I just sent a message to Caleb Pershan, whose cover article "Cookies put to the taste test/Of 23 chocolate chip treats, we pick the top 10 in the Bay Area" filled the Food + Wine section of the SF Chronicle.

I

Vegan cookies?

Yahoo/Sent

• Fri, Dec 22 at 8:45 AM

  
  
• Dear Cabel Pershan,

  
  

  Please let me know if you included cookies free of dairy and eggs in the big spread in the SF Chronicle December 17.  

  
  

  Because we now know that for animal welfare and the environment, a movement towards plant-based is very important, I think for ethical reasons, periodicals like the SF Chronicle should always include plant-based food items.    

  
  

  Unfortunately, even "Modern Vegetarian" had chocolate chip cookies asking for butter and eggs.  

  
  

  I make chocolate chip cookies regularly, and non-vegan friends devour them enthusiastically.  

  
  

  Hopefully,

  Tina Martin

Then, as I was taking a picture of the spread, I caught the word "vegan"   It turns out that the chocolate chip halawa cookie from Reem's California scored in first place out of 23 chocolate chip cookies tested.  But even though the article identifies it as vegan,  the caption doesn't. If it had, it would alerted readers to the fact that vegan can be delicious.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/best-chocolate-chip-cookie-18459775.php

 I just sent a message to the planning committee of a party the AFT 2121 Retirees are giving.  Wendy is the person picking up dishes from the Jo-Jo Cafe on Ocean.

Thank you so much for this, Wendy.  I don't want to complicate your task or that of anyone else on this committee, but I would feel hypocritical if I didn't express a couple of thoughts:

1.  It's great that you can accommodate people who are gluten intolerant.  That's really an important health measure for some people.  

2.  Some people are to nuts, some are allergic to dairy--milk, butter.  There may be some who are allergic to eggs.   I'm not allergic to anything except the idea that we're torturing animals in factory farms and endangering the lives of workers, and almost all of our meat, eggs, and dairy come from factory farms, and animals that are really cage-free aren't sustainable.   Also, I believe that we really do need to pay attention to our carbon footprint, and vegetarianism helps moderately and veganism helps a lot.  So when we provide vegan dishes, we're doing it not for picky vegans but for animal welfare, workers, and the environment.   

Thank you for labeling the food so people know what's gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan.  

Tina

I suspect that people will ignore this rather than be confrontational about it.  I doubt that anyone will give me support.

We'll see.  In the meantime, here's a montage I made of some of the vegan dishes I've eaten so far this year.

 Blossom and Root Kitchen in Danville was our  "dining destination" yesterday, and we marveled over their cheese among many other dishes.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/vegan-cheese-climax-foods-18341676.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2ZjaHJvbmljbGUuY29tL2Zvb2QvcmVzdGF1cmFudHMvYXJ0aWNsZS92ZWdhbi1jaGVlc2UtY2xpbWF4LWZvb2RzLTE4MzQxNjc2LnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTcwMTY1MjUzODE3OA%3D%3D&rid=OTVhYjllOTktZTBjNy00NDgyLWIyY2ItMDYwNTljYzQ0OGM0&sharecount=MA%3D%3D

Have you heard of Climax Cheese?