animalrights

A Weekend Of Activism – January 2019

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Veganuary is very food post heavy due to all the new products and menus coming out but it’s also important to highlight the vegan/animal rights activism that is taking place.

On Friday Havering Vegan Action (of which I am part of the admin team) took part in our regular Earthlings Experience event where we show footage from UK farms and slaughterhouses and start conversations with members of the public who stop to watch. We had some productive conversations with many people taking away more information to look into.

On Saturday I took part in the No Whaling March to The Japanese Embassy. Japan have decided to exit the IWC agreement and start commercial whaling again after originally signing the agreement in 1982. You can sign the petition to ask the Japanese Government to reconsider this here.

On Sunday I took part in the CAGED NW (Campaign Against Greyhound Exploitation and Death Nationwide) protest against the GBGB (Greyhound Board of Great Britain) Annual Awards Ceremony at the Park Plaza Hotel at Westminster.

I was charged with handing out leaflets to the public (so I still have my voice!) many of people I spoke to were anti-racing and supported the protest, others were tourists who were interested in the issue as it was something they weren’t aware of. I also spoke to some of the residents who lived opposite the hotel. I encouraged them to ask the hotel to not host these awards I’m future if they were bothered by the noise of the protest.

There were other events this weekend that I couldn’t make it to, there is so much going on!

If you’re a new vegan (or not) and you would like to get more involved in activism look on Facebook for events taking place in your area. If you have any questions reach out to the organisers and they will happily put your mind at ease.

Let me know what activism you have been getting up to in the comments below.

Plumes x

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A Weekend Of Activism – January 2019

Animal Rights March 2018

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Yesterday saw 10,000 vegans come together in London to stand up for animals. There were marches taking place in 23 cities across 14 countries.

We marched from Westminster to Hyde Park and then heard speeches from a variety of speakers. It was so good to walk alongside like-minded people united in the cause. We even made the news!

Here is a variety of photos from the Facebook event page, I didn’t take any myself as I needed both hands to hold my placard!

This is the third annual animal rights march in London organised by Surge and it is great to see the numbers doubling each year.

Did you take part in any of the marches? Let me know about your experiences in the comments below.

Plumes x

Animal Rights March 2018

Cube and Squash

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Yesterday was a very busy day for me. I took part in a Cube of Truth. This is a type of vegan outreach where volunteers stand in a cube formation, wearing masks and showing footage of common slaughterhouse and farming methods from the UK. There are also outreachers surrounding the cube who speak to the public who have been watching the footage about what they have seen and what they can do to stop it.

We had a really successful day with 46 people going away taking veganism seriously and likely to look into it further and make changes in their diets.

I spoke to 3 children and they were very receptive to what I was saying and seemed interested in the documentaries I had recommended for them.

Photo credit – John Kelly

We also had the most volunteers we had ever had at this event and hopefully the success of the event will encourage more local vegans to join us in the future.

Photo credit – Dave Murphy

If you are interested in taking part in an event look at the Anonymous for the Voiceless website to find your local chapter. AV operate on every continent so there should be a chapter in your country. If not you could look into setting up your own!

When I came home I had a rest and then made dinner. My Mum and her Husband have been growing spaghetti squash in their garden and gave me one from their first harvest. I’ve never had spaghetti squash so I looked online for recipes on how to cook it.

I decided to go with this lentil Bolognese from Yummy Mummy Kitchen. It was full of vegetables with carrots, celery, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes along with the lentils. I served the Bolognese in the roasted squash and topped with vegan cheese. These were quite large portions so I had plenty left over to have for lunch today.

So that was my Sunday! I hope you had fun whatever you got up to.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Plumes x

Cube and Squash

Vegan Activism January 2018

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I’ve really kicked 2018 to a great start in January with attending some fantastic activism events.

I’ve taken part in two Earthlings Experiences with Havering Vegan Action. We take to the streets of Romford for two hours on Friday nights and plant lots of seeds by showing farm and slaughterhouse footage and talking to people about their food options.

I took part in my first Chelmsford Cube of Truth with their chapter of Anonymous for the Voiceless. We now have four chapters locally, Chelmsford, Southend, Basildon and Romford. Basildon’s first event is taking part on 4th February and Romford’s first event takes part on the 11th February. I like taking part in these events as you can swap from showing footage to doing outreach speaking to people. We usually speak to around 70 people when we do these events and it’s great to see more and more chapters popping up to spread the message.

I attended my first Essex Pig Save which I wrote about here.

And lastly tonight I attended the protest at the annual Great British Greyhound Board awards organised by CAGED, I wrote about last year’s event here. There was a great turnout and luckily it wasn’t raining this year. I hope to attend more events at my local greyhound track this year and see more stadiums across the country close down.

