Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
262- Wait...so why is it we report on the vegan news again?!
103 Plays3 days ago
It's not that we're having existential thoughts or anything...but this week, we just wanted to take a moment to reflect on the very nature of vegan & animal rights news. Why do we report on it? What counts as 'news'? And how can different forms of animal rights news help...or even harm the movement?
For this episode Anthony, Julie & Shane get philosophical & reflective over the last (nearly) three years of Enough of the Falafel.
Like what we do? Want to help it sound even better? Join our KoFi gang here: https://ko-fi.com/ENOUGHOFTHEFALAFEL
****************
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.
****************
Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Julie, Shane & Ant
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Purpose of Special Episode
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everybody. Now, we've been reporting on and discussing the week's vegan and animal rights news every week for about the last three years Enough of the Flaffle, but why?
00:00:11
Speaker
Well, I'm Anthony, and for this special episode of Vegan Week, I'm also joined by Shane and Julie. So I think vegans go looking for trouble even when they're not looking for trouble.
00:00:23
Speaker
That's not what butt is used for. Brrr! protein take your lab roll meat elsewhere we're not doing that in the state of florida should they call the medium say hi sorry true education younger generation are getting to know how brutal these practices are that leaves a lot of pizza delivery companies in problems i think you know what is this what kind of movie is this it's comedy gold maybe any form of social injustice has
00:00:52
Speaker
As long as you don't get the wee brunions with the horns you'll be alright. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:01:01
Speaker
I cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision.
Format of Vegan Week and Episode Focus
00:01:05
Speaker
and Hello everybody, Julie here. Welcome to this episode of Vegan Week. Thank you very much for joining us.
00:01:14
Speaker
Hey everyone, this is Shane. If you are looking for previous episodes of our new show, Vegan Talk Podcasts or Going Vegan series, they are available in your podcast feed and you should check them out today.
00:01:26
Speaker
Oh, you totally should. You totally should. So today's show, it says Vegan Week, doesn't it? But if you're one of those people that checks the show notes before you're listening or while you're listening, you'll notice there's no news story. So you might be thinking, well, what what kind of a news show is this? Well, for context, we're not here this week. We're not in the studio. We have recorded this show a few weeks ago, and we just wanted to take a little pause to to just reflect on the nature of what we do and why why we're doing it. What's the point of all this vegan news stuff? Now, if you are a fan of vegan news and our regular vegan week show, don't worry, next week, normal service, will be resumed. And we'll do one of those where we feature the last two weeks of stories. So you're not going to lose out on on finding out what happened in the last seven days of vegan and animal rights news. We'll still get that to you.
00:02:22
Speaker
So let's get on with the show.
The Role of News in Advocacy and Personal Growth
00:02:24
Speaker
I'm going to ask Shane and Julie some questions just with regards to how they use news and articles like that in their advocacy, times that where they might not want to use something, things like that. And I'll weigh in as well. Let's get the ball rolling. Julie, let's start with you.
00:02:43
Speaker
And Shane, you can answer the same question afterwards. Why stay on top of the current animal rights and vegan news? what What's the point? what Why do you like to do that?
00:02:53
Speaker
Because I sometimes am asked to present on a vegan podcast. Because you tell me to, Anthony. Talking about. and um but Well, I will be honest and upfront and say I didn't do a lot of it before I was involved in this lovely podcast. And that isn't because it's not something that interests me. It's more just in keeping with my approach to life in general, which is, that I am, I'm afraid, not someone who keeps up with human news that well, to be honest with you. I don't have a television set and all that. But I have become a changed person as a result of being involved in this podcast. And I definitely do see the advantages now of staying on top of current animal rights news and all that. So yeah, I can speak to that. What I would say though that I've done for many years, and I've always subscribed to animal rights charities and organisations so that I can participate in campaigns because actually what I do in relation to veganism, if it doesn't have an outcome for animals...
