THE VEGAN NEWS THE VEGAN NEWS
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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Recipe of the Month(Source: Raw Energy Recipes by Leslie and Susannah Kenton. Edbury Press 1994.)
It's unbelievably delicious!
Note: If you don't have any vanilla, it's possible to miss out this ingredient. And I use banana slices when strawberries are out of season.
My Raw-Tobiography - The Summer of '95 by John Machin
John Machin is a television comedy scriptwriter. This
article was originally featured in Issue 22 of The FRESH Network
News.
It began with deep anger, resentment, hatred and intense rage. Then it got really bad. It was that flaming Susie Miller woman. I'd sent for her introductory booklet on raw-food and fruitarianism called Raw Food Nutrition. In it, she'd had the temerity to tell me that my body was acidic, my cooked food was poisoning me and my whole concept of nutrition was upside down. Jeez, was I mad at that woman. You see, I was a vegan godlet. My diet had been honed to perfection over twenty years: pure water, oatmeal, wheatgerm, fruit, nuts, boiled veg, beans and rice. And here was this infuriating woman telling me I'd got it all wrong. Dangerously so. Well, I wasn't having any of that. I'd read this foodie literature to be patted on the back, not for the nutritional equivalent of being told that Santa Claus is a child molester. The booklet was forcibly filed away under a pair of old socks, never to be looked at again.
And yet, and yet... Over the weeks, I reread Susie Millers words - anonymously. There was logic there. It gnawed away in my head like an unkillable cartoon chipmunk. Even so, I couldn't give up my wonderful, carefully calculated cooked diet - could I? Good Lord, no! What was I thinking of?
And yet... I tried the booklet's advice on food combining. My conscience eased. For a while. Then the chipmunk returned. I compromised. Two meals at weekends became all fruit and - damn and blast that Miller woman! They made me feel great. So two fruit meals became three, then four, then two on weekdays, then but no; I couldn't give up my cooked beans and rice dinners, I just couldn't. And then I just did!
I was on a banana and berry bobsleigh without brakes. It was an amazing, gorgeous, unstoppable experience. Within a month, I'd transitioned to a 100% raw-food fruitarian. Shortly after came the symbolic and very poignant cutting of the umbilical cord to my previous way of eating, with the dispersal to friends of my beloved jars of beans and rice.
Things happened: more energy, brighter eyes, vanishing physical and mental niggles, and clearer thoughts like what a total idiot I'd been. My whole dietary goal had been to avoid processed foods. And yet I'd overlooked the most blatant and common food processing of them all - cooking.
The rest of that sundrenched, superblue summer of 95 was a liberation. I'd escaped a prison of nutritional lies. Fruitarianism was what I'd always believed in without consciously realising it. It was like coming home; I'd found a deep personal truth and with it, happiness. I was eating my favourite food every day at every meal and it was allowable. Other people did it. And lived. Damn well. It was exciting, exhilarating, emancipating, enriching, empowering, inspiring, magical, mystical and marvellous. The dictionary just didn't have enough words.
This, though, was just the first step along the raw-food road, and even more incredible changes were to follow. But for the moment, I revelled in my revolutionary-new, millennia-old diet. And that flaming Susie Miller? Well, maybe she wasnt so bad after all.
July
Product Review Animal Aid White Musk Deodorant
Feeling the heat? This non-sticky roll-on deodorant is produced by Honesty Cosmetics for Animal Aid. When I tested it out, it seemed to do the job well - although personally I would prefer an unscented version. It costs £2.25 + £1.50 p+p and can be purchased from: Animal Aid, The Old Chapel, Bradford Street, Tonbridge, Kent. TN9 1AW. (Tel: 01732 364546 for a catalogue). It can also be ordered on the Internet from Animal Aid's website if you want to try one out!
Honesty Moisturising Cream With Vitamin E (Unscented Range)
Containing vitamin E oil (widely known as the anti-wrinkle oil!) this cream enriches the skin and improves its texture and suppleness. It's a light moisturiser, suitable for all skin types and is especially good for daytime use. Containing jojoba, peach kernel oil and cocoa butter, it costs £3.10 for a 50g pot. Honesty's unscented range of products are especially designed for sensitive skin and have no added perfume or colour - they are also suitable for babies. Available by mail order from: Honesty Cosmetics, Lumford Mill, Bakewell, Derbys. DE45 1GS. (Tel: 01629 814888.) Why not visit their new website and find out more about their products? You will find it listed in the website section below.
