The Global Youth Village, a residential, international leadership camp in the Blue Ridge foothills of Virginia, is seeking seasonal food service staff in their vegetarian kitchen. Sixty youths and thirty staff enjoy their meat-free meals family style. 2010 highlights include youth delegations from Indonesia and Iraq. The camp season is June 16 – Aug 6, 2010. Housing, meals and salary are provided. Seeking both experienced cooks and those who want to learn!

For more information, please visit Legacy International’s web site at http://globalyouthvillage.org. Or contact Leila Baz, Global Youth Village, 1020 Legacy Dr., Bedford, VA 24523. Phone 540-297-5982, email: [email protected]

Each year, VRG awards $10,000 in college scholarship money to two high school seniors who have promoted vegetarianism in their schools/communities ($5,000 to each). The deadline – February 20 – is right around the corner, so if you want to apply, or know someone who should apply, click here for more information.

VRG also offers The Eleanor Wolff Scholarship which is a paid summer internship ($2,500 plus $1,000 toward housing) at VRG’s Baltimore office. Here’s what our interns Kristen and Rachel had to say about their internships at VRG last summer: http://www.vrg.org/blog/2009/08/21/notes-from-two-vrg-summer-interns/

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Would you like to sponsor a scholarship or internship? This provides a tremendous opportunity for students who are doing some great work promoting vegetarianism.
Click here to read about past scholarship winners (right-hand side).
Click here to read about past Eleanor Wolff Scholarship winners.

By Ben Shaberman

Organic farmers, specialty growers, and agricultural professionals from throughout the Midwest braved arctic-like conditions to attend the 2010 Illinois Specialty Crops, Agritourism, and Organic Conference in Springfield, Illinois, from January 6-8, 2010.

Making its first appearance at the annual event, the Vegetarian Resource Group was warmly and respectfully received by attendees. At VRG’s exhibit booth, visitors collected and perused a variety of books, brochures, and handouts to learn more about vegetarian cooking, nutrition, and health benefits. While most conference attendees were not completely vegetarian, most also acknowledged the benefits of being meat-free, and expressed an interest in moving more toward a vegetarian diet.

Several attendees representing farmer’s markets, herb growers, and community-based nonprofits were grateful to receive free VRG brochures and literature to hand out at their events. They noted that they either had customers or constituents who were vegetarian, or they were interested in promoting a vegetarian lifestyle at their events.

Here are some examples of the people and vendors who took an interest in VRG’s materials:

• An organic community agricultural project will use VRG materials
  to enlighten people about our nation’s food supply and a more
  healthy and sustainable approach to eating.
• A veterinary professor picked up the Vegetarian Journal to learn
  more about the dietary and cultural habits of his students, many
  of whom are vegetarian.
• A vegan and owner of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company in
  Mansfield, Missouri, took VRG literature to distribute to his
  customers.
• A representative from the USDA’s National Resources Conservation
  Service came by the VRG booth to learn about new vegetarian food
  alternatives for him and his family.
• A representative from Eden Place Nature Center, located in the
  South Side of Chicago, picked up VRG materials to hand out to
  visitors, many of whom live in urban neighborhoods.
• Several people took VRG materials to give to their vegetarian
  friends and family members.

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VRG extends special thanks to Patricia Wieland for introducing us to the conference and supporting our presence there, as well as Ben Shaberman for staffing the VRG booth.

Check out Ben’s book, The Vegan Monologues.

VRG’s new brochure, Save Our Water: The Vegetarian Way, is now online!

The beginning portion is excerpted below:

We all need clean water. No doubt about it. HOW to get it and keep it running clean and plentiful is becoming a problem almost everywhere. In fact, the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) predicts in a report titled Livestock’s Long Shadow, that by 2050, two-thirds of people worldwide will lack clean water to meet even their basic needs.

The good news is that one part of the solution is easy and close at hand! It all starts with your fork.

“Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation.”

H. Steinfeld, senior author, Livestock’s Long Shadow, A report from the United Nations

Saving Earth’s Water By Eating A Vegetarian Diet

Did you know that the largest user of fresh water is the livestock industry? Water is directly needed for drinking and cleaning of animals. And that’s a lot of water when we’re talking about over 10 billion animals raised for food in the United States alone every year.

But the biggest way animal agriculture consumes water is indirectly. A large amount of fresh water is used to grow the feed that livestock animals eat.

Click here to read the rest of this brochure.

As a parallel segment to Vegetarian Journal’s Nutrition Hotline feature, The VRG Blog runs a Nutrition Blog-line feature. In this installment, Julia Driggers, R.D., answers a question about leafy greens. This question comes to us by way of a number of people recently asking about the nutritional benefits of dark greens at VRG’s tables at events such as DC VegFest and the Baltimore Book Festival. If you would like to submit a nutrition question, you can email it to [email protected].

Many of us know that we should eat our leafy greens, but how many of us know why? Dark greens are important because they are a good source of essential nutrients such as iron and calcium. common dark green leafy vegetables in the United States include spinach, collards, bok choy, kale, and turnip greens. In addition to iron and calcium, these green veggies are packed with other vitamins and minerals like vitamin C, fiber, and folate. However, each dark green leafy vegetable is unique and varies in nutrition content. It is important to vary your intake of all leafy greens, but if you are focused on increasing a specific nutrient in your diet, the table below can help.

**Although the calcium content in spinach appears high, it is not a good source of calcium. Spinach also contains oxalates which block the absorption of calcium in the spinach thus making spinach a poor source of calcium.

If you are focused on increasing your calcium, collards, turnip greens, and bok choy are excellent choices. In addition, good sources of folate (a nutrient particularly important for women of child bearing age and those who are pregnant) include spinach, collards, and turnip greens.

Won’t it feel better eating your greens now that you know how good they are for you? Enjoy your leafys and keep ‘em coming!

Here are a few other articles that you might also find helpful:

How to Cook Mouthwatering Greens: http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2001may/2001maygreens.htm
Calcium in the Vegan Diet: Calcium in the Vegan Diet: http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm
Nutrition Hotline (Question #2, about calcium content in raw/cooked vs. frozen/cooked greens): http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2009issue3/2009_issue3_nutrition_hotline.php

Your body loves you,

Julia

Don’t forget to support VRG by the end of the year – your gift is fully tax-deductible! Click here to make your donation online.

Click here to read VRG’s latest report on L-cysteine at McDonald’s, also pasted below.

L-cysteine is “A common dough conditioner, flavor enhancer in human and pet foods, and precursor in some dietary supplements is most often derived from human hair or duck feathers and to a lesser extent from pigs’ bristles and hooves.” (for more information on L-cysteine, click here)

L-cysteine in McDonald’s Apple and Cherry Pies is Derived from an Animal Source

by Jeanne Yacoubou, MS
VRG Research Director

A Pacific Northwest VRG member asked us about the source of the L-cysteine in the cherry pies at her local McDonald’s. Erin, a McDonald’s customer service representative, told us in January 2009 that since the cherry pie is not a national, “core” menu item, no information about the pie was available. Erin suggested that we contact the local restaurants that carry it.

The VRG made several random calls to McDonald’s restaurants in Seattle, WA and Portland, OR. We were given a wide variety of answers but the general conclusion was that no one knew because they had no ingredient information. We were directed back to the corporate offices of McDonald’s.

The VRG discovered that the Bama Company supplies McDonald’s with their pies. We left several messages and sent several emails to Bama in the spring of 2009 but received no response.

In May 2009, The VRG received a call from Kathy at McDonald’s Illinois corporate office. She told us that the L-cysteine in McDonald’s cherry pie is derived “from an animal source.” When we inquired further regarding the specific animal source, Kathy told us that the supplier did not provide any more specification. Kathy also noted that supplier and ingredient information may change and that they guarantee no product as vegetarian.

