The Vegan 2019 Issue 3

The Vegan 2019 Issue 3

The Vegan Society magazine

CEO GEORGE GILL On 10 years at The Vegan Society

BISH BASH BOSH! Recipes from the ‘food remixers’

£3.00

Editor’s Letter & Contents

Editor’s Letter

H

ow much has The Vegan Society changed in the past decade?

The person best placed to answer this question is CEO George Gill, who this year has reached his ten-year anniversary working with the charity. Turn to page 8 to hear about this experience and to get an insight into George’s plans for our future.

The past months have been jam-packed with exciting events, not least the inaugural Grow Green conference (page 18) which brought together academics, journalists, farmers and more for a series of inspiring talks and panels, all focused on the future of food production in the UK.

At the annual vegan rights conference, which took place in Milan this year, we were delighted to announce that we have formally incorporated the International Vegan Rights Alliance into the work of The Vegan Society. Our article (page 23) explores the reasons behind this important decision and summarises some key topics which were discussed at this year’s conference.

In this issue you can also find some delicious new recipes from the chef duo sensation Bosh! (page 10), who have again taken the publishing world by storm with their second book BISH BASH BOSH! Happy reading!

Elena Orde, Editor

Contents 03

Achievements

06

Media highlights

08

A decade at The Vegan Society

10

Recipes

16

Annual General Meeting

18

Grow Green conference

23

Vegan rights

24

Grants

27

Fundraising

28

Volunteer Hub

33

Nutrition

09

Essential updates on Vegan Society news

The Vegan Society in the press

Interview with CEO George Gill

Three showstoppers from Bosh!

12

Information about 2020’s AGM

Farming for a plant-strong future

Our International Rights Network

The Engaging New Audiences programme

18

Raising funds in the workplace

Keeping up with our amazing volunteers

Tips on planet-friendly eating Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 1

From the CEO Editor Elena Orde Design creativephoenix.design Contributors David Wilson, Maja Karpowicz Cover by Stephen Bingham Print Gemini Print Staff CEO George Gill Head of Communications Sam Calvert Head of Campaigns & Policy Louise Davies Head of Business Development Chantelle Adkins Research & Policy Advisor Amanda Baker Communications Manager Danielle Saunders Supporter Services Coordinators Seona Deuchar, Kaya Gromocki Web & Digital Marketing Officer Adam Duncan Digital Communications Officer Jen Jones Senior Communications & Campaigns Officer Elena Orde Digital Content Producer Violeta Pereira Communications Assistant Pedro Fernández Martín Media & PR Officer Dominika Piasecka Fundraising & Partnerships Manager Ruby Jones Campaigns & Policy Officers Mark Banahan, William Gildea Office Manager Kat Anderson Sales & Merchandise Manager Dave Nicholson Sales & Merchandise Assistant Andy Fisher Trademark Team Manager Kyla Townsend Senior Trademark Officer Natacha Rodrigues Trademark Account Manager Stephanie Reed Business Development Officers Christopher Ward, Ella Marshall, Sheridan Rudge, Susan Warren, Rhianna Parsons Trademark Events & Communications Officer Neneh Buswell Digital Marketing Officer Nishat Rahman Business Development Assistants Gabriela Chalkia, Hannah Trimble, Sophie Glenn, Zoe Lomas, Lisa Williams Trademark Marketing Manager Abigail Stevens Finance Manager Nirdesh Sandhu Finance Officer Allan Oakes Research Officer Dr Lorna Brocksopp Dietitian Heather Russell Vegan Rights Advocate Jeanette Rowley Council Menna Jones (Chair) Jenifer Vinell (Vice-Chair) Stephen Walsh (Treasurer) David Gore (Assistant Treasurer) Salim Akbar, Graham Neale, Ali Ryland, Robb Masters, Eshe Kiama Zuri

The views expressed in The Vegan do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or of The Vegan Society Council. Nothing printed should be construed to be The Vegan Society's policy unless so stated.

The society accepts no liability for any matter in the magazine. The acceptance of advertisements (including inserts) does not imply endorsement.

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From the CEO

A

s you may have spotted from this magazine’s cover, this year I celebrate a decade of working for The Vegan Society. It has been an immensely rewarding time, from my work building the Business Development department to taking the role of CEO, and I would like to thank everyone who has helped to engender such a successful working environment at this organisation. Further on in the magazine you can read about my journey with The Vegan Society.

In May, we held our Annual General Meeting. It was wonderful to see so many of you make the journey to take part, talk about our aims and share your views.

Thank you for coming along – it is always fantastic to meet and engage with the people who support us the most. I would like to say a huge congratulations to the trustees who were voted in on the day.

As summer is now in full swing, our environmental campaign Plate Up for the Planet is once again live. This year our roadshow is visiting workplaces all over the country to help the public to make the connection between their food and its environmental impact.

The Grow Green conference, which took place in April, was truly inspiring.

The day brought together key players from within a broad scope of sectors to discuss what the future of UK food production could look like. It is clear that there is an enormous amount of work to do, however I am confident that this event will be looked back on as an important marker of the shift to a more vegan food production system.

George Gill, CEO

Staff updates We are very pleased to take on board Violeta Pereira as our Digital Content Producer. With a wealth of knowledge and experience, Violeta is an invaluable asset to the organisation.

The Trademark Team is also continuing to grow: we have taken on board Nishat Rahman, our first Digital Marketing Officer. Welcome also to Lisa Williams, our newest Business Development Assistant.

Neneh Buswell has now taken on the role of Trademark Events & Communications Officer.

Donald Watson House 34-35 Ludgate Hill, Birmingham B3 1EH

0845 45 88244 0121 523 1730 info@vegansociety.com www.vegansociety.com

© The Vegan Society Registered Charity no.279228 Company Reg. no.01468880

Printed on recycled paper

Achievements

Achievements Vegan on the Go

Summer roadshow Plate Up for the Planet – our campaign to promote the environmental benefits of veganism – is back for a third year. The campaign relaunched on World Environment Day, June 5, beginning with a roadshow which travelled around UK workplaces for several weeks.

We were excited to kick off the roadshow at the Friends of the Earth head offices in London.

Alongside other activities, employees were invited to taste a delicious vegan curry made from specially selected low-carbon ingredients as part of our bid to highlight the incredibly planetfriendly nature of plant-based food.

The events featured an interactive game where employees could use our ‘Carbon Foodprint’ scales to compare the emissions associated with different foods. Naturally, the vegan items trumped the animal products! We also distributed recipe booklets and food samples from some Vegan Trademark holders.