In The Butterfly Garden - The Top Five Caterpillar Food
Plants:Other plants that will encourage butterflies to breed in your garden include: thistles, holly, honesty, nasturtium, sorrel and dog-violet. (Incidentally, seeds of all of the top five plants can be obtained from the John Chambers' Wild Flower Seed Catalogue - ring 01933 652562 for a catalogue.)
You will find more information on butterfly gardening in the April, May and June issues of Vegan News. And there is also an interesting article on this topic in the June 1999 issue of Gardening Which? And if you're interested in butterflies and live in Essex, I would recommend that you read the book: The Butterflies of Essex, by David Corke (Lopinga Books, 1997).
What's
Happening in the Veganic Garden This Month?Make further sowings of perpetual spinach and Swiss chard to provide a good supply of greens for autumn picking. Pak choi can also be sown again in August and so can many other Oriental vegetables - Chinese cabbage, Chinese celery, chopsuey greens, mustard greens, choy sum, mizuna, mibuna and Chinese kale, for example. A July sowing of parsley will provide plenty of fresh parsley for use throughout the winter months. And July/August is also a good time to make sowings of autumn/winter radishes. Try Belrosa, a strong red radish which can grow up to 15 cm long, or Black Spanish Round - a globe variety. The large Japanese variety (Daikon or Mouli) can also be sown from July onwards in the UK. Incidentally, you will find a good selection of Oriental vegetable seeds and winter radishes in The Organic Gardening Catalogue. (Click on the link if you want the address.) Finally, plant your home-grown winter cabbages outside as soon as they are large enough and you have enough space for them in your beds.
Make indoor sowings of spring cabbages now and the plants should be ready for putting outside by September/October.
Keep everything well watered this month, preferably with water from a water butt, rather than by taking water from the mains. Don't forget that mulching crops helps to retain moisture. Legumes (e.g. peas and beans) can be mulched with old grass cuttings - so don't throw these away!
Stop runner beans, by pinching out their growing tips when they get to the top of their poles. Tie up your tomatoes regularly, particularly when they start to get heavy with fruit and stop tall tomato plants when they have formed 4-5 trusses. When watering tomatoes, potatoes and peppers, try adding some comfrey solution to the watering can. Most crops, at this time of year, will also benefit from regular feeds with SM3 seaweed solution. Alternatively, try sprinkling some seaweed meal onto your beds - it will soon be broken down by soil bacteria and your crops will become a lot greener and grow bigger than ever! Onions should be lifted from the middle to the end of August and should be hung up in an airy place to dry.
Globe artichokes, broad beans, French beans, runner beans, beetroot, carrots, peas, lettuce, radish, spinach, potatoes and turnips. And in August there should also be some onions, sweetcorn and tomatoes.
Your QueriesI am having trouble finding a recipe for "low fat lentil burger". I have some restrictions: the recipe shouldn't contain any potatoes, fat or wheat.
Laura, Canberra, Australia
If anyone knows of a suitable recipe, they can contact Laura at: morga@sydney.phillipsfox.com.au
Are there any other vegans or veggies who, like me, suffer from Urticaria or Hives? If so, I would like to hear from them!
Steve Savage, London, England.
Fellow sufferers can e-mail Steve at: greyhound@cheerful.com
The Bird-Friendly GardenWhy We Should Encourage Birds Into Our Gardens:
Things You Can Do To Attract Garden Birds:
Providing Food:
If you can, provide natural sources of food for the birds in your garden. Many types of trees and shrubs produce berries, seeds or fruits which can be eaten by birds. And some plants attract the insects, on which many birds feed - caterpillars, for example, are often found on hedge mustard, nettles and nasturtiums.
Important Food-Source Plants For Birds
The plants listed below are all very attractive food plants for birds:
Alder (finches and tits), Apple (blackbird and thrush), Beech (finches, tits, woodpeckers), Bramble (blackbird and thrush), Elder (thrush, wood pigeon), Hawthorn (waxwing, thrush), Holly (thrush), Ivy (blackcap, thrush, robin), Teasel (goldfinch), Cotoneaster (thrush, redwing, fieldfare, waxwing), Honesty (bullfinch), Pyracantha (thrush, woodpigeon), Thistle (linnet) and Sunflower (finches). Berberis is attractive to many different species of birds and an Oak tree will provide acorns for jays and nuthatches. Spruce, pine and birch will provide seeds for siskins. Ash will attract bullfinches. Mistletoe is an important garden plant, supplying berries at a time of year when food is normally in short supply.
