On Monday, November 30th, Vegan Outreach lost a dear friend and a hero to the animals – Karen Oberg, volunteer and mother to John Oberg, VO’s Director of Communications. Karen lost her long battle with cancer.
Karen and John
The first time I met Karen, a few of us had just finished leafleting the Warped Tour in Detroit, and we came back to sleep at her place, which was nearby. We were tired and hungry, and we arrived to a bounty of cooked veggie burgers, homemade fries, and fixin’s that Karen joyously offered us, which we happily devoured. And little did we know that when we all slept in beds that night, Karen quietly went off to a room and slept on the floor. She gave us all the available beds and didn’t even let us know of the sacrifice she made for us.
Karen was also a dedicated VO leafleter. Despite being diagnosed with cancer, she would still join John for leafleting, putting in some impressive days of outreach. On a leafleting outing just this past September, she personally handed out over 800 booklets — from a wheelchair!
How John treated Karen during this time was the stuff of legend. John moved back to Michigan to be there for his mom and was with her at all times, taking her to appointments, to concerts, sports events, etc. Here’s a heartwarming video of John catching a fly ball at a Detroit Tigers game and giving the ball to Karen. John truly set the gold standard for how we should treat our loved ones during a time of illness.
Karen will be remembered as someone who showered others with kindness, generosity, joy, and humor in the face of great adversity. Thank you for all you did to bring more compassion into this world, Karen.
Today is Giving Tuesday, and we want to help animals in a big way!
We want to raise $20,000 by the end of the day!
That’s $10,000 plus our year-end matching donations from a group of generous donors who believe in the cause as much as you do!
Please consider making a donation today – and have it matched dollar-for-dollar to double your impact for farmed animals! They need you. We need you. Let’s reach even more people with pro-veg booklets in 2016!
Hopefully you’re having a happy and compassionate Thanksgiving! We don’t mean to get ahead of ourselves, but we wanted to get you started with some great holiday gift ideas for that vegan on your list! The Vegetarian Site has it all. Since 2000, The Vegetarian Site, a fully vegan website, has been offering food, books, gifts, supplements, accessories and more to vegans around the world.
They also donate 10% of the sale of each product (not just the profit!) to a chosen animal charity each month. This month, it’s Vegan Outreach!
Gift certificates are always a great option, especially for vegans don’t have easy access to some of their favorite foods locally. Countless shelf stable mixes for ethnic foods, cookies, brownies and other desserts, as well as spices, meal bars, protein powders, meat and dairy alternatives can all be found on the site. With a “Dollar Menu“, an extensive sale section and one cent samples, it’s easy to get more bang for your buck.
Additionally, this year The Vegetarian Site has four new personalized Holiday Gift Bag options. Each medium gift bag is filled with sweet or savory vegan treats. Try the Sweet Stuff,Vegan Meaty, Vegan Bakery, or Gluten-Free Vegan Bakery option. The folks at The Vegetarian Site will happily include a personalized message from you and ship it directly to the recipient.
Your purchases in November from The Vegetarian Site will support Vegan Outreach. Thank you and enjoy your shopping!
As a traveling outreach coordinator, I have heard the following statement more than a handful of times: “I don’t know how you do it; I could never live on the road.” And I think all the former, highly admirable traveling outreach coordinators would agree with me when I say that, like with any other job, it isn’t always easy. For me personally, and as I mentioned in a previous post, I miss cooking my own meals. I also miss my own bed, my adorable Oliver
(this picture was taken in August when I was packing for the tour), and other silly things one may take for granted, like a pillow case and towel that always smell like home.
