Beautiful peeps! I hope you are all doing well. I have been having a very busy time these past weeks, as I was hinting in my last post and it is getting a bit busier with the approaching of Christmas (I will really need a break soon and hopefully I’ll manage to get some more writing!). This month saw COP26 happening in Glasgow and this brought a lot of extra attention to the environmental cause with much more discussion around the pros of a plant-based diet.
The good thing is that at least Climate Change is being acknowledged. The changes happening to our Earth are visible, from fast-melting glaciers to floods in many places (i.e. Belgium, Canada, etc.) and frequent monsoons and other calamities. While in the Middle East the temperatures are reaching record-highs.
However, despite the scientific knowledge that adopting a more plant-based diet would help with tackling climate change and the numerous peaceful protests calling for more attention to these issues, the whole conference didn’t end with concrete efforts to make serious changes to the countries’ environmental policies.
I won’t repeat myself because you can find much info here and here, but it is known that intensive farming is heavily contributing to dangerous gas emissions. Linked to this, multinational companies are also a relevant pollution factor especially in the “less developed countries”. We see that the “Big Brands” are doing greenwashing marketing to appear as if they are concerned with what is happening, but they are not changing their ways, exploiting people, animals and resources. Look what they are doing here. In addition to this, such big brands are spoiling the tax system to their advantage.
I would also like to point out that there seems to be a lot of confusion on the political front* with critiques that many multinationals are led by left-wing and “woke” people: they are not. If they are leading a multinational, they have very little genuine left-wing thought as the main interest is making money, not recognising human and animal rights, nor lobbying to implement environmentally friendly policies.
What You Can Do
All this seems pretty grimy, doesn’t it? And you might find yourself quite hopeless.
But don’t despair! There are solutions to this.
For example, following the thought of “Think Global, Act Local”. Think about what happens around the world, look outside your comfort place. And see how the other experiences can help you improve your community. Also, think about how your choices can have a global impact: look at where your pans are made or if your latest piece of clothing is coming from places known to exploit women.
If possible, get your groceries from co-ops or community-run enterprises and buy from shops that stock local businesses.
Avoid getting exotic animals, either from shops or from private: exotic animals are supposed to live in places where they are not considered “exotic”. And obviously don’t buy any pets! The shelters are overflowing with unwanted cats, dogs, rabbits, horses etc and the majority will have a policy of euthanising those animals who haven’t been adopted after a number of weeks.
To Conclude
Even if you don’t believe in climate change, you should acknowledge that some changes are happening to our Earth and there might be a chance that they are worsened by mankind, then why not do something, bring a little bit of change to your everyday life, that could help alleviate such alterations?
*Please note that I am not here to discuss politics as it is becoming increasingly messed up, nor do I prefer left or right wing as neither is accomplishing much (consider reading this article). I am a vegan, a feminist, an environmentalist and an activist for animal and human rights, and I am talking as such: I do the research on these issues and I am telling you the outcome but the process too, so that you are not happy with my findings you can do your own research and come to your conclusions.
It’s World Vegan Day so I couldn’t not write a little post to mark the occasion.
I know it has been a long time since my last post, but it has been a hectic time with my regular work, being involved in many new and exciting projects: coming back home and have not the energy to read more stuff, analyze it and write about it. So, apologies for the absence.
Guys, this is one of the best days of the whole year: International Cat Day! I couldn’t not make a post on this, I mean, it’s in the name of this blog TheVeganCATLibrarian.
DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a sponsored post: it is my personal story that happens to involve the Cats Protection because of fate.
Also, this is a long post, at times a bit sad (very sad if you are a cat person). So you are advised.
The Making Of A Crazy Cat Lady
From Birth
This means that I have a particular affinity with these domestic felines. As I always say, I was raised by cats: my parents had a black cat before I was born and at some point, she got pregnant just months before my mom gave birth to me. This cat (her name was Stella) was never jealous of me and actually (from what my parents always told me) she was very affectionate: my mom attributed this to the fact that Stella was also pregnant and gave birth to her kittens just after I was born so there was some extra maternal instinct there. No wonder I love cats!
Unfortunately, Stella got lost a few years later: it is still unclear how that happened because we were living in a block of flats in a residential area. My parents think someone must have seen her wandering around and thought of taking her. I hope she found a good place, but my parents were really quite brokenhearted. This meant that we didn’t have other cats for 9 years. In the meantime we also moved from the city to a much smaller town, we had a garden and I was pestering my parents to get a pet. It happened that in the area there were a lot of stray cats, so my parents decided that while not taking in any cats, I could practice taking care of another life by feeding these stray cats. And I loved the fact that they thought me this, to take care of a non-human animal that was in need, I think it’s beautiful to instil this in a small and young mind. My parents saw that the feeding of the strays was going well, they were also coming closer, probably in search of some kind of protection? Who knows. Then a neighbour’s cat had some kittens (you’ll see this is sadly a recurrent situation, but will explain shortly) and gave us one: Sweety. A beautiful European cat, short-haired, with a white belly and his back all grey with black stripes. He was a gentle soul, particularly loved my dad and was very happy to eat plum cakes and boiled green beans. He lived with us for 7 years, then he started being ill and one day he went away. Again, this hit us (especially my dad) quite hard and again the decision of not taking in any more cats. But there were still plenty of strays around and we were happy to provide food for them.
