Plant Powered Planet CRYSTAL BONNET
Danielle Maupertuis speaks with fellow dessert chef Crystal
FEEDING YOUR VEGAN CHILD
Mythbusting with NHS Dietician Sandra Hood
THE PLANT BASED ATHLETE
Robert Cheeke on the book’s success
Danny Hatchard On Eastenders and upcoming TV performances
FREE
Issue #221 Aug 20
Contents People Danny Hatchard 10 Robert Cheeke & The Plant-Based Athlete 44 A Day In The Life: Juliet Gellatley 90 Rich Hardy & Vegan Organic Network 98 Vegan Careers: Fashion Design, Hairdressing, Police & Public Speaking 108
10 90
Lifestyle
Feeding Your Vegan Child with NHS Dietitian Sandra Hood RD 18 Top Picks: Lifestyle 32 Passport-Free Travel: 5 Tips For New Vegan Adventurers! 64
18
Vegan Traders Union: Vegan Art 86 Vegan Shoes with Karin Ridgers 96 Vegan Challenges with Josh Allerton 120
Published by VegfestUK Ltd: info@vegfest.co.uk // Plant Powered Planet: www.plantpoweredplanet.co.uk
98
44
108 32
64 16
86
96
120
Contents: continued Education Vegan Society: Planting Value In The Food System with Alex Lockwood 40
52
The Vegan Vet: Dr. Lucy Claire McKinna 52 The Vegetable Plot with Tony Bishop-Weston 80
126
Veganic Growing Tips with Piers Warren 102 Vegetarian For Life 126
Food Goal Power: The Healthy Snack Premiering Across Europe 24 Vegan Ice Cream with Karin Ridgers 30
24
Crystal Bonnet: Queen of Raw Desserts, with Danielle Maupertuis 70 What’s The Story, Stem & Glory? 130
70
Published by VegfestUK Ltd: info@vegfest.co.uk // Plant Powered Planet: www.plantpoweredplanet.co.uk
Editor
Karin Ridgers
Content
Tim Barford
Design
Pete Metcalfe
Advertising Chris Byford
Welcome Hello and welcome to Issue 2 of our fab new free online magazine Plant Powered Planet! I’m Karin the editor and I get the honour to say hello and introduce this great summer special edition. Issue 2 is full up with fantastic interviews and focuses on the best the plant based lifestyle has to offer the discerning 21st century individual, who values animals, environment and people when making lifestyle consumer choices. Our regular contributors Tony Bishop Weston (The Vegetable Plot) and Daniele Maupertuis (Vegans Deserve Better than a Fruit Salad) return with their summer special seasonal sprinklings of plant based gold dust, including asking the question ‘Are you eating too much ultra processed vegan pap?’ and a wonderful raw vegan cheesecake recipe, and we were thrilled to catch up with our star 3 guests for issue 2, BodyBuilder Robert Cheeke, Activist Juliet Gellatley and Actor Danny Hatchard. The Vegan Organic Network make their regular appearance including more seasonal veganic gardening tips from author Piers Warren, Emma Fry once more takes us on a few vegan travel tips, and we take a look at new book ‘Feeding Your Vegan Child’ alongside the launch of new vegan snacks and motivational packs brand GoalPower, before getting to chat with The Vegan Vet about companion animals and plant based diets – followed by some awesome top picks from ProGroom and Vegeco! There’s a summery roundup for vegan ice cream options and some fab lifestyle choices along with the best in vegan shoes, and our regular visit to the Vegan Traders Union features a number of vegan artists and their creations. There’s also a visit to plant based restaurant Stem & Glory and a fun look at how to stay vegan in the face of some of the obstacles in place, and a short interview with Alex Lockwood about sustainable plant based food systems, before we make a short trip to say hello to our friends at V For Life who give us an update on their incredible work in care homes, and then to cap off a wonderful uplifting summer special, we take a fascinating glimpse into the lives of 4 vegan careers in what should be a regular feature in future issues of Plant Powered Planet! Talking of future issues – issue 3 is out in November 2021, with Issue 1 available HERE to read if you haven’t already. Stay safe my luvvlies and see you in the autumn!! Karin xx
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.
Subscriptions All our publications are available online free to read and share - you can sign up to our ebulletin here to receive our magazines for free. We invite our friends colleagues and supporters to purchase a subscription to help ensure we maintain our publications. Luxury Subscribers will receive a monthly vegan hamper in gratitude. Please email info@vegfest.co.uk to confirm your subscription when subscribing.
Standard £3 a month Enhanced £6 a month Premium £12 a month Luxury
£25 a month
Stalwart £50 a month
Setup a Subscription now! 6 I Plant Powered Planet
Publications to date:
Plant Powered Planet
FREE
Issue #21 Aug 202
CRYSTAL BONNET
Danielle Maupertuis speaks with fellow dessert chef Crystal
FEEDING YOUR VEGAN CHILD
Mythbusting with NHS Dietician Sandra Hood
THE PLANT BASED ATHLETE
Robert Cheeke on the book’s success
Danny Hatchard On Eastenders and upcoming TV performances
FREE
#1 MARCH
2021
FORÇA VEGAN JUSTICE FOR ANIMALS, PEOPLE & THE PLANET
M A G A Z I N E
DISPATCHES
NEW YORK
ATHENS
FES DUBLIN MEXICO
UNAPOLOGETICALLY
BLACK Omowale Adewale & Brotha Vegan
HUGLETTS
WOOD
ANIMAL
SANCTUARY
Check in with the residents
CAMPAIGNS
ROUND-UP Chilis On Wheels Animal Rebellion
Animal Aid
WDLA
You can sign up to stay in touch with our news via our ebulletin here, and access our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, all of them regularly updated with news, views and vegan information.
Plant Powered Planet I 7
As the ultimate go-to experience for the freshest food, entertainment, ethical products, and cutting-edge information on plant-based living, VegfestUK are now launching Global Vegfest, a series of online events with international demonstrators, free to attend and bursting with delicious innovation. As pioneers on the UK vegan festival scene, VegfestUK have led the way for showcasing the very best in ethical living since their launch in 2003. As the starting point for many vegan brands, they are synonymous with healthy international cuisine and conscious lifestyle products that work towards sustainable living and a cleaner future. Global Vegfest will include a wide variety of talks covering all aspects of the plantbased lifestyle, including
nutritional talks, activism lectures, live cookery demos from around the world, and showcasing new vegan products, with an online marketplace and special offers operating all weekend. Organiser Tim Barford says, ‘After the effects of the last 18 months, we are looking forward to working beyond the confines of a live event and moving to an online platform, with a genuinely inclusive, safe environment
that is positive, fun and more relevant than ever before. And we’re going global!’ Global Vegfest will be hosted online September 18th and 19th 2021, and December 18th and 19th2021 – full line up TBA. The event is free and supported by donations – visitors are invited to purchase Virtual Tickets at £5 & £10 to support the event www.vegfest.co.uk/ globalvegfest/tickets/
18th & 19th September 2021 FREE ONLINE EVENT Talks - Panels - Entertainment Activists from around the globe
Catering for both seasoned vegans and those completely new to plant based living, Global Vegfest will include cookery demos, nutrition talks, debates and discussion around vegan philosophy and lifestyle, activism and many of the attractions visitors would find at a live event, including a global marketplace for the latest vegan products – and in particular a wealth of knowledge, experience and experts in the field of plant based living.
Plant Powered Planet I 9
Danny Hatchard About Danny Danny-Boy Hatchard (born 26 July 1991) is an English actor, best known for playing Lee Carter in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and Private Rhett Charlton Aka “Cheese” in BBC’s hit military drama Our Girl. Hatchard’s other credits include Steven Pierce in the 20th anniversary production of Beautiful Thing, and in 2019, Danny played Private Rhett Charlton in the fourth series of Our Girl. Most recently Danny was cast in Ridley Road, which is in post-production. Recent announcements confirm the show will air at some point this year, and we can’t wait. 10 I Plant Powered Planet
Danny! What’s up? Never a dull moment? Well there is never a dull moment in the House of Hatchard …. cooking, playing, you know the odd computer game. But to be honest, I try to get out of the house as much as I can. If I am indoors I’m cooking, or I’m on the peloton, or writing or I’ve got mates around or just playing with the dog. Yeah, it’s very chilled round here. Not manic but I wouldn’t say it’s dull either!
Ridley Road – looks a winner! Grim story line? Well, it is a thriller set in the 60s. It’s based on the novel
of the same name by the author Joe Bloom. Some of your readers may or may not have read it, but it’s a fantastic novel. The storyline is based around two Jewish lovers who end up going undercover as part of the National Socialist Movement, which was run by a huge fascist and Neo-Nazi called Colin Jordan. It’s a thriller. And I don’t want to go into it all too much, because I’m terrible at giving away spoilers! But yeah, it’s going to be a fantastic show. I play Colin Jordan’s right-hand man - so I play a bit of a nasty piece of work, and a clear product of his environment and miseducation.
“
Teach yourself one vegan meal every single Monday...by the end of the year you’ll have 52 different things on your menu and you can literally eat and pick and choose one of those for the rest of your life, every single day. Plant Powered Planet I 11
Tough during lockdown for actors?
What do you snack on during filming?
Yes, incredibly tough. Many of my friends have had to find work elsewhere. Whether that be in Waitrose, delivering for Amazon, working anywhere and everywhere so that they can earn money because a lot of them weren’t furloughed. There’s a lot of uncertainty around theatre, especially because shows are being cancelled left right and centre, even though they’d been promised a job six months prior.
Well it may be boring, but for me, it has to be hummus, carrot sticks, radish, toast, you know, like little soldiers with hummus! Sliced bell peppers dipped in hummus. Really that is literally the thing that I snack on the most. If not, I’ll make like a couple of wraps or something like I’ll make some Linda McCartney shredded duck wraps with shredded carrots, shredded spring onions, and shredded cucumber and whack some hoisin sauce on there - and its always delicious.
Everyone knows you as Lee Carter in Eastenders – Mick and Linda’s son. That must a been a giggle? It was amazing. I had an incredible time on the show. I learned so much while I was there, however unfortunately there is some level of stigma around actors who are in soaps. They’re called soap actors, but they shouldn’t be because they’re not soap actors. They are actors, and they just so happened to be in a soap. It can be quite frustrating because these actors are
12 I Plant Powered Planet
among the best actors I’ve ever worked with and their level of work ethic is like no other. At Ridley Road we filmed four episodes over a period of three to four months. But four episodes of EastEnders could easily be filmed in one week. So hopefully that gives you some level of perspective. It’s an incredible show to be a part of to work with Danny Dyer, Kelly Bright and the rest of the Carter clan…. and to have formed the bond that I have with them. It was an honour and a privilege, and I will always fly the EastEnders flag.
And your ex-screen sister Nancy Carter is vegan! We spotted that this summer… Will Ridley Road be flying vegan colours? I did not know that! So those of you who don’t know Nancy Carter is played by an actress called Maddie Hill. I had absolutely no idea that she was vegan, but me and Maddie don’t really talk all that much - partly because we’ve actually been really busy. And flying vegan colours? I doubt it. You know, it’s in the 60s. I’m not really sure. But it’s a nice thought.
Do you have your eye on films at all? Or theatre? Or is it TV? I do not discriminate with regards to work. But yeah, I really don’t mind what I do next with regards to TV, film or theatre, but as long as it’s classy and it’s something that I would enjoy I’ll happily do it.
Fave vegan din dins?! It’s really, really difficult to pick because I love all the vegan food that I cook! And that’s not just me being biased to my own cooking skills! But if I was to step away from my own personal favourites of me in the kitchen, or what I cook in Plant Powered Planet I 13
the kitchen, I would have to say I adore a What the Pitta kebab wrap. I love it. It just blows my mind every single time. I could eat it all day long, but unfortunately it is vegan junk food!
Future of veganism? There are just so many benefits to being vegan - and adopting a plant-based diet is going to take over because everybody wants to live longer and everybody wants to look after themselves. A lot of people are wising up to the fact that animal agriculture and the dairy industry is barbaric. And the more people learn about it, the quicker we can, as a society, adopt predominantly a vegan diet and change the world.
Tips for newbies?! The top tip for newbies… take it easy. I feel like a lot of newbies don’t stick to it because they get so overwhelmed by completely changing and switching to a vegan diet because of their lack of education and understanding of what they can use to cook different things like replacements of cheese and milks in this that and the other. I would always say take your time with it. First of all, replace your butter with flora. Flora original or Flora light because it tastes exactly the same as butter and it’s totally vegan.
14 I Plant Powered Planet
And you won’t feel like you’ve made that much of a difference but you have because what you’re essentially doing is boycotting other butters and margarines that have animal products in and the more people who boycott those, the less likely they are to continue to manufacture them and exploit animals and therefore adopt vegan ingredients. And then milks you know, you got hemp milk, rice milk, almond milk, soya milk, oat milk, cashew milk, but you want cows titty milk…?! I mean, listen, I would say the best thing for you to do would be to find one of them that you like, my personal favourite is Oatly Barista. I have it in everything. And then when I have more
porridge, I have soya milk because it’s got a natural taste and a natural sweetener in it, which just tastes delicious. And it’s nice and creamy. And then just take your time discovering new things to cook - and I said this on VegfestUK Chat …. teach yourself one vegan meal every single Monday, or whatever day you pick. Choose one vegan meal that you’re going to learn to cook once a week and by the end of the year you have 52 different things on your menu and you can literally eat and pick and choose one of those for the rest of your life every single day. You will never get bored
because 52 different dishes to cook is a lot of choices. I don’t think people usually learn to cook more than 10 things. And being a vegan would be a doddle after that! Also learn to use seasoning as well… I don’t know what it is with predominantly white Western culture, but we think seasoning is salt and pepper. It’s not! It can be paprika, onion powders and garlic powders, herbs and spices. Turmeric, curry powders and it just makes food so much more exciting. Also go on social media and start looking at people that are vegan and start looking at people that are teaching how to cook new vegan things, and suddenly it’ll just become more exciting.
Danny on ‘Karin’s Christmas Cracker!’
