Happy New Year and welcome to Veganuary 2015

Happy New Year! You may remember that last year, I discovered Veganuary for the first time. As a non-vegan vegetarian, I often find I'm in the firing line from both meat-eaters and vegans, as to what my family eat and why we do so.  In case you don't know, I've been vegetarian for over 20 years, Mr O eats meat occasionally - but I won't buy or cook it - and both of our daughters have been raised as vegetarians from conception! 

As an ethical, rather than heath-led veggie, I am obviously aware that a vegetarian diet isn't perfect when it comes to avoiding cruelty to animals, but as a family we try to minimise our egg and honey consumption, leather and silk purchases, and avoid products tested on animals and animal-based entertainment (zoos/racing/circuses etc.). Our one big downfall is cheese, although I must say that since last January, I definitely buy less diary cheese than I did before.

 For those of you who haven't discovered Veganuary before:

"Veganuary aims to reduce the suffering of animals by inspiring and supporting people across the globe to go vegan for the month of January. For most, a love of animals is the catalyst. Some people want to feel better about themselves and the impact they make on the world. Others would like to set themselves a challenge, and many combine Veganuary with their ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ and see trying vegan as the healthiest start to the year. Whatever your reason, we’re here to support you. So try vegan for a month and discover a whole new world of taste and flavour. We guarantee that, by the end of the January, you’ll feel fantastic! Sign up today."

Although I didn't quite manage to stay completely vegan for the month last year, I made a concerted effort to reduce my family's dairy/cheese and egg consumption. I will admit that I found it tough at times, but it was a good experience, and one I am willing to try again. I currently have some cheese left over from Christmas to finish off, but after that has gone, I'm going to attempt a full vegan month. The rest of the family may have some cheese/dairy and the odd Quorn product, so I'll be keeping vegetarian options in my new Veganauary recipes.

I'm actually thinking of doing a 5:2 kind of meal plan for the family, whereby weekday meals are vegan and weekend meal are vegetarian or have a vegetarian option. That way if I fall off the vegan wagon, I know I can get back on the following Monday!

For anyone joining in with Veganuary, there's a great list of vegan pantry essentials for both the UK and the USA, which give dairy and egg-free alternatives to many common non-vegan cooking ingredients.

I you're thinking of joining in the Veganuary challenge, I'd love your support, so do drop me a comment either here or on Facebook, with your encouragement, tips, recipe ideas or questions.

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Anyone for shark fin soup?

One of my new year's blog-olutions was to focus a little more on animal welfare issues. In the past few days, I've read about about two shocking stories of greed and cruelty, which I wanted to share, to raise awareness. I know not all of you are vegetarian or vegan, but I hope that this doesn't stop you from joining me in outrage at these recent events.

Firstly, I saw these photographs taken by Gary Stokes (also see video above), of thousands of shark fins drying on the roof tops of Hong Kong. Although the trade in shark fins (for the infamous shark fin soup) is apparently in decline, there is still a high demand for the product in China. Incidentally, something I didn't realise before, was that the fins are harvested from live sharks which are then thrown back into the sea to die, as the rest of their meat is not nearly as profitable.

The second story was featured in the Daily Mail and involves the beautiful and undeniably intelligent dolphin. You may already have heard of the annual dolphin massacre at Taiji cove on the south coast of Japan? Well, those dolphins which are caught but not slaughtered for their meat, may end up being sold to aquaria for our entertainment in "abusement parks". 

photo courtesy of the dolphinproject.org

Whilst the UK no longer has any captive whales or dolphins, many UK holidaymakers flock to see dolphin shows or to swim with captive dolphins in other countries. Although many are now captive-bred, some including those in other European aquaria, may have been caught from the wild. Please do consider the plight of these amazing animals before booking your tickets to any zoo or aquarium which still has captive whales and dolphins.

Read more about the campaign to stop shark finning here. Read more about wales and dolphins in captivity here.

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What bugs a bunny? Hay fever!

When the RSPCA asked me if I'd be interested in helping to raise awareness of their new Hay Fever campaign, I jumped at the chance (get it?!) as I realised that I've not blogged about many animal welfare issues. As a vegetarian, I've often been accused of eating rabbit food, so hopefully this post will disprove the common misconception that both vegetarian people and rabbits eat a similar diet!

Although I've never had a pet rabbit, I was concerned to read that a recent poll (commissioned by the RSPCA)* showed that only 8% of rabbit owners knew that hay and grass should make up the most significant part of a rabbit’s diet, as that's what they would eat naturally. Commercially produced pellets or cereal mix should only be fed as a supplement to this, along with washed, leafy greens and the occasion treat of root vegetables or fruit. 

A poor diet is only one of the issues affecting pet rabbits. Unfortunately, the RSPCA takes in thousands of neglected or unwanted bunnies every year and they see thousands more kept in small hutches all day with no company and no opportunities to play, exercise or graze on grass.

Whether you have a rabbit or not, it would be great if you could watch and share this fun video on Twitter or Facebook, to help the RSPCA spread the word:

The RSPCA have also put together the following tips, to help you look after your furry friends...

Dos:
A healthy rabbit diet should consist of:
● Mainly good quality hay which should be available at all times (a bundle of hay that’s as big as a rabbit  every day) and ideally also access to grass for grazing.
● Fresh clean grass (growing or picked by hand).
● An adult rabbit-sized handful of washed dark leafy greens such as cabbage, broccoli, kale and herbs such as parsley.
● A small amount of good quality commercial rabbit pellets, nuggets or cereal mix (no more than 25g per kg of body weight)
● Constant access to fresh, clean water.

Don'ts:
● Despite popular belief, a rabbit’s diet shouldn’t include too much lettuce. Iceberg lettuce is not suitable.
● Carrots and apples are high in sugar and should only be fed as an occasional treat.
● Fresh clean grass is great, but not lawnmower clippings! They can upset a rabbit’s digestive system and make them ill.

For more information on caring for your pet bunny, or to find out how to adopt a rabbit, visit the RSPCA's rabbit welfare page.

*Study commissioned by the RSPCA: ‘Assessment of the state of rabbit welfare in the UK and prioritisation of issues’, an investigation of husbandry, housing and health (and other key issues) by a team of welfare scientists, behaviourists and vets at Bristol University in a 16-month study.

Image and video courtesy of the RSPCA.

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Green People's sun lotion - a review

I've just come back from a lovely week away with the family in Albufeira, Portugal. Not being one to miss an opportunity to thoroughly test any product I review, I took a tube of Green People's Organic Children  sun lotion to try out on my sensitive-skinned children, plus myself and the less sensitive Mr O!

Of course, all Green People products are vegetarian and not tested on animals and many of their products are also vegan (which is clearly marked), including a factor 15 vegan sun cream.

"Our natural sunscreens contain antioxidants and anti inflammatory ingredients with skin vitamins A, C and E (Green Tea, Olive, Avocado and Rosemary extract) to help support the skin's immune system and protect against cell damage." 

The SPF 25 sun lotion we tried out was unscented, as Miss Ony has been known to come out in a nasty all-over skin rash when she uses scented sun creams and the eczema-prone Miss Kahonie says that most sun creams (even unscented ones) make her face sting. The Green People lotion was thick, rich and easy to apply, although it did take more rubbing in than a spray-on sun lotion would; It felt very moisturising too.

© Albufeira old town beach

I'd normally buy a factor 50 cream if we were going abroad in the summer, but thought that a factor 25 would be fine for this time of year in the Algarve or on a rare sunny British summer day. Interestingly though, Green People say that the frequency of application is more important that the factor you use:

"SPF25 sunscreen offers 96% protection from rays while SPF50 offers 98%. SPF 30 sun lotions do not offer twice the protection of SP15. Applied properly , SP15 filters out 93% of UVB rays, while SPF 30 filters out 97%. Even the highest SPF100 offers 99% protection against UVB rays. It is far more important to apply sun lotions regularly and liberally."

The cream protected us all well, even on hot sunny days (with several applications) and neither of the girls suffered any reaction to it. Miss Kahonie's dry skin actually looked better after using the cream for a few days.

