German media outlet Spiegel TV equates Vegans with Nazis

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

No, apparently, this is no joke and April 1st is still a little while off; at least last time I checked.

According to their mindset vegetarianism and veganism is dangerous as we have to consider that Hitler, after all, was a vegetarian. And that means in the new speak of the elite that anyone who wants to eat different and is concerned about animal welfare and food or genetically engineered food stuffs and wants to do without meat and GM foods is put into the “Nazi” bracket.

The global trend for vegetarianism and veganism has risen exponentially and in many cities around the world vegan supermarkets and restaurants almost mushroom. It is a little something like a latent revolution: Vegans are against the exploitation of animals and at the same time they protect the environment and chose a healthier diet. Although, it has to be said, there are some that argue against pure veganism for a number of reasons, one of them being the lack of B12, for instance, in a purely vegetable-based diet without any animal products, such as dairy, for instance. However, it is the many positive consequences of the vegan diet that makes it so attractive for a great number of people, a number that is on the increase.

If you wish to live in any way, shape or form, different to what the mainstream sees as the right way, and the powers-that-be more or less decree, or do not buy into the stories that are churned out by government and its media clowns then you are decried as a Nazi, a Brown Mystic, a conspiracy theorist, and if you are against the banking cartel then, without even mentioning the ethnicity of many of those bank owners, you declared to be anti-Semitic.

While, in this time of austerity and the Great Recession, thrift is indeed called for in many households, those that wish to live a thrifty and sustainable lifestyle and do not want to be part of the consumer society, either for lack of money or because of a wish to have less impact on the Planet they are being declared by the governments to be domestic terrorist even as, if you are not consuming and buying more and more all the time, you are not contributing to the growth of the economy and are undermining the attempts of re floating it.

Totally aside from the fact that we cannot continue with this perpetual growth economy on a finite Planet such as is the Earth and that we have to find alternatives to the current way and ways those labels are all used by way of a divide and rule tactic to keep the elite in power.

People who are wanting to live outside the mainstream, live with less impact on the environment, and especially those that wish to change society are being branded as enemies of the state, more or less. This shows us how desperate the powers-that-be are to keep the people under their thumb and in slavery to the system.

We must break free from that slavery and smash those chains once and for all for the good of all life on Planet Earth. No ifs or buts.

© 2015

70 Billion animals are killed every year for food

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

That is over 100,000 animals killed every minute. Besides the ethical implications, those animals need to be fed, watered, and housed somewhere. it's simply not an environmentally sustainable diet. Switch to a plant-based diet and reduce your footprint by 60%.

The biggest problem with animals reared for food is, as said, that they must be fed, watered and housed somewhere, and the feeding of them alone takes about 50% of all the crops grown on the Planet. Water use for animals is another issue.

As indicated at least half of all food that is grown goes to feed our food, that is to say half of all arable crops grown is used to feed livestock for meat. When we add to that the grazing land – and, fair enough some may be so-called marginal lands that may or may not be good enough to grow food for humans and is only suitable for grazing – then there is an awful lot of land that produces far less per acre on food as it would do were vegetables for human consumption grown there. For it takes a great amount of calories in the form of grass and other fodder stuffs to produce but one calorie of meat. Not every economic, is it?

In addition, aside from the issue of water usage, and the housing of the animals, there is also the issue of run off of slurry into water courses and the issue of slurry per se. The latter needs to be kept somewhere and then it needs to be gotten rid off.

In the days of animal manure being spread onto the fields, also upon those where food crops for human consumption were grown, the disposal of it was a little different. But then so was the way the animals were being kept. It was in much smaller units with a lot less of waste produced.

Today the world has become obsessed with eating meat and in some countries, Britain included, with a great majority, it has to be meat for every meal, almost and that seven days a week. It is madness that is not good for us or the Planet.

Not so long ago meat was expensive, at times very expensive, and was reserved to Sundays, high holy days and if someone came to visit, maybe, and that was about it. The rest of the week it was predominately vegetables, bread and butter, and such, but no meat, and we all lived much better and healthier than we do today.

The obesity epidemic did not exist and while there were some people who were overweight, adults mostly who ate too much, most were no where near anything like what we see today. Already toddlers are severely overweight to obese and let's not even talk about older youngsters. And, due to this, this could be the first generation in recorded history where the children die before their parents due to being overweight.

