Bristol Vegan Fayre Food & Music Festival

Bristol Vegan Fayre Food and Music Festival



OK Last chance - I'm not going to tell you again - it's now or never for the time of your life! Bring your friends as it the best place in the world to prove what a fun, delicious and inspiring life a lifechanging vegan lifestyle can be. But hey - it's your life.

see http://www.bristolveganfayre.co.uk

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Bristol Summer Sales Start Early

World Record BBQ Event

Oprah Winfrey Goes Vegan

The 21-Day Cleanse: Oprah's Blog 2

OK it's only 21 days - but you know how it is - once you've dived in then you suddenly realise it's not about giving up it's about saving , vibrancy, having your eyes opened, more energy, optimum health, inner peace, saving the planet andloads of delicious new dishes you never knew existed.

Orah Winfrey is unlikely to stray very far away from veganism once she's tried it for 21 days - it's no longer why? it becomes Why not?

Oprah winfrey's journey of discovery could be world changing for vegetarianism and veganism with her huge Angel Network and influential friends (Lord knows everyone know's she likes her food) that's got to kick a few stereotypes and preconcieved ideas about being a vegan in the goolies.

National Barbecue Week

National BBQ Week 2008


National BBQ Week has been hijacked by the Vegetarians and Vegans for 2008. Linda McCartney claim their products are better than the real thing, whilst Vegans in Bristol are planning a 10kg Vegan Hog Roast (for 10,000 people - how much is that each?)

In London Croydon Vegetarians are staging a Battle of the Bangers Barbecue challenging Londoners to judge the best meat free BBQ option out of 5 different vegan sausages Redwoods, Frys, Linda McCartney, Real Eat and perhaps Northumbrian Wicken Fen vegetarian sausages too.

Croydon Is National Vegetarian Week 2008

National Vegetarian week Croydon is Top London Venue for National Vegetarian Week Events

Croydon is linked to some highly esteemed people from DH Lawrence to Kate Moss but it is often the butt of comedians’ satirical taunts. Certainly it’s a place full of oxymorons , thus a lush oasis of comedic material ready for harvest.

Rarely making the top 10 fact lists about Croydon is that Croydon is home to one of the oldest surviving vegetarian groups in the world. Croydon Vegetarians was established in 1886 and is still going strong. Armed with this fact it’s probably then not quite so surprising that Croydon should have the most events organised for the Vegetarian Society’s National Vegetarian Week (19th – 25th May)

This year Croydon is celebrating National Vegetarian Week on every day of the week

1. National Vegetarian Week kicks off with a chocolate tasting session in Oasis Natural Health 96 The High Street, Croydon. Other goodies to try will be on offer too. Ladies from Croydon Vegetarians will be there to help you with any burning questions you may have.
2. On Tuesday 20th May a Croydon greengrocers in Waddon will be challenging Croydon citizens to try a different fruit or vegetable and dishing out free tasters. Graham the greengrocer will also have some tips about what to do with various more exotic fruit and veg and their nutritional properties.
3. On Wednesday the 21st Oasis health food store in Croydon High street has organised a Battle of the Bangers BBQ to engage Londoners and inspire them to judge London’s best meat free BBQ alternative from 5 competitor manufacturers. You’ll be able to nibble on Linda McCartney, Frys, Redwoods, Real Eat and Wicken Fen sausages. Celebrity nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston will be on hand to answer nutrition questions.
4. Thursday 22nd is the night when Lush Croydon will be hosting a pamper party, a book-signing, massage and taster therapy sessions. The first 50 visitors will receive a free rare bath bomb not available in the shops – a Rainbow Worrier.
5. On Friday night the 23rd Peppertons vegetarian restaurant in Selhurst will be offering a free glass of wine to the first 20 diners and the option to try a dairy free vegan cheese board supplied by Bute Island foods.
6. For Saturday the 24th of May Croydon’s Fair trade shop Fair Enough opposite the Croydon Parish Church in Church Street will be holding a Fair trade Tea Party for National Vegetarian Week with Fair trade cake and biscuits to try from Doves Farm.
National Vegetarian week 2008 celebrations end with a finale down in Bristol harbour on the 31st May and the 1st June at the Bristol Vegan Fayre. www.bristolveganfayre.co.uk - 10,000 people attracted by an awesome line up of bands, food, speakers, entertainment and ethical shopping.

Vegan Aware at London Aware

It's hoped the penny will drop and an eco light bulb will light up in the heads of visitors to UK London Aware at the Barbican this weekend.

Nigel Winter CEO of The Vegan Society and Annette Pinner CEO of The Vegetarian Society will be speaking as well as celebrity London Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston. It's hoped all three will highlight the many advantages of eating lower in the food chain and the subsequent benefits for the planet.

