The Vegan Summer 2003

ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS - THE COST TO HUMAN HEALTH

BARBECUE SPECIAL THE CRUELTY OF SILK - BY MANEKA GANDHI

DONALD WATSON - INTERVIEW WITH OUR FOUNDER

ISSN 0307−4811 02 Laser Proof

9 770307 481000

in this issue Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.

Albert Schweitzer

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I am grateful that the war with Iraq was not prolonged and that no more deaths or horrific injuries will be inflicted by cluster bombs. Our Government assures us that through this military intervention we have been spared the ‘terror’ that might have befallen us from weapons of mass destruction held by a brutal regime. Indeed, the war is now virtually portrayed as Good triumphing over Evil – but would Good have sold armaments to Evil? Would Good itself have weapons of mass destruction?

I cannot help linking my thoughts on the war in Iraq with the endless mass destruction that happens within our own borders day in and day out - the ceaseless operation of slaughterhouses up and down the country extinguishing the lives of more than 800 million animals annually. What kind of society is ours that considers them worthy of death because their flesh tastes good?

Only reason guided by compassion can bring us true peace – a clear conscience.

Amid this gloom, the vegan lifestyle is a bright beacon and the way forward. As you would expect, the Vegan Society office has been busy: a new honey leaflet is now available; numerous shows and events have been attended by staff and additional trademark holders recruited; the Spring/Summer 2003 catalogue has been produced in a new A4 format (remember you can also purchase the full range on-line at www.vegansociety.com/shop), and the collection of membership fees by direct debit is now fully operational. Sales of the Animal Free Shopper remain strong, helped by mentions in The Big Issue, BBC Good Food Guide, Natural Health & Well Being and Here’s Health. There was also excellent media exposure for veganism when our Membership and Sales Assistant Sundari Poorun had her diet evaluated in Real Magazine and was awarded top marks [see news item].

Finally, I should draw your attention to the fact that this year’s AGM will be in Chester – not London - on Saturday 15th November (see notice later in this issue).

NEWS SHOPAROUND & OFFERS SHOPAROUND BBQ SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO KATHLEEN JANAWAY ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS & HUMAN HEALTH AGNUS CASTUS KIDS’ PAGE - VEGILANTICS SILK VEGAN HOLIDAYS / PAYROLL GIVING DONALD WATSON INTERVIEW GROW VEGAN RECIPES REPELLING INSECTS THE GENTLE WAY DIET MATTERS MEGAN THE VEGAN REVIEWS POSTBAG JUBILEE PROJECTS LOCAL GROUPS NEWS EVENTS & LOCAL CONTACTS NEWS LOCAL CONTACTS CLASSIFIEDS PRIZE CROSSWORD

Rick Savage

The Vegan Society

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Editor Rick Savage Editorial Support Vanessa Clarke, Stephen Walsh, Karin Ridgers Design info@doughnutdesign.co.uk Printed by Hastings Printing Company On G-print chlorine-free paper

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© The Vegan Society The views expressed in The Vegan do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or of the Vegan Society Council. Nothing printed should be construed to be Vegan Society policy unless so stated.

The Society accepts no liability for any matter in the magazine. The acceptance of advertisements (including inserts) does not imply endorsement. The inclusion of product information should not be construed as constituting official Vegan Society approval for the product, its intended use, or its manufacturer/distributor.

Contributions intended for publication are welcomed, but unsolicited materials will not be returned unless accompanied by a SAE. The Vegan l Summer 2003

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News SUNDAY TIMES ARTICLE WARNS OF MEAT & DAIRY CANCER RISK

TOP MARKS FOR VEGAN DIET In April, Real Magazine ran a feature comparing the nutritional value of three different diets. Sunny Poorun’s vegan diet was compared with that of a woman who only eats organic food and someone who lives on convenience food. The magazine’s nutrition expert concluded that ‘Sunny’s overall diet is excellent’ and gave her a top score of 9/10 compared with 7/10 for the organic diet and 4/10 for the junk food.

Sunny was quoted as saying, ‘I know my diet is balanced because I devised it using information from the Vegan Society.’ We should hope so, too, as she is our Sales and Membership Assistant - well done, Sunny!

VEGAN VIEWS Many people will know of Vegan Views, a quarterly not-for-profit magazine independent of the Vegan Society but sharing its aims and edited by Vegan Society Local Contact Harry Mather. The magazine has been running since 1975 and the annual subscription of £4 covers four issues.

The entire magazine is also downloadable for free from www.veganviews.org.uk The website includes more than 150 of the best articles from previous issues since 1992.

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A six-page article on prostate cancer in The Sunday Times magazine on 13th April highlighted research showing that African-Americans, the leading sufferers from this disease, are at much greater risk than their ancestors in rural Africa and commented, “The culprit appears to be our old enemy, the meat- and dairy-rich western diet. A leading study in the Netherlands in 1999 revealed that men who consumed significant amounts of cured meat and milk products were considerably more likely to develop the disease. On the bright side, the Chinese fondness for yellow beans and soya is thought to protect their prostates, and the Mediterranean diet, with its preponderance of lycopene from cooked tomatoes, is believed to contribute to the lower profile of prostate cancer in southern Europe.”

VEGAN DIET SURVEY Vegan Society Patron Michael Klaper is conducting a study on vegan diet. You do not have to be vegan to take part in the study. Just go to www.veganhealthstudy.org.

All information will be treated as confidential, of course.

DAIRY-FREE FOODS CONQUER THE MARKET It’s official – animal free shopping is experiencing a massive boom. A new Mintel report on Food Intolerance and Allergies has highlighted a major increase in sales of ‘free-from’ foods, with dairy free soya-based products claiming the biggest share of sales and generating an estimated £24.8 million in 2002 – an increase of 125.5% since 2000. Soya milk accounts for about 70% of this, the rest being from yoghurts, desserts, frozen products, and so on. The report concludes that there is a “substantial market demand for specialist foods.” As the market grows so will the product range – good news for vegans!

NATIONAL VEGAN FESTIVAL The Vegan Society is again sponsoring the National Vegan Festival this year.

Please note that the date is now Sunday 14th September at Conway Hall, London. For further details see www.veganfestival.freeserve.co.uk

VEGANS IN IRELAND The second National Vegetarian Festival in Ireland will be held in Dublin on September 28th. Vegan Society Chair Stephen Walsh, who is from Belfast himself, has been invited to speak at the event and it is hoped to make contact with vegans throughout Ireland. Email Niall McGuirk <niall@thumped.com>

VEGANS IN SCOTLAND The gathering of vegans on 5 April in Perth was attended by more than 40 people aged from 12 to 70-plus from all over Scotland and as far away as Sri Lanka. Participants enjoyed delicious vegan food, activities included discussions, a quiz, bingo and a raffle, and a stall selling Vegan Society books and merchandise was well supported.

The day was such a success that another is planned for Elgin on 8th November.

VEGANS IN WALES The Vegan Society event in Machynnleth was attended by more than 80 people from Wales and beyond – one contingent from South Wales even hired a minibus – as well as by members of Council who gave talks on nutrition, media work and other topics.

For more details, see Local Contacts News, page 33. The next major event in Wales will be the National Eisteddfod at Feifod, Powys from 2-10 August, for which a bilingual leaflet about veganism has been produced. Volunteers to help on the vegan stall please contact

WILD BEES AT RISK

EXHIBITIONS

WORM-FREE SILK

Commercial bee keeping may jeopardise future UK food production. The Varroa mite, a parasitic insect that feeds on and kills honey bees, has developed a resistance to the chemical used to control it. Once found only in Asia, the mite appeared in the UK in 1992 and by 1996 it had spread throughout the world, destroying an estimated 25% of commercial honey bees and endangering the few remaining wild honey bees. Crop pollination has become heavily reliant on farmed honey bees since commercial bee keeping, as well as intensive arable farming and urban sprawl, has helped to decimate wild bee populations as well as those of other pollinating insects. This reliance on one species could now have potentially disastrous consequences for future UK food production.

Vegan Society representatives have attended a healthy number of shows recently, including the International Food Exhibition, the Natural Trade Show, the Health and Vitality Show, the Natural Products Show and Organex, Ethical Consumer World and the Total Sandwich Show. You should be seeing the vegan trademark on a whole new range of exciting and delicious new vegan products very soon. Meanwhile, Booja Booja’s Vegan Society authenticated chocolates picked up a national award for the eleventh time at the Natural Trade Show in Brighton.

The long abused silk worm may have found a saviour in the Oxford University Spinox project. A machine which mimics the way spiders and silk worms spin their thread will use a combination of artificial proteins and natural silk-like proteins obtained from wheat or rice grains to create a tough synthetic silk which they hope will eventually outcompete oil-based fibres such as polyester. Scientists suggest that the new product may be used for sutures, protective clothing and sports equipment.

MORE ON THE DANGERS OF EATING FISH A study published in the April 2nd issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found that women who had eaten three or more servings of fish in the past month had blood mercury levels four times higher than those who had eaten no fish in that period and 20 per cent. had levels exceeding the official US safety limit.

SOYA MILK ON TRAINS Following the launch of trademark holder Pritchitt’s individual pots of long life soya milk [see Spring issue Shoparound] a campaign has been launched by Ronny, author of the ever popular Cake Scoffer, to make these available throughout the UK. The first success came when Rail Gourmet agreed to make them available on South West Trains during National Vegetarian Week.

So if you’re travelling on SWT or indeed any train on which refreshments are served, do make a point of asking for soya milk. For further details of the campaign see www.realfood.org.uk or

OVER-GRAZING BLAMED FOR RISE IN FLOODING Over the last couple of years, many of Britain’s towns and cities have suffered the worst floods in living memory and a major new study by Professor Stuart Lane of Leeds University blames the recent spate of floods on over-grazing: “In the 1980s, the European Union started subsidising farmers per head of livestock. There was a massive increase in stock density in the uplands. Sheep and other livestock trample the ground, reducing infiltration and increasing the speed of run off, which has a direct impact on the amount of water getting into the rivers quickly following periods of rainfall, and so increases the likelihood of flooding.” The project will continue over the next three years and will help to develop a model for assessing the impact of different kinds of land management.

ANIMAL PRINTS Worthing Animal Aid have launched a quarterly booklet with a good variety of articles, stories and poems to interest everyone involved in the animal movement. Animal rights views, ecological arguments and lemon cheesecake recipes jostle for space between its covers and the overall effect is both entertaining and informative. Veterinary clinics and other businesses in the area will be selling the booklet for £1, every penny of which goes to help the animals. Postal subscription is £4 per annum post free, cheques payable to Worthing Animal Aid c/o 56 Cissbury Gardens, Worthing, West Sussex, BN14 ODZ,

LESS RISK OF OSTEOPOROSIS FOR VEGANS? In a study by ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis, California, vegan volunteers formed new bone at a significantly faster rate than the omnivore volunteers even though the omnivore volunteers were taking in more calcium than the vegans.

KARIBBEAN INDEPENDENT TRUST FOR ECOLOGY (KITE) A lively gathering to launch a vegetarian film with drummers, dancers and delicious Caribbean food in the presence of the Mayor of Southwark was the setting for an informative talk by Stephen Walsh on the benefits of a vegan diet for people, animals and the environment. This was enthusiastically endorsed by Vegan Society member Graham Neale, who runs his own removal firm and spends most of his daytime hours hauling heavy furniture as well as being a Local Councillor for the London Borough of Southwark. KITE, run by Lalu Hanuman, exists to promote ecological awareness in all kinds of situations, from saving the Central American rain forests to the greening of urban deserts and council estates in the UK. www.pecan.org.uk/kite

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Shoparound Debbie Holman

YAOH SHOWER GEL & BUBBLE BATH The new Hempseed Oil Tropical Bubble Bath was luxurious and relaxing, with a delicious smell of coconut and a long lasting moisturising effect.

The Shower Gel consisted of oils of lavender, rosemary and peppermint, the peppermint coming across strongly and making for an invigorating experience. Both products were economical to use and left the skin soft and smooth.

Further details can be found at www.yaoh.co.uk Both products are in the latest Vegan Society catalogue.

More goodies from Pantri Nolwenn, where special diets are catered for with every conceivable luxury.

Their new fig rolls were chewy and filling, quite unlike the insipid versions found in the average store. The rolls are sugar free and sweetened with pure fruit puree, making them moist and rich.

Further information from Pantri Nolwenn, telephone 01348 840 840 www.pantrinolwenn.co.uk email waegn@pantrinolwenn.co.uk

PLAMILâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ORGANIC DARK CHOCOLATE Plamil have launched an organic dark chocolate containing 87% cocoa. We found the taste remarkably smooth and creamy for such a high cocoa chocolate. It also contains sunflower rather than soya lecithin, an advantage for those needing to avoid soya.

For more details see www.plamilfoods.co.uk or email contact-us@plamilfoods.co.uk

FREERANGERS

NEW BARS FROM MOTHERHEMP These hemp bars are light and tasty with a texture similar to crisped rice and a sweet flavour.

Further information from Motherhemp, telephone 01323 811909 www.motherhemp.com

Freerangers have introduced two new items to their accessories range: an attractive mock suede bag and a large useful wallet. The bag would be ideal for a teenager and has enough room for purse, make-up, etc, but is still small and practical.

The wallet comes in black with lots of space for credit cards and separate compartments for cash.

Further information from Freerangers, telephone 01661 831781 www.freerangers.co.uk email info@freerangers.co.uk

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PANTRI NOLWENN FIG ROLLS

The Vegan l Summer 2003

GREEN PEOPLE TRAVEL PACK

The Green People Hair and Body Travel Pack comprises shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and deodorant, all organic, in a small, easy to carry box ideal for weekends away.