© 2014

This meat substitute is all-natural and GMO-free – and it might be making people sick

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is calling on the FDA to pull the meat substitute Quorn from the marketplace. CSPI has assembled a list of more than 2,000 incidents in which people observed adverse affects — including things like nausea, cramps, diarrhea, violent vomiting, and death — shortly after eating Quorn.

Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but there’s also one report of Quorn sensitivity in the peer-reviewed literature, and there clinicians verified, with a skin prick test, that the victim did have an allergic reaction to the protein.

The Washington Post also did a piece on Quorn, making the larger case that the government should do more to regulate new food products.

Quorn is made from the fungus Fusarium venenatum. CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson notes that “‘Venenatum,’ inauspiciously, is Latin for poisonous.”

In a statement, Quorn Foods said that its product was safe and pointed out that other foods – like nuts – cause much more severe allergic reactions. Quorn says its foods have “always been made from a natural, GMO-free protein ingredient.”

The fact is and remains, however, that the fungus from which it is made is regarded as as toxic even though it has a high amount of protein. And while the Wikipedia entry praises it to high heaven almost the question must remain as to why, if we truly want to move over to a plant based diet as vegetarians and vegans, we insist that we have some stuff – made in a plant and not coming from a plant – that resembles meat. It would appear that we simply, at least those that crave it, have not gotten over the meat eating thing.

As someone has coined the phrase “If it comes from a plant eat it, if it is made in a plant don't” and this adage should also be applied here. It is fake meat and remains fake meat and if you, as said, want to be vegetarian or even vegan then get over the fact that neither eat meat.

I am vegetarian, but I took the step neither for health nor ethical reasons, but for reasons of not wanting to knowingly or unknowingly eat horse, and thus I don't eat meat, real or fake. If you want sausages, bacon, or roast chicken, turkey or whatever, then you are not true to what you claim to be believing in, as most claim to have become vegetarians or vegans because of their concern for the animals and thus wanting to shun meat. That, at least, is my take on it.

In addition to that all the fake meat that I have had the misfortune to try as a writer – yes, one does at times get such privileges as a journalist, even as a free journalist – has been a bit akin to eating flavored leather and is definitely not up my alley.

© 2014

Vegetarianism and Veganism and fake meat

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

A great many vegetarians and vegans who were once omnivores, as humans are designed to be, seem to have never gotten over the fact that they have no meat in their diet and need to have fake meat in the form of this or that soya product.

Soya, unless fermented soya, as consumed in Japan, for instance, is actually not healthy for humans at all (and please don't shout at me, I do know what I am talking about in comparison to others) and thus should be avoided in the first place. There are other ways of creating fake meat, if you have to.

On the other hand man cannot live on vegetable protein alone and needs certain vitamins and trace elements that can only be found in animal products, as well as animal protein. That does not mean you have to kill an animal though. Hens' eggs, for instance, are not robbed from a mother hen. They are produced regardless and thus would be a waste product. Milk, whether from cow, goat, or whatever animal, and thus cheese, may be a little different a story.

The majority of vegans, if not indeed all, have to take so-called supplements to make up for the deficiencies in vitamins, such as certain members of the B Vitamin group, and other trace elements which, in general, man gets from animals. The word supplement should give us an idea here already and the need for them that, alas, we were not designed to just live off plants.

However, a predominately plant-based diet is what we should be aiming for and that for several reasons. Fake meat, though, made from soya, for instance, is not the answer as, first of all, unless fermented, soya is actually harmful to the human body. Many people though are totally unaware of this and should ask themselves why it is that in countries where soy products are used, such as in Japan, the tofu is from fermented soy curds and that in most places no fresh soy is ever used.

I do not wish to attack any vegetarians and vegans and, in fact, I digressed somewhat, and for that I apologize but not for saying what I did.

The fact is that many vegetarians and vegans who became vegetarians and vegans from being omnivores previously still want meat, even though not from animals and thus the fake meat market was born, for few make their own from gluten.

Aside from the fact, as far as I am concerned, most of this fake meat not only tastes fake but is also rather expensive, if you have to have it, and can tolerate gluten, then make your own, or make the lentil and bean loaves, which are very very good indeed.

But, pray, what is wrong with actually eating vegetables? Why would you have something on your plate that looks like meat when you refuse to eat meat? But please don't get me wrong I love a good beanburger or felafel, but then they do not try to pretend to be bacon, or sausage, or some other meat.

