barefoot vegan sept_oct issue.pdf

Hello beautiful people!
VEGANISM IS A WAY OF LIVING THAT
INTERSECTS EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE.
At the very core of the vegan philosophy
is a striving for justice and a willingness
to extend this not only to our animal
friends but also to our human brothers
and sisters. Justice is the theme of our
third issue and we narrow it down by
looking at the sub-topics of feminism
and food supply. Therefore I’m honoured
to feature the inspirational Tracye
McQuirter as our cover story. Not only is
Tracye a powerhouse in the black vegan
community, she works tirelessly
campaigning on issues relating to
empowering women and calling for food
justice. In keeping with our theme we’ve got regular contributor Juliet Gellatley from Viva!
talking about vegan pregnancy; Jane Legge introduces us to the intriguing world of ‘Red
Tents’; Dr. Justine Butler explains why milk is a feminist issue, and we also meet the folks
behind Skipchen and Chili On Wheels - serving up nourishing food with a good helping of
justice! We give food for thought on the often controversial subject of feeding cats and dogs a
vegan diet, and I’m also pleased to feature an article from Anneka Svenska on foxhounds, as
she describes the hidden suffering of these dogs used for hunting. As always, thank you so
much for being part of this community. The more we learn about veganism, the more we
come to understand how the influence of this compassionate lifestyle reaches far beyond
simply what we put on our plates and how we adorn ourselves and our surroundings.
Everything is inextricably connected. Justice for all!
With love,
Emma Letessier

Juliet Gellatley is the founder &
director of Viva! She has a degree
in zoology & psychology (BSc
hons) & is a qualified nutritional
therapist. Connect with her on
Facebook and visit:
www.viva.org.uk.
Juliet Gellatley
Anneka Svenska
Anneka Svenska is the founder
of ‘Green World Television’ &
‘Angels for the Innocent
Foundation’, & she also shares
her expertise in juicing,
smoothies & raw vegan eating.
To view some of the Green
World TV Films Anneka has
released please click here . You
can also visit her website and
connect with her on Facebook
and Twitter.
4 | BarefootVegan

September/October 2015
Laura Koniver, MD is the
Intuition Physician. She infuses
modern medicine with intuition
for a deeper understanding of
health & healing. You can
connect with her via
www.intuition-physician.com
and Facebook.
www.BarefootVegan.com
Emma Letessier
editor@barefootvegan.com
advertising@barefootvegan.com
Lee is the author of the vegan
cookbook 'Peace and Parsnips'
& is a food adventurer who
travels the world veganizing
local dishes, combining two of
his main passions; travel &
cooking. Lee lives with his
partner Jane in the Beach
House, from where he writes
the blog 'The Beach House
Kitchen'. Connect with Lee via
Facebook and Twitter.
Click here to find out
about writing for
Barefoot Vegan...
Emma Letessier
‘Barefoot Vegan’ is a trade mark of Letessier
Communications Ltd.
ISSN 2058-9840
© 2015 Letessier Communications Ltd. All
rights reserved.
While every effort has been made to ensure that
information is correct at the time of publication, the
authors and publisher cannot be held responsible
for the outcome of any action or decision based on
the information contained in this publication.
The publishers or authors do not give any warranty
for the completeness or accuracy for this
publication’s content, explanation or opinion.
This magazine is not intended as a substitute for the
medical advice of physicians. The reader should
regularly consult a physician in matters relating to
his/her health and particularly with respect to any
symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical
attention.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form without prior written
permission of the publisher. Permission is only
deemed valid if approval is in writing.
All images used have been sourced via Shutterstock,
Dreamstime, FreeImages & Unsplash. Images used
in editorial context have been credited.

Mamma
Mia
58
CONTENTS
ON THE COVER
14 Vegan singer/songwriter Emaline
Delapaix
Your chance to win a copy of her latest album
26 Mind Over Matter
Dr. Laura Koniver, MD, describes the impact that
outlook & spirituality can have on our health
58 Mamma Mia: Vegan Pregnancy
Juliet Gellatley explains how to have a healthy,
happy pregnancy
78 Milk is a Feminist Issue
Dr. Justine Butler, on the treatment of cows in the
dairy industry
103 The Food Empowerment Project
lauren Ornelas on how food justice intersects with
veganism
8 WHAT YOU’RE SAYING
Your letters to the editor
10 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
News round-up
18 The 1/100/100 Challenge
With Samantha Turnbull
FRONT COVER
48
Tracye McQuirter: We spoke with
author and nutritionist Tracye to
discuss African American health,
empowering women & food justice.
Front cover photo by ‘A Little Bit of
Whimsy Photography’.

76
103
MIND, BODY, SPIRIT
30 Red Tents: Celebrate our femininity
14
With Jane Legge
36 Will Travel for Vegan Food
We meet author & traveller Kristin Lajeunesse
42 For the Love of Vegan, Barefoot Running
66
With Alyson C Laskas
ANIMALS
66 Plant-Based Diets for Cats & Dogs?
By Akshay Verma
72 The Fox and The Hounds
Anneka Svenska highlights the suffering of hunting dogs
76 The Water Meadow
A short story by Mark Stewart
MOTHER NATURE
88 Chilis On Wheels
Feeding the homeless in New York a vegan meal
94 Eating for the Earth
How a vegan diet saves the environment, by Lee Watson
98 Justice is Served
Skipchen brings food justice to Bristol, UK
42

Here’s some of the feedback we’ve received on the
July/August issue! Thank you for taking the time to
send in your thoughts. Got something to say? Get in
touch! We’d love to hear from you! The ‘Editor’s Pick’
for this issue goes to Ang. Enjoy your goodies from
Thesis Beauty, Ang!
Editor’s Pick
This is now officially my favourite vegan
magazine! I have read both issues and think
all the articles are just wonderful. Barefoot
Vegan skilfully reflects so many different aspects
and avenues of veganism and sustainable living. I
have read every single article, both great and
small. I particularly love how you aren't afraid to
address veganism's close tie with spirituality. My
favourite article in the last issue was definitely
'Veganism, Animals and the Ascension'. It was
very exciting to hear Tim Whild
describe an unconventional understanding of the
origins of the human race that deeply resonates
with me, and one that fits in with a lot of other
spiritual theories I have encountered on this topic
before. Please continue to embrace the spiritual
side of veganism, as well as all the lovely pieces
you have on the ethical, environmental and health
aspects of the vegan movement. Warmest regards,
Ang Sumalde
I liked everything about the last issue. I think
it's great and very informative. I guess I found
the most value for me in the article about
mood boosting foods, a lot of new information. I
enjoyed Noel's pic and the self-love article.
Claudia Elena
I stumbled upon this magazine today and my
heart skipped a beat. This is one of those
rare finds that just lights me up.
Renee from Rowdy Girl Sanctuary
I have read the magazine on my phone.
Brilliant. You should be very proud!
Jane Ramsden
It's fantastic!!!!! Love it! Jeanette Despart
Big congratulations on another
AWESOME edition. Trinity
Get in touch to win!
The ‘Editor’s Pick’ for the next issue
will win a trio of superfood blends
from raw, vegan, gluten-free and
organic company Be. Valued at $60US.
editor@barefootvegan.com
Earthlings August 2011 - boom vegan!!
THANK YOU for what you do!!!! Elissa Davis
facebook.com/barefootveganmagazine
twitter.com/Barefoot_Vegan
8 | BarefootVegan

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News - Veganism - Health - Animals - Environment
Vegan Ultramarathon Runner
breaks Appalachian Trial
speed record
Scott Jurek has once again
showcased the prowess of
plant power by breaking the
speed record for the
Appalachian Trial by three
hours. Starting in Georgia
and finishing in Maine, the 41
-year-old ran the trail’s 2,189
miles in 46 days and a little
over eight hours.
Photo credit: scottjurek.com
Google search interest for veganism
has doubled
According to Google Trends, a tool that analyses the popularity of
search terms over time, the interest in “veganism” on Google has
been on a global incline since 2009. In fact, it’s more than doubled
in the last six years. Google Trends is a tool to gauge public
sentiment, generally used to track the zeitgeist and help researchers
analyse cultural phenomenon and popular topics.
New Smartphone game:
Butcher goes vegan
A recently
launched,
single-touch
smartphone
game created
by Arvin of
Arvin
Games, aims
to help
animals and
encourage
compassion. Image credit: Facebook
In ‘Butcher
goes Vegan’
players lead farm animals away from
dangerous obstacles and the game also
addresses other animal rights issues. The
game is free and available in both the
Apple App Store and through Google Play.
150 School Districts in the
US Have Introduced Veggie-
Friendly Meals
Thanks in large
part to the
efforts of the
Humane
Society of the
U.S.’ (HSUS)
Farm Animal
Protection
Division,
around 150
school districts, Photo credit: FreeImages.com/elias minasi
20 private
schools, almost 100 colleges/universities and 45 hospitals
have all introduced veggie-friendly meals with a view to
reduce meat consumption and make their students’ and
patients’ meals healthier and more sustainable. Depending on
the institution and its implementation strategy, meal options
can include both vegetarian and/or vegan choices.
10 | BarefootVegan

Photo credit: FreeImages.com/Willie Cloete
News - Veganism - Health - Animals - Environment
Vegan Society calls upon DEFRA to help farmers diversify
away from dairy industry in the UK
Photo credit: FreeImages.com/SCapture
Due to consistent falls in the sale of bovine milk and dairy
products in the UK, the chairman of the Farmers Union of
Wales’ milk committee had recently suggested a cull of
cattle to halt overproduction. CEO of The Vegan Society,
Jasmijn de Boo described this solution as ‘highly
demonstrative of the industry’s treatment of cows as
objects and props, lacking sentience or feeling’ and it
would be ‘a callous quick-fix to an unsustainable industry
that will continue to struggle as more and more people
turn to plant milk’. The Vegan Society is sympathetic to
workers losing their livelihoods, but is calling for
governmental measures to help farmers diversify away
from this failing industry by providing subsidies to move
into sustainable plant-based agriculture.
28% of special catering
requests are for vegan meals
In a recent
survey to
discover 2015
trends,
Catersource
Magazine
polled its
readers to
find out which requests they receive most
often when it comes to dietary restrictions.
Six choices were offered, as well as an area to
write in other requests. Vegetarian came in
first at just over 75%, gluten-free second
with 69% and vegan third at 28%.
Mr Universe Goes Vegan
Mr. Universe 2014,
Barny Du Plessis has
announced in a recent
interview that he’s
now a vegan. Du
Plessis won Mr.
Universe 2014 and
shortly afterward
Image credit: YouTube.com
transitioned to being a
“one-hundred percent,
wholehearted, staunch warrior vegan”. Since going vegan,
he has actually gained even more mass, now at 107 Kilos,
and he claims that there have been no negatives. He wakes
up with more energy and recovers faster.
Costa Rico to close down its zoos
Costa Rica will be the first country
in the world to shut down its zoos
and release captive animals. The
nation has also recently banned
hunting for sport. Environmental
Minister René Castro said: “We
are getting rid of the cages and
reinforcing the idea of interacting
with biodiversity in botanical
parks in a natural way. We don’t
want animals in captivity or
enclosed in any way unless it is to
rescue or save them.”
Photo credit: FreeImages.com/Sally bradshaw
11 | BarefootVegan

First vegan butcher shop to open in Minneapolis
America’s very first vegan butcher will be opening up in Minneapolis, Minnesota
after a successful Kickstarter campaign raised more than $60,000. Created by
siblings Aubrey and Kale Walch, the meat-free meats are handmade in small
batches and contain protein-rich ingredients like wheat gluten, yeast, soy, and
miso. They make items such as meat-free ribs, bacon, sausage, chicken, chorizo,
and more. The Herbivorous Butcher got its start this summer by selling meatless
meat at local farmers markets to rave reviews from both vegans and omnivores.
The shop will look like a “typical butcher’s shop” with cold cases full of fresh
“meat,” rotating specials, and a section for selling vegan cheeses, deli meats, meat
rubs, marinades, and breads.
Scotland bans GMOs
Scotland’s rural affairs secretary has
announced that the country will ban the
growing of genetically modified crops. Richard
Lochhead will request that Scotland be
excluded from any European consents for the
cultivation of GM crops. The announcement
was welcomed by Scottish Green MSP Alison
Johnstone, who agreed that the cultivation of
GM crops would harm the country's
environment and reputation for high quality
food and drink.
Vegan Medical Centre to Open
in Washington, DC.
Opening this
November, the
Barnard Medical
Center (BMC) in
Washington, DC,
will be one of the
first clinics in the US
to address the
country's chronic
health issues
through nutrition
and preventive
medicine. Neal
Barnard, MD, founder and president of Physicians
Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and
now founder and medical director of BMC, will work
with physicians, nurse practitioners, and dietitians to
help thousands of patients every year with weight
loss, heart health, diabetes, cancer prevention,
and childhood nutrition. Could this be the future of
medicine?
NYC Restaurant Sued for Being Vegan
GustOrganics, an establishment that operates in the Greenwich
Village section of New York City has been sued by investors after the
owners watched several documentaries about the environmental
devastation caused by animal agriculture, and decided they could no
longer continue to serve animal products. Investors filed a lawsuit
with the New York Supreme Court stating that the management has
“damaged the reputation and sales of the business” and
misrepresented the company by not telling investors in advance that
the establishment would transition to plant-based foods. Investors are
also sparring with management over the businesses finances.
They’re trying to paint the move to veganism as hurting the bottom
line, but management says the company actually started making
money for the first time in years after switching to plant-based foods.
12 | BarefootVegan

Photography by Binne Gestaltung
Emaline Delapaix
Emaline Delapaix is a vegan singer and
songwriter, hailing from Australia and
currently living in Berlin, Germany with her
cat Reece. Her ethereal style comes from a love
and close connection to nature and her music
has been described as being able to ‘invoke
the weather, like storms and warm sunsets’.
Emaline is embarking on a tour of the UK in
October 2015, so we spoke with her to find out
what it’s like to travel as a vegan musician
and how a compassionate lifestyle and
relationship with nature can aid in coping with
depression.
15 | BarefootVegan

Photography by Binne Gestaltung
Click here to
listen to a
sample of
Emaline’s
beautiful work
Tell us about yourself…
My name is Emaline Delapaix and I am an Australian
singer/songwriter/musician living in Berlin and living
full time as a musician for just over four years now.
How/why did you become vegan and
what impact has that had on your life?
I became vegan after being vegetarian for a few years.
For a long time something inside me told me it was
wrong to eat animal products so it was only a matter
of time before I made changes as I grew up with many
animals around the house. I remember the big change
happened in a place called Ithaca, New York in a coop
when I was reading about a dairy cow with two
broken legs and the farmer left her like that and her
leg was dragging on the ground. It just broke my heart
and opened the door to veganism.
How would you describe your music?
Alternative folk-pop is the simplest description, I am
not sure. What do you think? :)
I know that in some of your song lyrics,
you focus on nature. How important is
nature to you as a source of inspiration/
creative influence?
Nature is so important to me for inspiration and
creative influence but also to me as a human being
who suffers from depression. I enjoy being in the city
but start to get a bit anxious if I don't get out into
nature and peace at least once a month. Ideally I
would prefer to live on the edges of Berlin in a little
village so I can grow vegetables and walk my cat safely
-he is a very free spirit :) - but I still haven't found the
right place yet. Fingers crossed for 2016.
You suffer from depression and credit
your vegan lifestyle and becoming
a musician as things that help you to deal
with it. How important do you
feel authenticity is in helping to lead a
happy life?
Depression is a lifelong illness but I definitely eased
the pain when it comes to dealing with it every day.
Years ago I was given many pills including antidepressants
and anti-psychotics which made me put on a
lot of weight and made my brain very fuzzy. In the end I
decided to take on my illness head-on and to do all I could
to make my life more manageable, which included reading
a lot of books and educating myself about my illness. I
found that eating a healthy, raw heavy diet and my
environment was so important to me. I began getting rid
of the negative, toxic people in my life and tried to do the
same with the thoughts in my head, changing the way I
think to become more positive. Becoming vegan also
helped because naturally I turned to more fresh fruit and
veg but also it felt more ethical and right for me. But I'm
not done yet, still lots of work to do on myself and I am
working on that every day.
You promote yourself as a vegan singer/
songwriter. What opportunities or barriers
does that present to what you’re doing?
I thought that it would present barriers at the start but
decided if it put people off then it was probably for the
best anyway as they probably wouldn't get a good chunk of
my music or where I am coming from. Being a vegan
songwriter is great. I get invited to veggie events and meet
amazing people who have inspired and enriched my life so
for that I am grateful.
You get to travel a lot when touring. What do
you enjoy most about being on the road?
I find traveling expands my heart and mind and I find
myself even more on those big open highways. Meeting
people and making new friends and bringing my music to
them of course is also wonderful.
What’s your best advice for other travelling
vegans?
Do a little research before you travel and carry back up
snacks like nuts, protein bars, fruit and veg.
16 | BarefootVegan

Photography by Binne Gestaltung
When you’re at home, you’ve
started growing a few of your
own vegetables and foraging.
What’s inspired you to do that?
I feel that as humans we are very disconnected from everything
around us including what we eat. For me, trying to grow some
of my own food is just one step closer to reconnecting with the
world around me. This year I grew potatoes from kitchen scraps
and when I ate those potatoes for me this was far more precious
and amazing than the new iPhone that's just come out or what
Miley Cyrus did at the awards show last week. Taking some
responsibility and also learning some skills to take care of
myself is really important.
Tell us about your tour coming up in the UK…
I will be doing my first real UK tour in October with 12 shows
booked in England and one in Cardiff accompanied by my
Leeds born guitarist so that's pretty exciting, especially since a
few will be in vegan/veg restaurants. The booking went so well
that we're going to come back in March so I’m hoping to add
some Scottish/Irish shows to that second tour. So if anyone in
the UK wants to book us then please drop me a line. BV
To find out more about Emaline & her
music visit her website or connect with
her on Facebook & Twitter.
The cover artwork for Emaline’s
new 5 track EP CD 'Exorcism'.
The title track refers to the
ritual of taking your power back
from someone who stole it from
you: emotionally, physically and
spiritually.
UK TOUR DATES: OCTOBER 2015
1st October - The Green Kitchen, Saint Albans - (veg)
2nd October - Caffi Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
3rd October - The Garden Shed Café, Leamington Spa - (veg)
4th October - The Royal Oak, Tetbury - (veg)
8th October - Kava Café, Todmorden - (veg)
9th October - Florence Arts Centre, Egremont
10th October - Wirral Arts Centre, Merseyside
11th October - Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Maidenhead
12th October - Samphire Brasserie, Plymouth - (veg)
15th October - Lillico's, Barnstaple
16th October - The Arthouse, Southampton - (veg)
17th October - The Alehouse, Colwall Stone
18th October - The Spice of Life, London
We have five digital copies of
Emaline’s brand new EP to
giveaway. If you’d like a copy
just send us an email. Please
check our website for
competition terms &
conditions.
WIN!
17 | BarefootVegan