The Aloe Vera shampoo was luscious and mild and a little went a long way. The conditioner required more, but was as good as some of the really expensive varieties and left the hair soft and tangle free.

The Aloe Vera shower gel had a lovely fragrance and was gentle on the skin. The deodorant worked well for 24 hours and was made from witch hazel, grapefruit seed extract and aloe vera. The pack costs ÂŁ12.99.

Further details from Green People telephone 01444 401444 www.greenpeople.co.uk e-mail organic@greenpeople.co.uk

All Shoparound products have been authenticated as

PRINCIPLE HEALTHCARE A number of vitamins and supplements in the Principle Healthcare range are suitable for vegans. We tried Ginger, Cranberry, Bilberry, Vitamin E and Evening Primrose Oil. All the vegan items are clearly marked, the product information is clear and concise and the size of the tablet or capsule is shown on the container.

Further details from Customer Services, Principle Healthcare Ltd, Airedale Business Centre, Millenium Road, Skipton, BD23 2TZ. Freephone 0800 389 8103

DUO-KULT PROBIOTIC The strongest Acidophilus-based supplement available, these strains of beneficial bacteria are resistant to stomach acid and have been recommended for sufferers of Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Candida Albicans. DuoKult capsules are suitable for everyone, including children, and are yeast and gluten free.

Further information from Cambridge Bioceuticals, telephone 01353 723234, www.duo-kult.com email info@duo-kult.com

SPECIAL OFFER

The first 30 people to write to Principle Healthcare will receive a pot of one of the products – choose from High Strength Evening Primrose Oil or Cranberry tablets.

BAREFOOT BOTANICALS NEW PRODUCTS SOS Hair and Scalp Rescue Shampoo and Conditioner are both 100% natural and of plant origin and suitable for all hair types and all ages.

The shampoo had a delicate aroma of lemon, tea tree, lavender, rosemary and geranium essential oils and was extremely rich, making it very economical to use. It was excellent on psoriasis of the scalp. The conditioner needed a good covering to achieve full effect, but resulted in soft, shiny hair and a comfortable, moisturised scalp. For further details see www.barefoot-botanicals.com or telephone 0870 220 2273.

RED STAR HAND CRAFTED SOAP

ATLANTIC SEAWEED This range of flavours and colours from the Atlantic Ocean off the West Coast of Ireland are hand harvested and organic. Sea vegetables bring a unique taste to cookery as well as nutrients such as iodine.

The Mixed Sea Veg were a colourful combination of reds and greens and equally tasty eaten raw as a snack or cooked to provide an ingredient in pasta, on pizza or in soup. The Dulse Bites, a beautiful pink and purple, were delicious when carefully steamed for 15 minutes or microwaved briefly to make a crunchy snack. The company provides plenty of interesting recipes. Other products include Sea Bath and Skin Pads and Sweet Kombu Crisps.

Further information from Atlantic Seaweed, 5 Watton Road, Knebworth, Herts telephone 01438 213194 [NB: To avoid excessive iodine intake, high iodine seaweeds such as kelp (kombu) should be eaten in small amounts – about an ounce a year.]

These attractively boxed soaps come in two ranges: Everyday soaps, with a base of vegetable, coconut and olive oil, and Castile with almost 50% olive oil, plus palm, coconut and avocado oils. We tried out two from the latter range. The Zingy Grapefruit smelled good enough to eat, lathered up generously and was kind to sensitive skin. The Lemon and Mint was also very fragrant and gave a soothing exfoliation without drying or irritating the skin. To make the company’s stance on animal testing absolutely clear, the boxes carry the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “Vivisection is the blackest of all the black crimes”. The bars come in large 125 gram sizes. The Everyday range comprises Coffee and Oatmeal, Sunny Citrus, Lime and Lavender, Tea Tree Treat and Smooth As A Baby’s Bum, the last costing £3.90 and the rest £2.90 each. The Castile range of Creamy Castle, Sensuality, Lust and the two we tested all cost £3.90 each. For further information telephone 01922 712691 or email swampys@gn.apc.org In addition to offering a discount of 10% to Vegan Society members, Red Star are offering two bars of soap in the fragrance of your choice to the first 10 entries received (please supply a

telephone number as well as name and address). Write to Vegan Offer, Red Star Hand Crafted SPECIAL OFFER Soaps, 1 Haddon Crescent, New Invention, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV12 5AT

or email swampys@gn.apc.org

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Shoparound BBQ Special Debbie Holman

As the summer draws closer, the scene is set for vegan barbecues and there are a number of new products to help make the party go with a bang.

STONEWALL’S JERQUEE A pure vegetable protein product, Stonewall’s Jerquee can be eaten straight from the bag or microwaved for ten seconds for a hot snack. Cooked in olive oil and GMO free, it is perfect for outdoor eating. For more details, see www.soybean.com

YAOH SUN PRODUCTS The organic coconut-scented hempseed oil sun block and the lavender-fragranced aftersun lotion both have excellent moisturising properties.

Further information from Yaoh, PO Box 333, Bristol, BS99 INF www.yaoh.co.uk Both products are in the latest Vegan Society catalogue.

SPECIAL OFFER

The first 15 entrants will win a bottle each of sun block and aftersun. Entries should be marked ‘Vegan BBQ Offer’ and reach Yaoh by 15 June, specifying whether sun protection factor 15 or 30 is preferred.

All other entrants will receive a free SPF 15 coconut lip balm.

LINDA MAJZLIK

SUPREME – FIRST FOODS

Vegan Barbecues & Buffets

The man who introduced us to Swedish Glace now delivers a deliciously creamy chocolate ice cream on a stick and covered in crisp chocolate. And there’s more to come – watch this space! www.first-foods.com T. 01494 431355

Full of great ideas and recipes, this is a must-have for the summer.

TURTLE ISLAND FOODS Torfurky’s three varieties of sausage are versatile and easy to cook: the Sweet Italian Sausage is perfect for pasta and pizza but equally good in a simple sandwich; the Kielbasa is less spicy but still tasty; and the Beer Brats definitely tastes of beer. All contain more than 50% less fat than standard meat varieties.

Further information from Turtle Island Foods, www.tofurky.com, email info@tofurky.com

SOMETHING FISHY GOING ON

SPECIAL OFFER

Jon Carpenter Publishing have 10 copies to give away. Write to: Vegan BBQ Offer, Jon Carpenter Publishing, 2 Home Farm Cottages, Sandy Lane, St Paul’s Cray, Kent BR5 3HZ. The first 10 entries drawn on 15 June will win.

[Also available price £5 from the latest Vegan Society catalogue, which features a special offer on other Linda Majzlik books.]

Redwood's latest innovations - Vegan Smoked Salmon Pate, Fishless Tuna, Breadcrumbed Fishless Steaks and Vegan Scampi - are subtly flavoured and may appeal to those who find other products too “fishy”.

For details see www.redwoodfoods.co.uk or telephone 01536 400557

QUINOVA Made with quinoa grain, Quinova is available as mince or chunks. The quinoa is grown using environmentally friendly methods and purchases support the incomes of the indigenous people of the Andes.

200 gram and 400 gram packs cost £1.95 and £2.99 respectively.

From health food outlets or contact Anglesey Natural Foods Ltd on 01248 422 011 www.quinova.co.uk

Quinova spatulas and bags for the first 20 people to write to Vegan Offer, Anglesey Natural Foods, Celtic House, Gaerwen, Anglesey LL60 6HR.

SPECIAL OFFER

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TRIBUTE TO THE LATE

KATHLEEN JANNAWAY VEGAN SOCIETY PATRON

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t last year’s AGM I described Kathleen Jannaway as “a vegan saint” and those were not idle words: I felt qualified to utter them having witnessed at close quarters her absolute dedication to the vegan cause.

Born in Ireland on 6 February 1915, Kathleen lost both parents shortly after her birth and was brought up by her paternal grandparents, her grandmother living to the age of 101.

She won a scholarship to a radical grammar school in Streatham and went on to teach biology in several London schools. She married her cousin Jack in 1938, just before the outbreak of World War II, when they became early members of the Peace Pledge Union, distributing Peace News.

Becoming Quakers and vegetarians was a natural development.

After the births of their three children, Richard, Mary and Patrick, Kathleen returned to teaching. After moving to Leatherhead, the Jannaways became almost self-sufficient as most of their food was grown in the garden.

Kathleen subsequently took early retirement to work as hon. Secretary of the Vegan Society. She greatly admired Gandhi and Richard St Barbe Baker and liked to quote Teilhard De Chardin.

Kathleen Jannaway served as hon.

Secretary of the Vegan Society from 1971 to 1984 - a time of most significant growth of interest when membership soared. After the BBC2 Open Door film, “Food for a Future”, in which Kathleen demonstrated the use of vegan compost in her garden, the Royal Mail had to send a van with the 5,000 responses. Kathleen pioneered a wide range of soundly researched leaflets and “First Hand, First Rate”, a booklet of simple recipes based on home grown foods, went into reprint after reprint and generated even more interest.

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On New Year’s Day 1980, I began work as Kathleen’s assistant. Unlike my boss, I was paid a salary. I spent the first four months with Kathleen in Leatherhead, then worked from home. I learned to work throughout the night to meet deadlines and much was done at minimum expense. Festival stalls, cookery demonstrations and talks, especially to schools, provided a hectic schedule. Such enthusiasm is infectious. Another star of the Open Door film, Diana Virgo, thought nothing of driving through the night to my home in Wales to pick up more stock for a stall in Manchester the next day. Anybody who knew Kathleen would have done the same. We knew we were privileged to be in the presence of a great soul. Her husband Jack was also a stalwart supporter whose fine drawings graced many issues of The Vegan.

After ceasing to be hon. Secretary of the Vegan Society in 1984 Kathleen founded the Movement for Compassionate Living, reflecting her principles and her unstinting service.

She was blessed with the rigorous academic talent of a science teacher, the conscience and conviction of a Quaker and would work for nothing.

Never was the vegan argument put forward so clearly and with such conviction.

The enormous blow of Jack’s death in 1999 didn’t stop Kathleen working hard. She moved to Devon and campaigned for tree planting to counter global warming. Others have now accepted the reins from her hands.

However high her own standards, she never failed to encourage and see the good in the rest of us. Kathleen died in January 2003, a couple of weeks short of her 88th birthday. Thank you, Kathleen. We were lucky to have known you.

Laurence Main (Council Member) Wales.

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here is always a great sadness in having to record the passing of someone who has been an inspiration to so many, but we should also be happy and grateful for all the good work done for the vegan cause by Kathleen Jannaway.

Kathleen and Jack Jannaway shared a radical outlook, seeking a fairer, more caring world, and Jack was a constant support in all Kathleen’s work. During the war, while preparing their meagre ration of lamb, they looked out across the fields and saw lambs playing. They both suddenly made the connection and became vegetarians.

In 1964, having seen a review of Ruth Harrison’s book “Animal Machines,” which revealed the cruel system of battery cages for hens and narrow crates for veal calves, Kathleen became a vegan. She later became hon.

Secretary of the Vegan Society and dedicated her mind and her energy to the vegan cause, aided by Jack Sanderson as President, Eva Batt who investigated vegan products and wrote cookbooks, Serena Coles, and Grace Smith as Treasurer. They were among the first to avail themselves of the BBC Open Door facility for independent groups to promote their ideas. As a result, Vegan Society membership doubled to more than 1,000 almost overnight.

Kathleen was tireless in speaking to groups and running stalls and was always available to encourage and support individuals. Her talks and her articles in The Vegan were an inspiration, based on fact as well as sentiment, covering scientific and ecological aspects but still with a strong moral outlook.

After dealing with the day’s mail, Kathleen would spend some hours with Jack in their large garden, where they grew fruit and vegetables on vegan organic principles. Over more than 15

years they proved that soil fertility could be maintained without animal products, pesticides or outside fertilisers, using techniques of composting, green manuring and crop rotation. She claimed that without too many hours work a middle aged couple could be largely self-sufficient on less than half an acre and the annual garden party on their lawn became a welcome meeting place for vegans.

Kathleen firmly believed in natural foods grown locally where possible and supported the whole grain and health food movements against supermarket junk foods. In 1984, when a group with different ideas came to prominence and the Vegan Society moved to Oxford, Kathleen decided to continue her work in her own way.

The Movement for Compassionate Living (The Vegan Way) was dedicated to working non-violently for lifestyles possible for all the world’s peoples, sustainable within the planet’s resources and free from all animal exploitation. The quarterly magazine New Leaves brought support from around the world. The booklet “Abundant Living in the Coming Age of the Tree” set out clearly the importance of trees in the earth’s ecology and their contribution to the vegan lifestyle by producing alternatives to animal-derived products. In these and other publications Kathleen set out a vision of a future society in contrast with the exploitative, globalising trend.

After Jack’s death, Kathleen bought a farm in Devon where she continued to plant trees. Sadly, she had a fall and broke her leg, which took a long time to heal, and she never really seemed to regain her vigorous health. Others have already taken over the administration of the Movement for Compassionate Living, and the Vegan Organic Network is establishing standards for vegan organic food production and appealing for funds to set up an experimental and educational centre to promote food production on vegan organic lines to demonstrate to a wider world what Kathleen and others have already proved.

Kathleen was pleased to be elected as a Patron of the Vegan Society last year.

To most of the young people present, she was probably just a name, but the Society and the whole vegan cause

world wide owes much to her devoted, intelligent and unstinting hard work.

Her enthusiasm for veganism was that it played a large part in promoting greater fairness for humans and animals, less exploitation of the poorer nations and the prospect of a more peaceful world. In a world threatened by famine and war, where world trade seems just an excuse to exploit the poorer peoples of the earth, there is a growing awareness of the problems facing the whole of humanity. Now, more than ever, we need the inspiration of Kathleen’s vision that veganism is a vital solution to these problems and essential for a stable, peaceful future for the world.

