THE VEGAN NEWS

APRIL 1997

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.

[ Previous issue] [Next Issue] [All issues]

In This Month's Issue:

This Month - Sea Vegetable Recipes

Orange Jelly

Ingredients:
1 pint (550 ml) of pure orange juice
2 tbsp of agar flakes
1 orange or satsuma (peeled and divided into segments)

Method:
Put about a third of the orange juice into a pan and sprinkle the agar flakes over the top of the liquid. Stir thoroughly and bring the liquid to the boil. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring, until all the agar has dissolved. Mix the heated juice in with the rest of the cold orange juice. Place the orange segments into a bowl or jelly mould and pour the orange juice over the top. Leave to set in the refrigerator for a few hours. Serves 4-5.

Red Grape Juice Jelly

Ingredients: 1 pint (550 ml) of red grape juice (not sparkling)
2 tbsp agar flakes
Some grapes - chop them in half and remove seeds - or a banana chopped into pieces.
Method:
Make the jelly as described above, but this time use the chopped banana and/or grapes instead of the orange segments.

Top of Page
This Month's Article on Sea Vegetables

Readers' Contributions

This article has been sent into the Vegan News by Gentle World. Further information can be obtained by e-mail from: gentle@aloha.net

THE VEGAN EVOLUTION

"VEGAN: One who abstains from supporting businesses or consuming products derived from cruelty to animals.

The Vegan Concept is not a fad that will pass with time. It is the birth of compassion, a concern for others, which is the single most important step in the next evolution of humankind.

Some of the brightest, most significant minds in the history of our world, such as: Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Plutarch, DaVinci, Tolstoy, Tagore, Buddha, Rousseau, Shelley, Thoreau, Isaac Bashevis Singer, George Bernard Shaw, Einstein, Gandhi, and Schweitzer, were vegetarians, for ethical reasons. In their quest for truth, they all experienced a similar epiphany: that compassion is the heart of the soul.

Vegetarianism for them was a religion, based upon a concept of God as perfect love. They reasoned that in order to understand God, one must first aspire to understand love. When they realized that the essence of love is compassion, opposing cruelty became an essential prerequisite for this aspiration.

In these present times, we see so much that we long to change: violence, world hunger, greed, waste, war disease. Too often, we feel powerless to do anything about it. And yet, simply by refusing to support cruelty, we, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., will exert a power over insensitive bigotry, be it towards other humans, or other species. Miguel Cervantes says in Don Quixote, "The maddest thing of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be" For those of us who seek, the higher spiritual levels, it is not enough to see life as it should be; we must do all we can to make life as it should be.

The pitiable plight of animals calls out to our conscience, pleading with us to extend our boundaries of compassion to encompass their suffering. Vegans hearing these cries, are experiencing a new form of self-esteem, which invariably accompanies acts of kindness and altruism. Better health of body and mind, a safer, cleaner environment, and a spiritual renaissance, offer even further inspiration for such commitment.

Try this life-changing, life-giving experiment. Abstain from all animal products for one month, and be assured that you can expect to feel better about yourself, because you have done something to better yourself.

Top of Page

April Product Review

Clearspring Agar Flakes

Agar flakes are a sea vegetable gelling agent. Most agar-agar is produced by methods which use chemical extraction and bleaching, but Clearspring flakes are made in Japan using a traditional process. Selected sea vegetables are harvested in the autumn and sun-dried. They are then taken to the mountains where they are cooked in large cauldrons. The resulting gel is left to cool and cut into bars which are left outside in the winter air, where they freeze and thaw for two weeks until they are dry. Finally, the bars are shaved into fine flakes. A 28 g packet of these agar flakes costs about £2.95 and can be obtained in some health food shops. Use these flakes to make jellies etc.

Top of Page

Green Cleaning Tips

  1. Borax

     Borax has many uses in the home. It can be used to soak nappies, to remove dirt and stains from clothes, to soften water and to keep down mould. When used with washing- up liquid it will remove grease. It also makes a good scouring powder for cleaning sinks and baths and can be used to disinfect the toilet and drains. It will clean windows, mirrors, paintwork and tiles as well. It can be obtained from branches of Boots.

  2. Washing Soda

     Washing soda is used to remove stains and is particulary good for removing grease, blood, ink, tea and coffee. If used with soap powder in the wash, you will not need to use so much washing powder. In the kitchen, washing soda will remove grease from pans and worktops. It can also be used to clean floors, tiles and sinks and can stop moss from growing on the patio. A few crystals can be added to vases of cut flowers to make them last longer. Washing soda crystals can be purchased in Tesco.

