THE VEGAN NEWS

APRIL 1998

The Vegan News is written and edited by P M Lloyd. Please e-mail your contributions to the editor at: Pauline@bury-rd.demon.co.uk or fill in the form provided.

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In This Month's Issue:

Recipe of the Month

Pea and Potato Korma

(Adapted from a recipe in Vegetarian Indian Cookery, by Shehzad Husain.)

Ingredients

Method

  1. To make the garlic puree: liquidize some peeled garlic cloves with a little water. Clean out the liquidizer and then repeat the procedure with a piece of peeled and chopped ginger root.(Any left-over puree can be frozen in small containers; ice cube trays are ideal for this.)

  2. Cook the potatoes in boiling water for about 5-10 mins, until they are just cooked. Drain.

  3. Dry roast the sesame and poppy seeds (1 minute) over a low heat, constantly shaking the pan to prevent them from burning. Grind the seeds e.g. in a coffee grinder or a mortar.

  4. In a small bowl mix together the yoghurt, lemon juice, tomato puree, ginger, garlic and all of the spices, except for the peppercorns.

  5. Fry the peppercorns in the olive oil for a few seconds, then add the chopped onion to the pan and continue to fry until the onion is golden brown.

  6. Add the yoghurt/spice mixture, lower the heat and cook gently for a few minutes.

  7. Add the potatoes, peas, corn and water. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the quartered tomatoes and continue to cook for a further 3 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender.
Recipe Serves 2-3.
Serve with basmati rice, or naan bread and an Indian pickle.

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VIVA! Press Release.

British 'Roo Campaigner Threatened by Australian Meat Men

Director of the charity Viva!, whose successful campaign against kangaroo and other 'exotic' meats led to their being taken off supermarket shelves in the UK late last year, is under threat from the Australian meat industry. Thirty-three-year old zoologist Juliet Gellatley leaves for Australia on March 11 to carry the campaign directly to Australians. President of the Australian Game Meat Producers Association has told the Sydney Sun Herald: "We will be right at the airport with buckets of green paint to meet her." And Dubbo farmer Mike Wilson is campaigning to have the Department of Immigration refuse her entry "on the basis of the damage she could cause to Australian agriculture," according to The Land newspaper. Viva!'s UK campaign against kangaroo and other exotic meats was spearheaded with posters showing a dying baby 'joey' with the words "Four million reasons not to eat kangaroo meat." It resulted in Tesco, Somerfield and Booker cash and carry pulling out of the trade. The 1.5 million readership BBC Good Food magazine described it as 1997's 'most vocal food campaign'. It also became big news in Australia. "The brutal destruction of millions of kangaroos is now a major story and I have been demonised by the Australian meat industry because profits have dropped", explains Ms Gellatley. "They are determined to exploit every wild creature in the country but, with one exception, we have closed off their UK national outlets. Sainsburys alone continue to sell kangaroo, emu, ostrich and crocodile meat. And pretty soon it will be flying foxes, bandicoots and crispy fried possum. This assault on wildlife is indefensible."

Ms Gellatley will be conducting media interviews and public talks in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra and a special press conference has been arranged at the Federal House of Parliament to be hosted by Democrat Senator Andrew Bartlett. "Why am I telling Australians what to do?" asks Ms Gellatley. "Because cruelty and environmental destruction are international. It isn't the kangaroos who are inexorably turning Australia into desert but millions of alien cattle and sheep grown for overseas markets. We're all involved - which is why I accepted the invitation of Australian groups. This campaign is a great example of successful international co-operation." Because of the intense interest, Ms Gellatley will also be launching her controversial book, The Silent Ark, in Australia (Thorsons £6.99). First serialised in 'The Times', it is subtitled: A chilling expose of meat - the global killer. Aussie butchers will love that! Further info.: Tony Wardle on 01273 494814 or Juliet Gellatley on 01273 777688.

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April Product Review

Borodinsky

Borodinsky is a Russian rye bread which is produced by the Village Bakery in Melmerby, Penrith. Here, this aromatic rye bread is made by hand and is baked in a wood-fired, brick oven. Made from mainly organic ingredients, Borodinsky bears the Soil Association symbol. A deliciously moist loaf which is both wheat and yeast-free and is flavoured with coriander, malt and molasses. I bought a 400g loaf in Sainsburys for £1.15.

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Cookery Tips - Useful Equipment for the Vegan Kitchen

Most vegan recipes can be prepared and cooked using standard kitchen equipment, but there are several additional pieces of equipment which I find useful in the vegan kitchen:
  1. The Pressure Cooker
    Many vegans eat legumes (e.g. chickpeas and beans) on a regular basis and pressure cookers are particularly good for cooking food items, like legumes, which tend to have long cooking times. In my pressure cooker, kidney beans take only ten minutes to cook and chickpeas about twenty minutes - a considerably shorter cooking time than if cooked by conventional methods. So, if you cook your own beans, regularly, purchasing a pressure cooker could not only save you time, but could also significantly reduce your gas bills. Pressure cookers can, of course, be used to cook many other foods apart from legumes, but they are not so efficient for cooking items which have short cooking times, or for foods which tend to froth up (e.g. lentils, rice or pasta) as these tend to block the cooker's vents.

  2. Steamers
    Steaming is a good way to cook vegetables, for when vegetables are cooked in water many vital nutrients are lost. You can buy bamboo steamers, fairly cheaply, from most Oriental shops/ supermarkets. However, you do not necessarily need to purchase a special steamer and if you are short of cash, or want to make better use of equipment that you already own, then you can simply place a metal seive (or colander) over a pan which contains a few inches of boiling water and place a lid on top to keep the steam in. Most vegetables will cook in about 10-15 minutes, like this.

