Viva!Life Issue 66 | Winter 2017

life Published by Viva! the vegan campaigning group

Issue 66 Winter 2017

Meet Benjamin Zephaniah The music-making poet

The Man Behind Cowspiracy Sailesh Rao and the human metamorphosis

Viva!

Mamas

Our glowing mums and babies

Scary Dairy Oh yes it is‌ Viva!’s an Video V e o s Hope g UK wide

Hogwood Horror Farm Our campaign continues

Delicious Winter-Warming Recipes

This winter, get cosy and spend some quality time with these fantastic Sheese avours!

Bute Island Foods | 01700 505357 | www.buteisland.com Gluten-Free ● Cholesterol-Free ● Free from Palm oil & Hydrogenated fats ● Ingredients sourced as non-GMO

WHO WE ARE Viva!’s fight is a fight for life – for animals and ourselves. Through effective campaigning, we take the brutal reality of intensive farming to the people who can effect the most change: consumers. Our wideranging campaigns promote veganism as the best way to save animals from suffering, protect the environment, improve health and help those in developing countries.

We have cleared most shelves of so-called ‘exotic meats’; our campaign against the factory farming of pigs, turkeys and ducks saw deaths dive; we are closer to a foie-gras free Britain and meat and dairy consumption are down in the UK thanks to Viva! and you. Viva! is a registered charity (1037486).

Contents 8 Benjamin Zephaniah 14 Sailesh Rao 16 Viva! Mamas 18 Bring Hope to Millions 19 Scary Dairy 22 Vegan for 30 Days 24 Merchandise 30 Viva!’s Van Man Woman 33 Mythter Wardle 36 Lifestyle 46 Poland’s Animal Rescues

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And his new music

Cowspiracy exexutive producer talks to Juliet

Healthy vegan mums and babies

The UK’s first vegan cinema ad

Oh yes it is!

10Hogwood Horror Farm The campaign continues

Go on – we’ll help you

Plus our wine guide

Our video van tours UK

Demolishes dairy ‘myths’

Viva!Health is a section of Viva! that promotes the health benefits of a vegan diet. The diseases that kill many of us prematurely can mostly be prevented by consuming a plant-based diet – Viva!Health explains why. We provide accurate information about healthy eating to the public, health professionals, schools and food manufacturers.

We campaign on important issues including the harmful effects of dairy foods, heart health, how to help combat obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis and breast cancer and the dangers of eating dairy, eggs, fish and meat.

Good vegan living

Viva! Poland ends suffering

5 Lifelines. 13 Veganista. 40 John Robb.

43 Life Science. 48 Book Reviews. 53 Classified

39Mood Food

Eating to feel better

27 Cracking Cookery

Some delicious Winter warmers

How to get this magazine Join Viva! to get your copy of Viva!life magazine three times a year for only £15 (£12 unwaged). You’ll also receive a supporters’ card – giving you discounts at hundreds of shops and on services and holidays (see myvegantown.org.uk/discounts) – plus a free car sticker. Call 0117 944 1000 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm) or join online at viva.org.uk/join.

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VIVA!LIFE MAGAZINE

Welcom e

Viva! Founder & International Director Juliet Gellatley

I can’t hide my excitement that Viva!’s first vegan cinema ad (and the world’s first, too) will be screened all over Britain during the Christmas holiday season, reaching at least two million people. We will increase our coverage by trading on this unique achievement with local and regional newspaper coverage in each of the chosen areas – plus numerous radio interviews. The star of our ad and our recent extraordinary outreach is, of course, Hope and her family. I said they would become our ambassadors and so they have and far more successfully than I could have hoped. I truly get the feeling that veganism is coming of age!

Of course, we have managed this magnificent achievement only because of our supporters’ great response to our crowd-funding appeal and the generosity of a donor who matched every pound donated, one for one. With increasing regularity, top personalities are adopting a vegan lifestyle for all the right reasons and there is the sense of a movement whose time is rapidly approaching. I’ve been working on these issues for over 30 years and have seen the incremental changes that are now accelerating away.

We have one of the best and most jam-packed issues of Viva!life ever for you this time. Read of the extraordinary achievements of our talented patron Benjamin Zephaniah on page eight.

And you’ll be inspired by the magnificent reaction of groups and people all over the UK to our Hogwood Horror farm campaign (page 10).

I found interviewing Sailesh Rao, executive producer of the film Cowspiracy and a man with a plan to save the world, both compelling and encouraging and I think you will too (page 14).

We have some sound, practical advice for pregnant vegan women and mums with babies – and we’ve used our own Viva! mamas as brilliantly healthy mother and baby examples (page 16).

Our Scary Dairy campaign went off with a bang and extraordinarily widespread broadcast coverage by over 50 radio stations (page 19). Similarly successful was our seven-city tour with a giant video screen, this time showing footage of Hope and some of those pigs still suffering in factory farms.

This whole campaign has inspired our merchandise department also and on pages 36-37 you’ll find a range of gorgeous, Hope-related piggy products that are perfectly timed for Christmas.

I can’t list all the treats in store for you but every page provides a great read, is packed with information and brings you up to date with much of the work we’ve recently been doing. And the future? With Viva!life you’ll find a survey – the biggest-ever of its kind. It will help guide our future so please fill it in and return it as soon as you can.

Yours for the animals

Campaigns & Outreach Claire Palmer, Siobhan Dolan, Sam Ashman, Laura-Lisa Hellwig, Kris Townsend, Liam Nolan Office Manager & Supporters’ Liaison Laura Turner, Nick Hallows, Beata Rzepecka-Wilk, Kristiana Shirley Viva!Health Campaigners Veronika Powell, Dr Justine Butler Merchandise, Festivals & Events Katrina Gazley, Sophie Delarney, Rhiannon Bloomfield Food & Cookery Jane Easton, Maryanne Hall Design Ethical Graphic Design Co Web Laura Canfield, Ed Phillis, Ana Hassel, Johnathan Skinner Database Manager Jeremy Ludlow Editorial enquiries 0117 970 4633

Membership enquiries 0117 944 1000 info@viva.org.uk

General enquiries Contact Viva! on 0117 944 1000 (Mon-Fri 9-6).

Email info@viva.org.uk Write to Viva! at 8 York Court, Wilder Street, Bristol BS2 8QH

vegan is a staTe of kind Kind to you, animals and the planet life

Campaigns & Deputy Director Justin Kerswell

Advertising enquiries 0117 944 1000

Juliet Gellatley Founder & Director Juliet@viva.org.uk facebook.com/juliet.gellatley

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Editor Tony Wardle

Online viva.org.uk vivahealth.org.uk veganrecipeclub.org.uk viva.vegans.international. voice.for.animals vivacampaigns vivacharity Viva!, 8 York Court, Wilder Street, Bristol BS2 8QH

lifelines ‘Can we join you?’

Pizza Hut are to join the string of other pizza places that use vegan cheese – Zizzi, Pizza Express, Ask Italian and MOD. Cautiously, they are trialling it in five outlets from the end of October. McDonalds are also testing the water with the McVegan vegan burger. Now, there’s cautious and there’s utterly, overwhelming trepidation. It will be trialled in one town – in Finland! On the other hand, US supermarket giants Walmart (also own Asda in the UK) are leaping in head first. It surveyed its customers and found that 36 per cent buy plant-based meats, 26 per cent have reduced their meat consumption and 58 per cent prefer plant milks to dairy. They have sent out an urgent call for producers to rapidly increase their output of vegan products to help them meet demand.

FROM THE

Speedy conversion Four times Formula One world champion racing driver, Lewis Hamilton has announced that he’s gone vegan. He cut red meat out of his diet two years ago, then fish and then went vegan in September. He told the BBC: “the cruelty is horrible… I don’t want to support that and I want to live a healthier life.”

Depending on which paper you read, it seems that Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn (a vegetarian), is either moving towards being vegan or has increased the amount of vegan food he eats. But there’s no doubt the show stopper is the Guardian – writing an editorial putting its weight behind veganism. Considering it has spent years ignoring Viva! and repeatedly publishing articles about ‘Why I gave up being veggie’, this is an achievement on a par with splitting the atom.

Text VLPR00 £5 to 70070 to donate to help Viva! save animals

Vegan Campout held in July was an extraordinary success. Sponsored by Viva!, it attracted all ages and included talks from headline speakers, live music, caterers and lots of fun. A special appearance was made by Patrik Baboumian, Germany’s strongest man. Here, Juliet Gellatley gets a rousing reception after her talk, with plenty of Hope cut outs to remind everyone of how important our work is

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lifelines VIVA!’S SHORTS n M&S are to offer three vegetarian Christmas main courses and one vegan. They are baked ricotta stacks with mushroom, leeks and kale; seasonal squash bake; and butternut squash and sweet potato rosti. The vegan dish is butternut and beetroot filo parcels. n The carcinogenic herbicide Glyphosate has been found in 53 per cent of cereals and legumes in French supermarkets. As the French were keener to ban the chemical than us Brits, it’s highly likely that we face the same problem. n The far-eastern themed chain restaurant Wagamama has gone to town with its new vegan menu. It now offers a string of dishes which include kare burosu ramen; shichimi coated silken tofu with chilli and fresh coriander; spicy yasai samla curry; yasai steamed gyoza and itame rice noodle curry – plus many more (wagamama.com/vegan). n If you fancy something a bit more pub-like then Wetherspoons have also introduced a much bigger vegetarian and vegan menu (jdwetherspoon.com). n And Flora have joined the rush with their fiveday lunch box plan for kids (flora.com/article/detail/1236945/five-day-veganlunchbox-plan)

Heard that before?

Two Sisters Food Group supplies a third of all British poultry products and it was caught bang to rights by ITV and the Guardian. They filmed shocking hygiene breaches at one of the 12 plants owned by the group, who process six million chickens every week.

They filmed chicken portions being rejected and returned from supermarket distribution centres only to be repackaged and sent out to other supermarkets; slaughter dates being changed to give an artificially longer life to meat; carcasses dropped on the floor being returned to the production line; and products with different slaughter dates being mixed together and being labelled with the most recent date.

M&S, Lidl and Aldi immediately cancelled their orders and removed this chicken meat from their shelves. Tesco resisted doing any of these things but they did send in ‘inspectors’ who found there was no current evidence of breach of safety standards. This is almost an exact repeat of what happened with our Hogwood Farm exposé.

Eventually, they did temporarily suspend supplies from 2 Sisters but so reluctantly and probably only because their opposition had done the same.

n Prue Leith, who replaced St Mary on Bakeoff and is the Queen Mother of catering, has also joined the throng, offering an all vegan cookery course at her famous cookery school (leiths.com). n Goatober is a campaign promoting the use of dairy Billy goat in British restaurants during the month of October – after all, it is a ‘heritage’ food, whatever that means. Read Viva!’s impassioned blog about Goatober by Veronika Powell (viva.org.uk/goatober).

n Lamb sales have been falling for the last 15 years, according to Defra and in some areas quite dramatically. In the north-east and borders, sales have dropped by 25 per cent.

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FMVS and her FMCG Vegan athlete, health and fitness author of Gone in 60 Minutes, Lisa Gawthorne, has really been flying the flag for veganism this year. She represented her age group on Team GB for Duathlon (run-bike-run) in both the European and then the World Championships at Penticton, British Columbia, being the third Brit home, which will take her to Denmark next year. “The wildlife was beyond crazy, with deer, bears, bald eagles and rattlesnakes – not something you see back in Liverpool.”

Lisa is helping to push the vegan agenda forward in other ways – with her business Bravura Foods specialising in FMCG – importing unique food products from overseas. FMCG? Fast-moving consumer goods.

FMVS? Fast-moving vegan star! (bravurafoods.com).

Dietician disowned ‘Vegan diets are dangerous’, claimed Catherine Collins in 2016, describing herself as a representative of the British Association of Dieticians (BAD). Mainstream media gave it splash coverage while we registered a complaint with BAD. They washed their hands of her as thoroughly as a pre-op surgeon and were adamant that she did not represent the views of the association. More than that, they are now actively working with the Vegan Society to promote good, sound, vegan nutrition to promote improved health.

Ms Collins also contributed articles to the bizarre US organisation, Weston A Price Foundation that promotes dairy, meat, animal fat and offal as essential to health.

Its main preoccupation seems to be in standing most accepted science on its head.

China chopping chops Some months ago, the Chinese government staggered us by saying it wanted to cut the country’s meat consumption by 50 per cent. Our scepticism has been dented by the news that it has placed a $300 million order for bio-meat from Israel – meat grown from animal cells in a laboratory. We have yet to see it introduced in the UK but clearly it can’t be long away.

With it will no doubt come a heated debate but the fact remains that this order alone would save the lives of about 30,000 beef cattle or some five million chickens.

That’s certainly food for thought.

Ahimsa – good or bad?

Ahimsa (do no harm) is an important principle of Indian religions.

Ahimsa cows are not slaughtered after their productive lives end but go into retirement. Sailesh Rao has a great deal to say about how damaging this is to the environment – page 14. Calves are bred from bulls not artificial insemination; they are not separated from their mothers and male calves are eventually put to work. Ahimsa cows have the choice of grazing throughout the year or sheltering in barns.

Satish Kumar, Editor-in-Chief of Resurgence & Ecologist Magazine, positively drools over the prospect of Ahimsa milk: “… cows can be kept beautifully, kindly and compassionately and all the wonderful products can be brought to serve the human community without damaging the animal community”.

This positions cows as commodities kept to serve humans, it fails to recognise the extraordinary damage they do to the environment and doesn’t alter the fact that even Ahimsa milk contains a cocktail of at least 35 different hormones and 11 growth factors that are linked to cancers, including breast and prostate.

Why, just when public opinion is reacting against animal farming, is it necessary to falsely dangle an alternative so people can hang on to their old habits? (Read Justine Butler’s blog on viva.org.uk/blog/ahimsa-milk).

Summer raffle results Thanks to everyone who entered and distributed tickets for our fabulous fundraising raffle. The lucky winners are: n 1st Prize (£1500): B Gubbins, Berkshire (ticket no. 101141) n 2nd Prize (£500): C Whittaker, West Sussex (123760) n 3rd Prize (£200): B Levett, Worcs. (045042) Runners-up. J Howard from Derbyshire, A Day from Wiltshire, and R Knight from Gwent. Each receives a unique handmade pendant by Alexandra Symons.

Gift vouchers for £50, courtesy of Vegetarian Shoes, go to I Muller from Nottingham and T Mould from Cambridge.