Teen Years
Few years passed and a friend asked me if I knew anyone interested in a kitten because her aunt’s cat had a litter and wanted to give them away but to trusted people. My dad resisted a bit to the idea, but then he gave up. This brought Hercules another European cat, all dark brown, with a lighter belly and several small, oval, coffee patches on his belly. We called him like that because these patches seemed abs and he was very strong for a little cat! Since it was me who pressed to take him, my parents told me that I would have had to take care of him after he was weaned. So I was feeding him the homogenised food and kept him in my bedroom for a month. The bond that was created after that was so strong: he preferred sleeping on my bed and liked me best to pet him. He liked what I liked and disliked what I disliked: he didn’t mind when I was listening to loud music but was very annoyed at the crying of small children. He was also a bit of a rascal but didn’t mind having a collar. A bit after three years, he was found dead in the garden of a neighbour. Now, about this. The neighbour said he found him dead, he thinks a car hit him and he managed to drag himself in that garden. But all our gardens have gates with cast iron bars that are very close to each other, so how can a cat close to death manage to squeeze in between such bars and preferring another garden to his home’s one? We were never convinced about this story. My heart just sunk and this time it was me that didn’t want to take any more cats in: I got too close and this death was just tragic.
But my mom wanted another cat and this time a colleague of hers said that for few weeks she was seeing a cat with two kittens near her garden and asked my mom to take one. Bear in mind this is just a couple of months after Hercules’ death. I was very resistant to the idea, but she really wanted another cat. Understandably, as she didn’t have much feeling with Hercules. One day she comes back from work with a carrier and one of the smallest little kitten I have ever seen: all black with just half of the tail. He was hissing and looked so scared. This was Figaro. Obviously, since my mom was working long hours away from home while I was studying at home, the task of getting him settled in this new environment fell on me. It was a bit sad for me but also there was this little creature that needed help…I did the same as I did with Hercules: took him in my room, fed him homogenised food etc. But Figaro was never the cuddly type, he had his own personality, was an adventurer and liked to stay out for days (he too had a collar and microchip). He probably liked my dad best, like Sweety, and tolerated my mom and me. Although, when he wanted cuddles he would have taken them from any of us very gladly.
Figaro (with his small tail)
We were all living fairly happily when yet another neighbour came to live nearby with several babies, children, cats and dogs: it was a messy family (their condition was unclear and I don’t want to judge). Two of these cats came quite frequently in our garden and it seemed like Figaro wasn’t too bothered by this and was actually getting along with them. From now on, everything comes from what my mom tells me as it is after 2015 and I already moved from home. The family at some point went away, leaving these two cats behind. What did they do? They went to my parents’ home and basically installed themselves there where my mom was feeding them under the concerned eyes of Figaro. Short after they moved to my parent’s house, one of these cats turns out to be pregnant. My mom was ecstatic and prepared a box with an old woolly pullover to host the cat and the kittens. She gave birth to 4, all healthy and very cute. My mom brought everybody to the vet also so that she could give them away because Figaro was already very unhappy. 3 of the 4 kittens were given away as soon as it was possible (and my mom is still in touch with the people who took them) as well as the mom, that went to an old lady that lives very close to my parents. But what about the 4th kitten and the other adult cat? They stayed with my parents: the adult cat (which was renamed Cesare because he was a strategist as apparently, he was the one inspecting the situation at my parents’, scouting for a decent place for her to give birth) was FIV positive -probably that big family was never able to vaccinate him- and he died a few months ago. The other one, Bizet, is a beautiful and healthy cat that lives with my parents and is much loved. And what about Figaro? He never fully accepted the whole situation: he was a very territorial cat and barely tolerated the two adult cats and even less when everything got too crowded with the 4 kittens. He started keeping for himself, spending long times outdoor in summer and his hiding places in the home during the colder months, asking only for food (which had to be given to him at separate times from the others to avoid fights). Despite my mom trying all her best to make him feel loved, trying to making him understand that he was the favourite. It went on for other 4 years, when Figaro came back one day from another long time outdoor, when he was seeking all the attention and cuddles from my parents (which they duly and promptly gave him -as they were just waiting for that): this being an unusual behaviour, my mom took him to the vet where he was diagnosed with a urinary infection and I believe some cysts. They kept him under observation at the vet, but the cures weren’t working so my mom took him back home to have him stay with her and my dad for his last days. He died last year. And a year later, Cesare died from complications due to the FIV. Bizet is currently missing his pal and my parents are keeping me updated on all that they are doing for him. But at this point, my mom has already decided that he is the last cat they’ll have because there has been too much going on, they have always loved each and every one of the cats they kept and they brought them so much joy, but it is always excruciating having them leaving.