In response to the individuals who claim they could never live on the road, I usually respond by telling them that, yes, there are certain things that become a bit more difficult when one is constantly traveling but that you find little things along the way that make the lifestyle easier. These things would undoubtedly vary from person to person (or should I say traveling outreach coordinator to traveling outreach coordinator), but I have personally found these three to be the most helpful:
The Planet Fitness Black Card Membership
I have always enjoyed physical activity, especially as I got older and the stress of college set in. It helped relieve the ongoing anxiety that school created. The first gym I joined after high school offered a wide variety of classes, and after trying out a few different kinds, I settled on the 5 a.m. boot camp class. It felt great to get the happy endorphins going at the start of my day, not to mention that I met a wonderful group of women who would soon become my good friends. I stuck with my morning gym routine all through school, and I have carried that over into my work schedule. I learned from a former traveling outreach coordinator that Planet Fitness is a popular chain gym on the East Coast and that if you purchase their “Black Card” Membership package, you can use any Planet Fitness gym in the United States. Pretty cool, huh? Working out before I start leafleting gets me energized and motivated for the day. Not only that, but it provides a predictable atmosphere. Being at a different school each day, a different city every few days, and at least two or three different host homes each week, Planet Fitness has become somewhat of a “home base” for me. And as an added bonus, they have nifty massage chairs that I frequently take advantage of!
Electric Car Cooler
This clever invention has made road life wonderfully easy when it comes to food! It doesn’t require ice; it simply plugs into the cigarette lighter of my car. It stays cold up to 12 hours when it’s unplugged (or when the car isn’t running) and an indoor wall adaptor can be purchased for the days you aren’t driving around. I currently have a bag of carrots, five or six apples, a few bananas, a container of hummus, a loaf of bread, and a water bottle inside mine. Oh, the joys of modern technology…
Friends, Family, and Animals
There are five wonderful individuals I speak with, if not on a daily bases, at least several times a week. Three of the five are fellow Vegan Outreach employees: Outreach Coordinator Steven Litrov (who is currently touring the Midwest), Director of Development Lisa Rimmert, and Operations Manager Kevin Gallagher. These three never, ever fail to make me laugh, and they continuously offer support and encouragement. Kevin also does a great job of keeping me entertained by passing along interesting news articles.
My good friend Erin Vader is also another solid source of support. Erin and I are used to being there for each other long distance anyway, since she lives in Detroit, Michigan, but that only strengthens my appreciation for her early morning “Good morning!” text messages and daily questioning about my travels and the schools and places I visit. An amazing animal activist herself, I cannot express how much that girl means to me.
And last, but certainly not least, my mom.
Her support and encouragement is arguably the most appreciated out of all my friends and family members (those mentioned in this post and the others scattered throughout the country). I know she worries about me and would prefer I have a more “stationary” or “normal” job, but she supports me regardless. She keeps me updated on the family “happenings” back home, and she frequently sends me pictures of Oliver.
And for everyone’s enjoyment, here is the latest picture she sent me:
In short, yes, there are the few drawbacks to living on the road. However, there are definitely routines, gadgets, and people that make it possible. Looking at the bigger picture, the animals need our help. And for the time being, this is the way I choose to go about helping them. Thus, I will continue to draw upon and cultivate new ways of making this lifestyle possible.
Vegan Outreach is excited to wish the wonderful people at Tofurky a happy 20th anniversary! For 20 years, they have been helping vegans and vegetarians feel included during holiday festivities by providing a cruelty-free alternative to the traditional turkey centerpiece. It was my great pleasure to chat with Tofurky founder, Seth Tibbott, about the early days of manufacturing and marketing a product that would completely change the veg world.
During the interview I felt a great respect for several things not elaborated in the interview below:
First, Tofurky is a family-owned company and despite having multiple offers from investors, have remained the way they originally intended. This is important because they are the visionaries of the brand based on mission and ethics rather than money; and speaking of money, being self-owned means they can continue generously giving to organizations that are helping animals. Check out a Tofurky Trot near you!
Most importantly, not only does Tofurky taste delicious, but they also do their innovative work because they care about animals. Hearing Seth talk about the importance of working towards more cruelty-free products was inspiring, and studies have shown that their hard work is helping turkeys! In the last ten years, Tofurky sales have gone up 123%, while turkey sales have gone down 9.6%. I can’t wait to see what tasty products they come up with next!
Here’s my interview with Seth:
Tofurky is a clever name, were there ever any other possibilities?
First off, “Tofurkey” is a name that dates back to the 1970’s and refers most of the time to a Thanksgiving dish made by mashing tofu with seasonings, lining a colander with cheese cloth, punching a cavity in the tofu with your fist and filling the cavity with stuffing. The “curd” is then flipped onto an oiled baking sheet and baked with a baste. The first Tofurky Roasts we made in 1980 were using this recipe. The first two years, my friends Hans and Rhonda Wrobel of the Higher Taste made the tofu and gravy for the Tofurky Roasts and we made the Tempeh Drummettes and handled the distribution and marketing of the product. There was some discussion about calling it a “Stuffed Holiday Roast” or “Celebration Roast” (which now is a yummy Field Roast product) but I thought the name “Tofurky” was more fun so we ran with that.
