Podcasts are a great resource for those of us who lead busy, hectic lives. Whether you want to listen to shows about aerobics or space travel, there’s bound to be someone out there podcasting about your interest.

Vegan and vegetarian podcasts are no exception and there are more now than ever before. All have a slightly different feel - some emphasise the health benefits of veg living, others focus on animal issues and some give you an insight into the lives and wit of your veg hosts. In this post I share a couple of my favourite plant based podcasts. Check them out and be inspired!

Food for thought

This is the ultimate vegetarian podcast. Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of Compassionate Cooks takes you through many of the issues that confront vegetarians when transitioning from the treatment of chickens to how to prepare and cook dried beans.

Colleen is an expert in the field of vegetarian cooking and baking and really does her research. The podcasts are easy listening and delivered with compassion and understanding. If you’re looking for inspiration - this is the podcast for you!

• Listen to Food for thought

Vegan freak radio

‘We’re vegan. We’re freaky. And we have a podcast’.

Self confessed vegan freaks Bob and Jenna Torres host this podcast, incorporating witty vegan banter, rants and raves. Focusing on animal rights issues in the news and media, abolition and other vegan goodness these two deliver a brilliant show full of informed commentary on the vegan movement and society in general.

They’ve published ‘Vegan Freak: being vegan in a non-vegan world’ together and Bob also has a book titled ‘Making a Killing: the political economy of animal rights’ (I’m currently mid-way through reading this so look ot for a review in upcoming posts!). If you’re feeling like no one understands your freaky vegan ways, go and hang out with Bob and Jenna at their elite fortress of moral superiority for a few episodes.

• Listen to Vegan freak radio

Vegcast

Vegcast is a long running podcast hosted by Vance Lehmkuhl. This programme takes an upbeat look at all things veg and includes relevant news, reviews, science facts and music.

Vance also interviews various people working to promote veganism such as animal rights professor Gary Francione and cookbook author Sarah Kramer. If you want to get the low down on what’s happening in the veg community and keep up to date with the latest research in nutrition this is your show.

• Listen to Vegcast

Vegan radio

Vegan radio is a great show about vegan culture, animal issues, the environment and health. The show’s hosts chat about the latest in vegan related news and events and often have guests on to talk about veganism in the wider community. Recent guests on the show include Brandan Brazier, vegan athlete and author of ‘Thrive in 30‘, and Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. 

• Listen to Vegan radio

NZ vegan

This podcast, hosted by Knuckles, is a relatively recent show that focuses on abolition and veganism in New Zealand. Knuckles chats about living vegan in a country where the concept of avoiding all animal products is often met with confusion.

She has also had several guests on the podcast to date to chat about vegan issues including professor Gary Francione. 

• Listen to NZvegan
• More about NZvegan

Others: 

Other podcasts I listen to include: 

• Bloodthirsty vegetarians
• Eating consciously
• Meat free radio

However there are loads more great veg podcasts out there! These are really just a few to get you started. If you have any others that I’ve missed or want to share your favourite leave a comment here.

I’ve been baking.

More bread!

This loaf has a combination of plain and kamut flours and is packed full of seeds - flax, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin.

No recipe uploaded yet, but I’m working on it!

Peanut butter and chocolate oat cookies 

These were inspired by the recipe in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s The Joy of Vegan Baking. I used ground up rolled oats instead of plain flour. 

The chocolate is from  Montezuma’s organic and vegan range - very tasty!

Here’s to a full cookie jar and lots of home made bread to pair with dips, soups and stews!

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Being plant based doesn’t mean you have to give up sweets. Many do contain gelatine and other animal products but if you take the time to look around for natural and cruelty free sweets you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Buderim’s Gingerbons Spicy & Sweet Ginger Candies are good news for vegan and vegetarian ginger lovers everywhere. They come individually wrapped which isn’t particularly earth-friendly but does mean that you’re able to slip a couple in your backpack or purse for those times when you need a ginger fix throughout the day. 

They are chewy, sweet & very gingery! If you like ginger, you’ll love these. If you don’t like ginger, I’d steer clear.

Gingerbons are available in supermarkets throughout the UK and Australia. If you can’t find these in a store near you and simply can’t live without them, you can always order online. 

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Last Saturday 25th April was World Day for Animals in Laboratories (WDAIL) - a day that focuses on the plight of animals who are unfortunate enough to suffer and die in labs worldwide. 

London calling

In London thousands of campaigners gathered at Hyde Park to listen to a variety of speeches on the harmful effects of vivisection on both humans and non-humans. 

It was a great turn out that included different animal rights groups, political parties and many individual campaigners - both veterans of the animal rights movement and newcomers alike. The numbers indicated that the anti-vivisection movement is really gaining ground and that more and more people are finally seeing that animal testing is unscientific and inhumane.