Cesare (my mom put a mask around his neck because he kept dribbling saliva and blood due to FIV complications)
Bizet
Cesare and Bizet (aka best pals)
Then
Well, now I am crying thinking of them all (I know that people who have never lived with an animal will have some difficulties understanding this, but as human animals we have our own personalities, so do non-human animals and it is similar to having a friend).
Anyway, I was saying. When I moved here, I had to look for a job, look for a place, learn how to live in another Country. All this translated in me living for three years in flats shared with other people, being also quite skint, making it impossible to adopt a cat and being able to provide food, toys, scratching posts and so on. I was struggling without a feline friend, I felt something was missing. But as my mom always says: “If you want a pet you have to keep him properly. Don’t take a pet to then leave him in poor conditions.” Similarly, even when I finally moved to a flat all by myself, the conditions were not right: it was very shabby (but not chic), badly insulated, with the carpets coming off and was above a pub, and despite having a bit of outside space it wasn’t protected so that a cat could have fallen. Obviously, this was preventing me from taking a cat.
Now
A couple of years later, my working conditions became much better and was able to move to another flat: this time a lovely place in a residential area, very quiet, double glazing, new carpet and floorings and with a garden! Plus, I saw at least 5 cats in the same street as the new flat, which says a lot. As soon as I settled in my new job, I contacted three organisations to adopt a cat: two deemed the street being too unsafe for a cat and wouldn’t even consider coming to see the place; the third agreed to come and give a look (Cats Protection). Oh, the excitement! The person from the organisation came to see and meet me: he was quite happy with the conditions, mostly because he knows quite well the area as he is a local and felt positive that he could find the right match for me as there were 2 new cats just arrived at one of the Cats Protection foster homes. Not even a week after the visit, he suggests I go see Violet, one of the two new cats. A colleague offered to give me a lift because I don’t have a car and the foster home was a bit far away: on our way we also stopped to get all the essential stuff like litter box, wet and dry food, bowls, toys and all. Everybody was saying to just give a look, no commitment to take the cat home and to do so only if I felt it was right. But how can you do something like that?! I mean, you tell me “here is a cat, but you don’t have to take him”. How would you manage? Probably someone else could have just turned around and say goodbye. Not me. I saw this beautiful black cat, Violet: she was perched on a cat tree and wasn’t bothered by my arrival. There was the other cat too, but he seemed a bit shyer. Violet seemed docile and at the same time self-contained. I already liked her. Then I agreed with the foster-parent that I would take her home: signed all the papers and done all that needed to be done and then he got her in the carrier. Violet was so good during the whole trip back home: my colleague was very impressed because she never mewed! As soon as we were home, I let Violet out…and she wanted so many cuddles! I had tears in my eyes from happiness. And this is one of her traits: she is extremely cuddly. I timed things so that I went to work and left her settling in and getting to know the new environment. After few months I decided to let her go outside (with quite a heavy heart) and she was very happy with that: but I must say that she’s keeping her outdoor visits very short and when I call her she comes back in a matter of minutes (so probably she keeps at a hearing distance, which I appreciate greatly). We are in deeply in tune and I couldn’t have asked for a better feline friend.
Lessons To Be Taken From This Lengthy Post
VACCINATE: It is crucial to vaccinate cats as there are some scary diseases out there. FIV and FeLV are two of the worst, but at least there is some sort of prevention. Letting your cat without the proper vaccination will just make them ill and with a death sentence (see, Cesare). It doesn’t matter if you’re keeping your cat indoors: they can always run away and if they eat from the same place as an infected cat or they get into a fight with an infected cat, there are great chances they too will get infected.
STERILISE/NEUTER: I don’t care what you’re saying about “but they should be able to give birth once in their lives”. NO. There are enough kittens and cats around the globe, that you don’t need to add another 5. Even because if you let your female cat going around without being neutered, she can get pregnant from a cat that is affected by the above-mentioned diseases and the kittens will contract them. And what are you going to do at that point?
