FREE IssueAugust#52022 Plant Powered Planet Are Crop Deaths avoidable? Jordi Casamitjana reports Crop Deaths CBBC star Omari McQueen on plant-based success WHAT’S COOKING OMARI? Freya Cox, Bake-Off’s first vegan contestant THE GREAT VEGAN TAKE-OVERGREAT VEGAN FREYA COX OMARI MCQUEEN MITALIDEYPURKAYSTHA
Published by VegfestUK Ltd: info@vegfest.co.uk // Plant Powered Planet: www.plantpoweredplanet.co.uk 2 I Plant Powered Planet EventsContents COP27 Conference: Collaborating on Positions 6 VegfestUK London 2022: November 12th & 13th 10 Vegan Fest Catalunya 2022 12 Campaigns & Education The Vegan Problem of Crop Deaths 14 Animal Rescue in Times of Conflict 66 Health Professionals Launch 21 Day Plant-Based Challenge 122 Food What’s Cooking, Omari? 8 Pastry Chef Philip Khoury is Turning Heads... 44 Matthew Glover: Finger Lickin’ Compassion 108 GreenBay: Sea Life, not Sea Food. The Top 10 Vegan Fish Alternatives 128 10 6 12
128 Plant Powered Planet I 3 14 66 52 8 44 108
4 I Plant Powered Planet PeoplecontinuedContents: Mitali Deypurkaystha From addiction to The Vegan Publisher 36 Diary of a CEO: Amanda Woodvine 54 Wendy Turner Webster & Gary Webster on the Poland-Ukraine Border 80 NoAdamski:Killer, No Filler 96 Freya Cox: The Great Vegan Take-Over 102 Lifestyle Vegan Karen’s Holiday Let: Helmsdale, Scotland 30 Yaoh: New Hemp Body Butters 58 Sabbot Headwear: Cruelty-Free Knitwear & Accessories 60 Lookin’ Good. Feelin’ Good. A Round-Up by Karin Ridgers 86 Vendula London: Bags for Life. 90 Root Minerals: Foundation for the Future 116 36 96 116 30 Published by VegfestUK Ltd: info@vegfest.co.uk // Plant Powered Planet: www.plantpoweredplanet.co.uk
Hello and welcome to our wonderful summer issue of Plant Powered Planet! Packed full of plant-based goodness, uplifting content and - as always - dynamic peo ple, plus some thought provoking articles to ponder over a long hot summer break.
Vegan Bags is the subject of a fabulous round-up for shopping this summer and our pals at Greenbay have a brilliant overview of some of the best vegan ‘fish’ alternatives including the brand new Revo smoked ‘salmon’. Then we head north of the border to visit Vegan Karen’s Holiday Let - a lovely ‘getaway’ spot for vegans looking for a quiet vacation in upper Scotland, and we catch up with Jay from Root Minerals for a look at his plant-based make up business. We speak with Stuart from Sabbot Headwear - a new brand on the scene with some fabulous products - before some truly excellent in-depth interviews with Matthew Glover from VFC, Freya Bailey of Bake Off fame, Omari McQueen fresh from his CBeebies stint, Adamski with some new material out, and Mitali Deypurkaystha, author, publisher and motivator extraordinaire. Not to mention an article all about Philip Khoury, the Head Pastry Chef at Harrods doing amazing things with vegan pastry, courtesy of Danielle Maupertuis.
Wendy Turner Webster recounts some of her adventures bringing aid to animals on the Poland-Ukraine border when the conflict in Ukraine began, accompanied by an in-depth article from Jordi Casamitjana on Animal Rescue in Times of Conflict. Jordi’s 2nd article ‘The Vegan Problem of Crop Deaths’ is a thought provoking and challenging piece examining unintentional deaths in both animal and plant-based agriculture, bringing a serious side to issue 5, alongside a look at the 21-Day Plant Based Health Challenge and Amanda Woodvine from elders charity V for Life shares with us a ‘week in the life’. And of course not forgetting news of Yaoh hemp body butters and the Cop27 Conference ‘Collaborating on Positions’ taking place at this years VegfestUK London November 12th & 13th 2022 at Olympia Grand. Talking of which – see you there! Have a fab summer!
Karin Ridgers Plant Powered Planet Editor Editor Karin Ridgers Content Tim Barford Design Pete Metcalfe
The views expressed in Plant Powered Planet Magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor nor VegfestUK Ltd, and neither the Editor, Design Team or VegfestUK Ltd accept any liability for any matter in the magazine, nor can be held responsibile for any actions taken as a result of the content of this magazine. Advertisements and paid promotional copy are accepted without implying endorsement by the editor or publishers. Paid promotional copy is marked ‘Promotion’ on the appropriate pages.
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Welcome
6 I Plant Powered Planet ConferenceCOP27
For years, the impact of animal agriculture and the benefits of plant based diets have been left off the agenda at climate conferences, from before the 2006 UN report until as recently as Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021. And now climate, food & animal groups from across the UK and globally are uniting to present the case for an end to animal agriculture and a shift to plant based food systems at the ‘Collaborating on Positions’ Cop27 conference this Autumn. Hosted as part of the UK’s longest running ve gan exhibition VegfestUK London at the iconic setting of The Grand at Olympia London, the con ference brings together dif ferent factions of the modern day animal protection movement alongside cli mate justice and food justice groups and experts, to create a collaboration on positions that allows for a united front from all participants to counter the lack of action and direction from both governments and corporations the world over on the issue of animal agriculture and climate change. This follows on from successful collaborations in 2021 spearheaded by The Vegan Society at Cop26 and includes many of the main campaign groups.
In partnership with The Plant Based Treaty, a global initiative aimed at driving systemic, in stitutional and individual change towards plantbased food systems, the conference also includes an Introduction to Plant Based Diets area with in formation and a supportive Collaborating on Positions
“ There’s no need to commodify animals by the billion, and we are paying the price for that. It’s up to us to change our ways, and not only stop using animals, and switch to plantbased options – but also to demand councils, authorities, businesses, corporations and governments do the same.
environment for people new to plant-based di ets, and an area dedicated to Campaigning for Animals, ensuring solu tions to climate justice keep animal justice at the heart of those proposals.
A further area – the Writer’s Corner – sees a collection of published authors and experts in different fields of plantbased living and vegan ism, bringing essential evidence-based expertise to the conference. The inclusion of the Kids Area, replete with cam paign workshops, is a timely reminder that the fu ture of our planet may lie in our hands but it’s the generations to come that will experience the outcome. This of course on top of a host of other featured are as taking place throughout the rest of the event. “Climate change affects us all” says conference host Tim Barford, “and we know that changing one’s lifestyle choices to include a wholefood plant-based diet and a plant-based lifestyle can have a no tably positive impact on the environment & planet – as well as on your own health. And importantly, it’s being fair to animals, a form of justice for the billions we breed and kill for profit, and it presents an opportunity for food justice, food sovereignty and essentially fair trade and access to healthy options for “There’severyone.”noneed to com modify animals by the bil lion, and we are paying the price for that. It’s up to us to change our ways, and not only stop using animals, and switch to plant-based options – but also to demand councils, authorities, businesses, corporations and governments do the same.”
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Nicola Harris, from The Plant Based Treaty add ed “this is a unique opportunity to bring togeth er major decision makers including regional may ors, politicians, council lors and policy makers to introduce them to the The conference takes place at Olympia Grand on the weekend of November 12th & 13th 2022 and sees around 12,000 visitors as part of the whole VegfestUK event taking place that weekend.
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Delegates from across the UK are invited to attend including councillors, decision makers and influ encers from many walks of life, to help access the education and information required to make informed policy decisions in support of the Plant Based Treaty, and in particular to en dorse the Treaty.
“This Conference draws together some of the best voices on the planet right now to make the case for an end to animal agricul ture, a transition to plantbased food systems, and to adopt a vegan way of life based on principles of non-violence, and uphold ing basic rights of animals – and people – not to be used, not to be commodified, and to be treated just ly and fairly.”
The conference takes place at Olympia Grand on the weekend of November 12th & 13th 2022 and sees around 12,000 vis itors as part of the whole VegfestUK event taking place that weekend. Tickets are on sale in the autumn priced £10 including fees to ensure maximum attendance, with additional free tickets available for low income and marginalised groups to encourage participation, as well as the antic ipated 1000+ delegates attending.
Additionally, the confer ence will be livestreamed and available free globally online, allowing the inspi ration, education and collective collaboration of the conference to resonate around the world a little further than the confines of the event itself. More than ever before we need a strong global grassroots collective to help address the climate crisis we find ourselves in right now.
Plant Powered Planet I 9 benefits of plant-based diets and food systems, and help fuel support for change on every level.
Trade Delegates can register to attend here. Endorse the Plant Based Treaty and share with others to do the same!
‘Collaborating on Positions – Cop 27 Conference 2022’ takes place at Olympia Grand on November 12th & 13th 2022 from 10am – 6pm Saturday and 10am –5pm Sunday, as part of VegfestUK London 2022. See the website for details.
The Plant Based Treaty can really help bring cam paigns and groups together across the globe to unite with one powerful message – it’s time to end the use of animals and shift to plant-based food systems that feed us all. We can do it.”
The Conference takes place on the Balcony at Olympia Grand, and with the rest of the event taking place the same weekend on the Ground Floor, including a number of vegan hot food street caterers, some 250 exhibitors and around 8 featured areas including health, nutrition, fitness, lifestyle, cookery classes, business sup port, and a chillout stage, it’s the ideal opportunity to learn about the benefits of plant-based diets and lifestyle choices for those new to the idea. The importance of a sup portive area to help people discover the benefits of wholefood plant-based diets cannot be understated. “By moving towards plant-based eating we can improve our health, weight, energy and well being. Access to nutri tional knowledge, wholefoods and cooking skills are key to empowering this movement.” adds Vanessa Sturman, host of the Introduction to Plant Based Diets area. “We have a window to affect change” adds Barford “but that window is closing. We know that with climate change, the ‘elephant in the room’ is animal agriculture and that vast prof its for both governments and corporations are tied up in this area. The only way we can do this is to change as individuals, choose plant-based options, and demand change from Governments and corporations. One of our own worst enemies is the enemy within – and collaborating on positions is essential to presenting a unified and effective case for an end to animal ag riculture, and ultimately total liberation for all animals, humans and the environment. Together, many hands can make light of this work. My hope is this conference will play a tiny yet significant part in achieving this goal.”
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November 12th
Good news all round for vegans, businesses and influencers as VegfestUK London re turns to Olympia Grand this autumn for what promises to be an emo tional occasion given the 3 year gap since the last Vegfest at Olympia back in 2019. Coupled with the Cop27 ‘Collaborating on Positions’ conference on the Balcony, the Ground Floor of the Grand sees over 200 businesses charities campaigners and sanc tuaries with stalls, and an Art exhibition and display centre-piece from the Art of Compassion Project at the heart of the event. 16 hot food caterers ensure a wide choice of vegan street food for the weekend, and the 7 featured areas include talks and presentations on Fitness and Nutrition, an area dedicated to elderly vegans (V for Life), a celebrity area for Plant Powered Planet hosted by editor Karin Ridgers (and a number of our interviewees from the 2022 issues), an area dedicated to Vegan Businesses (Vegan Business Tribe Live), a Cookery Classes theatre and a small chillout stage playing ambient and chill throughout the weekend. Expect around 10,000 to 12,000 visitors over the weekend in the Grand, a spacious venue with 15,000 sq/m available to ensure a busy and vibrant but less intense and safe event for 2022. Tickets Tickets are on sale from September this year, priced £10 including booking fee for a day ticket, with special offers (Buy One Get One Free & Buy One Get One Half Price) running during the Followautumn.us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram! &
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The Associació Vegana de Catalunya is organizing the third edition of the Vegan Fest Catalunya that will be held in the Parc de Vallparadís in Terrassa, the largest urban park in Catalonia, from 17-19 September 2022. During the two days of the festival, there will be more than 30 different activities for the whole family: show cookings, gastronomic experiences, tastings, children’s activities, work shops and talks on sports nutrition, fast fashion, food and veganism with the participation of inter national and national ac tivists. Along with dozens of exhibitors who will offer visitors gastronomic prod ucts, vegan fashion, footwear, cosmetics,... a fes tival 100% free of animal abuse and respectful with the “Ourenvironment.task as an Association” says Anna Garcia, vice president of the Vegan Association of Catalonia “is to bring as many people as possible closer to veganism, to raise awareness and educate about the reality behind the consumption of animal meat. Every day you choose to be ve gan remember that you will save 4163.95 liters of water, 20.4kg of cereal, 2.78m2 of soil, the equivalent of 10kg of carbon dioxide and the life of an innocent animal”. Vegan Fest Catalunya is sponsored by Evil Love, Duuo Shoes, Daura, Heüra, Violife, YogiTea, Santiveri, Tugas Germinados, Legumechef, Vegfund y Unión Vegetariana Española. www.veganfest.cat
VEGAN 2022CATALUNYAFEST
The largest outdoor vegan festival in Europe.
14 I Plant Powered Planet Jordi Casamitjana, the author of the book “Ethical Vegan”, digs deep into the phil osophical problem of vegans consuming products from crops that cause animals’ deaths The Vegan Problem of Crop Deaths By Jordi Casamitjana
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What does it mean to be a vegan? It means to follow the phi losophy of veganism and apply it to every decision in life. And who defined the philosophy of veganism? The Vegan Society started to define it in 1944 when it created the word and finalised it in 1988 — enough time to get it right. It hasn’t changed since, and because of that, we know that a vegan seeks to exclude, as far as practicable and possible, all forms of an imal exploitation for any purpose, and all forms of animal cruelty. These days, many people are defining them selves as vegans without following the definition to the full, but even most of them know that this is a kind of appropriation of the term, which has been precisely defined
16 I Plant Powered Planet for decades. Who can blame them for using the term so loosely? Even the Vegan Society allows non-vegans to vote in their AGM as long as they eat what vegans eat. These “vegans”, who can be la belled as dietary vegans or plant-based people (some prefer one of these labels, while others none), know they are not follow ing the full definition of ve ganism as proper vegans (also labelled ‘ethical ve gans’ to ensure they are not confused with ‘dietary vegans’) do. It’s not a per fect situation, but at least all these labels allow us to communicate with each other without getting too So,confused.what does it mean to be a vegan (or a proper vegan, or an ethical vegan) again? To seek to exclude, as far as practicable and possible, all forms of animal exploitation for any purpose in all decisions, and all forms of animal cruelty too. There are no different types of ethical vegans depending on which ani mals they avoid exploiting. Veganism covers them all. The dogs and cats so many people claim to love, but also the bugs and creepy crawlies many people say they hate. Really, all of them? Yes, all, as the defi nition uses the term ‘animal’ meaning members of the Animal Kingdom (not meaning “pets” or vertebrates) and the unequivo cal explicit position of the Vegan Society in rejecting honey and shellac (wax taken from some insects) ensures that this interpretation is clear. But what does it mean to be cruel? Ah, this is a little bit more complicated. Torturing an animal as a sadistic exercise is clearly a cruel act, nobody would question that. If you do that, you would be a cruel person doing cruel things to innocent victims. Killing animals without torturing them for the same sadistic reasons would equally be considered cruel because it is not only about causing pain and suffering but also about taking someone’s life (and this is why murder is not less of a crime than torture). But what about letting animals die? Well, if you were in charge of looking after the animals and they die because of your neglect, perhaps you may not be a cruel person, but your neglect equates to cruelty (and this is why most modern animal pro tection laws consider it is a crime to cause suffering deliberately or recklessly by Butneglect).whatabout if you were not in charge of looking af ter the animals who died? Ah, that may be another story. If you were not look ing after the animals and the animals suffered and die not because of you, but because of some other humans, you may not be guilty of cruelty, but they will be. What if you are complicit, somehow? What if you pay someone to act in a way that you know will cause suffering
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If the act was cruel, even if you are not a cruel person, you are responsible for that cruelty if you know about it and paid someone else to undertake the act instead of you. And this is why we, vegans, do not consume animal products created by other humans.
