The Vegetarian Resource Group continues to be very busy on a daily basis. Below are some examples of successes and activities. Your support through Combined Federal Charity (CFC) or your Local/State Campaign is greatly appreciated! You can also donate directly to VRG at vrg.org/donate

Here’s a sampling of some of our accomplishments and outreach:

• The Vegetarian Resource Group Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, did a presentation to Maryland Dietitians in Health Care Communities on Offering Plant-Based and Vegan Options: Why It Makes Sense and How to Do It.
• The Vegetarian Resource Group poll numbers were cited in The Hill, a political news publication, which is read by The White House, Congress, and others. See: thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/3747206-vegetarianism-is-on-the-rise-especially-the-part-time-kind
• The Vegetarian Resource Group Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, did an interview on Arirang TV, an English-language broadcasting station in South Korea, on vegetarian diets. She also authored the Guide on How to Go Vegetarian or Vegan in Psyche (digital magazine).
• Reed was interviewed for an article for Contemporary Pediatrics about nutritional benefits and/or drawbacks of veganism and vegetarianism in adolescents. The aim of this article is to provide general practice pediatricians with guidance and nutritional information that they can share with their patients who may want to pursue either of these diets.
• VRG sent materials for health fairs, clinics, and restaurant tabling in Alabama, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. For example, a presenter at a health fair in Alabama asked for copies of our My Vegan Plate to distribute to attendees. VRG also gave 75 copies of our Spanish coloring books to three kindergarten classes in California. We were told it was a fun resource to use with their mostly bilingual students.
• Charles Stahler and Debra Wasserman coordinated a booth at Vegan SoulFest in Baltimore, Maryland, while Elsa Spencer, PhD, staffed a VRG booth at Richmond VegFest in Virginia.
• VRG sent 400 Vegan Journals to include in grab bags for VegFests in Sarasota, Florida; Durham, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; and Greenville, South Carolina, for a total of 1,600 copies. We also shipped four boxes of Vegan Journals and VRG handouts to the Vegan Society of Hawaii to be shared at the Climate Fair on the Hawaii State Capitol’s lawn and at the Windward Coast Emergency Preparedness Fair. Finally, we sent materials for events at a church in Selma, Alabama, and another in Anniston, Alabama, as well as a Juneteenth day of celebration and learning in Richmond, Virginia.
• VRG continues to host virtual interns/volunteers throughout the year. They all worked/are working on a number of exciting outreach and research projects!

This is just a small sampling of what we are doing at VRG every day. Thank you so much! We couldn’t do this without your support.

You can donate directly to VRG at www.vrg.org/donate

You can also mail donations to The Vegetarian Resource Group, PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203 or call in your donation to (410) 366-8343 Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm EST.

Whenever we see fresh beets growing in a garden or stocked in a store, we wish we had new ideas for preparing a vegan beet-based dish. In a previous issue of VRG’s Journal, Debra Daniels-Zeller wrote an article offering many suggestions including Orange Beet Puree, Savory Baked Beets with Horseradish Sauce, Roasted Rosemary Beets, Creamy Beet Green Chowder, Spicy Sesame Beets and Greens with Jasmine Rice, Smoky Tempeh with Beets and Wilted Greens over Pasta, Balsamic-Basil Pickled Beets, and Borscht.

Read the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2000sep/2000_sep_beet_it.php

Subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA only by visiting https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Colombian Black Bean Soup photo by Hannah Kaminsky

Hannah Kaminsky shares several delicious black bean-based vegan recipes in the latest issue of Vegan Journal. Enjoy Colombian Black Bean Soup, Mole Enchiladas, Black Bean Chipotle Chile, Loaded Spanish Sweet Potatoes, and Tex-Mex Pasta Salad.

Read the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2023issue3/2023_issue3_modern_classics.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Photo from Spicy Moon

Finally had a chance to dine at Spicy Moon’s East Village location in New York City. Their vegan Szechuan Chinese food is absolutely delicious! If you’re into spicy dishes, this restaurant is definitely worth a try. We enjoyed Dan Dan Noodles and Scallion Style Mixed Vegetable with Bean Curd. The food was perfectly cooked and beautifully presented.