In addition: foxgloves, dandelions (goldfinches particularly like these seed heads), burdock, evening primrose, knapweed, Michaelmas daisy, chickweed, forget-me-not, groundsel, shepherd's purse, fat-hen and nettles will provide seeds for birds to eat.
Other Food:
If you are unable to grow bird food plants in your garden, then it's possible to feed the birds by offering them various household scraps, as well as nuts or seeds. You should aim to provide a wide variety of food, offered at different levels - on the ground, in feeders or on a bird table for example. Birds will eat scraps of bread (provided it isn't stale), cooked rice and lentils, dried fruit such as raisins and sultanas, apples, oranges and grapes, coconut halves, mashed potatoes, peanuts, millet and black sunflower seeds. You could try giving them a vegetable form of suet too. And if you come across a supply of peanuts, still in their shells, these can be strung together using a needle and cotton and hung up for the birds to eat. Many pet shops also supply food which is suitable for wild birds, including seeds, fat balls, bags of peanuts etc.
The Garden Hedge
Modern agriculture has caused the loss of thousands of miles of hedgerow since the Second World War. By planting a new hedge in your garden, you will be providing much-needed nesting sites and roosting places for birds. Suitable hedge plants include: hawthorn, privet and laurel.
Further Reading:
Mail Order Seeds:
Both of these packets of seeds can be obtained from the John Chambers catalogue. (Tel: 01933 652562 for a catalogue.) Note: Postage is £0.50p extra for orders under £5.00.
Other
Interesting Vegan WebsitesAn excellent site and a particularly good starting point for obtaining information, for the new or intending vegan. You can now visit their online shop or become a member.
Find out all about Honesty's products, including their unscented range and their suncare products. This site will soon have facilities for ordering Honesty products online.
Visit this site to find out all about the 19th Vegan Camp. This year it's being held in Cornwall and you may even see the eclipse!
Veggie News is a news forwarding service for people wanting up-to-date information on vegetarianism. (See their logo at the bottom of this page for the latest news!)
Interested in finding out more about the benefits of eating raw foods? The FRESH Network provides information and support to anyone who is trying to adopt a raw food diet. They also sell a range of raw food books/booklets as well as juicers and dehydrators.
A Swedish-based organisation supplying information on the fruitarian diet. This site has some links to other fruitarian sites. Why not check out their Encyclopaedia of Fruitarianism?
The Worm Book: The Complete Guide To Worms In Your Garden by Loren Nancarrow and Janet Hogan Taylor (Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, 1998).
This clearly written and informative book will tell you everything you need to know about worms. Find out why earthworms are good for the environment. Find out how worms can turn your garbage into wonderful compost. 'New wormers' will also find plenty of sound advice on how to set up their worm bin, including what to use for bedding and what to give their worms to eat. And, if you fancy having a go at making a worm bin from scratch, you will find clear instructions and about half-a-dozen worm bin plans in Chapter Three.
Maybe you've already got worms and they're not very happy? Don't worry, you'll soon get it right! The Worm Book looks at common worm bin problems, as well as explaining what to do about worm bin pests, such as slugs, ants and fruit flies. Finally, I mentioned Chapter 11 (Cooking With Earthworms) in last month's issue, it's well worth a read!
Attracting Birds To Your Garden (New Holland 1998). By Stephen Moss and David Cottridge.
This nicely illustrated book is ideal for anyone who wants to entice more birds into their garden. It covers how to plan your garden with birds in mind and lists many garden plants and shrubs, specifically useful to birds - either as a source of natural food, or which can be used for nesting purposes. It also covers the importance of providing water for drinking and bathing and contains instructions on how to make and site a garden pond. You will learn how to feed your garden birds, about bird table hygiene and about how birds nest and reproduce. Pests, predators and other hazards are also discussed. Finally, there's a comprehensive directory of all the birds that you're likely to come across in your garden, beautifully illustrated with colour photographs and ideal for easy identification.
Veganic Gardeners should look out for both of these books in their public library.
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Copyright © Pauline Lloyd 1999
Summer
Book Review