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250- Vegan food is so....cheap?!
100 Plays4 days ago
This week Tesco announced that their plant based mince is now CHEAPER than their animal-based equivalent! A milestone in a changing landscape of people's food choices? Or just a one off? As well as looking at this story, Dominic, Paul & Shane dissect eight other bits of news from the last week in the vegan & animal rights space.
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Enough of the Falafel is a community of people who love keeping on top of the latest news in the world of veganism & animal rights. With the Vegan Week podcast, we aim to keep listeners (& ourselves) informed & up-to-date with the latest developments that affect vegans & non-human animals; giving insight, whilst staying balanced; remaining true to our vegan ethics, whilst constantly seeking to grow & develop.
Each week we look through news stories from the past 7 days in the world of veganism & animal rights.
If you spot any news stories that might catch our fancy, or have an idea for a discussion topic, get in touch via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com.
To help us keep improving the show, you can head over to https://ko-fi.com/ENOUGHOFTHEFALAFEL and make a small financial contribution towards our running costs. Only if you want to and can afford it of course ;)
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This week's stories:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OKEwKi6ccIc&fbclid=IwRlRTSAQEO8dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEet6G_TkohA2dQB-HWTot68XIM9fSddb94MUqs7fGMy5nyueWBo-xjqBufQPI_aem_UfiLNaOhn1WrUGofIUCgbg
https://news.ohsu.edu/2026/02/11/ohsu-enters-discussions-to-transition-onprc-to-primate-sanctuary
https://www.unilad.com/news/sport/world-cup-morocco-activists-warning-dogs-slaughtered-787313-20260218
https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/berlin-bonvivant-sixth-vegan-michelin-star-restaurant/
https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/city-building-once-again-vandalised-by-activists-calling-for-427357/
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-carnival-dogs-protest-rio-cbefd4a06ee66b20369f172354adfd8c
https://www.tescoplc.com/plant-based-food-back-in-growth-for-first-time-in-years-thanks-to-veg-led-scratch-cooking-trend/
https://www.farmersjournal.ie/news/news/eu-backs-denmark-s-1bn-plan-to-take-farms-out-of-production-904323
https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/food/uk-vegans-incompatible-diets-relationship-dealbreaker/ (make a tenuous link to valentine’s day if you want!)
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Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Paul, Julie & Ant
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts
00:00:00
Speaker
ah Hello everybody! If you're looking for vegan and animal rights news, you're in the right place. If you're a regular listener, you're probably missing the dulcet tones of our usual host, Antony.
00:00:11
Speaker
But once in a blue moon, we do have to unchain him from the microphone, so today you have me steering you through the latest news.
Vegan Week Kickoff
00:00:18
Speaker
I'm Shane, and joining me for this episode are Paul and Dominic, but that's enough of the falafel. It's time for Vegan Week.
00:00:25
Speaker
So I think vegans go looking for trouble even when they're not looking for trouble. That's not what butter's used for. Roaty. Take your flat-grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida.
00:00:37
Speaker
Should I call the medium and say, hi, sorry. True education. younger generation are getting know how brutal these practices are. That leaves a lot of pizza delivery companies in problems with things.
00:00:49
Speaker
What is this? What kind of movie is this? It's comedy gold, maybe. Any form of social injustice.
00:00:58
Speaker
As long as you don't get the wee brunions with the horns you'll be alright. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:01:07
Speaker
cannot fly around the city. I don't
Introductions and Show Notes
00:01:10
Speaker
have laser vision. and Hello, hello, hello everybody. My name is indeed Dominic. Oh, it's good to be here today. First time Shane hosting. How cool is that? Welcome everybody. Thank you so much for listening to the show. It is brilliant that you are here.
00:01:28
Speaker
Hello everyone. This is Paul. Great to have you with us again. For those of you who haven't joined us before, this is our vegan news show where we walk through the latest vegan and animal rights news from the last week or so covering Around about 8, 9, 10 stories. But that's enough of the falafel. Let's hear what's been going on this week.
00:01:50
Speaker
For more details on the upcoming news stories, including links to our original source material, check out our show notes for this episode, available on your podcast player.
'The Chicken Whisperer' Documentary
00:02:01
Speaker
Let's start off with the fabulous Dominic this week. Dominic, there was a new short documentary released on YouTube recently. It's called The Chicken Whisperer. It's less than 20 minutes long, and I believe we'll discuss the film in a few weeks on Vegan Talk.
00:02:17
Speaker
Did you get a chance to take a look at what it's about? I have watched the video. I think it is Amazing. ah My own journey when I was a young lad growing up in ah the countryside, my mum did get some chickens for us, some some rescue hens, and they roamed around out in our garden.
00:02:42
Speaker
And for me, i was at this point vegetarian, but not yet vegan. But I very quickly came to see chickens as being like dogs or cats were for me. They were my animal companions and they each had their own personalities. We had six and they they they were, you know, they they were with me all the time. I used to play with them. They were really confident. It was wonderful. I think this video really does a fantastic job at showing the personalities and the uniqueness of each individual hen.
00:03:21
Speaker
It's a brilliant video for showing to people who maybe haven't considered that at all. It's really heartfelt, but it's not too shocking. But at the same time, it does contain some truths. It it does. It's a really well-filmed, well-shot, really personable ah movie, which I did share on my social media. And surprise, surprise, surprise. I personally didn't get much success in getting people to watch it. And I was heartbroken at that because it's absolutely brilliant.