So let’s see how I get on in February.

If you are interested in taking part in activism events I would recommend you have a look at events in your area on Facebook. If you have any questions ask away in the comments below.

Plumes x

Vegan Activism January 2018

Animal Aid Christmas without Cruelty 2017

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On Sunday I attended the 25th (can you believe?!) Animal Aid Christmas without Cruelty fayre at Kensington town hall. I have been attending this event ever since I became vegan 5 years ago and I think it’s my favourite event of the year. The atmosphere is very relaxed and you get the opportunity to really talk to the stallholders. I also bumped into a few familiar faces which was really nice starting with Polly and Phil from LDN vegans who have also posted a video about the event on their YouTube channel. I had arranged to meet my Sister-in-law and as we arrived at lunchtime we needed some fuel before we hit the stalls! We both went for lasagne with salad which was nice and hot and full of veg to balance out the snackage we were about to partake in!

Here is a pic of my little haul and I’ll talk through everything I picked up.

My favourite chocolate ever has to be Solkiki. I have previously interviewed their founder Bob when I reviewed their chocolate earlier in the year here. I could listen to Bob talk about chocolate all day long and I was pleased to try some of their new flavours. I bought their peanut and coffee bar and their bright pink raspberry bar which I’m going to try and make as long as possible! 
My Husband’s favourite cake of late is Battenburg and as I’d rather him have a vegan version than Mr Kipling’s I picked him some up from The Vegan Cakery. I’ve had their cakes multiple times in the past and they are always delicious.

I bought a vegan take on a pork pie made with beetroot and a smoked houmous centre, wowzers was this good! I scoffed it with my lunch today and I wish I had another for tomorrow!

I also picked up some cakes from The May Bakery who I was previously unaware of. I picked up a carrot cake and black forest Viennese whirl which I enjoyed with a cup of coffee later in the evening. These really hot the spot and I’ll be seeking them out at future events.

I also picked up a couple of bits for my Sister-in-law’s Christmas presents that she picked out. A fab pair of dog socks from Greek Animal Rescue and a T-shirt from Black Star (don’t worry I also have a couple of surprise presents for her!)

Last but by no means least we have the obligatory Lush bath bombs but this time we got to make them ourselves and they were free! It was great fun making them and even better it was a free gift!

I spoke to the lovely owner of Greenscents who really sold his products and company, they are natural and organic cleaning products. I’m stocked up at the moment but I was interested to hear they are available at Ocado where I usually get my shopping from. Here’s some more information from their literature.

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Another great T-shirt company were Simple Animal and I really commend you check out their designs on their website.

I’ve been thinking about where to get my next trainers from once I wear out my current ones so I was interested to see Freet which are supposed to help you feet move more naturally, it’s my birthday in February so these might be going on my list!

We tried some delicious chutneys from Cheeky Food Co and some sprinkles my Sister-in-law tried on her soup, I’ll definitely be checking these out to go with my vegan cheese at Christmas.

I also bumped into Ian from The Vegan Option. I met Ian many moons ago at a London Vegan drinks event. Ian presents a podcast which charts the history of veganism, I’m a few episodes in and I’d definitely recommend you give it a listen.

Did you attend the fayre? Did you get any great treats, eats or Christmas presents? Are you planning on going to any other vegan Christmas fayres in the next couple of weeks? Let me know in the comments below.

Plumes x

Animal Aid Christmas without Cruelty 2017

Hopefield Animal Sanctuary

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On Sunday I had an impromptu visit to Hopefield Animal Sanctuary in Brentwood for their Summer Barbecue. I can’t believe I’ve never been before as this is my nearest sanctuary, but I’ll definitely be a regular visitor now.

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Hopefield is a non-profit organisation which rescue abandoned animals.

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They have a lot of farm animals as well as exotic animals who have been bought as pets and their owners did not have the specialist knowledge to look after them properly.

I love chickens and the one with the ‘fro just made my heart melt.

There are so many horses! There were a number in the field to came up to see us, as well as those with health issues in the stables.

The pigs were having a great time basking in the sun.

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How gorgeous is this guy?

I was really interested in the tanuki, and were surprised some people had been keeping these beautiful animals as pets.

There are also an increasing number of reptiles being looked after at the sanctuary.

Spending time with these animals reinforces my vegan beliefs and why I want to end their use and exploitation.

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This is sanctuary’s longest resident and who the sanctuary is named after.

I would recommend you visit Hopefield if you are in the area or you can support them by donating online or sponsoring one of the animals.

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Plumes x

 

Hopefield Animal Sanctuary

GBGB Protest 29th Jan 2017

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Yesterday I attended the protest against the Greyhound Board of Great Britain Awards at The Brewery in Chiswell Street organised by Caged NW (Campaign Against Greyhound Exploitation and Death), London with my Sister-in-law, which was my first protest of 2017.