Plant Powered Planet I 15
16 I Plant Powered Planet
Plant Powered Planet I 17
Feeding Your Vegan Child NHS Dietitian Sandra Hood Debunks Myths of Malnutrition
I am super excited to read the essential new parenting book for vegan families: Feeding Your Vegan Child by NHS Dietician, Sandra Hood RD. I have yet to come across such a comprehensive and practical handbook for vegans which debunks myths about malnutrition on a vegan diet and reassures and empowers parents wishing to raise their child within a vegan lifestyle. A lifestyle that is becoming more and more popular and essential for the wellbeing of humans as well as the Earth. This book is a factual guide for parents and healthcare professionals with questions and concerns about a vegan diet, as with any diet there can be pitfalls to avoid and Sandra’s nutritional advice and guidance is indispensable in a time where many people butt heads about plant based and vegan diets and it’s a breath of fresh air to have this uncomplicated guide full of ideas, recipes and advice from real vegan families!
18 I Plant Powered Planet
How do I get my child to eat vegetables? As with any food it is about taste and texture. Children often prefer raw in preference to cooked so it is a matter of experimenting. For example raw vegetables that are often popular with children are broccoli and carrots, also parsnips, peas and sweetcorn. Introducing a variety of colourful vegetables and presenting then in different ways is the key. For example spirulising, grating and adding dips. If you are fortunate enough to have the space to grow vegetables in your garden or in an allotment, get your child involved. This frequently leads to them wanting to eat the produce grown. If you don’t have a garden, sprouting seeds and grains on a windowsill is very quick and easy and children can quickly see the result. Last but not least, children emulate our behaviour so it is important that they see adults eating and enjoying a variety of vegetables.
What supplements should I give my child? From 6 months of age vegan infants need to include a reliable source of vitamin B12 of at least 1 microgram per day. The most reliable source is through supplements. The foods fortified with vitamin B12 include plant milks, yeast extracts, yeast flakes and breakfast cereals. However you need to check food labels to ensure these foods are fortified. Vitamin B12 supplementation should continue throughout life. If relying on fortified foods, aim for at least 3 mcg per day. If your child is taking a supplement this can increase to 5 mcg at one year of age, up to at least 25mcg during adolescence. Vitamin B12 is a water soluble vitamin and this means any excess is quickly excreted in the urine. Therefore it is very rare for anyone to take too much of this nutrient.
The Department of Health recommends that all breast fed infants should be given a vitamin D supplement of 10 mcg per day from birth. Infant formula contains vitamin D so these infants do not need to start supplementation until 6 months of age. Vitamin D supplementation should continue up to 5 years’ of age. In addition, it is recommended that all children, whether vegan, vegetarian or omnivore should take a supplement including vitamins A and C. There are differing views as to whether children actually needs these extra vitamins A and C. They are really a safeguard to protect an infant through times of illness or faddy eating. All other vitamins and minerals should be met by choosing a varied healthy diet. If you feel your child needs any other vitamin or mineral supplements, please discuss this with your healthcare professional. A supplement needs to be appropriate to a particular age.
Plant Powered Planet I 19
Are you sure vegan diets are safe for children? Vegan diets for children were first nutritionally assessed as far back as 1968. This was by Pamela Mumford, a lecturer in nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College, University of London in collaboration with Dr Frey Ellis MD FRC Path. Miss Mumford wrote “in general the diets appear to be perfectly satisfactory to support normal growth in the children”. She reported that few children achieved the calorie intakes recommended by the Department of Health but as these were being reviewed and childhood obesity was causing concern she suggested this was probably a good thing! Miss Mumford compared the vegan diet with the national average and commented that the lower concentration of fat and more carbohydrate was good. In addition the amount and quality of protein consumed was “more than adequate”. Her assessment also found that iron intakes were above average in most cases, reaching those recommended by the World Health Organisation which allowed for the lower absorption of iron from the diet when all the food is derived from plant sources. Calcium intakes appeared to be lower than recommended in the under five year olds but noted that the amount provided by drinking water wasn’t included in 20 I Plant Powered Planet
Photo credit: Dish by Iida van der Byl-Knoefel www.akitchenfairytale.com Instagram: @akitchenfairytale
the calculations. However interestingly Miss Mumford stated that “that many people have good bones and teeth and achieve full stature on similar low intakes providing their diet contains adequate vitamin D and/ or they are sufficiently exposed to sunlight”. Since this interesting assessment, there have been a number of small studies looking at the growth and development of vegan children and they all come to the same conclusion. That a “well-planned vegan diets, when based on a wide variety of plant foods and excluding all animal derivates, can provide adequate nutrition throughout all stages of life”. Any type of diet has the potential for pitfalls and deficiencies. Many people fail to recognise that there is as much potential for nutritional deficiencies in children who eat a western-style diet as in those who eat a vegan diet. We are still learning about the benefits of vegan diets for children but what we do know is that they are very protective.
Plant Powered Planet I 21
22 I Plant Powered Planet
Premium
crafted for coffee Discover more FOlLOW US @happyhappysoyboy
EaTDRINKHAPPYhapPy.cOM
24 I Plant Powered Planet
Plant Powered Planet I 25
26 I Plant Powered Planet
Plant Powered Planet I 27
28 I Plant Powered Planet
Plant Powered Planet I 29
Vegan Ice Cream
By Karin Ridgers
According to Allied Market Research the Vegan Ice Cream Market is set to reach $805.3 Mn globally by 2027. Well I don’t mind what is driving this massive trend – as long as its better for the cows and the planet! I have to admit I am a vanilla fan when it comes to ice cream... and it was the original Swedish Glace that even helped me go vegan 25 years ago – I thought if vegan ice cream can taste this good who needs cow milk products!? (Back then we had several vegan brands (including the yummy Tofutti) and Swedish Glace had various flavours including “pear” – that tasted like pear drops! Now of course in health food stores and supermarkets there is an array of vegan ice creams and to my sons delight we can even find a vegan ice cream when going out for the day to the seaside. I still find this amazing and often take a photo of “vegan ice cream available here” signs – however it really has become the norm now! Many are soya based, coconut based, and nut based. Always best to leave out for a few minutes before serving and get yourself one of those ice cream scoopers for a professional look. My tip is to leave the scooper in warm water before using on your ice cream.
Pictured: Dappa Ice Cream - www.getdappa.com
30 I Plant Powered Planet
Italian Valsoia is one to try – their raspberry ripple is fantastic and they even have little vegan ice cream sandwiches too. Cecily’s has brought the dairy free to Cornish ice cream – bringing back childhood memories (pre vegan) of ice cream you only got while on your summer holidays. Northern Bloc is also one to add to your shopping list – with rich flavours such as Chocolate and Orange Blossom as well as Hazelnut and Rose. Perfect World’s plant based icecream is also high in vitamins and minerals as well as no added sugar and keto friendly – we like the pistachio flavour.
Also remember to check the ingredients of your ice cream cones too! Some do contain cow milk, e numbers and artificial ingredients that could be non vegan. Now because of the good quality ingredients and buying from the smaller companies your vegan ice cream may well turn into a bit of an investment with many tubs costing upwards of £6! If you decide that the flavour or even texture wasn’t to your liking, then you can always blend into an ice cream milkshake.
And enjoy! Plant Powered Planet I 31
Vegan Lifestyle ‘Vegan’ doesn’t just mean the food you eat. As veganism is a philosophy, seeking to exclude wherever practicable and possible the use or commodification of animals, this can and does relate to many decisions we make in a typical day. In this issue we recommend some key ’every-day’ products and services that if you’re not aware of them yet, you’ll be glad to know about them now.
Humane Wildlife Solutions Humane Wildlife Solutions is Europe’s only multi award winning vegan alternative to pest control, Helping businesses and domestic clients with wildlife issues without harming any wildlife. We help people over come wildlfie conflict by keeping your premises secure from wildlife intrusion. So if you need help with any wildlife issues please get in contact today.
humanewildlifesolutions.co.uk
Harvest & Filter Urban dwellers can grow plant-focused food in small spaces with Harvest & Filter’s wild and heirloom seeds collection. Expect wild varieties; ancestral crops and plants which have for centuries been recognised for their medicinal-like qualities. Encouraging vegan-friendly and organic growing methods, each pack of untreated seeds comes together with simple instructions, helpful tips and handy measurement guide. The ability to deliver such seeds is just one way Harvest & Filter is keeping alive the use of ancient, traditional, and holistic methods towards better health. A full list of seeds can be found by joining Harvest & Filter. Company name I 32
32 I Plant Powered Planet
www.harvestandfilter.co.uk
Organicup Easier. Healthier. Greener. Ever since our founding in 2012, it has always been about more than cups. We believe no one should be held back by their body. We believe period products should not contain harmful chemicals nor absorb natural bodily secretions, resulting in infections. Periods should not be the cause of major pollution. And they should never, ever be a source of shame. With three sizes to suit every stage the female body may travel through: Mini for teenagers, A for pre vaginal birth and B for post vaginal birth. Made from 100% medical grade silicone, no chemicals and no dyes, silicone made from quartz, the second most abundant mineral in the earth’s crust.
www.organicup.com
Lazy Vegan Give yourself and the planet a break! Lazy Vegan makes plant based ready meals with a mission: to make it easy for people to eat vegan. All the Lazy Vegan meals are healthy delicious ready to cook meals that are free from gluten and soy, but packed with veggies and protein. Perfect for your busy (or lazy) days because the meals are ready in 8 minutes! Sounds amazing right? And let’s be honest, making a perfect creamy risotto can take ages! Well not anymore. Lazy Vegan did all the work for you so you can be a little lazy. The new flavour, Italian Risotto, is now available exclusively at Waitrose. You can find all the Lazy Vegan meals in the freezer to make sure vitamins and other nutrients are properly maintained from the moment of harvest all the way to the kitchen.
lazyvegan.com Plant Powered Planet I 33
Vegan Lifestyle: continued
Yummzy Gourmet, Keto, Low Carb, Sugar free, Gluten Free, Vegan, High Protein & Yeast free desserts, Bread, savouries, spreads. Who said premium vegan doesn’t exist without sugar?! Indulgent and Inclusive - just as food should be! Check us out and order on
www.yummzy.co.uk
Yaoh Hemp Products Yaoh is a Bristol-based company specialising in vegan hemp bodycare & food products. Whether it’s organic dehulled hemp seed, hemp seed oil, shampoos, conditioners, lip balms and moisturisers, shower gels or body butters, Yaoh has what you need. One thing Yaoh Hemp Products is renowned for are their suncare products. With both the classic SPF15 and SPF30 sunblocks, as well as the newer mineral based SPF25 in a glass jar, Yaoh has literally got you covered this summer. Yaoh have more products on the way, so keep an eye out at www.yaoh.co.uk or sign up to the mailing list on the Yaoh homepage to stay up to date every step of the way. There are always special offers available so head on over to the Yaoh website for more information!
www.yaoh.co.uk Company name I 34
34 I Plant Powered Planet
Biocanna If you want to get the best out of your home-grown produce then give BIOCANNA products a try. BIOCANNA’s fertilisers, and the soils composition, are tuned to your plants need to ensure they reach their maximum growth and yield potential. For more information check out our website:
www.canna-uk.com/biocanna_products
British Hemp Company Now stocked by Yaoh Hemp Products, these fantastic British farmed hemp products from the British Hemp Company are second to none. Hemp Flour: ‘Our Hemp Flour (500g) is gluten free and contains 25% protein, which means it keeps you full for longer. High in fiber, low GI, with omegas 3, 6 and 9, it’s more nutritious than wheat flours, and more digestible too. Use it alone or add to conventional flour to power up your baking.’ Hemp Protein Powder: One of the most popular protein powders among athletes, with good reason. Our hemp protein powder (500g) contains all the essential amino acids, plus fibre, essential fatty acids, antioxidants and minerals. And at 50% protein, this is the richest natural source of plant-based protein you’ll find. Power up any meal, shake or smoothie with a fresh, nutty flavour. Both are available on the Yaoh online store.
www.yaoh.co.uk
Plant Powered Planet I 35
M
FO
O
TH
SOLUTION O I EB
LO RG B RO WTH&
Only
8 min
to make the perfect
RISOTTO
A delicious plant-based meal available at Waitrose! don’t let a busy day stop you from enjoying a sustainable and healthy dinner with a fungi! Selected stores. Subject to availability.
38 I Plant Powered Planet
About Yaoh Yaoh Hemp Products, founded in 2002, supply an award winning range of hemp bodycare products, including the sunblock range, bath products and the most wonderful hemp oil based moisturisers, lip balms and body butters. In addition, Yaoh supplies organic dehulled hemp seed and hemp oil – bringing those essential fatty acids and plenty of protein to the plant based table. See yaoh.co.uk for the full range – and sign up to our monthly ebulletin and our free hemp hamper giveaways + news of regular special offers.
yaoh.co.uk Plant Powered Planet I 39
Planting Value In The Food System
By Alex Lockwood
What will our food system of the future look like? Hopefully one that is sustainable, secure, and fair for all. The Vegan Society launched a major new piece of research in July looking at just what we need if we are to get to that system -
and yes, it is of course plant-based. 40 I Plant Powered Planet
CHECK OUT THE REPORT Coming in the same week as the National Food Strategy, which called for 30% more fruit and veg in our diets (on prescription of those who need them most!), and a 30% reduction in meat consumption, it’s heartening to see how many mainstream positions are adopting this direction of travel towards plant-based foods.
Our Vegan Society report— Planting Value in the Food System—goes further, and is fairer. A food system cannot be fair unless it is
fair for everyone—including animals. With the National Food Strategy requiring a response from government by January 2022, this is the best opportunity in the last 75 years to get food done right. Here in the UK, we need to increase two things within the system: 1) the value, and 2) the fairness, with which we produce food in this country. In fact, three things, because we 3) need to invest in our fruit and veg production. We grow a tiny
proportion of the fresh food we eat, importing the rest. As the author of that report, I needed to know what challenges and obstacles farmers face. I could only do that by speaking to all those involved. This approach is important, we take a multi-criteria approach to food and land use. So I sat round the table with people across food and farming, to understand the issues from their perspective and work towards a shared vision.