and death to another sentient being unnecessarily? Then, I think you cannot defend your innocence anymore. If the act was cruel, even if you are not a cruel person, you are re sponsible for that cruelty if you know about it and paid someone else to un dertake the act instead of you. And this is why we, vegans, do not consume animal products created by other humans. It all boils down to two things: knowing the act is cruel, and indirectly par ticipating in it by engaging someone else to do it on your behalf. Vegans who know an act is cruel be cause it causes unneces to another sentient being, but nevertheless engage other people to commit such an act by buying their products derived from it, would be in full transgression of the main principles of veganism. Vegans in these situations are not that different from plantbased people or dietary vegans who insist they are full vegans. Both are in transgression of fundamental principles of ve ganism, and if this was not an accident and they insist on not changing their be haviour or attitude, we can say the label “vegan” may have been erroneously chosen to describe both. But here is the tricky bit. processed food derived from them, causes unnec essary animal suffering and death because the non-veganic farming prac tices cause crops deaths either by guaranteed ac cidents (rodents, mol luscs, worms or insects crushed during ploughing or harvesting) or by de sign (clearing wild land to plant crops or using pes ticides specifically created to kill sentient beings). Therefore, those who know that, but pay a farmer to produce the food they eat by the methods that cause such suffering and death, may be as guilty of misusing the label ‘vegan’ as those who used it only because they follow a ve gan diet. The truth is that most of those self-defined ethical vegans eat plantbased food cultivated in non-veganic tradition
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Let’s not fear the argument itself and look at it objec tively. Do animals die dur ing crop cultivation? Are these deaths common? Are these deaths widespread? Are these deaths more numerous to pro duce the food that vegans eat than the food that car nists eat? Ok, let’s listen to what ve gan sceptics say. Chris Kresser, the co-founder of the California Center for Functional Medicine and founder of Kresser Institute, claims that 7.3 billion animals are killed every year from plant agri culture if we count rodents, birds killed by pesticides, fishes killed by fertiliser reaching the water, and reptiles/amphibians killed by eating insects contami nated with toxic pesticides. Is he wrong? He cites the study titled “Field Deaths in Plant Agriculture” authored by Bob Fischer & Andy Lamey from Texas State University and published in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics in 2018. However, when you read the article, you will find that these authors say that the estimate of 7.3 billion is clearly too high. Ok, Kresser got the numbers wrong, but does this mean that the number of deaths in each category he mentions is zero? Let’s look at the death of mice during harvesting, for instance. There is a study that has attempted to quantify this. A 2004 study looked at the effect of wheat and corn harvesting in central Argentina comparing the rodent populations of grass mice in crop fields, regions bor dering the fields and the wider surrounding area. Interestingly, they found that the number of mice in fields substantially de creased after harvest but substantially increased in the border regions. They could not find a signifi cant difference between the three habitats in terms of the disappearance of mice, suggesting that mice moved away from the fields that were be ing harvested, rather than died during the harvesting. Does this mean that no mouse died? No, it does not. It probably means that any numbers cited as vertebrate deaths are like ly to be overinflated, but it doesn’t mean the num bers are zero.
Is that right? Isn’t this what veganphobes and vegan-sceptics often say when they want to criticise and ridicule vegans? Isn’t that the argument they most use to say that we are hypocritical? Yes, it is. So are we, ethical vegans, hypocritical? Are crops deaths to produce vegan food significant enough? Can they really be avoid ed, and therefore not trying to avoid them may be a transgression of vegan principles? I self-define as an ethical vegan (I even wrote a book called “Ethical Vegan”), and I will try to answer these ques tions in this article. I am not quite sure I will man age it to the satisfaction of everyone, though — but I will try. Are animal deaths in vegan food significant?production Denying the problem is not a solution. I know it is tempting to say that what ever argument a vegan phobe will throw at you to criticise you is bound to be wrong because we tend to believe that convictions?aboutus,timetoveganismweusevegansmentswhoveganphobesshort-sightedarethoseusethewrongargu-whileenlightenedarethosewhotherightarguments.Ifaresoinsecureaboutthatweneedcoverourearseverysomeonecriticiseswhatdoesthissaythestrengthofour
In 2003, Steve Davis pub lished an article titled “The least harm principle may require that humans con sume a diet containing large herbivores, not a ve gan diet.” In it, he claims that 7.5 animals are killed per hectare in ruminant pasture and that 15 are killed on land used to produce crops. In 2011, Mike Archer wrote an article titled “Ordering the vegetarian meal? There’s more animal blood on your hands” claiming that wheat
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“They could not find a significant difference between the three habitats in terms of the disappearance of mice, suggesting that mice moved away from the fields that were being harvested, rather than died during the harvesting.
Pictured: Ed Winters, or ‘Earthling Ed’, author of ‘This is Vegan Propaganda’
Plant Powered Planet I 21 production is responsible for 25 times more deaths than grass-fed beef because in Australia every four years on average there are mouse plagues where a huge number of mice overrun the fields, and farmers then kill them all with poison. The famous vegan activist Earthling Ed wrote an ar ticle on the Surgeactivism website debunking both claims. Using UN data stating that 1,000 kilograms of protein can be produced on one hectare of land that is growing plants but would take 10 hectares of land for grassfed beef to produce the same amount, and using USDA data, Ed shows that the claims plant-based di ets cause more animal deaths than animal-based diets are false, as most crops are actually cultivated to feed the animals of the animal agriculture in dustry. He rightly states all the animals who die dur ing the cultivation of ani mal feed should be added to the carnist tally, not the vegan tally. Ed writes, “[A] nimal farmers use around 1.7 times more wheat and so would be responsible for around 1.7 times more mice being killed for wheat production alone. Around 80 per cent of beef sold in domestic supermarkets in Australia comes from animals that were grazing for about 85 to 90 per cent of their lives, but then are fattened up on feedlots not be sufficient for all of their needs. For every 100 calories fed to animals, we receive only 12 calories by eating their flesh and milk. If you want to reduce your overall impact on animal suffering and death — as well as reducing your food-related carbon foot print — then veganism is the best ‘off-the-shelf’ diet to choose. If you eat ani mal products then even more animals will be killed to feed you. Veganism does not eliminate the suffering and death of other animals but it is the best option to dramatically reduce it.”
But Ed is not claiming that plant crops are not caus ing animal deaths. He is just saying that this is not the vegans’ fault, and the animal agriculture industry causes many more deaths. The Vegan Society has the same view. Samantha Calvert, Head of Communications at The Vegan Society, told Plant Based News, “Most ve gans are fully aware that it is not possible to live without causing harm to other animals. However, many animals that are used for meat and milk need to have additional food grown for them. This is particularly the case in zero-grazed systems but even where animals are allowed to graze this may
I agree with this view — and that’s why I am a ve gan — but for an ethical vegan, the actual number should not matter (un less you are an obsessed pure-utilitarian). Vegans don’t eat the honey pro duced by fewer bees. They don’t eat the eggs from the smallest chicken farms. They don’t eat the lambs from the tiniest sheep flocks. The death of one bee, one chick or one lamb should be one too many for an ethical vegan. We do not consume any of these products irrespective of the number of animals harmed or killed. We do it as a matter of principle, and because we do not accept that “killing fewer,” or giving a “better life” before the kill, is an excuse for animal exploita tion. And this also explains why ethical vegans do not for the last 10 to 15 per cent. On top of that, beef can still be sold as grassfed if the cows have spent fewer than 70 days being fed grain, which, because cows are often slaugh tered at around 18 months old, is within that 10 to 15 per cent time period.”
Ethical vegans with their feet on the ground know most plant crop farmers deliberately kill sentient beings, and not just one
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Denying it would be as ridiculous as saying pesticides do not exist, and the chemicals crop farmers use to spread in crops are just sugar water to give all the insects and slugs some refreshing nourishment.
accept animal welfare reforms as excuses to tol erate the exploitation of Anotheranimals. issue would be the intention. Killing ani mals on purpose is alto gether different from killing animals accidentally. I grant you that. Morally speaking, it’s much worse to rear pigs, beef or chick en for food and then kill them all, than to acciden tally kill mice, birds and reptiles when harvesting vegetables and grains. But standard plant-based agriculture kills animals on purpose too. It kills animals that are eating their produce. It kills birds, rabbits or rodents shoot ing them, snaring them, or using dogs, and it kills invertebrates using poi son. It considers them all
Plant Powered Planet I 23 as “pests” and deliberately kills them using “pesti cides” or euphemistically labelled “wildlife control” methods. These deaths are not side effects. The victims of pesticides are not collateral damage. They are the target intended, and their numbers are not negligible — in fact, they are huge, much bigger than Kresser’s So,estimations.ifforus
Above: Dan from Vegan Organic Network. Tolhurst Veganic Farm’s ‘Fatrm Tour’, which was live in July 2022.
ethical ve gans, the numbers should not matter and we know that non-veganic plantbased agriculture kills wild animals deliberately, can we really say we have successfully debunked any claim saying the plantbased food vegans eat causes significant deaths of other sentient beings in the crops it comes from? No, we have not debunked such a claim, because such a claim is true. No ethical vegan with minimum knowledge about where vegeta bles come from can deny the significance of such deaths. Denying it would be as ridiculous as saying pesticides do not exist, and the chemicals crop farmers use to spread in crops are just sugar wa ter to give all the insects and slugs some refreshing nourishment. Ethical ve gans with their feet on the ground know most plant crop farmers deliberately kill sentient beings, and not just one or two. We cannot deny animals die in the cultivation of most crops producing the food most vegans eat, especially if we consider in sects and molluscs rather than only vertebrates, and we accept that the use of pesticides is standard pretty much everywhere. OK, we have organic farming which uses fewer pesticides than standard farming, but how common is organic produce on the plate of the average ve gan? In the EU, in 2019, the organic area was only 8.5 % of total EU agricul tural land. Only 5% of the UK crops’ land is land where crops are grown or ganically. North American share of the global land used for organic farming also only amounts to 5%. Most likely, the majority of ethical vegans are not eating plants from organic crops, because there is not enough organic produce to cater for them all. And even if there was, how many ethical vegans do really restrict their food
24 I Plant Powered Planet intake to organic sourc es? We could argue that health-oriented dietary ve gans are more likely to. But remember the Vegan Society’s definition of veganism. It contains the expression “as long as practicable and possible.” Perhaps avoiding these deaths is impossible. Are crop avoidable?deaths
Throughout this article, I have been using the term non-veganic crops to de scribe those where killing wild animals (labelled as pests by farmers) is stand ard. The implication is that, in veganic crops, this doesn’t happen. Is that true? Well, it is in theory.
In a 1960 issue of the Vegan Society magazine, we first see the term ve ganic farming used meaning the method of ani mal-free cultivation that not only follows organic principles but also aims to have a minimal amount of exploitation or harm to any animal. To achieve this, it doesn’t use animal manure or bone/fish meal (using vegetable compost, green manure, or chipped branched wood instead), and it doesn’t use any pes ticides — or deliberately kills competing wildlife in any other way. Is this just wishful think ing? No, it is not. Veganic farming is a real thing, and it is becoming more popu lar. In different parts of the world, different terms have been used to describe it (such as stockfree farming, vegan permaculture or vegánics) and differ ent approaches to how to achieve its non-harming goals also led to differ ent commercial standards, such as Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture (BVA), or Certified StockfreeOrganic. The latter is the standard mostly used by veganic farmers in the UK, developed after the crea tion of the Vegan Organic Network in 1996. To be certified under these standards, you can not use pesticides, herbicides, GMOs, and no
Plant Powered Planet I 25 animal by-products in any part of the chain. You cannot keep animals for food production or commercial gain on the registered holding either, and farms must also minimise their reliance on off-farm inputs and non-renewable re sources. Physical barriers for dealing with competing species, and not intentionally killing any animals on their holdings, are also im portant conditions. And those who follow all this can produce viable crops. They add or ganic material to the soil using green manures, composts, mulching, and crop rotations and control the competition of other species by letting natural predators do their ecologi cal “job”. Tolhurst Organic Farm in Oxfordshire, the UK’s biggest veganic farm, is a good example to show how all this works. Does this mean no animals are killed at all on these farms? Not necessarily. If there is a lot of ploughing going on, earthworms are likely to be killed. But is ploughing necessary? Not always. In fact, some of these farms are moving towards notill cultivation, which not only may produce fewer accidental deaths but may improve the quality of the soil and retain more Carbon in it (often the term ‘Regenerative Veganic Agriculture’ is used for those veganic operations trying to help reverse climate change). It also de pends on how careful the farmers are during the harvesting process. Some could even use lightweight robots for less disruptive precision farming. Therefore, with veganic farming, we know, at least, that we have eliminated the “deliberate” animal kills. And depending on the actual methods used, and the types of plants grown, it could decrease the number of accidental deaths to a tolerable level for an av erage ethical vegan. And with the use of technology, we could even go further. There could be a whole new branch of Vegtech exclusively aimed to even further reduce the number of accidental deaths dur ing plant-food production. Some of this technology is already responsible for zero accidental deaths on some farms. For instance, vertical farming produced inside buildings isolated from the outside — so no unwelcomed animals get in — can have great yields without the use of any pesticides and without caus ing any accidental deaths. Or we could bypass growing plants altogether and get the same nutrients from bacteria in fermenta tion tanks, or by growing mushrooms or algae in closed “animal-free” build ings. All this is already happening. “
To be certified under these standards, you cannot use pesticides, herbicides, GMOs, and no animal by-products in any part of the chain. You cannot keep animals for food production or commercial gain on the registered holding either, and farms must also minimise their reliance on off-farm inputs and non-renewable resources.
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For those ethical vegans who still want to consume some plant-based products that happened to be produced by deliberately killing other animals, they have a card left in their hand: the “practicable” word in the definition of veganism. It may be pos sible to grow plant-based food without killing other sentient beings, but how practical is it? Well, it depends on where you are, how you manifest your veganism, and on your circumstances. I do not have many resources, but I try to grow some of my vegetables in the ve ganic way. However, I live in London, and I only have a small yard to do so, not enough to produce all my food all year round. And although I do my best in avoiding any death (every time I take some veg to eat I carefully translocate all the insects on them to an other plant), I have killed one worm or two when I was learning. Although I try to grow everything from seeds now, sometimes I need to buy small plants to start some growing, and I don’t think they have been grown in a veganic way where I buy them. In other words, with all the best of intentions, and having great care, I still haven’t been able to achieve a ze ro-death tally.
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Therefore, I would say that animal crop deaths are perfectly avoidable, and with care, time, and technology, they would be easier to avoid. Is avoiding crop practical?deaths
If I did not have the yard to grow food (which has been the situation for most of my 20 years of being vegan) it would be worse. There are no vegan ic farms close to where I live, so the best I can do is to buy organic. And then, when I eat out (less and less common these days), I may buy lovely and healthy unprocessed food, but I am sure most of the vegetables have not been grown veganically. I could, of course, become an ascetic, and try to make my yard the “cave” of my hermitage, but I am not quite ready for that, and I still think I need to be out there promoting veganism and helping as many animals as I can. So, for me, at this moment, it is not practicable to only eat from veganic produce — and I suspect it will not be for most ve gans. Considering the “practicable” clause of the definition, this means we are still vegan if we consume non-veganic pro duce for practical reasons. And this also means that the veganphobes’ accusa tion of vegans being hypocrites doesn’t stand as we are only expected to “do our best.” Therefore, if being vegan is better than being non-vegan, giving up veganism because of all these deaths would be ethical vegans still consuming plant-based food grown in non-veganic ways should not assume they “have arrived” to where they should morally be. They still need to get more veganised. They just happen to be further along in the veganisation process than a vegetarian or a dietary vegan, but they still need to progress more.
