Animal Aid

November is Vegan Month

This November Animal Aid is launching Vegan Month - a month dedicated to the compassionate lifestyle and diet of veganism. Vegans leave out milk, eggs and honey, as well as meat and fish from their diets for a number of reasons, but mostly due to the animal suffering involved.

The poor old dairy cow, as well as the egg-producing hen and her offspring are often forgotten by those who continue to consume egg and dairy products. Male chicks are useless to the egg industry and so, every year, 30 million of them are gassed or tossed alive into giant industrial shredders. The milk-producing cow is now selectively bred to carry in her udders so much milk that she can barely stand upright. Increasing numbers are confined all year round under 'zero grazing' regimes, where they are deprived of everything that makes life tolerable. Once again, her male offspring are regarded as a waste by-product. Scores of thousands every year are shot or slaughtered within days of birth.

Throughout Vegan Month there will be free information and giveaways to tempt your taste buds and loads of opportunities to take the vegan challenge. Check out our dedicated Vegan Month website where you can order a FREE guide full of everything you need to know about going dairy and egg-free, including product information, shopping tips and delicious recipes to try. There's also a fabulous Redwood Foods' hamper up for grabs in our Vegan Month competition.

The website also lists events taking place across the country throughout November that you can get involved in. And look out for Wendy the Windy Cow appearing in a town near you. Wendy will be farting her way around a number of cities to highlight the effect of animal farming on climate change and promoting veganism as a positive step towards reducing your carbon footprint.

So what are you waiting for! There couldn't be a better time to go vegan. Contact me to order your vegan guide.

Posted: October 25, 2007 Archives - RSS Feed - permanent link - 0 comments

Is silk ethical?

A vegan recently asked me if the wearing of silk is ethical.

Animal Aid is opposed to the production and wearing of silk and silk products, as it causes the death of millions of silkworms. And of course, with so many other luxury fabrics on the market, including synthetic silks, there is no justification for wearing a material that causes suffering.

'Silkworm' is the generic term given to the silk-producing larvae of any of several species of moth. Silkworms secrete a fluid that solidifies on contact with air and turns into a thread that they use to spin around themselves to form a cocoon. If left alone, the pupae (cocooned worm) develops into a moth and emerges from the cocoon between 10 and 16 days later.

In China and Japan, silkworms have the thread from their cocoons reeled mechanically. To prevent the silkworm pupae from eating through their cocoons and damaging the silk threads, they are killed by immersion in boiling water, steaming, drying in an oven, electrocution or being microwaved. The thread is then reeled.

In Thailand, silk is hand reeled from Thai moth cocoons containing the live pupae. The cocoons are placed in almost boiling water to loosen the end of the thread for reeling. The pupae inside are frequently eaten by the workers.

1 kg of raw silk = approx 500 silkworms (80kg of cocoons) + 200 kg of mulberry leaves to feed them.

Posted: September 25, 2007 Archives - RSS Feed - permanent link - 0 comments

Do vegans get enough calcium?

I was recently contacted by someone who is thinking of going vegan, but she is worried about getting enough calcium on a vegan diet. This is what i told her:

As long as you eat a varied and balanced diet, there is no need to worry about not getting enough calcium or any other nutrients. Products such as breakfast cereals, soya milk and non-dairy margarine are fortified with calcium. Nuts, seeds, green leafy vegetables, tofu, wholemeal bread and dried fruit are all good natural sources.

People often worry unnecessarily about not getting enough calcium on a vegan diet, as the dairy industry promotes milk so heavily. In fact, eating dairy products can actually contribute to weak bones and osteoporosis. See Animal Aid's Facts about Milk factsheet for more information on this subject.

The range of dairy substitutes is growing rapidly and there are now vegan versions of milk, cream, yoghurt, cheese, custard, ice cream, margarine and many more food products - most of which can be found in supermarkets. Look out for the brand name Alpro, which produces yoghurts, desserts, cream and milk. Some supermarkets also sell Redwood Foods soya cheese or you can mail order it from the company.

Order Animal Aid's Guide to going vegan which contains everything you need to know and some delicious recipes to try out.

Let me know how you get on.

Posted: September 24, 2007 Archives - RSS Feed - permanent link - 3 comments