When I went the vegetarian route it was not for reasons of not wishing to eat meat but for the fact that I would like to know, for sure, that what is supposed to be beef did not whinny prior to its death. And as even butchers could not guarantee me that what they were getting from the slaughterhouses was not going to be horse dressed up as beef I chose to forgo meat, period, and I am also not very keen on taking antibiotics and other medication unless necessary and not through eating meat.

Eating horse is an anathema among the People from which I stem and I do not wish to do so knowing or unknowingly even though, more than likely, seeing our food system, this has already happened. But I had and have no intention to continue this and thus I have chose the route that I have taken.

However, I have decided to eat vegetables, together with eggs, for the animal protein, from my own hens, and am not prepared to pay for fake meat as I do not need it and, to be honest, no one does. Fake meat is a substitute for those that still have not gotten over the fact that they gave up meat, at least that is how I see it. I may be wrong but I believe that, in the main, that this is the case.

There is nothing wrong with vegetables. You don't need fake meat, but the manufacturers want your money. As they say, if it comes from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant (and fake meat is made in a plant, a factory) don't.

© 2014

Quinoa and how our use impacts of the people whose food it is

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

It makes absolutely no difference whether it is Fairtrade or ordinary trade, the fact that in the developed world this food is seen as a super food, especially amongst vegetarians and vegans, is leading to possible starvation of the people whose staple food this is.

It is especially sad that we allow this to happen where in most of our countries we pull the cousin of Quinoa which also produces feeds of the same value out of the our fields and gardens as weed. The plants that I am talking about here is knows by a number of names, some of them are Goosefoot, Fat Hen or Lambsquarter.

Because people, especially vegetarians and vegans, in the West, in the developed world, demand more and more of this “super food” the people who produce it and whose staple diet it used to be can no longer afford it, and this even if it is supposedly fairly traded, as in “Fairtrade”. There is nothing fair at it and this is but one of those foods that has that kind of impact on people in the Third World where it is produced.

Our demand for this stuff is causing, according to reports, a shortage of this staple foods in the Andean countries where it is being grown and this is not a sustainable way to go.

Vegetarianism and veganism is always advocated as being a sustainable way but when we demand exotic stuffs to feed ourselves then it becomes far from sustainable. It is a little like bringing in firewood into Britain for sustainable heating from as far away as Poland, the Ukraine and Western Russia. Sustainability is something else, folks, and not this.

We must reconsider how and what we eat for sure and that also applies to vegetarians and vegans. It is not possible to demand foods that have to be shipped in from thousands of miles away and our demand of which cause the producers to go hungry.

It is high time that we rethought the system and not just in this regard.

© 2013

Real leather vs. imitation leather

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Many vegetarians and especially vegans do not like to and actually refuse to use leather products and wear leather shoes. They go for shoes and other products made from imitation leather and such instead.

While canvas, and also hessian, for bags of all kinds is certainly a good choice and a green and ethical option and waxed canvas makes good waterproof bags and can even be used for footwear artificial leather of any kind is, to all intents and purposes, plastic regardless of what name it may bear and thus NOT green and environmentally friendly at all. In a way it is like replacing wood with plastic as has been done for many years already and see where that got us.

The only other option is the use of real rubber, that is to say latex, from the rubber tree, for footwear, like our wellington boots of old were, or wooden clogs.

Skai, which is an imitation leather and one of the most common ones, is a polythene (or even PVC) coated cloth and thus oil derived and nothing more than plastic in but a different form. And that, unfortunately, while being animal cruelty free, is environmentally very unsound.

Clogs – wooden entirely, as in the Netherlands and other places – or wooden sole with upper, originally leather but could be waterproof canvas or even latex rubber, probably are the only options, if one wants to be cruelty free shoes and boots without using plastic material and does not want to have bast shoes as the Russian peasants used to wear.

I really hate to disappoint those that think that artificial leather can be environmentally sound and eco-friendly. As it can only be derived from an oil base it does not compute.

While artificial leather, etc., may be “cruelty free” in that it does not involve animal skins, it is, as already pointed out, a cloth coated with some plastic material in a leather effect and thus a burden to the environment. Even if the plastic layer should be derived from recycled plastic artificial leather still has an enormous environmental footprint especially as it is non-recyclable at the end of its life. It is a bonded material similar to advertising banners and truck tarps.

Things often are made out to be much easier than they are when products are presented to people who want to do things a certain way. You can have cruelty free leather-like products yes. But they come at a cost to the environment and so does leather and the production of it, I know, and not just the animal that has to die for it. Tanning, especially the modern methods, can pollute the air, water and land if not handled properly, as nowadays harsh and dangerous chemicals are involved all too often.

There are alternatives such as vegetable tanned or even brain tanned. No one today tans anymore with urine but that would be, once again, an option. The waste product of it could simply be used as a fertilizer afterwards.

There are always two sides to a coin and, as is often the case with coins two, one side is prettier than the other.

© 2013

Goody Good Stuff – Product Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Got a taste for gum candy but don't want gelatine and artificial stuff in them? Goody Good Stuff is the answer (and I am not getting paid to write this piece). Yes, they do contain sugar but primarily in the form of fructose.

I encountered these sweets – or candy, as our American cousins would call them – for the first time properly at the V-Delicious Show 2013 held in the beginning of June 2013 at London's Olympia Exhibition Center and I fell in love with them. But then again I do love some good sweet things, as longs as it is not carrot cake.

Goody Good Stuff is an all-new natural gummy candy range that is made with a plant derived bio-gum technology, which eliminates the need for animal-based gelatin, which most traditional gummy sweets use.

What is so different about Goody Good Stuff gummy sweets and regular ones. Aside from the already mentioned fact that they do not contain animal-based gelatine they also are reckoned to be fat free. They contain no neat products, no dairy, no alcohol, gluten, egg, soy, nuts or wheat and also contain no E-numbers.

They do a nice range of different gummy sweets and my personal favorite are Summer Peaches together with all the other sour versions. But all of them taste so real, just like the real thing.

One word of warning, however, aside from being seriously moreish IBS sufferers might be advised to refrain from overindulgence in those sweets as they do include natural fruit acids and can set off an IBS flare; I can vouch for that. Serves me well for being such glutton as far as those sweets are concerned.

The sweets are, as far as I can tell, all made in Austria.

Find out more by logging on to their website on: www.goodygoodstuff.com, like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoodyGoodStuffSweets or follow them on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/GoodyGoodStuff

© 2013

Disclosure Statement: Aside from a number of packets of this candy for review purposes the GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no payment for this article.

V Delicious 2013, the new vegetarian, vegan and meat reducer show (FREE Ticket Offer)

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

V Delicious is a brand new national vegetarian, vegan and meat reducer show, caters for all the aforementioned and those just curious too.

Taking place on 7 - 9 June 2013 at London’s Olympia, V Delicious will be a spectacular day out, filled with culinary entertainment; a place to revel in your passion for vegetarian and vegan food, drink and living, or just to see what it is all about too, if you are not convinced as yet.

Why a V show…

The vegetarian, vegan and meat reducer market is huge but until now, there has not been an event where foodies can indulge in all things veggie… V Delicious fills the void.

What will be there…

• V Food Sample and take home the very best from retailers, restaurants, artisan producers and big brands

• V Living Try and buy ethical and organic cosmetics, shoes, clothing, accessories and household items

• V Cooking Whet your appetite with inspirational veggie and vegan cooking classes from top chefs

• V Friends Meet and speak to friends of the show, such as The Vegan Society and The Vegetarian Society

Co-locating with The Allergy & Free From Show

V Delicious will be taking place at the same time and in the same place as the already well-established Allergy & Free From Show. This is world’s largest consumer event of its kind (attracting over 15,000 people in 2012) and is dedicated to helping those living with allergies, food intolerances, coeliac disease and skin and respiratory conditions (such as eczema and asthma).

After attending V Delicious, pop into The Allergy & Free From Show to discover over 200 exhibitors, the Sainsbury’s Cooking Zone, the Sainsbury’s Recipe exchange, seminars, consultations and professional advice and guidance.

And now for the best... you can get in for FREE... yes, free, gratis...

FREE Tickets
To find out more about V Delicious and The Allergy & Free From Show, and to access unlimited free tickets, visit www.v-delicious.co.uk/go/greenlivingreview and www.allergyshow.co.uk/go/greenlivingreview.

Website: www.v-delicious.co.uk

© 2013