We received heartfelt thanks from two of the lucky winners: “Thank you so much for my cheque!!! I never, ever win anything, anywhere so I am delighted. I have made the majority of the cheque over to a small local cat charity as I work there and enjoy it so much. Best wishes Beverley”.

“This is incredible. Thank you so much! I will be heading over to the Viva!

Shop to spend some of it and will be donating to a farm sanctuary. I was vegetarian for 33 years and have been vegan for the last two but of course I wish I had made the switch to veganism a long time ago as my contribution to cruelty in the dairy industry haunts me. I'm on a quest to pay back where I can and spread the vegan message. Thank you for all the brilliant work you do. Regards, Claire”.

If you weren’t among the winners, better luck next time!

Viva! patron Heather Mills made a rare public appearance at our Wembley show in September. Billed as a ‘mystery speaker’, she talked engagingly about her growing interest in health and the encouraging growth of her vegan food company, V-Bites.

Welcome back, Heather.

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Th e Ta l en ted

h a i n a h p e Z r M

by Tony Wardle

have an abiding memory of Benjamin Zephaniah and it’s from much more than a decade ago. It was the year we held Viva!’s Christmas fundraising dinner in the magnificent dining room of Brighton’s Royal Pavilion. Benjamin clearly wasn’t feeling his best and after the speeches he was asked if he would read one of his poems but he understandably declined. The clamour from guests, however, was loud and constant and so he reluctantly rose to his feet.

He began slowly, restrained, unwillingly, I thought. But as the poem progressed the tempo picked up, the delivery became compelling and the only sound in the huge place was Benjamin’s voice – it soared, it swelled and its power washed over everyone and at its conclusion was a

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spontaneous roar of appreciation, an ovation, delivered as we all leapt to our feet. It was then I truly appreciated what a brilliant poet he is – and sadly, try as I might, I can’t remember the poem, just its delivery.

The only talent I’ve ever aspired to is as a journalist and writer. I can’t draw, paint or play an instrument and information technology is like trying to comprehend Chinese translated into Sanskrit. So when people are multi-talented I simply wilt before their achievements – and Benjamin is one of these.

Poetry is far from being the end of his achievements – he writes books and just this week I saw him acting in the gritty 1920’s gang drama, Peaky Blinders, as an evangelical street preacher. It’s set in Small

Heath, Birmingham, not far from where he grew up in Handsworth. And still there’s more – he’s a musician! I wasn’t aware of it but he recorded his first album way back in 1982.

Called Rasta, it featured the Wailers first recording following the death of Bob Marley as well as a tribute to Nelson Mandela and gained him international prestige as a musician/poet.

His second book of poetry (The Dread Affair-Collected Poems) was in 1985 and included several poems attacking the British legal system. By coincidence, I wrote a book with Viva! Patron Michael Mansfield QC (Presumed Guilty) doing precisely the same thing following the string of appalling miscarriages of justice which came to light in the 1990s. It therefore seemed like a

natural fit when Benjamin became Poet in Residence at Michael’s Tooks Court chambers – two Viva! patrons together with common beliefs. He sat in on the Bloody Sunday enquiry and numerous other cases with Michael.

It was also music that saw Benjamin pop up in Bristol recently when he was touring the UK with his band, performing tracks from their new album Revolutionary Minds. The first track is pretty powerful and conflates police violence with dietary violence – eating the various parts of dead animals.

Viva! Podcast’s number one man, Kristian Townsend, went to the gig.

“Pioneering dub poet, writer, social commentator and music maker has teamed up with renowned producer & engineer, The Sea. Benjamin came into his own when he and his band took to the stage to perform songs from his new and very timely new album”.

Some people say creativity comes through you not from you and when you see how many strings Benjamin has to his bow, using each medium with ease to share his message, you know it to be true.

“From the moment he stood on stage, the night was full to the rafters with positive vibes, hypnotic dub rhythms and Benjamin’s very own lyrical mastery.

“Alongside him was the equally charismatic Amy True, who is fast developing as an artist in her own right.

“During the performance they tackled everything from corruption and global warming to racism and veganism, securing the album not only as the soundtrack for modern revolutionists but also a prime slot on my play list for some time to come!”

You can hear Kris’s interview with Ben at viva.org.uk/podcast.

Much of Benjamin’s early life is now common knowledge – son of Jamaica immigrants, his mum a nurse – and the house-hopping they did to avoid the violence of his postman father. And yes, Benjamin was a naughty boy, got into trouble and served a short prison sentence in Birmingham but what an irony that Birmingham University has since awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Benjamin (Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah) must by now need a very big coat rack to hang all those strange Hon Doc hats as he

wondered if he gets angry with people.

“I’m not angry with most people but I find it impossible to sit next to those in a restaurant who are all dressed up, looking sophisticated but are eating meat even though they are themselves animals.” He adds with a laugh: “There should be solidarity between animals! The people I get angry with are those who really should know better – the slaughterers and producers who are responsible but even with these people you have to allow a little room for change.”

And change there has certainly been over the last few years and I wondered what he thought of Viva!’s part in it.

“I never refer to Viva! but to ‘us’ as I feel I’m part of Viva! and we are the educational part of the struggle and things are changing.”

Benjamin tells a lovely story about his mother who, from the time he went vegan at the age of 13, has never quite understood how anyone could survive on such a diet.

“I came home not long ago and my mum was looking very quiet, perhaps depressed and I asked her if she was okay and she replied that, yes, she was fine but she still didn’t look any happier. So I asked her what was wrong and she said she had just been to visit the doctor. What did he say? I asked. She answered, ‘He said I’ve got to eat the same food as you!’

“The brainwashing we’re all subjected to is a powerful thing. I went to Egypt and at a reception a man whispered to me that he needed to ask me something and took me away into a private corner. ‘As a vegan, how do you have the power to make love to a woman?’ OK!!! But times they are a changing – they really are and we’ve been a part of it.”

“Th ere sh ould be solidarity between animals!” has six of them from different universities.

And that’s only the start of the varying array of awards he’s received over the years. In 1996, Nelson Mandela requested that he host the president’s Two Nations Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

That’s a piece of history!

Human rights, civil rights and veganism run constantly through his work but Benjamin doesn’t work to a timetable.

“I create when I feel like it – when I feel a spiritual and political need to do so, which is really frustrating for record companies who need you to perform to order.” But when the spirit does take him, his poems can be fairly abrasive so I

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The

Hogwood Story

Claire Palmer reports on one of Viva!’s biggest-ever consumer campaigns

ogwood Farm is a large industrialised factory farm set in rural Warwickshire. It houses around 15,000 pigs and, until very recently, operated in a relatively discreet manner. Many locals would never have known it existed and, if they did, would have been blissfully unaware of the heartbreaking horrors that were (and still are) taking place there.

Viva! Campaign’s undercover investigation at the farm in the late summer months changed all this. We threw open the shed doors and etched the pain and suffering of Hogwood pigs deep into people’s hearts and minds.

The images were of extensive overcrowding; sorrow and misery in the human-like eyes of incarcerated sows; sick and faeces-covered newly-born piglets; desperate pigs lying on water-logged floors; sick animals left to die; and piles of decaying, maggot-infested dead piglets.

Once seen, such scenes of suffering are difficult to erase.

And it looks as though Hogwood Farm will continue to haunt us well into the future.

We took our exposé to the Sunday Mirror and the sequence of events that followed its ‘A vision of hell’ story is a reminder of the strength of feeling against this and all other factory farms.

Soon after the story broke, Viva! launched an online petition which gained almost 40,000 signatures and we held the very first vigil outside the farm.

Hogwood Farm is, literally, in the middle of nowhere yet around 50 concerned activists from across the UK attended and Warwickshire Animal Save was born.

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Viva! director, Juliet Gellatley, gave an impassioned speech and the vigil yielded two vital pieces of information about the farm – that its pig meat is sold in Tesco stores and that the Hogwood farmer, Brian Hobill, had been abandoning pig remains in nearby woodlands.

Following a tip-off Viva! received prior to the event, Juliet took activists from the vigil to search woods owned by Hobill. To everyone’s shock, piles of skulls of varying sizes, numerous bones and ear tags were found.

Juliet Gellatley comforting a dying piglet

It was both a macabre and emotional moment and many activists were visibly shaken. Our dramatic YouTube video was viewed more than 20,000 times and, in midJuly, the second nationwide story broke.

Two days after the event we teamed up with Warwickshire Animal Save for a further, five-day vigil outside the farm. It was attended by Dave and Lizzie as part of their sponsored 750 mile journey – ‘Walk for Hope’ – as well as activists from The Save Movement and Viva!. Two weeks later, Warwickshire Animal Save hosted their own vigil outside the farm and vigils have been held at least once a month since then.

The response from Hogwood to all this attention has been one of total silence, although they have erected a seven-foot high fence around the sheds and security measures are implemented on vigil days. But then, Hogwood farmer Hobill didn’t need to say anything as the pig industry and Tesco have said it all for him.

At the time of writing, Tesco are continuing to partner with the farm and putting out statements which challenge credulity. “The conditions they [Tesco’s Agricultural Team] found were not like those depicted in the [Viva!] video” and “independent inspections” have meant that

Tesco is “satisfied with the conditions”.

The company has even gone so far as to say that the animals are Two of the many activists who have “treated well”! Of course, we must have manufactured travelled to our nearly three hours of footage!

Hogwood Tesco’s response represents a worrying trend – they are determined to stand by the industry even in the face of such stark cruelty. Their claims that they care about animal welfare and that the industry has stringent standards are just so much hogwash. If there was even a smidgen of truth in this, Tesco would welcome our findings.

They don’t because almost the entire pig industry is as guilty as Hogwood.

As part of Viva!’s relentless campaign against the giant company, on Saturday, August Help 12, we went to town – many, Viva! Make many towns. In what must be the world a one of the biggest combined kinder place. Text national and regional campaigns in history, over 600 VLPR00 £5 to local groups and individuals put on demonstrations 70070 to outside Tesco stores around the country or doordonate dropped leaflets about Hogwood and Tesco. The u

Over 600 local groups and individuals put on demonstrations outside Tesco stores around the country

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reaction was extraordinarily positive, with most people being supportive, showing interest and willingly taking leaflets.

The Viva! team kick-started the day with a photo call outside Tesco in our home town of Bristol, and we introduced the Day of Action in The Bristol Post and PlantBased News.

Juliet joined Bristol Animal Save at a Tesco megastore to show Hogwood footage to customers and speak with the store manager, urging Tesco to end their unethical trade with the horror farm. Elsewhere, Viva! campaigner, Claire Palmer, was in central London attending a demonstration at Tesco organised

by Warwickshire Animal Save.

Reports flooded into Viva! about events taking place right across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Many were picked up by local media so Hobill’s and Tesco’s silence made them look entirely guilty. Our own media work and a huge social media roll out means the phrase ‘Hogwood horror’ is now familiar to millions.

Since the Day of Action, Viva! supporters have continued to pressurise Tesco to end its dealings with Hogwood. Many have participated in a ‘Talk to Tesco’

event, where activists have taken Hogwood footage into Tesco stores on their laptops and ipads and shown it to customers.

The Hogwood Story is not just a story about one farm, it’s a story about an entire industry that has degenerated to such a degree that the appalling treatment of animals is now the norm.

Government statistics show that they have little interest in animal welfare. In 2016, there were just 31 farmed animal welfare convictions in Britain, despite being made aware of many violations on many farms by Viva! Campaigns. Large-scale producers, it seems, are free to do what they want. And yet the public is continually force fed the line that Britain has the ‘best animal welfare in the world’.

Despite these rear-guard actions by self-interested bodies, Viva! is doing its job, along with our supporters across Britain, and pig meat sales are tumbling. Our championing of veganism is also working as numbers explode. Hogwood will one day – not far distant – be an anachronism as we continue to expose cruelty, selfinterest and political chicanery. The revolution continues.

The Hogwood Story is not just a story about one farm, it’s a story about an entire industry

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WEEKLY WINNER

OVERALL WINNER

DRUM ROLL PLEASE… WE HAVE OUR WINNER Pablo Cruise takes first prize with his incredible blue cheese Viva!’s Veganista competition invited cooks from all walks of life to get creative. Tell us about your favourite vegan dish, we asked – whether food on-the-go or a three-course dinner party – take pictures of it and share with us on social media using #VIVAVEGANISTA. The grand prize for the victor was a vegan cookery workshop at the esteemed Demuths Cookery School in Bath, followed by dinner at Acorn Vegetarian Kitchen – transport AND accommodation included.

Judging panel included Richard Buckley (Acorn Kitchen), Rachel Demuth (Demuth’s Cookery School) and Little Miss Meat Free (vegan chef) and entrants did not need to be vegan or vegetarian to enter. All we required was for participants to create a vegan meal, dish or snack and post a picture of it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #VIVAVEGANISTA. Central to the success of the entry was a brief explanation of what was special about the dish and why it was made: perhaps it was a snack to have on the tube going to work; a Sunday lunch for housemates; or a bowl of comforting nosh.

The competition launched in September 2016 and closed in August 2017. Our panel of distinguished vegan foody experts decided on a weekly winner and these were automatically shortlisted

for a monthly prize. These monthly finalists then went head-to-head to be the overall Viva! Veganista.

Judges were blown away by many of the entries but agreed unanimously that Pablo Cruise’s entry was the winner. His stilton inspired blue cheese recipe was not only incredibly delicious but it looked stunning, too!

Pablo said of his success: “When I explain the benefits of a vegan diet to people, the response is often, ‘Yeah, but I just couldn't give up cheese’. There are some good vegan cheeses out there but not Stilton (formerly a favourite of mine). So, I was determined to create my own.

“This recipe is truly amazing. It’s not a quick process – knocked together in the morning and eaten in the evening – but it’s perfect for special occasions. I can’t wait to present my vegan ‘cheese’ board to all my family this Christmas.”

A huge thank you to everyone who took part – all the entrants, Demuths Cookery School, Acorn Vegetarian Kitchen and Little Miss Meat-Free – and, of course, our sponsors, Ecotricity.

See the recipe at viva.org.uk/ veganista

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Dr Sailesh Rao visited Viva!’s Bristol offices on his Great Transition speaking tour. Sailesh was instrumental in developing high speed internet and, in 2006, switched careers and became deeply immersed in solving the spiritual and environmental crises affecting humanity.

He talks to Juliet Gellatley about why the human race is emerging from its destructive domination of the world to a partnership/respect phase.

The Human Metamorphosis ’m not sure what an Eco Warrior is supposed to look like but my guess is Sailesh Rao is probably not it. He’s restrained, self-effacing, quietly spoken and you may well have never heard of him.

However, you have probably heard of Cowspiracy, What the Health and the Human Experiment and for the trilogy, in part, you can thank Sailesh. But his commitment to saving the environment started before Cowspiracy.

Previously vegetarian, he had gone vegan in 2008 after witnessing a simple experiment in Rajasthan in his native India.

“The local people had protected 250 acres of common land by fencing it off to their animals and they took me there and showed it to me. It had become a lush forest. On the other side of the fence were all these old cows walking around grazing and no trees at all.”

I’ve witnessed cows wandering unmolested along the beaches and roads of India but as to how many Sailesh enlightens me and my eyes almost water with disbelief.

“In India, we drink a lot of milk but don’t eat so much beef and many cows live for 25 years or more – they walk around eating up the forest. India has 330 million cows and buffalo, three times greater than the number in the US but with just one-third the land area. When they’ve finished eating the forests there’s nothing left for the deer and when the deer die the tigers die.”

As a result of his experience in Rajasthan, Sailesh set up an organisation called Climate Healers (climatehealers.org) to reverse climate change– which he describes as the tip of the iceberg.

“In 1992, the UN identified three major environmental problems – biodiversity loss, the collapse of ecosystems and global

I

warming but we only hear about global warming, not the first two. These represent the cancer underlying the fever and to heal the climate you have to address the cancer.

And this is why we focus on reforestation and veganism – rewilding the world.”

While the subjects he champions and the books he writes are deadly serious, you might imagine Sailesh to be intense. Well, he’s certainly a man of commitment and belief; he is also warm and affable, humorous and with a very ready laugh. To this you could also add highly intelligent, well read and noticeably optimistic.

world – but more than that, it tackles the cancer that underlies the fever. Yet governments still don’t talk about it and you have to ask why.”

That immediately brings to mind the hugely influential documentary made by ex-vice US president Al Gore. No mention of livestock at all – and I say that as it is such an extraordinary omission. Sailesh repeats himself.

“Again, you have to ask yourself why”.

Is there no glimmer of light beginning to shine through as the vegan revolution gathers pace? Are government’s doors opening just a chink as they start to listen?

“No! They are quite happy in keeping things the way they are, which is why the change has to come from the bottom up. According to Jeremy Lent (The Patterning Instinct) there are three possible futures for humanity.

The first is a complete collapse of civilisation. The second is where the current system is heading – a techno split, a great division between the haves and have-nots with those running the show trying to make sure they’re firmly amongst the haves.

“Lastly, there is the great transition, from a life-destroying culture to a lifeaffirming culture; from selfishness to selflessness; from greed to generosity; apathy to activism. You can’t do it by tweaking existing laws, you have to build a new system that runs in parallel with the existing one. The more people who adopt

“There is simply no hiding the fact that veganism is the only solution, the only way of addressing the fever that’s afflicting the world”

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Sailesh is a hard-core electrical engineer with a Phd from Stanford University (US).

He had his own laboratory at Intel and played an instrumental role in developing early versions of the Internet. That is some claim to fame, putting him up there with the greats. So if anyone can think of how we might bring about the massive social transformation that persuades people of the necessity of veganism, it is Sailesh Rao. “It’s already happening because people are receiving the signs from every direction – their personal health, the environment and revelations about animal cruelty. There is simply no hiding the fact that veganism is the only solution, the only way of addressing the fever that’s afflicting the

the new system, the more the existing system starts to feel irrelevant and says, ‘Hey, no one’s listening to us any longer,’ and eventually decides, ‘well, we might as well join them!’”.

Sailesh believes the great transition will happen by 2026. And – from the perspective of reversing climate change – it has to! Almost on cue as if to support Sailesh’s claim, the world’s largest supermarket chain, Walmart, has just put out a call for manufacturers to increase their production of vegan goods as they can’t meet the growing demand. And even McDonalds are trialling the first McVegan burger in Finland.

Sailesh continues his illustration with a first-hand story about Phoenix, Arizona, where he’s based. It’s a monthly vegan festival that has grown and grown and has gradually drawn in local government, which now provides land for it, and every kind of vegan product and service is on sale with thousands attending every month! Wow! But can that kind of thing really have an influence?

“When corporations start to put money into these kind of ventures they support them and help them to grow. Eventually, their overall footprint on the planet is going to shrink and they will collapse.

Eventually, the whole system is going to collapse and that is why they are scared of veganism”.

Viva! sincerely hopes Sailesh is right as we have repeatedly criticised the nature of consumerism/capitalism – how can you have perpetual growth when the planet has finite resources? Is he predicting that capitalism as a political, global structure will collapse?

“This political structure is based on selfishness and greed but I’m not sure you can blame capitalism for that. Adam Smith, the original architect of capitalism, talked about ‘enlightened’ self-interest but there is nothing enlightened about the way corporations are acting now. So it’s really about reinventing capitalism and making it what it was meant to be with an entirely new system”.

It follows, I suppose, that this new system will usher in a vegan world, something I have worked for most of my life, nurturing visions of what it might be like. But will it have an impact on the big issues such as overpopulation, I ask Sailesh.

“Absolutely! Think of the caterpillar and the butterfly. The caterpillar is a blind consumer who

just keeps consuming until he is too big for his skin, which is where we are now – too big for our skin, 60 per cent larger than the planet can support. But then strange things happen inside the caterpillar, new cells are born, imaginal cells, and the caterpillar’s immune system thinks they are foreign bodies and fights them. But more and more are born and eventually, the immune system gives up and starts building vegan restaurants!”

When we’d both finished laughing, Sailesh continued with the analogy of the caterpillar building a cocoon around himself, limiting his footprint, whilst hanging there contemplating for a week while massive cellular changes take place.

And when it’s all over…

“The butterfly is born and she is a very discriminating consumer, sipping only nectar from the flowers, pollinating them in the process. She regenerates life and undoes the damage caused in the caterpillar stage. But you cannot have the butterfly without the caterpillar”.

And you cannot have either caterpillar or butterfly without trees and bushes, which is probably one reason why one of Climate Healers’ intentions is to reforest one-sixth of the Earth’s landmass. Much as I am excited by that thought, is it realistic – a project so vast it is daunting? Well, not to Sailesh Rao, it seems.

“If land has rainfall, all you have to do is leave it alone and the trees will come back. But it does require veganism to reduce demand. Similarly with the oceans, if you stop eating fish they will simply bounce back. It is in these places that most of our biodiversity lives” And this, of course, is where we came in, with Rajasthan. But it also takes my mind

back to the months I spent in Costa Rica.

It’s very first national park is at Cabo Blanco, just outside the town of Montezuma. It was the dream of some other environmental pioneers, Swedes Olof (Nicolas) Wessberg and Karen Mogensen.

All they did was fence off some barren, grazed agricultural land in 1963 and the forest reappeared. I have strolled through its towering trees, had a picnic by a tumbling stream, and my untrained eye could not tell where the old forest ended and the new one began. They have simply merged into one.

Interestingly, it is also in Costa Rica that Sailesh has an important project underway.

“Along with Gustavo Pacheco of Mundo Vegano (Vegan World), we have obtained 92 acres of land and will build humble homes which encircle community spaces.

We will grow our own food and strive to live a zero-waste lifestyle. The permanent residents will be multicultural and eventually we will welcome short-term visitors who can then take their experiences and replicate them in their own communities.”

So back to his involvement with Cowspiracy – how did that come about?

“I happened to see a three-minute clip on an Indiegogo (crowdfunding) site and thought, ‘That’s exactly what I’ve been talking about’. Producer/directors Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn had just lost their funding and I thought we had to get involved”.

We became executive producers and originally arranged for distribution through the grass roots Tugg.com.

Screenings were surprisingly popular and were just beginning to take off when Leonard DiCaprio saw it and said he wanted to get it on Netflix. He did and it really took off.” Boy, it’s good to have friends in high places!

My interview with Sailesh Rao was long and discursive and there was nothing he said about the state of the world and its remedies that I did not agree with. I felt absolute certainty that, along with people like Sailesh Rao, we are in the forefront of a vital revolution to save the world and all its creatures – the only revolution that will achieve it.

Cowspiracy can be downloaded at cowspiracy.com or viewed on Netflix. Sailesh Rao’s books include Carbon Dharma: The Occupation of Butterflies.

Amazon £6.84 paperback; £3.42 Kindle. Carbon Yoga: The Vegan Metamorphosis.

Amazon £11.39

viva.org.uk 15

aving a baby is momentous and you want to do everything to give your little one the best start in life.

Suddenly, your vegan diet is up for scrutiny as the enormity of a whole new person growing inside you hits home.

Some health professionals are well informed, others aren’t and may try to persuade you that vegan isn’t the right way. Don’t listen! I was told I was the only mother of twins they had known not to be anaemic. My healthy vegan diet, I said smugly.

A balanced vegan diet is packed with disease-busting, body and brain nurturing nutrients – ideal for a healthy pregnancy.

But it also lacks the nasties you need to avoid – saturated fats, cholesterol, pesticides, cancer promoters, dioxins and mercury. These latter two are in all fish and seafood. And cows’ milk contains a cocktail of pus, hormones and growth factors, including those linked to breast cancer.

Pregnancy should just be an extension of your normal healthy diet. If you’re on a junk diet of meat, dairy and processed foods, it’s definitely time for a change – for you, your baby and the animals!

Variety is the key before and during pregnancy, focusing on wholegrains (three servings daily), pulses (peas, beans and

H

mamas A healthy vegan diet before and during pregnancy helps you have a vivacious and robust baby! Want some proof – see the gorgeous photos of four former Viva! staff. By Juliet Gellatley, founder & director of Viva!, nutritional therapist and mum of twin sons

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Increasing your nutrients

lentils of all types) plus unsalted mixed nuts* and seeds (two to three portions daily). Aim for seven to 10 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables plus essential fats and vitamin B12 fortified foods.

Creative cookery is easy with herbs, spices, stock cubes, soya sauce and creamed coconut, soya and a host of other extras. You can create wonderfully exotic dishes as well as old favourites. For inspiration, try veganrecipeclub.org.uk

During pregnancy, daily nutrient requirements increase – but you don’t need to eat twice as much! Growing babies get all their nourishment from mum through the umbilical cord. If you’re lacking nutrients, so might your baby.

The need for iron, B vitamins (especially folic acid), beta carotene, C and D, calcium, zinc and protein increases but that’s not really surprising.

A weighty issue

Protein

Being underweight or overweight affects your baby. Mums who under-eat increase their child’s risk of developing obesity and related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. But women who, during pregnancy, eat a high fat/sugar diet can also have babies who are prone to obesity and, later, metabolic syndrome (precursor to diabetes type 2). To state the obvious, don’t under or overeat and eat the right foods.

Protein is needed for growth, repair of tissue and protection against infection. All pulses and seeds contain high levels.

The humble soya bean, particularly when eaten as edamame, is very high in amino acids that go to make protein. Quinoa also contains all essential amino acids.

Preeclampsia, which causes reduced blood flow to the placenta and can result in premature delivery, has been attributed to insufficient protein. It’s obviously prudent to increase your intake but studies have shown that vegan mothers are less prone to preeclampsia than omnivores.

Energy during pregnancy l Calories are sometimes called kilocalories or Kcals. l A woman needs approximately 2,100 calories per day. l A pregnant woman needs about 2,500 calories. l A breastfeeding woman needs 3,000 calories.

*Going Nuts?

Pregnant or lactating women from allergy-prone (atopic) families – should avoid eating peanuts and nuts entirely as sensitisation to them can occur in the womb and later through breastfeeding. Children of atopic mothers should not be given nuts until at least three years old or when recommended by a doctor. But for most infants, nuts are important and can be introduced from six months old in the form of smooth nut butters. Whole nuts should not be given to children under five years of age due to the risk of choking.

PROTEIN SOURCES

Beans, peas and lentils, nuts* (see panel on right), seeds, brown rice, wholegrain breakfast cereals, wholemeal bread and wholegrain pasta.

Rh iannon Purnell, Bristol Former Web Manager, Viva!.

Gave birth to Alfie in July 2017!

“I have enjoyed my vegan pregnancy and everyone tells me I’m very fit – cycling to and from work up to eight and a half months pregnant! I had wonderfully healthy iron levels, which went up in the last trimester. I was told my blood pressure was ‘beautiful’ and ‘whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it right!’ I was chuffed and am so in love with my little boy!”

Continued on page 50

Claire Morley, Bridgend Former Admin & Festivals Co-ordinator, Viva!.

With Lena, pictured at 9 months “I'd been vegan for 18 years when I became pregnant with Lena. I was eating the healthiest diet for my unborn baby – varied, with lots of pulses, fruits and veggies, nuts and ironrich foods. My midwife was very supportive.

“During pregnancy, I loved how active my little vegan baby was – pleased we were both happy and healthy throughout. Lena was born super-healthy and chubby at 42 weeks – 10 pound 7 ounces.

“I exclusively breastfed her for six months and then started baby-led weaning.

“At nine months, she eats what we eat and loves her greens!”

viva.org.uk 17

YOU

By Juliet Gellatley

Above, Hope and middle, her piglets on their way to safety

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THE GOAL! Viva!’s ground-breaking crowdfunding campaign, Bring Hope to Millions, raised over £100,000 to bring the first ever vegan cinema ad to 2.2 million people.

This was always an ambitious target but you helped us smash it! THANK YOU – from everyone at Viva! and our noble, beautiful Hope and her mischievous babies and all the animals.

The month-long campaign exceeded the target and we aim to release our cinema ad across UK cinemas before the end of the year.

The advertisement shows the difference between the life of Hope, who was rescued by Viva! and Dean Farm Animal Sanctuary with her six piglets, and the lives of animals who are factory farmed – a reality that 90 per cent of British pigs have to endure throughout their lives. The ad asks viewers to try vegan, while linking to viva.org.uk/easyvegan – have a peek! Watch the cinema ad at viva.org.uk/ bring-hope-to-millions.

I am so excited that we have been empowered by YOU to bring Hope to the meat eating masses – and who can resist her charm? Not me that's for sure. I love that girl!

The contrast between Hope’s freedom and the terrible conditions on factory farms is our most powerful message yet. This ad has the potential to bring about real change by showing new audiences the reality of factory farming.

We chose cinema ads because we know that they are one of the best ways to reach an emotionally engaged audience and we are so grateful to all the people who have been part of this campaign and helped to make it such a success!

Viva!’s biggest campaign was supported by the vegan community, vegan businesses and the total was reached with donations from over 1,400 supporters. It ran for four weeks with the hashtag #bringhopetomillions and had thousands more shares and likes on social media.

