   

Think you’re done with BPA? Think again

Even if you ditched the plastic water bottles, your family may still be exposed to BPA every single day. Here, tips to reduce the health risks

Like just about every parent, we did a big clean out of plastic water bottles and toys last year. Studies about BPA (Bisphenol A), a chemical linked to health problems, made it clear that the chemical’s risks (reproductive disorders and cancer) outweighed its benefits (creating shatterproof plastics).

I naively assumed that once BPA’s use was restricted in Canada, it would disappear from my family’s life. But according to a recent story in the Washington Post, it turns out I was wrong.

BPA is pretty much ubiquitous. It’s found in canned goods, used in consumer products (including compact discs, cars and credit cards) and often comprises the lining of metal water bottles. Studies estimate that the chemical has been found in the urine of more than 97 percent of the population.

The problem is the benefits of BPA are really hard to replace and we’ve become completely dependent on the stuff—making it almost impossible to ban. The biggest risk seems to be the fact it can leach into our food. And, considering it’s found in many of the plastic containers and in most metal cans found on supermarket shelves, chances are we’re still consuming a lot of the stuff.

While we wait for our government to figure out how to protect us, we’re pretty much on our own. I know the idea of avoiding something that is everywhere seems impossible, but I like this list of tips from the Environmental Working Group:

How mothers and families can avoid BPA