By Jeanne Yacoubou, VRG Research Director

Outback Steakhouse® opened its first restaurant in 1988 in Tampa, Florida. Today there are approximately 760 restaurants in most states as well as in other countries. To find a location visit http://www.outback.com/locations

The VRG contacted Outback Steakhouse in March through May 2014. We communicated with two nutritionists by phone and email about vegetarian and vegan menu options. They told us that they had screened menu items “…for eggs, dairy, honey, meat, animal fats, animal rennet, and gelatin.” They did not screen for insect-derived colorings.

According to the Outback Steakhouse dietitians, the following menu items are vegetarian defined as not containing “animal meat, fish, shellfish or animal by-products.” They could contain eggs or dairy.

Vegetarian Options at Outback Steakhouse

• House Bread and Butter

• Steakhouse Salad without Sirloin
• Aussie Cobb Chicken Salad without chicken or bacon
• House Salad
• Fresh Steamed Broccoli with seasoned butter
• Fresh Steamed Mixed Vegetables with seasoned butter
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Baked Potato without bacon
• Sweet Potato with honey butter and brown sugar
• Grilled Asparagus (cross-contact with grill; see below)
• No Rules Parmesan Pasta without protein options
• Mini Milkshakes (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, oreo)
• Sweet Adventure Dessert Sampler Trio
• Classic Cheesecake
• Carrot Cake
• Chocolate Thunder from Down Under

The vegan options at Outback Steakhouse are defined as those that do not contain “…animal meat, fish, shellfish or animal by-products, eggs, dairy or honey.”

Vegan Options at Outback Steakhouse

• House Bread
• Fresh Steamed Broccoli without seasoned butter
• Fresh Steamed Mixed Vegetables without seasoned butter
• Plain Baked Potato or Sweet Potato
• House Salad without cheese and croutons

The nutritionists at Outback Steakhouse noted that “the Grilled Asparagus comes in contact with the same grill that is used to cook animal and seafood proteins. Other items do not typically come in contact with non-vegetarian or non-vegan ingredients. It is recommended that a guest specifies that he/she is placing a vegetarian or vegan order and discusses the order with the server and manager.”

The VRG also contacted a Baltimore area Outback Steakhouse through the restaurant chain’s website contact form asking the manager if and how he could accommodate a vegan. Within a day we received this reply:

“I greatly appreciate your reaching out to us…We can create any vegan meal either grilled vegetables, baked sweet potatoes, or baked potatoes. We will do what is necessary to make…[a vegan] feel comfortable.”

The manager of the Baltimore area Outback Steakhouse also mentioned that he was connected to Carrabba’s Italian Grill® (another restaurant chain owned by Bloomin’ Brands, Inc.®) and could accommodate a vegan through them.

The contents of this posting, e-mail, VRG website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

For more information on restaurants, visit
http://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.php
http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

To support The Vegetarian Resource Group, join at
http://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Or
https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?CID=1565

Jane Easton from VIVA found an article on our website about vegan in the UK, which was written 14 years ago. So she sent this update:

Hi to all at VRG. The UK has changed hugely for vegans even in the past 5 years. It’s far easier now to get vegan food in the major towns and cities and even smaller places. Here are a few useful links.
www.vegetarianvisitor.co.uk/
http://www.viva.org.uk/resources/classified/places-to-eat
http://www.vegansociety.com/resources
http://www.cookingforvegans.co.uk/eatingout/

You may contact Ms. Easton as follows:

Jane Easton
Food & Cookery Coordinator
Viva! and Viva!Health
8 York Court, Wilder Street
Bristol, BS2 8QH
Viva! www.viva.org.uk 0117 944 1000
Viva! Health www.vegetarian.org.uk 0117 944 1000

Hopefully you’ll be spending this weekend with family and/or friends. You might want to serve one of these vegan dishes from Vegans Know How to Party, by Chef Nancy Berkoff. This book can be purchased from The Vegetarian Resource Group. See: http://www.vrg.org/catalog/

Tofu Caprice Sandwiches
Serves 6

3 loaves Italian or other crusty French bread, cut into halves lengthwise
12 slices ripe tomato
1 pound smoked tofu, cut into twelve slices (found in natural foods stores)
12 leaves fresh basil
1 Tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons olive oil
Cracked pepper to taste

If desired, lightly toast or broil bread in a hot oven. Cut each half loaf of bread into three pieces. Place on individual appetizer plates or on a serving platter.
To assemble the sandwiches, place a slice of tomato on each bread piece. Top with a slice of smoked tofu, then a basil leaf. Repeat. Drizzle top with vinegar and olive oil. Very lightly sprinkle with black pepper and serve.

Bow Tie Pasta Salad
Serves 10

Salad:
12 ounces uncooked bow tie pasta (or other pasta of choice)
2 cups cooked or canned, drained garbanzo beans
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced red onion
1 cud diced green bell pepper
1 cup thinly sliced fresh zucchini
1 cup frozen, thawed or fresh, uncooked green peas
½ cup pitted and sliced black olives

Dressing:
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup water
3 Tablespoons cider vinegar
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
1 Tablespoon Dijon or spicy prepared mustard
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot, cook the bow tie pasta in boiling water until al dente (still chewy). Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain well again. Transfer the cooked pasta to a large bowl, add all of the vegetables, and toss well to combine
In a small bowl, place all of the dressing ingredients, and whisk well to combine. Pour the dressing over the top of the pasta mixture and gently toss together. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or more to allow the flavors to blend. Toss gently again before serving.

By Priscilla Broadwater

Two brands of veggie hot dogs I’ve tried are: Tofurky and Lightlife. Both brands are excellent; however there are differences between the two. The following information may be helpful to you as of what brand to choose depending on your preference.

Lightlife: This was the first brand of vegetarian hot dogs I tried. These veggie dogs are relatively soft. This means that when you’re grilling you must keep an eye on them because they will cook very quickly. The first time I ate one was on a hot dog bun with a little bit of ketchup and yellow mustard. The second time I wanted to try something different, so I cut up two veggie dogs into little chucks which I dipped into brown mustard. Yum!! I personally liked eating them that way better.

Tofurky: For those who prefer a firmer veggie dog with a chewier consistency; Tofurky may be your best bet. My favorite way of eating a Tofurky veggie dog is on a bun with vegan mayonnaise and ketchup. Plus I added a couple of kosher pickles and some corn chips.

So, invite some friends over and get grilling!! Vegan hot dogs are delicious and they are for everyone to enjoy.

Though a little old, readers may be interested in this article: http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2008issue2/2008_issue2_veggieburgers.php
Here are some picnic ideas: http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2002issue2/2002issue2picnic.htm

Priscilla grew up in Costa Rica and is doing volunteer work with The Vegetarian Resource Group.

By Jeanne Yacoubou
VRG Research Director

Also known as: HFCS, glucose-fructose, glucose-fructose syrup, fructose-glucose syrup

Commercial source: corn

Used in: soft drinks, juice, bread, cereal, granola bars, yogurt, soup, condiments, confections, desserts, ice cream, pharmaceuticals

Used as: sweetener, texturizer, anti-crystallization agent
Definition: A mixture of simple sugars glucose and fructose, HFCS is produced by microbial enzymes that convert some glucose to fructose. The major types of HFCS contain roughly equal amounts of glucose and fructose.

Manufacturers:

http://www.adm.com/en-US/products/food/sweeteners/Pages/default.aspx

According to ADM, their high fructose corn syrups “…do not contain, and are not processed, with any animal products, by-products, or any animal derived products.”

http://www.tateandlyle.com/ingredientsandservices/chooseaningredientorservice/americas/pages/liquidcornsweeteners.aspx

According to Tate & Lyle, their high fructose corn syrups: “…do not contain any ingredient of animal origin. The processing aid used to produce these products is not derived from animal origins.”

http://sw.ingredion.us/Ingredients/sweeteners/Pages/Nutritive.aspx

According to Ingredion, “We do not create product from cane sugar or animal-derived processes.”

