Vegan Archives

Chicagoans and those in the Evanston, IL area can donate rescue items to Haitian victims from the 7.0 earthquake that happened around 5 p.m. on Tues., Jan. 12. Two donating locations in the Chicagoland area are Soul Vegetarian Restaurant and the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti.

Haitian people have been left homeless, and some have died from this fatal earthquake. CNN reported that there is "heavy damage and bodies in the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where concrete-block homes line steep hillsides." No estimates on deaths were given on Tuesday.

Donations can be made to the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti, a local non-profit, group online, at Charter One Bank in Evanston or by mailing a donation to the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti at 1227 Dodge Ave., Evanston, IL 60202.

Soul Vegetarian Restaurant and Eternity Juice Bar located at 205 E. 75th St.

Soul Vegetarian East and Eternity Juice Bar restaurants re-opened on Friday, Dec. 18, after being shut down on Tuesday, Dec. 15, by Mayor Daley's Dumpster Task force. On Tuesday, over 1,000 mice droppings were found by the storage area of these two restaurants.

Matt Smith, spokesman for the Department of Streets and Sanitation, confirmed that the restaurant has passed city inspection and is open for business. Mayor Daley's Dumpster Task Force is in the bureau of the Department of Streets and Sanitation's rodent control team.

"Our trash cans were open so that made it convenient for any rodents to come from there and come to our facilities," said Ahzahnyah Ben Israel, a maintenance and storage employee at Soul Vegetarian restaurant, to ChicagoNow's Message from Montie blogger. "So we had to secure all of those areas and our door spaces so that that could be prevented."

Soul Vegetarian restaurant is confident that their regular customers and new customers should not be hesitant to come back into the vegetarian restaurant.

Hot water cornbread, vegetarian black eyed peas and vegetarian collard greens, cooked by Shamontiel

Telling someone I'm a vegetarian always leads to three types of conversations--the fascinating conversation, the bonding conversation or the frustrating conversation. The frustration happens when someone chooses to accuse a vegetarian (or a vegan) of being unhealthy, needing meat in their lives and the indifferent attitude about slaughterhouses. The fascinating conversations are the ones I have with people who are interested in eating healthier or trying the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle but really just don't know where to start and ask for advice. The bonding conversations are the ones I have with people who act like a Chicago south sider would if he (or she) went to another state and saw someone rocking an entire outfit of the Chicago White Sox. You just want to walk up and hug the person for rooting for your team.

When I first became a vegetarian, I was hit with questions left and right about how and what do I eat, and I really didn't know what I was doing. I just knew I didn't want to eat meat or fish anymore. I went from gaining about fifteen pounds because I was eating fatty foods all day long to having to go see a doctor because of dizzy spells when I calmed down on the fat.

If you don't have someone who can give you advice on how to transition from an omnivore to a vegetarian or a vegan, it can be tiresome. You may just decide to give up. But don't. Here are a list of articles and blogs I've written over the years since becoming a pescatarian in 2004 to a lacto vegetarian in 2005. Read on to check out the links that include healthy eating, news, radio and print interviews, recipes, restaurants, vegan shopping advice and Web site networking.

Blogger's Note, 1/17/10: Judging from the massive amount of visits to this blog but so few on the follow-up blog stating that Soul Vegetarian has re-opened, some are still unaware that the restaurant is back in business. Readers, please feel free to check out "Soul Vegetarian and Eternity Juice Bar restaurants re-open after passing city inspection."

 

Soul Vegetarian East and Eternity Juice Bar restaurants were closed late Tuesday night on Dec. 15 by Mayor Daley's Dumpster Task Force. These two restaurants were temporarily shut down due to pest control and mice infestation, including over 700 mice droppings at Soul Veg and over 300 mice droppings at Eternity Juice Bar.

The Task Force was in the area because of complaints about garbage and rodent activity. When inspectors paid a visit to the vegetarian restaurant and juice bar, over 1,000 mice droppings were found in a common storage area, and the restaurants were immediately shut down. Soul Vegetarian restaurant is located at 205 E. 75^th Street and Eternity Juice Bar is located at 203 E. 75th Street.

