Party Party: Vegan Diamond Jubilee 75 Years of Veganism

The whole world has been caught up in a whirlwind of veganism with delicious vegan food literally on every street corner, even seemingly "Carry on vegans, nothing to see here" traditional Dingly Dongly ice cream vans. In fact the other day I asked for the vegan option (jokingly) and he asked "Which one?"

2019 is year of the vegan, a Diamond Jubilee Vegan year. It's 75 years since the word vegan was first officially used and The Vegan Society was founded. If that doesn't call for a party, or should I say parties  - all over the world, then I really don't know what you are all waiting for.

75 years since Vegan was born - Diamond Jubilee 2019

For the first time since I can remember National Vegetarian Week just completely managed to pass me by unnoticed this year. There just doesn't seem much point anymore. Just going vegetarian doesn't stop animal cruelty, doesn't sort climate change and doesn't hugely impact on health if you just swap meat with cheese. No wonder the Vegetarian Society Approved quality assurance and labelling scheme now offers a vegan version.

Although my vegan sandwich, finalist in the British Sandwich Awards , wasn't the overall winner, Marks & Spencers, Greggs the bakers and Crussh all won awards for their new vegan products. and many others got a mention. I feel my job there is done, I can't think of anywhere there is no vegan sandwich option now, even our local gym. Nearly everywhere has at least a fallafel/hummus/chick pea offer and most have something more exciting leaving all the Pret vegan hallabaloo as all very last year.

A Star is Bun, Vegan Christmas Dinner Star Bun - Finalist

Anyway, get organising, have a party, organise an event, vote for your favourite new vegan things, let's celebrate 75 years of veganism, especially the last few years

Biggest most influencial #WorldVeganDay #WorldVeganMonth set to Rock the World

Your help is need to reach over a million new potential vegans during #WorldVeganMonth which is kick-starting on #worldveganday 1st November. Please click on the link below to the one time vegan thunderclap

2017 has been a phenomenal year for the worldwide vegan community, google trends show interest in vegan in the UK has quadrupled since early 2015

Vegan interest quadrupled since Jan 2015

In 2015 there were around 30 Vegan Fairs, this year in 2017 there were 150 vegan fairs and festivals and yet despite this VegfestUK London was bigger than ever before with 280 exhibitors, hoards of caterers and a new vegan trade show tacked on.

Vegan fairs and festivals more than quadrupled since 2015

I worked hard last year and the beginning of this year to encourage retailers to make sure they followed Pret's lead and stocked a vegan sandwich. I think everyone now sells a vegan sandwich or wrap apart from Asda who say they are "working on it". Marks and Spencers renowned for putting dairy in everything whether it needed it or not (even the Sushi!) now have a great vegan range.

Asda now only supermarket with no vegan sandwich/wrap

I've now turned my attention to pubs whose accessibility for vegans has been made a lot more accommodating by Guinness taking the fish fining out of their world famous stout (Yes Draught Guinness is now Vegan). Luckily BidFood (formerly Bidvest 3663) one of the biggest wholesale  distributors to the catering trade has introduced some vegan desserts, vegan cheese and some vegan savoury items which has left no excuses for the On trade/Pub trade.

Brewers Fayre  - No Vegan Christmas Option

Other new vegan products this include new palm oil free vegan margarine by Flora , Ben and Jerrys vegan ice creams, new vegan dairy free cheeses by Tescos, Sainsburys and in Waitrose, a range of new vegan products by Quorn meat alternatives as well as a universal move to remove the egg from supermarket vegetarian products that would otherwise be vegan.

Vegan pizzas are not just being sold in Pizza Express, Zizzis and Ask but also beginning to appear in supermarkets too starting with Sainsbury's. Independent vegan cafes and restaurants have had to work hard to keep up with the new level of quality and choice now available on the high street.

The coconut craze has meant a whole new generation of ice creams, milks, yogurt and desserts that has left consumers with no excuses but to ditch dairy.

Oat products from Oatly such as the new Creme fraiche and the barista milk has further eaten into  dairy sales making the dairy industry less and less viable every week. The advertising standards authority finding that the slogan "There's no such thing as Humane Milk" was indeed legitimate was a massive blow to Dairy Farmers who faced with Brexit and loss of subsidies are literally at the end of their tether. Smart dairy farmers in  Canada and the USA have moved on to Pea Milk which has more protein than other plant milks and more calcium than cow's milk. Look out for new brands in 2018. Omega 3 rich flax milk is also a thing now.

Please help keep the momentum going and encourage all your non vegan friends to try going vegan for #WorldVeganMonth. 2-3 clicks is all it takes via facebook or twitter or just cut and paste the link

Health Summit for Health Professionals at VegfestUK Vegan Festival London Olympia

As part of the continuing efforts to Vegducate as many people as possible about the vegan solutions to avoidable world problems that threaten our planet VegfestUK is now hosting a Health Summit for Health Professionals at London Olympia on Saturday 10th October.

Sadly there are still many health professionals that are unaware of the evidence based science that supports the solution of a healthier balanced plant based diet to common health problems and the vegan diets suitability for all age groups.