Plant Powered Planet I 27 “it’s not about taking refuge behind an idea when someone challenges you, but constantly working every day to get closer to it, as we must be honest and accept we are not “there” yet — and that’s fine.
The vegan world is possible, and in it, no animals will die to produce food for humans and their companions. We are not there yet, but as a movement, we are slowly moving toward it.
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Plant Powered Planet I 29 more hypocritical — if the excuse is it was done to prevent such deaths. But the fact I am con suming non-veganic produce for practical reasons does not mean I am hap py with the situation. This does not mean I should not try to change it. From an ethical veganism point of view, it is still wrong to consume products created by exploiting or killing animals, so plant-based non-veganic agriculture is still wrong. Much better than animal agriculture, but still wrong. In the same way any vegan had decided becom ing vegetarian was not enough (better, but not enough), ethical vegans still consuming plantbased food grown in non-veganic ways should not assume they “have arrived” to where they should morally be. They still need to get more veganised. They just happen to be further along in the veganisation process than a vegetarian or a dietary vegan, but they still need to progress more. Knowing that, despite being ethical vegans, we are still contributing to animal exploitation and deaths, is not an excuse to stop be ing vegan and forget the whole thing, as vegan-deniers want us to do. But it should tell us we still have some way to go — person ally, and socially — to get to the vegan ideal veganism aspires to — which is not utopic, as it is perfectly reachable. It should make us look for better alterna tives all the time and not just settle for those that are more convenient. It should encourage us start new projects that make it easier to replace animal agricul ture with regenerative veganic agriculture (like the Vegan Land Movement founded by Gina Bates in Scotland), and to move from plant-based, to organic, to veganic, and fi nally to zero-kill veganic. It should make us more “constrained” in our con sumerism and try not to buy food beyond our Butneeds.the other way this awareness should impact us is by making us less judgemental with those who just happen to be behind us in their veganisation process. Those who try to advance in their veganisation, no matter where they are, are imper fect vegans who can do better. At the moment they decided to hold the philos ophy of veganism and begin working to manifest it, they have made the jump from pre-vegans to vegans. But they are still im perfect vegans, and if we do not know their internal and external circumstanc es that will determine how they manifest their vegan isation, we can’t judge whether they will become better at being vegan with time or refuse to progress (as even some ethical ve gans Veganismdo). is not a state of being, but an attitude. It’s not the result of your actions and behaviour, but of your beliefs, intentions, and efforts. And it’s not about taking refuge be hind an idea when someone challenges you, but constantly working every day to get closer to it, as we must be honest and accept we are not “there” yet — and that’s fine. The vegan world is possible, and in it, no animals will die to produce food for humans and their companions. We are not there yet, but as a movement, we are slowly moving to ward Unfortunately,it. animals still die in producing food most vegans eat, but we are working on it. That is what counts. By Jordi Casamitjana Author of ‘Ethical Vegan’
30 I Plant Powered Planet High in the northern reaches of Scotland, in the quiet seaside town of Helmsdale is a vegan holiday let that we’ve just got to tell you about. Vegan Karen’s Holiday Let Helmsdale, Scotland
Plant Powered Planet I 31 Vegan Karen’s holi day let is situated on the stunningly beau tiful far North East coast of the Scottish Highlands, part of the famous NC500 route, in the small traditional fishing harbour of Helmsdale, a minute’s walk from the sea. An hour and a half away from the bright lights and buzz of the capital of the Highlands, Inverness, wIth all the expected amenities, but a world away in terms of peace, seascapes and Firstly,beauty. and mostly impor tantly to us, we offer all you would expect from a tradi tional self catering holiday home away by the sea, but with the added relief of knowing that everything in the property is vegan, and that nothing brought into the property is not vegan. We welcome everyone but would ask that everyone follows a vegan life while in the house or garden. The house is a traditional fisherman’s cottage with living room, hallway, big enough to house bikes etc, kitchen/diner, utility room, with dishwasher, wash ing machine etc. Upstairs there are two bedrooms...
Vegan Food in Helmsdale Eating as a vegan in Helmsdale…..limited - it’s like going back in time to when I first became a vegan nearly thirty years ago. But Inverness has all the shops you might want and if travelling by public transport I can arrange a food delivery if needed.
Local Attractions
Helmsdale offers a wealth of attractions, from active outdoor pursuits – hiking, coastal walks, bike riding, a clamber to the top of the famous Helmsdale hill, to the more sedate riverside trail or even a gentle harbour stroll. Bird watching, art, photography, golf, a visit to the re nowned Timespan museum, the clock tower, the Immigrants Statue, the ice house, the Thomas Telford bridge, and the first class waiting room with its special make over, are definitely worth a vis it, and even, and maybe uniquely, slightly outside the village, the experience of panning for gold.
How much does it cost?
Seasonal Highlights August sees the annual Highland games, May and June bring the summer night skies where if the night is clear even midnight seems too early to go to bed, and winter can bring natures finest light show as dashing green and yellow aurora can light up the night sky.
Normally we charge £100 a night, but as this is our first year of trading we are offering special offers and discounts. How to get there Helmsdale is serviced by the Far north railway line, regularly bus services, and is about hour and half by car from Inverness. The property is located near the harbour a ten minute walk from the railway station.
32 I Plant Powered Planet one master and one with two singles- both have views of the sea, and you can even watch the sea while brushing your teeth. There is an outdoor space with bench and a grassed area for just lazing around.
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34 I Plant Powered Planet “Standing in Couper Park above the south side of the River Helmsdale and overlooking the village of Helmsdale and its harbour is the Emigrants Statue. The statue can be accessed by footpaths climbing from either of Helmsdale’s bridges, or from the car park beside the Wee Cafe, next to the A9 immedi ately to the south of the more modern bridge.” UndiscoveredScotland.co.uk-
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Lastly... Go on, what would you say is your guilty pleasure? My pleasure, be it guilty or not, is plunging into an icy cold loch and seeing how long it takes me to laugh! Thanks Karen! It looks absolutely fabulous. If you’re interested in a quiet, picturesque getaway in the Highlands, you can find out more about Vegan Karen’s Holiday Let vegankarensholidaylet.co.ukhere:Vegankarensholidaylet@gmail.com August sees the annual Highland games, May and June bring the summer night skies where if the night is clear even midnight seems too early to go to bed, and winter can bring natures finest light show as dashing green and yellow aurora can light up the night sky.
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Hi Karen! Tell us a bit about yourself. What’s your favourite food, for starters? My favourite food, at the moment!!, is a rice cake smothered in crunchy pea nut butter, you can’t beat it when you’ve been out running on the hills round here all day.
What’s your vegan story? I’ve always been what I describe now as animal empathetic – one of my favourite childhood memories is being taken to a family friends for lunch and refusing to eat the lamb they presented me with as I’d seen them playing in the field behind the house where we lived! I became vegan nearly thirty years ago, and now it’s so much a part of me I feel it’s like breathing!! Tell us a bit more. Do you have a big family? My family is a reasonably unique, two humans, six dogs, and ten chickens. A noisy demanding mixture of rescues and rehomes but I wouldn’t have it any other way. My dream is to set up a vegan animal sanctuary and any money made from the holiday let is going to be ploughed into that.
Experts,
From
Mitali Deypurkaystha addiction to The Vegan Publisher
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Your
As a British Indian woman raised in the north of England, Mitali Deypurkaystha experi enced both racism and col ourism, leaving her desper ate to fit in and belong. This led to her getting involved with drugs when she was young and ending up in a homeless shelter. Mitali – who co-wrote an ep isode of popular British soap opera Brookside at the age of 16 – turned her life around to become a successful ghost writer, helping some of the top business leaders in the UK and US to generate more than $6.5 million in additional Nowrevenue.she’s on a mission to turn vegan experts, business owners and C-suite exec utives into authors, start ing with her new book The Freedom Master Plan: Put Mission, Movement and Message on the Map - For Vegan and Ethical Influencers and MitaliEntrepreneurs.speaks to Plant Powered Planet maga zine about her fascinating journey.
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Ultimately, I was kicked out of university for nonattendance, lost my room on campus and ended up in a homeless shelter for a year. Fortunately I was assigned a fantastic addiction counsellor who helped me get my life back on track.
Hi Mitali, thanks for speaking to us. Can you tell us about your experiences growing up in Gateshead? I grew up in a sea of white faces during a time when being different or diverse was not celebrated. It didn’t help that I couldn’t speak English when I first started school. But more painful than the racism was the colourism. I was several shades darker than the rest of my family due to getting heat stroke as a baby. Whenever my family and I would attend Indian festi vals and gatherings, it was usual for people to com ment on my dark skin and how difficult it would be to get me ‘married off’ when I’m older. You co-wrote an episode of Brookside when you were just 16. Tell us about this and how it influenced your future career path. My teacher submitted one of my essays to a national competition, winning me a place at a summer writ ing school in Edinburgh. Some of the cast and writers of Brookside were there. Along with the other children, I co-wrote an episode. It became a Sliding Doors moment in my life. Previous to it, I was hap py to follow a medical career to please my parents. But all I wanted to do was write. It’s interesting to think that, had I not won that competition, I may not be a book publisher now. You studied media studies at university but dropped out after going down a path of drug addiction and ending up in a homeless shelter. Tell us more about this time. Back then I yearned to be accepted by anybody.
I was kicked out of university for non-at tendance, lost my room on campus and ended up in a homeless shelter for a Fortunatelyyear.
Above: Mitali’s book ‘The Freedom Master Plan’, available in all good bookstores.
I only started taking amphetamines and ecstasy to fit in with other first-year Ultimately,students.
I was assigned a fantastic addiction counsellor who helped me get my life back on track. How did you get back strategic partners, affiliates and investors. It’s all about seeing your book as far more than just a revenue generator through selling copies. As I say in my book, The Freedom Master Plan, “The book is not the business.” You recently became a book consultant and publisher. Why? It took me six weeks to plan and write my seventh The first took me around 17 months! I realised I had developed a system, or a recipe as I like to call it, for success. I decided to show others this recipe. After all, there’s only so many books I can write myself. But if I can show my recipe to others, I can help exponentially more people put their message, movement and mission on the map by publishing a book.
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The book consultancy was originally called Let’s Tell Your Story as it focused on working with all kinds of entrepreneurs and experts. However, the more vegan, ethical or sustainable entrepreneurs and experts I met, the more I was in spired to focus on them. I’ve been vegan since 2012, initially for animal rights but increasingly for human health, sustaina bility and climate healing reasons. Rebranding as The Vegan Publisher was the next logical step.
Above: Mitali hosted a panel for our first Global Vegfest event featuring authors from the vegan community Jackie Norman, M C Ronen & Heather Landex. Watch it in full here.
You changed the name of your business to The Vegan Publisher, with a publishing imprint Let’s Tell Your Story. Why?
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I kept the publishing im print as Let’s Tell Your Story because around 50% of my authors are not 100% vegan. Some are vegetarian while others are flexitarian. It seemed fitting to have a publishing imprint that encompassed Also,that.
I believe that money can never be good or evil. It’s a conduit. In the hands of the right people, money can be a huge force for good. And what better hands for money to be in than those who consider themselves vegan, ethical or sustainable?
I want my authors to feel they didn’t have to publish under The Vegan Publisher if their audience is not predominantly ve gan and they feel it would be detrimental.
Why did you write it and what’s the most important thing readers will learn from it? I wrote it to empower vegan and ethical entrepreneurs and experts to make the biggest impact. I kept meeting business owners in this sector who felt that making a lot of money and veganism or ethics don’t go hand in hand. I believe that money can never be good or evil. It’s a conduit. In the hands of the right people, mon ey can be a huge force for good. And what better hands for money to be in than those who consider themselves vegan, ethical or sustainable?
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What advice do you have for vegan business leaders and experts who want to write a book but are adamant they can’t write? Most of us revere professionally published authors. So it’s no won der many of us don’t feel ‘good enough’ to write a book. Perhaps you can still hear the stinging crit icism of your old English teacher who told you your grammar was terrible? The goal of a book con sultant is to remove those fears. It doesn’t matter how bad your grammar or spelling is. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the first thing about planning or writing a book. My job is to give you the tools so all you have to think about is getting your expertise out of your head and into a manuscript. And remember, there are wonderful creatures called editors whose sole purpose is to make your words shine!
How do you help vegan experts who want to write a book? I have a number of pro grams to suit different budgets and goals. My signature program is a video-based course that breaks the entire book re search, planning, writing and developmental editing stages down to bite-size chunks.
You recently wrote your own book under your name: The Freedom Master Plan: Get Your Mission, Movement and Message on the Map which is specifically for vegan influencers, experts, entrepreneurs and C-Suite executives.
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It’s the same ‘recipe’ I used as a ghostwriter so it’s proven to work. Just follow along, and I promise you, you’ll write your book in no time, even if you have zero previous experience as a writer. One of the themes of your life (and a topic you’re speaking on at the
As soon I decided to like myself, things changed. In the past 20 years, I’ve connected with people from all over the world, from so many different backgrounds, who have all accepted me as I am. I just wish I could get in a time machine and tell my younger self not to try so hard to fit in! Why are stories so important? When words are com bined with a story, the effect is magnified. From an early age, we love to listen to stories. We retain more information via stories than as cold facts and figures. And we feel more emotions when we learn through stories. It’s why I teach my clients to teach through stories so they make the biggest impact with their books.
Find out more about The Vegan Publisher and check out Mitali’s book The Freedom Master Plan.
Above: Mitali with Flexi the dog.
desirebelong.event)VegFestUKupcomingLondonisdesperatelytryingtofitinandWhenyouwere15youstartedeatingmeattofitinwiththewhitepeoplearoundyou,anditwasthistofitinthatledtoyouraddiction.Whathaveyoulearnedaboutfittinginandbelonging?
As cliched as this sounds, acceptance from others comes when you accept yourself. I was seeking acceptance and validation from everyone else but myself. I vividly remem ber eating my very first hamburger at 13 years old and thinking it tasted bland and dry. I only did it because all the kids ate at McDonald’s.
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Pastry Chef Philip Khoury is turning heads... “Dawn of a New Day” Are these the first words of a poem? In fact, be hind this ode to life, hides a dessert created by a the Head Pastry Chef at Harrods. His creations take us to another galaxy, where pastry is the art of elegance, refinement, and perfection. From a simple look at his desserts, the “ Food has always been a part of my identity. The son of Lebanese immigrants in Sydney, food was where we all came together and dessert was always my favourite part. debate between the quali ty of ‘classic’ versus vegan desserts vanishes. His work convinces us that a plant-based dessert can perfectly master a balance of tastes and textures, and reach the highest stand ards of presentation. So, who is behind this artwork?
Danielle Maupertuis, everyone’s favourite vegan pastry chef, has returned to introduce to us Philip Khoury, a fellow vegan pastry chef, and current Head Pastry Chef at the prestigious Harrods in London. Over to you Danielle...