By Samantha Turnbull
ou know what drives me crazy? When people think vegans eat nothing
Y
but salad and tofu. Don’t get me wrong, I do love a mean salad and some
crispy tofu nuggets, (gosh I am drooling already) but we all know that
these are not the only vegan options. In fact did you know that there are over
20,000 edible plant species in the world, but the average diet is mostly made
up of only 20 of those!? Eek. Sounds a little boring if you ask me!
So this past year on my blog It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken, I decided to start
what I call the 1/100/100 challenge. In one year I made it my goal to post 100
recipes featuring 100 different ingredients. Guess what guys, I did it! Hooray!
Celebrate, get your boogey on, your forks ready, napkin tucked into shirt, it’s
plant eating time.
20 recipes for tofu? No way. 16 chickpea recipes? Absolutely not, (although
there is nothing wrong with either of those). This is about showing how much
there is to eating vegan. How many options there really are. How the vegan
diet is anything but limiting. It’s the spice of life!
Here are five of my favourite recipes from the 1/100/100 challenge, featuring
the five amazing ingredients: eggplant, sweet potato, mushrooms, maple
syrup, and chocolate. Visit itdoesnttastelikechicken.com to see them all.
Bon Appetegan!
Sam
18 | BarefootVegan

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 35 mins
Serves: 30-40 nuggets
Ingredients
The Eggplant (aubergine)
Medium Eggplant
1 teaspoon Salt
Bowl 1
½ Cup Whole Wheat Flour (or any flour of your
choice)
Salt & Pepper
Bowl 2
3 Tablespoons Ground Flax
⅔ Cup Warm Water
Bowl 3
½ Cup Panko
½ Cup Fine Coconut Flakes
If you’re frying your nuggets:
Oil for frying, canola or coconut oil would work well.
Instructions
If you are baking your nuggets preheat the oven to
450F (230C).
Use a potato peeler to peel off all of the skin on the
eggplant. Chop off the stem on the top and bottom of
the eggplant and discard, and then chop the eggplant
into nugget sized pieces. Try to make them roughly
the same size so that they cook evenly. Put the
eggplant nuggets in a colander in the sink, or over a
bowl. Sprinkle the salt across the eggplant and toss
with your hands to evenly coat. Let the eggplant sit
with the salt on it in the colander while you prepare
the rest. Some liquid might drip out of the eggplant,
and this is good. In the meantime get three medium
bowls ready. In the first bowl, add the flour, and
season with a pinch of salt, and a few grinds of pepper.
Stir to combine. I used whole wheat flour but almost
any flour will work here. In bowl two, mix together
the ground flax with the warm water and set aside.
The flax mixture will need to rest for about 5-10
minutes to thicken. In bowl three mix together the
coconut and panko.
Now take your first eggplant nugget and dip it in the
flour covering all sides. Shake off excess, then dip it in
the flax. Shake off excess, and toss in the coconut and
panko. Set the nugget on a plate and continue with
this process for the remaining nuggets. I found it
easiest to do this with a fork as your fingers will get all
goopy. As you go along the flax mixture might get too
thick, so just stir in a bit of water as needed. If any of
the bowls run out, just add more.
If you are baking your nuggets: line a baking sheet
with parchment paper. Lay the nuggets out in a single
layer so they aren't touching. Bake in a 450F (230C)
oven for 18-20 minutes, flipping them halfway
through, until they are golden on all sides. If you are
frying your nuggets: pour about ½" of oil in a pan.
Heat up and test that it is ready by dropping in a small
piece. If it bubbles and sizzles you are good to go! If
the oil starts smoking, lower the heat. Careful!
Working with oil is dangerous. Put several nuggets in
the pan and fry them for about 2 minutes on each side
until they are golden brown all over. Set them on a
plate covered in a paper towel while you finish the
rest. Serve the nuggets while hot with your favourite
dipping sauce.
Notes: For gluten free option use whatever your
favourite gluten free flour is, (any flour should work
fine), and use gluten free Panko, which you should be
able to find in health stores.
>
19 | BarefootVegan

Instructions
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into roughly the
same sized cubes.
Mince or grate the ginger and garlic.
Add the sweet potatoes, ginger, garlic, vegetable
broth, coconut milk, red curry paste, and soy sauce to
a large soup pot. Bring to a gentle boil and cover with
lid. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes until the sweet
potato is completely cooked and falls apart easily
when pierced with a fork.
Use an immersion blender and blend the sweet
potato mixture until it is a smooth sauce.
Alternatively, you could use a standing blender, but
make sure to blend only small batches at a time to
keep from the hot liquid exploding out of your
blender.
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 40 mins
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potato Sauce:
2 Medium Sweet Potatoes
1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger
3 Cloves Garlic
2½ Cups Vegetable Broth
1 Cup Canned Coconut Milk (shaken before measuring)
3 Tablespoons Thai Red Curry Paste
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
For the Vegetables:
1 Medium Yellow Onion
½ of a Head of Cauliflower
1 Tablespoon Canola or Peanut Oil
1½ Cups Frozen Peas
Salt & Pepper to taste
Wedges of Lime for Garnish
Cilantro for Garnish
Cooked Rice to serve with
In the meantime slice the onion into thick or thin
slices (depending on your preference). Chop the
cauliflower into small florets.
Heat the oil in a separate pan and sauté the
cauliflower and onion until they are a beautiful
golden colour on all sides. It's okay if your cauliflower
is not completely cooked, you are just looking for
some nice colour. If you are feeling lazy, you can just
skip this step and move onto the next step. The
reason I do it is because it adds a little extra texture
and flavour when you caramelize the onions and
cauliflower.
Now add the cauliflower and onion mixture to the
sweet potato sauce. Cover and heat through. Check
your cauliflower by piercing it with a fork. When it is
soft, but not mushy, it's ready. Add the peas and cook
for another minute to heat through. If your curry is
too thick you can thin it with a bit more vegetable
broth or water.
Season with salt and pepper if desired, and then serve
with rice, a wedge of lime, and some cilantro
(coriander).
20 | BarefootVegan

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 15 mins
Serves: 4 as a side
Ingredients
16 oz of Mushrooms (2 of those little boxes or 1 of
the bigger guys)
4 Cloves of Garlic
1 Tablespoon of Coconut Oil
⅓ Cup Coconut Milk + more as needed (shake can
before measuring)
½ teaspoon Dried Thyme
½ teaspoon Dried Oregano
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 Tablespoon Nutritional Yeast (optional)
2 Tablespoons Cilantro (coriander) or Parsley
Instructions
Slice the mushrooms and mince the garlic.
Heat the coconut oil in a pan over medium high
heat. When it's hot, add the mushrooms and garlic.
Sauté the mushrooms for about 5 minutes until they
soften and begin to release their juices.
Stir in the coconut milk, thyme, oregano, salt and
pepper. Reduce heat to a simmer.
Continue to cook for about another 5 minutes.
Stir in nutritional yeast if using, and cilantro or
parsley. If you feel it needs a bit more sauce, add a
dash more coconut milk as desired.
Serve right away.
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21 | BarefootVegan

Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350F (180C).
Chop up your nuts. I just did this with a knife, but
you could pulse them in a food processor,
whatever you prefer.
Now add the maple syrup, chili powder, vanilla
extract, and ⅛ teaspoon (or a small pinch) of salt
in a bowl and mix it up.
Line a muffin tin with parchment muffin liners, or
you could use a silicone muffin pan, or your could
use a larger sheet of parchment paper in a dish
with sides, which would give you one giant cluster.
Serves: 12 Clusters
Inspired by Quiche - A - Week
Ingredients
1 Cup Unsalted Nuts of Choice (I used almonds and
walnuts, but use whatever nuts you like).
3 Tablespoons Real Maple Syrup
½ teaspoon Chili Powder (optional but fun)
½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
⅛ teaspoon Salt
Couple Pinches of Flake Salt
Divide the mixture evenly among the cups, making
sure that the maple syrup liquid is about the same
in each cup.
You might look down and think, there is no way
these nuts are ever going to cluster, but just pat
them down with a spoon and trust me on this.
Pop them in the oven for 10-12 minutes. The maple
syrup will be boiling when you take them out.
Sprinkle a bit of flake salt on each one, then let
them cool a bit. Pop them in the fridge to finish
firming up (just speeds up the process).
Store in an air tight container. They will be
crunchy the first day, and if they make it to the
second day, the will begin to soften up and become
chewier. Try to be nice and share with friends.
Make no promises.
Note: These work well with agave instead of
maple syrup too! Of course then they would be
Salted Caramel Agave Nut Clusters. If you go this
route, they won't be bubbling when you take the
out of the oven, but should look tightened up.
22 | BarefootVegan

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 35 mins
Total time: 50 mins
Serves: 9 Servings
Ingredients
Bottom Cake Layer:
¾ Cup White Granulated Sugar
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
¼ Cup Cocoa Powder
2 teaspoons Instant Espresso Powder
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
⅓ Cup Melted Coconut Oil
½ Cup Non-Dairy Milk (such as soy or almond
milk)
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Middle Powder Layer:
½ Cup White Granulated Sugar
½ Cup Brown Sugar
¼ Cup Cocoa Powder
Top Water Layer:
1¼ Cup Hot Water
Non-Dairy Vanilla Ice Cream for Serving.
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350F (180C).
Lightly grease an 8"x8" pan and set aside.
To make the bottom cake layer, in a large bowl, mix
together the dry ingredients: the sugar, flour, cocoa,
instant espresso, and baking powder. Melt the coconut oil
if it isn't already liquid, then add that to the dry
ingredients along with the non-dairy milk and vanilla.
Don't over mix.
Pour the batter into the greased pan, and use a spatula to
spread the mixture evenly across the pan.
To make the middle powder layer, in another bowl, mix
together the white sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa powder.
Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the bottom cake layer in
the pan. Give the pan a shake, so the powder layer evenly
covers the batter layer.
Finally for the top water layer, pour the hot water on top
of the powder layer. Do not mix. It will look like a puddle,
and that's the way it should be. Put it in the oven and
bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the centre is almost set
looking.
Let cool for 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm with
non-dairy ice-cream on the side if you like.
Note: The instant espresso powder enhances the
flavour of the chocolate, you can't taste the espresso. If
you don't have or don't want to use the espresso powder
you can skip it.
BV
23 | BarefootVegan

Original artwork by Laura Koniver.
Mind Over Matter
How outlook and spirituality impacts our health
By Dr. Laura Koniver, MD
D
o you know what the single most important factor
in long-term health is? Is it drinking enough water
each day? Is it eating only raw foods? Is it getting highquality
sleep? Nope. All of those things are amazing, of
course but here is the ONE factor that is controlling our
current state of health completely… our thinking. Don’t
believe me? Look at it this way; every few years, our body
is completely renewed both inside and out. All of our
organs (except for one) completely regenerates, repairs
and optimises on a continuous basis. Our bodies are
made up of 37.2 trillion cells and each of these cells has a
consciousness that depends on the instructions (some of
which are influenced by our thoughts) that are given by
our brains.
Some parts of our body are so fresh and new that they
are only one day old – the cornea of our eye, for example,
which can completely regenerate every 24 hours. Some
parts are a little older – the lining of our intestines, for
example, is about three days old. Our skin is about one
month old. Our fingernails have completely grown out
and replaced themselves in about six months. Our taste
buds are only little 10-day-old cuties when they get
replaced. Our liver is totally regenerated ever five months.
Our lungs are renewed every two years. Even our bones,
the support system of our body, is on a 10-year
replacement program!
There is only one organ system that sticks with us for
our entire lifetime… and it is our brain. Nervous tissue is
the slowest to repair, never increases in number and only
declines in cell quantity. Now there are plenty of
things we can do to stimulate new adaptations and
promote brain health; however, for the most part, the
brain we have now is the brain we will always have.
Here’s the thing though, while we might be stuck
with our brain, the thoughts we think don’t have to be
the same ones we’ve always had. Every other part of
our body has the ability to be made anew and replaced
many, many times in our lifetime. So that means that
we can out-grow conditions. We CAN improve the
health of our tissues. We CAN begin to repair past
damage and let go what isn’t working for us and enjoy
manifesting a new body entirely… this is why it is
NEVER too late to quit smoking. Within days of
quitting an ex-smoker’s cardiovascular system
improves, within months the lungs are repairing, and
within years their chances of getting lung cancer are
half of what they used to be.
So why then, do we still struggle with those chronic
health problems? Why the skin conditions that won’t
go away? The irritable bowel that won’t quit or the
allergies we just haven’t outgrown? Since we can get a
new body every ten years, why do we carry the same
problems for decade after decade? It’s because our
thinking hasn’t changed.
Medical studies have shown that a poor mindframe
(pessimism) actually causes dementia! And a positive
mindframe (optimism) decreases dementia risk. That’s
because every single day we get the chance to wake up
>
27 | BarefootVegan

“The bottom line here
is that belief
MATTERS. Spirituality
MATTERS. How we feel
about what we are
going through makes a
physical, mental and
emotional difference
in outcome.”
and reinvent ourselves. A chance to see things from a new
perspective and breathe a new breath, have a new thought.
It takes work to change our thinking and it takes patience
to see this manifest in our bodies. After all, lots of these
health conditions are our life’s work! They were not meant
to clear up overnight, nor could they.
So the next time you get frustrated with your body, the
next time your curse your bad posture or sensitive
stomach, your ingrown toenail or your seasonal allergies,
just remember that those tissues in your body are literally
in the process of being replaced right now. If you can let
the illness die away and be replaced along with this natural
process, you can help unfold a new body that works how
you want it to work. The only thing you are carrying with
you, decade after decade, isn’t that red blood cell (lifespan
of about four months) or that stomach lining (lifespan of
about two days) it is the way you feel about your body and
the thoughts you think about it.
And as for spiritual beliefs? Well, a recent medical study
looked at the effect of spirituality and religion on quality of
life in cancer patients. Participants could be spiritual,
religious, both or none. Scientists wanted to look at what
effect, if any, spirituality and religiosity had on patient
outcomes, and if being religious worked synergistically
with spirituality or independently from it. Over 550
patients were entered into this study, all were cancer
patients undergoing treatment for various cancers… these
patients were followed for one year and were assessed for
quality of life.It turns out that religious patients had better
quality of life if they were highly spiritual. The opposite
was not true. However, among highly spiritual patients,
there was no significant difference between patients who
had low or no religiosity and those with high religiosity.
The worst outcomes were found among patients who had
both low spirituality and low religiosity. The best outcomes
were found among patients who had high spirituality,
regardless of religiosity. Spirituality, it seems, stands as a
better predictor for improved quality of life than holding
religious beliefs. Why?
28 | BarefootVegan
Original artwork by Laura Koniver.
One theory is that some religions may view cancer (or
other illnesses, for example, AIDS) as punishment from
God. Other thoughts are that religion can be more of an
intellectual practice, with guidelines and rules, whereas
spirituality can be more of a heart-based experience,
helping patients find intrinsic meaning in their condition.
The bottom line here is that belief MATTERS.
Spirituality MATTERS. How we feel about what we are
going through makes a physical, mental and emotional
difference in outcome. Even conventionally minded
physicians and other health care practitioners that
typically would shy away from addressing the spiritual
needs of their patients now have medical proof that is
undeniable: spiritual support makes a clinical difference.
You should not be working with a health care practitioner
that isn’t interested in your wellbeing in all ways -
including interest in how you are feeling and your
spiritual and/or religious beliefs.
Disease is a real thing, it’s not just in your head at all,
and there is much more we can do to support and
facilitate health than just changing our thought patterns
and belief systems. However, I write this so that you can
give yourself a chance to be open to the fact that the
conditions you have now are not the conditions that you
need to be saddled with forever. The health reality you are
dealing with right at this very moment has the potential
to shift and change and release.
Because I know that your body is literally a self-healing
machine... capable of fully replacing itself. It is worth
being very positive and aware of the thoughts you think
and the baseline activity of your brain; the only part of
you that you need to be carrying with you in 10 years’
time. Addressing illness from both a mindframe and
spiritual outlook angle is important and can measurably
improve our quality of life. It’s an extremely valuable part
of the healing process. BV
To find out more, visit
Laura’s website.

