ANZAC Day is nearly over, but I hope you’ve all been enjoying a relaxing weekend. My kitchen and I are still recovering from this weekend’s bake sale which went extremely well, raising $940! We’ll have a full wrap-up later this week.

In the mean time though, if you’re looking for a vegan Anzac Biscuit recipe, here’s one from Taste.com.au. It’s the recipe Mandee used for the biscuits she sold at the bakesale, though she used gluten-free flour for it. They’re actually one of the easiest recipes to veganise because they’re naturally egg-free, as eggs were quite hard to come by during the war.

Ok, now that that tradition has been cleared up for me, can anyone explain what the deal is with two up? I mean, it’s just coin-flipping, right?? I have so much to learn still about this wacky country.

Amanda Benham - accredited practising dietitian and vegan business owner

As a vegan, you have to be well-equipped with snappy responses, compelling stories and often the latest scientific data when confronted with the all too familiar question: “So, why are you a vegan?”

We all have our favourite responses. Every vegan has a unique and highly personal story they are usually more than happy to share. I can’t recall the number of times I have described the story that changed my eating patterns forever. Those poor chickens scrambling from the overturned truck couldn’t possibly have known how their suffering splashed across the evening news helped me in my evolution to eat cruelty-free. I have no hesitation in trundling out that well-worn tale of woe as part of my quest to help other people find their way to a more animal-friendly diet.

But sometimes tugging at the heart strings isn’t quite enough. If people are to give up factory farmed flesh, they need to know what is in it for them. It appears to be the way of the world we live in. People want to know how they will benefit from making compassionate food choices. This is where Amanda Benham can step in to help us fine tune our argument.

Amanda (proud owner of the Brisbane-based vegan grocery store The Green Edge) is an accredited practising dietitian who has made it one of her life missions to alert people to the health benefits of a plant-based diet. Her expertise and compassion have assisted many people in their journey to live healthier lives in a sustainable, planet-friendly way. I caught up with Amanda recently to discuss an upcoming free seminar she is hosting at her store during May.

Titled The how and why of plant-based eating, the seminar will explore the concept of plant-based eating and why it is booming in popularity. Amanda explained to me how she intends to give practical advice on how to maximise the health benefits associated with this type of diet. She wants to share what she sees as “vital information for anyone seeking a happier, healthier future for themselves and the planet”. So not only will Amanda arm you with the tools to be a healthier vegan, she will be giving you a few trade secrets for the next time someone wants to know what’s so special about saying no to eating animals.

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The how and why of plant-based eating

Monday 10 May, 2010

6:15pm – 8:30pm

The Green Edge 3/191 Wardell Street, Enoggera

Email: info@greenedgeonline.com.au     Phone: (07) 3855 5755

This is a free event. Booking is required

[Editor's Note: You can find this event and others like it in Brisbane and all over Australia on the vegaroo! events calendar.]

Here’s what’s going on around the interwebs this week…

Pet Rescue, Australia’s largest online rescue pet rehoming service is looking for volunteers with good writing and editing skills. Keep that thesaurus handy because you’re going to need a lot of synonyms for “adorable” if you’re writing about featured pets like Magnolia the Guinea Pig here!

I guess if you’re going to buy palm oil you might as well see how “orangutan-friendly” it is with this scorecard from the WWF. Or ya know, just don’t buy palm oil.

Hey, does Sydney finally have a raw foods cafe? Indeed! It’s at Taste Organic in Crow’s Nest and it’s about time! Anyone been? Anyone wanna review it for vegaroo?

I’m loving this post from Thus Bakes Zarathustra breaking down the sickly vegetarian stereotype. I like a lady who calls bullshit where she sees it and cooks with kale! YUM.

Wombat attacks are a very serious matter. So please excuse me for laughing my ass off at this article… Oh wait, the wombat was axed?! Who would harm a hair on such a ridiculous face!?!?

How would you like to win a Tofu Robot? All you need is ten words on why you think tofu is awesome. No word on whether you get bonus points for writing in haiku form. (Wow, there truly is a website for everything these days.)

In holy-crap-how-do-we-make-this-happen-in-Australia? news… Vegansaurus reports that San Francisco (a.k.a. my hometown) has passed a RESOLUTION declaring Mondays officially meatless. I’m not entirely sure what this means but I am entirely sure I am jealous and we need to GET ON THIS, AUSTRALIA!

Happy Friday everyone! What are you doing/eating this weekend? I’ll be stopping by the Surry Hills Festival because I hear there will be dogs in costume, so, duh, and eating some Naked brunch because I am a lucky lady.

In Australian pounds 250,000 unwanted cats and dogs are euthanised each year.

Death Row Pets is an organisation that wants the killing of companion animals to end. The main issue is that people impulse buy companion animals from pet shops that have received the animals from puppy mills and backyard breeders who are breeding to excess without any regard for animal welfare.

Having worked at a vet clinic for 10 years I have seen too many cases of people deciding their pet isn’t right for them after a year or even after a few months. People who impulse purchase don’t consider the costs of caring for an animal. They complain about the costs of food or medical care forgetting they had no problem spending $2000 to purchase their purebred or faux-purebred eg. moodles, cavoodles or any other popular cross breed. Often purebreds suffer from hereditary diseases, disorders and behavioural problems that have been caused by inbreeding. Breeders know this but continue to breed from their dogs.

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Last year was the inaugural Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. Over 100 bake sales took place and over U$25,000 was raised. This year it’s on again and it’s been moved forward to the week of April 24 – May 2.

