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TRAVEL AND CULTURE FOR THE GRADUATED VEGAN 路 ISSUE NO. 2
A G-G A G W I T H T H E A N I M A L L E G A L D E F E N S E F U N D
Animals on factory farms are routinely mutilated and brutally killed. Help expose this injustice by joining the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s undercover investigations team!
TO APPLY
VISIT ALDF.ORG/INVESTIGATIONS
TaBLE OF COnTEnTS TRavEL 16 Springtime in Romania
64 The Class Vegan
Touring the Old World during Lent
A group project turns into an outreach opportunity
20 I’ll Drink to That
66 Redefining Ritual
Celebrating veganism in Los Angeles
Keeping the spirit alive in an evolving tradition
29 Graz, Austria
72 The Podcasts Podcasters Listen to
Getting to know Vienna's little sister
32 24 Hours in Austin, Texas
Making the most of your day in this magical vegan bubble
in every issue
39 Tips from the Locals: Austin, Texas
Where to go, from those in the know
48 Herbivores de Provence
Two vegans, five weeks in France
59 The Insider
The state of vegan travel according to a pro
culture 11 At Home in Green Acres
Mark Rainha's animal portraiture
24 Artist to Artist: Judith Black Line & Brittney West
Two artists chat about art, feminism, and culture
40 Profile: Miyoko Schinner
The tale of a tenacious entrepreneur
54 Open Mic
Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack! help us navigate the sea of vegan podcasts
Embracing the power of oral tradition
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Editor’s Note
Editor-in-Chief Holly Feral goes back to school
7
Dig on This
Managing Editor Michele Truty goes home to Chicago
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Travel Q&A with Jojo Huxster
Our travel pro answers your queries
44 Vegan Faces
A selection of portraits by Stephanie Warga
60 According to…
Travel advice from our readers
62 Book Club
A look at The Taco Cleanse and Social Animals
76 North American Nomad
Part Two: Michael lets go
79 What’s Next?
Here’s what we’re working on for next issue
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Travel and culture for the graduated vegan Issue Two Visit us online at DriftwoodMag.com
editor-in-chief managing editor
Follow us on social media
DriftwoodMagazine
DriftwoodMag Driftwood_Mag
graphic designers contributing writers
contributing artists
style editor legal consultant
Holly Feral Michele Truty Sarah Cadwell, Shelly English, Kim Rountree Judith Black Line, Callie Coker, Marie Dadap, Nichole Dinato, Nefer Flores, Michael Friedman, Caitlin Galer-Unti, Jojo Huxster, Daniela Lais, Jared Paul, Alex Payne, Mark Rainha, Jackie Sobon, Stephanie Warga, Brittney West Nicole Brodeur, Francesca Carpinelli, Jeremie Frémaux, Kat Marshello Eve White Sarah El Ebiary
Driftwood magazine is published quarterly in print and digital editions by Driftwood Media. P.O. Box 28581, Portland, OR 97228 POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to above address. Submissions, letters, and queries to info@driftwoodmag.com Newsstand inquiries to info@driftwoodmag.com Advertising inquiries to ads@driftwoodmag.com Printed at Vegan Printer, Los Angeles, California Copyright 2016 by Driftwood Media. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the author. ISSN 2380-3789 (print) 2380-3797 (digital) Mark grabbed our cover shot up in Neah Bay, Washington, in the very northwest corner of the continental United States. This is where the Pudget Sound meets the Pacific ocean, the Canadian coastline just a few miles to the north. Photos by Mark Rainha
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This issue of Driftwood was made for you by all these lovelies
Judith Black Line
Nicole Brodeur
bielsko biala, poland
vegan 6 years, page 24
Callie Coker
san diego, california, usa
vegan 2 years, page 86
Jeremie Frémaux
oakland, california, usa
vegan 3 years, page 46
Daniela Lais
graz, styria, austria
vegan 10 years, page 29
Mark Rainha
portland, oregon, usa
vegan 10 years, page 33
Francesca Carpinelli mérida, yucatán, méxico vegan 5 years, page 80
portland, oregon, usa
vegan 3 years, page 54
Marie Dadap
austin, texas, usa
vegan 13 years, page 38
Michael Friedman
portland, oregon, usa
vegan 8 years, page 91
Kat Marshello
seattle, washington, usa
vegan 3 years, page 65
Jackie Sobon
los alamitos, california, usa
vegan 5 years, page 20
Nichole Dinato
san diego, california, usa
vegan 6 years, page 86
Caitlin Galer-Unti barcelona, spain vegan 8 years, page 16
Jared Paul
providence, rhode island, usa
vegan 18 years, page 60
Stephanie Warga
fort lauderdale, florida, usa
vegan 10 years, page 50
Nefer Flores
austin, texas, usa
vegan 1 year, page 80
Jojo Huxster roaming around se asia
vegan 9 years, page 12
Alex Payne
portland, oregon, usa
vegan 3 years, page 54
Brittney West
corvallis, oregon, usa
vegan 4 years, page 24
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I was asked to speak to a Mass Communications class during its week on magazines at my ol’ alma mater. I loved this class. We read about the enlightenment that came with the invention of the printing press and discussed the communications catastrophe ushered in by the Internet. It might not surprise you to learn that magazine week was my favorite. The same instructor who’d threatened to tie my arms together if I skipped this lesson now introduced me as a magazine publisher to a dark room full of mass comm students via Skype. Through the lens of my laptop, I had this incredible opportunity to peek back through
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time. Ten years have passed since I roamed those halls. Ten years since I had my first brush with journalism on the student publications. Ten years since I was forced to give an ironic argument in favor of carnism in a biology class. When we look back, we see how far we’ve come. In this issue, we share a collection of histories that document struggle and triumph. We see traditions recreated and relationships redefined. These personal journeys say a lot about the rise of veganism and the paradigm shift we’re currently a part of. We hope they inspire you to do some reflecting on your own progress.
I’m a Chicago girl. I haven’t lived in Chicago since 1997, really, having moved down to school in Champaign-Urbana for three years, then to Brooklyn for five, over to Los Angeles for three, and finally spending the past seven years in Portland. But, those first 24 years were enough to ruin me. Or at least make me impervious to the ways of other lands. I call people out on their bullshit, I dig noisy guitars and open drums, and I will go to the mat in the name of pizza. Going “vegetarian” in Chicago in 1986 meant I still ate some chicken and fish, because while I was still crazy eccentric and stubborn and whatever else you call a person when you don’t respect them enough to try to understand why they do what they do, I was a 12-year-old who lived with parents and saw doctors and hung out with friends in 1986 Chicago. I had to pick sausage off my pizza on occasion, I got blank stares at fast food joints when I ordered all my foods without the thing they considered the food. So my path to actual vegetarianism took a while. I didn’t go completely vegan until 2006-ish and I was living in L.A., when two super pals, Kevin and Taran, introduced me to nutritional yeast. <cue angel choir> By then, I’d learned how to deal with the confused looks and the pitfalls of traveling while vegetarian. It wasn’t really that big a leap to master traveling while vegan. A few more rules, a few more confused looks, and a lot more black coffee. Luckily, while I’ve been on my path, Chicago has been on its own. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still inch-thick cheese on some of those pizzas (topped with an I-kid-you-not solid layer of sausage), and a “combination” is a totally normal sandwich—that’s an Italian beef sandwich with a sausage thrown in for good measure. So, you might still find parmesan shredded atop your pasta after you went through all the questions about animal products, and you could still get laughed at if you ask if the fries are cooked in only vegetable oil. But I am happy to report that
on my recent trip to my hometown, I stuffed myself to the gills with so much fantastic food...and drank next to no black coffee. Instead I got Lou Malnati’s deep dish with no cheese and sprinkled on my own nooch. A childhood favorite that was seemingly lost to me. (NOTE: If you attempt this, you can order fresh spinach but not the spinach mix on the menu, as it is prepared with butter.) Friends Dan and Nicole (from Issue One’s “Behind the Stache” story) took us out to Amitabul, a vegan Korean restaurant, and we straightup feasted on dumplings, savory vegetable pancakes, curries, bibimbap, and maple cookies. And of course we feasted at Upton’s Breakroom, trying out the new burger, the fried bacon mac, and my own sweet love, the Italian sandwich— they made me take a What's been turning Michele's gears cookie to go, because in spite of the fact that we were walking 10 miles a day, there was simply no more room in my belly! Probably the most surprising find was Le Pain Quotidien. Yes, most independent coffee shops in cool little neighborhoods will have nondairy milks and maybe a lovely artisan pretzel for you. But along Michigan Avenue— even a few years ago—finding something other than black coffee and a plain bagel was a tall order. So having this chain café put little vegan symbols throughout its menu was a treat. Would you like soy or almond milk? A vegan blueberry muffin—what? Even my espresso go-to, Intelligentsia, doesn’t have vegan muffins! (Dear Intelligentsia, please carry vegan muffins.) I actually can’t wait until I have a chance to spend a little more time there and explore. When I can make it out to the vegan shoe store in neighboring Oak Park, Amour de la Terre…and who knows what else will be out there next time. Chicago, you’re doin’ me proud.
Dig on this.
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MIYOKO SCHINNER The tale of a tenacious entrepreneur story Holly Feral portrait Holly Feral shop photos Jeremie Frémaux archive photos Courtesy of Miyoko Schinner
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As someone who recently started a business, I can tell you that the fear of failing wakes me up at night. It ranks between the fear of death and having an unknown sex tape surface. The thought of going on to start another business, and then another, and another after that… It seems an unfathomable feat of human resilience. That’s where Miyoko Schinner proves her place in the hall of greats. We know her now as the pioneer behind the artisan cultured nut cheeses of Miyoko’s Kitchen. But her life started in a small farmers village outside Tokyo, her home surrounded by rice paddies. In the mornings, she rushed to use the bathroom before a farmer came to collect sewage for fertilizer. There was one car in town and it didn’t belong to her family. Life was simple. At 7, her family moved to the States, but she always felt that a piece of herself was missing. As soon as she graduated from St. John’s College in Maryland, she went back to Japan on a quest to find that missing piece. By that time, the little farmers village she’d left had been engulfed by the everexpanding reach of Tokyo. She stayed with family and hustled to get on her feet, teaching English by day and moonlighting as a jazz singer. At that time in the ’80s, the French cooking revolution was flavoring Japan. Miyoko, who’d been vegetarian since childhood, indulged in rich bakery, heavy with creams and eggs. “America was still eating Kraft singles and Hostess cupcakes. Japan had all these French pastries. They were eons ahead of America. I’d become completely addicted to rich French things and so when I became vegan, I had to find a way to make really delicious, fantastic food without dairy or eggs.” The road to becoming a famous vegan entrepreneur began with the perfection of a simple pound cake. “I thought, ‘Gee, I oughta go into business!’ which I’d actually advise against doing. But I went ahead and did it anyway. I rented this little bakery, this expired, old bakery that was covered in dust.” Four days a week, she rotated between baking and delivering her Madame Miyoko cakes around the city. On her two delivery days, she packed 70 pound cakes (70 heavy pounds of cake, to be clear) into a backpack and hopped on a train. The other
three days of the week, she juggled her other gigs. And every night, she slumped into bed completely exhausted, until one day a man approached her with an investment offer. She’d have the money to start making cakes in a commercial kitchen. She’d be able to pay for distribution and packaging. Her fledgling bakery was about to get a big break. They were still in the planning phase, just starting contract negotiations, when things went sour. Her investor, her angel, suddenly he wanted more—not only more of the bakery business but a cut from her other gigs, too. He wanted half of the money she earned singing jazz and anything else she touched, including a book she was writing. When she refused, the late-night phone calls started. Gruff voices insisted that she sign aggressive contracts. He’d offered to use his connections to help the business. It turned out his connections were with a yakuza gang, one of the organized crime families that form the Japanese mafia. They leaned on Miyoko’s employers, caused a culinary school to break its contract with her, and promised she’d never work in Tokyo again. “I either had to sign my life over to him or get out of town.” She made her way to San Francisco, where she couldn’t help but start another bakery. She started baking in her own kitchen and, before long, opened a café called Now and Zen. As the menu evolved, the bakery grew into a restaurant. When the holidays came around, she created a masterpiece that would be her first big hit: the UnTurkey. It was a seitan roast covered in a crispy yuba shell and it was the beginning of the holiday dinner revolution. In 1995, after running the restaurant for a few years, she took the UnTurkey to the Natural Products Expo East trade show. It was there she met the UnTurkey’s main competitor, the creator of Tofurky, Seth Tibbot. “We used to hang out, poke fun at each other’s products. At the Natural Products Expo, people sort of spy on each other’s products, but it’s a really friendly group of people. It’s a wonderful industry with good vibes.” During that first trade show, she met others like herself looking to change the world by creating new, responsible products, and in one week wrote $50,000 in orders.
Her little company wasn’t prepared for that amount of success, and after the trade show push, the orders kept flowing in. By the end of the month, they’d taken around $200,000 in UnTurkey orders. The trade show was in late September and the orders had to be delivered by early November in time for holiday dinners. Miyoko sold the restaurant, turned Now and Zen into a manufacturing company, and threw herself into the task with the fervor of someone who has no idea what can go wrong. “I was completely undaunted. If someone were to tell me I had to do this now, I would say that it’s completely unreasonable.” The UnTurkey survived the holiday craze, but afterward she faced a new dilemma: figuring out what to sell throughout the year to keep the business afloat. “I didn’t have a business plan, so I hadn’t thought beyond selling the UnTurkeys.” Now and Zen had a few investors, and one of them phoned up with a tip. He told her that United Airlines was looking for a cookie that would fit a crosssection of dietary needs. The deadline was just two days away. “Once again, I was undaunted. I had no reason to believe that sending cookies to United Airlines would lead to a massive contract, but that’s exactly what happened.”
