October is the third Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MOFO)! Vegan superstar Isa Chandra Moskowitz started the tradition three years ago as the vegan community's answer to NANOWRIMO. For the month of October, food bloggers all over the internet are going to be talking about vegan eats.

When folks think about veganism they imagine weirdly-textured baked goods and loads and loads of salads. That's just not accurate at all! I promise that I could never, ever live like that. The folks behind Vegan MOFO want to debunk that way of thinking with delicious vegan recipes.

Why Veganism is Awesome
On top of veganism's health benefits, plant-based foods are better for animals and for the environment. According to Greenpeace Brazil, cattle ranching is responsible for 80% of Amazon deforestation. Factory farming, which produces most of the conventional meat on supermarket shelves, is terrible for animals and for the environment. If you want to get an idea of what life is like for animals in factory farms, check out this hatchery video. On top of that, meat production is a notorious source of pollution. It might even pose risks to human health beyond high cholesterol and heart disease. Some folks even suspect pig farming is to blame for the H1N1 swine flu virus.

Animal-based foods are resource-intensive. You can't just account for the land and water it takes to raise all of those cows, pigs, and chickens. Don't forget that those animals need to eat, too. Rather than growing food for human consumption, farmers grow over 60% of the grains in the U.S. to feed livestock. Imagine how many people all of that grain would feed if it went straight into the food supply!

Cutting out or cutting back on the animal products in your diet can have such a huge environmental impact, and you don't have to feel deprived for a minute! Vegan MOFO is going to be full of motivating stories, photos, and recipes for anyone curious about a vegan diet.

How to Get Involved
If you want to take part in this year's Vegan MOFO, it's easy! Head over to Kittee's blog to check out the list of participating bloggers. If you want to participate, just leave a comment! They're looking for folks to post every weekday for the month of October, which works out to 20 posts over the month. Just tag your posts "veganmofo 2009," so other MOFOers will be able to find you.

If you want to learn more about Vegan MOFO, there are some great MOFO threads over at the Post Punk Kitchen!

Are any of you guys planning to give this a shot? I can't wait to see all of the awesome vegan food porn!

Image Credit:
Vegan Cupcakes. Creative Commons photo by Cara B Anderson