At £15.95 for a 150ml tube, the cream is not cheap, but worth the money if you can't use cheaper lotions. As we generally go through 4-5 bottles of sun lotion between us on a summer 2 week holiday in the sun,  I reckon that buying a tube of Green People for us all to use on our faces and then getting a cheaper store's-own unscented product to use on our bodies is a good compromise between cost and sensitivity!

Green People stock a wide variety of skin, body and hair care products, which can all be purchased from their online shop. 

Integrity Statement
I received a 150ml tube of Green People children's sun lotion to review. I did not receive payment, and the views expressed are genuinely those of myself and my family.  Pin It

The Midlands vegan festival - a review

I didn't think there were many vegans, or even that many vegetarians in the West Midlands, but by today's turn out at the Midlands Vegan Festival, I must be wrong - the Wolverhampton Civic Hall was packed with people of all ages. There were all sorts of stalls including various animal-welfare and environmental-type charities, cruelty-free products and best of all, lots of folks offering tasters and selling oodles of yummy vegan foods.

There were talks, music, cooking demonstrations, kids activities, a vegan cupcake competition and even vegan speed-dating on offer (I declined visiting the latter!) and it only cost £1 for adult entry - what a bargain!

I visited with Miss Ony, and we spent a pleasant couple of hours at the festival. We both particularly enjoyed Lizzy Hughes' cooking demos and tasting quinoa for the first time.
I hadn't been to the vegan festival before, as I wasn't sure how family-friendly it would be, but I'll certainly go again next year. Pin It

It's the very first Fish Free Friday

We all know about Meat Free Mondays, but have you heard of Fish Free Fridays? It's the new campaign by the Vegetarian Society, which hopes to raise awareness of the fact that vegetarians don't eat fish (no, not even fishfingers!) and that the current commercial fishing industry is not sustainable.

If you want to join in and spread the word, visit the Vegetarian Society website

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Artificial meat - the end to world hunger....or not?

An article shared by Yeovil and Somerset Vegetarians on my Facebook page, prompted me to write this post. It stated that the Japanese are developing a new meat-like food stuff made with protein from bacteria, extracted from human waste. After reading the article, I had to check the date, to see if it was written on April the 1st!

Then, last Sunday, I read a very interesting, but scary article in the Sunday Times newspaper about in vitro meat (an update from this previous article.)  Apparently scientists have managed to produce small quantities in the lab and think that mass-produced cultured meat could be a reality within the next 10 years.

I was slightly surprised to find PETA are promoting this research, despite their reasoning that in vitro meat could save the unnecessary slaughter of farm animals, reduce carbon emissions and could help tackle famine.

Famine is something that we would all surely like to end. As far as I understand, and I could be wrong, it's known that if the entire world's population turned vegetarian, we would, in theory, all have enough food to eat - Around 70% of the world's agricultural land is currently used to grow food to feed and raise livestock, instead of being used to grow plant-based food for humans. As a bonus, carbon emissions would be significantly reduced, as farmed animals produce approximately 20% of our global greenhouse-gas emissions.

Now, I'm not saying that the world going vegan or vegetarian is likely, or even possible (as this is a totally idealistic argument), but a diet more like that of our ancestors, containing just a little meat or fish along side plenty of plant-derived foods, would surely go along way to feeding the starving millions, and would help to improve the health of people globally.

We already have the option of eating non-meat alternatives such as soya, tofu and Quorn which are all low in fat, high in protein and cheaper to produce than meat - so why do we need a version which contains animal cells? I'll certainly be sticking to my veggie diet, whatever the scientists come up with!

What do you think...are you for or against cultured meats and do you think they could be the answer to world hunger?

Read more about in vitro meat here.  Pin It

Vegetarian week challenge

It's National Vegetarian Week next week - the annual awareness-raising campaign promoting inspirational vegetarian food and the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle; I'm doing my bit to promote the event, by setting you all a foodie challenge (whether you're veggie already, or not!)