“ It happened because I was thinking, ‘Oh, I’ll do this!’ rather than thinking of all the reasons I couldn’t do it. ”
She rushed to the kitchen and produced a single recipe. She baked one batch, no time for testing, and sent it out for consideration. One week later, a letter came from United saying they wanted Miyoko’s product. “It happened because I wasn’t thinking of any roadblocks. It happened because I was thinking, ‘Oh, I’ll do this!’ rather than thinking of all the reasons I couldn’t do it. Which is what stops people. They think too much.” Once again, Miyoko found herself suddenly at the helm of a massive production with no time to plan. She moved into a 7,500-foot facility, got a massive oven and a packaging machine, and soon enough, they were making 10,000 cookies a day. DRIFTWOODMAG.COM 41
VE L
I LOVE VEG
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E VEGAN TR
Vegan Cultural Adventure Tours to India, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Sumatra and Bali
GAN TRAVEL E VE
A Real Life Experience
“Rather than going under, I sold the company for just enough to get out of debt.” The day after the business sold, she jumped on a plane with her family for her first vacation in years. She was so exhausted that she fainted somewhere over the Atlantic. Her husband begged the flight attendants not to turn the plane around—what she needed was to get away. “It was probably the worst period of my life. I call it the Dark Ages. Nothing I touched turned to gold; it all seemed to crumble.” Miyoko had always instinctively sought work doing something she believed in, but her passions had unfolded and she was drained. She went to work at her husband’s new law firm as a qualified intermediary, helping people move money from one thing to another, tax-free. Suddenly, she was making more money than she’d ever dreamed of. And she was making it while doing very little work. It was incredible, for a while. For the first time in her life, if she wanted nice shoes, she bought them. Nice things, time raising the children, all for utilizing her organizational skills. What’s not to love?
I LOV
“Eventually, I couldn’t cope anymore.” The strain had been building in the background all along. Running a restaurant had turned out to be a nightmare and it didn’t get easier when it transitioned into the manufacturing company. Now and Zen struggled by. It was all happening around the millennium, when investors were rushing to the tech world. Even though Miyoko’s businesses were well received, she needed an infusion of capital to leap the final hurdles that make a business successful. Miyoko wasn’t paying herself and life was not taking any pauses. She’d married shortly before starting the café, and three months after they opened the door she gave birth to her second child. In fact, her water broke on the restaurant floor during lunch hour. Then, the head chef quit and his replacement turned out to have a heroin problem. Her mother, who’d needed Miyoko’s care in her last few years of life, died in 2000, and within a few months her father began to fade, also requiring end-of-life care until his passing in 2002. Finally, in 2003 Miyoko called it quits.
ft vegvoyages.com
“There’s no soul in it. I wasn’t interested in it.” Deep depression set in. Her desire to do something that made the world a better place was drowning in easy money. “The financial world is rigged so that people make Monopoly money without creating any real value, without producing any real goods, without making the world a better place. They’re just making money off of money. I did it for a few years and it didn’t feel right.” She couldn’t do it anymore. Years ago, she’d written The New Now and Zen Epicure, a vegan gourmet cookbook, one of the first, in fact, before the words “vegan” and “gourmet” shared much space together. But in the time she’d been gone, lost in the financial world, the blogosphere had bloomed. Standing out in the newly crowded world of vegan recipe writing was daunting, but the vegan movement was calling her back. “I thought, ‘I’ll never make money again. I’ll probably fall flat on my face again.’ But I’d learned that in order for one door to open you have to completely close the other door.” Miyoko left the law firm and started teaching cooking classes. She was in San Francisco, demo’ing vegan cheesemaking, when someone asked if she was planning to write a new cookbook. She assembled her recipes and published Artisan Vegan Cheese. Before long, the familiar light of the intrepid entrepreneur flicked back on. People loved her cheese recipes, and they would really love if she went ahead and made the cheese as well. “I thought, ‘You know what? It’s time to start another business!” In September 2014, she launched Miyoko’s Kitchen, and within a year it was turning a profit and winning awards. The money flow has shifted. For the first time in McDonald’s history, they’re closing more restaurants than they’re opening, and experts are saying it’s a sign that the times are a’changing. Investors are looking at food now, especially artisan and vegan food. All those lessons and connections she made along the way have turned into resources. Seth Tibbot, one of her early competitors, is now one of her main investors. The odds have inarguably turned in favor of this tenacious vegan-preneur.
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ISSUE TWO
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24 HOURS IN
AUSTIN story and photos Marie Dadap
Austin is growing at the speed of light, and its vegan scene is no exception. While you could never truly condense the best things to do—and eat—in Austin into 24 hours, we certainly tried. I rounded up my husband and my 9-pound rescue doxie for a day of fun and adventure in the city we call home. We packed our agenda full of our absolute favorite stomping grounds, but for those looking for more options, we’ve included some equally enjoyable alternatives. This somewhat frenetic schedule is not for the light of heart, but we ended up having a blast trying to capture what makes Austin so captivating to so many people, and in the process fell in love with our city all over again. 9:00 am Our first stop was at the ever funky original Juiceland location, on Barton Springs, which exudes Austin charm with its mishmash of spray-painted signs, Christmas lights, and eclectic decor. With 13 locations around Austin, each with its own personality, you’re never far from delicious fresh juice. The extensive juice and smoothie menu can be overwhelming at first, but we went with our standby favorites: the Applelily (apple/green juice combo) and the Originator (peanut butter/ fruit smoothie). If you’re stuck over what to order, trust the staff to point you toward something tasty. After grabbing our juice, we settled outside, swooping in on their sculptural butterfly chair (that quite literally gives you wings), and people-watched as the city came to life around us. alternative: While we love a light breakfast, if you’re looking for something a little heartier than juice, head to Bouldin Creek Cafe, a quirky vegan-friendly café. 10:00 am As Austin can easily hit triple digits in the afternoon, we took advantage of the cool morning temperatures for a walk around the southern side of Lady Bird Lake, and took in views of the quickly changing Austin skyline. Lady Bird Lake is a reservoir on the Colorado River that