Photo by Al Richardson
The Red Tent
A Place to Celebrate our Femininity
By Jane Legge
A red tent global phenomenon is currently sweeping
its way across the world, as women are feeling the
call to gather, spend time together, meet new women
from their community, and take ‘me’ time out of
their busy lives.
Women who attend often say it
changes their lives for the better,
and that they return home feeling
recharged energised blissful and
blessed.
Perhaps foremost in this vital
emergent women’s tradition came
the novel ‘The Red Tent’ by Anita
Diamant; a biblical story starting
with the coming of age of a young
girl, and her excitement as she’s
finally permitted to take her place
amongst her mother and sisters in
the mysterious sacred menstrual
tent. Diamant captures the essence
of feminine community in her
beautiful prose “In the ruddy shade
of the red tent, the menstrual tent, they
ran their fingers through my curls,
repeating the escapades of their youths,
the sagas of their childbirths. Their
stories were like offerings of hope and
strength…”. She tapped into and
highlighted a deep inner feminine
calling for sisterhood, seemingly being
unfulfilled by current society.
Soon afterwards came ‘Operation red
tent’ in Australia, the ‘Red tent temple
movement’ in USA, and ‘Red tent
directory’ in the UK, all inspiring
women to find a local tent or start up
their own, their collective goal being
tents in every town and village of the
world. A documentary film was made in
the USA in 2012 called ‘Red tent
movie – things we don’t talk about’.
The interesting thing about the
modern day red tent concept is that
it’s not a new one; red tents have
their roots in something far more
ancient….
Long ago several cultures had ‘red
tents’ where women of the
community gathered around new
moon to retreat from society. In
Native American culture these were
called Moon lodges, which
traditionally performed a number of
functions. Rite of passage instruction
and ceremonies, teaching and
sharing of healing methods, teaching
and sharing of pampering and beauty
treatments, meditation and healing
for self and the greater community,
sharing of recipes, child rearing tips
and life experience, sharing of
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31 | BarefootVegan

32 | BarefootVegan

“There is another way of
describing what happens in
a red tent: It’s like
popping a champagne cork
and watching the bubbles
stream out. Eyes shine,
smiles are from the heart.
It is joy, giggles and
raucous cackles and
sometimes sadness and
frustration.”
personal stories and parables for spiritual teaching,
counselling and emotional support, lunar and seasonal
sacred ceremonies, and teaching and sharing of crafts, to
name but a few.
So what happens in a modern day red tent?
In my experience, modern day red tents welcome women
of all ages, meeting once a month in one of the women’s
homes or a community space, usually around the new
moon. Red tents universally share the hope that women
can have somewhere to rest and relax, share food, cover
speaking topics or activities, sing, dance, read poems, tell
inspirational stories, or just do nothing and ‘be’.
To open our circle at ‘Red Tent Gwynedd’ we light a red
candle and have a short space of peace and silence. This
helps us focus on ‘leaving everything else at the door’ and
prepares us for the practice of mindful speaking and
listening. Typically many tents begin with women taking
it in turns to speak to the rest of the circle, being listened
to without interruption. Women can choose to talk about
how their ‘inner’ month has been (often dramatically
different from how their outer month has appeared to
everyone else!), how they are feeling in the moment; or
sometimes they may wish to share an interesting
observation about life. Some women just prefer to listen.
In this space of mutual respect, sharing, equality, and
‘down-to-earthedness’ we get to practice a way of
expressing ourselves by speaking out loud for as long as
we want. This is often much more surprising, interesting
and intuitive than anything we might have planned to say!
It goes way beyond the general “How are you? What do
you do for a living?” kind of conversation. When we listen
to a person speaking in this free unrestricted way it feels
real and honest. Being truly listened to, accepted and
valued for what we are in the moment is also one of the
most empowering confidence-building gifts we can give
to another. Witnessing someone speaking without trying
to fix a situation, comment, or interrupting is an
opportunity to practice active attentive concentration
and empathy. The talking circle is like medicine, and it
really strengthens the bond of the group. Often wise
words ‘pop out of nowhere’ and we gaze in wonderment
at each other and laugh. These ‘aha’ moments offer us all
support on our life journeys, give us gentle motivation,
and help us to set empowering intentions. Each tent is
uniquely different yet familiar, because of the different
women that come each month and what they bring to
the circle.
When everyone has spoken and we have drank another
cup of tea(!) we might start a discussion centred around
a relevant topic; or a woman might bring in a book,
contribute a story, song or poem, craft, alternate therapy
or activity. Recent discussions have covered menopause,
menarche, the eco-alternatives to plastic disposable
menstrual products, the phases of the Celtic year,
menstruation, health tips, birthing, rearing of children,
sex, healing and eco-cleaning tips. Anything goes in our
red tent; it just flows along beautifully with no rigid set
pattern. At the end of the tent there is always food.
Beautifully prepared edible flower salads, home grown
veggies, soups, stews, dips, freshly baked breads cakes
and fruit; almost all of it is vegan because many of the
women are; and all of it is made with love.
33 | BarefootVegan
>

“The red tent is a
place where women
can be nurtured by
each other, ask
questions, re-set,
and re-address
what being a women
means to them. The
red tent is
empowering.”
There is another way of describing what happens in a red
tent: It’s like popping a champagne cork and watching the
bubbles stream out. Eyes shine, smiles are from the heart.
It is joy giggles and raucous cackles and sometimes
sadness and frustration. The tent marks the passage of
time, helps us become more present in our own life
because each month we share, listen, and rest in the
moment together. The women become each other’s guides
in a way that is so natural it is as if time was lost and we
were back in each other’s houses, or sitting beneath the
stars around the mystical cooking fire with our ancient
ancestors, our great grandmothers.
The red tent as a movement of change…
For me, the conversations, discussions, frustrations and
discoveries that evolve naturally in our circle are essential
to galvanise us, strengthen us. Our society celebrates
babies and youth, but tends to neglect the special and
essential feminine issues such as menarche menstruation
menopause (and sadly old age, which affects us all). The
only way to inspire change at societal level is do as Gandhi
said and ‘be the change you want to see in the world’. I
believe that meeting with people, talking openly frankly
positively and fearlessly about subjects like these is the key
to a more balanced society.
Perhaps the most wonderful thing about red tents for me
is the post-tent glow. I have been told by many a woman
that her partner / children notice a whopping difference
between the woman that went and the woman that
returned; emerging more joyful and ‘filled up from the
inside’. When we are fulfilled and happy we radiate it out
to everyone we meet, positively impacting many more
lives than we could imagine!
Time spent in this environment restores to many
women a feeling of deep trust and sisterhood,
especially to those who say they have few good
feminine friendships. The red tent is a place where
women can be nurtured by each other, ask questions,
re-set, and re-address what being a women means to
them. The red tent is empowering. “For me it was one
of those magical times which will long remain in my
memory – the hot sunshine; the gorgeous swags of red
material and ribbons draped from bush and tree; the
song of the grasshoppers; the spectacular views over
some of the most beautiful countryside in the world;
the glorious fresh salads and tasty foods, warm loving
company, laughter and wise words of support and
wisdom…. Surely yesterday we really did touch the
absolute essence of the Red Tent – long may we grow in
our feminine community and prosper together!”
As for my story?
As a child I loved ‘things you weren’t supposed to talk
about’ and if I could get a despairing look from my
mum, then I was elated! Things haven’t changed a lot,
other than now I channel this energy into my new
project called www.womanswheel.com, feminine
empowerment through menstrual cycle awareness
workshops, eco-activism regarding the eco-alternatives
to plastic disposable menstrual products, womb healing
reiki, and hosting and facilitating red tents…all juggled
around my day job! My boyfriend Lee is author of
‘Peace and Parsnips – Vegan cooking for everyone’ and
I am very fortunate to be the other half of the
www.beachhousekitchen.com, happily experimenting
with vegan food in my spare time. For more
information about red tents do visit woman’s wheel,
and please contact me if you have any questions. BV
34 | BarefootVegan

“There were a lot of fears, truly. But at the
end of the day it came down to one question:
Was I willing to live a life full of ‘What
ifs’ or one full of ‘Oh wells’?”

Photo Credit: Phil Payson
Kristin Lajeunesse
Ever wanted to just ditch your job & head out on the open road? Back in 2011,
author Kristin Lajeunesse did just that, setting out on a journey with a goal to
eat at and write about every single vegan restaurant in the United States.
Now after two years, 48 states, 547 vegan restaurants and more than 39,000
miles, she’s documented her adventures of the ultimate foodie-inspired road trip
in her recently published book; Will Travel for Vegan Food.
We caught up with her to find out more about her story of unparalleled
freedom, love and amazing self-discovery.
37 | BarefootVegan

Photo by Joel Capolongo
“I love telling people who
ask about my diet how
much more I enjoy everything
about food now; from
shopping to cooking,
prepping, and purchasing a
ridiculous number of vegan
cook books. It feels like it
has so much more meaning now
and I take pride in the
meals I prepare. I never
felt this way as a meat
eater…not even as a
vegetarian for that matter.”
Tell us about how you became vegan…
I was 16 years old when my parents told me that they
wanted to become vegetarian as a family. My brother,
Josh is five years older than me and he introduced the
idea of vegetarianism to my parents. When they found
out that he had already become vegetarian they were
immediately worried about his health, as they thought—
at that time—that eating meat was necessary for optimal
nutrition. But instead of telling him why he was wrong or
shunning him entirely, they did what awesome parents
do: they researched the heck out of vegetarianism. I think
they were looking for a way to prove to him why this diet
was bad, but instead they came to the undeniable
conclusion that not eating meat is a much better way to
live.
So, there we were in 1999 transitioning to vegetarianism
as a family. I wasn’t particularly thrilled, but decided to
give it a go. I went off to college and my parents kept up
their research, joined a local vegetarian group and
continued to learn about the influence that diet has on
health, the environment, and animals. Every time I came
home for a break or holiday there was something new and
“healthy” in the refrigerator—or worse, something
missing. I still remember coming home one summer to no
more milk or cheese. It was gone and I was devastated:
not the ice cream!
By the time I finished college my parents were full-on
vegan and I was still chowing down my beloved dairy ice
cream and cheese pizzas. Aside from the fact that I had
maintained a vegetarian diet, was eating vegan meals
when visiting home, and gifted vegan-labelled
sweatshirts, stickers, and buttons whenever my parents
were given the opportunity, I couldn’t fathom giving up
dairy. And then, in the summer of 2006, at a veg event in
upstate NY, the sea parted and in walked Registered
Dietitian, George Eisman. Despite the fact that my
parents had at one time or another gently provided the
same information that Mr. Eisman presented on this day,
once I decided to listen and truly understand how very
bad dairy was for my body and for animals, I was done
with it. That very night I ate my last cheese pizza and
never looked back. Well, I might have looked back once,
or five times, but never did go back. It took me a good
year as a relatively unhealthy vegan to start doing even
more research—like learning how to prepare meals
instead of buying ready-made ones. But some new
reading material (hello VegNews Magazine) and a change
in my environment (hey there, Boston) soon helped me
learn how to live a healthy vegan lifestyle.
In the fall of 2007 I moved to Boston for graduate
school. I joined the Boston Vegan Association and started
working part-time for the New England Anti-Vivisection
Society. The friends that I made in these two
organisations led me to so much support, inspiration, and
so many new resources that being vegan became a cinch.
I love telling people who ask about my diet how
much more I enjoy everything about food now; from
shopping to cooking, prepping, and purchasing a
ridiculous number of vegan cook books. It feels like it has
>
38 | BarefootVegan

Photo by Laurelee Blanchard, at Leilani Farm Sanctuary of Maui.

so much more meaning now and I take pride in the
meals I prepare. I never felt this way as a meat
eater…not even as a vegetarian for that matter.
Today my parents help run the Albany Vegan
Network and host an annual Vegan Expo (now in its
seventh year!) in upstate New York. It all started
with my brother, was followed by my parents’
amazing support, and then happily grew into an
education, a group of friends, and a lifestyle that I
wouldn’t trade for anything.
I know before you started up as an
entrepreneur that you were working for
a company that seemed aligned with
your vegan values. What was it about
going it alone that held so much
appeal?
What was so appealing about it was setting my own
schedule, keeping my own hours, being able to work
from anywhere that had internet, being able to
continue living nomadically and traveling while still
earning an income to pay bills, not having a set
schedule or a cubicle, having more flexibility in my
days and travel times, and most of all the drive to be
creative and innovative—as in, if I slow down at all
or stop being creative I could lose clients and
money. While that can be scary (and is) at times, it
also feeds my desire to remain active, in more ways
than one.
What were the biggest fears that you had
to overcome before setting off on your
adventure?
Some fears I had that bordered on keeping me from
fully jumping in included committing to quitting a
secure job and the whole living out of a vehicle thing
(which I'd never done before). There were moments I
was afraid the Kickstarter campaign I created wouldn't
reach its goal. I was afraid that the near stranger I
invited to come with me would turn out to be a not-sogreat
match for me (that one came true). I was afraid of
what it meant to venture so far outside my comfort
zone that I might not have been able to find my way
back—and what that could have meant in terms of
“throwing it all away,” all I had worked to achieve up
until that point. There were a lot of fears, truly. But at
the end of the day it came down to one question: Was I
willing to live a life full of “what ifs” or one full of “oh
wells.” (That’s a variation of a quote from Pat Flynn).
What would you say was the most
important lesson you learned from the
entire experience?
That most people truly are good people.
If you could pick one favourite moment
during your journey, what would it be and
why?
Wow that's a really tough question. There were so many
incredible, life changing moments. I'd say one of the
standouts was meeting James the teddy bear (chapter 23
in the book). It's a bit of a long story but one that truly
made me come to terms with how valuable our time
here on Earth is, and to not waste a single moment of it.
Kristin’s trusty van for
the journey...Gerty
40 | BarefootVegan

“What I do trust now more
than ever though, is my
intuition. I've learned to
turn inward for guidance
before panicking about
something or even day-to-day
situations that require some
deep consideration. I ask
myself for honest feedback:
What does my gut say?”
I read in the book that you weren’t really a
big believer in life purposes. What are your
thoughts about that now?
More so than not believing in life's purposes was
realising I hadn't discovered mine. What I do trust now
more than ever though, is my intuition. I've learned to
turn inward for guidance before panicking about
something or even day-to-day situations that require
some deep consideration. I ask myself for honest
feedback: what does my gut say? Sometimes it's unclear
or clouded by preconceived notions of certain situations.
But I've come to greatly value my intuition and let my
passions lead the way. During the road trip, and since its
conclusion, I've found greater appreciation for the
projects I work on, and the ways in which I spend each
day—aiming to live with greater intention and purpose
as defined by what I enjoy and value vs. what society
says I should enjoy and value.
What kind of feedback have you had from
the book? How has it inspired others?
The book is doing well. The publisher seems to be
pleased with sales and reviews have been largely
positive. The coolest feedback has been hearing about
how others' courage or passions have been reignited
after reading about the journey.
You work now to help other people turn
their passions into careers. What is the one
best piece of advice you give to clients?
Start before you're ready.
What other goals and aspirations do you
have?
I'm currently out on my first-ever book tour,
sponsored by 'More Than Salad' a veg food finder
app. My aim is to make the book tour different from
traditional ones in that I'll be giving my book away
to those who attend. I'm also going to have mini
performances during the tour stops, from local
artists. The goal is to encourage people to use the
$20 they would have spent on the book to instead
buy a meal for someone in need.
As the book tour winds down I'll be focused on
building my business clarity coaching business. I'm
co-hosting a lifestyle retreat next February in Costa
Rica and after that hope to embark on a 2.0 version
of the trip—taking it international. I'd like to spend
2-3 months in one city in a new country, and really
dive into the food culture, community, and vegan
scene. That until, you now, Ellen calls offering me
the position of a TV show travel host for vegan food
spotting around the world! BV
Will Travel for Vegan
Food is available on
Amazon. To connect
with Kristin check out
her website or follow
her on Facebook,
Instagram or Twitter.
41 | BarefootVegan

Alyson C Laskas
43 | BarefootVegan

“I believe that
running barefoot
is how I'm
supposed to run,
how I am meant to
be. I have an
understanding
that this is what
my creator
intended. Nature
worked hard for
many thousands of
years to make me
this way & I want
to honour that.”

“It all comes
back to one
thing… Love.
That is why I
am vegan;
Love.”
My name is Alyson C Laskas. Some call me Barefoot Aly. I
was born in Fort Worth Texas and I was adopted by two
amazing people, John and Eileen Laskas. I grew up on a
beautiful 29 acre farm, Honey Hill Farm, just outside of
Media, Pennsylvania. I was brought up learning about
working the land. As a family we grew veggies, berries, fruit
trees, and raised animals. We had chickens for eggs, Black
Angus cattle and pigs for meat. There were sheep, cats,
dogs, guinea pigs, bunnies and honeybees. There was even
a llama named "Dolly".
This was my parents’ way to teach my three younger
brothers and me about "the birds and the bees". And we
learned about life, death and rebirth. I learned to respect
the animals and to be grateful for all they gave. I, like
many, believed that the consumption of their flesh was an
absolute necessary part of life for our species.
I grew a deep and permanent connection to the Earth.
Throughout high school and college I worked in various
greenhouses, garden centres and nurseries. I loved it and I
was good at it.
I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts from Tyler School of Art,
Temple University and went right into managing a
commercial greenhouse operation near my folks where I
had worked as a teen. The owner and I fell in love, worked
hard, planned our beautiful flower-growing life together
and in just over year, Ed was diagnosed with colon cancer.
He died just a few weeks later. I was devastated.
Within eight months I purchased 10 acres of land in
gorgeous Chester County, PA, disassembled the
greenhouses where Eddie and I had planned our life,
reassembled them and founded my own commercial
greenhouse business. It became a huge success. I grew
flowering plants for hundreds of local independent garden
centres, florists, landscape designers and estates. I customgrew
plants for locations such as Longwood Gardens and
Nemours Mansion and Gardens.
Due to a very difficult marriage and business partnership,
after nearly 15 years I chose to leave my wonderful
greenhouses and start up again on my own. I now own
Barefoot Aly Artworks, an online based small business. I
make handmade wreaths for seasons, holidays and special
events as well as custom designs and themes. It's going
really well. I'm so pleased with its almost immediate
success. And I run. A lot.
About three and a half years ago my life fell apart.
Through years of pain, heartache, trauma and abuse I
had become a very seriously addicted and self-loathing
alcoholic.
And I was dying. In and out. I had lost myself
completely to the disease. I had no idea who I was
anymore. I felt betrayed by life itself and everyone in it.
I felt forlorn, forgotten and abandoned. I was ashamed.
I felt isolated, alone and afraid. I racked up a few DUI's
and was facing jail time, which I eventually did. And I
walked in with my head held high. I got sober.
My family, specifically two of my brothers, from pure,
complete and utter love, convinced their insane
alcoholic sister to get help. On March 11, 2012 I entered
a treatment facility, Mirmont Treatment Center in
Media, near where I grew up. I stayed an inpatient for
37 days and I have been sober ever since.
Wow. I wanted to live. Life was getting better and
better. I even began to love myself. I wanted to live a
long, healthy life. What could I do to achieve this?
For me, a vegan diet had all the right answers. It just
made sense. The switch happened practically
overnight. As I began to care more and more for myself,
it became very clear that this plant-based diet wasn't
only good for me. It was the ultimate gift that I could
give to myself, to other people, to all living things, to
this amazing planet which we share. To future
generations. It all comes back to one thing… Love. That
is why I am vegan; Love.
Many folks ask me why or how I started running
barefoot. I found that difficult to answer. I didn't
decide to take off my running shoes one day and see
what happened. I run BECAUSE I'm barefoot. Barefoot
came first. I ditched my shoes and it changed my life. I
was inspired by my dear friend since childhood, Tracy.
Tracy has her own business in the UK where she
promotes barefoot style running and fitness and is a
barefoot runner herself. She just completed her third
barefoot marathon! For me, footwear was in the way.
Once I lost the shoes, I began moving differently. My
running was born of being barefoot. It was the freedom
of natural movement, gracefulness and mindfulness
that came with being barefoot that facilitated my
running. Being barefoot made me a runner. I feel more
alert, whole, more at peace and more connected since
being barefoot. I believe that running barefoot is how
I'm supposed to run, how I am meant to be. I have an
understanding that this is what my creator intended.
It's perfect just the way it is. Nature worked hard for
many thousands of years to make me this way. And I
want to honour that.
The biggest challenge to barefoot running for me was in
the very beginning, some terrain was pretty tricky.
Over time it seems that it was mostly in my mind, and I
now know how capable of moving across all surfaces my
45 | BarefootVegan
>