K

Harry Mather Bournemouth

When I stayed with Kathleen and Jack in 1984 I knew that I was among kin and I benefited greatly from their hospitality and generosity. Thinking back to those difficult days, I am still surprised by their ability and willingness to engage with me with sympathetic imagination. Like them, I had much to lose, but not once did I feel any hindrance or animosity, only support.

In the 1990s, too, Kathleen continued to be of assistance to me.

athleen was special, and vegans of her era will need no reminding of her multi-talented mix of irascibility and compassion. I am more concerned here to report a personal reminiscence: how I knew she knew about me - the hints dropped, their humour, the genuine concern for her successor. Her advice was not just sound but honest: “Make sure you don't become a glorified clerk”. Knowing that the health of veganism was to a large extent in my hands, she informed me of what I needed to know, and without bias. I regret that my pleas to her to carry on writing for The Vegan were refused, but her contribution to veganism remained immense.

There is much more that I could add, but suffice it to say here that whatever the achievements of the post-Jannaway Vegan Society I was almost in awe of Kathleen, and remain so.

Barry Kew (Former General Secretary) Edinburgh

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hen we last spoke on the phone, in September, Kathleen had clearly had enough of old age. She did not go along with the notion of a good God having created this sorry scheme of things but preferred Teilhard’s idea that He created us to put it to rights. When I said I felt that He had made a poor job of it, since we are clearly an aberrant species who took a wrong turning, she agreed.

Though saddened to hear of her death, I am glad that she has been spared further proof of that depressing conclusion.

Over many years of friendship we met only a few times, and it is easy to slip into a kind of unthinking acceptance that those of sound and constant mind will be for ever available. Thankfully, this is true of what they have said and written.

Nevertheless, so supremely dedicated a champion of sane and humane living will be sorely missed.

Jon Wynne-Tyson Sussex

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ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS

& HUMAN HEALTH Stephen Walsh PhD

Like most vegans, I find the idea of deliberately harming a fellow being abhorrent, whether in the hope of benefiting humans or otherwise. The number of animals killed for animal experiments in the United Kingdom is currently about 2.5 million per year. This figure is overshadowed by the more than a billion animals who die in the production of unnecessary products for human food. However, the exceptional deliberateness of the harm, the extremity of some of the procedures and the remoteness of the benefit sought combine to give animal experimentation a significance far beyond the numbers involved.

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he argument that animal experiments never have and never will benefit humans is inherently a difficult one to prove since unravelling what the situation might have been in terms of medical advances if animal experiments had not been involved is inevitably a hypothetical exercise. The aim of this short article is therefore to provide simple, well authenticated examples of ways in which the use of animal experiments has confused and obstructed major public health initiatives and hindered progress towards a better future for humans and animals alike.

The first example is the biggest public health hazard of the twentieth century: smoking.

Observations of the harmful effect of smoking on humans are probably almost as old as the habit itself, but direct human evidence of harm from tobacco smoking grew as mass production transformed smoking from an occasional activity to a www.x-cape.org.uk twenty-a-day routine. The first studies published in the 1920s and 1930s were straightforward observations by astute doctors that about 90% of patients with lung cancer were smokers. Later studies in the 1940s compared the percentage of smokers among lung cancer patients (cases) with the percentage in samples from the general population (controls) and consistently confirmed the apparent dramatic ill effect of smoking. This observation was considered insufficient for preventive action due to the (remote) possibility of bias in such case control studies due to unrepresentative selection of the control group or bias in determining smoking history in the case and control groups and due to the lack of “validation” from animal experiments which had failed to reproduce the massive ill effect observed in humans. The case control studies were followed by prospective studies which measured current smoking habits in a large number of healthy people and monitored subsequent deaths, thus reducing the possibility of bias. By the mid1950s, two large independent studies had reported an increase in risk of death from lung cancer in regular smokers by a factor of 24 in the UK and a factor of 23 in the USA. Such consistent results from prospective studies of humans in different countries should have ended the fudge and prevarication about taking action - but it didn’t.

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Instead it was argued that people who liked smoking might coincidentally have a predisposition to cancer. The tobacco lobby insisted that no action could be justified without evidence from a randomised trial, in which individuals were randomly assigned to smoke or not smoke rather than making their own choice. This was seen as both impractical and ethically unacceptable for humans, but despite the powerful human evidence the demand for “validation” by randomised experiments on animals continued and it was not until the early 1960s that a few cases of lung cancer due to forced smoking were confirmed in dogs. The insistence on validation from animal experiments delayed action against smoking by at least a decade and arguably by three decades. While it is difficult to refute each and every claim of a benefit from animal experiments, such claims should be viewed in the context that relying on animal experiments over human evidence set public health action against smoking back by decades, with tragic consequences for millions of people and for the many thousands of other animals who were sacrificed to no avail.

The issue of smoking is far from the only instance of reliance on animal experiments confusing public health recommendations. My second example concerns fat intake and breast cancer. In comparisons between countries, percentage of calories from fat is strongly associated with breast cancer. This observation more than justified a hypothesis that high fat intake promoted breast cancer, but such national comparisons are readily confused by other factors associated with fat consumption. National wealth (GDP) was almost as strongly associated with breast cancer as dietary fat. National wealth is associated with factors such as early menstruation (due largely to more rapid growth in the absence of calorie restriction), women having fewer children and breast feeding them for shorter periods, all of which are established risk factors for breast cancer.

The weak human evidence, however, was “validated” by results from animal experiments in which carcinogenic poisons proved more effective in causing cancer when the animals were liberally supplied with high fat food. Around 1980 these

observations led to many official bodies recommending a reduction in fat intake in order to reduce cancer risk.

Excessive confidence in the results of animal experiments meant that the sophisticated prospective studies in humans that were considered insufficient evidence to condemn smoking were not even thought necessary before issuing recommendations. Indeed, even inconsistent case control results proved no deterrent. When prospective studies did report in the late 1980s, they found no effect of percentage fat intake on risk of breast cancer. The main researcher behind the prospective studies, Professor Walter Willett, noted: â&#x20AC;&#x153;A fundamental question related to the laboratory findings is whether any particular rodent model has relevance to human breast cancer. Ironically, this is a difficult issue to prove or disprove without firm human data.â&#x20AC;?

With hindsight, some animal researchers can be seen to have produced results consistent with the human prospective studies. The early high fat diet experiments led to rats consuming more calories and getting fatter. If calorie intake was kept constant, the effect of increased percentage of dietary fat disappeared. If the animals were allowed to live without being dosed with carcinogenic poisons, then even if they got fatter the breast cancer rate did not increase. No doubt some researchers will argue that they have learnt their lesson and can now do better experiments, though one would hope that most researchers would learn the real lesson - that animal experiments should never be used as a basis for recommendations to humans. Sadly, however, the use of carcinogenic poisons on rats and other animals in the name of science continues unabated.

Some animal experimenters will admit that animal experiments should never be used as the basis of recommendations for humans but claim that they are important for generating hypotheses. The most influential hypotheses on public health recommendations in recent decades, however, such as the link between saturated fat and heart disease, have come from observation of humans. Comparisons between countries and

between individuals within countries are a fertile source of hypotheses, as is careful clinical observation. Improvements in registration systems for monitoring diseases has immense potential and monitoring variations in disease prevalence together with genetic variations has great and largely untapped potential.

For instance, understanding of the role of homocysteine in human health can be traced back to observations in the 1960s of cases of a severe genetic defect causing greatly elevated homocysteine and leading to heart disease in children. The hypothesis that moderately elevated homocysteine might contribute to heart disease in adults has since been thoroughly explored and confirmed in part by observations of individuals with a different genetic variant causing only mild elevation of homocysteine. The lessons from this research about the importance of good folate and B12 intakes for optimal health have helped to refine dietary recommendations for meat eaters, who often get too little folate and absorb B12 less well from meat than from other sources, and for vegans who often get too little B12. Studies on genetic variants affecting iron absorption have shown that even modest increases in absorption are associated with increased risk of diabetes and heart disease and point to potential risks from consumption of high levels of red meat.

No human or other animal was harmed to provide this useful evidence.

I believe that there is enough evidence to conclude that stopping animal experimentation and diverting the resources to other forms of research, such as monitoring genetic variants and disease in humans, would bring a net benefit for humans as well as ending the indefensible slaughter of millions of animals in the hope of speculative benefits. All vegans have taken the decisive step of ceasing to exploit animals for food. This places us by definition at the forefront of the movement for animal liberation. Let us also remember the animals suffering in the laboratories, not just on World Lab Animals Day but every day, and try to help them too.

www.shac.net

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AGNUS CASTUS Pauline Lloyd

Vitex agnus castus is native to the Mediterranean region and Western Asia, where women use its fruit to regulate their menstrual cycles. In ancient times the dried and ground berries were used to suppress libido in temple priestesses - hence the alternative names of Chaste Tree or Monk's Pepper.

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ince the 1950s, many scientific studies have been carried out to evaluate the properties of this herb, which seems especially useful for relieving the symptoms of painful menstruation, pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) and the female menopause.

A study by Schellenberg used an extract from berries to treat premenstrual syndrome in women over three consecutive menstrual cycles.

Half the women were given active extract and the other half a placebo.

Schellenberg concluded that 'patients who received agnus castus had a significant improvement in combined symptoms compared with those on placebo'. Other studies have confirmed it as an effective and well tolerated treatment for PMS. Agnus castus can also be used to treat menopausal symptoms and as a natural alternative to oestrogen replacement therapy. Lucks, Sorensen and Veal looked at how essential oils extracted from both berries and leaves affected menopausal symptoms. The berries are usually thought to be the active part of the plant, but this study suggested that essential oils from the leaves might be even more effective for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Compounds similar in structure to human sex hormones have been isolated from the leaves and flowers while the berries seem to contain a mixture of iridoids and flavonoids.

More research is needed into exactly why agnus castus is so effective in treating menopausal symptoms, but it seems to act in much the same

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way as luteinising hormone, favouring production of progesterone and having a normalising effect on oestrogen. As menopause approaches, problems sometimes arise when an egg matures but is no longer released from the ovary. Stress, dieting or excessive exercise can mean that younger women also sometimes fail to ovulate. Essentially, if ovulation does not occur, oestrogen is produced as usual but the ovaries produce no progesterone. This can lead to oestrogen dominance and problems such as heavy bleeding. By increasing progesterone production, agnus castus could be a useful treatment for this type of imbalance and I am currently investigating this. Hormonal imbalance can also occur if too much prolactin is produced, perhaps due to stress, leading to abnormalities in the second half or luteal phase of the cycle.

Studies have indicated that agnus castus can reduce prolactin production and could be an effective treatment for this problem.

A study carried out by Ohyama et al. at Tokyo University looked at the effect of different concentrations of agnus castus extract on various types of cancer cells, including cells from the breast, cervix and ovary.

The extract tended to reduce cell division and often killed them. Other studies have shown the extract to be useful in reducing the intensity of cyclical breast pain (mastalgia). Evidence is also accumulating that it may be helpful in treating infertility problems in women. I have seen no studies indicating any reduction of libido in men, but they might do well to steer clear of this herbal supplement just in case.

Welcome to the Summer 2003 Kids’ Page Bronwyn (life vegan ) is 7. Aisha her sister is 10 and has been vegan as long as Bronwyn and vegetarian since before she was born!

Aisha: This year, Bronwyn’s birthday was on Easter Sunday, and as promised, we celebrated with trifle, ice cream and fresh fruit for breakfast, before racing down to Portsmouth for our holiday on the Isle of Wight. For the ferry, we took a flask of home-made vegetable soup and bourbon biscuits – the only vegan item they currently sell on Wightlink Ferries Bronwyn’s seven now.

Bronwyn: I got my gold medal for my ballet exam just before my birthday and for my birthday I got some binoculars, a Will Hay video, a pair of pyjamas and best of all a Vegan Princess tee-shirt which Mummy bought from the www.animalrightsstuff.com website.

Aisha: They do some great things for vegans and animal rights activists.

Bronwyn: I’ve been using my binoculars for looking at birds and animals when we go on country walks. I’ve learnt about lots of different birds and seen deer, foxes, kestrels and red kites as well as garden birds.

Aisha: Since we last spoke we’ve been very busy fund-raising and demo-ing, as well as dusting off the tent, and we’re hoping to get to some of the vegan festivals over the holidays.

Bronwyn: Our friend Ritchie came and helped us with a SHAC stall for Dacorum Animal Rights Group and we raised £350 in one day. I hope we raise that much for the Vegan Society when we next do a stall.

Aisha: I helped Mummy design tickets and posters for the coach to the SHAC World Day for Lab Animals demo in Cambridge on Easter Saturday.

Bronwyn: And I helped Mummy post out the tickets that people bought.

Aisha: We’ve also been to an animal rights activists gathering in Kent.

Bronwyn: And mountaineering in Wales.

Aisha: When we came back from holiday, to celebrate Bronwyn’s birthday and also Mummy’s (which is in May) we decided to have a barbecue.

It’s such a great way to show your non-veggie friends how easy it is to give up meat.

Bronwyn: We had Fry’s hot dogs and burgers.

Mummy also made me one of my favourite dishes … mashed potato mixed with tomato ketchup.

Aisha: And veggie skewers – we got some metal skewers as heat travels faster through metal so things cook faster. Then we chopped the veggies up into big chunks so we were less likely to hurt our fingers putting them on the skewers and also so the veggies are less likely to split and fall off. We used red, green and orange peppers, courgettes, mushrooms, tomatoes and lots of others. I don’t usually like tomatoes, but they are very nice barbecued.

