Veg Out

Veg Out is back with an episode celebrating international flavours in vegan cooking. Our guest Lena Tashjian recently released a stunning cookbook called Armenian Vegan Cooking and we chatted with her about her vegan journey, recipe development process (cookbook author perk: eating dessert for dinner multiple days in a row!), and translating cherished family recipes into a modern cookbook. You'll...

Dean Blignaut is the Co-Founder and President of TMRW Foods, a plant-based food company on a mission to bring better food to more people. Ana and Jeanette talk to Dean about his experience at Virtuous Pie, how he started TMRW Foods after participating in a vegan burger competition, and how he plans to grow the company.

This week, Barbi and Jeanette are joined by our guest Sam Turnbull. You may know Sam from her super popular blog and youtube channel It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken. She released her first cookbook Fuss Free Vegan in 2017, which quickly became Jeanette’s favourite cookbook.

You may know Globally Local for their Famous Burger, or their BacUN Breakfast Sandwich, but did you know they started out selling produce? Or did you know about their charitable work, or plans for expansion? James McInnes, the CEO of Globally Local, joins the show to talk about their approach to fast food and veganism.

Join Ana and Sweta for an information-packed episode. Catch up on what the TVA has been up to and learn about the economics of plant-based eating with our guest Nital Jethalal. Nital is the President of the Board of Directors for the TVA and founder of Plant-Based Economics (PBE).

Steve and Ana are thrilled to be joined by Dr. Sarah Dodd on this episode of Veg Out! Sarah is a veterinarian with a special focus on companion animal nutrition.  Her studies have taken her around the world:  She has lived in England, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, the US and she is back to Canada; listen as she chats with us about vegan animals.

Your friendly hosts have been collecting fun facts and foibles and want to share them with you, our listeners! With Veganuary having just wrapped up, a lot of folks are talking veganism, which is great! What’s not-so-great is the misinformation that’s often shared in the media or dominant conversations. Listen as we discuss all that and more.

Ana and Jeanette are thrilled to be joined by Kimberly Carroll on this episode of Veg Out! Kimberly has an extensive background in animal rights activism, including co-creating the “why love one but eat the other” transit ad campaign, as well as co-founding Mercy for Animals Canada. She is also a campaign strategist for Animal Justice.

New year, new opportunity to build healthier habits! We wanted to kick off another year of the Veg Out podcast with an episode featuring Dr. Shane Williams (originally from Newfoundland and now based in Bracebridge, ON), a community leader and cardiologist with in-depth knowledge about the power of plant-based nutrition to prevent cardiovascular and other chronic diseases.

Well, we’ve come to the end of 2020! Our merry podcast hosts Sweta, Jeanette, Steve, and Ana take some time to reflect on a year like no other. From highs to lows to lingering uncertainties, we’ve managed to stay connected through virtual events and have introduced exciting new TVA programming looking ahead to 2021.

We’re now fully into December and the holiday season, a time when people turn to baking for comfort, sharing and gifting. Toronto based vegan cookbook author Ally Lazare joins Barbi and Jeanette to talk about her latest book, Vegan Dessert Cookbook, as well as share tips and recipes for baking for the holidays, and baking.

With all the talk about developing a vaccine for COVID-19, have you ever wondered about the medications, supplements, and vaccines we take – and how to find out whether their production methods and ingredients are vegan? Sure, you can read the ingredient lists but it can be hard to decipher the medical terms.

On today’s show we will be talking about the Montreal Vegan Festival (Festival végane de Montréal). Our guests are Alexandre Gagnon, the president and one of the founders of the Montreal Vegan Festival, and Nafsika Antypas, TV host, executive producer, writer, author, and entrepreneur. 

Thursday October 1st, 2020 was World Vegetarian Day. It was also the 80th birthday of our podcast host and volunteer Steve Beiko! In this second part of a two part interview, we learn about Steve’s athleticism, activism, and what veg life was like in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

This year Veg Food Fest went virtual! Your friendly Veg Out hosts collectively watched nearly all of the online programming and have lots to share (in case you missed it, don’t worry: you can still catch all the online talks and panels at vegfoodfest.com for one more week). From the positive health impacts of a plant-based diet to building community through vegan social groups to youth activism, t...

We’re just a week away from Veg Food Fest! Whet your appetite with this episode all about fast food from a vegan point of view. We are lucky to have a bevy of delicious (and sometimes nutritious) vegan fast food options in the GTA, but it’s not always easy to find them elsewhere, especially on road trips or in more rural communities (“cheese isn’t vegan?”). Hosts Sweta and Steve and special guest...

On this episode, Jeanette chats with Melissa James, the founder of Eastend Vegan. Melissa shares her vegan journey, how she crafts her almond cheese, being vegan in Scarborough, and previews some exciting new products that will be debuting at the Virtual Veg Food Fest.  Check out Eastend Vegan on their website, Instagram or on Facebook. Virtual Veg Food Fest will be happening from Septem...

This week, Steve and Jeanette welcome former host and RC volunteer Ana back to the show! Steve gives us a review of La Bartola, Jeanette shouts out two east side vegan businesses that have reopened, and Ana discovers a new vegan cheese. We also get an update from Ana on being vegan in Guelph, and all three preview the virtual Virtual Veg Food Fest.   Mentioned on the podcast: La Bartola Letti...

Veg Fest is just over a month away: what better time to dive into some key moments in the TVA’s history? On this episode, Sweta and Steve chat with Peter McQueen, who has been instrumental to the TVA since 1983. Get inspired by his journey to ethical veganism and hear how the Veg Food Fest has evolved from its humble beginnings as the Vegetarian Information Fair (no, the TVA did not have a marketi...

Lisa Le is a nerdy, feminist, intersectional vegan blogger and food photographer. She runs The Viet Vegan blog and Youtube channel, and you may remember her as a former Veg Out host and Resource Centre volunteer. Lisa joined us virtually to talk about her sourdough journey, propagating house plants, and discovering the new plant based Becel butter bricks and using them to invent vegan matcha-...

On this sweltering hot weekend, who better to chat with than Ikeila Wright from One Love Vegetarian – purveyor of delicious meals with just the right amount of spice? From corn soup to roti to callalloo, One Love offers a variety of nourishing Carribbean creole dishes made with care and love. On this episode, Sweta and Steve talk to Ikeira about Ital* food, Rastafarian culture, and finding communi...

We’re keeping the celebrations going! In Part 2 of our special 75th Anniversary episode, hosts Sweta and Steve dive into some of the early days of the TVA with guest Michele Brennan, who has been with the organization for many glorious years. The TVA may have an official office and Resource Centre now, but, true to its community ethos, its first and long-time office was actually in the home of the...

Did you know that the TVA is turning 75 in on June 19? Tune in for a special Anniversary edition of Veg Out, where we chat with John Graber, a long-time volunteer with the TVA, about the history of the resource centre and the creation of the podcast as a slice of TVA’s history. Toronto’s veg*n landscape has changed dramatically over the past 10-15 years and it’s always fun to take a look...

This week we’re talking PLANTIFY: a short documentary available on CBC Gem that explores how one dynamo couple introduced plant power on Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula. Here in the GTA we’re lucky to have access to a plethora of resources to support plant-based diets, but that’s not always the case in urban, suburban, and rural locations across Canada. So how did a small community on ‘The Rock’ de...

We’ve made it through seven weeks of COVID-19 lockdown here in Toronto and we wanted to check in and talk about how we’re coping. On this episode of Veg Out, Betsy, Sweta, and Sarah talk about finding ways to get some fresh air (and maybe even get a whiff of blooming magnolias), stay connected to our communities, appreciate our urban surroundings (7:30PM healthcare worker choruses FTW!), and of co...