In July 2019, a bare-chested, pony-tailed man turned up at a vegan market in London, and began snacking on a raw squirrel. In video footage of the bizarre incident, the pro-meat protester can be seen clutching the animals limp, furry body sans head while a stunned crowd waits for him to be arrested. His mouth is encrusted with blood. At one point, a passing onlooker asks Why are you doing this?

This, it turns out, is a deceptively tricky question to answer.

As the popularity of vegan life continues to gather pace, a tide of vitriol has risen. To eat meat, or not to eat meat: the question has become a battleground, with passionate carnivores and vegan activists deploying some deliciously headline-grabbing tactics. There have been pig robberies. There have been defiant public carvings of deer legs. There have been nude protesters smothered with fake blood. There have been provocative sandwiches.

Though its natural for people to disagree, the passionate rage and even mild irritation that veganism stirs up seems to defy rational sense. Research has shown that only drug addicts face the same degree of stigma and the least popular vegans of all are those who cite animal cruelty as their reason. Given that most of us would probably like to see less suffering in the world, why is there such resentment towards those who do something about it?

Read more from The Vegan Factor on BBC Good Food

If you dare to ask, veganophobes have plenty of reasonable (and not-so-reasonable) sounding explanations at the ready. First up theres the hypocrisy argument the idea that vegans have blood on their hands, too in the form of plant massacres, the environmental cost of avocadoes, and all the field mice killed while harvesting crops.

But even when vegans are consistent, this also seems to fuel their bad publicity. In the UK, a campaigner recently caused a stir when he revealed that he wont use public transport, in case it runs down any unfortunate insects.

Other popular arguments include the perception of vegans as over-smug as the joke goes, How do you recognise a vegan at a dinner party? Dont worry! Theyll tell you! and over-zealous; a rapper recently cancelled a gig after the singer Morrissey insisted on an all-out meat ban at the venue. On forums, vegans face bizarre accusations like only psychopaths like vegans enjoy tofu bacon.

But are these really the reasons that people hate vegans? Not everyone is convinced. Some psychologists take another view that far from being driven by factors within our conscious awareness, the widespread resentment we have for vegans is down to deep-seated psychological biases.

Read this article:
The hidden biases that drive anti-vegan hatred - BBC News

One year ago, Kaylee Carr attended herfirst Local Herbivores meeting. At the time she was not vegan or vegetarian. However, after listening to what people in club had to say, she eventually became vegan.

The Local Herbivores (TLH) is a club at the University of Idaho with the goalin mind to promote veganism and spread awareness about it. This month TLH turns two years old.

Two years ago, UI students Danielle Solberg and Josef Foote decided to start a vegan club that would spread awareness about veganism to those who are curious about it, and thats how TLH was started.

According to their website, TLH has grown into a community for vegan and veg-curious individuals. This club is tied to the University of Idaho to focus on events and meetings around the student and faculty community in Moscow.

Carr, a UI second year student studying environmental science, decided to become involved in the club because her friends asked her to come with them to a meeting, and she wanted to try something new.

I never really thought about veganism before that, but then hearing a lot of stuff in the club about the environmental impacts and the ethical concerns (about eating meat), I decided to give it a try, Carr said.

After former TLH president and founder Solberg graduated from UI, she trained Carr to take over for her. The club currently focuses on events and meetings in order to discuss and raise awareness about veganism.

Carr said the club is open to everyone regardless if they are vegan, vegetarian or otherwise. TLH Vice President Nicolas Toryanski agrees that having the club open to everyone is important.

I think its very important to have dialogue with people, Toryanski said. Like friendly conversations with people, and get to know what they believeand communicate with them what I believe and find common ground there and actually find what your beliefs are actually based upon and talk about why you do what you do.

Toryanski, a UI student studying philosophy, said he is an ethical veganand has been for the last two years. An ethical vegan means that someone is veganfor ethical reasons. This means they find it ethically wrong to consume animal products, rather than being vegan for environmental or health reasons.

Carr said this semester the club has many ideas for events, such as an event about veganism and its effects on health, an event raising awareness about spaying and neutering cats and dogs, vigils, tabling and other events.

Carr hopes that students who do fall into that veg-curious category come to their meetings.

Were a really open community and we have a lot of information and resources that we can give students who are really curious, Carr said.

On the TLH website there are resources for those who are just starting out or for those who want to learn more information.

TLH meet every Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the Integrated Research and Innovation Center in room 105.

The club is full of friendly people, we always love when people who arent vegan or vegetarian or people who just to even have completely opposing viewpoints to come to our meetingsand talk with us, and we find it veryproductive when people come and listen to what we have to say, and we listen to what they have to say, Toryanski said.

Nicole Hindberg can be reached atarg-life@uidaho.eduor on Twitter @HindbergNicole.

Link:
Local Herbivores share resources and information about veganism - Argonaut

Click through the slideshow ahead to see what two SFGATE reporters ate while trying out the vegan diet.

Click through the slideshow ahead to see what two SFGATE reporters ate while trying out the vegan diet.

Click through the slideshow ahead to see what two SFGATE reporters ate while trying out the vegan diet.

Click through the slideshow ahead to see what two SFGATE reporters ate while trying out the vegan diet.

We tried Veganuary and went vegan for a month. This is what happened.

In the midst of an extremely indulgent December, after too many holiday parties and Christmas cookies to count, a Washington Post story on Veganuary caught my eye. Going vegan for the month of January was the hottest new trend, the article said. Id heard of Dry January (not drinking for a month) or other 30-day diet-related challenges, but none of them ever appealed to me until now.

As someone who has been mostly vegetarian for five years now (I sometimes eat seafood at restaurants), going vegan didnt sound like too huge of a leap. The health benefits of veganism were persuasive, and doing my part to combat climate change and animal cruelty were even more appealing.

