VVOC.org

Hello from Sierra Leone!

After being here for only a week and a half, I am saddened by the sheer numbers of stray dogs roaming the streets of the capital city, Freetown. While one day I smiled watching a very cute toy Chihuahua playing with an equally cute medium sized bitser, generally I am deeply upset by copious numbers of stray dogs, many of them looking hungry or ill, yet with most females either nursing or pregnant. I wasn’t sure if I would find anything about this issue on the internet, but I did go ahead and google it as I am aware of programs elsewhere in the world trying to help stray dog populations, such as in Bali, Indonesia.

I did find that the UK arm of WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) has a posting about this issue which really explained to me what I am seeing. It explains that the huge population of stray dogs in Freetown has come about because of the overcrowding and desperately poor living conditions present in the capital city since the end of the civil war in 2002 (the population in Freetown exploded from 1 million to 2 million in less than 5 years). A build up of refuse and biological waste has provided a food source for stray dogs and consequently they have bred freely. It is now believed that Freetown has the highest stray dog population in the whole of Africa. From what I have seen I can truly believe this to be true. Although solutions to this problem can’t be easy and may not happen in a timely manner, WSPA is working with Sierra Leone Animal Welfare Society (SLAWS) to try to address the issue in a humane manner.

To read the posting take a look at:
http://www.wspa.org.uk/wspaswork/dogs/strayanimals/caninecasualtiessierraleone.aspx

Also an interesting read is:
http://www.wspa.org.uk/latestnews/2010/Saving_strays_in_sierra_leone.aspx

Although since it was posted back in February 2010, I am unsure if this gentleman is still active in Freetown. I hope he is!

5 Dickson Plaza, 67-69 Woolley St, Dickson ACT

This restaurant offers yet another variation on the infinite possibilities of Chinese food. For starters we had Crunchy Wantons, small mushrooms in batter accompanied by plum and sweet chilli sauces, and Smoky Rolls that turned out to be meat substitute; each came with a serve of carrot, lettuce and cucumber. We also enjoyed a dish of complimentary spring rolls (thank you!) Our main courses were Crispy Mushroom Balls in Plum Sauce, more ball than mushroom, with carrot, lettuce and cucumber, and Stir-fried Lemon-grass Tofu, that came with carrot etc.

It’s one of those styles of Chinese cooking that plays with the conventions rather than aiming for authenticity. The regular, if not inevitable appearence of a side salad is surprising, but the crisp freshness of the ingredients goes well with the rather starchy nature of the food that is served. Most of the menu is given over to soy seafood, chicken, duck, beef, lamb and pork dishes; perhaps they are less starchy.

The Kingsland operates under the auspices of a Supreme Master. It is tucked away in a neighbourhood full of ethic eateries offering vegan and vegetarian possibilities, but certainly worth a visit.

219 Given Terr, Paddington Q 4064

Surely these organic places used to be more common than they are now; the uber-wholesome environment, the committed staff with long hair and the vaguely hippy-like nature of some of the clientele take one way back. But hey man, no need to stress out, for the food here surpasses expectations. The tofu burgers come with a choice of sauces and a salad of shredded carrot, beetroot, green leaves and sprouts, enclosed by slices of very fine bread, creating an extremely satisfying dish. The frittata with asparagus is accompanied by fresh salad (how about beetroot with fetta?), while in one of the breakfast dishes (still available at lunch time) the scrambled eggs team up with avocado, mushrooms and a mixture of beans. In every case the servings are generous and the dishes well thought out so as to provide a balance of flavour and texture. The juices are formidable. This cafe is unreservedly recommended, and for those who want to take some of the experience home there’s a store attached where you can buy, among other things, seriously cool muesli!

113 Queensbridge St, Southbank, Melbourne Vic.

A statue of the Buddha, inscrutably calm as usual, presides over this restaurant. The 13 entrees on offer when we were there included spring rolls of pastry stuffed with minced soy and vegetables. There is the same number of soups, all of them offered with or without egg; the three mushroom soup, peppery with lots of lettuce, is particularly fine. (Westerners never seem to cook lettuce, but its texture and colour when cooked are lovely.)  The ten tofu dishes include the spicy Kung Po Tofu, in which tofu and a Chinese mix of vegetables (capsicum, baby corn, carrot, mushroom) are livened up by ginger and chilli, and the eleven vegetable dishes include the luscious spicy egg plant, which again incorporates a fair amount of tofu. The number of dishes is remarkable, and that’s not counting the many imitation meat offerings; one would enjoy working through more of them. The food is traditional Chinese, served in attractive surroundings by highly efficient staff; I was amazed how quickly we were in and out. But if you want to linger, a glass of dry white wine is just the thing to accompany food of this quality.

Yes, that’s right!  Sitting around at a meeting some time ago we were tossing around ideas and this one came up: “Want to save the planet? Stop eating meat!”  It was too good to just leave it at that so we thought we would try our hand at getting t-shirts and bags printed.  Each member of the group is now a proud owner of a t-shirt and or a shopping bag.  The results are above!

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

Location: Fundies Whole Foods Cafe Paddington QLD
               219 Given Terrace, Paddington QLD 4064

Today we met for a lovely lunch at Fundies Whole Food Cafe.  Topics discussed were:

1. Helen reported on the progress made so far to increase traffic to our site by organising links on other related websites.  So far three applications have been put in to the following sites: The Vegetarian/Vegan Society of Queensland, The Australian Vegetarian Society and The Australian Vegetarian and Vegan Resource Group.

2. Discussion around developing a campaign of our own for Easter.  The idea would be to encourage Orthodox people who dye eggs red for Easter to use free range eggs.  Idea for the name of the campaign – at this stage would be ‘Breaking Eggs With Compassion.’  Vasilios and Helen are to work on a PDF poster to circulate to parishes and also put on the website.

3. Discussion about becoming a non-profit group.  All agreed to see how the campaigns go and then look into it as this may have other implications too in terms of raising funds which could be done through making the t-shirts and bags or also through donations.  Becoming a non-profit group would give us credibility as well.

4.  Vasilios brought along our website statistics for 2010. In summary, the top three countires generating traffic include Australia, the US and China.  We are averaging 150 unique visitors per month.  Our goal is to double this number over the next twelve months. Vasilios to keep an eye on stats for us and Helen to continue to set up connections/links out of related websites (with reciprocating links on our site.)

5.  Meeting dates for 2011

• 5th of February 2011
• 9th of April 2011
• 4th of June 2011
• 6th of August 2011
• 1st of October 2011
• 3rd of December 2011

Members Present: Jacki, John, Vasilios and Helen

Apologies: Melissa

Today we met at Helen and Vasilios’ place for lunch and a discussion about the film ‘Food Inc’.

1. We started off talking about ‘Food Inc’. For those who are unaware ‘Food Inc’ is a film about the underbelly of the US food production and supply chain.  All agreed there were some truly disturbing instances of where profit is clearly put ahead of people’s health, let alone animal welfare.  Being vegetarian and vegan never felt so good after watching this! For more information about the movie go to the offical website at: http://www.foodincmovie.com/index.php.

2. Afterwards we shared a leisurely lunch including chickpea patties (cooked by Jackie), chickpea roast (cooked by Helen) and salad, olives and chargrilled veges.  John brought along some lovely sweet date and sesame balls to go with fruit for dessert.

RSPCA Flood Appeal

With the recent devastating flooding in Queensland (and indeed further south also) and with now the effects of Cyclone Yasi too, I think it’s important to remember not only to help all the humans who have been impacted, but all the animals who need our help too.  There are several organisations out there committed to this goal, RSPCA being one of the major ones.  You can donate to them at the following link to help their work:  https://donate.rspcaqld.org.au/flood

Visit the West End markets for a delicious sugar free vegan snack – the date roll. Made of date and coconut, they somehow manage to whip the dates into a light and fluffy sweet. Enter the markets from Jane street and you will find an organic fruit stall on your left into the shady area just before the entrance to the Leagues club. I have also found at my local fruit shop in Sunnybank Hills, a date, coconut and almond roll, but have yet to try them. They are both products of the USA.

201-203 Faraday St, Carlton Vic.

This is an entirely vegetarian and largely vegan restaurant where the dishes seem to have been invented by the cooks, who also have a knack of giving their creations funky names. For starters there is the wonderfully crunchy and tasty Scent of a Green Papaya in which the signature fruit is joined by sprouts, cashews and seaweed, or you can try the Avocado Magic, in which avocado, red capsicum and aubergine come fried in pastry wrappers with a coriander sauce…it’s a great idea, but I’m not sure that cooking delicately flavoured avocado really works. For a main meal, how about the luscious and thoroughly satisfying Green Green Laksa of noodles, coconut milk, sprouts, mushrooms, tofu, seitan and greens, or perhaps the nicely textured Croquettes de Chine of yams, macadamia nuts and potatoes, with accompanying veggies. We drank strawberry lassi and a dark grape juice so thick it needed a glass of water to wash it down. This is genuinely creative cooking, and it’s great fun seeing how the cooks combine familiar ingredients in completely unexpected ways. More of a place for a special outing than everyday eating, the Shakahari is most definitely worth a visit.