ADOPT-DON’T-SHOP: As said above, many cats in the world are without a home: apparently there is something like 480,000,000 stray cats in the whole world. You read it right: 480 MILLION cats. True, I am the first one to say that there is nothing like too many cats. But this number is for those strays, those that have no place to stay and even if it including those living in a shelter, you have to consider that they will be killed if they will not be adopted. So, why buying a cat from a breeder? Do you think they’ll love you more? Or is it just for the likes on Instagram? Because they are the same as a cat from a shelter. Funny enough, you can found pedigree cats in shelters because their humans can’t keep them anymore for a reason or another. There are no excuses for getting a cat impregnated just for the sake of having a pedigree cat. And shelters have something for everyone (sadly, mostly because people keep abandoning their pets).
So, adopt don’t shop and you’ll find the best cat for you.
If you have been brave enough to get till the end of this post, thank you for your patience and I hope you’ll have a fantastic day. (This goes for the others, but they will never know!)
Hi everybody! As the title of this post says, I wanted to share with you my yoga practice. This doesn’t have much to do with veganism, but I thought it’s part of the “rainbows” in my life, those positive things that you are looking forward to and will bring a smile on your face especially after the rain (wait, I love the rain, but it’s to give you an idea of the beneficial effect that yoga has on me). Probably now it might have formed in your mind the image of the stereotypical vegan a bit hippy, a “flower child” as this was usually the image that non-vegans had of vegans some time ago: nothing could be more wrong. Well, kind of.
I still remember a very vegan but also very punk/anarchist friend who was also very annoyed at a lot of new-vegans who were saying they were practising yoga: but this was due to the fact that such a stereotypical image could also be poisonous for the vegan movement because people might not see yoga positively, hence associating yoga and veganism would have been bad for the latter. It is a theory.
Anyway. Since I was 14 years old, I was much closer to the “dark/gothic” movement (remember the Evanescence anyone?)
Album cover for “Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence
This hasn’t much changed over the years: I might have eased up in the fashion of my clothes, but I am always frequenting that scene because, even in my 30s, I have much more affinity with rockers and metalheads than with other music communities. So, how the heck did I get into yoga? Another premise: I have never been good at sports, you know, volleyball, tennis, swimming. Ach! And I dreaded PE: that was absolute hell for me. ABSOLUTE HELL. Especially when I was younger and the boys in my class were always mocking me (big bums anyone?). Things got a bit better in high school because I was attending an almost all-female school, making it less stressful to move my body. This dread of sports ended when I started kung-fu: that was absolutely amazing! True, I felt almost like Kung Fu Panda (and that was also the time it came out), but the other people that were also training there, were all great, supportive and ready to help out. During those years, I formed long-lasting friendships with people that I still visit when I go back home.
Kung Fu Panda GIF
Around 2012, I was studying at uni and unfortunately the time I could dedicate to my kung fu training wasn’t much, but at the same time I felt the need to do some kind of activity. Enters Tumblr (yes, I had a Tumblr blog). In amongst the myriad of posts from all over the world, I saw this image challenging you to hold each pose for 30 seconds:
For the life of me I can’t find the original creator of this picture, as it came on a Tumblr post that was linking to Pinterest. If you know who the creator is, please let me know.
And I am not to shy away from a challenge.
I tried this, very simple, just holding poses for few seconds. I. Loved. It! Since the beginning, I enjoyed this kind of practice: it involved concentration, discipline and patience. It was a great help after a whole day of study, it helped to cope with the stress and tension: focusing on the poses made me momentarily detach from the world, providing 15-20 minutes of mindfulness after a day on the books. Needless to say, I started looking into some more of these poses and Tumblr provided more: see the following infographics (can we call them as such?)
I worked with these poses until I moved to the U.K. in 2015, but because of this, for quite a long time I wasn’t able to do much because I had to find a place to stay, find a job and do all the things you need to do in order to start a new life in a new place. It wasn’t until midway through 2017 when I finally got back to more focused practice and that is also when I started looking into a more fluid yoga practice. This meant that I stumbled upon the wonders of YouTube, where one is really spoilt for choice of yoga styles, yoga teachers, yoga practices. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the first videos I followed, which is a pity because I remember I quite liked them, and also were easy to follow and not too intrusive with the explanations. I then tried many different yoga teachers (always on YouTube) because even if it is a remote way of learning, I strongly believe that there is a special bond and affinity with the person who is sharing their knowledge with you. Without going too deep into this, some yoga teachers are too loquacious when holding poses, taking the chance to share their beliefs, or making questions to the audience: which is a great way to engage with some, but I find it too distracting. Personally, when I hold a pose I need to focus on what I am doing and then trying not to think to anything else. Hence, this choice is very subjective. There is no “one size fits all” in yoga, and that’s also the beauty of it: with so many styles and teachers (all with their own personalities), even if you still haven’t found a practice that suits you, just keep looking because it is out there. Don’t despair!
These four are the ones that I like best: they explain the poses, without being too intrusive; they all have some aspect of light spirituality without being “too much” (if you know what I mean); they all offer videos of different lengths, to suit the needs of most people. I think all their approaches reflect my needs, so I am happy with them all. They all have some “challenges”, which I believe are great to get yourself back into some practice, but maybe they are not the best way to understand if that teacher is good for you.
The differences are that Ali and Cat offer quite strong practices, that are basically cardio. While SarahBeth and Kassandra are more focused on the more “classic” yoga styles (SarahBeth does Vinyasa, Hatha and Power yoga videos, Kassandra is very focused on Yin and Vinyasa).
So, I narrowed it down to these four teachers. However, in the past months, since I have started doing some extra cardio, I felt like Kassandra was the best choice for myself, my body and my mind, at the moment. Then we’ll see! Again, it is very subjective.
I leave you with this Full Body Yoga Flow by Kassandra that she used to spread awareness and starting a fundraising for an Animal Sanctuary in Canada.
Full Body Yoga Flow 🐷 ANIMAL SANCTUARY FUNDRAISER
Let me know if you are practicing yoga, what style of yoga do you prefer or if you knew any of these yoga teachers!
As my usual, I am coming late to the partay: I just found out these days that there is a new movie by film director Viktor Kossakovsky and the executive producer is (our beloved) Joaquin Phoenix: it is called Gunda, it has been presented at various Film Festivals around the globe and it was released on the 4th of June in the UK (16th April in the U.S.A.). Although, it was already presented at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2020.
I just finished watching it and it is quite the vegan movie: it is heartbreakingly true and honest. It is delicate because it depicts the lives of farm animals in a fairly free environment; it is powerful because the film manages to show the animals in a fairly free environment and how they would behave if they were left alive. The black and white technique and absence of music make it possible to get a full immersion in the lives of these farm animals. But I don’t want to say too much in case you want to watch it.
From the official website, we read that
“Where his prior film, the acclaimed epic AQUARELA, was a reminder of the fragility of human tenure on earth, in GUNDA, master filmmaker Viktor Kossakovsky reminds us that we share our planet with billions of other animals. Through encounters with a mother sow (the eponymous Gunda), two ingenious cows, and a scene-stealing, one-legged chicken, Kossakovsky movingly recalibrates our moral universe, reminding us of the inherent value of life and the mystery of all animal consciousness, including our own.”
Joaquin Phoenix and Victor Kossakovsky have partnered to make this film. Kossakovsky is vegan, and we know that Phoenix is a vegan and activist: with this, we can say that he shows how to use media to talk about the importance of going vegan. Read the interview with the two artists in the Los Angeles Times.
Kossakovsky explains how Gunda is not vegan propaganda:
“filmmaking is a weapon a could make… I could make easily a monster of her and I can make angel. for example when she decided to kill her kid because she was not able…she knew he was weak that this kid was weak, she knew that this kid would not make it and as far as she didn’t have enough…how do you call it…nipples, right? she didn’t have enough milk so she suppose she knew she must make this decision. and if I were to make propaganda movie, “vegan propaganda” movie, I would cut it out, right, this episode, I will not show it because obvs it is controversial episode, right? Like, if you want to make people laugh here they probably will not show this, right? But I say I don’t do propaganda, I don’t do propaganda, this is… I’m not who I am to decide to… to judge her, I’m not there to judge.”
He also talks about human rights:
“We have been inventing horrible things [referring to nuclear weapons, torture, machine guns], we are like this. We are still not underst…we are still thinking, fighting about, we are still questioning like rights of people with god, we… what is this? we are still talking about it, we still not came to conclusion, we still talking about rights of women, rights of people with different sexual orientation. We still not decide at least we are not teaching a human.”
On the consciousness of killing animals:
“We will not make next step until we understand that to kill animal and to mistreat animal is the same as mistreat human and kill human, the same: it’s act of killing, nothing else. We allow ourselves to torture, to mistreat and to kill, we allow ourselves to do this. Doesn’t matter if it’s animal or human, we have to accept, we are able to do this, if we are able to do this then why are we surprised that there is still war, why are we surprised that they still fight in streets, why are we surprised. We… we know we are killing them, we know we are torturing them, we know we mistreat them and we do see and we play games that “we don’t know”: we eat every morning and we know it was just killed. we are killing three trillion fishes every year, we are killing one billion pigs every year, we are killing half-billion cows every year, billions, I’m talking. we are killing 50 billions chickens every year.”
On the criticisms of veganism because of religion or scientific reasons, he
“has bad news for both. If you believe in god, first of all, is written don’t kill and if you believe in god, you believe you have soul: in Gunda, you see she does have soul. But if you don’t believe in god, I also have bad news for you, because if you believe in evolution then evelution will not stop in human, then it will appear more cleaver creature more cleaver than human and might happen it will be more aggressive, might happen it will use our babies for Christmas parties to eat. just be careful. Let’s wake up, let’s respect nature.”
