Dear Reader,
Chocolate is becoming an increasingly expensive indulgence. In March, cocoa prices rose to a record high on commodity exchanges in London and New York, reaching more than $10,000 (£8,000) a tonne after the third consecutive poor harvest in west Africa. Along with coffee, tea and bananas, cacao is one of the household staples threatened by global heating, with researchers seeking wild varieties that are more heat and drought-resistant.
One problem is growers’ reliance on a small number of varieties of many food crops. For example, coffee producers largely depend on just two species – arabica and robusta – when there are more than 120 other species in the world, while almost all bananas are clones of one species called the Cavendish, when there are more than 1000 known varieties. Cavendish bananas have no way of evolving, and cannot adapt to new threats that arise in the environment. No wonder that the food writer and broadcaster Dan Saladino has warned: “Homogeneity in the food system is a risky strategy, because it reduces our ability to adapt in a rapidly changing world.” In contrast, he praises Hodmedod’s, a business set up by three food and farming researchers in the east of England, which is reviving neglected varieties of grains and pulses, including carlin peas and emmer wheat.
Best Wishes,
Paul Appleby, Editor
LIST OF CONTENTS:
1. Members’ News and Feedback
2. Veg*news
3. Food stuff
4. Extinction Realisation
5. The great air fryer conspiracy
6. Oxfordshire Badger Group
7. Reviews
8. Forthcoming Events
9. And finally …
1. Members’ News and Feedback
Paul Appleby recommends a listen to Mysterious Plants, a fascinating episode of BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week programme broadcast on 4 March. The guests included botanist Chris Thorogood from Oxford Botanic Garden, who is obsessed with Rafflesia, a parasitic plant that lives off forest vines and has no stems, leaves or roots, but has enormous flowers, while ethnobotanist William Milliken hopes to uncover a cornucopia of plant-based veterinary medicines. In early April, BBC Radio 4 repeated five excerpts from Benjamin Zephaniah’s autobiography The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, read by the vegan poet and activist in 2018. They are well worth a listen if you haven’t read the book. The 2005 film A Picture of Birmingham by Benjamin Zephaniah, was repeated on 15 April on what would have been his 66th birthday, and is available on the BBC iPlayer for “over a year”. Look out for an animal-themed poem about five minutes from the end.
Paul Freestone writes: “Readers might like to check out the new album Skydancers from English folk singer and guitar virtuoso Martin Simpson. The title track, commissioned by naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham, highlights the plight of the Hen harrier, a species whose populations in Britain and Ireland are in a critical condition due to habitat loss and illegal killing on grouse moors. Simpson played the song on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on 10 April (~15 minutes in).”
2. Veg*news
Congratulations to the Plant-Based Universities campaign, which recently chalked up an eleventh success as the Student Council of the Newcastle University Students’ Union voted overwhelmingly for a motion in favour of plant-based catering, while the Cambridge Universities Students’ Union voted to make its own catering 100% plant-based. You can support the campaign here.
The United Nations Environment Programme describes global food production, particularly animal agriculture, as the primary driver of biodiversity loss. In a recent study, scientists analysed 151 popular local dishes from around the world for their impact on biodiversity. Vegan and vegetarian dishes had lower biodiversity impact than dishes containing meat, irrespective of whether the dishes were locally or globally produced, or whether the animals killed for meat were reared in feedlots or on pasture. Among the plant-based dishes, those using rice and legumes from tropical areas rich in biodiversity, including Brazil, Mexico, and India, had higher biodiversity impact than dishes made with starchy ingredients such as potatoes and wheat.
In Argentina, there are more cattle (53 million) than people (45 million). Annual per capita beef consumption averaged nearly 48kg in 2021, down from a peak of 100kg per person in 1956 but still more than twice the 18kg a year eaten in the UK, while the country is the world’s fifth highest exporter of beef and derivatives. So, it might surprise you to learn that 12% of Argentinians identify as vegetarian or vegan according to a 2022 survey, a figure doubtless boosted by a concerted campaign to promote vegan diets by the Animal Save Movement and the local animal rights group Voicot. Nevertheless, beef production remains Argentina’s second-highest source of greenhouse gases, accounting for 22% of the country’s emissions, and cattle farming has been linked to deforestation in northern parts of the country.
The Oxford Blue, a public house in Marston Street, East Oxford, has reopened with an all-vegan menu. A group of nine people operating under the name Greenboxhave recently completed renovation work on the property, which they hope to return “to its former glory.” The pub is open Wed-Thu 17:00-22:00, Fri 17:00-22:30, Sat 12:00-23:00, serving pizza and side plates.
Word Forest, founded in 2017 by passionate environmentalists and vegans Tracey and Simon West, is a Devon-based environmental and education charity on a mission to reforest Kenya. They have just launched the Word Forest Bring & Share Vegan Lunch as a national fundraising initiative, encouraging eco-groups around the country to host a vegan lunch to help them mitigate our climate emergency. Click on the link above for further details, including a guide to hosting a vegan lunch.
Compiled by Paul Appleby, with thanks to Brian Jacobs and Tracey West
3. Food stuff
The potential of faiths to change food systems was the topic of discussion at a webinar on 18 January co-hosted by Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and attended by people from over 30 countries. The UN has identified food system transformation as an urgent priority, and with more than 80% of the global population claiming to follow a particular religion, the potential for faiths to effect change is obvious. Philip Lymbery, CIWF’s Global CEO, called on “people of faith everywhere to get involved in transforming food and farming systems, in creating better human, animal and planetary health.” You can watch a recording of the 139-minute webinar here.
Fancy some “vegan soft-white balls with a light cheese flavour” followed by “soya dessert fermented with live cultures”? That’s how vegan mozzarella and soya yoghurt would be described under new rules proposed by the Food Standards and Information Focus Group of trading standards officers. Bryan Carroll, general manager of Oatly UK & Ireland, called it “frankly insulting” to assume people could not tell the difference between dairy alternatives and real dairy products. Thankfully, a spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs explained that: “There are no plans to change existing legislation in this area.”
More than two-thirds of Britons agree that the government should require food companies to reduce the amount of fat, salt and sugar they put in their products, with nearly 65% calling for tough restrictions on the advertising of unhealthy food and drink, according to an Ipsos Mori survey. In the year to November 2021 an estimated 63.5% of UK adults were either overweight or obese, and a government spokesperson admitted that obesity costs the NHS around £6.5 billion per year. Vegetarians and vegans typically have lower BMI, a measure of obesity, than meat-eaters.
If, like ‘Leslie from Las Vegas’, you are veg*n but allergic to soy, you might find some useful suggestions for alternatives in the Guardian’s Ask Ottolenghi column of 9 March. The article rightly points out that Worcestershire sauce generally contains fish, making it unsuitable for veg*ns, but Holland & Barrett’s Worcester Sauce offers a vegan and soy-free alternative. Marmite is given a good plug, but alternatives such as Sainsbury’s Reduced Salt Yeast Extract are not mentioned. One product that definitely isn’t suitable for Leslie is the widely-available ice cream alternative Swedish Glace, which proudly declares that it is “made with soy”.
Talking of diary alternatives, in a recent article about water shortages in many parts of the world, environmental journalist and campaigner George Monbiot points out that “dairy milk has much higher water demand even than the worst alternative (almond milk), and is astronomically higher than the best alternatives, such as oat or soya milk.” Although the author admits that “the water demand of almonds and pistachios in California [is] excessive … more than twice as much irrigation water is used in California to grow forage plants to feed livestock, especially dairy cows.” With agriculture accounting for 90% of global freshwater use, Monbiot concludes that the need to “minimise the water footprint of our food [is] yet another reason to switch to an animal-free diet.”
What was the UK’s top food export in 2023? Here’s a clue – they are produced by the world’s fastest-growing food production sector. The answer is farmed salmon, a product of the aquaculture industry, which now produces more seafood than fish caught at sea. The cruelty of the Scottish salmon farming industry, and the pollution that it causes, has been exposed by Compassion in World Farming and the Netflix documentary film Seaspiracy.
Compiled by Paul Appleby
4. Extinction Realisation
Recent reports provide further evidence that the Earth may be undergoing a sixth mass extinction. In the previous mass extinction 66 million years ago, when a giant asteroid collided with Earth, killing the dinosaurs, around four-fifths of all animal species disappeared. (Read the full article by Paul Appleby on the OxVeg blog. The article was first published in the Spring 2024 issue of The Pod, the Vegetarian Society members’ magazine. You can view the printed article here.)
5. The great air fryer conspiracy
Here’s a new conspiracy theory, and I haven’t just cooked it up. I firmly believe that we are all being persuaded to buy an air fryer, even if we don’t want one and would never use it. This year Channel 5 TV has broadcast endless series about the air fryer (AF). Titles include AF: Do You Know What You’re Missing, AF: A Buyer’s Guide, AF: Batch Cooking, AF: Sunday Roast, and AF: Takeaways Made Easy. The content is repetitive, with inane contributions from vacuous celebrities. Most of the food looks disgusting, but the impetus is currently unstoppable and future programmes include Air Fryers: A Solution to Conflict in the Middle East and Air Fryers: The Crucial Issue in the US Presidential Election.
The hideous machines are hugely popular on social media and mainstream publishing. It is claimed that air fryer cookbooks are now dominant in that genre, and in January five of the top ten bestselling cookbooks were AF titles. Last year AF cookbooks sales in the UK totalled £11.5 million, up by a whopping £10 million from the previous year. In 2023 the bestselling British cookbook was an AF title, beating all the new titles from the traditional TV chefs including the one that everyone believed was unassailable. Surely the podgy King of Cookbooks Jamie Oliver couldn’t possibly succumb to this new trend? Oh yes he has, with his new Channel 4 TV series Jamie’s Air Fryer Meals, which promises to “really raise the bar when it comes to your air fryer know how.” The series is sponsored by Tefal and the brand is heavily promoted. The inevitable cookbook will follow, but has Oliver missed the gravy boat on this one? The market is already saturated, although it currently appears insatiable. I look forward to the rapid demise of anything and everything associated with the dreaded air fryer, with mountains of discarded AF machines at recycling centres, and charity shops overwhelmed with AF cookbooks. I’m usually spot on with my predictions, apart from microwaves and mobile phones with a built-in camera. Why would anyone want those I exclaimed with exuberant and entirely misplaced confidence. Despite the marketing hype I don’t believe that the air fryer is creating a national surge of gourmet home cooking, being convinced that they are mainly used to heat up frozen chips and chicken nuggets. Moreover, nobody with any taste, style or decency could possibly give any worktop space to this ugly little monster.
Paul Freestone
6. Oxfordshire Badger Group
Badgers are large, powerful animals with no natural predators – apart from humans. They are common in Oxfordshire, although few people are lucky enough to see a live one. Badgers face many challenges and threats, not least climate change: exceptional rainfall and long dry summers take their toll on the infirm and the young. Oxfordshire Badger Group is dedicated to helping these fascinating, iconic native mammals.
Traffic is a massive threat: more badgers are killed on British roads than any other species. March and October are the peak months. We keep sett and badger sighting records going back over 40 years. Please report any badger sightings (live or dead) to us; volunteers will go out and check where appropriate. Badger cubs are dependent on their mothers from February to June and we may be able to help any orphans. Occasionally, we can rescue a survivor. Please contact us if you come across an injured badger or a seemingly abandoned cub. We’ll talk you through the procedure and come out to take the animal to a wildlife hospital if necessary. Don’t put yourself at risk by trying to move a badger yourself – it takes special training and equipment to handle them safely! Housing and other development in Oxfordshire is destroying many “wild spaces.” The presence of badgers is unlikely to halt a development, but we can make sure they get the best possible deal. Urban badgers are now common in our towns and villages. Badgers can damage gardens and property. We offer advice to homeowners on how best to manage the problems. Badgers have been cruelly persecuted – badger baiting is one of the main reasons they are a legally protected species. Crime still takes place and should always be reported to the police.