"They will not be able to open until they've cleaned their operations from top to bottom," said Matt Smith, spokesman for the Department of Streets and Sanitation, to ChicagoNow's Message from Montie blogger. "They've [also got to] show our task force inspectors plans for revamping their housekeeping and pest control efforts and then they have to inspect and pass a very tough re-inspection."

Free food was served at KMT Health Fair event.

KMT Health Food Store had their first KMT Health Fair from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. today, and quite a crowd turned out. After entering the health food store, located at 233 E. 75^th St., the back was filled with people signing in, filling out free raffle tickets and guests had the opportunity to meet with different specialists for less than $5 and one for free.

Free food sat on a table on the left-hand side, including Tabouli, rice with lentils, salad with marinated vegetables, Barbara's cheese puffs, Mi-Del vanilla snaps and yogurt raisins.

Specialists at tonight's event included Yvette Magallón for chair massages, Fanta Celah for Reiki energy healing, Clairvoyant Center of Chicago for aura energy readings, Tru Heart Fit (Costellano) for movement training with C-bands and jungle gym lessons, David Jenkins for numerology readings, and Dr. Ceasar for Emotional Freedom and Stress Relief sessions.

After a brief numerology reading with David Jenkins, I headed upstairs for the Emotional Freedom and Stress Relief Sessions. I definitely understand why Dr. Ceasar was the one to hold these stress-free sessions because even when I mentioned how disorganized the sign-up process was (only Dr. Ceasar's class had a sign-up sheet at the front but the rest of the guests just had to hang around each specialist's room blocking the hallway and wait their turns), his response was, "Are you stressed?" I playfully rolled my eyes, but he still kept that same mellow tone. 

When another lady wanted to use her cell phone and blocked the gate in hopes that she could have her conversation and still attend the stress relief seminar, he simply walked her out of the gate while she tried to coax him into letting her finish her call, closed the gate and went about his session. No complaining. Just walked her out. I was amused. You weren't going to get this brotha excited.

BBQ delight, vegetarian macaroni and cheese, collard greens from Soul Vegetarian Restaurant

On Saturday, Oct. 24, at 1 p.m., the Feed the People Program campaign will be visiting Higgins Grammar School on 11710 S. Morgan St., on Chicago's South Side. The purpose of the event is threefold--to promote veganism by distributing free, hot vegan meals; to encourage anti-violence from dietary consumption; and to bring awareness to the environmental crisis. October 24 is also 350.org's International Day of Climate Action, with 181 countries creating 4,500 events bringing environmental awareness.

 

The South Side Chicago campaign with Soul Vegetarian Restaurant was created by Zarakyah Ben Ahmadiel, Chairman of RBG (Red, Black, Green) Environmental Restoration Agency, with the help of Soul Vegetarian Restaurant and the Office of Environmental Affairs for the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem. Soul Vegetarian Restaurant is located at 205 E. 75^th St.

 

Special appearances and performances include GOOD Music's Grammy Award winning artists Malik Yusef and J. Ivy, Chicago emcee Mikkey Halsted, music by Soul Selector DJ Lee Farmer and other poets, singers and music professionals. Ahmadiel and Fred Hampton Jr., the Chairman of Prisoners of Consciousness Committee, will be at the location supporting veganism, but there will be no speeches.

Line circles around waiting for Soul Vegetarian East food to deliver second batch

I've been a vegetarian for four years and I was a pescatarian for one year, but it still boggles my mind when I go to vegetarian or vegan events and see massive amounts of people who eat like me, maybe because we're only about 2.5 percent of the population. It's not like I think I'm the only one who's a vegetarian, but when you hang out with omnivores all the time who have no interest in vegan food, a food connection is a relief. However, when I arrived at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse at 9:45 a.m., and saw a line around the corner and past 1419 W. Blackhawk, I was shocked.

People of all ages, races and sizes came out for the Chicago VeganMania event, and I heard one lady bragging about how she was there and her friend was not, and how she needed to come asap before the doors even opened. A couple was kissing to create body heat, and loads of people had on their knit hats, coats and even scarves just to keep warm, another reason I didn't expect such a turnout. When the doors did open at 10:00 a.m., it took me until 10:18 a.m. to get inside in 40-something degree weather. Word of advice next year: Treat Chicago VeganMania like a music concert and arrive extra early.