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“Dawn of a New Day” Are these the first words of a poem? In fact, be hind this ode to life, hides a dessert created by a the Head Pastry Chef at Harrods. His creations take us to another galaxy, where pastry is the art of elegance, refinement, and perfection. From a simple look at his desserts, the debate between the quality of ‘classic’ versus vegan desserts vanishes. His work convinces us that a plant-based dessert can perfectly master a balance
Plant Powered Planet I 47 of tastes and textures, and reach the highest stand ards of presentation. So, who is behind this artwork? A young man named Philip Khoury from western Sydney - a new pioneer in plant-based dessertswho joined the 173-yearold London institution in 2018 and became Head Pastry Chef shortly before Christmas 2021. Could you tell us a few words about your career, and how it lead you to the world of pastry? Food has always been a part of my identity. The son of Lebanese immigrants in Sydney, food was were we all came together and dessert was always my favourite part. It was traditional for us to have Lebanese sweets and Pavlovas in the same spread. I’ve always been a creative and I actually did a bachelor of design after I finished highschool because I didn’t think my family would (at the time) approve of a career in food. Design really informed my aesthetic and need for purpose/concept in food. Which is how I ended working for and leading research and develop ment for Australia’s eminent pastry chef Adriano Zumbo after finishing an apprenticeship. He must have seen something in me because he plucked me out of the kitchens to work alongside him devel oping hundreds of exciting products for his 10 stores in Sydney and Melbourne. This has been the single most influential job I’ve had. Adriano allowed me to question everything. We wanted to reduce sugar and fats and this is where I started to look at how we do things as chefs with fresh eyes. It was a pivotal conversation with a friend that made me consider vegan pastry about 5-6 years ago. It was a simple question about could pastry be vegan and my off the cuff response was immediately – NO. Everything we make as pastry chefs is formulated with eggs and dairy, going back hundreds of years. I can see how they ended up in dessert, but it struck me as odd that an alter native hadn’t been widely considered. The truth is we are discon nected from food, and the land it comes from. The industrial complex has meant we are completely detached and don’t have “ The truth is we are disconnected from food, and the land it comes from. The industrial complex has meant we are completely detached and don’t have to see the reality of what farming at industrial scale means - and the only ones paying for it are the animals, and ours and our health.planets
There are some pastries I have not explored yet be cause my approach is to take natural, existing pastry staple ingredients and reformulate them com pletely from scratch, and fully utilising their wonder ful functionalities. I do not use margarines contain ing hydrogenated oils or flavours, or additives that super processed or aren’t within reach of a home baker. The plant-based food market is booming. But despite the growing interest for vegan cuisine and pastry, the options still remain very limited – it usually consists of a fruit salad or a sorbet! – And when a choice is offered, it still lacks in taste and presentation. So why do so many Chefs stick with provideingredientsnon-veganandnotalternatives? There’s certainly a lack of training and general expertise in the plant based pastry space but a few professionals are leading How we eat is one of the biggest influences on climate and if I can help equip people with arecanalternativesdelicioustheyrelatetothatplant-basedandlowerimpactIwillbehappy.
to see the reality of what farming at industrial scale means - and the only ones paying for it are the an imals, and ours and our planets health. You have a strong Pastry Chef background. What problems did you come across in terms of the perception of plant-based food, alternative ingredients and the practicalities of recipes? Plant-based pastry is so relatively new in comparison to the hundreds of years traditional pastry has had to develop. We are at an exciting junc tion where we have never been more creative and more chefs will soon see that approaching plantbased is the most exciting challenge and opportunity! This was the theme I was referring to when I named one of my latest creations The Dawn of a New Day, and and accompanying chocolate bar Every Cloud has a Silver Lining – I be lieve every challenge presents an opportunity and the issues we face globally can be very overwhelm ing but we need to stay focussed on the positives. These desserts accompa nied the launch of Belgian chocolate maker Callebaut NXT the first certifiable dairy free milk alternative by one of the worlds lead ing chocolate companies. What do you think of the tendancy to systematically replicate the same classical desserts in a vegan version (crème brulee, experimentShouldn’teclairs…)?weratherwithhowtouseplants,herbs,flowers…inveganpastry?
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Plant Powered Planet I 49 they way and each has a very unique take on how this can be achieved and each is a pioneer in their own right. Research in vegan pastry substitutes has made tremendous progress recently. Do you feel comfortable with all the available vegan ingredients? There are so many in gredients now available. I take the approach that I will only use novel or new ingredients if they are at a point where they are globally available or standard ised so as to avoid any mistranslations. I am also very discerning about ori gin and provenance. Do you consider your development and research in vegan pastry as part of a global movement against the crisis?climate Absolutely. How we eat is one of the biggest influences on climate and if I can help equip people with delicious alternatives they can relate to that are plant-based and lower impact I will be happy. What are your plans for the future? I heard about a cookbook?coming I am working on a cookbook that helps equip the home baker and profes sionals alike with new recipes for desserts they know and love using
Omari - Hello! How are you? What’s up? Hi Karin, I’m really good - just busy working on some amazing projects to bring more aware ness to plantbased food for children in schools and supporting Made by Dyslexia as they make changes worldwide in the way dyslexic chil dren are treated and taught. I’m also filming with CBBC and I can’t wait for everyone to see it, plus I’m working on opening up my vegan chicken and chip shop called McQueens!! Busy as always ... And a TV Star now! That must be fun? I don’t really class myself as a star - I’m still me but yeah it’s fun that I’m able to share my message and my journey with so many people around the world. And your books of course! That’s really exciting too! My books are my biggest accomplishment - being dyslexic it was some thing I never thought was achievable and I was able get it done so I’m really excited about that. What’s your favourite recipe right now? my favourite recipe... that’s a hard one. I will say that my favourite thing to eat at the mo ment, staying on-brand (!) is a vegan chicken burger with Peri Peri chips - you can’t go Butwrong.my favourite recipe is my vegan pepper steak with rice and sides. I use the meatless farm steak then season it up and grill it - it never misses.
Okay, so what about your favourite drink? My favourite drink at the moment is a drink called Bigga Fruit Punch, mum doesn’t really like me to drink it ‘cause it’s fizzy but I’m 14 now so she doesn’t say much... but my every day go-to is my Aloe Vera strawberry water.
Omari?Cooking,What’s
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Omari McQueen, the star of the CBBC show ‘What’s Cooking Omari?’ has always been a confident, outspoken young pioneer. We have fond memories of the times spent at VegfestUK events with Omari, when his company Dipalicious was starting out. Now Omari is a TV star and influencer for arguably the most pivotal generation of all.
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Your whole family is involved pretty much aren’t they. Time for a family secret – who is the most annoying sibling and why?! My siblings are loving it, especially Mahkai and Kiara. The most an noying sibling would be Kiara because she thinks that she is the boss and is always trying to tell me what to do even though she’s much younger than me. She gets away with it because she’s cute but she can be annoying. And she’s always touch ing my stuff! Mum and dad are true stars too, it must be said. Yes they are. Mum and dad are becoming stars in their own right people notice them all the time. It’s quite funny because they’re quite down-toearth private people. Mum gets really shy so if you see her doing inter views or in a show she’s doing it for me. I love her so much but surprisingly dad loves it - he pretends he doesn’t but he does, he loves it! I think he wanted to be a superstar when he was younger. My books are my biggest accomplishment - being dyslexic it was something I never thought was achievable and I was able get it done so I’m really excited about that. “ ” Omari’sCheckoutbookshere!
52 I Plant Powered Planet “ I can’t say much but something special is coming to CBBC. and I am opening a vegan chicken and chip shop in August for a month in Boxpark Croydon - then I will be opening and franchising my online restaurant in November. Pictured: Omari speaking in the Auditorium at VegfestUK London 2018.
They have been work ing with me for so many years behind the scenes making all my visions come true - they are my rock.
What’s next for Omari? I can’t say much but something special is coming to CBBC. and I am opening a vegan chicken and chip shop in August for a month in Boxpark Croydon - then I will be opening and franchising my online restau rant in November. Plant-based? Vegan? I’m Vegan but I don’t judge others on what they want to eat. But I do it for the animals. So I’m saying vegan but plantbased is dope too. Do you have any advice up-and-comingforvegans? My advice for up-andcoming vegans is find the alternative to your favourite foods. It helps. Buy seasoning and try different things and fig ure out your reason to why you are becoming vegan - it’s easier when you’ve got a reason. And oh goodness – the vegan kids festival! And you are headlining! That is incredible! I know it’s amazing i’m so looking forward to it, it’s gonna be great. And finally – please do come to Vegfest again! London November 12th & 13th has your name on it. I will Definitely be at Vegfest again. I support anything that Vegfest does the same way they supported me. I will nev er forget and will always be grateful for the support they gave me when I was just starting out. Thanks Omari, keep up the good work and we’ll see you in November! Make sure you check out ‘What’s Cooking, Omari?’ on CBBC, and look out for news about Omari’s latest show, coming soon...
Pictured: The family. Omari (3rd from the left) with the McQueen clan.
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Monday Most days start in a similar way – savouring that first cup of coffee, and then language practice. Inspired by a book called The End of Alzheimer’s –and also because I love a challenge – I’m learning French, Italian, Spanish, German and Mandarin through an app, in (very) bite-sized chunks. After a quick skim through my inbox to pick up any ur gents, it’s off to work.
Big projects to start plan ning over the next fortnight include content for our next magazine, Vintage; the programme for this year’s V for Life Zone at VegfestUK 2022; and VfL’s 2022 Awards for Excellence in Veg*n Care Catering, with a cer emony in the Houses of Parliament. Tuesday Day at the desk. Today we’re shortlisting for the post of Office Administrator – and feeling really blessed that we have over 100 candidates to choose from. I squeeze in writing the Minutes from last weekend’s board meeting, and have some impromptu catch-ups with the team in our lovely Victorian open plan office. After work I head to a vegan/vegetarian café called The Gherkin for a friend’s birthday – Tuesday happens to be free chip butty night! Wednesday Taking the train to London today for the annual gen eral meeting of the AllParty Parliamentary Group on Vegetarianism and Veganism, which V for Life co-sponsors. I enjoy the
Amanda is the Chief Executive of the charity V for Life, a charity working on behalf of older vegans & vegetarians to protect their rights and interests. In this piece, Amanda takes us through a typical week.
Diary of a CEO
WoodvineAmanda
Plant Powered Planet I 55 Visit V for Life on Twitter!
taking the jam-packed London to Manchester commuter train back home. I feel slightly apprehensive before head ing back, but needn’t have worried – phew – I have a seat. The next Wednesday… A week has passed since my last diary entry. It real ly feels like summer now, but nonetheless I stick to my new habit of wearing a weighted vest during my lunchtime park walk. I’m not naturally a brisk walker, so need something to increase the challenge and get some strength training in. So far so good, and I’ve not set off any security alarms wearing it. Today we met some love ly candidates, interviewing for the Office Administrator post. Scoring was tight, but we’re unanimous in our decision… I’m trustee for a local de mentia charity, so dial in to a video conference after work to discuss fundraising. screen break and warmer weather, and have packed briefing reports from our Research & Policy team to keep me busy and get up to speed. I receive good news in the early evening. My latest assignment (part of con tinuing professional de velopment for Chartered Manager status) has now been marked, and to my slight surprise, I passed. I found that one tough. The pandemic means that I’ve been out of the loop,
Pictured: ‘The Gherkin’ restaurant Above: A screenshot from Amandas language learning app.
The recent heatwave is due to break on the day of the wedding. True to predictions, the heavens open on the wedding party, but it doesn’t stop the smiles. It’s lovely to catch up with close family and those that I see less often.
Shortly after entering the reception, I’m given a platter of vegan appetisers to myself – very promising! For more information on V for Life, check out their website, and make sure you follow their Facebook & Twitter pages.
Pictured: The menu from ‘Sanskruti’
Then it’s off to a vegan/ vegetarian café called Sanskruti to wish a work colleague a fond farewell on his last day. Making a selection is hard, but I plump for mushroom dosa and we share a couple of mandatory family-sized garlic naans, as is our work tradition. The weekend Just a 4-day working week, so I tie up loose ends at home before travelling to Worcestershire for a weekend family wedding.
Pictured: A snap from the wedding.
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Plant Powered Planet I 59 OC C O NUT
Sabbot Headwear are a UK-based headwear & accessories company creating great quality products. Produced in Czech Republic, all of Sabbots products are vegan and ethically journeyaboutfounderWeconscious.spokewithStuartthebrand’ssofar. Sabbot Headwear Cruelty-free knitwear & Accessories 60 I Plant Powered Planet
Plant Powered Planet I 61 Visit Sabbot on Instagram!
62 I Plant Powered Planet Pictured: ‘Linda’ bobble hat
Sabbot is: • Vegan Friendly • Cruelty Free
• Genuine Faux Fur • Made in EU
The key for us is bringing beautiful products to the market that appeal to our wide audience at a fair price. We will never com promise on quality or our beliefs. Everything we do is planned at least a year in advance, & we take note of brands in all sorts of industries for our colour pallets and the look/feel of what they do. In general we do a great job, but will always ensure we move with the times to give our customers the best prod ucts and service, maxim ising the potential. Can you tell us what’s unique about Sabbot?
And the inspiration behind the brand?
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The flexibility we have as a manufacturer is second to none, delivery times quick, with more and more people looking to source from Europe due to all the issues globally at the moment, so the brand is in a good place for the long-term.
Sabbot is a stunning col lection of knit hats and ac cessories manufactured in the Czech Republic to the highest standards in our state-of-the-art facility.
• The only headwear brand in the world approved by Fur Free Retailer Where are your products available? Are most of your sales online, or events, or a mix? It’s a mix. We started our journey selling into pre mium golf resorts 5 years ago, soon becoming the benchmark for winter headwear. Two years later we started trading with select gar den centres, independent department stores, boutiques, gift shops, and outdoor stores. We have our new website also and we exhibit at a few shows during the season, Xmas Fairs, Snow Show and last but not least Vegfest London this year. The shows are great for getting direct feedback from the public, data cap ture and moving on some end of line products also. Generally, it’s not an easy time for independents – how’s things for you right now on a business level? All things considered we are in a good place - we survived Covid and earlier this year invested in a revamp of the Sabbot brand, new website and point of sale. Also the addition of a Sabbot cap collection for 2023 and the introduction of SKIMP too. This will en able us to be an all-year round brand, raising the profile of the brand, in turn.
Tell us a little about Sabbot Headwear.
“ The key for us is bringing nevermarketproductsbeautifultothethatappealtoourwideaudienceatafairprice.Wewillcompromiseonqualityorourbeliefs.
Being a relatively new brand, with a very limit ed budget it’s not easy, but despite this we have a HUGE message that most can’t, won’t or don’t.
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And who comes up with the creative ideas? We are led by the design team in the Czech HQ, however myself, our consumers, agents and retail ers always influence new products, styles and colours for each season. This ensures we have as much an inclusive collection each season as possible. How big a market do you envisage for Headwear?Sabbot
As a distributor, we are inundated with brands look ing to come into the UK market, but until SKIMP, nothing had taken my eye. SKIMP are vegan friendly, cruelty free, quality prod ucts, made from recyclable plastic and in keeping with my own beliefs. SKIMP is a great fit with Sabbot, being suitable for multiple sales channels also.
