Introduce yourself!

[ericot]

This should be your first post

I'll go first!

My name is Eric, I'm one of two executives in this club. Though I'm technically an admin on this board, I post on a non-admin account. The point of this is to prove that we're all equal here, so build yourself a thread (or a home) and jump into the community!

I love food (om nom nom) and I love cooking (almost as much as I enjoy eating the food ). I play tons of video games, and don't tolerate discrimination. I also love to read about the environment - whether it is about how people abuse it or love it.

I like talking about myself and helping people, so don't hesitate to ask me any questions. I also love to hear about you! So don't hesitate to introduce yourself either

[happyvegan]

I'm Sarah...

I love vegan food too. I especially love trying out vegan junk food (The Go Max Go chocolate bars are AMAZING). You can buy them a Panacea on Bloor West. My favourite cook books are Sarah Kramer's books. )

I share my home with two rescued feline companions, Irwin and George. I hope to move into a place with a yard soon so I can rescue a dog or two.

I love to read, and will read just about anything that is well written (except perhaps romance), both fiction and non.

Sarah

[de014]

My name is Dana and I am really excited to be apart of VEG at York since it feels great to be surrounded by like-minded people for once I am eager to help out with activism work by tabling and educating people on veganism. I have been a proud vegan for 2 years now and it has been a life changing experience. I became vegan after viewing animal cruelty videos of factory farming and then continued to do research about the health reasons and environmental reasons to go vegan. I was shocked by the negative impacts of factory farming and now feel it is my duty as a vegan to help educate others and help them see the truth that most of society is being blinded from.

I am a kinesiology and concurrent education student. My passions include fitness (long distance running & weight training), nutrition, health, nature, animals and working with children. I have been experimenting with raw veganism which includes a diet of uncooked fruits, vegetables, nuts & seeds and 80% carbs, 10% protein & 10% fat.

There are a bunch of health reasons not to eat meat and animal products. The China Study has linked casein protein in milk to causing cancer, carcinogens such as heterocylic amines in meat also cause cancer. Many of Western Society's chronic diseases are diet-related and preventable - heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer & obesity - all connected to overconsumption of fat & protein from eating animal products. Factory farming also introduces a bunch of toxins into animal products such as growth hromones, antibiotics, food borne illness, pesticides and preservatives. When it comes down to it we can get all of our nutrients from a whole-foods planted based diet (mostly raw).

Feel free to ask me anytime for nutrition advice since I love sharing my knowledge and am always eager to learn more as well. Also be sure to check out the links and articles I post in the nutrition section of the forum!

[Talia]

Hi I'm Talia!

I'm the other club exec - but I hate talking at people so I usually just think of myself as helping the club run smoothly instead of having any real power over the club. I'm very much into the idea of sharing over debating and really like trying to figure out what a vegan culture or community would look like.

I'm vegan, and for me it's not really about what I eat but more about how I live my life. I enjoy baking, but other than that I don't really pay attention to what I eat (after checking that it's vegan of course!). I live with a dog, two rabbits, four birds, I think about six aphids now and of course humans. My dog friend Scarlett is probably one of the best things in my life. She's vegan and even though she used to live on the street she is full of compassion and love. I enjoy our daily adventures around the pond and in the forest by my house.

I love soy lattes and raspberry tea. I enjoy drawing and writing. I recently started a vegan blog and I co-own a writing site with a friend. I also enjoy recreating my hair - but I think I'll stick with dreadlocks for a while, they appear to be semi permanent.

The best experience of my life was being able to hug a sheep at a sanctuary.

[sarahcl]

My name is Sarah and I am a first year in Environmental Studies. My current favourite fruit and veggies are avocado and potatos<3. Also include but not limited to cucumbers, coconuts, spinach, broccoli, all berries, I don't really like carrots that much.

I also enjoy working out at the York gym, if anyone else wants to work out together contact me!!

I only play pc games and mmorpg since the only console I own is Gameboy.

I love photography (anyone feel like doing photoshoots together contact me too!) and watching anime and reading manga (japanese comic books).

ps. thanks to Dana for posting up a lot of threads about nutrition!

[rado]

Hello,
I'm Rachel. I am fairly new to Veganism although I have been a long time vegetarian (except for 3 years when a major health scare put me back on occasional meat). I am a third year History major and in the concurrent education program. I HATE cooking, but love food so i am always on the hunt for yummy vegan food that can be made in the microwave.
I am obsessed with cats, love reading, and spend far to much money attending concerts.

-Rachel

[tom]

Hey, I'm Tom. I'm a first year environmental studies student. I love it and so far it's been going pretty well for me. I've been a vegetarian for about a year and a half and although sometimes I do need to remind myself why I'm doing it I am very happy with my decision.

As far as interests and actvities I'm pretty passionate about music just like everyone else. I also love snowboarding. I go as much as I can but I can never get enough.

