Committed vegan and not-afraid-to-get-her-hands-bloody type Chrisse Hynde (left, click image to enlarge) has recently done a Q&A with the delightfully-monikered Fish & Chimps, PETA Europe's very own blog.

The conversation doesn't contain a great many surprises for those familar with The Pretenders frontwoman's career as an activist, although it is interesting to hear her restate that her music career is of secondary importance in her life:

"I consider myself an animal activist first and my music as more of a hobby that gives me a platform to fight for animals."

Hynde goes on to select the highlights of her life as an animal activist and share her views on PETA's "provactive" tactics, while over on PETA's main site are a couple of new Pretenders tracks - from new album Break Up The Concrete - available for streaming.

Read the PETA blog Q&A here

Check out The Pretenders' new tracks here

Gone are the days when the most fun you had as a veggie was deciding between omelette and lasagne in restaurants: now, we get our own clubs, blogs and even TV stations - with British internet broadcaster Veggie Vision, founded and presented by Karin Ridges, leading the way in meat-free entertainment.

What might vegetarians want to watch that the rest of the planet doesn't, you might well wonder. In much the same mind, I went to investigate the site.

I do love the Vegetarian Awards. Each year, they represent an extra little bit of progress being made towards a society where eating meat just isn't seen as necessary anymore, because there's so much to recommend life without it: great places to eat, tempting treats and a wider choice of vegetarian body products to name but three motivations. Follow the jump to see the final nominations!

Now, you could roam far and wide desperately seaching for egg-free, vegan friendly pasta. Or you could make it yourself, with total control over the ingredients, quickly and easily without a pasta maker.

This tutorial on Instructables tells you how to do just that, The ingredient list is short and simple, and the instructions are nice a clear. Plus you'll wow everyone by making your own pasta!

Related: Mother Hemp Hemp and Spelt Pasta | Ugo bespoke organic pasta

Which is worse, fur or meat? In their latest campaign, animal welfare campaigners PETA have turned their attentions from 'celebs who wear fur' to 'celebs who aren't vegetarians'.

Jessica Simpson was among the first to be singled out after appearing in a T-shirt emblazened with the mysterious claim that "Real Girls Eat Meat". (Some reckon it's a dig at her boyfriend Tony Romo's vegetarian ex-girlfriend, Carrie Underwood. But still?) They've certainly increased the size of the target, and a big target's easier to hit, but one has to ask: aren't there better things to hate Jessica Simpson for?

Related: Gore 'too chicken' to go vegetarian, says PETA | Olsen twins get the PETA treatment | Best veggie products to satify your omnivorous urges

I'm curious to know where the sudden surge in vegan-friendly sex toys has come from. Could it be that a dairy-free diet promotes such health and vitality that our vegan friends are in a perpetual state of arousal? Or is it perhaps that most of these items have always been entirely cow-free but are only now starting to be labelled as such? Either way, it's good to know that you can enjoy a bit of hanky-panky without any livestock involved...

And it's no longer just your 'standard' lubricants and rubber johnnies that are going vegan these days either -- a quick glance through a popular online sex toy emporium brought up a vegan-friendly blindfold vegan-friendly cock rings and even a vegan-friendly ball gag (well, I guess if it's going on your mouth you do want to be sure).

On a more serious note, we are all concerned about chemicals we put into our bodies when they're in the form of food, so why should sex aids be any different? Follow the jump for a video on why the natural and vegan-friendly sex aid industry is growing!

Unless you're very careful about sourcing your food, it's now widely accepted that a vegetarian or preferably vegan diet has a lower environmental impact than one that's based around animal products.

As part of the launch of National Veggie Week, the Vegetarian Society put on a special screening in London's Leicester Square of Meat the Truth, a new film from Dutch director Nicolaas G. Pierson that aims to expose the contribution to worldwide greenhouse gas levels by the livestock industry. There's more info on the film here if you'd like to check out a screening new you.

Related: Top five veggie products to satisfy your omnivorous urges

I've been veggie since I was seven years old, but I'm not too proud to admit that the smell of sizzling bacon still gets my juices going, and that I sometimes get mad cravings for protein. I've never caved in and gone back to the 'pleasures of the flesh', but my success is at least in part due to the abundance of meat-imitating products out there that more than make up for the lack of animal products in my diet.

So if you're considering going veggie this week but are concerned about missing out on your favourite meaty treats, here's my top five veggie product that will make the transition almost effortless.