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runs through downtown Austin, and is the epicenter of the city's outdoor-centric life with a 10-mile hike and bike trail around its border. The trails are nice and wide, and easily accommodate the hustle and bustle of joggers, bicyclists, and dog-walkers. We set out at a slow pace to take in the turtles and ducks that line the shores, and enjoyed seeing all the people already out on the lake. In true Austin fashion, quite a few were out there attempting some early-morning yoga on a stand-up paddleboard—not an easy feat, particularly if you want to stay dry. alternative: If you’re feeling adventurous, grab a kayak or stand-up paddleboard. (No yoga required!) They're available at one of the many rental locations around the lake. NOON We rarely take a trip south of the river without stopping by Austin’s allvegan grocery store, Rabbit Food Grocery. They generally have a new product or two to try, and always an assortment of tasty snacks to pick up. There’s also a large selection of gifts and sundries—perfect souvenirs to bring back home. Austin is an incredibly dogfriendly city, in part because of its great rescue programs, warm weather, and outdoor culture, and Rabbit Food takes that one step further by allowing dogs in their grocery store. We love being able to bring our pup inside, and let her pick out her own dog treats. Having finished our shopping, we headed just a few blocks down the street to the famous “Welcome to Austin” mural, where a friendly passerby offered to snap a cute family photo of us. Austin is covered in quirky murals that double as popular Instagram backgrounds. If you keep your eye peeled for them, you’ll be surprised how many you’ll find. alternative: If you’re looking for more of a window-shopping experience, take a stroll down the boutique-filled South Congress Ave. (SoCo), and snap a pic at the iconic “I love you so much” mural. 1:00 pm After a long morning of walking and shopping, we were ready to head out for some sustenance in the form of delicious tacos from The Vegan Nom. Tacos are ubiquitous in Austin, and while you generally can’t go wrong with a taco, the Vegan Nom does them so very right. The menu is full of inventive tacos, including
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migas tacos, “fish” tacos, crunchy-shelled tacos, and chick’n fajitas tacos. There isn’t a bad taco on the menu, so pick whatever tickles your fancy—just be sure to wash it down with a Topo Chico mineral water, hands down the most refreshing beverage on a hot Austin day. The trailer can get overwhelmed with orders at peak times, so we tend to either call ahead or use the time to peruse the shops along North Loop Blvd. This shopping district is one of our favorite places to kill some time, with such gems as Monkeywrench Bookstore, a volunteer-run bookstore with a radical bent; Forbidden Fruit, a women-owned and -operated sex shop; and Room Service Vintage, a sprawling vintage clothing and homeware store. There’s something for everyone on North Loop. alternative: If you’re looking to spend some more time on the east side of Austin, head to Cool Beans, our other awesome allvegan taco trailer, followed by shopping at vintage shops along East 6th Street. 3:00 pm Ready for something sweet, we headed down the street to Austin’s very own vegan ice cream parlor, Sweet Ritual. With over a dozen flavors, you can build the sundae of your dreams with your pick of toppings and sauces. Also on offer are
soft serve, ice cream sandwiches, and shakes. They’ve even got gluten-free waffle cones, and a variety of ice cream bases for those with food aversions/ allergies. We went with two scoops of unicorn poop (Skittles and sprinkles galore!) on a waffle cone, because who doesn’t want some unicorn poop? Once you’ve devoured your ice cream cone or sandwich, flip through the vinyl collection at Exploded Records, which shares the building with Sweet Ritual and Juiceland. (Did we mention that Sweet Ritual is located inside a Juiceland? A combination record store/juice bar/ vegan ice cream parlor is totally normal in Austin.) alternative: If you’re looking for allAmerican-style baked goods, stop by Capital City Bakery, a retro-inspired all-vegan bakery, for cupcakes, cookies, and cakes. 5:00 pm We decided to put the remaining light of the day to good use and headed out to the well-known teen make-out spot, HOPE Outdoor Gallery. Austin is a rapidly growing city, with high-rise condos sprouting up seemingly overnight, but one abandoned construction project has found new life as a constantly changing space for muralists to display their work. Stand
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amongst multiple levels of concrete walls, every last inch covered with amazing art that will no doubt be replaced with something else soon, possibly even while you stand there. We climbed up each level to get a closer look, avoiding the amorous teens. Then, when we had our fill, it was time to head home for a nap, to recharge for a night out on the town. alternative: Take a dip in Barton Springs, our 3-acre spring-fed pool in downtown Austin, or just lounge poolside. 8:00 pm Once you’re recharged, head to Cheer Up Charlie’s, a vegan- and queerfriendly bar, for fresh fruit juice cocktails (sans booze if you’re a teetotaler) and fantastic white russians. Parked at Cheer Up’s is Arlo’s vegan food truck, with the best burger you’ve ever tried: the Bac’n Cheeze Burger. Pair it with their generously portioned side of tots, if you dare. If you stick around till 10 p.m. or so, things will pick up with live bands, DJs, and quirky events regularly booked, or you can meander along East 6th Street, which is closed to traffic on weekend nights, leading to a lively street party atmosphere. alternative: For a taste of Texas, head to BBQ Revolution, our all-vegan BBQ trailer, followed by The White Horse, for some two-stepping and honky tonk.
Austin is a young, vibrant city bursting with creative energy and a unique personality, fueled by the countless small businesses that each works to “keep Austin weird” in its own way. After living here for a little over four years, we’ve but scraped the surface of the wonderful treasures this town has to offer, in part because it has changed so much over the relatively short amount of time we’ve been here. We hope our day around Austin has given you enough of a taste of what makes this place so special for residents and visitors alike.
Marie blogs about all things Austin and then some at Red Hot Vegans.
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AUSTIN, TEXAS
Eduardo “Wayo” Longoria, 71
Sue Davis, 46
Vegan 10 years
Vegan 14 years
How has the Austin vegan scene changed since you’ve been involved in it? Veganism in Austin went from being odd to celebratory. I like to say that the problem with Austin is that it is surrounded by Texas! I became part of the Macrobiotic community in Austin in 1984. Our community eating place was the EastWest Center of Austin. It was definitely a fringe organization. Never would have someone come to celebrate a birthday or a marriage. It stayed fringe up until about the year 2000, when people in general no longer thought of eating healthy and vegan as strange. Today, the people of Austin come regularly to celebrate while being served a vegan meal. I even feel that the vegan movement is accelerating. I think most people know that eating a whole, organic, and plantbased diet is a path to health for people and our planet.
What would you tell a visiting vegan they have to do with one week in Austin? Bars: Ginny's Little Longhorn, The White Horse, or The Broken Spoke for the country side of Austin. The Tigress or Eastside Showroom for a nice cocktail. The Grackle for a great jukebox and laidback beer. The Carousel Lounge, Donn's Depot, or Ego's for a taste of old Austin.
Priscilla Jerez, 29 Rolando Garza, 26 Vegan 3 years
Music: Continental Club for great roots/ rockabilly or Hotel Vegas for the latest garage rock. Nature: For hiking, Turkey Creek Trail, the trail around Ladybird Lake, or McKinney Falls. For swimming,Barton Springs (cold) or Hamilton Pool. And for biking, the S. Walnut Creek Bike Path. Museums: Small galleries around East Austin, The Blanton Museum, and the LBJ Library.
What are some amazing parts of Austin that people tend to miss when they visit? R: We would encourage people to check out the graffiti over the city. There’s a lot of different artists that are local or come in from different cities that make really cool street art. There are walls that are dedicated to it around the city and there’s hot spots that they hit up. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience because people are always painting over it to either blank it out or paint a new mural. There’s one called Castle Hill. P: Kayaking and paddleboarding on Town Lake is one of the things I always highly recommend to visitors. Town Lake is very calm, so anyone should be able to join the fun. One of the most unique things about it is the amazing view of the city and its skyline, not to mention the beautiful wildlife that you can see while on your boat.