Plant Powered Planet I 41
Coming in the same week as the National Food Strategy, which called for 30% more fruit and veg in our diets (on prescription of those who need them most!), and a 30% reduction in meat consumption, it’s heartening to see how many mainstream positions are adopting this direction of travel towards plant-based foods. Our Vegan Society report— Planting Value in the Food System—goes further, and is fairer. A food system cannot be fair unless it is fair for everyone—including animals. With the National Food Strategy requiring a response from government by January 2022, this is the best opportunity in the last 75 years to get food done right.
42 I Plant Powered Planet
Here in the UK, we need to increase two things within the system: 1) the value, and 2) the fairness, with which we produce food in this country. In fact, three things, because we 3) need to invest in our fruit and veg production. We grow a tiny proportion of the fresh food we eat, importing the rest. As the author of that report, I needed to know what challenges and obstacles farmers face. I could only do that by speaking to all those involved. This approach is important, we take a multi-criteria approach to food and land use. So I sat round the
table with people across food and farming, to understand the issues from their perspective and work towards a shared vision. So, what’s in the report? There are three proposals for pieces of legislation. These are: 1) a new Food Sustainability Bill 2) a Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill 3) an End to Animal Slaughter Bill
The first two should be implemented in the next six years to bring UK food policy into alignment with legal commitments to tackle climate change and achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The
third will follow as we shift onto this transition. A Food Sustainability Bill is needed that goes beyond the Agriculture Act and Environment Bill. It will be backed by legally binding targets and new governance mechanisms to underpin social, cultural and planetary well-being. And a Well-being of Future Generations Bill for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, will align the rest of the UK with Wales. Then together the four nations
can frame decisions on environment, food, climate and health, and animals, in terms of future needs. We call for reduction targets and a pathway to a plantbased system. This should include government-set targets for reducing consumption of animal products, placing us on a transition pathway to a plant-based food system. And we propose a National Food Sustainability Council to provide oversight of government in a framework of
“policy coherence” adopted by Defra and across government to ensure policymakers see that a plant-based food system can provide real public value. I hope this report contributes a way to reimagine our story, reprogramme our food system, rewrite our policies, and change our relationship to animals and to each other.
Check out the full report here
Dr. Alex Lockwood is a writer and scholar working at the intersection of animals, activism and narrative theory. He was a founding member of Animal Rebellion, and is a Research Advisory Committee member for The Vegan Society. His 2016 memoir The Pig in Thin Air explored paths to connect climate change with the food we eat. He is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sunderland and has published in Environmental Communication, Environmental Humanities, Animal Studies Journal, as well as the anthologies Vegan Geographies and The Vegan Studies Handbook.
Plant Powered Planet I 43
Robert Cheeke Author of The Plant Based Athlete Congratulations on publishing The Plant Based Athlete! How has life been treating you since it’s release? Thank you so much! This has been a lifetime in the making for me, as someone who has wanted to be an author since I was 8 years old, so it has been a dream come true. I am in my 26th year as a plant-based athlete, and this has been the biggest project I have ever completed. The PlantBased Athlete became a New York Times Bestseller, a #1 International Bestseller, a Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller, and a #1 Amazon Bestseller in 4 categories (Nutrition, Exercise and Fitness, Vegan Diets, and Sports Psychology). It has been a whirlwind past couple of months, but I am embracing it as I fulfilled my lifelong dream of becoming a bestselling author.
44 I Plant Powered Planet
The book is co-written by Matt Frazier, founder of No Meat Athlete. How did that partnership come about? I have known Matt Frazier, the founder of No Meat Athlete, for more than ten years. Matt manages perhaps the largest plantbased athlete community in the world, and he was my first choice as a co-author. I presented this idea of The Plant-Based Athlete to him, with the goal of telling the compelling stories of the world’s greatest plantbased athletes, and he enthusiastically agreed to collaborate on this book with me. The collaboration between Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness and No Meat Athlete has been a long time coming, pairing two of the largest plant-based athlete communities in the world together, which resulted in publishing one of the bestselling books in the world, and it has been an honor to partner with my long-time friend on this meaningful project.
“
I learned that actions taken today will impact tomorrow, but will also impact a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, and five, ten, or twenty years from now.
It looks from the back cover that you have quite a few high-profile endorsements... Yeah, our book features amazing plant-based athletes, including Scott Jurek, Fiona Oakes, James Wilks, Orla Walsh, Rich Roll, and names you’d expect to see included in a book like this such as Rip Esselstyn, Dotsie Bausch, and Brendan Brazier, and the experts who endorsed our book are just as impressive. We’re fortunate to have the support of iconic members of the plant-based, health, and nutrition communities, including Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Brenda Davis, RD, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr., Chloe Coscarelli, John Robbins, Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, and a bunch of others. It is
”
such a rewarding feeling to have their sincere support of The Plant-Based Athlete.
Dr. Michael Greger, MD wrote the Foreword, is that right? We are very fortunate and grateful to have the foreword for The PlantBased Athlete written by Dr. Michael Greger from NutritionFacts.org, who has been a role model and inspiration to both me and Matt for years. Having experts like Greger, Campbell, Esselstyn, Robbins, Davis, and so many others, including the wide range of elite athletes, makes The PlantBased Athlete a well-rounded resource that nearly 100 athletes and experts contributed to.
Plant Powered Planet I 45
How long did the book take to write, and what was your process? Believe it or not, I first wrote the proposal for The PlantBased Athlete in 2013, when it was nearly accepted by a publisher back then, but it did not end up landing a publishing deal, and it sat on the back burner while I wrote and published other books, including Shred It! and Plant-Based Muscle. Then, in 2018, I revisited the idea of releasing this book, wrote a new proposal, got a new agent, landed Matt as a co-author, and then I went to work writing the book in 2019. The book took about a year to write, with many, many months
46 I Plant Powered Planet
(nearly another year) rewriting and editing until it was finally completed. We submitted the manuscript exactly a full year before it was published. The whole process took a little more than two years.
As well as information, facts, motivation, anecdotes and meal plans, there are also lots of recipes where did you source these from? Are they recipes you use personally? One of the most exciting aspects about The PlantBased Athlete, from my perspective, is that the recipes
were contributed by the elite plant-based athletes featured in the book. Therefore, the recipes are not just mine, and not just Matt’s, but readers get to see the exact recipes that worldclass plant-based athletes actually use. Matt and I also use the recipes from the book, and in fact, during our book launch, I was enjoying some of the recipes from the back of the book to fuel our very busy book launch. In addition to the recipes contributed by the athletes, there is also a Day In The Life section where many of the world’s greatest plantbased athletes share an insiders look into their entire day, from their breakfast, to their pre-and post-workout meals, their workouts, lunch, dinner, dessert, and
even their routines and techniques to effectively recover from workouts. There are about 25 day in the life routines shared in the book, and more than 60 recipes.
How did you get started on a plant based journey? I became a plant-based athlete in 1995, as a 15-yearold 5-sport athlete when I got involved in animal rights. I became vegan for the animals, and as someone who grew up on a farm, and lived on a farm for more than 20 years, reducing animal suffering became a passion of mine, and I turned into a vegan athlete, advocate, and activist. I am still driven by animal rights today, more than a quarter century after becoming vegan. Over the course of my plant-based athlete career, I went from being a champion vegan runner to a champion vegan bodybuilder, gaining 100 pounds in the process. My plant-based diet and vegan athlete lifestyle saw me grow from weighing 120 pounds at age 15 to weighing 220 pounds at age 41, and at times, I feel like I’m just getting started.
Advice for getting people started? For those who are just embarking on a plant-based athlete lifestyle, I would recommend reading our book, The Plant-Based Athlete, because it is the number one
resource for plant-based athletes, and represents my 25-plus years experience and my co-author’s 10-plus years experience as plantbased athletes, complete with nutrition information, meal plans, recipes, day in the life routines, grocery shopping lists, athlete stories, and more. You can also visit our websites, www.veganbodybuilding.com and www.nomeatathlete.com for decades worth of articles about building muscle, burning fat, and improving endurance on a plant-based diet.
When it comes to training, are there any specific foods that you consume? And why? Meal timing around workouts can be important, and I recommend eating complex carbohydrates before a workout, such as foods like oats, rice, beans, vegetables, or fruits (my favorite), and a balanced nutrition approach of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats following a workout. Basically, you want to have adequate fuel before a workout, and carbohydrate is our body’s
Plant Powered Planet I 47
bestselling author, I’ve always believed in myself. If you don’t believe that you can accomplish something, nobody else is going to believe in you either. It starts with you, and the actions you take to support your goals.
preferred fuel source, and you want to replenish glycogen (carbohydrates), electrolytes (carbohydrates), amino acids to repair muscle (protein), and calorie dense foods with essential nutrients like Omega-3 (fats, as well as protein and carbohydrates for other calorie dense options) after a workout. I recommend eating slower releasing (longer lasting energy) carbohydrates like oats, potatoes, yams, rice and beans an hour or two before a workout, but fruit (quick energy to be used up right away),
48 I Plant Powered Planet
such as bananas, stone fruit (peaches, apricots, etc.), and berries immediately before a workout.
C’mon then – we all want to know – how do you get those gains! I have found success as a plant-based athlete because of three primary reasons: 1. I learned to believe in myself at a young age, and whether it was becoming a champion athlete or a
2. I always found ways to connect the dots ahead of time. I learned that actions taken today will impact tomorrow, but will also impact a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, and five, ten, or twenty years from now. I’ve always been focused on consistency and maximizing the 1,440 minutes we have each day, working toward meaningful goals. Connecting the dots in advance allowed me to visualize my future, even when I was a skinny vegan farm kid dreaming of being bigger and stronger someday. I believed it into existence, and then worked incredibly hard, with transparency and accountability, turning my goals and dreams into my reality. 3. I learned the importance of nutrient density and calorie density, and that enabled me to have control over my outcomes, determining whether I would gain weight, lose weight, or stay the same, and that served me well as a runner, as a bodybuilder, and as an athlete in general.
More than anything, I was able to discover what I was passionate about (saving animals and building muscle) and I worked at it day in and day out, and the results tend to speak for themselves after a lifetime of commitment to those endeavors.
What’s next for Mr Cheeke in the Plant based world? After the success of The Plant-Based Athlete, I would love to embark on a professional writing career, writing books for the rest of my life. There will likely be at least one follow-up book to The Plant-Based Athlete, and then I have many other topics I want to write about, from children’s books to personal development books. I’ve written four books about the vegan fitness lifestyle, and I think I’m ready to tackle some new topics, and I look forward to seeing what’s next. For now, The Plant-Based Athlete is still very new, having been released on June 15, 2021, and I am looking forward to landing as many international translation deals as possible. We’ve already landed deals for translation in German, Chinese (Taiwan), and Italian, and we hope to get our book translated into many more languages soon.
“
There will likely be at least one follow-up book to The Plant Based Athlete, and then I have many other topics I want to write about, from children’s books to personal development books.
”
Plant Powered Planet I 49
MATT FRAZIER & ROBERT CHEEKE
THE PLANT BASED ATHLETE “Matt Frazier and Robert Cheeke have written what should become the seminal book on diet, athleticism, and physical fitness.” T.COLIN CAMPBELL, PhD
The Menstrual Cup Easier
Healthier
Greener
OrganiCup holds 3 tampons worth and can be worn for up to 12 hours. Forget about your period during the day and night. OrganiCup is the only menstrual cup on the market that is AllergyCertified.
OrganiCup is made of 100% medical-grade silicone that doesn’t mess with your body. While tampons and pads absorb natural secretions, OrganiCup simply collects, which eliminates dryness.
OrganiCup is reusable for years – not hours. No more constant waste and no monthly purchases. OrganiCup is registered with The Vegan Society.
No leaks, no worries
No dryness, no infections
Save money, spare our planet
OrganiCup is available in 3 sizes.
Try the cup risk-free with our 90-day satisfaction guarantee. Available at Holland & Barrett, Superdrug, WH Smith Travel stores, Planet Organic and all leading independent health food shops. www.organicup.com | @organicup Plant Powered Planet I 51
The Vegan Vet Dr Lucy Claire McKinna
About Lucy
Can companion animals be vegan?
with compelling and delicious, natural flavours.
Dr Lucy Claire (LC) McKinna - Veterinary Surgeon, BVSc, MSc, MRCVS graduated from Melbourne University in 2007, and has been a small animal veterinary surgeon since then. LC founded and ran the Fat Salad vegan food stall ‘Get In, Get Fed, Stay Healthy’ at UK summer festivals from 2012 to 2017, also supplying independent health food shops in London. She has a lifetime interest in sustainability, corporate responsibility and animal welfare and has been vegan for 9 years now.
Yes dogs and cats can both be vegan. It’s very exciting actually - I remember sitting in a lecture hall many years ago as a vet student being told by a (rather old and probably well set in his ways) university lecturer that feeding dogs and cats a vegetarian diet is tantamount to animal cruelty - I imagine probably what he had in mind was bowfuls of boiled potatoes and beans, not sophisticated, nutritionally-complete recipes that tick all the boxes set by European Pet Food Standards Authority FEDIAF
Our knowledge has increased so much with the dawn of the internet- from the increased visibility and inherent cruelty of the meat trade, how animal protein from different species’ body parts goes through significant rendering and into many of the meat-based pet foods, our increased knowledge about the impact of farm animal production on the environment - to the increased knowledge of animal nutrition and sophistication to use plants and yeasts to provide the same amino acids found
52 I Plant Powered Planet
in meat, without the need for farm animal slaughter. Armed with all this indisputable knowledge, we can’t run from the obvious - that the diets of our ever-growing number of companion animals should be held and produced to the same moral and environmental standards of our own - and we’ve never been in a better position to do it.