Harley Street nutritional therapist Yvonne Bishop-Weston reveals "I am frequently contacted by mothers at their wits end because of pressure put upon them by Doctors to start eating meat and cheese and feed animal products to their children, like there is some magical ingredient that can only be found in meat and dairy. It reveals a lack of understanding about basic nutrition and the nutrients found in food"

"Yes a person may fair better on a diet higher in protein, may have some health condition that requires extra omega 3 EPA and DHA, or vitamin B12 or vitamin D3 or probiotics but there are now excellent plant based versions of all of these nutritional tools."

Earlier this year The Vegan Society reached a historic agreement with The British Dietetic Association. The Vegan Society and The British Dietetic Association have agreed to collaborate to bring  reliable plant based nutrition information to every community in the UK.

Tony Bishop-Weston, executive consultant Vegan Chef and Author of The Vegan Cookbook,  has helped VegfestUK bring together some leading lights in Nutrition and Dietetics to provide a line up of distinguished speakers to provide evidence based science that backs up the argument for vegan solutions to the scourge of avoidable self inflicted health problems we face.

Chef says "For too long many health professionals, GP's, midwives, dietitians, nutritionists, health workers have written off plant based diets as unnatural and exclusionary. This may be partly because of the way vegan diets were better known for what wasn't vegan, what they didn't eat rather than what vegans do eat - messages were full of negative messages, not this, don't eat that, no no no rather than yes yes yes and motivational provocative messages focused on delicious and dynamic vegan solutions. That's all changed. Bookshops are awash with beautiful vegan cookbooks with deliciously inspiring vegan recipes. The supermarkets now sell edible melting vegan cheese, vegan sausages, dairy free ice cream in fact everything from plant based caviar to vegan haggis. Thanks to 70 years of UK veganism there's now plenty of people to prove that a vegan diet can be far healthier than the average UK diet"

Speakers at The VegfestUK Health Summit for Health Professionals include

Professor Thomas Sanders  Professor of Nutrition & Dietetics Kings College London who will be talking about his CRESSIDA study and it's relevance to those on vegan diets

Prof Tom Sanders Professor of Nutrition Kings College London

Dr Emma Derbyshire, PhD, is a registered public health nutritionist government adviser on nutrition and diet matters and award-winning nutrition and health writer. 

Dr Emma Derbyshire Nutritionist

Sandra Hood RD - A specialist dietician for the NHS Sandra runs education sessions on diabetes for patients and health professionals. Sandra is author of 'Feeding your Vegan Baby with Confidence' published by The Vegan Society and has had numerous articles published in magazines. She worked closely with Plamil Foods to produce Infant Case Histories to prove the efficacy and benefits of a plant food based diet for infants. Sandra is currently working on nutrition material for the Vegan Society and BDA collaboration. She will be joined by Nutritional Therapist Yvonne Bishop-Weston

Sandra Hood registered Dietitian

Dr Nina Bailey -BSc Hons, MSc, PhD, ANutr: Nutrition Scientist - Head of Clinical Nutrition Igennus Healthcare Nutrition - Dr Nina Bailey is a leading expert in marine fatty acids and their role in health and disease. Dr Bailey holds a master's degree in Clinical Nutrition and received her doctorate from Cambridge University and is a published scientist,  regularly featured in national health publications.

Dr Nina Bailey Nutrition Scientist

Mikkel Jungersen - Scientific Advisor in Scientific Affairs at Chr. Hansen’s Health & Nutrition Division where he is responsible for scientific issues for Chr. Hansen’s probiotics

Mikkel Jungeresen - Scientific Advisor

 Other speakers include Paul Appleby from the Oxford University/European EPIC Study, Dr Tushar Mehta from Toronto, motivational expert Brian Jacobs and yoga guru talking about and demonstrating yoga as a tool to alleviate some of the effects of stress.

http://london.vegfest.co.uk/prof-tom-sanders
http://london.vegfest.co.uk/dr-emma-derbyshire
http://london.vegfest.co.uk/sandra-hood
http://london.vegfest.co.uk/yvonne-bishop-weston
http://london.vegfest.co.uk/dr-nina-bailey

SATURDAY Health Professionals Health Summit Talks Room

12:00 - Dr Emma Derbyshire - Protein and Calcium Solutions on a Vegan Diet

1:00 - Prof Tom Sanders - King's College London CRESSIDA Study

2:00 - Sandra Hood RD Yvonne Bishop-Weston BSc DipION mBANT - Safer Vegan Pregnancy & Childrens health

3:00 - Mikkel Jungersen, MSc - Probiotics and Women's health

4:00 - Dr Nina Bailey - Essential Fats and Vegan Diets

5:00 - Dr Tushar Mehta - Vegan is the Answer: What's The Question?

SATURDAY Health Professionals Health Summit Workshop Room

12:00 - Paul Appleby  - Oxford Uni EPIC Study and Vegan Findings

1:00 - Debate - Raw food vs Cooked food

2:00 - Dr Tushar Mehta & Peter Gleave - Can you reverse Diabetes?

3:00 - Christine Bailey - Good Fats, Healing Fats.  It’s time to Feel Good About Healthy Fats

4:00 - Brian Jacobs - Solutions for motivational strategies for encouraging healthy eating

5:00 - The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre – Stress Management

Free certificated CPD for Health Professionals will be on offer. Contact your professional body for more details.