For me it’s about the qual ity of the sales and the retailers we trade with. Sabbot is suitable for everyone, all ages, all tastes and activities. It’s unusual having a brand that works in various sales channels, but this strategy will prevent us from being pigeon holed. You’ve recently taken on a new brand too –SKIMP! Tell us a bit more…
What about your own background? And what drove you to launch a vegan business? I have been in the Golf in dustry since leaving school many years ago, starting as an Assistant Golf Pro, then realising early on that I didn’t have what it takes to earn a living playing, so moved into the industry working for two of the ma jor brands ‘Taylor Made’ and ‘Callaway’. I rose through the ranks into sen ior management positions, but redundancy came, then a major car crash soon after, leaving me to completely rethink what’s ahead. I came across the Czech company in 2016 and started distributing Sabbot in 2017, along with their custom/own label brand. I have always been passionate about animal rights and due to this Sabbot has evolved into a vegan brand in the last 18 months. We also support the likes of Camp Beagle and other charities along the way.
Looking forward to Vegfest in the Autumn? Yes very much so, I was introduced to Vegfest by the wonderful Lorri from VEGAN Happy Clothing and feel that it’s the perfect opportunity to spread the word about our amazing brands and engage with visitors at the show, along with other exhibitors. And finally – we always ask – fave vegan meal? I must admit to being a terrible cook, however I am a good gardener. My wife is an amazing cook - my favourite vegan meal is her chilli, oh my word it’s sooooo good. As for going out, the Green Kitchen in Brighton is superb anytime of the day. Thanks Stuart! See you at Vegfest London!
“ For me it’s about the quality of the sales and the retailers we trade with. Sabbot is suitable for everyone, all ages, all tastes and activities.
Plant Powered Planet I 65 Pictured: ‘Blanka’ bobble hat
When something happens, you know you will get them soon. Every time there is a mil itary conflict that starts somewhere I will begin receiving emails from an imal protection organisations appealing for dona tions to help them assist the many animals who will become the other victims of the conflict. Sometimes from recognised organisa tions that tend to do this often; sometimes from big organisations that I nev er saw them doing this before; sometimes from groups I never heard of. And then you have the tweets, the Facebook post, and even the letters. If the conflict is not resolved straight away, this sort of request for help tends to escalate, and after a while, I may ignore them. Why? Because I am often never sure if they are genuine.
War is often immediate, and always chaotic. So it stands to reason that fundraisers, rescue and relief efforts in the face of conflict can come at us all at Jordionce.
Animal Rescue in times of Conflict
Casamitjana, author of the book ‘Ethical Vegan’, discusses which animal rescue campaigns in armed conflict zones vegans can choose to support with comfort.
I am often unsure if they are simply scams that exploit the good hearts of people and try to steal their money claiming that it will be used to help the animals in need, but it will never be. I am often unsure if the rescue programs are real and wheth er most of the money do nated will end up paying someone’s salary in an office, rather than actually helping animals in the conflict zone. I am often
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unsure if the organisation genuinely wants to help the animals but they will not be able to because the situation is too dangerous and chaotic. I am often unsure wheth er the organisation will be sensitive enough to the humanitarian crises and will not end up making things worse. I am often unsure, so I tend to ignore these appeals, es pecially if they come from non-vegan organisations. In fact, for better or worse, I don’t think I have ever donated to them. Was I wrong? Should I have thrown caution to the win and donated, anyway? In this article, I will explore this issue a bit deeper than I normally do. Are the Appeals Real? For a member of the pub lic, assessing if an appeal easy thing to do. There are plenty of unscrupulous opportunistic people out there who are waiting for the next crisis, ready to jump on the poor old lady whose heart gets broken by the compelling imag es of abandoned animals, and who cannot really tell whether the organisation asking for help is genuine. But for someone like me, who has worked in
they clash. The marketing side represents the force to get money in, and the campaigning side is the force to spend money for the cause the organisation should be fighting for. Big organisations have lots of staff, and many people are not those helping the animals directly, but in stead, are people running logistics, finances, HR, supporters, etc. They all need to be paid a fair salary, and that means a lot of money for a charity that relies solely on donations and membership fees. To get enough so people are not made redundant every time there is a decrease in cash flow, charities hire specialist staff whose skill is to get money in regular ly. We are talking about philanthropy directors, marketing managers, ma jor donor offices, and roles like that. The problem is that most animal charities hire them not because of their alignment with the charity’s cause, but be cause of their expertise in persuading other people to give money. On the other side, ani mal charities have campaign departments made up of those who know the subject well and can attain the organisation’s goals. These people know how to spend money, not how to get money, and if they are good, they can achieve a lot with very limited re sources. If the organisation hasn’t got a solid ar chitecture and leadership that allows it to get the best of these two groups of staff, clashes may arise.
68 I Plant Powered Planet animal protection for many years, it should be easi er. I should be able to tell straight away. But you know what? it’s actually harder. This is because I know what goes on in big animal welfare organisations. I have witnessed — and often participated — in a type of conflict that is hardly discussed in the outside world, but which is very common in animal pro tection organisations that have reached a critical size. The war between campaigns and marketing. Other names may have been used in the past as these terms tend to evolve, but essential ly, they describe the two internal forces that oper ate most forward,nymayorganisations.processesdecision-makinginsidetheseForcesthatbeworkinginharmo-propellingthecharitybutsometimes
I have always been on the campaigning side of this conflict, but I have experienced it several times in several of the animal protection organisations I have worked with. Sometimes there are periods that one of the sides is
“
I have witnessed — and often participated — in a type of conflict that is hardly discussed in the outside world, but which is very common in animal haveorganisationsprotectionthatreachedacriticalsize.Thewarbetweencampaignsandmarketing.
Plant Powered Planet I 69 dominant and tends to win more of these battles (and this has sometimes been one of the reasons I have resigned from my role). One of the classical battles in this type of conflict is the one that occurs when something unexpected happens in the outside world involving animals within the remit and the scope of the organisation. For instance, an armed conflict begins in a country that the organisation considers to be part of its geographical scope. When that happens, often the marketing side gets very excited and propos es all sorts of quick ap peals for funds using the event that would break the monotony of the regular appeals (which with time tend to get ignored). Also often, the campaign side tells them that they cannot do much because things need to be done proper ly, and they had neither time to prepare nor the infrastructure to act (as the event was unexpected). Good leadership would be able to listen to both sides and find a middle way, but sometimes, when the balance between the two sides is not right, the “appeal first and decide what to do later” wins. Personally, I would not be inclined to donate in situations where that happens, but, in my experience, it may happen in any organisation at any time — because from the outside we never know what the balance of these two forces is. So, having worked in animal protection, when I receive an appeal for an emergency, I am well aware that no matter which organisation it comes from, and no matter whether they have done this sort of work before, there is no guarantee that my money will not be wasted — and even worse, ending up paying the salary of some one who will use my dona tion to buy a cheeseburger Appealsinstead. for donations for emergencies may be fake because they come from fake, criminal organisa tions; they could be “mis leading” as they seem to claim the money may be used in a rescue but it may be used in something else; they could be “deceptive” because the organisation claims that will use the money in something that they may not be in a good position to do yet. They may be, on the other side, completely genuine, effective, and do an amaz ing job helping animals in very hostile and difficult situations. The problem is, you often only find out after you de cided to donate, after you can read the reports of the job they have done (and by then it may be too late).
70 I Plant Powered Planet Let’s see a couple of examples of rescue opera tions that turned out to be good. Afghanistan’s armed conflict
The War in Afghanistan was an armed conflict that took place from 2001 to 2021 and started when the United States (and its allies, including the UK), as part of their self-defined “war on terror”, invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
In November 2006, British soldiers of Kilo Company of 42 Commando Royal Marines arrived in the town of Nowzad in Helmand Province to pro vide stability for the local people. Many of the stray dogs there also needed help, so the Royal Marine Sergeant ‘Pen’ Farthing decided to help them. He left the army and created the Nowzad dog shelter in Kabul, and an associat ed charity which reunited over 1700 soldiers with the dogs and cats who they rescued and bonded with on the front lines of the country. The war ended with the Taliban regaining power after a 20-year-long in surgency against allied NATO and Afghan Armed Forces. The Taliban be gan its last major offensive on 1st May 2021, culmi nating in the fall of Kabul. On 16th August, the US Major General Hank Taylor confirmed that the focus of the US military at that point was maintain ing security at the airport as evacuations continued. On 27th August 2021, Pen Farthing left Afghanistan with 140 rescued dogs and 60 rescued cats who lived at Nowzad’s sanctu ary. He flew to the UK with a hired cargo plane paid for by the “Operation Ark” campaign, which received over £200,000 in dona tions from the public. The campaign aimed to get Farthing, the animals from the sanctuary, his staff, and their immediate families out of the country to safety after the Taliban took control of Kabul. The operation initially failed to get the sanctuary’s staff and their families out (and because of that it was crit icised by some claiming that the operation priori tised “pets over people”). At the eleventh hour, before all foreign troops left Afghanistan, only Pen and the animals made it to the UK. However, on 11th September, the remain ing 67 staff who wanted to leave were successful ly evacuated to Pakistan,
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Many months later, after the animals passed their four months of quarantine, they began to be adopted by people. Since the evac uation, the Nowzad charity has worked to re-establish its operations in Kabul.
Forrecognised.me,this is a good ex ample of how achieving the goal is better to fund raise in the long run than rushing into appeal with out a proper plan in place, but who knows whether the goal would have been achieved without having been able to raise enough funds quickly to hire the plane (without which the rescue would have been Somehow,impossible).
Some staff stayed behind and continued to look after their donkeys and horses. Recently, the comedian Ricky Gervais announced he would give a big donation to the charity, so the fact they were successful in achieving what they were set up to do has been
Plant Powered Planet I 71 and later they gradually made their way to the UK. This was a difficult operation with many security, political, logistical, and bureaucratic hurdles to overcome. According to Dominic Dyer, the main organiser of the campaign and former CEO of the Badger Trust, “Operation Ark was both a humanitar ian & animal welfare rescue operation.” In this case, I have little doubt that most of the mon ey raised was used for the rescue of the animals and their care, as this was a very specific goal, and all the animals managed to get to the UK. There were fears that once arriving, some might be put down by the authorities, but this did not happen.
the fact that there was a sanctuary on the ground and a char ismatic figure running it, gave credibility to the whole thing from the very beginning. This was not a case of a charity trying to get into the conflict to see if it could help any animal but without much knowl edge of the area and situation. This was the case of a local charity (although run by a foreigner) already in the conflict zone trying to evacuate the animals it had already rescued. That made it much more real, urgent, and credible.
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• Since the start of the war in Ukraine, with our help [Network for Animals], our Polish partner Foundation ADA (FADA) has been taking in tragically abandoned dogs and cats. Many were once-loved pets left behind as people fled for their livesothers are shell-shocked street animals who had to fend for themselves during bomb blasts and
Ukraine’s armed conflict
The ongoing RussoUkrainian War began in February 2014 when the status of Crimea and the Donbas, internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, was questioned by Russia, which invaded these regions. Russian annexed Crimea and the war in Donbas has continued until today. On 24th February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale inva sion of Ukraine, which led to a bloody conflict and a huge humanitarian crisis. The United Nations said that more than 14 million people are thought to have fled their homes since Russia’s invasion began. And many of them either carried their com panion animals with them or left them behind to fend for themselves. And then we have the animals kept in zoos and sanctuaries in the middle of a war zone.
Between 18th March 2022 and the time of writing this article, I have received more than 40 emails from animal protection organ isations asking me to do nate to them so they can help Ukrainian animals. Here are some examples of what these emails said:
Naturally, this is when the animal protection organi sations’ rescue and assistance operations began.
• In Ukraine, many animal shelters, sanctuaries and individual guardians re fuse to evacuate and leave animals behind. IFAW’s Disaster Response team is determined to help these animal heroes and the ani mals they are protecting— and we’re doing so with the support of caring peo ple like you. If you’re able, I hope you’ll make a gift to support IFAW’s work in Ukraine and around the •world.Together with our local partners at Animal Society, FOUR PAWS has been at the Ukrainian border providing emergency assis tance to those fleeing the country with their muchloved companion animals. We have been vaccinating animals for onward travel, providing food and pet car riers, and offering advice on pet-friendly accommo dation. Additionally, sup plies of dog food have been delivered to shelters where reserves were dangerously low. The emer gency food will help feed approximately 320 dogs for about a month.
Plant Powered Planet I 73 flying bullets. As the war has progressed, animals arrive in increasingly bad condition: dogs and cats are starving, injured and totally traumatized. One thing is clear: it will be a long and difficult road to recovery for these poor animals, but we and FADA are committed to helping •them.Traumatised and injured animals are amongst the flood of refugees – and we’re helping them. Viva! Poland’s 52-acre animal sanctuary has become a vital space for rescuing the desperate animal victims of Vladimir Putin‘s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Our wonderful manager Cezary Wyszyński and his staff were either at the border or organising the urgent help needed, as soon as the scale of the catastrophe became clear. Already they have deliv ered three tonnes of animal food to refugees who have brought their belov ed animals with them and have taken 50 animals into the care of our sanctuary – but there will be many, many more. Viva! Poland urgently needs help.
• As the war in Ukraine rages on, PETA Germany and its partners in Romania are helping families cross the border to safety with their animal family members. We’ve just received this update from Jana, one of the PETA Germany staffers on the ground there right now: ‘Our hearts and souls are in Ukraine. Our team is working on the Ukraine-Romania border, helping with dog and cat food, free veterinary care, companion animal passports, microchips, and all of the much-needed love and comfort they can provide in this very emotion al situation for all sentient beings. We speak with people who have travelled quite a long way with their beloved animals, often for many days through the
• Animal Victory has been communicating with and sending funds to the fol lowing shelters and or ganizations because of you. Team UAnimals does fantastic work every day: financially helping shel ters, donating feed to ecoparks and zoos, trying to evacuate animals and their humans. Poznan Zoo is DIRECTLY in place and assisting the Kyiv Zoo an imals. They are requesting support. They have already started sending in supplies for the Kyiv zoo. This is official from envi ronmental protection from Wrocław. The Harmony Fund: Laura Simpson, the founder, tells us helping the animals of war is such a complicated mission, simply because of the obsta cles of safe passage and safe delivery of supplies. She is working with a wide international network to try to do everything within her power to continue to help.
What you want is to see working animals rescued from war and work and ending up free from either. What you want is companion animals rescued from violence and abuse and ending up with a caring and safe family. Choosing to support a vegan rescue organisation may increase the chances of all that. “ ” cold, and try to find places for them to rest and •recover.’Over a month ago, Russia began a military invasion of Ukraine, causing devastation to the coun try’s wild animals. We are horrified by the suffering inflicted. It is having cata strophic consequences for Ukraine’s free wildlife and for the poor, unfortunate animals in zoos. These poor creatures now have war to add to the cruelty they suffer as caged captive animals. Zoo animals are starving as you read this! HELP US GET THEM FOOD! ASI [Animal Survival International] strongly disagrees with zoos that cage wild animals who should be free in their natural habitat. But we can’t stand by and watch innocent animals suffer, and zoo animals are starving in Ukraine right now.
• In the face of suffering, we cannot keep our arms folded. The centres that are part of EARS (European Alliance of Rescue Centres and Sanctuaries) have been organizing since the be ginning of the war to support wildlife caregivers and their other family, the ani mals they care for. Among several centres, despite all the difficulties of the situation, some fifty animals that were in Ukrainian zoos have been relocated. But conflict is still active and many animals remain trapped, dying slowly of thirst and hunger. Therefore, at MONA we send very necessary ma terial so that some of these animals can be moved in safe conditions. These are three safety transport cages for large animals, three transport cages for medium-small animals, anaesthesia, medicines and other veterinary mate rials. With this, 270 kg of feed for primates is also included. Most people who care about animals would like to help when they receive emails like this, but which organisation to choose? For an ethical vegan like me, ruling out non-vegan organisations is the first step (if there are vegan organisations involved, that is), but that may still leave a few possibilities, like in this case. There is a chance that non-ve gan organisations may be What you want is to see zoo animals being rescued both from the conflict zone and the zoo, so they end up in genuine sanctuaries.