The success of this campaign heralds a new era in which the power of community can rival even the meat-industry giants.

Visit the page to share and show your support for Viva!’s amazing work.

viva.org.uk/ bring-hope-to-millions

Veronika Powell reports on an extraordinary Week of Action to change the hearts and diets of millions Viva!’s Scary Dairy Week of Action ran from August 21-28, 2017. Its aim was to raise people’s awareness of just how cruel the dairy industry is but also to show how easy it is to change your diet.

We took to the streets of Bristol armed with vegan ice cream; hundreds of volunteers door dropped leaflets across the country; dozens of information stalls were organised by local groups; and Viva! founder and director, Juliet Gellatley gave an astonishing number of radio interviews to stations across Britain. And to complete the action, we visited rescued dairy calves and put up powerful bus ads in Bristol and London (see opposite page)!

LOCAL EVENTS In the run up to the Scary Dairy Week of Action we produced a series of posters to highlight the shocking truths about the dairy industry – routine removal of newborn calves from their mothers, shooting many male calves shortly after birth, hormones present in all dairy products and the pus content in milk. Information stalls everywhere sported these posters and helped to educate the public. You can get them from the Viva! Shop: (vivashop.org.uk) We helped local groups organise 62 stalls across the UK and most of them offered a tasting of dairy alternatives – u

there are do zens of horm dairy, some lin on ked to canc es in er*

*these are na tural hormon es me fuel rapid gr owth of a ca ant to lf

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male calves thousands of th as useless* bir r te af are shot

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Two of Viva!’s posters during the week and Croydon Vegan Outreach at work viva.org.uk 19

Bus ads were used in London and Bristol

plant milks, cheeses, ice cream and so on.

It was so successful that some groups have decided to hold other Scary Dairy stalls in the future while others are organising regular outreach stalls with our anti-dairy materials. This is the biggest response to a dairy campaign we’ve ever had from local groups – thank you!

But that’s not all! We also sent out innumerable action packs with leaflets for door-dropping and miniguides to be distributed in public places, encouraging people to try dairy-free options and change their diet. Big thanks to all the local heroes who helped.

During our Scary Dairy Week of Action, Viva! activists distributed over 75,000 leaflets and 6,000 dairy-free guides, showed the public some scary dairy facts through our new posters and encouraged people to try dairy-free foods and drinks.

VIVA! EVENTS IN BRISTOL We also organised two successful outreach events in our hometown of Bristol. We did vegan ice cream tastings at Bristol Broadmead, the main shopping centre; distributed dairy miniguides and talked to the public about how and why to change their diet. The event was hugely popular, people were curious, openminded and asked lots of questions.

We also teamed up with the delectable Booja Booja and their ice cream van to offer passers-by at St Nicholas Market a taste of this delicious ice cream.

WORLD PLANT MILK DAY Together with other groups, we celebrated the first World Plant Milk Day on August 22 which received much attention from local papers but also the National Farmers’ Union! Their silly attempt to rubbish us only generated more attention to our campaigns (see page 33).

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AMAZING INTERVIEWS As part of our education, Viva! founder and director Juliet Gellatley gave 51 interviews to radio stations all over the UK, reaching an audience of almost two million, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from public and presenters alike.

One of them said: “Juliet is an incredible spokesperson. She was able to deliver the key messages and had a wealth of knowledge on the topic. It was a pleasure to work with her on this campaign.”

RESCUED DAIRY CALVES To educate people about what really happens at dairy farms, we visited six rescued calves at The Farm Animal Sanctuary in Warwickshire to film them in their happy, forever home. These calves were only three days old when they were brought in, saved from being shot as useless by-products because they can't produce milk.

You can view our film of them on youtube.com/user/ vivaorg/videos BUS ADS! With your support, we were able to place 250 eye-catching headliner ads in buses in Bristol and London on September 4 for over four weeks.

LET YOUR T-SHIRT DO THE TALKING Our limited edition, stylish Scary Dairy t-shirts have proved so popular we’re making more of them! Get yours, with the powerful message, ‘Born to Be Shot’, on the front and ‘All newborn calves are taken from their mums, thousands are shot’ on the back: vivashop.org.uk/scary-dairy-t-shirt or call the office at 0117 944 1000.

THANK YOU This has been an outstanding campaign that covered large parts of Britain.

Our huge thanks to all those who helped to make it such a success.

RARE AND EXCITING JOB OPPORTUNITIES Senior Campaigner and Campaigns Manager Help us create a vegan Britain and work for the charity you love!

You will be working on all vegan issues but specialising in campaigning for animals and the planet.

We're looking for creative people who have excellent written and verbal communication skills as well as experience partaking in or overseeing projects from conception to completion.

Relevant past roles could include: campaigning, marketing, lobbying, advertising, creative, journalism and PR. More details and how to apply at viva.org.uk/jobs Deadline for applications: November 30, 2017; interviews from December 11, 2018.

Listen to the monthly Viva! Podcast for a the latest vegan news, views and interviews!

Recent interviews l Jerome Flynn l Juliet Gellatley l Bettinas Kitchen, l Dale Vince l Dr Michael Greger l James Aspey l Joey Carbstrong l Vegan Geezer l USA vegan rapper Grey

Recent features

l Simon Amstell’s film Carnage l Toronto Pig Save l The Anita Krainjc court case l Hogwood Farm l Vegan Camp Out 2017 l Ex beef farmer Jay Wilde l Guardian journalist Chas Newkey Burden l ASA ruling on humane milk

subscribe on all major platforms!

viva.org.uk/vivapodcast viva.org.uk 21

Viva! launches new 30 Day Vegan website Sign up to 30 Days of Deliciousness!

Veganism is now booming and Viva!’s new campaign hastens the revolution, making it easy for everyone to create delicious meals.

Viva!’s new website 30dayvegan.viva.org.uk offers all the information you could ever need to go vegan. This free comprehensive vegan resource includes daily meal plans and recipes for a whole 30 days as well as health and nutrition advice and motivational support!

To access all of the recipes, simply sign up at 30dayvegan.viva.org.uk where you will be sent a code which will enable you to view each of the daily recipes.

This simple, practical information can also be sent in convenient daily email updates which have been meticulously created by Viva!’s dedicated food team.

Each email includes breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes as well as health and shopping tips!

NOT CONFIDENT IN THE KITCHEN? Don’t panic – we know not everyone wants to cook from scratch. So we have created a simplified version of the 30 Day Vegan meal plan called Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook. It makes vegan cooking a breeze!

Our expert foodies have created this deliciously simple alternative meal plan that uses storebought, pre-made and convenience foods. Recipes include easily available products from companies such as Linda McCartney, Violife, Fry’s and others!

With thousands of people making the switch to a crueltyfree lifestyle, there has never been a better time to go vegan to save animals, the planet and your own health!

Viva! knows that by the end of the 30 days you’ll feel amazingly energised and inspired!

We’d love to see your foody creations so please share them with us on social media.

You can post on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram profiles using #30dayvegan. Sign up to one or both of the FREE meal plans by visiting 30dayvegan.viva.org.uk.

NEW 30 DAY CAN’T COOK WON’T COOK! SIGN UP NOW

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lan

gan Meal P 30 Day Ve : Recipes are

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Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook Rec ipes are:

SIGN UP AT 30DAYVEGAN.VIVA.ORG.UK

viva.org.uk 23

Our ethically-produced clothing ranges in price from £16.99 for a fashion-forward tee to £29.99 for a cosy, organic hoody.

Designs

for

EXTRAS If you LOVE our new #compassionaTEE collection, you’ll LOVE our must-have extras! We’ve chosen our top new designs and turned them into awesome mugs, stylish stickers and bold badges.

Collect them all for yourself or give them as gifts!

Mugs from £5.50. Stickers £1.50 Badges from 95p

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For our annual Gifts for Life catalogue photoshoot, we visited Dean Farm Sanctuary, nestled in a lush Welsh valley and home to Viva!’s best friend Hope and her family of famous piglets. Spending the day with the rescued residents at the sanctuary really put into focus why we do what we do at the Viva! Shop — we aren’t just celebrating cruelty-free culture by wearing a cool tee or two we are fighting for life with every pose!

Wear your heart on your sleeve with a Viva! #compassionaTEE and support our campaigns to end animal suffering!

Shop Kind with the Viva! Shop! Find amazing vegan chocolates & confectionery, clothing, cookbooks and cool ethical gifts at vivashop.org.uk or call 0117 944 1000 (9-5) to request a catalogue.

WITH VIVA!’S VEGAN SWEET SHOP AT VIVASHOP.ORG.UK

Merchandise Manager Katrina Gazley shares her favourite vegan taste sensations for every occasion from Viva!’s new Gifts for Life catalogue.

Use our handy symbol guide if you are concerned about fairtrade FT, gluten-free GF and organic O products.

SNACK ATTACK Treats for little ones or big ones with bite-sized cravings!

Ombar Raw Chocolate Buttons GF | O Melt-in-the-mouth, bitesized buttons made from a melting blend of organic coconut cream, unrefined coconut sugar and live cultures.

Available in CocoMylk or Dark. 25g bag. £1.50 Choco Bites O Crunchy, mini balls covered in rich dark chocolate and perfect for snack attacks! Choose from a coconut or puffed corn-millet centre. 50g bag. £2

GOURMET & GIFTY Vegan truffles and speciality chocolate treats for any occasion.

Goupies A devilishly moreish, chewy chocolate confection with a hint of crunch. Made with semi-sweet dark chocolate, the tiffin-like Goupies are a brand new edible sensation with winning flavour combos: Cherry & Almond, Date & Walnut, Espresso and Orange. The ideal size for sharing with your chocolate-fiend friends! 180g box. £4.25

SWEET TOOTHS Candy with a cause – no gelatine or artificial anything allowed!

Kuhbonbon Vegan Caramels GF Creamy, chewy individually-wrapped caramels made from a sweet blend of organic coconut milk, cocoa butter and unrefined sugar.

165g. £3.50

BIG APPETITE Whether you’re as hungry as a bear or like to share!

Loving Earth Raw Bars FT | GF | O Hand-crafted raw chocolate made from organic, nutrient dense, wholefood ingredients. Each melt-inyour-mouth square of chocolate contains cacao from Peru and coconut sugar from Indonesia for a rich but not-too-sweet taste. Hailing from Melbourne, this exotic chocolate is worth the journey and every bite!

Flavours include: Banoffee Bang Bang, Coffee KaPow, Salted Caramel Swayze, Turkishly Delightful and Very Buck N’Berry. 45g bar. £2.99

viva.org.uk 25

Find award-winning organic + vegan wine, beers & spirits sourced from independent vineyards at vivashop.org.uk/wine.

Minimum order is 12 bottles. Order by Dec 11 for guaranteed Christmas delivery.

Martin Hynes is Viva! Wine Shop’s new vegan grape guru and connoisseur. In this special festive edition, he devours our spread of seasonal recipes (page 27) and scours our virtual vineyards for delicious wine pairings – all available from the Viva! Wine Shop. Get ready to have your tastebuds tempted and palette pampered with organic, flavour-enhancing tipples!

l a i c e p s e v i t fes Or if you prefer red:

Merlot del Veneto IGT, Perlage – £8.49 This light, soft, fruity Merlot will be complemented by the smokiness of the tofu, and work well with the sweet potato.

Chardonnay ‘Terroir 11300’, Domaine Begude – £10.49 PAIRED WITH CREAMY LEEK, CELERIAC AND WALNUT PIE

Grüner Veltliner ‘Toni’, Soellner – £9.99 PAIRED WITH CARROT, COURGETTE AND ONION BHAJI CANAPÉS

Austria's flagship grape, Gruner Veltliner, is a great all-rounder with food and is a sound match with spicy dishes. It’s versatility means that it'd work well as an aperitif and you can confidently take your unfinished glass into your main course.

Bulles du Jas, Sparkling Rosé, Jas d’Esclans AC – £15.99 PAIRED WITH BREAKFAST PANCAKES

In our house, the sparkling wine is open before the presents on Christmas morning. The slight sweetness of these pancakes is balanced by the tart taste of berries. This wine is soft and fruity with red fruit flavours that combine wonderfully with the dish.

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Gewürztraminer, Wilhelm Zähringer – £15.99 PAIRED WITH FESTIVE PIE WITH SWEET POTATO TOPPING

Gewurztraminer is another great culinary wine – elegant, aromatic and a real treat. It’s offdry and fruity palate will complement the sweet potato and it has sufficient acidity to work well with the creamy sauce.

I’m a big fan of this classy Chardonnay, produced in a relatively cool part of Languedoc.

Slower ripening means that it has a good acidic backbone – great to cut through the creaminess of the pie.

With a taste of apples and pears, peachy stone fruit and a touch of stone minerality, it has complexity and length for which you’d pay a lot more if the word ‘Burgundy’ was on the label! A great match for this dish, it’s also a lovely choice for an aperitif – so consider buying two!

For recipes see page 26

Wo nd erfu l s r e m r a w r e t n wi Breakfast Pancakes

Winter brings with it good things and bad things. Short days, cold, rain and winds are the bad; gorgeously satisfying foods to comfort the soul and cheer the spirits are amongst the good. And here are four extremely good ways to banish the winter blues with purring contentment. They have been cooked up by our own Jane Easton and Maryanne Hall and kitchen queen Chava Eichner.

More inspiration at veganrecipeclub.org.uk

FLUFFY, AMERICAN-STYLE STACKING PANCAKES, MAKES 6-8 l ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda l 1 tsp salt l 1 tsp baking powder l 150g/1 cup plain flour Dry ingredients l Flax egg: 1 tbsp flax meal (ground flax/linseed) plus 3 tbsp water Vegan buttermilk: l 1 tsp cider vinegar l 240-250ml/1 cup plant milk, eg soya or almond l 1 tbsp plain vegetable or melted coconut oil 1 To make the flax egg, mix flax meal with water in a small bowl and set aside.

2 Pre-heat oven to 150-160°C/300-320°F/Gas Mark 2-3 to keep pancakes warm.

3 Sieve dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together.

4 In a different bowl, mix plant milk and cider vinegar together to make vegan buttermilk.

5 Add vegetable or softened coconut oil to buttermilk mixture, whisking.

6 Make a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients and gently stir in the buttermilk mixture then the oil. Mix gently so pancakes don’t become tough.

This makes a thick mixture.

7 Heat a non-stick frying pan and brush vegetable oil over the bottom.

8 Spoon batter into pan two or three at a time and cook for a minute or two until large bubbles form on top. Flip and cook for another minute or so.