00:04:01
Speaker
And it is one those films where I would like everyone in the world to watch it. It's so brilliant. So well done. And we've spoken on past shows about what's an appropriate level of forcefulness. If we're talking about the vegan message, what is going to be so strong, it will turn people off and make people go in the other direction. Oh, don't tell me what to do. And in my subjective view i think this is really well considered what did you make of it Shane? No i I really enjoyed it as well I watched it is own like I said it's only 20 minutes and so it's an easy watch and um I loved seeing the different personalities of the chickens and and it's
00:04:48
Speaker
mainly about one woman who um works at a sanctuary, which I'm forgetting the name of, Animal Place maybe in the United States. And she's talking about her journey to coming to work there and about um the work she does with the chickens.
00:05:02
Speaker
And I'm looking forward to chatting about
Bon Vivant's Michelin Star
00:05:04
Speaker
that more. And if if any of you listening is interested in watching it, we'll have the link to it in the show notes. We'll post it on Facebook and it's free. You can just go to YouTube and watch it.
00:05:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's well worth doing an entire show talking about this because it's really brilliant and definitely deserves a large number of views. I really hope it gets there. ah This woman, Maria, she has 150 rescued hens. I mean, we only had six and I know ah how full that made our lives. Full being a good thing, like wonderful. So 150 rescued hens, maximum Respect to Maria and maximum respect to her flock.
00:05:48
Speaker
Well, I can't wait to chat more about that film or hear you guys chat about it. And um like I said, we're going to give you guys a heads up before we discuss the film so you can watch it in advance. Paul, this next story is perfect for you since I understand that you are our resident foodie.
00:06:04
Speaker
And this article comes from Vegan Food and Living. And it's all about a restaurant in Berlin called Bon Vivant. which has attained the distinction of becoming only the sixth Michelin-starred vegan restaurant.
00:06:17
Speaker
Now, have you eaten at Bon Vivant? I haven't, but I have been to ah Berlin a couple of times and um yeah, I mean, I think we've discussed before about how it's um one of the fairly well-known cities around the world that has a good vegan showing, if you like, in the in the um in the food industry. um Really good news if you're planning to take a trip over to Deutschland. Yeah, like you say, this restaurant, which previously...
00:06:46
Speaker
had changed some of its menu to vegan, has now basically shifted everything across. um So it's entirely, entirely plant-based. It's ah been a relatively slow process, I think, for them. And it's quite an interesting point, isn't it? I think we've, we talk about some of the challenges businesses have got at the moment, both vegan and non-vegan businesses. So I guess they've taken the decision to sort of push this out slowly. um No doubt having the Michelin star is going to be a really positive thing for them in terms of attracting people. um Not many vegan restaurants around the world have got Michelin stars. Obviously, we've got plate Plate in London, which I have been to, which is excellent. Really, really good. So, yeah, I think if I do find myself going over to Berlin again, i will definitely be trying to go here.
00:07:37
Speaker
to go here Yeah, I think this is a positive story, obviously. um And, um you know, standing out as one of only six, as you say, that have got the Michelin stars. And I think the other good thing with this particular article is that they are pushing the fact that, you know veganism isn't about sacrifice, um but it's about, I think they say, forward-looking, a forward-looking form of culinary culture. That's a bit of a mouthful, I've just realised. So yes, that's that's all very good as well. Also quite like the fact that they talk about their approach to food isn't about trying to recreate animal product cuisine, which I guess you know means not so much on the fake meat side of things, but instead looking into creating unique textures and presentations. So for those of the vote for those of us who don't um have so much of the mock meat, I do, but I know some people don't like that. um yeah It sounds like it's really going to be up their alley for for that.
00:08:38
Speaker
So yeah, great story. Do you feel like when a restaurant like that gets a Michelin star that it prices out regular vegans though, like everyday vegans? Because I would assume that the cost of the food is substantial then.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i don it's difficult, isn't it? I think i i i don't know what the sort of average cost of a Michelin star restaurant meal is versus a non-Michelin star restaurant. I mean, food has generally got more expensive, both from supermarkets, shops and eating out these days.
00:09:07
Speaker
I think a lot of these sort of places... Again, they may not be Michelin stars, but they tend to kind of offer a like ah ah you know like an eight-course or nine-course meal and then you pay quite a quite a big chunk of money, but then you might get some wine pairings and things like that. Again, I can't comment on this one. I have no idea what the costs are, but the plate in London is ah was, I think, about £120. But to be honest, for me, fortunate enough to be able to afford that occasionally. um I think, you know, you can spend 20 quid on something and be crap or you could spend like, you know, 60, 70, 80 quid on something and it'd be great. And for me, that's fine. I couldn't do it every day and some people can't. But yeah, i but I guess there's only such a small amount of them, you know, there's a, the majority of vegan restaurants aren't in this bracket and some of them are definitely going to be more at the budget end of
Animal Research and Activism
00:09:57
Speaker
things, I'm sure. Yeah.
00:09:58
Speaker
And from Berlin to Oregon in the United States, where I don't think they have any Michelin-starred vegan restaurants, Dominic's next story has an abundance of acronyms.
