Isn't the internet amazing?  It 's something Jane and I often say to each other.  We think of the computer as an adjunct to our brain;  whenever we don't know something, we consult "the box that knows all."    From song lyrics, to the date of the first Super Bowl, to the weather in Sydney, it's all there at the click of a mouse.  We shop online, talk to our friends online, educate ourselves online...  The internet has changed our lives.

Tonight I came across an Associated Press article stating that the U.S. government estimates 1 in 200 children are vegetarian, and that number may be higher for teens.  This estimate is based on a CDC (Center for Disease Control) study on alternative medicine.

Case in point is Nicole Nightingale, 14, of Safety Harbor, Fla. In 2007, Nightingale was on the Internet to read about chicken when she came across a video on YouTube that showed the birds being slaughtered. At the end, viewers were invited to go to the Web site peta.org — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.   ~ Associated Press

This certainly points to a rise in vegetarianism.  Isn't the internet amazing?

It's the holiday season.  Jane's busy trying to bake things.  Gifts need to be wrapped and mailed to distant family members.  Holiday greeting cards have yet to be written out.  And it's already December 9th!!!   We've received a few emails asking for ideas for gifts for vegans.  This is what we've come up with...

This year, as like many of you, we're scaling back a bit, so we really want to make sure our gifts are "successful."  We figure you might be in the same boat, so tonight's post is dedicated to the things we love and wouldn't want to live without, and the things we'd feel good about giving.  Here they are, in no particular order.

Vegan Kitchen Essentials:

Last year, Jane's mom bought us a Soyabella Milk Maker for Christmas. This may be the single best thing that's come our way since going vegan. I have a cup of homemade almond milk every single morning in my breakfast smoothie. It has more than paid for itself by now (okay, we didn't pay for it, but you know what I mean).

Jane adores her KitchenAid Stand Mixer. She's had it for 12 years and it's still going strong. According to her, it 's the second best gift she's ever gotten. (Note: I didn't buy this. It's from the guy she was dating before she met me!)  Her's is white, they didn't offer many options back then.  Now you can get them in almost any shade from purple to teal to black to red.  I've even seen decals to dress them up!

Another must have as far as Jane is concerned, is an Immersion Blender. This tool is essential for making any kind of "cream of" (pureed) soup. Instead of having to divide the soup in batches in order to puree it in the blender or food processor, you can simply bring the blender to the pot. It's so much easier! You can also use it to make small batches of shakes right in the glass you plan on using.

Two years ago, our food processor finally gave out. It happened to be right before Jane's birthday. She hinted that she'd like to upgrade to a KitchenAid Wide Mouth Food Processor. She wanted something with a wider feed tube so she wouldn't have to keep taking off the lid. She's very happy with this product.

Another must have for any baker is a Nonstick Baking Mat. Why bother with the mess of having to grease pans, or the waste of parchment paper...

Jane's been working more frequently with recipes which state quantities in grams as opposed to cup measurements. Rather than go online for conversions, she's been using a Salter Kitchen Scale. She feels the measurements are much more specific that way. After all, how often do you get an exact cup of flour... and if it's sifted you may get more or less; a weighted measure takes care of that problem. I've even gotten use out of the scale, measuring envelopes to ensure adequate postage!

Vegan Cookbooks:

Our favorite vegan cookbook isn't truly vegan, it's vegetarian. So there are recipes here which we won't be making. But at almost 1,000 pages, that's not really a problem! We love How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Not only does Mr. Bittman provides you with great recipes, he also teaches you about the ingredients he's using and gives you ideas for alternative pairings. It's an educational cookbook, but don't expect pretty pictures.

For our favorite desserts, we constantly go back to The Joy of Vegan Baking. Jane was going to go through each recipe, one a week until she got through the book. We've gotten stuck on the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and the Vegan Brownies. If you don't get anything else out of this cookbook, those recipes alone are worth the purchase price!

Vegan Reference:

Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet. The title says it all. This book was very helpful to us.

Diet for a New America.  Well written, and informative.  This is a must-read for anyone who is concerned about their health and their diet.

The China Study. It's a little dry, but the in-depth discussion of how eating animal products impacts human health might be all you need to convince you to go vegan.

Miscellaneous:

Vegan Essentials is offering a variety of holiday gift ideas for the vegan.  They also have gift certificates so your favorite vegan can get something they want.

Don't forget to visit our advertisers (under "Are You Looking For" at the top right and left of this page) for other great gift ideas.

Philanthropic Gift Ideas:

Or here's another thought... If you exchange gifts, as we do, with people who don't really need or want anything, you can always go the civic minded route.  There are many worthy charities out there.  This year, they're getting fewer donations than in the past, so if you're among the fortunate ones who might have spare funds, this is a good way to go. Below are a few vegan-oriented charities.

Animal Acres is offering Holiday Gift Sponsorships for just $25/year (online sponsorship form).

Farm Sanctuary also accepts donations.

Animal Aid (a United Kingdom based animal activist group) accepts donations and also has an online shop.

Other vegan charities.

So Jane and I are busy working tonight and we have the television on in the background.  It's Thanksgiving season and we tend to enjoy watching the Food Network at this time, even though most of the recipes being prepared would not be found on our table!  Butter, heavy cream, turkey, eggs, need I say more? However, the recipes can often be veganized.  So we like to watch these shows to get ideas.  We've learned preparation techniques, new spice combinations, and factual information about various foods.

