Thank Pangea for all they have done for the vegan movement over decades.
Go to http://www.veganstore.com/notice

Pangea wrote:
February 23, 2018
To all our supporters over the years,

We are sad to announce that after 23 years in business, Pangea Vegan Products will be closing down over the next several weeks.

When we first opened our doors in January 1995, vegan products were very hard to come by, and there were no other businesses that offered a wide range of already “vetted” cruelty-free products all in one place. Our driving goal was to make the cruelty-free lifestyle more accessible and easier to maintain, in hopes of encouraging more people to adopt and stick with veganism. Over the years, we have been very gratified to hear from numerous customers that Pangea helped them to start or maintain their vegan/cruelty-free lifestyle, in addition to showing others that veganism is a viable way of life. We would like to believe that, in our small way, Pangea played a part in helping veganism spread. We are very grateful to all our loyal customers who helped support our mission over the years and who contributed to the growth of veganism.

Vegan products can now be found almost everywhere in this country. Competing with huge discount retailers that can afford to buy in enormous bulk quantities is, in our experience, not feasible long term for a business of just a few people. That said, we could never be upset by the mass proliferation of vegan and cruelty-free goods throughout mainstream markets. Conversely, it is the ultimate fulfillment of our goal to be able to say that a small vegan products retailer like Pangea has become, in many ways, obsolete.

Many of you have been supporters and patrons of Pangea for many years — some even from the very beginning. Please accept our sincere gratitude for all of your support. Obviously there is still much to be done to continue the advance of veganism and animal rights worldwide, but we believe we should all be encouraged by the progress that has been made over the past couple of decades. We wish you all the best and vow never to stop working toward a kinder world.

For the animals,
-Shari, Phil, Quinn, and all the Pangea Staff over the years

The latest issue of Vegetarian Journal includes the winning essay from the 2017 essay contest for children sponsored by The Vegetarian Resource Group. You can read the winning essay called “What Tofu Taught Me” by Mira Yang here:
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2018issue1/2018_issue1_essay_contest.php

To enter the 2018 essay contest see: VRG Essay Contest for Children

In the latest edition of Vegetarian Journal the Vegan Cooking Tips column by Chef Nancy Berkoff features suggestions for quick and easy soups. Nancy starts off with the following advice:

“Soup meals are comforting and convenient meals. One way to ensure that there can always be soup on the table is to make a basic soup to use as a base for other types of soup.

For example, create a basic vegan vegetable soup. Use your broth or stock of choice, add diced or chopped seasonal or frozen veggies, allow to simmer, and you have a basic soup. Use your favorite fresh or dried herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, basil, sage, thyme or rosemary, to create your own flavor profile. Next…add some cooked beans, purée, and you have a creamy soup.

Another way to create a creamy soup is to place your vegetable soup in a blender, add silken tofu, and blend. Canned creamed corn (the “cream” comes from corn starch) can also be used to stir in some creaminess. Just be sure to read the label so you aren’t getting extra unwanted sugar.”

You can read the entire article here:
Quick and Easy Soup Ideas

Subscribe to Vegetarian Journal: Subscribe to Vegetarian Journal

The latest Scientific Update column by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD in Vegetarian Journal covers these topics:

Lower Risk of Diabetes in Vegetarian Men
Vegetarians & Weight Loss
Veggies in Breastmilk
B12 Fortified Toothpaste
Fewer Eating Disorders
Milk and Children’s Height

You can read the entire column here: Scientific Updates in Vegetarian Journal

Please subscribe to Vegetarian Journal:
Subscribe to Vegetarian Journal

3x your impact! From March 12-31, Amazon is tripling the donation rate on your first smile.amazon.com purchase! Go to smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1279034 and Amazon donates to The Vegetarian Resource Group.

Chef Nancy Berkoff’s recent article Andiamo! Creative Pasta Dishes features several vegan recipes including:

Puttanesca Spaghetti
Pasta Roll Ups with Spinach Ricotta
Avocado Lasagna
Vegan Mac and Cheese
Squash and Mac

Read the entire article here and start cooking:
Andiamo! Creative Pasta Dishes

To subscribe to Vegetarian Journal, visit: Subscribe to Vegetarian Journal

Reviewed by Linda Long

If one is a vegan, lives in New York City, and likes to go to theater and meet for dinner beforehand, it was a challenge. The famous theater district of West 40’s and low 50’s was a vegan desert. Not now! Centered perfectly in the area at 246 West 48th Street, near 8th Avenue, is P. S. Kitchen, a vegan gourmet restaurant in a hundred-year-old building with two intimate floors and an inviting bar at the entrance.

Note: Even if passing up the bar be sure to have one of their delicious and creative cocktails at your seat, with or without alcohol. Favorites are XO: smoked whiskey, beet juice, orange, raspberry, and maple, and The Bengal: mango, lemon, assam, turmeric, and Korean chili!

While having a nice cocktail of choice and perusing the menu it is clear that this is not the usual fare. For the dinner menu you will see three sections, Small Plates, Large Plates, and Desserts. There are about 5 dishes under each plate section and two special dessert offerings. Two of the best Small Plates are Crispy Artichokes with lemon emulsion and Maitake Bao, puffs of Asian buns with glazed mushroom, radish, kimchi, and onion.