Kossakovsky also took the chance to point out the inequalities in the distribution of resources:
“Just let’s talk. and what we do: one billion people at the moment don’t have water, one billion people have no access to water at the same time we have one billion cows, which each of them needs 10 times more than human just to feed and to make produce for human. cows need more water than humans, we have one billion cows, but we have no water fr one billion people. And we have spent 10 times more water to produce meat.”
This film is really worth watching, so let me know if you have done it already or are you planning to.
Just perfect timing with what I was saying in my last post: Nestlé doesn’t have anything vegan about it so their products shouldn’t be approved by the Vegan Society, no vegan trademark should be conceded to them. It is true they are pledging to “minimize animal testing for conventional foods” (meaning that they are still testing on animals for non-conventional foods), their working practices are far from respectful of the employees and the environment.
In this post, I am going to explain a bit more in-depth the difference between “Vegan” and “Plant-based”. Probably you think that these terms are synonyms but they are not: here I am telling you why, hopefully making your life a bit easier in identifying what is vegan and what is plant-based. I know it seems like I am repeating myself and it might be, but, you know, repetita iuvant (which translates literally to ‘repetition does good’).
Let’s give some sense to these words:
Vegan = Someone who doesn’t consume any product derived from animals, in all aspects of their lives from food to clothing, to make-up and beauty etc.: no animal products whatsoever. It is not only a diet but also a lifestyle and a philosophy. The idea behind it is that there is no need to exploit animals in order for us to live. But it doesn’t stop here: the abuse that a vegan doesn’t encourage for the animals applies to also people and the environment because, usually the industries like fish, meat, dairy are not famous for having good ethical practices. Just an example, the meat industry is a barbaric business that destroys the environment, creating pollution (from greenhouse gases to water pollution – for further reading click here and here) which affects the people.
Plant-based = A diet where a person eats food that is not derived from animals. It is a diet, it can be considered at a similar level of omnivore diet, vegetarian diet, Dukan diet, etc.
We have already seen – here and here – that there are certain brands (like Coca-Cola, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, etc.) holding an almost complete monopoly of the food industry, with their name products but also through the owning of parent companies. And we have ascertained that they are not vegan for the animals nor the environment or the people. For example, there is a new version of KitKat being advertised as vegan. But they are owned by Nestle which is definitely not vegan. So, they should actually be advertised as plant-based.
There are also many clothing brands that are advertising themselves, or some of their products, as vegan as they don’t use materials derived from animals. But, again, while these products don’t contain they come from brands that are not actually vegan and uses wool, leather, feathers etc in their other products. Examples are provided by the clothes and shoes produced by brands like Adidas and Nike: while some of their products might be made without the use of animal products, they both have issues on matter of ethical treatment of employees, animals and the environment (you can find information on Adidas and Nike here and here).
Similarly, on the matter of make-up and beauty products, we enter that universe controlled by L’Oreal, Yves Rocher, Maybelline, Pantene etc, all professing to make vegan products while testing on animals (making such products not cruelty-free: which is another thing to look out when buying vegan beauty products and there are lists of brands that are vegan and cruelty-free that you can find, for example, on the CrueltyFreeKitty and EthicalElephant websites).
Ethics
So we are getting to the main point, which is the ethics of the company producing vegan or plant-based products.
I know that now the vegans eating Oreos and washing their hair with some L’Oreal stuff are already fairly pissed at me. But I am only stating the facts: these products are not vegan because these big companies are not vegan, exploiting animals and workers and deforesting the Earth. True, their products might be slightly more affordable, but there is a price behind that and I don’t want to sound cheesy, but that price is ethics. Every time you buy some Heinz beans or mayonnaise or whatever, you are financing a system that is exploiting the exploitable. This is not a criticism, only something that should be taken into consideration. Especially if we want the end to animal suffering, better working conditions and a cleaner world: whenever you can, shop locally, look if there are food cooperatives that get their fruit&veg from the local farms, look up for those smaller online shops that are selling trusted vegan products. In the beginning, it will be difficult, but we are in 2021 and there really are so many options.
This has been since I started transitioning to my vegan lifestyle: it has been hard, but I hacked the best ways to get real vegan food. When I moved to the UK I had to start all over: while I was looking for jobs (but also while I was waiting tables or worked in a bar) I couldn’t afford to get to the farmers’ market, but I was still avoiding these big companies by going to the supermarket late in the evening to get food at very reduced prices, buying clothes at the charity shops (going to TK Maxx for a treat, but obviously being extra careful to all the label products). Only now that I am in a good job I can finally sit and look for alternatives to the supermarkets & Co. So it is possible, it takes time and some patience, but it is doable.
