Arkansas Vegan: An online community and information source for vegans and vegetarians in Arkansas.
Celebrate!
Every day is a holiday somewhere in the world, and every day is the perfect opportunity to celebrate our compassionate lifestyle.
April 29: Japan: Midori No Hi (Greenery Day)
Japan is an amazing place, and their influence on our culture can't be denied. Our enemy just a few generations ago, Japan is now our friend and one of our strongest allies and trading partners. The Midori No Hi holiday was once used to celebrate the birthday of Japan's late Emperor Showa, but after he passed away in 1989 the holiday was set aside as a day for nature appreciation.. That, my friend, is a perfect reason to have some friends over for some vegan Japanese food!
Here is a collection of 58 Japanese vegan recipes. To get some of the ingredients you might need to make an expedition to one of those cool little Asian markets; to make things easier there here's a quick guide to some common Japanese items that are vegan. Want to head out to a Japanese restaurant for some sushi? Sure you can!
Japan
Slightly smaller than California but about four times as many people - and their life expectancy is four years longer.
April 22: Many Countries: Earth Day
Earth Day is definitely a favorite of ours. It is an inspiring celebration filled with meaning to people around the world, despite the cultural, political, and religious boundries that otherwise separate us. It is also a great international catalyst, inspiring people to educate, learn, change habits, and change lives. Students around the world participate in projects, adults in campaigns, and everyone enjoys an increased awareness of issues critical not just to our health, but even to humankind's continued existance. As vegans we consider the impact of our decisions and actions on others; it is important that we consider the impact of our decisions and actions not just not just on those in the present, but also on those in the future.
There are a number of events taking place in Arkansas this year; we have a few of them posted on the
Arkansas Vegan Environment page. For more information on Earth Day you'll find lots of resources online; here is a link to Earth Day Network, the site set up by Earth Day's original founders. Interesting - on their site be sure to check out your Ecological Footprint by taking this quick survey.
Arkansas Vegan Environment page. For more information on Earth Day you'll find lots of resources online; here is a link to Earth Day Network, the site set up by Earth Day's original founders. Interesting - on their site be sure to check out your Ecological Footprint by taking this quick survey.
Even Governments
Some readers may be surprised to learn that although Earth Day is not a federal holiday the US government has established a web site specifically for its Earth Day policies and accompishments.
April 16: Many Countries: Easter
Easter as we know it in the 21st century is a combination of ancient celebrations, the Christian one of course and other spring equinox and fertility festivals that date back even further. The Easter Rabbit and Easter Eggs are actually traditions from the days of Easter as a celebration of fertility, so it's interesting that our traditions now involve giving rabbits and eggs made of chocolate; maybe chocolate really is an aphrodisiac!
The stores this time of year are filled with all sorts of Easter-related chocolates, all of them filled with dairy. Darn it! The Arkansas Vegan crew has searched high and low though the stores reading chocolate ingredients lists but haven't found any Easter chocolates that we could put in a basket. For years we've made our own chocolate truffles, which is a lot of fun but a lot of work too. Thank goodness for Chocolate Decadence, an Oregon chocolatier that makes wonderful, fresh, handmade all vegan chocolates. We've ordered from them many times; favorites include their truffles, their chocolate almond bars, and their chocolate covered pretzels. If your busy lifestyle means you can't make chocolates for that special someone give Chocolate Decadence a try - we know you'll love them - and how great to be able to give really nice chocolates to someone again!
True In All Countries
Make mine chocolate! Live rabbits do not make good Easter gifts.
Vegan chocolate rabbits are available here, and you can
read more about responsible rabbit care here.
Vegan chocolate rabbits are available here, and you can
read more about responsible rabbit care here.
April 9: Philippines: Araw Ng Kagitingan (Valour Day)
Leave your cares back home for a few days. Kick off your shoes and walk with us this week down some of the most exotic beaches in the world. We're travelling to a collection of islands settled between Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia called the Philippines that has a remarkable culture and more than 20,000 years of history. That little head start means they have one or two more vegetarian restaurants than we do - in fact the Philippine capitol, Manila, is even listed in Happy Cow as having twelve vegetarian restaurants and three health food stores listed.
On April 9th Filipinos celebrate Valour Day and honor those who have demonstrated great bravery. Considering what you go through for your compassion, having to explain things all the time, making hard choices, living through the occasional criticism and mockery, we know that you deserve an award too, and we would love to be able to present you with one. Since going vegetarian saves 86 lives every year and going vegan saves 250 lives every year it's not just us who wants to award you... there's another 250 friends of yours who would like to thank you for saving their lives.
Here's a great site with lots of Filipino vegetarian recipes, many of which can be easily made vegan by substituting coconut milk or rice milk for milk. They even have a recipe for making your own tofu out of soybeans - a very handy recipe in a big soy growing state like ours!
Philippines
Collection of 7,107 islands in southeast Asia. Their biggest industry is assembling electronics, and biggest agricultural products are sugarcane and coconuts. Remember former first lady Imelda Marcos and her amazing shoe collection?
April 1: Cyprus: Greek Cypriot National Day
Cyprus, like America, was once a British colony. And like America, Cyprus didn't like that arrangement either. This holiday celebrates the start of the Cypriot's struggle for liberation from British colonial rule back in 1955. That struggle lead to their successful liberation just five years later. You can celebrate our kindrid spirits' freedom with some Cypriot lemon-coriander olives, some Cypriot potato salad, or some Cypriot Bulgur. These all sound reeeeeeally good and we're itching to try them.
In Cyprus the food is an interesting blend of Greek, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern cuisines, and they love to serve lots of small dishes for a meal rather than the single entree and sides to which we're accustomed. This tradition, called meze or mezedes, means "little delicacies" and can result in a meal with as many as thirty tiny dishes. Now that's a celebration! Meze is a great tradition with any vegan food: surprise your sweetie with a candlelit dinner table set with a collection of tiny servings to feed each other.
In a handful of countries April 1 is touted as April Fools Day. Check this out: back on April 1, 1957 the venerable BBC aired a news program detailing Switzerland's annual spaghetti harvest. The program "showed women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry." The BBC actually got calls from viewers wanting to know where they could purchase the spaghetti trees.... but a lot more calls from people angry that their normally reputable BBC would stoop to such trickery. I wonder what would happen now if they did a show featuring the spaghetti squash harvest???
Cyprus
The 3rd largest island in the Mediterranean after Siciliy and Sardinia. Divided by ethnicity into Greek south and Turkish north. Only 8% of Cyprus' land is arable, so they make great use of the veggies they grow.
