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VegNews searched high and low, stateside and worldwide for Today’s 25 Most Fascinating Vegetarians driving the movement and putting vegetarianism in the spotlight. The veg crème de la crème consists of artists, academics, local activists, big-league musicians, veg personalities and professional athletes who promote the message with every bite and action. Our meat-free all-stars—including cover girl Emily Deschanel—act as conduits for positive change, channeling their passion for vegetarianism and cruelty-free living into heartfelt, philanthropic endeavors, activism and creative ventures. Zoe Stagg uncovers stories compelling enough to inspire any herbivore—or omnivore, for that matter—to join the revolution. Or start his or her own.
Emily Deschanel
Age: 30
Home: Los Angeles
Livelihood: Actress
Between takes of the hit television show Bones, Emily Deschanel, who plays forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan, gently encourages her colleagues to consider a cruelty-free lifestyle. After watching the vivid exposé Diet for New America 15 years ago, the rising star embraced veganism and continues promoting the lifestyle today, in Hollywood and beyond. Her efforts are paying off: the show’s producers threw Deschanel a bone and integrated a storyline focusing on farm animals and slaughterhouses into one episode, earning the show its first-ever Genesis Award in 2007. In an exclusive VN interview, Deschanel dishes on food, politics, and the life of a young vegan in Hollywood.
How much of Bones’ Genesis-award-winning “The Woman in Limbo” storyline was yours?
I had no part in that storyline. The creator of the show, Hart Hanson, wrote that. Isn’t that great? He pretends he’s a tough guy, but inside he has a real soft spot for animals. I think he also felt bad because in a previous episode, I had to pretend to shoot rats. He knew I was really upset about it. I fought it as hard as I could, but in the end, I had to do it. One of our new producers has a mother who is vegan, so I have other sympathizers on the writing staff. I already pitched an idea to another writer about writing more animal related stories—maybe shedding light on hunting or animal experimentation. I don’t want to give too much away, but you will definitely see more on Bones regarding animals. I want us to win more Genesis Awards!
Fellow vegan Dennis Kucinich is running for president in 2008. What are the big issues our future president—vegan or not—needs to address once he or she makes it to the White House?
It would be great to have a vegan in the White House! Whoever is elected has a big job ahead of them. The war in Iraq is a huge issue right now. It’s an extremely complicated situation that probably doesn’t have a simple answer. But there has to be some solution. We need a person of honor in power—someone who does not believe in torture. I’d love to see Guantanamo gone. We have values and principles that this country has lost. What happened to due process? Other issues I would like to have addressed are education, health care, poverty and foreign policy.
Describe a typical evening meal chez Deschanel.
I’m not a big cook, but maybe brown rice pasta with pesto and Gardein (a new vegan meat alternative available at Whole Foods). It’s delicious! And a green salad on the side.
Our September+October issue is dedicated to fashion. Would you wear leather shoes if they came from a vintage boutique, knowing you weren’t directly supporting the animal industry?
This is an issue I have grappled with for a long time now. I have tossed almost all of my used leather shoes and wool that I bought when there were slim pickins in the clothing department for vegans. I wouldn’t buy used leather or wool now. I just feel terrible wearing it. In a perfect world, we should all be without leather, wool, silk and any other animal products or by- products, but I don’t blame anyone for buying used leather.
Give us the scoop: What’s the best veg restaurant in LA? What should we order when we get there?
Madeleine Bistro [in Tarzana]. I took my whole cast there. Everyone loved it and can’t wait to go back. Dave Anderson, the chef/owner, is a genius. You must order the Red Beet Tartar (even if you hate beets). The Truffled Mac and Cheese is to die for. And the Bigger Macque is amazing! You feel sinful eating it, because it tastes like a real burger. And, for dessert, either the Flourless Chocolate Cake or the Bananas Foster Split. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
You lucked out and found a veg boyfriend. Any advice for single veg girls looking for love in a sea of carnivores?
I have a few vegetarian ex-boyfriends who were meat eaters when we went out. I guess I made an impression. Those single veg girls reading this should try to date my ex-boyfriends! Just kidding! My current guy ate fish when we first started dating. I never preach. There are a lot of compassionate people who, when they hear about the horrors of factory farms or just start to think harder about what they are eating, can’t eat meat anymore. That’s how all vegetarians start, I suppose.
A few of Emily Deschanel’s favorites
Soy or Rice Milk: I alternate, but mostly soy
Tofu or Tempeh: Seitan
Favorite Restaurant: Madeleine Bistro
Favorite Film: I have so many….Annie Hall, Jules and Jim, Waiting for Guffman
Favorite Vacation Destination: New Zealand
Favorite Book: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Steven Best
Age: 51
Home: El Paso
Livelihood: Philosopher, Writer, Activist
In terrorism’s wake, reactionary types have seized the opportunity to put a stranglehold on free speech. Steven Best, PhD, a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, El Paso, has experienced this first-hand. Banned from entering Britain to attend an animal rights conference, Best penned an essay on the experience and is the co-founder of the Center on Animal Liberation Affairs. He is co-editor Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals, and co-founder of the North American Animal Liberation Press Office. His next project, Animal Rights and Moral Progress: The Struggle for Human Evolution promises to be required reading for all revolutionaries.
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Brendan Brazier
Age: 32
Home: North Vancouver
Livelihood: Triathlete, Author, Speaker
When you’re tired of explaining to the meathead at the gym, for the millionth time, how you can lift just as much he can on soy-powered fuel, point him toward Ironman triathlete Brendan Brazier. His meteoric rise to 18th place in Ironman races, and winning the Canadian National Ultra-Marathon 50k race in 2003 and 2006, proves this vegan has wings. Unlike a lot of vegans, Brazier’s switch to veganism happened gradually. “My motivation was athletic performance. I was simply searching for the best diet to fuel a high-performance lifestyle and support my training and racing. I found it in the form of a plant-based diet.” Brazier turned that knowledge into a vegan-fitness empire, creating Vega Whole Food Meal Replacement formula and bars, and authoring the newly released The Thrive Diet, full of tips and recipes for budding Ironmen and women. In addition to his busy training schedule, Brazier finds time to advocate plant-based living. On the environmental and the economic tolls of eating meat, Brazier says, “When we bite into food, part of the environment becomes part of us. It’s important that we each take responsibility for our health.”
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Ginger Burr
Age: 50
Home: Lynn, Mass.
Livelihood: Entrepreneur
Perhaps you’ve got no problem being vegan when it comes to Tofutti Cuties—but if you’re still wearing that wooly cardigan, you’re not quite there. “There is no such thing as being vegan ‘in food only,’” says vegan-style guru Ginger Burr, owner of Total Image Consultants in Boston. Think vegan fashion means a daunting foray into bisque-colored burlap? Not so, says Burr. “When I became vegan, I did it on a four-day vacation. I ate, dressed and shopped exclusively vegan for those four days to see how it felt. It was extremely enlightening, and I never looked back.” Burr’s expertise isn’t limited to the sartorial—she recommends cruelty-free cosmetics and skincare products, and shuns the marketing ploys of “natural” products that harm animals in the production process. “It’s a matter of education. Explore on your own and question everything that isn’t obvious.”
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T. Colin Campbell
Age: 73
Home: Lansing, NY
Livelihood: Academic, Author
Next time you find yourself needing a little academic backup to support your decision to veg out, check out The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PhD, at your local library and bone up. As professor emeritus of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University, Campbell directs the The China Project, a large-scale research project following the dietary habits of 6,500 rural Chinese that tracks the statistical correlations between health ailments like heart disease and cancer with the consumption of meat and dairy. After erroneous conclusions and faulty testing, Campbell discredited the well-known Harvard Nurses Health Study on breast cancer, highlighting the study’s lack of plant-based subjects. Based upon his lengthy research, Campbell concluded breast cancer development occurs more often in the United States than in China because of the elevated meat consumption.
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Janez Drnovsek
Age: 57
Home: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Livelihood: Politician
As the second president of Slovenia, Janez Drnovsek knows about trailblazing. Armed with a PhD in Economics, Drnovsek worked his way from construction-company employee to triumphantly besting the government’s preferred candidate to lead the new democracy. His newly established political group that’s destined to become a political party, the Movement for Justice and Development, details as its mission raising human consciousness and opposing violence in all forms. When diagnosed with kidney cancer, Drnovsek shunned traditional treatment and instead chose a slower-paced, vegan lifestyle. A champion for all in need of protection, Drnovsek has spoken in support of his country’s marginalized and maligned Roma people, and granted thoughtful interviews to the animal-rights press. Now imagine if the world was full of principled, humane leaders like Drnovsek…
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The Fallout
Ages: 30s and 40s
Home: Toronto
Livelihood: Musicians
Wishing for a little compassion in your iPod shuffle? Download The Fallout, the Toronto-based punk trio, and memorize the lyrics to “Meat Market.” Better yet, sing along out loud. Guitarist Byron Pickles describes the band’s music as “short, to-the-point, powerful-yet-melodic explosions,” and says fans old and new will soon get the chance to experience their music up-close and personally. “We’re touring this year and working on new videos for some of our animal advocacy songs,” says an enthusiastic Pickles. Despite the image of tough, snarling punk guys, Pickles says, “we’re actually fairly reserved people. None of us dance or sing very well, so we are definitely not the next ‘N Sync.” And with that, the vegetarian community (and your iPod) can breathe a sigh of relief.
