Viva!Life Issue 78 | Winter 2021

Published by Viva! the vegan campaigning group

Christmas Crackers Gifts Galore and Supermarkets’ Seasonal Offerings

US – Democracy or Fascism? asks Tony Wardle

life Issue 78 Winter 2021

Thriving Vegan Children See our latest

helpful webpages

Vegan Camp Out It’s back, it’s bigger and it’s reviewed here

Viva!’s latest undercover campaign:

Big Broiler Chicken Producers Exposed

The enigmatic and conflicted…

Russell Brand Interview by Juliet Gellatley

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VEGAN FOR ALL LIFE Viva!’s fight is a fight for life – for ourselves, animals and the planet.

Humankind’s abuse and exploitation of animals lies at the heart of most of the planet’s accelerating problems. The crushing number of farmed animals slaughtered every year impacts on almost every ecosystem and is the driving force that has propelled planet Earth into its sixth mass extinction.

The tens of billions of victims of this massacre are brushed aside by governments across the world. Viva!, however, is constantly revealing the abject conditions in which they are forced to live by secretly going inside factory farms. They are not only cruel but provide stinking reservoirs of disease where antibiotic resistance flourishes, deadly superbugs mutate and pandemics take root.

Over the years we have captured the headlines with our exposés, triggered the decline of meat, fish and dairy consumption and spurred the vegan revolution forwards.

Viva! is a registered charity (1037486) viva.org.uk

Contents

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RUSSELL BRAND Juliet Gellatley interviews the Marmite man

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LATEST UNDERCOVER EXPOSé Shocking state of UK broiler chickens

12 VEGAN CAMP OUT

ON EVERY FRONT Viva! has four sections which are displayed on our new website, a mass of verifiable information on why veganism is imperative to the future – everyone’s and everything’s future.

Viva! Animals provides fascinating information on all the species exploited for food in the UK and fun facts about their private lives. You can, however, also witness Viva!’s brave undercover investigations that show the shocking reality of the UK’s meat, egg, fish and dairy industries.

Viva! Planet explains why animal farming is the driving force behind all the world’s environmental crises. It also explores the solutions.

Viva! Health is science based and exposes the link between animal products and ill health; but also why varied vegan diets protect us. It takes you through the A to Z of diseases and the A to Z of nutrients.

Viva! Lifestyle is packed with advice on how to go vegan, plus has hundreds of recipes. Our V7 and V30 programmes make it easy for anyone to go and stay vegan.

HOW TO GET THIS MAGAzINE Join Viva! for just £15 to get your copy of Viva!life magazine four times a year.

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.

We review the biggest ever

15 GOING, GOING….

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Shocking loss of wildlife

17 BACK ON THE STREET City tour with vegan tastings

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24 TONY WARDLE It’s a choice – fascism or democracy

26 SUPERMARKET OFFERINGS Their super festive goodies

27 CHRISTMAS COOKERY Lip-smacking, luscious recipes

34 VIVA! POLAND We prosecute cruelty

46 MEGA MERCHANDISE

27

Huge choice from the Viva! shop

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5 Lifelines 33 Viva! at COP 26 36 Lifestyle 38 Life Science 41 Children’s Health 43 Food Justice for all 45 Media Life 49 VRC – get the app!

51 V Biz 53 Book Reviews

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Welcome

VIVA!LIFE MAGAzINE

Russell Brand is a controversial character, there’s no doubt about that. He’s bigmouthed, foul-mouthed and has been termed ‘mouth almighty’. But don’t take all that too seriously as his heart is nailed in exactly the right place, his values are spot on and he is not afraid to say, with great tenderness, that he loves animals. Oh, and he think’s Viva! is great!

It was my huge delight to interview him recently – at the magnificent Vegan Camp Out to be precise – and it’s published in this issue of Viva!life (see page 7). From a working-class background, he rose to public prominence on his wit and intelligence but like a pinball he has crashed from side to side, from success to failure, from drug addiction to sex Juliet with rescued blind sheep, River Phoenix at addiction but has now sorted himself out.

Starfield Farm Animal Sanctuary It is a truly fascinating read and I have remained true to his own choice of words (mostly) – so hold on to your hats!

Talking of Vegan Camp Out, what a year it was – having lost 2020 to the pandemic it has bounced back bigger, better and bolder. As sponsors of the event, I’m delighted to see its gigantic success, attracting over 11,500 participants and some truly headline names. See the review on page 12.

Once again we have gone undercover on Britain’s stinking factory farms, this time exposing broiler chicken production of the three biggest producers that account for most of the chicken consumed in the UK. And what another dismal display of suffering, indifference and deceit it is. All three producers carry the Red Tractor label, assuring consumers of high animal welfare standards. We really are like 1984 where nothing is what we’re told it is (see page 9).

Sadly, it is chicken that many people apparently find difficult to give up on the road to veganism, along with chocolate and cheese – the Big 3! To tackle this, we have used footage from our broiler investigation and a previous dairy exposé to cut together a new short film – The Big 3 (pages 17-19). Our campaigns team has taken it on the road to several cities and to university freshers’ fairs along with delicious food samples of vegan chicken, cheese and chocolate, provided free to us by the manufacturers.

We’ve run a similar campaign with our superbly sign-written burger van, giving our free burger samples while engaging people in conversations about the hugely damaging environmental impact of animal farming (page 22). These outreach campaigns have been outstandingly successful.

Christmas is hovering on the horizon and to help you get the best out if it, we have some excellent gifts, including vegan wines, for you to choose from (see pages 36 and 46) as well as information about some excellent and imaginative seasonal foods being offered by supermarkets (page 30). And on page 27 are some Christmas recipes to make you beam with pleasure.

Have a happy, animal-free holiday.

Yours for the animals Juliet Gellatley Founder & Director juliet@viva.org.uk facebook.com/juliet.gellatley

Viva! Founder & International Director Juliet Gellatley Executive Assistant Jess Nagji-Nunn Editor Tony Wardle Head of Campaigns Laura-Lisa Hellwig Head of Investigations Lex Rigby Head of Communications Faye Lewis Campaigns & Outreach William Sorflaten, Alice Short, Dani Lawton, Siobhan Dolan, Viva! Health Dr Justine Butler, Veronika Charvátová Office Manager & Supporters’ Liaison Laura Turner, Beata Rzepecka-Wilk, Renata Rzepecka Merchandise, Business & Events Emily Coster, Siobhan Dolan, Charlotte Heath, Lucy Constable Food & Cookery and VRC Maryanne Hall Design The Ethical Graphic Design Company Ltd Web & IT Roger Peñarroya i Zaldívar, Conor Haines, Jeremy Ludlow Podcast Presenters Helen Wilson, Faye Lewis Editorial enquiries 07956 496923 Advertising enquiries 0117 944 1000 Membership enquiries 0117 944 1000 info@viva.org.uk Online viva.org.uk vivahealth.org.uk veganrecipeclub.org.uk vivavegancharity vivacampaigns vivacharity Viva!, 8 York Court, Wilder Street, Bristol BS2 8QH

General enquiries

Contact Viva! on 0117 944 1000 (Mon-Fri 9-5) Email info@viva.org.uk Write to Viva! at: 8 York Court, Wilder Street, Bristol BS2 8QH 4

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

lifelines Meat – Down it Goes Daily meat consumption in the UK has fallen by 17 per cent in the last decade, a study published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health has shown – but not fast enough to meet key national targets to help protect the environment.

The National Food Strategy aims to reduce the environmental impact of our diets and recommends a fall in UK meat consumption of 30 per cent over the next 10 years – other (perhaps more independent) researchers say it must fall far more than this. “We now know we need a more substantial reduction,” said lead researcher, Cristina Stewart from the University of Oxford.

At least there’s now no longer any argument that high consumption of red and processed meat can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers (amongst others). And it’s now largely accepted (except by the Government) that meat production has a far higher environmental impact than other types of agriculture.

Prince Charles Joins the Club In a surprise admission during a BBC interview, the Prince of Wales acknowledged that we need to reduce meat and dairy consumption to save the global environment. Up until now he has always pushed organic as the answer. But he now goes meat free two days a week and dairy free one day – well, it’s a start and something of a sea change. He did not say if he has changed his mind on slaughtering badgers to eradicate bovine TB nor whether he has seen the light on fox and stag hunting.

Explosion at Chris Packham’s House The wildlife expert has been trolled on social media platforms with an onslaught of insults and even a ‘very calculated death threat’. Dead animals have been nailed to his front gates but on October 8, thugs went a step further. Just after midnight, two masked men rolled a Land Rover up to the entrance gates of his property in the New Forest, set fire to it and the subsequent explosion of fuel destroyed the gates. He has, of course, been vociferous in his opposition to hunting and shooting.

The next day he was due to present a 100,000 signature petition to Buckingham Palace, calling on the Royal Family to rewild their vast estates. He told the BBC that social media trolls whip up extreme hatred, “and that builds up an aura in which people feel compelled to act. The social media companies have done nothing… they are not accountable seemingly for managing it in any way. It appears that hate is profitable to them.”

In the next issue of Viva!life, read Juliet Gellatley’s interview with Chris Packham.

Vegan Hopes for the Future Research with 1,004 children by BBC Good Food found that eight per cent of children aged five to 16 were following a vegan diet while a further 13 per cent were vegetarian. It means that a fifth of this age group have given up meat. But here’s the fascinating thing; it reveals that a further 15 per cent would like to be vegan and a whopping 21 per cent would like to be vegetarian.

Nearly everyone who makes initial changes to their diet eventually goes the whole way so if all these wannabes fulfill their hopes, it would mean that 57 per cent of young people eat no meat or fish and 23 per cent eat no animal products at all. This would be a societal shift of enormous proportions.

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lifelines

Carrie Condemns Cages

You will know that Viva! has repeatedly exposed the barbarity of so-called ‘enriched’ cages and you may also recall that we have a good relationship with the Conservative MP, Henry Smith. So far, we’ve never met Carrie Johnson, the prime minister’s wife. However, she has joined with Henry and the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (along with The Humane League UK) to launch a petition demanding the banning of cages for hens by 2026.

It is being termed Beatrice’s Bill after a poor, bedraggled and almost featherless hen rescued from an enriched cage by Henry Smith. He said: “Millions of hens around the world remain in such cages which cause extreme suffering”.

Henry Smith’s Bill is set to be debated in November but is unlikely to become law without support from the Government. Oh boy, with the fuel crisis, a lack of HGV drivers, empty supermarket shelves, Brexit failures and Rishi Sunak’s ambitions, No. 10 could well cease to be a safe haven for the embattled PM. Go Carrie!

Who Made All the Pies Shock waves ran through Melton Mowbray (the home of pork pies) in 2019 when a vegan pie won a top prize in their annual pie competition. It’s a serious business this competition and this year there were 150 judges sampling 800 pies, nearly 70 of which were vegan – the single biggest class of pie.

They included spicy jackfruit, mushroom and ale and Bombay potato.

Vegan and vegetarian pies were amongst the winners and the highly recommended but supreme champion was from the meat brigade.

Ron Rocks A few weeks ago, we received an email from someone called Christine Pedder who said: “My name is Christine and I am a companion to an amazing chap called Ron Green.

“He is 101 next month and is involved with activist groups. He is an intelligent man who is interested in all that’s going on and completely off his own bat, announced that he had made the decision to be a vegan! I think he is worth a mention to show that it’s never too late!”

We think so too, Christine and all of us at Viva! congratulate you Ron on your wonderful, principled decision. Respect!

DiCaprio Backs Mosa Meat Three years ago, Viva!’s Juliet Gellatley and Dr Justine Butler visited the Dutch bio meat company Mosa Meat and wrote about it in Viva!life. An even bigger personality has just joined the company as an investor and advisor – environmentalist, Oscar award-winning actor and megastar, Leonardo DiCaprio. In a public statement he said: “One of the most impactful ways to come at the climate crisis is to fundamentally reshape our global food system. Mosa Meat pioneered a cleaner, kinder way of making real beef with the world’s first cultivated beef burger in 2013. I’m honoured to join them as they now prepare to bring cultivated beef to market for all those who crave change”. Good on ya Leo!

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Russell Brand …’rather gorgeous and contradictory’

ussell Brand seems to have a lived a million lives.

He’s a man who inspires love and hate in equal measure. He exploded onto the big time comedy scene in 2006 with his nationwide tour, Shame. He was sexy, in a dandy highwayman kind of way, vulnerable, dirty and disarmingly honest about his tumultuous life.

He came across as a bundle of contradictions – vain, self-obsessed and courting fame but also vegetarian, anti-capitalist and someone who really cared about stuff that matters.

But most of all, he was funny. Very funny.

Russell has re-emerged in recent years as a hugely popular podcaster and he is absorbingly deep-brain interesting. In presenting Under the Skin With Russell Brand (Luminary Podcasts), he is part explorer and part clown, frolicking at the edges of profound thought in the company of philosophers, psychologists, scientists, anarchists, theologians, Marxist scholars, economists, comedians and mad professors.

R

The controversial Russell Brand talks to Juliet Gellatley about his love of animals and his loathing of the bullshit vortex

I read his first autobiography, My Booky Wook in 2007 and found it disgustingly delightful. It’s an utterly compelling read about a man who, at the time of publication, was still only 32, yet who’d packed so much – too much – in.

In 2006, he’d been named Time Out’s Comedian of the Year, yet only four years before he was in drug rehab and his career in freefall. In the same year, 2006, he was voted Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards, and in 2008 he won Best Live Stand Up at the same prestigious awards. His Shame tour was sold out. His BBC Radio 6 show became a cult phenomenon and so he was promoted to BBC Radio 2 co-hosting The Russell Brand Show and had an incredible 400,000 listeners. But then he was forced to resign as the BBC became embroiled in a scandal after he and Jonathan Ross, live on air, left lewd phone messages on actor Andrew Sach’s answer machine.

During Russell’s rise to stardom, his finger was firmly on a self-destruct button so it isn’t surprising to discover that his childhood was far from perfect. He had what he describes as a difficult time and then an even tougher adolescence. His parents split when he was a baby and he was brought up solely by his mum Barbara (who he loves dearly) in grey, suburban, working-class Essex. She contracted uterine cancer when he was eight years old and battled breast cancer a year later. Through her failing health he lived with relatives but left home at 16 because of battles with his mum’s partner. He drank heavily and started taking a cocktail of drugs, even setting himself on fire while on crack cocaine. 