However, I panicked a little when I committed to the challenge and realized Id have to give up some of my greatest loves: cheese, eggs and shrimp. I worried I wouldnt be able to handle Veganuary alone. So, naturally, I made someone do it with me: my coworker Susana Guerrero, a full-on omnivore, for whom this would certainly be much harder.

Here are the difficult and sometimes smelly lessons we learned throughout this monthlong journey.

MW: Um, no one tells you about a certain thing that happens when you suddenly switch over to a vegan diet. It has to do with your stomach. Lets not dance around it: Its gas. Its all the fiber, apparently. It took a full 10 days for my stomach to finally settle down.

SG: I also didnt anticipate how much the diet would affect my digestion. About the first half of the month included frequent trips to the restroom, but once my body adjusted, everything seemed back to normal.

SG: Prior to trying veganism, I wasnt too strict on my diet, but I also had enough willpower to not indulge in junk food often. That changed when I began Veganuary and found myself ordering fried food, pizza and tacos with a frequency which I wouldnt have done had they not been plant-based dishes.

MW: I was surprised to find that vegan substitutes for ice cream, yogurt, and mayonnaise were almost indistinguishable from the real thing. They are just more expensive. A vegan diet can add up fast at the grocery store unless youre cooking basically everything from scratch (which I really tried to do).

MW: Maybe the real worst part, however, was the vegan cheese. Dear fake cheese innovators: please keep trying. Clearly, we are not there yet. Susana and I picked up some vegan cheeses from Whole Foods for an impromptu office tasting: a mozzarella, a gouda, a parmesan and an herby spread.

Lets just say none of these are meant to be eaten on their own. Some truly are not meant to be eaten at all, like the revolting "parmesan" we tried. It smelled like feet cheese and looked like an ogres skin, commented one of my coworkers who was too scared to actually try it (can confirm: it tasted just as bad as it smelled). Its like if Forever21 made cheese, quipped another. Someone described the cashew cheese spread as unsettling; the vegan mozzarella had a really weird texture. Only the Whole Foods brand gouda slices were somewhat less reviled.

SG: I came to despise tofu. Tofu is incredibly delicious but not when you have to eat it week after week. The worst was when I ordered two sad tacos with bland tofu, lettuce, onion and peppers. I skipped the sour cream thats normally served with the item, though my suspicion is that it wouldnt have made the slightest difference in the flavor department. The same thing happened on day three after I ordered a teriyaki quinoa bowl. It came with mixed vegetables, brown rice and once again tofu. I found myself feeling bitter that I couldnt order what I really wanted at a restaurant and instead resorted to the menu section with limited vegan options.

MW: I hated every time a coworker brought in pastries and I had to avoid them. Vegan pastries do exist, and they are delicious, but they are certainly harder to come by.

SG: On day one, I had already messed up: Since I didnt prepare the night before with fresh groceries, I quickly realized that I had nothing vegan to eat at home. Instead, I ate leftover beef tamales. I tried my best to stick it out, but I cheated 15 times (not always on purpose). There were plenty of times when Id go to a restaurant, order a dish and later realize it had dairy or some other non-vegan ingredient in it. In one case, I visited Amazon Gos new Westfield Mall location and picked up what I thought was a vegan bahn mi sandwich. After the first bite, I knew the thick coating smeared on the French roll was none other than mayonnaise.

MW: I cheated during Vegan January two times. Both of those times were out to dinner with friends, because I succumb to peer pressure extremely easily. One instance was after finishing a big hike at Mount Tam. My friends and I were starving, so we hit up Sol Food in Mill Valley, a Puerto Rican restaurant that has really good shrimp I fully intended to stay vegan, but the vegan option (basically just rice and beans) seemed so sad compared to what I would usually get there. With encouragement from some bad influences, I dove straight into a Puerto Rican po boy a.k.a. lots of shrimp and mayo. My stomach was not happy with me after that.

MW: Eating out was definitely my biggest challenge: I didnt want to force anyone to go to a vegan restaurant with me. I hated that after a Saturday night spent out in bars, 99 percent of drunchies were off-limits (thank god fries are vegan). I hated the time that I went to Arizmendi Bakery with my friend for lunch and she was SO SURE they offered vegan pizza only for me to discover she was wrong. I watched her eat pizza heaping with mozzarella while I ate a slightly sad vegan poppyseed muffin.

SG: Maintaining a vegan diet when youre trying to eat with a group of non-vegans was rough, and imposing my newfound diet restrictions on them wasnt working out too well. I knew I was going to cheat in the days leading up to a birthday dinner, when I found out wed be having Greek food at an impossible-to-get-into restaurant in Palo Alto. It was too good a place to pass up. We shared grilled octopus and a whole fish and I regret nothing.

MW: Once Id gotten over the initial adjustment period, I was surprised to find how good veganism made me feel. No mac and cheese food comas. No bloating after a big meal. Even vegan food that felt indulgent still didnt feel too heavy. I also side-stepped getting sick what felt like 30 different times, despite the chorus of chunky coughs I heard in my office every hour throughout the month and I am usually someone with a very weak immune system.

Homemade dish by Madeline: Chorizo chickpea tostadas from Bon Appetit made vegan, using soyrizo and vegan yogurt.

Homemade dish by Madeline: Chorizo chickpea tostadas from Bon...

SG: With so many vegan restaurants around the Bay Area and an array of vegan grocery items that are available, it seems like trying out the vegan diet has become much easier and accessible than ever before.

At the same time, being vegan is difficult, especially if you're just starting out like me. Even when I tried my hardest not to mess up, Id wind up eating something that wasnt 100 percent vegan. You have to really read the fine print or in this case, the full list of ingredients especially for those premade store items.

MW: Being a strict vegan is very, very difficult. Animal products are in EVERYTHING. But switching from vegetarian home cooking to vegan home cooking was actually quite easy. I didnt find it limiting in fact, I found it expansive. I used Vegan January as an opportunity to explore different cuisines and cooking techniques I generally found cooking vegan at home was more rewarding/successful than trying to eat out, anyway.

