Fair Weather Vegan

Lush Products: A Further Word

Just FYI, Lush solid shampoos and a number of their other products contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. I've heard of people being allergic to this ingredient, and some environmentalists eschew it.  I tend to trust the Lush crew to be responsible (they just created a palm oil-free soap base, for instance), but if you're not into SLS, here are some organic hair care choices courtesy of Greenopia. 

You Can't Eat It: Lush Squeaky Green Shampoo

Is there a more fanatical demographic than Lush fans?  We can find our way to a shop simply by closing our eyes and waiting for the distinctive Lush product smell to waft over us.  They always keep their doors open for just this purpose.  One of the many amazing things about the storied British cosmetics company is their commitment to environmental causes.  Far from being greenwashers, they are constantly on the watch for ways to make their handmade products and packaging more earth-friendly.  From soap to bath bombs, many of their products don't use packaging at all.  One of their brightest ideas was the solid shampoo formula, which obviates the need for plastic bottles.  The shampoo comes in fun little discs and you can save it in a tin.

My first experience with a Lush solid shampoo was not a success.  I tried Soak and Float and not only did it smell of charcoal (which Lush cheerfully admits), it also made my head itch, which was the exact opposite of its stated intent. I also found the usage somewhat difficult, and never quite got the hang of swiping the bar on wet hair and then lathering up.  So it took a few more years for me to try again, and this time I chose Squeaky Green, with rosemary and peppermint.  My scalp does seem to like it much better, and one day after washing my hair is soft and has a lot of body.  I don't know where the reviewers are coming from who say it dries out hair, because that hasn't been my experience.  Unfortunately, the day of washing it's usually flat since not only am I trying to deal with a new, longer style but it's hard to gauge how much goes on and it's quite difficult to rinse out.  You always need fewer swipes than you'd think and more rinsing time than you'd normally take. 

I recommend Lush shampoo bars for a fun, green alternative but they do need some getting used to and it takes time to find the one that's best for your hair type. 

More Corrupt Kashrut Officials

This seems like a story out of the early part of last century, when there was so much money to be made in the kosher food industry and so little institutional control, that anyone could set himself up as an authority and any butcher could be certified.  Things are supposed to be better now, but in the course of my search for an opinion that would let me eat catfish (a cursory scan didn't turn up anything, so I had a panini and skirted the issue of whether something cooked on a treyf grill is essentially just as bad), I found various examples of refusals to use the tablet K heksher.  Then it randomly came up in conversation with friends later on.  Although widely accepted within my minyan, the heksher is rejected by one friend because she knows someone whom the rabbi in charge offered to bribe.  What a lovely piece of work.  Thus far the only product I see on FWV that has the tablet K is Belfiore Mozzarella, but I think that some of the foods I've only marked as 'hekshered' have it too (Precious Mozzarella as well, maybe?).  So I'll try to be more careful in future in identifying which heksher something has in case readers want to avoid this one. 

Red Vic To Show "The Cove" On November 15th

A documentary team literally risked their lives to film this story of a Japanese dolphin sale and slaughtering culture so secret that even most Japanese people don't know about it (and were horrified by the footage).  Shot with hidden cameras worthy of a spy ring and while under constant threat from the government and the fishermen*, the film has won numerous prizes including an audience choice award at Sundance.  It is playing one San Francisco date at the tiiiiiiny theater in the Haight where they give you wooden popcorn bowls. 

*term used advisedly since they all seem to be men; this in contrast to what I've recently learned about the world's farmers, a majority of whom are women

What Food-Related Tweeters Float Your Boat?

The 'food' column on my version of Tweet Deck is much shorter than my other categories.  I follow some local faves like BiRite Market and Shuna Fish Lydon, some well-known food bloggers like Ganda, and of course awesome activists like Fat Nutritionist.  What should I add to my list? 

"You Don't Need To Tease The Cakes"

As much as I hate all forms of food ads that are predicated on women's insecurity about their weight, Yoplait's latest is pretty cute ("Oh yeah?  Well who ever heard of a bear sheriff?").  If only yogurt could actually be a substitute for cake, or any other product with carbs in it, its cuteness wouldn't got to waste. 

Sonoma's Okay, I Guess

"I was swimming in the pool looking up at the redwoods," reports my father when he calls to tell me how his birthday trip is going.  My mother had sent him on a golf weekend earlier in the summer (after thirty years in the midwest my dad finally turned into that guy), but the birthday ends in a zero so he's stringing it out a bit.  He'd wanted to go on a wine tasting tour ever since I moved to Northern California, but Mom and I always said we'd prefer watching wallpaper peel.  So I offered to give him one for his birthday, and Mom reluctantly agreed to go along since he'd already had one major event without her and at least it didn't involve golf. 

I suggested Frog's Leap Winery, on the sound principle that I knew nothing about wine so an organic, sustainable place couldn't be too bad.  They found the Applewood Inn in the Russian River valley to stay in.  Thus, while I waited tensely in the blazing sun to be in the front row at the free Third Eye Blind concert in San Jose, only to find that the thousands of people who arrived hours later spent the whole show crushing me into the barricade so that my ribcage broke out in hives, my parents were sipping white wine and hearing about environmentally friendly vine production, and eating what both of them kept describing as the "best" of whatever it is they'd had, ever ("the best lamb chop" "the best pancake").  Not that I begrudge them, since they claim to like my company enough to take me along most places, including a good portion of their thirtieth anniversary trip.  But Stephen Jenkins?  Kind of a preening jerk.  Go to a show at which you can sit down. 

Here are some photos taken by my father at the two locations.

The kitchen and cellars at Frog's Leap:

 
 

 

The gardens and the aforementioned pool at Applewood Inn:

 

 

Urban Village Farmers' Markets Ditch Plastic Bags

Great news via Beth Terry that Urban Village, which organizes a number of NoCal farmers' markets including the one on California Avenue in Palo Alto, is going plastic bag-free.  Buyers have always been able to carry their own cloth or compostable biobags (how sad that the word 'compostable' is not recognized by Typepad's spellchecker), but now vendors who provide bags will be stocking biobags instead.  They have been authorized to charge 25 cents per bag if they wish to offset costs. 

Rotund Redesign

I've been remiss in not mentioning that The Rotund, a flagship fat acceptance/HAES blog, has done a beautiful redesign.  The content didn't need any alteration.  It remains thought-provoking and inspiring.  Tweeps can also follow @therotund. 

Zazie and Medjool Do The Right Thing

Business interest group the Golden Gate Restaurant Association is suing the city over its having the effrontery to expect employers to provide employees with health care.  FWV is extremely happy to learn that two eateries, including one of our all-time favorites, have decided instead to join the government's side in the suit, arguing that the law is positive, necessary, and not an undue burden.  Now we'll be forced to have brunch at Zazie to reward them.