Our two New Year's Day dinners brought together 220 people to share each others good company and kick off '08 with peace and compassion.  Thank you all for being part of our community!

 

I hope you'll find something of interest among these items:

 

1)  Having a Share in the Peace Abbey Takes it off the Market
2)  New Vegan Upscale Restaurant to Open in Boston
3)  Meat Consumption and Cancer Risk
4)  NPR's Weekend Edition on Veg Cooking
5)  A Sacred Duty - New Documentary on Global Warming and Diet
6)  Eating Veg Is Taking Global Warming Personally
7)  ABC News Interview with Founders of NYC's Candle Cafe

 

1)  HAVING A SHARE IN THE PEACE ABBEY

 

There is now a creative, community-based approach to saving the Peace Abbey from sale!!

 

Many of us know the Peace Abbey in Sherborn MA as a unique and beautiful place that has been a model and an advocate for peace and social justice, including vegetarianism, for many years.  BVS' annual summer outing at the Peace Abbey is a very special event on our calendar.

 

When the Peace Abbey was put on the market last year because of a $400,000 mortgage debt, they were seeking a single foundation or buyer who would allow them to continue their important work.  None appeared.  Thankfully, a plan is now in place to share the debt with 400 shareholders, each making a $1,000 interest-free loan that can be redeemed at any time!  This will save the huge interest payments that have burdened the Peace Abbey and threatened its future.  Already, in just a few weeks, $133,000 in loans or gifts have been pledged by Peace Shareholders.

 

"The Peace Abbey is dedicated to creating innovative models for society that empower individuals on the paths of nonviolence, peacemaking, and cruelty-free living."  To learn more about the Peace Abbey's many programs, including the VeganPeace Animal Sanctuary and the Emily the Cow Animal Rights Memorial, scroll down at http://peaceabbey.org/

 

Learn more about becoming a shareholder in the Peace Abbey: http://peaceabbey.org/abbey/shareholders.htm

 

 

2)  NEW VEGAN UPSCALE RESTAURANT TO OPEN IN BOSTON

Yes!  Scheduled to open Feb. 1, 2008, at 69 Prince Street in Boston's North End, Grezzo Restaurant is "committed to bringing you flawlessly fresh food with its life force still intact.  The concept is green, organic and locally-grown vegan, raw food served in an upscale style and setting.  Our menu changes daily and reflects the availability of organic, high-quality living foods."

 

BVS is looking into doing a dinner event there to welcome Grezzo to Boston! Website under construction: http://www.grezzorestaurant.com

 

3)  MEAT CONSUMPTION AND CANCER RISK

 

PLoS Medicine -- an open-access, peer-reviewed medical journal published monthly online by the nonprofit Public Library of Science (PLoS)
December, 2007

 

"Meat consumption in relation to cancer risk has been reported in over 100 epidemiological studies from many countries with diverse diets," state the authors.        "Although the association of cancer and meat intake may be partially explained by high-energy or high-fat ("westernized") diets, of greater interest is a possible direct role of potentially carcinogenic compounds that are found in meats, including N-nitroso compounds, heterocyclic amines, or PAHs... These compounds and others present in meats (salts, nitrates, nitrites, heme iron, saturated fat, estradiol) have been theorized to increase DNA synthesis and cell proliferation, increase insulinlike growth factors, affect hormone metabolism, promote free radical damage, and produce carcinogenic heterocyclic amines, all of which may promote the development of cancer."

 

Full article: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/archive/1549-1676/4/12/pdf/10.1371_journal.pmed.0040345-S.pdf

 

 

4)  NPR'S WEEKEND EDITION ON VEG COOKING

 

Secrets of the Ultimate Vegan Cookbook NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, January 6, 2008

 

"Host Liane Hanson speaks with vegan chefs Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, hosts of the TV cooking show The Post Punk Kitchen.  The pair have authored a new book, Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook."  Isa and Terry spoke at our veg festival in '06 and Isa was signing Veganomicon at food fest '07 before the book hit the shelf in bookstores.  Listen to the 8 minute interview here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17880728

 

On the same day, Weekend Edition's short piece on "Food Trends for 2008" begins with "...2008 will be the year of ethical eating.  Vegetarian and locally produced food will grace more tables..." Hear the 1 min. 41 sec. segment here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17880731

 

 

 

5)  A SACRED DUTY - NEW DOCUMENTARY ON GLOBAL WARMING AND DIET

 

"A SACRED DUTY: Applying Jewish Values To Help Heal The World" is a new one-hour documentary which addresses the urgent message of global warming and other environmental threats.  Produced by Jewish Vegetarians of North America, the film is directed at the Jewish community but carries a universal message about the ethics of our relationship to our natural world and its creatures.  It presents a shift toward plant-based diets as an essential part of addressing environmental catastrophe. Free DVD copies are available: http://www.jewishveg.com/asacredduty/

 

 

 

6)  EATING VEG IS TAKING GLOBAL WARMING PERSONALLY

 

Eating Vegetarian Is Taking Global Warming Personally By Kathy Freston November 30, 2007

 

"A problem of such scale will require governments, industries, and private citizens to work together to address what many believe to be the greatest challenge of our time.  As with most solutions, the approach must be varied and come from all angles to really make the kind of quantum difference that is necessary.  Here's but one -- albeit one of the most powerful -- way to add to the momentum of a turnaround: eat a plant based diet.  Give up eating animals and go vegetarian.  Seriously." Full article here: http://www.alternet.org/environment/69275/

 

 

 

7)  ABC NEWS INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDERS OF NYC'S CANDLE CAFE

 

For many vegetarians, dining at the upscale Candle 79 is a must on any visit to New York City.  Voted Best Vegetarian Restaurant in both the Zagat 2007 & VegNews Awards 2007, Candle 79 attracts veggie celebrities and locals for a sophisticated fine dining experience.

 

In this ABC News interview on 11/21/07, the founders of Candle Cafe and its upscale sister, Candle 79, tell how Candle was founded (a lottery win does good!) and give a glimpse of the heart and soul behind the restaurants.  We get an inside look at Candle 79's kitchen and some beautiful dishes presented.  Watch it here: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3898125

 

http://www.candlecafe.com/healthynews.html

 

 

 

Hope you are enjoying the January thaw!