Bronwyn: We also had jacket potatoes, nut-stuffed mushrooms, chocolate bananas and salad. It was really yummy.

Aisha: You should have a barbecue too.

Bronwyn: They’re loads of fun. Next year, we’re hoping our local health food store will be stocking the new Redwood vegan fish dishes – fish steaks, scampi, smoked salmon and tuna. We’ve never had fish, so we can’t wait to see what they’re like. We did have some really sad news earlier in the year though when we heard that Fry’s Chocolate Cream was no longer vegan.

Aisha: Never mind - in the summer it always melted in the packet so you got it all over your face and hardly any in your mouth.

Bronwyn: I hope you all have fun on your summer holiday.

GET FRUITY VIA YOUR MAIL Not just for raw foodists – these fantastic fruit and vegetable stamps coincide with The Govt’s ‘5 a Day – just eat more (fruit and veg)’ campaign. Each set of 10 contains 5 fruit and 5 vegetable stamps that you can turn into your own little characters with a whole sheet full of hats, eyes, mouths, legs, ears and moustaches to choose from. Send in your creations and we’ll print the best ones or post them up at www.worldveganday.org,

RECIPE: Nut-stuffed Mushrooms What you need: Pistachios, cashews, large mushrooms, tin foil and most importantly of all: A BARBECUE! What to do: Cut the stalk out of the mushrooms and stuff with pistachios and cashews, then put the stalks back on.

Wrap the stuffed mushrooms in tin foil. Ask an adult to put them into the coals and then leave them for a bit, but don’t leave them as long as baked potatoes! You might like to make lots and put them on the barbecue and take them all off at differing times. The juice oozes out of the mushrooms, so mind you don’t spill it on your summer top and shorts!

We would love to hear from you: Why are you vegan?

What do you like about being vegan? How do you persuade your friends to become vegan?

Please send your stories, poems, pictures & photos to: Bronwyn & Aisha’s Vegilantics c/o The Vegan Society, Donald Watson House, 7 Battle Road, St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex, TN37 7AA or Email media@vegansociety.com with “Vegilantics” in the subject line.

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SILK

WEARING AND TEARING THE FABRIC OF LIFE Maneka Gandhi

Many people who object to wearing leather because it is made by killing and skinning animals don't think twice about wearing silk. Even religious people who would faint at the sight of meat being offered to God don't consider the offering or wearing of silk as violent. Few people are aware that silk worms wrap themselves up in cocoons made of layers of thread to protect themselves from predators while they mature into butterflies and moths. It is this baby butterfly that is boiled alive and the thread used for silk.

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o produce one gram of woven silk, fifteen silk moths are either boiled or steamed alive in their cocoons. A single sari involves up to 50,000 deaths. India has 700 silk producing centres spread over 17 states with a total production in 199495 of 13,879 tonnes. Calculate that in terms of butterfly lives!

Those who revel in the rustle, colour, shimmer and splendour of silk should know how it is produced. Here is the lifecycle of the little creature sacrificed for each strand. It begins with the mating of fully grown sexually active moths. After mating, the live male moths are caught, dumped into a basket and thrown outside the silk manufacturing centres. The waste pupae are used as animal feed. In four or five days the eggs hatch to produce tiny larvae which feed on mulberry leaves. These little larvae gently grow into caterpillars over the course of about a month. The fully grown caterpillar then wraps itself in layers of a filament made of saliva to form a cocoon to protect itself during its transition from caterpillar to chrysalis to moth.

Far from protecting the tiny creature, however, it is this cocoon that causes its death. For man has discovered that this protein shell is actually made up of fine silk threads. To emerge from its protective shell, the creature within has to cut through the cocoon, ruining the filament. This is prevented in the most savage manner. When the cocoon is ready and the pupa is fully grown inside it, just a few days away from the final metamorphosis into a beautiful butterfly, the gruesome process of silk extraction begins. The cocoons are collected and put inside heat chambers at 70 to 90 degrees centigrade for three to four hours. During this time, the pupa slowly suffocates, crumples and roasts to death, the cocoon it had so diligently built to protect itself becoming its own death shroud.

After this torturous process, the cocoons are further boiled with the dead pupae still inside in order to extract the silk thread. Nor is this the only cruelty involved. Only half the moths reared in silk centres are silk producing. The others are pupae which are allowed to grow into moths and used to produce the eggs. In the obsession to obtain finer silk, the wings of these moths are cut off during copulation to prevent contact and contamination. Once they have laid their eggs, they too are killed since they can produce only once in their lifetime.

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The method of identifying and isolating diseased moths is equally crude - it consists of cutting off the moth's tail to examine it under a microscope. Silk oil and silk powder made from dead silk moths are used by the cosmetics industry in products for moisturising and conditioning the skin and hair, in hairstyling mousses and in some face powders and eye shadows and even some soaps.

The massive interference with the lives of these tiny insects adversely affects the ecological balance. Butterflies pollinate many tubular flowers. Orchids, for example, cannot grow without them. They also devour plant pests such as aphids and destroy weeds. In Australia, the cactus moth has cleared 60 million acres of prickly pear cactus for farming.

In their turn, moths are eaten by lizards, spiders, bats and monkeys. So every yard of silk has wrapped up in it the lives of all these creatures and of the earth.

Despite this, many people in India still find it difficult to give up silk in a society where it is such a status symbol that it is worn even when the temperature is above 30 degrees centigrade. As a kind of halfway house, Eri silk production does not involve murdering helpless creatures. It is currently produced by small groups in the states of Uttaranchal , Assam, Manipur and Gujarat and the animal welfare group People for Animals has embarked on a larger project with the help of a small government grant to produce this form of silk. It is also known as Ahimsa silk since it does not harm the moth but uses the cast-off cocoons after the living creature inside has pierced the cocoon and escaped. For those who understand the value of life but have not yet managed to give up using this traditional luxury fabric, this at least allows them to do so without wiping out whole nations.

For myself, I have no wish to wear silk at all and have not done so for twenty years.

[When Maneka married Indira Gandhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son she wore a cotton sari hand woven in prison by Pandit Nehru.

There are also many alternative fabrics with the feel and appearance of silk but without the cruelty - Ed.]

VEGAN

HOLIDAY CHOICES

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his year there are holidays to suit all tastes and pockets – from camping in the UK to cruising the Mediterranean – and even the possibility of a vegan skiing trip next winter.

Saturday 21st to Thursday 26th June International VegFest near Lake Bafa, Turkey Organised by the Turkish Ecological Living Society and the European Vegetarian Union at the Club Natura Oliva, this event will include talks, discussions, slideshows, cookery courses, yoga and optional excursions. For details of the venue, including nature trails, historic sites, bellydancing courses, etc. see www.clubnatura.com.

Contact Bora Sari, Halil Ibrahim Cd. No. 51/8, Istinye, Istanbul, Turkey 80860.

Tel. 00 90 212 277 77 11 Fax 00 90 212 277 60 42 or email bora.sari@orkestral.com

£

Saturday 2nd to Saturday 16th August Vegan Camp near Lyme Regis, Dorset Hook Farm Touring Park is five minutes from the village of Uplyme and about half an hour’s walk to the nearest beach. The area boasts woodland walks, stunning views and wildlife including roe deer.

A friendly low cost outdoor holiday for vegans of all ages and backgrounds.

245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham NG7 6HX. 0845 330 3918 www.vegancamp.org Wednesday 20th to Wednesday 27th August Cruise to the Greek Islands via Spain, the South of France, Italy and Malta (where the local vegsoc is bound to lay on a big welcome). So far, the majority of takers are vegan. Participants will have their own section of the dining room and there will be talks and other activities led

by Tina Fox of the Vegetarian Society and, if numbers reach 30 [another half dozen or so], Stephen Walsh of the Vegan Society. Grosvenor Travel, 01492 593674 www.vegsoc.org/community/cruise.html

Saturday 30th August to Saturday 6th September Vegan Summer Gathering on the Beautiful Gower Peninsula, South Wales The gathering usually attracts about 60 takers for the self-catering accommodation plus day visits from local vegans, with a mixed programme of trips, discussions and communal meals. Costs are very reasonable with discounts for those on low incomes. For more details contact

www.veganviews.org.uk/vsg Winter 2003-4 Ski Cruelty-Free Vegan Society Local Contact Sophie Fenwick hopes to arrange a chalet skiing holiday in France with catering by a top vegan chef.

MORE FREE GOVERMENT MONEY

FOR VEGANISM Laurence Klein, Treasurer

Many thanks to all those tax-paying members who have already signed a Gift Aid form allowing the Society to claim back tax at no cost to yourself. If you have not yet signed, please consider doing so. For those able to make a regular donation to the Society, a further scheme could result in even more government money heading towards veganism.

The Payroll Giving Scheme is open only to tax-paying employees and those receiving employment-related pensions. You instruct your employer to deduct an amount from your pay, which is then sent to a charity such as the Vegan Society. And here’s the free money bit:: the government will add 10% to every donation! This special offer has now been extended to April 2004 and there are no upper or lower limits to the amount you can donate.

The donation is deducted before tax is calculated, so a £10 donation costs you only £7.80 if your top rate of tax is the basic rate (22%) while the Society receives £10 plus 10% - a total of £11. For those on higher rate tax (40%), a £20 donation reduces take-home pay by only £12 while netting the Society £22.

Ask your payroll department whether they offer Payroll Giving. If they do, you just fill in a simple form. If they don’t, refer them to www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk and ask them to follow the links to Payroll Giving.

Whether or not you are able to make donations in this way, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who gives money or time - or both - to the Society.

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SPECIAL OFFER Buy one, get another free - please phone for details. Offer available until 31 May 03

DONALD WATSON: VEGAN SOCIETY FOUNDER & PATRON Interview by George D. Rodger on 15 December 2002

Q: Where and when were you born?

A: I was born on 2nd September 1910 at Mexborough in South Yorkshire, into a meat-eating family.

Q: Tell me about your childhood.

A: One of my earliest recollections is of holidays on my Uncle George’s farm where I was surrounded by interesting animals. They all “gave” something: the farm horse pulled the plough, the lighter horse pulled the trap, the cows “gave” milk, the hens “gave” eggs and the cockerel was a useful “alarm clock” – I didn’t realise at that time that he had another function too. The sheep “gave” wool. I could never understand what the pigs “gave”, but they seemed such friendly creatures - always glad to see me.

Q: You are 92 years and 104 days old as of today. To what do you attribute your long life?

A: I married a Welsh girl, who taught me a Welsh saying, "When everyone runs, stand still", and I seem to have been doing that ever since. That must be part of the answer, because so many people are running towards what I see as suicide, performing habits that everyone knows are dangerous. I’ve always accepted that Man’s greatest mistake is trying to turn himself into a carnivore, contrary to natural law.

On leaving school, I went to be an apprentice woodworker with another uncle. When I was 21, and due to become a craftsman, we found ourselves in the economic slump of the early 1930s and I discovered that craftsmen could become woodwork teachers by qualifying through the City and Guilds. With a bit of trouble I managed it and liked the job so much that I never tried to get any kind of promotion.

I can’t help comparing our attractive quarterly magazine with my humble “Vegan News” which I produced at great labour. Normally I spent a whole night assembling the various pages and stapling them together. I’d limited the number of subscribers to five hundred because I couldn’t cope with a bigger number.

Compared with democracy, dictatorship has obvious advantages. In the early days of "Vegan News" I could do everything my own way. I don’t think I could have survived if I had had to write to the few people concerned and ask for their opinion. I had no telephone and no motor car - I could only hope that they would see my point, until I handed over the work to a committee.

Then the day came when one of the pigs was killed: I still have vivid recollections of the whole process including the screams, of course. One thing that shocked me was that my Uncle George, of whom I thought very highly, was part of the crew. I decided that farms - and uncles - had to be reassessed: the idyllic scene was nothing more than Death Row, where every creature’s days were numbered by the point at which it was no longer of service to human beings.

I lived at home for 21 years and in the whole of that time I never heard a word from my parents, my grandparents, my 22 uncles and aunts, my 16 cousins, my teachers or my vicar on anything remotely associated with any duties we might have to “God’s Creation”.

thousands of letters - I feel that if I hadn’t formed the Society someone else would have done so, though it might have had a different name. The word “vegan” was immediately accepted and became part of our language and is now in almost every world dictionary, I suppose.

Q: How does your veganism relate to any religious beliefs you may have?

Inevitably, I suppose, within the next ten years one morning I won’t wake up. What then? There’ll be a funeral, there’ll be a smattering of people at it and, as Shaw forecast for his own funeral, there’ll be the spirits of all the animals I've never eaten. In that case, it will be a big funeral!

Q: When did you first become a vegetarian?

A: It was a New Year Resolution in 1924, so I haven’t eaten any meat or fish for 78 years.

Q: Tell me about the early days of the Vegan Society.

A: In the two years before we formed a democratic Society, I literally ran the show. From the response that I had -

A: I never had very deep ones. I’ve never been clever enough to be an atheist – an agnostic, yes. Some theologians think that Christ was an Essene. If he was, he was a vegan. If he were alive today, he’d be an itinerant vegan propagandist instead of an itinerant preacher of those days, spreading the message of compassion.

I understand that there are now more vegans sitting down to Sunday lunch than there are Anglicans attending Sunday morning service. I think that Anglicans should rejoice at the good news that somebody at least is practising the essential element in the Christian religion - compassion.

Q: What do you find most difficult about being vegan?

A: Well, I suppose it is the social aspect - excommunicating myself from

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DONALD WATSON: VEGAN SOCIETY FOUNDER & PATRON Interview by George D. Rodger on 15 December 2002

that part of life where people meet to eat. The only way this problem can be eased is by veganism becoming more and more acceptable in guest houses, hotels, wherever one goes, until one hopes one day it will become the norm.