If you're not vegetarian, I'm challenging you to adapt a meat/fish based recipe to make it vegetarian, by swapping the meat/fish for a meat substitute, pulses, dairy products or just leaving it out and adding extra vegetables.

If you're already vegetarian, I'm challenging you to adapt a vegetarian recipe and make it vegan.

If you don't want to join in with these challenges, but you're featuring Vegetarian Week on your blog, or you have a vegetarian/vegan recipe you would like to share, then please link up too.

Edit - Thanks to everyone who linked up!

Linky posts:
Lynn's Cooking Blog - National Vegetarian Week
Farmer's Girl Kitchen - Butternut Lasagne
Inside The Wendy House - National Vegetarian Week
Peace, Love & Lots of Giggles - I Heart Being Vegetarian
Tofu Fun - End of Days
Gotta Run
Celebrating Mums - Family Vegetarian Recipes
Senses in the Kitchen - Courgette and Feta Bake

Thinking about going veggie? Then the first thing to do is to get your hands on a copy of the Vegetarian Society’s very aptly named – Going Veggie guide, it’s free and brand spanking new. Call 0161 925 2000 or visit www.nationalvegetarianweek.org for a free copy.

Image courtesy of the Vegetarian Society. Pin It

I'm singing a veggie song!

Well, my eyes (or should that be ears?) have been opened, thanks to a random youtube link I was sent on twitter (@facelessfood, just in case you want to sent me a tweet!) Of course, I had to click on the link, and soon found myself listening to the Vegan Song. The lyrics and images were pretty thought-provoking, and certainly caught my attention, but some of the pictures were a tad controversial, so not suitable to show to children.

I then thought I'd search for vegetarian songs, and found quite a few. Now, I don't think that any of them will ever get any awards for singing or song writing, but here are a few that I particularly liked: Don't Eat Like a Barbarian, What Do You Eat?, No Meat On Monday. Pin It

Vegetarianism-ism

Have you ever been a victim of vegetarianism-ism?
Chances are that if you're a vegetarian by choice, then you have. There are laws to protect most minority groups from discrimination, abuse and ridicule (and rightly so) but what about human rights for vegetarians? 

Of course, many vegetarians have dietary requirements related to their culture or religion and they are protected by anti-discrimination laws, but for those of us who choose vegetarianism for secular reasons, we apparently have to put up with derision for our beliefs.

Take for example my daughters Miss Ony and Miss Kahonie; They've been shown pity, ridicule and downright rudeness by their peers and some 'grown ups'...this behaviour has even bordered on that of persistent bullying and I am currently poised to go into school and complain about this. Their peers have told them that they should eat meat and have sneered at their discomfort in defending their beliefs publicly. They've had meat waved under their noses at lunch time, and been told how delicious dead animal flesh tastes. Can you imagine them getting away with pushing drugs or alcohol at school? Well to me, this isn't so different.

Meat is something that I have chosen to do without and have brought my children up accordingly. To us, eating a burger is comparable to eating our pet cat or next door's budgie.Talking of burgers, how come a certain well known burger chain doesn't think that vegetarian kids exist? Come to mention it, Virgin Atlantic don't either.

I've been veggie for around 20 years now and have become used to defending my beliefs and my right to bring up my children on a vegetarian diet. I politely stand my ground and explain that we do not 'miss out' and that there really are plenty more delicious foods than chicken nuggets (the staple food for UK kids, it would seem!) People seem fascinated in what we do and don't eat, and seem to want to try to trick us up. If you're interested, no, we don't eat fish, and yes, we do eat free-range/organic eggs and milk.

 If all else fails, I tell them that we don't eat anything with a face or that we forage in the hedgerows for nuts and berries which normally shuts them up! Goodness knows how much stick we'd get if we were vegans!

If you want support and advice for bring up a veggie family, then try the Vegetarian Society. They have loads of helpful fact sheets, recipes and a forum. Pin It

Superdrug's cruelty free and cost-conscious products

I'm a bit late in realising this, but apparently all of Superdrug's own brand cosmetics and toiletries are now approved by BUAV. I only found this out, when I was looking for a hair styling product in Superdrug and happened to notice the BUAV bunnies on them.

