Wednesday's Vegan Lunch

Homemade Vietnamese-style spring rolls, a summertime staple.

Today for lunch I made fresh Spring Rolls, my own version of traditional Vietnamese gỏi cuốn.

I used what I had on hand:

• ginger-garlic roasted tofu strips (leftover from last night)
• crisp juicy bean sprouts
• local red leaf lettuce
• homemade pickled radishes (also local)

...just lay the ingredients on softened rice paper and roll up tightly. Usually these are served with a dipping sauce, but the vegetables were so fresh and moist that I decided a sauce would be unnecessary. And it was.

These were crispy, savory, and tangy-sweet all at once.

Mmmmmmmm!!!!!

"The suffering is palpable": John Robbins visits a veal barn with Julia Child

In this short video, John Robbins tells the story of taking die-hard veal enthusiast Julia Child to visit a veal barn in rural Pennsylvania. Upon seeing the conditions there, Julia Child gave up veal—a fact few people know.



As John Robbins explains, 99% of our animal-based food today is produced in such horrible conditions that, if people could see it first-hand, as Julia Child finally did, they would reject it:

"Here was a person who clearly was not vegetarian-oriented in any way, and yet even she [changed], when she saw it, when she was face to face with it."

Declawing: Cruel and unusual punishment for cats

An eye-opening new public service announcement from The Paw Project dramatizes what "declawing" (de-knuckling is a more accurate term) really means:



Declawing is illegal or considered inhumane in many countries throughout the world, including over 12 European nations, Australia, and Brazil.

For more information about the effects of declawing and humane alternatives, go to www.pawproject.org.

Historic Moment for Animals: Lab animal abusers indicted for felony cruelty

For the first time in U.S. history, workers from an animal research laboratory are facing felony cruelty charges for animal abuse. A grand jury in North Carolina handed down 14 counts of cruelty to animals against four former lab workers, one of whom was a supervisor, at Professional Laboratory Research Services (PLRS).

Scene from video taken at PLRS lab.

The cruelty was first brought to light last fall, when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) provided authorities with undercover video showing animal mistreatment at the lab. After federal officials began investigating the inhumane operation, nearly 200 dogs and more than 50 cats were removed from PLRS and the lab was closed in late 2010.



PLRS conducted testing for major manufacturers of pet products, such as flea and tick treatments. Video provided by PETA (see portions above) shows lab employees engaged in numerous cruel acts:

"The accused are among those caught on video kicking, throwing, and dragging dogs; hoisting rabbits by their ears and puppies by their throats; violently slamming cats into cages; and screaming obscenities at terrified animals. One of those named is the worker seen on video trying to rip out a cat's claws by violently pulling the animal from the fence onto which he or she clung in fear."

It is estimated that over 150 million vertebrate animals, including dogs, cats, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, farm animals, and non-human primates, are used annually worldwide for testing purposes. In the U.S over 90% of animals used in experimentation are excluded from the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the only federal law which oversees animal testing. Rats, mice, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish are expressly exempt from all safeguards. Species not covered under the AWA do not even have to be reported.