If you are unaware of the animal abuse issues involved in greyhound racing I’ll let you Google that for yourself.

We stood in the pouring rain making our opinion heard and I’m sure those arriving in black tie definitely heard what we had to say!

We didn’t stay as long as we had planned but we stayed until we were soaked through to the skin and were freezing. My Sister-in-law is still on antibiotics for a chest infection so we thought it best to leave.

We received support from lots of bus, taxi and car drivers going past and the police presence were quite friendly too.

Here’s some photos of the few hundred people who attended and gave their voices for the greyhounds.

GBGB Protest 29th Jan 2017

F.R.I.E.N.D Animal Rescue

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Today I visited F.R.I.E.N.D Animal Rescue with my Mum and cousin Katy as part of their open day.

FRIEND is a 10 acre animal sanctuary in rural Kent. They receive animals that have been rescued from abuse, when owners have died and sometimes animals are even dumped on their doorstep. The animal sanctuary is a no kill, free roaming home to cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys as well as more than 30 pigs.

FRIEND rely on donations to pay for food, bedding, essential equipment and veterinary bills, they also rely on volunteers to keep the site running. You can donate money via the website and they also have an amazon wishlist which you can access here. You can also find out about volunteering opportunities on the site.

FRIEND promote the vegan lifestyle and we enjoyed some amazing vegan lemon drizzle cake while we were visiting!

If you have the opportunity to visit an animal sanctuary I would really recommend it. These animals have been rescued from a horrible life and can now live out their days free and in comfort. All the money goes towards caring for these animals unlike zoos which exploit animals for profit.

Plumes x

F.R.I.E.N.D Animal Rescue

Round up of the week’s food 160522

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I’ve had a busy week so had lots of simple suppers to get me through!

I order my shopping from Sainsburys and often get a sweet potato. This week they sent me this monster so I baked it to use in the week.

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On Monday I paired it with some sausages and spinach and peas. Quick, tasty, wholesome!

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On Tuesday I had a tempeh curry from Ekachai. It was nice and sweet and not like any other curry I’ve had before.

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I had curry again for dinner on Tuesday this time a tofu Caribbean one using Spiced! paste. I made the sauce with the paste and coconut milk and served it with traditional rice and peas.

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On Wednesday I went swimming with Mum and she served up chestnuts with sprouts and onions and more sweet potato. Stir-frying is my fave way of serving sprouts, lovely when they’ve got a bit of colour on them.

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On Thursday I had the second half of my sausages and sweet potato this time with some sweetcorn.

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On Friday I went out with my Mum and a couple of her friends for dinner. We  have become friendly with the owner of a local bistro and she is great at adapting dishes for my vegan requirements. I had this gorgeous homemade burger with roasted vegetables and chips (of course!)

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On Saturday I took part in my first vegan demonstration with Awakening Compassion at Trafalgar Square. I went with my Sister-in-law and met a couple of friends up there and made some new ones too! We held placards and some gave out leaflets and I was really encouraged by how positive the public response was to us. It’s also a great opportunity  to people watch, which is one of my favourite past times! I made some cupcakes to be given out to the public and they went down rather well!

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After all that activism we were rather hungry so headed over to Vantra for some food. They have a buffet where you weigh your plate at the end to get your price. Having learnt my lesson from buying pick a mix in my youth I was looking for the lightest foods! Everything was really tasty and it was good to have a range of hot and cold items.The only disappointing thing I found was that they didn’t accept cards. I could understand this in a small cafe in a rural location but this is an established busy restaurant in the busiest shopping street in London!

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We were tempted by the desserts at Vantra but as my Sister-in-law hadn’t tried the delights of Yorica! so we decided to head over there as it was only a short walk. I had beetroot and chocolate, blackcurrant and moringa which is an Asian superfood similar in taste to green tea, I had mine topped with chocolate cornflakes and sprinkles (I also nabbed the swing chair!) My Sister-in-law went for cookies and cream, chocolate and Wow butter which is a nut free alternative to peanut butter, topped with popcorn and brownie bites. It was amazing and the portions were very generous again, I’ve got to learn that!

Today I met my Sister-in-law for an open air mass at our church which was really enjoyable and luckily the weather held up! I then went swimming for the second time this week so I have been chilling the rest of the day. I did take a little snooze in the middle of Captain America 2 so my Husband had to pause it until I woke up! We had an easy dinner of burger, chips and onions rings which wasn’t very photogenic (!) so I’ll leave that one up to your imagination!

I’ve got another busy week next week with a few meals arranged with friends so I look forward to showing you what I’ve been up to and eaten!

Plumes x

 

Round up of the week’s food 160522