My friend Jack, who is vegan, recently informed me about the use of animal products -- particularly gelatin -- in beer production, and how it's low on the radar of most folks.

While I'm not at all vegan (or even vegetarian for that matter) I am friends with many people of both persuasions (hey, more sausages for me!). Out of respect for my friends' dietary choices and their full enjoyment of a cold one, this is of concern to me.

Also, it's not just veggies who get the shaft when beer companies use animal products rather than say, the more innocuous seaweed, as their clarifying agent. It's also bad juju for folks who follow kosher Jewish dietary restrictions (forget about having certain beers with a grilled cheese!), some followers of Hinduism, and folks who do not eat beef products, or who avoid certain types of beef (gelatin being of particular concern). It is also off-putting to folks like me who see using animal products in this case as unnecessary and strange, as well as sneaky and insensitive on the part of breweries to not be more forthright with consumers -- even if, admittedly, people with dietary restrictions should be vigilant.

I don't understand this choice by breweries, even if it is a cost-cutting measure, again because there exists a less controversial alternative in seaweed. By using animal products they are alienating a small but significant portion of their market, and by keeping it on the down low they're opening themselves up to lawsuits.

Anyway, lucky for you the internets are here so you can find a safe beer for your next mixed-diet BBQ!

And what do you know? NorCali craft beer represent! Yay for two of my favorites -- Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in the town of my collegiate alma mater, and the Bay Area's finest Anchor Brewing Company -- being given the all-clear.

I read an excellent article today in local and seasonal focus, free foodie mag Edible East Bay about one of my favorite foods, the sea vegetable.

Growing up with a Japanese mother, I was introduced early on to the tastiness of seaweed. I’ve also been privy to its use as a component in tissue engineering, thanks to my college friend Tim who would routinely begin the evening with an entire flask of Taaka, his confidence unshaken that someday he’d get a new liver that would be grown in a vat.

But I was unaware of the huge sea vegetable industry in California and Ireland, and seaweed's almost unreal health benefits. I think everyone should try to integrate just a bit of this superfood into your diet; to encourage folks the mag included a luscious recipe in the article, which I will use here to therefore encourage you, ma peeps.

Cooking savant, instigator of creative pantry-clean-out suppers, and nutrition nut that I am, I love recipes that seem loony and jacked up for most people but are good for you and taste divine. Plus, for all my dirt-twirler peeps, this one’s vegan, and cheap! Trust me, this one’s a goodun…

Sea Palm Fettuccine with Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Pesto:

1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 bunch cilantro
2 tbsp olive or flax oil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt to taste

Puff pumpkin seeds on stove over heat for 1-2 minutes. Combine all pesto ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add salt to taste.

Fettuccine:

2 oz sea palm fronds
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 tbsp ghee or olive oil
2 1/2 cups water
2 red bell peppers, chopped
2 small zucchini, chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts
Sea salt and lemon to taste
Cilantro for garnish

Freshen the sea palm by soaking them in a large bowl of water for 20 minutes. Toast the pine nuts for 3-4 minutes. Drain the sea palm. Heat olive oil or ghee in a saucepan, add garlic, and then sea palm; sauté for 3 minutes. Add water and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes.

Sauté peppers and zucchini. When sea palm is tender, drain and add to vegetables. Stir in toasted pine nuts. Add lemon juice and salt to taste. Distribute between 4 plates, top with a dollop of pesto, and garnish with cilantro. Serves 4.