The Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door

PETA is finally getting around to addressing the most important issue yet in animal welfare: Who are the sexiest non-celebrity vegetarians willing to objectify themselves for the cause?

Will it be Stephanie of Roseville, CA, who (in addition to the fact that she is naked) would like you to know, "There is an unfiltered kindness and love in an animals eyes that you just can't find in a persons" (sic)?

Or Erika of Greenville, SC, who riddles us this: "If you love animals called pets, why do you eat animals called dinner?"

There are men in the running as well.

Zachary of Brooklyn, NY, who seems to have a hard time keeping his underpants up, says "No animals were harmed in the making of this body."

Malik of Pembroke Pines, FL, says "Animals have a place in my heart, not in my stomach".

You only have two weeks left to vote for the two winners, who will then be sent to Hawaii together to  prove how much sex vegetarians can have. (Presuming they're both straight. But I don't want to promote any stereotypes here...)

See all the contestants at the PETA site.

Interestingly, the women outnumber the men by more than 5:1.

Kellog's Frosted Beefs

Via Flikr

Last week, I blogged about crushed beetles in Starbucks "vegan" smoothies.

Today, my friend and fellow blogger Neil (who is a vegetarian) found something interesting in the Kellog's UK product site.

It seems you can search cereals and other products by ingredient.

Here's "Beef":

Wait, what?

From the Frosted Wheats ingredients page:

"Shredded Wholewheat, Sugar, Humectant (Sorbitol), Beef Gelatin, Niacin, Iron, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin B12."

Gelatine ("it's made from bones, you know") is a common food additive and a real pest to vegetarians.

But wait! There's more.

He also searched "pork":

Yep. Rice Crispies Squares have pig in them:

"Toasted Rice Cereal (35%) (Rice, Sugar, Salt, Barley Malt Flavouring, Niacin, Iron, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin B12), Marshmallow (33%) (Glucose Syrup, Sugar, Pork Gelatin, Flavouring), Fructose, Vegetable Oil, Invert Sugar Syrup, Glucose Syrup, Humectant (Glycerol), Flavouring (Contains Milk), Emulsifier (E472e, E472a), Antioxidant (E320)."

I'm not a vegetarian, and I have no problem with animal products in my foods. But many people are, and do. Including, ironically, health nut John Harvey Kellogg, who once said:

“A dead cow or sheep lying in the pasture is recognized as carrion. The same sort of carcass dressed and hung up in a butcher’s stall passes as food.”

The UK site even has a whole section recommending vegetarian diets for young children.

The Canadian and US sites aren't as easy to navigate by ingredient, and searches for beef or pork take you to meatloaf recipes.

However, I did find this on the American site:

What is the source of gelatin in your products? 

Gelatin, which is used in some of our products to provide texture, is derived from either beef or pork. Products containing pork gelatin include Kellogg cereal products with marshmallow additives (i.e., Kellogg's® Marshmallow Froot Loops cereal and Kellogg's Smorz® cereal) and all varieties of Kellogg's® Rice Krispies Treats® Squares. Products containing beef gelatin include all varieties of Kellogg's® Frosted Pop-Tarts®, Kellogg's® Frosted Mini-Wheats® cereal, Kellogg's® Rice Krispies Treats cereal, and the Kellogg's® Fruit-Flavored Snacks that contain gelatin. 

The information provided here is intended to act as a general guide only. We ask that you always check the Nutrition Facts on the side panel of each of our packages to determine if the product contains any ingredient(s) that you want to avoid.

The moral of the story? Animal products show up in the strangest places. When you buy packaged foods, always read the ingredients list. (And always be suspicious of terms like "natural" flavour or colour.) If you're a vegan, vegetarian, Hindu, Jew or Muslim, you may be surprised how often you're breaking your vows.

Do vegetarians buy BBQs?

Of course some do. You can do amazing things with grilled vegetables and mushrooms.

But this flyer, from a local distributor for BBQing.com, seems to be betting not only that its potential customers are not vegetarians, but also that they hate PETA.

Now, I am not a vegetarian and I do dislike PETA's marketing tactics and extremism. This brand is probably making a smart strategic move by targeting guys (let's face it) who eat lots of meat and like to feel obnoxious about it. Canadian Tire and Home Depot can't do this, because they have to appeal to everyone. These guys can afford to be assholes.

By the way, if the "mashed potatoes" gag seems familiar it's because this billboard has been floating around the internet forever:

But if you're going to wear that statement around, you might as well get the original.

"Barrista! There are bugs in my vegan smoothie!"

At least they spelled "flavour" the proper way.

I don't know why vegans even bother with fast food. Remember when everyone was outraged by beef tallow in McDonald's fries? More recently, there was concern over hidden bacon in Chipotle's pinto beans.

Part of the problem is that there are two divergent customer demands: on one hand, people want junk food made with as many "natural" ingredients as possible; on the other are personal food restrictions based on religion, philosophy or allergy.

The latest big brand to be torn by this tension is Starbucks.

Via Tumblr

Jezebel explains that after "customers insisted that Starbucks start to use natural ingredients whenever possible," the coffee chain started using cochineal extract instead of chemical dye to make its strawberry soy smoothies pinker. (They also add lycopene, the pigment from tomatoes.)

Cochineal extract is certainly natural. To make it, you grind up a bunch of these guys:

Via this blog

The resulting pigment, known as carmine, has many industrial uses. And it's common in food.

Wikipedia says:

"Carmine is used as a food dye in many different products such as juices, ice cream, yogurt, and candy, and as a dye in cosmetic products such as eyeshadow and lipstick. Although principally a red dye, it is found in many foods that are shades of red, pink, and purple. As a food dye it has been known to cause severe allergic reactions and anaphylactic shock in some people. 

Food products containing carmine-based dye may be a concern for people allergic to carmine, or people choosing not to consume any or certain animals, such as vegetarians, vegans, and followers of religions with dietary law (e.g., kashrut in Judaism and halaal in Islam)."

The true nature of the ingredient went viral in the veggie community when a vegan Starbucks employee leaked it to This Dish is Veg. There was soon a petition up at Change.org which so far has 2,427 signatures.

Starbucks isn't budging yet, though. Corporate spokesman Jim Olson told msnbc.com, “We certainly respect and understand the interest this is getting, but it is a very common ingredient in foods and juices and beverages.”

There's actually a very simple solution to this problem: leave out the dye, and expect customers to accept a paler pink smoothie. Hell, I make my own for breakfast all the time. Strawberries add their own "natural" colour. It just isn't the bright pink that people seem to think they want.

Do you think that such a thing is possible?