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Russell attended Grays School Media Arts College and in 1991, was accepted by the Italia Conti Academy.

Predictably, after his first year, this intelligent, massively talented but directionless teenager, filled with confusion, hurt and angst, was expelled for illegal drug use and poor attendance.

Despite the wildness, perhaps partly because of it, Russell worked his way to fame and in 2000 landed his first presenting job at MTV. A year later, he was sacked for bringing his heroin drug dealer into work and introducing him to Kylie Minogue as a fun social experiment! What could possibly go wrong?

He later wrote: “I hit rock bottom in 2003 with an addiction to heroin, which had cost me a job at MTV, a radio show, friends and girlfriends. I’d been doing drugs since I was 19 and was a heroin addict for four years.

Luckily, my (then) manager and friend, Chip Somers, stepped in, telling me I’d wind up either in prison, a lunatic asylum or the graveyard.”

Russell went into rehab that used a 12-step programme and has been drug-free ever since. He writes, speaks, and performs a lot about his former addictions – to drugs, to sex – and about his need for attention.

Around 2006, on the rise to becoming a household

name, I noticed that this flamboyant, exuberant presenter on Big Brother’s Big Mouth mentioned being vegetarian several times. Then in My Booky Wook, Russell described going vegetarian at 14 because of videos sent to him by the organisation I worked for. I would have been in my 20s and had set up the Youth Ed team (specialising in reaching teenagers) and wondered if our paths had already crossed.

Whether or not they had, it wasn’t until 2021 that we met. Russell was invited by the organiser of Vegan Camp Out, Jordan Martin, to be the headline act. Viva! is the principal sponsor of the festival and I was speaking on the main stage but had also arranged to interview the enigma that is Russell Brand.

Excitement was building in the green room as we awaited his arrival. Jordan is clearly a massive fan, and was pacing the floor. When Russell walked in, there was a flurry of excitement but the first thing I noticed was his dog, Bear! This magnificent floofy boy trotted in with such enthusiasm for life and self-confidence, it was impossible not to be enthralled.

Russell is rather glorious! He towered above everyone and exuded energy and charisma. Amid the hubbub, he shook my hand, looked at me with his penetrating dark, chocolate eyes and said: “I like Viva!. And your website is brilliant.” It was a good start! My interview with him was in a stark conference room – two cameras and my sons, Jazz and Finn, taking snaps and checking back-up audio.

Russell was different from the comedian I’d recently watched on Netflix. We were talking about issues that clearly matter deeply to him and he was intense and serious until a huge smile broke out on his face when he spied someone sneakily poking a mobile phone through the window to video him.

Russell went vegetarian because he was appalled by factory farming and slaughter but what kept him veggie through his tumultuous years?

“All my life, loving my pets has been one of the most easy, natural and comforting things. Near where I used to live was a disused chalk pit and it was my sanctuary.

I used to go there, fascinated by newts and little baby birds. I love animals a lot.

“When I saw those videos in the 1980s, and that level of brutality… It was accompanied by my love of Morrissey. I thought, ‘I really love this man, I really love animals, I don’t want to participate in that”.

Continued on page 20

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A Viva! Investigation

Big Broiler Producers Exposed An investigator’s first-hand account t’s the early hours of the morning and I’ve never been here before, yet it already feels familiar. These places are all the same. They try to hide in plain sight, but there is no masking the stench. That’s always the giveaway.

A rich combination of stale waste and death enters my nostrils – it’s a pungent odour that chokes the environment and everyone that enters it. Despite the darkness, I can see that we’re close. I take a deep breath, probably the last bit of “fresh” air I’ll get for the next few hours, and step over the shallow brook lining the perimeter.

There are 15 industrial-sized sheds, all uniform in nature, and each with a giant conical metal feed silo, poised to dump its contents inside. The lights are on, but the frosted glass windows prevent us from seeing much. You need all your senses alert for this job. Over the hum of the giant ventilation fans, I can just about hear the clucks, pucks and putts of the 30,000 birds in shed 14 – this evening’s target.

I’m at one of the largest broiler farms I’ve ever been to, where almost 450,000 chickens bred for meat are reared every eight weeks. It’s an incredibly fast process.

Due to the sophistication of selective breeding, the biology and physiology of today’s modern broiler chickens has been transformed to prioritise rapid growth above all else.

It’s past midnight but we need to be sure the farm workers are done for the day. We decide it’s probably best to check the whole site before even trying the door, just in case. It’s going to take a while. The last thing we want is to be disturbed. Our job is quite simple 

I

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Viva! Campaigns’ anonymous investigator steps once more inside broiler sheds owned by the UK’s biggest producers and the story is the same – misery dismissed as high animal welfare, with Red Tractor backing up the claims

though. With camera in hand, we’re here to document the reality of British chicken farming – the typical conditions that over 95 per cent of the one billion broilers killed every year in the UK live in.

The farm is so big! We creep along the back of 13 sheds lining the main drag to the top entrance. There’s a small brick building next to the vehicle barrier, supposedly to ensure all visitors are signed in and aware of the biosecurity requirements to access the site. I pull a face. Biosecurity on farms like this is a joke. Workers get lazy and diseases spread with ease.

I look like I’m about to enter a hazardous chemical laboratory. I suppose I am, in a way There is also a bungalow, presumably reserved for the farm manager, and therefore something we need to keep our eye on. It’s quiet and the lights are off. As are the lights in the farm office buildings and we can see the utility buggy neatly parked up. It’s a relief. Now we can get on with the task at hand.

I leave my colleague at the end of shed 13, they’re going to watch for activity near the entrance while I make my way inside shed 14. Something in the corner of my eye grabs my attention. It’s just a rabbit, sniffing around for a treat. She doesn’t seem bothered by my presence and so I continue.

Reaching for the handle, I take one last look around before slipping through the door, straight into the brightly lit antechamber. It’s here I have a chance to

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pause and prepare my equipment. I read the notice board and see from the grow-out chart that the birds are 38 days old. We’ve timed it perfectly – just two days from now they’ll be heading to the slaughterhouse.

The routine is always the same. I start up my handheld GPS and record the date, time and coordinates from the screen, placing the device next to anything that makes the farm identifiable. I’ve had enough dishonest denials from farm owners: “This isn’t my farm”, “You filmed that somewhere else”, “That footage isn’t even taken in this country.” Wrong, every time. It is your farm.

Once satisfied, I pull on my disposable overall, fix a dust mask to my face and slide my feet into plastic booties.

I look like I’m about to enter a hazardous chemical laboratory. I suppose I am, in a way. Again, I hit record on my camera. It’s important to prove you’ve taken the necessary precautions to protect the animals inside. Then I pull open the poultry house door and cross the threshold.

It takes a few seconds for my camera to adjust to the heat and my heart to settle its beat. I remember the first time I did this. It was overwhelming. I think now, it’s more routine and in many ways, I’ve become almost desensitised to the suffering I find. It’s only after the job is complete, I allow myself to think about that.

I follow my standard shot checklist. From a standing position I capture the immense scale of the place. I point my camera to the left and slowly sweep to the right.

How can I get 30,000 birds in this one shot? I can’t, of course, but I do my best.

Next, I crouch down to focus on individuals – a dead one, a lame one, a bald one, a pecked one, a distressed one. They’re not hard to find. It’s like every overbred bird in here has something wrong with them, each a product of a nation’s seemingly insatiable demand for cheap chicken. What have we become? Are consumers

really accepting of such abhorrent treatment, or do they just not know?

My knees are sodden. I’ve spent most of my time in here lying on the wet litter, filming at bird level – trying to capture the pain in their eyes. I’m lucky, because in a few hours from now I’ll be able to wash it all away. But not these birds. They’ll spend their entire lives – all six weeks of them – sitting and walking in this; their own excrement. It’s the reason why none of the birds I see have feathers on their breasts. Their skin is red raw and I notice hock burns on their feet – scorch marks caused by ammonia in the litter that are common on the upper joints and feet of chickens raised on factory farms.

After an hour or so it becomes unbearable. I’m hot, sweaty, wet, smelly and totally exasperated by the dismal reality of intensive farming. I’ve walked the length of the shed, filming as I go. Dead one, lame one, bald one; dead one, lame one, bald one. I think I’ve done what I can. I quicken my pace and get back to the relative comfort of the antechamber. I take a seat on the ledge to catch my breath, pull off my coveralls and pack away my camera.

I hear another call over my radio, “green, green, all clear.” I’ve been getting these check-ins every 10 minutes. I reply: “Copy that, I’m done and I’m coming out.” My colleague meets me at the door. We take one last look around and silently depart into the night, just the way we came.

birds live in cramped, overcrowded conditions which cause anxiety and stress.

“The footage shows birds collapsed, struggling to walk and with splayed legs. These conditions are usually a result of the bird’s inability to carry their own bodyweight. Broiler chickens are selectively bred to speed up growth. They often struggle to walk due to severe lameness and excessive body weight.”

– Professor Andrew Knight (expert in animal welfare science, ethics and law).

During this broiler investigation, we visited the UK’s three biggest chicken meat producers and our exposé was featured in the Independent. You can find out more by viewing our disturbing film Chicken Farming Exposed at viva.org.uk/animals/campaigns/investigationbroilers or via our YouTube channel.

The footage from this investigation was shown to a renowned vet who said “This investigation footage is highly disturbing and animals are clearly suffering on these farms.

“I am concerned to see examples of cannibalism, feather-pecking and birds suffering severe feather-loss.

These issues are commonplace in factory farms where

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Viva! are proud sponsors of…

n a g e V t u o p m ca …big, bigger & now BIGGEST

Photo @ne3d

BY JULIET GELLATLEY

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“I just grewed,” said Topsy the little slave girl in Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Vegan Camp Out (VCO) can sure make the same claim because it has certainly ‘grewed’.

In 2016, 400 people gathered together at a field in Derby to take part in a new type of vegan event based on the music festival vibe, with partying outdoors and socialising. Living under canvas in a huge open space meant freedom and few constraints.

It was the brilliant idea of Jordan Martin but that first one was a bit of a select affair with some music but just one food vendor and no talks. Despite being small, it must have been perfectly formed because people loved it and in 2017, Jordan chanced his arm and booked speakers, bands and food vendors, using a crowdfunder and bank loan. Some 2,700 people turned up! In 2018 it was 5,000, 2019 it topped 7,500 and in 2020… it was cancelled, the dreaded Covid 19.

Fast forward to this year and would it survive the hiatus? Well, 11,600 people confirmed it would as they buzzed around the Newark Showground in Notts, for a weekend-long event with great music, masses of food stalls and a string of famous names to give talks.

I met Jordan in 2017 and loved his idea of growing an outdoor festival so in 2018, Viva! became VCO’s main partner. With the previous year missing, 2021 felt extra special – and it was extra special as it has blossomed into

Above left: Viva! patron, poet and musician, Benjamin Zephaniah, wows the crowds at Vegan Camp Out. Top right: It’s standing room only for a talk by Chris Packham, who we interview in the next issue of Viva!life.

Above right: Viva! staff Lucy, Renata, Will and Emily take a quick break from a busy stall

one of the biggest outdoor vegan festivals in the world.

It is just such a lovely event and from the moment we arrived, excitement was tangible. With crew, there were some 12,000 vegans in one place, tents dotted as far as the eye could see and a fantastic line-up of food vendors, who were run off their feet!

As with other campaigning groups, Viva! was nonstop busy and staff – Emily, Renata, Lucy and Will, plus volunteers Kerri and Imogen – were blown away by the overwhelming warmth and positivity of people visiting our stall. We sold out of almost everything!

We were spoilt for entertainment with an extraordinary line-up of music, wellness classes such as yoga, food, skate boarding and excellent, high-profile speakers.

I love the audiences at VCO, not least because they’re so appreciative. I gave a talk on the humble, beautiful but grossly underestimated and misunderstood chicken – the most exploited farmed animal there is. The sheer scale of their massacre is eye wateringly huge – over 60 billion worldwide ever year! The audience of many

Photo @ne3d

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Photo @ne3d

We were spoilt for entertainment with an extraordinary line-up

hundreds seemed to share my views and their reaction was heart-warming. I also showed our new short video called The Big 3. Made by Tony Wardle, it tackles the three products many people say they find hard to give up – chocolate, cheese and chicken. The audience loved it.

The following day, I showed our 30-minute documentary, Hogwood: a modern horror story and took great pleasure in announcing that it is going to be on – wait for it – Netflix from April 2022! When I finished my talk which followed it, I was not expecting the audience of hundreds to give me a standing ovation.

Perhaps it’s no surprise I love VCO. My colleagues Lex and Will had been talking in the packed Activism Room. Lex focussed on her passion for marine wildlife and experiences intervening in illegal whaling and patrolling African waters for illegal fishing with Sea Shepherd. She also got to interview the awesome Joey Carbstrong, a main speaker, and it will appear in a future Viva!life. To an audience of hundreds, Will talked about people’s most common objections to going vegan and how to overcome them.

The biggest attraction at the fest were, without doubt, headline speakers Chris Packham and Russell Brand.

The main stage area was heaving with probably half the festival goers packed in to see both. They weren’t disappointed! Chris was eloquent, passionate and 

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inspiring; Russell was irreverent, funny and captivating – the audience hanging on his every word. Both Chris and Russell finished to deafening applause.

I interviewed both men, who are almost at opposite ends of the campaigning spectrum in their styles, and it was a fantastic opportunity not just to meet them but also dig a little beneath the surface. Both the Russell Brand and Chris Packham interviews will appear in this magazine, the Viva! Podcast (Oct and Nov) and our YouTube channel. My Russell interview is in this issue (see page 7).

VCO also allowed me to meet old friends and make new; to hear truly inspiring speeches from Russell and Chris but also Joey Carbstong (Sept Podcast), Cosmic Skeptic, Henry and Ian of BOSH; and to hear the great musical talents of Benjamin Zephaniah and Tally Spear – who looks so like her gorgeous mum, Carol Royle!

Jordan is looking to book an even bigger venue for 2022 so stand by!

