Useful vegan recipe blogs

There are so many free resources available online for people wanting to explore vegan cooking; here are some favourite vegan recipe blogs:

• Oh She Glows - Vegan Recipes by Angela Liddon
• Rocking Raw Chef
• Simple Vegan Blog
• Vegan Richa
• Bosh!
• BBC Food - Vegan Recipes
• Veganuary - Vegan Recipes
• Jamie Oliver - Vegan Recipes

Top tips for Veganuary!

This year is looking set to be Veganuary’s biggest year ever; here are some tips if you are thinking of joining in!

1. Be kind to yourself. Changing lifelong habits can be hard; it’s a big step to even consider making some changes. Don’t judge yourself if you fall off the wagon; just move on and try again the next day. Congratulate yourself for the progress that you do make! Your journey towards being more plant-based might take a month, or it might take longer. The 'end point’ at the end of January might be to become fully vegan, or it might be to eat a certain number of plant-based meals per week. Remember, life is an ongoing journey. Being kind to yourself is of crucial importance.

2. Embrace ‘mindful’ consuming. Use Veganuary as a means to begin to see the world in a new and more mindful way - take the time to stop and consider where different products come from, how they are made, what goes into them, their environmental impact, their impacts on animals and on people. When you start reading ingredients lists, for example, it can be very surprising just how many products contain animal-derived ingredients of one form or another. But, equally, there are large and ever-growing numbers of entirely plant-based alternatives and exploring these can be a hugely rewarding and positive experience - exploring new tastes and flavours, and exploring a new awareness of what we consume.

3. Go at a pace that feels right for you. Some people try going vegan overnight; for others, a more gradual transition feels appropriate. Some people will want to concentrate on a ‘whole foods plant-based diet’ while others will want to explore all of the plant-based alternatives to processed meat products (burgers, sausages, pizzas, ready meals, and so on). Everyone is different. Go at a pace, and follow the path, that feels right for you. 

4. Be positive. As you go through the month, think to yourself ‘what am I gaining?’, ‘what am I learning?’, and not ‘what am I missing out on?’. As indicated above, many people who become vegan find it to be a very positive and life-affirming experience. After all, from an ethical point of view, it is founded in a notion of being more compassionate towards all living creatures. Enjoy the experience - and if you find that you miss certain foods, look for alternatives and over time those feelings will cease. It’s perhaps a bit like when people try to reduce the amount of salt they cook with: at first this is difficult and meals taste strange, but over time cooking with low or no salt becomes the new normal.

5. Sign up to the official Veganuary challenge. Sign up here to ensure that you benefit from all of the free resources and information that Veganuary makes available, including hundreds of recipes as well as nutrition tips, shopping guides, and so on.

Finally, why not begin by browsing for some “Veganuary Essentials” (and treats - “Vego” chocolate bars are amazing!) at The Vegan Kind supermarket:

Good luck and enjoy the journey; by being open-minded and trying Veganuary, you’re doing an amazing thing for the planet, for people, for animals, and for yourself!!

The environmental impact of food: a summary of recent studies

A recent study led by the Technical University of Munich has found that organic meat production is just as bad for the climate as other farming methods and "the lowest impact meat was still far more damaging than the worst plant foods”. The message is clear: to minimise our impact on the environment, we should switch to a plant-based diet.

The message echos that of some other significant studies in recent times. 

As reported here, a study in 2019 led by researchers at Oxford University concluded that "fruit, vegetables, beans and wholegrains were best for both avoiding disease and protecting the climate and water resources. Conversely, eating more red and processed meat causes the most ill health and pollution.”

In 2018, a huge Oxford-led study concluded that "avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth”. The study, published in the journal “Science”, was the largest analysis to date of the environmental impact of the livestock and dairy industries. Joseph Poore, who led the research, stated that “a vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use. It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car.” 

As noted here, the best way to reduce the carbon footprint of what you eat is to focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local. The advice to “eat local” is misguided in the sense that it usually disregards the environmental impact of food production. “Eating locally would only have a significant impact if transport was responsible for a large share of food’s final carbon footprint. For most foods, this is not the case... Transport is a small contributor to emissions. For most food products, it accounts for less than 10% and it’s much smaller for the largest GHG emitters. In beef from beef herds, it’s 0.5%.” 

Indeed, it's been clear for some time that "the ongoing global appetite for meat is having a devastating impact on the environment driven by the production of crop-based feed for animals". As stated in that article, "the vast scale of growing crops such as soy to rear chickens, pigs and other animals puts an enormous strain on natural resources leading to the wide-scale loss of land and species, according to the study from the conservation charity WWF.”