They should be slightly moist in the middle.

9 Place each pancake onto oven tray to keep warm.

Serve with berries, banana slices, syrup (date, maple or agave), coconut cream, peanut butter, chocolate chips. Can be made savoury with vegan rashers, sausages etc.

FROM THE

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FROM THE

Creamy Leek, Celeriac & Walnut Pie CREATES 4 INDIVIDUAL PIES USING 100ML RAMEKINS OR FOIL CASES l 1 celeriac (peeled and cut into 1cm/½in cubes) l 3-4 tbsp water l 4 tbsp olive oil l Salt l Freshly ground pepper l 1 leek (finely sliced) l 3 cloves garlic (crushed) l 1 tsp paprika l 50g walnut pieces (roasted for 10 minutes at 180ºC/gas mark 4) l 1 sheet of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry eg Jus Rol

l Soya milk for glazing Sauce l 130g/1 cup raw cashews – soaked in cold water for 2-8 hours. l 120-180ml/½-¾ cup water l Salt to taste l 2 tbsp white vegan wine l 3 fresh sage leaves l Juice of half a lemon l 1 tsp stock powder l 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

Filling 1 Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in saucepan and add leeks. Cover and cook for 8-10 mins – but check for sticking.

2 Add celeriac, garlic, salt, paprika and 3 tbsp olive oil.

3 Lightly fry for a few minutes then add water. Cover

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and cook for 20 minutes or until tender.

4 Add toasted walnuts, taste and season.

Sauce 1 Drain the soaked cashews and blend all ingredients together until smooth, adding water little at a time. Keep blending and scraping down sides until it has lost its grainy texture.

2 Transfer to a pan, bring to boil and then simmer until heated through. Add more stock or fluid to taste.

Assembly 1 Heat the oven to 200ºC (fan)/gas mark 6.

2 Oil each ramekin, line with short crust pastry.

3 Blind bake them in the oven for 10 minutes, covering with greaseproof paper weighed down with baking beans or rice.

4 Leave to cool, add filling.

5 Spoon about 5 tablespoons of cashew sauce into each pie.

6 Cut a circular puff pastry lid for each.

7 Cover pies with the lid and seal by sticking them to the base.

8 Brush lids with soya milk and bake until risen and golden (20-30 minutes).

Leek and Smoked Tofu Pie The nori flakes add a lovely taste of the sea to the delicious sauce. For this recipe I like to use Taifun smoked tofu with sesame and almonds. Most Waitrose stores and good health food shops stock it. The flavour and firm texture work really well in this pie.

Onion, Courgette and Carrot Bhajis For this recipe I spiralised the carrot and courgette. Worktop spiralisers can be a really handy tool but they do take up a fair amount of space in the kitchen. I’ve used one of the smaller spiralising gadgets that look a bit like an oversized pencil sharpener and for this recipe it does the job nicely. Failing that, a fine-slicing potato peeler.

MAKES 20 BHAJIS | PREP TIME 15 MINUTES, COOKING TIME 20-25 MINUTES l 175g chickpea (gram) flour l 175g cold water l 1 tsp fennel seeds l 1 heaped tsp ground cumin l 1 heaped tsp ground coriander l 10g chopped coriander l ½ chilli, finely chopped l 1 tsp salt l 3 medium onions l 1 small carrot l 1 small courgette

l Oil for frying For the dip: l 4 tbsp Oatly crème fraiche or Alpro Go-On (thick vegan yoghurt) l 4 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped l 1 tsp grated ginger l Generous pinch of sugar l 1 tbsp lime juice l Cayenne chilli and salt to taste

1 Combine all ingredients for the dip and adjust seasoning to taste. Set aside.

2 Mix gram flour, water, spices and coriander and blend to a smooth batter.

Add salt and finely chopped chilli.

3 Cut onions in half and slice thinly. Spiralise carrot and courgette. Stir all vegetables into the batter until evenly combined.

4 Heat some oil in a large, non-stick pan. Use a heaped teaspoon of the mixture for canapé-sized bhaijs. For larger bhaijs, use a heaped tablespoon.

Shallow fry until golden on both sides. Place on kitchen paper and keep warm while you cook remainder in batches. Serve immediately while hot and crispy accompanied by the dip.

SERVES 4-5 | PREP TIME 10 MINUTES, COOKING TIME 45 MINUTES l 750g peeled sweet potatoes l 1 tbsp vegan margarine l Pinch of ground nutmeg l Salt l 1 onion, finely chopped l 2 large leeks, sliced (about 300g) l Olive oil

l 1 clove garlic, crushed l 1 tbsp green nori flakes l 200g smoked tofu, chopped into small cubes l 250ml vegetable stock l 100g frozen peas l 10g chopped parsley l 2 level tsp cornflour l 250ml dairy-free milk

1 For the topping, cut peeled sweet potatoes into large chunks and cook until tender. Drain and mash with margarine and pinch of ground nutmeg. Add salt to taste.

2 While sweet potatoes are cooking, start making the filling. Sauté onion and leek in olive oil until softened.

Add crushed garlic, nori flakes and tofu pieces.

3 Stir in vegetable stock, peas and parsley and simmer for a couple of minutes.

4 Take about three tbsp of milk and blend with the cornflour in a separate bowl until smooth. Pour this, together with remaining milk, into the pie filling. Stir continuously over a medium heat until the sauce begins to thicken.

5 Transfer filling into a large ovenproof dish (or mini casserole dishes) and top with mashed sweet potatoes. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 20 minutes at 190˚C/gas mark 5.

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e v e S – s y a Seven D Our rescued sow Hope and her babies have shown us first hand that pigs are every bit as affectionate and loving as our pampered dogs and cats. You may already know that, we know that but many people don’t.

To show them the reality, Viva! organised a seven-day video van tour that took a massive 11m2 video screen to Bristol, Bath, Birmingham, Coventry, London, Brighton and Oxford. On the screen we showed images of our rescued pigs living as nature intended in their South Wales sanctuary. And we juxtaposed them with sickening images of pigs trapped in indusrialised factory farms.

Each video ended with a friendly invitation to TRY VEGAN, leading people to Viva!’s website with its colourful, 30-Day Vegan invitation (see page 22) – to help in taking the first steps to a vegan lifestyle.

The more animal-loving people who know the reality of factory farming; the more who see the real conditions in which pigs are forced to live; the more who understand its

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Viva!’s Video Van Tour touches hearts and changes minds. By Laura-Lisa Hellwig

barbaric cruelty; the more will jettison their pork, bacon and other meats in the name of compassion.

What better way to do that than by showing passersby – on a screen that can be seen from 100 metres away – that pigs can get ecstatic over belly rubs. Our huge screen made it possible to reach not just the interested but the ‘shier’ ones too, who preferred to keep their distance.

As one woman told me: “All my colleagues are watching your videos from the windows of our office building. They didn’t think that pigs were so affectionate and love belly rubs. And they were shocked that pigs are farmed in such horrible conditions here in Britain.”

We also showed our upcoming cinema ad and it touched a woman in Coventry who regularly consumes animal products but said: “The ad

Text VLPR00 £5 (or any amount you like) to 70070 to donate and help Viva! create a vegan world

We also used our impressive, realistic 3D headsets to show factory farm footage

n Cities

is a very powerful and poignant film and it made me realise that not only children and other people are in desperate positions on this planet but also animals are.

Seeing this makes me more aware of where meat comes from and I think in future I want to keep it off my plate”.

Many viewers wanted to find out more and we were able to give them a truly immersive experience, as though they were actually in a factory farm. By moving your head you really see whatever it is to your right, or left, or above you. That is the power of our brand new, 3D virtual reality experience.

A young man who watched 3D scenes of pigs at Hogwood Farm in Warwickshire, tried to subtly brush away his tears of sadness and shock at being a part of this cruelty.

Of all the people we made contact with, perhaps the most touching was our lovely van driver, who spent most of the week with us. At the end of the tour, we asked him – a convinced meat eater (or rather he was) – to watch the 3D footage. His comments just about summed up the week and why we did it.

“No beings should have to live in these type of conditions so people can eat them. I realise now what these animals have to go through to satisfy people’s hunger for meat. It’s wrong. It’s just wrong!”

It was Hope’s dance of joy that made him realise that animals have feelings too and are not put on this planet to feed us. He intends to tell his wife and children and try to live vegan.

Seven days, seven cities and one aim, to show Britain that pigs want love and affection

viva.org.uk 31

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…pants on fire Tony Wardle takes a look at the dairy industry’s comical attempt to trash Viva! – and can barely stop laughing arm owners have held a meeting at their NFU Warwickshire headquarters to discuss what to do about Viva! (Viva!life 65). Their friends at Pig World and The Field magazine have now joined the fray by having a pop at us.

And the dairy industry has joined in by launching a massive, £1.2 million advertising campaign to try and counter our anti-dairy publicity. I think they’re worried!

Farmers Weekly online has also chipped in with nine pages claiming to disprove our warnings about dairy. Using our Milk Myths phrase they say, ‘Milk myths and misconceptions debunked’. Oh dear – it has all the intellectual rigour of creationism and makes the Flat Earth Society (yes, it does exist) sparkle like a beacon of credulity.

F

ZERO GRAZING ‘Housed cattle are able to exhibit all natural behaviours save grazing’. Well that’s okay then – the fact that grazing takes up to 11 hours in every 24 may leave a bit of a hole in their day. We’ll brush over the fact that they can’t rear their young, choose their mate, decide when to get pregnant or go for walkies when they want because, of course, none of these are natural behaviours!

‘While it is true that cattle often exhibit frolicking behaviour when first turned out in the Spring, they will also queue up to come into the shed when it is cold, wet or windy’. So they’re not stupid – I knew that.

But we’re talking about zero grazing where they’re never allowed outside – ever! u

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WE TAKE CALVES AWAY ‘Maternal ability is a desirable trait in beef cows’. So presumably it isn’t in dairy cows?

‘Not all cows are interested in caring for the calf’. How many? One in a hundred?

One in a thousand? ‘Calves are removed to ensure they are clean and dried, the umbilical treated and given colostrum’.

Can I take it then, that dairy cows are completely incapable of cleaning and drying their calves unlike ‘beef’ cows and every other mammal? And silly me, I was under the impression that mammals got their colostrum from their mothers’ milk and not the Acme Colostrum Providing Co. Okay, so having cleaned and dried the calf, why isn’t he or she given back to the mother…? Pardon?

HUMANS DON’T NEED DAIRY ‘It’s true that humans don’t specifically need any particular food’. So that’s not a myth, either! And it also blows your marketing campaign out of the water – that children need milk to be healthy! ‘Dairy products provide a balanced package of essential nutrients that are readily available to humans and act as anti-obesity or cancer-preventive agents’. And offer protection against baldness, death of the first born and a plague of locusts! Perhaps you could explain this global paradox – people who drink the most milk have the weakest bones; those who drink the least milk have the strongest bones?

COWS COLLAPSE AND HAVE TO BE WINCHED UP ‘Bearing in mind that a cow weighs more than 500kg a winch may be essential if she’s not able to stand’. So this isn’t a myth either! I think perhaps the question you should be asking is why they collapse.

There are some other ‘myths’ which are also not debunked but I think you get the idea. Interestingly, almost all the readers’ comments that followed the article were negative and this one sums up the whole ludicrous exercise.

“This is such a desperate attempt to try and ease buyers’ guilty consciences, it ends up being sad, satirical begging”.

While I’m at it, I’ll do a bit of debunking myself. I’m tired of you dairy farmers appearing on TV and radio bemoaning how the evil supermarkets pay you less for milk than it costs to produce. You vote Conservative almost to man and woman – the party of free markets, choice, supply and demand. You’ve already done a lot to undermine this philosophy with heavy subsidies but if you live by the market you risk dying by it.

Demand for milk is collapsing as people choose healthier, kinder less damaging plant milks (which you refer to as plant juice). You’re over supplying – it’s as simple as that. Rather than concocting laughable denials and wasting money on huge advertising campaigns, read the writing on the wall.

You have land; an asset that miners, steel workers and ship builders didn’t have and all they got was a few quid flung at them when they were discarded. Your trade associations should now be spending their time and money on finding alternatives for you, better ways of using your land that doesn’t involve exploiting animals. You may be down but you’re not necessarily out.

Demand for milk is collapsing as people choose healthier, kinder, less damaging plant milks

MILK IS BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT ‘Using crops and resources that humans cannot directly consume is actually environmentally beneficial’.

You mean maize and wheat and mangolds? We could eat some of them or maybe use the land for something we really like. But what about the vast acreage given over to silage on prime agricultural land in Devon, Cheshire and other dairying counties? Or did you mean soya cattle feed – imported from the devastated Amazon?

Tell you what, I’ll leave the final word to your friends at the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation: “Livestock is one of the two or three most environmentally damaging sectors, polluting on a massive scale.”

WE SHOOT MALE CALVES ‘Yes, a lot do get shot’. So that’s not a myth, then! ‘But I think it’s a small percentage’. The official figure when we made this claim was 100,000 a year and probably under-reported – so small, so insignificant I can’t image what led us to make that claim!

HORMONES IN MILK ARE DAMAGING ‘Anti dairy groups try to correlate childhood obesity, reduced age at puberty and diabetes with hormones from dairy, despite scientific evidence to the contrary’.

And all we have to rely on are a mere 400 scientific papers from such journals as The Lancet and British Medical Journal.

They reckon the consumption of cows’ milk and dairy products are linked to teenage acne, allergies, arthritis, some cancers, colic, constipation, coronary heart disease, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, dementia, ear infection, food poisoning, gallstones, kidney disease, migraine, auto-immune conditions, overweight, obesity and osteoporosis.

Okay, I know not all these are hormone related but… not exactly a health advertisement, is it?

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WE USE HORMONES AND ANTIBIOTICS No, we’ve never claimed you use hormones just that milk is awash with ‘natural’ hormones. And you do routinely use antibiotics, with most cows getting two treatments every year when they’re not milking to try and prevent mastitis.

Many others get additional doses when it fails and they develop mastitis while milking.

‘Dairy producers are working to eliminate medically important antibiotics from livestock production’. But you haven’t succeeded, have you? You use a whole range of antibiotics, including cefquinome, which the World Health Organisation has classified as being ‘critically important’ for humans.

COWS ARE SHACKLED OUT OF CRUELTY No, you’ve misread us. We have never said you do it to be cruel but that it is a product of your cruelty – ie by impregnating some dairy cows with semen from big beef breeds, they produce big calves who cause neurological damage during birthing and subsequently cows can’t stop their hind legs from doing the splits.

