Barefoot Vegan Magazine March_April 2017 issue
This issue of Barefoot Vegan Magazine is themed around community. We speak to vegan social justice activist, Brenda Sanders about what motivates her work, her best advice on running effective community outreach programmes and how to avoid burnout. We also feature interviews with London Afro Vegan's Esme, co-founder of Food Not Bombs, Keith McHenry, and we talk about community crowdfunding with One Planet Pizza's Mike Hill. Plus as usual, we've got lots of beautiful and inspiring content from our contributors and a huge selection of delicious vegan recipes.
This issue of Barefoot Vegan Magazine is themed around community. We speak to vegan social justice activist, Brenda Sanders about what motivates her work, her best advice on running effective community outreach programmes and how to avoid burnout.
We also feature interviews with London Afro Vegan's Esme, co-founder of Food Not Bombs, Keith McHenry, and we talk about community crowdfunding with One Planet Pizza's Mike Hill.
Plus as usual, we've got lots of beautiful and inspiring content from our contributors and a huge selection of delicious vegan recipes.
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You’re a seriously motivated lady. What drives you<br />
to do everything you do and keep doing it?<br />
I decided a while ago that if I’m going to be here, living on<br />
this planet then the least I can do is use my time to work<br />
towards making the world a better place.<br />
Through Better Health, Better Life, you’ve<br />
coordinated Eating for Life, a series of workshops<br />
to help low-income families learn about the many<br />
benefits of a plant-based diet. Can you give us an<br />
example of one of your greatest successes in this<br />
project?<br />
One gentleman who participated in the workshop has gone<br />
on to not only become vegan but he now conducts his own<br />
cooking demos that promote plant-based eating!<br />
You’ve been instrumental in setting up the North<br />
Penn Community Gardens. Why are these types of<br />
projects vital when it comes to empowering a<br />
community’s food choices?<br />
One of the biggest hurdles low income people face is that<br />
they have absolutely no control over the food systems in<br />
their communities. That’s the reason food distributors are<br />
able to dump truckloads of unhealthy, processed foods into<br />
these neighbourhoods. When people are empowered to take<br />
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back some control of their food systems by growing<br />
their own fresh fruits and vegetables it’s more likely<br />
that they’ll reject the animal products and salty, sugary<br />
packaged foods that are currently flooding their<br />
communities.<br />
Tell us about the work that the PEP Foods<br />
Collective does…<br />
PEP Foods is a collective of vegan activists and<br />
business owners whose mission is to bring affordable<br />
plant-based foods to low income communities. We<br />
currently manufacture non-dairy cheeses, meat<br />
substitutes and other plant-based products that are<br />
available locally at a price that everyone can afford.<br />
From a food justice perspective, what do you<br />
see as the biggest barriers for people in<br />
choosing a plant-based lifestyle?<br />
The main goal of my food justice work is to make sure<br />
that everyone – regardless of their economic status –<br />
has access to healthy foods that don’t cause harm to<br />
our environment or the animals with whom we share<br />
this planet. The ability to make kind, healthy,<br />
sustainable food choices is a right that every single
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