Other notable roadshow destinations included the World Wildlife Federation, the National Trust and the BBC. Assisting such large and influential organisations to promote the merits of a vegan diet is a real win for the campaign and the movement as a whole.

To help us to reach this year’s targets please encourage your friends and family to sign up to try a vegan diet for a week at vegansociety.com/plateup.

After receiving numerous comments from our members and supporters about the problems and pitfalls of flying as a vegan, we decided to focus this year’s Vegan on the Go campaign on in-flight food. While we all need to do our bit to keep air travel to a minimum, it is only right that there should be a vegan option available for those who do fly.

For this campaign we have partnered with Humane Society International UK, who have already helped to highlight the importance of vegan catering through their Forward Food campaign.

Together we have created FlyVe – the first online rating system for vegan in-flight meals.

Criteria for reviews include accessibility, ease of ordering and the helpfulness of airline staff. There is even an option to upload a picture to show other potential passengers what is on offer.

If you have had a particularly bad experience with vegan in-flight catering (or lack thereof) then we would love to hear from you. We are hoping to raise the profile of this issue in a bid to spur airlines to improve the systems they have in place.

Please visit flyvegan.org to leave a review or email campaigns@vegansociety.com.

Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 3

Healthy start The Department of Health and Social Care runs a scheme called ‘Healthy Start’ that aims to provide a nutritional safety net to young children and pregnant people from low-income families. They provide vouchers that can be exchanged for fruit, vegetables and dairy milk – but not plant milk.

Jeanette Rowley, The Vegan Society’s Vegan Rights Advocate, stated in a letter sent to the government that “the convictions of vegans come within the protection of the law and, on the face of it, it appears that the Healthy Start voucher scheme could be inadvertently discriminatory”.

Vegan Society Dietitian Heather Russell added, “It is important for everyone to eat calciumrich foods daily and fortified plant milk plays an important role in vegan nutrition … the soya variety is similar to cow’s milk in terms of calcium content and protein quantity and quality.”

In response to this correspondence, Heather and Jeanette were invited to meet with the Department of Health and Social Care to discuss the issues in what was a very productive exchange.

Parliamentary debate Earlier this year the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development agreed to seek to restrict the use of ‘meaty’ names on vegan products. This ruling would mean that companies producing vegan products could no longer use terms such as ‘sausage’ and ‘burger’.

In June, Campaigns and Policy Officer Mark Banahan attended a round-table discussion with key stakeholders at the House of Lords.

Mark said, “This proposal has little to do with consumer protection and instead is motivated by the economic concerns of the meat industry.

Trying to ban widely used, conventional phrases to describe vegan products is anticompetitive and unfair, and there is no evidence that consumers find them confusing.”

He added, “As the data piles up showing that plant-based diets are better for people, animals and the planet, policymakers should be supporting vegan products, not trying to undermine them with ill-thought-out regulations.”

Supermarket success Our Trademark Team has been busy working with several high street supermarkets to register their products as suitable for vegans. ASDA now has over 600 products registered with the Vegan Trademark, including grab-and-go options, celebration cakes and party food.

We are also now working with Aldi UK who are in the process of registering their own brand products, including frozen and ambient goods.

This adds to the list of Aldis we are working with worldwide including Germany, Poland, Spain and Portugal. Look out for the trademark in your local Aldi in the upcoming months!

ASDA proudly displaying the Vegan Trademark 4 The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

Achievements

Brighton Marathon On 14 April, for the first ever time, The Vegan Society took up charity places in Brighton Marathon, the UK’s second largest marathon.

A small but mighty team of seven of our supporters took on the 26.2-mile route on a mild Sunday by the seaside, in aid of the work that the charity does. Vegan Society staff and volunteers headed down to the coast to cheer on the brave runners and show our support. All seven runners crossed the finish line in brilliant times and raised some funds to go towards our campaigning and educational work.

A huge thank you to everyone who was involved in making the event such a success.

We’re looking forward to next year already.

To get involved with joining or supporting the Brighton Marathon team in 2020 or to find out more information, please visit the Brighton Marathon page on our website or email Ruby at fundraising@vegansociety.com.

Veganism in parliament The Vegan Society is a founding organisation of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vegetarianism and Veganism – a group that meets quarterly and provides a fantastic opportunity to speak to decision makers about getting plant-based solutions on the political agenda.

This quarter’s meeting focused on new research from Dr Helen Harwatt, a Harvard fellow and expert on sustainability. Her latest report, entitled Eating Away at Climate Change with Negative Emissions, details a vision of plant-based farming in the UK. This system would reduce emissions and even achieve negative emissions by reforesting a portion of land currently used for animal agriculture.

To find out more about the group, visit vegappg.org.uk.

Fundraiser Duncann Gunn running the Brighton Marathon

Nutrition outreach This quarter, Vegan Society Dietitian Heather Russell delivered outreach to a group of GPs in the Birmingham area. Aiding their continued professional development, she carried out a session about veganism and nutrition to help them care for vegan service users.

The session was well received, resulting in some very positive feedback. One attendee stated, “The workshop was very useful.

Information was presented in a clear way – there were lots of excellent take-home messages that will be useful at work. Thank you!”

Heather also spoke to a group of employees at Lloyd’s Wellbeing Centre. She talked about how vegan living can have a positive impact on different aspects of health and wellbeing. Topics included nutrition, compassion, sustainability and making the most of totally plant-based diets.

Kerry McCarthy MP, Christina Rees MP and Dr Helen Harwatt Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 5

Media highlights

Media highlights

The Vegan Society in the press

Protecting the veggie burgers

On the radio

In response to EU proposals to ban companies from using terms such as ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’ for meat-free foods, our legal expert Dr Jeanette Rowley suggested that this might result in significant costs to public sector canteens that offer vegan food. Our formal letter to EU officials was covered in the print editions of The Sun and the Daily Express, as well as getting a mention on BBC Radio 4’s news programme. It also appeared on dozens of websites after being spotted by the news agency Press Association, including Metro, Mail Online, ITV News, Law Gazette and Birmingham Mail.

BBC World Service ran a special nine-minute episode on the history of veganism. Several local community radio stations interviewed Media and PR Officer Dominika Piasecka about celebrating Easter in a vegan way. Dominika also calmly debated a dairy farmer on BBC Radio Wales, prompting the farmer to describe the process of slaughtering an animal live on air. Dominika was also interviewed for a podcast by Superdrug about vegan beauty and makeup, aimed at its young female audience. The episode featured TV star and passionate vegan Lucy Watson who spoke wonderfully on animal rights. It was heavily promoted through Superdrug’s channels as well as reaching thousands through iTunes and Spotify.