Classification: Vegan

Entry added: May 2014

For information on more ingredients, see http://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php

To support VRG research, donate at www.vrg.org/donate
To join The Vegetarian Resource Group, go to http://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

By Amory Fischer
VRG 2013 Scholarship winner

I am writing to report a successful year of college that could not have happened without your scholarship support. Please accept my thanks again. Here is an update of my work.

Academically, my current college GPA is 3.94 and I am on the path toward graduating a year early. I took my major’s introductory course, Environmental Policy and Planning, and found it to be a perfect fit for my interests.

During the spring semester, I successfully conducted a campaign to encourage Virginia Tech Dining Services to provide more vegan and vegetarian options. Options have flourished in the past decade, including an entire buffet devoted to vegetarian food, so instead of a confrontational demand for better choices, I decided on a thank you letter reading “Thank you for improving Vegetarian and Vegan options! Please keep up the good work!”

I worked with the newly forming Animal Rights @VT club (I am the vice president), the Environmental Coalition, and Peta2, the college branch of the PETA. We gathered 782 signatures via text message for the Director of Dining Services, Mr. Ted Faulkner. During Earth Week @VT, we gathered signatures and Vegetarian Starter Kits on the school’s “Food Day.”

2013 VRG scholarship winner, Amory Fischer tabling on Earth Day

After this, I met with Mr. Faulkner on April 29th to give him the letter. During this meeting I gave him a gift of Vegan in Volume, a cookbook published by the Vegetarian Resource Group and donated for the cause by Peta2.

Mr. Faulkner was very appreciative of the gift and the thank you letter. He said, “Sometimes people in my department look at how we strive to get better and at how we’ve improved and say, ‘We’ve achieved good, we’re done.’ I will take this letter to them as a reason to keep working.” He also asked and I accepted to be the point person for student volunteers on a panel for testing new vegan and vegetarian options in the upcoming year.

Other bits of work: Along with this campaign, I am helping form an Animal Rights @VT club, who did a screening of the movie BlackFish on May 5th. We plan on continuing the campaign for vegetarian options as well as starting to work with animal shelters in the fall. I am the rising Vice President of the Soil and Water Conservation Society @VT. This year the group attended educational forums about sustainable agriculture and built no-till soil displays. I wrote, submitted, and gained approval for a “Green Request for Proposal” of $27,000 to install water bottle refilling stations around campus to reduce plastic bottle use. This was through the VT Office of Energy and Sustainability, for which I will be an intern next school year. I am also actively involved with Ballroom Dance @VT, Luther Memorial Lutheran Church, and the Environmental Coalition (I was a State Lead organizer for Power Shift 2013). This summer I will be working as the Lead Organizer for the Solar Schools Initiative, a program to install solar power on all of Albemarle County schools. Best wishes! – Amory Fischer, Environmental Policy and Planning, Virginia Tech class of 2016, VRG 2013 Scholarship winner

VRG also received this note from Nora Allen RD,a previous VRG scholarship winner. She recently volunteered to exhibit for us at the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Dietetic Association. Nora said said,

Thank you for the opportunity to represent an organization I am passionate about! And of course, being a great source of evidence based information for my patients and fellow practitioners. I would not be a dietitian without your help!

For information about the next college scholarship contest, please see
http://www.vrg.org/student/scholar.htm

Donations towards VRG scholarships and internships can be made at www.vrg.org/donate

We received this inquiry:
I just received some “Nabah” seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds or RareSeeds.com and I am looking forward to planting them in my garden. The only problem is, once they start growing, how do I cook them? I have done an internet search which led me to some interesting Indian and Egyptian cuisine websites but no specific recipes for Nabah. I understand that these need to be soaked to leach out the bitterness, but what do I do after that? Would anyone in your community have any recipes?

According to http://www.rareseeds.com/nabah-from-cairo/ nabah is a variety of lupines.

