Vegan Pizza by-the-slice all weekend at Zpizza

Our local Zpizza will be selling vegan pizza by the slice all weekend!!! Stop in and show your support this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (5/14 – 5/16) and grab a slice of their delicious vegan pizza featuring Daiya Vegan cheese. The vegan pizza will not be out on the rack if nobody has ordered it yet. If you’re the first of the day, they will make the pizza to order, you pay for your slice and the rest of the pizza goes out on the tray for others to purchase. Grab a slice on your way to WorldFest on Sunday!

***UPDATE***

I went to Zpizza in Valencia and got two slices of the plain Daiya pizza. The friendly young girl behind the counter knew about the promotion but the other two employees did not. The one in the know had to talk them into it, which was weird but kind of funny. As proof the girl grabbed a post-it note off of the window near the register showing them that they are running a vegan promotion this weekend. They baked a fresh vegan pizza and i got the the 2-slice deal which includes a fountain drink for $6.50. I would assume unlimited refills if you eat there so a good deal I think. Took only about 10 minutes to get the vegan slices; piping hot too.

So hurry into the Valencia Zpizza, grab slices and show that we appreciate the special attention. The pizza was delicious too. Really good, CRAZY good!

Zpizza – Valencia

27015 McBean Pkwy

Valencia CA, 91355

(661) 259-5000

Time to play, “IS IT VEGAN?”

Photo from Quarrygirl.com

You know how sometimes, when you leave the SCV in search for an all vegan restaurant you come upon a place that just doesn’t seem quite right? Places that come off as a bit shady, with seemingly clueless employees that just answer every question about ingredients with a “yes, all vegan”. Maybe the food wasn’t vegan at all. Maybe you were tricked! Deceit! Lies! For shame!

Or, could it be that the restaurant itself was lied to by its wholesaler? Or was the wholesaler lied to by the manufacturer? Why are there so many people touching my food? Well, no matter how many people are getting paid by my restaurant order, it all comes down to what is on my plate. All I want to know, is what is in my food. Is it vegan?

The fine people at the LA-based vegan food blog, Quarrygirl.com decided that they will not just take someone’s word for it anymore; because some people can be ignorant, liars or both. Instead, they will ask SCIENCE for the answers. Science does not have a charming smile nor a good sense of humor, but it does have honesty and right now that is what we are looking for.

Armed with lab kits and a contamination-free testing environment, the Quarrygirl team tested some of Los Angeles’ favorite (and sketchy) vegan restaurants to see just how vegan their food really is. The results my shock you.

Happy Birthday SCVegan.com!

One year ago, today I made that first official post to Santa Clarita’s vegan blog. For those first several months hardly any hits made their way to this site, but things eventually picked up; everything included I am averaging about 1,000 hits a month. It’s a nice start, don’t you think?

Through this blog I have made some great discoveries that I otherwise would have never known about. From great places to eat, events to attend, blogs to read, even other vegans are making themselves known in our valley. Thanks to everyone that reads this blog, and especially to those of you that have left comments and sent e-mails to me. Your kind words and helpful suggestions have been greatly appreciated and encouraging. Also, a big thanks to the businesses of Santa Clarita that are kind enough to cater to vegans and the select few that go above and beyond by offering vegan-labeled menu items. Without you, I would hardly have anything to write about. While I have to say that I still don’t know exactly how many vegans are in the SCV, it’s certainly a lot more than I expected; new names are showing up all the time!

Next year, we should have a proper birthday party with local vegan catering and entertainment. I even know where to get the birthday cake.

“Grammy Nominated Artists” – No Age

No Age was nominated for a Grammy in the catagory of “Best Recording Package” for their album, NOUNS. For the few people out there whom do not yet own a copy of NOUNS, the CD packaging is really neat featuring a photo book of No Age hanging out with their friends that helped, supported and inspired them along the way. The packaging was designed by No Age, with the help of friend Brian Roettinger who is nominated for the award with the band.

Also nominated in this category are Metallica, Hawk Nelson, Thievery Corporation and The Ditty Bops.

How good is No Age? So good that they can get nominated for a Grammy before the music is even listened to! Not bad for Santa Clarita’s favorite, vegan punk duo. Congratulations guys.

Vote YES on Prop 2

Election day is approaching, and while here in Santa Clarita it seems Prop 8 is the only thing getting any press I want to bring your attention to another proposition to be voted on this November; the Prevention of Farm Cruelty Act, also known as Prop 2.

By voting YES on Prop 2 we are making sure that animals are no longer confined to cages and crates barely large enough for their bodies. Simply put, Prop 2 would ensure that certain farm animals have enough room to stand up, lay down, stretch their limbs or wings and be able to completely turn around without being obstructed by the cage or another animal.

By giving the animals more room, we can improve health and food safety because the animals will not have to stand in their own feces and will be less likely to spread illness because they will not be cramped so close together. Prop 2 will also help smaller, family farms that use humane practices compete in business with the large, corner-cutting factory farms by making sure at least some animal welfare and consumer health is put ahead of their profit margin. Also, the environment will benefit by stopping some of the practices that contaminate our water, soil, air and surrounding communities with untreated waste.