‘They stop cows from slipping over and making injuries sustained from calving any worse’. Oh, well that’s OK then! ‘Shackles are a terrible name for a practical part of milk production.’ I know, we’ll rename them – what about cuddly cow cuffs or bovine leg bling – or perhaps Ann Summers could come up with something.

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PE!

Enamoured with our #bringhopetomillions campaign, Lifestyle’s Katrina Gazley shares her top porcine-inspired pressies that will leave you squealing with delight!

H

Farmyard fashion The perfect piggy outfit – whether you’re working out, watching Okja on Netflix or spending a muddy day at an animal sanctuary! Viva!’s Hope Not Hell Lounge Set is super comfy and made from high quality, organic cotton.

All proceeds from the sales of these sweats support our campaign to end the suffering of factory farmed animals. £50 (Save £5) for the set or £27.50 each.

When pigs fly GIVEAWAY WIN A LIMITED EDITION HOPE JACKET! ENTER ONLINE AT VIVA.ORG.UK/ COMPETITIONS GIVEAWAY ENDS 15/12/17

Candy-coloured cotton knee highs featuring a sweet pattern of flying pigs (with balloons, of course!) that will make your spirits soar and heart melt. Designed in Portland, Oregon, by hipster brand Sock It to Me. Fits UK women’s shoe 4-8. Made from a cotton/poly blend so soft and stretchy. £8.99. vivashop.org.uk

Pretty in pink If you haven’t been introduced to Esther the Wonder Pig yet, you’re in for a funny, heart-warming and utterly charming story! Unlikely pig adopters Steve and Derek (from Toronto, Canada) got a whole lot more than they bargained for when the designer micro piglet they adopted grew to be a full-sized, 600-pound sow! Follow the pair’s un-put-downable adventure – from reluctant pig parents to farm sanctuary-owning advocates for animals. £20 Hardback. vivashop.org.uk

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Babealicious!

Drape your décolletage with this out there, winged-pig necklace by Nelly Rhey. Each colourful acrylic piece is delicately laser cut by hand, so truly one-of-a-kind! The necklace is 6cm x 8cm and supplied with a gold or silver plated chain. £25. nellyrhey.com

Pigsty-lish Keep your abode clean and doorstep looking dreamy with Hug Rug’s Country Pigs eco mat. These dirtstoppers are not only pig perfection but made from 100 per cent recycled materials, printed with vegetablebased inks and are machine-washable, too! £39.99 for the doormat (65 x 85cm) or £69.99 for a runner (65 x 150cm). hugrug.co.uk

Pillow Hog Striking home accents, printed with animal-inspired art – the Splatter Pig cushion by artist Katherine Williams is made from vegan faux-suede for extra snuggliness but still fully machine washable. A 45cm x 45cm scatter cushion (plus fibre inner) is £28.95, or go big with a 60 x 60cm cushion (plus fibre inner) is £39.95. wraptious.com

Truffle treats Expert vegan chocolate-makers Truffle Pig have a serious snout for discovering winning flavours – their seasonal range of Toffee Apple Bon Bons and Pumpkin Spice Latte Truffles smell as good as they taste! Handmade fresh to order. Prices range from £6.25 for a box of 6 truffles to £21.25 for a box of 24. trufflepigvegan.com

viva.org.uk 37

Registered Charity No. 1122303

/DeanFarmTrust /deanfarmtrust.org.uk E. info@deanfarmtrust.org.uk

Dean Farm Trust actively campaigns to promote compassionate living, educating people so they can make cruelty free choices as part of their everyday living.

The Dean Farm Trust team give dedicated care and attention to ill treated, neglected and unwanted animals who arrive at our sanctuary.

Please visit our website to sign up for our free enewsletter to receive regular campaign and sanctuary updates and find out how you can help.

www.deanfarmtrust.org.uk

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Please help promote compassionate living

Tangerines Christmas stocking heroes, tangerines are very low in calories – just 53 in every 100g. They are valuable sources of flavonoid anti-oxidants, such as naringenin, naringin, hesperetin, carotenes, xanthins and luteins; in fact, several times higher than in oranges. These powerful nutrients fight free radical damage in the brain.

Tangerines are also a very rich source of vitamin C, which is needed to make the brain messengers, dopamine and adrenaline – both vital for coping with stress and keeping you motivated.

5

fab Xmas mood foods

Traditional festive fayre that helps you turn down the heat at this busy time of year. By Juliet Gellatley, founder & director of Viva! and nutritional therapist

Walnuts

Brussels sprouts Love ‘em or hate ‘em, there’s no denying that Brussels sprouts are extraordinarily protective of our health! They are packed with chemicals called glucosinolates, which fight cancer, and are also a great source of tryptophan. Your brain converts this amino acid into serotonin, the ‘happy hormone’, which generates feelings of relaxation and happiness and gives you a general sense of well-being.

Want a new twist? Try Brussels sprouts with satay sauce. No soggy green mush here and the combination of spicy, nutty sauce over slightly crunchy sprouts should convert even the most fervent sproutophobe! veganrecipeclub.org.uk

No Christmas is complete without walnuts! Not only do they taste great but are an excellent source of those hard to find ‘good’ fats – omega-3 fatty acids.

About 12 halves contain 100 per cent of your daily requirements.

These special fats encase about 100 billion nerve cells in your brain! They also partly control your brain messengers, or neurotransmitters. Signs of omega-3 deficiency include poor memory, mood swings and depression so perhaps these nuts look spookily like a brain for good reason!

Chestnuts There’s much more to chestnuts than roasting on an open fire!

They’re sometimes referred to as the ‘un-nut’ because they have the goodness of other tree nuts but contain just a trace of fat. They’re also the only nut that contains a significant amount of vitamin C. Chestnuts are high in complex carbs and provide the brain with its essential fuel – glucose. On a calm day, your brain eats 40 per cent of your glucose intake and so an imbalance in supply can cause irritability, tiredness and crying spells. Chestnuts are great because they convert to this sugar nice and slowly, giving the brain a steady supply – helping you stay in good mood even when under pressure!

Fancy a delicious vegan Christmas roast this year? Try Viva!’s Deluxe Chestnut, Port and Thyme Strudel. veganrecipeclub.org.uk

Potatoes It seems everyone devours roast potatoes on Christmas day. Good thing too as hidden in the humble spud is a good dose of vitamin B6, vitamin C as well as tryptophan, the forerunner to serotonin. Vitamin B6 is essential for converting protein into the key neurotransmitters in the brain, including serotonin for happy mood, melatonin for good sleep, adrenaline to cope with stress and GABA, which helps you feel ‘chilled’.

Respect!

For a simple variation on an old favourite try Marmite roast potatoes – you’ll be amazed at how good these are! veganrecipeclub.org.uk

viva.org.uk 39

…in Stratford-upon-Avon Close to Hogwood horror farm, Tesco’s store in the tourist town of Stratford-upon-Avon was the perfect place to remind consumers that horror for the pigs incarcerated there lasts more than one night – it goes on for a lifetime.

We refuse to let Tesco forget this and will continue to dog them.

We spoke to many of their customers, who were mostly extraordinarily supportive and we recorded interviews with several of them for our Facebook pages.

The Viva! team included Juliet Gellatley, Claire Palmer Tony Wardle, Justin Kerswell, Siobhan Dolan, Laura-Lisa Hellwig and Nick Hallows.

These terrifying faces were done by a professional make-up artist and although you would never know it – the wearers are, from the left: Claire, Siobhan, Juliet and Laura-Lisa

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Media man, punk-bred John Robb

So Lewis Hamilton has come out

Apparently he is a world famous car driver but since I have zero interest in Formula One, his name simply flickers in the background of modern media babble.

He has joined the ever-increasing army of vegans, creating the usual reaction from anonymous commenters on websites – late night, bottle of wine, keyboard warriors puffing out their pigeon chests and resorting to the great book of clichés – ‘another vegan telling us what to eat’, ‘as a sports star he’ll suffer’, ‘he’ll be flatulent.’ You know the type.

Hectoring TV chefs, with their carcass breath, will be hauled across breakfast TV shows adding their dietary nonsense to the above and the meat industry will continue to spend millions to keep its grinding, blood-stained machinery in gear.

I’m not sure I’ve ever met this mythical vegan who tells you what to eat and I’ve met a lot of vegans. Even in a fine magazine like this, where we get to draw our own borders, no-one is telling anyone what to eat – unless suggested recipes that don’t include corpses count as force feeding.

Most vegans only mention their diet when they order food outside the sanctuary of home – while others shout loudly about how much blood they want dripping from their steak!

As for the sports person suffering from not eating great lumps of cheese or half-cooked steak, surely that one has been endlessly disproved by body builders, mixed martial arts fighters and gold medal Olympians.

Our old mate the gorilla is pound for pound the most muscular animal on the planet and thrives on a vegan diet and would be happy to discuss this with anyone in a series of facial expressions and low grumbling sounds. The meat fanatic would argue, of course, that with a gun they would have superiority over the ape but that is further proof of a psychotic tendency and not wise to bring into court.

The final, semi-jocular flatulence cliché is the pub bore’s favourite – and the more ridiculous the claim, the more it sticks and usually accompanies the one about Adolf Hitler being a vegetarian, the original fish and chip-o-crit . Not sure how the flatulence claim has been measured. Do researchers run around cafés and restaurants with bottles and jars measuring gas escape? Are victims sat there wearing giant nappies measuring their leakage to determine this key fact so the pub bore and the keyboard warrior can make such medically backed claims?

So fair play to Lewis Hamilton for trying something different and if he ever needs to reply to the brickbats of criticism, refer him to this column and this magazine.

Photo © Melanie Smith

HALLOWEEN

Our Team Viva!

Heroes are those people who do something extraordinary for Viva!

Diana’s Brave Shave!

Fund raiser goes topless for Viva!

Diana Yeoman did the incredible this summer – celebrated her seventieth birthday by shaving her head to raise a fantastic £330 for Viva!.

Her work in supporting Viva!’s campaigns and her advocacy for kinder living are tireless but this time she wanted to raise money for our life-saving campaigns.

Diana says: “I was pleased to be able to do this as a way of raising a bit more cash for a wonderful organisation.

“My scalped scalp, my Viva! Baseball cap and my own design T-shirts have opened up many opportunities to introduce the Viva! message to people wherever I go. I’ve got a bit used to my new look but I’m very glad the hair is starting to cover my naked skull before the winter shivers set in.

“From my heart, I want to thank everyone who contributed to my appeal because the plight of nature’s beautiful animals is never over”.

Until her hair grows back, Diana will be using her crop to raise more money for Viva!’s campaigns.

Show your support for Diana’s brave shave by donating at JustGiving – justgiving.com/fundraising/diana-yeoman

Journey’s End! Roger Roberts finishes his amazing bike ride Huge congratulations to Viva! hero, Roger Roberts, who has completed his extraordinary 969-mile cycle ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats – on September 17.

Roger took part in the 2017 Deloitte/Threshold Ride Across Britain event to celebrate a third of a century of being vegan and to raise £4,000 for Viva!’s campaigns.

He was more than a match for nine days of cycling through some of the UK’s most spectacular and inhospitable environments – passing through 23 counties; an experience he says he will never forget.

Cornwall and Devon provided some of the steepest hills to climb and during his grueling trip Roger climbed a total of 15,000 metres (49,000 feet). The reward was some spectacular views.

Other scenic highlights were the Cheddar Gorge, Penrith and the beautiful highlands and lochs of Scotland en route through Hamilton and Fort William before reaching John O’Groats.

Wet, windy and strong head winds summed up the first part of the journey, making the daily average of 107 miles per day

more challenging than normal.

“It was skiddy and gritty and our campsites were very muddy”, says Roger, “reminiscent of Glastonbury in its wettest years!

But because of the camaraderie amongst the riders, we laughed it off – well, most of the time”.

The weather did improve but on Day 7, the longest of the journey with 127 miles to cover, the headwinds reappeared to make the 6,000 feet of climbing a little difficult – an understatement!

Roger says: “The provision of vegan food both on the road and in the evenings was excellent.

I’ve proved it’s possible for a vegan to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats so let’s all keep pedaling towards that kinder, brighter and more peaceful world.

“Reaching the £4,000 sponsorship for Viva! was a wonderful conclusion to a remarkable adventure and I would like to thank everyone who supported me and encouraged me. Your compassion for our fellow creatures gave me the motivation.”

You can be one of our Team Viva! Heroes too. To find out how to get involved, go to viva.org.uk/team-viva or contact Sam on 0117 944 1000.

We’d love to hear from you. viva.org.uk 41

life Viva!’s media blitz for the animals

BY TONY WARDLE, EDITOR

Juliet – radio star It seems that video didn’t kill this radio star – Viva! director, Juliet Gellatley! In a broadcasting marathon, she recorded 17 separate interviews, back to back, on why you don’t need dairy and why people are ditching it in droves. Some of the radio stations involved then syndicated their interview with other outlets until 51 BBC radio stations in all, across Britain, carried her arguments to almost two million people.

Several of the presenters were surprisingly complementary to Juliet while Gerry Edwards, of Spectrum radio, London, said he had a record lined up to play in order to break up her interview but didn’t use it because he found the subject so fascinating.

We have given numerous other radio interviews over the past few months, with regular appearances on Three Counties radio.

Write on The Viva! team is now providing regular feature articles for the new crop of vegan magazines – Vegan Food & Living, Vegan Life, Plant Based and the online Plant-Based News. Our health writers, Veronika Powell and Dr Justine Butler are particularly hard at it – on a monthly basis.

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Is dairy scary?

Sales figures certainly are!

Picking up on our campaign copy line, Scary Dairy, an online source (The Dairymen, digital special) reviewed all the latest figures on dairy sales and probably had a lie down afterwards.

It began aggressively enough but then fell into a whimper. “Dairy is under attack… with Viva! this week launching a provocative bus advert campaign accusing the industry of ‘continual exploitation’ and claiming the natural hormones in milk are linked to cancer. At the same time, sales of dairy alternatives are thriving. So what do Brits actually think about dairy’?

To find out, The Dairymen commissioned research from Harris Interactive. I bet they wish they hadn’t!

Some 37 per cent of Brits have either ditched dairy or are considering doing so. That’s over a third of us who are seriously questioning dairy. The consumer spend on it over the last five years has remained stagnant while plant

milks have boomed, doubling in value to £422.7m, with more than a third of people buying into them.