Under the Large Plates favorites seem to be Buffalo Hen of the Wood with German purple sweet potato salad, house vegan blue cheese, and Ginger Rice Congee with sautéed oyster mushroom, spinach, and crispy yuba.

Desserts side on the emotion of home comfort but are plated like the best gourmet restaurant…Strawberry Short Cake with strawberry-rhubarb compote, almond cream, crunchy almond; Chocolate, Raspberries which is chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and raspberry-calamansi purée.

The way the restaurant was born has a nice story in that Craig Cockran, the co-founder, is from Buffalo, NY, and became an animal activist and soon learned the best way to convince someone was to put a great plate of food in front of them. He came to New York City to learn about running a vegan restaurant and planed to go back to Buffalo but fell in love with Manhattan. After working with the best here, Candle 79, Blossom, and Peacefoods, he co-founded a vegan take-out chain with three locations in Manhattan named Terri. He then met an investor who worked in the theater district and wanted to have a vegan place to eat. Thus, P. S. Kitchen.

The P. S. as a postscript is for a reason. The restaurant is a social business meaning 100% of the profits go to charity. They also employ marginalized people who need a hand-up and not a hand-out. See the list of charities they work with on their site at www.ps-kitchen.com.

Jeffrey LaPadula is the Managing Partner and worked in finance until going to Peacefoods and became manager. Tim Carberry is the General Manager. Together they bring a wealth of experience and passion to the restaurant. Chef Onur Alawbeyonglu oversees the menu currently.

The philosophy behind the menu is that they want it to appeal to what people want even if not a vegan. The effort is to make the appeal very broad to cover most tastes.

They bring these concepts to additional menus for lunch and for brunch. Lunch has soups, salads, and sandwiches with offerings like the Beyond Burger with queso, thousand island, along with French fries; Fennel Tartine with caramelized fennel, spiced almonds, and orange supreme; and Columbian Potato Soup with avocado with a jalapeno, cilantro purée, and radish.

The brunch menu highlights French Toast with strawberry-rhubarb compote, strawberry butter and coconut whipped cream, and Biscuits and Gravy with seitan gravy on a homemade biscuit.

Worth a visit and definitely grab a show at the same time in this popular area. Although, the eating alone is great theater!

We’re always scouting for new and interesting vegan products on the market. The latest issue of Vegetarian Journal features several products including these and more:

Eat Enlightened developed seven delicious vegan flavors of Roasted Broad Bean Crisps: Sea Salt, Garlic & Onion, Wasabi, Sriracha, Mesquite BBQ, Cocoa Dusted, and Sweet Cinnamon

Think of Laughing Giraffe’s newest product, Kick’n Mango, like a fruit snack for adults. These snacks are organic unsulphured tangy dried mangoes that have been dusted with a hint of lime and a pinch of jalapeno.

Field Roast has rolled out a new line of party-ready frozen foods! There are three different types to choose from: Miniature Corn Dogs, Original FRuffalo Wings, and Sunflower Country-Style Katsu Cutlets.

To read the entire Veggie Bits column, visit: Veggie Bits in Vegetarian Journal

To subscribe to Vegetarian Journal, go to:
Subscribe to Vegetarian Journal

The Vegetarian Resource Group’s Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, answers the question “I read that it’s important for older people to have protein at every meal. Is there any truth to that?” in the latest issue of Vegetarian Journal by starting off with:

“As a part of the aging process, we lose muscle. This happens gradually, similar to the way our bones weaken with aging. Loss of muscle can make people more likely to fall and affect their ability to do things they want to do. In order to lessen the impact of the seemingly inevitable loss of muscle, it’s important to build up muscle — the more you have, the less the overall effect of a loss of 1-2% of muscle mass per year after age 50 is. Some research suggests that a slightly higher protein intake (between 0.36 and 0.57 grams per pound of body weight per day), coupled with resistance training, can lead to a higher muscle mass in older people. Spreading out protein over the entire day, rather than eating a low protein breakfast and lunch and a high protein dinner, as is typical for many Americans, may also help to enhance muscle mass and strength and may improve mobility.”

Reed than gives a sample one-day vegan meal plan for an older male with about 20% of protein at breakfast, 14% at lunch, and 66% at dinner. Next, she shows how to modify this menu so as to spread out protein throughout a given day whereby the person would be getting about a third of his protein at each meal. This more even protein distribution could help him stay stronger longer.

Read the entire column here: http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2018issue1/2018_issue1_nutrition_hotline.php

Please subscribe to Vegetarian Journal at: Subscribe to Vegetarian Journal

Thanks to a great deal of work and research by several VRG interns and volunteers, Vegetarian Journal recently published a Guide to Frozen Vegan Pizzas. In addition to taste testing and comparing cost and other factors, these individuals also evaluated the pizzas from a nutritional point of view (see page 30 of the article below).

Read the complete article here:
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2018issue1/2018_issue1_vegan_pizzas.php

You can subscribe to Vegetarian Journal at: Subscribe to Vegetarian Journal