00:10:09
Speaker
And the article comes from the OHSU News website. And OHSU stands for Oregon Health and Science University. And the university does research on non-human primates at the ONPRC, or Oregon National Primate Research Center.
00:10:25
Speaker
Dominic, are things at OHSU's ONPRC about to change? It'd be good if they changed their acronyms, wouldn't it? That would be a good start. um I find acronyms really overwhelming. I wish they did write the whole thing every time because I often don't get the full sense of a story when there's loads of jargon. And this is one such case because when I first read this story, I misunderstood it.
00:10:52
Speaker
As is so often the case, this is a story reporting on what they hope will happen as opposed to what is definitely going to happen. So there is discussion with the National Institutes of Health, the and NIH, about potentially transitioning from being a primate research centre to a primate sanctuary. Now, we've spoken a great deal on the shows in the past about the myth of animal testing being an essential thing to happen.
00:11:30
Speaker
We have spoken a lot about how the main thing that... animals need sanctuary from is humans. But for sure, if somebody says, Dominic, would you rather a primate research centre or primate sanctuary? Of course, the latter, of course, the latter. So it sounds like at the moment, they already do quite a lot of science that is not connected to animal testing. They use some terms, which I'll be honest, I don't fully know what they are. They're 3D printing of blood vessels and they do something called organs on a chip. So they appear to be things that don't involve ah testing on animals. They also speak about how they're increasing the amount of human-based research. So that's not exploiting animals. um
00:12:24
Speaker
The ah director of the program it says ah a careful transition of the primate center to a sanctuary will help continue to reduce the use of animals in biomedical research where scientifically feasible. It's that little qualifier at the end that's like, oh, you know, but again, we've spoken on previous shows about how we as vegans hope for massive leaps forward. And that's what we most want. Sometimes we have to
00:12:55
Speaker
acknowledge that smaller steps are still smaller steps. So this does sound like a positive thing. This news article is actually from the Oregon Health and Science ah Unit's ah university stories from their own website from their own website so it's quite reassuring to hear the tone of it on the university website that they're they're not saying oh look at these lefty liberal clowns with their nonsense uh hippy dippy ways yeah it's it's reported on the university website as a good transition it's not talked about as an Oh, these cranks wanting their nonsense things. So, so yeah, I think there is cause to feel optimistic and hopefully it inspires other universities to follow the example. It would be great if it was larger steps quicker.
00:13:51
Speaker
If I'm not mistaken, I believe this was precipitated by the NIH. And they are, you know, the Trump administration is withdrawing their funding for animal research. So I think that this is part of the reaction to that.
00:14:04
Speaker
Yes, we did do a show previously talking about the Trump administration's ulterior motives from from a vegan perspective. It sounds like good thing. And absolutely, yeah, like less vegan. research on animals is a good thing but they're coming from it from a let's cut money let's not spend the money sort of thing so it's a happy coincidence if there's less suffering for animals but I think we're definitely giving the Trump administration ah kudos for which they do not deserve to say that in any way animal suffering is a is a you know is a consideration for them I was just thinking that if if people wanted to say, oh, this lefty move. Well, I mean, you could say, well, no, it's this we're doing it because of the ah far right ah administration. yeah
00:14:54
Speaker
um Paul, I think our next story is a little bit closer to home for you. It comes from Inverness, the Inverness Courier. And I've been to Inverness. I know you don't live in Scotland, but I've been to Inverness and it's an absolutely gorgeous place.
00:15:08
Speaker
But it sounds like some ugly things are happening there and I'm not talking about the vandalism. Can you tell us what happened recently and why? Yeah, I can do. Yeah, even if you're quite a way away from me here, probably a good 10 hours, I think, by car. But. Yeah, so this story covers the fact that ah the Nature Scott headquarters, which are based in Inverness, have been vandalised for a second time by animal rights activists who are specifically calling for the end to licensing for a particular
00:15:39
Speaker
hunt on um some birds and I i i think it's Guga, G-U-G-A. I'm not sure if that's pronounced exactly right, but that's what think it I don't know either. never heard of this before.
00:15:50
Speaker
We'll go with it, we'll go with it. And that takes part in ah the Western Highlands. Essentially, a group of, i say men, but I'm going to use that term fairly loosely, go and kill a load of small birds um and as is the way with a lot of blood sports because it is a blood sport historically this was done for food um but that's going back many years ago now and there's no real reason to do this for that um traditional purpose if you like and it's done um for bloodlust ultimately so yes there's pictures in the article there's been some spray can work on the building um and ah alongside this there's been a published petition that seems to have got a lot of public support 92,000 people at the time of writing of the article have um petitioned the Scottish Parliament to stop the stop the hunt I mean it's interesting interesting this sort of story because ah I always think well this sort of ah action technically illegal but you know ah
00:16:58
Speaker
You have to sort of say hell how effective has it been? And I guess what you have to do is say, well, um ah for for not a lot of effort, should we say, there's ah been some media coverage here. This is in a relatively small publication. I don't know this went much further.
00:17:15
Speaker
um But it's getting attention for people, getting attention to the fact that this killing is going on and um and hopefully gaining some more support to stop it in in the future years. It's probably worth saying in terms of the hunt itself, this hunt for this year was the first one that had taken place for a few years since 2021. There wasn't an application in those preceding years of 2025 to do this again. Previously, the license was for killing 2000 birds and this one was reduced down to 500, so still a huge amount of of um life taken there. I suspect that maybe the people granting the licenses thought that that reduction might appease people a little bit, a bit like what we see with sort of whale hunting um quotas. But of course, you know, from a vegan perspective, any licensing to kill any life is is is bad.