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Photo @ne3d Photo @ne3d

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Photo @ne3d

Both Chris and Russell finished to deafening applause

Left and centre: facilities at the event included a skateboard park and some very cool music. Top: Joey Carbstrong (who we’ll be interviewing in Viva!life) has a big and attentive audience. As does Cosmic Skeptic (aka Alex J. O’Connor)

The Wildlife Cancel Culture The eradication of plant and animal species is so profound that we have entered a sixth mass extinction, says Dr Justine Butler, Senior Researcher and Writer, Viva! Health he most serious aspect of the environmental crisis confronting us, according to some scientists, is the loss of biodiversity – the other living things with which we share the Earth. This huge loss, they say, represents a crisis that could surpass the climate threat.

One million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, many within decades – more than ever before in human history. This was the stark conclusion reached in 2019 by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), an organisation comprising over 130 member countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and including the UK, the US, Russia and China.

IPBES Chair, Sir Robert Watson, said: “The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.”

We don’t know how many different species inhabit the Earth but a widely-accepted estimate puts the figure at 8.7 million, of which 2.2 million are marine.

However, only 14 per cent of land-based species and nine per cent of those living in the ocean have been classified – the rest have yet to be identified. Given current extinction rates, many species will become extinct before they have been identified and studied. We are killing plants and animals we don’t even know exist.

T

A rich biodiversity is critically important for all life on Earth as it provides a wide range of ecosystem services DOES BIODIVERSITY MATTER? A rich biodiversity is critically important for all life on Earth as it provides a wide range of ecosystem services, including oxygen production, water filtration, nutrient recycling, soil generation, pollination and seed dispersal

– without which we would not survive. The air we breathe, water we drink, food we eat and medicines we depend upon all rely heavily on biodiversity.

David Macdonald, Professor of Wildlife Conservation and Director of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford, said: “Without biodiversity, there is no future for humanity.”

Nature regulates many processes that are the basis of our economies, lives and well-being, offering protection from environmental hazards and regulating the climate.

We simply could not survive without the wide variety of animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms with which we share the Earth – and we need them much more than they need us!

Phytoplankton (tiny algae) form the basis of the entire marine food chain, providing food for some of the smallest and largest animals on the planet. They produce half of all the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere and play an important role in storing carbon. But populations have fallen substantially over the past century as a result of rising sea temperatures and acidification, caused by carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere dissolving in the sea. If they continue to die, it won’t just be phytoplankton getting into hot water.

Rainforests also produce some of the oxygen we breathe but an even more significant value lies in their rich biodiversity, their vast ability to store carbon and the way they influence the local and global climate – we are only just discovering the significance of some of these roles.

Bats, birds, butterflies and bees and other small insects are important pollinators. More than threequarters of global food crops, including fruits and vegetables and some of the most important cash crops, such as coffee, cocoa and almonds, rely on animal pollination and would not survive without it. The decline in pollinating insects could have dire consequences for food security.

Whether you are looking at coral reefs being bleached, forests turning to savannahs or ice sheets melting – disrupting ecosystems that have developed naturally over thousands or millions of years – is likely

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OF ALL THE MAMMALS ON EARTH…

60%

to have devastating consequences. How dependent one part of a complex ecosystem is on another may not be apparent until it is lost. Think of biodiversity as a knitted jumper – pulling out a loose thread may make a small hole or it may unravel the whole thing.

Professor of environmental sciences, Garry Peterson, from the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden, said: “We’re surprised at the rate of change in the Earth system. So much is happening at the same time and at a faster speed than we would have thought 20 years ago.

That’s a real concern. We’re heading ever faster towards the edge of a cliff.”

DIET AND WILDLIFE Gidon Eshel, a geophysicist at Bard College in Annandale-On-Hudson, New York, who studies how our diets affect the environment, says: “You eat a steak, you kill a lemur in Madagascar. You eat a chicken, you kill an Amazonian parrot.” That’s because species-rich habitats, such as rainforests, are being decimated and converted to pasture and feed crops to meet the increasing global demand for meat and dairy foods. As with the climate crisis, animal agriculture lies at the heart of the problem.

WHAT ABOUT SOYA? It’s a misconception that soya-eating vegans are responsible for deforestation in the Amazon. The vast majority of soya grown on farms in Latin America is used for animal feed. However, there is little traceability and the strong links between a burger eaten in London or Manchester and Amazonian deforestation are often lost.

MASS EXTINCTION As the global population grows, animal agriculture is expanding to meet the seemingly insatiable demand for meat. As a direct consequence, the natural world is shrinking and we are now experiencing a sixth mass extinction which researchers have described as ‘biological annihilation.’ Of all the mammals on Earth (in terms of biomass), 60 per cent are livestock, 36 per cent are humans and only four per cent are wild mammals. These huge population declines, scientists warn, will have negative and cascading consequences on ecosystem functioning and services vital to sustaining human civilisation.

Scientists describe mass extinctions as times when the Earth loses more than three-quarters of its species over a

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ARE LIVESTOCK

36%

ARE HUMANS

4%

ARE WILD

(by weight)

“It is not too late to make a difference but only if we start now, at every level, from local to global” short period of time. The last one was 66 million years ago but it has happened five times over the past 540 million years.

Unlike previous mass extinctions – caused by asteroids, volcanic eruptions and natural climate shifts – the current crisis is caused by human activity. Billions of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians have been lost all over the planet. A million species are at risk of extinction but what most people don’t realise is – humans are too!

This all sounds grim but there is still hope. According to Watson: “this report tells us that it is not too late to make a difference but only if we start now, at every level, from local to global”. It’s time to stand up for nature and go vegan today!

(See Justine Butler also on page 38, Tony Wardle on page 24 and Will Sorflaten on page 33)

Chocolate, cheese and chicken wraps (bottom left) keep the crowds happy, dispensed by Viva! staff Alice, Will, Jess and Dani

A Fresh Look

for Uni Freshers

BY WILL SORFLATEN, SENIOR CAMPAIGNER

It’s often the same old cry: “I’d go vegan but I love chicken / cheese / chocolate too much...” Chocoholics, chickoholics and… well, cheese lovers, see these foods – the big three – as insurmountable barriers.

That’s why we took our successful Big 3 campaign on tour around city high streets. We then headed off to freshers’ fairs to show university students that they don’t need to choose between ethics and taste. We visited the universities of Reading and Oxford for two days and Southampton and Portsmouth for a day each.

Equipped with Taste and Glory chicken bites, Applewood’s smoky vegan cheddar, VBites cans of tasty, cheesy beans and Vego’s delicious pralines, we offered taste tests to ever-hungry students and then showed them the reality of chicken and dairy farming.

This 18-34-year-old demographic consistently ranks as the age group most concerned about the planet and most willing to do something about it. Viva!’s team met with thousands of them, many of whom were concerned about animal welfare as well as the climate crisis. Most had only just flown the nest and were having to feed themselves for the first time – an ideal opportunity to offer them tasty alternatives to the tired old threesome.

There was some reluctance to try vegan cheese but the days of tasting like flavoured Polyfilla are long gone and they were wowed by Applewood’s vegan cheddar. Both the chicken bites and chocolate had people shaking their heads in disbelief that they were dairy free.

But these events aren’t just freebie jollies and our team got stuck into the ethics of dairy and egg production and raised awareness of animal farming’s devastating impact on the planet. It prompted innumerable vegetarians to consider taking the next step to veganism and laid down a marker for the future that almost everyone accepted.

Many students were naturally worried about the costs of eating vegan but the team put them straight on that as well – a healthy, varied vegan diet could actually save them money! As backup, we handed out our excellent Student Guide to Eating Vegan leaflets – at least 2,000 went winging away.

A surprisingly large number of students signed up to our V7 challenge – go vegan for seven days with the full support of Viva! behind you. The perfect way to start our vegan journey, many said.

These outreach campaigns are hugely rewarding – and effective – and we’d like to thank Taste and Glory, VBites, Applewood and Vego for their support and the unis for hosting our events.

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Chocolate, Cheese, Chicken?

! n a c e V u o y Yes, Viva! Campaigner Alice Short reports on our latest street actions to promote veganism Wherever we go, whether freshers’ fairs or the high street we find the same old story that it is chicken, cheese and chocolate that are the three biggest obstacles to people going vegan. So Viva! took to the streets of Britain as part of our brand new Big 3 campaign to prove just how easy going vegan really is.

Throughout August and September, we visited six different cities with a mission to show the British public how to swap their favourite three foods for cruelty-free alternatives, without compromising on taste.

Gone are the days of vegan food being dubbed as bland, dry and tasting of nothing but cardboard. There are now hundreds, maybe even thousands, of brands offering delicious substitutes to the foods meat-eaters ‘couldn’t live without’. Viva! took it upon themselves to demonstrate to the meat-eating public that they can, in fact, live without meat and dairy, whilst saving lots of lives, the planet and their health.

We travelled to London, St Albans, Slough, Luton, Oxford and Taunton armed with Taste and Glory’s

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‘Chicken’ tenderstrips, VBites Mexican cheese and cheesy beans, Applewood Smoked ‘Cheese’ and from Oggs, ‘Chocolate’ Fudge Cakes and Vegolino pralines.

The response was overwhelmingly positive, with so many people trying vegan food for the first time. Almost everyone who tried the BBQ ‘chicken’ wraps said they would happily eat them again and many meat-eaters said they preferred them to meat. In Slough, one member of the public said: “I can’t believe that it’s not chicken. It tastes just like real meat”. She then added that she would now consider giving vegan a go.

From zero-grazing to industrial chicken sheds, factory farming is responsible for some of the worst cases of mass animal cruelty, inflicting suffering on approximately one billion land animals in the UK every year.

Daniel, who we met at our event in London, said he was put off animal products for life after watching our latest Big 3 campaign video – an undercover exposé of Britain’s three biggest chicken companies, producing

three-quarters of all chicken meat. Suffering was ubiquitous in every shed we entered and we know from experience that this is standard across the UK. These big producers supply all the best known brands, from KFC to Nando’s, McDonald’s to Burger King and just about every supermarket. To add insult to injury, all carry the Red Tractor Assurance label, guaranteeing ‘good animal welfare’.

Sadly, dairy is no better, with mothers forcibly impregnated every year and their babies stolen from them at just a day or two old – and all so humans can have their milk. In Oxford, Nicole said she had “no idea about the truth behind dairy” until watching our Big 3 video. When it came to trying our vegan cheese sample, she couldn’t believe it contained no dairy and promised to buy it the next time she went shopping!

Those with a sweet-tooth had no idea that chocolate made without cow’s milk could taste so creamy as the Vegolino praline samples we gave them. The moist and gooey Oggs chocolate cakes also went down a treat, causing astonishment that something so delicious could be made using chickpea water!

Not only did we hand out thousands of free samples but we also distributed Viva!’s colourful information leaflets, the most popular being our Vegan For series – Vegan for the Animals, the Planet, Health and, of course, the Recipes. They are a perfect beginners’ guide to veganism, covering the four major topics.

Staff and volunteers were also on hand to talk about our amazing V7 meal plan, with many people pledging to give the seven-day vegan challenge a go. Others were thrilled to hear about Viva!’s very own Vegan Recipe Club, bursting with thousands of free, tried and tested recipes.

After this upbeat, successful, street-party-style action, showcasing the very best vegan food swaps, we decided to take the Big 3 tour to six different university freshers’ fair days, visiting Reading, Portsmouth, Southampton and Oxford.

We have reached thousands of people by giving away alternatives to chicken, cheese and chocolate and showing just how tasty it can be to Enjoy The Big 3 – Animal Free! It was a series of summer street parties to remember!

Great-tasting food is combined with powerful information wherever our street actions go.

Bottom: staff and volunteers in central Taunton

To watch our new Big 3 video visit viva.org.uk/big3 To order a set of vegan leaflets, head to vivashop.org.uk/free-vegan-leaflets viva.org.uk 19

Continued from page 8 “Perhaps there are other areas in my life where I have unconsciously participated in systems of exploitation. In fact, capitalism demands it of us”, he exclaimed while waving his mobile phone as an example. “But with the animals, it was very clear to me, and thank you for observing that, vegetarianism stayed with me through some very tumultuous and challenging times. I suppose it must be something akin to a faith in that it felt sacred to me.”

Viva! has recently investigated the highly intensified broiler chicken industry in the UK, which is virtually run by just three trans-national companies. I wondered what Russell thought the implications of this are?

“There will be more brutality and exploitation.

Wherever you prioritise economics over the needs of sentients, then you create brutality and exploitation.

These monopolised, centralised systems exacerbate and expedite negative conditions at a rapacious pace that is difficult to contemplate.

“What it makes me feel is that it can’t survive on its own mettle. It’s a Frankenstein, zombie thing, like the financial industry post-2008 that had to be quantitatively eased in order that it didn’t implode.

We’re living among ghosts, we’re haunting a dead system, maybe it’s we who are the phantoms. This idea of awakening – individual, cultural and social awakening – means that we can suddenly see: ‘hold on a minute, we’re holding up dead industries, for no reason other than it benefits those with power…’”

Russell is, of course, renowned for his political views which are central to who he is and borne out of a true belief the human race is capable of so much more.

Fundamentally, we are all being screwed over by those who have power, we know it, they know it.

“Capitalist consumerism has become our faith where politics is a kind of theatre and real power is concealed.

Real changes are not made unless people are willing to come together. We intuitively know it…” We see bullshit, he maintains, on every screen that surrounds us. “Their slogans, their logos, their prayers and

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mantras.” On Rebirth (Netflix), a funny and insightful stand up performance by Russell, he talks of us all buying into “the ridiculous pledges of our time – with our phones and our clothes and their slogans.”

Bullshit is drip fed everywhere, he says, and illustrates it with some corporate slogans.

“L’Oreal: because you’re worth it.

Worth what? A shampoo to wash your own fucking hair?

Rimmel: get the London look.

What? Tired and paying exorbitant rent?

Always Ultra: rewrite the rules.

How do you rewrite the rules of a sanitary towel?

Stick it up your arse?

Maybe it’s Maybelline.

It better be Maybelline. I just paid for Maybelline, you ****”.

Russell maintains that by the time you get to slogans such as ‘strong and stable’ and ‘make America great’, we’re so used to the insipid language that we don’t expect a meaning. We’re living in a superficial world, being choked by consumerism but we partly tie the knots.