Francesca Del Vecchio, RD answers:
Being from an Italian family we eat lupines often. You actually eat the seed not the flower, but you can grow them if you want. This link is to exactly what we do to prepare:
http://www.greenprophet.com/2013/04/lupines-traditional-middle-eastern-snack-food-recipe/
Here is another I found: http://www.christinascucina.com/2012/12/lupini-beans-and-olives-italian.html

In order to make lupini beans edible, they have to be soaked in a brine solution to draw out the alkaloids. Typically, the beans are washed first and then soaked in a brine which is changed until the brine no longer tastes bitter. It can take as much as five days with twice daily changes of the brine. When properly soaked, these beans have a great flavor, and are high in protein, making them a good choice for vegans and vegetarians.

Remember the beans have a thick, tough skin. The skin makes the beans fun to eat because you pop the bean out by squeezing the skin. Hope this helps!

For other bean recipes, see:
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2013issue1/2013_issue1_quick_and_easy_beans.php
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2001jan/2001janbean.htm
https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2011issue3/2011_issue3_Fava.php

Job opening for executive chef at Sublime in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We are located 10 minutes from the beach and downtown. This vegan restaurant has received countless accolades for decor, food, and service. Locals, celebrities, and politicians dine at Sublime. Sublime’s rooftop garden is one of two gardens supplying some ingredients. Salary commensurate with ability. Send resume to [email protected]

Are you looking for vegan orthopedic-style shoes? If so, here are two options:

Arcopedico Shoes: They offer several vegan styles. Please note these shoes have arch support; however, they don’t have the extra padding at the bottom that orthopedic shoes typically have.
See: www.arcopedicoshoes.com classic/index.html

Drew Shoes: You need to call the company at 1-800-837-3739 to find out which styles are specifically vegan. Presently they have three options for women. See: www.drewshoe.com

Spring is a particularly busy time for groups engaging in educational outreach such as The Vegetarian Resource Group. Thankfully, we have had an amazing team of volunteers eager to represent VRG at various events during the month of April!

We started the month off exhibiting at Worcester VegFest in Worcester, MA on April 6th. Our amazing volunteers, Eric Sharer, MPH, RD, Reed Mangels, Ph.D., R.D and Arnie Alper, MD engaged with a steady stream of visitors about the many benefits of vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, offered a variety of vegan cookbooks for sale and handed out tons of great educational materials to vegetarians and omnivores alike!

Volunteer Eric Sharer at Worcester VegFest

Later in the month, on April 24th, we switched gears and exhibited at the PA Academy of Dietetics Annual Meeting in Bethlehem, PA. Our wonderful volunteer and registered dietitian, Nora Allen, RD, LDN, took full responsibility for representing VRG at this professional conference, and acted as a wonderful advocate for healthy and nutritional vegetarian/vegan diets.

April 26th was a particularly busy day for VRG as we exhibited at two events in Baltimore: the Spring Into Good Health Festival in Pigtown, MD as well as Greenwork’s EcoFest in Druid Hill. The Spring Into Good Health Festival was sponsored by Paul’s Place, a community outreach center in Southwest Baltimore, and aimed to promote strategies for health and wellness for local residents. VRG was the only vegetarian group on site and many patrons took interest in decreasing the amount of animal products in their diets. This booth was particularly special because it allowed volunteer, Matt Baker, RN and staff member Nina Casalena, to better reach those from low-income backgrounds, who may have limited access to information about plant-based eating and the vegan lifestyle.

Volunteer Matt Baker at the Spring Into Good Health Festival

At Greenwork’s EcoFest, volunteers Mark Rifkin, MS, RD, LDN and Chris Dietrich engaged with environmentally conscious patrons about how vegetarian and veganism can be an important aspect of sustainable living. Mark even brought his own visual display on the impact of animal agriculture on the environment and global climate change.

April was a wonderful month for booths and I anticipate the rest of the season will bring many more amazing opportunities for veg outreach. I would just like to thank all of our incredible volunteers again for all of their patience and hard work! Everyone here at VRG feels extremely lucky to have each and every one of them on our team.

To volunteer at VRG outreach booths, please contact Nina at [email protected]
To support VRG outreach, please donate at www.vrg.org/donate
To join The Vegetarian Resource Group, please go to
http://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php