VIXENS' SAUCY VEGAN MESSAGE FORGET MEAT, FOCUS ON THESE GAMS.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

AGOURA HILLS - Nothin' like turnips. Or collard greens. Or red-ripe tomatoes - not as salad fixin's, but as turn-ons.

The Vegan Vixens, a band of scantily clad Los Angeles babes, have become world sirens for the produce section. And for weaning men off meat.

``We want to lure guys who would normally never be interested in veganism'' - a pure vegetarian diet with no dairy products, said Vixen founder Sky Valencia, an aspiring actress who lives in Granada Hills.

``Then we educate 'em, without their even knowing what hit 'em.''

With apple-smooth legs and more cleavage than a bin of eggplant, the five Vegan Vixens have become the darlings of the animal-rights circuit.

A New York tabloid called them ``the soy of sex.'' A London newspaper said the Vixens ``bite beef eaters.''

Five episodes of their ``Vegan Vixen Show'' - a variety show offering everything from bean dip to pillow fights to sexy innuendo - have singed cable channels from Los Angeles to New York.

They've starred on Howard Stern's radio program; he threatened to torture small animals if they didn't strut their stuff. They've partied at the Playboy Mansion. They've appeared on local radio. They've published a racy cookbook. They've pushed to get onto hunky Spike TV.

And the small group of twenty- to thirtysomething women have brought burlesque to the animal-rights movement with the explicit goal of promoting diets bereft of juicy steaks, fat cheeseburgers and barbecued ribs.

``We get e-mails from all over the world (from women) asking to become Vegan Vixens,'' said Valencia, a statuesque blond who put out a casting call this month - and got 60 more applicants. ``They have to show talent and be really good onstage.''

During a Thursday night fund-raiser to save Canadian baby harp seals at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, the Vixens appeared in glittering bowlers and slippery corsets, showing lots of leg.

``Veganism isn't just about being a hippy with Birkenstocks,'' said Tanjareen Martin, a vegan actress who lives in Toluca Lake. ``It can also be sexy, hip, cool.''

Martin, who was raised in Inglewood, said she's preparing a vegan soul food dinner for Thanksgiving ``and inviting all my friends from the 'hood.''

There's also Helen Tsai, a student and acupuncturist from Santa Monica. Casey Krebs, who runs a Jewish retreat in Malibu. And Kimmy Somers, a Northridge native who teaches severely handicapped children in Long Beach.

Valencia, who once had a caddy service of sexy girls, sang in an all- girl rock group called Shock Baby and modeled for Frederick's of Hollywood, also rescues pit bulls for her St. Martin's Animal Foundation in Acton.

The vixens cruise across Los Angeles in their veggie-oil-powered van like multicultural Charlie's Angels, blessing all that sprouts from Mother Earth.

``We're so L.A.,'' said Tsai. ``Sexy women. The beach ... spirituality. We're vegans; we're compassionate toward everybody.''

The vampish Vixens drew various reviews.

``I thought it was great,'' said Liz Forbess, 47, of Ojai, after watching the group's burlesque act. ``I wonder whether they're soccer moms or Thousand Oaks hookers?''

Men said no woman, no matter how hot, could be sexy enough to make them give up porterhouse steak.

``You can have a vegetarian barbecue - but naaaaaaw, where's the meat?'' said Thomas Fry, 33, of Camarillo.

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) Tanjareen Martin, left, Sky Valencia, center, and Helen Tsai of Vegan Vixens perform at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer