London vegan news, reviews & events
I don’t just write for this blog, ya know?!
As a freelance writer, I spread my scribbling skills around the Internet in various locations. One of the latest landing sites for my fat fingers is Plant Based News.
You can check out my first piece for them right now.
Click here or on the image above to read my musings about food shaming.
You can follow Plant Based News on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
This blog post is to state my opposition to the recent online actions of London restaurant FED By Water.
Following the death of Rashan Charles during police intervention and a subsequent protest in Dalston, the social media pages of FED By Water engaged in problematic posting and content sharing that worked to perpetuate and promote racism.
You can read a breakdown of the incident with further commentary here thanks to Heather Barrett, but my brief take away from the situation is as follows:
I emailed the owner of the restaurant with the following brief questions:
Do you understand the problem of saying All Lives Matter in response to Black Lives Matter? Do you understand why people think this is a racist response?
(It should be noted that I misquoted the Facebook update in my email to the owner. The status read ‘All Life Matters’ not ‘All Lives Matter’)
I received a response asking if I could come in next week to talk face to face with the owner. I responded that I do not have time to travel to the restaurant and would be happy to discuss my concerns via email. I am yet to hear a response to that request. UPDATE I have received an email to further the discussion and the owner has asked me to keep that private.
I am still prepared to talk the owner and have always maintained an open dialogue with him regarding any concerns I have. However, I feel this situation requires an immediate public statement of position from me as a vegan with a notable platform and as somebody with a menu item named after them on the restaurant menu.
My position:
There is no room or space for the use or promotion of racist language or terminology by vegan businesses and any instance of this behaviour should be challenged, resisted and questioned. I believe that Black Lives Matters is a crucial, grassroots movement working to resist historic and ongoing systemic oppression of black people and I will continue to support the movement and speak up against people inside and outside the vegan community who use actions or language to diminish the movement. This support of the movement includes ongoing questioning of my own behaviour, language and actions.
Until now I have been happy for FED By Water to carry a menu item named after my blog, however I have this morning asked the restaurant to remove my name from the menu. I do not want to be associated with an organisation that posts hurtful and negative content. I also see the request to remove my name as a symbolic gesture to assert my support for black activists and black people more generally. It isn’t a grand action, but I feel it is the very least I can do and it might prompt discussion and consideration from people aware of who I am.
My expectation is that the management of FED By Water will meet with local black activists who have reached out in the hope of explaining why the language used online was harmful. I am available as a vegan activist with a visible platform to lend my support or voice to this situation if requested.
Extra note: It is not my intention to attempt to lead the resolution of this incident, but rather position myself as an ally and state my position. I appreciate that as a white, cis-gendered, non-disabled man I benefit from privilege that in turn oppresses people.
Sheffield Vegan Beer Fest was epic yesterday. Actually, it was beyond epic.
Hundreds of revellers descended on Yellow Arch Studios for the first-ever vegan beer event in the city and it was the party to end all parties.
Beer flowed non-stop all day thanks to Bad Seed, Chorlton Brewing Co, Heavy Industry and The Beer Engine. Drinkers were treated to everything from a 10.5% stout to an impossibly easy drinking rose petal and hibiscus creation.
The food was as loved and adored as the beer. V-REV, Make No Bones, Sgaia and Truffle Pig all had a bumper day selling their delicious offerings.
I would like to offer up my heartfelt thanks to everyone who came along to the event. It might very well be the friendliest event that I have ever hosted. Huge love goes to the staff of the venue for keeping everything running smoothly. Thanks to our sponsors Follow Your Heart for unwavering and crucial support.
And, as always, my eternal gratitude and love to my partner Josh for doing hours and hours of behind the scenes work as well as running the door AND finding time to hit the karaoke stage. I wouldn’t and couldn’t do this without you.
Follow Vegan Beer Fest UK on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Next stop? Glasgow!
Let’s check out these photo highlights!
I was invited to be a guest on a radio show last week and now I’m sharing the online version with you in case you want to listen. You wanna hear me speak, right?!
My friend Tatum hosts a weekly show on Wandsworth Radio in London called The Social Hour with Tatum and she invited me along to discuss a whole big bunch of topics including my beer events, growing up in Australia, being an activist, and my debut book being released next year.
If the embedded player doesn’t work for you below, you can listen online here.
The show runs for an hour but it isn’t just me talking. I also got to pick a few tracks to play so it really is an enjoyable listen.
You can like The Social Hour on Facebook and follow Tatum on Instagram.
Here is a quick post to let you know that I was just a featured guest on a podcast… and you can listen if you fancy that sort of thing!
Ethical Beast is a podcast out of NYC, but my recent episode was actually recorded in Mexico City a few weeks ago.
Joe got in touch with me when he knew he was going to be in the giant Mexican capital, so it was great fun sitting down for a quick chat with him. He quizzed me on all manner of topics including my new book coming out in January 2018. I had friends coming over for dinner as it was my final night in Mexico before returning to London and you can even hear the intercom buzzer announcing their arrival.
Click here to listen to my episode and be sure to check out some of the older Ethical Beast episodes, too.
Super quick post to let you know that I am being interviewed tonight (Thursday July 13, 2017) on local radio here in London.
My friend Tatum hosts a show called The Social Hour and I have been invited to be a guest.
You can listen live online via the Wandsworth Radio website between 9pm and 10pm tonight (UK time), or follow up and listen at a later date via the Social Hour Facebook page.
I think I’ll be talking about London Vegan Beer Fest amongst a few other things. I might even get to play a few songs!
You should also follow Tatum on Instagram for gorgeous vegan food photos.
Wow.
PETA has pulled some questionable stunts in their time but this takes the dairy-free cake.
My cousin Muriel in Australia scanned this news article that appeared this morning in her local paper, The Porpoise Spit Bugle, and sent it over to me.
Have a read below, but the gist of the article is PETA’s attention-seeking stunt to have scientists rename the Milky Way.
Check it out and let me know how you feel about these type of publicity campaigns. Do they help or hinder our vegan cause?
Vegan means vegan.
Every single day we see another mainstream misuse or misapplication of the word ‘vegan’. The tipping point for me was this sentence from a recent article about vegan trends posted by The Metro:
Whether it’s a bid to lead healthier lifestyles, be more considerate for the planet or save money, more people are opting for plant-based choices.
In a ‘news’ story titled Vegan restaurants, meal ideas, recipes and more – the hot trends coming for 2017 and specifically in the section designed to explain to the reader why more people are exploring veganism, the author doesn’t mention animal protection or compassion.
Vegan does not simply mean plant-based eating (although that is obviously part of veganism). Vegan is not a term to be co-opted by mainstream media and people pushing ideas or topics that are unrelated to veganism.
The power of veganism rests, in part, with the rigidity of its meaning. A meaning that vegan activists need to work hard to protect.
Someone who chooses to live vegan has committed to remove use of, or dependency on, animal-derived products as much as they possibly can in order to reduce harm and suffering to non-human animals.
If you don’t follow that train of thinking or living, you are not vegan. Simple.
This is not an attack on non-vegans. I used to be one and some of the people I love most on the planet are not vegan.
This is to clarify that vegan means vegan.
I believe that protecting the term vegan is an important form of animal-centric activism. Vegan is a strong identifier with a clear message that is too valuable a tool in the fight for animals to be watered down or mis-applied. We use it to apply pressure to non-vegan businesses, we use it for identification purposes, and we use it to mark real compassionate change.
We don’t use it to mean plant-based eating trends devoid of animal consideration. It doesn’t mean that and never will.
Yes, you can eat plant-based food in a vegan restaurant and not be vegan and yes, I think that is a good thing. Yes, you can go to a vegan event but not be a vegan. I spend my whole life trying to make non-vegans do just that.
Of course I welcome non-vegans to my events and celebrate the proliferation of vegan-suitable products, but I will not give up the fight to define what vegan means.
It exists as a narrow term for a damn good reason and that reason is to improve outcomes for animals.
And if you want to write a story about why people are vegan but not mention animals once, there are a few of us who will passionately point out where you have gone wrong.
Old quote from People for the ethical treat of animals:
PETA exists to stamp out oppression in all its forms. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Tonight in Washington D.C., People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals is hosting a black tie gala called Animals’ Party to honour people they say have done great work for animals.
Good for them right?
PETA can piss off.
One of those being honoured at the gala tonight is Dan Donovan, an elected official who is the current United States Representative for New York’s 11th congressional district.
I can only assume that Dan Donovan is being recognised by PETA due to his cosponsoring of a resolution to condemn the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China.
This recognition of Dan Donovan by the most visible animal rights group on the planet is such a hot mess of conflict, disregard and downright insult that I am not sure how to verbalise my protest.
Maybe bullet points will help me:
I could go on for a while, but I think you catch my drift.
PETA. It is not enough to care about dogs. A person shouldn’t be heralded as an animal rights champion in front of celebrities and dignitaries during an expensive gala event in Washington D.C. because they simply signed their name to a speciesist and arguably racially-driven resolution.
PETA. You have a grave responsibility to protect and champion the rights of humans as well as animals. Millions of people look to you as a voice of compassion and honouring a known homophobe, anti-choice politician who holds beyond dubious records when it comes to the protection of black people is an abomination and severe mark against your legacy.
PETA. Your celebration of Dan Donovan hurts people of colour, women and members of the LGBT community.
PETA. I call on you to rescind your honouring of Dan Donovan for all of the reasons listed above. You cannot build a kind and compassionate world for animals while you lift up those who work hard to diminish people of colour, women and members of the LGBT community.
I am publishing a new micro and very DIY video series over on Facebook called FGV Devours.
I’ll be sharing the videos here as well in case any readers don’t like to visit the dreaded FB space.
First episode of the series features one of my favourite food places on the planet, Los Loosers.
You can follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.