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Pembroke
Jun 28th, 2004, 05:20 AM
Hey, any Minnesota vegans out there? I have absolutely NO vegan friends!!! HELP!!! :(

KittyKat
Jul 13th, 2004, 03:10 PM
Hey Pembroke! I share in your dilemma. I recently moved here from the Detroit, MI area and don't know too many people yet. I especially don't have any vegan friends. Where in MN do you live? I'm just south of the Twin Cities.

Well, it's nice to know there are others out there who feel the same as I do. Everyone I have met so far is a carnivore and/or hunter. I was wondering if I would ever meet a fellow veg. I hope you're not too far away from me. I sure am clueless about MN and could use some good advice/tips!!

Have a great day!!

Pembroke
Jul 13th, 2004, 04:13 PM
Actually, I'm nt too far north of the twin cities. I myself live in Andover, but I have a lot of friends in the twin cities area, so I frequently visit there. How far south are you?

KittyKat
Jul 14th, 2004, 08:32 PM
I live in Burnsville, right off of 35W. So, how long have you been a vegan? I'm fairly new myself.

Pembroke
Jul 15th, 2004, 03:49 AM
I'm failry new, too. Let's see, I think I've been a vegan for 2 1/2 to 3 months. I lose track of time easily, lol ;) Everyone always says "I could never do that" when I talk about being a vegan......... now that I'm used to it, though, it seems completely nartural. Know what I mean?

I bought a vegan cook book. Yum :) I think I like what I eat now better than what I ate when I was an omnivore, lol.

KittyKat
Jul 17th, 2004, 02:26 AM
It's probably been about 4 months for me. I've been progressively getting stricter and stricter. I am definitely eating much healthier these days. I feel better too!

:D I know exactly what you mean about it feeling natural. There are so many new things I've tried since making the switch. One of my faves is falafel! Yummy, yummy in my tummy tummy!! Finding delicious food isn't hard at all.
For me the hardest thing is replacing products that test on animals and that contain animal ingredients. I just don't leave home without my list of icky ingredients I printed off of PETAs website.

Back in MI before I left I went to a vegan festival where I picked up a bunch of literature and great recipes. I recently went to a garage sale and purchased a photo album with the peel back pages. I've compiled all my recipes into it making my very own cookbook of my favorite recipes!!:cool: It's been very useful!

Pembroke
Jul 17th, 2004, 04:38 PM
I LOVE FALAFEL!!!!! Sorry, just thought I'd throw that out there.

You mentioned the list of icky, animal tested prodeucts you found from PETA. Do you have the link, or a copy you can send me? I joined PETA, and they sent me a list of things that AREN'T tested on animals, but the list you have would help out alot, too :)

Thanks ;)

{edi}
Have you heard of Compassionate Action for Animals? It's a group based on the University of Minnesota campus. I'm not going to the U of M, obviously, but I signed up to receive their e-mail newsletter. I've been trying to get involved, and I'm just waiting for an interesting activity to come up. Tell me if you're interested, and I can relay you some information.

KittyKat
Jul 21st, 2004, 04:39 AM
Thanks for letting me know about CA4A. I went to their website and found it most interesting. Did you know there is a walk coming up in September called Walk for Justice which they are involved in. They have meetings I believe every Monday and they also have a book club. It sounds pretty nifty!! Please do let me know if you find out about any other events they are having.;)

Check this out if you like to eat out ever. http://www.vegguide.org/location/view.mhtmllimit=20&location_id=13&start=60
It is a listing of restaurants all over the place. In our area it looks like most are in Minneapolis. One in particular looks pretty yummy. It's called Holy Land Deli; have you heard of it? Next time I go downtown I want to check it out. :cool:

I haven't been north of the cities yet. What's it like up there? Here it's your typical suburban landscape. I will say it's weird how close I am to farm land. I'm not used to driving a short distance and running into fields of corn!! :D I'm also not used to running into farm animals either. The other day I went driving around and came across a farm with cows close to the road. There were little babies and their mothers were all munchin on the grass. :) It just made me so sad because I'm sure they will all eventually end up slaughtered. :( It's just so sick. :mad:

Here's the link http://www.caringconsumer.com/ingredientslist.html to the list I take with me when I go shopping. It contains ingredients to watch out for when buying different products. Here also is a list of companies that DO test on animals http://www.caringconsumer.com/page/CompaniesDo.pdf. :D

KittyKat
Jul 21st, 2004, 04:55 AM
Here's the restaurant link that I hope works! http://www.vegguide.org/ (http://www.vegguide.org/)
It tells you about stores and restaurants on a few different continents but most of them are in North America. If you know about something that isn't posted you can add it and you can also rate the ones you've had experience with. Plus, it tells you which establishments are vegan friendly. I thought it was pretty cool! Check it out!! :)

Pembroke
Jul 29th, 2004, 07:02 AM
Ahh, sorry I haven't posted :( Had family visiting from SC, and had very little access to the computer. They left today. Errgh, it's really late now, too. I write tommorrow.

I haven't forgotten you, lol ^_^

Pembroke
Jul 30th, 2004, 03:20 AM
Okay, I'm finally back. Phew, having family stay over can be tedious :( They all thought me being a vegan was weird at first, but they got used to it.

One morning, my little cousin Emmy was deciding what she wanted for breakfast/lunch, cause she got up late (she's 5). "I want swedish fish!" she said (they're gummy snacks). "No" her mom replied, "You need some real food. How about a hot dog?"

I just about had a field day...... Real food, you say? I decided to keep my mouth shut, though. I had been down that road a few times, but no one had much interest in what I had to say, lol :( Heh heh, I went on an anti-atkins rant, but they didn't seem to hear a word I said.

They all went back to South Carolina, though, so things have been quiet again. Anyways, getting back to more important stuff..... Thank you so much for all the info!!! It's really helpful. As for CA4A, I really want to try to get involved with them. Now that things have quieted down, I think I might try to make it to a meeting, or some other event.

Hmmm, where I live is a little bit rural and a little bit suburban. I don't see much livestock, but when I do, it's kind of depressing....... I can really see where you're coming from. I want to do something for those poor animals. Knowing what horrors await them at the slaughter house makes me shudder. Ever seen the video "Meet your Meat" ? It's the video that turned me into a vegan. I tried to show it to some friends, but no one wanted to watch. I have a feeling that if we'd have a lot more vegetarians and vegans in the world if everyone saw this video.

All for now :)

veganesquire
Aug 13th, 2004, 04:20 AM
Hi there. I am originally from MN, althought I haven't lived there for 6 years. Believe it or not, there are a lot of vegans there! Here is a great way to meet people:
http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=veg-mn

I also know a lot of the people in CA4A - they are a great group of people, so I would encourage you to get involved with them if you haven't yet.

Good luck!

Pembroke
Aug 14th, 2004, 02:35 AM
I'm going to the CA4A dine-out on Sunday! It'll be my first contact with the group as a member :)

They're meeting at Galactic Pizza. I've never had vegan cheese before. Wish me luck ;)

Pembroke
Aug 17th, 2004, 03:33 AM
I made it to the CA4A meeting this Sunday. It was amazing. They are a great group of people! I NEVER thought I would ever be in the same room as so many vegans ;)

Not to mention, the vegan cheese on the pizzas was pretty good.