00:04:07
Speaker
ah It's not going to take up a huge amount of my time, if you see what mean. So where things have a direct outcome for animals, ah that is that's my purpose, that's my aim. Anything else is a bonus, but that if it's something that I can learn about and then do something about, then that's my priority. So keeping an eye on animal rights news, however you want to interpret that, whether that's getting an email from PETA every couple of days or something like that, that's that's definitely, for me, worth doing, worth sort of subscribing into. But also, I think if you've got a bit of an idea of what's going on,
00:04:52
Speaker
it can lead you into useful conversations with people who are still unwittingly sort of complicit in animal exploitation because they might be won over by some kind of single issue because they don't have that overarching thing.
Exploring Animal Rights and Exploitation Themes
00:05:10
Speaker
i I've got the overarching thing that all animal exploitation is abuse and all of it is is something that I wish everybody would rethink and reject I'm I'm already of that mindset so it's it's never okay it doesn't matter to me how big the cages are how kind the farmer is or anything like that none of that matters wealthierism doesn't interest me I want people to feel differently about the relationship with the other beings that we share this earth with. It's it's much bigger than you know a new story about bullfighting, getting stopped in one tiny town somewhere or whatever.
00:05:51
Speaker
But for some people who aren't where I'm at, these stories and relaying and telling these stories and highlighting these stories to them and you know that can make the difference because they join the dots after they've had a bit of a weigh-in so that's what I find quite useful about staying on top of these things and lastly because I've talked too much already I would say that sometimes engaging with vegan media in general is actually just quite life-affirming in general, in terms of just hearing what other people feel that is the same as you. Because sometimes in your social group, you might be the only person who wants a respectful, equal relationship with people with with people well with people and animals, you know, with ah with the other beings on this earth. And you might feel very alone in that.
00:06:48
Speaker
But sometimes you just go on another wee website or listen to a podcast and you can hear from like minded people. And that's, you know, it's quite uplifting.
00:06:59
Speaker
Well, I think there's two main reasons that I pay attention to vegan news. And first of all, unlike Julie, I cannot not pay attention to the news. I really, really wish that I could like not read the paper or not listen to news podcasts, but I can't. So when I am reading the news and I do come across a vegan story, that's wonderful for me, especially if it's a good story. That's like a little, um i mean, I'll save it to like the end. and I'm like, oh, there's my little dessert.
00:07:29
Speaker
And um the other reason is because people often do ah mention it to me, like non-vegans, they'll say, oh, you know, I saw this about horse racing or something like that. And then I would like to know what it is that they're talking about. So I can kind of either counter it or explain in more detail or just not haven't not have any idea what they're talking about.
00:07:51
Speaker
What about you, Anthony? Oh, um i I really like that example of of folk telling you things. There's a, in the brilliant book, Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby that talks about English football supporters. There's this whole thing of like, people will always tell you, oh yeah, I saw that your team won the other day or saw that your team lost. And I think that's a similar thing with veganism. I've had the same thing. Oh, I saw this vegan thing. Oh, Greg's have got this new thing out, haven't they? Or whatever. But yeah, I think being able to connect with people is really important for us to be able to advocate and and to make connections within the movement. And I was struck when I um have such a bad virtue signaler. I'm
00:08:33
Speaker
I'm telling everyone about this bloody greyhound group I'm involved with. I've only been there twice. um that's The first time I went there, I was connecting with somebody and I realized like how much I know about the news, like the vegan and animal rights news at the moment, because like some of the things that one person was talking about, like I knew about too. And a few years ago, I definitely wouldn't have done.
00:08:55
Speaker
So whether it's somebody who's not yet vegan or somebody who's a passionate animal advocate, if you if you know what they're talking about um or you've got information they might be interested in, that's obviously ah a real bonus, isn't it? I think as well,
00:09:10
Speaker
I like to see that we're making progress. And I think maybe if all of the news to do with veganism and animal rights was doom and gloom and was, I mean, and don't get me wrong, like there's negative stories out there um and and we covered them because it's important to to bear witness to them and and share those too. But if the news was that things were going in a bad direction, and animal consumption was rapidly out of control and the number of vegans was dropping and everything like that, maybe I wouldn't want to be paying close attention to the news. But it's hard being vegan in a non-vegan world. um It's hard work advocating on behalf of animals to those who don't care. And so to see that we're making progress is, its like you say, Shane, is that dessert at the end of a ah tough slog or what have you. So i really like
Balancing News Consumption and Mental Health
00:10:01
Speaker
it from that point of view. and I think I think, yeah, i think that probably covers it.