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Herbivores de provence Two vegans, five weeks in France story Alex Payne photos Nicole Brodeur
PARIS Unexpectedly, France’s growing vegan scene greeted us before we stepped off the plane. Our flight attendant, the perfect petite picture of a chic young Parisian, noticed a copy of Laika poking up from our seat-back pocket. She’s vegan, she said, but she didn’t think her hometown had much to offer in the way of plant-based dining. Happily, Paris would prove her wrong in a matter of hours. My fiancée and I began our trip—a sort of prehoneymoon, squeezed into our schedules where it fit, many months in the planning—with ten days in France’s historic capitol. Home base? The Marais, a French analogue to New York’s perennially fashionable SoHo—all boutiques, cafés, and gay bars. We chose the Marais for its central location, but it turned out to be a superb area for vegan options as well. Groggy from the flight and famished after the airline’s wholly inadequate attempt at a meatless meal, we were grateful to be stumbling distance from East Side Burgers. A little bit rock ’n’ roll, this vegetarian/vegan burger joint quickly became a favorite. The owners, husband and wife, were behind the counter every time we visited. Typically French in their cool reserve and world-weary outlook, they claimed that veggie spots like theirs struggle along in Paris. Still, we rarely saw their place empty, the lunch crowd packing in every last seat in the space-efficient basement dining room.
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Maximizing one’s time in Paris while taking advantage of the city’s vegan offerings takes a bit of planning. Dining choices are readily available but, relative to the expanse of the city, somewhat sparse. You won’t find a good vegan option near the Musée Rodin, for example, but nor would you want to miss the transportative statuary on its grounds. We scheduled our time around visits to museums and historical sites, being sure to pick out the nearest restaurants at which to refuel when we inevitably overdosed each day on cathedrals like the Sacré Coeur, modernist sculptures at the Musée D’Orsay, or Revolution-era battle paintings at the Carnavalet. We soon discovered that reservations are a must at sit-down restaurants, even at lunch.
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Café Pinson, uniformly healthy but only partially vegan, was our go-to breakfast spot when we weren’t taking our morning meal in our flat: avocado or tomato toast, whichever looked better at the corner market the evening before. During the week, Pinson does a simple spread, a vegan-friendly take on the typical baguette with jam and butter. On the weekend, their menu expands to a full brunch—everything from fresh green juice to sweet quinoa bowls, almond yogurt, and homemade fruit breads. The aforementioned East Side Burger, while our favorite, has competition on the veggie burger front from equally casual counter service spots Hank and MOB. Both Café Ginger and Gentle Gourmet were worth second visits, for lunch and dinner respectively, the latter delivering
a versatile mix of French and Vietnamese flavors before indulgent desserts. Saveurs Veget’Halles, cooking somewhat dated vegetarian fare, was nonetheless a lifesaver after seemingly infinite hours in the nearby Louvre, where all we could scrape together for a snack were Oreos, a desiccated apple, Pringles, and red wine. Food may be an art for the French, but the food adjacent to their art frequently left much to be desired. The few times we were caught out without a dining plan found us frustratedly trudging from storefront to storefront, searching for a falafel or some similar vegan go-to, often settling for a baguette and a tub of hummus. Ubiquitous bio (organic) grocery store chains proved invaluable, both for cooking back at the flat and stocking up for day trips. We loaded up at Bio c’Bon
before venturing out of Paris to the sprawling royal grounds of Versailles and picturesque Giverny, home to Monet’s now-eternal gardens and its handsome resident chickens. Lacking options for full meals, these tourist destinations nonetheless yielded treats that were incidentally vegan. Cool sorbet served under a healthy dram of pear eau de vie was much appreciated as the last remnants of winter drizzle gave way to warm spring days. Having exhausted our list of mustsee sights—yet barely having scratched the surface of all Paris has to offer— we reluctantly boarded a train bound southeast, the countryside our destination.
AVIGNON Avignon, our chosen waypoint to Provence, is perfect for a one-night visit. The city
might ring a bell after a listen to 15th century banger “Sur le Pont d’Avignon,” which celebrates the local bridge. Winding our way through the city’s narrow street, we arrived at a scenic river, flanked by the soaring stone walls of the Palais des Papes. Come nightfall, we grabbed a table at Les 5 Sens, a high-end restaurant whose primary menu is a challenge, given its extensive exploitation of flesh. Skeptical but lacking alternatives, we were caught off guard by the vegetarian (vegan on request) tasting menu: several servings of seasonal vegetables cooked simply and to utter perfection. This was by far the most elegant meal of our entire trip, the restaurant’s slick interior and impeccable service a stark contrast to the humble country establishments we’d soon be passing through with nary a meatless option in sight.
The next morning we wandered deeper into Avignon, in the process discovering a fact of historic Gaelic urban planning: At each city’s center you’ll find the market. Avignon’s boasts a lively mix of stalls under one roof. With a catalog of recipes in mind, we procured spices, veggies, grains, exceptional regional olive oil, and other kitchen sundries, happily ignoring the butchers and fishmongers in favor of vendors offering up artichoke dip and tapenade. Totes overflowing, we packed up a rental car and backtracked a bit to the north, multilane highways tapering to narrow country roads.
VENASQUE Just an hour later, we didn’t so much arrive in Provence as find perch above it. It takes a place as tiny as Venasque to truly understand the difference in scale
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between a village and a town. With no more than two dozen households and a handful of irregularly open businesses, nobody is mistaking this clifftop village for anything larger. We parked by the ramparts, still standing as a testament to Roman construction, and passed through the walls as one passes into the hazy dream of an afternoon nap. Spending a week in Venasque was, for us urbanites, wonderfully surreal. Every structure in the village’s core defines “ancient.” For perspective: The baptistry, dating back to the ninth century, was a later addition. Our lodgings fused timeless,
SAINT-SATURNIN-LÈS-APT Leaving behind the foregone dreamvillage of Venasque, we drove an hour east, white-knuckling it on narrow cliffside roads. Our route skirted the edge of the decent-size city of Apt, once global center of production for glacé fruit, a centuriesold delicacy lost on contemporary taste buds. A few kilometers beyond, the village of Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt overlooks vineyards and farmland from a slight rise, its streets containing more variety and life than our previous destination. Our base for the next two weeks was a small cottage on a lush parcel. Along the
vegans in this general area. To survive and thrive, you must know the farmers markets, their varying schedules and locations. Most every day a different village or small city will play host to a collection of stands, the selection going well beyond produce. Larger markets branch out into jams, regional delicacies like nougat (not on our shopping list), speciality items like truffles and wild mushrooms, even clothing and folksy handcraft. Shopping them practically daily, we began to see the same cast of vendors, all of whom gamely tolerated our clumsy French as we fortified our pantry. A few French phrases and the
chilly stonework to a modern kitchen and roof deck, trapping us between eras as we split our days between exploring the countryside and keeping up with work on our laptops. The availability of quite good Internet access was an anachronism in itself. With barely any job opportunities to keep the younger generations from fleeing to the city, the majority of residents are of advanced years. We wondered how much longer Venasque would be a living place as we followed local family lineages from headstone to headstone in the village cemetery.
