Vegetarian Lecture Series Offered in Portland
February 24, 2009 by Michelle Smith
Filed under Recipes
Vegetarians or veggie-interested folks in the Portland, Oregon area might be interested in checking out a series of classes given by Northwest VEG (Vegetarian Education & Empowerment Group). The classes offered are the Master Vegetarian Program or Veg 101.
Here are a couple of brief class descriptions that I got from OregonLive.com:
Master Vegetarian: Modeled after the Master Recycler Program and the Metro Master Gardener Program, the nine-week Master Vegetarian Program was piloted by Northwest VEG in 2007 to teach interested members of the community about the environmental and epidemiological impact of food choices. Now in its fourth run, the program continues to attract both vegetarians and omnivores by offering thought-provoking lectures and discussion about the science and politics of food. Co-sponsored by People’s Food Co-op and the National College of Natural Medicine. Tuesdays, March 24 to May 19, Southeast & Southwest Portland.
Veg 101: The six-week Veg 101 program provides many of the same lectures along with weekly cooking classes covering grains, legumes, tofu, tempeh, seitan, and more. Designed primarily for beginners, although even long-term vegetarians and vegans can benefit from this series. Sundays, March 1 to April 12, Beaverton.
For more information, click here.
As a vegan, I feel very fortunate to live in such a vegan/vegetarian-friendly area. We claim the world’s only vegan mini-mall, including Herbivore Clothing, Sweet Pea Bakery, Food Fight Grocery, and Scapegoat Tattoo. Portlanders are also active in regular peaceful anti-fur demonstrations.
I have a friend that will be very interested in your site,as am I. With all of the recalls on meat, I have been giving A vegetarian diet some serous thought.
Thank you, Jody. I will make a point to include more information for Vegetarian newbies. Please let me know if there is anything in particular that you’d like me to cover.
Lisa, you gave me an idea. I’m going to try to highlight some of the places you mentioned. Thanks for the idea! And the comment.
Thanks, Michelle! I know the businesses will appreciate the mention. Two of them have thriving online sites as well: FoodFight.com and HerbivoreClothing.com. Food Fight has an amazing selection of vegan foods, personal care products, you name it, and Herbivore Clothing has an ever-changing selection of attractive vegan- and earth-friendly clothing and accessories, including handbags and wallets made from recycled billboards. I just got my second tattoo from Scapegoat Tattoo (the fox head from Herbivore’s calendar, symbolizing anti-fur; I left off the more controversial language next to it: “Fur is F$cked,” thinking it wouldn’t go over so well at my workplace!).
Hi, ladies:
Nice find. I would love to attend a seminar like this to learn more about how to cook tofu seitan and tempeh. I’ve experimented with the first, but not the latter two.
There really is an art and science to it, you can’t simply throw these into a pan and eat.
Lisa: Will check out the vegan mall in Portland. Thx!!!
Missy, you might check your local parks and recreation department. Sometimes they offer cooking classes. Or maybe you can find something at your local health food store’s bulletin board?
If you learn some tricks, please let me know and I’ll link back to you. I love to learn how to prepare new things.
In the meantime, I’m going to make an effort to pick some up and see what I can come up with. I love to cook.
Michelle, thanks for writing about Northwest VEG. What a great blog you have.
In addition to organizing the Master Vegetarian Program and Veg 101, we’re planning Portland VegFest 2009, which will be September 19 at the Oregon Convention Center. This will be our largest VegFest to date, and our speakers will include Dr. John McDougall and many more. Details will be released in the coming months. Hope you can make it.
Thanks again!
Emily Pepe
Northwest VEG board member