Campaigning for plant milk Jeanette sent formal letters to NHS England and NHS Scotland, challenging their family voucher schemes for not including plant milks. The issue was widely covered by the nationals, including the Times, Metro, the Telegraph, the Independent and the Guardian, as well as Yahoo!, the Express and the Star. The version of the letter aimed at Scottish officials travelled further, appearing in the Scotsman and the Herald Scotland. Press Association also picked up on this story, resulting in vast coverage across smaller, local media outlets.

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Best of the rest Our announcement about Advocates for Animals, the first ever animal protection law firm, interested many respected legal publications. The news appeared in the Law Gazette, Legal Futures and Journal Online. The launch of the next phase of our Vegan on the Go campaign was widely covered by vegan media, as well as publications like the Scotsman, Farming UK, Travel Weekly, NI Travel and trade publication HMG Aerospace.

01422 313840

www.suma.coop/wholesale

/sumawholefoods

Interview

A decade at The Vegan Society An interview with CEO George Gill

G

eorge Gill joined The Vegan Society as Head of Business Development in 2009, where he headed up the Trademark Team as well as the Sales and Merchandise Team.

In 2016, he stepped into the role of CEO and has taken the organisation from strength to strength. In recognition of his decade-long term at The Vegan Society, Editor Elena Orde sat down with George to speak to him about his vegan journey, his experience at The Vegan Society and his vision for the future.

8  The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

Interview

Tell me about your experience going vegan I was brought up vegetarian, in a vegetarian family. The few times when I ate meat without realising, it didn’t feel right and I was unwell for days.

When I did decide to go vegan, the only thing I had to eliminate was cheese, and it wasn’t difficult for me. I’ve never missed it either – I’ve always managed to have a vegan diet without difficulty.

Wherever I am in the world, I’ve always managed to find something.

What inspired you to go vegan?

Growing up, we had two dogs. They were both with us for a long time. I was about 11 or 12 when the first one came to live with us. I think that was the real connection – in fact, I’ve always had a lot of connection with animals. In a way, going to the zoo with school and realising that you’re being told the animals are so amazing while they are being exploited at the same time made a difference. You realise that most people are going against the values that they teach children – values of kindness and compassion.

There was another aspect as well. I read a few books about Buddhism, and the concept of being karma free. A proportion of the journey started there. The idea of not contributing to cruelty and not causing distress stayed with me.

Tell me about your first role at The Vegan Society I came on board as the Head of Business Development. My first day on the job was at the Natural and Organic Products Europe show, where we had a stand. On that first day I decided that I would transform our stand into a pavilion, where only companies who had products registered with us would be allowed to exhibit.

Within a couple of years this happened, and since then the pavilion expanded even further into what is now called the Vegan World area. The growth has been phenomenal.

How has The Vegan Society changed in the past decade?

When I started, I think we had around 10 staff members working here. Now we have got to the stage where last year we had to move out of our old office to larger premises to accommodate us all. We’ve gone from 10 staff members to over 40.

And it’s not going to be long before it’s 50 – and further down the line we will need to double up again. In the next few years we could get to 100 members of staff.

Ten years at The Vegan Society deserves a special celebration

There has been a lot of development to do in the past 10 years. When I joined we weren’t doing enough to educate the public about veganism.

We needed to find a younger audience as well, and that was difficult because we weren’t seen to be approachable and appealing at the time. This has changed enormously, helped along by the rebrand in 2014.

What do you think is important for us to focus on going forwards?

I truly believe that education is so important for us. The more we can educate people about the main reasons to go vegan – how it helps animals and the planet and people – the better. And we have to do it in the simplest way.

In order to reach as wide an audience as possible, we need more resources. We have a brilliant team here, in every department, but just think what we could achieve if we had twice as many. Four times as many. If we were working on an international basis. We have got a lot to be proud of, but also a long way to go.

What are you most proud of during your time here?

Being involved with the organisation at the time that the farmer Jay Wilde decided to transition his farm from a cow farm to a vegan business.

That was the real win, as it brought together so many different parts of our work. We’re working towards a solution for him – an ongoing solution, which will provide a blueprint for other farmers to follow.

I think that we have a long journey ahead of us, and we need to be clear and focused on where we want to get to and what we want to achieve.

We are going to see results.

Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 9

Recipes

BISH BASH BOSH! Three scrumptious recipes from Ian Theasby and Henry Firth’s latest bestseller

10 The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

Recipes

Faux gras Ingredients 2 sprigs fresh rosemary 3 sprigs fresh thyme 7 sage leaves 2 tbsp olive oil 1 echalion (banana shallot) Pinch of salt 2 garlic cloves 18 button mushrooms 2 tbsp cognac 150 g walnuts 400 g cooked lentils (home-made or from a tin) 2½ tbsp soy sauce ½ or 1 very small cooked beetroot (about 30 g) 100 g dairy-free butter A few peppercorns, to garnish Toasted sourdough bread (or crackers), to serve Cornichons, to serve (this is a type of gherkin and is optional)

Makes 4 small jars or ramekins

This amazing recipe was the brainchild of Alexis Gauthier and was shared with the world through a collaboration we did with him.

Spread it on sourdough toast and serve with cornichons for the perfect starter or canapé with drinks – it tastes like proper, posh pâté!

If you’re eating it straight away it can be served in ramekins, or else store it in sterilised jars in the fridge for up to a week.

Directions To sterilise the jars and lids wash them in hot, soapy water then fill them to the top with boiling water. Drain them on a tea towel until completely dry.

Remove the leaves from the herbs by running your thumb and forefinger from the top to the base of the stems. The leaves should easily come away. Reserve a few leaves and sprigs for garnish and finely chop the rest.

Pour the oil into the frying pan over a medium heat. Peel and roughly chop the echalion and add it to the pan. Add a pinch of salt and cook for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent.

Peel and roughly chop the garlic and add it to the pan. Cook for a further 3 minutes. Chop the mushrooms and add them to the pan.

Cook, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes, until everything is well softened. Add the finely chopped herbs and the cognac.

Transfer the contents of the pan to a food processor. Chop the walnuts and add them to the processor with the cooked lentils, soy sauce and beetroot. Blitz the mixture until it is almost smooth. Transfer the mixture to the prepared jars or ramekins and smooth the tops with the back of a spoon.

Place a small saucepan over a low heat. Add the dairy-free butter and melt without heating it too much, as it can split. Pour it over the pâté to completely cover it. Place a few herb leaves, sprigs and peppercorns on top and leave it to cool. Seal the jars (or cover the ramekins with cling film) and put them in the fridge.

Serve with the toasted sourdough bread or crackers and cornichons, if using.

Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 11

Recipes

Curry house jalfrezi Ingredients 1 large aubergine 4 tbsp sunflower or olive oil 1 onion 1 red pepper A small bunch of fresh coriander 5 green bird’s eye chillies 12 cherry tomatoes 3 tbsp curry powder 1 tsp garam masala ¼–2 tsp hot chilli powder 8 tbsp tomato puree Basmati rice for 3–4 people Salt For the stock 1 onion 5cm piece fresh ginger 5 garlic cloves 500 ml + 1 tbsp water ½ fresh red chilli 3 cherry tomatoes 1 tbsp sunflower or olive oil ¼ tsp ground coriander ¼ tsp ground cumin ¼ tsp ground fenugreek ¼ tsp ground turmeric ¼ tsp paprika

Serves 3–4

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The spicy and flavourful jalfrezi has now overtaken tikka masala as Britain’s favourite curry! This stock can be prepared in advance and frozen or kept in the fridge in an airtight container, so make a double batch to save time. Be sure to taste the curry as you go to get the perfect balance, as spices can vary in strength.

Directions Preheat the grill to 200 °C. Trim the aubergine and cut it into 2 cm chunks. Spread them over the baking tray and sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of oil and a good pinch of salt. Toss to coat. Grill for 15 minutes, turning occasionally, and remove from the grill when the aubergine is golden brown all over but not burnt.

Meanwhile, make the stock. Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel the ginger by scraping off the skin with a spoon, then grating it. Peel and grate the garlic. Put the ginger and garlic into a bowl and mix it with 1 tablespoon of water to make a paste.

Finely chop the red chilli and tomatoes. Place the saucepan on a medium heat and pour in the oil. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Add a teaspoon of the ginger and garlic paste. Add all of the remaining spices and half of the water and stir. Simmer this for 10 minutes, until it has browned and reduced completely. Pour in the rest of the water, stir and transfer the mixture to the blender, before blending it to a smooth liquid.

Back to the curry. Peel and thinly slice the onion. Cut the pepper in half and cut out the stem and seeds, then slice it thinly. Pick the leaves from the coriander. Finely chop the stems and roughly chop the leaves.

Trim and thinly slice two of the chillies. Quarter the tomatoes.

Pour the remaining oil into a clean saucepan and place it over a high heat. Add the onion, pepper and sliced chillies and fry for 3 minutes, stirring regularly. Stir in the chopped coriander stems and remaining ginger and garlic paste (from making the stock). Add the curry powder, garam masala, chilli powder, tomato puree, grilled aubergines and stock. Taste and add more salt, garam masala and chilli powder if needed. Stir in the tomatoes. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened.

Cook the rice following the instructions on the packet.

Transfer the curry to a serving dish. Cut the remaining chillies in half lengthways and use them as garnish, along with the chopped coriander leaves. Serve with the rice.

Recipes

Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 13

Recipes

Mini banoffee meringues

It’s a joyous and magical experience to watch a drizzle of chickpea water turn into a fluffy, sweet meringue mix! Ideally, use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment for this recipe as in our experience hand whisks don’t have the power to get the chickpea water to stiff peaks.

Directions Ingredients 140 ml aquafaba (the drained water from 400 g tin chickpeas) ½ tsp cream of tartar 100 g caster sugar 2–3 bananas 25 g dark chocolate For the caramel sauce 150 g caster sugar 120 ml full-fat coconut milk A pinch of salt ½ tsp dairy-free butter For the cashew cream 150 g cashews 600 ml full-fat coconut milk 2 tbsp icing sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract ½ banana

Makes 18

BISH BASH BOSH! by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby is out now (HQ, HarperCollins).

Food photography by Lizzie Mayson 14 The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

Pour the aquafaba into the mixer. Turn the mixer on to high and leave it running. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat. After 2 minutes add the caster sugar, one spoonful at a time. Beat on high for 10–15 minutes. It’s ready when the aquafaba has magically transformed into a thick, meringue-like mixture that won’t fall off a spoon turned upside down.

Spoon the meringue mixture on to the lined baking sheets to make nests about 8 cm wide, no more than 1.5 cm high and smooth on top, leaving 2 cm between them. If you like, you can draw 8 cm circles on the parchment paper, then flip over the paper and use them as templates. You should end up with about 18 nests.

Put the trays in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 100 °C. Bake for 2 hours, then turn off the heat, leave the door closed. Let the meringues cool completely, preferably overnight.

Cooling the meringues overnight in the oven allows them to set properly and reduces the chances of them cracking due to sudden changes in temperature.

To make the caramel sauce, put the frying pan on a medium heat.

Pour in the sugar, 75 ml of the coconut milk and the salt. Bring to the boil, whisking continuously. Once the mixture has turned caramel in colour (after about 10–15 minutes), remove from the heat. Add the rest of the coconut milk and the dairy-free butter, stir it through and transfer the sauce to a heatproof bowl.

To make the cashew cream, put a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the nuts and 400 ml of the coconut milk. Bring it to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until most of the coconut milk has evaporated. Transfer the mixture to the blender. Add the icing sugar, vanilla, remaining 200 ml coconut milk and the banana half to the blender. Blend this until really smooth.

Place your meringue nests on serving plates. Peel 2–3 bananas and cut them into long diagonal slices (the longer they are the more beautiful they will look). Lay half the slices on top of the meringues.

Cover the bananas with dollops of cashew cream. Top with 1 or 2 more banana slices and lashings of caramel sauce. Finely grate the chocolate over the top and serve.

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Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 15

AGM

AGM 2020 The 2020 AGM will be at 1pm (with registration starting at 12:30pm) on Saturday 30 May in Glasgow.

Election of Council members Applications for membership of the Board of Trustees (Council) are invited by 2 March 2020.

There will be at least four vacancies out of the ten elected positions.

The trustees are ultimately responsible for the future of The Vegan Society. They set policy, ensure that the society’s objects are pursued effectively while complying with all relevant legal requirements and remaining true to its values.

The role includes attending meetings, preparing and voting on governance proposals, reporting back to the society’s members and reviewing and adjusting the society’s strategic direction and policies. Further information can be found at gov.uk/guidance/charity-trustee-whats-involved and in the candidate pack.

Candidates should support the society’s objects and mission and be committed to a vegan lifestyle. The most important qualities for trustees are commitment, enthusiasm and the ability to communicate and work well with others and to consider issues thoughtfully. To ensure an effective and diverse board, members from a wide range of backgrounds and with a broad base of skills and experience are sought.

Experience in successfully managing expanding organisations, developing strategic plans, knowledge of charity law or audit/risk management are particularly welcome.

The time commitment is about nine days per year for attending face-to-face meetings and training events, plus about two hours a week for contact via email. The role is voluntary but reasonable expenses can be claimed.