Q: And the other side of the coin: what do you find easiest about being vegan?

A: The great advantage of having a clear conscience and believing that scientists must now accept conscience as part of the scientific equation.

Q: How important has gardening been in your life?

A: When I lived in Leicester a friend let me use an allotment. When the crops matured, I had to wheel them back four miles to the other side of the city.

When I was lucky enough to get a job in Keswick, I got a house with an acre of garden, which was a dream come true.

My compost bins are filled with all the weeds, grass mowings, vegetable waste from the garden, dead leaves - no animal manure. By the way, all my digging is done with a fork – not a spade – to preserve earthworms.

Q: What are your views on genetically modified organisms?

A: As the old saying has it, if a thing seems too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true, and I’m sure this is a classic example, quite apart from the irreversible genetic nature of what is our basic food supply in the future.

Q: What are your views on blood sports?

A: I think it’s the bottom of the barrel.

However necessary we may feel that, having got into this mess, we have to kill some creatures for their own good, to kill creatures for fun must be the very dregs.

Q: What are your views on animal experiments?

A: I said that cruel sports were the bottom of the barrel, but I think I’ll have to move even them up one and put vivisection at the bottom. One thing we should always ask when we

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think that cruelty is largely delegated to the people who perform it is the simple question, if these butchers and vivisectors weren’t there, could we perform the acts that they are doing?

If we couldn’t, we have no right to expect them to do those things on our behalf.

Most orthodox medicines are tested on animals, and this perhaps is the greatest inconsistency in vegetarians and vegans who take orthodox medicines - a more serious inconsistency even than wearing leather or wool because these are by-products of industries that are primarily there to provide meat.

Q: What are your views on direct action?

A: I’ve never become involved in it. I respect the people enormously who do it, believing that it’s the most direct and quick way to achieve their ends. If I were an animal in a vivisection cage, I would thank the person who broke in and let me out but, having said that, we must always remember: is it just possible that our act could be counterproductive? I’d rather not say “yes” or “no” because I don’t know the answer to that.

Q: What do you consider the greatest achievement in your life?

A: Achieving what I set out to do: to feel that I was instrumental in starting a great new movement which could not only change the course of things for Humanity and the rest of Creation but alter Man’s expectation of surviving for much longer on this planet.

Q: Do you have any message for vegetarians?

A: Accept that vegetarianism is only a stepping stone between meat eating and veganism. There may be vegans who made the change all in one leap, but I’m sure that for most people vegetarianism is a necessary staging post. I’m still a member of the Vegetarian Society to keep in touch with the movement. I was delighted to learn that at the World Vegetarian Conference in Edinburgh the diet was a vegan diet and the delegates had no choice. This little seed that I planted 60 years ago is making its presence felt.

Q: What do you think of the way the Vegan Society has developed since you were running it?

A: Better than expected, certainly.

The genie is now out of the bottle and no one can ever put it back to the ignorant days before 1944, when this seed was planted by people full of hope. Now wherever Man lives he can have a vegan diet.

All the early work was done by volunteers. In a way, everyone the Society has ever paid to do the office work have all been volunteers. Even our Chief Executive is on a wage at the very bottom of anything that is paid in the commercial sector.

Because we can afford nothing more.

So the Vegan Society has always, in that sense, been supported by voluntary labour. And we’re enormously grateful to these people because heaven knows what would happen if they all packed in.

Q: Do you have any message for the many thousands of people who are now vegan?

Q: In what direction do you think the Vegan Society should go in the future?

A: Take the broad view of what veganism stands for - something beyond finding a new alternative to scrambled eggs on toast or a new recipe for Christmas cake. Realise that you’re on to something really big, something that hadn’t been tried until sixty years ago, and something which is meeting every reasonable criticism that anyone can level against it. And this doesn’t involve weeks or months of studying diet charts or reading books by socalled experts - it means grasping a few simple facts and applying them.

A: I hesitate to suggest anything to a movement which seems to be going well and spreading world wide. The edifice that survived all attacks before we started our work is now crumbling because of the inherent weakness of its own structure. We don’t know the spiritual advancements that long-term veganism – over generations - would have for human life. It would be certainly a different civilisation, and the first one in the whole of our history that would truly deserve the title of being a civilisation.

Grow Vegan Georgia Wrighton invites you to enjoy the Summer evening garden.

Summer scents Picture it now, you and yours sitting outside on a balmy Summer evening, drinking in the incredible Summer scents of your evening time garden. That amazing evening fragrance isn’t intended for our benefit, though it’s 'out of this world' for us too. At this time of year flowering plants are desperate to attract pollinating moths and night-time insects to their nectar ‘service stations’ when the sun goes down. Nothing quite so much conjures up a warm Summer evening outside, whether eating al fresco or simply taking it all in, as those evocative Summer fragrances.

Other plants, of course, are fragrant during the day and provide us with a perhaps more subtle but nevertheless enriching experience.

Summer in particular provides an abundance of scent as plants vie for pollinators, and we can help provide nectar for insects as well as enjoyment for ourselves with a bit of careful planting.

For those of us who live in urban environments these plants can be particularly gratifying when we have to contend with the smells of refuse, car pollution and hot food establishments every day. Yesterday I found myself burning incense sticks in the garden to take away the unpleasant odour of cat urine (my Crocosmia is a favourite resting place for a number of local moggies) and reflected on the artificiality of this stratagem when nature provides wonderful fragrances more or less all year round. I now pledge myself to incorporate fragrant wildlifefriendly plants in my garden as well as those that are visually enriching.

Create your own Eden There are lots of well known and written about fragrant plants to choose from, but my vegan ethics prefer that the greatest benefits extend not only to people but to animals and the environment too. My choice would therefore focus on preferably native but otherwise wildlife-friendly garden plants.

There are a range of fragrant plants you can grow: some have flowers which are scented,

Grow Vegan Puzzler Prizes this month: 3 £20 vouchers from NEBO Nursery Where is our native honeysuckle to be found in its natural surroundings? (a) In wetland habitats (b) On hillsides and mountainsides (c) In ancient woodland NEBO ORGANIC NURSERY The first nursery to be registered with the Vegan Society, Nebo use no animal composts and run a totally organic operation.

Nebo offer a 10% discount to Vegan Society members – rising to 20% for orders of £30 or more.

Nebo Organic Nursery Nebo, Saron, nr Llandysull, Carmenthenshire SA44 5EL For a catalogue or to order: phone 01559 371838 or email peter@neboorganicnursery.fsbusiness.co.uk

ranging from large shrubs to climbers to wildflowers, while others have fragrant leaves or stems. Mediterranean plants tend to fall into the latter category, rosemary and bergamot being good examples.

To get you started, I have chosen two flowering plants, one native and one common garden plant attractive to wildlife, both with a powerful evening scent. As with any plant, the right living conditions are important for them to thrive and to avoid drastic measures to keep them healthy.

Native honeysuckle (‘Woodbine’) Native honeysuckle or Lonicera periclymenum flowers from June and has the most amazingly heady evening perfume. Its flowers attract some spectacular moths while the berries help to feed the birds in Autumn.

It also helps to provide a natural balance in the garden by attracting blackfly quickly

followed by ladybirds and lacewings and the larvae of these insects, the scorpion fly, which feed on them. The bark is ripped off by birds such as blackbirds and house sparrows for nest building material while in its native ancient oak woodland habitat the pied flycatcher relies almost entirely on honeysuckle bark for this purpose.

Honeysuckle can be susceptible to mildew and fungal attack, so try to keep the roots cool by mulching and ensure regular watering in the Summer. It should grow well in any fertile, well drained soil in sun or semishade and is fully hardy.

Plant some by the back door or near a bedroom window for maximum night time effect and just drink it all in.

Evening Primrose Though not a native plant, the evening primrose or Oenothera biennis provides one of the most attractive feeding places for night-flying moths. Its flowers open in the evening just before sunset and each one lasts until noon the following day. The night time perfume is incredible and it will also add a wonderful splash of yellow to your garden with yellow blooms up to five feet tall.

The evening primrose is drought resistant and prefers a dryish, well drained soil in a sunny position. It is a biennial plant, putting on foliage in the first year and flowers in the second.

Give it a go – you’ll soon be getting the evening garden 'bug’ and they won’t be able to keep you indoors. Enjoy!

Resources Baines, C. ‘How to Make a Wildlife Garden’ 2000 Frances Lincoln The Royal Horticultural Society ‘New Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers’ 1999 Dorling Kindersley Pears, P. ‘Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening’ 2001 Dorling Kindersley Fern, K. ‘Plants for a Future’ 1997 Permanent Publications

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PLANT RESTAURANT Sunflower Standard registered

Plant Café and Restaurant, 47 Poland Street, London W1 (near Oxford Circus) is the brainchild of Chidi and Uchenna Ngwaba and vegan head chef Ben Asamani, who has created a menu emphasising fresh, mainly organic ingredients that will appeal to everyone.

T

he Plant Tray takeaway is an ecofriendly tray with salads or hot dishes.

Soups, smoothies, sandwiches, wraps, cakes and snacks are complemented by innovative dishes such as Scrambled Tofulette Sunrise on tomato toast wedges, mixed Caribbean and Asian flavours with wild rice, and a range of vegan desserts.

The pro-vegan profile is ‘almost coincidental’. As Dr Chidi puts it, “Most of the time we’re patching people up after they’ve hurt themselves: hopefully Plant will be preventive - it’s about being healthy and having a great food experience.”

Look out for Plants springing up near you: there are plans for more in central London as well as places like Brighton and Cambridge.

PANCAKE WITH ICE CREAM & CHOCOLATE SAUCE Serves 4 Ingredients: 132g/6oz/3/4 cup spelt flour pinch of salt 264ml/10fl oz/1 cup soya milk a little vegetable oil To serve: 150g/5oz/1 cup plain vegan chocolate Vanilla or strawberry dairy-free ice cream 8 strawberries, halved 225g/8oz/2 cups vanilla soya dessert Method: 1. Sieve the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the soya milk. Whisk until the batter is smooth. Leave to stand for 20 minutes, then whisk again.

2. Heat a little vegetable oil in a non-stick pancake pan. Swirl to ensure that the pan is coated, then tip out the excess oil.

Make sure the pan is really hot, then quickly spoon 2-3 tablespoons of batter into the pan and tip to coat the pan

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The Vegan l Summer 2003

evenly. Reduce the heat to medium and allow to cook. When bubbles start to appear on the surface of the pancake (about 30 seconds), it is ready to turn and cook the other side.

3. Slide the cooked pancake out of the pan on to a warm plate. Repeat with the remaining batter mixture, oiling the pan each time.

4. Gently melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Place the pancakes on serving plates, fill with a scoop of dairy-free ice cream and fold. Warm the vanilla dessert gently in a saucepan.

Decorate the pancakes with the strawberries and drizzle with the melted chocolate and soya dessert.

EAST MEETS WEST Serves 4 Ingredients: 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp white onion, chopped 2 clove garlic, crushed 100g/4oz/1/2 cup mixed coloured peppers, chopped 100g/4oz/1/2 cup okra, sliced 100g/4oz/1/2 cup cooked chick peas 100g/4oz/1/2 cup frozen veggie mince 2 tbsp tomato puree 120ml/4fl oz/1/2 cup coconut milk pinch salt and pepper pinch ground coriander pinch parsley (dried) pinch cayenne pepper pinch vegan bouillon powder

TOFU NIÇOISE

CARROT & CORIANDER SOUP

Serves 4

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients: 4 tbsp tamari or dark soy sauce 4 tbsp chilli sauce 200g/8oz/1 cup regular (firm) tofu, cubed 4 tomatoes 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 4 tbsp white onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed 400g/1lb/2 cups baby potatoes, cooked and sliced 200g/8oz/1 cup French beans 200g/8oz/1cup mixed olives 2 tbsp soy sauce pinch sweet basil pinch herbes de Provence / mixed herbs pinch cayenne pepper seasoning to taste

Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 1/ tbsp white onion, finely chopped 2 2 cloves garlic, crushed pinch cayenne pepper 2 large carrots (225g/8oz/2 cups approx), peeled and chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped 900ml/1 1/2 pints boiling water 1 tbsp vegan bouillon powder or 2 vegetable stock cubes 1/ tbsp salt and pepper 2 1/ tbsp mixed herbs 2 1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6 2. Mix the tamari and chilli sauce together.

Add the tofu and mix gently to coat.

Leave to marinate for 10 minutes.

3. Cut the tomato into four pieces, brush with olive oil and bake for 5 minutes.

4. Heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion and garlic for 2 minutes.

5. Add the potatoes, tofu, French beans, olives, soy sauce, sweet basil, herbes de Provence and cayenne pepper and sauté for 2 minutes.

6. Add the cooked tomato. Season to taste and serve.

Method: 1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan.

Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery and cayenne, and sauté for 5 minutes.

2. Dissolve the bouillon powder or stock cubes in the water to make a stock.

Add to the pan, bring to the boil and simmer until all the vegetables are cooked (20-30 minutes). Allow to cool.

3. Blend until smooth, then return to the pan and reheat. Season with salt and pepper and mixed herbs.

4. Stir in the fresh coriander and serve.

© Plant vegetarian restaurant 2003

To serve: Fried plantain and rice, or fried yam or boiled sweet potatoes Method: 1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan.

Sauté the onion, garlic and peppers for 2 minutes.

2. Add the okra, chick peas and veggie mince and continue to cook until tender.

3. Stir in the tomato puree and coconut milk. Add the salt, pepper, coriander, parsley, cayenne pepper and bouillon powder. Stir well to mix and cook for a further 2 minutes.