What companion animals thrive on a vegan diet – and what do you advise NOT to feed a vegan diet? In a nutshell, if you can provide all the right nutrients, it is possible to feed any companion animal on a vegan diet and to have them thrive. It’s not the ingredients per se that matter, it’s the nutrients. The diet must provide the nutrients
in a high quality form (i.e those nutrients can be digested and absorbed by the eater). Of course, the food has to be the right texture, consistency plus delicious AND filling in order to fulfil! We want our animals to be happy and looking forward to their meals. When that lecturer was booming out that vegetarian diets were tantamount to animal cruelty, there were already vegetarian diets for dogs and cats on the market
Plant Powered Planet I 53
from companies way ahead of their time, and tens of thousands of dogs and cats have been maintained happily on them for years on years. Of course, the argument re-iterated by many is that it’s ‘not natural’ to feed plant-based food to dogs and cats but it seems we have a skewed interpretation of what natural really is. Feeding cats bluefin tuna, prawns, whitebait, salmon, sheep or cattle is far from natural - surely we should be instead opening up tins of ‘raw field mouse, small bird and rat’. Worming, defleaing, microchipping, vaccinating them, giving them dentals when their teeth start to decay and get infected and painful etc - not natural but thank god for scientific advances that we have these available to us.
When adopting a dog or a cat can their diet be changed immediWith the increased interest ately or do you advise and traction in the planta gradual change? So it is too, we have advances with food.
based companion animal sector in the last few years, more studies are being carried out to evaluate plant-based diets compared with conventional companion animal diets. A recent study carried out by vet Dr Andrew Knight, Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons showed that cats and dogs on plant-based commercial diets enjoyed their meals as much as those on meatbased diets. Another of his recent studies showed that the nutritional soundness of commercial plant-based diets was the same or superior to meat-based diets.
Because dogs and cats are often fed on only one brand or flavour of food as the majority of their diet for months at a time, their digestive systems do tend to get used to digesting only those ones. In order to reduce the risk of a very upset tummy when switching, you need to give their systems time to adjust. Ideally this is slowly over 10 days- starting with the new food as 10% of the total meal (90% the old food) on Day 1 and working up to 100% by Day 10. If you’re feeding dry (kibble),
Another of his recent studies showed that the nutritional soundness of commercial plant-based diets was the same or superior to meat-based diets. 54 I Plant Powered Planet
always think about starting the new food when you have about a quarter of the ‘old’ bag left, so you can do a 10 day transition.
or a food that specifies it is for ‘all life stages’. Our own Noochy Poochy Puppy will be available from January 2022.
When adopting an animal, trying to change diet slowly is even more important stress of new parents (even wonderful new parents!), new environment, and exposure to your home’s existing microbiome - can upset their tummies anyway over the first few days, so introducing a new diet may well save you a trip to the vets. Ask the person or rescue centre you’re adopting from for some of the food they’ve been fed up until now, so you can do a slow transition to the new.
Would you advise to make your own vegan dog/cat food or should this be bought? Prepared complete commercial foods are, of course, very convenient and have
the benefits of quality control, nutritional soundness and palatability. There is a pleasingly ever-expanding range available - so you can choose based on what each brand offers whether you want an organic ingredient content, PETA Not-Tested-on-Animals accreditation, Vegan or Vegetarian Society accreditation, Ethical Company Accreditation, packaging recyclability etc.
Puppies need different food to adult dogs... Why is this and should younger dogs wait until they are older to try a vegan diet? Puppies can eat vegan too! Puppies are, of course, growing. No matter what size breed, all puppies have a higher requirement for specific nutrients, including but not limited to Arachidonic acid, Calcium and Phosphorus, than an adult dog. Therefore they should be fed a complete food specifically for puppies
Plant Powered Planet I 55
Noochy Poochy has all of the above and is made with nutritional yeast, which gives a delicious, natural cheesy aroma and flavour that dogs just love, an Omega 6:3 ratio of 4:1, and a 28% protein content, all from plants. Making a homemade nutritionally complete vegan dog food - just like making a nutritionally sound meatbased one - requires some
56 I Plant Powered Planet
research and dedication to ensure a careful balance of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, carbohydrates and fats. You can contact a qualified veterinary nutritionist and get a tailor-made plan for your dog based on weight, age - this would be strongly recommended if they have any specific medical conditions. You can buy a vegan recipe book authored by a
veterinary nutritionist. It is very important not to miss out any of the supplements that they specify in the ingredients - no matter how small an amount it might seem, missing it out may mean you could be omitting a vital nutrient. There are also companies that provide comprehensive vegan supplements for dogs - that you can add to a basic homemade meal to
fulfil requirements, which takes a lot of the worry and the work out of making homemade. One such UK one is the ‘Just Be Kind Supplement’ available at vegan-dogfood.co.uk. I wouldn’t recommend making homemade diets for cats - any client I’ve had that tried to make a nutritionally balanced homemade diet for cats - meat-based or plant-based - ended up putting it in the bin as the cats turned their noses up and trotted off unimpressed. I’m not saying it can’t be done but I certainly haven’t seen much success with it!
How do we know that your companion animal is thriving on their plant based diet? Look for energy, good coat condition, consistent toileting with well-formed (but not hard) poop and of course, that your pet looks very much forward to meal times and enjoys their meal.
What should we look out for if we have concerns it may not be working for them? General signs to look out for would be a significant
weight loss that doesn’t resolve with an increased portion size, lethargy, dull coat, inconsistent toileting or an upset tummy that doesn’t resolve (remembering to have done an ideally 10 day transition to the new food). If they don’t appear to be looking forward to meal times, and you’re concerned that they don’t like the flavour, try a different plant-based brand or flavour to see if your pet’s interest is restored. Any concerns - whether you think due to the food or not you should consult your vet.
Plant Powered Planet I 57
What benefits are there of having a vegan diet for your companion animal?
plant-based diets - including energy, coat and skin condition, and better toileting too.
What should we look out for when choosing vegan dog food?
The benefits for the environment and farm animals of switching to a plant-based food for your pet is undeniable. Anecdotally, there are a huge number of improvements seen in the majority of animals switched to nutritionally complete
For a bit of celebrity endorsement, Bramble, the world’s oldest dog and in the Guiness Book of Records was vegan and Lewis Hamilton’s dog went vegan recently and has apparently never looked back, with a resolution of all of his long standing skin issues :)
For feeding a healthy adult dog, I would recommend looking at the back of the pack for ● A total protein content of 24% or more ● An omega Essential Fatty Acid 6:3 ratio of less than 10:1 (you can calculate this by dividing the Omega 6 by the Omega 3 values on the back of the pack) ● Both Taurine and Methionine (or DLmethionine) to be listed in Nutritional Additives (to show that they have been supplemented in Taurine isn’t one of the 10 essential amino acids but it is extremely important none-the-less) And of course, last but not least, an ingredient list you can understand.
What must we avoid giving to our companion animals? For both dogs and cats you should avoid grapes, raisins, currants, sultanas; macadamia nuts, chocolate and cocoa based products; and those of the Allium family (onions, shallots, scallions, chives, leeks and garlic) completely.
58 I Plant Powered Planet
“
For cats on a plant-based diet, it is important to check their urine pH every 6 months with a pH stick (these are easily available at pharmacies or from your vet). If too alkaline (more than 7) then your vet can recommend you a urinary acidifier. Dogs can eat spinach occasionally but not too often - spinach contains oxalic acid that reduces the body’s ability to absorb calcium and can lead to kidney damage. Tomatoes are very acidic and too much can upset tummies. Lettuce has no real nutritional value and if given too much could cause diarrhoea Feed cauliflower and broccoli only in small amounts - they’re full of good things but can upset the tummy if given in large quantities. My dogs literally clamber for roasted cauliflower when I make it once a week, I keep in the fridge and give small
amounts out as a treat throughout the week!
Xylitol - this artificial sweetener is poisonous to cats and dogs. Always screen the ingredients in your peanut butter or chewing gum or sweets for xylitol as an ingredient - if they do, ensure you keep them well away from your pet’s reach.
What do you suggest for anyone thinking about putting their companion animals on a vegan diet?
re: Protein, Omega 6:3 ratio, Taurine and Methionine before you buy so you can be sure you’re getting a top class one. Do a 10 day transition. For cats on a plant-based diet, it is important to check their urine pH every 6 mths with a pH stick (these are easily available at pharmacies or from your vet). If too alkaline (more than 7) then your vet can recommend you a urinary acidifier.
I would certainly encourage you to do so. Buy a complete food. For dogs, checklist the points made earlier on
Plant Powered Planet I 59
Pet Products
The ProGroom range ProGroom is a Premium Natural and Organic Vegan brand of Dog Grooming products. Our products have been formulated by an internationally renowned aromatherapy expert, author and founder of the Institute of Aromatherapy. We pride ourselves to have crafted these unique products from scratch using only natural ingredients and no harmful chemicals. ProGroom is a comprehensive formulation using the highest cosmetic grade active organic ingredients. Our products are enriched with a blend of 100% organic natural therapeutic grade Essential oils. Our full range of sustainable products are officially registered with The Vegan Society!
Benevo Puppy Vegan-owned Benevo has perhaps the largest range of plant-based pet foods of any brand, and their puppy food was a World first. For those pet parents wishing to rescue a puppy, there was no option but to buy meat foods or risk making it yourself. Thankfully, Benevo developed a professional solution to this dilemma. It’s made in the UK with all the added nutrients those growing pups need. The unique wheatfree and GM-free recipe includes 28% protein, added calcium, Taurine and L-Carnitine and is now used by customers all round the World.
60 I Plant Powered Planet
V-dog Crunchy Nuggets V-dog is the oldest commercial meat-free dog food company, having launched its first product in the UK back in 1980. Which means Crunchy Nuggets has kept dogs happy and healthy for over 40 years. V-dog’s carefully crafted combination of plant-based ingredients, fortified with vitamins and minerals has proven itself to be a winning formula. Still made in the UK today, V-dog products are certified by both the Vegan and Vegetarian Societies and approved by PETA as a brand that doesn’t test on animals.
Pawtato Ocean Treats Pawtato is a range of low-fat chews for dogs made using sweet potato and other plant-based ingredients to offer a nutritious and healthy alternative to animal rawhide products. Ocean Treats are sea-themed edible chews infused with three types of land-farmed seaweed, Kelp, Wakame and Spirulina, avoiding the need for seaweed sourced from our oceans. They come in two sizes and are packed in a plastic-free compostable pouch. As well as this Pawtato donate money from the sale of these chews to ocean conservation projects. An ethical chew that’s good for your pet and good for the planet. Plant Powered Planet I 61
62 I Plant Powered Planet
Plant Powered Planet I 63
Passport-Free Travel: 5 Tips For New Vegan Adventurers!
By Emma Fry
Hi, I’m Emma! I’m the founder of Vegan Adventure Holidays, an outdoor backpacking educator and empowerment coach and have been helping people have the best vegan adventure travel experiences across the globe for 15+ years! An experienced expedition Leader, I run small group trips in Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica and Colombia, women’s vegan fitness weeks in Mexico, vegan micro adventures in the U.K. and our signature coaching program, You Can Hike A Volcano Too! If you would like to meet other vegan travelers and connect up with some like minded people, come and join us over here and when the world opens up again, I would love to take you volcano hiking in Guatemala, snorkelling on the Belize Barrier Reef or to my favourite secret vegan street food spots in Mexico!
There’s only one way to truly learn how to respect the environment and that’s to be in it! The U.K. and Ireland is an adventurer’s playground, home to some incredible landscapes, top wild swimming spots, endless hiking trails, days of mountain biking routes and much more but if you’re new to adventuring, getting started can feel a little daunting. The great outdoors is for EVERYONE and the benefits of being outside are endless.
Here are some top tips to help you get started this summer.
64 I Plant Powered Planet
1: Set Goals Write down some 1 month, 6 month and 1 year outdoor adventure goals. Spend some time thinking about your dream hikes/ climbs / adventures and make a list. What skills do you need to learn to get started? What’s holding you back and how might you overcome it?
Plant Powered Planet I 65
2: Save the date If you don’t create the space and time it won’t happen, adult life is just too busy! Once you’ve set your first goal, make sure you put it on the calendar.
66 I Plant Powered Planet
3: Create a checklist It can be easy to forget things in the excitement of a new adventure! Create a simple checklist or what you’ll need to take but don’t overthink it, start with the basics, you can always add to your list later.
4: Take care of the places you love to go. If you see rubbish that’s not yours, if there is a designated trail, stick to it, don’t walk / hike / bike on ground that doesn’t need to be disturbed. Leave No Trace is an important rule to remember when outdoors.
68 I Plant Powered Planet
5: Plan ahead and learn to become self-sufficient. When you’re ready to take your adventuring to the next level, a critical part of becoming a skilled outdoor adventurer is learning how to prevent yourself from getting into tricky situations and knowing what to do if something goes wrong. Take safety seriously, learn how to read maps and gps, and learn some basic first aid so you can be an active adventure planner and participant not just a passive follower!
Plant Powered Planet I 69
Crystal Bonnet Queen of Raw Desserts Crystal Bonnet is an International raw food chef, instructor & cookbook author. As a graduate of the plant-based and raw food nutrition programs at Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy and the Pure Joy Academy, Crystal has worked hard to learn the importance of the culinary aspect and nutritional elements of living foods. It is this information Crystal shares with her students so that they will have as much knowledge as necessary to understand raw foods and their health benefits.
By Danielle Maupertuis Danielle is a Belgian Vegan Pastry Chef. She has worked for 5 star hotels as an Executive Pastry Chef in the UK and abroad.
H
i! This is Danielle Maupertuis, Vegan Pastry Chef.
In our previous issue, I briefly mentioned a new generation of Vegan, Plant-based, Raw Food Chefs (among them, I am pleased to say, quite a few young women!) Today, I am delighted to introduce one of the most
talented International Raw Food Chefs, Crystal Bonnet. As a Pastry Chef myself, when I first saw pictures of her desserts, I was thrilled by her creativity, her sense of finesse and presentation. Also, I was impressed by her professionalism in building her online courses.
So Crystal, I am very pleased to share this moment with you and learn a bit more about your journey, experience, challenges.
70 I Plant Powered Planet
“
It was thrilling to travel to design and cater multiple health retreats in Canada and Europe, and when I launched my raw chocolate and dessert business, it was so liberating!
