More Than Meats the Eye June 23, 2009

I'm pretty excited about the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen tomorrow, since word on the street is that the movie has a positive animal rights message in it. There's even a scene set in a butcher shop where Megan Fox's and Shia Labeouf's characters learn that every animal you eat had a story. We hear them on that.

In honor of the release of the movie, we're transforming (hah!) the classic Transformers tagline into "More Than Meats the Eye," for the title of our top-five list that takes a closer look at the meat industry. Most people never take an up-close look at the food they're eating. I mean, seriously, who wants to think about their food actually looking like this (even though it does)?:

Click for larger image

1) Jell-O: How does Jell-O stay firm but wiggly? You can thank gelatin (aka the ground-up skin, intestines, and bones of animals) for that jiggle. Who doesn't like bones in their fruity snacks?

2) Hot Dogs: These are made from mechanically recovered meat, which Wikipedia describes as, "a paste-like meat product produced by forcing beef, pork, turkey or chicken bones, with attached edible meat, under high pressure through a sieve or similar device to separate the bone from the edible meat tissue." If you're in the mood for tails, bones, and anuses topped with relish at a ball game, steer clear of the veggie dogs, since they're mostly just made of plain ol' boring soy protein.

3) Milk: Pus doesn't exactly conjure up the most pleasant of images, but if the idea of a tall frosty glass of pus sounds good to you, by all means, feel free to down a glass of milk. That's right, milk can legally contain a somatic cell count (that's pus, people) of up to 200 million per liter.

4) Twinkies: Where does that fatty flavor come from? Beef fat, of course! Sponge cake + creamy filling + cow fat = the classic truck-stop snack. Yum.

5) Cheese: Rennet, found in many cheeses, comes from the stomach lining of slaughtered calves. I personally try to avoid baby cow stomach on my nachos, but maybe that's just me.

♥ Marta

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Win Vegan Twinkies, Cupcakes, Cookies, and More! November 6, 2007

A few weeks ago, I had a life changing moment—I happened upon an online vegan bakery that sells Twinkies. You heard me right...vegan Twinkies! Finding the veganized version of my favorite childhood treat is almost as great a discovery as Howard Carter finding King Tut's tomb (in my humble opinion).

The magical place that I found these creamed filled yellow cakes of vegan goodness is called Vegan Honey. Not only does Vegan Honey sell Fauxstess Twinkies, they also have Cinnamon Sticky Bombs, Cherry Cheese Danishes, Giant Peanut Butter Cups, and much more! Check out everything they have to offer here.

Here is what Vegan Honey owner, Kymberlie, has to say about her delicious creations:

"Raised on a small animal sanctuary, I became an animal activist and vegan at a super young age. I have always had a sweet tooth, and my cravings for yummy baked goods like Twinkies and Cinnabons was out of control! Finally, I took some flour, a bit of sugar and began to bake all the things I wanted to eat!"

So if you have a sweet tooth like me, I highly recommend that you take part in our contest to win a $40 gift certificate to Vegan Honey!

All you have to do for a chance to win is comment below naming your favorite vegan treat.

Simple right? The contest ends November 27th, and the winner will be chosen by November 30th.

xoxo-Lara

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