Cuisines I had never attempted before because they seemed complicated became accessible to me with some great cookbooks: Sweet Potato Soul by Jenne Clairborne taught me how to cook Southern soul food; Bryant Terrys Afro-Vegan introduced me to Caribbean and African food. And my well-rounded, go-to bible for the month was Isa Chandra Moskowitz's "I Can Cook Vegan. I learned how to cook beans from scratch, and I even learned how to make (vegan) doughnuts this month!

MW: The day after Vegan January ended, the first thing I ate was a fried egg for breakfast. Later, I had ice cream (which my stomach did not love), and then fish tacos. The food was great, but even better was the feeling of freedom I no longer had to restrict myself.

SG: Weeks leading up to the finale of Veganuary, I knew that I would be eating an In-N-Out cheeseburger. I was partially worried about consuming beef since it was something I hadnt even had on my cheat days. But on Feb. 1, I inhaled a cheeseburger and fries like there was no tomorrow.

MW:Going forward, I think I will continue to cook mostly vegan at home, since it was so eye-opening and also made me feel so much healthier. But I cant afford too many pricey vegan alternatives, so Im going back to regular yogurt. And for eating out (which I dont do more than a few times a week), Ill be as pescatarian or as vegan as I want.

SG: Nearly a week after the diet ended, Im happy to have tried the diet and am impressed with the options available, but I dont think I could ever fully commit to being vegan. Of course, there were many interesting takeaways from the experience that Id like to continue: having less red meat, eating more greens throughout the week and kicking traditional milk to the curb by switching to oat milk instead.

Shizen Vegan Sushi Bar & Izakaya. Pictured is the Candlestick sushi roll.

Shizen Vegan Sushi Bar & Izakaya. Pictured is the Candlestick...

SG: Of all the vegan restaurants I visited, my standby was Loving Hut. Not only were the dishes flavorful, but it was also the best bargain I found. Three items from the hot table cost about $12 compared to the average $20 I spent at other places. Below are our favorite meals this month.

Loving Hut: Yellow potato curry, steamed kale and white rice

Shizen Vegan Sushi Bar & Izakaya: Candlestick roll (spicy tofu, cucumber, seaweed pearls, shichimi togarashi, and fire yes, fire)

Oren's Hummus: Pita falafel

Vegan Mob: Barbecue shrimp, collard greens, mac and cheese and potato salad

Shangri-La: Lentil soup and a heaping plate of flavorful vegetables and beans

Aburaya: Japanese fried chicken with cabbage and miso ranch

Susana Guerrero is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email:Susana.Guerrero@sfgate.com| Twitter:@SusyGuerrero3

Madeline Wells is an SFGate editorial assistant. Email: madeline.wells@sfgate.com | Twitter: @madwells22

See the original post:
We tried Veganuary and went vegan for a month. This is what happened. - SF Gate

Some elite athletes, like Venus Williams, adhere to a vegan diet.

Maybe you've seen the Netflix documentary The Game Changers, or you've heard of Scott Jurek, a man who trains for and wins 100-mile footraces without eating animal products. Even Tom Brady reportedly eats a diet that's 80% plant-based. Everywhere you turn, there seem to be more and more elite athletes going vegan, or at least vegetarian.

Common sense has long said that high-level athletes need as much protein and calories as possible -- and many people assume a vegan diet is lacking in both. But then why do we keep seeing athletes pop up like Patrik Baboumian, a world-record holding powerlifter who follows a strict vegan diet?

It turns out that a lot of popular ideas surrounding veganism, vegetarianism and plant-based diets in general may be false. Elite athletes can and commonly do excel at their sport without eating animal products -- and it may work for you too.

Patrik Baboumian is the world's strongest man, and he's vegan.

I spoke to Registered Dietician Brittany Modell to learn more. She told me that athletes have different reasons for adopting a plant-based diet, including health, environmental and ethical concerns. Although various athletes have their own motivations, many have been public about the benefits they've seen.

Andre Patton, a wide receiver who plays in the NFL, has said that he feels the difference from eating a vegan diet, and that he wakes up in the morning more energetic and ready to go.

Now playing: Watch this: Taste testing the latest plant-based meat alternatives

20:55

American tennis legend Venus Williams eats a vegan diet to reduce fatigue and joint pain associated with Sjgren's syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disease she was diagnosed with in 2011.

Patrick Baboumian -- who once carried the heaviest weight ever recorded -- has said that he has lowered his blood pressure and increased his recovery time by avoiding all animal products. Babomian also cites environmental concerns for his decision to go vegan.

A plant-based diet is more than capable of giving you the nutrients that you need.

This is just anecdotal evidence -- but there's research that seems to support the claims.

Harvard Medical School says that a vegan diet reduces heart-damaging inflammation, and a meta-analysis of various studies concluded that vegetarian diets are helpful in managing long-term inflammation. Multiple other outlets have echoed the same thing -- eating more plants and less animal products will help lower your inflammation.

Medical researchers are thinking more and more about inflammation as a root cause of a lot of our ailments. Inflammation is a necessary immune response, but sometimes it goes too far. It's been proposed to be a common factor in heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and cancer. Stress, anxiety and other mental health challenges have also been linked to inflammation.

On a day-to-day level, inflammation can cause swollen and painful joints, chronic bloating and fatigue -- three things that would make any athlete's performance suffer. Hence, it makes perfect sense why so many people say they feel better when they switch to a more plant-based diet.

Carbs are more important for athletic success than you may think.

While both personal experience and research supports a vegan diet being possible even for athletes, beliefs about animal products being necessary for performance still float around.

