Disturbing story on SF Gate, outlining claims of a former employee of the raw-vegan restaurant. Allegedly this employee was fired for not wanting to take a Landmark Forum seminar, as advocated by Cafe Gratitude ownership.
I suppose employees at companies end up having to take seminars occasionally...especially once you're working for a company of greater than 50 employees, when federal regulations kick in about having to have sensitivity training, for example.
It's unclear from the article whether the restaurant *pays for* the seminars, which don't come cheap.
Even if they do pay, it is still disturbing, given some people think of Landmark Forum as being cult-like, and it's about personal development, as opposed to professional skills development.
Honestly, Cafe Gratitude is not on my list of fave vegan restaurants in the Bay Area. I don't go out of my way to go there. If I have a choice I'll take Cha Ya or Millennium or Greens or Herbivore or, frankly, countless other veg*n restaurants over CG.
This only makes that a feeling based not just on menu!
What do you think?
While at BlogHer, I attendee a lunch thrown by one of our sponsors, GreenWorks (a Clorox company). I was already intrigued by the brand, once I learned they consider no animal testing to be one of the three primary criteria in their definition of a "natural" product. (More on that over on my green blog, Elisa's Green Scene.)
Then I heard the lunch would be vegan. Sold!!
So, here's the lunch. There was:
- Peanut noodles (a little too salty for my taste, frankly)
- Tofu cutlets
- Grilled vegetables, including portabella mushrooms
- A lettuce wrap
- Some yummy cake with a cream cheese-like frosting
- Fruit salad
At past BlogHers I honestly didn't eat much and would really feel ground down by the end of the two days. I still may not have eaten solid breakfast and dinners during the conference, but I have to say I managed to fit in a hearty, satisfying lunch on both days, and I think it made a big difference!
So, in case you're wondering #whatveganseat, now you know. (And you can follow that hashtag on Twitter for even more ideas.
Click on over to SF Bay Style, a group blog to which I contribute only every month or so, to read my review of a tucked-away little sushi restaurant in Cupertino. Sushi places aren't always big fun for vegans, but I can highly recommend this one.
It's called Kitsho Sushi; it's my parents' favorite sushi place (they are big sushi lovers) and they took good care of me and my wacky vegan needs.
I thought I'd link to this interview with one of the co-founders of Coconut Bliss ice cream. Being a big fan of coconut to begin with, this ice cream is truly manna from heaven for me. I had only ever found one flavor of soy ice cream that I really really liked, and Trader Joe's stopped carrying it, so I was sort of lice cream-less.
Not that one needs ice cream to lead a happy, fulfilling, dessert-inclusive life. But, it don't hurt.
Enter Coconut Bliss.
Now, the one thing that is interesting, and that I'm surprised they don't get some flack for, is that this is about as opposite to a "local" product as you can get. They use coconuts from Thailand as their main ingredient. Someone, somewhere has to have complained about that, no?
But as we all know, my particular hierarchy of food needs run like this: Vegan, Organic, Fair Trade, Local
What does your hierarchy look like?
Why don't I do this more often?
And why don't I take pictures when I do do it.
Today I walked to the downtown Campbell Farmer's Market, met a friend, and bought myself some awesome fresh produce and some unusual snack items.
And tonight's dinner was simple, savory and very satisfying.
Why, what was it, you ask?
It was just this simple:
I took a head of cauliflower and cut it up.
I took 2 ears of sweet bi-colored corn and cut each ear into three pieces
I put them in a baking dish and tossed them with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, garlic and cinnamon.
I pretty carefully rolled everything around, so it got coated.
I baked at 425 degrees for 30 minutes
Nom. Nom. Nom.
Yes, it is the cinnamon that is the secret ingredient.
And then just to close the meal with a little sweet-tartness, I had a pluot.
Someone at the Farmer's Market asked me about being vegan and how it went becoming a vegan. Along with other things I said, I mentioned that after you eat or don't eat a certain way for a few months, you really get used to it.
I don't crave cheese anymore.
And the meal I describe above was flavorful, filling and fantastic...nothing missing for me :)
While I won't miss being portrayed as a turnip (no, I don't think the illustration on the left resembles me at all!) I will miss a monthly opportunity to make over 600K people think a little differently about what they eat.
It was truly a labor of love for me, and after five years, this is the final Silicon Veggie:
It's a pretty good one to be my final column, since it revisits my philosophy about taking as many steps as we can towards ethical, humane behavior. And that until someone is perfect, I'm still in favor of doing what we can until we can do better.
And I guess now I'll talk about that here on my sorely neglected little Vox blog. And I hope all 2 of you readers (you know who you are) enjoy it :)
I'm not sure I would watch Top Chef, even if I wasn't vegan, because if I can't judge the output (like I can on singing, dancing, fashion shows) then what fun is it? And you can't eat the food. Now throw in the fact that 90% of what they make I wouldn't eat? Not one of my Season Pass shows.
I did, however, mean to record the recent episode featuring Zooey Deschanel, and the challenge to make her something not only vegan, but wheat- and soy-free too! That's a little over-the-top and only serves to reinforce the notion that the vegan lifestyle is incredibly limited. Sounds like, from the Slashfood recap, the chefs were a little freaked out by the limitations placed on them.
I missed it, but am set to record one the many repeats of the episodes tomorrow morning. Of course they ahd to pair the vegan elimination challenge with a burger challenge.
Thanks guys, sheesh.
So, did you watch?
Just got a call from my editor over at The Metro.
Seems they are trying to stay alive by discontinuing using any freelancers as regular columnists. I guess they'll make staff reporters just work a little harder.
That means it's goodbye to Silicon Veggie after more than five years!
I landed Silicon Veggie purely on the strength of the restaurant reviews I used to do on my personal blog.
I never met the editor who hired me. I never met the original editor's replacement. My references were my blog, and our interactions were completely on the phone or via email. And oh by the way, I just emailed the then-food editor and told them they ought to have a veggie column, given this is the hippy-dippy bay Area. They weren't out there looking to add one.
Of course I do have this blog, so I still have a channel for my vegan evangelizing. But it was nice to have something pushing me to write a considered 400-word essay every month. Will I push myself the same way on my own?
Le sigh.
