Vegan

Newport Harbor High School started small with veganism on Monday, frying up only 12 meatless burgers in case sales went slowly. In the end, there was no need to have a cow. The school, the first in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to sell vegan food at lunchtime, sold out of the burgers within a few minutes and still had requests coming in, according to cafeteria manager Sue Lindsey. As a result, she said the school would prepare twice as many vegan patties today. "We've gotten orders already for some teachers," Lindsey said.

NEWPORT BEACH — The vegans of Newport Harbor High School had a message to impart at noon on Wednesday — and they weren't going to let the weather silence it. As a chilly wind blew and dark clouds hovered, the school's Compassion in Action Club set up tables outside the cafeteria and urged students to pick up free veggie burgers and soy nuggets. The rain started to pour halfway through lunch, but the group continued to hand out food and pamphlets to anyone who stopped by. "Take it, take it, take it," said Tanya Petrovna, head chef of the Native Foods restaurant chain, as she doled out nuggets from a hot pan. "You get a whole free plate."

Native Foods restaurant just debuted at the Camp in Costa Mesa, the retail complex for outdoor enthusiasts. Three other wildly successful locations are in Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Westwood. It's the first local vegan restaurant, serving the purists of the vegetarian world who refuse to eat any animal-derivative foods, even honey. Native Foods creates fun, gourmet vegetarian cuisine. "We have a lot of wild stuff," co-owner and chef Tanya Petrovna said.

The first time Karen Coyne heard the word "vegan," she wasn't sure what it meant. The future Newport Harbor High School English teacher had sworn off red meat since junior high, but she still filled her diet with animal products — including the Baskin Robbins ice cream cone she craved every week. Then, in 1992, she met a college classmate who presented her with a recent book on eating habits: John Robbins' "Diet for a New America," which encouraged readers to forsake meat, eggs, milk and any other food that came from a living thing.

COSTA MESA - Tanya Petrovna's love of cooking dates to childhood, when she helped her mother cook vegetables from other countries and traveled with her parents through Europe, sampling different flavors along the way. Today as the founder and chef of Native Foods Cafe, a popular chain of vegan restaurants with locations in Costa Mesa, Aliso Viejo, Tustin and other cities, she draws on those familial experiences and uses international seasonings in...

When the first Native Foods opened in Palm Springs, founder Tanya Petrovna wondered if the all-vegetarian and vegan restaurant would draw any crowds. But the restaurant's chief of operations, Lynda Sheklow, said she knew that the combination of Petrovna's passion for animals and the environment, plus her flair for cooking, would be unstoppable. And 14 years later, the restaurant has four successful locations, including at The Camp in Costa Mesa, where Sheklow said Native Foods' alternative menu items intrigue carnivores and herbivores alike.

Humanitaire, a vegan clothing store at the Camp shopping center in Costa Mesa, plans to host a women’s wellness event today featuring workshops on diet, body image, relationships and more. The event, titled “Bloom,” is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the shopping center at 2937 Bristol St. Featured speakers include Jenny Ross, the executive chef of the 118 Degrees raw food restaurant, who will give a cooking demonstration, and Marissa Presley, a representative from the anti-domestic violence nonprofit Laura’s House.

Lindsey Packer can speak from experience about the durability of vegan clothes. A glass case at the back of Humanitaire, her store at the Camp at 2937 Bristol St. in Costa Mesa, contains a pair of vegan boots that Packer has walked in all over the world — and which barely look used. In addition to shoes, the store offers shirts, belts and other clothing items, all made without a single animal product. Let’s say I’m a guy who wears leather all the time and has never heard of vegan clothing.

It can be tough to be a vegan with style. Take shoes, for example. Try finding a good pair that aren't made from leather. And most brands of lipstick are made with beeswax; some are even tested on animals. That makes it pretty tough for vegans like Lindsey Packer to follow a strict dietary system that bars eating or wearing anything made from animal by-products. No meat, no dairy, no eggs ? not even honey. Packer was used to purchasing her nondairy cheeses, spicy Tofurky and organic leeks, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to find shoes not made from leather.

