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

   

Three things I learned about gardening

Gardening workshops teach novice Vancouver gardeners planning basics—and let them get their hands dirty

As I posted recently, I have one season's experience growing food but still feel a little lost when it comes to the garden. So this past Sunday I participated in my first gardening workshop (on planning and prepartion) with sustainable gardener Grant Watson of edible landscaping company Gourmet Gardens.

Watson's courses, which are sponsored by Village Vancouver, will be held through June (the next, on selecting food crops, is March 13). Payment is by donation, and $35 is the suggested amount. (To register contact Ross Moster.)

[Update: An additional Gardening Planning and Preparation workshop has been added for Saturday, March 13 at 3 p.m. in Mount Pleasant.]

Grant took my classmates and me through the basics, from goal-setting, planning and location, to cover crops, irrigation, starting seedlings and more. He even offered us project-specific advice. Then we headed outside, where he showed us the results of his mulching (pictured above), and set us to work transplanting kale seedlings.

I learned so much in three hours, I can't summarize it all, so I thought I'd highlight what I found most interesting.

Location, location, location

When it comes to location, the crops often dictate where they want to live. But I never considered planning the garden to save me time and energy. So this year, herbs will be closest to the door, since I’ll pick those often, and I'll plant those thirsty tomatoes near my water source, so I don't have to drag the hose across the lawn each evening. Sure, it's common sense, but why didn't I think of this last year?

To till or not to till?

Apparently there are two camps in preparing the garden for spring: till and no till. Tilling is the quickest way to kill weeds and break up the soil. The downside is, you’ll release carbon, thereby encouraging more weeds, and also upset the soil’s beneficial ecosystem. Under the no-till system, the worms do all the aerating, and root plants including burdock and daikon help break up hard-packed soil. Until I have more experience and patience, I'll stick to the easier method, but now I'm aware about the long-term care of my soil.

Outside the box

Most of us plant our seeds in rows, or use rectangular raised beds. But if you’re starting from scratch, feel free to get creative. How about a pretty circular garden (with access points for weeding and watering)? Or a stacking garden, a permaculture technique in which resources and space are maximized by building up rather than out? There are plenty of boxless options worth researching.

Interested in participating?

If you’re a new gardener, consider a workshop with Grant or other gardening workshops presented by Village Vancouver.

Any other local gardening workshops we should know about?

   

Workshops for the urban gardener

Engaging and informative workshops help new gardeners navigate the urban edible landscape

Urban gardening is hotly gathering momentum in Vancouver. As interest grows in the community, more creative solutions are becoming available for those of us who long for our own piece of urban oasis but are stumped by the small spaces we live in. Indeed, container gardening and balcony gardening are increasingly becoming commonplace, regarded as a viable, healthy food source rather than mere whims indulged by the idealistic few.

If you are searching for sustainable food solutions to heal and soothe both your body and your wallet, look no further than the Village Vancouver workshops this weekend, March 6 and 7, 2010, featuring Robin Wheeler, founder of The Sustainable Living Arts School and the author of Gardening for the Faint of Heart and Food Security for the Faint of Heart.

Saturday, March 6

Introduction to Medicine Making
9-12 p.m., Mount Pleasant
Learn how to recognize and locate edible plants and make teas, poultices, tinctures and infused oils for personal use. Workshop will also cover solvents, supplies and storage.

Designing for Long Term Storage
1:15-2:45 p.m. (potluck at 12:30), Grandview Woodland
Learn strategies for food preservation and storage in apartments and houses.

Intentional Community - Shapes in Sharing
3-4 p.m., Grandview Woodland
What city dwellers can learn about the systems of social sharing and neighbourly support so prevalent in smaller rural communities.

Apartment and Container Gardening
4:30-6 p.m., Kitsilano
Covers the problems of tiny gardens and addresses some cures. Robin will talk about the best plants for small gardens and how to get the biggest, healthiest harvest possible.

Sunday, March 7

Food Preservation
9-10:30 a.m., Kitsilano
Ten techniques to help you save on your grocery bill. By learning about effective food preservation, you can stock up during sales and seasonal abundance and preserve the bounty for future use.

Edible Landscaping
11-1 p.m. (potluck to follow), Main St
Everything you need to know about edible landscaping, including microclimating, soil improvement and plant selection.

Intensive Urban Microfarming
2-5 p.m., Fairview
Boost production of your urban garden through a deeper understanding of microclimating, lateral growing, food cycles, succession planting, "shoulder" cropping and much more.

Sign up

To register or to find out more about the workshops, contact Ross at rmoster@flash.net. All workshops are offered on a pay-what-you-can basis. There are only 15 spaces per workshop, so hurry!