bumpy path to its door, vines sprung up for the season, adding inches seemingly by the day. In the orchard, rows of cherry and olive trees. Fat bumblebees made rounds amongst wisteria draping a pergola out front, their insect droning on the breeze evoking a steady calm. Small lizards soaked up sun before disappearing into brick crevices, while even smaller scorpions took shelter indoors when it rained. Most days mild and nature thriving, spring is the ideal time to visit Provence. However, with the exception of a couple of bio markets, there is precisely zilch for
remainder in English might get you by in Paris, but out here it was parlez vous or no. Provencal cuisine, owing to its Mediterranean character and extensive use of olive oil over butter and lard, is well suited for vegan adaptation. Many de facto vegan dishes are in the regional repertoire. Larger entrées work well if appropriately seasoned seitan or a hearty vegetable is substituted for animal protein. Paired with the plentiful and affordable biodynamic (albeit not explicitly veganic) rosés and syrah-grenache blends from nearby vineyards, our culinary
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experiments worked out far more often than not. A snack of garlicky olives and chilled caviar d’aubergine with fresh bread carried us from lunch to dinner after a walk to the village, where locals waited out the day’s lingering heat over tall blonde beers. This idyllic routine left us with little desire to venture further afield, but a visiting friend required fetching from Nice. We made the most of our brief visit to the coastal city, looking a touch Miami in its sun-bleached pastels, by stopping for lunch at our first veg-friendly restaurant in many days. Endearingly tattered and informal, Le Speakeasy is the longstanding endeavor of a Californian expat. The food was straightforward and satisfying, another French spot stuck in the vegetarian cuisine of 1980s Berkeley, to no particular malice. It wasn’t easy to close the shutters on our tiny cottage after two weeks, but the next leg of our journey was upon us. Going back through Avignon, we hopped a train bound north.
DIJON Owls brought us to Dijon. Specifically, the trail of owl plaques embedded in the sidewalk around town, forming a walking tour of the city’s landmarks. It’s a charming way to explore an equally charming city. Dijon brings together elements of everything we’d experienced so far in France: historical and modern, city life and country life. Block by block, the city moves through eras. Down this street, chain stores that could be anywhere; down that, a duke’s grand palace, now home to art and treasures as varied as the city itself. Avocado and cucumber rolls from Sushi Shop, a French-born franchise, were a welcome break from the stove the night we arrived. Otherwise, we found ourselves hitting the bio market and cooking for most meals in Dijon, veg options being scarce despite the density of restaurants and sizable student population. For lunch, yoga studio/café Le Shanti serves up a limited but tasty menu of Indianinfluenced food, almost entirely vegan. We came back repeatedly, enjoying the happy hippie vibe with our curried tempeh sandwiches and fresh juices. The road through the center of Dijon runs to the famed wine country of
Burgundy. There, vineyards terraformed and walled in by monks long ago now produce bottles so prized that there are waiting lists to get on their waiting lists. Our guide to the area, despite his many years in the local food and wine scene, had yet to try these rarest of rare wines. Vinicultural pilgrims come to genuflect on Burgundy’s holy terrior. Pricey and scarce at barely 5% of total production, grand cru wines are the region’s most celebrated. Motoring us from vineyard to vineyard, our guide fretted over an ongoing casualty of globalization: Burgundy is trying to hold on to its traditions while local families are trying to hold on to their land. Facing competition and high inheritance taxes, many opt to sell their vine-covered hectares to multinational corporations. With grapes running right up to the edge
DEPARTING Finally, from Dijon back to Paris, where we had but one night and some of the next day to begin un-synchronizing ourselves from the pace of French life: occasionally faster than home but readily luxuriating in pleasures both simple and complex. Opting once again to bed down in the now-familiar Marais, we had just enough time to revisit our Parisian favorites: East Side Burger and Gentle Gourmet. The Picasso Museum, not nearly as overwhelming in scale and scope as many of the city’s prized cultural temples, was squeezed in before we headed to the airport. We took the artist’s cartoonish minotaurs with us, stalking our memories into Paris’s maze-like streets. We left so much of France to be explored on future trips. Still, we thoroughly enjoyed our particular cross-section of the country for its varieties of landscapes,
It wasn’t easy to close the shutters on our tiny cottage after two weeks, but the next leg of our journey was upon us. of every domicile in the area, it’s hard to imagine wine production here getting any more efficient. Greed’s thirst, it seems, is never slaked. The idea of veganic viticulture has not taken root in France, and indeed barely translated when we inquired about the practice. Having a longstanding political tradition of regulation, France takes organic certifications seriously for many products, of which wine is a prominent example. It may take a generation or two for the idea of completely animalproduct-free winemaking to find its first few adopters there. In the meantime, we appreciated that much of the wine culture in France has an environment awareness, if not an ethical one.
food, history, and culture. From a vegan perspective, France may not be the ideal destination, but nor is it unmanageable, even in the countryside. Be prepared to cook, know where your next meal is coming from, and you’ll soon be looking past the butcher shops and fromageries to the burgeoning veg alternatives and thriving organic food and wine scenes. One last tipple of rosé to wash it all down? Oui, c’est délicieux! Alex Payne is a programmer, writer, and angel investor. More at al3x.net. Nicole Brodeur is a Story Pirate and a trustee of the Awesome Foundation. Find more at nicoleabrodeur.com.
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Inspired by the Pacific Northwest www.fieldroast.com
o t a t r s i tist t r a ...in which we bring together two artists working from different parts of the world. In this issue, Bielsko Biala, Poland’s Judith Black Line chats with Corvallis, Oregon’s Brittney West. Both artists use mixed media, found materials, and character-driven illustrations to engage the audience in dialogue over issues ranging from animal rights to feminism.