Don't blame mayor in parking decision I read with interest Richard Gillock's comments regarding a City Council decision not to grant Cannonade Circle resident-only parking along with the other streets, Venetian Drive and Damascus Circle ("Mayor's 'deaf ear' splits community," Mailbag, April 8.) The fact is that it was a 4-0 vote not to include Cannonade. An objective viewer of the April 3 council meeting would see the valid reason for the decision and that it was not a case of "once again the mayor turned a deaf ear to our community."

COSTA MESA - Tanya Petrovna's love of cooking dates to childhood, when she helped her mother cook vegetables from other countries and traveled with her parents through Europe, sampling different flavors along the way. Today as the founder and chef of Native Foods Cafe, a popular chain of vegan restaurants with locations in Costa Mesa, Aliso Viejo, Tustin and other cities, she draws on those familial experiences and uses international seasonings in...

COSTA MESA - Regardless of whether Omaima Aree Nelson - who ate parts of her husband's body after killing him at their Costa Mesa apartment - is granted parole after 20 years in prison Wednesday, she shouldn't be allowed to eat meat of any kind again, according to a prominent animal rights group. In a letter sent to the warden at Chowchilla State Prison women's facility Tuesday, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals requested that Nelson be switched to a vegan diet if she remains incarcerated - or if she's released.

So I probably shouldn’t have begun my indoctrination into raw foods with the preceding meal of a McDonald’s McRib sandwich. Don’t judge; I’ve heard it all before, and every person who loves food has their guilty pleasures. Mine just happens to be an indistinguishable meat that is for a limited time only pressed into a shape that looks like mini baby back ribs. So I thought it would be not only palate cleansing, but soul cleansing as well to jump in to this lifestyle.

Lindsey Packer can speak from experience about the durability of vegan clothes. A glass case at the back of Humanitaire, her store at the Camp at 2937 Bristol St. in Costa Mesa, contains a pair of vegan boots that Packer has walked in all over the world — and which barely look used. In addition to shoes, the store offers shirts, belts and other clothing items, all made without a single animal product. Let’s say I’m a guy who wears leather all the time and has never heard of vegan clothing.

The claims of the lower animals to human compassion and consideration as living, sentient beings are writ large in Hebrew Biblical thought. The ancient rabbis tell how Moses, while a shepherd of Jethro’s flocks, seeks out a stray lamb and tenderly carries the tired creature in his arms back to the fold. God then announces to Moses, “You are worthy to be My people’s shepherd.” The Fourth Commandment stipulates the right of animals to rest on the Sabbath.

NEWPORT BEACH — Baby, the most famous dog in America the last few months, has been speechless throughout her time in the spotlight. That would be speechless, literally. The 9-year-old poodle, now the figurehead of a nationwide campaign against abuse at puppy mills, had her vocal cords cut when she was confined in a breeding cage. Since a stranger rescued her and handed her off to her eventual owners, Baby has posed for a picture with Sen. Barack Obama, visited major league baseball dugouts and had her shaggy white fur and beady black eyes displayed in bookstores across America.

Humanitaire, a vegan clothing store at the Camp shopping center in Costa Mesa, plans to host a women’s wellness event today featuring workshops on diet, body image, relationships and more. The event, titled “Bloom,” is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the shopping center at 2937 Bristol St. Featured speakers include Jenny Ross, the executive chef of the 118 Degrees raw food restaurant, who will give a cooking demonstration, and Marissa Presley, a representative from the anti-domestic violence nonprofit Laura’s House.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ youth organization recently nominated UC Irvine for the first time as one of the most vegetarian-friendly colleges in the country. “We’ve really stepped up our program over the last two years,” said Jackie Vanderwiel, UCI Dining spokeswoman. Restaurants on campus offer an assortment of vegetarian options. Soy hot dogs, burgers and vegan ribs and teriyaki bowls have been added to the menu. The main student dining area even has an “exhibition station” where a chef personalizes meals to the student’s liking.