They say everyone's a bit Irish on St. Patrick's Day. You know—just like everyone's a little gay during Pride Week. Or is that just me? Whatever. The point is that even if you could never pass for a resident of the Emerald Isle, March 17 is a great day to go vegan. After all, why settle for the "wearin' of the green" once a year when you can eat your greens every day?

Photo: Hillary.Ryland | cc by 2.0

Need more convincing? Here, in no particular order, are seven lucky reasons why you should go vegan on St. Paddy's Day: 

Green beer is OK, but green veggies are even better.

1. Green meat? Ewww!
2. Speaking of green, meat isn't.
   Vegan foods are the most eco-friendly—you'll be so green that you won't have to worry about getting pinched on St. Paddy's, no matter what color you're wearing.
3. What's more Irish than potatoes and cabbage?
   Put 'em together (with some leeks, soy milk, and seasonings) and you get colcannon—a dish so Irish it'll make you name your daughters Faith and Begorrah.
4. Even the Irish can't live on colcannon alone.
   Happily, vegan foods are as varied as they are delicious—try bean burritos, sesame noodles, falafel, spinach lasagne, spicy coconut-pineapple curry, and roasted veggie pizza, just to name a few. Is it time for lunch yet?
5. Ready to raise a pint?
   Guinness Extra Stout is vegan (in North America, at least), and there are plenty of other vegan beers, ales, stouts, lagers, etc.—any one of which will be better for you than drinking fat-, cholesterol-, and sugar-laden milk.
6. If your health is a concern (as it should be), you won't need the luck o' the Irish to stay fit if you're eating the vegan way.
   Folks who eat balanced vegan meals are generally leaner, live longer, and have a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, and strokes.
7. Animals on factory farms suffer.
   They're crammed into crates, deprived of exercise and sunlight, pumped full of hormones, fed unnatural junk, and then violently slaughtered. By going vegan, you'll give them cause for celebration too!

Of course, whether or not it's St. Patrick's Day, the best time to go vegan is always the same—right now!

When Olivia Munn cohosted the Today Show with Hoda Kotb on St. Patrick's Day, Hoda mentioned that her ex-husband proposed to her while they were riding in a horse-drawn carriage. Uh-oh.

 
 
There wasn't enough green beer in the studio to make Olivia let that remark go unchallenged. 

"Did you guys just watch an 80s chick flick and then go off, and then did you realize that it's really horrible to ride in those carriages with those poor horses?" she asked.

A chagrined Hoda said that it seemed romantic at the time but turned out not to be.

"Do you not regret it?" Olivia asked.

Hoda replied, "Well, yeah, 'cause I'm divorced!" 

"'Cause you were in a carriage ride in Central Park!" Olivia declared.

Well played, Olivia, well played.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, PETA is giving away a six-pack of tall, cold beers—root beers, that is. The refreshing sodas are courtesy of Jones Soda, the company whose bottles are as much fun as their contents.

To enter, just complete the following phrase, "I help change animals' luck by …." The reader whose story most inspires us will have his or her own luck o' the Irish by scooping up these six sweet sodas.

The contest ends on March 30, 2011, and the winner will be chosen April 1, 2011. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law.

Good luck!

Written by Michelle Sherrow

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cygnus921/ / CC BY 2.0

I've already taken it upon myself to make St. Patrick's Day into St. Patrick's Week. I've been gorging on "steak" and stout pie and Irish whiskey cake for days now—all washed down with some delicious vegan beer.

"Vegan beer?" you might ask. While hops and oats seem vegan-friendly enough, gelatin, casein, and honey are among the many animal-derived ingredients that may be found in nonvegan beers. But not to fear! From Corona to Miller and from Pabst to Yuengling, tons of widely available beers are cruelty-free, which makes it so easy to make your St. Patty's Day a compassionate one. Here's a list of some of my personal St. Patty's Day favorites:

• Killian's Irish Red
• Heineken
• Magners Irish Pear Cider
• Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout

Today—and every time you drink—make sure that your beverage of choice is cruelty-free by checking out this comprehensive list of vegan beers. What's your favorite humane beer?

Written by Logan Scherer

Have a fantastic, delicious, and compassionate St. Patrick's Day. Enjoy our e-card, straight from the PETA Files to you!

Top o' the mornin' and happy St. Patrick's Day to you! Since you'd never find a real leprechaun at a KFC (leprechauns are far too smart for that), PETA sent out our own sexy Leprechaun Ladies to encourage passersby to opt for pots of gold, not buckets of chicken. Check out these photos for a leprechaun sighting that doesn't require a rainbow:

This sexy Leprechaun Lady encouraged people to go for the gold, not the chicken, this St. Patrick's Day.

That greasy bucket looks even less appetizing when you see who suffered for it.

This driver got an eyeful and an education.

"Even on St. Patty's Day, chickens raised and killed for KFC are the unluckiest animals in the world," says PETA Leprechaun Lady Kristina Addington. "Once people find out about the cruelty behind every bucket of chicken, they won't eat at KFC for all the pots of gold in the world."

Written by Lianne Turner