The People & Animal Welfare Society’s new HQ is located at 110 Beaufort Street in Northbridge, a mere 5 minute power walk or 10 minute stroll from Perth train station. The PAWS building is home to a Cruelty-Free Shop, MacCafé (Perth’s first Apple-only internet café), library, conference centre and dining hall. The former PAWS building, located at 112-114 Beaufort St is now emergency accommodation for the down-and-out willing to volunteer.

Resuming a couple of months ago and going stronger than before, PAWS’ Monday nights are something of an institution amongst Perth’s vegans & vegetarians and are open to everyone. Starting at around 6PM, dinner is served by donation. It’s usually a number of dishes of different cuisines, always vegan, most often accompanied by friendly conversation and sometimes followed by halva for dessert.

Whether you want to expand your social circle, or see a vegan in real life, this is the best way to do both. The regulars are friendly, welcoming and informative. (NB: Vegan-watchers are given the option of grabbing a plate and joining a table, coming in a group and eating in the corner, or just observing from afar. So it’s really your PAWS visit, to experience it how you will.)

paws.org.au

This is my very first post. Woo! There is so much to talk about so picking what to write about first was a dilemma!

One night, when I was on my computer looking for something unnecessary to buy on ebay and eating chocolate bullets, I came across this brand of vegan and environmentally friendly designer label handbags which nearly resulted in me choking on the chocolate bullets. The bags are not available in Perth as far as I know, but you can order them online. They are simple, elegant and gorgeous….and expensive. We’re talking a good couple of hundred for one of these gems. Worth it? Maybe. One of the benefits of this not being available in Perth is that if you do happen to buy one, I can guarantee you will be the only one who has one!

To find  out about the “Vegan Queen” range  head to http://www.veganqueen.com/
Speaking of vegan bags, something completely unrelated came to mind. Would you drink human breast milk as a vegan? Just put aside the idea that it is gross and think of it from an ethical perspective. We do not drink cows milk because it is unnecessary and cows cannot give consent and we have no right to steal from them. But, humans can give consent. So does that make it ethically sound? PeTA approached Ben & Jerry’s and asked them to use breast milk instead of cows milk. Now I really dislike PeTA because of their sexist ways, but they managed to make me dislike them even more today when I heard their spokesperson on the radio talking about how we should drink human breast milk instead. I just thought, as if they are going to get public support for that. Why didn’t they suggest soy milk, instead – something less likely to gross people out? But what took the cake about this whole issue is a statement by Ben & Jerrys spokesperson – “We applaud PETA’s novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother’s milk is best used for her child,”…now hang on a minute, aren’t cows mothers also? Don’t they have children? A fine display of speciesism right there, quite sad.

If I got you thinking about icecream then never fear, I have some news which will wet your tofu! For those who are unaware, there is a store on Plantation Drive in Menora called Kosher Mart. I bet you’re thinking “ohhh not some religious crap”. YES! They are religious, but we can take advantage of it! Jewish people cannot eat dairy with meat – so what do they do? They make dairy free dairy products! I highly recommend the dairy free MAGNUMS, CORNETTOS and VIENETTA ICECREAM CAKE by our very own Streets. Yes, streets make icecream from Tofu. This icecream is not just any crappy vegan icecream…it really tastes like the real thing. There is no way anyone could guess it is vegan. It is perfect to take to your next omnivore gathering to impress their pants off! Kosher Mart also sell Tofutti Cuties, several tubs of icecream in amazing flavours, spreads, dips, bagels, cookies, chocolate (lots of it), ready to go meals, pies, rolls, tomato flavoured chips (anyone miss atomic tomato like me?) and much more. If you are vegan and have been missing good junk food then you need to head to Kosher Mart now!

Anyway time for me to get back to work and for you to travel to a suburb with an overwhelmingly high number of old people homes to get icecream.

xx

Amy

AMY’S FEATURED PRODUCT:
Everytime I make a post I am going to feature either a food, clothing or miscellaneous vegan item that you can purchase in Perth!

These beautiful shoes here to the left are available at MAME. They are made of all synthetic materials according to the nice and excessively pierced lady at the counter. You can buy this at Mame Clothing 575 Wellington St.

(click on any of the thumbnails to see a larger view)

The side of Paws recently got a makeover as some cool guys came and did an awesome mural type thing. Graffiti at its best.

Paws is a not-for-profit animal rights group that is really cool. Lots of vegan food like icecream and chocolate for sale, organic vegetable market on saturdays and one world cuisine for sale from 11 tuesdays to fridays.
They also have an internet cafe as well. Everyone is really nice and inquiries are welcome.

Located at 112 Beaufort st.
Official site

Win Signed Black Kids Stuff!
[peta2] catch up with Owen from Black Kids to chat about music and why he went vegan. Check out the video, and enter to win signed Black Kids prizes!

If the picture (from “Haunted Mansion”) on the left isn’t immediately recognisable, think “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” – in the film version, Stamp plays the drag queen turned transsexual, part of a troupe travelling to the centre of Australia to mime the words to other peoples’ songs for truck drivers and soon-to-be liberated country-folk.

If you’re one of a few owning a copy of The Smiths’ “What Difference Does it Make?” you either have a picture of Stamp holding a chloroform pad (a publicity shot from “The Collector”) or of Morrissey in the exact same pose, looking very much like him but holding a glass of STFU. (Morrissey is vegan too, so one would assume the white liquid isn’t cow’s milk.)

“[T]aking your time, making healthy choices and chewing slowly—being conscious of every bite and not scarfing down a meal and then thinking about the next one … is one level of consciousness… How can you say you’re trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?”

But for the sake of whatever deity you believe in, woman, you don’t have to give up the good stuff! Somebody tell her that vegans are already the healthiest subculture, and that doctors and the French have been saying for years that one red wine a day is good for you.

If only we could all enjoy the kind of meals prepared by experienced vegan chefs. In fact, her 21-Day Cleanse blog might come in handy for ‘real’ vegans (as well as fad dieters) struggling for new ideas. Touted by some as the most influential woman in the world, Oprah could be the most powerful advocate for veganism yet, if she can maintain a more readily accessible cruelty-free lifestyle.
Her “spiritual integrity” and perseverance have yet to be seen, but if she makes it I might just go Level Two Vegan for 21 days and have my friend Freedom make me raw vegan meals.

* everybody equals stay at home mothers, people of colour and anybody not busy watching Jerry Springer re-runs.

zOMG I can’t believe Conor Oberst isn’t a meat eater.
Actually, my overly melodramatic exclamation is false. I found out a little while ago, and he wasn’t really hiding it when he made this video for PeTA:

(Although his Wikipedia article claims he’s now a pescaterian. Boo.)

The co-owner of Saddle Creek records and vocalist/guitarist/driving force behind both Bright Eyes (he sounds best singing folk-inspired indie pop IMO) and the short-lived indie-punk hybrid Desaparecidos, Oberst has also been an open supporter of Barrack Obama, playing for him at rallies in January and February of this year.

Cassadaga came out last year and I’m still delving into it whilst listening to Read Music/Speak Spanish.
AT THE SAME TIEM.

I recommend basically anything you can find from either of those two in Lua of finding “Well Whiskey”.

Next week: I might manage to smuggle a post out using a router Tony Stark built in a cave LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL