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USA
Cooking Classes and Cooking Contest
By Los Angeles News Group (Originally in English)
[Los Angeles] Since early this year, our Association members from Los Angeles have been giving free vegan cooking classes to the public at the local libraries. After two months of presentations, several libraries have invited the cooking team to their libraries to hold the classes without any charge or need of application forms. They even offered to make announcements at the libraries and place advertisements in the local newspapers. So far these invitations have been extended to 2011. The gatherings have been very successful and the participants were very delighted to discover the tastiness of the vegan dishes. Many of them had wanted to become vegetarians for a while, but had no idea how to start. They were excited to learn to cook vegan dishes and to find vegan recipes online so that they can try them at home to share with their families and friends. References: http://www.VeganLosAngeles.com From April 20 to early May, our Association members were invited to participate in the “Judges Come to Your Home Cooking Competition” that was held by ZWTV, a new Chinese television digital channel 57.9 broadcasting in Southern California. All three of our vegan cooking teams received the Superior Award and two of our brothers who participated in the homemade food section received the Popularity Award. May more health-conscious people learn to make tasty vegan dishes and dine at local vegan restaurants to ease their transition into this loving, eco-friendly dietary choice. Book Fair Unveiling a World of Cultural Enrichment
Attracting more than 130,000 book lovers over the weekend of April 24, the 15 th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books was held on the campus of the prestigious University of California, Los Angeles. Amidst 300 diverse exhibitor booths representing booksellers, publishers, and literacy and cultural organizations, this largest and most esteemed book fair in the country featured over 400 authors. There also were appearances and engaging readings by celebrities, such as the acclaimed vegan actress and animal welfare advocator Alicia Silverstone, and actress Bernadette Peters.  Our Association members showcased Supreme Master Ching Hai’s #1 international bestselling books, The Dogs in My Life, The Birds in My Life, and The Noble Wilds. Their presentation conveyed the message of cherishing our co-inhabitants and the environment. Visitors lingered to read the books and went away with SOS flyers, vegan cupcakes and big smiles. Our appreciation goes to the Los Angeles Times, the University of California, the city of Los Angeles and all the supporters of this wonderful event. May humanity’s love of reading be a timeless vehicle for elevating our world. A Seminar with Dr. Will Tuttle at Loving Hut
Upon invitation from the Loving Hut located in a large shopping mall in Orange County, California, Dr. Will Tuttle conducted a two-hour seminar, on Saturday afternoon of September 4, Golden Year 7 (2010), on his outstanding twenty-first century book, The World Peace Diet. Dr. Tuttle introduced his publication to about 35 audience members. He explained how most people have been living their lives eating at least three times a day without ever thinking about what it took to bring that food to their table. Such a habit of not thinking about what happens during the behind-the-scene processes has been carried into their daily lives in the attitude of how people treat one another, with wars and violence still continuing in today’s world. He encouraged those present to live deeply and honestly. Everyone was completely taken by Dr. Tuttle’s speech.
At the book signing event afterwards, the Loving Hut staff served vegan refreshments and introduced to the interested guests the vegan cooking shows conducted at the restaurant, and also by our Association members at local libraries in Los Angeles and San Diego. They introduced Supreme Master Television to them as well, for further information about vegan cooking, climate change and so on. The seminar turned out to be a great success. May the partnered effort of Loving Hut and Dr. Tuttle bring a positive transformation to all the participants and help them choose this compassionate Earth saving lifestyle. The Grand Metro Bus Campaign By Virginia News Group (Originally in English)
[Washington, D.C.] Our Virginia Center joined forces with our Association members from other states on the east coast of the USA and on August 16 launched a metro bus campaign promoting the vegan diet. Thanks to the generous assistance from CBS Outdoor, North America's most diversified Out-of-Home media provider, large taillight posters, with phrases such as, “A Vegan Diet Is The Fastest Way To Stop Climate Change” and “Be Veg, Go Green 2 Save the Planet,” have been affixed to 50 metro buses. The promotion will run for at least four weeks on the busiest routes in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. It’s estimated that the impressions from such advertisements can reach over 4 million people. Let’s pray that the campaign will plant many seeds for future vegans.  Loving Hut Selected as By Florida News Group (Originally in English)
 Loving Hut for the second time joined the event as a vegan food vendor. However this year, they had better equipment and also increased the variety of the delicacies they provided. The Fringe Festival website commented, “Everyone who’s eaten from the Hut agrees that it’s not only nice to have this vegetarian /vegan vendor as a non-meat option at the Festival, but that just about everything they serve is actually quite tasty.” At the end of the event, Loving Hut was voted as the 2010 Best Food Vendor, and was gifted the art piece –“Golden Spore” created by Doug Rhodehamel and received the Audience Choice Awards from thedailycity.com.
Loving Hut in Florida is currently offering a free vegan cooking
class once a month and has taught classes in the county libraries.
In addition, they provide a weekly all-you-can-eat buffet at affordable
prices and contribute the extra food to churches and homeless shelters.
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The seminar was followed by a Q&A session in which someone asked how to deal with loved ones who are not into veganism, a challenge common to many people. Dr. Tuttle responded that we can never change another person since the real transformation can only come from inside oneself. He then made reference to one of his own experiences when several years ago during a holiday family gathering, his sister teased him about being a vegan. However two years later, one day she suddenly called him and said that she had become a vegan after hearing and reading so many things in the news about the meat diet. It just takes time for some people finally to make such a major change in their lives. But the important thing is to begin planting the seeds now. Dr. Tuttle also said, “There are only two kinds of people on this planet, vegans and pre-vegans. I trust that as long as 10% of the population on this planet are vegans, the rest will just follow.” He concluded the seminar by playing a piece of piano music from his CD, “Islands of Light” that he had composed. The audience was totally immersed in his beautiful music.
[Florida] Orlando Fringe Festival, the longest-running Fringe Festival in the U.S., returned to Loch Haven Park in May for “12 days of theatre, art, dance, music and madness.” It included free outdoor stage performances from over 70 local, national and international companies.