Check out the Foods for Life 2 for 1 ticket offer - quote IT241 for an extra free ticket. See London Aware

A great warm up act for National Vegetarian Week 2008

Vegans out Rock National Vegetarian Week

Vegan Greens will Rock UK in World's biggest Vegan Festival and Music Event



Bristol Greens and Vegans are set to out rock all the other events for National Vegetarian Week and National BBQ week with an awesome line up of Reggae, Rock, Ska, Pop and Jazz on the 31st May and 1st June.

It's not just vegan food and talks anymore - The annual Bristol Vegan Fayre event has morphed into a monster ethical party in Bristol harbour part green fair, part music festival, part food fayre, part vegan congress and rally - it's difficult to put your finger on the true essence of The Bristol Vegan Fayre apart from ethical fun and frollocks.

Check it out on www.bristolveganfayre.co.uk

Aswad, Dreadzone, Misty in Roots & Bad Manners head up Bristol’s premier Multi Cultural Music Festival May 31st June 1st 2008 for only £12 for the whole weekend!!!!

Reggae Stars head for Bristol Vegan Event

Vegans to Rock Bristol harbour in National Vegetarian Week Event

Vegan Display Bad Manners in Bristol

Green Vegan Event to Rock UK

Earthday

Earthday

Oh and by the way - Happy Earth Day!

Saf Restaurant & Bar London

Saf Restaurant & Bar London
Saf -ilicious. Manhatten New York vegan raw cool comes to London.

At last! After nearly 30 years of waiting the restaurant of my vegetarian / vegan dreams has finally arrived in London. Saf means pure in Turkish and it truly is pure - pure magic. A personification of epicurean delight. A magical mystery tour into textures, flavours, visual artistry and culinary enlightenment.

My 4 course dinner at Saf was divine. I'm humbled, time for me to retire from messing about about in the kitchen and leave it to the new young blood, a chap called Chad.

Flavours, presentation, ambiance, service, and energy of the whole experience was exquisitely luscious and sumptuous.

Admittedly they had only just opened and were full of that initial earnest passion to please and not too busy to treat everyone like a celebrity but there was nothing I could fault them on - they'd thought of everything. I don't think it will be long before it's full of ingonito hollywood socialites, celebrity anglophiles and the cream of British arthouse bohemia. Saf's Joe McCanta, sommelier/mixologist/jazz pianist (ex counter New York) and Chad , gourmet chef, already have a fanbase in New York and next time Moby comes to London I can't think why he'd eat anywhere else other than saf.

Review - Saf Restaurant

See www.safrestaurant.co.uk

More Reason to Shop with Vegan Logos

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE NEWS STORY FROM WWW.NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.CO.UK - MORRISONS FINED £18,000 FOR MEAT IN VEGETARIAN RAVIOLI




This is just one of many examples of where supermarkets are getting it wrong on vegetarian and vegan labelling. Look for the official Vegetarian Society or Vegan Society Logo on products to have reassurance that there are manufacturing procedures in place to stop cross contamination and the vegetarian and vegan ingredients sources have been thoroughly checked.

At Northampton magistrates court on 16th March, Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc based in Gain Lane, Bradford, received fines totalling £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,981.41 after pleading guilty to two charges of contravening the Food Safety Act 1990.

The prosecution followed an investigation by Northamptonshire County Council’s trading standards team after a complaint was made by a local man who purchased two tins of Morrisons own brand ‘Meat Free Ravioli in Tomato Sauce - suitable for vegetarians’ from a store in Northampton. The complainant had been a vegetarian for 23 years and was ‘unimpressed, disgusted and disappointed’ to find meat in the product.


The ravioli product had been manufactured and packed in Italy and during the investigation it became clear that Morrisons had received several other consumer complaints of the same nature in the previous two months and had failed to investigate them properly.

Cabinet member for community safety Councillor Liz Tavener said: “Food labels are there so that consumers can get the information they need to know before they buy. This is important not just for health reasons, but also for people who follow specific diets or have food allergies.

“In this case, someone who was vegetarian unwittingly purchased a product that contained meat; this falls well below the standards that consumers can expect and would not have happened if appropriate action had been taken by the supermarket following earlier complaints from other customers. Thanks to trading standards, the product has now been withdrawn from Morrisons supermarkets.

"Any consumers who consider that food is mis-described or mis-labelled should inform trading standards by calling Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06"

For help with legitimising your products with an independent, well recognised and internationally respected accreditation please contact MiV The Ministry of International Veganism.

Politics: Vegetarian Party Fight for London seat

BBC NEWS | Politics | Animals party eyes City Hall seat



Vegetarian Animal Rights party Animals Count are campaigning hard for a seat on the London Assembly.Their sister party in Holland already have elected members but the UK have some catching up to do.

Jasmine de Boo, 32, is the first person to stand in a UK election for the Animals Count party and hopes to pick up votes from disillusioned animal lovers.

