Vegetarian Star

Moby has accumulated a lot of titles in his forty something years, and he now has the pleasure of adding one more-book editor.

The vegan musician, singer, DJ and activist spoke to Oregon Live about his new book, Gristle, filled with essays by those with a passion for food, animals and the environment.

People know you primarily for your music. Why was it important for you to do a project like “Gristle”?

I was raised by activists. My parents and the people in my family brought me up with the idea that the only way to lead a good and productive life was to be a voice for causes and issues that you find important. I’ve been involved with animal rights movement for about 25 years, and I found that when I talked to people, most of my friends weren’t aware of the ramifications and consequences of animal production. The idea behind the book was to make it as factual and revealing as possible.

In reading the book, the environmental issues struck me hard. As a consumer, it makes me feel overwhelmed. Can the individual decisions we make every day really have any impact?

Clearly, one individual’s choices aren’t going to have that much impact, but it’s the cumulative weight of all of our choices. If you and I become vegans, the global consequences aren’t going to be that much. But if we can get a few hundred million people to become a little more aware and cut back on their animal consumption, the consequences will be great.

Read the entire interview with Moby at Oregon Live.

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Someone at L Magazine swears by the seitan Moby was at New York restaurant Angelica Kitchen recently.

In between vegan snacks, the musician took to his blog to announce his return to NYC and write about his upcoming book, Gristle.

The book is a collection of writings by various  experts in their respective  fields on effects of meat production on animals, workers in the industry, human health and the environment.

“I’ll be travelling around promoting a bit. and, of course, neither Miyun or I are making a penny from the book, with all proceeds going to animal organizations.”

Hope Oprah adds this to her book club.

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NBC New York reports that repairs and renovations are almost complete for Teany, a tea and vegan cafe founded by Moby.

Several months ago, an electrical fire closed Teany’s doors, but a partner of the cafe says he expects Teany to reopen within a week.

The partner also hinted that Teany might be expanding their brand, so if you live in “any city that will appreciate vegan cooking,” you may be in for a pleasant surprise.

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“ok, so sarah palin is releasing a book. and it’s filled with some insightful, thoughtful gems, like: ‘here’s my philosophy on being a carnivore: If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?”

“the problem, of course, being that other things are also made out of meat. like, well, people. and doggies and kitties. and cute little human babies. so if we follow your logic, mrs palin, you are actually suggesting that god intended for us to eat humans and dogs and cats and human babies, as these things are all technically made out of meat. i’m not even being swiftian, i’m just exposing sarah palin’s thoughts to some simple logic. which might be problematic, as she is also the person who once talked about looking out her window and seeing vladimir putin staring back (although he’s technically 8,000 miles away, unless he’s recently moved to kamchatka).”

—Moby, including his thoughts on Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue on his blog.

This insight is even more cynically humorous than his theories on vegan zombies.

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Moby has questions, Mark Bittman has answers.

When Moby asked the author of Food Matters what he thought about veganism, Bittman answered:

“I think veganism is the most principled position one can take when it comes to eating; there is no need to eat animal products at all, and – aside from processed food – they are the most damaging foods produced, both from a personal and a global perspective.”

“Having said that, I think veganism is a very tough sell. And I would rather see millions, tens of millions of people significantly reduce their consumption of animal products than see tens of thousands eliminate them.”

“As an aside, let’s also remember that one can be a vegan and still eat junk. So my advice remains – eat plants above all else, eat unprocessed or minimally processed plants whenever possible, and eat these foods at the expense of everything else, particularly animal products and junk.”

And if you can’t go veg all the way, you can still use Bittman’s “vegan until six,” approach.

Learn more about what Bittman has to say about topics such as  factory farming and buying organic vs. local

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“There are a few unreleased reports showing that animal production is responsible for 25 per cent of all climate change.”

“Climate change is already happening. The question is how severe will the consequences be and how prepared we are for them.”

—-Moby, during an interview.

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Persia White co-produced the Joaquin Phoenix narrated Earthlings, a film about the use of animals by humans for food, fashion and entertainment.

Seems natural for a vegetarian gal like Persia to have such passion for a project, and Persia explained to Beauty Interviews how she joined forces with director Shaun Monson and Phoenix help create an award winning film.

“I met Shaun Monson the director and he was trying to put together Earthlings as project of passion. I was already involved in animal welfare. Getting involved in Earthlings was pretty intense because there were still a lot of things I didn’t know. To raise compassion and awareness is so necessary. The documentary is not just about animals it’s about how we treat each other as well. How we have empathy for the weak and we don’t abuse it. It exposes the truth. It is a very difficult film to get into mainstream because there are so many corporations that will hurt if their secrets revealed.”

“It was very difficult. Joaquin Phoenix is a wonderful actor, and like myself, a vegan. However, Joaquin is booked and away so much. He’s schedule was intense. But we did it. The music was donated by Moby.”

Thank goodness Moby’s music was used versus Phoenix’s rap tracks.

Learn what Persia does to keep her skin clear and healthy (hint: it’s all in the diet) at beautyinterviews.com.

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Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy

Moby’s prodigy from Teany has been named 2009 Chef of the Year by Metromix.

Although they love Amanda Cohen, Metromix isn’t too keen on the vegetarian food she cooks at her restaurant, Dirt Candy.

Just take a look at these two questions they fired at Amanda during an interview.

Does vegetarian food get a bad rap?
It does, and people can’t look behind what vegetarian food is about and not what it’s not about. The reality is that most people probably, at least once a week, have a meal that doesn’t have meat or chicken or fish in it. They just don’t call that meal “my vegetarian meal of the week.”

And then they just get real honest about it.

Well, we gotta say it: Most vegetarian food is pretty terrible.
That’s a hard thing for me to agree to [laughs]. But I think vegetarian food has a built-in audience, and [people] don’t necessarily have to try to go outside of that audience. So whether or not that makes the food good or bad, it has its audience. …There’s very few restaurants in this city where they’re expected to state their politics before you even walk in the door. But that onus is put on vegetarian restaurants, and I think it creates a world where it’s hard for vegetarian restaurants to necessarily make exciting and different food.

New Yorkers, what do you think?

Does Dirt Candy change the reputation of vegetarian food, for Metromix and everyone else?

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