If you are a vegan or vegan-aspiring teen (or you know one), you really want to seriously consider setting a reminder that TeenVGN Summer Camp 2016 tickets go on sale tomorrow (Saturday December 5, 2015). The 2015 event sold out in record time.
The summer camp is a week long extravaganza of interactive sessions and cruelty free eating. It is the perfect setting for young, compassionate people to explore what being vegan means while also having the chance to make new and lasting friendships.
I went along as a special guest on the final evening and was blown away by the hard work all the camp workers put in to make sure the teens had a summer to remember.
Some vegan places are happy to rest on their laurels, serving up the same quality of food and the same menu month after month.
But not Black Cat Café in Hackney.
I have been incredibly impressed by the food served up by Black Cat over the past two years. The menu changes regularly to reflect seasonal availability and old menu items are brought back with slight tweaks and improvements.
Check out these glorious dishes served to me recently.
This is a big weekend coming up in Glasgow and I’m thrilled to have plans to be there.
If you haven’t heard, the first ever Vegfest Scotland is roaring to life on both Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December, 2015.
Like all VegfestUK shows, the Glasgow version in the SECC is set to be rammed with tasty food vendors, vegan companies, educational talks, debate panels and more.
I have my own FGV stall across both days of the show where I will be selling t-shirts and postcards. 15% of sales from the t-shirts is being donated to vegan community kitchen Made in Hackney.
If you are visiting the show on Sunday, you can also join me for an informal talk on how to begin a vegan blog. I will be discussing my tips for getting an online platform up and running and I’m looking forward to answering questions.
You can join in this session from 1:30pm Sunday December 6th, 2015.
Does the idea of being able to buy a tub of ready-made vegan gravy fill you with joy?
Today is your lucky day!
You can pick up this vegan mushroom gravy in Whole Foods Market stores around the UK.
This is perfect for showing up at a non-vegan’s house for a Sunday roast or Christmas dinner. How awesome would it be to pull this out at the table and annoy everyone else? I’m so vegan, I bring my own gravy.
You might remember the sad news I featured on my blog a short while ago about my friend, Indira.
Indira is one of the most compassionate people I have had the pleasure of meeting and I was deeply saddened to learn she had been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer of the liver.
Indira reached out to me this week to ask if I would allow her to post a piece of writing she has compiled on the emotional struggle of being a dedicated vegan faced with medication which has undoubtedly been tested on animals.
Sad news reached me this weekend regarding the closure of a London vegan restaurant.
Greenz is actually a destination I never got to before it closed. I don’t know if it was the location near Tulse Hill station that kept me from making the journey or a lack of interest in their menu, but I never was inspired to get along.
I can’t put my finger on why I didn’t get there, but I was never intrigued by what I had read or been told.
Now it is too late.
This message is currently posted on the Greenz website:
Vegans and animal lovers all over the UK and the world have been surprised by the new #TerryTheTurkey advertising campaign employed by phone company Vodafone in the lead up to Christmas 2015.
The advert is a unique concept for a TV commercial.
The short film shows a family having a turkey living with them, jumping through time to highlight how the bird is growing larger as the seasons change.
Just when the viewer thinks the winter snow and a trip to the garden shed is a sign that Terry is to be killed and plated for Christmas dinner, the twist emerges to show the family have used their Vodafone-powered technology to source a nut roast recipe thus saving the life of the family turkey.
Great news, right?
Photo: VodafoneUK
I didn’t find many like-minded people online when I voiced my concern that this advert was problematic in that it was still using live animals for the purpose of profit-making dressed up as entertainment.
Many of my Facebook followers expressed the opinion that this advert was a positive message, yet after reading their insights I still thought it was more loaded than just the nice message of saving the life of an animal.
I decided to find out a little more about the ad-making process and reached out to the people who made the #TerryTheTurkey advert.
Following is a short Q&A I carried out via email with Vicki Maguire. Vicki is the Deputy Executive Creative Director at Grey London, the agency charged with devising the Vodafone Christmas campaign.
Vicki kindly took time out of her extremely busy schedule to answer the following questions I put to her:
1. Your advert has given a lot of compassionate people something to smile about as it shows a turkey being given a second chance at life when a family opt for nut roast. How was the concept first devised? Was it inspired by any vegans in the office or by a team member’s personal life perhaps?
Christmas is the season of goodwill. Vodafone’s technology brings people together. We thought we’d take a different tack.
Our dad uses technology to rear a turkey, by the time Christmas comes around he’s part of the family. Sometimes technology gets bad press for making people self obsessed. This ad demonstrates that couldn’t be further from the truth.
We were sitting around talking when Howard, a guy in our team, told us a story of how a friend of his had become vegetarian when his family found a live chicken. I think there’s something about being that close to an animal that brings out your protective instincts.
A couple of us are vegetarian and two are vegan, but non of us are having turkey this year! Our Director Kevin Thomas is a die-hard veggie, that’s why the script appealed to him.
2. What a lot of people don’t know is that Terry is actually played by eight different birds throughout the advert. Did all of these animals come from the same place? How did your team source the turkeys for the campaign?
We picked an accredited British breeder who had turkeys at various stages of development. The story goes from young Terry to fully mature Terry. I’ll be honest and say I used to think turkeys were ugly, but now I love them. They are actually very smart and they love playing football.
3. The happy ending for the eight Terry turkeys is that they are now all living a life of peace on Farm Animal Rescue Sanctuary in Warwickshire. How did the team decide where the turkeys would end up?
As soon as we picked up the phone to Farm Animal Rescue we knew they were the ones to give our Terrys a good home. Their love for their charges really shines through!
4. Even though the advert has only been live for a few days, the online reaction has been phenomenal. Apart from helping your client raise awareness for its brand, is there anything else you hope for from #TerryTheTurkey campaign?
We’ve been blown away by the reaction to the campaign. It’s funny when you see it in an ad break also selling turkey for £3 a kilo. It makes you think about what really matters at Christmas.
In all seriousness we are having nut roast! A turkey is for life, not for Christmas.
Watch the video above and let me know what you think in the comments.
I am grateful to know the turkeys used in the advert now live in a sanctuary and that many people are being exposed to the idea of compassion for animals.
However I am staunchly opposed to the use of live animals in entertainment and advertising, especially when the animals in question have been sourced from a professional breeder. Buying or sourcing animals from breeders creates demand and puts money into the pockets of people profiting from commodifying animals.
What do you all think? Does the good done by the #TerryTheTurkey advert outweigh the negatives or as vegans should we always have a strong stance against the use of animals in advertising?
Would your opinion be different if the product being sold to us via the advert was actually a vegan product (such as the nut roast) and not a phone service?
A lot of great food and drink happened to me in Leeds during my recent trip north, including this cup of gorgeous fruit tea with vegan jellies.
I was walking through a small shopping arcade when I was shocked by the sight of the ‘v’ word. You know that little thrill mixed with panic you experience when you see ‘vegan’ written somewhere unexpected?
iocha bubbletea is an independent bubble and fruit tea outlet in Leeds city centre. Their collection of vegan jellies for adding to the teas is extensive and the servers were only too happy to indulge my need for conversation. I was so excited, I chatted them up for ages about how fab their shop was while they just smiled and made drinks for customers.
Do you have a favourite bubble tea shop in your area?