What inspired you to create Tofurky?
Tofurky was inspired by years of unsatisfactory Thanksgiving experiments, many of which took place with my naturalist friends at Bill Mckinney’s cabin in the Cascades near Ashland, Oregon (see photo above). I became a vegetarian in 1972 and would either nibble on side dishes or actually backslide into eating turkey. Two of the epic vegan failures were a Stuffed Pumpkin that contained rice and veggies and lacked a protein rich savory component and a Gluten roast that took all day to prepare but was virtually impossible to cut, let alone digest. I was looking for a Thanksgiving roast that was “bombproof” to make, delicious and easy to prepare.
Original Tofurky Box
How did people respond when you first began this project?
The first year, 1995, inside the first 500 Tofurky Roasts, we included a self addressed, stamped postcard requesting feedback from our customers. With no internet, this was the primary means of communication back then.
We got great feedback. I remember one in particular that said “I have been waiting 20 years for this product. Finally I am not a second class citizen at Thanksgiving anymore!” That year we also received some great press from NPR and the NBC Today show.
In the early days, how did you convince retailers to carry your product?
Some retailers saw the potential right away and others were very skeptical, mostly due to the high price of the Tofurky (served 8/cost $34.95). The prevailing retail wisdom at the time was no product would ever sell in the freezer price above $3.99 so there was some sticker shock with the Tofurky. Two early adopters of the product were Food Front in Portland and PCC (Puget Consumers Market in Seattle). They both brought in substantial amounts of Tofurkys that year and PCC even had to add a “Tofurky Hotline” where customers could order them. Other stores were not so sure. When I presented to one large Portland chain, they weren’t sure if they could sell any but reluctantly ordered one Tofurky. The next day they called and said they had sold that one and could I bring them 2 more? This exponential growth went on right up to Thanksgiving and was a lot of fun to watch.
How many people purchase Tofurky roasts these days?
Today we sell between 350,000 and 400,000 Tofurky roasts per year. Along with our other Tofurky products like sausages and deli slices we produce about 10 million pounds of Tofurky each year.
Original Tofurky Feast Holiday Table
How has the world – and the market for veg options – changed over the last 20 years?
Well first off, I started Turtle Island Foods in 1980 as a tempeh only company. Back then there was no tofu, tempeh or meat alternatives available and barely any granola. My diet consisted of pressure cooked soybeans and tortillas and soy grit burgers, so tempeh was a huge step forward for me. When I first brought my commercial tempeh cakes to stores, the response was “Awesome! Do you have any more products? We are trying to fill up our shelves with products and are having a hard time finding enough!” By 1995, when Tofurky came on the scene, there were plenty of frozen burgers, led by the Gardenburgers and Boca Burgers, and also refrigerated tofu hot dogs but not alot of other good options. The variety and quality of vegan meat alternatives and cheeses available now is nothing short of amazing.
Did Tofurky ever experience the kind of corporate pushback that newer vegan brands are currently facing (e.g. Just Mayo vs Unilever)?
We have never been harassed by larger corporate entities though several have offered to buy us, something we have never been tempted to do. My stepson, Jaime Athos has worked here for going on 10 years now and is now our President and CEO. He is very sharp.
Knowing what you know today, what would you have done differently in the first few years of establishing your brand?
No regrets though I wish there was Kickstarter around as an option for raising money! As it was, I gave my brother 27% of Turtle Island Foods for a $17,000 investment in 1990. Oops! We are still on good terms and he was happy with his investment.
Current Tofurky Vegetarian Feast Packaging
Did you ever think Tofurky would be as popular as it has become?
Before you launch a product you never know really how it will turn out. But after reading all the feedback cards the first year, there was a deep sense that we had struck marketing gold. It was such a great “kairos” moment when we for the first time could finally see our way through. The world just opened up in a whole new way and changed our company forever. We were lucky enough to introduce deli slices and sausages of high quality in the coming years, using the same basic recipe which expanded the company’s opportunities beyond the holiday realm.