4. Serve with fried plantain and rice, or boiled yam or sweet potatoes.

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REPELLING INSECTS THE GENTLE WAY Tory Whitehurst

Essential oils make excellent insect deterrents. The qualities of citronella are well known, but other oils are just as effective.

Insects dislike the smell of certain plants, so by using the relevant essential oil it is possible to repel them gently without causing them harm.

T

he main oils to equip yourself with are peppermint, lavender and – of course – citronella. All are commonly available from wholefood shops. The insects that they repel are: Citronella: Flies, gnats, mosquitoes and ticks. Also effective with nematodes

Lavender:

Blackfly, flea beetles, fleas, greenfly, mosquitoes, moths and whitefly.

Peppermint: Ants, aphids, bean beetles, cabbage root flies, caterpillars, flea beetles, fleas, flies, lice, mosquitoes and moths. Also effective with mice.

In addition, pine essential oil is effective against woolly aphids as well as slugs and snails, and rosemary can be used as a deterrent against carrot fly.

You can also add a couple of drops of oil to pot pourri or to a cup of warm water or a saucer containing cotton wool. Place them near windows and other entry points. It is best to keep these away from other animals.

Although animals generally avoid essential oils, once diluted and enticingly mixed with things like cotton wool they may seem more attractive. In addition, dogs are attracted to the scent of lavender.

An excellent way of deterring insects outside is to make oil strips. Cut scraps of material or paper into thin strips and add a drop of oil to each one. Hang them from branches or from the roof of a greenhouse and renew the scent as needed. For a more gentle smell, the strips can be soaked in a bowl of water to which you have added a couple of drops of oil.

The traditional way to use these oils is to add three or four drops to an oil burner which has been half filled with water.

Alternatively, a couple of drops can be added to an unscented candle as the wax begins to melt. Both methods are less effective if you want to leave the area unattended or if you need a continual deterrent, but there are a number of other ways in which the oils can be used.

Ants can be particularly difficult to persuade to leave. A combined approach would be to spray the area with peppermint and place a few neat drops of the oil at the nearest outside entry point. Don’t use neat oils inside, on window and door frames or on other surfaces that could be damaged. For added effect, you could add a peppermint plant or scatter leaves around the area.

The most wide ranging - and simple solution is to make a spray. Take an old spray bottle, fill with water and add approximately four drops of essential oil for every 250 ml of water. Use it to spray the air and around entry points. If you want to make a stronger, more general spray, add four drops of both lavender and peppermint to the bottle. Take care not to spray directly at the insects. Also avoid spraying on polished, delicate or wooden surfaces in case of water marks.

Oils can also be used to deter insects in the garden. Beneficial insects are often attracted to essential oils, so a balance will still exist. Ground-moving insects can be discouraged by putting a few drops of oil into an old container sunk into the ground until the top is level with the soil surface. So long as you use the stronger smelling oils, such as citronella and peppermint, other animals will also keep away.

String that has been soaked with oil, using the same dilution as with the strips, can be strung between rows of vegetables to discourage flying insects – but check it regularly and keep the string tight to prevent birds becoming entangled.

You can also directly apply diluted oils to plants. There are two ways of doing this.

The first is to add a couple of drops per litre of water and use in a watering can or spray bottle. Alternatively, you can make a gentler but still highly effective plant tea. For the latter, mix three to four drops of oil with 250 ml of water, bring to the boil in an old saucepan and leave to cool. Add a tablespoon of the mixture per two litres of water before spraying or watering around plants.

Due to their high concentration, it is important to remember a few do’s and don’ts when using essential oils. First, unless it is for medicinal reasons, avoid excessive contact and wash your hands after use. This is particularly important with the stronger oils, or if you are using the same oil regularly, as sensitivity can build up with continual use.

Undiluted oils will keep their properties for up to two years, though citrus oils last only about six months. You can maximise their shelf life by storing them away from bright lights and preventing prolonged contact with the air. Oils can also have a corrosive effect, so do not store them on plastic or other delicate surfaces. Once diluted, they immediately begin to lose their effectiveness, so it is better to make smaller batches more often.

So the next time you’re struggling to find ways of discouraging insects why not try using essential oils? Not only are they highly effective - they are also incredibly cheap and eco-friendly.

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Diet Matters Sandra Hood, BSc (Hons), SRD

I am allergic to all wheat products and gluten and very sensitive to many nuts. How can I follow a vegan diet and get enough protein?

I am trying to conceive and would like to know what sort of foods I should be having and what about calcium?

If you have been diagnosed with a genuine wheat and gluten allergy you will need to exclude all these foods and your GP will be able to prescribe some wheat/gluten free foods. For food intolerances, it is a matter of being careful with foods which cause problems as you will be able to tolerate a certain amount. It is possible to follow a healthy vegan diet without wheat and gluten, but it means careful planning. Choose grains such as rice, sago, tapioca, buckwheat, millet and polenta, and use flours such as potato, cornflour, soya and chick pea (gram flour) for cooking. Protein will not be a problem and vegans tend to rely more on beans and pulses such as soya, lentils, chick peas and seeds. As for nuts, you may find that you tolerate some better than others. Make sure you eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Preconceptual nutrition is very important. A folic acid supplement of 400mcg per day is recommended for vegans and non-vegans alike from the time you start trying to conceive until the 12th week of pregnancy. Ensure a daily source of vitamin B12 either from fortified foods or as a tablet. It is also prudent to take a small amount of kelp (kombu) to ensure an adequate iodine intake. A varied vegan diet will provide all the nutrients you need. Try to include foods from each of the following groups on a daily basis: grains (bread, rice, pasta); pulses, nuts and seeds; vegetables; fruits.

Fruits and vegetables should be included at every meal. Get the right balance of essential fatty acids by using olive, soya or canola (rapeseed) oil in place of sunflower and corn oils plus a teaspoon of flaxseed oil per day. If you are a healthy weight (neither under- nor overweight) and take a varied mixed vegan diet, calcium intake should be adequate.

Calcium rich foods include nuts, seeds, pulses, figs, greens and some fortified non-dairy milks.

I am from India. Many Indians believe the baby will be healthy and beautiful if saffron is taken during pregnancy but I have read in an encyclopaedia that saffron can cause miscarriage.

Saffron in normal quantities to colour and flavour dishes is fine, but I would not encourage a pregnant woman to take large quantities of any herb or spice unless there is a medical reason to do so. The idea that saffron will produce beautiful babies is likely to be an old wives’ tale, perhaps to do with the fact that saffron is such a very costly spice.

My doctor says that I should take hemp seed and not flax as hemp is better absorbed Hemp seeds are not so rich in omega-3 fatty acids as flax, but they are still a good source. Hemp seed would be more easily digestible as flax seeds have a hard shell which can’t be removed so they need to be crushed or ground.

I have been told that vitamin D2 is not so good for you as D3.

Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) generally comes from fish or sheep’s wool while vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) is produced from yeasts and thus suitable for vegans. Studies have shown that vitamin D3 is more biologically active than D2 - a bit like haem iron (from animals) which is more easily absorbed than non-haem iron (from plants).

The main source of vitamin D, however, is sunlight: it is synthesised and stored by the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight. Vegans can also obtain vitamin D2 from fortified foods such as certain non-dairy milks, breakfast cereals and margarine and this may be advisable during the winter months.

Is soya based infant formula safe?

I have heard that children’s sexual development and fertility as adults might be affected if they take soya based infant formula.

The press recently confused two references in a Government Scientific Advisory Committee (SACN) paper which reported on two studies, Strom et al. (2001) which looked at menstruation in women and Sharpe et al. (2002) which was a study on 30 baby marmosets. The SACN concluded that “neither paper definitively proves that soy formula can cause long term harm to human infants”. Indeed, one of the studies (Strom et al. 2001) concluded that “our findings are reassuring about the safety of infant soy formula”. We all know that “breast is best,” but where breast feeding is not possible soya infant formula is a safe alternative to cow’s milk formula.

The Dr Atkins (high protein) diet suggests that methionine is lacking in vegan diets.

Dr Atkins’ philosophy and diet plan is quite controversial and certainly not recommended by health professionals.

He had some unusual and worrying beliefs, discouraging the consumption of a number of fruits and vegetables and encouraging saturated fats.

Moreoever, his beliefs are aimed at the conventional omnivorous adult and not appropriate to the vegan way of life.

Methionine is an essential amino acid required for proper growth in infants and for maintenance of nitrogen balance in adults. Homocysteine is an amino acid produced by the body during the breakdown of methionine and there is strong evidence that elevated homocysteine is a risk factor for heart disease. Some studies have shown that vegans generally consume less methionine than omnivores, but more is not better and there is more than enough methionine in foods such as soya. A mixed vegan diet, including a reliable regular source of vitamin B12, will meets all the nutrient requirements for good health.

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I wish to become a member and support the work of the Vegan Society.

Membership / Renewal

I wish to renew my membership.

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Please tick this box if you are a dietary Vegan. This entitles you to voting rights in the Society’s elections if aged 18+.

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A copy of the Society’s rules (Memo & Articles of Association) can be viewed on our website or at our office. Alternatively you may buy

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a copy for £5.

Please give full names of additional members and specify if dietary vegan and / or under 18. (If more than four additional members please attach separate sheet.)

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How to pay Individual £21

* Less £7 low-income deduction (if applicable) Payment must be made by credit card, sterling International money order or sterling cheque drawn on a British bank.

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The Vegan l SUmmer 2003

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Reviews Mark Thwaite

Raising Vegetarian Children Joanne Stepaniak and Vesanto Melina McGraw-Hill 2003 ISBN 0658021559 Price £12.99 [Available from the Vegan Society] Joanne Stepaniak (author of the excellent Being Vegan and the very popular Vegan Sourcebook) and Vesanto Melina (coauthor of the equally excellent Becoming Vegan) have produced an impressive and reassuring book.

We may take our own health somewhat for granted, but having to feed hungry little monsters tends to make one focus.

The myth that non-animal-based diets are inadequate for children is fully and clearly debunked. Issues such as ethics, family and relatives, being different and eating out are also discussed. The nutritional needs of all age groups from birth to teens, from nursing mothers to athletes, are all covered. Importantly, eating disorders are also addressed. Despite its title, the book is a vegan publication (the authors making a distinction between vegans, whom they consider to have made an ethical lifestyle choice, and total vegetarians who have simply adopted an animal-free diet).

Raising Vegetarian Children always comes across as both compassionate and levelheaded and is never cloying. The more than a hundred pages devoted to a wide range of simple, kid-friendly recipes are very useful, though the "Resources" section is rather US biased. This book is not just about food: for many people, becoming vegetarian (or vegan) is a lifechanging and indeed life-affirming decision, but one that can be difficult and very challenging. Raising Vegetarian Children spends many pages discussing the emotional aspects and moral implications of a meat-free lifestyle.

A useful book, nicely presented, well illustrated, easy to read and well worth the money.

Gascon Feathers Burt Keimach Booklocker.com ISBN 159113188X Price £8.95

KATHLEEN KELENY-WILLIAMS 1908-2003 It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of life-long vegan Kathleen Keleny-Williams at the age of 94.

This is the story of the Keimachs’ attempt to live out the rural dream of so many of us overworked city dwellers.

For many years, Kathleen owned and ran the popular Coombe Lodge guesthouse in Gloucestershire where she also taught yoga. The story of her life is featured in the Vegan Society book: Vegan Stories.

Burt and his wife Elizabeth had always loved France, had married there and years later found an idyllic rural hamlet in South West France to live in. As vegetarians, they loved their large new garden and were delighted by their orchard, but then disaster struck: a neighbouring farmer decided to rent out some land right next to theirs for a ‘gavage’ or factory farm shed in which castrated male geese are force fed for 12 days as the final stage of the ghastly process of making paté de foie gras.

Gascon Feathers is the story of the Keimachs’ – and, it must be stressed, their fellow villagers’ - fight against this noisy, smelly, environmental destructive and horrifically cruel ‘traditional’ farming practice. While not the best written book in the world, it is a righteously angry and compelling account of how factory farming destroys so much more than the lives of the animals so cruelly caught up in the vortex of profit.

Vegan Rustic Cooking for all Seasons Diana White Vegan Organic Trust Price £5.99 [Available from the Vegan Society] This book of seasonal recipes was partly inspired by the vegan-organic vegetables grown by the author and her husband. The ingredients used are aimed at supplying good nutrition, flavour and energy all year round. There is a wide variety of tasty wholesome dishes, including hearty winter recipes and fresh summer fare. Pancakes stuffed with purple sprouting broccoli, pecans and yoghurt nestle alongside chocolate and orange marmalade buns – mouth-wateringly good!

Born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, in 1908 and brought up exclusively on a vegan diet, Kathleen was the daughter of James Henry Cook, who established the first health food store in Britain in 1898. His two factories, the Pitman Health Food Company and Vitaland, produced a range of vegan products including Nuto Cream Soup.

In 1933, Kathleen met keen vegetarian Frank Mayo. They married a year later and started their own health foods store in Coventry, eventually setting up the Coventry Vegetarian Society. They had two children, Christopher and Pamela.

In 1950, Frank and Kathleen bought a guesthouse called Coombe Lodge in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire.

Sadly, Frank died soon afterwards and Kathleen was left to run the guesthouse by herself.

In 1952, at the International Vegetarian Congress in Sweden, Kathleen met Dr Eugene Keleny, former President of the Hungarian Vegetarian Society, and they were married in 1957.

In 1963, Kathleen attended a talk on yoga and learned about the principle of Ahimsa – “not hurting”. Kathleen was so impressed by this that she decided to become a yoga teacher with the Friends of Yoga Society and the British Wheel of Yoga.