The Dutch national, who lives in Kennington, south London, stood in the European elections for Holland's Party for Animals.

Ms de Boo, who works for an animal welfare charity, came to the UK shortly afterwards and founded Animal Counts, which she says has more than 100 members - mostly in London and Wales.

She hopes to pick up votes from Londoners who are "disappointed and disillusioned" with the main parties and says it is "possible" to pick up 5% of the vote - enough to secure the deposit.

Fish Oils Not Sustainable DHA EPA Source

A London Nutritionist says "Fish oil is not a sustainable source of omega 3 DHA and EPA essential fats. Algae oil is an ethical, organic, fair trade, sustainably grown alternative" See Fish Oil vs Algae Oil for more info



Report by Chris Choi ITV ITN news filmed in Holland and Barrett London and Co Durham school. London Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston.

YouTube - EXCLUSIVE: Queen Rania

YouTube - YOUTUBE EXCLUSIVE: Send me your stereotypes:

Queen Rania of Jordan launches a plea for understanding and tolerance.



Vegans and vegetarians should be able to relate to problems caused by stereotypes and being shoved in a box. Sadly some vegetarians and vegans don't use that learning to extend the lesson of a need for tolerance and understanding and pass it on. Maybe it's about time we did. The roots of vegetarian and vegan philosphy are based in this concept of goodwill to all (including animals) and humanitarianism are the bedrock of the movement. A little more learning, a little more understanding or overstanding to quote Benjamin Zephaniah won't hurt anyone.

World’s First Human In Vitro Meat available online

April 1st 2008 - World's first lab grown human meat available online But is it vegetarian?



So we now have the world's first laboratory grown meat for sale online. No animal suffering as no brain involved but is it vegetarian? Well nothing has been killed so by the definitions of the UK Vegetarian Society I guess the answer is "Yes!"

Whether it will ever be awarded the Vegetarian Seedling symbol logo is another matter.

But is it vegan? The Vegan Society guidance is to avoid all animal products and humans are from within the animal kingdom rather than the plant kingdom so probably technically no.

There are exceptions - The official Vegan society answer to the age old question "is it OK to swallow as a vegan" is "if you want to" although it's generally accepted that the donor should be vegan too as much for taste purposes as anything else. Bodily fluids such as breast milk are considered completely natural and vegan providing there's no exploitation involved. So thus human milk for a mother's baby, yes - camembert cheese made from human milk milked from a poorly paid chinese mothers sitting in a factory connected to pumps probably wouldn't get passed the Vegan Society council.

Our guidance ? Forget it ! The whole idea is Yucky! There are so many vegan alternatives to meat out there - this year at The Bristol Vegan Fayre on 1st June there will not just be the usual burgers but a 10kg Vegan Hog Roast being BBQ'd to celebrate National Vegetarian Week and National BBQ Week.

Vegatopia: Promoting ethical veganism through academic research and teaching.

Just when you thought 2008 couldn't get any more veganically exciting some very clever people in Wales have started an awesome new vegan website

Vegatopia: Promoting ethical veganism through academic research and teaching.

Announcing www.vegatopia.org a multi-disciplinary academic resource

Vegatopia is dedicated to providing a comprehensive academic resource on all things vegan. If you are a student, researcher or teacher interested in any aspect of veganism, then Vegatopia is the site for you. We hope to facilitate new areas of research into issues relating to veganism. We want vegatopia to be an interactive forum for dialogue, informing individual and collaborative research and teaching, as well as making a contribution to vegan activism and having a positive impact on veganism in a wider sense.

The website includes:

• A news page with information about vegan academic activities, such as conferences, seminars, publications or courses.

• A diary with alerts to upcoming talks and other events.

• A comprehensive, interdisciplinary bibliography. We have archived over 1500 references relevant to the theory and practice of veganism. The bibliography is searchable according to keywords, such as ‘social research’ or ‘activism’.

• A list of significant media sources relevant to veganism, including print, television and radio broadcasts, films and music.

• A set of resources for research and teaching veganism in academia, including the text or notes of lectures on veganism, conference papers, theoretical notes, and other unpublished work.

• A research forum, inviting discussion of ideas for future academic work to research and promote ethical veganism.

• An archive of public statements on vegan matters.

• Links to other organizations promoting veganism, including activist groups, educational charities and more.


Interested in joining vegatopia, or finding out more?

Contact us:

Dr. Matthew Cole
matthew.cole @ vegatopia.org
School of City and Regional Planning
Cardiff University

Fair Trial My Arse

Reprieve


Bill Bailey showed his support for the reprieve Lush campaign at the Lush Regent street store yesterday!