“There is always hope, for
all of us, for everyone. No
matter if we feel lost and
helpless in a lousy
relationship, or if we are
overweight and out of shape,
or if we are addicted to
chemicals that are destroying
our lives, or if we just want
out. There is hope.“
feet really are. The early days of sensory overload that
translated into pain now serves as information. Each
and every lump, bump, pebble and chunk of sharp
gravel. Each pointy stick and slick, slimy rock. The
squishy mud, deep snow and slippery ice. They all tell
me how to land, how to balance, how to move into the
next step. It feels completely right and it keeps getting
better.
I believe that each individual is unique in how they
should best transfer to barefoot running. Many runners
have developed a running form from habitually
running in footwear that is very different from the form
of most seasoned barefoot runners. Based on their
current form, how long they have run in this form,
whether they have injuries or not, etc., can make a
difference in the best way to move into barefoot
running. I do believe, that for many, simply getting
used to feeling the ground with the bare bottoms of
their feet, just by walking and standing without shoes is
important. Shoes change the way we move. In my
opinion, the best way for many is to remove all
covering from the feet, find a nice smooth stretch of
ground, such as a concrete sidewalk and start a slow
paced run.
Our skin itself on the soles of our feet will teach us how
to move if we take our time, be patient and listen. I
mainly hear supportive and encouraging remarks from
other athletes, especially at events such as races. Many
are in awe and some pure disbelief. Some are under the
impression that I am damaging my joints by running
without cushioned shoes. Studies have absolutely
shown this to be false and in fact do show quite the
opposite. Surprising to most. Some folks seem to
believe that the world is covered in broken glass and
that what I'm doing is reckless, uncalculated and
stupid. I have run and walked through parks, suburban
sidewalks and city streets, hundreds and hundreds of
miles, and the idea that most ground we walk or run on
around town is covered in countless hazards is simply
untrue. Barefoot running encourages mindfulness. I
am very aware of the terrain beneath my feet, way
before I land. I continually watch the ground. I have
never had any serious injuries or damage. I have only
VERY rarely sustained a small splinter or scratch. On
the other hand (or foot), I have seen the painful blisters,
bunions, hammertoes, detached toenails, athlete's foot
fungus, atrophied foot muscles and much more
associated with running in traditional running footwear.
I say, "No thanks!” Running barefoot or running in
shoes is a choice, and it's ours to make.
As far as nutrition, I believe everything we need is right
there in the whole form of plant-based food, with the
exception of B-12 which I supplement in the form of
vegan sublingual lozenges. I eat practically all plant
foods I can get a hold of. Most of my calories come
from fruit and berries and I am well nourished, full of
spunk and healthy as ever. Above all, I am an artist.
Perhaps to me that just means my perception of the
world. And that I am the work of art itself. I feel that if
I just show up as the artist I believe that I am, that's all I
need to do. It's deep in my marrow. All I touch, all I
see. All that I am is art to me. The paint on my canvas,
the image on the LCD, the wet clay in my hands. The
food I eat, the flowers on my garden and the rocks in the
trail that connect with my feet and teach me who I am.
It's all art to me because it's what I choose to believe.
There is always hope, for all of us, for everyone. No
matter if we feel lost and helpless in a lousy relationship,
or if we are overweight and out of shape, or if we are
addicted to chemicals that are destroying our lives, or if
we just want out. There is hope. I have survived the
unsurvivable. I've been to the depths of hell and today,
just a few short years later, here I am. Truly happy,
healthy, so very much at peace, and completely in love
with life. Even the awful stuff. BV
Alyson is the owner of Barefoot Aly Artworks,
where she specialises in making handmade
wreaths. Connect with her on Facebook or
check out her shop on Etsy.
46 | BarefootVegan

Photography by: A Little Bit of Whimsy Photography

Tracye McQuirter
“Veganism is a
communal & global act
of love, care,
preservation, &
liberation”
A vegan trailblazer, public health
nutritionist, author, lecturer, and 30-year
vegan, Tracye McQuirter, MPH, has been named
a national food hero who is changing the way
America eats for the better. We caught up
with Tracye to discuss food justice, feminism
and her work to empower African Americans to
better health.
49 | BarefootVegan

“Veganism has given me the template
to do other things that I found
daunting at first--like becoming a
successful author and entrepreneur.
It’s a continuous source of
inspiration for me in my own life.”
Why vegan?
First, as someone who’s been vegan for almost 30 years,
I can tell you that being vegan is a liberating, joyful,
healthful, and delicious way of living in this world! I
see it as second nature to living a long, healthy,
satisfying life, just like breathing, exercising, loving,
and relaxing.
On a more scientific note, as a public health
nutritionist, I can tell you that we’ve known for
decades that plant foods are the healthiest foods to eat.
The research has been clear and consistent for more
than 50 years. Plant foods can prevent and reverse
heart disease, our number one killer, as well as prevent
and often reverse our other leading causes of death and
disability, including stroke, diabetes, certain cancers,
and obesity. And plant foods can help save the planet
and the lives of animals, too.
Unlike plant food production, livestock production for
meat and dairy causes more global warming than the
entire world’s transportation combined. The methane
gas emitted from the burps and poop of billions of
factory-farm animals accounts for more greenhouse
gas emissions than the carbon monoxide from cars. As
I often say, a hamburger damages Mother Earth more
Tracye with Dick Gregory; the man
who inspired her to go vegan almost
30 years ago
than a Hummer does. In addition to damaging the
atmosphere, producing animals for meat is a leading
cause of degradation and pollution of the earth’s soil
and water.
And consumption of more plant foods will help prevent
billions of innocent, sentient animals from being
brutally produced, raised, and slaughtered to be used as
food. Of course, plant foods are scrumptious too! In this
day and age, that should go without saying, but I’m
saying it anyway. I love good food, always have, and
with plant foods it’s even better. Being vegan is a winwin-win,
all-around.
In your book, By Any Greens Necessary,
you describe a talk from Dick Gregory as
being the catalyst in your transition to a
vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. What was it
exactly about what he said that touched
you?
Our Black Student Union at Amherst College had
actually brought Dick Gregory to campus to talk about
the political, economic, and social state of black
America. And instead, Dick Gregory flipped the script
on us and decided to talk about the plate of black
America. This was in 1986, and what we didn’t know was
that Gregory had become a vegetarian nutrition guru.
We only knew him as a Civil Rights icon and legendary
humourist. So his talk was a surprise to all of us.
And honestly, if I had known he was going to talk about
vegetarianism, I might not have shown up. I was first
introduced to vegetarianism in the 7th grade at Sidwell
Friends School in DC (which is where the Obama
daughters are now attending). My 7th grade teachers
wanted our class camping trip to be all-vegetarian and I
thought this was a horrible idea. So, I wrote a petition
against it and got a few of my classmates to sign it--but I
was overruled.
So fast forward seven years to my sophomore year at
Amherst, and there was Dick Gregory talking about
going vegetarian. Well, I started to tune him out, but
what really grabbed me was that he started to trace--
graphically--the path of a hamburger from a cow on a
factory farm, through the slaughterhouse process, to a
fast food restaurant, to a clogged artery, to a heart
attack. I had never heard anything like that before.
>
50 | BarefootVegan

“As someone who’s been
vegan for almost 30
years, I can tell you
that being vegan is a
liberating, joyful,
healthful, and
delicious way of living
in this world! I see it
as second nature to
living a long, healthy,
satisfying life, just
like breathing,
exercising, loving, and
relaxing.”
Photography by: A Little Bit of Whimsy Photography

Now at the time, I was going through a paradigm shift in
my life. I was taking a lot of political science and African
American studies classes, and I was learning about
imperialism, racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism
for the first time or in new ways, and it was changing my
awareness and sense of self. I had also decided to stop
relaxing my hair and wear it naturally. And it was with
this new consciousness that I listened to Dick Gregory’s
lecture. So I was ready and open to questioning the way I
ate, too. All this was happening at the same time, and
looking back, it was a beautiful thing!
So, after Dick Gregory’s lecture, I read everything I could
get my hands on about vegetarianism, and I decided to
go vegetarian first, and then vegan after about a year or
so. There were some stops and starts along the way,
which included a safari in Kenya, but folks can read
more about that in my book.
Personally, what were some of the physical,
psychological and spiritual changes you
noticed when you went vegan?
Well, I had gained 25 pounds during my freshman year
(the year before Dick Gregory’s lecture) because I was
away from home for the first time and could eat
anything I wanted. (Did I mention that I hated
vegetables and healthy food before I became vegan?!) So
after I went vegan, the weight just came off naturally.
Spiritually, I gained greater clarity and sense of purpose,
and I took up yoga to deepen my self-discovery and selfcare.
I also became more attuned to how my body
functions by paying attention to how it responded to
different foods. For example, my menses became lighter
and shorter, and I rarely have cramps.
And I have to say that being vegan for 30 years has given
me the template to do other things that I found
daunting at first--like becoming a successful author and
entrepreneur. It’s a continuous source of inspiration for
me in my own life. Like James Brown said, “Sometimes I
jump back, I wanna kiss myself!”
You work a lot on issues that explore the
intersectionality of veganism and other
movements for social justice. In your view,
what is it about veganism that promotes
harmony in all these areas?
My being vegan, eating the healthiest way I can, is an act
of self-love, self-care, self-preservation, and selfliberation.
And when I help other people learn how to
eat healthier, it’s a communal and global act of love,
care, preservation, and liberation. So, how we nourish
ourselves is inextricably linked to every aspect of how
we live our lives, including being activists in the fight
for justice and equality.
Right now, many of us are fighting to end these statesanctioned
21st century lynchings of black women and
men and girls and boys by white police officers and
vigilantes that are happening almost daily. According
to Operation Ghetto Storm, there were more than 300
of these killings in 2012.
And, at the same time, according to the Centers for
Disease Control, there were more than 300,000
preventable deaths of black people in 2010 caused by
diet-related chronic diseases, including heart disease,
stroke, and hypertensive disease.
That’s 300 and 300,000. Both numbers represent tragic,
preventable deaths. So, while this is not a comparison
game, it is a call to action around the fact that
unhealthful diets are a social and human rights issue,
too, since there are state-sanctioned reasons lowincome
African Americans, in particular do not have
access to healthful foods.
That said, we do not want to be active participants in
our own genocide. As activists, and everyday folks
dealing with multiple forms of oppressions on a daily
basis, we are in a heightened state of moving, thinking,
organizing, resisting, multi-tasking, and stress. Our
immune systems are taking a hit and we need to be
sure they’re being strengthened. This is precisely the
reason to increase the amount of healthful foods we’re
eating right now and on a lifelong basis.
52 | BarefootVegan

Photography by: A Little Bit of Whimsy Photography
“African Americans are
pioneers in the plant-based
food movement in this
country. In fact, the first
all-vegan health food stores
and cafes in the nation’s
capital were started by
African Americans in the
1980s, many of them
influenced by their
involvement in the Civil
Rights and Black Liberation
Movements.”
You say that Dick Gregory’s talk in 1986
focused on how unhealthful most Black
people (and most Americans, in general)
were eating. How does the situation
compare now?
Well, the good news is that there are an estimated 3
million African American vegetarians and vegans (about
6% of the black population), according to a 2012 Harris
Interactive study. And there are millions more who eat
plant-based foods a significant amount of time, as part of
the 100 million (or one-third) of all Americans who do.
When I was doing research for my By Any Greens
Necessary book, I found that African Americans were 25%
more likely than whites to buy organic foods, according to
the Hartman Group, which is a leading market research
firm. I was surprised, but I really should not have been.
Most of us are only a generation or two removed from the
South--and not that many more generations removed
from West Africa--where are forebears ate organic fruits,
vegetables, grains, and beans daily that they grew on their
own farms. And, of course, African Americans are
pioneers in the plant-based food movement in this
country. In fact, the first all-vegan health food stores and
cafes in the nation’s capital were started by African
Americans in the 1980s, many of them influenced by their
involvement in the Civil Rights and Black Liberation
Movements. I actually learned how to be vegan from this
community when I came home to DC after that fateful
lecture by Dick Gregory in 1986.
Dick Gregory wrote his plant-based classic, Cooking with
Mother Nature, in 1974 with Alvenia Fulton, a
naturopathic physician who opened the first health food
establishment on the south side of Chicago in the
1950s. Also, the longest-running raw vegan restaurant
in the country is owned by Karen Calabrese in
Chicago, and the father of gourmet raw vegan cuisine
is Aris LaTham from Panama. And Soul Vegetarian
restaurants were (until recently) the largest chain of
vegan restaurants in the world. There are many more
examples of black vegan pioneers, which I’ve written
about on my blog. So, eating healthful vegan foods is
a part of our cultural heritage.
That said, we still have a long way to go. We’re
experiencing an enormous health crisis based on the
unhealthful foods the majority of us are still eating
today (for a variety of reasons). That’s reflected in the
300,000 preventable, diet-related deaths each year
that I mentioned earlier.
How is the food on our plate relative to
our social, economic and political
situation?
In the U.S., rich and affluent people have access to
and eat the healthiest foods, while poor and
oppressed people have access to and eat the
unhealthiest foods. That’s generally how this country
has designed its social, economic, and political
systems as it relates to food, and most other basic
necessities of life.
We see this played out in food deserts in cities and
rural areas across the country, where fresh, healthy,
and affordable foods are not available because of no
or low-quality supermarkets, farmers markets, and
food gardens. What’s available instead are cheap,
processed foods from higher numbers of fast food
places, corner stores, and carry-outs. This results in
unhealthful diets and higher chronic disease rates for
about 25 million Americans.
53 | BarefootVegan

“I have zero tolerance for
sexism. None. Just like I
have zero tolerance for
racism… As Angela Davis
said, “I don’t accept the
things I cannot change. I
change the things I cannot
accept.” Black women are the
creators of the feminist
movement in this country and
the embodiment of it.”
We also see this played out in enormous profits and federal
subsidies (corporate welfare) for the food industry, which is
one of the largest industries in the country. The USDA
provides federal subsidies to the food industry to make the
cost of production of processed foods cheaper, resulting in
larger profits. The food industry gets these federal subsidies
because they give large campaign contributions to members
of Congress running for reelection. And the food industry
has powerful lobbyists that pressure Congress to maintain
subsidies and other federal regulations, and skew the
federal dietary guidelines, to favor the food industry.
So what this means is that cheap, processed foods like
hamburger mix, white bread, instant macaroni and cheese,
and canned string beans are pretty cheap and available
compared to fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, and whole
grains.
And to get us to want to eat this unhealthy food, the food
industry loads it with fat, salt, and sugar, and spends more
than 35 billion dollars a year on food advertising to
influence us to buy it. Seventy percent of that food
advertising is for fast food, processed foods, snacks, and
sweets. Only 2% of that food advertising is for fresh fruits
and veggies. Now which of these foods do Americans eat
the most?
The food industry, by way of the USDA, also determines
what will be fed to millions of schoolchildren in 95% of
public schools and many private schools each day, and what
food will be provided to poor mothers and their infants on
public assistance, and what is served to the military and the
imprisoned population. The food industry, by way of the
USDA, also determines what nutrition information gets fed
to the media and healthcare providers, and gets placed on
the food products we buy in the store.
I laugh when people call vegans the food police! It’s the
corporate food industry that controls every aspect of what
we eat. Until we decide to take back control.
You’ve been actively involved in many health
initiatives on both a community and national
level. In your experience what is the best
advice you’d give others to get these sorts of
outreach projects going?
My advice is to research and get in touch with existing
organisations that you admire and find out how they’re
doing it. There’s no need to go it alone or try to figure
everything out for yourself when it comes to starting
community classes or designing school programs or
even promoting local or state policies to help people
eat more plant-based foods. There are more than
enough people and organizations doing this work today
in creative and successful ways that you can collaborate
with and model after to address your own community’s
needs.
When I worked with the Vegetarian Society of DC in
2004 to create Eat Smart, which was the first federally
funded vegan nutrition program in the country, I had
already been doing community cooking classes and
lectures in the DC area for about 15 years. So I already
knew and had worked with the other folks in the field
who were doing the same work, and that made it easier
to get the word out about Eat Smart and make it
successful. Collaboration is key.
Feminism means different things to
different people. What does it mean to
you?
I’ve always been a feminist and womanist, even before I
could articulate those terms or study them in college.
My mother raised us that way, so it’s just natural and
second nature to me. I’ve never in my life thought boys
or men were superior to me! My mom was ahead of her
time in instilling that in us (and in so many other ways)
and I’m truly grateful for that.
So, because of this, I have zero tolerance for sexism.
None. Just like I have zero tolerance for racism. So you
can imagine that I’ve been a fighter and activist all my
life, challenging folks left and right since childhood!
But this is nothing remarkable to me. As Angela Davis
said, “I don’t accept the things I cannot change. I
change the things I cannot accept.” Black women are
the creators of the feminist movement in this country
and the embodiment of it. That’s just how we roll.
What impact does empowering women
have on society?
So again, I’m used to being around empowered women.
Black women have always been personally empowered
to me. This is not something that is given to us outside
of ourselves. What we’ve fought for is to have society
catch up to us, to bend that arc toward justice.
Now, having said that, I do of course know that sexism,
male privilege, this false notion of male supremacy, is
systemic in this society and most other countries
around the world. And the economic, political, and
>
54 | BarefootVegan

Tracye & her
mother: One of Tracye's
proudest moments was
helping her mum, Mary
McQuirter, go vegan
almost 30 years ago. She's
still a healthy, active vegan
today at 79.
Tracye and Dr. Sojin
Kim with Michelle
Obama at the White
House.
From left to
right: Neal
Barnard of the
Physicians
Committee for
Responsible
Medicine, Gene
Baur of Farm
Sanctuary,
Tracye, and
Michael Greger
of Nutrition
Facts.

