Four Events in Five Days

Who: VN Associate Publisher Colleen Holland
What: The Maggie Awards, a VegNews Vacation Reunion, a Restaurant Review, and a Film Screening
Where: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Campbell, Calif.
When: April 29–May 3, 2011
Why: A week in the life of a magazine publisher!

The Scoop: Being the publisher of a vegan magazine definitely has its benefits. Although our pace never seems to slow down and the workload continues to grow (I thought this was supposed to get easier?), we have an opportunity to attend all kinds of events and constantly meet interesting and inspirational people. In the last week alone, I attended one of the largest magazine award shows in the country, lunched with one of our VegNews Vacations guests at LA's Veggie Grill,  hit up a brand-new veg restaurant in San Francisco, and attended a film screening of a documentary that has huge potential to change the way people think about food and their health.

Last Friday, VN publisher Joseph Connelly and I made our annual trek to Los Angeles for one of the big industry award shows, The Maggies. We dined with the creative directors of Mother Jones and Yoga Journal (both based in San Francisco), ate some pretty decent vegan food (it's the Westin, but the meal was quite good this year!), met lots of people in the magazine world, and took part in a very entertaining awards program. Thankfully, Mother Jones, Yoga Journal, and VegNews all took home Maggie awards (including one for Best Magazine eNewsletter), so the spirits were high at our table of 10. Congratulations to all of our fellow publishers and award winners.

Tim of Mother Jones, Charli of Yoga Journal, Joseph of VegNews, and me at the Maggie Awards

Last year, we launched VegNews Vacations and have now been to India twice with VegNews readers. The trips are nothing short of fantastic, and one of the benefits is that we have made a lot of new friends from around the country. We've had several reunions from both journeys, and we met up with the lovely Brenda from Redondo Beach (VegNews Great Adventure to India 2010) this past Saturday for lunch at the newest Veggie Grill location in Torrance. We reminisced about the trip, talked about her new Etsy store, and ate a delicious array of food: buffalo wings with barbecue sauce and ranch dressing, the Santa Fe Crispy Chick'n sandwich, Papa's Portobello burger, the (best-ever) All Hail Kale salad, the mac 'n' cheese, and sweet potato fries. Yes, it was a good lunch, and, yes, we were full for the next 24 hours.

VegNews Vacation reunion at Veggie Grill! Me, Brenda, and Joseph

When our appetites finally returned, we were back in San Francisco and ready to try out the city's newest vegetarian restaurant. The Source, owned by former New Yorkers (and brothers) Andrew and Mitchell Fox. The restaurant bills itself as a "multi-dimensional dining experience," and we were impressed. The space is modern, the food is innovative, and the menu has something for everyone. We loved the Mushroom Onion Swiss Burger (served with cashew cheese and wrapped in a house-made flat bread) and the Almond Joy smoothie (freshly made cashew milk whirled with raw chocolate, coconut, and almonds). All of the pizzas and breads are made in the restaurant's brick oven, and a variety of juices, elixirs, lattes, and shakes are on offer to wash it all down. We are excited to welcome The Source to the San Francisco veg dining scene.

Overstuffed mushroom onion burger with cashew cheese and French fries, I love you

And to cap off the four events in five days, I headed down to Campbell on Tuesday night with Joseph for the Northern California premier of the the new film, Forks Over Knives. Joseph was on the post-film discussion panel along with The Engine 2 Diet author Rip Esselstyn and San Francisco Vegetarian Society President Dixie Mahy, and we hadn't seen the documentary since its latest round of editing. Whole Foods sponsored the event, the 200+ seat theater was packed, and the audience was very moved by the film. In essence, the documentary examines the relationship between what America eats (excessive animal products) and how sick we are (diabetes, cancer, and heart disease), and has enormous potential for reaching the masses. In fact, I predict that it will be nominated for an Academy Award. Forks Over Knives opens in theaters this weekend in New York and Los Angeles, and rolls out across the country throughout the month. Tell everyone you know!

The line formed early for the Forks Over Knives screening in Campbell

Forks Over Knives Screening

Who: VN columnist Gena Hamshaw
What: A special, pre-release screening of Forks Over Knives
Where: AMC Loews on Broadway, New York, NY
When: December 6, 2010

The Scoop: On Monday night, animal lovers, environmentalists, health enthusiasts, and foodies gathered together for a screening of filmmaker Brian Wendel’s Forks Over Knives. The documentary, which will be released nationwide on March 11, 2011, examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the so-called “diseases of affluence” can be controlled or reversed by adopting a whole-foods, plant-based diet. Told through the lives and work of Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn—who have championed the power of plant-based foods throughout their careers in medicine—the film also documents the remarkable healing stories of their patients.

Notable supporters of Farm Sanctuary and of the film—including vegan authors John Joseph and Victoria Moran—gathered for a pre-party reception, where they sampled cuisine from New York culinary institution, Candle 79. The owners of Candle 79, Bart Potenza and Joy Pierson, were hard at work in the kitchen, churning out plate after plate of piping hot seitan chimichurris, bowls of tangy guacamole, and platters of an irresistibly flavorful hummus and quinoa terrine.

Candle 79's signature seitan chimichurris

Meanwhile, veteran vegan pastry chef Fran Costigan astonished partygoers with her desserts. (I had to fight a few other guests for the last PB&J chocolate cup parfait, but it was worth it.) Farm Sanctuary co-founder Gene Baur shared a few salutary words. “Most people are basically compassionate,” he said. But he added that we need films like Forks Over Knives to inspire positive change.

Fran Costigan in a free moment

After the film, audience members were given a chance to ask questions and chat with the filmmakers and participants. On the panel discussion after the film were Baur, Brian Wendel, and Rip Esselstyn, author of the bestselling The Engine 2 Diet, who is profiled in the documentary. Before leaving, I approached Brian Wendel, whose own life was changed by reading The China Study in 2008, to congratulate him. His face lit up when I mentioned that I was there on behalf of VegNews. “They have been so supportive,” he said. “We’re all very excited.”