Valley Weekend : KIDS : Giving Thanks for a Vegetarian Lifestyle : Moms and youngsters will share their chosen cuisine Saturday in a vegan potluck picnic--no meat, no eggs, no dairy.

This Saturday, a few days before Thanksgiving, is the day chosen by a group of San Fernando Valley moms to take their kids to a vegetarian potluck picnic in the park.

No, they’re not killjoys out to brainwash their little ones against knocking off turkeys and piggies for the holiday table. They and their children are already committed to this non-meat eating lifestyle, and, in a week when everybody in town is thinking about food, food, food, these moms think it’s a fine time to speak up about their chosen cuisine.

The mothers, including Lisa Harris, Suzanne Strahan, Janice Batzdorf and Carla Itkin, are bringing their kids to a first meeting of what they hope will be an ongoing Vegetarian Kids Club. “We want our kids, who are all between 2 and 4 now, to see some other kids eating the same way they do at home,” Harris said. And they are hoping that all other vegetarians, or vegan wanna-bes, will bring their children to the picnic.

These families, who hail from Agoura Hills to North Hollywood, have been raising their kids on a vegan diet--no meat, eggs or dairy--since the children were born. These are the kind of dishes they are asking folks to bring to Saturday’s picnic, with enough to share with six to eight people. For this particular occasion, they also want picnickers to bring their own plates, utensils, cups and drinks--to decrease waste and make for easy cleanup. For those needing recipes, call (310) 281-1907.

* The initial meeting of the Vegetarian Kids Club, and a family vegetarian potluck, will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Travel Town in Griffith Park (From the Ventura Freeway, exit at Forest Lawn Drive . ) Call Lisa Harris, (213) 969-9308, or the Vegetarian Society Inc. Hot Line, (310) 281-1907.

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There are going to be more opportunities for vegetarian kids in the Valley to see other children eating food like they eat--if Sandy Gooch has her way. She founded Mrs. Gooch’s, a health-oriented food-store chain that she recently sold. Now Gooch--in concert with parents and school staff, some environmental groups and the Service Employees International Union Local 99--is devoting her prodigious energies to a new, nonprofit organization, the Healthy School Meal Team.

“Incorporating alternative food choices into the main menu of the public schools is our goal,” she said. That means a lot of vegetarian dishes because they are less fattening, have fewer chemicals and are more nutritious, she said.

On Tuesday the Healthy School Meal Team held a sort of open house at Venice High School. Next week they’re meeting with representatives of Valley College to set a date for a similar event there. The purpose is to let parents and kids taste products like veggie hot dogs, soy cheese pizzas, organic chili tamales, organic juices and even animal-fat-free cookies, which the group is lobbying the Los Angeles Unified School District to add to their current school meal offerings.

* Parents or kids who want information on the Healthy School Meal Team’s campaign to incorporate alternative food choices into menus at Valley schools in the LAUSD can call Sandy Gooch at (818) 905-9667.

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* READ ON: For teen-agers interested in the vegetarian lifestyle, there’s a new book out, “A Teen’s Guide to Going Vegetarian,” by Judy Krizmanic. (Penguin/Puffin Paperback 1994; available at major bookstores for $6.99.) The author gets right to the nitty-gritty, from a teen’s standpoint, addressing questions like “Feeling sluggish?” “Trying to shed a few pounds?” “Training for the team?” and “Where do I get this stuff?”