Candidates must be full members of the society and be age 16 or over on the date of the AGM. They should submit a written nomination signed by a proposer and seconder who are both full members, submit a personal profile and be willing to sign the trustee Code of Conduct.

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Members’ Proposals for the 2020 AGM We welcome members’ proposals to the AGM. These should: • Be proposed and seconded by full members • Not exceed 300 words, including any supporting material • Propose a single form of action (not be a composite proposal nor simply a statement of opinion) For Special Resolutions proposing a change to the Articles (the constitution), the text of the changes is not counted in the 300 words. A 75% majority is needed for Special Resolutions to be passed and a simple majority of 50% is needed for other resolutions.

Members’ proposals must be submitted by 3 January 2020.

For a candidate pack or further information about becoming a trustee or submitting a proposal, please contact the Chair of Council, Menna Jones (chair@vegansociety.com) and the CEO, George Gill (ceo@vegansociety.com) by email or by post (Donald Watson House, 34-35 Ludgate Hill, Birmingham B3 1EH).

Documents may be scanned and submitted electronically.

For information about 2019’s AGM, including which trustees were successfully voted in and which motions were passed, please visit the members’ area of the website or contact the office on 0121 523 1730.

AGM 2019: Members had the chance to win a Vegan Society goodie bag

Farming

1

Grow Green Farming for a plant-strong future

18 The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

W

hat does farming look like in a plant-based future?

The scale and complexity of modern food systems can make the challenge of moving to a sustainable and ethical plantbased food future seem overwhelming. But in the spirit of dealing with that complexity, several hundred people gathered in London on 11 April for The Vegan Society’s inaugural Grow Green conference – a day of thoughtprovoking speeches and panel discussions on the transition towards plant-based diets and the implications for agriculture and rural communities.

Farming

Failing to appreciate farming on its own terms may lead to alienation of the people we need to learn from

The line-up comprised speakers from a diversity of backgrounds. We heard from a former cattle rancher from Texas, academics from Oxford and Harvard, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, plus a host of NGOs, business voices, think tanks and journalists. Speakers covered everything from national land strategies to the practicalities of transitioning from animal to plant-based agriculture, via the merits of pulses and the commercial success of plant-based foods. This article gives an overview of some of the day’s recurring themes.

1 Chair Lucy Siegle asks panellists how to best use UK land

Advocates for more sustainable agriculture need to engage more, and better, with farmers and rural communities One of the most refreshing aspects of the day was to hear from active farmers. Farming is clearly a commercial enterprise, but as former cow farmer Jay Wilde put it, it is also an immersive lifestyle: for children raised among the legs of animals, it is “just what you do”. Farmers who transition away from animal agriculture face challenges in practical and financial terms, but also culturally, and in their personal relationships.

As some suggested, failing to appreciate farming on its own terms may lead to alienation of the people we need to learn from if we want to understand the practicalities of agricultural transitions. To overcome feelings of mutual embattlement on different sides of the debate, several speakers repeated a simple message: keep outreach and activism positive.

We need a more coherent vision of what a good food future looks like The diversity of views presented was a major strength of the day, but also highlights a challenge: people don’t agree on what ‘good’ looks like. We heard about agroecology, local food and shortened supply chains, conventional and organic farming, horticulture, seasonal eating, market gardens, whole and processed foods,

competing views about animal agriculture and more. The absence of a sufficiently coherent and shared vision of the future makes talking about the practical challenges of the transition to that future quite difficult. And as most people in the room seemed to agree, we need to be taking practical steps now.

We need to talk about land use Daniel Raven Ellison presented his illuminating short film ‘The UK in 100 seconds’ (available on YouTube), an aerial overview of the country with one second per one percent of land type. In the words of Friends of the Earth’s Guy Shrubsole, we are “land use illiterate” as a nation, using ten times the land for golf courses than for allotments. What proportion of land should be agricultural? And what kind of agriculture should we undertake? One answer came from Harvard’s Dr Helen Harwatt, who advocated mass reforestation and a major shift towards plantbased agriculture to get us back on track to meet our Paris Agreement climate targets.

Many people are sceptical about the capacity of our political institutions to drive change Speakers and audience members voiced frustrations about the difficulty of influencing policy in more sustainable directions, with some – notably former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett – suggesting that our political system is in desperate need of reform. For some speakers this means building movements from the bottom up, with ordinary people – including farmers – coming together to push for change.

Others advocated targeted and opportunistic engagement with politicians. The practical politics of change clearly needs attention.

The plant-based dietary trend is substantial, but people are wary of ‘junk food veganism’ Chantelle Adkins related the excitement in The Vegan Society’s Trademark Team at the range of Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 19

Farming

the call for systems thinking – to integrate thinking about climate change, ethical food choices, public health, land use, consumer choice, social inequality and more. The event itself provided evidence of this happening – a trend that needs to be continued.

As The Vegan Society’s Louise Davies observed in her programme notes, UK agriculture is a political and often emotive subject. In that context, it was very welcome to see The Vegan Society facilitating a constructive debate between groups of people who didn’t all necessarily agree about the way forward. And as Natalie Bennett argued, there is nothing inevitable about the outcomes: history teaches us that things can change, and when they do, they are liable to change quickly.

2 Conference attendees at the British Library venue 3 Dr Helen Harwatt presents her research on land use 2

products meeting Vegan Trademark standards.

Meanwhile, research described by Carina Perkins of The Grocer magazine indicates that the huge sales growth in plant-based products is being driven by the growing number of ‘flexitarians’ rather than vegans. But she also pointed out that these consumers may be the first to drop these products if prices rise. There were cautionary notes sounded about heavily processed plantbased products – ‘junk food veganism’ came in for a bashing throughout the day, including as a reputational risk for the vegan movement.

By John Andrews, member of The Vegan Society’s Researcher Network Photography by Stephen Bingham

Money matters and change requires funding Speakers repeatedly castigated the agricultural subsidies framework, which fails to promote basic positive outcomes such as boosting domestic fruit and vegetable growing, although there was cautious optimism about the UK’s proposed ‘public money for public goods’ framework as a replacement. A diverse UK plant-based agriculture will also need (funded) research into what we can grow, and how to grow better (and more of) what we already grow. And the costs of agricultural transitions are real: one farmer said his decision to transition from animal to plant-based production had cost him personally around £10,000.