There are 3 locations for Spicy Moon in New York City. Information can be found here: https://www.spicymoonnyc.com/

By Priscila Camargo Reis, VRG intern from Brazil

Santos is a mid-sized city on the coast of São Paulo County, in Brazil. It is beautiful, flat, with a good bicycle route, and is where some people who worked hard in the overwhelming city of São Paulo and earned a lot of money, choose to live their retired life. For that reason and due to being a touristic place, it is hard to live there, since for those living on a typical Brazilian income it is an extremely expensive city.

As a result, the vegan restaurants also will have a bitter price (be expensive). In Brazil veganism is still not very popular and is usually thought of being only for higher income people. I don’t have a high purchasing power yet, but my belly doesn’t care about this. And something my stomach discovered is that vegan restaurants from Santo don’t have a bitter taste, but the opposite. The  vegan restaurants are delicious and there are several of them around the city. From my point of view, it is a good number of vegan businesses for a city the size of Santos, since the majority of cities that size have hardly any vegan options.

The restaurant I patronized most -and which bankrupted me a little bit- is called Master Veggie. It is very well located, in a central region and it is open from 11 am to 11 pm, from Tuesday to Sunday. It is a small place, stripped-down style, with super friendly, attentive and helpful attendants, and it also has a small grocery store offering vegan food. Actually, Master Veggie is a burger shop, but they also serve lunch and dinner a la carte. You can eat there, take away, or ask for delivery.

The hamburgers are tasty, a good size, and not just soy-based. But the so called salty snacks, despite being wonderfully delicious, are too small for their price, except for the onions rings, which are a good size. There are vegan milkshakes. Although there is no freshly made juice (something that Brazilians are blessed with finding everywhere), they do have kombucha! Master Veggie serves desserts and vegan ice cream, too.

The first dish I tried was a lunch plate. A “PF” is how it’s called. Parmigiana, consisted of white rice, salad (tomatoes, lettuce, and a seed mix), French fries, and one veggie meat (selected from about ten options) with nut cheese and homemade sauce. When I’ve been sad, a chocolate milkshake and French fries were my comfort food.

Every time I traveled, I ordered one of their hamburgers. I’ve tried at least three different types, including a very new one made of onion rings. Usually I used to order a bean burger (we can choose the protein) and the sauces were all tasty.

I said good bye with a lunch, too, to close the cycle. I’ve ordered The “saladão” (big salad), that an assistant told me was the  biggest deity of the place. It followed the standard of beautiful, yummy, and nutritious. However, it was much more light than the other options. It included leafy green mix, carrot, tomatoes, purple onion, mini (and cute) tofu cubes, lemon, bitter sweet sauce, salty granola (did you know this exists?), and more than ten veggie meat options to be chosen, covered by melted nut cheese. I still can feel this dish in my mouth.

So, if you visit Santos, Brazil, it is worthy doing a gastronomic tour to this restaurant/snack bar. And, please, be sure to purchase frozen jackfruit (jaca) meat. You will surely be surprised how the Brazilians managed to turn a fruit into shredded fowl. Bon apétit.

For more info, visit https://www.facebook.com/masterveggiebr/

When traveling in the United States and looking for restaurants, go to https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

Each issue of Vegan Journal contains a column called Vegan Action where we feature an individual promoting veganism through their profession or other community activity. In the latest issue we feature Katya Galbis, LD.

Read the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2023issue3/2023_issue3_vegan_action.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Vegan frozen fruit bars and pops come in a variety of flavors. In the latest issue of Vegan Journal we review organic vegan pops and bars and list calories, total sugar, added sugar, and saturated fat (if any).

Read the entire article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2023issue3/2023_issue3_vegan_organics.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Kadai Tofu photo from Ahimsa

If you happen to be in New York City, you might want to visit Ahimsa. This vegetarian restaurant clearly marks all their vegan options and offers a separate Jain menu as well. You can dine on both northern and southern Indian cuisine including dosas, vegan curries, and more. We sampled a Masala Dosa, Kadai Tofu (a tofu dish in tomato sauce with spices), and Palak Tofu (a tofu dish with spinach and spices). The dishes were all good. More information on Ahimsa can be found here: https://ahimsanyc.com/

Mary’s Gone Crackers now offers Plant-Based Cheddar and Plant-Based Cheese & Herb Crackers. Read our review in the latest issue of Vegan Journal here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2023issue3/2023_issue3_veggie_bits.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php