Vegetarian Star

Todd Oldham, vegetarian and cruelty-free designer, has become quite successful over the years, from offering his fashions to large chain stores like Target and La-Z-Boy to hosting Bravo’s Top Design to serving as creative director for Old Navy.

Through it all, he’s managed to stay true to his values. A vegetarian since the 80s, the 48-year old was recently asked by the Vegetarian Times:

How do you manage to thrive as a cruelty-free designer in an industry that’s anything but?:

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve lost opportunities because of my position, but I’ve always been able to feel comfortable [with what I'm doing], and that’s worth everything. [Today] there are vibrant people in the industry, like Stella McCartney and Marc Bouwer, who design beautiful things that do not harm animals.”

So true, Todd. So true. 

And when Leona Lewis gets her collection going, we’ll have one more designer that’s cruelty-free, and hopefully (fingers crossed) affordable as well.

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Beth Ditto wrote an advice column for The Guardian, What Would Beth Ditto Do, when she wasn’t busy singing and rocking on stage with her band The Gossip.

Last year, she gave advice to someone who had just gone vegetarian and was running into obstacles:

“Congratulations on your decision. It is really admirable and, in the difficult world we live in, anything that takes us towards a higher consciousness helps. When my younger sister became a vegetarian, she ran into obstacles too, so you’re definitely not alone. If you practise some willpower and use the tips below to assert yourself clearly, I have no doubt that you will succeed.”

Looks like Beth may be taking her own advice, as she went veg a couple of weeks ago, according to WWD.com.

“For the Ricci show, the singer wore one of her favorite frocks by Charles Anastase. “It’s a sketch of a snake being eaten by a weasel,” said Ditto – who turned vegetarian two weeks ago – of its illustration.”

Is the sisterly love for animals taking over her or is it just in the genes?

Congrats to Beth on her decision and we can’t wait to hear how it goes!

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Skateamp on Wikimedia Commons

“It wasn’t that hard to become vegan for me. The only thing that was a little confusing was recognising animal ingredients that I never knew about before, such as gelatin or casein [milk protein]. Once you get familiar with that it’s simple. No dairy, eggs and those sneaky ingredients were the only differences between vegetarian and vegan.”

—-musician John Feldmann, singer and guitarist for the band, Goldfinger, during an interview.

Ingredients can be a pain in the butt sometimes. We all know that chicken broth doesn’t make rice vegetarian and egg whites don’t make bread vegan, but L-cysteine in your pita pocket? Monoglycerides? Don’t even get us started on sugar-who would’ve thought it gets white via processing with animal bone ash-yuck!

Luckily, there’s a list to help us sort through all that. Bring a copy of it with you at your next grocery store visit.

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The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, was in London recently to announce his comeback to music.

The  singer who produced some of the world’s best selling records, such as Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad requested vegetarian sandwiches and mineral water backstage

While the 50-year old said, “I’ve still got what it takes. I’ll prove everyone wrong,” he hinted at a near retirement as he also added, “These will be my final show performances in London. This will be it. When I say, ‘This is it’, I really mean, ‘This is it’.”

“I’ll be performing the songs my fans want to hear, this is it, I mean that this is the final curtain call, OK?”

Fifty years old is like 80 for some in the performing industry due to the grueling lifestyle, but could a vegetarian diet be what kept Jacko so youthful all these years? (Okay, okay, and a good deal of plastic surgery).

Still, going under the knife doesn’t do anything for your energy levels like munching on lean, plant based protein and cramming the plate with complex carbs from veggies. 

Ah, yeah. Who’s Bad!

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Thomas Dekker plays the somewhat “golden child” John Connor on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. But unlike other special children, being marked doesn’t work in his favor, as it targets him for assassination by a “Terminator” named Cromatie.

The episodes involve routine activities in any teen boy’s life, like running away from the killer robots with mom, pretending you’re not a weirdo at school, and blowing up and burning other robots.

And how about that hot good Terminator robot, Cameron Phillips, played by Summer Glau? Giggity, giggity. Ahem…moving on to vegetarian news.

Thomas has been a vegetarian since 12 (he’s 21 now) and an encounter on a pig farm gradually led him to remove all meat from his diet.

From the March 2009 issue of Vegetarian Times:

“When I was about eight years old, I stumbled on a pig factory. After seeing what went on there, I immediately gave up all pig products. Then, four years later, I asked myself the obvious question: “Why am I not eating pigs, but still eating other animals?” So at that point I gave it all up.”

We’ve heard of shunning red meat first, then becoming vegetarian. And then there are people who go vegetarian before going vegan. But to give up pig products, then give up the rest of animals is quite a different way to go. Awesome that it worked for Thomas!

Pick up the latest issue of Vegetarian Times on the stands to learn what Thomas’ favorite veggie dish is. Hint: It includes pasta and Tofurky sausages.

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