[kat]

Hi Everyone =)

My name is Kat and I am in second year Environmental Studies.
I'm a vegetarian and have been for 3 years. I do want to move onto the vegan diet and hopefully I will soon!!!
I don't eat meat because I love animals, thats the bottom line...
I love nature, photography, ummm, and comedy movies? lol
Im not a very serious person and I joke around a lot.
I would like to be more educated on the environment, and vegetarianism/veganism
My mind is a sponge and I will soak up as much information as I can =)

Kat

[antoine]

Bonjour.

My name is Antoine. I am a Glendon French Studies student. I am a mature student (I am 37!) My wife and I have been doing vegan activism for years with various Toronto groups. We live with four cats in Parkdale.

I am always on Glendon campus, so if you see me around Glendon say hi!

I have been vegan for about 8 years and I know quite a bit about it. If you have a question...any question at all! Ask me.

Whether a question about veganism (how to do it) or a question from a vegan point of view (how to respond to what non-vegans say, do, etc).

Chances are I have an answer...if I don't, I will find someone who does. If you are commited to becoming vegan eventually, I want to help you get there. If you are already vegan and want to become the best activist that you can be, I want to help you get there too!

I have been cooking since I was 6 years old and have always loved making food...since I became vegan my culinary skills have improved tremendously!

I am Christian (veganism actually restored my faith) and I know quite a bit about religion, so if you have any questions about religion and veganism, please don't hesitate to ask.

But I am not one of those "magic" Christians who believe that Jesus will come back, wiggle his nose and solve all of our problems. I interpret the second coming as a community apotheosis, in which Jesus will come back metaphorically as PART of all of us. He lives within us. And if we are Christian we CANNOT just sit around and wait, we have to ACTIVELY do good, we must ACTIVELY transform this world into heaven.

It is our divine duty to work ACTIVELY to save the world, not just pray and wait for Jesus to do it for us.

I am DISGUSTED by most modern preaching of Christianity as an individualistic self-help and self-serving faith. If your religion is only helping yourself (saving your soul, bringing you peace, making you feel better, whatever) and not helping the WORLD than it is an evil religion.

For it to be divine, it must help others...other humans (elsewhere, all races, all creeds, all sexual orientations) and other species.

I believe in activism because the world NEEDS to change if humanity wishes to survive this century.

I am a (almost dogmatic) pacifist. My personal hero is Gandhi.
I try to remind everyone that pacifism is not passive-ism... Pacifism is not polite or quiet or complacent...Pacifism is active and loud and sometimes rude...People need to be WOKEN up...and sometimes we need a bit of a shock to wake up.

This is a wonderful time in history to be alive...Yes, it is the worst time in history (ecologically) but it is also the time in history during which we can effect the most change...if we choose to STEP UP and DO SOMETHING!

If you think about it, the Pharaohs, The Roman empire, even Hitler and Stalin killed a lot of people and did a lot of horrible things...but none of their actions threatened the very survival of our species on this planet. The latest British-American consumerist empire, this "free-market" society could potentially destroy not only certain people, but ALL OF HUMANITY!!

This is why we all need to do something about it. Not later, but now.

Veganism is the necessary first step, but it is only the first step, there are many other steps that we need to take. But at the end of the day, my driving force is hope. I have hope in humanity...we got this far and granted we have screwed things up, but we have done some pretty great things too, like the arts and philosophy and language and baking! ;D

so...I have hope that humanity can learn to be sustainable...that we can survive and one day (in our lifetimes!) we will learn to live in harmony with the other inhabitants of this planet and with nature as well.

The Cree (who were the "bad guys" in North America before the white men came, and who ruled from the western prairies all the way down to the southern United Sates and all the way back up towards Toronto) met a wise Hopi woman (the Hopi were the only VEGAN native american tribe, they cultivated cotton for their clothes and ate no animals, just corn and veggies) ...

the wise Hopi woman came to the Cree chief while he was making deals with the white man and selling out his own people.

and she said to him:

"One day, when you will have cut down all the trees and killed all the animals and poisoned all the land, the air and the water, you will realize that you cannot eat money.

And on that day, a new tribe will rise up, they will not be red men, nor white men, nor black men, they will be all of these, they will be individuals from every tribe, and they will re-plant the forest, clean the air and the water and the land and bring the animals back to life. They will call themselves "The Warriors of the Rainbow" and they will undo the horrible things that you have done.


Go forward "Warriors of the Rainbow"!

[kira]

Hello, I'm Kira and in my last semester here at York but i'm really glad to see a club like this getting off the ground! I've been vegetarian for about a decade, and always opt for vegan options in my home and wherever else I can. I've worked at a couple vegan and organic restauraunts in the city and I adore the food fair in september. I'm currently working on an anthro project about students views and experiences of what York offers in terms of nutrition. If anyone would be interested in talking to me about it I'd love to hear what you have to say.

[sweetdee]

Hey Everyone,

I'm Claire! I am going to York part time for International Development Studies. I just starting attending in January. I am looking to meet other vegans and veggies.