Are there any plans for new products?
Always. We will never stop innovating. It’s the lifeblood of the company and is in our mission to bring great tasting products out at a price that is as affordable as possible. We think the next 20 years will see great advancements in plant based proteins and in 100 years, they will be the dominant paradigm. A great deal of our hope rests on the outstanding work of organizations like Vegan Outreach who are exposing uncomfortable truths about the current meat based paradigm.
Today we are fortunate to interview Jang Lee, who founded the animal rights punk band Resist and Exist in December 1990, and who still tours today. We were reintroduced to the band after they traveled from their Los Angeles base to Oakland, California and Reno, Nevada on a mini-tour along with English band Conflict. In addition to their instruments and vegan food, they also packed Vegan Outreach literature to distribute along the way! Jang took a break from singing just long enough to share his experience, hope and activism with us.
How long have you been vegan, and what made you decide to go vegan? What about the other members of your band?
I have been vegan ever since the late 1980s. I started off becoming a pseudo-vegetarian in late 1985, because at that point I had learned what it meant to respect animals in all forms. Yet, I would say in 1986 I became a strict veggie because prior to that my aunt and dad thought I was going to die and a couple of times I had eaten meat because they would hide little chunks of meat in my food. My pen pal Todd from “Pollution Circus” wrote me a 4 to 5 page letter on why I should stop eating eggs and cheese, and he sent educational Xeroxed brochures that inspired and helped me. Other members of Resist and Exist, including Jen, Jimmy, Chris and Roman are all vegetarians. Our drummer Roman just became a veggie and has been going strong for 10 months now.
Your band has been around a long time, and you sing about oppression on various levels. What positive changes have you seen in the animal rights world, and what is your biggest frustration? Have your views and methods of communicating about veganism changed over the years?
I became interested in animal rights when I was 16 years old in 1985. At that time I could not find any cruelty free stuff. The only non-animal tested products were by Beauty Without Cruelty by mail order and it was expensive. It was near impossible for me to go to health food stores because they were few and far away, and I didn’t have a car, nor did my friends. My aunt and I had to shop at Korean grocery stores to get tofu or soy milk. In the 80s places that carried veggie stuff were not available, but now that has vastly changed, because now you can easily access these products at most grocery stores. At that time I could never imagine there would be options like this. Now, what is more radical is that now there is Vegan hip-hop, VPOC (vegan people of color) on social media, vegan athletes, and more. Things are becoming more radical and barriers are being broken. In the old days it seemed that not eating meat was exclusive to Buddhist monks, Hindus, and hippies. I am really glad that not eating meat is becoming mainstream. To answer your other question, I don’t get that frustrated anymore because I believe in positive energy and I practice meditation and yoga. I know how to deal with a lot of pressure and stress generally now. And I try to stay away from drama and negative people.
What’s your favorite place to eat, and what is your favorite meal there? What’s your favorite go-to food when you are on the road?
This is a difficult question to answer because I have been to all the states in America except Alaska and Florida and have eaten at many different places. I have stopped by many vegetarian/vegan restaurants and health food stores along the way. I have to admit that nothing seems to beat Flore in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Any of their sandwiches and raw vegan cheesecakes are delicious, but I recommend to not eat too much because just two doors down is a freshly squeezed juice bar called Nature Well .
In the past, Resist and Exist has been on many punk rock tours and we’ve played over 400 shows. When we are on the road Jen and I always pack stuff in advance, including bananas, apples, oranges, raw nuts, spinach, bell peppers, avocados, and all sorts of our favorite vegetables, fruits or other snacks. I usually just eat these raw. Jen often brings organic bars. This is so essential for any veggie band traveling. Always having a cooler with healthy foods and snacks for back up is a must, in case there are no veggie places to eat in certain areas.
Jeannie and other members of Conflict, another long-time animal rights band, on their tour with Resist and Exist.
Why is Vegan Outreach one of the organizations that you support, and whose literature you pass at your shows?
