Here's The Last 7 Days of My Hand-Picked Vegan News For You - w/e 24th March 2024 ... You can sign up to our mailing list here.
Hey Fellow Space Traveller,
As an icy air flow engulfs the UK these last few days anyone over 40 is reminded of the normal temperatures we’d be used to experiencing this time of year.
But the days have been unseasonably mild in this green and pleasant land recently … and we’re far from alone in that regard with temperature records broken by the day.
I have hope that the human race will wake up in time and smell the coffee before we guarantee the handover to our children of a failed planet.
Veganism and plant-based is certainly part of the solution and this is why I spend time preparing this newsletter every week.
A million small voices can make a difference!
So may I offer you this week’s slate of weekly vegan news across the web …
You can help us more than you’d think by leaving us your thoughts below and sharing this with your friends, vegan and non-vegan alike. This creates positive signals for Vegan Slate .
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… and now on with this week’s news roundup.
Thank you for being with us!
– Rohan 🙂
Recommend us to your friends …
This Week’s Top Story
New WHO Study Finds Plant-Based Burgers Are Not Always More Healthy by Default …
In response to the quadrupling of global meat production in 60 years and a growing awareness of the damage being done to our environment by big animal ag, there has been an explosion in the popularity of plant-based alternatives, especially over the last decade or so.
Anything with ‘plant-based’ on the label is increasingly seen by many as more healthy by default than its animal counterpart. But is this true?
Well … in a word, no!
In a recent study published by the British Journal of Nutrition, plant-based burgers bought from fast-food joints and restaurants were put under the nutritional microscope.
… and the results are, unsurprisingly, less than something to write home about!
For a start, most plant-based burgers are classified as Ultra Processed Food (UPF). Not that this makes them inherently bad for you but generally speaking, UPF is not eaten for nutrition purposes.
It seems some vegan junk food is on a par with much of the animal based offerings out there when it comes to health concerns.
I mean … anyone with more than a handful of functioning brain cells knew this already and this is why the advice for new vegans is always to focus on whole-food plant-based (WFPB).
When you can see the oil oozing out of that plant-based chicken steak then the red flags should be up.
But as the old adage goes … everything in moderation.
Don’t berate yourself if you cook up a bit of vegan UPF every now and then … just avoid trying to live long-term on that stuff. It’s not going to end well.
In fact, March is National veggie month in the UK so there’s no excuse not to get a little bit more veg down yer gullet!
My family and I have been vegan for over a decade and we try to cook fresh as much as possible during the week using veggies and pulses, legumes etc. Minimising the UPF.
Then sometimes we’ll have a plant-based burger with some chips or wedges even succumbing to a visit to the local chippy once in a blue moon!
We all have our weaknesses, after all.
Happy veggie month from Vegan Slate … have a good one 🙂
– Rohan McAvee
Quick Links:
- Plastic Not Fantastic – Probe shows 80%+ of US sandwich bags contain ‘forever chemicals’.
- Bristol Vegan Fayre March 30th – 80 stalls & live music. Last chance to get your ticket!
- Vegan Keto Diet User Formula – Recipes for A 100% plant-based ketogenic Diet.
( paid link ) - IKEA Continues the inexorable shift to plant-based introducing their ‘Plant Dog’ in the US.
- 3D Printed Plant-Based Octopus .. whaaaa? When we checked, this limited edition was sold out!
- 1st Ever Vegan Theater opening in Kent is proof the tofu-munching wokerati have taken over 😉
- Free Course – Vegan nutrition essentials.
- 10% Off Code for Vedge Nutrition Store-wide (use: VEGANSLATE)
( paid link )
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Around The Vegan Web This Week Ending 24th March 24
The Essex Vegan Festival to descend on Southend …
Everyone is welcome, vegans and non-vegans alike. The new location for this immense UK vegan food festival was announced this week. Come and see just how easy it is to be vegan these days and why not have a little look around Southend while you’re at it? Although, being that the event is happening on November 3rd 2024 this year, there may be a keen breeze blowing up the Thames estuary, off the North Sea so make sure you wrap up warm! One for the diary …
Supporting Donegal farmers with a shiny new plant-based facility…
Only last week we were reporting on the plight of the Irish dairy industry and this week it seems the theme continues. The 50 year old seafood processing company, Errigal Bay, has pledged to help local farmers by sourcing the oats and rapeseed oil from within the county. The new oat milk plant will be built on a site previously earmarked for a seafood cold store but that’s now seen as an unviable option as the market shifts.
Seaworld’s shameful sixty years of misery for orcas & dolphins …
Think of PETA what you will but they are consistently maintaining a visible voice for the animals we humans so horribly abuse. This weekend marks Seaworld’s 60th anniversary and a group of PETA activists held a protest on Saturday morning at the San Antonio site. In the official press release PETA assert that over 40 orcas and 500 other dolphins & whales have lost their lives at the Seaworld torture tanks over the years, some of them just juveniles.
First commercial lab-meat cat food soon to hit UK shelves …
Meatly, the company previously known as Good Dog Food Ltd, has paired up with pet food company Omni, announcing what claims to be the world’s first cat food made from cultivated meat. While strictly not actually vegan, lab-grown meat is far less problematic because it doesn’t involve killing sentient beings. So most vegans approve of the technology, especially as scientists are now finding ways to grow meat in the lab without ever involving animals!
New York City fast-casual vegan dining … with robots?
Kernel is a funky new plant-based restaurant just opened at 315 Park Avenue South in Manhattan so if you’re in town be sure to check this out. It’s not the cheapest but the food is excellent by all accounts so why not treat yourself to a Kernel salad with vegan chicken for $14 or for half of that at $7 the Kernel Burger is a delightfully deluxe experience! The best bit? They use robot chefs in the ‘final-mile’ before your tummy! Intrigued?
The potential power of the plant-based plastic revolution …
Every week I am more and more astounded at the wide-ranging applications of plant-based tech. A few short years ago ‘plant-based’ almost exclusively pertained to food. But in this new study scientists have shown the viability of their plant-based polymer and the potential it has to replace existing plastics. Imagine a plastic which biodegrades harmlessly into the environment within 7 months. Sounds like a forward-looking investment to me!
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Thank you 🙂
Blog Post: Previously on Vegan Slate …
Does Almond Milk Have Lectins? ( plants are the enemy now? )
Lectins have received some very bad press in recent years. Largely due to the rise in popularity of fad diets like ‘carnivore’ and the pushers of these peculiar ways of eating. Almond milk has come under particular scrutiny with many people asking: “Does almond milk have lectins?” … well, let’s set the record straight here today …
Thanks so much for reading Vegan Slate and have a non-violent day 🙂
– Rohan
Vegan Slate
Wow, very cool how robot chef can now make vegan food! Is nice to see tech and plant-based together like this. But I think, how do we keep the restaurant feeling friendly and personal with robot? Also, maybe this tech can help with less food waste or be even more green? Exciting time for vegan food fans! I hope this make more people try plant-based.
Thanks for your comment Ailya 🙂 It always amazes me how fast the tech revolution is progressing!