Tonight, we were half watching The Secret Life of Thanksgiving on the Food Network.  It was pretty much what you would expect, a lot of turkey, butter, cream, and eggs, interspersed with tidbits of information on what the pilgrims ate, and how Thanksgiving actually came to be a national holiday.  But what caught our attention, and compelled us to write this post, was the last five minutes of the show.  Jim O'Connor, the host, asked the question, "But what do vegetarians and vegans eat for Thanksgiving?"  Wow!

So, our representation was a Thanksgiving meal at the raw vegan restaurant, Leaf, in Los Angeles.  And there was a Thanksgiving at Farm Sanctuary, where the turkeys were fed a suitable feast, and afterwards the humans also feasted... on tofurkey and delicious looking vegan sides.  We were happily surprized to see vegetarianism and veganism represented on a national food program talking about a holiday that is typically turkey baste... I mean based.

We've recently received several emails from people telling us they're new to veganism and it occurs to me that it might be time to review a few strategies for new vegans.  So here are a few things we recommend:

• Set a date, this allows you to clean out your kitchen without wasting food, and also allows you to mentally prepare for your new way of eating.
• Borrow a few cookbooks and books on veganism from your library, poke around the internet, try to get a few recipes in place before you make the transition.  This way you're not struggling to find something to eat those first few days.
• Get the best produce you can, having fresh, ripe ingredients really makes a difference in your recipes.
• Pick up a few pre-prepared vegan items...  It's important to have a few quick-fix items at home that don't require any thought!  (We love Morningstar's Grillers Vegan and Gardenburger's Riblets.)  Remember not to rely on these pre-prepared foods too heavily.
• Buy the smallest amount of new foods you can.  This way if you don't like what you've bought/made, you're not wasting a lot of money/food.
• Scope out your local restaurants on-line.  Many restaurants have their menus on-line.  This allows you to determine, in advance, if there is something for you on the menu.  You can also email the restaurant to get the ingredients in a particular item.  We find this to be more reliable than asking your server.  They often don't know and the kitchen staff is too busy during the dinner rush to go over their ingredient lists.
• When trying vegan items, be aware that they are not going to taste like their non-vegan counterparts, even if they have the same name.  Things like vegan macaroni and cheese are not going to taste like their non-vegan counterparts.
• Check with your doctor, and perhaps a nutritionist, to make sure that there are no special nutritional concerns you need to be aware of.
• Allow yourself some transition time if you need it.  We had friends who went out for a non-vegan dinner once a month for the first few months of their veganism.  Jane and I thought we'd allow ourselves a non-vegan Thanksgiving.  When it came down to it, we didn't "need" it anymore, but that was something we could look forward too when we were feeling "deprived."  (That feeling has long since gone away.)
• Finally, be compassionate with yourself.  It's very difficult to radically alter your way of eating.  If you slip up, don't be too hard on yourself.  We all do.  Just dust yourself off, and get back in the game.

These are just a few of the things you can do to make your transition to vegan eating a little smoother.  It may seem a bit overwhelming at first, after all you're changing the way you've done something your whole life.  But after a short period of time, it becomes second nature.

Make sure to check out our Vegan Resources page for some great links.  We haven't updated the page in a bit, but the links are still good and you'll find a lot of helpful information there.

Last week I wrote about the Vegan 100, a list of 100 vegan items that every vegan should try (note: the list was compiled by Hannah Kaminsky, author of My Sweet Vegan).  One of the things on the list is an expensive bottle of wine.  Neither Jane nor I are crazy about wine, but occasionally we do have a bottle.  Unfortunately, as with most alcohol, it's not that easy to know what is truly vegan and what is not when shopping for the spirits of your choice.

What, wine might not be vegan?  For those of you who haven't already heard, alcohol is often refined using animal products. Here's the scoop on wine:

While wine is essentially made from grapes, on occasion animal products are used in small amounts in the production process. Wineries might use animal-derived products as finings. To remove proteins, yeasts, and other organic particles which are in suspension during the making of the wine, a fining agent is added to the top of the vat. As it sinks down, the particles adhere to the agent, and are carried out of suspension. None of the fining agent remains in the finished product sold in the bottle, and not all wines are fined. All Kosher wines are vegan.

Examples of animal products used as finings are gelatin, isinglass, chitosan, casein and egg albumen. Bull's blood is also used in some Mediterranean countries but is not allowed in the U.S. or France.

As an alternative to the animal products Bentonite, a natural, inert clay powder, can be used to clarify the wine. There are even some very patient vintners who let the wine's sediments settle naturally. Winemakers are not required to put on their label which clarifier is used, since it is removed from the final product. However, some wine makers will boast on the wine label that their wine is unfiltered, because some wine connoisseurs prefer wine to be unfiltered.

Source: Wikipedia

Anyway, we have been invited to a few dinners over the next several weeks.  For most of the dinners Jane will be preparing a dish, but one of the hosts has asked us to bring a bottle of wine.  Rather than go out to the store and just hope for the best, I thought I'd do a bit of research to see if I could compile a list of vegan wines.  No need, the Vegan Wine Guide had done that for me.  Their list currently contains 428 wines, and you can even search by country, and/or type (color) wine.  So, if you're a strict vegan who likes to drink wine, you might want to visit, this list can definitely make your life a bit easier.