One common mistaken idea is that animal protein is critical to athletic performance. Muscles need protein and amino acids to repair themselves and grow, but the exact amount of protein we should be consuming has been under some debate. While some athletes try to consume as much protein as possible, Modell tells me that most Americans end up eating more than the daily recommended amount of protein, which is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. For someone who weighs 150 pounds or 68 kilograms, that's about 55 grams of protein per day.

Modell explained that athletes actually need sufficient carbohydrates to perform, especially in endurance sports. Carbs are often overlooked, especially because of the pervasive rumor that eating them makes you gain weight. But your body stores the glucose from carbohydrates as high muscle glycogen.

Glycogen is essentially the fuel your muscles use to perform, and more readily available fuel means a higher energy output. So, a higher intake of healthy carbohydrates allows athletes to perform at high intensity levels. A plant-based diet filled with whole grains, fruits and vegetables typically gives people the fuel they need when exercising.

Another common belief is that you can't get all of the essential amino acids without eating meat. While animal protein, like meat and eggs, does contain all of the amino acids your body can't produce on its own, simply combining two sources of plant protein -- like beans and rice -- will also give you all the amino acids you need.

Plant-based food is still incredibly delicious.

If you're wondering whether cutting out more animal products can work for you, the answer is almost certainly yes -- assuming you're still eating a varied diet with plenty of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and plant protein sources. While a plant-based diet won't turn you from a pickup soccer player into Cristiano Ronaldo, you may see athletic performance gains stemming from quicker recovery times. Plus, you have a good likelihood of enjoying outcomes like lowered cholesterol and a healthier heart.

You certainly don't have to go full vegan to reap the benefits of a plant-based diet. Start with just one day a week where you eat a vegetarian diet, like a "Meatless Monday," and see how your body responds. Or, just try cutting out junk food in your diet and replacing empty calories with plant-based foods like nuts, legumes or veggies.

The bottom line is that if you're interested in the benefits of a plant-based diet, you should experiment with what you're eating, try to add more plant-based whole foods and figure out what makes you feel best.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

Link:
These pro athletes are vegan -- why they switched and how you can benefit too - CNET

Tracye McQuirter, apublic health nutritionist, award-winning author, and 33-yearveteranof veganism has launched a new program aimedtopromote plant-based eating in the African American community called 10,000 Black Vegan Women.

McQuirter says that "The 10,000 Black Vegan Women program will help 10,000 African-American women go vegan in 2020 to live longer, healthier lives. Although we have a long history of being plant-based pioneers and activists, includingRosa Parks,Coretta Scott King,Angela Davisand others, we also have the most to gain from the health benefits of eating plant-based foods because we experience the highest rates of preventable, diet-related diseases in the country."

Black women are disproportionally affected by diet-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer, and McQuirterbelieves that a plant-based diet, which has beenshown to reduce the risks of chronic diseases, will equip them topush back againstthe statistics.

McQuirter explains her driving motivation behind this program, saying, "I want to truly change the health paradigm of black women. We are leaders in so manyprogressiveways, but we are in a crisis when it comes to our health," she says. "And while there are many reasons for this, we have the power to take back control of our health. It's about our greens, not our genes! Eating affordable, nutritious, and delicious plant-based foods is one of the best ways for us to get healthy now and for the rest of our lives."

The 10,000 Black Vegan Women program, which launches in May, features meal plans, recipes, shopping lists, videos and a wealth of nutrition advice to help guideparticipants on how to best transition into a plant-based lifestyle.

To get started right now, you can sign up for the program's 2-Day jumpstart e-guide whichhelps you try out veganism for a weekend.For more information and to sign up, visit McQuirter's website by clicking here.

More here:
10,000 Black Vegan Women Program Launched By Author and Nutritionist Tracye McQuirter - The Beet

Veganism is the most popular topic of conversation among two billion social interactions, according to an artificial intelligence-driven report from food intelligence startup Tastewise. For the reportwhich aims to predict sustainability trends in the food and beverage industryTastewise analyzed more than two billion social interactions, more than three million online recipes, and a menu database of 247 restaurants. The report reveals that 23 percent more consumers are prioritizing sustainable food choiceswith the plant-based diet being the most common diet for sustainable eating todaythan one year ago, and Tastewise experts anticipate that trend will continue. Additionally, 39 percent of consumers sustainable conversations focus on health benefits more than environmental concerns. And though there is a rise in awareness of the broader impacts of a sustainability-focused lifestyle, consumers are not fully making the connection between climate change and the animal agriculture industry, which is a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, water contamination, deforestation, and a host of other environmental calamities. In conversations about both sustainability and veganism together, 50 percent are related to health concerns.

Want more of todays best plant-based news, recipes, and lifestyle?Get our award-winning magazine!

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Veganism Is the Most Popular Topic Among Two Billion Online Interactions, Artificial Intelligence-Driven Report Finds - VegNews

Burger King is defending itself against a class-action lawsuit over its Impossible Whopper, arguing that it never advertised the popular meatless item as vegan or promised to cook them any particular way.

The burger chain is currently in a legal battle against a vegan customer who sued the company in November for cooking the plant-based patties on the same grills as meat burgers.

In a court filing on Thursday, Burger King said the lawsuit should be thrown out because plaintiff Phillip Williams should have asked how Impossible Whoopers were cooked before ordering, Reuters reports.

Williams said his Impossible Whopper was coated in meat by-products after purchasing the burger at an Atlanta drive-thru. He and vegans all over the country became outraged at Burger Kings cooking practices.

Williams assumed that an Impossible Whopper would satisfy his own particularly strict form of veganism solely because he asked a Burger King restaurant employee to hold the mayo,' Burger King said. This claim has no basis.

Whats more, the company said Williams would have known how the Impossible Whopper was prepared had he done the smallest amount of investigation on its website or by reading media reports.

In his lawsuit, Williams claims in the lawsuit that Burger Kings menu makes no disclosures on its menu that the patty-cooking method would result in meat by-products on the burger.