As a follow-up, The VRG called the McDonald’s consumers line again and asked if the L-cysteine in the apple pie was also derived from “an animal source.” In November 2009, Michaela told us that the L-cysteine in the apple pie was from an animal source. When we asked for more specification, Josie, who works in menu development at McDonald’s corporate office, called us and said that the L-cysteine in the apple pie is from “an animal source but not human-derived.” When I asked for more specification (specifically, whether it was from duck feathers), she said that she had no other information and said that degree of specification is proprietary information.

Interested readers may refer to our article on L-cysteine available here: http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2008issue1/2008_issue1_lcysteine.php Readers may subscribe to our free enewsletter at www.vrg.org for further updates on ingredients used at McDonald’s and all other major restaurant chains.

In a new article, Bucking the Trend: Preventing Childhood Obesity, Alison Ventura, PhD, discusses a variety of ways to prevent childhood obesity. As she says, “Vegetarian families have a head start on preventing childhood obesity, […] however, the development of childhood obesity is complex and does not arise from only one or two behaviors (for example, drinking soda or watching television), but from a great many factors that occur throughout a child’s development. Thus, although the ADA’s statement suggests a vegetarian diet is a great first step towards preventing childhood obesity, there are even more steps that can be taken to further reduce the risk of childhood obesity.”

The final section of the article is excerpted below:

Summary: 10 Tips for Preventing Childhood Obesity in your Family

1. Give your child the best start by maintaining a healthy diet and weight during pregnancy; consult with a registered dietitian to make sure your pregnancy diet meets all requirements for calories, fat, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, and minerals.
2. Breast-feed to promote healthy growth, responsiveness to hunger and fullness cues, and acceptance of a broad array of healthful solid foods for your infant.
3. Educate yourself and your children about what portion sizes are appropriate for their specific nutritional needs. Serve these portions sizes on a regular basis.
4. Strive to cook balanced meals at home; if this is not possible, educate yourself about the healthiest fast-food and food away from home options.
5. Encourage your children to drink water, low-fat or fat-free milk, soy milk, or 100% fruit juice instead of soda.
6. Get your family moving! Encourage your children to get 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity most days of the week by making exercise a family affair.
7. Limit screen time (television, computer and video games) to no more than 2 hours per day.
8. Be familiar with how much sleep your children need and encourage them to meet sleep recommendations on most nights.
9. Practice responsive feeding by recognizing your children’s levels of hunger and fullness, setting limits, and sharing feeding responsibilities with children.
10. Adopt a “do as I do” not “do as I say” attitude; model healthy eating and physical activity behaviors for your child.

Click here to read the article in full.

The National Restaurant Association surveyed 1,854 American Culinary Federation chefs to predict hot culinary trends for 2010. Meatless/vegetarian entrees came in number 11 in the “Main Dishes/Center of the Plate” category, and vegan entrees ranked 13, with 52% and 48% respectively. Locally Grown Produced ranked number 1 in Top 20 Trends.

Click here for press release and here for PDF of survey results.

Julia Driggers, R.D., shares a recipe for a vegan stew:

Fall Slow-Cooked Stew

(Makes 8 bowls)

Ingredients:

2 cups Vegetable Broth
1 cup Tomato Juice (use low-sodium if preferred)
1 cup Water
6 oz Tempeh, diced into squares
1 Can (15 oz) Mixed Chili Beans
2 cups Broccoli Florets, Fresh
1½ cups Mixed Vegetable Melody, Frozen (or fresh if preferred)
1 TBS Olive Oil
1 TSP Mrs. Dash Original Seasoning
1 TSP Minced Onion
½ TSP Black Pepper
1 cup Dried Whole Wheat Fusilli (spiral) Noodles

Directions:

Combine diced tempeh, beans, broccoli, and mixed vegetables into a 3½ to 4–quart SLOW-COOKER. Pour broth, tomato juice, and water over top. Stir and cover. Cook on LOW 6 hours or HIGH 3 hours.

Add noodles, olive oil, and spices. Stir and cover. Cook 20 minutes longer or until noodles are done

Serve with a crusty whole wheat baguette and side salad for a delicious meal!

Nutrition Analysis per Serving