In 1996, she published the story of her life and that of her father in a book entitled The First Century of Health Foods.

A wonderful example of veganism, Kathleen was still giving talks in her nineties on how to be healthy and happy on a vegan diet. She will be very much missed.

Julie Rosenfield Editor, Vegan Stories The Vegan l Summer 2003

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Postbag Contributions to Postbag are welcomed, but accepted on the understanding that they may be edited in the interests of brevity or clarity.

Thank you for Stephen Walsh's long overdue article on the hidden dilemmas of being a vegan. I am frequently amazed when vegetarian pundits suggest that we should flock to ASDA , Tesco et al. and stock up on their 'yummy vegan goodies', without worrying about who paid to kill the dead animals stacked up in the corner. When challenged they tend to argue that change is better promoted from inside, but surely this can be taken too far and in human terms would preclude all sanctions against oppressive regimes. Did the companies who stayed in South Africa do so to promote change or to make profits? The same question should trouble vegetarians. Do we shop at Waitrose purely to argue our case or mainly because it is easier and, yes, yummier than trekking round the markets and wholefood shops?

It may not be practical to reduce our support for cruelty to zero – many health food stores sell cod liver oil – but I have long harboured the fantasy of a chain of vegetarian supermarkets. These would not be health food shops: even vegetarians have their weaknesses, so what I envisage is ordinary supermarkets selling everything from tofu and organic vegetables to white flour and sugar-packed cereals, but minus all the animal products. The space freed could easily be filled with the abundance of vegetarian and organic produce now available. We could then divert a far larger portion of our money away from the slaughterhouse floor - an opportunity that I believe the majority of vegetarians would welcome.

Perhaps such an idea is not yet commercially viable, but in the right location and with the right approach, a start could be made. Any takers?

James Dixon, Suffolk

You probably get vegans in all walks of life now, but it may interest readers to hear that I am currently Deputy Mayoress of Torbay and at 30 years old probably not only the youngest holder of this office but also the first vegan.

I take every opportunity to spread the word about veganism at all the events I attend. This usually happens naturally when others at the same table notice that I have been given a separate vegan meal. Someone recently referred to me as a “pioneer”, probably making some hotels and restaurants dish up vegan food for the first time ever.

From the account in the Spring issue of The Vegan, it seems that it would be difficult to exist permanently in Greenland on a vegan diet.

I was puzzled, however, at why the writer emphasised that they had porridge and coffee “both with plenty of sugar”.

According to many advisers, sugar is an item we can all do without for a variety of reasons, including long-term side effects as well as tooth decay, though I have read that using the whole cane is not harmful. Like 'Bread for Energy', I had thought that 'Sugar for Energy' was another myth since reading an article entitled “Pure, White and Deadly” in The British Vegetarian many years ago when it was a newspaper.

I wonder if the scientist who ate the ladies' vegan sausages was given a jolt when told of his mistake (kindly, no doubt). If so, let us hope that their loss was a blessing in disguise for the vegan movement and that he will add his name to our membership. Even the humble sausage can be a passive advocate!

Mrs B L Cox, Norfolk

The main aim of the Vegan Society is to promote the vegan diet, and the two main methods have been to highlight the health benefits of the vegan diet and the cruelty to animals involved in meat and dairy produce. However, as vegans we must be realistic. The vast majority of people are not going to listen to the animal rights reasons for being vegan. Nor are they going to listen to the health arguments as the vast majority of meat eaters are quite prepared to play Russian roulette with their own health.

There is one argument, however, that I feel that the Vegan Society should be doing more to emphasise: the fact that meat and dairy cause famine. Every day thousands of people die of hunger because others want to eat meat and dairy.

What about Vegan Society car stickers and other merchandise highlighting the link between world hunger and meat and dairy consumption?

Reading the terrific Moby interview in the Spring issue of The Vegan made me realise that we vegans are threading ourselves into all walks of life and introducing the word “vegan” to people who may never have come across it before. In my official capacity I am happy to share a table with meat eaters if it gives me the opportunity to tell them what I am eating and why!

Famine is the greatest ethical dilemma facing society today, and no one claiming to be a Christian could ever eat meat or dairy again after reading the article by George Monbiot in The Guardian on Christmas Eve [www.monbiot.com] But what is that great bastion of ethics the Christian Church doing about it? I believe it is the duty of the Vegan Society to take this message to the various churches and religious groups. If the Church is really a Christian organisation it will have no option but to promote a vegan diet and would be a very powerful ally to have. If it fails to do so, this will show that the Church is nothing but a hypocritical organisation.

Jane Cuming, Devon

David McKelvey, Northern Ireland

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11944 94 4 22004 004

JUBILEE WALK

PROJECTS FOR DIAMOND JUBILEE YEAR 2004

Some readers may remember the Shiners, from Reading, marking the 40th anniversary of the Vegan Society in 1984 by walking from John O’Groats to Land’s End. Let us celebrate the Diamond Jubilee by joining forces to walk the length and breadth of Britain in relays. If we prepare now, we can achieve excellent publicity for our message as well as linking with other vegans and demonstrating the strength and fitness of our membership. There’s no need to give up your jobs and spend months walking the whole route. You are invited, however, to enjoy a few days or even a week or two following scenic, waymarked paths.

C

oordination will be needed to ensure that as one section is completed the next begins and we’ll need a sunflower baton for the teams to pass on. Local contacts could contact the local press, radio and television, and associated local exhibitions and talks can be arranged. Offers of food and accommodation for the walkers will also be much appreciated.

Our destination will be the 2004 AGM in London, to be fixed sometime around World Vegan Day (1 November 2004). The idea would be to have a “spine” running [or rather walking] from the North of Scotland to London with other routes feeding into this route from all parts of the country. The exact route and timing will need to be decided well in advance, so expressions of interest and suggestions as to route, timing and associated events would be welcomed by 1st September this year. Now is your chance to influence the route and itinerary by writing to Laurence Main, 9 Mawddwy Cottages, Minllyn, Dinas Mawddwy, Machynlleth, SY20 9LW enclosing a stamped addressed envelope.

[The best source of waymarked trails is The Long Distance Walkers’ Handbook, 7th edition, price £12.99 including postage from A & C Black Customer Services, P O Box 19, St Neots, Cambridgeshire PE19 8SF. Cheques should be made payable to A & C Black]

HISTORY OF THE VEGAN SOCIETY This is planned for publication in Diamond Jubilee year. If any readers have information especially regarding the early years of the Vegan Society not likely to be found in old copies of the magazine, minutes, etc. please contact George Rodger, 17 Howburn Place, Aberdeen AB11 6XT Telephone 01224 573034. Email georgerodger@f2s.com Information about old documents and photos will be welcome, but please do not send irreplaceable items in the first instance.

EXPANDED VEGAN PASSPORT It is hoped to expand this well established and useful publication for vegan travellers to contain not just all 38 languages from the first edition but as many more as possible, hopefully at least 60 to mark the years of the Vegan Society. Several additional languages have already been provided, but many more are still needed, particularly the four major South Indian languages (Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam) as well as Panjabi and the major West African languages Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo and Fulani. However, all new languages will be welcome and even for languages in the existing book corrections/alterations may be appropriate.

Literate native speakers or very competent non-native speakers (eg long-term non-native residents of the appropriate country) are needed who are ideally vegan themselves, or at least vegetarian.

The passage for translation is quite short, so the task should not be too arduous. All contributors will be credited in the book when published, unless they wish to remain anonymous. If you are able to help or know someone who could, please contact George Rodger,

17 Howburn Place, Aberdeen AB11 6XT Telephone 01224 573034 Email georgerodger@f2s.com for a translator's pack.

Meanwhile, the existing Vegan Passport is available from the Vegan Society and a very good buy at £2.99. Even without additional languages, we reckon it already covers over 90% of the world's population.

AGM NOTICE The next Annual General Meeting of the Vegan Society will be held on Saturday 15 November 2003 at The Guildhall, Watergate Street, CHESTER CH1 2LA PROPOSALS FOR RESOLUTION Proposals for resolution, to be considered by Council for inclusion on the AGM Agenda, must be received at the Society’s office (Donald Watson House, 7 Battle Road, ST LEONARDS–ON–SEA, East Sussex, TN37 7AA) not later than Friday 1 August.

For your guidance Ordinary Proposals should: • be proposed and seconded by paid-up full (not supporter) members • in the interests of economy and clarity, not exceed 100 words • propose some form of action • propose one single action ie they must not be composite proposals • not simply comprise a statement of opinion Members considering submitting Special Proposals (those seeking to change the Memorandum or Articles of Association) are advised to contact the Company Secretary (Rick Savage) on 01424 448820 ext 839 for guidance.

Proposers are requested to limit their proposals to two.

NOMINATIONS FOR COUNCIL Nominations are invited for members to serve on Council.

Each candidate must: • have been a full (not supporter) member of the Society for 12 months or longer (as at 15 November 2003) • not be disqualified under company or charity law from being a trustee/director • submit a written nomination duly signed by a proposer and seconder who are paid-up full members • submit a profile of him/herself stating in 100-200 words his/her full name (and any previous names), skills, experience, views and intentions if elected.

Nominations must be received at the office (Donald Watson House, 7 Battle Road, ST LEONARDS–ON–SEA, East Sussex, TN37 7AA) not later than Friday 1 August.

Candidacy is open to all members of the Society meeting the criteria outlined above. Members with relevant professional skills and qualifications are particularly invited to consider nomination.

For further details, ask for a ‘Prospective Candidates Nomination Pack’ by sending an A5 SAE marked ‘PCNP’ to: Council Elections, Donald Watson House, 7 Battle Road, ST LEONARDS–ON–SEA, East Sussex, TN37 7AA. The Vegan l Summer 2003

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LOCAL GROUPS NEWS There is no formal Vegan Society affiliation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; so long as it is obvious from the name that a group is for vegans and not just vegetarians and a Vegan Society member is willing to be named contact, it can be listed. Please let the Local Contactsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Coordinator know of any omitted. Check first that the contact person is a full member of the Vegan Society. If not, you could offer to be the contact yourself and get publicity for the group.

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events For a full list of events and meetings, see

www.veggies.org.uk www.veganvillage.co.uk www.veganlondon.freeserve.co.uk the forum at www.worldveganday.org and local group websites.

MAY

AUGUST

Mon 19th - Sun 25th National Vegetarian Week – Vegetarian Society T. 0161 925 2000 email info@vegsoc.org

Sat 2nd – Sat 16th Vegan Camp – Lyme Regis, Dorset T. 0845 330 3918, email info@vegancamp.org

Mon 19th – Mon 26th National BBQ Week – National BBQ Promotions Ltd – Let’s see some BBQs with food that everyone can enjoy – www.worldveganday.org

Sun 2nd - Sun 10th National Eisteddfod at Feifod, Powys

Fri 23rd Leon Lewis Cookery Demo & wine tasting and music. Brentwood, Essex. www.veganessex.org.uk T. 07092 369280 email info@veganessex.org.uk

Wed 20th – Wed 27th Mediterranean cruise with vegan catering T 01492 593674 www.grosvenortravel.co.uk

Launch Party for Vegan Guide to Bristol & Free BBQ - Wild Oats, Bristol Contact: Yaoh Ltd – www.yaoh.co.uk - T 0117 923 9053 email info@yaoh.co.uk

Thurs 21st -Tues 26th 2003 International Raw Foods Festival – Oregon, USA International Raw & Living Foods Association www.rawfoods.com/festival RawFestival@aol.com.

Sat 24th – Sat 31st Greyhound Awareness Week Greyhound Action PO Box 127 Kidderminster DY10 3UZ Tel: 01562 745778 www.greyhoundaction.co.uk email

Sat 30th – Sat 6th September 10th Vegan Summer Gathering, Gower Peninsula near Swansea www.veganviews.org.uk/vsg T 01792 792442

Sat 31st May – Sun 1st June Animal Rights Activist Gathering – East Peckham Nr Tonbridge Farmed Animal Action – Workshop, food and camping www.farmedanimalaction.co.uk T. 0845 4560284 email info@farmedanimalaction.co.uk

Sunday 14th 6th National Vegan Festival, London Conway Hall, Red Lion Sq, 10 –5 pm www.veganfestival.freeserve.co.uk T 020 8670 9585

JUNE Sun 1st Lecture by Dr Neal Pinkney (founder of Healing Heart ) London NW11 Jewish Vegetarian Society – i

Sat 14th Vegetarian Festival in Cambridge Indian Centre, Mill Rd. 2.30pm.

Meet at Parker’s Piece 1 pm for walk around the city. Music, Food, Awards, Speakers. All Welcome.

SEPTEMBER

Sun 28th Vegetarian Festival, Dublin St Andrew's Resource Centre, Pearse Street, Dublin 2.

OCTOBER Sun 4th World Animal Day www.worldanimalday.org.uk email info@worldanimalday.org.uk Sun 26th – Sun 2nd Nov UK Vegan Week – Celebrating food that everybody can enjoy! www.worldveganday.org email media@vegansociety.com T 01424 448828 F 01424 717064

NOVEMBER Sat 21st – Thurs 26th European Vegetarian Festival - Turkey www.european-vegetarian.org

SUN 22nd Walk For Whales And Dolphins - 68 sponsored walks throughout the country starting at 10am.

Saturday 1st – World Vegan Day 2003 How are you going to celebrate? See www.worldveganday.org for ideas.

Sat 15th Vegan Society AGM at The Guildhall, Watergate Street, Chester CH1 2LA

LOCAL CONTACTS NEWS Spring is here again and it is tempting to spend the light evenings in the garden – yet here I am at 10 pm still slaving over a hot keyboard!