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What you want is to see zoo animals being rescued both from the conflict zone and the zoo, so they end up in genuine sanctuaries. What you want is to see working animals rescued from war and work and ending up free from either. What you want is compan ion animals rescued from violence and abuse and ending up with a caring and safe family. Choosing to support a vegan rescue organisation may increase the chances of all that. Having dedicated teams that rescue animals, and do this for living all year long, is a good sign too. But organisations that ei ther had already a pres ence in the area of conflict (or close by) or have a solid partnership with local groups in that area, are even better. I found one that seemed to tick all the boxes. Viva! is a well-established vegan organisa tion in the UK which also has a branch in Poland, the country where more refugees with their animals ended up after leav ing Ukraine. It also has an animal sanctuary that could take some of the animals. Juliet Gallatley, Viva’s founder and direc tor, travelled there to help organise things. And they have created partnerships with Ukrainian local groups
helping some animals at the expense of others or could be working close to zoos that would use oper ations like these to raise money to bring more animals into a life of misery. You don’t want to help rescue animals who would end up being exploited again by different people.
Source: www.viva.org.uk
Below: Juliet Gellatley & Cezary in Poland.
There is this notion that the government steps in and does certain things in scenarios like this. At the humanitarian aid bor der between Ukraine and Poland, a substantial amount of people come in with dogs, cats, and other animals. You kind of think the government would step in and sort that out. But it’s all voluntary-led, and you just get groups of people, sometimes from community groups, some times from church groups, sometimes just volunteers from whatever country, just setting up at a table.
to help the animals who were left behind. I had the privilege to interview Juliet a few days after her return for a Vegan FTA article I was writing about her, so I managed to get a pretty good first-hand report of what it is like trying to rescue animals from a conflict zone. This is what she told me: “The reason that I went over to Poland recent ly was because we have Viva in Poland. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have stepped in because there were so many other people doing it, but in Poland, we have a sanctuary which is about an hour from Warsaw. It’s a big sanctuary for Poland. it’s about 60 acres and we had over 400 animals at the start of the Ukraine war. And then the war happened, and everything got thrown sideways. We were going to be asked to take lots of cats and dogs. The sanctuary was full, so how would we do that? Back then it was quite tense, actually, because we were thinking to get all the animals out of Poland. Through donations we built emergency ways of getting cats and dogs in there, so we took about 130 cats and dogs. Pet food manufacturers were saying ‘we will give this food to Ukraine, but we don’t want to do any of the logistics.’ And there was nobody set up in Poland to do it. We were just hav ing to sort things like that. So, we hired a huge ware house and it was getting the food in. Then we had to hire the staff to get the food across, and then we had to decide how we were doing that because it was extremely dangerous. We were working with a Ukrainian organization called Animals ID and we supply the feed to them. They would then get it to where it was needed.
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Ukrainian refugees come in, and if they just say they want to go to England, they would probably have to wait three weeks to be able to. They’re just knack ered and they’re sick of sleeping on the dirty blan kets, and they just want help. And so, they just go to the German table and they get on a bus, and it’s all sourced out. You have this vision that it’s all sorted out and organised, and you think, ‘okay, it’s not like that at all.’
I ended up adopting a lit tle puppy. I had to drive to Calais because the UK government changed the rules. What was happen ing is that a pet carrier would bring several animals across, and they’re actually dropping them at people’s houses. But then the UK government stepped in and said ‘no, you can’t do that!’ I actually managed to get through to the pet team, which is part of DEFRA, and they said ‘no, you can go and get her, but you have to go to Calais.’ I’m thinking, same dog, same vaccina tion, same pet passport, but what they are doing is slowing down the entry of animals into the UK, very consciously doing so. From the refugees’ per spective, we were pro viding lots of stuff like pet carriers, food, flea collars, and leads, and it was really moving to see how many refugees were carrying dogs in their arms. One woman I remember had her dog in her backpack for 15 days by the time she got to the main sta tion in Warsaw. I remember this lady that had this cute little terrier cross, very cute little fella, who’s very affectionate, and she was saying ‘but I can’t pay for the carrier.’ I was using google translate to let her know this is free, and she was so grateful. You’d feel like crying because they literally have one small case like the size you’d put on the hold of a plane and their animal. Poland has been incredible in terms of opening its arms to people and genuinely trying to help.”
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The Fog of War
The difference between an armed conflict and any other emergency is the fog of war. It’s very difficult to find out what is going on as what governments know and what happens on the ground is often different (people tend to make their own decisions when they carry a gun), and both sides have fully operational propaganda machines which spread misinformation to confuse the enemy and hide their tactics. Guessing what is happening is extremely difficult, even if you have some locals on the ground, because they would have restricted mobility and Above: Juliet with ‘Roza’ in Poland. Source: www.viva.org.uk
reduced Iscapabilities.communicationthatagoodreasonnot to act? No, I don’t think it is. Is that a good reason not to give to a charity that may not spend the donation as they originally said they would? On reflection, no, I don’t think it is either. In fact, thinking about it, from all the appeals for donations to animal charities I have received, those aimed to help animals in armed conflict zones, I should be less concerned about things not turning out as planned — because who can plan well in these Inemergencies?asituation
Just for the chance of a starving lion not having to eat the lion who died first. Just for the chance of an injured cat making it safe and sound to a peaceful home. Just for the chance of a terrified dog having a needed hug among the smoke and explosions.
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where peo ple have been deliberately killed, it is amazing to see someone trying to look after the animal victims. We should all recognise how far we have moved in history to be in a position where most people are now accepting that rescu ing animals is part of the normal emergency aid initiatives, even in war situ ations when human rights have been relaxed and human lives are consid ered expendable. As the conflict in Ukraine shows, the very people under threat are the ones asking the world to help their animals — as, for them, losing them contributes to their suffering. In a way, it is through a war that people may realise we are all victims and may strongly feel what it means to be innocent. We should not waste such a collective epiphany. This is the sort of operation where we should not both er with counting numbers, because just helping one individual animal would make them worthwhile. After all, this is what animal rights is all about. The individuals’ rights to not be forgotten and disregarded. Not the species they be long to or how many that are left. And if people are risking their lives to help an individual animal, well, what other campaign ef fort can top that? I was wrong. The fog of war was clouding my judgement, even miles away from the guns. I should have donated to campaigns to help ani mals from conflicts, be cause even if I may be scammed, even if most of the money is wasted, even if all the plans fail and the appeal was misleading, if one of my pennies gets through the fog and makes one animal smile for a few seconds, then it would be worth it. Just for the chance of a starving lion not having to eat the lion who died first. Just for the chance of an injured cat making it safe and sound to a peaceful home. Just for the chance of a terrified dog having a needed hug among the smoke and explosions. Even if all these chances are small under the uncer tainty of the fog of war. I have donated now. By Jordi Casamitjana Author of ‘Ethical Vegan’
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Wendy! Not your usual rescue work – how did you get started on this venture?
You’re right, I have been involved in animal rescues via many varied situations, but never before in the case of war. When Russia invaded Ukraine, like most sane people Gary and I were completely outraged at the injustice and tragedy of what we were wit nessing on the news. It soon became appar ent that not only were the Ukrainian people suffering but their beloved pets too. We just felt really compelled to do something! How did react?Gary I think if Gary had been 25 years younger, he would People and their pets may have travelled for days and Viva! was on hand to give their beloved pets food and water, medical attention and any new equipment needed such as leads, collars, pet carriers and litter trays. have gone over to fight –that’s how passionately he felt about it! How did the involvement with Viva! come about? I have been a Patron of Viva! for 28 years so of course I knew they had a big presence in Poland which borders on Ukraine. It soon became clear that the animals were in danger of becoming the forgotten victims of the conflict, so it was no surprise that Viva! Poland stepped in to help in such a big way.
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It must have been a soul searching decision... We didn’t think twice about making the journey to Warsaw and being on the ground for a week. About 100 dogs and cats from Ukraine were already being cared for at the Viva! sanctuary – all of them lost and homeless and in vital need of care and attention. Viva! also had a big presence at the various railway stations and refugee centres that families were ending up at. People and their pets may have travelled for days and Viva! was on hand to give their beloved pets food and water, medical attention and any new equipment needed such as leads, collars, pet car riers and litter trays. People were so grateful. They had lost everything and were determined to not lose their pets on top of everything else. And for the children you could see that taking care of their dog or cat was the one thing that was keeping them focussed on an oth erwise totally chaotic and distressing journey. What was the drive to Poland like – apart from cold? Gary and I drove up to the Poland/Ukraine border to deliver some supplies to Veterinary Border Control. Viva! had responded to a plea to provide microchips and pet carriers so we were thrilled to be able to help out. Luckily for every one the week we spend in Poland was an unusu ally warm one… certainly makes for a more productive time when it’s not cold and raining! Any fabulous animals that you have met and befriended? We were blown away by the animals at the Viva! sanctuary – some 500 of them including dogs, cats, horses and a whole array of farm animals. There were quite a few puppies from Ukraine and of course it’s always wonderful to play with the pups. Gary showed us all how he can ‘talk cow’ and in doing so the cows came instantly from one side of the field to the other to greet him! And some people too – amazing. Juliet who founded Viva! was with us so of course
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It’s a testament to Viva! that people can put their absolute faith and trust in them to leave no stone unturned in helping the displaced animals of Ukraine.
that was lovely to spend time with her. It was also great to meet Cezary who runs Viva! Poland, Stephan who was our wonderful translator at the Ukraine border, Carolyn who works at the sanctu ary and introduced us to a lot of the animals, and also Lisa Buck… Lisa had driven a vanload full of do nations to Warsaw from the UK and stayed at the sanctuary for a while afterwards to do some vol untary work. Lots of lovely animal-loving people who it was a privilege to spend time with. Did you manage to eat ok? And sleep? Our days were so busy that we slept like logs every night! We were doing interviews with news outlets back in the UK and we our selves were interviewing Ukrainian refugees so we could share the stories of the life-changing ordeals that they and their beloved pets were going through. Sitting down to eat was always welcome and we were blown away by the vegan restaurants in Warsaw – especially the desserts which were so good I sometimes had two desserts instead of a main course! The displays of cream cakes and gateau lead me straight into ve gan paradise!
How bad is the situation there for animals
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Animals have been killed or injured because of the Russian bombings. Many have been orphaned be cause whilst they have survived their owners have not. Many are left traumatised by the ongoing bombings and gunfire and some animals have been cruelly abandoned; simply left by their owners to live or die. We’ve heard Viva raised around £70,000 to help with funding The animal-loving public have been totally amazing and have really rallied round to support this cam paign. It’s a testament to Viva! that people can put their absolute faith and trust in them to leave no stone unturned in help ing the displaced animals of Ukraine. Everyone is angry and upset about Russia’s despicable ac tions and by donating to Viva! people have really got a sense of relief and pride that they have done their bit to help those most in need. Can people in the UK help a bit more? The best way to help is by visiting www.viva.org. uk or following Viva! on Facebook to find out how to donate – either money or items of food and equip ment. People can also en quire about volunteering work at the Viva! Poland sanctuary. Bed and board is provided and a commitment of two weeks is a minimum requirement. Uplifting story of the whole experience? When we were at the Ukraine border a lady ran up to us and started chattering away and pointing to the Viva! logo on our t-shirts. I had the idea that for some reason we were being told off for filming, however, Stephan stepped in to translate and it turned out that the lady had recognised the Viva! logo and had taken the opportunity to make a plea for a local vet who urgently needed medical supplies. Stephan called Cezary and before you could say ‘woof’ the aforementioned supplies were on their way! Would you do it again? And Gary? We would do it all again in a heartbeat!
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Lookin’ good. Feelin’ good. A Round-up by Karin Ridgers It’s that time again. Another issue of Plant Powered Planet. Another round-up by the one and only Editor-in-Chief Karin Ridgers. 86 I Plant Powered Planet
88 I Plant Powered Planet I could not believe the difference in how my skin and hair felt after using this super show er from my friends at Water for Health…..
FRESH Packs A, B and C are freeze dried fruit and vegeta ble supplements that you mix with water to drink. And it’s freeze drying that re ally makes the difference. An innovative process makes it possible to treat the selected ingredients ultra gently and get the best out of them: the nutrients, the full flavour and the best aromas.
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The Biocera Premium Shower Head Filter and has three pressure settings, removes chlorine from your wa ter and helps you save on wa ter consumption. This chlorine water filter for shower heads removes harm ful chlorine from your water and lasts four to six months per cartridge. Chlorine is a chemi cal added to the general water supply to kill pathogens, however it is not good for us in any shape or form when ingested. Inhaling or absorbing chlorine is thought to lead to all sorts of health problems and exacerbate certain conditions you may already have.
The RINGANA FRESH packs have just been reformulated, they are vegan and come in handy sachets – simply dissolve the content in water ac cording to your preference.
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What I love about Beth the founder of Liberty & Love is that she saw an issue that needing addressing – and then took action. Beth is also a vegan chef! However after being bombard ed with adverts of late teenage and early 20 something wom en, with perfect airbrushed bodies trying to sell underwear in a way geared for pleasing men, Beth felt frustrated and forgotten about. With no retail experience Beth launched Liberty & Love for all women everyday... Underwear that is for real women of all ages, for themselves with real women of different shapes as models who we can relate to.
Award winning vegan handbag brand Vendula London does not produce ‘fast fashion’ and a large proportion of their products are hand made, including the appliqué, shape cutting and stitching. Each item is created by highly skilled ‘arti san’ workers with many, many years of experience and care going into each item. Even the glue they use is vegan. Vendula London need an entire article about them. So we’ve done just that. Scroll on!
90 I Plant Powered Planet Vendula LONDON Bags for Bylife.Karin Ridgers
Plant Powered Planet I 91 Showing how proud I am as a vegan has always in volved more than just what I Overeat. the years people have asked me about my makeup, what skincare I use, asked about my shoes and boots – and of course about my hand bags. I proudly show them that you can look and feel even more fabulous when everything is cruelty free. When I first saw Vendula London I fell in love. Their designs are unlike any I have seen before and the quality is fantastic. And their goal is to be the quirkiest vegan handbag brand in the UK. Vendula London are quirky, colourful and ret ro with a twist. Their one guiding design philosophy is to make people ask: ‘Where did you get that bag!?’
92 I Plant Powered Planet Vendula London launched in October 2003. The idea for the brand was sparked after a chance meet ing between accountant Raymond Lam and lawyer Vendula Zemanova. Vendula was passion ate about animal welfare. They were both fed up with the corporate 9 to 5 culture and were looking for entrepreneurial opportunities. “We were flicking through an accessories magazine, looking at handbags with expensive exotic animal skins. We both agreed that beautiful fashion pieces do not have to involve in killing animals. Our focus first turned to shopper bags made of cotton fabrics and then vegan leath ers. Most vegan leather handbags at the time were of low quality, however we felt with the right materials and craftmanship we could create beautiful pieces with vegan leathers - so Vendula London was “Weborn.”are proud of so much at Vendula Towers… as well as a fantastic dedicat ed team we launch at least 20 collections each year. Each has a different theme so there will be something to suit everyone’s tastes.” Vendula London is privileged and delighted to have partnered with the iconic band Queen and have launched their Queen X Vendula range this year. As huge Queen fans them selves knowing that Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor love their de signs is incredible. Vendula London is worn by a growing number of celebrities and influencers, and they have recently won the Most Innovative Vegan Handbag Brand 2022 as well as Most Innovative Vegan Handbag Brand 2021 by LUXlife. Here are some of my fa vourites from their latest collections… Lucky Paws Grab Bag
The Lucky Paws Grab Bag may be small, however it still has space for your essentials and will be your favourite fashion asset whenever you use it thanks to a laser-cut cat shaped handle and cat-shaped studs at the front. Have you seen the cat-shaped zip pullers? You can use it either as a hand bag or crossbody with the detachable strap, and you can now choose between three colours: will you opt for the classic black, summer blue or will you go for the sweet pink version of the Lucky Paws Grab Bag? Designed in Saffiano vegan leather with natural shine.
The Vendula Vinyl Grab Bag has such a groovy vibe you can almost hear the disco beat as you walk along the street! This vegan leather bag can keep all your essentials organised with a roomy in terior and pockets. It also looks great with its vintage artwork that will make you smile all sum mer! This is your chance to spin some vinyl and transport yourself back to the swinging sixties and seventies…
Vendula Vinyl Grab Bag
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Let’s toast a wonderful summer! In the shape of a bottle, the Vendula Cheers Champagne Bag is the perfect evening ac cessory, with a sparkly bottle green body and gold neck and finish. It has an elegant design and a stylish strap that’ll make you the most fashionable lady in the room. It can hold all you need and we are sure you will love showing it off. Vendula will make sure your evening goes with a pop! Cheers! I personally love the Vendula London range – a connection with my radio show!
ChampagneCheers Bag VinylBagGrab
Midsummer Night’s Dream Mini Grace Bag
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Shakespeare’s Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Mini Grace Bag (Limited Edition) Are you going to the theatre or starring there this summer? The actors on the stage may have to give the performance of a life time to compete with your Limited Edition Shakespeare’s Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Mini Grace Bag (coming with a serial number, special dust bag and limited edition lining)! It features Bottom whose head has been turned into a donkey’s head and two fairies (one above him and one behind the door) at the front and a famous quote taken from the play on the back. Use it every day or keep it for a special occa sion to add a very special touch to any outfit. Watch all heads turn in your direction as they take in the splendour of this stylish and stunning bag and its metallic green la ser-cut starry roof!
Designing a bag for Freddie Mercury was no easy task - he has so many iconic looks and defining moments in history. However they kept coming back to his iconic yellow jacket that he wore on the ‘Magic’ European tour in 1986. When you think of Freddie you think of the yellow jacket - and Vendula London wanted to capture that magic and bring it home for everyone. The Freddie bag also comes with a striped shoulder strap – because you can’t have the jacket without the iconic trousers to match! They couldn’t not finish this bag without the legends signature – so on the back of the bag you’ll find Freddie’s signature embroidered.
Midsummer Night’s Dream Mini Grace Bag
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Adamski is an English DJ, musician, singer & record producer, known for his role in the acid house scene and possibly most notably for his tracks ‘N-R-G’ & ‘Killer’, a number 1 hit collab with Seal in 1990. A friend of ours, Adamski took some time out of his busy schedule to chat to us about the good ole’ days.
Adamski No Killer, No Filler
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Talking of which, who’s your favourite all-time DJ – apart from your good self of course? My favourite (at least most influential on me) is Alfredo in Ibiza. i’ve eat en with him at an amazing raw vegan restaurant in Ibiza callled Wild Beets. Is it ‘in’ or ‘on’ Ibiza? I can never remember… And venue? We saw a clip of you recently online at Amnesia in Ibiza around 1990 dropping a set. That must’ve been 1989 as it was closed in 90sadly they were required by law to build a roof on it.
98 I Plant Powered Planet Adamski! How are things? Coming at you Live & Direct and full of N-R-G I’m well thankyou, enjoying my life and healthy enough… How are you? Great thanks! Back doing gigs & festivals? Must have been an awful 2 years? I’m doing public stuff here and there yes… it wasn’t so awful because me and the misses have a beau tiful garden in the Vienna Woods… I broadcasted a few sets from there which was fun. That whole 2 years passed really quick ly for me anyway… Was it a creative period would you say? Some time to create new tunes? New projects? Yes, yes and yes! I’ve been on a roll… Among many other things I made a cover version of a song called Black Butterfly with Robert Owens for our dear friend Mina Smallman whose daughters were brutally murdered in summer 2020 … that’s out now… I have a release on Boysnoize records imminently but that’s a surprize… Glastonbury 1990 and Italia 1990 seem a long time ago now... Good memories… Yes indeed good memo ries but there is sadly no photographic record of me performing on the pyramid stage. Only one picture I know of by Toby the bongo player’s mum which is focused on him and i look miles away in the back ground! That’s quite funny though. I was on before Happy Mondays and end ed up hanging around a lot with them and their entourage that summer… I think the Italy thing (billed as the 1st rave in Italy) was actually in 91. The actress Asia Argento was there as a 15 year old ‘wild child’…we’ve since become friends since then! She calls me ‘techno maestro’… And wind back a few years to Vegfest Bristol 2016 when you met Karin! – is that when you went vegan? No it wasn’t quite then, but she was a great help in my transition… My wife and I both went vegan in 2017 after we got married and we’re both very happy about that! What’s it been like getting vegan grub on the road? Sometimes i’m given an insulting and inedible plate of rabbit food and treat ed like some kind of Neil from the Young Ones - an awkward kind of charac ter. And I’m given a lot of humous... Luckily i quite like it! But there have been major advancements made everywhere. Here in Vienna there is now a chain of 11 vegan ive cream parlours, for in stance - Veganista.There’s even one at the airport and it’s very very good. 4 years ago vegan food in Austria wasn’t good... Any other famous vegans out there we should know about? I met one at a rave event in Edinburgh a few weeks ago… Yolanda synths n strings from Belfast. We were bundled together in the shuttle from the hotel to the rave and were both provided with the usual bag of humous and crisps from Morrisons. We both saw the funny side…
Yes I played there along side Alfredo many times in 89 in what was then con sidered to be (including by myself) the best night club in the world… It was definitely the epicentre of the global dance music revolution! Okay so, what’s your favourite vegan food and destination? We have faves around the places we regularly visit.. Breathe in Paris, Tisch in Vienna, AvantGarden (we just discovered) in New York… There’s a ve gan Thai place in Earl’s court, London whose name escapes me… All of these are mind blowing. Thankfully there are new places springing up every where everyday. Japan is not so vegan friendly but we have eaten exquisite vegan food in Tokyo…
What’s next Adamski?for All I want to do is make music and have a laugh for the foreseeable future… Wherever that takes me! You must get asked a zillion times – still in touch with Seal? Any reunion gigs even remotely possible? No and I very much doubt it. Our paths have long since diverged… However I did make various upcy cled versions of Killer with a diverse collection of sing ers including Boy George, Nina Hagen and Hannah Hu of The Specials for its 30th anniversary in 2020 but Covid kind of swept it under the carpet… But it’s out there… It exists! Any advice to new plant-based munchers? You must read Ed Winters’ book, ’This is Vegan Propaganda’ and try to keep your cool… It was and it still is an adventure for me. Thanks Adam, you’re the best. Check out Adamski on his website, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram!
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You may recognise Freya from British TV, when she competed as the first vegan baker on The Great British Bake Off. During her 5 weeks in the Bake Off tent at just 19 years old, Freya inspired fans all over to try baking the vegan way. And now Freya has a new book, too - ‘Simply Vegan Baking’.
Freya Cox & The VeganGreatTake-Over
Photo credit: Simply Vegan Baking: Taking the faff out of vegan cakes, cookies, breads and desserts by Freya Cox (£18.99, Murdoch Books). by Clare Winfield.
Photography
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102 I Plant Powered Planet Photo credit: Simply Vegan Baking: Taking the faff out of vegan cakes, cookies, breads and desserts by Freya Cox (£18.99, Murdoch Books). Photography by Clare Winfield.
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I became much more passionate about baking once I turned vegan. It really spurred on a new love for making delicious food from scratch. I get such a strong sense of achievement out of making all different bakes that no one can tell are vegan.
Tell us about your vegan journey Freya?
Yes, ever since I learnt to bake with my gran when I was young, baking has al ways played a huge part in my life. However, I became much more passionate about baking once I turned ve gan. It really spurred on a new love for making deli cious food from scratch. I get such a strong sense of achievement out of making all different bakes that no one can tell are vegan. That’s why I was so excited to write my first book. How did you feel when you heard that you had got into Bake Off?
The obvious initial response was very much ex citement, it had genuinely been a dream of mine since the first series when I was only young. However, the way I re member it was that my dog had just pooed on the floor after I got the initial phone call. I went in the house to tell my dad I made it onto the show and the moment was very much consumed by cleaning up the mess! Nonetheless, I was over the moon. How did the others respond when they heard you were vegan? The other contestants were really intrigued about how I was going to tackle each challenge. A lot of them said they thought it was admirable considering how hard vegan bak ing can be, which was re ally comforting to hear.
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I have been vegan for around 2 and a half years now and it was by far one of the best decisions of my life. When I first decided to make the change, my dad had been vegan for around 5 years already, and a few of my closest friends were vegetarian and vegan. I will be honest, in my previous non-vegan years I was just very naive to the fact I was consuming animal products, I wasn’t yet making the association which I think is still a huge thing for a lot of people. Once I made the connec tion between animals and what I was eating I found it extremely difficult to look back. I pretty much threw myself in headfirst, but I do believe every individual is different and whatever small changes people feel they can make are hugely beneficial. Have you always had a love for baking?
Your new book Simply Vegan Baking sounds great – what’s the best advice you have for inspiring vegan bakers? I am so proud of this book, I’ve worked so hard on it and I genuinely adore every recipe. The best advice I always give is to not be too hard on yourself and certainly don’t give up if things don’t turn out per fectly first time. It certainly took me lots of attempts to get my recipes spot on, but that’s all part of the fun. How important is being vegan to you right now? Every day that goes by I read or hear more new information that makes me even more passion ate about being vegan. Overall, I’m a passionate person, so when I commit to something I get very invested. I get so much ex citement seeing so many more people start to eat vegan each day. What’s your favourite vegan dish to create? I love to make ‘chicken’ fajitas, it’s one of my fa vourite things to eat. It even inspired my Bake Off bread week signature of fajitas. And what about your favourite ‘comfort food’ – you know, the quick and easy go-to when you can’t be bothered to create a masterpiece? My favourite comfort food is my carbonara. Everyone I’ve made it for, vegan or not, absolutely loves it. It’s my favourite thing to eat and it is so quick to make.
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Where’s your favourite vegan place to eat? There is a small vegan café in Scarborough called ‘Love Brew’ which is my favourite place to go to. I look forward to the weekends that I have off at home so I can go there with my family or friends. The owner is so lovely, and the food is perfect. They have amazing cakes and do the BEST chai latte. Advice for newbies? My advice again is to not be too hard on yourself at first. It is a big change for people’s lifestyle, and I think the key is not to mas sively change the way you eat. There are so many vegan alternatives nowa days, so say your favourite meal is spaghetti bo lognaise, still make that using a vegan sauce and soya milk, etc. What’s next for you? I have lots of food festivals lined up this year where I will be demoing some of my favourite vegan bakes. It goes without saying that I really want to write a second book as I loved every second of writing Simply Vegan Baking, and I have so many more ideas that I’d love to share with the world. Check out Freya’s new book ‘Simply Vegan Baking’!
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It goes without saying that I really want to write a second book as I loved every second of writing Simply Vegan Baking, and I have so many more ideas that I’d love to share with the world.
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Photo credit: Simply Vegan Baking: Taking the faff out of vegan cakes, cookies, breads and desserts by Freya Cox (£18.99, Murdoch Books). Photography by Clare Winfield.
DO YOU? ENDORSE THE TREATY
GloverMatthew Finger compassionlickin’
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Matthew Glover has become a figurehead within the modern vegan world, first co-founding Veganuary, then launching Million Dollar Vegan, an organisation that pledged to provide one million free vegan meals around the globe during COVID, and now more recently founding VFC, the vegan ch*cken brand taking the world by storm. We spoke with Matthew about the past few years, the rapid growth VFC has experienced and a bit about Veganuary’s continued successes too.
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How’s life Matthew? Finger Lickin’ good? It’s great, thanks for asking! VFC is on the march –tell us about the growth. It’s been fast and furious. When we launched in December 2020, our aim was to scale up and inter nationalise fast, and the team we have never holds back. When we launched, Adam was making batch es of VFC in his restaurant kitchen, and we sold it di rect to consumers via our website. Then, the Vegan Kind stocked us, and then a whole string of inde pendent foodservice and retail outlets. Within three months, we were shipping to Spain, and then came Canada, USA and the Netherlands. Now, our US team is doing incredible work to get VFC onto men us and shelves across all 50 states, and of course we are stocked in both Tesco and Sainsbury’s. So, there is no let-up in pace or ambition. How did you come up with the idea? I’d been filming inside factory farms for a long time, and seen first-hand the scale of the suffering caused, both in terms of the number of animals in volved but also in terms of the experiences of each animal. So we were al ready showing people the problem. With Adam’s amazing chick*n, which I chose every time I ate at his restaurant, I realised we could also be part of the solution. So, it all came together. What about putting it into practice? A lot of research? Or an easy product to develop? When we started, it was tricky to get a consistent product when we made it all by hand in a kitchen. And then, as we scaled up, a lot more develop ment was needed as it just wasn’t possible to make it to the same recipe in a fac tory setting. So, v1 could be a little hit-and-miss at times, and as we worked on v2, we took into ac count all the feedback we
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Plant Powered Planet I 111 had been given and incorporated that too. The re sult is fantastic, and we get really positive feedback from vegans, vegetarians and omnivores too. But of course, we are always de veloping, so there is every chance v3 will appear sometime soon. As for the products themselves, we started with Bites and Fillets, but there was such demand for Popcorn Chick*n that it seemed like a no-brainer to add that to the range, and watch this space for new product an nouncements. So, yes lot of research, and a lot of development but we start ed with a great product, so we knew we were on to a winner. Your social media team look like they have fun! Part fun, and part banging their heads on the desk in frustration, I’d imagine. Trolls are unavoidable, and so instead of letting them frustrate or annoy us, we decided to use them. We have a Cluckwit of the Month feature where we share the most ridiculous or unoriginal things people say, along with our responses, and ask our followers to vote for their favourite. We’ve written blogs about our Cluckwits and even turned their comments into a large bill board campaign across the country. I honestly think the trolls have done us a huge favour, so thank you to all the Malcolms who have splashed their opinions all over our socials. We appreciate you. Do you ever get tempted to jump on and have a bash with some of the cluckwits? We’re never rude to them. Sarcastic, sassy and cheeky, yes, but there is little point getting into an argument with them, although sometimes we can’t help ourselves! We have had some good results charming Cluckwits into submission but that’s Jane’s strength, not mine. I’m basically banned from doing any social, especially late at night when my fil ter seems to have gone to bed already. We have a Cluckwit of the Month feature where we share the most ridiculous or unoriginal things people say... We’ve written blogs about our Cluckwits and even turned their comments into a large billboard campaign across the country. I honestly think the trolls have done us a huge favour, so thank you to all the Malcolms who have splashed their opinions all oversocials.our We appreciate you. . “ ”
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And a novel marketing ploy – take a free packet from your local supermarket.Clever. We’ve never wanted to walk the well-trodden mar keting path. There is so much disingenuous and inauthentic marketing out there but we’re pret ty straightforward as a taste of them? Try a pack for free on us. We’re just trying to remove as many barriers as possible for people, because every pack bought is a bird spared, and that is our metric of success. You’ve done some ‘undercover’ work too recently – bring us up to speed on that. served and eaten chickens for many years, but he had never seen what their lives are like. That was such a powerful film because Adam’s responses were so moving and genuine. We decided to take five more people into farms so they could see, smell and feel for themselves the reality of factory farming. Peter Egan, Evanna Lynch, Joey Carbstrong, Abbie Sibun and Plant Based Leon all spent a night with us and helped us take the message to many more people. More recently, we spot ted a promotional film by KFC with YouTuber Niko Omilana and we could not let those claims pass untested. They said the birds in their farm enjoyed plen ty of enrichment - swings, perches, bells, and straw. Having seen so many farms, we found it hard to believe, and so we tracked down the exact same farm to see for ourselves if the claims were true. It may not surprise you to learn that what we found bore little resemblance to the claims they were mak ing. The investigation was featured in The Guardian and our film went viral. More than 11 million people have seen it to date - far more than saw the original KFC film - with so many of them saying “I’ll never eat at KFC again” or, even better, “I’ll never eat chickens again.”