Lastly, complexity necessitates systems thinking The food system is complex, cutting across multiple social and political domains, and meaningful change necessitates engagement with that complexity. Several speakers reiterated 20 The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

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Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 21

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Rights

Vegan rights

Joining forces The Vegan Society has long worked with the International Vegan Rights Alliance, a group of vegan legal experts set up by Dr Jeanette Rowley with a view to furthering the rights of animals and vegans. This year we are very happy to announce that the IVRA is being incorporated into our work, and from now on will be known as The Vegan Society’s International Rights Network.

Louise Davies, Head of Campaigns, Policy and Research, says, “We have huge respect for Dr Jeanette Rowley’s work, and the values that underpin the IVRA. Both organisations share the same goal of gaining international legal recognition of veganism. By incorporating the IVRA into The Vegan Society, we can provide the infrastructure needed to support growth.”

Rights conference This exciting news was first broadcast at the annual vegan rights conference. The event took place this summer at the historic University of Milan at the invitation of Assistant Professor and attorney Dr Carlo Prisco.

The conference was held over two days and included themes on theory and the application of law to explain legal principles and the ways we can use legislation to ensure vegans can practice their beliefs in all areas of their lives. Delegates and speakers came from all over the world to take part and make contacts.

Opening the conference, Dr Jeanette Rowley, Chair of the Network, stated, “Claiming our rights as vegans is important because by doing so we bring about institutional and social change that helps to normalise veganism”.

Speakers from Canada, Hungary and the UK explained how they were using law to protect vegans. Nuno Alvim from Portugal shared insights regarding successful campaigning for mandatory vegan food in public establishments. Various campaigns were also covered, such as Vegan Option Canada’s campaign for mandatory vegan food, The Vegan Society’s Catering for All and campaigns for vegan in-flight food options.

The EU proposal to ban vegan food producers from using words such as ‘sausage’ and ‘burger’ was a hot topic in this year’s conference.

A huge success The conference was a huge success and received excellent feedback from those who attended.

German vegan barrister Ralf Müller-Amenitsch said the conferences are “extremely important because we can share international information on a high forensic and academic level.” He added, “I am grateful and would like to congratulate The Vegan Society for providing such a precious platform.”

Dr Carlo Prisco thanked everyone for their contribution to the conference. He said, “This annual meeting is a wonderful opportunity to find old friends and meet new ones. And, all together, we help to promote our ideals and the effort to make the world a little more hospitable for everyone”.

Visit vegansociety.com/rights to learn more about the International Rights Network.

Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 23

Grants

Engaging new audiences The Vegan Society’s grants scheme for outreach work

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or several decades, The Vegan Society has awarded funding to worthy vegan projects in line with our charitable aims.

To begin with, this was an informal arrangement which was managed by the society’s trustees.

In 2010 a more structured grants application process was developed under CEO Nigel Winter.

In recent years the programme has been refined to focus on projects that introduce the concept and ideals of veganism to those who may not have encountered them before. The scheme was then named the Engaging New Audiences Grant.

Supporting projects The programme awards grants of up to £500 and is open to vegan individuals and not-for-profit grassroots organisations. It exists to support projects that will encourage people to go vegan and stay vegan while representing veganism in a positive and interesting way.

Here are a few examples of projects that were successful in their applications: • A programme to support asylum seekers and refugees through working collaboratively on vegan horticulture. The group meets weekly on an allotment and all of the produce grown is given to the participants.

• The London Feminist Film Festival received a grant in 2017 to put on a talk about the intersection between veganism and feminism.

The talk focused on the oppression of women and non-human animals. The food at the festival’s closing party was entirely vegan.

• A free plant-based cookery class run for parents and children. The class focused on familyfriendly vegan food and aimed to make cooking accessible and fun for everyone involved.

Securing a grant The grants panel is chaired by myself as the Grants Officer and is made up of Vegan Society staff who have a keen interest in outreach work and are passionate about spreading the 24 The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

vegan message in a compelling way. The panel meets regularly throughout the year to review applications and reach a decision on which projects to award funding to.

As the programme has grown in popularity, we often have a great deal of applications at each panel, so competition can be tough. Exciting proposals with unique angles are most likely to catch our attention and score highly in the evaluation process. The best projects target distinct groups of people such as young families or specific social groups who may be new to the concept of veganism. The panel will be looking for plans to engage with the chosen audience in an open and friendly way by building on common ground.

Bringing veganism to new audiences can be a rewarding and inspiring experience, so why not take a look at the criteria on The Vegan Society website and start planning your project? You can visit vegansociety.com/grants to find out more.

By Kaya Gromocki, Grants Officer

Events

Events Coventry Viva! Vegan Festival Saturday 3 August (10.30am–5pm) Coventry Cathedral, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB viva.org.uk/festivals/coventry-2019

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Vegan Camp-Out Friday 30 August – Sunday 1 September Newark Showground, Lincoln Rd, Newark NG24 2NY vegancampout.co.uk Sheffield Vegan Festival Saturday 28 September Cutlers Hall, 7–15 Church Street, Sheffield, S1 1HG veganfestival.co.uk Isle of Wight Vegan & Lifestyle Show Saturday 26 October (10am–5pm) Cowes Yacht Haven Event Centre, Vectis Yard, High Street, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 7BD veganlifestyleshowiow.co.uk VegfestUK London Saturday 26 October (10am–6pm) – Sunday 27 October (10am–5pm) Olympia London, Hammersmith Road, Kensington, London, W14 8UX london.vegfest.co.uk To see our full events calendar, go to vegansociety.com/events.

Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 25

100% of natural origin Vegan & Cruelty free

Fundraising through business

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hether you work alone, as part of a large company or you are retired, there are plenty of opportunities to fundraise for The Vegan Society through your employer and other organisations. Any funds you raise for the charity will go towards our work promoting veganism, supporting other vegans and campaigning for change.

a small donation. A Christmas jumper day is one great example of this, but you could also go with a day where everyone wears an item of a clothing of a certain colour (perhaps our charity colours, green and orange) or a pyjama day.

Bake sale

Dress up or down day

A bake sale is one of the most fun and easiest ways to raise money if you work in an office or similar environment. You can ask everyone you work with to try their hand at vegan baking or bring a selection of vegan treats yourself.

This year, we partnered with the organisation ProVeg to promote the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale, which saw events taking place all over the world. We held our own bake sale at The Vegan Society’s office, with everyone pitching in to bake and donate for the treats. We had a great turn out and raised nearly £100 in donations to go towards the charity’s work. The Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale will take place in April again next year so be sure to keep an eye out for us announcing the dates so you can get involved.

You can hold any one of these activities all year round or you can start planning an event now for World Vegan Month in November, which gives you plenty of time to get your ideas sorted. Just let us know what you plan to do, and we can help you out with advice and fundraising materials.

