VVOC.org

As an update to last month’s highlighted campaign, it is exciting to report that the campaign to ban bullfighting in the Spanish region of Catalonia was successful.  See more at the following website:  http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/success-bullfighting-banned-in-catalonia-spain/

It is encouraging and hopefully just the beginning of a major change in Spain with regards to the barbaric bullfight which many people are disgusted by, both Spaniards and the international community alike.

Congratulations to everyone who raised their voice in support of the ban!

Adelaide St, Brisbane (next to Escape Travel)

It was the queue in the street outside this hole-in-the-wall take away joint, so obscurely located that it doesn’t seem to have a street number, that alerted a friend to its existence. How true is the judgment of the people! The vegetarian sushi is a delight, the strips of avocado, carrot, cucumber, daikon and lettuce bright and colorful to the eye and extraordinarily fresh, their crunchiness beautifully complementing the rice. Addition of the wasabi and soy sauce you pick up on the way out would simply get in the way of the purity of their fresh taste. But the condiments work well with dishes where ingredients have been cooked, such as the sushi in which very tasty seaweed, beautifully dark and green, comes wrapped in tofu, and that made of mushrooms in tofu. The food here is simply fantastic, and you’ll forget all about your short wait in a queue.

I saw this recipe on Taste.com.au for vegan strawberry cupcakes. http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17461/dairy+free+strawberry+and+vanilla+cupcakes

I don’t like to use artificial colours, so when I want pink icing, I cook a beetroot in water for about 20 minutes. Then I use the pink coloured water to colour my pink icing.

Quinoa Cous Cous

This recipe is like Cous Cous, but much more nutritious.

1/2 cup of quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1 stock cube
250g mushrooms
olive oil
150g green beans
2 boiled eggs or 200g cooked chickpeas

Rinse quinoa a couple of times and let sit in water while getting the other ingredients together.  Slice mushrooms and fry in oil. Slice green beans and steam. Rinse quinoa again in fresh water. Place quinoa in pot with water and stock cube. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until water is absorbed and quinoa is soft and separated looking. Mix mushrooms, green beans and egg or chickpeas in.

5/5 Nash St, Rosalie Village, Paddington Qld

At the recommendation of an old friend two of us sat down at this suburban restaurant for a quiet lunch. There’s no shortage of interesting things to choose from, as the menu lists nine veggie main dishes. We chose the chilli lemongrass tofu, a colorful mixture of tofu, cashews, carrot, capsicum, broccoli, green beans, baby corn, celery and fresh basil, and the vegetarian pad thai, in which the noodles come with vegetables and crumbled nuts (cashews and peanuts);  the egg is said to be very complementary in taste and texture. Again, the dish is accompanied by basil, which gives it a freshness not always found in east Asian cooking. We also sampled the vegetarian tofu soup, which was better that it often is, although I always have to remind myself that this is a kind of fusion dish that does not reflect the authentic traditions of the cuisine in which it is now placed. But why be a purist? There’s no reason why styles of cooking can’t develop, and the possibilities of veggie and vegan cuisine are truly endless.

Members Present: Jacki, Melissa, John, Vasilios and Helen

Today, we met up at Gopal’s Pure Vegeatarian Restaurant, Sherwood.  Whilst surveying the large array of meals on offer we met up with two fellow Orthodox Christians, subsequently discovering they were also vegetarian!  We were very happy to have Emmanuel and Tamara join us for our take-away picnic at Sherwood Arboretum.

1. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at the arboretum.  It was a beautiful Brisbane winter’s day.

2. Helen brought along some ‘not too tricky’ famous vegetarian trivia questions, which, of course the group blitzed. We also enjoyed a game of Bocce, despite some questionable tactics by some group members!

3. We discussed the possibility of looking into the logistics of travelling to Melbourne to participate in an all EnglishHoly Week and Pascha. (Possibly in two years time)

4. We also discussed the possibility of attending Pascha at the Antiochian parish in Caboolture.

5. A reminder for Helen to post the photos of our t-shirt and bag.  John received a compliment  today for our ‘Want To Save The Planet’ t-shirt.