00:18:16
Speaker
500 is still a huge number and obviously yeah there's the public support seems pretty much behind this what else can we say about this so behind the hunt or behind the vandalism uh behind ending the hunt uh there's no yeah no specific reference to the support that's gone on for the vandalism per se although i imagine if people want to stop it and this goes towards that then they'll probably be not particularly unhappy about it happening there's a bit more information in the article about how these birds go and ah leave the shores and have to have perilous times at sea and then produce just one chick per, per couple. And then obviously they return to land and then, In these 500 examples, those chicks will be killed.
World Cup and Animal Welfare
00:19:02
Speaker
it's ah it's a It's a weird kind of tradition, as I say. It's this is' this ah men of Ness who apply for the licenses, the 10 men of Ness. It sounds like some kind of weird movement, doesn't it? It doesn't seem like a very manly thing to be...
00:19:16
Speaker
doing to to sort so kill these innocent birds. And hopefully in the future years, if this sort of article draws attention to it, then we'll be seeing maybe ah a bit more of a um like a bit a bit more of a negative opinion on granting future licenses. Yeah. Well, I can only hope that's that that's what's going to happen in the future. Dominic, I don't know if you are a football fan. If you're an American, that means that's soccer fan Yeah.
00:19:44
Speaker
But we have some warnings coming out of Morocco, and we've covered this story before, but it's important to keep talking about it. Your article is concerning the 2030 FIFA World Cup, and some of the soccer games will be held in Morocco, and the International Animal Welfare Protection Coalition is asking FIFA to take action now. What are they concerned about? Yeah.
00:20:05
Speaker
Well, I'm not a soccer or football fan, not at all. Some of my best friends are fans of football. it's ah I live in Manchester in the UK, which is huge for football. Man City, Man United. all like yeah Are you showing us us a soccer jersey? I don't know what that is.
00:20:23
Speaker
That's Paul on camera. Paul is showing shade. It's Forest Green Rovers. It's the vegan football team in in England. Oh! They are...
00:20:34
Speaker
Sponsored by the Vegan Society at the moment, as well as other very good vegan organizations have been to watch them. And yes, great. i so I had no idea. Did you know about this, Dominic, that there was a vegan football team?
00:20:45
Speaker
Do you know what? So some of my dislike football boyy is completely nonsensical. And I do believe that Paul, who is a lovely person and a good friend, has talked about this. And I may have glazed over even the attraction of veganism might have made me i not like it enough to actually listen. But that is clearly a wonderful thing. And, you know, nothing wrong with kids using jumpers as goalposts and having a kick around, you know, in the field or a few friends doing stuff. But, but you know, there's so many questions with the ethics of the huge business of mainstream football. Now, there's all kinds of controversies that have surrounded football. past World Cups when they've been at places where human rights issues have been discussed and different. And we've talked a lot about um how easy is to point fingers at other countries. So this one, the 2030 World Cup is being shared between more than one country in Morocco, in North Africa is one of them. And the issue here is to do with dogs. And, you know, in Britain, lots of dog lovers in Britain, and there are a large number of dogs on the streets of Morocco. So there's this report of 3 million dogs being killed because of clearing the streets in advance of all the tourism. Now, it is worth saying that ah Omar Jaeed, I think I'm pronouncing Omar's name correctly, who is the president of the Provincial Tourism Council, does deny this and says that, you know, he's a dog lover himself and that the pups are not killed, they're taken off the streets and vaccinated at dispensary sites. But You know, other people have said, well, we we live there, we're eyewitnesses. There are charities who work there who have other versions of the story. So, you know, Peter have got involved, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and they're um saying as as, you know, an international event that...
00:22:54
Speaker
Killing three million dogs is not something that is going to be appreciated by a lot of the, in inverted commas, animal loving tourists. So we don't know what the end result will be, but it's it's good that it's being talked about. And usually i do cite like a little bit of xenophobia where people go, oh have you heard about how the Chinese talk to treat dogs? Have you heard about how those Muslims, you know,
00:23:21
Speaker
treat halal meat, you know, it's really easy. It could be a potentially really racist thing to just point fingers at other countries when you're not taking accountability for what happens were in our own country with our own animal. Like, oh yeah, all the sheep and cows and chickens in Britain, they're fine, aren't they? They're fine. It can feel really racist only pointing to other countries. But this is a case where I think yeah, this is a really big thing that that that we do well to point the finger. We do well to talk about it. And, you know, I hope that, you know, involvement of folks like Peter does result in something more positive.
00:24:02
Speaker
Yeah, I do too. oh Maybe if ah FIFA offers its coveted prize for world peace to Morocco, then that will convince them to do the right thing. Since they have created that world peace award.
00:24:16
Speaker
Paul, it sounds like Brazil doesn't need a medal to do the right thing. And your article comes from the Associated Press. And it is also about dogs. And it's about dogs dressing up and partying with their humans at Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
00:24:30
Speaker
So Paul, why are dogs being dressed up in Brazil? So this is regarding um dog owners who are attending an event called, and I'm going to gain, I'll get all the pronunciations ah here. ah Blocao, which is essentially, I think means street party dog.