Depending on your working environment, suggest that everyone either get out of their uniform or dress to a different code one day for

Email fundraising@vegansociety.com or call Ruby on 0121 323 1802 for more information.

Charity of the Year Find out if the company you work for runs a Charity of the Year scheme and if you can make nominations or suggestions to whoever oversees this. This kind of partnership can result in one-off donations or even a whole year of partnership and fundraising activities, both of which make a huge difference to The Vegan Society.

Collection tins If you work at (or regularly visit) a customerfacing business such as a wholefood shop or vegan cafe, this could be a great place to collect funds. Ask the manager if they would be happy to place a collection tin for donations to The Vegan Society on site and we can send out branded tins for counters or other visible locations.

Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 27

Volunteers

Volunteer Hub Seona Deuchar, Supporter Services Coordinator For a while now, it’s been clear that social media has been a vibrant hub for discussion and debate around veganism.

However, we passionately believe that meeting people in all sorts of ways is core to growing our movement and establishing it as a new normal – this is why community volunteering is so vital. Here are some great stories of what our community volunteers get up to.

Working with local councils This year we were really pleased to work with The Vegan Society and VegFund to make our outreach and food samples stall possible. The events took some time to organise, but we managed to hold three stalls in total at Aylesbury Market Square.

We are super grateful to the town council as they freely provide stalls to charities.

This was our first year with our new setup, including a banner designed by a member of the local vegan community. Thanks to our VegFund grant, we were able to hand out leaflets and food samples to the public.

The stall operated on a rota where volunteers signed up for two-hour sessions. We all feel that this is very effective, as it keeps the team energised throughout the day.

28 The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

Aylesbury Town Council have been very supportive and have already booked us in for more stalls next year, starting in the spring.

Aylesbury Vegans

Stalls and library outreach Over the past six months I have run five stalls providing information about veganism to the public. In this time people have taken over 1500 leaflets, which is a great testament to how much the public wants to learn.

Doing local outreach is a fantastic opportunity to have conversations with people who might not otherwise be reached via social media. Having a stall with leaflets for people to take as they will has been really positive.

Nowadays people tend to know what veganism is. Recently I’ve had a lot of conversations with people about the environmental arguments, due to all the news coverage this has been getting.

I tend to find that people always have questions about veganism. Having a physical place in their local community to ask those questions has proved very popular.

Hosting the stalls has been really easy. Venues have been receptive to my ideas and very supportive in helping me spread the message.

Libraries are a great environment to distribute written materials, as you’d assume!

Martin Barlow

Volunteers

1 Aylesbury Vegans enjoying some outreach 2 Contact us for a selection of leaflets to distribute 3 Louise Thacker and fellow volunteers 4 A great set-up put together by Martin Barlow

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Forming connections

What’s new

I’ve volunteered with The Vegan Society a few times now, and each experience has been enriching and educational. I am a student at Bath Spa University, and it has been remarkable to communicate with other students and local residents about veganism and to see their perspectives change.

Working in the community is a profound and joyful experience because you sense an interconnectedness to others and realise how important that connection is. I’ve learned so much from the conversations I’ve had: they have taught me that a non-defensive and nonjudgemental attitude is one of the most effective ways to talk to people about veganism.

Community is about finding that oneness with others. As a vegan, that oneness should extend to all beings regardless of species. That’s the beauty of community volunteering – you can build that connection and at the same time highlight the importance of forming similar connections with every being.

This summer we are launching our new and improved Community Network, a project which has been in the works for a long time here at Vegan Society HQ. We have worked to design a hub for everyone who volunteers their time to spread the word about veganism in their community.

We know that people are more likely to believe their peers than an organisation, and we hope that together we can create the most and best impact possible. The Community Network will give everyone the opportunity to engage in our work, whether you have 2 or 20 hours a month to share with us.

From hosting stalls to speaking to members of parliament, the network will form the basis of our community influence. If you want to become a voice for veganism and The Vegan Society, please have a look at the information on our website, where you can also apply.

If you have any questions you can call Seona on 0121 523 1730.

Louise Thacker

Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 29

Volunteer of the season

Introducing Chris Stidwill, a fantastic volunteer who often helps out at events in London.

When did you go vegan, and what inspired you to do this?

I first became vegetarian seven years ago after studying ethics in university and reading some of Peter Singer’s arguments against killing animals. A year later, I began to watch documentaries about veganism – Earthlings, Forks over Knives and later Cowspiracy – and at the same time learned about some very gruesome methods that were being used in Canadian and American factory farms. As a Canadian, learning about this and about the related environmental issues helped convince me to make the switch.

What first interested you in volunteering with The Vegan Society?

After moving to the United Kingdom from Canada in 2014, I decided to volunteer for The Vegan Society to help other current and new vegans. I’ve had fun seeing the different vegan events that happen around London and have enjoyed meeting other vegans through volunteering.

What has your role involved?

I’ve really enjoyed volunteering at VegFest in London every year. As an events volunteer, I’ve helped out people who are curious about veganism, I’ve signed people up for membership and the Vegan Pledge and I’ve also assisted staff with sales of books and merchandise.

30 The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

What have you most enjoyed about volunteering with us?

I’ve enjoyed meeting other members of The Vegan Society and learning more about what the organisation does to help current and prospective vegans. The society genuinely feels like it has its finger on the pulse of the movement in the UK. Helping out at London VegFest every year has always been an exciting highlight.

As a teacher, have you managed to bring veganism into the classroom at all?

Imagine yourself teaching a lesson on probability and stumbling upon the following question: there are 20 sandwiches at a cafe. Five are ham and cheese, six are egg, and nine are chicken salad. If Stacey selects two at random, what is the probability that she will choose two of the same kind?

As a teacher, you want to carry on with the lesson, but you can’t ignore the glaringly obvious problems with this cafe’s choice of food. And what about the three vegetarian and vegan students in the class, let alone the student who doesn’t eat gluten?

To tackle this, I often add in my own choices such as avocado, olive and tomato; mock chicken or gluten-free curried tempeh. I tell students that these are the kinds of sandwiches that I would eat, and this often leads to a discussion of what vegans eat and why vegans do things differently.

Students are incredibly interested in veganism – whether or not they want to be vegan – and they love to ask questions about health, the environment and animals.

To find out more about volunteering for The Vegan Society, visit vegansociety.com/volunteer.

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Nutrition

Sustainable diets Plating up for the planet

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ating a vegan diet is a powerful choice for people seeking a more sustainable lifestyle. This summer, our Plate Up for the Planet campaign is promoting this message. For those of us who are already vegan, it’s the perfect time to consider how to go the extra mile for the environment.

Where is it from?