Campaigners moved off from Hyde Park to take their message to the streets in peaceful protest. 

Many carried banners that read ‘until every cage is empty’, ‘how many more must die?’ and ’stop the cruel and senseless animal torture for profit labelled as science’. 

Throughout the march calls of ‘no more torture, no more lies, every six seconds an animals dies’ and ‘close down all the animal labs’ were chanted back and forth through the crowd causing many a spectator to stop and read a placard or take a leaflet. It’s been reported that some were so moved that they decided to spontaneously join the march.

Campaigners observed a period of silence on marching through Trafalgar Square which caused much interest among the crowd that had gathered there for a St George’s Day celebration.  

The march concluded at Whitehall Place where various politicians and animal rights advocates spoke to the crowd about issues such as the failure of the Labour government to hold to its promised investigation into the efficacy of vivisection and how best to raise awareness of animal cruelty in the wider community. 

Despite the fact that the authorities had stationed police escorts either side of the march, the day passed in the spirit of peaceful, impassioned protest without incident. Hopefully this will go someway to dispelling the myth that advocates for animals are violent and disruptive people and help to show the public that we are rather all about empathy and compassion for others - both human and non-human.

• Check out the march on facebook 
• Indymedia report on the march (more pictures)

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Check out this cute, but gruesome, clip on the environmental impacts of animal agriculture. It ain’t pretty!

Basically, I think they’re saying eat more plants.

This video is the main project for an Emily Carr University design course on climate change. By Adrien Guenette, Shannon Craver and Brendan Ratzlaff. Voiced by River Ferreira.

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Honey bees are fascinating creatures and ones that our society relies on to pollinate over 90 different crops. Aside from their usefulness to us in producing food they have (like every other species on the planet) inherent value in and of themselves. They live in complex societies and grow to have different roles in their community throughout their lives. They communicate in ways that are infinitely complex - most famously: the waggle dance. However these creatures are dying the world over in their millions. And despite the proliferation of various theories, no one seems to know why. 

BBC documentary on colony collapse

The BBC recently addressed the issue of these disappearing bees in the documentary ‘Who killed the honey bee?‘. By interviewing bee keepers worldwide on this phenomenon the show aims to investigate the possible causes of colony collapse disorder. These range from disease to malnutrition and crucially - pesticides.

‘Empty hives have been reported from as far afield as Taipei and Tennessee. In England, the matter has caused beekeepers to march on parliament to call on the government to fund research into what they say is potentially a bigger threat to humanity than the current financial crisis’.

The documentary is available to watch on BBC iplayer until Sunday 3rd May:

• BBC documentary Who killed the honey bee?

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It’s always inspiring to hear stories of how people have transitioned to a vegan diet and what motivates them to make this change. Everyone has a unique story to tell and Hazel from Auckland in New Zealand is no different.

I recently made contact with Hazel through twitter.com and it eventuated that after doing a vegan trial month she had decided to stay vegan permanently! Here Hazel shares her story and lets us all in on what led her to become vegan for good.

Only until you try it!

I’ve never really liked meat. We’d eat lamb, my brother would baa. We’d eat steak, he’d moo at me. Chicken noises he wasn’t so good at.

Once when I was a kid, my mum cooked boiled sausages and mashed potato for dinner. I had such a hard time forcing the stinky sausages down my throat that my brother - sick of the revolting sounds I was making gagging on my dinner - took the plate off me and scraped it clean out the window into the garden while Mum wasn’t looking.

(You’ll notice my brother features prominently in food stories from my childhood. But veggies are safe, yeah? Broccoli doesn’t thrash around and make noises when you slice it up.)

Recently I thought it was pointless to keep on cooking meat-y meals only to pick the veggies out and leave the meat. I decided to go vegetarian. So I went googling for info about all the supplements I was convinced I’d have to take, all the health issues I’d have to look out for. (There weren’t any. Anyone with half a keyboard can find a wealth of information on how veganism is the healthiest option.)

I was vegetarian for just three days. Three days later, disgusted at what I’d read and watched, I went vegan. (Watch “Meet your Meat” on youtube if you too want to be shocked and disgusted.)

I thought I’d do it for a month and then revert to being a happy little dairy-loving vego. Surprise surprise, the health effects of giving up dairy have been so good that I can’t see myself going back in a hurry. And now I’m a disgustingly happy little vegan.

• Lifelong headaches - on almost a daily basis - gone.
• A host of health problems that come under the heading Too Much Information - gone.
• Sinus problems, breathing problems, allergies - gone.
• Energy levels - boosted.
• Clarity of mind - tick.
• Go back to eating the evil spawn of the dairy industry? Not on your nelly.

