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: paulinelloyd1@btinternet.com or fill in the form provided.
[ Previous issue][ Next issue] [Homepage]
Summer
RecipesIf you would like to buy a copy of this book and are unable to obtain one in the UK, then it can be purchased by credit card at Gentle World's website. Incidentally, this book has a very nice section on raw food and is well worth buying.
Summer
Product Review
Cheatah Running Shoes
Cheatahs - the ultimate vegan sports alternative! Made in
England and available from Vegetarian Shoes in Brighton, these
environmentally friendly running shoes are made from 70% biodegradable
fabric (vegetan). And because they are entirely leather-free and don't
need chrome tanning, by purchasing a pair of these trainers you will be
helping to further reduce pollution. With their breathable uppers,
Cheatahs are also kind to your feet. Available in four different
colourways, the one illustrated here is made in navy vegetan suede and
has a reflective V. But it is also available in red vegetan, if you
want to stand out from the crowd! Both the navy and the red Cheatah
cost £54.95.
I tested out the white and green vegetan model (which is also available in white and navy) and thought it was excellent value at £49.95. The white material had many of the properties that you would expect from leather and was soft and subtle and not at all like plastic. My new Cheatahs didn't take long to wear in either and I was impressed with the speed with which they were delivered to my door. I've also found that they are a lot more water resistent than my last pair of trainers, so no more soggy socks when it rains! Although not exceptionally wide-fitting, I found the unisex sizing to be quite generous and needed to use insoles in my usual size in order to obtain a snug fit. I've tested them out as running shoes and had no problems and I also use them for casual wear, as they look so nice with jeans and sportswear. It's wonderful to be able to find a comfy, good quality vegan running shoe at last!
I also tested out Vegetarian Shoe's moisture absorbing insoles (£2.95) and was quite impressed with these too. Although they were far too thick to be comfortable in my Cheatahs, I found that they were excellent inside my walking boots. They are made of a thick fleecy material and really do keep your feet snug and warm. In fact, I must get another pair to go inside my winter boots! Incidentally, if you are looking for some black, vegan shoe polish, then you can also purchase this from Vegetarian Shoes for £1.95 per tin.
You can obtain more information on Cheatahs (or on the other products mentioned here) from: Vegetarian Shoes, 12 Gardner Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1UP. (Tel: 01273 691913, or email: info@vegetarianshoes.com). You can also order online. Please note that these prices do not include postage. Contact Vegetarian Shoes for postage details.
What's
Happening in the Veganic Garden this Summer?Sowing and Planting
JuneThe end of May/early June is also the best time to plant runner bean seeds. These usually take about two to three weeks to germinate and should therefore be quite safe from frost. If you have any spare room in your beds, try sowing some sunflower seeds early this month. Sunflowers are very attractive to bees and hoverflies and of course make a wonderful sight in the garden with their lovely, large yellow heads. Get the kids to plant and water them! After flowering, use the ripe sunflower seeds to produce sunflower greens indoors, or leave the heads on the plants for the birds to eat.
Don't forget to make sowings of spring cabbage, carrots and further sowings of lettuce, beetroot and salad onions this month. Little Marvel peas can also be sown in June and should provide you with a good crop of peas by late summer.
July/August
A good time to sow some winter radishes. Try Belrosa, Black Spanish
Round or Minowase (Mouli). All of these radishes are available from the
Organic Gardening Catalogue and should do very well, especially if we
get another wet autumn again this year! Mouli
radishes often grow very large. They store well in the fridge and are
ideal for stir-fries, or they can be grated and eaten raw in salads.
Young leeks should be planted out by mid-July and so should any winter cabbage, cauliflower, kale or sprouting broccoli plants that you have grown. These should provide you with an excellent supply of vegetables over the winter months and well into spring. It is also worth considering planting some Oriental vegetables, many of which can be planted in July. You will find a good selection of Oriental vegetables in the Organic Gardening Catalogue. Some Oriental vegetables grow very quickly and can be ready in no time at all, but unfortunately some varieties can be quite popular with slugs! It is also a good idea to sow some parsley at the beginning of August, so that you have a good supply of this nutritious herb to last you through the winter months. I prefer to grow parsley in a trough indoors over the winter, but it usually grows well outside too.
Garden
Products
*Note: According to the Vegan Organic Network, DANU is not wholly vegan because fish extract is used to fine beer and DANU is made from brewer's grains (Guiness).
League Against Cruel Sports Annual Hare Coursing Appeal
Founded in 1924, the League Against Cruel Sports is at the forefront of
the campaign to end hunting and coursing of wild animals and has
already had considerable success in gaining legal protection for
Britain's wildlife.
The Annual Hare Appeal aims to raise funds to help protect the brown hare from the suffering caused by the hunt. Hundreds of thousands of these timid creatures are shot annually and coursing clubs, illegal coursing and packs of beagles, harriers and basset hounds kill many, many more. By making a donation to this appeal you can help to expose the dreadful cruelty that hare coursing and hunting can cause and help to ensure that MPs are fully informed and vote in favour of a complete ban on hunting.
If you would like to make a donation to this campaign, then please send your remittance to: League Against Cruel Sports Ltd, Sparling House, 83-87 Union Street, London SE1 1SG. You can also make a donation by credit card by phoning: 020 7403 6155, or you can donate online at the League Against Cruel Sport's website, where you can also obtain further information.