Follow the jump for the full list

1. Linda McCartney Veggie Sausages

Before Linda's range appeared on the shelves, most veggie sausages were little more than mashed up veg squished into a rather anaemic looking sausage shape and sold mostly in dusty health food shops. I'm still occasionally partial to a well-made vegetable-based sausage, but if it's a greasy fry-up you want or some substantial sausages to go with your mash and veggie gravy, it's got to be Linda McCartney's every time. Made from soya protein and gently flavoured to be much like 'real' bangers, the sausages are the one items I always make sure I have in my freezer.

It seems as though Leona Lewis is pretty serious about following in the footsteps of Natalie Portman by launching her own vegan fashion line.

The vegetarian singing sensation, who is currently in Australia to promote her new album, is reportedly "determined" to start her own ethical range of fashion goods. And if so-called 'talks' continue, we could soon be seeing a brand new label from the star who is keen to give fellow vegans more choice when it comes to their wardrobes.

[via Catwalk Queen]

This story really got the feminist and committed veggie sides of me in a bit of a tussle: lads' mag Maxim has just revealed its Top 10 Sexiest Veggies to rival Peta's list, proving that it's quite possible to show off plenty of flesh without actually eating any...

Featuring such beauties as American Pie's Shannon Elizabeth, Pamela Anderson and Avril Lavigne (pictured), the list was topped by Natalie Portman, a deserving winner who in addtion to shunning meat, does not wear fur, feathers or leather. She also designs a fabulous footwear line in association with Te Casan. It's enough to make the average lentil muncher feel quite inadequate...

The full list is available here for your viewing pleasure.

Voting is now taking place for the Yaoh Vegan Environmentalist Awards! This is a great chance for those of us who don't feel the need to pillage the planet for our plates to celebrate the achievements of those who really get out there and spread the vegan word. 64 different figures in the vegan community are pitted against one another in eight different categories, and it's up to us to decide who the real heroes are...

So come on, will it be Rubber Ritchie or Long John Tofu who tops your list of vegan entertainers? What publication do you swear by for your vegan news? Do you count down the days till your annual fix of the London Vegan Festival, or are the Incredible Veggie Roadshows more your bag? Get online and get voting at the Bristol Vegan Fayre website. The winners will be announced on June 1st at the Bristol Vegan Fayre.

This weekend, I got the chance to see Tim Burton's long-awaited Sweeny Todd movie. I was as impressed by Johnny Depp's singing and amused by Sacha Baron-Cohen's cameo as most, but it only occurred to me today that the film is having a curious impact on several of my carnivorous friends: none of them can touch red meat since seeing the film!

I have to say, this is something I approve of wholeheartedly, and hope that the abstention continues! The question is, will Sweeney Todd do for the red meat industry what Jamie Oliver did for chicken farming? Sales of organic and free range chicken are up by 50% this week following his campaign along with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I'd be interested to see if a similar 'Sweeney Todd effect' takes place in the steak counter...

The creators of vegan diet cookbook “Skinny Bitch” are back with another paean to the weight-loss potential of an animal-free diet. “Skinny Bitch in the Kitch” picks up where its predecessor left off, teaching readers to eschew meat and dairy on the grounds that both are hard to break down, and – you guessed it – make you fat. As someone who lost a significant amount of weight by going vegan, I’m obviously rather biased, but I’m aware that it’s not the same for everyone – and it’s a bit of a reductive statement to say “going vegan makes you thin”. That’s not what this book does, thankfully.

Despite persistent poking from the Vegetarian Society, chocolate giant Mars is still putting animal rennet -- a substance derived from calves' stomachs -- in some of its top selling products, it was reported today.

All hell broke loose for Mars last year, when a decision to quietly add the ingredient to previously veggie-friendly products including Malteesers and Galaxy bars was rumbled and made public by unhappy vegetarians. Eventually, the company backed down and withdrew its decision. But it has since emerged that several products remain unsuitable for non meat eaters. The offending lines include Milky Way, Celebrations and Twix.

What's the easiest way to piss off a vegetarian A-lister at Christmas? Celebrity skin care doctor, Neetu Nirdosh found out the answer pretty quickly this festive season, when he sent staunch veggie Victoria Beckham a load of skincare products -- presented in the carcass of a turkey.

It seems pretty unlikely that VB will be applying any of the products, which had presumably got quite intimate with giblets prior to the big day. Dr Nirdosh clearly did not do much in the way of reasearch, as while she doesn't make a big deal of the fact, it is well known Victoria is a strict veggie and -- unlike many of her fellow fashionistas -- refuses to wear fur.

[Via Ecorazzi]