”
Plant Powered Planet I 71
How did this passion for raw food start, was there any specific event, a circumstance that changed everything for you? In 2013, I was home for over 4 weeks sick and I knew I had to do something about it, my body was not happy with me. As I was researching cleansing, detox and how to heal my body, I came across raw food. I knew about juicing and green smoothies but had no knowledge of raw “cooking.” I knew right then and there this was what my body was missing – fresh fruits and vegetables. I purchased a 21-day raw food cleanse and started right away. I was not good at cooking and had no desire to learn at all, but when I started making recipes from the 21-day raw food cleanse, I fell in love. I had no idea food could look and taste that good and make me feel so good. I finished the 21 days and stuck with eating a high-raw plant-based diet; I felt the best I ever had in my life. Two years later, in 2015 I finally decided to take a plant-based culinary course to improve my skills; I had no prior culinary training, and I finally found my passion, doing anything else just didn’t make sense. That’s why I decided to pursue it as a career. 72 I Plant Powered Planet
What training have you completed throughout this journey? My first choice of informal education was Fundamentals of Raw Cuisine through Matthew Kenney Culinary in 2015. I started taking raw chocolate courses just after that because I wanted to dive deeper into making professional quality raw chocolate. Because I had no prior culinary training, I found video tutorials was the best way of learning for me. Doing courses, I was able to really up level my skills and knowledge about raw cuisine. I recently completed an Advanced Plant-Based Course in London and am still taking advanced courses online. I love learning, and although now I have a lot of experience I can always learn something new from different chefs.
What drew you to creating a business out of your love of raw food? I started with a chocolate farmer’s market business. I went to Bali in 2017, took a tour of chocolate farms, attended some raw food classes and, when I came back, I felt very frustrated in my job’s office. Something had to change. So, the day I was admitted in the famous Edmonton’s Farmer’s market I quit my job straight away! Plant Powered Planet I 73
Crystal’s Morning Green Smoothie www.crystaldawnculinary.com Mineralizing, hydrating, alkalizing and nutritious green smoothie recipe! • • • • • • • • • • •
1 large handful spinach 1 small handful cilantro 1 cup almond milk 1 fresh banana peeled 1/2 cup frozen mango 1 lemon peeled 1 apple cored and chopped 1 thumb ginger peeled 1 tbsp mesquite powder or maca 1 tsp chlorella powder 1 dash ceylon cinnamon
INSTRUCTIONS Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
74 I Plant Powered Planet
While I was doing the markets a lot of people asked me to teach them about raw desserts. I started to do classes and fell in love with teaching.
What do you love about raw food that keeps you so passionate? There is just something about raw food, because it’s living, makes you feel alive. Raw food for me looks so much more appetizing than cooked food; the colours are still vibrant and you can create so much texture. When you cook vegetables, they just don’t look the same; I do also cook
for myself, very basic such as steaming as I don’t eat a 100% raw diet but about 80% – 90% depending on the season.
Could you give us some advice about how to start a raw diet? My main advice would be “Start slowly!” If you go for a 100% raw diet straight away, you will have a lot of detoxing and negative effects, you will think “This diet is not for me”. Start your day with a green smoothie, you will get all the minerals, hydration your body needs.
You now offer an Online Raw Dessert Chef Certification Course. Tell us about it, what makes this course quite unique? Raw desserts are very popular and so many people are starting raw dessert businesses, patisseries and bakeries so I wanted to create a course that taught all the skills from basic chocolate to advanced cakes. When I launched my course, it was the scariest thing I had ever done, but it was all worth it. I’ve kept true to myself throughout the entire process and have created something really
Plant Powered Planet I 75
unique, with live monthly teaching components and a community full of support and people really resonate with that. I started with a large comprehensive, Certification course where the students can find all the support they need because I knew this was missing in the market. Many students want to start a raw food business or already have their own business. They learn about ingredients, equipment, how to create and write a professional recipe, they have to submit assignments, knowledge assessments, and at the end of the course, they have to come up with 3 raw desserts of their own.
You just launched a new course, “the Nut-free Raw Cake Academy”, I am sure this will arouse the interest of many readers? Raw food contains a lot of nuts, cashews are widely use in raw desserts. I received a lot of requests about nut-free raw desserts, so I decided this would be my next challenge! Once you know the ingredients, it’s really simple to do. As a next step, I was just asking myself why not create a course with all these recipes? This is how the “Nutfree Raw Cake Academy” started.
76 I Plant Powered Planet
My hope is people realize plant-based desserts are not only healthier but taste better than traditional ones full of dairy, refined sugar, and gluten. Raw desserts made from whole food ingredients are full of nutrition.
Learn more about Crystal Dawn Culinary by visiting her website: crystaldawnculinary.com @crystaldawnculinary
“
I started with a large comprehensive, Certification course where the students can find all the support they need because I knew this was missing in the market.
”
Plant Powered Planet I 77
Vegans deserve Better than a
Fruit Salad
78 I Plant Powered Planet
An informative, humorous, idea-inspiring cookery book like no other. With more than 60 recipes, Chef Danielle will convince you that vegan desserts are easy to make, taste yummy and look fantastic. The book is organised into easy to read sections and the basics section gives even the most novice cook all the advice and help they need.
“This book is a must for anyone wanting to up their vegan dessert game from a fruit salad! It will teach you great skills the Belgian way.” Sam Platt, Head of the Vegetarian Society Cookery School
Now available in
Plant Powered Planet I 79
The Vegetable Plot
By Tony Bishop-Weston
Consultant Vegan Chef & Author Tony Bishop-Weston and family plotting for a more vegetable filled world.
This month, “Are you eating too much ‘ultra-processed vegan pap’?” The Frost Report So my friends. The broad beans have recovered from the vicious late frost quite abundantly, the broccoli was star of tonight’s dinner and we’ve had more kale pakora last week than McDonalds sell in a year.
Moody Moobs ‘Be thankful!’ I hear you cry ‘for your abundant harvest!’ I am, it’s just those pesky, paid, professional anti-vegan self-professed food critics are really beginning to get on my moobies. Their ubiquitous mantra ‘ultra processed vegan food’ tries to cast a vegan diet as a chemical laden cornucopia of binders, fillers, enzymes, starches and flavour enhancers rather than a wicker basket laden with fruit and vegetables freshly liberated from the garden.
80 I Plant Powered Planet
Dino Sore Point Don’t get me wrong, I’m up for trying the latest vegan KitKat, Dairy Free Ice Cream, super melting no moo un-cheese, un-honey, pepperoni style vegan pastrami jackfruit and kale free burger as the next wide eyed ‘kid in a vegan sweetie shop’ old skool vegan. We even tried the new Quorn Roarsomes dinosaur bites (purely for professional research reasons) and found them to be any thing but dinosaur like. They look a bit an armadillo or a pangolin-like which I thought was a tad insensitive considering pangolins got the blame for starting the global Covid19 pandemic. Secondly, I imagined dinosaurs to taste a bit more swampy. Perhaps a little omega 3 DHA rich algae would improve things? Anyway I’d imagined this vegan turkey Twizzler-esque Captain Birdseye inspired vegan extinction rebellion French fry accompaniment would be just the red flag the spluttering anti vegan Gammons had been waiting for. But no.
Egg faced Porky Pie Wrath Gammon ire was unleashed in an “There! I told you so!” moment on the Tesco launch of the Vegan Scotch Egg with “more than 50 ingredients” which was, as you’d expect, not Scottish and contained absolutely no egg. Sarah Augustine from Squeaky Bean said the market is lacking vegan Plant Powered Planet I 81
Hypocritical Oeufs Anyway, this got me thinking (prone to procrastination as I am) what actually is in a traditional scotch egg? i.e. the sausage on the outside and the egg on the inside and how many ingredients are we actually looking at. Banger! I started with that Scottish Square sausage that probably most closely resembles the sausage usually found on the outside of a scotch egg. Pork 52%, Beef fat 9%, Wheat Flour (Wheat, calcium carbonate, Iron, Niacin< Thiamine) Water, Dehydrated pork, , salt, 82 I Plant Powered Planet
phosphate stabiliser, spice extract, Soya, Beef flavour, Nutmeg, Coriander, ginger, Pimento, Cayene, Sodium metabisulphite E223, flavour enhancer , E621, Dextrose , Antioxidant E301, Nicotinamide, Colour: Carmines (Crushed beetles)
Connective Tissue Issue Please bear in mind ‘Pork’ is not like saying ‘Soya bean’ in a ingredient context. If it says made with pork sausage it must be at least 42% pork but only 32% meat if it doesn’t say ‘pork’. Of that minimum of 32%, 30% is allowed to be fat and 25% connective
tissue. Thus over half of the less than half, about 14%, is likely to be actual meat. In uncooked products i.e. sausages it is forbidden to include feet, intestine (apart from the skins) lungs, oesophagus, rectum, spinal cord, spleen, stomach, udder. As a traditional Scotch egg is intended as a picnic food it is precooked, so not uncooked, so feel free to use your imagination.
It’s no Yolk Yes, ‘vegan eggs’ have stretched the imagination and eggs-pertise (sorry) of the food scientists and it takes more than just the peas of chicks and black salt to get there. But it’s
also important to consider the true ingredients of eggs apart from the vegetarian delusions about what happens to all the male chicks and what ‘free range’ means in reality. Here’s a list of ingredients of typical Layers pellets (food staple of egg laying hens) Yolk Pigmenters (Citrazanaxathin, lutein, zeaxanthin), Wheat, Wheatfeed (includes wheatgerm), High Protein Soya Bean Meal (probably no longer GM free), Calcium carbonate (ground chalk), Maize germ meal, Sunflower seed extract, Vegetable Oil, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Sodium Bicarbonate, Methionine (from vegetables), vitamin A, vitamin D3 (From lanolin from sheep wool), vitamin E and copper. Ingredients for a vegan egg not looking so weird now is it. That’s the trouble with second hand food. How many ingredients is that? Tony Bishop-Weston Consultant Executive Vegan Chef, Author, Speaker Foods for Life Nutrition and Health Consultancy
Plant Powered Planet I 83
VEGAN COOKBOOK
By Tony & Yvonne Bishop-Weston
Tony & Yvonne Bishop-Weston can be reached via www.newforesthealth.com
Plant Powered Planet85I 85 FORCA VEGAN
Vegan Art
By Karin Ridgers
We are fans here of Vegan Traders Union with a whole exciting wealth of fellow vegans in business. In this edition of Plant Powered Planet Magazine we thought we would take a look at some of the incredibly talented arty vegans that are members of the VTU. Whether you need to buy a gift or fancy treating yourself it doesn’t get better than supporting and buying from a fellow vegan! From stunning original art work to tiny teddy bears there is something here for all tastes and budgets.
Art by Lynda Bell Stunning original artwork from Lynda Bell – painted in New Zealand and loved all over the world. “My goal is to inspire people to care for animals and to remember that they are sentient beings, in need of our love, care and protection. I think about what the earth would look like if there was no cruelty or exploitation - no farming or hunting or testing on animals. My paintings are stories, in which people are heroes and heroines for the animals, because people can in fact be just that, in real life.”
www.artbylyndabell.com
Spyder Thread Jo Hards is a self representing artist based in South Wales. She is best known for Gothic style, button eyed, cloth art dolls. “My dolls have been described by many as ‘creepy cute’ for their dark, yet innocent anthropomorphic charm. My paintings and illustrations feature similar subject matter and often fall within the realms of pop surrealism. Ethics have always played an important role in Jo’s art. As an ethical vegan, she does not use any materials or tools of animal origin.
www.spyderthread.com
86 I Plant Powered Planet
Creepies Creepies is a small handmade business run by a family of vegans since 2013. They make a range of handmade, unique monsters called the Creepies. Each creepy is hand sculpted by Laura (Mrs. Creepy) and baked solid. No two Creepies are the same and each creepy comes with a certificate of creepthenticity.
www.creepies.co.uk Victoria Petchey Victoria mainly paint portraits of animals and she also create artworks that focus on women, wildlife, nature and animal exploitation. “I enjoy creating art that challenges our own personal feelings and ethics on particular subjects and request humans to think about such topics; environment, plastic pollution, women’s history and achievements, animal abuse and exploitation.” The art materials Victoria uses are vegan friendly and she use minimal paint to avoid waste.
www.victoriapetchey.art Beary Tales Lynn Smith is an award winning bear artist. She creates one of a kind miniature collectable teddy bears and animals. They are all completely hand stitched, 5 way jointed and weighted to allow them to sit with ease. Lynn’s creations are approximately 3.5” small and created from quality vegan materials.
www.bearytales.co.uk
Plant Powered Planet I 87
Vegan Art
Continued
The Vegan Potter Handmade unique ceramics created with vegan clay and glazes from The Vegan Potter! “All my pottery is made with products and use processes that do not use any animal products. Some “china” has beef bone meal in it, up to 70%. I can assure you that mine dose not.” Items can be for your human family or your animal family.
www.instagram.com/ Theveganpotteruk
For more incredible VTU members check out:
www.vegantradersunion.co.uk The Vegan Traders Union is the Vegan Community. A place where Vegan run independant businesses, artists, musicians and professionals have come together, to work together, to create a market place for all your Vegan needs. Whatever product or service you are looking for, one of our members will have the very thing to meet your needs. The Vegan Traders Union logo is show below. Any business carrying this logo, will also have a registration number. this lets you know that company is one of our approved members, and therefore a Vegan owned and run business.
88 I Plant Powered Planet
M. C RONEN The LIBERATION Trilogy It Was In Our Hands - the final book of The Liberation Trilogy by vegan, animal rights activist M. C Ronen, was finally published on 15 July! The Liberation Trilogy (‘The Shed’, ‘Liberation’ and ‘It Was In Our Hands’) is a unique, first of its kind creation of ethical fiction. In this breathtaking dystopia, the reader follows the protagonist Sunny from her days as a young girl, growing up in an ominous and oddly guarded, isolated farm - an d all the way to becoming a leader of a courageous team of activists whose aim is achieving ‘Total Liberation’ for all who are abused, exploited and brutally oppressed. Each book in this trilogy has its own tone and pace, but all three are suspenseful page-turners that are sure to keep you at the edge of your seat. Most importantly, they are sure to make you think about the real world in which we live, and the implications of your daily choices.
Plant Powered Planet I 89
Juliet Gellatley
A Day In The Life Juliet is founder & director of Viva! – the biggest vegan campaigning charity in Europe. Viva! launched in 1994, joined by Viva! Poland in 2002. Juliet has created and launched numerous campaigns on the impact of what we eat on animals, the planet and our health. She has also investigated many farms – often the big names - and exposed the devastating cruelty. She is the author of several reports, guides and books and producer of the award-winning HOGWOOD: a modern horror story documentary on Amazon Prime. Juliet has given many hundreds of talks, radio, Podcast and TV interviews. Juliet has a degree in Zoology & Psychology and is a qualified nutritional therapist.
Viva! is the UK’s leading vegan campaigning charity, specialising in undercover investigations and high-profile animal campaigns. Founded in 1994 by Juliet Gellatley, we have spent more than 25 years creating a kinder, more sustainable world for humans and animals alike.
Find out more: viva.org.uk 90 I Plant Powered Planet
Plant Powered Planet I 91
6:30am Lily jumps into bed, licks my face and collapses on to me for her routine five minute belly rub. Then, as usual, off she trots - her happy, me awake!
8:00am Force myself out of bed. Was catching up with friends til’ 2am and now pay the price! Lily needs a walk and I need a cuppa!
9:00am Sit down in my home office to do three radio interviews to launch Viva!’s new Save a Baby campaign. They are all 10 minutes long and enjoyable. I’m very at home promoting veganism on the airwaves! The presenters try to steer the interviews to be mainly about health and I steer them back to talk about the fact that a billion baby animals are killed each year in Britain – none of them want to die. These are not the actions of a civilised nation! But going vegan is easy and to be embraced. You get the picture!
92 I Plant Powered Planet
10:00am Try to wake up Finn, one of my sons who wants a lift to the train station with me – he’s going back south to university (finally). He’s suddenly gone deaf – I try loud music, meowing, nothing works! Get Lily on the job – he’s much less grumpy with her. Make us both vegan sausage and mushrooms on toast for breakfast and leave a dinner for my other son, Jazz to heat up. Cram a small case and get ready to travel to Stockport. I like the train – get to read in peace! Plus this time, I write a short speech for the next day and make a note of what I’ll say for the campaign launch for social media live vids.
3:00pm Meet with two trustees in Stockport and have an exciting brain storm about the relaunch of Vegan Now! – a campaign that made a big splash in every national newspaper on its launch in 2019. We discuss ideas for the launch of a futuristic new video, the Oracle in Bristol. It is a new approach to showing what will happen if the world doesn’t go vegan! But also, helps people change. And we agree the budgeting of our campaigns team running a vegan burger van city tour with Vegan Now! events.
Plant Powered Planet I 93
6:00pm Go to launch the Save a Baby billboard campaign in central Manchester and give another radio interview. We have over 40 billboards across NW England reaching over 10 million people. Do a photo call with some lovely volunteers who give up their time in the incessant rain! We are in luck and the brewing storm holds off its downpour for half an hour while we do Insta and Facebook live videos.
8:00pm Looked forward to this! Eat at the fabulous vegan restaurant, the Allotment in Manchester with Laura, Viva!’s campaigns manager. We discuss a potential TV campaign – if we can raise the funds! And then reeeeelax!
6:30am
94 I Plant Powered Planet
Rise ‘n’ shine! Prepare for a train to Birmingham, where I jump off and run to Centenary Square to give a 15 minute speech at the start of the 2nd City Animal Rights rally and march. It is organised by Ray Williams who I enormously respect. He organises vigils outside the appalling Hogwood pig farm in Warks, that supplied Tesco. Our expose of both feature in the Hogwood documentary. I then run for another train and on to my next meeting.
Plant Powered Planet I 95
Vegan Shoes Such an array of vegan shoes now. I remember asking in every shoe shop I visited; “Are these leather?” And the majority of replies being; “oh yes of course” and I would respond by saying “Ah that’s a shame – I only wear non leather shoes as I am vegan.” I do love a great shoe or boot – I go for comfy now however still with a touch of glam as well! We now have highend designer vegan footwear, independent ethical vegan
96 I Plant Powered Planet
by Karin Ridgers
shoe companies, even high street chains such and M&S are labelling shoes as “Suitable for vegans”.
leading vegan shoe brand – and still going strong is Beyond Skin with their high end leather free ranges.
VegfestUK award winner Vegetarian Shoes based in Brighton trailblazed 30 years ago and they continue to do so with their hardy boots, belts and much more.
I adored my vegan “badger” shoes from www.bboheme.com and never had so many comments about my feet before!
I also remember going to a Vegan Society meeting perhaps 20 years ago and talking to a passionate lady, Natalie Dean, who told me her dream was to set up a
Pictured: Vionic Shoes
Will Green launched his brand Will’s Vegan Shoes at VegfestUK 10 years ago and has grown from strength
to strength since. Will is launching a new warehouse and has ambitious plans to expand further. www.wills-vegan-store.co.uk
Vionic is dedicated to creating comfortable, supportive shoes everyone will love. Whether you’re in the market for eco-friendly canvas, vegan-certified shoes or non-leather kicks – they are confident you’ll find a style you love when you check out their collection. I am trying out their new Pismo lightweight vegan trainer – and they feel really good! Choose from a rainbow of uppers, in either canvas or jersey, with white laces, contrasting eyelets and tape at the heel.
Every pair of Vionic shoes comes with three-zone comfort - Ultimate Arch Support for a difference you can feel - and have been podiatrist designed, giving you comfort and support, wherever you are. www.vionicshoes.co.uk éS is one of the few skateboarder owned and operated footwear companies in the world and has been since 1995. Their passion for inspirational Skateboarding, Design, and Style permeates throughout the global skate community. Their vegan and eco-friendly collection leverages heritage éS colour stories through ethically sourced non-animal leathers and microfiber materials and applies them to their most functional skate shoes.
All are made with animal-friendly materials including microfiber, mesh and tumbled and synthetic leathers - taking the typical skate shoe and making it atypical. Feedback on this show has been positive – comfortable and band on cool trend – with no animals harmed. www.esskateboarding. com/collections/vegan High end vegan designer shoes include brands such as www.damapreziosa. com and www.minkshoes. com really do add glamour and luxury... And best of all –
all VEGAN friendly!
Pictured: éS Silo SC
Pictured: Mink Shoes Elk (Alce)
Plant Powered Planet I 97
Rich Hardy
From Undercover Journalist to Vegan Farmer For two decades I lived a double-life. And with the help of a hidden camera, some water-tight cover stories and a little luck I traversed the globe working undercover to document the damage factory farming was doing to the planet and the billions of suffering animals used to feed and clothe us. My images and testimony helped shape some pioneering legislation and were used by global animal charities to generate hard-hitting media
98 I Plant Powered Planet
exposés. But while it helped create change and promoted vegan lifestyles, it came at a bit of a personal cost. Burnt out and in need of a change I turned to growing. Partly to help heal my soul a little after what I had witnessed but also as a challenge to the cruel factory farming model that growing food needn’t involve animal suffering or be so destructive. So, with my partner Pru, and taking an activist-inspired approach, we’ve set up a vegan farm in Cornwall
that is half-way through its first season. Using veganic techniques and operating under a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model we harvest weekly and deliver veg boxes in and around Falmouth, Redruth and Truro. Come hear some of the stories that inspired me to take this leap and the ups and downs of first season vegan farmers, at: Vegan Organic Fest Cornwall August 12-16 2021
“
Burnt out and in need of a change I turned to growing. Partly to help heal my soul a little after what I had witnessed but also as a challenge to the cruel factory farming model that growing food needn’t involve animal suffering or be so destructive.
”
Plant Powered Planet I 99
Veganic Growing Month by Month: August, September & October ‘Veganic’ is a combination of two words ‘vegan’ and ‘organic’. It’s a guarantee that food is grown in an organic way with only plant based fertilizers, encouraging functional biodiversity so pesticides are not necessary. No chemicals, no GMO and no animal by products in any part of the chain. We all know that following a plantbased diet is the most ethical, healthy and environmentally friendly way of eating possible, but growing some of those plants can give you huge satisfaction along with all the fun, self-reliance and planet-saving benefits of producing your own food too. It can be done at any level, from keeping potted herbs on a windowsill or growing vegetables in your back garden, to aiming for near self-sufficiency from a larger plot or allotment.
So here’s what to do at this time of year.
102 I Plant Powered Planet
By Piers Warren
Piers Warren is the co-author (with his daughter, Ella Bee Glendining) of The Vegan Cook & Gardener: Growing, Storing and Cooking Delicious Healthy Food all Year Round More information about Piers Warren: www.pierswarren.co.uk
Plant Powered Planet I 103
AUGUST Seeds to sow: - Cabbages – early spring varieties - Pak choi - Lettuce and other salad greens that are more suited for autumn/winter condi tions such as lamb’s lettuce (corn salad) - Lettuce varieties such as Arctic King
What to plant out: - Pak choi
What to store or process - Apricots - Aubergine - Cauliflower (make piccalilli with some!) - Celery - Courgettes - French beans - Garlic - Onions - Peaches, nectarines - Peas - Runner beans - Strawberries
104 I Plant Powered Planet
What do I mean by ‘plant out’? Crops that you have grown from seed in trays or pots that will need to be planted out into beds or larger containers. Alternatively you can buy many of these as small plants from garden centres or online from garden catalogues
Other jobs on the plot Prune apricot, peach and nectarine trees in August, straight after fruiting, the main aim being to remove diseased or damaged branches/twigs, any that are crossing and rubbing each other, and to improve the shape of the tree. They can also be trained, by a combination of pruning and tying to canes/ wires, to a fan shape against a wall.
This is also the month for the main pruning of cherry trees. Summer-fruiting raspberry varieties should be pruned after all the fruits have been gathered. Cut canes that fruited down to ground level but leave about six young canes per plant to grow on and fruit next year. Check all winter squashes (pumpkins, butternuts etc.) and limit the number of developing fruits to 4-6 per plant. Lift onions and dry them in the sun for a week or two before storage. The easiest method is to lay them in trays, clean seed trays will do, and leave them outdoors, bringing them inside if rain threatens.
Plant Powered Planet I 105
SEPTEMBER Seeds to sow: - Spinach/chard - Lettuce and other salad greens that are more suited for autumn/winter conditions such as lamb’s lettuce (corn salad) - Lettuce varieties such as Arctic King
What to plant out: - Chinese cabbage - Turnips - Pak choi
What to store or process: - Beetroot - Figs - Grapes - Melon - Onions - Pears - Pepper – chilli, capsicum - Plums - Potatoes - Raspberries - Sweet corn - Tomatoes
Other jobs on the plot: Remove lower leaves from celeriac plants. Sow green manures in areas where crops have now been harvested and cleared. Remove any dying rhubarb stalks and compost. Stake plants that may need it over winter such as purple sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts and kale.
106 I Plant Powered Planet
-
OCTOBER Seeds to sow: - Broad beans - Pea varieties that are winter hardy - Lettuce and other salad greens that are more suited for autumn/winter conditions such as lamb’s lettuce (corn salad) - Lettuce varieties such as Arctic King
What to plant out: - Rhubarb - Strawberries
What to store or process: - Apples - Carrots - Winter squashes - pumpkins and butternuts
Other jobs on the plot: Last year’s leaf mould can be spread around the plot as a mulch. Clear this year’s fallen leaves from around the garden and start a new leaf mould pile (a simple netting enclosure will be fine). Harvest winter squashes such as pumpkins and butternuts before the first frost and leave in the sun to harden for a week or two before putting into frost-free storage. Bring in, to the greenhouse or conservatory, pots of plants that will need winter protection, such as citrus trees. Remove dead leaves from around parsnip plants. Cut down asparagus ferns and compost. Weed the bed and mulch well with compost.
Plant Powered Planet I 107
Vegan Careers It may not come as a surprise to you that vegans are everywhere.
From all walks of life, and from all backgrounds, more and more people are making the moral, ethical or practical decisions that lead them to a plant-based diet and the vegan lifestyle. We at Plant Powered Planet wish to celebrate this, and in this issue we speak with 4 different vegan professionals about what veganism means to them, what led them to leading a more ethical lifestyle and how that applies to their workplace.
108 I Plant Powered Planet
Joanna Eatwell Andrea Harvey Costume Designer
Vegan Hairdresser
Adam
Rachel Brownstein
Vegan Policeman
Actor, Writer & YouTuber Plant Powered Planet I 109
Joanna Eatwell Costume Designer
So tell us about your vegan journey... You have been vegan for an incredible 48 years right? What inspired you initially? I became vegan just pre teens almost 50 years ago, I had been vegetarian before that. I never liked or drank milk, cheese and eggs made me feel dizzy, so when veganism was explained to me by an uncle and aunt who were both vegan at that time, having just returned from Kathmandu hippy tail, it was a great relief. I had a name for what I wanted to do, it was liberating. I joke now that I spent my teens living off the
110 I Plant Powered Planet
garnish on plates, it wasn’t always easy to get food, but I think we are all resilient at that age. I have never had much interest in the food side I was in it for the animals from the earliest age and still am.
How has being vegan impacted on your career? I started my career as a costume designer in music videos and commercials, before moving into film and television, when I worked in advertising I always tried to be ethical in the type of campaigns I worked on. Historical dramas that I mainly work on now often require us to seemingly use
fur or leather, to recreate period garments accurately and part of the challenge is to always find a cruelty free alternative.
What differences have you made within your career in connection with being vegan? I do look for creative vegans and am always very happy when I have others working along side me. There are also quite a few actors now who are vegan, one of the more well known I have worked with is Woody Harrelson, a lovely man and a true vegan. One of the things I like about my job, is working in
Joanna worked as the costume designer for episodes of Taboo
other countries and spending enough time in those countries to really get to know them. As a consequence I have visited sanctuaries in many different continents and I applaud and where possible support the work people are doing in often really difficult circumstances.
What’s your favourite vegan restaurant? It was sad to see Tibits close along with a few other old favourites recently, but there are so many vegan restaurants now, we are spoilt for choice. Thank goodness for Happy Cow, it’s the first thing I check when I arrive in a new country or city and it works all over the world. Poster for The Miniaturist, another of Joanna’s projects
Andrea Harvey
The Vegan Hairdresser So tell us about your vegan journey? Like many , I started out going vegetarian before going vegan. I just didn’t know about the dairy industry and it didn’t occur to me that it was as bad, if not worse, than the meat industry. I saw something on Facebook and stated researching and that was that. After being vegetarian for 13 years I took the next step. I have been vegan for around 4 years. I am now passionate about it and love the fact that Veganism is getting out to more people . Although the junk food options available now don’t help the waistline!! 112 I Plant Powered Planet
How has being vegan more passionate and knew I would find it extremely difimpacted on your ficult to go back to a salon career? Being in hairdressing, it was impossible to work and not use products that weren’t cruelty free or Vegan. The big 5 companies that most salons and Academies used just didn’t care about those things. When I went vegan, I became more and more frustrated and disillusioned with this so I decided to open my own 100% vegan salon. At the same time I was managing a hair academy in Shoreditch and the owner wanted to go 100% cruelty free - the first Academy in Europe to take this step. Leading this change , I grew
that didn’t work with my ethos.
I now get contacted by hairdressers who want to introduce vegan options into their salon but are unsure of what steps they can take, so I started a consultancy to help them. Thankfully, there are more vegan friendly salons popping up over the country and manufacturers are starting to change. Although China still being a big moneymaker for them, it will be sometime before we can go to every salon and use products that are vegan and cruelty free.
What differences have you made within your career in connection with being vegan? My own salon grew fast within the 2 years it had been open and then Covid hit! I had been working with an eco salon in Rayleigh, Essex for a while heading up their training - when the pandemic took hold and with such uncertain times for businesses ahead of us, we decided to join forces and I moved Earth Salon to Salon Messina’s premises . Salon Messina and Earth Salon now are leading the way in sustainable Salons. We have just been awarded accreditation for being a sustainable salon…. only one of 24 Salons have got this award in the UK- and we are attracting a new vegan fan base ! We are launching a training academy soon and this will include courses to help businesses become more sustainable and to understand the impact that has on it.
As The Vegan Hairdresser, I get asked to do features in the press and other hairdressing related projects and give advice, such as the National Hairdressing Federation Magazine.
set out on the vegan life! You are heading in the right direction and are on the right road! This advice came at the right time for me, from a friend. I used to get really upset if I made a mistake and really get annoyed with myself that I messed upeven though I was learning!
What advice would you give to someone wants to make changes within their industry / What’s your favourite career to be more vegan restaurant? vegan friendly? Follow your heart! I believe Covid has made people think about making the ethical choice, not just food, but a whole lifestyle. Research, research, research! If you are going to go vegan friendly, make sure you get it right! Us vegans will check! If you get it wrong it can do more harm to your business than good! And feel free to contact me!
Well ,not really close, but Falafel Land on the Greek island of Santorini . Just amazing if you ever get a chance to visit.
If you could invite 1 person round for a vegan dinner and chat who would it be and why? That’s a difficult one! Probably Buddha! His life was not written and recorded so it would be amazing to ask him and meditate with him!
What’s the best bit advice someone gave to you in connection Failing with being vegan?
Phoenix.
Don’t beat your self up if you slip up when you first
that,
Joaquin
www.salonmessina.com
Plant Powered Planet I 113
Adam
The Vegan Policeman
So tell us about your vegan journey? I was vegetarian for around 12 years and thought I was doing right by animals, however it wasn’t until I started looking into the dairy and egg industry did I realise the daily atrocities I was still contributing towards. I’ve now been vegan close to 4 years. My father is Italian and a chef! So it was a bit of a shock to him when I went vegan, but he is very supportive, in that he tries to make new dishes for me, and has even put more vegan options on his restaurant menu.
How has being vegan impacted your career? I don’t think it has impacted my career, although it may 114 I Plant Powered Planet
have impacted on those around me to a degree. A number of my colleagues have made positive changes towards veganism after discussions with me. The workplace can be difficult and frustrating being surrounded by predominantly non-vegans, however I try to remember it’s not about me, and just try to encourage veganism as best as I can, in hope that something will resonate.
What differences have you made within your career in connection with being vegan? Other than purchasing vegan boots and belt?! A large part of Policing is protecting the most vulnerable in society. There are amazing cops
out there risking their lives on a daily basis, and dealing with more trauma than most will ever experience. It therefore saddens me that this compassion and care is seldom extended to the many animals exploited for human gain. These animals are undoubtedly the epitome of vulnerable.
What advice would you give to someone wants to make changes within their industry / career to be more vegan friendly? Considerations such as ensuring any uniform provided being vegan, or there’s a vegan alternative. The same with any catering considerations.
What’s a typical day like for you? Due to the nature of my job, I cannot go into details! I currently work on CID - so I deal with serious and complex investigations. It’s a highly demanding role mentally and emotionally.
What’s your favourite vegan restaurant?
What’s the best bit of advice someone gave to you in connection with being vegan? At the point of me and my partner going vegan, I don’t think I’d ever met anyone who was vegan! I’d like to think that had I met someone who was vegan and they highlighted the same issues I now try to raise amongst family, friends and colleagues that I would have made the connection and transition quicker. Some of the speeches I’ve seen online from the likes of Joaquin Phoenix and Earthling Ed are poignant and empowering. Once you’ve seen and heard certain things, there is no going back.
Have you ever attended a vegan march or demo – as a police person or a demonstrator? I have not. Most of my advocacy/activism is done directly with my friends, family, colleagues and via social media…with varying degrees of success!
Do you know of other vegans in the police? I’m sure there probably are a small handful but I’ve not come across any yet! One of my colleagues tried it for a few months but is now veggie, whilst another is following a vegan diet but still buying leather etc.
Temple of Seitan in London! I’d also like to give a shout out to Beer Riff Brewing Co in my home town of Swansea. They make a mean vegan pizza and have 15 taps of the freshest beer, all of which are usually vegan!
If you could invite 1 person round for a vegan dinner and chat who would it be and why? I was a big Arnold Schwarzenegger fan growing up, and I’ve noticed over the past few years he has been promoting less meat and dairy consumption. I would like to sit him down and for him to hear me out, in hope that I could get him to go vegan! Having someone with his global stature going vegan would be a big step in influencing others to follow suit.
Plant Powered Planet I 115
Rachel Brownstein Actor, Writer & YouTuber
So tell us about your vegan journey? My transition was a quick one! In editing terms, it was a jump cut; all to nothing in a couple of months. I loved animal products, meat especially, but I became more and more aware of the realities of animal agriculture, and the abuse and exploitation involved. A friend became vegan and started posting information on social media, and of course; the more you see, the more you get shown. I started feeling guilty after eating meat and knew I had to make some choices. I initially considered vegetarianism, but then watched a 116 I Plant Powered Planet
video of male chicks being fed into a shredder, and knew it wasn’t enough. I’ve always been experimental in the kitchen, and have collected lots of spices and random ingredients, so making the change wasn’t as tricky as I’d initially feared. It does take some extra thought at first, but it’s really woken up my palate and made me curious about food again.
pandemic; I needed the distraction and creative outlet. Whenever I’d post pictures of my creations, friends would ask me why I didn’t have a YouTube channel. I then asked myself; “Why don’t I have a YouTube channel?!” It seemed like such a no-brainer; film what I was doing and stick it on the internet to help other people explore the possibilities of plant-based food.
How has being vegan I’m an actor, so I have edimpacted on your iting software, but I’d barecareer? It’s opened up a whole new career path for me! I started spending a lot of time in the kitchen during the
ly scratched the surface, so found myself faced with the task of teaching myself how to create engaging videos (and how to cut 4 hours of content into 15
minutes!). The editing side of things has actually become very enjoyable as it ticks a lot of my boxes; creativity, problem solving, and challenging.
How do you invent these brilliant vegan creations? It really varies; sometimes I have an ingredient that I’d like to explore (eg sweet potato), or the idea of a finished dish pops into my head and I’ll reverse engineer it to figure out how to achieve it. For example; I knew I wanted to make some ribs, and started looking online for ideas of how to mimic the bones. I saw ideas from
lollipop sticks to jícama, but none felt quite right. I then wondered if I could use bamboo garden stakes but didn’t know if they were food safe. That led to “Cedar! That’s used in barbecues!” and off I went on a hunt for BBQ accessories. I found some thin planks that are meant to be used under a piece of meat to give smoky flavours. I dug out my Dremel and got to work carving the bones. I have to say; I am very proud of them. I was shocked by how well they came out! Often, something will go wrong or I get a completely different result to what
I’d planned, and this then feeds lots of other ideas. I keep a Google Keep note pinned to my phone’s home screen for jotting down those 2am “Oooooo, how could I make that happen?”
What’s the best bit advice someone gave to you in connection with being vegan? I don’t know if I ever got any about veganism as a whole, other than making sure I took supplements. I’m quite self-reliant so I just dived in headfirst. In terms of cooking, Grace (the Admin of a Facebook group called Mangled Brains and Plant Powered Planet I 117
Droopy Genitalia) has given me lots of tips for making WtF (Wash the Flour) seitan that have been invaluable. The best advice I could give would be to buy/ loan some vegan cookbooks, ideally written by someone who lives in the same country as you. I’ve bought several American ones, and many of the ingredients aren’t available in the UK, which can lead to feeling overwhelmed/ disheartened. YouTube is also a fantastic resource; so many different creators are sharing knowledge gained by experience, and that can take away some uncertainty and spark some ideas. Also, I would like to stress that it’s OK to slip up and eat something non-vegan, nobody is perfect! Labelling yourself “VEGAN” can put
real pressure on yourself, which leads to feelings of failure. I know a few people who have tried and then felt terribly about themselves after eating a chicken burger after a night out and then gave up totally on trying again. Just go at your own pace, making small changes/substitutions here and there.
What’s a typical day like for you? I have a part time job in a call centre Monday to Wednesday, and I often bid farewell to the working week with a few pints in my local pub on a Wednesday evening. Then I start the editing process on Thursdays (videos are published every Tuesday). It can take anywhere from three to thirty hours to cut, polish, and
create all of the marketing materials. I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which effects my joints and energy levels, so I have to take things dayby-day in terms of filming content; I try and keep a few videos “in the can” in case of a flare up. I tend to film over the weekend, and again, this can take a couple of hours, or in the case of the ribs video; nine hours!
What’s your favourite vegan restaurant? I went to Lisbon, Portugal for my 40th birthday a couple of years ago, and fell in love with The Green Affair. I stumbled on it completely by chance, and was immediately blown away with the amount of choice and quality of food.
It’s so rare to see beautifully-plated vegan dishes in restaurants; so often it’s piles of casserole or risotto. The bill was also a delight; 40€ for three people including wine. The pandemic has stopped me finding new places to try where I live in Leeds, England, so I am very much looking forward to getting out and about in the coming months, and discovering some new favourites.
If you could invite 1 person round for a vegan dinner and chat who would it be and why? It would have to be Andi Oliver. She’s a British chef, and tv/radio presenter. She has a vast knowledge of food, and always comes across as a complete blast to spend time with; full of laughter, and supportive/ constructive.
Vegan Challenges Joshua Allerton run a vegan confectionary store in Digbeth, Birmingham. He started the shop to aide his journey to ve ganism whilst helping others do the same. He is always on the hunt for independent vegan confectioners to supply sweets, chocolate, popcorn and more snacks to his store. Alongside running the shop, Joshua works with independent businesses to improve their marketing whilst writing on his personal development blog. For fun, he obsesses over one video games, believe he’s going to be the next big thing, failing epically, before finding another video game to repeat the cycle is a qualified nutritional therapist.
I’m turning vegan. No more meat or dairy is entering my home and I always seek the vegan option when dining out (no matter how poor it is). But there’s a whole lot more I need to do and many more challenges I need to face. I turned to my lovely Twitter followers to prepare me by asking the simple question:
“Hardest vegan?”
part
of
turning
With over 150 responses, and explosive arguments, I’ve collated the most mentioned challenges into this article. Not everyone will experience all these challenges on their journey. If you’re curious or just starting your journey, may these challenges prepare you and make you feel a little bit less alone.
Dining out I hear the laughs of veteran vegans as I write this…
“
You’re going to find very quickly that dining out as a vegan is difficult. Do you like “veggie burgers”? What about “meatless salads”? Admittedly, hospitality is getting better at providing more vegan options, but research is paramount before visiting anywhere. There have been a few times where I’ve been forced to eat veggie due to lack of options. To overcome: find Facebook groups for your local area. Vegans are passionate eaters. We don’t punish our tastebuds, so, when a local restaurant (especially a vegan-only venue) does an amazing job, we shout and scream about it. Dedicated vegan groups for local areas are establishing on Facebook for this purpose. Find them, use them, and enjoy eating out! There are also apps and websites dedicated to the curation of such vegan establishments. VeganFriendly and Happy Cow are two I recommend. Others exist and more will come. Additionally, I saw this challenge as a positive. To contribute to the community, it became my vegan duty to find all the vegan-friendly restaurants in my local area and try them. Not all at once, mind you. Plant Powered Planet I 121
Hiding your imperfections “You’re a vegan now. You cannot own anything that isn’t.” You check every single item of clothing. As your throwout pile increases, you worry how you’re going to afford a whole new wardrobe – especially a vegan wardrobe. What about if you can’t afford a new wardrobe? What about if you accidently wear those trainers out have leather uppers? People will call you a fraud and you can no longer declare your veganism to the world. Chill. To overcome, you need to remember this one statement: There is no such thing as a perfect vegan. The Vegan’s Society definition explicitly declares that we must seek to exclude exploitation of animals “as far as is possible and practicable”. There’s a difference between being lazy and being unable to prevent abuse. If you can’t afford to replace your leather shoes with vegan-friendly alternatives, don’t. If you’re in desperate need of a new shirt for work and you can only afford Primark, purchase. It is not possible and practicable for you to walk to work with no shoes and no shirt (you’re not LMFAO).
122 I Plant Powered Planet
Plus, throwing out good clothes just because they’re not vegan will cause more damage to the environment than saving them. Instead of throwing out, make sure your next purchase is vegan – where possible and practicable.