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Jonathan Safran Foer
Age: 30
Home: Brooklyn
Livelihood: Author
“Is that kosher?”
When The New York Times broke the story in 2004 of the horrific animal abuse occurring at the largest world’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, AgriProcessors Inc., Jonathan Safran Foer suddenly learned the kosher industry was anything but. The Brooklyn-based author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Everything is Illuminated loaned his talents as narrator of the documentary exposing the atrocities. Winner of the National Jewish Book Award, Safran Foer’s Judaism, combined with his nearly life-long vegetarianism, leads him to argue that since keeping kosher requires the humane treatment of all animals, all Jews should be vegetarian—an Extremely Good and Incredibly Kind idea.
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Christine Garcia
Age: 32
Home: San Francisco
Livelihood: Animal Rights Attorney/Campaigner
If Dr. Doolittle was a vegan lawyer, he might look a bit like Christine Garcia. Advocating on behalf of all creatures, Garcia says she uses her animal-law practice as “a vehicle for education and outreach.” Although she began her legal career representing internet start-ups and facilitating mergers and acquisitions in Silicon Valley, Garcia’s real passion was animal aid. She began taking pro bono animal-related cases while volunteering at San Francisco Bay Area animal organizations. Then, in a brilliant masterstroke, she ditched the corporate gigs and opened The Animal Law Office. But her creative care for animals doesn’t stop at the bench. “I offer a vegan discount to clients. Anyone who seeks my services is entitled to a sliding discount depending on how many days a week they pledge to adopt a vegan lifestyle,” explains Garcia. “I implemented this because I hated representing people’s animals, then going out to lunch with them and seeing them eat more animals.” A proud supporter of the SHAC 7, she’s represented them in six different suits—and they’re entitled to more than a discount. She represents them pro bono “to show my legal support of activists who have affirmatively dedicated their lives to the movement. I support free-speech, and this is one way to show that.” No objection here, your honor.
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Tim Gargiulo
Age: 33
Home: Boulder
Livelihood: Restaurateur
Pulling up to a fast-food joint, you race in and demand a chili-cheese dog, fries and a creamy shake. Not in this veg-lifetime, you think to yourself? Well, if the man slinging the hash is Colorado über-vegan Tim Gargiulo, and the restaurant you’ve stumbled into is V.G. Burgers, your order is not only vegan, but organic. If a healthful fast-food restaurant sounds too good to be true, it gets better. Gargiulo has created a zero-waste, wind-powered alternative to the all-grease, all-garbage fast-food model. “We are pioneering a new way of doing business, a way that respects—not undermines—the beings and places affected by our business. Lives are more important than exaggerated profits.” If this whets your appetite for an organic Sunflower burger wrapped in a fully compostable wrapper but you live miles from Boulder, take heart. “We are planning a launch of several West Coast and East Coast locations, and we are definitely looking at the international market in the very near future,” promises Gargiulo. Let the countdown begin!
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Michael Greger
Age: 34
Home: Gaithersburg, Md.
Livelihood: Physician, Author, Speaker
If each person contemplating a chicken nugget for lunch were to crack open Michael Greger’s newest book, Bird Flu: An Epidemic of Our Own Hatching, we’d be willing to bet they’d be making bigger decisions than barbecue or honey-mustard sauce. Available to read for free online at drgreger.org, this book is just the latest offering from this noted physician and author. While some might remember him as the expert witness invited to testify on behalf of Oprah Winfrey during her meaty legal woes, he’s better known for his current role as director of public health and animal agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States. Greger is also an outspoken opponent of the Atkins Diet, so next time a carb-shunning friend is pounding Quarter-Pounders sans bun to trim down, send them Greger’s way. He’ll set him straight.
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