I have been vegan for one year and I was veggie for seven. I am really passionate about animal rights which is the main reason behind being veggie and the becoming vegan.

I love going out for food and want to get out to some new vegan restaurants. I am a snowboarder and try to get out as much as possible. I love going to the movies but don't really like Hollywood movies so I don't get out as much as I would like. I am a world traveller and can't be kept in one spot for too long.

I would love to hang out and I will definitely be attending some of the events posted!

[newton]

I am Victoria. I was at the veg booth recently. Had a good hour talk with Antoine.. I guess you can call the me the lost soul both spiritually and vegetarianism. ... yes a very sad attempt to make a joke that did not work on so many levels.

Anyway. Not a veggie person. Was for two years at the age of 8, then again for another year and half during high school. Don't ask me why i became one and why I went back to eating meat. I really don't know. Though I have a feeling one reason why I went back during my high school years was because I was not eating probably as it is.

I got my mum to agree with doing a vegetarian night each week. (sundays). Once we started to look at some recipes she actually kind of got excited. this is coming from a woman who can eat two crazy large stakes in one go. Baffling actually.

Also I got another easy lazy veggie friendly recipe today that my boyfriends mother made and I end up the whole thing. didn't even touch the chicken dish. Had no desire to eat it.

um... Right now I am an Glendon student who doesn't want to be at Glendon so I mostly am at Keele, chilling, studying and pretending to be a film student until I actually officially switch.


Don't take a lot of what I saw seriously. I am pretty silly ... or try to be.

Yup. Nothing much else to say. ... HOLY COW it is nearly 11pm. I must go now. See you.

P.S I got some crazy silly ideas for us. Will most likely not through but eh, i am going to pitch them anyway.

[ryleebee]

Hellllo! I'm Rylee, a third year BFA dance student minoring in Sociology. I've only been vegan for about 10 months now, and although that time frame is small, my passion for my new lifestyle is definitely big.

my transition into veganism was rather abrupt, but I never found it hard. I've always been very bodily-concious which has resulted in me always trying to find new ways to be healthier. I picked up the book skinny-bitch at chapters one time, and it immediately sold me on veganism. literally, the next day i quit animal products and had no hesitations, regardless of the fact that 2 days later I'd be chowing down on Christmas dinner, involving tons of flesh and dairy. I had to hide my new change during my family christmas dinners because i wasn't ready to explain why my sudden dietary change, or what I was going to eat from now on. After picking up many new books and reading various blogs and websites, I felt armed with facts to justify my new lifestyle. Now, I get excited when I tell people I'm vegan, because it means they ask questions and I can answer them, and hopefully get them thinking about their own eating habits.

phewww, that felt like a lot to write. Anyway, I joined this club to chat with others who share my concern for the environment and hopefully their selves haha I'm a happy,outgoing, and optimistic lady who enjoys dancing,coffee, and reading. I look forward to getting to know everyone!

[manomnomnom]

Hey!

I'm Manon - I don't go to York, but am fortunate to know Talia (and consequently, Eric) from high school. She sold me on veganism and I started on May 18th after 5 years, 6 months and 2 weeks as a vegetarian. I insta-joined this forum but don't think I've posted anything yet (?); signed on today because I found something hilarious to post (elsewhere)!

Now, what I think this was meant to get at: I study Cognitive Science at Carleton University, in Ottawa; I love running, especially long-distance, and would totally be all of your gym buddy if went to York. I think animals are rad, but more than anything I fear cognitive dissonance and hate acting in ways I can't justify. The only "Why not vegan?" answer I can think of now is, "Convenience!" and I swore I'd never be one of those people. Recently I've also gone gluten-free; feels like I've stumbled into the most healthful diet in all the lands by accident and I'm happy to be living in a way that is environmentally, socially and nutritionally sustainable.

My favourite foods to make are cupcakes, umebachi mushrooms and kale chips; my favourites to eat include various nuts encased in/candied with maple syrup, nuts that aren't encased in/candied with anything, sacha inchi seeds, mangos, and green peas. I'll cut the list there but if we ever meet in person, be warned that I'm capable of talking about food I love for copious amounts of time.

Other hobbies include first-aid, rad camping trips, star-gawking, arthropod appreciation, CBC Radio3, and beyond! I also really like when I remind myself of Buzz Lightyear. I think you're probably all great and can't wait to read more on the forum!

<3

[veggab]

Hey!

My name is Gabrielle and I am a first year Environmental Studies major. I've been a vegan for about 3 years now and I absolutely love it!

I love to cook and I'm so excited to exchange recipes! I like checking out veg restaurants in Toronto and watching documentaries

In my spare time I foster cats, volunteer, protest on environmental issues, couch surf travellers, go to concerts and talks, read and more! I love to bike and I'm hoping to embark on a bike/WWOOFing tour of Canada soon.

I'm so glad to have found this group, I think it's great to meet people with similar interests at York!

Peace and Love