The culling of badgers under government licence is a continuing tragedy. Around 5000 to 6000 badgers have been killed across Oxfordshire during the first 3 years of culling (2020-2022). Nationally, the total may now exceed 250,000 badgers killed. Bovine TB is a disease of cattle that spills out into wildlife – including badgers and the worms that they eat. The risk of a badger passing the disease to a healthy cow is miniscule. We offer a badger vaccination service to farmers and landowners who want to control that risk humanely. Rather than ending culling in 2025, as promised, the government’s environment department DEFRA are consulting on plans to allow farmers to continue culling badgers indefinitely. A move to ‘epidemiological culling’ would involve killing all badgers in a large area in response to a new ‘hot spot’ or cluster of herd breakdowns that are attributed to badgers. Badger culling is a political decision, not a scientific one. Please think of wildlife when you vote! On a happier note, we love going out to talk to schools where the children enjoy meeting and learning about our big, friendly badgers. If you know of a school that might be interested, please get in touch.
Linda Ward, Oxfordshire Badger Group (Registered Charity Number 1186850; email: obg@oxonbadgergroup.org.uk) Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @oxonbadgers
(Do you have a favourite veg*n or animal charity/NGO that you would like to publicise? If so, please send us your article, maximum 400 words, to 321oxveg+news{at}gmail.com.)
7. Reviews
The End of Medicine, directed by Alex Lockwood, produced by Keegan Kuhn; 2022, 67 mins. The End of Medicine is a documentary film that explores the link between our treatment of animals and emerging health threats such as pandemics and antibiotic resistance. (Read the full review by Paul Appleby on the OxVeg blog.)
Carnivorous Plants by Dan Torre. Reaktion Books, 2023, 232pp, 110 illustrations, 100 in colour; paperback, £15-95. The idea of carnivorous plants represents an immediate contradiction, and the fact that some plants can ‘eat meat’ is distinctly unsettling. (Read the full review by Paul Freestone on the OxVeg blog.)
I Could Never Go Vegan, directed and written by Thomas and James Pickering; 2024, 97 mins. I Could Never Go Vegan is a new documentary film by Thomas and James Pickering, who set out to provide answers to some of the many questions about their lifestyle that vegans often face. (Read the full review by Anne Orgée on the OxVeg blog.)
8. Forthcoming Events
Friday 24 – Monday 27 May. Animal Rising Camp, Scout Camp, Gordon Rd, London, N11 2PG. A weekend of workshops, training, activities, and campfire fun, for readers who have previously supported Animal Rising, Animal Rebellion, Plant-Based Councils, Plant-Based Universities, or Vegans Support the Farmers. Tickets £50 (£25 concessions) to cover the cost of camping and food.
London Vegans online speaker meetings via Zoom: Wednesday 29 May, 7pm – 8pm. Kevin Newell from Humane Wildlife Solutions. To ‘attend’ a meeting you need to join the LV email list; all welcome, no charge.
Friday 26 – Monday 29 July. Vegan Camp Out, Bicester Heritage, Bicester, Oxon. The world’s largest vegan camping festival, with 4 days & 3 nights of talks, live music, parties, yoga/meditation classes and plenty of vegan food. Guests include Ed Winters (aka Earthling Ed), Chris Packham, Michael Greger and Lee Mack. Weekend tickets: £115, ages 4-15 £60, under-4s free, car parking pass £17-50; plus 10% booking fee. (Non-campers can go home each night or stay nearby.)
(Also see the Events section of the OxVeg blog for any updates or additions.)