Photography by: A Little Bit of Whimsy Photography
social consequences are oppressive and exhaustive. Just like
with racism.
So, the question really is about changing society, as much as
it is about women owning their power. Because the problem
with sexism isn’t women. The problem is the
institutionalization of sexism for the benefit of white men.
But women can still be personally empowered within that
system. Just like the problem with racism isn’t black people.
The problem is the institutionalization of racism for the
benefit of white men and women. Black people, and for this
question, black women, can still be personally empowered
within that system. In fact, that is required for us to resist
and defeat both of those systems.
How does veganism relate to feminism?
In addition to what I’ve said earlier about feminism, I also
agree with Carol J. Adams in her seminal work The Sexual
Politics of Meat about the enslavement, rape, and torture of
female animals for food as a manifestation of systemic male
supremacy--as is the food industry’s relentless conflation of
meat with masculinity and strength, and vegetables with
femininity and weakness.
Sistah Vegan, edited by A. Breeze Harper, is another groundbreaking
book that explores issues of identity, food, health,
and society in a series of essays written by more than 20
black women vegans.
Both of these books are truly eye-opening and should be
required reading for everyone who eats.
Why was it so important to target your book
particularly to black women?
Toni Morrison said to write the books you want to read.
When I was going vegan, I would have loved to have read a
vegan book for black women that was written by a black
woman who was a long-time vegan and a nutritionist.
That would have been a dream come true. So I wrote
that book!
And my sister and I had already started the first vegan
website for and by African Americans, and we had
thousands of subscribers, so I knew there was a hungry
vegan audience for the book.
I also wanted to engage with black women directly
about liberating the way we think about food and
taking back control of our health because we
experience the worst health outcomes of any group in
the U.S. We have the power to turn this around and I
wanted to provide a manifesto to help us do that.
You’ve already achieved so much in your
career to date. What’s been the highlight
so far?
Thank you. On a kind of large scale, I’m really deeply
honoured and proud that I’ve had the opportunity to
help grow that number of 3 million-plus African
American vegans and vegetarians, in particular, and to
help folks from all walks of life and around the world
think about, or start, or affirm their vegan journeys.
Although it oftentimes feels intangible, it’s made real
for me when I get an emotional email or an exuberant
hug at a book-signing because someone has let me
know I made a difference in their lives. I love that and
it always makes me tear up a little (like now).
On a more personal level, the highlight has been
without a doubt the fact that my mom and middle
sister went vegan with me 30 years ago. And just to talk
about my mom in particular, she was 50 at the time.
She’s now 79 and still vegan and healthy and vibrant,
with no chronic disease issues. And she exercises 5 days
56 | BarefootVegan

a week! She’s truly my inspiration. Like I said earlier, my
mom was way ahead of her time and still is.
What advice would you give others on how to
promote a healthy vegan lifestyle to their
loved ones?
Focus first on you and be an example. Even if you’re a new
vegan and you want your loved ones to know how horrible
it is for chickens and cows on factory farms, and how
unhealthy it is to eat them. Even with all that urgency, my
best advice is to focus on you and be an example. If your
loved ones ask, then talk, and watch videos, and read books,
and go to vegan meetups, and visit vegan restaurants. And if
they want to continue, great. If they don’t, just continue on
your journey and let things flow organically. Also, don’t be
self-righteous about your veganism. There will always be
people who eats less healthfully than you and more
healthfully than you, so why judge? (At least not publically!)
I can get away with being a bit more pushy about veganism
because it’s my profession, not just my way of life. But in my
personal life, I really try not to be judgemental (I used to be
very self-righteous in my early vegan days, until I learned
better). Nowadays, I try to only offer advice or suggestions
when folks have already let me know they're trying to
change. That said, I never like to talk about veganism at the
dinner table in a mixed group of omnivores and vegans. If
I’m asked, I usually suggest we talk about it a little later, if
they’d like. This has served me well over the years.
What’s next for you? What other aspirations
do you still have?
Well, I’ll be turning 50 next year (I hope that surprises some
of you and you look at these photos again in amazement!),
and I’m making some transitions in my life, along with the
ones that are happening naturally in my body. I’m starting
by being more adventurous and bold. I’m also going to write
more - more books, articles, plays, poetry - about
whatever I want. Writing is my first love and I’m most
fulfilled when I’m doing it. It’s kind of taken a back
seat to my vegan work in the past, but I’m turning that
around. In the meantime, though, I’m working on my
second vegan book, so look out for it next year.
I’m also organising group vegan travel trips. I’ve been
all over the world as a vegan and I want to share that
experience with other vegans and like-minded folks.
We have a trip to Amsterdam coming up in June 2016,
so stay tuned for that.
Is there anything else you’d like readers
to know about?
Just that I hope you’re inspired by my story to start or
stay on your vegan journey. It’s a beautiful life and you
can do it! BV
To find out more about Tracye’s
work and how to purchase ‘By Any
Greens Necessary’ visit her
website and you can also connect
with her on Facebook and
Twitter.
57 | BarefootVegan

Mamma Mia!
Why being vegan before and during
pregnancy helps you have a vivacious and
robust baby. By Juliet Gellatley, founder
& director of Viva!, nutritional
therapist and mum of twin sons!
M
y nutritional therapy clients who want to
become pregnant tend to fall into two
categories - those who eat fast-food meat
diets and know they shouldn’t and those
who are already veggie or vegan but need
reassurance. After all, having a baby is truly momentous –
you want to do everything you can to give him or her the
best start in life.
The truth is, a balanced vegan diet is packed with disease
busting, body and brain nurturing nutrients and is ideal
for a healthy pregnancy. Just as importantly, a vegan diet
particularly lacks the nasties you need to avoid - saturated
fats, cholesterol, concentrated pesticides, cancer
promoters, dioxins and mercury. The latter two are in
practically all fish.
And few people realise that cows’ milk contains 35
hormones and 11 growth factors, including those linked to
breast cancer.
A healthy pregnancy should just be an extension of your
normally healthy diet. If you eat well anyway, then eating
right for your unborn child won’t be such a radical
change. If, however, your diet has always been based
around junk food, meat and dairy produce, then it’s time
it wasn’t, for both your sakes, and of course the animals!
The secret of healthy eating before and during
pregnancy is variety but focusing on wholegrains (3
servings daily), pulses (peas, beans and lentils of all
types plus unsalted mixed nuts* and seeds (2 to 3
portions daily), and fresh fruit and vegetables (7-10
servings daily), as well as some healthy essential fats
and vitamin B12 fortified foods.
There is plenty of scope for adventurous, creative
cookery. With herbs, spices, stock cubes, flavourings
such as soya sauce and creamed coconut, soya cheese
and a host of other extras, you can create the most
wonderfully exotic dishes, as well as all the traditional
favourites. For inspiration try:
www.veganrecipeclub.org.uk
A weighty issue
Being underweight or overweight affects your baby.
Many studies show that mums who under eat increase
their child’s risk of developing obesity and related
diseases (e.g. heart disease, diabetes, cancer). It is
believed that the foetus makes physiological
adaptations to the ‘famine’ to prepare him or herself for
life after birth. Far from being protective, these changes
make the child more vulnerable to obesity and disease.
59 | BarefootVegan
>

Recent research has also shown that when mums eat a
high fat and/or high sugar diet during pregnancy it can
result in their baby being predisposed to obesity and their
children having metabolic syndrome (the precursor to
diabetes type 2). To state the obvious, it’s important to
not under eat or overeat during pregnancy! And it’s
important to eat the right types of foods.
How much energy does a woman need
during pregnancy?
(Calories are sometimes called kilocalories or Kcals.)
A woman who is not pregnant needs approximately 2,100
calories per day. A pregnant woman needs approximately
2,500 calories per day. A breastfeeding woman needs
approximately 3,000 calories per day
Increasing your nutrients for pregnancy
During pregnancy, your daily nutrient requirements do
increase - but you don’t need to eat twice as much! The
growing baby gets all his/her nourishment from mum
through the umbilical cord, so diet is very important. If
mum is lacking in any vitamins and nutrients her baby
might lack them too.
Iron, B vitamins (especially folic acid) as well as beta
carotene, C and D, calcium, zinc and protein are all
needed in greater amounts. It’s not surprising - you’re
making a whole new person.
Protein
Protein is needed for growth, repair of tissue and
protection against infection and is high in all types of
pulses and seeds. The humble soya bean, particularly
when eaten as edamame, is very high in protein –
comprised of all the protein building blocks (amino
acids). Quinoa seeds also contain all essential amino
acids. Use as you would rice.
Preeclampsia, causing reduced blood flow to the placenta
and premature delivery, has been attributed to
insufficient protein so it is prudent to increase your
intake. The good news - medical studies on 775 vegan
mothers showed them to be less prone to preeclampsia.
Fats
Avoid saturated animal fats and go for unsaturated types -
the essential fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6. These
have many functions and are a main constituent of the
brain and eyes. The developing foetus needs a constant
supply of omega-3 and this can only come from the
mother!
One of the best oils to cook with is virgin olive oil - high
in omega-9, a beneficial, non-essential fatty acid. As for
*Going Nuts?
Pregnant or lactating women from allergyprone
(atopic) families - should avoid eating
peanuts and nuts entirely as sensitisation to
them can occur in the womb and later
through breastfeeding. Children of atopic
mothers shouldn’t be given them until at least
three years old or when recommended by a
doctor. But for the majority of infants, nuts are
an important addition to the diet and can be
introduced from six months old in the form of
smooth nut butters. Whole nuts should not be
given to children under five years of age due to
the risk of choking.
getting omega-3s from fish - don’t! Pregnant women are
strongly advised by government to limit their oily fish
intake because of contamination with pollutants that
can damage the nervous system, affect development
and create learning problems. Avoid cod liver oil as it
contains excessive vitamin A which can damage your
unborn baby.
Calcium
A mineral needed for healthy nervous systems, blood
clotting and bone and tooth formation in mother and
baby. Surprisingly, cow’s milk does not guarantee
strong bones – in fact, it can cause osteoporosis. (See:
www.vivahealth.org.uk/bones)
Iron
The need for iron increases during pregnancy because
both mother and baby are creating new blood. About
one-third of pregnant women are mildly anaemic. I was
the first mum-to-be of twins who doctors at my hospital
found high in iron! I beamed “it’s because I’m vegan!”
Zinc
Probably plays the biggest role in reproduction. A
deficiency increases the chance of miscarriage. Needed
for hormone balance, development of the egg,
successful fertilisation and implantation.
>
60 | BarefootVegan

Fiona Phillips, GMTV
Presenter
“As a healthy vegetarian I enjoyed a
perfectly normal pregnancy and had no
concerns about bringing up my baby on a
meat-free diet. Indeed, Nathaniel is reaping
the benefits being robustly healthy! I
consider a vegetarian diet to be not only
perfectly safe but more healthy for you and
your baby.”
Jo Lacey with Melika, pictured at 1
year
“I’ve been vegan for 16 years and I had a healthy
pregnancy followed by a natural home birth.
Breastfeeding our daughter, Melika, has given her a
good source of natural immunity and this combined
with a vegan diet has meant that she is rarely poorly. I
wanted to do the best for my baby and it made sense
to offer her foods that I knew to be healthy and cruelty
-free. Now a very bouncy, happy two-year-old, Melika
is really thriving on a diet of fruits and vegetables,
lentils, nuts and soya products such as tofu and veggie
sausages”.
Yolanda Soryl
On the wall from left to right:
Te Koha, 3 yrs, Neve, 7, Asher, 9
and Ella, 12
“My four vegan babies were all born with
beautiful skin, calm natures and with above
average birth weights. Active and busy, their
sporting efforts include representing their
schools in athletics, swimming and netball.
We never had a doubt that a vegan diet was
the best possible choice for our family.”
62 | BarefootVegan

Vitamins A, C and E
Vegans get plenty of vitamin A from betacarotene.
It is needed to implant the fertilised
egg.
All fruits and veg contain vitamin C but some
are particularly rich sources. It keeps the
protective membrane around your baby strong.
Vitamin E protects vital RNA and DNA
reducing risk of congenital defects.
These three ACE vitamins are vital antioxidants
that also protect against disease, including heart disease,
stroke, diabetes type II and cancer. There is very little in
meat!
The B Vitamins
Many B vitamins are involved in releasing energy from
food and help to aid growth and repair of the body.
Folic acid (vitamin B9) is required for protein synthesis,
formation of blood, metabolism of DNA (our genetic
blueprint) and helps prevent neural tube defects (Spina
Bifida) in the developing foetus. It is therefore essential
before conception and during early pregnancy.
Vitamin B12 is vital for you and your baby's nervous system
and blood formation. If vegan, take a B12 supplement and
ensure a daily serving of foods fortified with B12.
Watch Words!
Vegetarians beware - dairy may cause food poisoning.
Ripened soft cheeses such as Brie and Camembert must be
avoided as they may contain listeria which can lead to
listeriosis and possible miscarriage, still-birth or severe
illness in a new-born baby. Eggs carry the risk of
salmonella.
Caffeine in coffee and cola have been suspected (not
proved) of producing birth defects or miscarriage.
Alcohol is a no-go and smoking is clearly bad for you and
your baby, associated with low birth weight and cot death.
It’s never too late to give up.
Vegetarian and vegan women have been producing
healthy, beautiful babies for thousands of years. Trust your
body and Mother Nature. We are a great ape and
essentially evolved to thrive on a vegan diet. For
reassurance see Wheat eaters or Meat eaters
www.vivahealth.org.uk/guides. Vegan diets are the most
natural in the world so have faith and a wonderful, happy
pregnancy! BV
Juliet with her twin
sons, Jazz & Finn
Juliet is the co-author of Vegetarian
and Vegan Mother and Baby Guide
with Rose Elliot, published by Viva!
63 | BarefootVegan

66 | BarefootVegan

Plant-Based
Diets for Cats
and Dogs?
By Akshay Verma
A heavily debated, and often heated, topic of
discussion among vegans is whether or not it’s
right and ethical to feed our companion
animals (cats and dogs) a vegan diet. Here,
vegan veterinary student Akshay Verma shines
some light on the history of human and animal
companionship, the evolution of their diets
and current scientific understanding.
P
eople interested in dog and
cat nutrition often point to
what our companion
animals would have eaten
“in the wild” as an indicator
of how they should eat today. While
evolution does provide some dietary
clues if we have a clear understanding
of their domestication, it is important
to realize the limited usefulness of
this thinking in companion animal
nutrition. Before I explain why our
best friends’ survival-of-the-fittest
history does not necessarily indicate
their ideal diet, I will first discuss
what that history is.
The dog, or Canis familiaris, has had
a historical presence in nearly every
human society around the world. In
fact, the species’ very existence is the
result of domestication by humans
from wolves as early as 33,000 years
ago (1, 2). Although wolves consume
some vegetable and fruit matter, they
primarily consume other animals (3,
4). Since early dogs were dependent
on human food scraps, however,
adaptation to a more human-like diet
was critical to their survival as a
domestic companion. In fact,
genomic sequencing supports their
adaptation to a starch-rich diet.
Compared to carnivorous wolves,
omnivorous dogs have
significantly increased gene
expression for pancreatic
amylase, maltose to glucose
conversion, and intestinal glucose
uptake (5).
The cat, or Felis silvestris catus,
was domesticated roughly 10,000
years ago (6). Genetic research
suggests that the cat’s
domestication did not depend on
dietary adaptation as much as the
dog’s domestication. As a result,
the domestic cat’s nutrient
requirements remain similar to
those of its hypercarnivorous felid
relatives, such as tigers and snow
leopards, whose wild diets are
comprised of at least 70% meat
(7, 8). This is likely related to
humans keeping cats to hunt
animals deemed as pests as well
as domestic cats being historically
allowed to roam outdoors,
preying on wildlife and mating
with feral counterparts (9).
67 | BarefootVegan
>

Hatchi & Boris: Photo by Raymon Foget
While understanding what food sources dogs, cats, and
their ancestors relied on in the past sheds some light on
their nutrient requirements, it is important to realize
natural selection favors diets that allow animals to live
long enough to reproduce given their current
environment. It does not necessarily favor diets that help
relatively sedentary, sterilized companion animals have
the longest and healthiest lives possible in a world where
we have access to many sources of nutrients. For
instance, an animal might evolve to prefer calorie dense
foods in order to survive in the wild, but its housebound
progeny might develop obesity from consuming
such foods in the same amounts. Scientific research can
“As a vegan veterinary student, I am
often asked if our companion animals can
thrive on plant-based diets. The answer
is quite different for our canine friends
than our feline ones.”
help fill gaps in knowledge that extrapolation from
historical evidence cannot close. Since animals were and
are seen as expendable by some, there have been many
tightly controlled experiments in the past seventy years
involving feeding nutrient deficient diets to companion
68 | BarefootVegan
animals. Thus, we have an evolving but solid foundation
of knowledge regarding the minimum nutrient
requirements dogs and cats have at different stages of
their lives. In the United States, the National Research
Council (NRC) and the Association of American Feed
Control Officials (AAFCO) set nutrient intake
recommendations for dog and cats based on published
research.
As a vegan veterinary student, I am often asked if our
companion animals can thrive on plant-based diets. The
answer is quite different for our canine friends than our
feline ones. For dogs, commercial vegetarian diets have
been available for decades,
typically using legumes and grains
to meet standards set by AAFCO
and similar bodies. While there
have anecdotally been many
healthy dogs eating these diets,
most of these diets have not been
formally tested. Those companies
claiming to meet AAFCO
guidelines need only test their
foods on live animals if they state
on their packaging they
performed feeding trials. The vast majority of holistic
and natural brands, meat-based or vegan, do not
formally test their products. This is likely due to both
the economic cost associated with the trials and the
ethical dilemmas related to lab animal environments.