“White Veganism”
However, this point raises the issue of “white veganism”, one of the criticisms made to vegans/plant-based people: in short, this critique says that those that can afford to be vegan are mostly white people from the northern hemisphere and that veganism is linked to colonisation, making it difficult for BIPOC and people in the southern hemisphere to be vegan because either vegan products exploit immigrants and those living south of the Equator or because the prices of vegan products are inaccessible to BIPOCs.
I think it has already been made clear that if one is vegan (see above) they will have a care not only for the well-being of the animals but also of the environment which means people too. Here, I can quite agree with the critique of white veganism as a diet is a consequence of colonialism: the big multi-national companies that are deforesting the Amazon forest and exploit indigenous people to plant palm oil and to build intensive farms are indeed the fruit of colonisation (also if I were you, I would read this article). But these companies are not vegan. They have some products that are plant-based, but not vegan. So I would like to redirect the critique of white veganism to actually a “white plant-based movement”. The same movement that sponsors the consumption of Impossible Foods (see why Impossible Foods Ltc is not vegan), Beyond Meat and all those meat-alternative companies that advertise making ultra-processed plant-based food at such high prices, making it really Impossible for people on low income to buy them. A vegan can live with pasta, rice, legumes, fruit and vegetables and have a balanced, healthy and affordable diet. And you can make a lot of meat-alternatives by yourself (casually dropping some recipes for tofu and seitan to make at home)!
It should also be argued that those talking about white veganism never mention that the meat industry takes away a big chunk of subsidies and that actually a redistribution of resources would help in having good fruit&veg at cheaper prices while also being organic.
To Summarise
Behind veganism there is an idea that no sentient being, nor the environment, should be exploited: it is with this optic that we look at the practices of big companies and discern what is vegan and what is not. While what vegans eat is a plant-based diet, it is much more than this. Also, no one is perfect and we are all trying our best.
If you have any thoughts on this let me know in the comments down below.
It is almost three months that I haven’t published anything here *horrified face emoji*: I did start the research for a couple of posts, but we all know that life happens, I have a full-time job that for almost 2 months required some of my personal time which translated in not being able to dedicate much attention to this blog. And honestly, retrospectively, that wasn’t even necessary: it is just my weirdly wired brain that wants to finish something once it is started, especially if it is work-related. Trying to look at it in a positive way, although the extra time I spent on that project for work wasn’t really necessary, I learned some new skills (i.e. editing videos) and also enjoyed exploring a bit more with my creativity in the graphic design area (I am not a creative person, but as they say “practice makes perfect” and -very- little by little I feel more confident in my graphic design creations).
Anyway, during these three months, I finished the Reading Challenge: I thought (a bit cockily) that it would have been a challenge on the easy side, but I managed the 5 books plus an extra one just in time for the end of the 10th week. It probably would have been a bit easier if it weren’t for work taking more time than expected, but still, I am very happy with having finished the challenge. I will update that post with the books I have read 🙂
Another thing that happened during this time, was that I took part in a Women’s Circle. For those of you who don’t know it, a Women’s Circle is a physical or virtual space where a group of women meet and share thoughts and experiences, without judgement. It would usually be done in a physical space (i.e. studio or park), but because of guidelines and restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we all met via GoogleMeet. The Circle in which I took part, was organised and lead by La Noce Cosmica, an educator who specialised in the menstrual circle and expert of feminine and masculine cyclicalities (but I’ll have the honour of having a guest post by the same where she will explain everything much better than me, so stay tuned for that!). The experience has been intense, uplifting and regenerating. I didn’t know what to expect because this was my first Women’s Circle, but you could feel the energy coming from the virtual space, the connection to the other women and the liberating freedom of talking without prejudices about personal and intimate experiences like your menstrual circle, was leaving me revived after the Circle. The topics covered were not only about menstruation, but an umbrella of related matters, from birthing to the relation with our mothers and all that is female. But enough about this! We will have the founder of La Noce Cosmica, Anna, as a guest blogger where she’ll explain what she does, why participating in a Women’s Circle and also about the process of the Limpia.