Actually, Vegan Outreach supported the band first. I used to contact Vegan Outreach for help every time I organized any event. When Nikki of Vegan Outreach used to live in Los Angeles she would have Vegan Outreach set up a table at Anarcho Punk Fest, and she would speak between bands. If I am not mistaken, the last tabling she did for us was at Rock Against Gentrification in L.A. before she moved. If you happen to be a promoter or a member of a band reading this, I think it would be a good idea to always have speakers in between live bands to make the show more educational. Personally, I don’t want to see people go home empty handed after any show.
What’s the origin behind the name of Resist and Exist?
That slogan comes from an old vegetarian peace punk band called Anti-Sect from England. They were heavily into animal rights and in 1982 they had a song called “Resist and Exist.” A man named Dig used to write an England Anarcho Punk scene report to a magazine called “Maximum Rock N Roll” in the 80s, and he would always close it with the words “resist and exist”. The phrase stuck in my mind, and it was a powerful radical slogan. We used it as a band name because we are inspired by the 80s Anarcho Punk scene, and would like to keep running with that torch.
What are other social justice movements you are passionate about? Do you see parallels between those and animal rights?
My friends and I became involved in Anarcho/Peace Punk music and thought in the 80s. At that time The Anti-Apartheid movement, protesting against nuclear weapons, Women’s Liberation, supporting Native American Indians in Big Mountain, Animal Rights, and saving the earth were all apart of the ideology in the music and scene. Everything is connected. We went to all sorts of different forms of protests, benefit shows, and supported different causes. Simply, no one is free when others are oppressed.
We agree with Conflict vocalist Jeannie and her friend. Cruelty Sucks! Go Vegan!
Is there anything else you’d like to add? For example, advice for people who are thinking about going vegan, or a message you’d like to convey to our readers?
Yes, when I have time I organize benefits and free small festivals with workshops and speakers covering a spectrum of issues. You can check out some of my past work on my web site, www.diyzine.com. If you are just becoming vegan, try different types of vegan foods like Indian, Ethiopian, Middle Eastern, and from everywhere. Don’t always eat the same things because it gets boring.
Take a cooking class, or make your own food at home. It is way more rewarding and more fun, because you can experience different flavors and cultures and be around a support group or vegan friends. Throw a vegan potluck party and vegan picnics, and network with other folks, make new friends you can share that experience with. When you get together with a bunch of people who have a positive energy and healthy lifestyle and are conscious, it is always something that creates a spark for new ideas and a better life.
Where can we find you on social media?
You can download our songs for free on reverbnation.com. Our EPs and albums are out of print.
Our web site is www.diyzine.com where you can click on the “Resist and Exist” logo.
Today marks the beginning of our year-end matching donation challenge, and I want to ask for your help.
While more and more people are being handed a VO booklet and making compassionate choices for animals, there are still many people we need to reach.Your donations put pro-veg booklets in the hands of more people, sparing animals, like the pig pictured above, from suffering.
And when you donate today, your impact is doubled.
Between now and December 31, your donations to Vegan Outreach will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $225,000, by a group of generous donors!
Greetings from Morgantown, West Virginia, the third-to-last state I will be leafleting in this semester!
The gradual change from warm weather to chilly fall temperatures has sparked a great deal of reflection on the college campuses I have leafleted thus far and also the fun activities that I have had the opportunity to participate in outside of leafleting and the beautiful sights I have seen. Last week, I talked about some of the delicious vegan meals I have had since leaving home. And today I wanted to share about a few of the fun weekend adventures I have embarked on while driving along the East Coast. Note that these fun weekend outings have usually been sandwiched between naps (leafleting five days a week can be quite exhausting), doing laundry (something that definitely doesn’t get done on the weekdays), and calling friends and family members back home.
First, I’ll take you back to Labor Day weekend, when I was staying in Avon, Connecticut. I spent the entire afternoon at Elizabeth Park Conservancy, walking in multiple flower, rose, and vegetable gardens and nodding off in the grass as I lay in the sunshine. I highly recommend visiting if you’re ever near Hartford and West Hartford, Connecticut. It was a wonderful experience.
The following weekend, I was staying in Medford, Massachusetts, and my hosts and I took the subway into Boston. We spent some time at the Boston Common and walked around downtown a bit. For someone who is used to much smaller parks in smaller cities and towns, it was quite a sight! My favorite part was riding the boat that was propelled by a peddler in the back.
