Solstice Potluck 2010

Come celebrate Winter Solstice with your fellow islanders at this season's Community Vegan Potluck scheduled for Saturday (NOT Sunday!), December 18^th at 6:30 pm in the Denman Back Hall. As always, food lovers of every persuasion are invited to join in on our delicious, turkey-free holiday smorgasbord. After dinner we gather round the blazing Yule-fire to celebrate both the nurturing darkness of winter’s respite and the promise of returning light with carols appropriate to the solstice season!

At last year’s UN sponsored Celebration of Faiths and the Environment in the UK, guests representing nine different religious/spiritual traditions gathered to launch long-term initiatives aimed at influencing the attitudes and behaviors of their communities for generations to come. Accomodating the interests of such a wide range of individuals from different cultural backgrounds resulted in the first ever vegan banquet at Windsor Castle…a dining experience that could be equally shared and enjoyed by all!

Any 100% plant-based dinner entrée, salad, dessert, or single item dish (excluding dairy, eggs, honey and gelatin, please) is a suitable contribution to our local feast. Denman's vegan potlucks are a great place to pick up new recipe ideas, but nothing fancy is required unless you are so inspired! Please bring along your ingredient list, and thankyou also in advance for helping keep these inclusive community gatherings accessible for folks with chemical sensitivities by attending ‘scent-free’. Admission is by donation (suggested $3 towards expenses). For further information,  call 1209. Peace to one and all!

Transition Denman

On Oct. 17th, coincidentally the day after World Food Day, Transition Denman hosted a community event involving 30 or more local groups in our active community. Each had only three minutes to talk a little about who they are and how they may fit with the transition movement. Here's what was presented in this brief window of opportunity about the Potluck Series. For further information, click here to access our actual home page, and check out our amazing LINKS list on your immediate right!

DENMAN POTLUCK SERIES

Denman Island’s Community Vegan Potluck Series began in the mid 90’s, hosting monthly 100% plant-based group meals over many years for food lovers of every persuasion, and after dinner presentations- meetings, guest speakers, films or slide shows on a wide variety of topics pertaining to social justice and environmental issues.

 There is no formal group structure to the series, but former Saltsprng Island resident John Robbins’ best-selling, Diet for a New America”, was our original inspiration. Robbin’s founded ‘Earth Save,’ a now worldwide initiative to raise consciousness about the global impact of our dietary choices, and in larger communities Earthsave chapters host similar potlucks promoting the many advantages to personal , environmental and animal well-being through eating lower on the food chain.

In the spirit of community inclusivity, our vegan potluck series also encourages a fragrance-free environment, for the comfort of chemically-sensitive individuals. 

Over the last couple of years the series has scaled back to just four seasonal gatherings a year- our next one celebrates the Winter Solstice- but we started archiving our history online through our blog back in 2006, so you’ll find posters and information on the last 44 potlucks hosted here in the Denman hall since 2004, ranging from guest speaker and anti GMO farmer Percy Schmeiser, to our recent screening of ‘The Cove’, this year’s Oscar winning best feature documentary on the plight of dolphins in Japan.

The potluck series blog is also a valuable educational tool, providing links to information sources to do with all of the material we have featured during the series archived history, and a listing of over 16 films in our collection available for loan to islanders for private or group viewing

Some of the island initatives that have taken shape through discussions shared at the potluck series have included a successful petition to DIRA in favor of declaring Denman, in principle, a GMO crop free zone, following in the footsteps of Powell River- the first municipality in Canada to set such an example. And Denman Donderdag- likewise a solidarity initiative, advocating in it’s case, the reduction of animal product consumption as a deliberate community-based political act. 

Like Meat-Free Fridays, or Meatless Mondays, in other communities around the world, Ghent Donderdag is meat-free Thursday in Ghent, Belgium…the first city in the world to go as far as legislating one meat-free day a week, so that all government offices, hospitals, schools, and other public institutions are expected to provide healthful meat free meals as a deliberate response in large part to the growing problem of global warming and the widespread impact animal agribusiness is having on climate change.

Please visit www.denmandonderdag.blogspot.com to support this kind of consciousness raising transition work in our community in your own circles on and off island, and for further information and links to inspirational resources. [For information on Denman Island's fledgling Veganiculture Association, DIVA, pleaes click here.]

So the Community Vegan potluck Series has always been for everyone, but does strive to provide a comfortable environment where those of us who choose not to eat any animals at all can enjoy sharing our culture of choice and the reasons for it with family, friends and extended community. 

Come celebrate the Winter Solstice with us and enjoy the fruits of the earth at our next friendly gathering!

Sunday, September 19th, 2010

Fall Equinox Community Potluck

You are invited to join in on a fabulous harvest feast at Denman’s annual Fall Equinox Community Vegan Potluck scheduled for Sunday, September 19^th, 6:30 pm in the Back Hall. As always, food lovers of every persuasion welcome! Any 100% plant-based entrée, salad, dessert or single-item dish (free of eggs, dairy, honey and gelatin, please) that all may share is a suitable contribution. Please bring a list of ingredients along with your offering.

The now quarterly potluck series originated in 1996, and almost always includes an after dinner presentation concerning topical environmental and/or social justice issues. Anyone interested in marine ecology and dolphins in particular will appreciate our September 19^th screening of The Cove.

Winner of the 2010 Oscar for ‘best feature documentary’, The Cove introduces us to Richard O’Barry, the man who once trained the various marine mammals named ‘Flipper’ for the popular 1960’s tv show. That series essentially spawned Sea World and countless other aquariums around the world where dolphins perform stunts and interact with human beings. O’Barry now spends his life trying to make it up to our cetacean friends, and is determined to help bring about the end of the secretive capture and slaughter of thousands of dolphins that takes place in Japan between Sept. and March each year.

According to movie critic Alonso Duralde, “The result is some of the most exciting filmmaking you’ll see this year —The Cove could very well change not only the face of nature documentaries but also laws, policy and attitudes toward the life and death of dolphins.“

Our dolphin-friendly potluck series is also designated ‘scent-free’ for inclusivity! Admission is by donation towards expenses (suggested $3 per person). For further information about The Cove, please visit http://www.takepart.com/thecove

The Cove PSA -My Friend Is... 2 min. version Directed by Andres Useche Produced by Fisher Stevens, Lina Esco, Chris Gartin from Andres Useche on Vimeo.

SUNDAY, JUNE 20th SOLSTICE POTLUCK!

Coal on the Menu at Solstice Potluck

Denman Island environmentalists host a community vegan potluck supper four times a year, and everyone is invited to come celebrate Summer Solstice (and Father’s Day!) at the next one scheduled for Sunday June 20th. The series provides a friendly forum for food lovers of every persuasion to enjoy a healthful meal together that all may share. Any 100% plant-based entrée, salad, dessert or single item dish is a suitable contribution (also excluding dairy, honey and gelatin, please!)

Coal is indeed on the menu, as special guest speaker Tria Donaldson, Outreach Coordinator with the Western Canada Wilderness Committee is this potluck's featured guest speaker. Tria will be sharing an informative audio visual presentation after dinner on this timely topic.

“Coal is widely regarded as one of the dirtiest fossil fuels,” says Tria. “And yet here in BC we are in the midst of a massive increase in our coal mining industry, at the very same time we are claiming to be a climate leader.”

Tria will talk about climate change, coal mining, and the environmental impacts of the proposed Raven underground Coal Project. The Western Canada Wilderness Committee always has many different campaigns on the go and the lack of endangered species legislation in BC is another issue the Committee is engaged in educating the public about.

Tria is an active volunteer with several organizations, including the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Sierra Youth Coalition and Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. She has worked on numerous social justice and environmental causes – like access to education, anti-racism, and campus sustainability. Tria is very passionate about engaging young people in social activism, and to this end she helped organize Power Shift Canada, the largest youth climate conference in Canadian history. She recently traveled to Copenhagen with the Canadian Youth Delegation for the climate talks, and was the Project Manager for goBeyond, a youth driven climate project that works with 12 post-secondary institutions in BC.

Islanders and others are invited to come on out and support Tria’s voluntary trip to Denman to share WC²’s presentation in the DI Community Hall on June 20^th, as well as to ienjoy a great meal with friends, neighbours and visitors in celebration of the Summer Solstice. Dinner gets underway at 6:30 pm, and admission is by donation ($3 suggested towards expenses). There is no set time for the after dinner presentation which always gets underway whenever diners have finished their meal.

Please note thtat the potluck series is designated ‘scent-free for inclusivity’ in consideration of individuals with chemical sensitivity.The Community Hall is a short walk up the ferry hill for off islanders who park in Buckley Bay to arrive on the 6:00 pm sailing.

March 21 Spring Equinox Potluck

Come celebrate the arrival of spring at the next Denman Community Vegan Potluck, scheduled for Sunday, March 21st at 6:30 pm in the BackHall!

This month, in honor of International Women’s Day, our after dinner presentation will be the highly acclaimed documentary, Tough Guise- an insightful exploration of the relationship between pop-cultural imagery and the social construction of masculine identities, particularly in [North] American culture. The film features Jackson Katz, a leading anti-sexist male activist who is the co-founder of the Mentors in Violence Prevention programs. Primarily directed towards liberating youth culture from stereotypes, Tough Guise is a must see, too, for women and men of any age who are concerned about healthy, safe community for all. (Scroll down for a video clip introducing the film)

As always, food lovers of every persuasion are invited to attend! Any 100% plant-based contribution (free of dairy, eggs, honey and gelatin) is suitable- nothing fancy required. The great diversity of salads, entrees, dessert and single item dishes that always manage to arrive create a bountiful meal that all may enjoy.

This year’s Spring Equinox potluck also coincides with the 25th anniversary of Meat-Out- an international, educational event about the power of our individual food choices that has spread to over 29 countries in the past quarter century. Please vist the links list on the right to a long list of articles on the relationship between our dietary choices, global warming and other environmental concerns, personal health and animal welfare.

Admission is by donation (recommended $3 towards expenses). And thanks for remembering that all potluck events are designated scent free for the comfort of community members with chemical sensitivities. See you there for a fabulous Spring Equinox smorgasbord!

Below is a short video clip introducing "Tough Guise". See you there!

Spring is just around the corner!

Well, it doesn't feel like winter yet, even though the crossquarter at Brighid is imminent! Honoring Brighid on January 31st (actual date, Feb 2nd), will be a Dineout for Haiti in the Back Hall.

Our next community vegan potluck is scheduled for Sunday, March 20th. Stay tuned!

Please click on the words 'older post', OR look on the right (scroll down) for the list of links to older entries here featuring several years of past potluck presentations.