The number of Local Contacts now stands at 91 compared with 58 in Spring last year, plus one International Contact, and there are more applications in the pipeline so we should reach 100 in good time for the Diamond Jubilee. There are also 39 local groups listed in the magazine. You can be a Local Contact without running a group and you can run a group without being a Local Contact. For details of how to help the Society in either of these ways, please contact me.

The e-mail discussion list for Vegan Society members is flourishing: to join, send an e-mail to join.vs.talk@anyware.co.uk giving your full name, VS membership number and postcode.

One important thing that all members can do right now is to join in the campaign to persuade caterers to offer soya milk.

Whenever you’re anywhere that serves tea or coffee, including trains, planes and motorway service areas, ask if they have soya milk. If they haven’t, tell them they can get individual long-life portions of Pritchitt’s Soya Maid from Suma and other wholesalers.

Much time was devoted to arranging the event at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth to follow the Council meeting on 1 March and maximize the value of time and money expended on travel. Response exceeded expectations in a big way and more than 80 people attended in addition to Council members. Presentations on nutrition by Stephen Walsh and on media work by Alex Bourke and Karin Ridgers were especially appreciated.

A smaller but highly successful local contacts event was held in Reading on 26 April at the kind invitation of Sophie Fenwick. A cookery demonstration by Tony Weston, now local contacts liaison officer at Donald Watson House, made it all look deceptively simple and the results were absolutely delicious! (For more of Tony’s recipes, see Rainbows and Wellies on special offer in the new Vegan Society catalogue.)

A number of people have requested Local Contacts days in the Birmingham and Nottingham areas and it is hoped to arrange something there in due course. A planned day in St Leonard’s had to be postponed as it clashed with the new date for the National Vegan Festival, but there will definitely be an event for all members on the weekend of the AGM (see notice on page 31). I should be grateful for offers of help from members in the area.

To quote the words of a Local Contact who attended one of these events recently, “I find that I feel much more motivated after one of these events, and would recommend any local contact to try to get to at least one.”

Even if you are not yet a Local Contact, you are very welcome to come along – so do get in touch!

Patricia Tricker National Local Contacts’ Coordinator

Sun 23rd Christmas Without Cruelty Fayre, Kensington Town Hall, London www.animalaid.org.uk T 01732 364546 The Vegan l Summer 2003

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VEGAN SOCIETY LOCAL CONTACTS Note: Local Contacts are Vegan Society members who have offered to act, on a voluntary basis, as a point of contact for those interested in the Society's work. They are not official representatives of the Society.

Their levels of activity and knowledge may vary according to their individual circumstances.

When writing to a Contact please remember to enclose a SAE. Local Contacts' Coordinator: Patricia Tricker - see under Yorkshire (North)

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LISTINGS Founder Donald Watson Hon Patrons Serena Coles Freya Dinshah Maneka Gandhi Dr. Michael Klaper Arthur Ling Moby Cor Nouws Wendy Turner Donald Watson Benjamin Zephaniah Council Alex Bourke (Vice Chair) Chris Childe Vanessa Clarke Laurence Klein (Hon Treasurer) Laurence Main Caroline Malkinson Marc Palmer (Co-opted) Karin Ridgers George Rodger Patricia Tricker Stephen Walsh (Chair) National Local Contacts Co-ordinator Patricia M. Tricker STAFF Chief Executive Officer Rick Savage Administration/Finance Officer Janet Pender Head of Promotions/PR Tony Weston Information Officer Catriona Toms Information Assistant Debbie Holman Fundraising/Marketing Officer James Southwood Sales & Membership Officer Vacant Sales & Membership Assistants Sundari Poorun Philip de Rivaz Sales Assistant John Rawden Volunteers Wendy Crathern Joyce Sandground Erica Wilson Dietary Consultant Sandra Hood

VEGANISM may be defined as a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose. In dietary terms it refers to the practice of dispensing with all animal produce — including meat, fish, poultry, eggs, animal milks, honey, and their derivatives.

Abhorrence of the cruel practices inherent in an agricultural system based on the abuse of animals is probably the single most common reason for the adoption of veganism, but many people are drawn to it for health, ecological, resource, spiritual and other reasons.

If you would like more information on veganism a free Information Pack is available from the Vegan Society in exchange for two first class stamps.

THE VEGAN SOCIETY was formed in England in November 1944 by a group of vegetarians who had recognised the ethical compromises implicit in lacto-vegetarianism (ie dairy dependent). Today, the Society continues to highlight the breaking of the strong maternal bond between the cow and her new-born calf within just four days; the dairy cow’s proneness to lameness and mastitis; her subjection to an intensive cycle of pregnancy and lactation; our unnatural and unhealthy taste for cow’s milk; and the de-oxygenation of river water through contamination with cattle slurry.

If you are already a vegan or vegan sympathiser, please support the Society and help increase its influence by joining. Increased membership means more resources to educate and inform.

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CLASSIFIEDS (UK) HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

ISLE OF WIGHT CUMBRIA SOMERSET

BRISTOL KENT MARGATE. KENT, exclusive Veg/Vegan B&B by the sea, romantic/sexy room with en-suite.

SOMERSET BADGER’S END women’s bed and breakfast.

Vegan/vegetarian £20 pppn.

Non-smoking. Walking, birdwatching nr Glastonbury. For booking phone

LANCASHIRE SUSSEX

CORNWALL MY HOME IS YOUR HOME Bed and Breakfast. Country cottage bedroom. Plenty of scrumptious veggie/vegan food. Food lovers and cat lovers especially welcome! Cockermouth Town Centre, £35 per couple £20 per person

SCOTLAND

DEVON

ST IVES Cornwall. Vegan guest house.

Close to beaches and picturesque harbour. En-suite rooms. Self-catering apartment also availa

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DEVON (Lydford) S/C for N/S visitors at VEGFAM’s HQ. SAE to ‘The Sanctuary’, nr Lydford, Okehampton EX20 4AL.

TO ADVERTISE IN THE VEGAN PLEASE CONTACT 01424 448822 OR EMAIL ADVERTS@VEGANSOCIETY.COM FOR ASSISTANCE OR A QUOTE

WALES

FOOD

MISCELLANEOUS GREEN/DIY FUNERALS Eco-friendly inexpensive coffins, memorial treeplanting. Please send £1 in unused stamps with A5 size 33p SAE to Box 328

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY B&B and RETREATS Magical Victorian country house, natural carpets and paints, vegan organic meals, overlooking stunning coastal conservation area. Easy for public transport. South West Wales. www.heartspring.co.uk PEMBROKESHIRE. A warm welcome & good food (exclusively Veg/Vegan) in modern bungalow. Close to Newgale beach. Coastal paths to explore.

Green Haven B&B -

TEMPEH KITS – it’s so easy and cheap to make this PERFECT protein food for vegans at home. Kits comprise enough starter for 10.5kg finished tempeh PLUS a colour instruction/recipe book - £15. Call Polly at PHYTOFOODS – 01547 510242

HOLIDAYS ABROAD KERALA, SOUTH INDIA a vegan’s paradise.

Tours, accommodation including selfcatering. Brochure: Tel: 01892 722440, Voice Mail/Fax: 01892 724913.

E-mail: info@keralconnect.co.uk Website:www.keralconnect.co.uk

‘LEAFU’ LEAFCURD and tofu making workshop - learn how to make and cook with these wonderful foods in a hands-on camping weekend. Also, ‘Leafu’ Leafcurd is available by post.

COSMETICS

www.veganviews.org.uk/brynderwen VEGAN SUMMER GATHERING Mumbles, South Wales coast, 30th August – 6th September. 60+ usually attend, all ages.

Discussions, meals, trips out. Single / Twin / Double rooms. £80/week self-catering (unwaged less). www.veganviews.org.uk/vsg

WEST CORK self catering apartments for singles, couples and families in peaceful wooded surroundings. Organic vegetables, bread & vegan wholefoods available. Reasonable rates. Green Lodge, Trawnamadree, Ballylickey, Bantry, Co Cork, Ireland.

MACHYNLLETH MARKET TOWN. Bungalow - double ensuite, overlooking the panoramic Dyfi valley. Organic vegan/veg breakfasts and bread.

Spectacular scenery, walking, cycling, touring - coast nearby. Secure parking.

Lock-up garage.

BRYNDERWEN VEGAN COMMUNITY spacious house with a garden / land.

Some live at Brynderwen others independently nearby. Business possibilities. Visitors, potential new members welcome. Newsletter available.

web:http://homepage.eircom.net/~greenlodge PYRENEES: Vegan B+B, dble room w/shower and organic brek: £27 for two.

PUBLICATIONS

www.vegan.port5.com/flashvegangite2.html' SNOWDONIA restored railway station overlooking vale of Ffestiniog. Selfcatering, sleeps up to 6. Children, pet and wheelchair friendly.

ALPUJARRAS - ANDALUCIA. Attractive townhouse. Garage, roof terrace. Excellent views, birds, walks.

Healthfood shops and veggie restaurants in town. Sleeps 2-6. From £200 pw.

Available all year.

YORKSHIRE NORTH YORKSHIRE Comfortable, homely, exclusively vegetarian/vegan B&B from £17 p.p./p.n. at Prospect Cottage situated in Ingleton village. Wonderful walking country.

EATING OUT

VEGAN GUEST HOUSE, SW Ireland, http://homepage.eircom.net/~cussens cottage. All major credit cards accepted.

NORMANDY. Chambre d'hôte bed, breakfast and gourmet vegetarian/vegan dinner. 100 euros for two includes drinks.

Ideal for weekend breaks Mortagne-auPerche is well placed for historic towns and forest walks.

ECOFOREST: Vegan holidays in a beautiful natural situation, eco-education, sustainable living project, southern Spain for details - see www.ecoforest.org

GASCON FEATHERS, a novel by Burt Keimach reveals intense cruelty to ducks tortured for their livers on a factory farm by people brutalised by greed. www.gasconfeathers.com,

COURSES ECOFOREST 2003 Vegan Permaculture Courses in Southern Spain.

Probably the healthiest 2 week Permaculture Design Certificate courses you can get! 14th-27th April and 15th-28th September, 2003.

Also 1 week Natural Health & Sustainability courses (vegan), including an Introduction to Permaculture, 18th-24th May, and October. Teachers Steve Charter and Devin Howse See: www.ecoforest.org for more details, course pack and booking information.

VEGAN CABARET SINGER available for all occasions. Weddings, hotels, private functions etc. Distance no object. Able to sing in many styles from Britney to Bocelli.

All ages catered for.

Y

OPPORTUNITIES

TO ADVERTISE IN THE VEGAN PLEASE CONTACT 01424 448822 OR EMAIL ADVERTS@VEGANSOCIETY.COM FOR ASSISTANCE OR A QUOTE The Vegan l Summer 2003

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CLASSIFIEDS ACCOMMODATION

PENPALS

Box Numbers When replying to a box number address your envelope as follows: Box no. _____ The Vegan Society, Donald Watson House, 7 Battle Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN37 7AA

PERSONAL

CONDITIONS OF ACCEPTANCE: Advertisements are accepted subject to their satisfying the condition that the products advertised are entirely free from ingredients derived from animals; that neither products nor ingredients have been tested on animals; and that the content of such ads does not promote, or appear to promote, the use of non-vegan commodities. Books, records, tapes, etc. mentioned in advertisements should not contain any material contrary to vegan principles.

Advertisements may be accepted from catering establishments that are not run on exclusively vegan lines, provided that vegan meals are available and that the wording of such ads reflects this.

ARTICLES AND ADVERTISEMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED BY 10 JULY 2003 FOR INCLUSION IN AUTUMN 2003 ISSUE OF THE VEGAN

CLASSIFIED ORDER FORM Want to meet new vegan friends? Looking for romance? After a roommate?

Why not advertise in The Vegan classifieds, and reach a large audience of like-minded people.

It costs just ÂŁ6 for 35 word max (commercial rates also available) - simply return this form to us in time for the next issue.

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PRIZE CROSSWORD Send in a photocopy (or original) of the solution to this crossword, together with your name and address by the 10th July 2003 PRIZE: the lucky winner of the draw will be sent a Karma Cookbook signed by the authors, Boy George and Dragana G Brown. Solution in the next issue.

Name.............................................................................

Address........................................................................... .....................................................................................

Postcode

ACROSS 1 7 9 10 11 12 14 15 17 18 19 20 22 23 25 26 27 28

Italian sprouting broccoli (9) Seed case (3) Tortilla chip (5) Small piece of parsley, for example, used as a food decoration (5) Ointment used in treating bruises (6) Clarified butter used in Indian cookery (4) _ _ _ _ _ pea (5) Liquorice-flavoured seeds or oil (5) _ _ _ _ vera (4) Grange, ranch (4) French pancake (5) The results of dicing? (5) Tortilla rolled around a filling (4) Basket of food (6) Cooked in the oven (5) These may be marble, rock or sponge (5) Decay (3) Edible fungi (9)

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 13 16 19 21 24 26

Calm like a cylindrical green fruit? (4,2,1,8) Fabric woven with fibres from the flax plant (5) Non-motorised mode of transport (7) Prefix meaning 'ecological' or 'environmental' (3) Creatures which help to aerate soil (10) Senses with the tongue; likings; small amounts (6) Pass through, permeate (coffee) (9) Alimentary canals (9,6) Dressing for greens (5,5)par Cooler for table wine, perhaps (3,6) Water biscuit, wafer (7) Heavy, usually starchy food (6) Garlic and basil sauce (5) Lettuce with long dark-green leaves (3)

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The Vegan l Summer 2003

Solution to The Vegan Prize Crossword

31 CONGRATULATIONS to the Winner Mr Alex Henderson, Stroud, Glos