Coming from the western part of the United States, I admit that one of the many exciting aspects of being on the East Coast has been visiting the Ivy League schools. I’ve had the privilege of leafleting at Princeton and Brown University and visiting Yale University and the Harvard University. I happened to stay in New Haven, Connecticut, for three days, so I took a guided tour of Yale. It was hands-down the most beautiful college campus I have seen thus far. The architecture was incredible, as was the greenery around campus.
And, no, I did not steal this photo from a Yale catalogue—I actually took that picture!
Fast-forward about one month, and I found myself on the Appalachian Trail! I was staying in New Mildford, Connecticut, about a 15 minutes car ride from Bull’s Bridge in Kent, Connecticut. Bull’s Bridge is a hiking destination, one that includes a section of the Appalachian Trail and several river walks along the Housatonic River. It was absolutely breathtaking.
If I lived near Kent, I don’t think I’d ever leave Bull’s Bridge. It was so nice to get away from the crowded cities and spend an afternoon among the trees. There is something very healing about being in nature.
And last weekend was perhaps one of the most emotional weekends I have had since leaving home. I spent the day at Indraloka Animal Sanctuary near Mehoopany, Pennsylvania. I got to hang out with chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, cows, pigs, goats, donkeys, horses, sheep, and many other animals who reside on the farm. My host, Sarah, volunteers at the sanctuary every weekend—cleaning, feeding, watering, and doing a whole list of other tasks that are required to maintain a sanctuary. For anyone who has ever spent time on an animal farm, it is no secret how quickly one can become attached to these beautiful beings. It’s the eye contact, the way these animals speak with their eyes. It’s amazing. It was a deeply emotional reminder as to why I am going out of my comfort zone day in and day out to help raise awareness about the horrible atrocities that the animal agriculture industry commits against farmed animals. I mean, come on—look at these faces!
If I’ve said it once, I have said it a million times: I love my job. These fun weekend adventures are an added bonus to what I get to do the other five days of the week. I can only imagine what the rest of my time on the road is going to bring!
Every Thanksgiving, I like to crack open my copy of Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends and flip to one of my favorites, “Point of View”. It recharges my patience and prepares me for the questions my genuinely curious distant friends and family may ask. The answers are usually something like this: “Yes, I have eaten meat before.” “No, I don’t miss it.” “How do I do it? Well, my desire to end animal suffering is much stronger than taste. Befriend a turkey and it’s easy to have a totally different perspective. Here, try this delicious vegan dish that I made — you’ll love it!”. It works every time.
If you’re looking for a leaping bunny-certified cruelty-free lip balm that is environmentally sound, I recommend Pucker Hugger. Their packaging is both compostable and recyclable, and they put thought into every aspect of the design of their product. They make sure the adhesives on their labels are biodegradable, and the dispensers they use are made with 90% recycled paper, with 75% post-consumer content.
I use the Herbal Mint lip balm regularly and it keeps my lips soft and comfortable in cold weather. Since the design of their packaging focuses most on being eco-friendly, the label didn’t hold up well in my purse and is not readable, but it doesn’t affect the quality of the product. I personally prefer a product that is healthier for the environment than pretty to look at.
If you’re interested in checking out its awesomeness for yourself, you can use the discount code “veganoutreach” and get 10% off, PLUS 10% is donated to Vegan Outreach! Buy some here: http://pucker-hugger.myshopify.com/
Then let us know how you like the product in the comments below. 🙂
st weekend was perhaps one of the most emotional weekends I have had since leaving home. I spent the day at Indraloka Animal Sanctuary near Mehoopany, Pennsylvania. I got to hang out with chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, cows, pigs, goats, donkeys, horses, sheep, and many other animals who reside on the farm. My host, Sarah, volunteers at the sanctuary every weekend—cleaning, feeding, watering, and doing a whole list of other tasks that are required to maintain a sanctuary. For anyone who has ever spent time on an animal farm, it is no secret how quickly one can become attached to these beautiful beings. It’s the eye contact, the way these animals speak with their eyes. It’s amazing. It was a deeply emotional reminder as to why I am going out of my comfort zone day in and day out to help raise awareness about the horrible atrocities that the animal agriculture industry commits against farmed animals. I mean, come on—look at these faces!