And this is the next thing I have done in this time, also connected to the Women’s Circle. It came out during one of the meetings, La Limpia is a kind of purifying diet, where for 50 days it requires drinking some herbs in the morning and excluding all the processed foods in order to detoxify all your body and the menstrual blood. The aim to have clean menstrual blood (without considering the already beneficial effects of abstaining from eating processed food) is because, after that time, it will be possible to collect it and make a tincture out of it. However, in order to collect the blood, you have to keep avoiding the same food for the 50 days until you get to the second circle after you finished the 50 days. Why collecting your menstrual blood? I find it that it is a very good way to be more in touch with your own body and what it produces and that’s what was very appealing to me. There are a lot of women that can be easily put off by body-related stuff, especially their blood, and maybe this could be something that could intrigue them and perhaps such a ritual could make them a bit more at ease and in sync with themselves. From my side, I can tell you that I have enjoyed the detox process, although I haven’t got to the collection of the menstrual blood because while I finished the 50 days, I had to attend a wedding back in my home country which meant spending time with my parents and being fed some absolutely delicious food that was not part of the diet and it would have defeated the purpose of the blood collection. However, this is something that I will do in October as Spring and Autumn are the best periods to do this thing. But, again, this is a topic better explained by Anna, so I’ll leave it to her.
Apart from all this, I have been recharging from work, reading more (but also re-watching some comedies on Netflix because you know the sense of comfrot that it gives you watching something that you already know), doing my daily yoga practice, experimenting with some vegan-macrobiotic recipes and cuddling my cat. Two new posts are already in the oven, so be ready to read all about it!
I know, I am coming a bit late today for this weekly appointment, but I wnated to share with you this beautiful recipe, perfect comfort food for every time of the year. It is deliciously vegan and you won’t regret making it.
In another post I included this recipe as a suggestion for a Valentine’s Day menu.
The reason I am dedicating a whole post to this recipe is because is the perfect comfort food: it is easy to make and tastes divinely, while also maintaining a certain healthiness as you can use your homemade gnocchi (so that you knwo what the ingredients are).
This Vegan Gnocchi Bake is nutricious, with shallots, mushrooms and broccoli. At the same time it’s also very tasty because of the gnocchi themselves, the flavoursome bechamel sauce and the vegan cheese.
It requires no effort, while returning an amazing result.
I made it now three times and never disappoints: try it to believe it!
I got the idea for this challenge while talking with a friend: he was thinking of attending a literature course of 10 weeks, and part of it consisted of reading 5 books selected for said course, meaning that he would have had to read 5 books in 10 weeks. Now, the whole thing of reading something a list of books in a set time, reminded me way too much of school times when you had to read specific books during the summer holidays, so I had no real interest in the course my friend was talking about (too much of a free spirit here!). But I really liked the idea of having a set time to read some books: I love a nice challenge, and I love challenging myself in doing something (also kind of competitive, here).
A Bit Of Background
I have always been an avid reader, often preferring reading to go out playing with the other kids (having being bullied a lot as a kid, books were offering an oasis of peace and a break from the outer world). Long story short, the past two years I have been unable to read much (it took me 4 months to finish Middlemarch despite loving every page of it!) because I was focusing a lot on gaining a professional registration. And I really missed reading, diving deep into other worlds, other stories, learning new stuff thanks to non-fiction books, etc.
It is true that when one has spent after several hours focussing on work it is oh so easy to just collapse on the sofa or on the bed binge-watching all that TV has to offer. Same goes for the weekend because you need to recharge from the past week and at the same time you have to mentally prepare for the week ahead.
Hence this Challenge
If you, like me, are someone who likes to read but have been putting off that pile of books for a while, for a reason or for another – life happens -; or maybe you have been reading but not at your usual pace, so you want to go back to your rhythm; or perhaps you just want to start reading. Then this challenge is for you!
How It Works
The idea is to read 5 books in 10 weeks. “Which books?” you may ask. Well, that’s up to you, there are no restrictions on genres, on fiction or non-fiction, comic books, audiobooks: anything that inspires you, go for it!
All you need to do is to dedicate at least 30 minutes to reading, that’s all that this challenge is asking you. Any time during the day: being first thing in the morning during breakfast, or at lunchtime or in the evening. I personally feel that I can better commit to this challenge in the evening, after dinner: I usually watch something during my dinner (one episode of some show), then that’s it, I start to read. But I tell you, 30 minutes fly very quickly and I end up reading for the next 2-3 hours and being late for sleepy time!
There are so many benefits that you gain from reading: it ameliorates your vocabulary, helps to relieve stress, improve sleep and much more (you can read some more here and here)! Plus you learn stuff by reading non-fiction books (from biographies to science/history/philosophy/art/and so on books), you get into different worlds (from utopian to dystopian ones, from places in the outer space to fantastic worlds), but most importantly you’ll have a great time.
To Summarise
Choose your first book (physical, electronic, audiobook, comic, etc.), open it and start reading those first lines – letting yourself go into the world you chose for these first two weeks. Remember, the main purpose of this challenge is to enjoy yourself!
Let me know if you want to start the challenge, which book you chose as your first, or just if you’re thinking of starting it: I’ll be here if you need any help.
The Vegan Cat Librarian 