Greetings Vegan Chicagoans,
This month marks our 9-year anniversary so I thought I would send a super quick little update as to the state of our lil' meetup group of Vegan Chicago. Please read on!

DINE OUT RECAP
Our 108th monthly dine-out marking nine years was hosted by Native Foods where we nommed our way through their completely vegan menu and raffled off prizes. These prizes included a $20 & $50 NF gift certificate, two NF cookbooks, a NF shopping bag and mug and everybody took home a $10 NF gift card. Debra did a killer job once again in organizing the dine-out but made this one extra special to celebrate the occasion. Big thanks to everybody who joined us and I hope everybody had a great time. Pictures have been posted and can be checked out here. Vegan Chicago's 9-year Anniversary Meetup at Native Foods Cafe 

VEGAN CHICAGO SWAG
Another thing we gave away was a special limited edition 9-year anniversary cosmic Vegan Chicago button! It shines, it sparkles, it's vegantastic! Look at it go!

Cosmic!

LOGO
Our logo on that fancy button could be a bit of a Rorschach to look at but for those who may be unaware it incorporates the 6-pointed star of our Chicago Flag. It features a rabbit silhouette as an ambassador for other animals. Just saying...I'm sure you knew that already.

MISSION
So a few years back we updated our mission to take vegan advocacy off our agenda. With so many reasons people eschew animals we had to default into a vegan support group instead of an advocacy group. This was the fairest route for all until we could figure out something better. As a meetup group this made the most sense and I'm sure we'll continue to hone our mission in the future. Read more about that here: Vegan Chicago's Mission 

BALONEY DETECTION
One of the best ways I could think of to support the group was to promote critical thinking skills. That may sound dry and boring but it's a very handy and empowering skill. It's rarely taught in schools and it takes constant practice but it's so incredible important. I wished I would have discovered it way earlier but it makes me that much more excited to share this with a my niched group of compatriots. 

I took the ideas from our last featured book club book: Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan and distilled his "baloney detection kit" into a tent card that we gave away at Chicago Vegan Mania. We just ordered a new round so if you would like a guide with a NO BALONEY button just find me at a meetup and ask! Our corresponding virtual version will become more comprehensive and is located on the site here: Baloney Detection 

No baloney!

SPEAKERS & PODCAST
December of last year we started off early with a rare speaker event and featured Dr. Kevin Folta who talked about GMOs. We partnered with the Chicago Skeptic meetup group and recorded his presentation and posted it as a podcast. We hope to do more like this when opportunities become available. Until then please check out the podcast here: Vegan Chicago Podcast #001 Dr. Kevin Folta - Frankenfoods: Cornerstones of the Next Green Revolution

BOOK CLUB
Soon after the new year we started a new book club event too. It sorta petered out and we've learned that a book club needs a bit more tender loving care to nurture them along. We really love this idea of a book club so we plan on kick-starting it again with a more dedicated organizer. If you're interested, please check out this survey about our new book club: Book Club Survey 
 
What book is next?

NUTRITION
Another new idea we toyed with was a small group session with a local Registered Dietitian for a crash course on vegan nutrition. With everybody and they momma acting as an armchair nutritionist nowadays it's more important than ever to be skeptical of ill-qualified individuals or quacks. While we're far from a health group we are interested in making sure our members get access to the best information to keep them sustainably and happily vegan.

Beware of "nutritionists".

ORGANIZERS
This year we also added a whole slew of new volunteer organizers with very specific roles for greater efficiency and focus. It's been working great for us and they've been doing a stellar job. Vegan Chicago would be but a shadow of itself without their continuous dedication. Big props to them all! Check em out here: Vegan Chicago Leadership Team 

derp!

EXHIBITING
Recently we tabled at the Chicago Vegan Mania festival let people who were vegan know we were here to support them. We had a grand time and gave away every last baloney detection guide, Vegan Chicago button and business card we had! Assistant organizer, Mauricio made this fabulous Vegan Chicago timeline that could only go back to 2004 but still was hella impressive! Check out the photos here: Vegan Chicago Meetup at Chicago VeganMania!

Vegan Chicago timeline display

FUTURE
So you see, we've so busy but we have even moar awesome things in store and new ideas bubbling up all the time! Keep your web browser tuned into Vegan Chicago and catch them as they become available. Thanks for coming out in 2011 and hope to see more of you in 2012!

Cheers,
-Dave Dandelion and the Vegan Chicago Crew