Now At Starbucks:

Lucy's vegan cookies. I found packages of sugar and cinnamon varieties at a New York City store. Four cookies in a pouch, $1.50.

I often cringe walking by Starbucks. Why? Because they've made their disposable coffee culture trendy. Their shops are packed with people who could be using ceramic cups (they offer them, but few know that), and instead, forests are chopped down, and the plastic lids and stirrers will be in the landfill longer than you'll be alive. People are even trained to covet their disposable cups, asking when the 'red cups' will show up for the holidays.

However, I did want to support a vegan product release a major corporation - which is huge. I purchased the sugar cookies, and shared with my omnivore co-worker, who eats veg frequently. Her first reaction, "Hmm, tastes like Cap'n Crunch" and "it's not the worst thing I've ever had." She later admitted hating them. Dipped in my tea made at the office, they tasted somewhat better, but not much. I generally dislike gluten-free baked goods. I don't know why vegan and gluten-free need to be lumped together. Sorry Lucy's!

These Whole Foods vegan chocolate cookies are delicious, especially when heated for a few seconds in the microwave. But...


I spotted vegetable shortening (palm oil) in the ingredient list. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, "Vast plantations that grow oil palm trees have contributed to the destruction of the rainforest and wildlife of Southeast Asia. They are trying to get cookie manufacturers to stop using palm oil. Read their release.

In the James song, Five-0, Tim Booth sings, "Every answer found begs another question. The further you go, the less you know." I feel this way all the time with food and many other issues. I also think it proves a point that just because one isn't consuming animals or by-products, doesn't mean a diet can't bring harm to animals through deforestation or excessive food miles, and the palm oil is a perfect example. Guess where palm fruit oil is also? Lucy's cookies. It's also in the Earth Balance tub in my refrigerator.

I saw Alicia Silverstone doing a food demo on television for The Kind Diet, and when the interviewer asked what was in Earth Balance, she dipped her head sideways to read the label, since she couldn't name anything. Many of us just read labels for vegan, including myself. It can get overwhelming.

I can't help but think of Michael Pollan's quote, "Don't eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." I hope our great-grandmothers wouldn't recognize or have approved of eggs from chickens or milk from cows raised on factory farms, so that's not the solution. Read about the Darker Side of Dairy Farming.

I guess for vegan cookie time, I'll stick with Uncle Eddie's, and hope for the best.

Veganizing the Food Network

I know, there's no vegan show on the Food Network. *Sob* Yet. Contact the Food Network and politely suggest they add a vegan cooking show. Starbucks recently altered their menu to reflect customer feedback, and with no vegan options new on the menu, there was clearly not enough momentum on their My Starbucks Idea site. Let's band together for positive change, fellow armchair activists!

But back to the Food Network. Since going from lacto-ovo vegetarianism to veganism, I still find inspiration regularly on the channel. Overall, their chefs use fresh ingredients in most of their cooking, and I love the challenge of seeing what I can veganize. It's often easier than you think!

The first peaches hit Old Hook Farm, and I'm already dreaming of Nigella Lawson's luscious Peach Melba. Simply substitute dairy ice cream with soy (I use Trader Joe's vanilla). Don't want to use that many raspberries for her sauce? Just let some raspberry sorbet liquefy and substitute that instead. So simple. You can even skip the vanilla pod if you don't have it on hand.

Ina Garten, a.k.a. Barefoot Contessa, was inspired to make her Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette after eating a similar dish in a bistro in Paris. Just leave off the cheese, and it's vegan. She finished the meal, eaten al fresco on her porch, with an apple tart. Veganize instead the classic French Tarte Tatine.

I praise Jamie Oliver for exposing cruel conditions the animals people eat live in to his countrymen in the UK, all so many can gorge themselves on nutrition-poor, cheap food choices. No, he's not a vegetarian, but how many chefs in America have gone on national television to talk about baby chickens being macerated, or gestation crates for pigs? Zero. Watch parts of Jamie's Fowl Dinners here. Veganize Jamie's Pappardelle with Mixed Wild Mushrooms by omitting the dairy.

Doesn't Rachael Ray's Mediterranean Eggplant Steaks and Orzo Salad with Walnuts, Oregano and Tomatoes sound yumm-o? Just hold the cheese.

I'll skip Sandra Lee. What's with those wacky over-done tablescapes at the end of every show? I can't imagine the carbon footprint of all the items she loads up on at the craft store (most of which are likely coming from China). And did you ever notice the color coordination of her KitchenAid with the rest of her kitchen decorations?

One Food Network creation I won't be attempting to veganize: Paula Deen's Fried Butter Balls. Don't try this at home, kids, unless you have a cardiologist on stand-by!

Yes, I'll Have That Here...In A Real Cup, Please

A foreign object to most Starbucks customers: a ceramic mug, which can be filled with your favorite soy-based beverage of choice.

Even if you're in the independent coffeehouse cheerleading camp (generally speaking, I'm a brew-your-own fair-trade, organic coffee at home fan), the reality is that millions of people patronize Starbucks daily. They are a fixture of city life in New York. I received a Starbucks gift card, and when I suggested to the counterperson they should offer ceramic mugs, she said, "we do." Really? Do any of their customers realize this? In an age when corporations are bending over backwards to promote themselves as "green," why are they keeping the lid on ceramic mugs (pun intended) if people are going to drink their beverage there? The company states on its web site that by 2015, its goal is to have every Starbucks cup be reusable or recyclable. But ceramic mugs are something people can use right now.

Starbucks finally wised up and is now offering a 10-cent discount if you bring your own coffee mug. I hope the company gets enough requests to make ceramic mugs the default for customers staying in. I shudder at all those plastic lids languishing in the landfills, in addition to all those trees cut down needlessly.

Visit My Starbucks Idea (free registration required) to request this change, in addition to adding vegan options and leaving soy milk out on the counter. The consumer voice is more powerful than ever in this struggling economy, and we must utilize this strength for a better planet.