The energy and “awakeness” is what’s hit me most. I can go surfing until I get blood blisters on the bottom of my feet, rather than getting out of the water because I’m “too tired”. I can play lacrosse, go kickboxing, do a dance class and get up the next day without sore muscles. And do it all over again. I’ve even stopped yawning incessantly.

I’m wary of becoming a nutbucket vegan - a mad, hairy, abolitionist type who hands out pamphlets on street corners. But just as this seems unlikely and undesirable, so too did the prospect of giving up dairy. (Eggs have never been my thing. Ewww!)

So I’ll check back in about a year. By that time I’m pretty sure I will have turned into a Nutbucket Vegan, quaffing green smoothies and snarfing back sprouts, and espousing the benefits of a raw vegan diet. Scary eh? But only until you try it.

Hazel, besides being well on her way to nutbucket veganism, is a freelance  journalist  based in New Zealand and you  can find her on twitter here.

If you’d also like to share how you became vegetarian or vegan, get in touch by sending an email to sarahATtheveganmentorDOTcom (you know what to do with the ‘at’ and the ‘dot’). I’m hoping to make reader spotlights a regular feature so would love to hear from more of you!

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Viva!’s Incredible Veggie Show took place on Saturday the 18th of April and was a resounding success showing that interest in all things veg is definitely on the up and up in the UK!

There were loads of stalls featuring everything from T shirts and food samples to campaign and nutrition related information. Many stalls were completely swamped with veg folk and the talks were also a huge success. All in all it proved a brilliant day with a great venue, lots of fantastic stalls and enthusiastic people.

I hope all who went got something out of the show and came away inspired to embrace a veg diet and compassion to all creatures.

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I love travelling - new places, different cultures and many varied adventures in vegan eats! Of course, some cities and towns are more veg friendly than others. Fortunately Toronto proved to be a virtual haven for cruelty-free diners offering everything from casual cafes to sophisticated restaurants. 

Plan before you go

Being the ever-savvy vegan I did a little research on Happy Cow before heading to Toronto (this site is a must if you are travelling somewhere new and looking for vegetarian eateries). I also asked my followers on twitter.com and received loads of helpful replies (thanks tweeps!). The Toronto Vegetarian Association also deserves a mention as while in Toronto I picked up their amazingly helpful vegetarian and vegan map of the city. 

Commensal

So, armed with maps, print outs and Canadian dollars we (my partner and I) decided to make our first stop the highly recommended Commensal on Bay St. Commensal is a buffet style restaurant with a weighing system similar to Country Life in Prague. They had a selection of hot and cold vegetarian and vegan eats as well as a small bookstore and grocery store.

Our lunch or salads, tofu, quinoa, rice, chickpeas and seitan was delicious - so much so that we would have gladly returned for seconds if we’d found ourselves in the same area on any other day. This was incidentally my first experience with seitan! It doesn’t seem to be as popular here in the UK as it does in the US. It was really tasty and I’d like to experiment with it more - any UK readers have any hot tips on where to buy it?

Urban Herbiore

Next up on our intrepid veg journey was Urban Herbivore for some afternoon tea. We’d spent the afternoon wandering around Kensington Market and were in need of a little something to perk us up. Fennel tea and banana and chocolate bread did the trick.

We enjoyed this while perched at the window watching the bohemian passers by on bicycles and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. The banana bread was so good that we wanted to buy some more to take with us for our next day’s trip to Niagara Falls, but it was all sold out! Obviously Torontonians know that banana and chocolate bread doesn’t get much better than this.

Another lucky find in this neighbourhood, not of the food variety, was Good Egg. This is a very cool store! I think I wanted to buy everything in it, but thankfully we just got away with a set of polka dot melamine containers. Also tried to find the Hibiscus vegetarian cafe in this area but didn’t have much luck. 

Niagara Falls

Being in Toronto and so close to the Falls we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a coach down there to gaze in wonder at this gorgeous natural spectacle.

There was still ice around and it was fairly cold but that didn’t stop the tourists flocking to admire the view. We also got a glimpse of the States!

Fressen

On our last night in Toronto we decided to visit the much recommended Fressen vegan restaurant. An entirely vegan restaurant! The food was gorgeous. We tried to take photos but unfortunately the light was too dim to capture anything decent and we didn’t have a tripod on us (not something I usually think about taking to restaurants, but maybe I should?!). 

I started the meal with a green juice and the complementary olive bread and dill dip. Then we had tempeh fish that came with a lovely fresh salsa and a mushroom, basil and cashew cream filo parcel - both were beautifully presented and tasted amazing! There was so much on the menu that I wanted to try but we limited ourselves to two dishes so we would also have room for dessert.

There was only one dessert on offer - flourless chocolate cake. But this wasn’t just any cake! It was the consistency of a truffle or chocolate mouse and topped with grated mango, melon and swirls of strawberry and lemon coulis. In other words all that is good in the world! Seriously, if you live in Toronto and haven’t yet experienced Fressen’s dessert get yourself down there asap.

Ruminant encounter

This cow has nothing to do with vegan eats in Toronto, but I thought she was cute. Just hanging out with a bunch of other cows in what I assumed to be the financial district. Any Toronto readers know the significance of this roaming herd? 

Whole Foods

The last place we managed to eat at in Toronto was Whole Foods. While WF does have a pretty controversial standing in the veg community it does at least provide a healthy alternative to many other foods that are on offer out there. This was really quite a rushed meal as we were due to brave the subway and make our way back to the airport at any moment. Literally a last resort and I have to say that it was my only disappointment in Toronto.

While the Whole Foods in Kensington, London, has an entire floor devoted to dining, in Toronto we were required to take our plates of food through the regular grocery check outs and then sit an eat at a very small area at the side of the store. Not really what we had expected but at least we were able to get some veg before braving the perils of air plane food. 

Full Moon Vegetarian

The one other place we managed to eat at was Full Moon vegetarian restaurant on Dundas St. This was good, cheap, tasty Chinese vegetarian food (with particularly good tofu dumplings). And again, all vegan!

Farewell Toronto

So, thanks Toronto! You have some excellent vegetarian eats and a variety of great places to hang out. There’s only so much you can eat in one long weekend however and I still have Vegetarian Haven, Buddha’s Vegetarian Restaurant, King’s Cafe and the ever elusive Hibiscus on my list. Who knows, perhaps one day I’ll be back.

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(This post is a continuation of yesterday’s How to eat more fruit & veg (part I) where I discussed why it’s important to get as much fresh, whole fruit & veg in your diet as possible.)

Start today!

Don’t wait until tomorrow to start including more fruit and veg in your diet - do it now, today! Make your next meal a salad with all of your favourite veg, snack on fruit instead of biscuits and cake. If you’re at work use your lunch break to go out for a stroll and see what fruit and veg you can find - buy your favourites that are in season and fresh. Keep fruit close to hand while you work for a refreshing and sweet snack and store your veg in the fridge so you can add it to lunches or simply make into a salad.

Top 5 tips for sneaking more veg into your daily routine:

Despite our best intentions it can be easy to revert to processed and pre-prepared foods when life gets busy and you barely have time to eat at all. Before you know it you can’t remember the last time you ate any dark leafy greens! Below are 5 top tips that will make eating your fruit and veg a breeze. 

1. Supermarket shopping

Go to the supermarket / farmers’ market after you’ve eaten, not before! This will ensure you don’t wind up with a basket full of processed instant foods. Start at the fresh produce section to make sure you prioritise fresh foods. Set yourself the challenge of buying as many fresh foods of different colours as you can - green, red, orange, yellow, brown, black and blue.

2. Preparation prevents poor performance!

If you find that you start the week with a fridge full of fresh produce and good intentions only to have to throw half of it out at the end of the week, lack of preparation is probably to blame. Try cutting and washing your veg once you’re home from the supermarket so that it’s fresh and ready to eat or use in recipes. You can store cut veggies in tuperware containers for a few days. Carrots and the like are best kept in water.

3. Mindless eating

If you’re fond of eating while watching TV or surfing the net, try cutting up some vegetables to munch on with some hummus or guacamole. You’ll find that unlike crisps or biscuits you won’t really be able to overeat when it comes to veg. But if you do find yourself running out of carrot sticks you won’t feel nearly as terrible as if you had tuned in to your favourite show only to find yourself with an empty crisp packet in hand when the credits start to roll.

4. Salads!

I know salads are somewhat of a cliché in vegan circles, but I’m not talking your average iceberg lettuce and tomato deal here. Experiment and be inventive. Take all your favourite veg and put them together. Add fruits, nuts, seeds. Think outside the box. Make warm salads by topping a plate full of veg with marinated and baked tofu or tempeh, add some fresh mango or strawberries. Go wild with fresh herbs like parsley, basil and mint. Make a bean salad by chopping all the veg you can and adding a few (rinsed and drained) tins of beans with a little vinegar or vegan pesto. Get creative.

5. Become your own fruit and veg marketer

Read up on vegetables and how good they are for you. If you feel inspired to eat fruits and vegetables you will! Unfortunately fruits, vegetables and whole foods aren’t marketed nearly as aggressively to us as processed and sugar-laden foods so you will have to do your own marketing here. If you have kids this is really important as it can be difficult to overcome the constant barrage of junk food advertising they are subject to. Make colourful posters of super hero veg characters, find stories about vegetables and teach them how wonderful and exciting fresh foods can be.

Fruit and veg are some of the most nutritious and delicious foods around! If you can use these tips to get more of these amazing foods into your diet your body will definitely thank you for it. 

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