Pittsburgh's Waffle Shop billboard (from waffleshopbillboard.org)
A vegan message will grace the skyline of East Liberty in Pittsburgh May 22-29, 2011, when we rent the large billboard atop the roof of the Waffle Shop building. The message, featuring traditional Pittsburghese:
GLOBAL VEGAN WAFFLE PARTY
BE KIND
BE HEALTHY
REDD UP OUR PLANET N’AT
“Redd up” means to clean up, and “n’at” is loosely translated to “and so forth.” Continue reading
I’ve been asked why, even though I promote this thing called the Global Vegan Waffle Party, I’m sometimes hesitant to use the word “vegan” to describe myself. Why do I often say “aspiring vegan,” “total vegetarian,” or sometimes even “conscious consumer?” Even though I’m not advocating using me as a role model (in fact, I’m begging you not to—please do your own homework!), I feel like I owe a bit of an explanation to those who are curious. For those who are not, it may seem like a long philosophical rambling.
Behaviorally, I’ve been probably at least 98% plant-based for the last several years. While home cooking is 100% plant-based, I don’t always worry about trace amounts of things (for reasons that will become clearer below), and I probably eat a veggie burger that has some egg or dairy once a month or so. I’ve eliminated animal-unfriendly products in many areas outside of diet. And, of course, I’ve put countless hours into a vegan website, event resources, and cookbook. But behavior is only a part of full-fledged veganism, as I understand it.
I hope to illustrate that you don’t need to have all the questions answered in order to do kind things for the world. You can throw an event celebrating completely animal product-free food, or do other things to increase awareness in this area, even if you’re not comfortable saying, “I’m a total, committed, lifelong vegan.” Because the truth is, I wasn’t totally there for very long myself. I’m very far from having all the answers. Continue reading
As we’re already in the month of May, we need your help to push up host numbers rapidly. If at least 24 new parties are signed up by noon on Tuesday, May 10* (bringing the total to at least 40), I’ll give away 4 paperback copies of The Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook. All hosts signed up by that time, including those who have already signed up, will be eligible. Because we’re a pretty low-budget operation, we probably won’t be having too many more giveaways like this. Winners announced on Vegan Waffles Facebook page by 5/11. So please spread the word!
*GMT -4, U.S. Eastern
Dylan, GVWC 2011 SpokesCow (courtesy Woodstock FAS)
We wanted to add a face to the important issues that our celebration seeks to address, including the treatment of animals in the dairy, egg, and meat industries, and the connections between these industries that are not yet common public knowledge.
Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary has kindly allowed one of their residents, Dylan, to serve as this year’s official SpokesCow.
Dylan’s story meshes particularly well with this year’s optional theme of Vegan Waffles, Ice Cream, and Sorbet. It conveys some of the common linkages between dairy and meat production. Dylan was taken from his mother, a dairy cow kept pregnant to sustain milk production, at only 3 days old to be confined and killed for his flesh. Most are not fortunate enough to be rescued as he was.
We’ve put together two one-page flyers for you to utilize at your event, if you find them helpful: Continue reading
Today I was exceptionally excited to learn that The Global Vegan Waffle Cookbook was awarded the Bronze Medal in the Natural Cooking Category of the 2011 Living Now Book Awards. Another vegan cookbook, Benessere Well-Being: Vegan & Sugar-Free Eating For a Healthy Life-Style by Laurinda Erasmus, received the gold.
Groovah. Vegan cookbooks rockin’ the top three.
I owe another huge thanks to all the recipe reviewers and people mentioned in the acknowledgments who provided inspiration, including Global Vegan Waffle Party hosts. The book was a ton of work, and your additional energy helped it over the finish line. Continue reading
I’m indebted to a number of people for inspiration and ideas for the Global Vegan Waffle Party. Among them is Gary Lowenthal, the largely unseen and unsung orchestrator of the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. In several ways, they are “sister events,” having grown up alongside one another over the last few years.
The WVBS is already poised to break its 2010 record, expecting well over 100 events with 50 between now and Sunday alone, but it could still use lots of additional signups. Individuals and organizations are welcome to host outside the recommended April 23-May 1 range, so it’s certainly not too late to organize something. We need some egg-free baked goods to offset all those Easter eggs.
So even if you don’t sign up for the Global Vegan Waffle Party, please sign up to host a Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. Or both!
Registration & info form