6. Vasilios is to send a reminder to Melissa about her logon details.

7.  Melissa and Jacki have been using Quinoa in place of cous cous with success.  Melissa is going to post their recipe for Quinoa.

8. Vasilios is going to source copies of ‘Food Inc’ and ‘The Corporation’.

9. Our next meeting will be held at Vasilios’ and Helen’s place with a pot luck lunch and a viewing of ‘Food Inc’.

Level 1, 500 George, St, Sydney NSW

Wherever you go, it’s the same Wagamama experience: the long benches, high level of ambient noise, waiters who jot down your order on a paper place mat and return to make another mark after they’ve asked how you’re enjoying yourself , and a  resolutely modern menu are universal. At this outlet in downtown Sydney the raw salad is a winner, its spinach leaves and mesculin with slices of cucumber, carrot and red onion coming with a non-assertive dressing and virtually bursting with health…for those wanting a hit of sodium, the miso soup is recommended. The spicy yasai itame offers tofu, zucchini and broccoli on a bed of rice with plenty of chilli and ginger and a wedge of lime to give it even  more lift, while the ramen soup with tofu and vegetables comes in a very big bowl. Most of the vegetarian dishes are vegan, except for the desserts, these being dairy-based and so fine for vegetarians but not vegans. The food is contemporary and never quite what one could imagine eating at home, and you may leave having paid a little more than you expected…but hey, the experience.

9/25 Junction Rd, Morningside Qld

There’s something to be said for sometimes overriding your instinct to order old favourites and asking for a mixed plate, and the components of the Vegetarian Platter at the Baalbak certainly make for a more varied meal than one you would have chosen for yourself. On the might we visited it contained hommos (how many ways are there of transliterating this word?), tabouli (opinions around the table were divided as to whether it could have used more lemon), a moussaka in which the flavours of the potatoes, aubergine, tomato and herbs mingled superbly, a mujadara of lentils and onions, a loubya bi zayt of green beans with tomatoes (more peppery than it sometimes is) and a solitary piece of falafel. We also enjoyed vine leaves and a delicious bowl of fattouch, with beautifully contrasting flavours and textures. The menu, which currently includes a number of Western dishes, is likely to change before long, and it will be interesting to see in what direction the competent cooks at the Baalbak take it.

1/59 Hardgrave Rd, West End Qld

This restaurant bills itself as ‘Tibetan, Nepalese, Sherpa’, but after an introductory plate of spring rolls the food we enjoyed was from the subcontinental side of the menu. We chose two types of dahl, one plain (with ginger, garlic, tomatoes and onions) and the other of fresh spinach plus all-of-the-above. It’s a good dahl, thick almost to the consistency of porridge, straightforward rather than delicate in its flavour, and generously served in deep bowls. As main dishes we went for Aloo Chanako, a dry chickpea and potato curry with ginger and garlic, and the sweetish Pharsi Ko Tarkari of pumpkin with mustard seeds, chillis and onions. Both dishes came with lashings of fresh coriander which complemented them well. As the restaurant says, this is food from the top of the world, and there’s a hearty, sustaining, keep-out-the-cold feeling about it one imagines being very appropriate to the Himalayas. But this doesn’t keep it from being a most welcome meal on a winter’s night in a much more temperate part of the world!

Every year, hundreds of thousands of bulls die in the name of entertainment. But this may change because the Catalonian government is on the verge of voting for a ban on bullfighting.

Please join the WSPA campaign to URGE THE CATALONIAN PARLIAMENT TO END THE BLOOD SPORT OF BULLFIGHTING!

After a huge anti-cruelty campaign by the Catalonian public, the regional parliament will vote on July 28th whether to ban bullfights for good. You can sign a petition to let every Catalonian MP know there are thousands of people around the world who want to end this cruel ‘sport’.  Go to http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/191/648/950?z00m=19868613 to sign your name.  But hurry!