The Great Green and Black Scandal

A shocking discovery over the New Year period, as we were holed up in a Dorset farmhouse with nothing to do but eat and drink around the clock. (I put a slug of whisky in my cocoa at one or two points, which by my standards is really going off the rails). Anyway, after raiding the local Co-op for additional supplies of munchies and unloading all the goodies on the big kitchen table, I was forced to confront the dreadful truth: Green and Black's chocolate is no longer suitable for vegans. The mini-bars on sale in the Commons' tearoom are still OK at the moment, still marked 'Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans' but I suppose it's just a matter of time before supplies run out.

They've decided, in their wisdom, to add a sprinkle of 'organic milk power' to their dark chocolate and Maya Gold (haven't checked out the hazelnut and current one yet, or the cherry or mint). The Maya Gold also tastes sweeter somehow, which is what prompted me to have another look at the ingredients. I blame Cadbury's, who now own the company. And did they bother telling anyone? No. Not quite sure how they would have done, but are we really to be expected to look at the label every single time we buy something?

Obviously this is not quite on the scale of the great Mars Bars 'no longer vegetarian' scandal of 2007 when the company was forced into a u-turn after public exposure of the fact they'd started putting minced kitten entrails into their chocolate, or something along those lines. [Animal rennet, in case their lawers are reading this]. But it is very annoying.

While I'm "going on about being vegan on my blog" (copyright, Paul Smith), I might as well link to this Guardian story about Germans being told they should eat less meat to save the planet. Went to Germany in the days when I was 'only' a vegetarian. If you don't like fried eggs you're in trouble. Of course, it may have changed since then.

And finally, thanks also to the Guardian also for pointing out that 850 million chickens are killed for their meat every year in the UK. Which is a lot.

Open letter to Tom Harris

Dear Tom,

It's World Vegan Day on 1st November. And we know where you live.*

Kerry.

*Actually, I don't.

The milkman of human kindness

I've been browsing a vegan blog by Soul Veggie, where he describes his 'vegan tipping point' - i.e. what finally made him decide, after 22 years of vegetarianism, to go vegan. It was a column by the No Milk Man, also known as Robert Cohen:

'Robert, bless his feisty soul, pulled out statistics from the U.S. government detailing the average measured amount of pus cells per liter of milk by State. 400 millions cells is the European limit (little over half of ours). He wrote: "...we learn that pus cell counts continue to rise in America. They have been doing so since the advent of genetically engineered milk. Stressed cows become sick and their milk contains more pus. It's as simple as that."

Robert pointed out that the U.S. numbers were ALL over recommended European levels.

Sick cows. Pus cells. It wasn't the hormones, it wasn't the fat, it wasn't the relationship to many bodily disorders, it wasn't that it was Mother's Milk from another species. It wasn't these truths and the inhumane conditions the cows were raised in, that tipped me over. It was the cold, hard, and unassailable fact: you drink milk, you eat cheese, you consume cow pus cells. They are concentrated in cheese and our government allows this to be.

It was like eating an Apple at the Garden of Eden. Once ya know, ya can't forget.

Pus cells...... "I be Vegan!" I declared to myself. And that was that.'

Embarrassment

I can't claim to know much at all about the candidates for the leader of the Scottish Labour Party - and this isn't a picture of one of them. But according to the Guardian, one of them is 'self-declared vegan'. (That must be why Tom's backing someone else!)

So while I struggle to come to terms with no longer being the only vegan in the village, can I ask: why the 'self-declared'? Isn't that a bit like 'self-confessed axe murderer'? The answer is of course, because it's always been more than a little embarrassing to admit to being vegan. Despite evidence to the contrary - my sister, Jonny Boy, my intern Rebecca, in fact most of the vegans I know - part of me still thinks that vegans are self-righteous and humourless and wear one red shoe and one green (from Vegetarian shoes of course) and get more upset by chickens being squashed in cages than by children dying in Darfur.

I've blogged about this before, so let's get back to Cathy Jamieson. Looks like she outed herself in a debate on agriculture in the Scottish Parliament in June 2000 (and said some interesting things about intensive farming in the process). What is also interesting though, is that she seems to support the Scottish cashmere industry.

Of course hardline vegans (or should that be 'proper vegans'?) don't wear wool. I do, mostly cashmere because I find other sorts too itchy. Here's the vegan argument against wearing wool, which has some pretty gruesome details but nothing I can see that couldn't be addressed by better animal welfare laws. And nothing that particularly relates to cashmere, which is produced by combing the soft undercoats from goats, rather than by shearing. Doesn't seem to me to be inherently cruel...

A slight aftertaste of sawdust

At the risk of becoming something of a bore on this issue, there seems to be a real flurry of interest in the whole 'eat less meat and save the planet' debate. (Nice to have been ahead of the game for once in my life).

For those who missed it, here's John Harris' article from the Guardian: The new vegetarianism: meat is more murderous than ever. And the debate continues in this Sunday's Observer food supplement: Is meat off the menu?

The Observer also had a feature on their restaurant critic Jay Rayner trying to go vegan for a week - Eats leaves and shoots... himself. He says "I also don't believe you can be genuinely happy and vegan. I think the two are mutually exclusive." Hmmm... The article is complete nonsense by the way. In my humble opinion.

Chocolate soya milk

My local shop has started stocking chocolate soya milk. This puts me under almost a moral obligation to buy it. It's a vegan thing: you feel (a) as if they're doing it entirely for your benefit so you have to show your appreciation and (b) if you don't buy it, they'll stop selling it, and the world will be less vegan as a result. And it tastes good.

Public Service Announcement

Just for the vegan(s) amongst you. Booja Booja, makers of extremely delicious (though rather pricey) vegan truffles, have now moved into the ice-cream market. Fresh and Wild in Bristol has three flavours: chocolate, ginger and maple pecan. These things are important.