Vegetarian Star

Dennis Palumbo at the Huffington Post has blogged about how secrets are often uncovered in the lives of famous people posthumously.

There will always be the affairs, drug use, and what “really went on behind closed doors,” but who would have thought a group of vegetarian doctors would go and make a “tell all” case about the private health of a doctor who advocated a heavily meat based diet.

Dr. Atkins was famous for promoting a high protein, low carbohydrate, and mostly meat diet for weight loss and maintenance, but his health around time of death showed a pattern that suggested he died from more than natural causes.

Atkins’ health records were accidentally released to a Nebraskan physician, who passed them along to the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine who graciously used his history of high blood pressure and heart disease to publicly discredit his diet.

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To remake an ACDC song: “He’s got green balls. And she’s got green balls. But Al Gore’s got the greenest balls of them all.”

The Inconvenient Truth presenter will host a green inaugural ball tomorrow with locally grown food that includes vegetarian and vegan options cooked by chefs located right across the street (to reduce carbon emissions from vehicle traveling with the food).

Maroon 5, who enjoyed raw vegan chef Ani Phyo’s catering for their vegan Halloween party, will be providing the musical entertainment, along with Will.i.am.

Guests will walk on carpet made from recycled fibers, waste will be recycled and composted, and contributions will be made to Native American family farmers partaking in energy-conservation projects to offset carbon emissions.

Groups that are on the invite list include Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, Vote Solar Initiative and Youth for Environmental Sanity.

Some balls are held for charity. Some for fancy dress. But the balls held for the environment are the balls that we like best.

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Although the Obama family has been thrust into the spotlight (and will no doubt remain there for at least four years), there’s one relative of Barack’s that has managed to avoid publicity.

But his privacy might not last long.

Mark Ndesandjo is the half brother of Barack Obama who has been living in Shenzhen, China, a city near Hong Kong, for the past seven years.

He’s vegetarian, but still helped start a chain of BBQ restaurants in China called Cabin BBQ.

He’s also an accomplished piano player, recently playing a charity concert to raise money for orphans in China, speaks Mandarin, and practices Chinese calligraphy. Working as a strategic marketing consultant by day, he’s finished an unpublished novel called “Nairobi to Shenzhen.”

Like hundreds of thousands of others, Ndesandjo’s making the trip to the U.S. capitol for his half brother’s inauguration on Tuesday.

You can view of photo of Mark playing the piano, and learn more about him at the Chicago Sun Times.

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Angela Bassett plays Notorius B.I.G.’s mother in Notorious, which opened this past weekend, and looks like a hot momma on any given day.

She revealed to the LA Times how she keeps this up, especially when she’s filming for the big screen.

“I love vegan choices, raw food choices, and I’ll eat whatever I have to in order to get into whatever shape I need to get into for any one particular role,” she said.

So where does she go when she doesn’t want to cook for herself?

California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena is for cooks in training but don’t let that fool you. Basset said the food is great and she loves how the students are excited to put their “artistic twist on things.”

Presentation is just as important as taste for Bassett as she added that was a bonus for another one of her favorite restaurants at La Costa resort in Carlsbad.

“You want art in your food. I’m looking for complexity and taste. Not just “my body needs to eat,” you know?”

Find out what other spots Angela likes to frequent, for both food and entertainment.

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Portia de Rossi recently attended the Disney/ABC Television Group portion of the 2009 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour where she announced she’s interested in starting her own vegan shoe line.

According to Fabsugar, Portia said she tries to wear leather as little as possible. Now she wants to make that even easier when it comes to footwear.

Not many other details were given, so we’re assuming the business plan is still in the draft phase and Portia hasn’t gotten her feet (pun intended) wet yet into the details.

But when she does, oh boy!

It was disappointing when Natalie Portman’s Te Casan shoes ceased production due to the recession, but with celebrities like Leona Lewis designing her vegan shoes and Portia dreaming big, your closet should be filling up again soon with awesome cruelty-free footwear.

Fingers crossed that Portia makes her shoes affordable as well.

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Baby Cakes, where actress Lake Bell stocked up on all her vegan desserts last Holiday season, has given several vegetarian and vegan celebrities a sweet tooth so big they’re willing to put a few kind words behind the cookbook that’s coming out in April.

After owner Erin McKenna was diagnosed with allergies to wheat and dairy, all she really wanted was a cupcake, but unfortunately, couldn’t find bakeries selling products that complied with her restrictions. So she opened her own.

Now she’s sharing her secret recipes for vegan, gluten-free, and some even sugar free cupcakes in her book BabyCakes: Vegan, Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York’s Most Talked-About Bakery, set to be released in April.

It’s already getting rave reviews and kudos from some great veg celebrities, including Pamela Anderson, Natalie Portman, and Zooey Deschanel.

“I have multiple food sensitivities…and I’d pretty much given up on the idea that I might be able to have a worthy treat every again. I was so excited to discover BabyCakes NYC, because not only can I eat everything they bake, it’s all delicious!”
—Zooey Deschanel

“At BabyCakes NYC I can eat what I crave without harming my lovely animal friends–or myself. Every since that first fateful day, I’ve been waiting for this cookbook.”
—Natalie Portman

“Thank all that is holy for BabyCakes NYC…”
—Pamela Anderson

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Stephen Colbert thought it would be fun to satirized PETA’s Save The Sea Kittens Campaign, and gave a “Tip of the Hat” piece of advice to the animal rights group. 

“Save The Sea Kittens” is designed to get people to stop eating seafood by making fish seem as cute, adorable, and intelligent as cats.

Colbert admits that normally he’s not a fan of PETA because if “scientists can’t squirt shampoo into a rabbit’s eyes, then how would I know what shampoo to squirt into my rabbit’s eyes,” he sarcastically said.

Stephen decides to rename other animals with vegetarian names so that they’ll seem more acceptable to eat, including calling cats “landfish,” cows “field potatoes,” and owls “sky nachos.”

The “Tip of the Hat” starts after a minute and a half into the video.

Safe to say he’s not buying into the campaign. Bet Jeremy Piven is, though.

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It’s been known for a few months now that Ellen DeGeneres has become vegan, but now her wife, Portia de Rossi, is opening up about how turning vegan has changed her life as well.

Neither of them were vegan when they met, but according to Portia, the couple made it a goal to cross animals off their lists after their very first date, according to Contact Music.

“When Ellen and I first got together I was wearing fur and Ellen was wearing very expensive Italian calfskin leather. She was giving me a hard time about wearing the fur and I said, ‘Why is a fox any more important than a cow?’

“We took that idea and went all the way with it. We are doing what we can.”

Last year, the menu at the couple’s wedding reception was completely vegan.

Nothing like a good woman to make a person change their ways. In this case, both members of the happy couple got a nudge from one.

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