In respect of soy, "around 70 percent of the world’s soy is fed directly to livestock... the logical way to help stop soy-related deforestation is to stop eating meat." As explained in that article: "By choosing to eat more plant-based foods, you can drastically cut your carbon footprint, save precious water supplies and help ensure that vital crop resources are fed to people, rather than livestock. With the wealth of available plant-based options available, it has never been easier to eat with the planet in mind.”

A report by Dr. Richard Carmichael from Imperial College London, titled "Behaviour change, public engagement and Net Zero” (2019), reached some important conclusions:

"While there are large variations in the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the same foodstuff depending on where and how it is produced, it is abundantly clear that the foods producing by far the most emissions come from livestock farming: meat, especially beef and lamb from ruminants, and dairy produce. The livestock industry by itself accounts for an estimated 14.5% of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (Gerber et al., 2013). In contrast, plant-based foods are consistently much lower impact than even the most sustainable meat and dairy products. The IPCC Special Report on 1.5ºC acknowledges, with ‘high confidence’, that emissions could be reduced through shifting to less resource-intensive diets by reducing demand for meat and dairy, particularly where consumption is higher than suggested by human health guidelines, a conclusion increasingly shared (Chatham House, 2015a; Poore and Nemecek, 2018; Ranganathan et al., 2016; Willett et al., 2019). In countries with high per-capita meat consumption, a shift to plant-based diets would deliver up to around a 73% reduction in diet-related emissions compared to current levels and would require 70-80% less farmland (Aleksandrowicz, Green, Joy, Smith and Haines, 2016; Poore and Nemecek, 2018). Other research finds that halving the consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs in the European Union would achieve a 25–40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture (Westhoek et al., 2014).

[...]

Plant-based eating is becoming increasingly popular, particularly among younger people. Recent surveys have found that 7% of respondents identified as vegan, 14% as vegetarian and 31% as eating less meat, with the number of UK vegans increasing from 0.5m to 3.5m between 2016-2018 (Comparethemarket.com, 2018). Other surveys report that a quarter of UK shoppers are looking to cut down their meat intake in the next 12 months (for 18 to 34-year-olds the figure is 35%) with almost a third of vegans having converted in the past 12 months (Harris Interactive, 2018). Sainsburys has seen an 82% increase year on year in customers searching for vegan products online and a 65% year-on-year increase in sales of plant-based products (Horton, 2019)."


Some farmers and commentators have argued that veganism is not necessarily the answer to the world's climate problems. However, alternative models proposed - such as the Knepp Estate's vision of grass-fed livestock on a 'rewilded' farm - are not practical on a level to meet anything like the current demand for animal products in Western developed societies - as explained here and here. Further, as pointed out by this Oxford University study, "grass-fed livestock are not a climate solution. Grazing livestock are net contributors to the climate problem, as are all livestock. Rising animal production and consumption, whatever the farming system and animal type, is causing damaging greenhouse gas release and contributing to changes in land use.”

All in all, the message from the above peer-reviewed studies is clear: switch to a plant-based diet to minimise your impact on the environment.

Ethical veganism - what is it and why does it matter?

An employment tribunal in the UK recently decided that “ethical veganism” is protected under equality legislation (source) - in other words, discrimination against vegans is unlawful. There has been much debate and discussion about what the phrase “ethical veganism” actually means. If you are wondering why there are increasing numbers of people advocating for a vegan lifestyle, or perhaps you would just like to deepen your understanding of veganism, then it is very important to consider the ethical issues.

I am a vegan for ethical reasons. There are, however, many reasons to consider transitioning to a plant-based diet, including:

• health benefits (see The Game Changers, nutritionfacts.org and these resources);
• environmental benefits (see these resources); and
• ethical reasons relating to animal rights.

In my view, the last of these things - ethics - is the most important. I am vegan because I believe it is morally wrong to make animals suffer and die just so that we can consume animal products. I believe that non-human animals have a right to be free from suffering, and a right to life, just as humans do. Like many vegans, I see this ethical stance as fundamental to my veganism.

Buddhist teachings provide a useful framework for us to consider ethical issues. They encourage us to realise that ethics can be - indeed, should be - grounded in our capacity for compassion and empathy.

The Tibetan concept of empathy translates roughly as "the inability to bear the sight of another's suffering". Fundamentally, we are all able to empathise with the suffering of others. From our own experiences, we know that suffering is bad and happiness is good, we know that life is preferable to death, and we know that peace is preferable to violence. Our capacity for empathy, our awareness of suffering, can guide us in determining whether a particular action is good or bad from an ethical point of view. In trying to live an ethical life, the key question for us to ask is really: does a particular action cause unnecessary suffering for others?

