Why not host a party for family or friends on Saturday, the 1st of October, in celebration of World Vegetarian Day? The American Dietetic Association states: “A well-planned vegetarian eating style can be healthful, nutritionally sound, and beneficial for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.” By taking time to treat good friends to a vegetarian meal, you send out a clear message it is possible, and even festive, to choose this healthful and respectful way of life.

Friends of Animals' newly published cookbook, *Dining With Friends: The Art of North American Vegan Cuisine,* offers recipes that will impress your friends with the joy and ease you can bring to vegan food preparation. Celebrate this holiday and your friendships in style with a Walnut Pear Salad with Celery Seed Dressing, or a Tempeh London Broil. Or draw on global influences, from Tofu Hummos with Toasted Cumin Seed to the aromatic Arroz y Habichuelas (Puerto Rican Rice and Beans). Raw foods will be much more than an experiment with Spicy Hijiki salad or a refreshing Mint & Mango juice. Or bring back memories with classic desserts, like Chocolate Marble Cheesecake. Nectar Bat Press makes its debut with this new cookbook. Nectar bats know no border as they naturally delight in the flowering of the agave plant, from which we derive agave nectar. Likewise, pure vegetarianism is an ethic without borders between species or between peoples. We are pleased to offer a truly peaceful, life-affirming cookbook that includes a range of fresh, unique ideas from the playful to the elegant. Author Priscilla Feral says, “It's also the best ethical response to human hunger, to our current environmental predicament, and to respecting the other living beings with whom we share the planet.” Invest in a Vegetarian World! Dining With Friends: The Art of North American Vegan Cuisine (2005). Foreword by John Robbins.