Good on you Mr Tom Binh!

[copex]

Hi, I found this site while looking for a non-leather bag to use for work. Being a veggie neo-hippie type, I looked at PETA's website and they sent me here. I'm a Brit, and in the UK, the US sometimes gets a lot of bad press about how our cousins across the pond only care about themselves and hang the animals, the environment, and basically anything else that you can't buy at McDonalds.

Well, good on you Tom Binh and your band of faithful for not following the crowd, for selling environmentally viable products in a world that generally couldn't give a hoot, and donating 10% of the cost of my bag to PETA and the animals.

Now that my faith in people has been restored, I'm gonna go celebrate with a hemp bar!!

[Darcy]

Thanks, copex! It's nice to hear from customers who are influenced by things like environmental standards and animal and non-human animal welfare.

Have any vegan recipes to share?

And what is a hemp bar? That sounds scary!!

[webw]

Actually...

...if the Bristish press should criticize us for anything its our annoying habit of taking great TV shows from the UK and other countries, dumbing them down and launching them, doomed to failure, at an audience that's willing to tune into a show about the courtship and mating trials and tribulations of dwarves (as in the genetically small people). Just got done watching the first season of The Office on DVD and fully expect the wretches in New York to roll something out based on that show, but almost completely unfunny and painful to watch in an American TV sort of way.

Additional cultural notes for our freinds across the pond ... McDonald's would have us believe that it is the standard bearer for healthy eating habits on the heels of announcing the discontinuation of SuperSized fries and drinks. They deny that the move has anything to do with the release of "Supersize Me," a documentary following a guy who ate McD's for 30 days. A link is here.

Not that any of this has to do anything with messenger bags except to say that most of Bihn's bags are large enough to carry enough fries and catsup packets to feed a small country.

[copex]

The Office is indeed one of the funniest things to come out of this country since Tony Blair's foreign policy! I can see David Brent in so many people I know. Of course it's easy to have a go at McDs and so many other US companies, but then if the UK was any better, I'd be able to find a decent ecologically sound bag supplier in this country!!

On the vegan front, favourite recipe is currently Malaysian noodles:

Deep fry cubes of firm tofu in a wok until they're golden brown.
Put them asside and boil some noodles in water.
Drain off most of the oil from wok and stir fry some scallions with garlic and fresh ginger and chilli.
Add coconut milk and simmer until it reduces slightly.
Toss in the deep fried tofu and noodles and remove from heat.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

This takes about 15 mins and is great after work. I haven't put any measurements because it's fun to experiment - enjoy.

Amnesty International produce a great book called something like Quick and Easy Recipes, and it's all authentic vegan stuff from around the world and my favourite cook book. You can buy it online from amnesty.org.

[copex]

Oops, nearly forgot...

...hemp bars...

...pretend candy bar made from hemp seed, but no narcotic effects. They're a bit like cereal bars, and a bit like cardboard...

...to be honest, probably wouldn't bother!!

[Siv]

One of the reasons I got a Tom Bihn bag (other than the fact that the bags and the people that sell them are cool) is that they're veggie friendly.

On a similar note, does anyone know where I can get good looking, comfortable dress/city/office shoes (for men) that are not made from animal skin?

[Darcy]

Have you looked at all the stores here?

http://www.petamall.com/cloth.asp

I think the food part of being a vegan is the easy part because there is so much delicious vegan food out there, but there aren't many good looking vegan shoes. I'm not a big shoe fiend or anything, but I would much prefer a pair of cole haan mary janes to a ugly clunky goth-styled vegan pair.

You can try these folks:

http://www.veganwares.com/

Last I heard they will make you a custom shoe. I ordered a boot from them a few years ago, and they sent me the completely wrong size. I wear a size 9 shoe and they send me a size 11 shoe, which luckily fit my friend, but be really careful about sizing if you order from them! The quality is very good though.

[Tom Bihn]

I suppose you all on this thread might appreciate how much time & energy I've spent trying to find a non-leather material to make the little "palm-wrap" piece for the Brain Bag's handle. I've received samples and leads from various sources but NOTHING has both been strong enough and available in quantities of less than 2 square kilometers.
Best contender right now is a three-laye laminate of foam and cordura. I'll post when we've made some progress.
In the mean time, the Brain bag is the only TOM BIHN product with leather of any kind.