Both of these cleaning products are environmentally non-toxic. They are also better for the environment because they can be used for many purposes and so you will not need to buy so many different cleaners. They are supplied in biodegradable cardboard packaging and not in plastic bottles.

Top of Page

What's Happening in the Veganic Garden This Month?


  1. Sowing And Planting Out

    February was a difficult month for raised bed making this year. Severe gales kept blowing the cardboard boxes around the garden and so eventually I had to resort to using old natural carpet weighted down with tubs of plants! However, despite these difficulties the raised bed is now ready for planting out the strawberry plants at the end of this month.

    April is an important month for seed sowing, so start sowing your broad beans, carrots, second early peas, radish, spinach and lettuces. You can also sow calabrese and some types of beetroot outside from mid-April onwards. Indoors, (in the propagator) start off your tomatoes, cucumbers, melons. Basil can also be sown indoors this month and so can many other herbs such as mint, rosemary, sage, hyssop, lavender, chives and fennel. If you sowed sweet peppers last month, they should now be big enough to pot up.

  2. Water Butt

    Well they are forecasting water shortages again this year. Don't get caught out. If you didn't install that water butt in the autumn, then do it now and be prepared! You can purchase one from your local DIY store or from:     The Organic Gardening Catalogue. Many plants prefer to be watered with rainwater and it helps to conserve the mains water supply for other more important uses.

  3. Using Seaweed in the Veganic Garden

    Another way of adding sea vegetables to the vegan diet, is to use SM3 in the veganic garden. SM3 is a concentrated seaweed extract which is used as a garden spray. It is produced by Chase Organics and can be ordered from The Organic Gardening Catalogue. It enables plants to make better use of available nutrients, improves yields and increases resistance to pests. And, plants sprayed regularly with it and then eaten, could well pass on some of the benefits to you! It is also possible to order seaweed meal which is very rich in trace elements. Avoid using calcified seaweed, as it is being harvested in an unsustainable way from the temperate ocean equivalent of coral reefs.

  4. How to Attract Wildlife into the Garden

    Creating a 'Butterfly Pub!'

    Butterflies need nectar to provide them with enough energy to fly, mate and lay eggs. In order to attract these creatures into the garden, you will need to:
    1. Provide a wide variety of plants, so that many different species of butterflies will be attracted into the garden.
    2. The plants should not all flower at the same time, but should provide a continuous source of nectar from late winter through to the late autumn.
    3. You will need to provide sufficient numbers of each plant, in order to give off enough scent to attract the butterflies into the garden.
    4. The plants should be located in a warm and sheltered position.

    The following plants are particularly attractive to butterflies:
    Spring Flowering Varieties: Primula vulgaris, Daphne spp., Aubretia, Bugle, Blackthorn, Willow.
    Summer Flowering Varieties: Buddleia davidii, Hebe spp., Sweet Rocket, Hyssop, Sweet William, Red Valerian, Arabis, Hemp-Agrimony.
    Autumn Flowering Varieties: Sedum spectabile, Michaelmas Daisy, Caryopteris x clandonensis, Heliotropium x hybridum.
    Many butterflies also like to feed on over-ripe fruit such as pears and plums, at this time of year.

    Any people in the States, who are interested in creating an wildlife area for butterflies, should visit Roberta Lee's site (see interesting vegan websites). However, many of the species used in the USA are similar to those used in Britain.

    Further Reading:
    Creating a Wildlife Garden by Bob and Liz Gibbons
    Garden Plants for Butterflies by M. Oates.

    More details on the butterfly nectar plants listed above, can be obtained from the Wildlife Database

    Top of Page

    Any Queries?