It’s good to take an interest in where your food is grown. If possible, choose some local and seasonal produce. Try to limit air-freighted fruit and vegetables such as green beans from Africa and berries from the US. Did you know that you can buy beans, peas, lentils and quinoa grown in Britain? Also, many products on UK shelves contain soya grown in Europe. It’s worth checking out company policies on sustainability.

Grow your own Fruit and vegetables can be grown in containers, so you don’t need to have lots of space to produce your own food. You can also look out for community growing projects in your area.

Food unwrapped The best option is to buy unpackaged food, but this isn’t always doable. Good alternatives include bulk buying and buying food in reusable, biodegradable or recyclable packaging.

War on waste You can support the war on waste and reduce your environmental footprint by limiting especially perishable fruit and vegetables and those that are pre-prepared, chopped or trimmed, for example salad bags and cut pineapple. Root vegetables and brassicas like broccoli and cabbage are less perishable choices. If you tend to buy too much

when you hit the supermarket, meal planning and online shopping might help you to prevent food being thrown away.

Eat what you need Although many of us enjoy eating foods laden with fat, sugar and salt, they’re unnecessary from a nutrition point of view and can be considered a waste of resources. Eating a nutritious diet and maintaining or working towards a healthy weight helps us to use the products of our food system efficiently.

Hydration habits Instead of buying soft drinks, stay hydrated by keeping a reusable water bottle with you. If you need a change, why not try making some refreshing iced tea?

Take-away tips • Choose local and seasonal produce when possible and take an interest in food origins • Have a go at growing your own fruit and vegetables and look out for community projects • If it’s not possible to buy unpackaged food, try to buy in bulk and select food in reusable, biodegradable or recyclable packaging • You might be able to reduce food waste by meal planning, shopping online and purchasing canned and frozen fruit and vegetables and less perishable fresh items • You can also make a difference by eating a nutritious diet, using a reusable water bottle and maintaining or working towards a healthy weight For information about the links between our diets and the environment, check out vegansociety.com/plateup

By Heather Russell, Dietitian

Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 33

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Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 35

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Issue 3 2019 | The Vegan 37

Reviews

Reviews

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Vegan Tales, vol. 1 Reviewed by David Wilson

The End of Meat Reviewed by Maja Karpowicz

This anthology, edited by Los Angeles–based freelance writer Maureen Kingsley, consists of 18 short stories by contributors from different regions of the UK as well as the US, Australia and Spain. It is published by Squaw Pies, a small publishing house and educational organisation.

The writers are vegans who wish to entertain their readers as well as to promote vegan values.

The stories range from the playful and amusing, such as Hannah Cattanach’s ‘Chicken’, to the disturbing, such as Michelle Scorziello’s ‘Shoulder of Lamb’.

Most of the tales are narrated from the point of view of human observers, but some take the animals’ perspective, such as Pablo J. Rumoroso Solana’s ‘Little White Lion’ and Dalla Bryce Perry’s ‘Farmer Flint’s Epiphany’.

What links the stories is an implicit challenge to think carefully about our food and the environment that produces it. There is a plea for empathy with our animal friends and warnings against the casual and unquestioning way in which our society deals with them.

Some stories grapple with everyday tensions that can arise when vegans and non-vegans fail to understand each other. The need for respect and tolerance of differences are additional themes found in this anthology.

A particularly attractive inclusion in this book is the page-long bio of the writer at the beginning of each story. This personalises the collection by giving readers an insight into the background of the contributors.

Find copies of the book and learn more about Squaw Pies at squaw-pies.com.

The End of Meat by filmmaker Marc Pierschel presents an eclectic mix of themes around veganism.

It is a concise encyclopedia exploring how far the movement has come and what its future looks like.

The documentary follows Pierschel’s personal discovery of veganism as he investigates different aspects of our meat-centric culture, both its macabre reality and the hopeful, compassionate future that veganism offers.

The aspects he covers range from ethics, health and environment to religion, law and the cultured animal product industry that is starting to flourish.

In exploring all of these topics, Pierschel interviews sociologists, activists and entrepreneurs as well as ecologists, physicians, lawyers and a Jain monk in the first fully vegetarian city in India. In sharing their knowledge and experiences, they shine a positive light on veganism.

In what is quite an information-heavy documentary, there are also moments of relief and joy, such as when we meet the internet sensation Esther the Wonder Pig and other rescued farmed animals at sanctuaries. It is their inspiring and heart-warming stories that remind us of the humanity we are capable of achieving if we simply open our minds to the vegan lifestyle.

Pierschel presents such a broad scope of the subject, that as he rightly puts it, “The end of meat as we know it might just be the best solution we have for ourselves, the animals and the planet”.

Find out more, including how to view the film, at theendofmeat.com.

38 The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

1 Visit Squaw Pies to find out about future publications 2 Exploring the idea of a post-meat world

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Your Views

Your views Vegan gardening On Twitter we asked our followers which vegetables they would most like to grow at home.

Here are a selection of your answers: We moved from a big garden with a veg patch to a tiny garden with awful soil. I’m still managing to grow raspberries, strawberries, broad beans, runner beans, French beans, potatoes, kale and courgettes. Small crops in containers work well #growyourown @veganrecipehour I planted beets in a container this year and they grew beautifully. The plants have beautiful leaves and you can eat both the bulb and the greens. @Bonnie61429793 At one point here in Vegas, I had a 9 foot tomato plant, cherry tomatoes, habaneros, jalapenos, romaine lettuce etc. Now I plan on mainly doing pepper plants. @FitnessSinn Rhubarb, rhubarb aaaaand rhubarb. Did I mention rhubarb? @GillianOttaway For tips on vegan gardening practices read the recent blog on our website by Andy Baxter, gardening expert and MD at Internet Gardener.

Remembering Rhian Animal activist Rhian Eluned Thomas sadly died at the end of 2018. Rhian dedicated her life to animal liberation and was a tireless campaigner who ran stalls and protested against issues such as live exports, animal circuses and vivisection.

A Welsh speaker, she was often called on to appear on Welsh television and radio to speak about issues relating to animal rights.

Rhian worked at The Vegan Society for a spell.

She also worked at many animal sanctuaries and a wholefood workers’ co-operative.

Rhian was a talented artist who ran many successful exhibitions. One of her favourite pastimes was going on walks with some of the many rescue dogs which she adopted over the years.

Rhian lived a principled, ethical and inspirational life and will be missed by many.

Have your say!

Write Donald Watson House, 34-35 Ludgate Hill, Birmingham, B3 1EH Email editor@vegansociety.com Facebook /TheVeganSociety Twitter @TheVeganSociety Comments may be edited for publication.

40 The Vegan | Issue 3 2019

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