BW: I understand we’re both 28-year-old female vegan artists who create imagery about animal oppression. Cheers to the beauty of synchronicity. It is a rarity to meet someone so parallel, with the goal of raising awareness about animal oppression. JB: You often paint pieces of meat. Is it hard for you to draw such a thing? BW: I am influenced by my time working in the meat and cheese department at a co-op—the catalyst for change, propelling me toward veganism. I literally had blood on my hands as I unloaded local beef, pork, and chickens, still warm from a fresh slaughter. I knew more about meat cuts than I did about the animals, and the whole thing just disgusted me. Many of my paintings dwell on excess, exploring the boundaries of “too much.” Within my artwork, by amplifying our everyday excesses, I hope to create a chance for audiences to bear witness to 24 ISSUE TWO › DRIFTWOOD
the grotesque absurdity of contemporary animal consumption and how we turn animals into a commodity. Yes, I do struggle a lot with painting imagery of animals suffering. The hardest part is looking at images for references— often an unbearable task—but I choose to paint less gruesome imagery because not only is it easier for me to see during the creation process, but because I’ve found it engages the audience more, makes them ask questions, allowing us to have a dialogue. I am interested in how satire, absurdity, and sometimes silliness can help engage viewers with the issue of animal oppression. I wanted to meld my two greatest passions, my love for animals and the arts, to convey a deeper message as the arts can play a very powerful role in changing the way we view the world. I didn’t want to create art that was decorative, something that would match someone’s couch nicely. I wanted to be a voice for the voiceless and have my
stronger voice, the visual one, speak about what’s most important to me. That happens to be raising awareness about the plight of animals and it inevitably came up in my artwork, as does anything close to my heart. JB: This is wonderful. I really feel this power and sincerity. BW: Thank you. I set aside all commissions and pursuing other themes for now because the issue of animal rights is an urgent conversation, something I think about daily, more than any other issue. I wondered if I could create a series of work that could lead to conversation and inner dialogue about how we view and treat animals. What is/are your art mediums you work with? JB: I love to draw on old cardboards and gray or yellowed papers; they have an amazing character. I really like the uneven texture and warmth of gray recycled
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“ I want my art to show my views and feelings and the fact that I am a person. ” 26 ISSUE TWO › DRIFTWOOD
paper. I especially use them to do comics. Thanks to this, the comics are different from the others I’ve seen. I like very much how monochrome works from the addition of one or two colors. I also use colored markers, colored pencils, and sprays. I haven’t done much work with paints, but I’m going to change that. I also like collages. My comics are really collages: a mix of different techniques, cutouts, markers, ink, various types of materials. Besides, we also use plain white paper and recently I discovered that it is very good for me, drawing on tracing paper. Art has always surrounded me. I never thought, however, to deal with it seriously in my life. It was only when I met wonderful people from the city where I live now that I realized I can use this artistic ability to help different groups. Engaged art has always been for me the only legitimate art. BW: Engaged art and engaging others into art—its deeper value and meaning—is the most legitimate, meaningful artwork. Art has been a powerful tool in social change, and I am excited to see it engage others about how we can reduce suffering in the world and view animals in a different, more compassionate light. Where do you exhibit your animal activist artwork? JB: I collaborate with several magazines. I’m doing a show in which they drive around the country and show in different places, usually on the occasion of some events. I cooperate with the organization Vege Inicjatywa, “vegan for the animals,” and also with the Foundation for Positive Change acting for women. BW: That’s wonderful! I love the idea of your artwork—which is incredibly powerful and beautiful and has an important message—touring around. The more people who see it, the better! I am developing this series about animal oppression to exhibit on a larger scale, in galleries, events, any way to expand to a larger audience than our small, local community. I open up my art studio as part of the monthly arts walk in town, in which I get to engage in conversation with up to 100 people a month about this series. At first I felt very vulnerable—creating
controversial imagery as animal rights is a very heated topic—but it has been received much better than I anticipated. It feels very relieving and fulfilling, to be able to be true to my voice, my values, and have that be respected, for the most part. I hope your artwork and values are respected as well. JB: Luckily, my exhibitions and graphics are very well received and that gave me a lot of positive energy for further work. BW: Do you work from your head or do you draw from life? JB: Usually photographs are the base for me; photographs, then imagination. BW: Same. I like to use vintage photos, for the most part. I start with vintage photographs and then warp them to be absurd or sort of creepy, to convey the message that how we view and treat animals is quite warped and absurd. JB: I’m sometimes inspired by beautiful pictures I find on the Internet. But very often the inspiration for me is the work of other artists, movies, people, and events. For example, the actions of London’s Team Fox. When I saw pictures of their street actions in defense of foxes, immediately I picked up the spray markers and drew for their project. I sent them my work with thanks for what they do and for being an incredible inspiration to me. And so started my cooperation with them. It’s just great that common goals, the common struggle that takes place at different levels, you can get to know amazing people from a completely different country, a different culture with other problems, but with whom you have a lot in common. It’s amazing. I think that if I was not a vegan, I most likely would not experience it. BW: You are fabulous at detail and what looks like ink drawing. I could see your work being on clothes. Have you ever thought about that? JB: My boyfriend and I operate an amateur silkscreen and print bags and t-shirts with my designs. A very cool way to create. He also likes to paint on fabrics; for example, shoes and bags. It’s a nice feeling, when someone is wearing your work. That’s
why I dream of tattooing. I think it’s one of the biggest accolades of your art, when someone gives you a piece of flesh for your artistic visions. It’s beautiful. I loved your work where the Barbie doll shits on a canvas. What did you mean by doing it? BW: It’s called “Present to Ken.” It was created over ten years ago after a bad breakup with a boyfriend. It was a silly, feminist piece. It didn’t really have a deep meaning, as you can see. It was a joke, mostly. JB: Even though it seems ridiculous, the image is very strong. BW: Most people put it in their bathrooms. How did you interpret it? JB: For me it is a strike against the stereotypical image of women as beautiful, pure beings! It is a brilliant job, fighting and ridiculing all those images of women in the media. It shows: Hey guys, we girls also do shit. BW: So true! Out of curiosity, how are the women treated in Poland? I know very little about the culture there. Would you call yourself a feminist? I sense some of your art is about feminism— another thing I love about your work and have in common. JB: I do not want to be called officially feminist, vegan, anarchist, or environmentalist. Despite the fact that all these issues are extremely important for me, I don’t want to be locked in any frames. I’m just a person with such and such views, this and that for me is important in life, that’s what I do. I want my art to show my views and feelings and the fact that I am a person. I do not want to be said of me, “Judith is vegan, feminist, activist.” Instead I would prefer to have someone say “Judith is a person for whom in life are important the rights of women, animals, and the environment.” BW: I can understand and respect your hesitancy to be labeled. Can you share why being labeled vegan or feminist might be problematic or not ideal? JB: I think all you need is to look globally as a whole, because there will never be DRIFTWOODMAG.COM 27
the liberation of animals if we still have the oppression of women in some countries. When it comes to feminism in Poland, it is not great. Poland is a very Catholic country, and that speaks for itself. I do not like feeling like I live in a church state. Poland is a country of absurdities. The church has a tremendous power and influence on people’s daily lives. BW: I am sorry to hear that Poland is guided by religion, it sounds like, and that it negatively affects you and others. Do you feel disrespected if you do not belong to a religion? (I am not religious, by the way.) Are vegans seen as rebels in your country? JB: Since I was a kid, I’ve been considered a rebel, because I stopped going to church and went veg. Not being Catholic, not eating meat in our culture is like denial of being a Pole. Poland is, unfortunately, a very hostile country, very xenophobic. BW: Do you think that is because of distrust of people, given the Holocaust, or was this existing prior? JB: Unfortunately, the typical Pole does not like Jews. Very popular are horrible and hurtful jokes about Jews. It makes me sad to write this, but here it is. I personally do not feel connected with their country, I am quite the anti-patriot. What I see as a downside in Poland is the low awareness of the suffering of animals. I think it stems mainly from the fact that Poland is a Catholic country. The second reason is tradition. And it was not easy when I announced to my parents as a child that I do not believe in God. I stopped going to church, and later became a veg. So it was not too easy to introduce all these new products and changes in my house. But I’m glad I did, because thanks to me, all my three sisters were like me, veg and interested in animal rights. All very supportive of me in my work.
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You have a beautiful studio! I saw it on Facebook and fell in love with the window. Really jealous! BW: Thank you. I feel very fortunate to have found that studio. I try to make it inviting, in part so I am encouraged to come in and stay a long while. I want it to feel welcoming to guests as well. The skylight window is fun. It opens up and has a nice breeze. JB: It is great, being so open! I don’t have anything like that, but I hope that someday I will. Are you very near the ocean? BW: I am near the ocean! Less than an hour away from both my hometown and my current city. How about you come visit Corvallis and I will pay you a visit in Poland? JB: A great idea, the fulfillment of my second dream: to see the ocean. I’ll start collecting money for a ticket to the USA! BW: Awesome! You can come create in my studio and we can combine forces and make even more powerful artwork together! I want to thank you for what you do, for using your voice for the voiceless. You have such a strong visual voice and I am super excited to have met you and will continue to follow your work. Let’s keep in touch, my friend! JB: Thank you for our conversation! It’s really brilliant what you’re doing, you work artistically on so many levels! This is very important because it can reach a much greater number of people. Your work really inspires me. Besides, it was amazing to meet someone with whom I have so much in common, practically from the other end of the world. Stay warm, and good luck in everything you do! Find more from the artists at facebook.com/ BlackLineArtwork and BrittneyWest.com.
The Driftwood book club
Get in on the conversation! Join us on Goodreads and help others discover books that delve into topics relevant to vegans. We want to expand our library to include those gems of vegan literature that extend beyond cookbooks (although cookbooks can be included). Vegan authors, vegan characters, animal rights themes—let’s talk about 'em! Log on to Goodreads.com and join the Driftwood Bookclub group.
words Michele Truty art Courtesy of publishers
The Taco Cleanse by Wes Allison, Stephanie Bogdanich, Molly Frisinger, and Jessica Morris
illustration Jonas Madden 62 ISSUE TWO 2015 › DRIFTWOOD
You had me at “Cleanses are the fucking worst,” the opening line in Laura Beck’s foreword for The Taco Cleanse. Truth be told, if it had started any other way, I would have stopped right there. So thanks be to the Taco Gods I was met with such a welcome, because it opened my mind, my heart, and at least, like, four other chakras to this life-changing book. What started as a zine, which started as a VegaMoFo theme (look it up!), The Taco Cleanse is here in full color to introduce a diet regimen—nay, a lifestyle—for the rest of us. Finally! The idea of round-the-clock tacos has struck such a chord with the world that by way of, well, I think Jennifer Aniston’s to blame, but the book has made its way through mainstream media and even had its Conan moment. (This also means it’s got a few 1-star Amazon reviews from unwitting veganphobes, but whatever.) So...why is Driftwood covering a cookbook? True, we’ve taken a solemn oath to never print a recipe—and we won’t—but we’ve embraced The Taco Cleanse for a couple of reasons. First, it takes the vegan assumption. It doesn’t trip over itself trying to define vegan ingredients to the uninitiated or convince you to go vegan. A newb or even an omni should be able to pick this up and rock the cleanse, but there’s no hand-holding here. Second, it’s pretty damn funny. The book is written with a wink, poking fun at every sort of spirituality and pseudoscience we often see linked with cleanse-type diets. With multiple references to chakras, “glow,” and boosting your (undefined) levels, it’s a good laugh. But don’t dismiss this as mere satire. The Taco Scientists are truly dedicated to sharing the healing power of tacos with the world. They know not all of us can live in the taco haven that is Austin, Texas, and they’re doing what they can to save us from wasting our time with non-taco-based diets. The last thing they want to see is any of us falling under the negative influence of the burrito. What about the supplements you’ll need throughout your cleanse (read: margaritas) and helpful tips on transition foods (like taco salads and foods you can eat while tilting your head)? Covered. What do you do if you have to attend a taco-free wedding? Covered. How do you share the taco lifestyle with children or finicky teenagers? Covered. Yes, complete with yoga positions and mudras for some next-level taco-ing (from Amey Mathews, Issue One illustrator and blogger at Vegan Eats & Treats), the Taco Scientists have thought of it all. All kidding aside, it’s a great collection of recipes with easily sourced ingredients and helpful resources, should you have trouble finding those listed. They’ve also included some real-talk resources for guidance on nutrition, because as funny as the idea of a taco cleanse is, our authors are a bunch of compassionate folk who don’t want to see anyone putting themselves at risk. Whether you want to dip your toes in with a one-day mild cleanse or are ready for the month-long fuego route, it all starts with a single taco.
Social animals: a berkley bestiary Illustrations by Ryan Berkley and stories by Lucy Berkley From craft shows and Etsy to your coffee table, this Portlandbased husband-wife team has combined powers to create a beyond-charming collection of animal portraiture. Ryan Berkley captures this anthropomorphic lot in marker and colored pencil, translating their dignity and self-awareness in two dimensions. Details such as bow-ties, lapel pins, pocket protectors, and glasses worn just so draw us in and make us want to know more. Luckily, Lucy Berkley pens bitesize biographies to accompany each portrait. So engaging and funny that it’s hard to resist reading them aloud. We’re introduced to such characters as The Loquacious Lion, who embraced his talent for taming tangles and loosening tongues and opened The Mane Man salon, where he trades scalp scrubs for juicy gossip. And The Charmed Cat, the fortune magnet who took Vegas by storm and put all those unlucky black cat rumors to rest. However, not all animals are as content. Take this fellow on the cover, for instance. The Obsessive Owl partied a little too hard in his youth, and now his impossible dream of working for NASA has him spiraling the wrong way in his homemade “training” facility. Once you’ve been introduced to this furry and feathery assemblage, don’t be surprised to find yourself making up stories about the characters and wanting to check in with them to see how they’ve fared.
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A peek at what we,re working on for next time
Where do you go when you want to swim in the sun, avoid the crowds, and stay under budget? Croatia, here we come!
We take a look inside the BMX scene and meet three vegan athletes.
Suzzette Fasching-Easton breathes activism. Meet the owner of a vegan salon who fits in fundraising events and protests between haircuts.
Tuk-tuks, temples, and an elephant haven! Join us as we explore Chang Mai, Thailand, and Elephant Nature Park.
Probably the first comic-slash-hotel review: Check out Stanford Inn by the Sea
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