Many people would describe themselves as animal lovers and hate seeing animals in distress. We know that pigs are intelligent and emotional creatures (source 1, source 2), that chickens suffer in the egg industry (source 1, source 2), that cows suffer in the dairy industry (source 1, source 2), that fish feel pain (source), and that ultimately both animals and humans suffer in industries that treat sentient living creatures as nothing more than commodities (source). As the eminent philosopher Peter Singer has pointed out, "animals are fundamentally more like us than they are like tables and chairs, paintings and mountains" (Peter Singer, "Ethics in the Real World", Princeton University Press, 2016).

In considering how we might live a more ethical life, we should ask ourselves how we might bring the greatest happiness to the greatest number of living creatures - and how we can reduce fear, sadness, and suffering as far as possible.

Concepts of empathy, compassion, and kindness are central to vegan ethics. As a vegan, I do not see any fundamental difference between a dog, a cat, a pig, a cow, a chicken, or any other animal - including a human. All have the capacity to feel pain and to suffer, to feel fear, to feel joy, to form family bonds, to enjoy freedom, and all prefer life over death. This does not necessarily mean that we must think of human and non-human animals as "equal" - whatever that might mean - but just that all share certain fundamental characteristics, because all are sentient creatures with central nervous systems, brains, and sensory perception, and therefore all should share certain fundamental rights - such as the right to life.

Since it is not necessary to eat animals, as plant-based alternatives are now readily available in shops and restaurants, I believe that eating animals cannot be morally justified. Farming animals for food (and other products, such as clothing) causes them unnecessary suffering and unnecessary death. It has been 'normalised' by centuries of cultural practices that treat animals as 'things', as commodities - but this does not make it right.

Animals have been turned into mere products by cultural practices and even by our language. We talk about eating "beef" and "pork" rather than eating "cow" and "pig". We talk about wearing "leather" rather than wearing "cow skin". We can buy neatly packaged meat products in shops, able to pay for other people to have carried out the raising, killing and butchering of the animals behind closed doors.

Why do so many people find such unnecessary barbarity to be acceptable? Well, Buddhist teachers have described how our sense of empathy can be dulled by an atmosphere of violence and indifference. We are very easily able to ignore where our food has come from (when we can buy it neatly packaged from the nearest shop) and, in any event, we are told from an early age that eating animal products is perfectly normal and indeed is good for us. People have become very disconnected from the horrific realities of the livestock and dairy industries.

The message of veganism is a fundamentally positive one: that we are all capable of recognising that happiness and joy are preferable to fear and suffering, that life is preferable to death. We can all empathise with other living creatures - and from an ethical point of view, we should do so. We should not hide from, but we should acknowledge, the fact that animals have to suffer and die so that humans can consume animal products. And we should ask ourselves, how can we justify this from an ethical standpoint? My response is that there is not any reasonable justification, because the suffering and death of literally billions of sentient creatures each year in the livestock, dairy, egg and fashion industries is entirely unnecessary. Plant-based foods are tasty, healthy, and better for the environment; plant-based and man-made fabrics are just as effective as their animal equivalents.

YouTube is full of videos of people who (to much celebration) save animals that have fallen down drains, got stuck up trees, and so on. If we see an animal in distress, our gut feeling is to help it. If we see an animal in the park, our gut feeling is to play with it rather than to grab a knife to try to kill and eat it - even if we are feeling hungry.

In summary, becoming vegan is to align our actions consistently with an ethical framework that acknowledges our fundamental capacity for empathy and kindness. In my view, veganism is therefore inherently an "ethical" stance. Furthermore, a key point to remember is that diet and what we consume cannot simply be a matter of personal choice when there are victims - the animals - that have no choice, that are made to suffer in the livestock, dairy, egg and fashion industries. Such suffering is entirely avoidable.

To those who say it is impossible to live healthily as a vegan, I would simply point them to the wise words of Dr Ellsworth Wareham, speaking here in 2013 when he was a mere 98 years old (having retired at 95 from his medical practice). His key advice for living a long and healthy life: be active; be vegan; be calm; and get a good night's sleep!

And finally, for those who think vegan activists and ethical vegans are "extreme", "militant", or worse, I would simply direct them to the thoughtful words of Ed Winters (known as "Earthling Ed"). Calling activists "pushy" or saying they "force" their views on others is doing them a huge disservice, given they are not motivated by malice or any selfish or negative emotion - they are motivated by a strong sense of wanting people and all living creatures to be able to live happily, healthily, and free from suffering.

As the title of this speech indicates, opening your mind to ethical veganism will likely mean that you will never look at your life in the same way again. If you are not already vegan, why not sign up for Veganuary and give it a go?!

"Toward Rational, Authentic Food Choices"

In this talk, Harvard-educated psychologist Dr Melanie Joy discusses how we may be oblivious to some of the most frequent and important choices that we make in our daily lives, how violent and destructive practices can be invisible to us. She goes on to explain how we can strive to create a more humane and just world.

Quick cook easy vegan brownies

Here is a really easy recipe to make tasty vegan brownies. These quantities make 9 or 12 brownies depending on how large you cut them. Or 4, if you're feeling particularly hungry or generous. I've found these are always very popular with vegans and non-vegans alike!

Ingredients and method:

Mix 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed with 6 tablespoons of boiling water; stir and put to one side. (This is the egg replacement.)

Melt 110g of a vegan butter, such as "Pure" sunflower spread:

Add 200g caster sugar, 110g plain flour, 30g cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, 40g crushed walnuts, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, the flaxseed and water combination, a tablespoon or two of maple syrup (if you like gooey brownies), and a small glug of vanilla extract (optional):

Mix up (by hand is fine, or use a mixer of some kind) and pour into a square baking tray that is around 6'x6':

Bake for about 20-25mins at 180 degrees C, then leave to stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool:

That's it! Enjoy.

Vegan nutrition

We are told from an early age that meat and dairy products will make us grow big and strong, but it is increasingly clear that such products are not necessary to live healthily... and actually they may be doing us more harm than good.

Here are some useful and eye-opening resources relating to veganism and nutrition:

• "British Dietetic Association confirms well-planned vegan diets can support healthy living in people of all ages"
• "NHS - The vegan diet"
• "Evidence-Based Eating Guide: A Healthy Living Resource from Dr. Greger & NutritionFacts.org"
• "B12: A Magic Pill, or Veganism’s Achilles Heel?"
• "High intake of dietary fibre and whole grain foods reduces risk of non-communicable diseases"
• "12 Amazing Health Benefits Of Peas"
• "Everything you need to know about lentils"
• "Doctors are petitioning the FDA to place health warnings on cheese products"
• "New Studies on Red and Processed Meat Are a Big, Fat Nothingburger" (debunking "new research that conflicts with nearly ubiquitous dietary advice to eat less red and processed meat")
• "Harvard researchers: Red meat consumption tied to early death"
• "Harvard Declares Dairy NOT Part of Healthy Diet"
• "This Is Your Brain On Cheese"
• "Q&A on the carcinogenicity of the consumption of red meat and processed meat"
• "Yes, bacon really is killing us: Decades’ worth of research proves that chemicals used to make bacon do cause cancer. So how did the meat industry convince us it was safe?"
• "Give up dairy products to beat cancer”
• "Women who drink cow’s milk could increase their risk of breast cancer by as much as 80 percent in comparison with women who drink soy milk."

And finally, check out this great interview with Dr Ellsworth Wareham from 2013, when he was a mere 98 years old (having retired at 95 from his medical practice). His key advice for living a long and healthy life: be active; be vegan; be calm; and get a good night's sleep!

Why is dairy scary?

You may have seen the hashtag #DairyIsScary on social media; here's an explanation in just 5 minutes of why this is the case:

Overcoming cognitive biases

This is a very interesting talk by Earthling Ed, in which he explores the idea of 'cognitive biases' - reasons why people may find change difficult, may find becoming vegan a challenging idea:

Veganism and religion

Some people use religion or religious principles to justify eating animals and animal products. However, the following articles provide some really interesting perspectives on veganism and religion:
1. "Buddhism on a Plate: the case for Buddhists to go vegan"
2. "The Christian basis for veganism" and "Should Christians be vegan?"
3."Muslims Should Stop Eating Animals" (published by The Vegan Muslim Initiative, an organisation set up by two Muslim vegans that "aims to educate Muslim communities worldwide about the benefits of veganism"). See also: "You are what you Eid: Ramadan for vegans"
4. "Vegan is the new kosher, rabbis worldwide declare"
5. "5 reasons Hindu vegetarians should go vegan"

A central theme of these articles is that those who believe in love, kindness, and compassion should very seriously consider the impact that eating animals and animal products has on the environment, on other humans (who are affected by climate change or by working in the livestock and dairy industries), and of course the impact on the animals themselves - whether chickens in the egg industry, chickens in the food industry, cows, pigs, fish... or other living creatures who, just as ourselves, do not wish to die early and wish to live peacefully and free from unnecessary pain and suffering.

Ultimately, many people find going vegan to be a hugely positive and rewarding experience that brings their actions and their way of living more into line with their underlying sense of ethics and morality.

If you are interested in reading more about veganism, and perhaps trying out some tasty plant-based recipes, check out the many free resources available from the Vegan Society, Veganuary, or Challenge 22.