9. And finally …
“During the half-century from 1870 to 1920, more than 18,000 tonnes of bird skins and feathers were imported into the United Kingdom – equivalent to as many as ten billion birds. To put this into perspective, estimates suggest that there are currently about 50 billion birds on earth.” Stephen Moss, naturalist and broadcaster, in Ten Birds That Changed the World, Guardian Faber, 2023. (The plumage trade brought many species to, and sometimes beyond, the edge of extinction, but led to the founding of bird protection societies such as the RSPB. Wild birds today face many other threats, including avian flu, loss of habitat, and climate change, as described in this excellent book.)
“Today’s verdict sends a resounding message … that misleading marketing tactics cannot hide behind the shield of freedom of speech. Profiting from climate promises must be backed with legitimate climate action.” Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl, general secretary of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark, responding to Denmark’s high court ruling that Danish Crown – Europe’s largest pork producer – misled customers with its “climate-controlled pork” campaign, quoted in The Guardian, 1/3/2024. (The case was brought by the Vegetarian Society of Denmark and the Climate Movement in Denmark in the country’s first climate lawsuit.)
“Dartmoor’s steep river valleys and boulder fields could be supporting lots more woods like these – but that won’t happen unless we prevent sheep from the surrounding commons eating all the young trees.” Guy Shrubsole, author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain, on the campaign to save Black-a-Tor copse – one of only three ancient high-altitude oak woodlands on Dartmoor, quoted in The Guardian, 1/3/2024.
“The natural frog populations here in Europe are protected under EU law. But the EU still tolerates the collection of millions of animals in other countries – even if this threatens the frog populations there.” Sandra Altherr, head of science at Pro Wildlife, quoted in The Guardian, 9/3/2024. (The European Union imports the equivalent of 80-200 million frogs each year, most of which are consumed in France. Many scientists and NGOs want France to lobby to protect vulnerable frog species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.)
“In the EU, there is now a total ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides … But every year since we left the EU, the UK government has granted an ‘emergency’ exemption from the supposed ban here, following lobbying by sugar beet producers and the National Farmers Union.” George Monbiot, journalist and environmental campaigner, The Guardian, 18/3/2024. (Neonicotinoid use has been linked to adverse ecological effects, including risks to many non-target organisms such as bees and other pollinators. Sugar beet is grown commercially for sugar production in countries that are too cold for sugar cane.)
“We must find a way to live in balance with the wonderful species with which we share the Earth.” Andrew Cunningham, professor of wildlife epidemiology and deputy director of science at the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, quoted in The Guardian, 21/3/2024. (In 1998, Prof Cunningham established that a fungus, probably spread by humans, was infecting and killing amphibians. Almost 100 amphibian species are known to have disappeared in the past 50 years.)
“Fresh fruit and veg is responsible for more food waste than anything else we buy, with 1.6m tonnes – nearly £4bn worth – thrown away each year. Removing the packaging should mean less plastic and food waste because households will be able to buy closer to the right amount.” Zoe Wood, consumer affairs correspondent, describing a supermarket trial encouraging shoppers to switch from buying pre-packaged fruit and veg to picking and weighing their own, The Guardian, 5/4/2024. (The UK Plastics Pact aims to see 30% of all fresh produce being sold loose by 2025.)
“Livestock farming ranks with the fossil fuel industry as one of the two most destructive industries on Earth.” George Monbiot, journalist and campaigner, debunking the myths perpetuated in the documentary film Six Inches of Soil, which “wrongly claims that cattle can be carbon neutral or carbon negative and that beef-eating can be eco-friendly”, The Guardian, 15/4/2024.
“No normal human being would eat farmed salmon if they knew what was going on in the cages. About 120,000 fish are cornered in each pen with no way to escape. They are being eaten alive by sea lice.” Trygve Poppe, Norwegian veterinary professor and fish expert reacting to the spread of open-pen salmon farms on the east coast of Iceland, quoted in The Sunday Times, 21/4/2024. (Farmed salmon threaten the native salmon population of 50,000 because of interbreeding with escaped fish. Half a million dead salmon were removed from Icelandic fish pens in February alone.)
(This edition of OxVeg News was compiled and edited by Paul Appleby, who thanks all named and unnamed contributors.)
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