We're pleased to announce that Vegan Outreach will join us in running VegGuide.org, our online resource for veg-friendly restaurants and shopping.

Vegan Outreach is partnering with Compassionate Action for Animals and Mercy for Animals to run VegGuide.org. This partnership will greatly increase the exposure of VegGuide.org and will help people find veg-friendly dining and shopping options around the world!

Vegan Outreach is a twenty-year-old national animal advocacy organization that educates the public about factory farming and plant-based eating, primarily through the distribution of leaflets. Vegan Outreach has distributed more than 15 million booklets since its founding.

VegGuide.org was started in 2002 and is a leading source for vegetarian and vegan restaurant and shopping reviews, with more than 14,000 restaurant and business listings. VegGuide.org lets users create entries, write reviews, and rate restaurants and businesses. Additionally, it's free of advertising, focuses on helping people find useful resources to move towards veganism, and all of its content is available free of charge under a Creative Commons license.

We're excited to have Vegan Outreach's help in making VegGuide.org a success!

Do you have a secret family recipe for chili that can top them all? Can you make it vegan? Then make a big batch and put it to the test on February 25!

Registration is open to compete in Compassionate Action for Animals' 3rd Annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off. Prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will be offered and include gift certificates to Galactic Pizza, Pizza Luce Seward, and Common Roots Cafe. Please enter today! Registration is only $20 (non-refundable).

Contestants must bring 15 cups of prepared vegan (no animal products) chili, a list of ingredients, and a crock pot (or something without an open flame to keep your chili warm). Please note that we can only accept 13 entries.

Hosted by Robin Garwood, the chili cook-off is once again a free event open to the public at the Seward Cafe. Enjoy free refreshments, cornbread, and of course, vegan chili. Share a cold evening with warm animal-friendly folks. We packed the cafe last year, and expect a full crowd again.

Please join us at our next Dine-Out on January 30, 2012 at the Jasmine Deli. The previous newsletter had an incorrect date.

Jasmine 26 is an excellent contemporary Vietnamese vegan-friendly restaurant. Vegan options include tofu and mock duck stuffed crepes, sea salt and pepper tofu cube and veggie pho. Hope to see you there!

Author Robin Asbell will conduct a book signing at the Seward Co-op on Thursday, January 26 from 4 to 6 pm.

Big Vegan includes 350 recipes covering every meal and focusing on natural foods. Cookbooks are available for purchase with a personalized autograph by author, Robin Asbell, with every book sold. Sample a recipe from the book at the event, too. Join Robin Asbell at the Seward Co-op, 2823 East Franklin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55406.

Please take your last chance before the year ends to make a generous donation to Compassionate Action for Animals. Your financial support will enable us to reach thousands with the message of compassion.

What will your New Year's resolution be? Ours is the same as always. We will do everything we can to help animals. When we contemplate the future, we see a world where factory farms no longer exist; animals are treated with kindness, compassion, and respect, rather than as tools or machines. But we can't reach this future without your help.

At Compassionate Action for Animals, your donations support our efforts to reach out to the public and educate them about the horrors of modern factory farming. Your support lets us continue our leaflet distribution, video showings, and food giveaways, as well as our many other outreach, education, and community-building activities.

Please consider signing up for a recurring donation. If just a small fraction of the people on this list signed up to give a mere $10 per month, we could give out free vegan samples to tens of thousands of people! If you can't give on a recurring basis, please consider a one time gift of $50 or $25 today.

Make a resolution to reduce suffering in 2012, and help make a difference!

Yours for the animals,

Unny Nambudiripad
Executive Director

Please consider making a gift in 2011 to Compassionate Action for Animals. Your support will enable us to develop and implement effective methods to get the word out about the horrors of animal agriculture and plant-based alternatives.

Thanks to your support, we've had numerous victories this year, including:

• Our second Vegan Chili Cook-off
• Thousands of leaflets about factory farming distributed
• Multiple screenings of Farm to Fridge
• An all-vegetarian meal once per week at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
• Many presentations to teenagers by Bridges of Respect, our humane education program
• And much more!

And we want your support to make 2012 even better. Please consider making a donation of $50, $25, or $15. With your help, next year we will:

• Host our first ever Veg Fest on July 14, 2012
• Ensure that the new vegetarian meal at the University of Minnesota is a success
• Distribute free vegan food, literature, and documentaries to young adults
• Host potlucks, dineouts, and other social events to connect animal-friendly people together
• And again, much more!