I feel Prop 2 is reasonable and a needed reform that shows consumers are concerned with how the animals are treated before they end up on supermarket shelves and the dinner plates Californians. Please, join me and vote Yes on Prop 2.

Vegan Breakfast With The Gibbons

The Gibbon Conversation Center will be hosting a vegan breakfast fundraiser; Sunday, Oct 19th beginning at 8:30am until noon. Gibbons are small, tree-dwelling apes native to some tropical and sub-tropical regions of Asia. 15 different species of Gibbons are known and are generally considered endangered by most every native country. Most impressive is their speed at which they can swing from branch to branch on the tree tops, rivaling flying birds with a speed up to 35mph; also Gibbons like to sing making them multi-talented primates. The Gibbon Conservation Center (GCC) houses perhaps the largest collection of Gibbons anywhere, and amazingly it’s located in the Santa Clarita Valley. Unfortunately, encroaching developments are threatening the Gibbons and so the GCC is raising money to move the facility away from the suburban sprawl.

I attended the last fundraiser about six months ago, it was a fun time and if you want to see the Gibbons before they leave Santa Clarita this is a great event to do it. Besides the assortment of vegan cereals, soy/almond milk, bagels, breakfast potatoes, fresh fruit, soy yogurt, etc. the event will include a guided tour of the facility along with a question & answer session with the GCC founder Alan Mootnick.

Pre-Pay prices for admission: ($5 more at gate if not pre-paid)

Adults: $35 (18 and older)
Seniors: $30 (60 and older)
Teens: $15 (ages 13-17)
Children: $10 (ages 3-12)
Children Under 3: FREE

The Gibbon Conservation Center is located at:

19100 Esquerra Rd.
Santa Clarita, CA 91390
(Off Bouquet Cyn Rd.)
CLICK for pre-pay tickets
(661) 296-2737

No Age Censored by CBS on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson – But Craig is still cool.

No Age with family back stage of The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson

Santa Clarita’s favorite local vegan punk band, No Age performed on The Late Late Show With Craig Fergusson on Oct 2nd for a taping to be broadcast Oct 27th. Five minutes before the band was to take the stage, guitarist Randy Randall was told he had to change his tee shirt that displays a picture of Barack Obama, citing the FCC’s Equal Time Rule for all candidates. Taking the request as a form of “extreme censorship”, Randall protested and nearly walked off the set before instead compromising by taking a Sharpie Marker to his tee shirt, turning the shirt inside-out and writing “FREE HEALTH CARE” on the front.

No Age back stage with Tim Meadows on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson. Dean's dad in the background.

The story has since spread all over the Internet and being talked about so much that I guess CBS decided to air the No Age performance last night, Oct 9th. Host Craig Ferguson discussed the matter and voiced his support of the band before introducing their taped performance of Eraser.

VOTE FOR NO AGE – 2008 MtvU Left Field Woodie Award

Click image to be taken to voting page.

No Age is up for an MtvU Woodie Award, and there is an on-line vote to select the winner. You can vote as many times as you want, so vote often! Voting ends 11/7/2008. Help the SCV’s favorite Vegan Punk duo bring home the gold wood.

Save the Cows, Save The World!

Interesting article in today’s L.A. Times. The United Nations is urging wealthy countries to dramatically change their eating habits to reduce meat consumption; beginning with one meatless day per week. Not only that, but once everybody in on board with the weekly meat-out, it’s said that we should progress from there to further exclude meat from our diets.

Why would the U.N. concern itself with the diets of wealthy nations, you ask? Could it be the world-wide obesity epedimic? Heart disease? Cancer? Nope, try Global Warming! As it turns out, the production of animals for consumption accounts for nearly one fifth of green house gasses; says the U.N. A quote from the article:

“Cows and other ruminants, such as sheep and goats, release methane and nitrous oxide in amounts that put to shame the carbon dioxide belched out by cars. In fact, a red-meat-eater in a Prius is probably hurting the environment more than a vegan in a Hummer.“

So, if you really want to save the planet just Go Vegan!

Read the article on-line.

Souplantation 30th Anniversary and Essay Contest – FREE FOOD!!!

Souplantation is celebrating their 30th anniversary this month and will be holding an essay contest that could net you 30 FREE MEAL PASSES if your essay is picked as one of their 30 favorites. For those of you keeping score, 30 people will receive 30 free meal passes each. That’s 900 free meals! I love this place!

How does it work? Go to Souplantation and pick up an entry form. Fill it out along with an essay of 200 words that depicts the “Most Remarkable Guest” of a Souplantation restaurant, then submit to a Souplantation manager by July 31st. “Share experiences, memories, routines, traditions, and anything else that would make a remarkable guest.” Who is remarkable? Could be you, or perhaps a family member, maybe a friend. I’m sure I can think of 200 words for a month of Souplantation meal passes.

Judging will be based on 50% creativity/originality, 20% appropriateness to subject matter, 20% composition and 10% sincerity.

30 winners will be selected on September 1st, 2008.

Since we are on the topic of Souplantation, for the Santa Clarita location, vegan offerings the rest of this month include:

Thai Citrus Brown Rice (Salad bar)

Vegetarian Harvest (Soup bar)

Both items are vegan and quite tasty so check them out before they’re gone.