VegBang.com

Heather Mills, who is the former wife of Paul McCartney, has recently purchased a restaurant in East Sussex, England.  The good news?  The new restaurant will cater entirely to vegetarians.  In fact, Mills plans to serve only what she calls “plant based” foods.

The new restaurant is slated to open in July and will include a number of meat substitute meals.  In fact, Mills has reportedly stated that her new restaurant will be quite appealing to meat-eaters as well as to vegans.

“What is definitely going to shock people is the meat replacements,” she is reported as saying.  “They have a real meat taste to them.”

To open the restaurant, Mills purchased The Big Fish Café, which is located in Hove, for 155,000 pounds.  Her new restaurant, however, will be called V-Bites and will ultimately include an ice rink right outside of the restaurant.

To help promote the new restaurant as well as to encourage vegetarianism, Mills recently participated in a food festival in Brighton. Here, she demonstrated how to create a variety of vegetarian dishes, including meat-free “chicken” curry and “beef” stir-fry.

Vegetarians in India have won a small victory in terms of having their beliefs respected.  Apparently, vegetarians in India do not eat vegetables that grow under the ground, such as potatoes and carrots.  So, out of respect for their special dietary needs, five airlines in Taiwan have started to remove these and other root vegetables from their in-flight vegetarian menus. They will, however, be adding more uncooked vegetables to their menus as part of the change. 

The airlines that have made these changes include:

· China Airlines
· EVA Airway
· Mandarin Airlines
· TransAsia Airways
· Uni Air

Unfortunately, the move to remove root vegetables from their in-flight menus has met with some opposition from Taiwanese passengers, however, as they already feel their menu options are far too limited.  The biggest concern is the fact that ginger is also considered to be a root vegetable and it is difficult to achieve traditional Taiwanese flavors without the use of this spice.

The changes to the airline menus were actually imposed by International Air Transport Association, which is trying to help ensure passengers do not accidentally ingest foods that are against their personal or religious beliefs.  But, creating a menu to please everyone has been difficult because the rules for vegetarianism are different among various cultures.  Taiwanese, for example, do not eat garlic or onions, while some also steer clear of mushrooms. 

The good news is that vegetarianism has become so popular that coming up with great menu choices has become a serious issue.  Hopefully, the move toward vegetarianism will continue to grow even stronger!

It is always good to hear about people who are taking a proactive approach to promote vegetarianism - but it is even better to learn that an entire city is taking steps to get its people to pass on the meat and to eat more veggies. 

According to reports, the city of Ghent, Belgium is launching its first “Veggie Day” celebration.  In accordance with this special day, the city is encouraging its residents as well as the city’s residents to pass on the meat for one day each week in order to help preserve our planet.

The Flanders’ Ethical Vegetarian Association, which is one of the groups that is promoting the event, estimates that the city can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by a whopping 18% per day if its residents skip on the pork, beef, fish and chicken one day per week.  These findings are consistent with the findings published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in 2006. 

Environmental concerns weren’t the only reason the city decide to promote going meat-free, however, as concerns regarding animal welfare, human health and labor issues also give good reason to skip on the meat.

Although residents will not be required to skip on the meat once per day, the city claims to be the first in Europe to take such drastic measures to try to get its residents to go meatless.  This includes requiring every restaurant in the city to guarantee a vegetarian dish to be on the menu every Thursday and for the schools to provide a vegetarian lunch every Thursday as its primary lunch option. 

It will certainly be interesting to see how well the citizens of Ghent embrace “meat-free Thursdays.”  Hopefully, other countries around the world will follow the city’s lead and start encouraging their residents to do the same.

If you have seen some of the headlines surrounding actress Kirstie Alley recently, you may be feeling a bit offended.  The fact that the actress has struggled with her weight has never been a secret - particularly after she managed to lose 40 pounds as a Jenny Craig spokesperson only to put that and more back on later.  Now that Alley has resolved to shed the pounds once more, she has been quoted as saying that she packed the pounds back on because of a vegetarian diet.

“For seven months, I was a vegetarian, and I can’t tell you how much weight I gained being a vegetarian!” she is quoted as saying.

Unfortunately, much of Alley’s quote is being placed out of context and being used by anti-vegetarians in an attempt to prove that being a vegetarian is not a healthy choice.  But, to get the full picture, you need to read the rest of what Alley had to say.

“A vegetarian would probably be eating vegetables.  But, to me, being a vegetarian meant I’m going to eat enchiladas with no meat, and I’m going to eat lots of bread, lots of carbs,” she went on to say.

The reality is that you still have to make smart food choices even as a vegetarian if you hope to lose weight or to maintain your body weight.  By definition, you would be a vegetarian if you at nothing but cake and cookies, but this certainly would not be very healthy for your body.  Therefore, if you are hoping to follow a vegetarian diet in order to drop off extra pounds, be sure to keep the following guidelines in mind:

· Eat a variety of foods so you can get the proper balance of vitamins and minerals
· Go easy on cheese, as it is quite fattening
· Don’t snack on sugary foods between meals - if you get hungry between meals, choose healthy foods to satisfy your hunger
· Steer clear of unhealthy foods that are full of sugar and fat, yet have little nutritional value

By keeping these four basic tips in  mind, you won’t have to worry about experiencing a ballooning waistline in the way Alley did, but you can still enjoy all of the benefits associated with following a meatless diet.

If you live in Los Angeles, San Francisco or Washington, you may soon notice a new television commercial featuring talk show host Montel William’s fifteen-year-old daughter.  According to news reports, Wyntergrace Williams recently completed taping a television ad that emphasizes the need for public schools to offer vegetarian options to students by amending the Child Nutrition Act.

“Some us don’t eat right,” Wyntergrace reportedly says in the ad.  “Fast food, junk food - sometimes, even our school lunches have too much fat and cholesterol.  More than 80% of Americans believe that vegetarian meals should be available in schools to children who want them, a recent survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation found.”

The television ads are not the only step that the young Miss Williams has taken toward promoting vegetarianism and healthy eating.  In fact, she has paired with Dr. Neal Bernard, who is part of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and has paid several visits to Capitol Hill in an effort to urge Congress and the President to join in efforts to fight childhood obesity by helping schools serve more vegetables, fruit and low-fat vegetarian foods.

Right now, the ads are slated to only run in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington during children’s shows, news shows and during “The Ellen DeGeneres show.”  But, who knows?  Even if you don’t live in one of those areas, the spots may very well make their way to your neck of the woods.