He continues with a passion: “I’d rather they turned up at the front door and gave us a little bit of truth. ‘I am still in power and I’ll always be in power because you’ll always do what you’ve always done – blame other people that are basically the same as you for the things that only powerful people and institutions can ever change. “‘So fuck Muslims, fuck Jews, fuck the working-class, fuck the middle-class, fuck the disabled, fuck you, fuck you and fuck you. Thanks for your vote every four years.’ At least there would be a kind of honesty to it.

That’s why I think Donald Trump was so successful.

There was something authentic about that man! I mean the geezer is a c*** but I don’t think he’s putting it on!”

With Russell having two young daughters, he must have some optimism for change? “Again and again I return to the idea that when you’re told it’s impossible to change things, it’s because the people in positions of

authority don’t want things to change. It is possible to change things, it’s just not beneficial to institutions that are pivotal to the existing system.”

Russell uses an example of Lindsey Garratt, who led the campaign to save an East London estate from US investors. She led multiple street demonstrations, a petition to Downing Street and garnered national media attention with Russell’s help. The result was that the New Era estate was instead bought by an affordable housing provider, securing the futures of 93 families who faced eviction.

“On paper, Lindsey would be ‘single mum, public sector worker on minimum wage’. In the eyes of the powerful, a common nobody. In reality, she’s a hero…

She is also able to lead a campaign of 93 families against commercial developers, the Corporation of London and the mayor of London himself, and let me tell you, those families kept their homes.

“When people come together in pursuit of a common idea there is great power.”

I ask Russell if he believes we should engage with the institutions at the heart of the world’s decline, change them from within? He warms to the theme and is enthusiastic: “Populism is happening because of disenchantment with neo-liberalism. What is required are clear, narrative suggestions from people who understand the problem. As a result of empirical experience, I am now less inclined – even though I recognise how attractive it is and how much easier it is – to engage in the sort of gentle assuaging of powerful centralised institutions, and more inclined towards the radicalisation and education of (for want of a better term), ‘ordinary people’.

“I wonder if the route into collectivism is for us to establish communities and systems that operate parallel to but separate from the systems of governance.

“What makes me feel somewhat optimistic, Juliet, is that the essence of the meat industry – the concept of it – is fragile. What you describe in that awful depiction of the meat industry is a set of concepts. A peculiar, teetering tower of concepts that are built so high that it’s difficult to say, ‘Hold on a minute, this isn’t necessary.

It’s not economically necessary, it’s not necessary for dietary needs.’ It’s a ghastly and baroque emulation of the clown thinking that we need meat because of our ‘canine tooth’.”

Why don’t the powerful institutions instigate genuine change when the people running them know we are in the midst of a climate crisis? Know that animal agriculture is the main driving force behind wildlife extinctions?

“People don’t like change. Also systems protect their interests always, and they have got all the relationships lined up. That’s why. And because there is no genuine interest in change, there’s an interest in gestures and appearances. We live, willingly, in an illusion.”

But what isn’t an illusion is the meteoric rise in veganism and all that means. Russell is now vegan, having been vegetarian for almost 30 years. He jokes he was “nagged into veganism” by people like you and me.

But what underlies his passion for it?

“Love.”

Love of? I ask.

“Myself” he quips. “No, ha ha, of animals. Animals, the little darlings. Did you hear my little dog bark just then? He got upset! That was ‘why are you not here?’

He’s too beautiful that dog. C’est magnifique. When we were in France, a woman went, ‘Oh, c’est magnifique!’ and it was him she was talking about!”

“My sole function is to do whatever trivial frivolous things I am guided and supported to do, to ensure that all of our children and the planet itself is able to survive” Hope is running low for so many and I ask Russell how he sees humanity in 20 or 30 years’ time?

“I don’t know. I hope it’s fucking good because I’ve got young kids! So my sole function is to do whatever trivial frivolous things I am guided and supported to do, to ensure that all of our children and the planet itself is able to survive.

“It’s difficult not to fall into nihilism but how I prevent myself from doing that is by feeling that love is real – I think love is the energy of oneness.”

Is love universal, a force far beyond planet Earth?

“How could it not be? I goes to my mate ‘We are living in the limitless cosmos,’ and he goes, ‘We are also living in Clapton Pond, and we had to agree that we were at Clapton Pond at that moment. So, he was right, but also I’m sure I was as well.”

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Viva! la Burger

tour

Senior Campaigner, Will Sorflaten, gets behind the wheel with his team and takes our Free Vegan Burger Van from town to town

A

s the heatwave swelled into full power throughout mid-July, the campaigns team were touring the south of England to show people how delicious vegan burgers are – and how we can all save the world by eating them instead of meat burgers.

We’ve had enough warnings and we can no longer ignore the climate crisis as it increasingly makes its presence felt, as if to say – ‘Yep, I’m here and I’m not going away’. Its reminders include more severe droughts, floods, unpredictable weather, crop failures, wildlife destruction and on and on…

As we travelled the country, extraordinary temperatures were just another sign that the globe is heating up. Certainly, more people are waking up and realising that we all have to do something but it can be difficult to know what that ‘thing’ is. There is still huge ignorance of the fact that going vegan is the single biggest action we can take to save the global environment, the wonderful array of plants and animals and even our own futures. Researcher Joseph Poore of Oxford University used those exact words in 2018 in his massive review of global agriculture.

And that’s why we toured Brighton, Worthing, Salisbury, Reading and Bath with our striking burger van, opening up shop, handing out free vegan burgers for people to try, talking to them and giving away masses of literature bursting with facts about animal agriculture’s impact on the planet.

Our mountain of delicious, cruelty-free burgers was generously provided by Taste and Glory and we offer them our huge thanks for their contribution to the tour.

Brighton

Worthing Salisbury Reading Bath

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Our impressive vegan burger van turned heads wherever it went (although the burning tyres are a bit of artistic licence)

Across the eight towns, we handed out a whopping 2,200 burger samples and spoke to more than 2,000 people about going vegan.

A significant number said that they’d never tried a vegan burger before and many of those were sceptical, doubting that our offering could ever replicate a meaty burger. We let them tuck in and then asked them what they thought.

The results were overwhelmingly positive! After their sampling, almost everyone said that they would definitely be eating more vegan burgers and would love to try other vegan products. It was a reminder that there is still a bit of a stigma around vegan foods and it was great to be on the streets showing people that vegan can mean sustainable, ethical and delicious all at the same time. To help our campaign, we attracted local publicity as we went.

Hundreds of people showed genuine interest in taking the V7 pledge – Viva!’s own free programme to help people go vegan for one week – and many were delighted to learn about our free Vegan Recipe Club with its hundreds of colourful recipes.

On the last day we finished up in Bath and the hugely positive result matched all the other towns we’d visited.

It really was invigorating.

A huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped at each event and made it so impactful.

And we’re delighted to say that we’ll be touring the north of England in November with the same burger van. We’ll be visiting York (November 3), Leeds (November 4) and Liverpool (November 5). We will report on these in the next issue of Viva!life.

If you’re not already signed up to our monthly emails, do so now and get all the information on this and other Viva! campaigns. Call us (0117 944 1000, Mon-Fri 9-5) or email us (info@viva.org.uk) to get on the list.

york leeds liverpool

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Money, money, money – it’s a rich man’s world…

Tony Wardle takes a sobering look at a world controlled by the super-rich ell, now we know! In fact, we knew 27 years ago when Viva! was launched. We are in trouble as global warming changes the world for the worse – irrevocably. The latest UN IPCC report confirms that the situation is degenerating faster than anticipated and we have hit CODE RED in our treatment of the planet. Dramatic action is needed now to avert disaster.

Why weren’t we, as a nation – as a planet – combatting this threat 27 years ago? I’m not sure it ever entered Boris Johnson’s consciousness back then (or whether it yet has) other than as a joke – and half his party still think that way. The old Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson (Nigella’s dad), actually formed an organisation to rubbish the whole idea of global warming – Global Warming Policy Foundation he called it. Despite not a glimmer of science to support his claims, news outlets still allow him to propagate his fairy stories from time to time – in the interests of ‘balance’.

We know from the IPCC, the UN FAO, Oxford University and a string of other science-based organisations that livestock are responsible for at least 14.5 to 18 per cent of greenhouse gases, largely from methane emissions and deforestation for animal feed – amounting to more than the world’s transport combined in CO2 equivalents. Professor Bill Collins, one of the lead authors of the UN report, told Sky News that 0.5ºC of the warming in recent years is caused by methane from cows.

Researcher Joseph Poore, of Oxford University, reckons that by freeing up farmland to grow more trees, worldwide veganism would produce an even greater reduction in global warming gases. Important stuff you might think. Add to this the fact that livestock are the main eraser of biodiversity and forests, cause soil degeneration and most other environmental catastrophes, and Viva!’s position becomes entirely validated.

Despite diet change being at the very top of the list of things we need to do, there is an army of people trying to downplay it. And judging by a BBC Radio 4 Any Questions? I listened to recently, it has about the same level of importance as whether or not to cut the crusts off cucumber sandwiches for the vicar’s tea party. The question put on the broadcast I heard was, how will veganism impact dairy production?

You can probably guess what Tory, Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, said: “I don’t need to be lectured about it. Dairy, cream, butter, milk, steak – that’s my diet and I get my children to eat my greens.” Oh hilarious, Mr Mogg, what a wag!

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Next up was Lib Dem MP, Sarah Olney, who handles a shadow energy brief so surely she’d have a thing or two to say? “What you have to remember is that meat and dairy are an essential part of a balanced diet.”

Codswallop delivered with perfect diction.

Then came vegan Labour MP, Thangam Debonairre – ah ha, now for some fireworks, I thought. “I am vegan – but it was my choice and it’s not something you should tell other people to do!” Yes it is, Thangam, it sure as hell is.

Surprisingly, Minette Batters, president of the farm owners body, NFU, was the only person to even give a nod to diet: “I’m a very enthusiastic consumer of meat and dairy but I am eating more veg.” It’s a start, Minette, it’s a start.

This kind of mealy-mouthed approach to a global threat is the soft edge of denial, it’s how people muddy the waters around climate change, either through ignorance or by design. But there is a harder edge, a much harder, bitter, fanatical, well-organised, very rich edge that has enormous global influence and has for years been trying to rubbish the science on climate change.

Think of a Gorgon’s head with an almost limitless number of snakes writhing away on top of it, each hissing out the same odious denials, injecting their venom

Their fundamental belief is that free markets are always right and should they get anything wrong, it is free markets that will correct it into all and sundry, repeating the lie that climate change is a hoax. These reptilian tentacles go by different, grandsounding names in the US (we have some here, too) – the Homeland Institute, Resolution Foundation, Reason Foundation, Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute and on and on – about 100 in total. Their individual spending on propaganda ranges from a couple of million dollars a year up to hundreds of millions.

Climate denial is their leading obsession but they have wider, shared political demands – unfettered free markets, libertarianism, the privatisation of everything,

destruction of trades unions, small or no government at all and the unbridled supremacy of the corporate world to do precisely as it likes with no regulation, no controls and with any social responsibility being entirely voluntary. Their fundamental belief is that free markets are always right and should they get anything wrong, it is free markets that will correct it.

The writhing serpents of this particular Gorgon are scary enough but the head itself is truly terrifying. It provides the political algorithm, the techniques, much of the financing and wields almost unimaginable power.

Over the past few decades it has used its extraordinary wealth and influence to expunge from the US Republic party almost all but the zealots who now vigorously support Trump’s attempts to overturn democracy and replace it with authoritarianism.

It consists of just two men – two of the world’s richest men whose combined personal wealth is estimated at around $100 billion. They are the Koch brothers, Charles and David, owners of Koch Industries, which

Continued on page 48

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. . . s a m t s i r Ił’s Ch …and here are some tasty, toothsome treats to tingle your taste buds – chosen by Food & Cookery Manager, Maryanne Hall

I can hardly believe it but every year now, the big supermarkets compete to produce the most creative and innovative vegan Christmas options. This year is no exception and there is an array of festive delights you can look forward to sampling. It’s still early as I write this but from the details so far released, my highlights are the Tesco Wicked Kitchen Mature Cheddar Alternative & White Wine Bake and the Waitrose Vegan No Lobster Marie Rose Roll. Of course, all the staff here at Viva!, will be cooking up a celebratory storm and wouldn’t dream of ‘ahem’ buying in our Christmas feast! But, just in case, here are a few of our favourite new options: Tesco Wicked Kitchen Mature Cheddar Alternative & White Wine Bake: a velvety vegan smoked cheddar cheese fondue, infused with white wine and served in a ceramic dish.

Tesco Plant Chef Meat Free Mini Not-dogs & Burgers and Wicked Kitchen’s Mini Mac Party Pots.

Tesco Wicked Kitchen No-Turkey Roast Crown: an easy-carve ‘No-Turkey’ crown, made with savoury soya and wheat protein, topped with a vegan butter melt and a sage and onion stuffing crumb.

Tesco Wicked Kitchen’s Belgian Chocolate and Salted Caramel Log: decadent chocolate mousse and silky caramel topped with roasted hazelnuts and chocolate pieces.

A real show-stopper!

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Waitrose Vegan No Lobster Marie Rose Roll: a brioche-style roll with roasted king oyster mushroom, vegan Marie Rose sauce, semi-dried tomato and lovage.

Waitrose’s Vegan Winter Pudding: apples, blackberries, raspberries, and blackcurrants, layered with bread and soaked in a lightly-spiced fruit sauce.

Asda Festive Plant-Based Christmas Cheeseboard: an award-winning cheddar alternative, alongside a delicious vegan blue cheese, a jalapeño and chilli cheddar and Wensleydale and cranberry creations.

Asda Vegan Crab Croquettes with Red Pepper & Roasted Garlic Purée.

Asda Plant-Based Vegan Cranberry & Chestnut Wreath: mushroom, chestnut and sweet cranberry wrapped in a fluffy puff pastry casing.

Sainsbury’s BBQ No Pork Belly Bites: meltin-the-mouth jackfruit and king oyster mushroom tossed in hoisin sauce and fragrant spices.

Oh Tidings of d n J a o t r y o f m Co d Joy) (Comfort an

We love all things Christmassy, especially show-stopping centrepieces and dreamy desserts!

We’ve got a deliciously decadent line up for you this season including Leek & Chestnut Filo Swirl and Baked Squash with Mushroom Nut Roast Stuffing, courtesy of our fabulous friend Niki Webster (Rebel Recipes). The baked squash is gluten-free, too, so there’s truly something for everyone to enjoy on this special day. And, how about kicking back and enjoying a slice of moist Bailey’s Chocolate Cake to top off the festive celebrations? Don’t mind if we do!

Baked Squash with Mushroom Nut Roast Stuffing Total time: 110 minutes | Serves 4 Squash l 2 medium squash, sliced in half and de-seeded l 2 tbsp olive oil l Sea salt l Black pepper Mushroom nut roast filling l 1 large onion, finely chopped l 2 tbsp olive oil l 4 cloves garlic, minced

l 125g mushrooms, finely chopped l 80g cooked chestnuts, chopped l 50g walnuts, toasted and crushed l 1 tbsp tamari l 4 tbsp nutritional yeast l 1 tbsp vegan Worcester sauce l 1 tsp sea salt l Black pepper l 1 tbsp maple syrup (optional) l 25g dried cranberries, chopped l 2 tbsp fresh thyme

Squash 1 Preheat oven to 180°C (fan)/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

2 Score the squash flesh diagonally with a knife.

3 Place on baking tray(s), rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 60 – 120 minutes, until tender inside and caramelised outside.

Filling 1 Add the onion and oil to a medium pan and fry gently on a low heat for around 10 minutes until soft and browning.

2 Add garlic and fry for a further minute. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5-6 minutes until soft.

3 Add walnuts and chestnuts along with remaining ingredients. Stir to combine and cook for a further minute. Set aside.

GUEST CHEF RECIPE Rebel Recipes: rebelrecipes.com

To serve 1 When the squash is cooked, spoon the filling into the cavities, top with fresh thyme and sea salt.

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Leek & Chestnut Filo Swirl Total time: 90 minutes | Serves 4-6 l 10 sheets filo pastry l Olive oil for brushing l 1 tbsp vegan butter (our favourite is Naturli) l 500g leeks, trimmed, thickly sliced l 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped l ½ tsp nutmeg l 1 tsp paprika l 200g baby spinach l 200g chestnut purée (eg Merchant Gourmet) l 200g vacuum-packed chestnuts (eg Merchant Gourmet), finely chopped (pulse mode in a food processor) l 100g pecans, walnuts or cashews, toasted and finely chopped (process them with the chestnuts)

l 100g plain breadcrumbs (fresh or ready-to-use) l 1 tbsp miso l 1 tsp syrup (eg maple or agave) l 1 apple, grated l Zest of half a lemon, grated l 1 tbsp lemon juice l 2 tbsp fresh sage leaves, finely chopped l 1 tbsp rosemary, finely chopped l Salt and pepper l 100g dried cranberries, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes then drained (optional) l Mixed seeds for topping (optional)

1 Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

2 Add spinach to a large pan with a little water, cover with lid, wilt down. Once cool, drain, squeeze out all water and set aside.

3 In a large non-stick pan, melt butter then add leeks. Cover with lid and cook for around 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

4 After 10 minutes, add garlic and fry for a further 1-2 minutes.

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5 Add nutmeg and paprika, stir through and fry for a minute.

6 Add all of remaining ingredients, including spinach, stir through on a low-medium heat until thoroughly combined. Taste and season, adding more syrup, lemon juice or salt if you think fit.

7 Transfer mixture to a large bowl and place in the fridge until needed – it helps to firm it.

8 Place two clean, damp tea towels edge to edge on a large worksurface with the longest sides facing towards you. Carefully lay three filo sheets over the towels, shortest edges facing you. Overlap them by an inch and seal joins with a little water. Lightly brush filo sheets with olive oil until covered. Place a further three filo sheets over them in the opposite direction, creating another layer. Again, seal the edges and brush lightly with olive oil. Repeat this a third time, using nine filo sheets in total. The remaining sheet will be used for patching.

9 Remove mixture from fridge and form it into a sausage shape on the edge of the filo nearest to you, ensuring it covers the entire length and is compact and even.

10 When done, roll the filo up away from you, like a sushi roll. Then roll this long sausage shape into a large pinwheel shape, trying to avoid it cracking (if it does, patch with spare filo – be generous as patches will shrink during cooking). Brush patches lightly with olive oil.

11 Transfer filo swirl to a lined baking tray, brush all over lightly with olive oil then place in the oven for 30 minutes, then remove and brush again with oil. If using seeds, sprinkle them on top now. Place back in the oven and cook for a further 5-15 minutes or until crisp and golden.

13 Serve with our delicious creamy mushroom sauce.

Easy Baileys Chocolate Cake Total time: 45 minutes | Servings: 10 Dry ingredients l 250g self-raising flour l 1¼ tsp baking powder l 45g cocoa powder l 170g golden caster sugar l Pinch salt Wet ingredients l 150ml soya milk l 130ml vegan Baileys Almande or you can make your own using our delicious recipe (veganrecipeclub/baileys) l 80ml flavourless oil (eg rapeseed) l 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste

Creamy Mushroom Sauce Total time: 25 minutes | Serves 4 l 1 tsp vegan butter (Naturli is our favourite) l 1 onion, finely chopped l 1 clove garlic, finely chopped l 250g mushrooms, sliced l 150ml vegan dry white wine l 1 tsp lemon juice l 1 tsp syrup (eg maple or agave) or brown sugar (optional) l 150ml Oatly crème fraîche or vegan double cream (eg Elmlea), whipped (you can also use single cream but the sauce won’t be as thick) l 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped l Salt and pepper

Icing l 500g icing sugar, sieved l 80g vegan spread (Naturli spreadable is our favourite) l 60ml vegan Baileys Almande or homemade equivalent l 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste Topping l Grated vegan chocolate of your choice

Cake 1 Preheat oven to 180°C (fan)/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

2 Line a medium-large loaf tin with baking parchment.

3 In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients then set aside.

4 In a large jug, mix together all the wet ingredients.

5 Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently combine without over-stirring.

6 Transfer mixture into the lined loaf tin and evenly distribute. Tap the tin on the work surface before placing it in the oven.

7 Bake for 20 minutes, remove and test with a knife. If it needs more time, cover the top of the tin with foil and cook for a further 10 minutes.

8 Remove and leave to thoroughly cool before icing.

Icing 1 Mix all of the ingredients together using an electric whisk.

2 Spread evenly over the top of the cake.

Topping 1 Grate your favourite milk/dark vegan chocolate and sprinkle over the top of the cake.

1 Fry onion in butter until soft.

2 Add garlic and fry for a further minute.

3 Add mushrooms and cook until soft but haven’t released their juices.

4 Add white wine, bring to the boil and simmer until liquid has reduced by half.

5 Stir through the crème fraîche or vegan cream, syrup or brown sugar, and heat for a further couple of minutes.

6 Season to taste and top with the fresh parsley.

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White Chocolate & Raspberry Blondies Prep and cook time: 40 minutes | Serves 12 Dry ingredients l 300g plain flour l 1½ tsp baking powder l ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda l 115g golden caster sugar l 130g soft light brown sugar l Pinch salt Wet ingredients l 190g vegan butter (we used Naturli block, very slightly softened) l 1¾ tsp vanilla extract or paste l 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flaxseed combined with 3 tbsp water, mixed in a bowl and set aside) Topping l 150g frozen raspberries l 150g vegan white chocolate, broken into small chunks, plus a little extra for (optional) drizzle

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1 Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan)/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

2 Grease and line a deep square baking tray (20x20cm).

Dry ingredients 1 In a large mixing bowl, combine thoroughly and set aside.

Wet ingredients 1 In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients until creamy and soft.

2 Spoon the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and combine. You’ll probably need to use your hands to form into a soft dough.

3 Firmly and evenly press the dough into the lined baking tray.

Topping 1 Evenly press the frozen raspberries and white chocolate firmly into the mixture.

2 Place the tray in the oven for around 30 minutes.

Check after 15 minutes and if it is browning too quickly then cover it with tin foil and place back in the oven.

3 Best served warm and gooey.

Now four łimes a year “Three is not enough”, you said!

So that we can bring our news, campaigns and actions to you sooner, we are increasing the number of Viva!life issues to four a year. Little else will change and it will still be the same exciting magazine you’ve grown to love over the years. The new schedule will start in 2022.

help us to reach mILlions with a Vegan tv advert It’s time to extend beyond the vegan bubble and go mainstream! We are raising funds to make TV history by creating a TV advert for Channel 4!

our bIggest ever appeal!

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Off to Glasgow we go…

Senior campaigner Will Sorflaten outlines our plans for COP26 For the first two weeks of November, the world’s media will be focussed on Glasgow. It’s that time of the year when the world’s governments put their heads together and work out how best to tackle the climate crisis (or not). It’s called COP26 and its most notable commitment was the Paris Agreement back in 2015.

Negotiated by 196 parties, the goal was to keep the global temperature below a 2ºC rise, ideally 1.5ºC. Experts everywhere doubt that governments have, or will, keep to the Paris Agreement as global temperatures are well on their way to passing 2ºC and emissions are actually going up, not down. Given that this is all our futures, we have the right to question why these people are failing to keep to their commitment.

All kinds of measures have been talked about but our question is – why aren’t politicians in power saying anything about animal agriculture?

Fossil fuels have quite rightly been given prominence but livestock are right up there in terms of its devastating impact on our world. It is a leading cause of wildlife and habitat loss, methane emissions, land use, water use, desertification, air pollution… the list goes on. We all know this, so why do the world’s governments continue to ignore this elephant in the room when talking about the climate crisis?

Evidence overwhelmingly shows that animal farming must be slashed if we’re to have any hope of mitigating the worst impacts of climate change yet no government seems brave enough to bring up this inconvenient truth. Perhaps they fear it would be political suicide, which it might be for the Tories as they depend upon the rural vote.

Anyway, that’s why we’re going up to Glasgow for COP26, to engage with the public on the need for a drastic reduction in animal consumption – as backed by the UK government’s own Climate Change Committee, the University of Oxford, Harvard University and the United Nations.

Of course, meat taxes or policies designed to reduce animal consumption will cause a furore. We know it won’t be an easy ride for the first government to do what’s necessary and take a stand against meat and dairy consumption. Had they done a better (more principled) job of explaining that eating animals is killing us and stealing our future, it may not have been so difficult. Instead, they have for decades pretended that animal products are essential to human nutrition and have created a problem of their own making. Truth is, we don’t have a choice if we want the world to still be inhabitable in 2050 and beyond.

In Glasgow, we’ll be giving out free, delicious vegan food to the public while raising awareness of the malign impact animal agriculture is having on our world. We’ll make ourselves known outside the Scottish Events Campus, where government representatives will be meeting. We’ll be putting up digital posters throughout Glasgow, as well as some huge billboards at Euston and Edinburgh rail stations from which many delegates will depart, and a striking billboard in a prime location in Edinburgh which will reach almost 200,000 people throughout COP26. We have formed Vegans Unite for the Planet and will be marching in Glasgow and several other cities.

It looks like it’s down to us, yet again, to pave the way for a vegan world We’ll then be taking our Viva! La Burger van around the north of England to engage with thousands of people on the environmental benefits of choosing vegan.

Governments can’t be trusted to promote the need for veganism – for animals, our planet and ourselves. So it looks like it’s down to us, yet again, to pave the way for a vegan world!

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Viva! Poland’s Slaughter Prosecutions The treatment of farmed animals had little priority in the country but Viva! Poland has worked tirelessly to change that. It has done so by forcing the reality that animals face in farms and slaughterhouses into the spotlight In July, acting as auxiliary prosecutor in the district court in Ostrołęka, Viva! Poland highlighted the treatment of downer cows at slaughter.

This followed a covert investigation by a journalist colleague who had worked at the plant undercover. He had recorded downer cows who had been transported illegally and then dragged off the trucks by a winch to be slaughtered in front of other animals. Amongst other horrors was the cutting a living calf from its dead mother’s body.

Nine people were charged with animal cruelty but only two pleaded guilty. The others, including the owners of the plant, pleaded not guilty and refused to testify. The case continues.

At Pamso slaughterhouse in the city of Łódź, Viva! Poland monitored the treatment of pigs over a period of seven months as part of their Stopcage and Go Veg campaigns. They recorded 17 instances of abuse, many of them repeated over and over again. They included the inappropriate use of electric prods, stabbing and hitting animals with a long metal rod; repeatedly smashing pigs over the head, around their eyes and in other sensitive places and kicking them.

In one instance, a pig who was incapable of standing was chained by one leg and dragged to slaughter. All these instances of how animals are barbarically treated in the last moments of their lives were videoed.

More than five hours of recordings were handed to the prosecutor’s office as support for Viva! Poland’s allegation of criminal behaviour.

We now await the outcome.

Left: chalking a ‘go vegan’ message on the streets – and it’s all legal!

Get Chalking Poland’s National Veg Week in May proclaimed Go Veg and was celebrated with colourful chalk designs all over the streets of Łódź city saying – Respect Animals, Go Vegan. It was repeated again three months later as part of World Vegan Chalking Day. Volunteers encouraged people to join Viva!

Poland’s free Go Veg for 30 Days programme where participants receive four vegan recipes every day and a good dose of knowledge about plant-based diets and other inspiring issues.

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Left and below: Viva! Poland is involved in two prosecutions against abject cruelty at slaughterhouses involving downer cows and pigs

Milk – there is another way In August, we combined two related campaigns – Zostań Wege (Become a Veggie) and Białe Kłamstwa (White Lies) – and organised five separate street actions in five different cities – Leszno, Poznań, Bydgoszcz, Katowice and Łódź. The aim was to spread awareness of plantbased alternatives to dairy milk and other dairy products.

Working in conjunction with local vegan restaurants, passers-by had a chance to try not only a range of vegan milks, but also fresh iced coffee with vegan milk – perfect for what was a hot summer’s day. They were even more surprised to be offered vegan cakes and snacks. Of course, we also distributed our new leaflets showing the reality of dairy farming and signed people up to our Zostań Wege na 30 dni (Go Vegan for 30 Days).

People’s reaction to our campaign was astonishing and our local groups had numerous conversations with the public about transitioning to a plant-based diet and how to cook without milk, cheese and eggs. We were able to open people’s eyes to the impact a vegan diet can have on health; preventing or reducing high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer – proving that cow’s milk is not needed for good health.

We also showed people how ditching cow’s milk can significantly reduce their impact on the planet.

In a country where habits and traditions are deeply ingrained, the whole campaign was a huge success and was summed up by one shopper: “We never knew there was a chance to live a different life and replace something bad with something good”.

People’s eager engagement with veganism and the excellent media coverage we obtained guarantees we’ll be back with future events.

Where better to get people sharing tactics than at Viva! Poland’s wonderful 50-acre animal sanctuary

Sanctuary Hosts Animal Rights Summit Our wonderful 50-acre animal sanctuary in Korabiewice is a place to be truly proud of. It offers a home to hundreds of animals – some temporary, some permanent – and is a fitting venue for our sixth national animal rights summit. It brings together animal rights volunteers from all over Poland and is a working summit, dedicated to the exchange of ideas and team building.

“It is a wonderful opportunity to share our thoughts and meet colleagues who we only usually contact online”, said Dorota, one of the volunteers.

Delegates work with our rescued animals, help to clean up and plant trees and have meals together to swap ideas and cement relationships.

Europe Against Live Exports Activists across Europe joined together for a day of action against live exports in more than 40 places in 13 different countries. In Poland, demonstrations took place in Warsaw, Poznań, Wrocław, Bydgoszcz and Sopot.

We know from Viva! Poland’s own campaign against live horse exports to Italy just how barbaric the trade is.

But it’s not just horses – cows, sheep

and pigs may also be transported for thousands of kilometres, both within the EU and beyond. Journeys can last from a couple of days to weeks and filthy conditions, hunger and thirst add to the huge psychological trauma animals experience.

The UK government has promised to ban live exports and we will keep working for the animals until the EU also instigates a ban.

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merchandise For the wine lover

We have a range of vegan and organic wines specially selected from Vintage Roots. These cases make wonderful gifts but are also perfect for any Christmas parties you might be hosting! From no-sulphur wines to special occasion reds and whites, mixed cases for everyday occasions (all six bottles) to spirits and lagers – there’s something for everyone!

SPECIAL OCCASION TIPPLES Prosecco Case £72 Cava Case £82.80 Special Occasion Whites £95.67 Special Occasion Reds £98.67 Premium Whites Case £70.80 Premium Reds Case £72.30 WINES FOR EVERYDAY OCCASIONS Viva! Whites – Wines for Everyday Occasions £57.12 Viva! Reds – Wines for Everyday Occasions £57.12 Viva! Rosés – Rosés for Everyday Occasions VI080 £60.75 Viva! Mixed Case – Wines for Everyday Occasions £63.74 No Sulphur Added Wines £64.56

Here are our picks from the Viva! Shop for this year’s great Christmas presents for your friends and family and to help you host your parties!

BY EMILY COSTER, RETAIL MANAGER

SPIRITS Papagayo Organic Reserva Rum £36 Highland Harvest Single Malt £44.63 Juniper Green Organic London Dry Gin £24.90 Fatty’s Lower Alcohol Pink Grapefruit £32.25 Armagnac Premier Age £40.88 BEERS Mixed Lager Case (20 bottles) £47.33 Mixed Cider Case (20 bottles) £56.70

vivashop.org.uk/collections/wine

For the candle lover

Hand-poured in the UK using soya wax and essential oils – these candles make gorgeous presents! They are claimed to be free of toxins, artificial fragrances, zinc and pesticides. They smell amazing, the packing is plasticfree and they even have a cute bunny design on the tin!

200ml: Lavender Lemongrass Peppermint Tea Spring Blossom Chai Latte £15

100ml: Lavender Ginger & Lemongrass Chai Latte Spring Blossom Rose Blossom £8

For the coffee lover

We have lots of different coffee-flavoured products on the shop, all delicious and perfect for the coffee lovers in your life! Choose from cappuccino mixes (classic or with notes of toffee), coffee chocolate creams or espresso chocolate rice crispy bites!

VGN FCTRY Toffee Cappuccino Mix (280g) £6.35 Whitakers Dark Chocolate Coffee Creams (150g) £2.99 Goupie Espresso Chocolate (180g) £4.95

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vivashop.org.uk/collections/gifts/category_candles

For dog lovers

We have a range of eco-friendly toys and vegan treats for your best friends – your furry companions will love these! Soopa have created a range of healthy and delicious plant-based treats for your dog which are grain-free, low-fat and cruelty-free!

TOYS BY BECO PETS Natural Rubber Fetch Flyer £9.99 Natural Rubber Chew Bone £8.99 Hemp Rope Double Knot £4.99 TREATS Soopa Dental Sticks 100g Puppy Banana and Pumpkin Kale and Apple Banana and Peanut Butter £3.99

Soopa Healthy Bites 50g Carrot and Pumpkin Kale and Apple £2.99 Soopa Chews 100g Sweet Potato Dog Treats Coconut Dog Treats £4.99

vivashop.org.uk/collections/animalcompanions

For the bookworm

Choose from a range of cookbooks, literature, children’s books and more. These all make great gifts for loved ones.

The Chicken Gave it to Me £4.99 Vegan Fakeaway: Plant-based takeaway classics for the ultimate night in £15 The Vegan Guide: Everything you need to embrace the world’s fastest growing way of life £5 BOSH! Healthy Vegan £16.99 The Moments. An uplifting and heart-warming love story £8.99

vivashop.org.uk/collections/books

For the wildlife lover

For the wildlife lovers in your life, give them the gift of a Beevive keyring – these handy accessories mean you are always equipped to help a tired bee recover by feeding them some sugar water!

Bee Revival Kit Black, Gold £10.99 Or choose from these adorable, realistic cuddly toys: Living Nature Sitting Plush Fox £11.49 Living Nature Medium Plush Badger £11.49 Living Nature Plush Fawn £14.99

vivashop.org.uk/collections/wildlife-lovers viva.org.uk 37

lifeSCIENCE

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

Here we update you on the latest findings…

BY DR JUSTINE BUTLER, RESEARCHER & WRITER VIVA! HEALTH

A code red for humanity The IPCC’s latest report The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN’s climate science panel. They produce reports, such as the 2018 special report seen by many as the ‘we have 12 years to save the world’ report. In their latest one, 234 authors from 65 countries pulled together the findings from 14,000 peer-reviewed studies.

It makes for alarming reading, warning of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding. There is no doubt, it says, that human activity has changed the climate. Many of these changes may be irreversible and abrupt tipping points – such as rapid Antarctic ice sheet melt and forest dieback – cannot be ruled out. They warn that the 1.5°C temperature rise target of the Paris Agreement will be breached unless there are rapid and severe cuts in emissions and that global warming may reach levels not seen in millions of years by 2300, depending on the choices we make now. The good news is that we still have time to avert the worst outcomes, but only if we act now.

AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1

Combatting Covid-19 (see Tony Wardle page 24 and Will Sorflaten page 33).

A vegan diet can slash your risk of developing severe Covid-19 Two new studies suggest a vegan diet may help combat Covid-19. The first, published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, looked at infected people from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and USA and found that those following a plant-based diet were 73 per cent less likely to experience moderate-to-severe symptoms (breathing problems, fever, cough, low oxygen in the body and the need for medical help). The authors suggest it may be the many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants found in vegetables, pulses and nuts that help.

The ZOE COVID Symptom Study included almost 600,000 participants, making it the largest to date examining the links between diet and the disease. They found that people with a healthy, plant-based diet were not only 41 per cent less likely to suffer severe symptoms than those with a poor-quality diet but had a nine per cent lower risk of catching Covid-19. This is major news as we have so far only seen diet lower the risk of severity of disease – not the risk of contracting it. They also found that people who ate low-carb, high-protein diets, typically high in meat, eggs and fats, had an increased risk of severe illness.

Viva!’s Slash the Risk campaign has been drawing attention to the role a healthy vegan diet can play in the fight against Covid-19 since last year. viva.org.uk/slash-the-risk Kim H, Rebholz CM, Hegde S et al. 2021. Plant-based diets, pescatarian diets and COVID-19 severity: a population-based casecontrol study in six countries. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention and Health.

4 (1) 257-266.

Merino J, Joshi AD, Nguyen LH et al. 2021. Diet quality and risk and severity of COVID-19: a prospective cohort study. Glut. 70,11,20962014.

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Soya myths 400 studies show soya is safe New research blasting one of the most common myths about soya – that soya foods can disrupt our hormones provides reassurance that soya is safe. This study reviewed 417 reports exploring the impact of soya foods and isoflavone consumption and human health, revealing soya does not disrupt the body’s hormonal (endocrine) system, as is often alleged. Concerns over the safety of isoflavones (phytoestrogens found in soya products), are largely based on animal experiments not relevant to humans. Lead author, Dr Mark Messina says: “Soya provides high-quality protein and healthy fat… moderate amounts of soya may reduce risk of several chronic diseases including coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, and certain forms of cancer.”

Messina M, Mejia SB, Cassidy A et al., 2021. Neither soyfoods nor isoflavones warrant classification as endocrine disruptors: a technical review of the observational and clinical data.

Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 1-57.

Fake meat Healthier then you think!

Death by hot dog Simple swaps can benefit your health and the environment Eating a hot dog could cost you 36 minutes of healthy life, while a serving of nuts could add 26 minutes, according to a University of Michigan study. Researchers looked at nearly 6,000 foods, using a Health Nutritional Index to quantify the health effects in minutes of healthy life gained or lost. They found that even small changes to your diet can have a big effect on both your health and your carbon footprint.

Swapping just 10 per cent of your daily intake of beef and processed meat for fruits, vegetables, nuts and pulses could gain you 48 minutes per day and reduce your carbon footprint from food by a third.

Stylianou KS, Fulgoni VL and Jolliet O. Small targeted dietary changes can yield substantial gains for human health and the environment. Nature Food. 2, 616-627.

Fake meats are often maligned as being low-quality, unhealthy, ultra-processed foods. However, a randomised controlled trial looking at what happens to the gut microbiome of people who eat plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs), compared to that of regular meat-eaters, found positive results. Half the participants replaced at least four meals per week with plant-based mince, burgers, sausages and meatballs from the Meatless Farm (a brand commercially available in the UK). The control group carried on eating red meat, poultry, fish, eggs and cheese. After four weeks, results indicated positive changes among those eating PBMAs in their gut bacteria. These types of changes may offer significant and wide-ranging health benefits. This shows that the industrial processing of plant-based ingredients does not make PBMAs ultra-processed by default. Meat alternatives are here to stay and it is reassuring to find that they can play a role as part of a healthy balanced diet if the ingredients are of good quality.

Toribio-Mateas M, Bester A and Klimenko N. 2021. Impact of plant-based meat alternatives on the gut microbiota of consumers: a real-world study.

Foods. 10 (9) 2040.

More on health and nutrition at viva.org.uk/health viva.org.uk 39

more merchandise For the sweet lover We have a range of tasty, cruelty-free sweets to choose from, whether you like fudge, gummies, fizzy cola bottles, mallows or liquorice – we have them all!

Freedom Mallows Vegantic Pink & White Vanilla BBQ Marshmallows 105g £2.50 Panda Natural Liquorice Bear Shapes 125g £1.50 Cotswold Fudge Co Vegan Gingerbread Fudge 150g £3.50 Buttermilk Plant-Based Vanilla Fudgy Bites 100g £2.99 Sweet Lounge Vegan Fizzy Cola Bottles Pouch 65g £2.25 Free From Fellows Rhubarb & Custard 70g £1.75 vivashop.org.uk/collections/sweets

For the fashionista

The perfect gift for the person who loves cute animal tees – please note, all our clothing is ethically made using 100 per cent organic cotton – embroidered tees, cute animals, strong statements or vegan slogans – we have a whole range to choose from.

TEES Vegan For... Women’s Loose Fit Short Tee – Black Be Kind to animals women’s rolled sleeve tee – Sage Green Vegan fruit unisex classic jersey tee – white £16.99 JUMPERS & HOODIES Vegan For The Animals Unisex classic sweatshirt – Light Pink Vegan For… Unisex Hoody – Black £29.99 vivashop.org.uk/ collections/clothing

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Sports pro

For the sports buff, we have a range of activewear perfect for light workouts to heavy weightlifting plus yoga wear – all ethically made and featuring vegan slogans to showcase a healthy vegan lifestyle!

To top it all, we have a new sports nutrition guide featuring practical advice, including meal-plans and what to eat for different sports and levels of activity Vegan Sports Nutrition Guide £3 FIT BULL Fit Bull Men's Long-Sleeve Slim Fit Base Layer – Black £16.99 Fit Bull Men's Lined Performance Shorts – Black £16.99 BOLD. BRAVE Bold. Brave. Women's Leggings – Black £19.99 Bold. Brave. Women's Sports Bra – Black £19.99 vivashop.org.uk/collections/clothing/category_activewear vivashop.org.uk/products/vegan-sports-nutrition-guide

viva.org.uk/children

Vegan Children – Thriving Our brand new, super-informative webpages on vegan child nutrition have now been launched

BY VERONIKA CHARVÁTOVÁ

All children need a well-planned diet to be healthy, grow and develop in the best possible way but it seems it’s only vegan parents who are under strict scrutiny. Well, we can fix that! We’ve compiled all the essential information you could possibly need on raising a vegan child – and it’s presented in a truly user-friendly way.

SCIENCE AT YOUR SERVICE The number of vegan children is growing and so is the number of scientific studies on vegan nutrition in childhood – and they are overwhelmingly positive.

While all highlight the importance of supplementing with vitamins B12 and D, they agree that vegan children can not only be healthy but also better protected from several diseases.

For peace of mind, you’ll find all this information easy to read, along with reassuring quotes from leading health organisations.

MEALS AND SNACKS MADE EASY We’ve put together practical guidance on how to make healthy, nutritious vegan meals for children – both at home and on-the-go. You’ll find healthy lunchbox and snack ideas, tips on how to increase nutritional value of your kids meals and advice on how to deal with challenging situations.

It’s sometimes difficult to make children eat what’s good for them and so we offer many little tricks to help your children get all the nutrition they need.

NUTRIENTS AT A GLANCE We all need the same nutrients but children’s requirements can vary, according to their age and sex. No one can remember the precise amounts for each nutrient so we’ve made a special page with an overview of all essential nutrients. How much vitamin K does your six-year-old need? And what are the best sources of magnesium? They’re all here.

When it comes to supplements, we offer good, clear guidance on what’s necessary, what’s optional and when a healthy diet is all you and your child need.

DIET AND HEALTH As many chronic diseases take root in childhood, it’s important to give your young ones the best start to life they can get. A healthy vegan diet can do just that and lower their risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer and mental health issues. On our great new webpages, you’ll find out how it works and all the excellent studies from which we’ve taken the information.

Lastly, we unravel fact from fiction on what’s needed for healthy bones. There is a practical section detailing the key elements of a bone-healthy diet and why exercise is a must for strong bones.

THIS IS YOUR RESOURCE Our new webpages are specifically designed to offer encouragement and education and are a handy, go-to resource for all vegan parents and caregivers. With our help, you can be confident that you’re feeding your child what’s best for them and is guaranteed to help them thrive.

A bonus is that these pages can also be a source of information and empowerment for the growing numbers of vegan teenagers.

If you ever have doubts about what your child eats or should eat, just head over to viva.org.uk/children and you’ll find all you need to know – including reassurance.

viva.org.uk 41

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Please help promote compassionate living

FoODjuStIce f0r

Kerri Waters talks to some young people who are working to make it happen

AlL

Children are our future, so the song goes, but what kind of future? Pandemic and climate crisis would suggest a dystopian nightmare! So, this summer, when Viva! was invited to meet inspirational young people fighting for a change in the food system, we were delighted – and came away with a real sense of hope.

The Youth4Food Festival took place at ValleyFest in Bristol this August and brought together around 100 young food advocates for a weekend of growth, learning and creativity. Led by The Food Foundation, the young delegates discussed issues of food poverty, nutrition and sustainability with their peers and business leaders, campaigners, politicians and policy makers. It gave them a chance to connect with projects already fighting for food justice.

The jam-packed schedule gave young people a platform to express their hopes, dreams, desires – and their artistic talents.

We wanted to discover what a sustainable food system looks like and the role veganism has to play in it. First, we listened to young activists like Dev Sharma discussing what it means to be a campaigner. He has been a Young Food Ambassador for the Children’s Right2Food Campaign for three years when he visited Downing Street to meet party leaders and cabinet ministers.

He is a Member of Youth Parliament for Leicestershire and winner of a Diana Award so is a passionate advocate for ending food poverty and was outspoken about the recent school meals scandal fronted by Marcus Rashford… and all this at the tender age of 16!

“More kids are going into longterm poverty and experiencing hunger and food insecurity and that was especially clear when the schools were off during the pandemic”, said Dev’s colleague

and fellow Youth Member of Parliament for Scotland, Ryan McShane. “I am incredibly angry with the system and I want to know how government policy is being scrutinised and enacted on the ground and what reforms are proposed”.

Government policy, in fact, was the focus of our next discussion, where a panel of politicians and experts answered questions about the National Food Strategy, which is based on feedback from a national consultation. It included the views of over 426 young people and produced a series of recommendations for the government, one of which was a possible meat tax and a 30 per cent reduction in meat consumption. 

“How come we are using that much land area to feed animals an unnatural diet in order to produce what is making us ill?”

viva.org.uk 43

Grain farmer, scientist and cook, Abi Aspen Glencross, agrees that this is vital if we want to produce good, healthy food.

“I was cycling through East Anglia from one farm to another and all I saw was feed wheat. It was all going to feed animals but just think how many people could have been fed if veg had been grown there! What makes me sick is that these animals are not meant to eat grain.

How come we are using that much land area to feed animals an unnatural diet in order to produce what is making us ill?”

So, now that we do have a food strategy, the question is – will the government act on it?

“I’m disappointed there isn’t a much stronger statement on meat and animal-sourced foods as it’s abundantly clear we are totally addicted to these foods in the UK and that is having a devastating effect on the planet and our health”, explained Professor Alan Dangour, Director of the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Despite his concerns, Professor Dangour is very positive about a shift to a plant-based food system: “The meat and dairy industries are under an enormous amount of pressure and I can see some pretty major structural changes happening, especially with the exciting alternative protein sources that have the

potential to transform what we eat”.

So, what will we eat in the future? We met young entrepreneurs, farmers and engineers attempting to answer that very question. These pioneers are putting new technology and innovative thinking to work for the health of our bodies and the planet.

Temi Odanye designs aeroponic systems for both indoor and vertical farms, which aim to cut waste and carbon emissions. Aeroponics grow fruit and vegetables without soil, with roots suspended in air which are irrigated with a nutrient dense mist, meaning less water, no pesticides or chemicals and no run-off into waterways – all great for wildlife.

Together with the team at Lettus Grow, Temi makes it possible to grow food in cities, using disused buildings and even recycled shipping containers.

Many of the young people at the festival had experienced food insecurity themselves and understand the inequalities that exist in our global food system, especially how our consumption impacts on the Global South. For that reason, the festival included live video links to young food activists from across the globe. Many are ambassadors for Act4Food Act4Change, which have a list of demands for world leaders and decision-makers.

I’ll leave the last word to one very impressive young member of the Vegan Organic Network, Isaac Graham.

“Today’s young people understand the global causality of buying meat and dairy – it has a big environmental impact and sets off a chain of degradation.”

So, the future may not be entirely gloomy and this new generation gives us real hope that a just and sustainable food system that is good for people, the planet and animals is not just a pipedream.

“Today’s young people understand the global causality of buying meat and dairy - it has a big environmental impact and sets off a chain of degradation”

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life

Viva!’s media blitz for the animals

BY TONY WARDLE, EDITOR

Obscenity of chicken production exposed The Independent pulled no punches in covering our undercover story exposing Britain’s big three broiler chicken producers. They detailed the suffering at each producer, backing it up with our graphic pictures. You’d think that those responsible would offer some kind of mia culpa, no matter how hollow and insincere. Not a bit of it. Hook 2 Sisters trotted out the usual litany of claims about how they are utterly motivated by animal welfare and culminated with this magnificent disclaimer: “This particular crop of birds was clinically assessed three times over 30 days by veterinary officials and no welfare issues were identified at any point”. Of course not, we just made it all up and independent vets who viewed and condemned the footage must have been away with the fairies.

Supermarkets who buy the chicken wrung their hands – again – and said how highly they value animal welfare – again – and continued to buy from these suppliers – again.

As well as the Independent, the story was covered in print by the Malvern Gazette, Evesham Journal and Worcester News. Online it made Supply Management, One Green Planet, yahoo.com, Vegan Insight, headtopics.com and plantbasednews.org.

Blythe Spirit Judging by the accolades that newspapers heap on her, you’d think Joanna Blythman was the foodie equivalent of Mother Teresa – ‘award winning’, ‘landmark author’, ‘authoritative writer’ and on and on. The piece she published recently in the Observer was none of these things but antiscientific nonsense. Steak and butter are good for you, five fruits a day won’t do you any good and stop listening to the anti-salt brigade!

She said she never swallowed government ‘healthy eating’ advice because mother nature isn’t a psychopath? “Why would she design foods to shorten the lifespan of the human race?” Wow – so animals evolved solely to be eaten, by us, and have no other intrinsic value even though they appeared millions of years before we did?

Viva!’s Dr Justine Butler fired off a response that stitched up this jaundiced journalist with good, solid science but it does raise the question as to why Joanna Blythman, supposedly an investigative journalist, has repeatedly chosen not to investigate diet and health but trot out unsupported gibberish instead. I’m sure it makes the meat industry happy… oh, just a minute…!

VEGAN RECIPE CLUB RULES It’s now become a regular thing for other magazines to use recipes from Viva!’s VRC – they’re so good, it’s not surprising. There were regular appearances in Plant Based Magazine, Stir It Up, Sheerlux.com and Vegan Food and Living. veganrecipeclub.org.uk FRESHERS’ FLOURISHES Our street actions influence more than just those they reach on the day through their excellent media coverage. Berkshire Live covered it as well as Reading in the News, Opera News and the Reading Chronicle. Our Big 3 tour hit it big with London TV. (london.tv.com) MYTHS A MANY Vegans are destroying the rainforests because they eat soya! It’s just one of many myths that have been concocted to divert attention away from the real reasons and again, Dr Justine Butler has demolished it in one of her regular blogs on Soya Myths, which the World Vegan magazine in Germany has reproduced. In other blogs, we destroy the myths surrounding avocados, plant milks and meat, milk and the environment. Go to viva.org.uk, click on ‘Planet’ and scroll to the bottom.

HOGWOOD HELL Director Juliet Gellatley talked about the hell that is Hogwood on a VeganSpire podcast on Spotify and clearly impacted on the interviewer. Patron Dale Vince also raised the spectre of Hogwood in his interview with the Sunday Times.

ASA – MEDIA GLOATATHON The insupportable decision of the Advertising Standards Authority to reject our, and 500 other, complaint that the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) claim that meat and dairy were an important part of a balanced diet was lapped up by an ecstatic media. Just about every title you’ve ever heard of, and many you haven’t, covered it, most under the PA’s (Press Agency) headline, with caps, Vegans bid to ban TV ad promoting meat and dairy as part of ‘balanced diet’ FAILS. Sorry fellas but facts are facts and this minor setback will alter nothing – meat and dairy have the skids under them!

viva.org.uk 45

lifestyle l a o t k l o i o k l e o t g Ił’s beginnin …and it’s coming around quickly! I always struggle to find the perfect gift for loved ones so I’ve started earlier this year and hopefully this will help you too! Here are some great gift ideas for your friends and family

BY EMILY COSTER, RETAIL MANAGER

Food gadgets – Tofuture Don’t struggle to make tofu flavoursome, buy the Tofuture tofu press! Before I discovered this nifty tool I used heavy cookbooks to squish excess water from my tofu but it never worked particularly well. Since I started using the tofu press, my tofu is always the way I want it!

Once pressed, the tofu can absorb any flavour you want to add and the texture will be firmer! Simply place your block of tofu inside the press, lock down the clamps and leave it in the fridge to press the water out.

It works with different sizes of firm tofu and can also be used to gently press silken tofu, using the loosest press setting. It works cleanly and efficiently with minimum fuss or mess and is dishwasher safe.

Made of BPA-Free plastic, it is re-usable and made with top quality, certified for food-use materials so there is no need to have bland tofu again! £24.99 lakeland.co.uk

Plants – Patch Plants Everyone loves a plant and Patch Plants have made it just that bit easier! With a great website and easy delivery, they tell you which plants will work best in your house and how to care for them – and they even have a plant doctor!

To complete the deal, they also sell plant pots so you can choose the right size and colour and won’t need to shop around elsewhere.

Plants always make a welcome gift as they brighten spaces and help add colour and warmth. For someone who loves having them around but maybe isn’t so great at looking after them, they have a dedicated page of ‘(almost) unkillable house-plants’ – which are low maintenance and look fantastic! patchplants.com

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Jewellery – Fire and Hope Jewellery I am loving these beautiful designs from Fire & Hope (previously known as Muddy Pig). Beautiful silver and copper vegan designs which include keyrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. The animal shapes include pigs, cows and foxes and are so gorgeous!

These handmade pieces are a great way to show you care about animals and make super presents as you can choose the material and text, making it more personal. I love wearing rings and one of my favourite pieces is the gorgeous Sterling Silver and White Agate Princess Cow – what a statement piece!

Fire & Hope is a vegan-owned, small business so you are supporting a fellow vegan when you buy your friends and family pieces from this brand!

Prices start from £18+ etsy.com/UK/shop/muddypigjewellery

Christmas...

Perfume – Eden Perfumes Eden Perfumes is a family-owned business which started in Brighton. They match your favourite big-brand scents but are 100 per cent vegan and aren’t tested on animals!

I had been looking for vegan, cruelty-free perfumes for a while before I found Eden Perfumes – and I’m so glad I did! Their fragrances are fantastic and you can find your favourite by typing in a brand or perfume name and they will tell you the name of their cruelty-free equivalent!

They create beautiful scents which are affordable and better for the planet – they even offer refills! The ingredients used are all vegan (jasmine, vanilla, passion fruit, musk, saffron, oud, sandalwood and much more) which they blend to create a whole variety of perfumes.

They are all eau de parfums rather than

eau de toilettes. If you are unsure of your friend or family’s favourite scents you can purchase sample gift boxes or customise a gift box! All handmade in the UK. Prices start from £18+ edenperfumes.co.uk

Skincare – MuLondon These award-winning moisturisers from MuLondon are great as they can be used on your face, hands and body – a wonder cream for keeping all areas moisturised!

Certified organic, they are a great way to pamper your skin – even sensitive, irritated, dry or dehydrated skin types and are suitable for all ages.

MuLondon say they use pure, natural essential oils and herbal extracts inspired by traditional herbalism. They don’t contain preservatives or animal ingredients and are never tested on animals.

MuLondon is a member of the 1% For The Planet initiative (all members contribute one per cent of their sales to environmental

causes) and is a Certified B corporation (have verifiable social and environmental standards).

My favourite scent is the Rose, Rosehip, Rosemary one – they use rose otto oil, rosehip extract and rosemary antioxidants.

This trio is blended in a base of certified organic shea butter, coconut butter and golden jojoba oil, which will balance and nourish dry, irritated and sensitive skin. My skin is super soft after using this and I love the healthy shimmer.

Scents: Rose, Rosehip, Rosemary £30, Lavender £24, White Chocolate Truffle £26, Marigold, Frankincense & Myrrh £26, Fragrance Free £24, Hemp £24 mulondon.com

Pamper Box – The Salt Parlour Himalayan Salt Gift Box The Salt Parlour believe the sea can work wonders for your skin and they wanted to recreate that beach holiday feeling with their range of salt and sulphur scrubs. Their ethos is simple: to create natural, vegan, cruelty-free and eco-friendly skincare products that make skin glow and feel healthy. They also only use reusable, plastic-free packaging to help protect our seas from harmful plastic waste. This is a gorgeous relaxing gift for a loved one – or for yourself!

This luxurious natural gift set includes a Himalayan Salt Candle Holder and 200g Rose & Shea Body Scrub. Perfect for an indulgent soak in a candle-lit bath.

Step 1 – Add a tea light to the Himalayan Salt candle holder to provide a warm glow and create a relaxing atmosphere in your bathroom.

Step 2 – Breathe deeply to harness the claimed health benefits of Himalayan salt, which may include boosting your mood, soothing allergies and cleaning the air in your home.

Step 3 – Hop in the shower or soak in the bath whilst using the Rose & Shea Butter Scrub to soothe and calm your skin. Packed with Pink Himalayan Salt, Rose Essential Oil and Dried Rose Petals, this soulful scrubby mix will leave your skin smooth and moisturised and your senses relaxed and tension-free.

Step 4 – Blow the candle out!

Never leave a candle unattended.

Don’t just take our word for it; the Rose & Shea Butter Scrub was awarded Editor’s Choice in the beauty Shortlist Awards 2018! This gift set is vegan, cruelty free, earthfriendly and made in the UK. £24.99 thesaltparlour.co.uk

viva.org.uk 47

Continued from page 25 has annual sales of $115 billion. They once boasted that they were the largest company no one had ever heard of – and that secrecy is no accident. In fact, David Koch died in 2019 but Charles remains, as does David’s fortune, to fund the cause. But they’re not alone as the names of ExxonMobil and tobacco giant Phillip Morris also crop up as benefactors to the climate denial gang.

So what does Koch industries do? Oil, of course, refining crude into petrol and aviation fuel and producing vast quantities of oil-based fertiliser but also paper making – including toilet paper, which seems quite appropriate. And yes, they farm beef cattle too. Their political influence is profound and it was they who provided Trump’s manifesto. Every single one of his policies was straight out of the Koch’s playbook (except for the trade war with China, which was his own) – huge tax cuts for the rich, lifting constraints on oil and coal, withdrawal from global institutions, rampant nationalism, trashing the environment, promoting animal products – everything we cringed at was the brainchild of America’s shadowy Koch brothers.

Of course, when a Swedish schoolgirl went on a climate strike and galvanised the whole world into debating the climate crisis, it came as a shock to them and Greta Thunberg had to be trashed and Trump dutifully tried his best. Unsuccessfully as it happens.

Mary Trump insists we should refer to her uncle Donald as a fascist and she is entirely right. What we are witnessing in the US is fascism attempting to supplant democracy. Trumpism – only it isn’t really Trumpism but Kochism. It’s been partially derailed for the moment but the fact that at the last election Trump attracted more votes than any other previous presidential candidate in history is a sobering thought.

Should Trumpism return, the planet and all its animals will be in serious trouble.

He was of course, assisted by the libertarian right’s own Joseph Goebbels, Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox News makes no attempt at objective journalism but it is a bitter, spiteful propaganda machine, as are his newspapers. The Sun and the Times in the UK relegated the IPCC report to their inside pages.

The response of some in Britain to fascist Trump was sickening, with Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage trying to make him their very bestest friend as they trundled their Brexit bandwagon behind them as a calling card, desperate to tie the UK closely to Trump’s rabid policies – and no one should forget that.

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You must have asked yourself why Trump was so motivated to support them and Brexit. Simple – he wanted Britain out of the EU in order to weaken it.

A successful EU would be a philosophical and economic threat to an authoritarian, fascist US. It has a greater population, believes in government, legislates for the environment, animals, workers’ rights, pensions, social security, education and decent wages – everything that is anathema to Trump’s brand of fascism.

A stable, prosperous and relatively contented Europe would sit in stark contrast to a dystopian US, should it fall to Trumpism. Why else would he fawn over brutal dictators and yet insult EU democratic leaders? Even as I write this, Fox News’s disembler-in-chief, Tucker Carlson, is in Hungary, sucking up to and encouraging its authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban. Divide and rule is the name of the game and we fell for it.

You don’t need to be right – it’s about propaganda, undermining, sowing doubt The day after the IPCC launched its climate report, Nigel Farage was pontificating on GB News, our new, right-wing news channel, offering his opinion: “I don’t know much about global warming but I do know that the sun has heated the earth for years and volcanoes under the sea produce huge amounts of CO2.” The report has 14,000 cited references Nige – try reading some of them. But it’s not about that, is it? You don’t need to be right – it’s about propaganda, undermining, sowing doubt. Charles Koch would be proud of you Nigel – but then you probably know that already.

Download the super new... delicious

APP , it s absolutely free!

simple

Hundreds of mouthwatering, colourful vegan recipes at the touch of a button Brilliant app, so many recipes!

The days of just salad and chips and beans are long-since gone. Viva!’s expert food and cookery team have spent over a decade creating and compiling the very best vegan dishes from across the globe to create the spectacular Vegan Recipe Club website (veganrecipeclub.org.uk).

We are delighted to announce the re-launch of the new Vegan Recipe Club app – crammed full of delicious vegan recipes, ranging from classic comfort food to fine dining recipes, they’re all here.

Available from both Google Play and App Store, the app is free to download and showcases over 500 tried and tested recipes.

The user-friendly search function allows you to quickly find the perfect recipe. Use the star rating system to give feedback on the recipes you try and ‘favourite’ those you want to make again and again!

Viva!’s Vegan Recipe Club app proves that delicious doesn’t have to be difficult! With hundreds of recipes to choose from and practical step-by-step guides, we guarantee you’ll be saying ‘Yes, I ve-can!’.

Great app, delicious recipes and easy to use

Superb app that presents vegan recipes in a simple way

ng i r e t a w h t mou

YES, YOU VE-CAN viva.org.uk 49

‘I’m goIng to JOin viVa!’s UNdeRcoVer TEam!’ Cynthia’s a realist and knows her time is now limited. She has always supported Viva!’s campaigns against animal cruelty but with few resources. When she finally goes, Cynthia knows she’ll leave some decent money and wants to use some of it to save animals from suffering. That’s why she intends to support Viva!’s exposés of factory farming. Viva! is changing the face of Britain and Cynthia still wants to be a part of it – wherever she is.

Please remember Viva! in your will so we can go on saving animals For information on leaving a Will, see viva.org.uk/legacies or ring 0117 944 1000 (Mon-Fri, 9-5) Check out our campaigns on viva.org.uk/campaigns The woman pictured is a model but we want to thank Cynthia Harper for her extraordinary generosity. viva.org.uk 50

V-Biz

The latest businesses to join our Supporters’ Discount Scheme or to carry a Viva! Vegan Symbol. Join Viva! at viva.org.uk/join to get these great discounts.

To claim your discounts at shops, take along your Supporters’ card to eligible shops!

Viva! Supporter’s Discount Here viva.org.uk

Abbey Road Coffee Abbey Road Coffee is a family-owned coffee shop in the heart of the Malvern Hills. The owners – a husband and wife duo – spent six years turning the space into an entirely plant-based café! They sell a range of delicious vegan cakes, bagels and toasties for either a quick sweet treat or an indulgent lunch.

You can also enjoy a perfectly brewed coffee, with your choice of plant-based milk.

DISCOUNT 20% in-store abbeyroadcoffee.co.uk

Jeavons Toffee

14 Gifts

Viva! is proud to work with likeminded people to promote a cruelty-free lifestyle and bring you the latest info on vegan products and services – plus amazing discounts

14 Gifts is an independent business owned by husband-and-wife team George and Elizabeth. They specialise in selling fantasy and gothic giftware for all your spiritual, well-being and collectable needs!

Situated in Gloucester and online, there is something for everyone; whether it be crystals, books, aromatherapy oils or gothic accessories!

DISCOUNT 5% with code 14Viva! 14gifts.online

Jeavons Toffee is a small company based just outside Brighton run by husband and wife team, Corin and Lesley Jeavons (who both once worked for Viva!). They started the business in their family kitchen nearly six years ago and their award-winning, dairy-free treats are lovingly made in small batches to their own uniquely perfected recipes. The Jeavons say they ensure that farmers and land-workers who supply them get a fair profit and they are RSPO-certified to ensure that all ingredients are sustainably sourced. If you have been missing Rolos, Daim bars or Toffee Crisps, then you’ll love these!

10% discount with code vivaforever jeavonstoffee.com

Vegan Outfitters This eco-friendly and ethical clothing brand focuses on producing ontrend fashion items, without harming animals. Vegan Outfitters have a beautiful range of clothing designs, featuring light-hearted as well as more provocative slogans – plus unique accessories that are perfect year-round!

For every purchase, a contribution is made to feed rescued farm animals – a perfect way to support animals in need whilst adding stylish pieces to your wardrobe – win, win!

DISCOUNT CODE 5% discount on orders over £50 with the code VIVA5 veganoutfitters.com

Want to partner with Viva! to offer your vegan products and services to new audiences?

See viva.org.uk/resources/businesses or email business@viva.org.uk viva.org.uk 51

The Viva!

Vegan podcast & news minisode with: What’s coming up on The Viva! Vegan Podcast NOVEMBER – Viva! Founder & Director, Juliet Gellatley, in conversation with comedian, actor and vegan, Russell Brand JANUARY – we meet Matthew Glover, the man behind the incredible Veganuary movement and leading food brand VFC (Vegan Fried Chicken)

helen & faye viva.org.uk/podcast

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Vegan Fakeaway: Plant-based Takeaway Classics for the Ultimate Night in – Katy Beskow

BY EMILY COSTER

The Vegan Matrix: Understanding and discussing privilege among vegans to build a more inclusive and empowered movement – Melanie Joy, PhD Dr Melanie Joy introduced the concept of carnism and in this short guidebook, published in the wake of the #metoo movement, she explains what privilege is, why understanding privilege matters and how to talk about it in a way that deepens understanding and leads to a more inclusive, resilient, and impactful vegan movement.

Using simple, straightforward language and a compassionate tone, Joy explains why it’s so important for vegans to become aware of privilege and how to talk about it in order to change it. In so doing, Joy unpacks some of the many privileges that must be acknowledged and addressed and calls for more inclusivity and diversity within vegan organisations and the movement as a whole. The Vegan Matrix is a call to awareness and action, empowering vegans to reach a broader audience and help create a more compassionate and just world. £10.99 BK5970

This might be my new favorite cookbook! Katy Beskow has researched the best takeaway classics and veganised them in this cookbook. We all love a takeaway – I am guilty of ordering more during lockdown! But this is a great way to try food from around the world in the comfort of our own homes and cheaply, especially when not all takeaway places offer vegan meals (it’s getting better but I still struggle to find a good vegan Chinese menu).

Vegan Fakeaway offers 70 recipes that deliver fast, easy, vegan takeaway classics that will make sure you’re able to indulge whenever the craving strikes. Divided into chapters on American, Chinese, Indian, Italian and Middle Eastern classics, you’ll find recipes which take just fifteen minutes to cook, slow-cooker recipes that do the hard work for you and menus that will feed up to four people. Perfect for inviting friends and serving up a feast! £15.00 BK6338

Marianna’s Milk – Eve Louise Davies Eve Louise Davies has created a range of children’s books which focus on the viewpoints of animals born into the farming industry in order to help children understand what happens behind closed doors and not just what the media and farmers would like us to think.

These books plant the seed in children’s minds to make the connection between living animals and their food. They don’t go into detail about how male calves are disposed of in the dairy industry, for example, but give subtle facts that will get kids thinking.

This story follows Marianna who misses her calf who was taken away from her. Luckily, the farmer’s nephew, Jack, wants to help!

Eve Louise Davies is a Welsh-born writer who became a vegetarian at four years of age after a school trip to a farm. Later in life, she discovered the horrors of the dairy and egg industries and subsequently became vegan.

Eve decided to create storybooks that are more representative of the unnecessarily cruel way in which so many animals are treated rather than the traditional happy, sunny traditional children’s books that are largely make believe. £6.99 BK6322

Lucky Molly and Poor Polly – Eve Louise Davies This story follows two chicks who are best friends and shows the reality behind the egg industry – this helps give children an understanding of egg production without being too graphic. Molly and Polly are longlost friends – chicks who have very different lives.

Molly can’t forget poor Polly but she does find a new, very clever friend! £6.99 BK6323

All Viva! Vegan Book Club choices are available from vivashop.org.uk/books Tel: 0117 944 1000 (Mon-Fri, 9am to 5pm) viva.org.uk 53

Classifieds PRODUCTS & SERVICES

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

karen@taxreturnonlineservices.co.uk

Can you help?

Viva! has lots of exciting upcoming events all around the country and we need your help!

We are looking for responsible, friendly like-minded people to represent our wonderful charity and sell a vegan chocolate bar or two.

WHAT DOES IT ENTAIL? Once we have confirmed interest in the event, we will arrange merchandise boxes to be sent to your address.

All the important information will be sent to you prior to the event and the boxes will include everything you need to have a smooth and successful day. Plus, all the cruelty-free goodies to sell on the day!

Then for the fun part – attending the event! This is a great opportunity to have a chat with other likeminded people and be out representing Viva!. Once you have attended the event, the boxes will be sent back and all stock and funds counted. All funds raised go back into Viva! and supports all the wonderful campaigning. Be sure to take lots of photos, we love seeing all the amazing work you are doing!

THE PERKS? Apart from taking part in a great event, you will receive a Viva! t-shirt for the day which you get to keep. Plus, a 15% discount on all goodies and a special thank you in Viva!Life magazine!

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED? If you have a particular event in mind that you would like to attend or want to find out more, email merchandise@viva.org.uk; or festivals@viva.org.uk.

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Stand up for your rights…

Are you confident about protecting your vegan or vegetarian identity and beliefs – now and in the future?

Just

£2.75 inc P&P

V for Life’s self-advocacy pack outlines the laws that safeguard dignity and choices in care. It details the steps you can take to ensure that you are cared for in line with your beliefs.

Understand your rights as a vegan or vegetarian.

Where to access support and information (care homes, legal, nutrition).

Step-by-step guide to ensuring your rights are respected in case of loss of capacity or cognition or when receiving care.

Template letters to use if admitted to hospital or receiving care.

0161 257 0887 | vforlife.org.uk |

VfLUK

@VfL_UK

V for Life is a charity registered in England and Wales, number 1120687

MAKE SURE YOUR ENERGY SUPPLY IS ANIMAL FREE There’s a secret, shameful ingredient in the electricity that goes to millions of British homes.

Animals and animal by-products.

They can come from factory farming – animal slurry and body parts. Four of the big six energy companies and four of the leading green energy companies all have animal waste in their fuel mix.

If you care about animal welfare, this will matter to you.

To nd out if your supplier is a ected, visit ecotricity.co.uk/viva.

We’re the only energy company in the world certi ed as vegan by both the Vegan Society and Viva!.

No animals are harmed in the making of our power.

VIVA! WILL RECEIVE A £60 DONATION WHEN YOU SWITCH YOUR ELECTRICITY AND GAS 0808 123 0 123 (quote VIVA) ecotricity.co.uk/VIVA