Veterinarians commonly prescribe vegetarian diets to dogs
with urate stones (most often Dalmatians) and food
allergies. The Purina HA diet, which is marketed as
vegetarian, has passed AAFCO feeding trial criteria for
both puppies and adult dogs. However, the vitamin D3 and
possibly other supplemental nutrients are derived from
non-vegan sources. Furthermore, the Purina HA diet
contains trans fat. This type of fat has not been wellstudied
in dogs, but is known to be harmful to humans,
who albeit are innately more prone to diet-induced
atherosclerosis. Additional formal research was conducted
on competitive sledding dogs who showed no difference in
their hematological values whether eating meat-based or
meat-free diets over sixteen weeks (10). A new company
called Indogo Canine Nutrition Company is setting out to
conduct humane, scientifically sound research on dogs
eating vegan diets. The research results will be made
public, and they plan to sell foods based on the data. To
learn more about this initiative, go to www.indogolife.com.
Although cats are considered obligate carnivores, it seems
likely that some day there will be a sound, cruelty free
product that meets their nutrient requirements. Vegan
sources of nutrients that were previously understood to be
only animal-derived like DHA/EPA and vitamin D3 are
becoming increasingly popular. Even taurine, an essential
amino acid for cats, is most commonly added to cat food
from synthetic, non-animal sources. In addition, in vitro
meat seems to be an ever more plausible reality. Still, a safe
non-animal derived cat food product would require strict
quality control and substantial evidence supporting its
digestibility—both of these traits are unfortunately lacking
in all current vegan feeding options for cats. In 2004, one
sample each of Evolution Vegetable Stew and Gourmet
Entree and Vegecat KibbleMix were found deficient in
several key nutrients (11). Without even knowing their
digestibility, these products failed to contain the nutrients
they claimed to on their label. A later study found that all
seventeen cats eating commercial or homemade vegetarian
diets had adequate blood levels of vitamin B12 and
fourteen of them had adequate levels of taurine (12). Both
of these nutrients are regularly supplemented in
companion animal food from vegan sources. While there is
anecdotal evidence of a few veterinarians maintaining
some cats on commercial vegan diets, there is also
anecdotal evidence of veterinarians seeing cats eating
these diets who develop dilated cardiomyopathy among
other health problems. Overall, I do not see myself >
“Although cats are
considered obligate
carnivores, it seems
likely that someday
there will be a
sound, cruelty free
product that meets
their nutrient
requirements.”
recommending currently available vegan cat food
products once I am in practice. It is hard to say what
is the most ethical way to feed your cat animal
products beyond meeting his or her health needs.
One possibility is feeding a homemade diet that
includes shrimp if one views certain crustaceans as
capable of less suffering than other animals. Another
ethically debatable choice is feeding flesh from larger
animals, such as cows, so fewer lives are taken. Given
the resources that beef production requires, however,
there are many collateral animal casualties that
should be considered. A third possibility is feeding
only foods with meat by-products for which animals
are not specifically slaughtered. I will let the vegan
ethicists debate this topic from here.
69 | BarefootVegan

Many animal guardians wish to cook at
home for their companions. For dogs, it is
possible to make a homemade plant-based
diet with appropriate vegan supplements.
The most reliable products currently on the
market are the BalanceIt supplements,
which are designed by board-certified
veterinary nutritionists. Customized
balanced vegan recipes for healthy adult
dogs can easily be obtained for free from
their website, www.balanceit.com. BalanceIt recommends
regular testing of blood taurine levels for vegetarian dogs.
Although dogs do not require dietary taurine, they require
adequate dietary methionine to produce sufficient amounts of
taurine and carnitine. Thus, their recipes often include
methionine supplementation because vegan diets can be low
in methionine, which interestingly in humans, rats and mice is
associated with longer lifespans (13). For healthy adult cats,
balanced homemade diets that include animal products are
also available from BalanceIt. Animals with medical problems
or special needs should receive a consult from a knowledgeable
veterinarian or credentialed specialist. If your general
veterinarian is unable to assist you, a good rule-of-thumb is to
obtain a referral to a veterinarian board certified by the
American College of Veterinary Nutrition or European College
of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition. These veterinarians
received years of additional training in the field of clinical
nutrition after earning their veterinary degrees. A list of them
can be found on the BalanceIt website, and several offer
consultations online. BV
Akshay Verma is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine student at Michigan
State University. He entered veterinary school conscious of the need for
veterinarians to advocate for progressive animal welfare policies. As such,
he is President and Co-Founder of the school’s chapter of the Humane
Society Veterinary Medical Association, which among other activities has
worked to get veterinary students involved in the legislative process. He
serves as a Development Committee Member for Michigan Friends of
Companion Animals and as a consultant to Indogo Canine Nutrition Company. He
previously earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he was
awarded highest honors for his thesis on the welfare, scientific, and social concerns associated with
appearance-based dog breeding. At U of M, he served as Director of the Michigan Animal Respect
Society (currently Michigan Animal Rights Society). His personal website is www.thedoghugger.com,and
his email address is progressivedvm@gmail.com.
70 | BarefootVegan

Sources Cited:
1. Skoglund, Pontus, et al. "Ancient Wolf Genome
Reveals an Early Divergence of Domestic Dog
Ancestors and Admixture into High-Latitude Breeds."
Current Biology 25.11 (2015): 1515-1519.
2. Ovodov, Nikolai D., et al. "A 33,000-year-old
incipient dog from the Altai Mountains of Siberia:
Evidence of the earliest domestication disrupted by
the Last Glacial Maximum." PLoS One 6.7 (2011).
3. Meriggi, Alberto, et al. "Habitat use and diet of the
wolf in northern Italy." Acta theriologica 36.1-2 (1991):
141-152.
4. Salvador, A., and P. L. Abad. "Food habits of a wolf
population (Canis lupus) in León province, Spain."
Mammalia 51.1 (1987): 45-52.
5. Axelsson, Erik, et al. "The genomic signature of dog
domestication reveals adaptation to a starch-rich diet."
Nature 495.7441 (2013): 360-364.
6. Driscoll, Carlos A., et al. "The Near Eastern origin of
cat domestication." Science 317.5837 (2007): 519-523.
7. Montague, Michael J., et al. "Comparative analysis of
the domestic cat genome reveals genetic signatures
underlying feline biology and domestication."
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111.48
(2014): 17230-17235.
8. Holliday, Jill A., and Scott J. Steppan. "Evolution of
hypercarnivory: the effect of specialization on
morphological and taxonomic diversity." Paleobiology
30.1 (2004): 108-128.
9. Driscoll, Carlos A., David W. Macdonald, and
Stephen J. O'Brien. "From wild animals to domestic
pets, an evolutionary view of domestication."
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106.
Supplement 1 (2009): 9971-9978.
10. Brown, Wendy Y., et al. "An experimental meatfree
diet maintained haematological characteristics in
sprint-racing sled dogs." British Journal of Nutrition
102.09 (2009): 1318-1323.
11. Gray, Christina M., Rance K. Sellon, and Lisa M.
Freeman. "Nutritional adequacy of two vegan diets for
cats." Journal of the American Veterinary Medical
Association 225 (2005): 1670-5.
12. Wakefield, Lorelei A., Frances S. Shofer, and
Kathryn E. Michel. "Evaluation of cats fed vegetarian
diets and attitudes of their caregivers." Journal of the
American Veterinary Medical Association 229.1 (2006):
70-73.
13. McCarty, Mark F., Jorge Barroso-Aranda, and
Francisco Contreras. "The low-methionine content of
vegan diets may make methionine restriction feasible
as a life extension strategy." Medical hypotheses 72.2
(2009): 125-128.
71 | BarefootVegan

The fox
+ the hounds
By Anneka Svenska
This year in the UK, activists
have been desperately trying to
prevent a return to fox hunting
with hounds, as the Conservative
government decided to plan a
vote on whether to bring the
English hunting act in line with
the Scottish one. This would
allow limitless numbers of
hounds to be used to flush out a
fox from its den to be shot.
L
uckily this vote was postponed due to both the
embarrassment from the huge amount of public proban
supporters and celebrities who rallied in
parliament square but also from the humiliation that
Scottish MPs delivered when they said they would not be
supporting the change in English legislation to match their own.
For the last ten years, the UK has seen a ban to hunting with
hounds, where a hound is allowed to actively track and kill a
live fox. Instead hunts have been employing a technique called
‘trail hunting’ where one of the huntsmen runs on ahead and
lays a pre-set trail.
I thought I would talk briefly about trail hunting, as
there still seems to be a lot of confusion about the
terms drag and trail hunting. When fox hunting
was banned in 2005 with The Hunting Act, this
meant that the hunting of wild mammals (notably
foxes, deer, hares and mink) with dogs in England
and Wales was made illegal.
The huntsmen in their need to continue their ‘fun’
on horseback turned to other ways of replicating
the chase. They thus ‘invented’ a new type of
hunting called ‘Trail Hunting’, where a scent would
be laid along their original line of quarry, so that
they could continue on original trails that they had
enjoyed over many years. The scent used is often
fox urine (which is disastrous as it never trains the
fox hounds off tracking a fox!)
Drag Hunting, on the other hand, is the property of
the Masters of Drag and Bloodhounds Association
and is an equestrian activity where a drag is laid
over a pre-determined and generally known route
taking lines over fences and open countryside. This
practice has been in action for hundreds of years
and never chooses to intentionally hurt or illegally
pursue an animal. The Drag Hunting association is
very keen to make the distinction between what it
does and the trail hunting created by the Masters of
73 | BarefootVegan
>

As the huntsmen
laughed and socialised
at the start of the hunt,
drinking alcohol and
eating snacks, the
hounds ran to the Hunt
Sabs. The sabs cuddled
and hugged these poor,
desperate dogs... I was
told that this is the only
positive attention the
hounds will ever
experience.
Foxhounds Association, due to many ‘accidental’ animal
deaths and controversies surrounding the hunting
practices of the Red Coats.
Now, through all of this mania, people are often left
forgetting the poor hounds over the foxes. Several wellknown
newspapers did publish a couple of articles on the
hounds this year, which was really good, but
nethertheless, the hounds do get forgotten.
It has been estimated that around 4,000 fox hounds are
killed every year for a variety of reasons. Older dogs are
shot at the age of 6-7 when the huntsmen feel they have
outlived their abilities, puppies are killed at birth for
being ‘weak’ and throughout the dogs lives, individuals
are picked off for different reasons, such as not working
as hard as they should, going off scent, being weak
specimens. Many foxhounds are killed on roads ever year
as the hunts takes them over and alongside busy main
roads where they are knocked down on a regular basis.
I was privileged to join The Hunt Sab Association and
run with these brave volunteers in order to experience
what it was like to watch a Trail Hunt. The first thing
which struck me was the desperation of the foxhounds for
attention. As the huntsmen laughed and socialised at the
start of the hunt, drinking alcohol and eating snacks, the
poor hounds ran to the Hunt Sabs, as they instantly
recognised that they would get attention from these
people. The sabs cuddled and hugged these poor
desperate dogs, who were scarred up from running
through barbed wire fences and probably clashing with
one another. I was told by the sabs that this is the only
positive attention the hounds will ever experience.
When the hounds are home, they are shut away in
stables and pens, which can lead to fighting and injuring
one another. They exist with as much attention as a
factory farmed cow or chicken. It is amazing that they
have such gentle and affectionate depositions after all
the neglect. They are gentle breeds by nature and it
seems that the huntsmen have created monsters by
reputation and by training, as in the flesh the dogs were
delightful. They do not seem naturally inclined to be
aggressive or mean and simply have a taste for pursuing
small mammals, that’s all. This does not mean that they
could or would be aggressive to a human in any way or
form any more than any other dog. Like an abused or
neglected dog which has needed to adapt to survive,
these dogs have been taught that it’s good to chase and
kill foxes.
The huntsmen claim that the hounds cannot be
rehomed and like a greyhound, they have developed
extreme predatory instincts. However, many ex-racing
greyhounds are successfully rehomed. I am not saying
that a foxhound could be homed with small animals
such as cats, but they could be homed into similar
homes to which these greyhounds go to. Instead they are
put down at age 6-7 and I have been told, by a bullet,
rather than lethal injection. This is not regulated and I
shudder to think about the various means to how the
death could transpire.
Several online films have shown foxhounds living in very
crowded conditions in barns, with barely a pin to put
between them at night. Clean? Yes, but that doesn’t
matter as they are crowded and never touched. Some
people have argued that they are happy and that is how
they like to live, but remember, these are the same
people who argue that its fine to rip a fox into little
pieces while it is still alive… I rest my case.
So my article is intended to draw everyone’s attention a
little bit more towards the hounds as well as the fox. If
hundreds are being bred to be killed every year, as they
don’t make the grade, are ignored, neglected and shot
young, then we need to look more towards the rights of
these animals. If a person can be prosecuted for abusing
a pet dog, then why is no one doing more about the
protection of these poor hunting dogs?
Perhaps now we can start to fight for the rights of the
hounds as well as the fox. BV
74 | BarefootVegan

The Water Meadow
A short story by Mark Stewart
Illustration by David Sandrock
76 | BarefootVegan

T
he ramp beneath his feet was made of metal – it was
always metal or concrete, never grass or hay, or even
sawdust – and the ridges in the metal surface that he had to
clamber over hurt his feet, knocking and jarring, adding to
the numerous bruises that had already been inflicted. He
was beaten with a stick as he climbed; savage blows as
harsh as the shouts and curses that also fell upon him,
goading him into the narrow, roofed enclosure.
There were slats in the walls he could see through,
offering the narrowest of views. His world had always been
thus, a place of confinement and restriction. It was hot
inside the enclosure even before they shut the ramp. He
knew there would be no water but he searched for it
anyway, the pain in his throat a dry rasping grunt that also
came from his companions, a rough asthmatic wheeze.
They shuffled close together, too many for the space that
had been provided. Soon the floor began to shake, a
mechanical vibration that transmitted itself to his body,
and there was a sense of forward motion.
He went back to one of the slats and peered out at walls
made of brick and stone, barriers that rushed by one after
another. Once briefly he glimpsed a field, a place so utterly
different from the factory-sized shed into which he had
been born and in which he’d lived his entire life. The field
reminded him of a place he sometimes dreamt about, a
meadow containing an ancient oak, its roots a favourite
spot where he could search for food, snuffling and
rummaging, while the tall boughs shaded him from the
sun. And in the meadow there was a brook he could drink
from so he need never be thirsty, a brook which often
overflowed especially during the spring rains, turning one
corner of the field into a water meadow, a kingdom of
dragonflies and amphibians.
The herding began again when the forward motion
stopped. Always the corralling, the hectoring, the beating
sticks, the funnelling into another place, this time the final
place. As soon as the ramp came down they could smell the
blood and the excrement, the one offering a sharp metallic
tang to his nose, the other a reminder of the place he’d
come from. Even in the iron barn, with all its deprivations
and casual cruelties, he had lived long enough to
experience each of the seasons twice over, and he knew
winter as an absence of light and warmth. He knew that
“Once briefly he
glimpsed a field, a place
so utterly different from
the factory-sized shed
into which he had been
born and in which he’d
lived his entire life.”
this was such a place, a place of emptiness, a place
where life faded away.
He ran, they all did, because it was all they could do,
running towards the men in white coats and dirty
boots. The men with death in their hands, men whose
trade was extinction. He felt the cold muzzle of the bolt
gun pressed against the top of his head but the impact,
the killing concussion, was too quick to feel. For the
briefest instant he remembered being born and then
there was nothing. One moment he was alive, the next
he simply wasn’t. There was no sense of falling asleep,
no drift into unconscious, just the sudden onset of
nullity.
He would never know, of course, what became of his
body, that it would be dismembered - legs, head, even
the tail - his bowels eviscerated, the meat carved, the
bones cracked apart, the various components of what
had once been a living thing auctioned and sold off, the
pieces going to destinations he could never have
imagined. Still less would he know that those pieces
would be bought again and cut up again, cooked and
ingested, with the remnants finally expelled into
sewers.
Before all of that happened, his last thought was of a
meadow filled with sunlight, rich with grass, where
there was water to drink and others of his own kind to
keep him company. A green field he might have called
home, where the boughs of an ancient oak moved in a
gentle breeze while he hunted for truffles between root
and stem. And where the ground beneath his feet
would always be soft. BV
Mark Stewart is the author of a
series of short stories and essays
relating to animal welfare.
Loosely entitled “In Defence of
the Ark” these can be found on
his Facebook page. He writes
exclusively for the animal welfare movement.
Mark lives in Surrey; members of his non-human
family include rabbits, foxes and hedgehogs.
77 | BarefootVegan

Photo: ©Veronika Powell - Viva!
78 | BarefootVegan

Milk is
a
Feminist
Issue
By Dr Justine Butler, Senior Health
Researcher & Writer, Viva!
79 | BarefootVegan

“I am a veganfeminist
because I
am one animal among
many, and I don’t
wish to impose a
hierarchy of
consumption upon
this relationship.”
Carol J. Adams
A
s a feminist, I wonder how other non-vegan
feminists feel about consuming cow’s milk –
do they know how milk is produced? Do
they care? Would they carry on drinking
milk if they knew what goes on behind the closed doors
of the modern dairy farm?
We are shocked and outraged at stories of violence
against women – stories of rape, forced pregnancy and
forced adoption yet these are all a routine part of
modern dairy farming. We fight for and value the right
to choose, to control what happens to our own bodies –
cows have no choice, these things are done to them over
and over again, on an industrial scale. The
uncomfortable truth is, milk comes from grieving
mothers.
Feminism combines a range of ideas that share a
common goal supporting the rights and equality of
women. Some feminists understand the term ‘woman’
not as a sex term but as a gender term that depends on
social and cultural factors. Transgender people (who
identify with a gender other than the sex they were
‘assigned at birth’) are coming forward to fight for an
equal place in society. This offers the potential for feminist
politics to be more inclusive. In addition, some feminists
believe that men’s identification with the movement can
also help further feminist causes.
Of course, this is controversial but most people agree that
women – including transgender people who identify as
women – should have an equal place in society.
A key issue in feminist politics is a woman’s right to
control her own sexuality and reproductive system,
including access to contraceptives and abortion. It is welldocumented
how sexual violence is used as a means of
control and how it is linked to patriarchy, capitalism and
other forms of oppression.
For example, it wasn’t until 1991 that rape within marriage
became a crime and it wasn’t until 2003 that the Sexual
Offences Act gave ‘consent’ a legal definition in England
and Wales. Before this, exemption from prosecution for
raping their wives was based on the notion that marriage
implied consent to sex and when married, a woman
became the property of her husband. These relatively
recent changes were vigorously campaigned for since the
second wave of feminism in the 1960s – suffragettes being
80 | BarefootVegan