  3. Wok
    I wouldn't be without my wok and find it extremely useful for cooking vegan food. Woks can be used to cook so many different types of dishes including: stir-fries, curries, sautes and pasta sauces. You can even put some water into your wok and steam vegetables inside it in a bamboo steamer.

  4. Coffee Grinder
    Not just for grinding coffee beans: excellent for grinding nuts, seeds and spices, too! If you want to make your own nut roasts, spicy curries, fruit and nut bars or peanut butter, regularly, then you will probably find a coffee grinder a worthwhile investment.

  5. Sieve
    As mentioned earlier a metal sieve can be used for steaming vegetables, but sieves can also be used for cleaning rice, rinsing sprouts, making purees, deep frying and of course for sieving flour when baking.

  6. Sprouters
    Vitamin-rich sprouts should be included in the vegan diet, whenever possible. They can be grown in special sprouting containers which often allow you to grow several different types of sprouts at the same time. However, you do not need to purchase special equipment, if you don't want to, as sprouts can be grown just as easily inside clean, empty jam jars. For more details on how to grow your own sprouts see the     March 1997 Issue.

The vegan diet should always include plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables and salads. To prepare these food items you will need a good supply of sharp knives, a grater and a chopping board in your kitchen.

Readers! Send in your cookery tips and I will publish a selection of your ideas in next month's issue.

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What's Happening in the Veganic Garden This Month?


April can be a very changeable month and there are often sudden showers or night frosts. However, things should on the whole be slowly warming up as the days get longer! Do remember to protect delicate crops at night - e.g. broad bean and potato shoots - with a fleece or polythene sheet, particularly if frosts are forecast.

1. Sowing and planting

Continue to sow carrots, broad beans, lettuce and spinach, this month. You can also sow second early peas (e.g. Kelvedon Wonder) and from the middle of the month it should be warm enough to make some early sowings of beetroot. Calabrese can also be sown, either in a seed bed or indoors and young plants can be moved to their final position when they are big enough to handle. Second early potatoes can go in and towards the end of April, so can the maincrop. This year I have also managed to obtain some rhubarb crowns (Victoria) and look forward to harvesting my own rhubarb next year. Rhubarb should be planted in well-composted ground and should not be picked in its first year. Established plants, i.e. those older than one year, can be picked from April to July. Rhubarb can be stewed, used in pies, crumbles or home-made jams, but do not eat the leaves as they are poisonous.

2. Indoor Sowings

Make indoor sowings of kale, in your propagator, this month - these will be planted outside in June/July. Kale can be picked from November to April and is a highly nutritious, winter vegetable, rich in vitamins A, C and E and it is also a good source of calcium and iron. It's winter hardy, pigeons do not attack it and it is less susceptible to clubroot than most other brassicas. Delicious stir-fried or steamed!

In late March, or early this month, you can also start off tomatoes, cucumbers and many herbs (mint, basil rosemary, sage, hyssop, lavender, chives and fennel) in your propagator. If you sowed peppers indoors, last month, then the seedlings should now be big enough to pot up.

3. Crops Available in April:

Over-wintered lettuce, rhubarb and spring cabbage.

4. In The Wildlife Garden

The Animals in Your Garden - Frogs and Toads!

Common Frog - Rana temporaria
Common Toad - Bufo bufo

Frogs and toads belong to the group of animals known as amphibians. Adult frogs and toads live on land in damp, shady places and return to the water only when they breed. Their larvae (known as tadpoles) are aquatic and live in lakes, ponds and ditches.

These cold-blooded creatures hibernate from about mid October to late February. Frogs usually hibernate in the mud at the bottom of lakes and ponds and toads hibernate in burrows or amongst tree roots. When the adult animals come out of hibernation, in spring, they mate and lay many jelly-like eggs (spawn). You will often see large masses of frog spawn floating on the surface of ponds, but toad spawn is harder to find, is laid in longer strands and is usually found wound around water plants. When the jelly-like eggs hatch, the tadpoles swim around in the water using their tails. Eventually they develop legs, lose their tails and gills and become fully-formed, but rather small adults with lungs. It can take about 3-4 years for these amphibians to reach their full adult size and it is thought that frogs and toads can live for up to 40 years!

Unable to drink water through their mouths, adult frogs and toads need to live in fairly damp conditions where they can absorb water through the surface of their skin and this is why you often see them sitting out in the rain!

Encourage these animals into the veganic garden as they are very useful creatures to have around. They eat many harmful insects pests as well as slugs and snails and the best way to encourage them into your garden is to provide a pond for them to breed in. I no longer have a pond in my garden, but still have many frogs living in the ivy which forms a dense undergrowth under some shady trees. In summer, after it has been raining, I am often surprised by frogs leaping out of bushes, clumps of herbs, or from behind my composter or water butt! And, during droughts, frogs often come out in the early evening and sit in my veganic vegetable beds after I have watered them: absorbing the water through their skin.

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Any Queries?

I live in a coastal region and my main interest is in the question: ' how many square feet of average soil would it take to sustain one in good health with few inputs and as much recycling as possible, in other words a closed system?
David Cayford, Santa Rosa, California. USA.

It is thought that a vegan (living in the UK) can live on food grown on a fifth of an acre of land, but some land is probably also needed to grow extra crops in order to maintain the fertility of the soil. i.e. for composting, mulching materials etc. So say 3/10 of an acre altogether (13,068 sq ft). However, I am assuming that you are following a vegan diet, if not, then you will require far more land than this.

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Vegan Organisation Review

If any vegan organisation would like to be reviewed in this section, then please email: Pauline@bury-rd.demon.co.uk. The following organisations have been reviewed in earlier issues: