RE: Link to whether Bay Area restaurants are really veg an or veg

[Guest guest]

I can vouch for Golden Era in SF, Golden Lotus in Oakland, New World

Vegetarian in Oakland, and the Supreme Master Ching Hai International

Assiation Vegetarian House in San Jose. I know the owners personnally and

we belong to the same meditation group. Non-violence is a large part of our

practice.

 

As Chris mentioned below, the owners of these restaurants are highly

diligent about making sure there are no eggs or dead animal parts in any of

the veggie meats. Some do actually have dairy. Rightly or wrongly, this is

the cut line for our group. Our teacher tells us that she does not use

dairy or honey because of her concern for the suffering of those animals,

and we are thus indirectly encouraged to be vegan, but the cut line for

participation in the type of meditation we do is very strict at a

lacto-vegetarian diet.

 

At the Vegetarian House in SJ, I know they list very clearly which have

dairy and which do not. It has been a while since I was at Golden Era,

Golden Lotus or New World Vegetarian, so I can't comment on how clearly they

mark vegan vs. lacto-vegetarian.

 

I also know that at the Vegetarian House, they wanted to use organic

vegetables in the restaurant, but were so concerned about the bone meal and

blood used to fertilize organic foods, that they have not. After much time

and research, they finally found a provider of organic salad greens that

does not use bone or blood to fertilize and put that on the menu.

 

As Jack points out, non-violence is not black and white, but a continuum.

And where we remain firm on one issue (ie no eggs in my case), we often find

ourselves needing to compromise on another (organic foods fertilized with

bone meal and blood in my case as well).

 

Best regards,

 

Susan

 

 

 

 

jacknorris [jacknorris]

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 11:52 AM

SFBAVeg

Re: [sFBAVeg] Link to whether Bay Area restaurants are really

vegan or veg

 

 

Hi everyone. I know there is a wide range of opinion on animal ingredients

on this list and we've been over the different opinions before, but, I'd

like to make a few brief points:

 

1. Nothing is really vegan. The grains we eat have insect parts in them;

mammals are also killed in their harvesting. The boxes that transfer our

food have glue made from animals. Water is often purified with charcoal from

animal bones. And on and on. So, in my opinion, the answer to how can you

know if a restaurant is really vegan is easy -- it's not. The world is going

to have to change very dramatically before such a thing as 100% vegan is

truly possible.

 

In the process of moving towards that change...

 

2. Until the focus of veganism becomes suffering rather than ingredients,

veganism is going to be very hard for the masses to accept.

 

I'll stop there, and if anyone cares to read more about this they can at:

 

http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/path.html#veganexample

 

Jack

 

-

" Chris James " <chris

<SFBAVeg >

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 11:01 AM

RE: [sFBAVeg] Link to whether Bay Area restaurants are really vegan

or veg

 

 

> Good question. I always have my doubts and this is one of my pet peeves.

>

> I know Golden Era in SF personally visited one of their fake meat

> supplier and found that they used eggs even though they claimed on their

> packaging that they did not. So a big thumbs up to Golden Era for going

> that extract step and changing suppliers (I'm not sure about sugar in

> their products though.)

>

> Please report back with your findings. I for one would be very

> interested in finding out, especially for Shangrila who claim to be

> vegan even though they use egss in some soups and I've never had the

> nerver to ask to go to the kitchen to see the ingredients list on the

> packaging.

>

> Maybe we can start a small local campaign to certify restaurants vegan

> or how vegan they are?

>

> Take care

>

> Chris

>

>

> Madame Bovary [tpennacchia]

> Tuesday, April 22, 2003 10:39 AM

> SFBAVeg

> [sFBAVeg] Link to whether Bay Area restaurants are really vegan

> or veg

>

>

> Can anyone email me or the group a link or a list of whether

> different Bay area restaurants that claim they are veg or vegan

> really are? For example, I know that some mock meats contain

> refined sugar, eggs or egg whites, and/or milk. I try and try to

> ask many questions with restaurant personnel; however, I know the

> definition of vegan is different for different people. How do I

> know for sure how veggie or vegan a place is? I having been trying

> out most of the places on the vegdining site in the area (except for

> the ghee using Indian restaurants).

>

> Toni, DJ Veggie

> (AKA DJ Madame Bovary)

> djmadameb

>

>

>

> :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

> Bay Area Vegetarians is a community group for veggies to network & find

support. Free

> membership and lots of free events :-) See below links for more veggie

info....

>

> *Next Vegan Food Party -- 5/3! See SFBAVeg Event Calendar

www.generationv.org/events.htm

> *New Events Only Mailing List!

SFBAVeg-Events

> *Vote for future event locations!

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> *SFBAVeg Charter: www.generationv.org/charter.htm

> *FREE vegan info kit: www.veganoutreach.org/starterpack/free-vsp.html

> *Online discussion forum with threaded messages

http://www.generationv.org/forum/

> *Be Active for Animals! See www.freedom4animals.org/events.html

>

> Tell your friends to Be-A-Veg with SFBAVeg!

> http://www.generationv.org/join.htm

>

>

>

>

>