Photo: ©Veronika Powell - Viva!
Cows share with us the
basic brain architecture
responsible for emotion.
Mother cows feel very
distressed when their
offspring are taken from
them, they cry and
bellow. They are still
grieving as the milking
machines suck the milk
from their udders.
the first wave.
In the 1980s a third wave of feminism emerged linking
women with nature, combining feminism with ecology. It
was called ‘ecofeminism’. Feminist protestors at the
Greenham Common women’s peace camp used their
identity as mothers and concern for their children and
future generations to legitimise their protest against
nuclear weapons. Vegetarian ecofeminism became popular
with those who identified with the oppression of farmed
animals. However, ecofeminism was associated with some
ideas that alienated other feminists: all pornography is bad,
all sex workers are victims (whether they know it or not)
and having surgery and hormonal treatment to transform
your sex or gender is unnatural.
In the 1990s, ecofeminism became unfashionable. Critics
said it was misguided linking women to some mystified
notion of nature and that it was not a liberating ideology
but regressive. Ecofeminists were labelled as ethnocentric,
anti-academic, irrational goddess-worshipers and
ecofeminism lost favour. The links between animal abuse
and women’s oppression were dismissed as a postmodern
feminism focused primarily on humans, with little concern
for animals or the environment. Human-centred
(anthropocentric) feminism came to dominate feminist
thinking of the early 2000’s.
In 2015, we are apparently going through the fourth
wave of feminism. Some feminists are asking why it’s
okay for humans to violently control an animal’s
reproductive rights while we fundamentally oppose
such treatment of women. Can there be a divide
between social justice, feminist and animal rights
movements? It could be argued that the connections
between the reproductive freedom of women and
animals are both intrinsically linked to patriarchy,
capitalism and other forms of oppression so why pick
and choose which form of oppression we oppose? This
type of thinking is referred to as speciesism. It
involves the assignment of different moral values,
rights or special consideration to individuals on the
basis of what species they belong to.
Some people argue that speciesism is a prejudice
similar to racism. Analogies are often made between
livestock farming and slavery. In her book The
Dreaded Comparison: Animal Slavery and Human
Slavery, Marjorie Spiegel says: “Both humans and
animals share the ability to suffer from restricted
freedom of movement, from the loss of social freedom
and to experience pain at the loss of a loved one. Both
groups suffer or suffered from their common capacity
to be terrified, by being hunted, tormented or injured.
Both have been objectified, treated as property rather
than as feeling, self-directed individuals…”
Interestingly, in the foreword to this book, Alice
Walker says: “The animals of the world exist for their
own reasons. They were not made for humans any more
than black people were made for whites or women for
men.”
But why should we feel empathy for non-human
animals? The assumption that farm animals don’t
suffer when kept in conditions that would be
considered intolerable for humans is largely based on
the idea that they are less intelligent than humans and
81 | BarefootVegan
>

have no sense of self. Increasingly, however, research
is revealing this to be untrue. John Webster,
Emeritus Professor in Animal Husbandry at Bristol
University says: “People have assumed that
intelligence is linked to the ability to suffer and that
because animals have smaller brains they suffer less than
humans. That is a pathetic piece of logic”.
It’s a misconception that cows are docile and stupid.
Research shows that cows nurture friendships, bear
grudges and become excited over intellectual challenges.
Cows are capable of feeling strong emotions such as pain,
fear and anxiety. They worry about the future, but can also
feel great happiness. Similar traits have been found in pigs,
goats, chickens and other animals. Scientists suggest that
such animals may be so emotionally similar to humans
that welfare laws need to be rethought. Christine Nicol,
Professor of Animal Welfare at Bristol University, says:
“Remarkable cognitive abilities and cultural innovations
have been revealed”.
Another misconception is that it is natural for cows to
constantly produce milk. Just like us, a cow only produces
milk after a nine-month pregnancy and birth.
The bucolic image of a cow and her calf in a pastoral
setting is a myth. A modern dairy cow will be confined and
forcibly impregnated shortly after her first birthday, using
restraining apparatus commonly called a ‘rape rack’. Once
she has given birth, her offspring will be taken from her so
that humans can have her milk. She would naturally suckle
her calf for nine months to a year but in dairy farming,
calves are removed within a day or two. Male calves are
unwanted by-products and every year in the UK 100,000 or
more are shot, others being sold for veal production.
She will yield over 20 litres of milk each day, much more
than her calf would naturally drink. To keep up
production, she will be re-impregnated soon after giving
birth. Modern intensive dairy farming employs a highly
regulated regime of pregnancy and lactation concurrently,
meaning that cows are both pregnant and being milked at
the same time for most of the year. Shackles are sometimes
used on her hind legs if she has suffered muscle or nerve
damage during calving and cannot stand unaided.
This intensive physical demand puts a tremendous strain
on the dairy cow and while still young is likely to suffer
82 | BarefootVegan
Milk is the product of
exploitation of the
reproductive capacities
of female bodies – for
profit. To consider this
a feminist issue is an
entirely defensible
political position.
from infertility and severe infections such as mastitis
and laminitis, cutting short her economic and
productive life. These painful ailments are a direct result
of her exploitation. Physically ravaged from the abuse
she has experienced, she is eventually killed to be eaten
in cheap products such as pies and pasties – and baby
food! The average lifespan of a modern dairy cow is
about five years and three or four lactations, when she
could naturally live for 20 to 30 years.
Milk is the product of rape, kidnapping,
torture and murder
Acts of sexual violence or forced sexual activity
performed with animals disgust most people. Why is it
we turn a blind eye to this treatment of dairy cows? Milk
is the product of exploitation of the reproductive
capacities of female bodies – for profit. To consider this a
feminist issue is an entirely defensible political position.
American writer, feminist, activist and animal rights
advocate, Carol J. Adams, says: “I would like to see
reproductive freedom for all female animals, not just
human females”. She was just 23 when she realised a
connection existed between feminism and
vegetarianism, between meat-eating and a patriarchal
world. In her ground-breaking book, The Sexual Politics
of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory, she
examines the links between different forms of violence
used against human and non-human animals.
Cows share with us the basic brain architecture
responsible for emotion. Mother cows feel very
distressed when their offspring are taken from them,
they cry and bellow. They are still grieving as the
milking machines suck the milk from their udders.
Is milk a feminist issue? I would argue that of course it is
and that the sexual and reproductive choices we enjoy
are denied cows. A torturous cycle of physical and
emotional torment is enforced upon them until they
break. Milk comes from a grieving mother. BV >

Photo: ©Veronika Powell - Viva!
83 | BarefootVegan

Want to know more about how to
drop dairy or where to get
calcium? There’s a whole range
of dairy-free products to choose
from that can supply calcium,
protein and vitamin B12.
Everyone's Going
Dairy-Free £2.00
Discover the delights of dairy-free cuisine
with our new step-by-step guide.
Informative and easy-to-read, it includes 20
mouth-watering dairy-free recipes as well as
helpful shopping and cooking tips.
Order by post from: Viva!,
8 York Court, Wilder St,
Bristol BS2 8QH.
Or call 0117 944 1000 (Mon-
Fri 9am-6pm) or order online
at www.vivashop.org.uk
Why You Don't Need Dairy
£2.50
Viva!’s easy-to-read guide explains how milk
impacts your health and why it is linked to
‘Western diseases’, from cancers and heart
disease to osteoporosis and acne. It also contains
the disturbing facts about the life of dairy cows
and calves as well as outlining good sources of
calcium.
White Lies report £5.50
If you want the science behind dairy’s damaging
impact on health, look no further! This 124-page
health report reviews over 400 research papers
which have examined dairy and health.
1
Dr Justine Butler is the Senior Health Researcher & Writer at the charity Viva! Justine holds
a PhD in Molecular Biology, BSc Biochemistry and Diploma in Nutrition. Armed with peerreviewed
science, Justine has written a series of scientific reports, guides and factsheets for
Viva!Health (the health branch of Viva!) including: Fish-Free for Life, One in Nine (breast
cancer and diet) and White Lies the substantial report on the detrimental health effects of
consuming dairy which accompanied Viva!’s report The Dark Side of Dairy which spelt out
the inherent cruelty of dairy farming.
84 | BarefootVegan

Chilis On Wheels
“It’s amazing
how powerful
love can be”
Michelle Carrera and her son Ollie are on
a mission; a mission to evoke the spirit
of community and feed the homeless people
of New York City with a nourishing vegan
chili meal.
We spoke with Michelle, the founder and
director of Chilis On Wheels to learn how
her initiative is inspiring others through
veganism and compassion to show loving
kindness in their own communities.
88 | BarefootVegan

“Children pick up what is around
them. They learn by watching. If
we want our kids to be kind
people, they have to see people
being kind.”
Tell us about your vegan journey…
My sister was given a baby chick for Easter in her school.
We took care of this baby chick and he grew into an
amazing rooster who came when called, who liked to
cuddle, who was a member of our family. Piolín (Spanish
word for Tweety Bird) changed the way I thought about
food, and he started me on the path of veganism. As I
became an activist later and helped some people transition
to veganism, and as I raise my son vegan, I think about all
the animals this one particular rooster saved, and it is sort
of amazing how powerful love can be. The love that he
showed me changed me, and has allowed me to change
others.
What was it about the plight of the homeless
in particular that spurred you into setting up
Chilis On Wheels?
In the beginning, our work did not have a name. I wanted
my son, Ollie, who is four years old, to experience
volunteer work with people. We are always talking about
veganism and the plight of animals, and I realised that he
needed to understand the plight of people too. I wanted
him to know about building community and helping one
another, because we too are animals, and my definition of
Click here to watch a
video of Ollie talking
about Chilis On Wheels.
90 | BarefootVegan
veganism includes compassion for everyone. There are
no vegan soup kitchens in NYC, so we decided to make
the food ourselves and distribute it. After that initial
outing, in the winter, seeing people shiver, seeing people
eat very fast because they were hungry, I could not
ignore it again. And I committed myself to doing it more
often, and more often, and right now we operate weekly,
but that still does not seem like enough.
Have there been any challenges that you’ve
had to overcome in setting the charity up?
We have run out of room in my kitchen and so we can
only make 100-200 chili a week. We are trying to look for
a rent-free kitchen in churches or community centres, so
that we can serve more people in need, but we have not
had any luck so far.
What has been the highlight since you’ve
launched?
The highlight is always the people. As we kept returning,
people started getting to know us. Some call us “The
Chili Ladies” or “The Chili Group” and some share little
bits of their story, and that is always the highlight, it’s
what keeps me going.
We met Chris, who is a young Rastafarian. He is a
vegetarian, and he finds it really hard to find options in
the soup kitchens. He has such a positive attitude, and
he always smiles when he sees us. The first time that we
met him, he said he had read about us in the paper. I felt
like a star!
We have also met Matthew who receives a big bag of
leftover bread from a bakery and who takes it back to the
park to distribute among his friends. He also always has
an inner shine and his presence enthrals you.
We have met Jesus, who begs us to keep coming back
because “people are hurting”. And we have met Esi Grant
who had just come out of the hospital and who recited a
poem for us. You can find it on our website’s blog.
We also love our volunteers, Veganteers as we call them,
some of whom have become an extended part of our
family. The teenagers from Edward Murrow High School

are an integral part of the team, and I am so inspired by
their commitment and hard work.
How has the charity expanded/evolved since
your initial chili run?
Chilis on Wheels now serves once a week in NYC, and 100-
200 meals a week. Chapters have sprung up across the
country in San Diego, Portland, Denver, and Puerto Rico.
What are your further aspirations for Chilis
On Wheels?
In the immediate future we are looking for a kitchen that
will allow us to increase the amount of food that we
distribute. In NYC there are approximately 60,000 people
living in the streets. 1 in 6 Americans struggle with
hunger. The need is there and it is staggering. It is up to
us to do something about it.
Within a couple of years we hope to create a sort of vegan
food hub where we can get the community together
around food. Provide daily meals, give vegan cooking
classes on a budget to the community. Perhaps have a
community garden and rally people on how to grow some
of their own food. Collaborate with other agencies, for
example work readiness organisations, have cooking
training, internships, etc.
We hope to help people that are hurting, and at the same
time spread the message of veganism, and help people go
vegan.
In your view, how does veganism intersect
with issues relating to justice?
All struggles are connected, all suffering is connected. I
like to maximise my impact, so I like to work the
intersections. With veganism and poverty for example, it’s
>
To find out more about Chilis On
Wheels (to donate, volunteer or open up
a chapter near you) visit the Chilis on
Wheels website. You can also keep in
touch with Michelle and Ollie via
Facebook and Twitter.
91 | BarefootVegan

Chilis On Wheels
Michelle’s Official Recipe
Ingredients:
(Serves 15)
1 16 oz bag of dry black beans OR
4 cans of black beans
1 16 oz bag of dry red beans OR
4 cans of Red beans
1 16 oz of dry pinto beans OR
4 cans of pinto beans
4 cups of veggie broth/stock
4 cups of water
2 cups of tomato sauce
2 large cans of tomatoes
1 can of corn
4 garlic cloves
1 medium yellow onion
2 green and 2 red bell peppers
chopped
3 medium sized potatoes
1 yam
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/4th cup of olive oil
Method:
Soak beans overnight or boil the beans for two minutes
and let soak in hot water for about an hour. (You may
substitute for canned beans, but this will raise the
price).
Mash the canned tomatoes and set aside for later (using
your hands is okay).
In another pan, place the olive oil, the peppers, and
onion and let them soften, then stir in the garlic
browning slightly. Add in the potatoes, yam, the
cilantro, and the tomatoes for a few minutes, just to mix
in well with the oil and the peppers. Add the beans,
broth, water and spices. (I try not to make it spicy since
I do not know how it might affect some people).
Cook at a low temperature until all veggies are cooked
and tender, approximately 45 minutes.
Before serving, add the can of corn and stir well. BV
93 | BarefootVegan

W
hen I first became vegan, I had no idea of the
positive environmental effects it has. Even though
I'd been a vegetarian for years, the information didn't
seem to pop up anywhere. The truth I found was that my
new lifestyle dramatically decreased the demands I placed
on the environment. This powerful eco message is now
spreading far and wide and awareness is rising, although
the media in general still seems a little shy about the
subject. Surely this is information that could dramatically
transform our society for the better! It should be front
page news. Everyday.
We are waking up to a new dawn in our relationship
with food, scratching the surface of how it is produced
and the important role diet plays in keeping us fit and
well. These are fine times to be alive as stigmas shift and
vegans rise! We are surely some of the most effective 'ecoactivists'
just by simply munching gorgeous plant based
foods and embodying a peaceful and inclusive message of
hope. But all is not rosy in our global veg patch. This
seems like just the beginning of a long journey of
collective re-evaluation and change. Things are shifting
little by little as we move towards a more heart centred
society. After all, these days of industrialised, mass
consumerism have almost been the death of us!
I am no expert in the field of environmentalism, I am
predominately a cook after all and my place is in the
kitchen, but I am passionate about learning new and
“Make ethical choices in
what we buy, do, and
watch. In a consumerdriven
society our
individual choices, used
collectively for the good
of animals and nature,
can change the world
faster than laws.”
Mark Bekoff
creative methods which can move us all closer to a
sustainable existence and am deeply concerned about
the harm we are doing to our planet.
Eating a plant-based diet is the future of food. All the
movers and shakers know about it, from Bill Gates to
Jamie Oliver, Beyonce to James Cameron. A glut of
scientists, politicians and public figures are coming out
the veggie-closet and speaking with heart-felt concern
for our environmental situation and promoting plant
alternatives to meat and dairy. We are making some
progress and reforms in Britain and many other wealthy,
capitalist countries, but is the shift happening quick
enough? Vegans are still a distinct minority, only 2% in
the USA and even less in the UK (although Sweden is 4%
vegan, well done!)
94 | BarefootVegan

Eating
for The
Earth
By Lee Watson
I believe that the environment is close to the majority of
peoples hearts and yet most folk are still unaware of the
ecological destruction that the meat industry creates
globally. This is a highly accessible and engaging message
and a key to promoting veganism to a larger audience.
Animal rights are essential from an ethical vegan's stand
point but the environment is a lot easier to talk about at a
dinner party! One third of the overall arable land on
earth is used to grow crops to be fed to cattle and not
humans and 70% of this land suffers from overgrazing. I
think most people would be concerned by this.
According to the UN Report entitled 'Livestocks Long
Shadow' industrialised agriculture contributes on a
'massive scale' to global warming, air pollution, land
degradation, energy use, deforestation and biodiversity
decline. With an ever increasing global population,
alternatives to fossil fuel consumption are being explored,
but we all have to eat right! Only a huge shift in our
collective eating habits and the way we grow and produce
food will avert a potential environmental disaster. Many
of the problems relating to environmental destruction
related to diet just seem too large to tackle or even
comprehend. It is important to know the basics and
focus on them; the livestock industry uses fossil fuels,
fertile top soil and water at unsustainable rates and we
are mismanaging, on a grand scale, the limited resources
we have been blessed with. We are sustaining ourselves
in the most unsustainable ways!
Meat consumption is expected to double by 2050.
Formerly predominately vegetarian countries like Indian
and China are experiencing a rise. Many countries are
reviewing the subsidies given to the livestock industry
and 'price distortion'; animals, grains, water, land etc are
turned into commodities with low value, which does not
reflect their true worth and scarcity. The meat and
dairy industry is hugely resource heavy. 8% of the
global fresh water supply is used and colossal areas of
thriving ecosystems are destroyed daily to accommodate
industrialised cattle farms (the size of which can be seen
from space!) 70% of land formerly forested in the
Amazon and 10% of the energy in the US is used in the
rearing of livestock. Of course, we are not regularly
confronted by the spectacle of this type of farming,
primarily because these farms are located in out of
town/ remote areas or developing countries with less
focused environmental laws, where labour and land is
generally cheaper. 80% of the growth in the livestock
sector comes from industrial production. As consumers
we have the opportunity, the power and responsibility
to put pressure on commercial and political institutions
to bring about positive environmental reforms.
There is a growing trend towards people eating less
meat and dairy in Britain, with a huge surge in the
popularity of veganism in the last five years.
>
95 | BarefootVegan