The reasons are as we would expect – health, animal welfare and the environment. Clearly, we at Viva! have been doing our job well.

Worryingly for the industry, the greatest reaction against dairy is coming from young people, in the 16 to 34-year-old bracket. The clear age divide that has developed in British politics with Brexit is repeating itself with attitudes to dairy. Victory, it would seem, is merely a waiting game.

In what seems like whistling in the wind, the report says: “Despite recent efforts by vegan campaigners to convince Brits that dairy farming is cruel, around 42 per cent think there’s nothing to worry about”.

Uuummm… by my calculations this means that 58 per cent think there is something to worry about! I’d hold the celebrations if I was you, chaps.

An everyday story of bigoted country folk I’m afraid to admit it – I used to listen to the Archers! Producers have tried to update it with stories about abusive partners, surrogacy and gay relationships but there is still a streak of reaction running through Ambridge.

The only environmental voice that’s ever raised is Lynda Snell’s – whining, obnoxious, interfering and delusional. She’s so bad that any valid points she might make are lost in a lather of loathing.

There is not a murmur of dissention about fox hunting and worse than that, it is positively woven into the fabric of the storylines, with Shula Hebden-Lloyd (once an Archer and in the soap since about 1782) joint master-of-hounds and currently working herself into a frenzy over organising the hunt ball. Nothing wrong with hunting, old chap!

Vegetarianism is a distant land and the only vegan is Kate, who has children and then abandons them, talks about auras, has been caught ‘hypocritically’ wearing leather and has started an holistic business called Spiritual Home where people stay in yurts – just like the rest of us.

Get a grip, BBC because David’s dairy herd is under threat and you won’t even acknowledge it!

lifeSCIENCE

Viva!Health unravels scientific research and makes it easy to understand.

Here we update you on the latest findings…

By Veronika Powell MSc, Viva!Health Campaigner

Wonder nut A walnut extract successfully fights cancer cells Walnuts have many benefits including being a good source of essential omega-3 fats, protein, several vitamins and minerals. They also contain a wealth of other compounds beneficial to heath, such as polyphenols. And now science is showing us how amazing walnuts are in fighting cancer.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common types and in as many as 50 per cent of patients the cancer recurs. This is largely due to the selfrenewal capacity and fast growth of cancer stem cells. A scientific team tested the effects of a walnut extract, rich in polyphenols, on human colorectal cancer cells. After two, four and six days, the extract inhibited the cancer cell growth by 34, 59 and 85 per cent respectively.

They then tested whether the walnut extract had any effect on the ability of cancer cells to form colonies and discovered it suppressed the colony formation by up to 94 per cent!

These results are obviously very positive although it is unclear how they translate into a real life scenario. Either way, walnuts are a very healthy part of any diet and if they can also fight cancer, what more could you wish for?

Healthy trinity Daily intake of fruit, vegetables and pulses protects the heart and prolongs your life!

An international scientific team conducted a comprehensive study including 135,335 adults from 613 communities in 18 lowincome, middle-income and high-income countries in seven different geographical regions: North America and Europe, South America, the Middle East, south Asia, China, southeast Asia and Africa. The study documented participants’ diets using detailed questionnaires about which foods they ate and how frequently. It also examined their heart health and mortality over several years.

The results, perhaps predictably, revealed

Lee J et al., 2016. Walnut Phenolic Extract and Its Bioactive Compounds Suppress Colon Cancer Cell Growth by Regulating Colon Cancer Stemness. Nutrients. 8(7). pii: E439.

that higher fruit, vegetable and pulse intake was associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke and premature death. This study is unique in profiling many different diets from communities all over the world and thus showing that a healthy plant-based diet works for everyone. Fruit, vegetables and pulses are cornerstones of a healthy vegan diet so it’s good news all around!

Miller V et al., 2017. Fruit, vegetable, and legume intake, and cardiovascular disease and deaths in 18 countries (PURE): a prospective cohort study. The Lancet. [Epub ahead of print] 28 August 2017.

viva.org.uk 43

Lovely lentils Terrific tofu Study evaluating the environmental impact of tofu brought great news!

With a growing global population, it is essential that we make our food production systems as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. Soya gets a lot of bad press in relation to environmental destruction but most people still don’t know that the vast bulk of soya is fed to livestock.

This is an incredibly inefficient system – feeding a protein-rich food to animals who then recycle it to build their own muscle and other tissues, wasting a lot of its energy in the process.

Only about six per cent of global soya crop goes directly into food production for human consumption. To put things into perspective, a one-of-a-kind study was conducted to analyse the environmental cost of tofu – from soya beans production to packaged tofu leaving the factory gate. It included all the steps in the process – energies used and greenhouse gases emitted.

The results revealed that tofu production emits significantly less greenhouse gases than meat, dairy and other animal foods and the authors highlighted that this highprotein food could, if widely adopted as a dietary staple, play an important role in mitigating climate change. Per kilogram of protein, tofu results in 10kg CO2e (CO2 equivalents – a unit for measuring climate impact), whilst the figure is 45–640kg CO2e for beef, 20-55kg CO2e for pork, 10-30kg CO2e for chicken and 4–540kg CO2e for seafood. By comparison, vegetarian meat substitutes (containing eggs or milk) result in 17–34kg CO2e and vegan meat substitutes in 6–17kg CO2e. A vegan diet is the most environment-friendly one!

Mejia A et al., 2017. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Generated by Tofu Production: A Case Study. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition. DOI: 10.1080/19320248.2017.1315323.

Risky business New study shows lifestyle is more important than genes when it comes to cancer An ambitious Spanish study set out to map the main risk factors for colorectal cancer which included both genetic and lifestyle factors. After examining the health, family history, gene variants, diet, lifestyle, drug use, age and some other considerations of over 4,000 participants, the authors came to the conclusion that lifestyle factors are more important than genetics in the development of colorectal cancer.

The main risks were red meat consumption of more than 65 grams per day, low vegetable consumption (less than 200 grams per day), obesity, low physical activity and excessive alcohol consumption. More proof that a healthy vegan diet significantly lowers the risk of colorectal cancer!

Ibáñez-Sanz G et al., 2017. Risk Model for Colorectal Cancer in Spanish Population Using Environmental and Genetic Factors: Results from the MCC-Spain study.

Scientific Reports. 7:43263.

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Regular intake of pulses, and lentils in particular, can slash diabetes risk A recent study focused on the role of pulses (lentils, beans, peas, chickpeas) in type 2 diabetes prevention. Pulses are a good source of protein, healthy carbohydrates and fibre and are also low in fat – an ideal staple in anyone’s diet!

The scientific team analysed the diets and health of 3,349 participants over several years. At the end, results showed that people who ate the most pulses (around 30 grams per day or 3.5 servings per week) had a 35 per cent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Looking at different types of pulses separately, lentils and chickpeas appeared to be particularly beneficial.

Pulses should be one of the staples of a vegan diet, not just because they are extremely nutritious and contain several essential minerals and vitamins, but also due to their health-protective properties. Studies showed they are useful in the prevention of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Becerra-Tomás N et al., 2017. Legume consumption is inversely associated with type 2 diabetes incidence in adults: A prospective assessment from the PREDIMED study. Clinical Nutrition.

S0261-5614 (17) 30106-1.

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瘀椀瘀愀 漀爀最 甀欀

Some of the latest and most heartbreaking animal rescues by Viva! Poland.

By Pavel Artyfikiewicz

Viva! to the r

he main difference between Viva! with new information and the local Over and over again we applied to Poland and Viva! UK is that our prosecutor issued a search warrant, temporarily confiscate these animals but Polish team have the statutory right enabling a joint intervention by Viva! sadly, the city council had to approve our to confiscate animals who are suffering and activists and the police. The poor horse in applications and refused to grant permission. prosecute the owners if necessary. With the basement was still there but she was The reason we apply for temporary domestic animals, it can prove difficult and only the start of what we found. There confication is that we have to then stressful but when it comes to farmed were several dogs who were chained and prosecute to prove neglect and if we win, animals, the horny old issue of money often essentially bricked into tatty outbuildings which we usually do, we keep the animals, rears its head and animal welfare takes with rubble. either at our sanctuary or find a loving second place to the authorities.

There were six cows in a barn also deep home for them. Our work is made more And so it was in 2014 when the Viva! in manure and who clearly were never difficult by Poland’s huge agricultural team visited a farm at Kazimierz Dolny, in allowed outside. The rabbit cages were sector of small farms that views the Warsaw’s outer suburbs. The vast property also so thick in manure that the rabbits rescuing of farmed animals as absurd. housed many dogs, several of them in had only about four inches height in which In the spring of 2017, we appealed again pretty bad shape, six cows and to live. They were extremely thin and had nose and eye infections. some rabbits. The whole area “Even though we’d expected to was a disaster with dangerous “The infrastructure we’ve been building see all this, being confronted by trash scattered everywhere. The the reality was very difficult”, animals lacked water and proper over the last five years at our says Magda Słowinska, one of feed and most of them were Korabiewicach sanctuary, the team members. “The old and without shelter of any kind. combined with the very friendly horse was still The most incredible sight was a experience that has been standing knee-deep in manure in gentle old mare being kept in a the basement and it was hard to basement, the floor so thick with growing since our very beleive our own eyes”. manure that the only place she first rescue, enables us to The owner of the farm was a could raise her head properly was help more and more farm middle-aged woman who, as by peering out of a hole in the animals each year.” usual, refused to explain wall. We shook our heads in Cezary Wyszynski, anything, but instead tried disbelief that in the 21st century seriously to assault the such conditions could still exist in head of Viva! Poland. team. The situation had to be one of Europe’s major cities.

T

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escue – again handled by the police.

We loaded up the horse, all the rabbits, most of the dogs, and one cow who was in the worst condition and took them to our sanctuary. The others were not considered to be in a bad enough condition by the authorities to be taken but they say they will monitor the situation. A court case against the owner has started and we are directly involved in it.

When Viva! inspected the animals we found they were all severely neglected or ill. One of the rabbits had to be instantly euthanised but the cow and lovely old horse now have space, plenty of food and medical treatment and are clearly happy.

Sadly, the horse finds great difficulty in walking because of her past treatment but anything that can be done for her by our vets is being done.

Goats saved Also earlier this year we brought another outstanding case to a conclusion, involving 15 dogs and 15 goats who are now in our care. Prosecution of the owner has started and an expert vet appointed in the case stated that the animals had all been abused. So thick in manure was the goats’ pen that if they wanted shelter they had to crawl into a tiny space on top of it all.

But they are now living free and in comfort, have adapted wonderfully to their new environment and are quickly putting weight on. “They are a pleasure to watch”, says Edyta Polak, caretaker at the Viva!

Sanctuary. “How they’ve changed since they arrived – they look happy and have preserved their herd and the bond between them is clear to see”.

New life for sheep One of the most shocking scenes we have ever witnessed again happened this year on a sheep-milk farm, used for cheese production. It seemed that the farmer simply couldn’t cope and 53 of the sheep died – almost certainly starved to death. It was hard to tell the dead from the barely alive as they were all lying down. Even when we offered food to them, the living were simply too weak to stand up.

We were able to rescue four of them and they have begun a new life at the sanctuary with the goats. They are still recovering physically but emotionally they are thriving – open and friendly to people and all they have to worry about is which of us has the better treats.

Adopt animals at Viva! Poland sanctuary – adoptafarmanimal.org.uk

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Th e Vi va! Boo k Clu b rec o m m ends…

Page-turner pressies for a cruelty-free Christmas.

We scour our well-stocked bookshelves for gifty reads to suit all tastes, from the plant-based gourmande to the busy bee!

for vegan gourmandes

for instagram animal addicts

The Vegan Bible Big, bold and beautifully-illustrated, this comprehensive cookbook, featuring 500 free-from recipes, proves anything ‘they’ can do, vegans can do better. Flavoured with a pinch of French flair, The Vegan Bible will teach you how to make vegan cheese from scratch, whip up an authentic galette and discover one’s inner plant-based gourmet.

Marie Laforêt , Hardback, 324pp. £25

for th e ad venturous veganista

My Vegan Travels Travel the world from the comfort of your kitchen table with trusty foodie guide, Jackie, an award-winning, plant-based author and popular MasterChef UK finalist. She shares 75 of her most cherished comfort food recipes, from America to Asia.

Tuck into Tevo's Texan Scramble Breakfast Burritos; spoon-up Chaispiced Rice Pudding and savour Beetroot and Watercress Samosas with Pineapple Chutney.

Jackie Kearney, Hardback, 208pp. £16.99

Goats of Anarchy: Goats Just Wanna Have Fun

100’s more vegan reads at vivashop.org.uk/ books

If you’re not one of the 400k fans that follow @goatsofanarchy’s addictively-adorable Instagram feed of their special needs goats (Pocket, Ella, Chibs, Lyla, Prospect and Polly) and their goaty shenanigans – this behind-the-scenes tour of their sanctuary is sure to spark your obsession and that of your animal-loving friends. Fill everyone’s stocking with this delightful read and then go back to liking cute photos of goats in blankets!

Leanne Lauricella, Hardback, 139pp. £9.99

Goats of Anarchy 2018 Wall Calendar 16 month calendar featuring the famous rescued residents of the sanctuary! £9.99

for th e busy bee

15 Minute Vegan Fast, fresh and modern vegan recipes that can be prepared in mere moments, from award-winning Yorkshire-based blogger, Little Miss Meat Free. Serve up over 100 quick and deliciously innovative dishes for all occasions from Butternut Squash and Sage Macaroni to Cherry and Garden Mint Smoothie Bowl. The Peanut Butter Blondie Flapjacks are the stuff of dreams.

Katy Beskow, Hardback, 160pp. £15

All Viva! Vegan Book Club recommends are available to buy from 48

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vivashop.org.uk/books

Restaurant reviews

Theo Randall’s Restaurant

If you’re going to Middlesbrough, you’ll find the top attraction is billed as the transporter bridge over the River Tees. But don’t let that put you off because in Borough Road is a real gem of a licensed vegan bistro that should be top of the tourist pops.

It is run by vegans Shirley and Derek and has some truly innovative dishes served in a cosy, friendly and professional atmosphere. The daytime menu includes old favourites such as sandwiches and wraps, jackets and salads but then, there are the more unusual chickpea and pulled mock chicken curry, veggie balls in rich tomato sauce, fishless fillet and chips, mince and dumplings with mash and onion gravy plus Mr Nice Pie’s pies – from Drunken Mushroom to Bountiful Butternut.