    As the only vegan that I know of in my area/group of friends, often people ask me - "Why be vegan? What's the point?" I would like to hear from other vegans and find out how they answer these questions. Also, any information on being a vegan would be greatly appreciated, as well as ideas for dairy substitutes. Also, do we need to take vitamin supplements?
    Patt Stewart. Bedfordview, Johannesburg, South Africa.
    E-mail your views to: stewartp@sabc.co.za Or from mid April 97 to: patstats@surfnet.co.za

    Vitamin supplements are not usually essential for vegans as long as they are careful about their diet and avoid eating junk or heavily processed foods whenever possible. However, if you do not take a daily vitamin tablet, it is important to include a small amount of Vitamin B 12 in your diet, at least three times each week. Common dietary sources of this vitamin include: textured vegetable protein products, some soya milks, sea vegetables, shiitake mushrooms, most yeast extracts, nutritional yeast flakes and fresh garden vegetables which have microscopic particles of soil on them. Also, try to go out in the sunshine for about 15 minutes each day, as this will enable you to make enough vitamin D. Good vegan dietary sources of iron include: molasses, apricots, prunes/prune juice and soya bean products. Don't forget that Iron is absorbed more readily if it is eaten at the same time as vitamin C.

    Unfortunately, I am not able to give you brand names for dairy substitutes in South Africa. I would suggest that you visit your local health shop and talk to the staff there. They usually sell soya products which can be used as substitutes for dairy milk, yogurt, cheese, ice-cream, cream and mayonnaise. It is of course, perfectly possible to make your own non-dairy yogurts, salad dressings and cheeses, but in order to do this you will need to get a good vegan cookery book. e.g. 365 plus one Vegan Recipes.

    Tofu is frequently used as a substitute for dairy products in vegan recipes and can also be used to make vegan scrambled 'eggs' and omelettes. I will be explaining how to make vegan yogurt in next month's issue.

    Top of Page

    Vegan Organisation Review

    Vegfam is an overseas aid charity for vegetarians and vegans. It aims to feed the hungry using plant-based (vegan) foodstuffs.

    For over thirty years Vegfam has provided short and long-term relief to people who have been the victims of drought, flood, cyclone, earthquake or war. It has co-financed projects in over thirty countries, working with other major charities such as: Concern Universal, War On Want, Save The Children and Find Your Feet. Some of the long-term aid projects co-financed by Vegfam have included: fruit tree planting programs, seed planting programs, leaf concentrate projects and the provision of drinking water wells or irrigation.

    If you would like to make a donation to Vegfam, then cheques/postal orders/ or international money orders (made payable to Vegfam) can be sent to:

    Vegfam
    The Sanctuary
    Nr Lydford
    Okehampton
    Devon
    EX20 4AL

    Vegfam operates three separate funds so that supporters can control how much of their donation goes on administration; so when making your donation, please state if you would like it to be used for projects, administration or office building. It would also be helpful if you could mention that you saw this advertisement on the Internet. Further details can be obtained from Vegfam at the above address.

    If you would like to take part in the Vegan News fundraising campaign for Vegfam, then you will find further details in the Advertisement section.

    Top of Page

    Other Interesting Vegan Websites.

    Roberta Lee
    An interesting site, all about Butterfly Gardening. Lists of suitable Caterpillar Plants and Butterfly Nectar Plants are also provided, for those who live in the States. And if you would like to know how to create a wildlife meadow then try her No Mow Zone!

    The Biggs' Wildlife Pond
    Pictures and details on how to construct a garden pond and stock it with plants. You can also see some of the wildlife which has visited the pond.

    Tara's Vegan Recipes
    Many interesting vegan recipes. If you fancy a change of recipes because its spring, then consult Tara!

    Michael Klaper
    Dr Klaper's page on the Mclibel Trial.

    Top of Page

    April Book Review

    Japanese Vegetarian Cookbook. By Patricia Richfield

    This useful and informative book on Japanese Vegetarian Cuisine can be obtained from: VIVA Books. Price £12.99. The author has lived in Japan and the book provides some interesting background information on the Japanese way of life.

    Containing over a hundred recipes, this book will be a good buy for anyone who wants to cook healthy, vegetarian food, in a more adventurous way. Over two-thirds of the recipes are suitable for vegans and those which are unsuitable, can often be modified by removing the egg. Most of the recipes are quick and easy to cook. Ingredients can usually be obtained fairly easily from a health shop, or an oriental supermarket, but mail order suppliers are also given in the back of the book, in case of any difficulty. The book has sections on: clear and thick soups; rice dishes; tofu dishes; noodles; salads and Japanese pickles.

    If you experience any difficulty obtaining Japanese ingredients, then Real Foods also offer a good selection of Japanese foods and sea vegetables by mail order.

    Top of Page

    View all issues of The Vegan News

    HTML written by P M Lloyd
    Copyright © Pauline Lloyd 1997.