Veganism is a long
term, wholesale
solution and gets
straight to the root
of these
environmental issues:
Livestock production creates 40% more
greenhouse emissions than the entire global
transport industry combined.
Half of the worlds animals have disappeared
in the last 40 years and 35 of the worlds
'hotspots for diversity' are threatened by
habitat loss brought about by livestock
production.
Lowering consumption of animal products in richer,
Western countries, is a massive boost to the global
environment. Unfortunately there are also many
'health' diets being promoted at the minute that seem
to lose track of the responsibility we have to the planet.
Diets that promote 'resource rich' foods, meat and
dairy, that actually harm our health and the
environment. Surely this is a giant leap backwards in
our evolution and development. Choosing only organic
meat is growing in popularity, but this type of meat
'production' is normally worse for the environment and
does not mean a better quality of life for the animals.
It's also expensive and completely unnecessary when a
vegan diet is so accessible, nutritious and inexpensive.
Why go only part of the way to saving the planet when
we can join the vegan fiesta and dance ourselves to a
brighter and cleaner future?
It appears to me that our society is geared to making us
feel small and detached, when in reality, and modern
science now supports this, we are part of a whole. Each
individual is interconnected with all things. With this
in mind, causing harm to others and the environment
is actually harming ourselves. Veganism offers up a
holistic, effective and ultimately peaceful way of living,
negating harmful behavioural patterns and habits,
whilst deepening our connection with each other and
all things. Every action has an effect and we may
choose to become the point at which everything shifts
in the most beautiful and empowering of directions.
It seems that now is the time to review the way we
approach both our external and internal environments,
taking steps to ensure both are in harmony and
creating the suitable conditions for peaceful and
fulfilling lives for all living beings. It will no doubt take
patience, understanding and compassion. Good things
will naturally follow and entrenched opinions will
gradually soften. We may begin, as a society, to eat for
the earth, taking small steps towards our goal; ever
planting positive seeds with skill and care and with a
strong intention to one day end the needless killing of
all innocent animals and the healing of our home. BV
37% of the worlds anthropogenic methane
emissions are attribute to the livestock
industry, along with 65% of nitrous oxide, 9%
of carbon dioxide emissions and two thirds of
ammonia production (responsible for acid
rain and acidification of ecosystems).
27 kgs of CO2 for 1 kilo beef, compared with
0.9kg for 1 kg lentils.
An acre of land can produce 40,000 pounds of
potatoes, 50,000 pounds of tomatoes or 250
pounds of beef.
95% of the oats grown in the US are fed to
livestock, along with 80% of the corn. The
grain and soya bean fed to cattle in the US
alone could feed 1.3 billion people.
It takes 7 kilos of grain to make 1 kilo of beef,
4 kilos for 1 kilo of pork, 2 kilos for 1 kilo
chicken.
Animal agriculture uses 37% of all pesticides,
which in turn is consumed by the animals,
then humans. Pesticide also runs off into
water courses.
It takes 2,400 gallons of water per 1 pound of
beef, 25 gallons for 1 pound of wheat. The
average Brit eats 80kg meat per year (125kg in
the USA)
These figures surely
represent a huge wake up
call.
96 | BarefootVegan

Is Served...
Each year in the UK alone, around 15 million
tonnes of food is wasted. Skipchen is a
campaign café in Bristol, UK that seeks to
abolish avoidable food waste. The team behind
Skipchen aims to highlight the need for
systemic change and community engagement.
Their project represents an alternative to devaluing
edible food-waste and the worth of
people. We spoke to one of the founders and co
-directors, Catie Jarman to find out more.
Can you tell me a little bit
about yourself and how you
came to be involved in
Skipchen?
We’re a group of people who’ve just
finished university and we all had a
very personal interest in
environmental issues as well as food,
this includes the climate and the social
problems and critical issues that
they’re connected to. Predominantly
that interest is born out of an inherent
passion to challenge the social
problems that arise from
environmental destruction. Also we
see that these issues are connected to
the need for change at a political level.
Was Skipchen always going
to be a ‘pay as you feel’
format?
It definitely was. It was born out of a
similar concept from Australia,
Lentil As Anything. In the UK the
first to start this concept was ‘The
Real Junk Food Project’ who opened
a Leeds café. A few of us from the
Bristol Skipchen were studying in
Leeds and so got involved in The
Real Junk Food Project café. We then
moved to Bristol for our personal
interest and set up Skipchen. It has
exactly the same concept as the
other cafés, which is 100% food
surplus and we get by with
donations and customers paying as
they feel.
So when you looked at
starting up Skipchen what
challenges did you have to
overcome in the initial
stages?
Initially, it was created out of a lot of
personal energy that we had as a
starting group. We were fresh out of
university and wanted to make an
impact in the world by contributing
our energy to something more
physical and practical. And the
challenges that we faced were just in
terms of our own capacity and trying
to find a space in the city. For us,
that was a block but only for about a
week until we just got out there and
spoke to people and looked for some
spaces. The challenge was really just
getting in and doing it. We didn’t
really save any time talking about it.
We just thought that we’ve got to
create the space. We knew that the
99 | BarefootVegan
>

food was there and we knew that there was going to be
people to eat it. All we needed was a space with some
tables, some forks and a cooker.
individuals who might be moving out of their house or
clearing out the cupboards. On any one day in the café,
the food could have come from up to 12 different places.
So were all those things, such as space and
the practical things you needed, donated?
Yes. We had one initial meeting with a few people to talk
about what Bristol was doing in terms of redistributing
food waste and then we just literally got out into the city
one day on our bikes and cycled around, looking for
empty spaces, and speaking to people. We found a café
space that had a kitchen in it and wasn’t being used. It
was a reasonable size, it had all the equipment we
needed, and it was in a very central location. It just made
sense.
And in terms of sourcing the food, how did
you go about it? Is it skip-diving or is it
donated from supermarkets? How does it
work?
So it’s really open and basically we’re not really concerned
about the origin of the food because we know that there
is food being wasted at every stage of the supply change -
from the farm to the fork. So food may come from
individual farmers and food market contract farmers,
wholesalers, distributors, people who are marketing food,
PR agencies, restaurants, cafés, farm shops and even
Are there any kinds of regulations that you
have to be aware of in terms of dealing
with the food?
“In running Skipchen the way we do,
sometimes we operate outside of the law by
obtaining food from the supermarket that has
been deemed unsellable and we’re still
serving it. So in that sense we're quite
happy to come out and say that we operate
illegally, if that's what the law says. And
we feel that law should be changed.”
We describe ourselves as a campaign café and so it’s not
just a café dealing with food surplus. It’s also a café
that’s campaigning to change specific things about the
law and the politics of food. We feel there are injustices
and they need to be changed. One of
these is holding supermarkets
responsible for the level and the scale of
food waste that we see from the farm to
the supermarket shelf. In running
Skipchen the way we do, sometimes we
operate outside of the law by obtaining
food from the supermarket that has
been deemed unsellable and we’re still
serving it. So in that sense we're quite
happy to come out and say that we
operate illegally, if that's what the law says. And we feel
that law should be changed.
Most people don’t believe pay-as-you-feel
or gift economies can work. What do you
have to say about that?
I think sometimes people think that if they don’t have a
good understanding. So for example there are people
that don't pay or put pennies in or put a minimal
amount that wouldn't be considered to be a lot to
people with money. The reason for that is that they
either have drug or alcohol abuse problems, or they
maybe they don't have a home and they've been shut
out by the housing system. So there are I think a lot of
misunderstandings as to why people might not be as
generous as other people with their disposable income. I
100 | BarefootVegan

think that's part of the reason why we exist, just to support
those people who need it most in obtaining a meal that
they're not being provided with by society. Skipchen is just
about really trying to change people’s idea of the value and
worth of money and the value and worth of food and
people; the labour and the energy and transport and all
those resources, natural and man-made, that enable food to
be eaten by humans. I think it's basically about
understanding and communication and trying to change
our conditioned minds to a slightly more positive and
beautiful view of money.
I saw that you went recently to the
immigration camp in Calais, which I just
thought was such a fantastic, kind,
compassionate thing to do, especially in light
of the way the UK media portrays
immigration. What was that experience like?
It seemed like a pretty simple solution to us. The whole
situation with the immigration camp there is really, really
traumatic and it just shouldn't be in existence, due to the
fact that we know there is so much food wasted and
available. We had the resources to try and provide food.
We decided we had to organise and get ourselves there.
Hopefully we provided some energy and a bit of hope to the
people living in the camp. On reflection it was actually
pretty shocking to see how badly and incorrectly the
media portrays the situation and the politics of the
situation. We used the media attention that we gained
from it as a platform to point out that this issue and
the ones we campaign on are connected. You know the
food that we get through the café is predominantly
from the origins where these people are escaping and
fleeing. And why are these people leaving there? What
are they in search of here? And why are we not being
given this information by the media? It became a more
complex story and I think we're going to continue to
try and raise awareness of it in whatever way we can.
We’d love to be able to try and do more rather than
just spend five or six days in the camp. We lived and
we were welcomed into where the camp residents
were living, where they created their temporary
homes. It was an eye opener to see how resourceful
and positive they are. The media looks at the situation
from an outsider’s perspective and isn't really
narrowing in on the full scale of the problem or the
solution. It's just kind of exasperating to see the fear
cultivated in people’s minds about what immigrants
are going to do when they get here and the reasons
why they leave their homes in the first place.
101 | BarefootVegan
>

You're also looking at doing school
programmes. What can you tell us about that?
Well so far, we’ve visited three schools in May this year and
that was just a basic breakfast programme that we had set up.
A couple of us have experience working with kids and our
subject is something that we see is lacking from the
curriculum. In the future we're going to aim for it to become
something that can be used as a resource for schools, so
something that we can also sustain ourselves from. So in
terms of money, that's what we’re looking to do because
there's a lot of funding for alternatives to the curriculum. We
see it as a really practical way to engage with school kids and
let them know what is going on and how they can get
involved with making positive change outside of school. It’s
about trying to be honest with them about the problems but
not burdening kids with the situation that we're in.
Community outreach is at the heart of what we’re doing.
Is there anything else that you want readers to
know about?
From September we’ll be back in Bristol, planning what
Skipchen should be doing next, how it should provide for the
people of Bristol and also how it should tackle political issues. BV
To find out more about
Skipchen, the ‘pay-asyou-feel’
movement and
food justice, visit
their website. You can
also connect with them
on Facebook.
102 | BarefootVegan

103 | BarefootVegan

lauren Ornelas
The Food
Empowerment
Project
For many of us, we believe that once we go vegan our
food choices no longer inflict harm. However,
today’s global food system is such that many farm
workers face little pay and hazardous conditions,
low-income neighbourhoods don’t have access to
wholesome, nutritious food and child and slave
labour are used in several countries that produce
commodity products such as chocolate, coffee and
bananas. lauren Ornelas saw that while veganism
could help alleviate some of these issues, there was
s t i l l m o r e t o b e d o n e a n d s e t u p T h e F o o d
Empowerment Project to raise awareness and fight
injustice.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what
inspired you to set up the Food Empowerment
Project?
For more than 25 years now I have been a social justice
activist. When I first began my activism, I was a vegetarian
and gravitated towards human rights issues (such as
consumer campaigns to help end apartheid in South Africa).
Then in the 1980s, when I learned about the exploitation of
non-human animals, I went vegan and began to work on
animal rights issues. After many years of focussing on animal
rights and having my attempts to connect these issues of
injustice to others not be fully understood or appreciated, I
knew that I needed to do something.
In 2006, I had the opportunity to speak at the World
Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela. It was refreshing
to learn even more about so many of the issues I cared
about. That is when I knew I had to start an
organisation that focussed on food justice where I
could connect many of the issues that I cared strongly
about—an organisation to help create change and
empower people with their food choices!
The issues that are encompassed within
the term food justice are many. What are
some of the most pressing issues that you
are currently campaigning on?
104 | BarefootVegan

For us, working for food justice means seeing if there are
ways we can higlight not only the entire supply chain of food
as it’s grown, picked, and distributed, and pointing out the
need for fair and just treatment of the workers, but also
shining a light on the need for healthy food to be accessible
to everyone in all communities, which includes being
affordable too. Because we are a vegan organisation, we take
the non-human animals into consideration as well. We want
justice and equity for all, and we don’t feel one life has to be
sacrificed for another. These issues are all connected.
Some of the issues we are addressing include getting people
to go and stay vegan with our Food Chain newsletter,
organising a monthly outreach at a chicken slaughterhouse,
helping farm workers and their families (we are just
wrapping up a school supply drive for the children of farm
workers who pick our food), doing research in areas that
lack access to healthy foods (we are finishing up our
research in Vallejo, CA), and working on getting companies
to be more transparent about where their chocolate is
sourced from.
Why do you believe more people aren’t aware
of these issues?
For those of us who are vegan (not just when it comes to
food), we know that many people are unaware of the
suffering that goes into the making of a milk shake or
watching dolphins perform tricks in places like Six Flags. It
is no different when it comes to the suffering of farm
workers in the fields and the suffering of children for the
production of chocolate. We are removed from the
true cost. Companies aren’t going to teach us about
these important issues—it’s more advantageous to
keep these issues out of the public eye.
What is environmental racism and what
can be done about it?
Let me start by saying that one of the reasons we talk
about environmental racism is because many in the
U.S. aren’t aware that communities of colour are more
impacted by pollution (from oil refineries, toxics,
dumps) than white communities (there are some
exceptions, for example in Appalachia). This inequity
can also be found when it comes to those impacted by
factory farms. Our website cites information about
North Carolina pig farms being located in primarily
black neighborhoods and California dairy farms being
located in primarily Latino neighborhoods. Living near
these facilities means that residents are forced to live
with health problems such as headaches, nose bleeds,
respiratory problems, and other issues such as
depression (imagine not being able to open your
windows because of the smell and the flies), along with
obviously lower property values. What can be done is a
tough question – people can inform others about these
issues and support those community groups that are
working to fight corporations that are poisoning their
communities.
105 | BarefootVegan
>

What are food deserts and why do they
exist?
If you look at geographic areas where residents’ access
to affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh
fruits and vegetables) is restricted or nonexistent due to
the absence of grocery stores, gardens, or other ways to
access produce within convenient travelling distance,
that would be a good description of a food desert. F.E.P.
works on access to healthy foods in communities of
colour and low-income communities because it is not
just a matter of proximity, but of cost as well, and we
feel available foods should also be culturally
appropriate.
Unfortunately, there are many who do not have access
to healthy foods in their communities and are not only
time poor but cash poor. I’m not necessarily referring to
people who are working jobs that they love and working
behind a desk all day. I’m referring to people who are
working service jobs (fast food, grocery stores, hotels,
etc.) and are absolutely worn out and exhausted when
they get home. Then, of course, some of these people
work more than one job to help make ends meet.
These are complicated issues. Being paid a living wage
would certainly help many of these workers afford
healthier foods.
Click here to watch
lauren’s TEDx talk
on the power of our
food choices.
Most people believe that slavery is a thing
of the past; however, your organisation is
discovering that slave and child labour still
exist. What have been some of the
experiences that you and your colleagues
have born witness to and where is this
taking place?
Our organisation has not personally witnessed it taking
place. However, slavery and child labour is still prevalent
around the globe in a variety of forms. In our work, we
focus more on those involved in the food industry. We
do know that both exist in the United States and abroad
as documented by both the U.S. Department of Labor,
extensive first-hand accounts, documentaries, and other
sources. Our work focuses on farm workers in the U.S.
and those working in the chocolate industry. Slavery and
horrific labour conditions are well documented in both
these areas.
What are the most common foods that
people consume worldwide that have a
system of exploitation behind them?
Any animal products that people consume are directly
connected to a system of exploitation, from the nonhuman
animal whose life was taken to the workers at
factory farms and slaughterhouses. But even fruits and
vegetables can be connected to this same system as most
farm workers are exposed to agricultural chemicals, do
not have benefits, do not make living wages, and endure
other abuses on the job, including sexual harassment.
Adding to the list, many commodity products such as
chocolate, bananas, coffee, and palm oil are also
connected to this system of exploitation.
Are ethical, fairtrade and organic labels that
we can trust?
I am less familiar with organic, but as many vegans know,
just because milk from a cow may come from an organic
farm, that does not make it acceptable, and it is the same
with farm workers. Organic does not mean the farm
workers are treated any better; it just means that they are
not being exposed to agricultural chemicals. When it
comes to the other types of certifications, it is a complex
106 | BarefootVegan

issue, and for products such as chocolate, bananas, and coffee,
we have companies that we recommend as we do not go by
certifications for these.
How does living a vegan lifestyle support food
justice?
Although I know that not everyone has access to healthy foods,
which makes being vegan difficult to impossible, for those who
can go vegan, it definitely helps to alleviate some of the
suffering and exploitation in the world. But for me, being vegan
means to also work to fight injustices and do what I can to
remove myself from systems that support them, which is why I
include human animals in my fight for food justice.
What can each of us do as individuals, no matter
where we live, to ensure our buying choices do
the least amount of harm?
For those who have access to healthy foods, going vegan is a
good start, as is making sure you are not buying chocolate that
comes from areas where the worst forms of child labour,
including slavery, are taking place. Of course, it is not just about
what you buy as an individual; it is about supporting other
efforts, including corporate campaigns, legislation, and other
systematic changes. Talking about these issues and encouraging
others to act can also be very effective.
Tell us about the school supply drive for farm
workers' children that you’ve organised…
In just a few days we'll be going to deliver the school supplies,
which is something I really look forward to. This project is close
to my heart. As a vegan of more than 27 years and as the
director of an organisation that promotes veganism, I feel
strongly that we can do more to support the farmworkers who
harvest our food. Of course, we support corporate campaigns, >
Click here for the Food
Empowerment Project’s
list of vegan & country
of origin chocolate
suppliers
107 | BarefootVegan

pro-worker legislation, and good regulatory changes, but
in some ways, that was not enough for me. In 2011, I went
on a farm worker reality tour with the Center for
Farmworker Families. We were asked to bring some
school supplies. When a 13-year-old boy picked up a pack
of pencils with sheer joy, the idea came to me to do a
school supply drive.We did our first drive in 2013 and this
year is our second. The response has been overwhelming!
Both the vegan and Latino communities have been so
incredibly generous.
One of the things you encourage on your
website is for people to grow their own
food or to get involved in a community coop
project for example. In your experience,
what kind of impact do these activities
have on a community?
We encourage people to grow their own food in order to
get off of a system and become more self-reliant, thus
empowering themselves by growing their own food. We
strongly believe that working and acting at the local level
can truly bring communities together. Though, since we
know that many people (including myself) have not lived
in a house or had the ability to have a garden,
cooperatives seem like another great solution to ensure
that the workers not only make the decisions, but also
profit from the cooperative since corporations are not
truly invested in the community.
Anything else you’d like people to know
about?
We also have a website in English and Spanish full of
recipes, www.veganmexicanfood.com and if people want
to stay informed they can sign up to our monthly email
newsletter. More than anything we want people to be
empowered by their food choices and realise they can and
should act at more than a consumer level to make a
different and fight injustices in the food industry. BV
For more information on the
Food Empowerment Project and
their current campaigns, visit
their website or you can connect
with them via Facebook or
Twitter.
For more information on
food justice, download
the Food Empowerment
Project’s 12-page
brochure here
108 | BarefootVegan

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