I would like to thank the League Against Cruel Sports for allowing me to use their picture of a hare.
Readers' ContributionsThe next method they employed was a biodynamic technique, ancient, sickening and uncompassionate. They would trap one squirrel, kill it, then boil it's remains creating a juice which would then be sprayed onto the vegetables used to feed to the vegetarian population. They hoped that the effect would scare off the squirrel family. But since they were on a five-hundred-acre, natural squirrel habitat, where thousands of tunnels lined the underlayer of the soil, this did not prove feasible. They set traps, tried drowning them with water, everything but using the harmonious technique. We were fired with protest and went on with our lives, notifying anyone we could, but especially the vegetarian/vegan restaurants who were purchasing the food from these folks to serve to karma-conscious folks, who thought it was vegan food.
It has been approximately a year now and recently I heard that thay have a machine that pumps propane into the ground, which is then ignited to bring death by explosion and fire. This is cruel and there is no excuse for this suffering. When I challenged the technique non-confrontationally, stating that human beings must be able to think of another way, I was informed that if it was us or the squirrels (who have been deemed the enemy simply by their existence) that we had to fight for our food. This sounds all too familiar and I have not been able to let this one slide. I am sending this attachment to all who will listen and am looking for support to stop this suffering from taking place. We cannot desensitise and believe that we are not capable of creating a solution, or that one life is more important than another, especially when the solution is already present and would be simple with a little more heart and better farm management and maybe some adjusting of priorities. How about a little respect for life by making an attempt to harmonise when we move in, instead of just taking over and leaving only destruction in our wake? From our heart, this is our voice. One love, Vitali
If anyone has any ideas about what can be done to stop this dreadful way of slaughtering squirrels, then please contact Vitali at: vitali@ rawfoods.com.
* Editor's note: Natural extract of capsicum (peppers) can also be used to deter squirrels from taking bird food from bird feeders. In the UK this is marketed as the product 'Squirrel Away', which is completely harmless to both birds and squirrels and is available by mail order from the Organic Gardening Catalogue. (Tel: 01932 253666, if you would like to order some.)
Other
Interesting 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.
Well worth a visit! This site sells clothing and food for a fragile planet. It offers a wide range of hemp and organic cotton products including clothing, hemp footwear, bedding, towels and bathrobes and plenty of organic and hemp foodstuffs too. There's also an Ezine to read and a good selection of recipes. You can shop online, goods being delivered throughout the USA and Canada. Don't get carried away though and buy too much!
Situated in half an acre of terraced gardens, this vegetarian/vegan guest house lies very near to the Cornish Coastal Path. There's a beach with safe bathing nearby and plenty of beautiful walks and Cornish scenery to look at. Could be just what you are looking for!
Full details of rates, menus and information on the surrounding area are given and there is also a self-catering cottage, available to non-smoking vegetarians.
Offers home made animal-free food (some of which seems to be raw) and caters for other special diets such as the macrobiotic diet. Plenty of activities available in the area, including mountain biking, surfing and kite flying.
Located in the Welsh countryside, near to stunning coastal scenery, this B&B offers wholefood vegan cooking and also caters for special diets (e.g. raw). As well as providing accommodation, they also run relaxation and living energy courses and retreats. Nearby activities include walking, cycling, horse riding and canoeing.
You can find a more complete list of vegan accommodation on the links page.
Summer Book Reviews
Sunfood Cuisine by Frederic Patenaude (Genesis, 2002)
This gourmet raw-food guide contains over 175 raw, vegan recipes which
are based on fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, herbs and spices. There
are easy-to-make recipes for salads and dressings, raw soups, juices,
nut milks, smoothies, desserts, pies, pates, dips and snacks.
Throughout the book Frederic makes rawfood look rather fun and also
encourages you to experiment and to use the principles he teaches you
to invent your own recipes from whatever ingredients you happen to have
in your kitchen. In fact I felt so inspired after reading through this
book that I rushed out and bought a new vegetable peeler, so that I
could have a go at making some of the raw pasta recipes in the gourmet
food section!
However, Sunfood Cuisine is much more than just a recipe book, the second part of the book being a very informative guide to all of the ingredients and the kitchen equipment needed to create the recipes. Here, I found the sections on sweet and tropical fruits especially helpful and now have a much better idea of what these fruits look like, why they are good for me and how to prepare and eat them. At the back of the book four appendices provide a lot of useful information on related topics such as the Sunfood Diet, wild foods, organically grown food and tips on transitioning to a raw diet.
So what equipment will you need to make these recipes? Well a juicer, food processor, coffee grinder and dehydrator would certainly be useful if you want to make all of the recipes. But if you don't have some of this specialised equipment, then quite a lot of the recipes can in fact be made with just a bowl, a grater, a sharp knife and a blender. A set of American measuring cups would also be useful and these can be purchased in Tesco's for £3.50. All in all a useful book, not just for rawfooders, but for anyone who wishes to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in their diet.
You can order a copy of Sunfood Cuisine from: The Fresh Network, PO Box 71, Ely, Cambs CB7 4GU. Price £20.00 + £3.50 postage. Alternatively, phone 0870 800 7070 or order online at the Fresh website.
Homepage
Copyright © Pauline Lloyd 2002