The idea is to have a vegan bake sale to raise money for a charity of your choice. Last year there were 3 bake sales in Australia – Sydney, Queensland and Melbourne and this year all of these are on again as well as one in Newcastle and a second one in Sydney. All of the details are on the WVBS website so if there’s one near you, drop by to support a great cause. If there isn’t one in your state, start one, all you need are a few friends who love to bake vegan goodies and you’re set!

[Editor's Note: You can find the vegan bake sales all over Australia on our new and improved Events Calendar. Look for more information on bake sales to follow here on vegaroo!]

Oh boy, it’s nearly Easter time! That time of year when people gorge themselves on eggs, lamb, rabbits, duck, and the cutest animals imaginable. Oh don’t you just love the holidays!

The less cynical among you are hopefully at least planning to enjoy a lovely four-day weekend. Here are some egg-free options for celebrating… it’s our vegan Easter recipe round-up!

Desserts:

Soon to be vegaroo! contributor, Mandee, has veganized an almond croissant recipe based on a recipe from Poh’s Kitchen and the results are drool-worthy!

Coincidentally, the adorable Poh recently posted this Malaysian coconut agar agar dessert that just so happens to be vegan.

It wouldn’t be Easter without Hot Cross Buns. Anyone got the goods on where to buy vegan buns? [Edit: Oh, apparently Radical Grocery has them!]

Savoury:

This green coleslaw could make a great, healthy side dish, as would this cos, avocado and pine nut salad, both from Taste.com.au.

Skip the coloured eggs and opt for a tofu scramble instead. Here are some recipes from Lisa Dempster, Tal Ronnen, and a basic fat-free version from Happy Herbivore. The best thing about a tofu scramble is you can really just throw anything in there!

Speaking of eggs, I’ve always loved this eggless mini-quiche recipe from FatFree Vegan Kitchen. Her gardener’s pie is looking mighty tasty as well.

VegWeb also has a pretty good list of Easter Recipes started, and you can post your own!

Other Easter Ideas:

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Ok you guys, much like your last family reunion where your Aunt Edie hiked up her skirt to show everyone that tattoo she got back in college,  it’s time for some wine-fueled confessions! Here’s confession number one. I’m actually a recent Aussie transplant, having moved here not too long ago from San Francisco.

SCANDALOUS, I know. The reason I bring this up is that living so close to Napa Valley, I got interested in wine-making. And, well, drinking. I’m not really knowledgeable enough to give out useful information, but I know just enough to be an obnoxious snob who turns my nose up at white zinfandel and says things like “mouthfeel” unironically.

One difference I can tell you between California and Australian wines is that in the states, winemakers are not required to list animal products used during the filtration process. And so my second confession here is that I haven’t always been 100% careful about making sure the wine I drink is suitable for vegans. But the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?

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Vegaroo needs you! We’ve set our sights high here, aiming to become a hub for vegans all across Australia, and to do that we need a little help. There are all kinds of ways you can contribute!

• Regular Contributor: If you’ve got the time to write for vegaroo! at least fortnightly we’d love to have you on board. Topics can include restaurant reviews (needed especially outside of Sydney!), product reviews, news stories, event coverage, editorials, basically anything relevant to this community. We’ll even put up a snappy photo and bio of you!
• Guest Poster: Don’t have the time to commit to writing regularly? No worries, we won’t judge your commitment issues. If you’re interested in writing a one-time or occasional piece, we’ll take those submissions too. See above for topics we’re looking for.
• Restaurant Guide Contributor: Have you seen our Restaurant Guide yet? We think it’s got the potential to be really useful, but we’re still missing information from lots of restaurants (again, especially outside of Sydney). We need photos most of all!
• Tipster: This last one isn’t really a position, but we always welcome ideas for topics you’d like to see covered, events you’d like listed, or volunteer opportunities to advertise. Don’t be shy, send ‘em our way!

If you’re interested in any of the above email me at sharon@vegaroo.com. If you want to contribute regularly it would be nice if you could point me to your blog or some other writing sample. We can’t pay our bloggers just yet, but isn’t the satisfaction of helping your fellow vegan its own reward? No… well, I’ll buy you a beer at Yulli’s sometime.

Thanks for checking out vegaroo! We’ve created this site to be a hub for vegans, and the veg-curious across Australia to find out the latest news and information in their area and network with like-minded folks.

In a country like Australia, known for kangaroo meat (kangatarians? wtf??) and throwing shrimp on the barbie, it can sometimes feel isolating to stick to your vegan guns. We hope that by banding together, we can make this a little corner of the internet where we can all speak the same language (who else talks about B12, Nuttelex, and tempeh so incessantly?) and help each other out with resources.

In a nutshell: being vegan is awesome, and we want to make it easier and more exciting than ever to be a vegan in Australia!

Here on the blog you can expect restaurant reviews, news stories, product reviews, and the occasional editorial and recipe. But we’ve also got a vegan-friendly restaurant guide, event listings, and “Get Involved!” page where you can find volunteer opportunities and more ways to make the world a more awesome place. We’d be remiss if we didn’t give a shout-out to our obvious inspiration site: vegansaurus! in San Francisco. It’s basically the best blog on the internet, vegan or otherwise, and we can only hope to one day come close to their level of hilarity.

Anyway, we’d love to hear from you, whether it’s comments or suggestions which you can leave here on the blog, or if you’re interested in contributing here we’ve got lots of ways you can lend your voice. We look forward to hearing all the awesome things you have to say! Do you think we can find one more way to squeeze the word “awesome” into this post? Get used to a lot of awesomeness around here.