Recently Lush's co-founder Mark Constantine met human rights lawyer and director of Reprieve Clive Stafford Smith. Stafford Smith represents many of the prisoners in Guantánamo and when Mark heard about desperate situation of two current detainees - Al Jazeera News cameraman Sami Al Haj and British resident Binyam Mohamed, he decided Lush should get involved.

See the youtube Video with Bill Bailey - Fair trial my Arse

Reprieve

See also Lush - Terrorists

Metro

WhatGreenCar? Green Car Guide , Green Car Ratings & Green Car Reviews. Petrol, Diesel, LPG & Hybrid.

WhatGreenCar? Green Car Guide , Green Car Ratings & Green Car Reviews. Petrol, Diesel, LPG & Hybrid.: "

View the WhatGreenCar search Tool

Naked Pregnant Mother Pig Protest

Naked, Pregnant and Helping Pigs This Mother’s Day

A nude heavily pregnant mother protested naked in a farrowing crate in London's busy Covent garden to highlight the plight of mother pigs on Mother's day.

Pigs are one of the most intelligent of all animals , more intelligent than dogs, and so like humans they have also been experimented on to provide replacements for human body parts, vital organs such as heart, kidneys, liver, etc.

Organised by PeTA to highlight the reality of bacon, ham, pork sausages, pork chops and the production of hotdogs and the issue of the mother pigs routinely trapped in a crate with no room to move.

It’s almost Mother’s Day! So PETA thought it the perfect opportunity to get people talking about what happens to mothers all over the world… pig mothers, that is. Today in Covent Garden as shoppers dashed around for gifts for their mothers, PETA’s very pregnant Noemie stripped, got down on all fours and knelt in a replica farrowing crate with the banner ‘Unhappy Mother’s Day for Pigs, Go Vegetarian.’

Mother’s Day is a time to show love, respect and gratitude for mothers so it is only fitting that we extend that kindness to mothers that have a really tough time all year round – sows, who are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely bigger than their own bodies. Unable to turn around, nuzzle their piglets or do anything that comes naturally to them, they live in misery. When weaned, the piglets are taken away to be fattened for slaughter, and the mothers are put through the process all over again.

Free Video Naked Pregnant Protester

Free pics

Google Trends: vegan

Google Trends are vegan

Ethical, environmentally friendly, healthy, fairest of fair trade,carbon friendly, this is no ordinary google trend, this is a vegan google trend.

'Cut the Crap' say Vegan Society

Invitation To Farming Talk (from Redditch Advertiser)

It seems like The UK Vegan Society is cleaning up it's act. They are now giving talks on shit free farming. About time they focussed on cutting out the crap some may say but I applaud their efforts.

Less pooh pooh, plops, turds and poops, more out-reach I say.

Of course it would be even more productive making good use of their excellent new CDRom for schools and talking to children but I'm sure that's in the pipeline!

Vegans - Friends of The Earth

We received this call to arms today and thoroughly agree this could be a massive opportunity to educate many new people about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle.

News - ActiVeg - vegan inspiration, news & events: "Within our grasp is the support of the UK's most powerful environmental organization. If you only act on one issue this year, let it be this one - everything else pales into insignificance.
The vegan community has long understood the grave issues concerning meat consumption on many aspects of the environment. With the high profile emergence of the Global Warming as the pressing issue facing the planet, the role of livestock has at last started being examined with vigor."

Activeg goes on to say

-

The UN's ground breaking report last year has moved the devastating impact of our animal-based diets into the media's consciousness. But although we have understood the issues in great details for a long time, the general public is just getting the faintest idea that the diet they have been raised on may have enormous consequences for us all. We should never under-estimate the challenge in changing one's diet.

The voice of the vegetarian community is relatively weak compared with other campaigning groups. But when one of the big guns steps forward to enormously amplify our concerns, it is only a fool who ignores that opportunity.

That chance has appeared and we must act upon it, not just for the animals, but for the whole planet that every species relies on. Friends of the Earth (FoE) has, for the first time, started to speak on the "Meaty Issue". Earthmatters, the FoE members' magazine, has at last openly questioned its readership on their diet.

I can not over emphasise the importance of FoE's involvement in this issue. We must support them, and save the planet from the blight of meat and dairy diets. FoE have a voice so much stronger than ours and so widely respected. Use it. If FoE raises the huge environmental impact of animal farming, the other green organisation will follow.

What you must do
Join FoE. If you can't afford it then drop your subscription to one of your veggie organisations - the Vegan Society, the Vegetarian Society, Animal Aid .. . what ever - this is more important. If FoE delivers on this issue in response to support from members, then we will have hope in combating global warming and reducing the suffering of all animals in the process.
If you are already a member then increase your donation.
Contact them and tell them why you have joined or increased your donation and praise them for what has been a difficult decision for them.
Now complete the FoE meat survey. You can only do so as a member.
Thanks, you are really helping to saving the planet, all the life on it, and millions animals for a miserable life in farming.