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Fave vegancurrently?destination
Jane and I visited Stanford Inn, Medocino, California for our honeymoon. It was a real treat! Hope for the future? Always. The growth in veganism and vegan foods is unstoppable. And we’ll keep up the pressure until every animal farm stands empty, and we move beyond the era of exploita tion and oppression. Good to chat Matthew! We look forward to the next project... Find out more:
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Your previous ‘baby’ – Million Dollar Vegan –has gone on to achieve some fabulous results recently with their free food giveaways. The MDV team was plan ning its third $1M cam paign (where they offer $1M to charity if a wellknown figure tries vegan) when the pandemic start ed to spread. And so they switched to sharing free meals with communities around the world who were impacted by the vi rus, and also to frontline Sinceworkers.then, they have supported orphanages and women’s refuges, mi grant workers, people living in slums in India and Argentina, the Maasai community in Kenya, unhoused veterans in Los Angeles, people in a res idential home in Hungary, shoe shiners in Bolivia, people impacted by a hurricane in Mexico and those left homeless by an explosion in Beirut. They are about to reach their million-meal target, so it’s been a huge undertaking. Throughout they have shared information about the overwhelmingly posi tive benefits of eating vegan foods, not just with those communities, but also via media and social media. So, they’ve had a pretty big impact. And Veganuary still going from strength to strength... It’s amazing. We’re com ing into our tenth year, and it grows every year. We now have teams in the US, Germany, India and Latin America, and people from every country (bar two) have taken part. It’s truly a global initiative with partners and participants all over the world. The media frenzy around it each January never dies down, so we feel we are an inte gral part of the media cycle now. Each year celebrities get on board, alongside all the major retailers and res taurant chains, while big corporations take part in the Workplace Challenge. The January challenge is probably the most visi ble aspect of Veganuary, and yet we work all year round with companies and brands to ensure good provision of high-quality vegan foods. There is no doubt we have seen the high street change over the past decade. Now, the word ‘vegan’ is every where when ten years ago we were advised not to say the v-word for fear of scaring people away. Be truthful now –have you had enough of eating VFC yet? You must have had a good go! I genuinely haven’t but then I am a man of simple tastes. I love chicken burgers and fried chick*n and will inevitably choose these from the menu when I’m out. I think it will be a very long time before I’m bored of eating VFC. What else is on the Glover menu in the evenings? I’m not a huge fan of cooking so we tend to keep things simple. Burritos and pizzas are good. Derek’s range of Wicked Kitchen meals are great and we keep these on standby. And, I like a good curry so we’ve a freezer stocked with Jam n Vegan and Shicken ready meals.
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Inspiration It was truly inspired by love many years ago! My wife Amy was suffering with really sensitive skin when she put make-up on, and it usually resulted in some sort of reac tion like an outbreak of spots or itchiness. It made me question what actually goes into these damn products. Me being me, decided to jump in and find a solution, setting me on a mission to create the perfect foundation! I also wondered if other people suffered too - I asked a whole bunch of people and realised many did. So I knew there was an opportunity to help others including my wife.
Foundation for the Future
Plant Powered Planet I 117 MineralsLearnmoreaboutRoothere.
I believe knowledge is power… in this case the power to make kinder choices, and we try to add as much value as we can from entertaining our community and educating them from ingredients in sights and inspiring topics genuinely loving our community keeping them at the heart of everything we do, has contributed massively to our success! We are 5* Rated across all socials and Google, and we will continue to add as much value as we can. How do we sell our products? A mixture of online and exhibitions. We primarily sell at trade and consumer shows as Root Minerals is an experience! Makeup is personal and people love to touch and feel stuff. The perks of having a qualified MUA on the day help you find your perfect match, advise on all things beauty while offering a more of a personal touch.
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Online helps too as we have foundation and eye shadow samples where people can experience the brand from the comfort of their own home. The Pandemic What an interesting time. All of our shows had been postponed so I sat back, and decided on how to navigate through it all and push forward. I remem ber thinking perhaps we would have a year off or however long it takes for things to get back to “normal” and suddenly online orders started coming in to my shock. I guess peo ple wanted some glam for their Zoom calls, I couldn’t make sense of it… and so if Royal Mail was open so were we! I quickly adjusted and focused massively on social media and revamped the website, even learnt a bit of code along the way. ‘Online’ still remains a strong point and is mainly for our existing customers to re-order and some new bies too of course. So it’s definitely something we are focusing on currently and for the foreseeable future. Creative ideas Most of my inspiration comes from nature walks and our travels around the world - Amy & I have a passion for travelling, adventure and exploring. Usually I disconnect from “ I remember thinking perhaps we would have a year off or however long it takes for things to get back to “normal” and suddenly online orders started coming in to my shock. I guess people wanted some glam for their Zoom calls, I couldn’t make sense of it… and so if Royal Mail was open so were we!
120 I Plant Powered Planet the world once a week to reflect and usually the greatest ideas and innovations come to me when I’m lost deeply in the forest somewhere! Speaking with industry professionals and talented creatives who align with our values mixed with my adventures and getting lost in beautiful places perhaps may be the magic behind Root Minerals... Growth I have always dreamed someday we will be in retail outlets like Selfridges, SpaceNK and more boutique style shops. We are not looking to be a a supermarket / drugstore Asbrand.a small brand we know we have magic in our hands and can adapt quickly… We just need to get more people to experi ence Root Minerals as we know our customers are blown away with our qual ity and service. We’re excited to scale up, whether it be through independent salons, shops or a network of MUAs to full-on wholesale and retail operations… The future is ex citing for sure! My background and philosophy A vegan lifestyle provides a framework for me to navigate my values in this ever so complex world. Keeping rooted to nature, having respect for all living It’sthings….aperfect vehicle for me to make an impact and share our values in creat ing a kinder world. How often do we think about the impact of our choices? From the food on our plate… to the clothes and cosmetics we use!? So in this modern world with all the technology we have, it’s shocking to know what goes on behind the scenes. Knowledge is power... the power to make kinder choices. Being from a Sikh background we were always taught to stands up for what’s right and protect the weak. Our values teach Kindness, Empathy and Compassion to fellow humans and animals. These are just some of the simple ingredients I try to follow to guide me to through life I guess. Our company gives us a chance to uphold these values in our mission to create a kinder world and an awesome opportuni ty to step up and make a difference. Fave meal!? Ohh yess I absolutely love a beyond burger!! Although most meals these days are 5 bean sal ad, vegetables, a bunch of tempeh tons of avacado. Which is 90% prepared by BreakfastAmy. is usually por ridge with peanut butter and a whole bunch of pumpkin, flax, and chia seeds! - 100% prepared by me!... We hardly dine out to be fair… Mostly home cooked and thankfully our background allows for lovely Indian curries which sometimes our parents donate and Amy is amaz ing cheffing it up for our family! You can find out more about Root pages.InstagramFacebookonMineralsourwebsite,&
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What is the 21 day Plant-based challenge? Changing your diet can be daunting. There are many nutritional mis conceptions, especially about a vegan diet which makes it almost impos sible to know what one should eat, what to avoid, which supplements to take. This, of course, dis courages people from eating more plants or go ing vegan. The 21 Day Plant-Based Health Challenge was created in 2020 in the hope of offering a free re source to those who are interested in going vegan but are not sure where to start and to those ve gans who want to have their nutritional questions answered and eat a healthier vegan diet. The 21 Day PB health challenge emphasises and explores the health benefits of a whole food plant-based diet and of fers easy tips on how to gradually transition. Why 21 days? It’s commonly believed that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, but this is actually a myth which originated in 1960s. A surgeon called Maxwell Maltz published a book in which he tells of his own and his patients’ expe riences and that it takes a minimum of 21 days to adjust to a new situation. The book became a bestseller and people started to believe that it takes 21 days to build a new habit, forgetting that he had said a minimum of 21 days. With that being said, 21 days are short enough for people to commit to a new habit, but long enough to make someone become seri ously interested.
Healthcare Professionals launch the 21 Plant-BasedDayChallenge
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Spearheaded by the Plant Based Health Professionals UK, the 21 Day Plant-Based Health Challenge aims to help participants transition to a plant-based diet. It’s completely free, and features recipes, nutrition advice & motivational tips from nutrition experts.
Plant Powered Planet I 123 “ The 21 Day Plant Based createdChallengeHealthwasin2020in the hope of offering a free resource to those who are interested in going vegan but are not sure where to start
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Participants are asked to fill in a questionnaire af ter 3 months. More than 60% report that they’re eating more plant-based and almost 80% have re duced the consumption of animal products. Any step towards eating more plants and less animals is a positive step. Is the advice given evidence based? Yes, we at PBHP-Uk al ways offer evidence-based advice. Where can people go to access information?more They can get more infor mation on our website and the sign-up form is also here. What’s your advice for people who struggle to stick to a WPB diet? Start small - one meal at a time or even one in gredient at a time. Think of what you can add to your meal to make it more whole plant foods rather than what you need to remove. By focusing on the foods you can have and enjoy, you’ll find it eas ier to eat a WFPB diet. And always carry a piece of fruit, a handful of nuts or another healthy snack with you - this will prevent you from buying unhealthy vegan foods when you’re out and about. Be sure to follow Plant Based Health Professionals UK on social media for regular updates!
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How do people sign up? There is a sign-up form on our website - click here. What would they expect to receive? After signing up, you receive an email about the benefits of a whole food plant-based diet and tips on how to get started. Then for 21 days you will get a daily email with teachings on specific topics, more tips and guidance, encouraging words, a suggested menu plan with recipes, links to useful resources. Participants are also wel come to hit reply and ask any nutritional questions they have. Is it a free service? Yes, it’s absolutely free. And supported by Vegfund? VegFund has kindly sponsored the project from the beginning. They also helped us to trial a live Q&A Zoom session for a year. However, the ques tions were repetitive and now I’m working on a fre quently asked question section which will be pub lished in due time. How does it differ from similar campaigns The main difference is that this is UK based. The rec ipes we’ve included in our e-books and the ingredi ents are all easily found in UK supermarkets. That’s also a comment I’ve received from the participants. How successful has the challenge been so far would you say? We’re very pleased with the results so far. We’ve had more than 3500 signups since the launch in November 2020 and more than 70% have been non-vegans. We’ve re ceived excellent testimonials. A last reported that they’ve finally been able to conceive their first baby, others have lost a signifi cant amount of weight, re versed type 2 diabetes or reduced their cholesterol levels. Is there any follow up research or surveys from participants?
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Paula Alcalde and Anderson Caicedo the GreenBay founders have brought an incredibly realistic salmon alternative to the UK, which is selling out worldwide. The team behind Revo Salmon have some incredible game changing fish alternatives up their sleeves. Paula and Anderson give us the low down on some fantastic vegan fish that we must know about. Powered Planet
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Why anyone feels that fish is a healthy food choice is beyond us. Accordingly to our good friends at Viva! a mind blowing 1 BILLION fish as well as 4.4 BILLION shellfish are killed in the UK each year. For vegans, these are facts that I know will certainly stick in your
The brand-new plantbased smoked salmon from Austria, is now avail able in the UK thanks to a partnership with the popu lar grocery delivery startup GreenBay. Long awaited in the UK, Revo Salmon is the ultimate plant-based sea food alternative. Often described as “better than [conventional] salmon”, this exciting new product has gained popularity amongst seafood lovers and omnivores, beyond its vegan fans. Currently present in more than 15 European coun tries, Revo Foods says: “Revo Salmon is for everyone. For those who like the taste of salmon and dislike -mercury.”Forpeople who have suffered a seafood allergy.-Forconsumers who miss their smoked salmon bagels and can’t forget customers-“Seaspiracy”.Forthecuriousthatare always on the look for new delicious products. - For anyone who, for any reason, decided to eliminate fish from their Revodiet.”. Salmon is made of pea proteins, plant oils, and algae extracts, (being a great source of proteins), Omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamins D and B12. This makes Revo Salmon a healthier and delicious alternative to conventional smoked salmon. It can be enjoyed in wraps, sandwiches, bagels, makis, pasta dishes or even as a pizza topping. The product is made sustainably in Austria and it is free of soya, allergens and harmful heavy metals.
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Future Farm’s TVNA “Made with soy, chickpeas and peas, and paired with nice vegan cheese, this one makes a great fake tuna melt!” Zalmon “A carrot-based alternative to smoked salmon that doesn’t taste as realistic as for example Revo, however that doesn’t make it any less great. It has an amazing story - a local cafe started making those as a topping for their vegan bagel option, and people loved it so much so they decided to turn it into actual product!”
OmniTuna “We absolutely love it in salads as a healthy lunch, or as tuna-mayo on sandwiches as a less-healthy lunch :) and it can be added to absolutely anything you’d add real tuna to (and yes, it is ready to eat so if you fancy, you can just eat it right from the tin). We even had a customer buying it for her family, trying to pass it off as real Tuna and they never knew!”
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“You either love these or hate them - there isn’t anything in between. So many of our customers say they never ever want to see anything remotely resembling fish fingers after eating so many when they were little, and then the other half STILL love them and keep on coming back. So it really is up to you to decide which group you belong to...”
V-bites Smokey SLMN Vdeli Slices
V-bites V FSH Fingers
“We love this one especially for its catchy title! It’s made from kombucha cultured tofu so it’s one of the healthier fish-replacements, and can be used for salads, pasta dishes, sushi...”
“Another fish-style products from V-bites. This one is the most affordable smoked salmon replacement we have ever stocked! It’s perfect for on toast or anything that doesn’t require any cooking as it’s sliced perfectly to eat right away, so perfect for a quick lunch or dinner. Smells SO REALISTIC!”
Bonsan Fishfree Tofuna
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Vegan pioneers GreenBay the UKs first vegan omnichannel supermarket are passionate about offering alternatives to persuade sea food eaters to swap to kinder options. Check out GreenBay’s online shop here, and their Facebook, Instagram & Twitter pages for more information.
Chiki Monkey Seaweed Patties
“These veganised chickpea-based fish-burgers are perfect with tartare sauce. We think they taste more Nori-ish than fish-y, which is actually a benefit to some of our customers and they have proven to be very popular!”
Bonsan Fishfree Fillet “Another one from Bonsan, also made from kombucha cultured tofu so again on the healthy side. This one is PERFECT for vegan fish and chips n case you don’t want to overdo it with all the healthy stuff haha! “ Badgers’ Tunah Mayo “This is a pre-made tuna mayo “salad” with everything you’d expect from a nonvegan one. It’s got sweetcorn, onion, salt, pepper... yum! And it comes from a small local 100% vegan supplier!“