However, the fast-food chain did previously disclose that the (not entirely) vegan burger would be made in an open kitchen environment and provided an asterisk on the products official launch page warning consumers of its cooking methods.

Burger King also confirmed that vegan or vegetarian guests can request their patties be prepared in an oven instead of in the shared broiler.

In his lawsuit, Williams is seeking damages and requesting Burger King cook the Impossible Whopper on an entirely different grill.

The Impossible Whopper rolled out to restaurants across the country back in August.

Fox News Alexandra Deabler contributed to this report.

Continue reading here:
Burger King says it never promised Impossible Whoppers were vegan in lawsuit response - New York Post

Black History Month is a celebration of Black pride, but it also highlights the often-overlooked history of Black veganisma movement that aims to empower and improve the health of vulnerable communities through plant-based nutrition. There is a growing number of individuals who are adding value to this very missionfrom activists who are fighting for access to healthy vegan food, to professional athletes proving that you dont need animal protein to be strong. Though this list could be much longer (and should be celebrated at all times during the year) here are six Black vegan activists who have dedicated their lives and careers to building a more inclusive and compassionate world.

1. Eric AdamsThe Borough President of Brooklyn, NY, 59-year-old Adams has been a vocal proponent of a plant-based lifestyle since eschewing animal products in 2016 to improve his health after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes (which has since been completely reversed). His city-wide advocacy includes holding public discussions on the value of veganism, championing a Plant-Based Lifestyle Medicine Program at New York City hospitals, and supporting initiatives that offer vegan lunch options at all New York City public schools and Meatless Monday menus in jails. Adams is admired for using his political platform to encourage and support his community to improve their health the same way he did.

2. LaRayia GastonAn inspiring actress and activist, Gaston is the founder and executive director of Los Angeles-based nonprofit Lunch on Me, which aims to end starvation by redistributing food that would otherwise be discarded, using it to make meals for 10,000 people on Skid Row each month. Through Lunch on Me, Gaston works to provide enriching opportunities to LAs homeless population through community parties, yoga classes, and healing gatherings for women. Gaston also recently opened LaRayias Bodega in Westlake, CA to give vulnerable communities access to affordable and healthy vegan food. She has clearly made it her life mission to help those who are less fortunate.

3. David CarterA former NFL football defensive lineman, Carter was one of the first professional football players to openly tout the benefits of a vegan diet after realizing the negative impact his own carnivorous eating habits were having on his health, athletic performance, and recovery. With the moniker the 300-pound vegan, Carter is a powerhouse in strength and activism. He now tours the country as a vegan activist to raise awareness of animal rights, human health, and the planetand to prove that athletes dont need animal protein to be at the top of their game. From playing football to fighting for animal justice, Carters dedication demonstrates how ultimate strength can be celebrated both on and off the field.

4. Genesis ButlerThirteen-year-old Butler went vegan at the age of six after discovering the milk she was drinking came from exploited mother cows. The young activist speaks regularly at events across the United States and Canada and has won numerous awardsincluding the Animal Hero Kids Sir Paul McCartney Young Veg Advocate Award and PETAs Youth Activist of the Year Awardfor advocating on behalf of the animals. In 2017, Butler became one of the youngest people to participate in lecture series TEDx, and in 2019, she challenged Pope Francis to go vegan for $1 million on behalf of a Million Dollar Vegan global campaign. Butler is among the new generation of changemakers and, understandably, shes focusing her role on improving the lives of animals and the planet.

5. Omowale AdewaleChampion boxer and social justice advocate Adewale founded Black VegFest in Brooklyn, NY in 2018 to primarily address food sovereignty and the lack of plant-based nutrition information and food options in communities of color. The event has since expanded to the Bronx borough of New York, bringing together vegan presenters, restaurants, and catering businesses to advance the conversation around healthier solutions within the community. Adewales community-minded prowess has made a significant impact on those around him as he continues to share his important message of intersectionality and accessibility.

Nicole Axworthy is the News Editor of VegNews and author of DIY Vegan who is inspired by the number of activists who are fighting for a better world for all.

Want more of todays best plant-based news, recipes, and lifestyle?Get our award-winning magazine!

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5 Black Vegans Who Are Changing the World in 2020 - VegNews

KANSAS CITY While the number of consumers who claim to lead a vegan lifestyle has remained small and steady, the number of food and beverage products making a vegan claim has risen. The difference highlights the changes taking place in the market for plant-based products and demonstrates how manufacturers are trying to develop points of differentiation in the market as it achieves mainstream status.

The number of consumers identifying as vegan is less than 1% of the total U.S. population, according to The NPD Group, Chicago. In its The future of plant-based snapshot report, NPD said consumers identifying as vegetarian or vegan represent less than 3% of the population, with 2% identifying as vegetarian and 0.7% identifying as vegan.

Yet data from Mintels Global New Products Database show the number of food and beverage products making vegan claims from 2015 to 2019 has risen 105% (the research firm does not disclose specific numbers as a matter of policy). The top three product categories making vegan claims were meat substitutes, meal replacement and other beverages, and snack, cereal and energy bars.

The International Food Information Council Foundation (IFIC), Washington, predicted that in 2020 environmental concerns will continue to drive adoption of plant-based diets. However, consumers conceptions of plant-based diets vary, reflecting a fragmentation of the market, according to IFIC. In a survey, 32% of consumers said a plant-based diet is a vegan diet, while 30% define it as a diet that emphasizes minimally processed foods that come from plants, with limited consumption of animal meat, eggs and dairy. Twenty per cent said a plant-based diet is vegetarian and one that avoids animal meat while 8% said it is a diet in which you try to get as many fruits and vegetables as possible, with no limit on consuming animal meat, eggs and dairy.

The food service market research company Technomic, Inc. identified veganism as one of its leading global trends for 2020. Aaron Jourden, senior research manager for Technomic, said, The no-animal-products diet has never exerted more influence on the food and beverage industry. But, he added, it does not mean consumers are going animal-free. They see animal-free as a way to eat healthier, do their part for the environment or be a part of the latest eating trend.

At the beginning of the year, McDonalds Corp.s United Kingdom business unit rolled out its first vegan meal. The Veggie Dippers are made with red pepper, rice, sundried tomatoes, pesto and split peas surrounded by breadcrumbs and launched Jan. 2 in McDonalds U.K. and Ireland restaurants. Customers are now able to order the chains first vegan meal by pairing Veggie Dippers with vegan accredited french fries and any soft drink or sauce.

In the last 12 months weve seen an 80% uplift in customers ordering vegetarian options at McDonalds, so it is time for the brand famous for the dippable McNugget to launch a dippable option for our vegetarian, vegan and flexitarian customers, said Thomas ONeill, head of food marketing at McDonalds U.K. and Ireland.

In 2019, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., Newport Beach, Calif., introduced its Lifestyle Bowl platform. Among the products available are a vegan and a vegetarian option. The vegan option features brown rice, black beans, plant-based Sofritas, tomato salsa, roasted chili-corn salsa and shredded romaine lettuce while the vegetarian option includes supergreens, brown rice, black beans, fajita vegetables, tomato salsa, sour cream and guacamole.

The efforts by both McDonalds U.K. and Chipotle Mexican Grill underscore how fragmentation of the plant-based category is pushing product developers to formulate plant-based options to fit a variety of consumer preferences

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Vegan boots / Credit: Compassion Over Killing

Defining a product as vegan is more complex than many think, but new industry guidelines aim to help retailers assure consumers

Industry body the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has published new guidelines to help its members identify if a product is vegan or not.

Veganism is a growing trend in the UK, with the number of vegans doubling between 2015 and 2019, the BRC said. The body added that even those who do not identify as vegan often seek vegan food and clothing products for a range of reasons. This week the Veganuary group reported that record numbers pledged to maintain a plant-based diet last month, with the total number registering for the campaign rose to 400,000, up from 250,000 last year.

However, the organisation last week warned that, in order to provide customers with assurances that a product was accurately labelled as vegan, retailers need to ask more questions of suppliers than ever before. And in order to help retailers and brands identify the right information with which to assure customers, the group has published a new Voluntary Guideline on Veganism in Fashion.

The best practice guide provides a sequence of steps and questions for retailers and suppliers to ensure that materials are genuinely vegan. It also includes a comprehensive list of all animal derived fibres and materials, which goes into greater depth than retailers currently have.

Full veganism would not only rule out using leather and wool, but also many glues, dyes, and traces of its use in more hidden elements, it explained. Retailers need to go back to their suppliers and ask the right questions about the raw material ingredients in order verify them individually, it advised.

The BRC stressed that retailers should not claim the product is sustainable simply because it is vegan.

"'Vegan' relates to the absence of animal-derived materials, whereas 'sustainable' will mean different things depending on the issue analysed, including embedded water, carbon footprint, and more," the guidelines said.

Vegan labelled products should also offer consumers with a clear alternative to products that are traditionally made using animal-derived materials or ingredients, it added. As such, a cotton t-shirt should not be branded as vegan as it is traditionally made from cotton and should be expected to be vegan as standard, it said.

The BRC added that there was currently no test to definitively confirm the presence of animal DNA in products that would further support supply chain transparency, but advised there were steps companies could take to reasonably ensure vegan products are as advertised.

The move comes amidst warnings from some legal experts that companies and employers could face some legal risks if they do not account for employees and customers ethical veganism. Last year a judge ruled in an employment tribunal that ethical veganism does amount to a philosophical belief, like a religion, that is protected by law.

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By all accounts flawlessly balanced and perfectly constructed, the Popeyes chicken sandwich was billed a gift from the heavens. Selling for a paltry $3.99, it sparked a feeding frenzy in the U.S. this summer. As popular as it was, and still is, it also serves as a batter-crusted reminder of how deeply confused we are about meat-eating.

Roughly 50 billion chickens are slaughtered each year to satisfy our massive global appetite for wings, nuggets, strips and the slabs of breast at the heart of the chicken sandwich wars. The majority of these birds are raised in factory farms the crowded and cramped conditions they live in is, at this point, no secret. Yet an awareness of their discomfort has no impact on our desire for a viral fast-food sandwich.

While most would agree that causing animal suffering is immoral, we balk at recent recommendations to eat less meat and belittle those who choose to cut it out of their diets entirely. Merely mentioning veganism is enough to elicit eyerolls, and reactions to what is a purely personal choice have escalated far beyond the non-verbal.

The seemingly harmless launch of a plant-based sausage roll at U.K. bakery chain Greggs last year was enough to prompt a range of aggressive responses, including one from TV presenter Piers Morgan. Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns, he tweeted. The meatless rolls popularity ultimately led to a 13.5 per cent increase in year-over-year sales for Greggs, the BBC reports, and Morgans fraught relationship with it inspired YouTube comedian Alizee Yeezy to write Piers Morgans Vegan Lover an X-rated novella centred around an intimate pastry-related act.

In response to a freelance writer pitching a plant-based recipe column a perfectly normal occurrence an editor once saw fit to explicitly express bloodlust. How about a series on killing vegans one by one. Ways to trap them? How to interrogate them properly? Expose their hypocrisy? Force-feed them meat? Make them eat steak and drink red wine? wrote William Sitwell, former editor of Waitrose Food, a supermarket magazine in the U.K.

The anger isnt surprising

This degree of anger, over what amounts to a new menu item and a handful of recipes, seems extreme, but its far from surprising. There are countless examples just like them spanning this past decade alone. The frequency and hostility of such outbursts, though, only serves to detract from the real question, which is: Why do we care if someone eats meat or not? Why is meat-eating so contentious, and antagonizing vegans such a popular pastime?

According to a 2015 study published in the journal Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, vegans in Western society experience discrimination to the same extent as other minorities. Second only to drug addicts in terms of the stigma they face, the BBC reports, vegans are increasingly under fire. And most-loathed of all: those who abstain from meat for reasons of animal cruelty.

As researchers Kelly Markowski and Susan Roxburgh of Kent State University highlight in a study published in the journal Appetite, vegans are viewed as oversensitive as well as physically and mentally weak by the omnivorous masses. The reasons for these negative associations run deep, affecting not just how we feel about meat-eating but our very sense of self.

If all of us are doing something bad, it cant really be that bad, right?

In choosing not to eat meat, the authors write, vegans are rejecting a core tenet of American culture. Meat is central to celebrations if you dont partake in the Thanksgiving turkey, Super Bowl chicken wings or Easter ham, youre not just declining an offer of food, but fracturing an unspoken pact and turning your back on tradition. This prevents one of the central functions of sharing food bonding the prevention of which fosters negative emotions among omnivores, like anger and discomfort, write Markowski and Roxburgh.

At the root of this conflict is a phenomenon Australian psychologists Brock Bastian and Steve Loughnan dubbed the meat paradox our hunger for meat clashes with the knowledge that animals must suffer in order for it to be satisfied. As Julia Shaw writes in Evil: The Science Behind Humanitys Dark Side, Hypocrisy feels less bad, less threatening, when in a group. If all of us are doing something bad, it cant really be that bad, right?

In the name of enjoyment, we might put any concerns related to health, environment or animal welfare aside. We eat that fast-food sandwich knowing full well it was made with a battery chicken. This disconnect between our actions and beliefs leads to another key concept in understanding the emotions tied to eating meat: cognitive dissonance. We have affection for animals and dont want them to suffer, yet we also want to eat them. When we act on the latter belief, the very fact that there are vegans in the world is unsettling, as Hank Rothgerber, a social psychologist at Bellarmine University, Kentucky, told the BBC. Were forced to view our meat-eating as what it is: a choice.

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With so much buzz around plant-based and vegan diets, thanks to campaigns such as Veganuary, documentaries like The Game Changers and the significant uptick in consumers avoiding meat and dairy products for the planet, its easy to get the two terms mixed up. If youre caught up in the confusion and wondering what the difference is between being vegan and being plant-based, youre probably not alone. But not to worry: below is Green Queens comprehensive yet digestible overview of the actual differences between these two popular terms to set the record straight.

In 1944, the term veganism was officially coined by Donald Watson, a former leader of a branch of the Vegetarian Society, who alongside several colleagues felt the need to distinguish between simply meat-free and those who ditched all products with animal derived ingredients and formed The Vegan Society.

Veganism is therefore different from vegetarianism, whose adherents exclude animal meat and seafood from their diet. In addition to ditching meat products, vegans avoid consuming all animal by-products such as eggs, dairy and honey in their diets, and also advocate to exclude as much as possible all animal-derived or animal cruelty associated products, which include things like consumer goods that have undergone animal testing or leather in fashion.

For many decades, veganism was thought of as a hardcore or radical lifestyle reserved for extremists. Today, were seeing veganism on a serious uptick as scientists reveal the negative health and environmental impact associated with excess consumption of meat and dairy.

Amid the rise in eco consciousness across the world, especially from younger generations, more people are not only choosing a vegan lifestyle because of animal concerns, but because of environmental and health-related worries too. Nowadays, the concept of ditching all meat and animal by-products from diet to fashion and homeware is becoming more popular than ever before.

Plant-based, on the other hand, refer to diets that consist of plant ingredients. The term first appeared in 1980, when Dr T. Colin Campbell at the National Institutes of Health was researching the potential benefits of a vegetable-based diet on cancer and sought a term to encompass this eating pattern without invoking ethical issues. His book The China Study helped to put the term on the map.

While some users of the term understand plant-based as allowing a small percentage of animal products, most users today agree that plant-based diets are free of all animal meat products and by-products. Because plant-based diets are divorced from ethical associations, such as animal welfare considerations, and refer to only ones dietary habits, it does not encompass any exclusion of products in other aspects of ones lifestyle, such as animal-based fashion, beauty or other consumer goods.

Recently, with many celebrities choosing a plant-based diet and the record-smashing movie The Game Changers promoting the physiological and mental benefits of eating plant-based, weve also seen a rise in the term whole-food plant-based, specifically whole food plant-based diets.

This diet, which can be broadly defined as the kind of diet most health practitioners recommend, is one that is centred on whole, unrefined or minimally refined plant ingredients and foods and eschews meat, dairy and other highly processed foods, such as white sugar, hulled grains and hydrogenated oils.

In this case, even some vegan products that are overly processed, such as refined vegan biscuits or some plant-based meat alternatives, would be avoided. Those who adopt a whole-food plant-based diet will therefore be eating primarily fruits, vegetables, roots and tubers, whole grains, nuts and seeds and legumes in their whole form.

Basically, veganism is more than a diet it emcompasses ones lifestyle habits and choices, and is likely motivated by ethical considerations such as animal welfare and environmental concerns.

Vegans therefore not only eliminate all animal meats and by-products, but all other products that may contain animal-derived ingredients or involve any form of animal exploitation and cruelty, for example silk and fur.

By contrast, plant-based is simply a kind of diet that excludes all forms of animal meat and by-products, but does not include restrictions in other aspects of ones lifestyle, and usually promotes choosing whole plant ingredients over overly processed foods.

Therefore, a plant-based meal may by definition be a vegan-friendly meal, but a person who follows a plant-based diet may not necessary be following veganism. Plant-based diet followers may, for instance, wear and use products that have animal derivatives or have undergone some form of animal testing.

At the end of the day, there are serious benefits to be had with both veganism and plant-based (and whole-food) diets, and it all comes down to individual choice and preferences.

Given the wide ranging research that has revealed the plethora of advantages of reducing meat and dairy consumption, from offering a health boost to significantly cutting our carbon and environmental footprint on the planet and promoting a more sustainable global food system, what is clear is that both vegan lifestyles and plant-based diets can drive positive change.

No matter what our individual motivations are, our dying planet needs our help and all the little changes we make to reduce our impact can make a difference to bring about a kinder, healthier and more sustainable world.

Lead image courtesy of Adobe Stock Images.

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Plant-Based Versus Vegan: Whats The Difference? - Green Queen Media

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Burger King, saying it never billed its "Impossible Whoppers" as vegan or promised to cook them a particular way, said a proposed class action by a vegan customer over the plant-based patties being cooked on the same grills as meat burgers should be thrown out.

In a court filing on Thursday, Burger King said plaintiff Phillip Williams should have asked how Impossible Whoppers were cooked before ordering one that he said was "coated in meat by-products" at an Atlanta drive-through.

Burger King said reasonable customers would ask about its cooking methods, and Williams would have known he could request an alternative method had he done even "the smallest amount of investigation" on its website or by reading media reports.

Williams "assumed that an Impossible Whopper would satisfy his own particularly strict form of veganism ... solely because he asked a Burger King restaurant employee to 'hold the mayo,'" Burger King said. "This claim has no basis."

Lawyers for Williams did not respond on Friday to requests for comment.

Williams claimed in his Nov. 18 lawsuit in Miami federal court that Burger King "duped" him into buying the Impossible Whopper at a premium price and is seeking damages on behalf of all U.S. consumers who bought it.

Burger King is a unit of Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International Inc , which also owns the Canadian coffee and restaurant chain Tim Hortons and is overseen by Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital.

Impossible Foods Inc, which helped create the Impossible Whopper, has said it was designed for meat eaters who want to consume less animal protein, not for vegans or vegetarians.

Burger King advertises the Impossible Whopper on its website at $4, down from its original suggested price of $5.59, and in mid-January added it to its two-for-$6 menu. In a statement, a spokesman said the product "continues to exceed expectations."

The case is Williams v Burger King Corp, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, No. 19-24755.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler and Matthew Lewis)

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It all started out as a journalistic stunt.

Ten years ago, I received a dare from a co-worker: Could I go vegan for a month? I accepted the challenge, ditching meat, cheese and dairy on Feb. 1, 2010. It was supposed to last a brisk 28 days or so I thought.

Cynically, I chose the shortest month of the year, because I wasnt sure that eating vegan would agree with me. I grew up in Kansas City, where steakhouses and barbecue joints are as common as coffee shops and Thai restaurants are in Portland. Burgers and smoky ribs felt like part of my DNA.

Around this time, I had been thinking seriously about ways to reduce my carbon footprint, and I got a chance to interview James McWilliams, the author of the controversial book "Just Food."

McWilliams had some ideas that were sure to rub the farmers market crowd the wrong way, such as his contention that a tomato grown by a local farmer doesn't necessarily have a lower carbon footprint than one grown in Southern California that's trucked to your neighborhood grocery store.

One of his ideas really resonated with me. In our quest to eat more sustainably, McWilliams believed our efforts were irrelevant if we didnt drastically reduce the amount of meat we eat, given the amount of natural resources the livestock industry consumes, and how it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

McWilliams challenged me that if I was serious in my concern about the environment, I needed to look seriously at the amount of meat I was eating. That forced me to confront the way I shopped and ate. I was one of those zealots about using reusable grocery bags years before Oregon forced everyone to get in on the act. Yet I wasn't paying any attention to what was going into those green bags. All the beef and chicken I was buying had a huge carbon footprint.

After 10 years, food writer Grant Butler is continuing his exploration of plant-based cooking and eating. (Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive)LC-

Then came the dare. I went to my editor with the idea of eating vegan for a month and writing about the experience. Unlike other food writers who had dabbled with short-term veganism, I didnt want to focus on what I couldnt eat. I wanted it to be a month of adventurous eating, a chance to try new foods, and to learn the upsides of vegan eating.

To my surprise, my editor said yes.

And that first month was crazy fun. I'd known about foods like quinoa, tofu and tempeh, but I'd never really given them a fair shake as a home cook. I wasnt just eating good food at home. I was blown away by Portlands vegan dining scene, which I had never explored.

When my month of vegan eating ended, I felt like Id had a physical and mental cleanse. My blood pressure and cholesterol levels had dropped significantly, and I felt more rested because I was sleeping better. So I decided to keep it going. To celebrate, I threw a dinner party for friends who had been rooting for me.

Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes With Creamy Chocolate Frosting, a recipe from Everything Chocolate by the editors of Americas Test Kitchen, 2020.Keller + Keller

Recipes included with this story: Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes; Creamy Vegan Chocolate Frosting.

Ten years later, its easier to eat a plant-based diet than ever before. A decade ago, you had to go to food co-ops and specialty markets to find many vegan products and ingredients. Now theyre in every grocery store. At mainstream restaurants, vegan options used to be bowls of blah pasta primavera. Now, serious chefs show vegetables plenty of respect, and you can score vegan options at Burger King.

Burger Kings menu changes are keeping up with public demand. During the last 10 years, more people have embraced the idea of eating less meat, even if they arent ditching it altogether. Every meatless meal presents an opportunity to take a step toward a better environment, better health, and compassion for all living beings. Even if you switch to vegan meals only a few days a week, you're making a powerful choice and helping change the world.

For me, going completely vegan has been a gift beyond imagination. Now its time to celebrate with chocolate cupcakes.

-- Grant Butler

gbutler@oregonian.com

503-221-8566; @grantbutler

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