Enewsletter

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Millions and Millions

Already this fall term, booklets have been handed directly to nearly a quarter-million students across North America.

Bri Gibson leaflets at Montclair State U; photo by Jon Camp.

Based on our estimates (details here), this distribution has led to tens of thousands of new vegetarians (and many near-vegetarians), sparing over 68 million animals the horrors of factory farming over the next 50 years.

Thanks to everyone who has made this possible. With your support, this program will continue to expand and create real, fundamental change in our society.

Product of the Week

Clark: Mareblu Naturals makes 8 flavors of peanut free, gluten-free, vegan nut crunch. I found the Cashew Crunch at Costco. All of the flavors are lightly sweetened with brown rice syrup.

Send your nominees for Product of the Week to product (at) veganoutreach (dot) org; previous products can be found here.

Notes from All Over

Keep Chickens in Mind

While giving a generally positive plug to vegetarianism, this Los Angeles Times editorial shows a potential downside of how the public perceives global warming and food: people focus only on cattle. As polls have shows, many people who self-identify as "vegetarian" eat chicken and/or fish, and this editorial reinforces the idea that giving up "meat" means just mammals. This is why Vegan Outreach emphasizes the comparative advantage of a true vegetarian diet over all other diets, including those that contain poultry, at A Truly Inconvenient Truth.

When we choose what information to present, we must keep in mind how the message will be acted upon by the public. It may seem that any mention of "vegetarianism" is good, but few (if any) people are going to give up chicken after reading a solely anti-beef article. Many others will give up mammals and eat more birds. We must keep chickens foremost in our advocacy; it can take up to 200 intensively raised birds (pdf from The Way We Eat; photo by East Bay Animal Advocates) to supply as many meals as one steer.

Joe Montana Cleans Up

Super Bowl Champion and Hall-of-Famer Joe Montana likes his new diet: "I would never have ordered a veggie burger before, but I just love a good veggie burger now," he says. "It's strange how your tastes change when you put your mind to it."

Vegan Soul Grows in Anacostia

From the Washington Post: "Mondie-Sapp recently won the grand prize and her third consecutive 'People's Choice' award in the annual chili cook-off held at the Anacostia Farmers Market.... 'People came through and said, "That doesn't even look right," and "I do not do beans like that,"' she says. But her chili's smoky taste and perfectly cooked beans with corn and a touch of maple syrup won them over. The firefighters admitted it was better than any beefy chili they make." Read more, with recipes!

Notes from Our Members

Accompanying an order for booklets:
Thank you for your work. Even If led to my veganism; now I'm just trying to pay it forward.
-CV, 10/10/07

Though it was cloudy at Contra Costa Community College, the day felt bright and sunny due to the wonderfully receptive students. Some of the highlights:

• A discussion group formed nearby, and I could hear the students going through the Even If booklets together.
• Two students came back and asked for a few more booklets to give to their friends and/or coworkers.
• A group of 5 or 6 students took EIs and then all stood around me and asked questions about the booklet. One guy said he wanted to go veg; I gave him a GCFE.
• Two students came up to me after I'd been on campus awhile. I had given an EI to one of them. The other had picked up a discarded EI and asked from where she could order a GCFE. I was all out by that point, but directed her to the Vegan Outreach website. She was very excited and she said to her friend, "You need to go vegan now too!"
• A small group of students approached me after all receiving booklets earlier that morning. They all told me that they were going to go veg after reading the Even Ifs!

-Miranda Robbins, 10/15/07

At right, Gary Auerbach leaflets at Rutgers U; photo by Jon Camp.

At West Virginia U, a professor went out of her way to walk up to me to say, "I just wanted to let you to know that my students spent the first 10 minutes of class talking solely about this issue; the conversation was sparked by many of them receiving a booklet from you. Thank you for taking the time to do this -- I'm really impressed by your approach of just politely giving information to others about this. You're not chanting or wearing some funny costume and you've gotten a lot of people to think about this issue."
-Jon Camp, 10/15/07

At Duke today, I was joined by a new leafleter -- Casey. Her roommate got an Even If from one of us a month ago, and said "NOW I see why you don't eat meat!" This prompted Casey to order brochures and get active. I asked her what she thought of leafleting, as this was her first time ever, and she said, "It's WAY easier than I thought."
-Eleni Vlachos, 10/11/07

Leafleting at De Anza College, I talked with a guy interested in being vegan but thought the sacrifice would be enormous; I told him how all you need to do is put fifteen minutes a day into reading about nutrition and discovering new foods. Another guy said that he became vegetarian because of Vegan Outreach material -- he was receptive when I told him that battery egg production is even more cruel than most meat. Later a couple took a pamphlet and the woman excitedly told her boyfriend that he had to read it so he could understand why she's vegetarian. That makes at least three productive interactions in barely a half hour's leafleting.
-Erik Marcus, 10/15/07

Vegan Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the suffering of farmed animals by promoting informed, ethical eating. All donations are tax-deductible. Vegan Outreach POB 30865, Tucson, AZ 85751-0865