Vegetable Shredder – Matt Gauck

NAME: Matt Gauck

LOCATION: Portland, Oregon

OCCUPATION: Freelance Illustrator

Where do you like skating? Portland is great, but Raleigh, NC will always be my favorite.

Why did you go Veg? I got interested in vegetarianism when I heard about Proctor and Gamble doing animal testing, and that was when I was 16, working at a grocery store that sold things like Tide, and I remember thinking it was super messed up, and people just didn’t know these things. I actually went ‘for real’ vegetarian when I moved out of my parents place, which was at 17. Then I started reading more and more on the subject, Peter Singer and such, and someplace between that and the punk and diy scene I was a part of, I had about a billion reasons to not eat meat ever again. I jumped up to vegan when I started buying food (I dumpstered 100% of my food for like 5 years there for real).

What is your favorite thing to skate and why? Waxed curb that’s attached to something you can do manual pad tricks on. I think I like the creativity you can bring to it, since it’s such a simple setup. Also there’s way less chance you’ll snap an ankle like I did years ago. That crap sucks.

What shoe are you skating in now? Some Lakai’s I found in a free box. No joke.

Or just say whatever you want about skating Veg…I think anyone involved in a smaller, down-to-earth culture like skateboarding, diy punk, or things like that should look into the politics involved in getting a non-veg meal to your plate. The entire food industry has some very disturbing aspects to it that harm both animals and people. In simplest terms, if you’re skateboarding frequently, then social norms are clearly not your highest priority, and I would urge you to go ahead and press on, and look into the world of food production. Choosing an alternative is super easy. And really, it’s 2012.

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When I found out Matt was behind the Herbivore “Koala Ripper” design I sent knew I had to get in touch with him.  After all, Vegan and Skate culture is kind of what this blog is all about.  Matt designed three of the raddest skateboard stickers around and emblazoned them with VeganSkateBlog!  So if you want to get some of his original art and support the blog, swing over to the shop and pick up a sticker pack. $5 gets you two of each (Avocado Skull, Tofu Curb and Killer Banana) plus for the month of October a special Halloween treat.