Great cooking classes--thanks, BAV!

[Guest guest]

Last week we had two successful veg cooking classes. Thank

you to everyone who donated money, volunteered, and helped market the classes.

 

The

Pacifica class was fabulous. Thanks to

Chris and Tammy’s great idea, the

Pacifica cooking

class was advertised to library patrons so we reached a whole new group of

people. About 30 signed up and 20 actually made the class--20 new

people!

Some were trying to go vegan, some were trying to go veg. We had some

great discussions while we made BBQ, potato salad and chocolate

mousse. We handed out vegetarian information to everyone. It was

a

very

successful event for the animals, and the icing on the cake…Bay Area

Vegetarians raised $618 for

the library, and they will use that money to buy animal rights books and veggie

cookbooks! I felt it was well worth the time I spent on the class, and

hopefully Chris and Tammy and Amy and

Oliver

agree. If they don’t, then no more chocolate mousse

for them.

The

majority of the produce was donated by Pacifica Farmer’s Market—all

organic, beautiful food. Very expensive. If you live anywhere in or

near Pacifica, please shop there to say

“thanks.”

They are a small business. Even if you don’t live there—if

you plan a trip to the beach, be sure to plan ahead and stock up before you go

home. They carry gorgeous produce and all the yummy veggie foods like

tofu, vegan ice cream, rice milk, etc. The strawberries and peaches I

purchased there were the best I’ve had all summer.

They

are in the Ultimate Guide: http://www.bayareaveg.org/ug/display.htm?id=107

The

following Wednesday we did a class for kids at the Marin Community

Center. Much thanks to Lidia B for suggesting it, finding

the place, organizing it and helping me set up. We

talked to the kids about being kind to animals and eating well. They

really liked the BBQ tofu, in fact, they told the adults that “it

was just like BBQ chicken, you should try it!” before I had a

chance

to! The strawberry-banana smoothies with soymilk were a huge hit and the

kids all liked the soymilk. The adults all had Tofurky sandwiches

and

loved them. Then I made minestrone soup with the kids (talk about stressful)

and everyone like that. The soup was cheap, fast, healthy and

satisfying—the adults all asked for seconds and

said, “I can be vegetarian and eat stuff like

this?” We handed out lots of literature and Lidia heard from two

people the next day, over e-mail, who were determined to go veg.

If

only two people from each class went veg, that’s more than 400 animals

saved next year. And every year after that. It’s also four

new people who will spread the idea of vegetarianism to their community. That’s

a conservative guess--I think we have more than 4 new vegetarians after these

two class.

I

love telling people WHY to go veg, when we do leafleting, but telling people

HOW to go veg is also very important. I was so pleased to be a part of

BAV for these classes, and thanks again to the folks who donate to BAV,

which pays for the ingredients.

In

August we’ll be

back at the Marin Community Center, this time

to make lunch with a group of 30 teenagers, after which we’ll

all sit down and eat together. Yes,

it’s true that I listen to music recorded before these teenagers were

born, but I’m hoping they’ll humor me. I’ll

brush up on PETA2.com before I go.

There’s

another cooking class coming up this month, the yummy vegan baking

class—even if you’re already a vegan baker, please spread

the word. I have seen countless people go veg after a good cooking class,

meal, or recipe discovery. A good vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe is a

handy tool for your outreach and advocacy. Step 1: Give skeptical

meat-eater cookie. Step 2: Listen calmly while they tell you they

could never eat vegan. Step 3: Inform them that the cookie they

just inhaled was vegan. Follow-up with a Vegetarian Starter Kit or Why

Vegan and there’s your activism for the day.

Alex