Missing cakes (and other sweet treats) Cakes and other confections are an obvious no-go for vegans. Traditional recipes call for eggs, butter, and milk. Whilst there have been some adaptions over time, there’s always the creepy milk powder ingredient waiting to surprise you every time you think you’re close to finding a vegan-friendly cake. Sugar is the only ingredient humans naturally crave from birth. To live in a world without sugar is bold and brave, but have you seen that slice of cake in the bakery’s window? To overcome: Shop online and at your local independent specialist Luckily, vegan confectionary is booming. Your supermarket may be slowly catching up, but that’s just a fraction as to what’s available. Online stores like VeganKind, Vegan Store, and Alleway’s Confectionary offer a wide range of vegan sweets and treats. Check them out. During Lockdown, home baking has exploded and vegans are not shy. Check out your local vegan groups or neighbourhood groups for anyone selling their bakes. Just remember to find a kitchen that’s registered with the local authority.
Becoming #1 enemy of your entire family Family and friends can be difficult with your decision to turn vegan. We’ve talked about how to deal with those annoying questions (“where do you get your protein from?”), but there’s one element we need to cover: Your frustration when they don’t join you. You’ve seen the battery in the chicken farms, the grinding of piglets, and the forced impregnation of cows. They haven’t. You may be tempted to sit them down and host a cinema night highlighting the trauma you’ve witnessed. When
124 I Plant Powered Planet
they refuse, you become confused and angry. “Why don’t they see what I do?” Breathe. To overcome: Give them time.
guns. Where it turns to all out abuse, remove yourself from the relationship. No friend or family member is worth keeping when it turns sour.
Your newfound identity as a vegan is challenging for them too. They see the changes you’re making every day and you share it when they’re with you. Going out for a simple dinner date is now a pain. What was simple is now difficult (as you surely know).
For friends who simply don’t understand, accept you’re not going to convert them. Instead, offer to cook for them one night and try out new foods. Laugh about it on the way. “Did they really think they could pass this off as meat?” “What were they trying to achieve with this?”
They may attack you and convince you that you’re wrong. It’s the easier choice. You have remain patience and stick to your
There are terrible vegan foods out there, just as there is non-vegan. Find humour in your journey and they will become an ally.
Feeling guilt about not doing it sooner Out of all the replies, this one threw me. This self-hatred and disappointment defeats the triumph of making the decision in the first place. Who cares if you’re 72 and only just turning vegan? That’s one more day than other people. That’s one more life saved. To overcome: Use a vegan calculator We don’t have time travel yet (do we?), so we can’t go back and decide to be vegan from birth. But, we can measure the impact our personal vegan journey has. The Vegan Calculator calculates the gallons of water, lbs of grains, square foot of forest, lbs of CO2, and animal lives saved for each day we’ve been vegan. If you’re feeling down one day, use the calculator to witness the impact you’re making already! These were the common challenges faced by vegans when starting their journey. As I progress to a more ethical and vegan lifestyle, I will face these challenges head on and discover hurdles of my own. This tweet reminded me that we’re not alone on this journey. The actions I’m taking may be individual, but it is as a collective we can make a bigger impact.
Plant Powered Planet I 125
The Charity supporting older vegetarians & vegans
About VfL Vegetarian for Life (VfL) is an advocacy and educational charity, which strives to be the leading authority on diet and healthy living advice for older vegans and vegetarians. Now in its thirteenth year, the charity has enjoyed significant success and achieved wide recognition. I would particularly like to highlight the outstanding efforts of its staff to support older vegans and vegetarians during the COVID-19 pandemic – a group which is so often overlooked.
126 I Plant Powered Planet
VfL developed a comprehensive programme of online and postal outreach, targeting age-friendly networks, sheltered housing schemes for older people, carers’ organisations, dementia support groups, lunch clubs, older people’s friendship groups, stroke survivors’ groups, Women’s Institutes, care homes, food banks, healthy-living networks, LGBT groups for older adults, relevant Facebook groups, digital hospital radio, social prescribers, and more. The chefs were joined virtually by almost 3,000 attendees across 45 organisations, including lunch clubs, care home caterers, carers groups, Women’s Institutes, Age UK franchises and other older people’s groups and networks throughout the UK – offering menu support where required. Feedback on this new online format was overwhelmingly positive:
“Great to be working in partnership with VfL to deliver online and virtual sessions to carers to take a break, get away from the daily routine and come together during lockdown. The session really helped to engage with carers, and bringing the group together online has sparked new ideas and suggestion from carers around future face-to-face and virtual breaks.” “…a fantastic session to VOCAL’s carers who all learned something new from a chopping skill, about spices, alternatives for the dish and difference between male and female peppers!” – VOCAL, Zoom cookery demonstration
“Our members really enjoyed your session; thank you so much for taking the time to do this. We found that the additional ingredients put a new spin on a familiar recipe and taste tests have been positive from members and family. You presented so well and your set-up for presenting on Zoom worked really well.” – Leith Women’s Institute, Zoom cookery demonstration
“I was really taken with the work that [your Roving Chef] put into our session at AbilityNet. [She was] so friendly and very helpful. She was accommodating with a date/time and made an amazing curry. Really impressed and will recommend to others.’ – AbilityNet, Facebook demonstration
Plant Powered Planet I 127
that is ready-made meals for home delivery, or provisions in care settings. Conditions such as dementia can be an additional barrier to maintaining control over our diets and our identity and beliefs. VfL hears time and time again from older vegans and vegetarians and their families who have been given food that goes against their fundamental dietary beliefs, particularly in social care settings. The number of UK vegans and vegetarians continues to soar, with a staggering 25% of all Brits predicted to be vegetarian by 2025 , and already an estimated 14% of vegetarian and vegans in Great Britain are aged 65 or older . That’s why Vegetarian for Life (VfL), a charity that supports older vegans and vegetarians will be launching a free self-advocacy pack to mark National Older Vegans and Vegetarians Day this October. The pack will help to explain the laws protecting those with special dietary needs; sources of support if your rights aren’t being recognised; and some simple yet critical actions you can take today to protect your future dignity and rights. These include making a statement of your wishes and care preferences, which future
128 I Plant Powered Planet
carers should honour. Amanda Woodvine, CEO of VfL, explains why the time is right for the upcoming self-advocacy pack launch: “Many people assume that veganism and vegetarianism are new concepts – something for younger generations – but that simply isn’t true. VfL exists solely to support older vegans and vegetarians, and increasing numbers find that maintaining their dietary and lifestyle beliefs is not always a straightforward matter. Although philosophical beliefs, such as veganism, are protected under multiple laws in the UK, older vegans and vegetarians often find themselves in situations that go against their basic human rights when it comes to food. “In later life, many of us rely on others for food – whether
“This can be through lack of understanding of what being vegan or vegetarian really means; lack of training of catering teams and care staff; or simply confusion over how to interpret the Mental Capacity Act. So, that’s why we’re launching our self-advocacy pack – a one-stop shop containing resources, guidance and tips to ensure that you get the food that you are legally, and ethically, entitled to.” Email: info@vegetarianforlife.org.uk
or contact VfL on 0161 257 0887 to request your free self-advocacy pack and VfL will post or email it as soon as it is launched.
“
Although philosophical beliefs, such as veganism, are protected under multiple laws in the UK, older vegans and vegetarians often find themselves in situations that go against their basic human rights when it comes to food.
”
Plant Powered Planet I 129
What’s the story Stem & Glory? By Louise Palmer-Masterson Louise Palmer-Masterton is founder of multiple award-winning restaurants Stem & Glory; hip and trendy but accessible plant-based restaurants, serving delicious gourmet vegan food from locally sourced ingredients, 100% made on site. Stem & Glory also offers click-and-collect and local delivery in London and Cambridge. www.stemandglory.uk
I’d been rolling the idea of a vegan restaurant around in my head for a very long time. I ran a multisite leisure business for more 10 years prior to Stem & Glory and had been experimenting with a vegan cafe within that business since we started. Finally, the opportunity presented to open a fully-fledged cafe/restaurant. We did a very successful rewards based Crowdfund on crowdfunder.co.uk raising £97k, and the first place was opened in Cambridge. We were greeted with massive support from the community here and it was very clear we were on to something.
130 I Plant Powered Planet
We launched another, this time equity based, crowdfund on crowdcube.com in March 2018 to raise funds for a site in London. It was even more wildy successful than the last one, reaching our £350k target in less than 5 hours of going live, and closing on £610k funded. The London Flagship opened in January 2019. By January 2020 it was absolutely flying.
Looking to the future As shocking as the lockdown was for hospitality businesses, we suddenly found ourselves with time to get creative. We were so busy last year, many projects were planned, but we were too short on time to get them in motion. So, through lockdown we upgraded all our tech systems, did a complete rebrand with the amazing Afroditi Krassa, which turned out absolutely fab. We developed new concepts for ready meals and other products, along with upgrading all our marketing collateral. We had viewed a new site for Cambridge just before lockdown (we’ve outgrown our existing site and wanted to build the London model in Cambridge), the lockdown created the perfect environment for a good deal from the landlords on the site, so we are now close to exchanging on that
Plant Powered Planet I 131
and hope to be open later this year. In January we had also agreed terms on a second super exciting City site which was due to open at the end of this year, obviously paused for now, but hopefully open April 2021. We have developed a new omnichannel business model which we will roll out from the new Cambridge site and beyond which spans in-store dining, delivery, click & collect, and our ready meals and product range. Afroditi Krassa is also designing the new restaurant, so all in all we are very upbeat and positive about the future, and intend to fully resume our mission to get to 5 sites by 2023. What are the worst mistakes restaurants make when catering for vegans? Serving the vegetarian option minus the dairy, without adding anything for flavour! Historically restaurants viewed vegan food as all about ‘lack’ and seemed to think vegans just want to eat salad (literally lettuce, tomato and cucumber!) and have no desire for a gourmet culinary experience. Stuffed vegetables too are an old school vegetarian/ vegan staple which are still over used and part of the reason I started a vegan restaurant (I never want to see a stuffed pepper again)!
132 I Plant Powered Planet
Fortunately, things are much better now, and I greatly appreciate that restaurants and chefs are making much more effort to provide vegan menus. BUT I still think that unless you are in a vegan restaurant where the chefs are working with getting rich depth of flavour from vegetables 100% of the time, many restaurant vegan dishes are about providing vegan options, and don’t have that wow factor. Hopefully, this is now also changing, but obviously for me it’s about vegan restaurants rather than vegan options in non-vegan restaurants. I will always seek out a vegan place as a preference, and my hope is that vegans everywhere will support their local vegan businesses who are doing a brilliant job and are almost exclusively small independents without financial backing - they need your support now more than ever.
Veganism Honestly, there are many, many reasons to be vegan now, but for me it’s about the animals and always was. The moment in my teens when I was introduced to the idea of compassionate eating for the first time was the most significant ‘aha’ moment of my life. I stopped eating meat on the spot, and almost 40 years later I have not wavered at all in that view. It literally changed my life forever. Plant Powered Planet I 133
The longer I am vegan, the more my love for the other species on the planet grows. I am extremely sensitive to seeing or even thinking about the abuse of animals on any level. I do not view my life as more important than the other beings on the planet. I find roadkill deeply upsetting. The gentle nature of animals is extremely humbling to me. I think in years to come the depth of sentience of animals will be more widely understood,
134 I Plant Powered Planet
and my hope is that more people will have that realisation that I did and literally no longer be able to eat animals. It’s absolutely clear that we do not need to eat animals anymore, so the justifications for continuing with this will start to be increasingly challenged in the coming years (in my view). I think we can all learn from spending time with animals, I have dogs in my family (some vegans may have a
view on that) and I truly love them. Their gentle loving nature is an example to all of us as to how we should behave.
Considering veganism? There are two ways to do this - the gradual shift and the life changing moment! The gradual shift - start to increase the number of days in the week that you
eat vegan, gradually start weaning yourself off over time. Get some vegan cook books and start cooking. Fall in love with vegetables. If you are not into cooking there is such a huge range of vegan produce in the supermarkets these days, everything is clearly labelled too. Give yourself a month to adjust. A bit like quitting smoking, don’t worry if you fall off the wagon. Get back on it again, and don’t give up giving up. Life changing moment - go and spend some time with animals and really deeply consider why it’s ok to love
a dog, but eat a cow or pig. Examine your justifications for eating animals for your own taste pleasure when you really don’t need to and stop making excuses. Change for good.
‘Dirty’ Vegan Food I think, of course, there is a place for dirty vegan, but my personal path with veganism is also paralleled by healthy eating and good nutrition. This is also the case at Stem & Glory; we aim to offer really tasty, and healthy vegan food, made just from vegetables. I think in the next 5-10 years this
will become a dominant conversation as of course just because it’s vegan doesn’t mean it’s healthy. The first vegan I ever met was overweight and living on a diet of potato chips. So yes, whilst your double stacked deep fried seitan burger with lashings of mayo, huge bun and mac’n’cheese and dirty fries on the side might taste delicious, it should probably be an occasional treat and not a staple. At Stem & Glory, we aim to offer really tasty, and healthy vegan food, made just from vegetables. We are creating healthier twists
Plant Powered Planet I 135
on classic dishes too. We also believe that calorie awareness will also become increasingly important. If people knew how many calories were in their dirty burger they might think twice. I also think this might make dirty vegan become more healthy but still tasty, as operators also become aware of the calorie content of their food and find ways to make it healthier. Don’t be fooled into thinking that just eating plant-based food without attention to nutrition and calories will lead to better health. At Stem & Glory, we believe that gut-friendly food, low in refined carbs, is the way to go. We focus on natural vegetables accompanied by nutrient dense components such as nuts and seeds. There is a big focus on layering umami flavours and flavour combining to get that explosion of deliciousness
136 I Plant Powered Planet
which overrides any need to eat huge portions to feel satisfied. Fermented and pickled foods too are really good for your microbiome and overall health. In terms of the future of food, we believe this is where it lies. Fermented foods can also play a huge part in strengthening the immune system, they are naturally probiotic, improving your digestive system and natural gut flora, which support all bodily functions. In my view, moving away from vegan junk and meat replacements, towards natural unprocessed food is the right way to achieve optimum health and a healthy weight. For more information, visit:
www.seedrs.com/ stemglory www.stemandglory.uk
Plant Powered Planet I 137