The evening menu has some of the daytime favourites but also includes mock chicken skewers with spicy peanut dip and, for me, the prize of the day - Vegan Parmo - breaded mock chicken fillets with béchamel, cheese and a host of other toppings. Served with homemade chips, red and white cabbage and onion slaw, salad and mayo, all for £10.95.

Jade Kirby gives The Green Room five stars: “Came today to treat my partner to a birthday meal – lovely food, we had the Vegan Parmo. So happy we found this place!!! Even gave us free birthday cake! Thank you”.

Laura Forbes felt similarly: “Love it here! I can see myself being a life-long customer. The whole ethos behind the business is so well reflected in both the food and the service. Everyone is passionate about the food they serve! Just what Middlesbrough needs!” What, better than the transporter bridge?

With a Michelin Star from the River Café, chef Theo Randall is passionate about Italian food and has joined the vegan revolution with some delicious offerings at his restaurant in the Intercontinental Hotel on London’s Park Lane.

You could have a drink at the restaurant’s own bar but my daughter and I sat at the main bar, overlooking Hyde Park Corner, with London’s red buses silently whirling around it beyond the windows.

I guess we all know what Italian food looks like but my guess is you won’t have tasted anything quite as good as that at Theo Randalls. The appetiser looked simple – focaccia and a bruschetta of tiny, bright red, San Marzano tomatoes but… the most delicious olive oil seeped from the bread while the sweetness of the tomatoes was extraordinary. I’ve never tasted anything like them.

Antipasto consisted of marinated red peppers, farinata (chickpea crepe), Swiss chard, fresh borlotti beans on bruschetta and Taggiasche olives and basil. When the conversation consists of, “Oooh, have you tasted the…” you know they’ve got it right.

Primo was a delightful little bowl of risotto with courgettes and tomatoes while Secondo consisted of grilled polenta with a mix of mushrooms, Italian spinach and roasted datterini tomatoes. Each of the different tomato types tasted entirely different.

The opinion of Dolci was ‘could do better’ as a peach sorbet or fruit plate is not indulgent enough for some people (me included). But we are in touch with suggestions…!

It is a large, unhurried restaurant with discreet lighting bang in the centre of London and it is a treat. The vegan tasting menu (by arrangement) costs £70 but the a la carte vegan menu can be viewed here theorandall.com/images/ menus/Sample_A_La_Carte_Vegan_Menu.pdf

THE GREEN ROOM, 114 Borough Road, TS1 2ES Tel 01642 913730.

THEO RANDALL, 1 Park Lane, W1J 7QY. 0207 318 8747 E: reservations@theorandall.com

The Green Room

viva.org.uk 49

Continued from page 17 Fats Avoid saturated animal fats and go for unsaturated types, particularly the essential fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6.

These are vital for brains and eyes and developing foetus needs a constant supply – from mum!

SOURCES OF GOOD FAT

Omega-3 fats are found in flaxseed (linseed) ground and sprinkled on breakfast cereal. Flaxseed oil in salad dressings or poured cold into soups, casseroles, pasta dishes etc. Don’t cook it as heat destroys the omega3s. Hemp seeds and hemp oil, coldpressed rape seed (canola) oil, dark green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, some nuts (walnuts and walnut oil particularly), soya beans and soya oil and wheat germ.

Omega-6 fats are found in seeds and their oils – sunflower, sesame, corn, grapeseed, hemp and rape, some nuts (particularly pecans, pistachios and walnuts), rice bran and soya beans. Again, don’t heat!

One of the best oils to cook with is virgin olive oil – high in omega-9, a beneficial, non-essential fatty acid.

As for getting omega-3s from fish – don’t! Pregnant women are strongly advised by government to limit their oily fish intake because of contamination with pollutants that can damage the baby’s nervous system, affect development and create learning problems. Cod liver oil contains excessive vitamin A and can also be damaging.

Calcium

Zinc

Needed for healthy nervous systems, blood clotting and bone and tooth formation in mother and baby. No, cow’s milk does not guarantee strong bones – in fact, it can cause osteoporosis. vivahealth.org.uk/bones

A deficiency of zinc increases the chance of miscarriage. It’s needed for hormone balance, fertilisation and egg implantation and development.

GOOD SOURCES

Seeds and nuts – especially sesame and almonds*, dark green leafy vegetables and pulses and tofu.

Iron The need for iron increases during pregnancy because both mother and baby are creating new blood. About one-third of pregnant women are mildly anaemic, meat eaters included. When pregnant with twins, my doctor was staggered by my iron results. He said: “You’re the first mum of twins to be high in iron.”

GOOD SOURCES

Dried fruits – figs, apricots, dates and prunes, nuts* and seeds. All pulses, tofu, soya milk, hummus and fortified breakfast cereals, wholewheat and wheatgerm, green leafy vegetables and wholegrains. Vitamin C increases the absorption of iron so eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.

GOOD SOURCES

Beans and lentils, yeast, nuts, seeds and wholegrain cereals. Pumpkin seeds are a very rich source.

Vitamins A, C and E Vegans get plenty, including vitamin A from beta-carotene. It’s needed to implant the fertilised egg.

GOOD SOURCES

Carrots, sweet potatoes, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, green leafy vegetables, watercress, mangoes, apricots, cantaloupe melons and romaine lettuce.

All fruits and veg contain vitamin C but some are particularly rich. It keeps the protective membrane around your baby strong.

GOOD SOURCES

Kiwi fruit, berries and currants, fresh oranges, grapefruit, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, peas, blackcurrants, strawberries.

Jo Lacey, Brigh ton Former Director’s PA, Viva!.

With Melika, pictured at 1 year “I’ve been vegan for more than 20 years and I had a healthy pregnancy followed by a natural home birth. Breastfeeding our daughter, Melika, has given her a good source of natural immunity and this, combined with a vegan diet, means she is rarely poorly.

I wanted to do the best for Melika and offered her foods I knew to be healthy and cruelty-free. She is really thriving on a diet of fruits and vegetables, lentils, nuts and soya products such as tofu and vegan sausages and lots of wholegrains.”

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Helen Wilson, Swansea

ian Alfie Purnell, Rh

al non’s little arriv

Vitamin E protects vital RNA and DNA, reducing the risk of congenital defects.

Former Viva!life editor & PR manager, Viva!.

Pregnant with Iolo “Having two healthy vegan pregnancies was really easy for me. Ensuring I ate even more fresh fruit and vegetables than usual wasn't a problem and I just made sure I ticked all the nutritional boxes by creating lots of wholesome meals containing good fats, B vitamins and iron. Viva!'s Foods for Fertility and Pregnancy Wallchart helped me a lot.

Being vegan gave my babies the best starts in life – both were healthy weights, Iolo being a fantastic 9lb 8oz. He and Otter continue to flourish.”

neural tube defects (Spina Bifida) and is therefore essential before conception and during early pregnancy.

GOOD SOURCES

Vegetable oils, wholegrains, tomatoes, nuts*, asparagus, spinach, apples, carrots, celery and avocados.

These three ACE vitamins are vital antioxidants that also protect against degenerative diseases – there’s very little in meat!

The B Vitamins Many B vitamins are involved in releasing energy from food and help to aid growth and repair of the body.

GOOD SOURCES

Wholegrains, including wholemeal bread, brown rice and wholemeal pasta, yeast extracts (eg Marmite), pulses, nuts, seeds, dark green leafy vegetables, avocados and bananas. Also many fortified breakfast cereals.

Folic acid (vitamin B9) is required for protein synthesis, formation of blood, metabolism of DNA (our genetic blueprint) and helps prevent

GOOD SOURCES

Most vegetables, especially dark green leafy ones, nuts, pulses and avocados.)

Vitamin B12 is vital for you and your baby's nervous system and blood formation.

No matter what your diet, take a B12 supplement and ensure a daily serving of B12-fortified foods.

GOOD SOURCES

Fortified breakfast cereals, yeast extracts (Marmite) and fortified soya or almond milk, preferably take a B12 supplement.

Watch Words!

Vegetarians beware – dairy may cause food poisoning. Avoid ripened soft cheeses such as Brie and Camembert as they may contain listeria which can result in possible miscarriage, still-birth or severe illness.

Eggs carry the risk of salmonella.

Caffeine in coffee and cola have been suspected (not proved) of producing birth defects or miscarriage.

Alcohol and smoking are both no-go, being associated with low birth weight and cot death.

Vegan women have been producing healthy, beautiful babies for thousands of years. Trust your body and mother nature. We are a great ape and evolved to thrive on a vegan diet. For reassurance see Wheat eaters or Meat eaters vivahealth.org.uk/guides Juliet is the co-author of Vegetarian & Vegan Mother and Baby Guide with Rose Elliot, published by Viva! viva.org.uk/vegetarian-andvegan-mother-and-baby-guide

This great Viva! guide is available for £2.95 plus £1.95 p&p from vivashop.org.uk

viva.org.uk 51

l Explore My Vegan Town and discover your new favourite places to eat, stay and shop! l PLUS search for vegan-friendly services, local groups and fun days out!

In collaboration with Viva! members, business friends and our expert team of eaters, shoppers and day-trippers, My Vegan Town is an amazing, free, vegan directory that brings the cruelty-free community together. Whether you’re looking for a vegan baker to whip up your wedding cake or you fancy going to a free-from foodie festival, our directory has it all.

Get Your Search On! Brand new website and features + 1000’s of listings!

be a cruelty-free champion Share your experiences and encourage others to live kind by reviewing the veganfriendly things you love. It’s super-easy to do and it’s free!

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Create a free account today!

Head on Down to myvegantown.org.uk 52

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HOLIDAYS – FRANCE

Classifieds HOLIDAYS – ENGLAND EAST SUSSEX

La Maison du Vert vegetarian & vegan hotel & restaurant

eat

Our hotel & restaurant is set in a stunning Normandy valley within 3 acres of beautiful gardens.

• Delicious vegetarian and vegan gourmet menus • Naturally grown produce, organic wines, ciders and beers • Visit Camembert, Monet’s garden, Mont St Michel, Hon eur, D-Day landing beaches, Bayeux • Walk, cycle, relax! Free WIFI

rest

Debbie & Daniel Armitage

61120 Ticheville, Normandy, France 00 33 2 33 36 95 84 mail@maisonduvert.com

LESAIGLES

see

www.maisonduvert.com

LAKE DISTRICT

VEGETARIAN & VEGAN SELF CATERING HOLIDAY APARTMENT

Mirabel-aux-Baronnies, 26110, France +33 (0)4 75 26 47 18 +33 (0)6 77 75 97 14 bookings@lesaigles-veggies.com www.lesaigles-veggies.com

HOLIDAYS – IRELAND West Cork – Vegetarian self-catering apartments. Peaceful, wooded surroundings. Organic vegetables and wholefoods available. Green Lodge, Ballylickey, Bantry, Co Cork.

Tel: 0035 3 2766146 Email: greenlodge@gmail.com PRODUCTS & SERVICES

www.taxreturnonlineservices.co.uk Financial Accounts Preparation • Self Assessment Tax Returns Rental Accounts • Business Tax Advice 5% donation to VIVA!

Tel: 01485 601499 CHARITIES

Personal

Looking for friendship, love or even a new business partner? Well, Viva!life Personal is the place to come! It’s simple and effective, and good value for money with prices starting from £8 for a 20-word lineage advert.

The Followers of the Way. Golgotha Skulls, Red Sea, vegetarian perspective, artist Antony Bates and Rev. Ferrier.

Please send SAE. Please reply to Box 61/5, Viva!, 8 York Court, Wilder Street, Bristol BS2 8QH Vegan Tattooist Wanted. To join Vegan Tattoo Studio in Wakefield. Contact Justyna on just30@tlen.pl Looking for other Vegan musicians to create project/band with. All genres and ideas welcome. Based in Cornwall Contact: veganvocalist@icloud.com

viva.org.uk 53

Cozy Handmade Soya Candles made with Essential Oils

Get 15% off at veganbunny.co.uk Using the code VIVA15

Best selling candles: Christmas Pudding, Mojito & Rose Blossom @Veganbunnyco Approved Vegan & Cruelty Free by Peta.org

Yogi Before Rain

Yogi After Rain

250,000 pets come into UK rescue centres each year,* but not always for reasons you might expect.

Some come from homes where they have been much loved but their human companion has passed away, or from families who face eviction have to give up those that are dearest, fearing they face no other option.

Here at Rain Rescue, we are dedicated to helping rescue, rehabilitate and re-home dogs and cats from these crisis situations as well as saving those abandoned on the streets, rescuing 500 in the last 12 months. With your help, we could save more *ADCH Website

Tia Before Rain

Tia After Rain

rainrescue.co.uk

ANIMAL FRIENDLY

VEGAN FOOTWEAR

Ice Patrol Mk2 (Black) • Back by popular demand!

• Foldable ice-gripper • Made in Portugal • Trainer comfort

NOW IN

Over 150 mens & womens styles: Casual, Formal, Sport, Leisure, Work, Hiking, Dress, Fashion, Sandals, Belts and Accessories Made in England & Europe Quality ‘breathable’ non-leather materials

A TREATORDER FOR YOUR IF YOU DON’T EAT MEAT! DIRECTFEET AT: www.vegshoes.com Tel: 01273 691913 | info@vegshoes.com A treat for your feet if you don’t eat meat!

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life

Est. 1990

Meal support for vulnerable vegans and veggies

Contact V for Life for your FREE copy

vegetarianforlife.org.u

Dinners to your door k

Sponsored by

Whether you’re houseb ound or simply don’t w ant to cook, have ready-m ade vegetarian and ve gan food delivered to your door!

0161 257 0887 | www.vegetarianforlife.org.uk

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Registered charity number 1120687

Across the UK companies are offering to send a variety of mouth-watering main meals, sides, soups and puddings to your door.

V for Life’s 12-page guide, Dinners to your Door, shows it’s possible to enjoy the convenience of these meals without having to compromise your vegan or vegetarian principles.

Make a difference with your energy bills Here’s four BIG reasons to join us...

Britain’s greenest energy company We supply 100% green electricity and frack-free green gas.

The best customer service No automated phone lines – just friendly people who pick up the phone and treat you like a real person.

Everybody pays the same We have just one tariff for electricity and one for gas – so all our customers are on our latest best price.

We believe a vegan diet is better for everyone We even helped our local football team, Forest Green Rovers, become the world’s rst - and only - vegan football club!

Up to £60 donation to Viva! * when you join Ecotricity *For full terms and conditions, please go to ecotricity.co.uk/viva.

Call us free on 0808 123 0123 or visit ecotricity.co.uk/viva (quote VIVA when you switch)