This is great news for ethical consumers, as it guarantees that no animal testing has taken place in any part of the products' manufacturing process. Vegetarians and vegans will be pleased to know that the products are also labelled as to their suitability. I'm happy to report that the items I have tried so far, are cheaper than most of the big brand cosmetic lines and are great quality too.

You may think that the animal testing ban which came into force in 2009 means that all cosmetics are already cruelty free, but BUAV say that "Despite a UK and EU ban on the use of animals to test cosmetic products, large numbers of cosmetic products available in high street stores still contain ingredients that have previously been tested on animals. Contrary to popular belief, until 2013 cosmetic companies are still allowed to market and sell products within the EU that have been tested on animals in other parts of the world."

If you are concerned about animal testing via the backdoor, please sign the NO CRUEL COSMETICS petition.

Integrity Statement
I have not received any payment or free products in return for this review and the views expressed are genuinely those of myself.
Image courtesy of BUAV © Pin It

Zoos - The moral dilemma

To zoo or not to zoo? That is the question!
Miss Ony has had a letter from school about an ahem 'educational' school trip to Chester Zoo and of course she wants to go, as all her friends are going. 

Being a vegetarian, I'm not a big fan of traditional zoos; Partly due to the whole animals for entertainment issue and partly for animal welfare issues. A zoo seems like a bit of a freak show to me..."Hey kids lets go and laugh at the funny animals walking back and forth in their cages enclosures, it's educational you know?" I remember going to Chester Zoo, on an 'educational trip' many years ago, and returning home no more (if not less) educated than I would have been after watching a good natural history documentary.

On the other hand I do see a need to protect and breed endangered species and I applaud their breeding of native species like the hazel dormouse, but is Chester really the right place to be breeding elephants?

I guess I'm a bit of a hypocrite as I've taken the kids to the West Midland Safari Park and we'll be going to Disney's Animal Kingdom later in the year. Somehow, a safari park and a kingdom, sound far more natural and spacious (and less guilt-inducing) places to visit than a zoo!

So, back to my dilemma on the school trip...Mr O is paying for her to go, to keep my conscience clear(ish).

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Cloned milk and meat is safe?

So, it's official, the meat and milk from cloned animals is safe! Yipee, the world will be a better place and famine will be a thing of the past...or maybe not!

What actually are the benefits of cloning animals, apart from giving bored scientists something to do? They're initially cheaper to produce, I guess, but surely genetically identical animals will be far more prone to being wiped out by diseases like foot & mouth and BSE, which would have a huge economic impact on farmers. I also wonder what other long term costs to nature and the environment may be seen in the future.

It's up to consumers (and non-consumers!) to make sure that the demand for cheap meat does not lead to the mass production of cloned animals. This might well be a case of shutting the proverbial stable door after the horse cow has bolted though, as apparently cloned meat has already been sold in the UK (by 'accident'). Nice to know that the stringent standards of novel food regulation are in place then!

For more information see the Food Standards Agency website. Pin It

The Marks & Spencer £2 chicken

I was shocked by M&S's recent advertising campaign for their special offer £2 chickens. £2 for a whole chicken, bargain. That's about the same cost as a pack of Quorn mince or an organic butternut squash!

To tell you the truth, I expected more from them. I know they haven't broken any laws or anything, but it worries me that if M&S are going back down the 'cheap meat' route to make a few quid from cash-strapped consumers, we can only expect that the less ethically aware larger supermarkets will follow the trend.

I wanted to know just how concerned M&S are about the welfare of their cheapo chooks, so I visited the M&S website to find out. By reading between the Politically Correct (Plan A) lines, I found out that the slow growing Oakham breed are given a paltry (excuse the pun) 1 metre square of space for every 30kg/66lb of live poultry. Now, maths isn't my strongest subject but that doesn't sound like a lot of room to stretch their redundant wings and their oh-so-tender legs.
I reckon, assuming that the live weight of a mature (ready-to-eat) chicken is 6lb, that's equivalent to 11 chickens per square metre. Cosy!
Don't worry though, they have straw bales to perch on. Pin It