But we need your help to make it happen. Please make a donation today to help animals!

Our Hen House, a premier media source for animal activism, interviews Compassionate Action for Animals’ Executive Director, Unny Nambudiripad, about food activism.

In the first of the two part series, Unny talks about the ins and outs of food giveaways. Drawing on CAA’s long and extensive efforts to feed vegan food and get the word out about plant-based options, Unny talks about how to conduct them and why they’re effective.

In the second part, Unny talks about CAA’s successes reaching out to restaurants, food service providers, and cooking classes.

These interviews were conducted by Our Hen House, an excellent resource for animal activists. Its blog and podcast have helpful tips and resources to empower every animal activist.

Our first ever Twin Cities Veg Fest is making progress! We've found some sponsors and speakers, and we've got a website with great resources.

We're hosting a day-long celebration of all things veg on July 14, 2012 in Coffman Memorial Union. We're looking forward to great food, speakers, and fun! This will be a great opportunity to learn more about animal ethics and vegan eating, and share time with like-minded folks.

Please:

• Mark your calendar for July 14.
• Check out our website and our nice new logo.
• Let us know if you're interested in sponsoring, or know of somebody who would like to sponsor us.
• Follow us on Facebook or Twitter and refer us to your friends!
• Check back later for a list of sponsors, exhibitors, and speakers. We're also going to want your help to advertise the event!

Are you vegan living on a budget? Whether you're vegan, vegetarian, or just flirting with the idea of trying a plant-based diet, Eat Vegan on $4 a Day by Ellen Jaffe Jones will help penny-pinching veggie enthusiasts try new recipes without breaking the bank. Eating on $4 a day may be laughable, but once you dive into this vegan cookbook, you'll realize how reasonable and sensible this minimal chunk of change can be.

Review by Amber Buening

Before getting into the money-saving recipes, her introduction covers a wide array of cost-effective techniques and ethical positions around veganism. She gives several helpful tips to cut grocery store costs, some obvious like buying store brand items (even store brand organic!), some insightful like only bringing cash (which causes you to limit your purchase to necessities), and some time-consuming like tracking and comparing prices from different stores. However, if you are pressed for time, she has a few helpful tips to condense time-consuming food preparation and price-comparison shopping, explaining the benefits of cooking from scratch and comparing prices.

Jones further explains the damaging health effects of hormones, pesticides and mercury found in many animals and why plant-based diets can save on health care costs, preventing many diseases associated with chemicals found in meat, dairy, eggs, and fish. She states that, "paying for illness is expensive whether the money comes out of your pocket or the government's." She clarifies the complexities behind health research, advertising and policy dollars, marketing and why agencies are not promoting a healthy, plant-based diet when it can solve many of the health problems facing our society today.

Additional health benefits can also be achieved buying organic, local produce. Jones advocates for seasonal food, which can be the cheapest and freshest. Try a local farmer's market, CSA, or Co-op! Can't afford to buy entirely organic produce? Then just make sure to avoid the "Dirty Dozen" most pesticide and chemically covered food, which Jones identifies. By spending a bit more on these twelve organic items, you'll drastically decrease the amount of chemicals ingested and save money in the long run on medical bills.

If you're looking for helpful information on nutrition and how to eat healthy as a vegan, Jones has a great section explaining what different types of food we need and how much of each. She even goes further to explain how to cook these different foods from scratch (ratio of water to legumes/grains and length of cooking time). Struggling to stay on track or make the switch to vegetarianism or veganism? Jones also has some basic advice on how to overcome temptations left by roommates or family members who buy and eat foods that are not included in a vegan diet.

After this lengthy, but helpful, introduction, Jones dishes out recipes (sans pictures) for almost any occasion, noting the price per serving of each meal, which is helpful for the near future, but may become inaccurate as inflation occurs and produce prices increase. Many of these dishes are inexpensive, but some, like certain $3 salad servings, are costly and would be difficult to include in any "$4 a day" budget. For some recipes (but not all), she also lists expiration dates, and unfortunately, some salad dressings only last 4 days. In other words, be aware of price fluctuation and inconsistencies when perusing Eat Vegan on $4 a Day! If you're not sure where to start, try her menu plan – 7 days of meals all costing under $4 a day ($28 for the entire week)!