00:24:51
Speaker
um And yeah, they basically are dressing up their dogs. That's always a bit of an interesting topic anyway for vegans, I think. But anyway, they are 300 of them are gathering. I've gathered to dress up their pets and protest about the treatment of of of pets.
00:25:09
Speaker
A lot of this seems to be, well, I mean, why are they doing it? It seems to be triggered, particularly this this most recent one, about a case where a young boy essentially tortured ah a dog, um and that's being cited as a really sad and nasty case and has driven i think the the protest and is being cited as part of the ah reason of why they're doing it it's uh it's the article sort of talks quite a lot about the the pains that the owners are going to to try and keep the dogs um in in a healthy state because of the heat for example so what they're doing and then They used to walk them around at this period of time, but obviously the ah the floor being very hot, they've stopped doing that. So it looks like they're trying to do something good and taking a lot of considerations into into account. The event has happened over the for more than 20 years and obviously seems to be pretty well established. So yeah, I think in general it's quite a cutesy story and obviously try again trying to draw attention to the plight of an animals pet animals. So yeah, seems to be a nice
Vegan Market Trends
00:26:19
Speaker
story there. Yeah, it is nice to to have a a good story once in a while.
00:26:23
Speaker
i can tell you my dog does not like being dressed up, so she wouldn't tolerate that, but I can still support ah the idea behind it. All right, after the break, we are going to present to our picks of the week, and Dominic is going to cover a story about new growth in the plant-based food market, and Paul will tell us more good news coming out of Denmark.
00:26:44
Speaker
As well as producing these audio-based shows, our podcast hosts at Zencaster also provide the written transcript for each show. This is AI generated, so it might not always be 100% correct, but nonetheless we hope that this will increase the accessibility of our show.
00:27:04
Speaker
So to access any of these written transcripts, head over to zencaster.com forward slash vegan week. I'm going to spell it all for you. Zencaster is Z-E-N-C-A-S-T-R.com and then a forward slash and then the word vegan, V-E-G-A-N, then a hyphen and then week.
00:27:26
Speaker
zencaster.com forward slash vegan hyphen week. and then each transcript is embedded with any of the shows that you click on.
00:27:37
Speaker
So lately the news about being in a plant-based food market is not been all that cheery, but Dominic, it sounds like your story is much more positive. Yeah, it does indeed. And this news story is from the website of Tesco. Now I don't know if this is true, what I'm about to say, but I did read somewhere that in the UK where I live and where Tesco is a massive, massive popular supermarket, allegedly ah one pound in every £10 spent is spent in Tesco's, which is a huge amount. Like, you know, I've just said that as fact. It might not be true, but, you know, it's it's something that I can believe. So for Tesco to have on their own website a positive story about plant-based food growth, that's really good, really good. I read this with caution, waiting for the twist in the tale where they...
00:28:35
Speaker
said something a bit snarky, but no, they're reporting growth because there's been an abundance of stories going, oh, veganism has had its day. Veganism was a passing trend. And I've read from enough places that sales of vegan foods have gone down to believe that There is some truth in that. Going around my own shops, I have noticed there being slightly fewer options in mainstream supermarkets. We're really lucky here in Manchester. We do have really awesome independent places. Big shout out for Unicorn, our all vegan supermarket we've got in South Manchester. And the Eighth Day Cafe is stunning as well. But not everybody has the capacity to go such independent places and to hear that yeah plant-based mince as apparently the demand has gone up by nearly 25 that's huge that's that's really good uh plant-based protein such as did you say plant plant-based mince i did indeed that that uk phrase is that not i don't i don't know what mince is i've heard of mince meat but i don't really know ah no so mince meat well maybe we've got again a different uh
00:29:48
Speaker
uh, international definition in the UK, mince meat actually means fruit. Mince meat is what you'd put in a mince pie that you'd have at Christmas. Uh, that's what we call mince meat confusingly. Cause it's neither mince nor meat. Um, uh, probably what you are referring to as mince meat is what we, so, so like, you know, the beef you would get in a, in a pie, you know, sort of mince beef minced. Uh, yeah, that, that's what it means here. So the kind of, ah replacements by things like corn that you might put in a casserole or something like that. Does does that, is that clear, Shane? Yeah, so it's like small pieces of of the
00:30:30
Speaker
Meat replacement. Yeah, that's right. That's right. okay So the ah larger chunks of plant-based protein like tofu or tempeh or satin, the demand's gone up by 12%. So that that's really brilliant. And of course, we can never have enough of the falafel and snack food like falafel and mini sausages and vegan equivalent of eggs. That's gone up by ah more than 5%. So there is a growth that's really awesome to see. And on Tesco's website, they've put a quote from the Vegan Society welcoming the news, saying are these figures are positive and show that veganism is in good health. Whether consumers are driven by animal welfare, dietary, environmental or simply cost of living concerns, a vegan or plant based lifestyle is an all round win.
00:31:24
Speaker
And again, i've got to emphasize to see a supermarket as mainstream as Tesco end this article with a positive spin on veganism with a quote from the CEO of the Vegan Society. That really makes me feel very hopeful and very happy.
Rewilding vs. Organic Farming Debate
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah, me too. i'm I'm wondering if this is only in the UK market or i mean, I know this article is only UK, but hopefully we're going to be seeing this internationally as well.
00:31:52
Speaker
Yeah, I covered a story, I think, a few weeks ago about worldwide sales of of some products. I think it was certainly around um alternative milks as well, which I think of still booming in the US, for example, as far as I know. So, yeah, I think, um yeah, the markets are going to be different, no doubt. But it's interesting in the UK, I think there's been a lot of switch to concerns around ultra processed food and and a lot of the manufacturers of things like mints are starting to kind of mix it up with kind of like more of a vegetable content as well to try and appease the um the ultra processed food concerns that are often mysteriously just labeled against veganism and vegan foods and not anything else like bread or cereal which is but yeah I wonder how much like the protein fad is driving this too, because you know how everybody wants to have so much protein lately. Definitely. And we covered that later on, I think. So yeah. Oh, okay. Good. I thought you were lining me up nicely there. regular listeners so Regular listeners to my poetry know that I've got an entire poem, the one that has the letter R repeated about a gajillion times. I say protein because it is what people say to us vegans all all the time. And it's it's quite a challenge to, you know, of all the things, if we're talking about, you know, B12 or D vitamins, then yeah, let's have a discussion about fortification and how it is very, very easy. But
00:33:15
Speaker
but You know, protein is not top of the list of things for which it's a ah challenge, not at all. We've all got abundance of protein here, haven't we? No one's no one's died of protein deficiency in the Western world. if they so Well, it's good to have a good story like that. um And I think we have another positive story as well. Paul, the first thing that I thought when I read this story about Denmark's new plan for farms is wow.
00:33:41
Speaker
So is that reaction justified? I keep looking for the catch in this story. I think there is a little bit of a catch because I know when we um shared this one um amongst ourselves that there was a lot of people saying, yeah, this is a great story. um Sadly, looking into it a bit more, I don't think it is quite as positive as what we think it is, but then I'm a half glass empty kind of chap. So yes, this is an article um where ah Denmark has um been in discussions with the EU about a plan to essentially take farming land out of productive use and i wouldn't say just rewild it, but kind of, uh, stop, uh, growing items on it or using it for, ah livestock, for example.
00:34:29
Speaker
and then ultimately the main reason for that seems to be about getting the soil back to a better place and not having the runoff from chemicals, for example, especially off into the water system. And, uh, Yeah, trying to return some of the woodlands as well to more of a natural state, which would be great for wildlife as well, no doubt, and insect life. So yeah good from that ecology point of view.
00:34:54
Speaker
However, it it doesn't really, ah whilst there's a big picture of ah of a cow shed on this story, I don't really think this is as good as it looks on the surface because this is about land and obviously land predominantly well no that's not true i think land can be used as much for growing vegetables that we want to support as as it might be for grazing it doesn't really talk about you closing on getting rid of farm buildings especially high intensity stuff that we'd really be wanting to see about um removing and i i do think um whilst it's all very well um from the ecology point of view and the wildlife point of view to move um land in that direction. My question is, well, why not convert the agriculture growth of crops to an organic state where you're not using chemicals? If that's the main concern, um you could you could move to a pesticide-free growth and continue to grow vegetables in your own in your own country when yeah there is a sort of ah food security element that needs to be considered as well here. So I don't think it's necessarily that that great um from a vegan perspective. what it it Also, rather oddly in the story, when it talks about the restoration element here, it does talk about um potentially... relocating fences to allow grazing to maintain nature maintenance. So again, from the perspective of ah animals and grazing, it's not going away. It's still going to be used, albeit to help with the the life cycle of the land, which is great, but i it's not like we're suddenly stopping using the land for grazing, it seems. So, yeah, I i think more of an environmental good news story, but less so for um that's so for farmed animals, for example. Probably wildlife, great. It sounds like I'm not that supportive of it. I think it is a good thing, but I i just think there's more that could be done. As I say, move to organic crops would be um just as useful, I think. what What did you think of ah when I read the article, the thing that stood out to me was it was talking about it was going to run out in 2030.
00:37:09
Speaker
So what it does that mean that the money that they're using runs out in 2030 or they're ending the program? How did you take that? I read that as the end of the programme, so I'm guessing if they haven't agreed plots of land that are going to be moved into this new state, then that's the end of the programme. I guess you know they could have another programme after that, but I guess there's a time-limited restriction on this. And of course, I guess if there's always going to be a certain amount of... money available as well um if if there's real massive interest to to do this then foreseeably it might run out sooner i guess it'll be really interesting to see how many farmers are actually want to take this up um are we going to see a position i think we've probably got in this country where we're told that some of the natural flow of farms to people's offspring is uh not happening so much because of the work required for it and you know We're told it's not very profitable anymore.
Vegan Dating Challenges
00:38:10
Speaker
It's a moot point, I think, really. but And we're seeing people diversify um their land. But if there's a chance to ah recover some money through moving it to this new state, I don't know. It'll be interesting to see what the take-up is. I think that'll really good thing in a few years' time.
00:38:26
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Well, thanks for those stories, Paul and Dominic. If you listeners would like to read the articles yourself, you can click on the links in the show notes or we'll post each of them on Facebook over the course of the week.
00:38:39
Speaker
If you are on Facebook or Instagram, we'd love for you to follow us at Enough of the Falafel on both platforms. We're always happy to hear your opinions on any of our news stories.
00:38:49
Speaker
You can DM us on social media or email us. So here's how to get in touch. To get in touch with us, just send us an email at enoughofthefalafel at gmail.com.
00:39:03
Speaker
We see ourselves as a collective. Our listenership stretches all around the world and everyone's opinions, questions, feedback and ideas are what helps shape the show.
00:39:15
Speaker
Go on, send us a message today. enough of the falafel at gmail dot com Before we end for today, we have one last story to cover. And this article comes from Plant-Based News.
00:39:27
Speaker
And since February is the month of love, we thought we'd cover something related to romance. The article cites a study of UK vegans that found nearly half consider incompatible diets a relationship breaker.
00:39:40
Speaker
Participants cited potential issues such as dismissiveness, 48%, not making an effort to cater to Simone's dietary preferences, 33%, Avoiding eating together altogether, 33%. Refusing to compromise when planning meals together, 27%. And being closed-minded about new foods, 23%. Now, Dominic, you recently hard-launched a new boyfriend on Instagram. ah Correct. Congratulations, students by the way.
00:40:11
Speaker
What were your thoughts on this article? Um, relatable. It's so difficult, isn't it? So I had a long term relationship breakup about 10 years ago. I did the real hard sell of vegetarianism when I when I met the fella. So I was a veggie, not vegan when I met that particular boyfriend. And he was a meat eater. And I did all those things we're told. Don't do, don't do. I was like it's a deal breaker. It's a deal breaker. I absolutely did give him an ultimatum. You know, you go veggie. And then I went vegan. And he was like, nah, that's too much. That's too much. um
00:40:55
Speaker
That's not the reason why we split it up split up. I was vegan for many years ah with him. But in those years, in those 10 years of being single, I have approached dating in a number number of different ways. And Anthony, our regular host of the show,
00:41:14
Speaker
I remember confiding with Anthony that about how long ago, about 18 months ago, I went on a few dates with someone who ate meat and me saying to Anthony, oh, I really don't know because there's so much good about him.
00:41:32
Speaker
But the bad thing about this fella, i hope he doesn't listen to this show because I'm about to criticise him, like his two best friends. a vegan and i thought oh wow that's not turned in vegan will i you know they're friends who he's known since his uni days and the guy is like nearly 50 and it's like they've been his best friends and they've not been able to turn him vegan oh so fast forward to the current fella the current fella um I think our listeners, you know, there's no single right approach to, you know, what you would say or what you would not say to somebody, ah whether it is a relationship deal breaker or not. What I chose to say was, I am vegan.
00:42:17
Speaker
I'm going to say two things that contradict each other. I do wish that everyone was vegan. This guy, by the way, vegetarian Vegetarian, you know, 50 next year, um been vegetarian since he was seven. So long term vegetarian. And I said, I'm not going to ask you to go vegan. And it is not a relationship deal breaker. I will, you know, I will never bully you. I'll never make you feel uncomfortable. That's what I chose to say. We've been dating two months and for one month he has
00:42:52
Speaker
has Bean. Vegan. Of his own choice. Of his own choice. So he just went away and did his research. He was like, really, he did ask me a few questions. And again, I thought, well, let's talk with, you know, authenticity, you know, give real answers to real things. And he went away and read up and he went, yeah, I'm going to go vegan. And he's he has stuck at it for a month. So fingers crossed, fingers crossed. So yeah, I think it's so hard. dating it's so difficult and I really really understand why for some people it would be deal breaker I I don't know I think there's no one right answer for for everyone is there I don't know no don't know no
00:43:41
Speaker
I know I'm happy. I'm over the moon that he's like, you know, chosen to go vegan. And it definitely is something that's bringing us closer together. Of course it is because it's a shared set of values. So it is really good.
00:43:54
Speaker
Yeah, i I thought that was wonderful to see. And I'm so glad to hear that he's vegan. I think that will make everything easier for you. um' Paul, I'm not going to ask you about your personal lesson. ah Did it surprise you that dismissiveness seemed to be the biggest issue for those in the study?
00:44:13
Speaker
Not when you look at the detail. I think because, i see if I remember rightly, the dismissiveness was reported more by the female respondents. And sadly, I think we still live in a world where there are men out there who treat women with a fairly dismissive attitude on numerous fronts. so am I surprised? Not really. If anything, it kind of just cements what what I suspected. I think it's interesting, like going back to what Dominic's saying, um I think we had this conversation, we've weve we've talked about this at least once in depth, I think, on the show many, many moons ago. And I think we all sort of talked about saying, you each individual of us, would we date, marry, whatever someone who was not vegan? And I mean, i'm I'm personally in the, it would be very difficult um ah for for me personally. So yeah, that's my position.
00:45:07
Speaker
I think he cut there's a couple of things with the actual study figures themselves, because this is sponsored by Redefine Meat, isn't it? I think, have I got the right one? Yes. It's a very shrewd move by them to essentially ah say, yeah look at all these challenges around this. And what you really need is a product that that tra is a transition between meat and not meat. Oh, just so happens to be what we sell.
00:45:33
Speaker
But it's done quite well. I think it's a nice bit of nice bit of marketing, really. They haven't said about how many people they spoke to which always worries me in terms of the sample so i know it's not a big bit of science but you know it'd be not quite nice to know um but yeah i i think as a headline figures it talks about 25 of all those surveys reported juggling different or compatible diets with their significant other that's that's probably that's probably lower than what i thought it would be actually to be honest yeah but it's it's it's not too bad and yeah the other things you talked about there in terms of the the main challenges i think again nothing
00:46:08
Speaker
too surprising in there and yeah it's uh it's a good bit of work i think really the only other bit that the article goes on to talk about which is quite interesting is around um how vegans can be perceived to be or the vegan beliefs can be perceived perceived to be a threat to ah non-vegans views because it's challenging The stuff we know about is challenging there their tradition and everything that they've known to date. So it's quite a big pinch point, I guess, really in a relationship if you've got someone who is vegan or vegetarian and someone who isn't. um because you're asking someone to change quite a lot about how how they how they live. So it's's it's something that you shouldn't kind of just assume is ah an easy thing to do. So yeah, that's ah that's that's quite interesting. So yeah, I think nothing particularly new there um out of it. But yeah, I don't think that one's going to go away whilst we've still got vegans and non-vegans living in the world.
00:47:06
Speaker
I feel like i I got halfway through this article and then I realized, oh, this is an article that's a marketing article because all of a sudden that just kind of like popped out. I think what I also took away was what you were saying about the, how vegans pose a symbolic threat to group identities. And, um, they cite an article by Dr. Gemma Newman.
00:47:25
Speaker
And, um, as Paul just said, she says, vegans don't pose a threat to our identities as moral people. They also pose what researchers call a symbolic threat to group identities, cherished traditions, cultural values, and social norms.
00:47:40
Speaker
And, um, That kind of took me back because I really don't like that perspective. um i I feel like that kind of perspective is just an attempt to justify meat eaters' bad behavior.
00:47:52
Speaker
And you talked about how this the ah participant said that their significant other didn't make an effort to cater to their dietary preference. They dismissed them.
00:48:05
Speaker
They refused to compromise. So, I mean, to me, that's bad behavior. So, you know, like we should excuse their refusal to compromise or their closed-mindedness just because they can't handle a challenge to their worldview. So,
00:48:19
Speaker
I mean, personally, I'm getting tired of being told that we have to coddle people who behave badly. And um I'm glad to see that at least half of the vegans in this survey refuse to put up with it.
Show Wrap-up and Future Content
00:48:29
Speaker
Okay, so listeners, as the month of love comes to an end, we are hoping that you love us as much as we love you. If you like what you heard today and have the means to financially support the show with a small donation, please take a look at our Ko-Fi page.
00:48:45
Speaker
You can join us at any of our three giving levels. The link is ko-fi.com slash enough of the falafel. We've also shared it in the show notes and pinned it to the top of our Facebook page.
00:48:58
Speaker
And if you'd like to help in other ways, we have a little jingle coming up for that. If you've enjoyed today's show, we'd love it if you could take just a few seconds to share it with someone else who you think might enjoy it too.
00:49:13
Speaker
We don't have a marketing team or a budget to spend on advertising, so your referrals are the best way of spreading the free Enough of the Falafel Joy further still. And if you haven't already, we'd be really grateful if you could leave us a rating on your podcast player.
00:49:29
Speaker
That will also help the show pop up when people search for vegan or animal rights content online. Thanks for your help.
00:49:40
Speaker
Thank you everyone for listening. The next Enough of the Falafel episode will be coming out on on Thursday the 26th of February and that will be Vegan Talk and that will feature Ant, Kate and myself.
00:49:53
Speaker
and we'll be discussing an anonymous account of a group of people paid to discredit veganism online. Anyway, that is enough of the falafel for this episode. Paul, it is always a joy to share this podcast with you. Thank you very much.
00:50:09
Speaker
And as for Shane, as for Shane, if you're brand new and you've not listened to a show before, it'll just be normal. You won't know anything different. But this is the first one where we've not had Anthony hosting. We've had Shane in as a,
00:50:21
Speaker
as a you know speaker, the same as Paul and I have done, but I know how hard Shane's work doing all the techie stuff as well. So massive, massive, massive thank you to you, Shane. You've been absolutely brilliant.
00:50:34
Speaker
We appreciate you. our Massive thanks. And thank you for listening. All of you who've chosen to tune into our podcast. It's been brilliant sharing this time with all of you. I've been Dominic and you have been listening to Vegan Week. from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
00:50:56
Speaker
This has been an Enough of the Falafel production. We're just a normal bunch of everyday vegans putting our voices out there. The show is hosted by Zencaster. We use music and special effects by zapsplap.com.
00:51:11
Speaker
And sometimes, if you're lucky, at the end of an episode, you'll hear a poem by Mr Dominic Berry. Thanks all for listening and see you next time.
00:51:37
Speaker
This episode may have come to an end, but did you know we've got a whole archive containing all our shows dating back to September 2023? twenty twenty three That is right, Dominic. There's over 100 episodes on there featuring our brilliant range of different guests, people's stories of going vegan, philosophical debates, moral quandaries, and of course, around a dozen news items from around the world each week.
00:52:03
Speaker
So check back on your podcast player, to hear previous episodes. And remember to get an alert for each new episode, simply click like or follow and also subscribe to the show.
00:52:13
Speaker
Thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from.