00:10:07
Speaker
I'm interested in rounding back and i'll I'll ask you the questions in the same order again, because Julie, you you said that you don't normally stay on top of the news.
00:10:19
Speaker
I'm wondering whether that is for reasons that I'm intimating by the next question I've got noted down, which was a that there could be reasons, couldn't there, why we might choose not to stay on top of what is happening to animals or in indeed the vegan movement. is Is that kind of what you're hinting at there in terms of like protecting your mental well-being or are there other reasons? Well, for me, because I just, the time that I have in front of screens or, you know, even with my ears free is extremely limited just because of my lifestyle. So I'm just not a consumer of anything much for any length of time. Unless I'm driving in the car, you know. So, and quite often I make phone calls while I'm driving because that's the only time I get a chance to do them. So it's it's partly that. But I think you can become a bit overwhelmed and a bit sort of, against the human race if you expose yourself to too much a content because let's face it, you know, the the world for animals, it's not ah it's not a nice place at all. There's animal abuse and slaughter and exploitation absolutely everywhere and I think sometimes you can only do what you do and
00:11:46
Speaker
and some of the kind of stuff especially the things I get sent from Peter I don't watch them all I try and respond to every request for petition signing and emails and all the rest of it to MPs and things like that but I don't watch all the videos and I do that because I think if I did I probably would really just you know get really just upset so much on a daily basis and then I'm not much used to anybody then so Yeah, I think be selective, take care of yourself, but not to the extent that you pamper yourself so much you don't do a single thing for the animals. But you've got to just go within your own abilities and resources. So, yeah, sometimes it's about time. You need to just protect your time. And sometimes it is just about maintaining your own sort of integrity and well-being and all the rest of it.
00:12:41
Speaker
Yeah. No, thanks, Julie. Shane, I'm interested in your first answer. When you said you have to stay on top of the news, was that like a pathological thing? or are you talking like pragmatically or like for your work or like what? No, What's that? What's that drive? Yeah, some it's some kind of compulsion. Like I don't like to not know what's going on in and the world.
00:13:02
Speaker
And as far as the that vegan news, I mean, like Julie. So if I follow different accounts, for example, on Instagram and I'm scrolling through, I'm very careful. Like I don't look at the pictures. You know, I i have to protect myself in that way because what she mentioned about hating people the human race. And I think that's very real.
00:13:24
Speaker
it's going to be very upsetting, very depressing following the news. I mentioned before that I used to work at an at an animal rescue. And I did that for like, I don't know, four or five years. And one of the reasons that I finally stepped away was just because the hate that I had, and I mean, hate I had for people because you just see so many bad things and you start thinking, I just hate these people. And um I just had to move away from that because I just couldn't live my life like feeling that way all the time.
00:13:58
Speaker
And so i think if we take in too much negative news, it is hard to keep caring or to keep paying attention. Yeah, i i I would echo that. I'd also add, and I think Julie, you kind of touched upon this. If I was having, if I was the grand orchestrator of all the vegans, I would choose between people taking action over being informed. Now, obviously there's a delicate balance. you tell There's a great saying that is there's nothing so dangerous as a, what is it? A motivated idiot or something like that. So we need, we need to know why we're doing what we're doing. We do need to stay in touch. But actually, you know, i would hate to think of of folk ah burying themselves in vegan news and running out of time to to do other things that directly improve outcomes for animals if that is something you are able to do. So I i think there's a balance there. And i I remember when I was running my cafe, I'd sometimes get quite cross at people telling me about
00:15:05
Speaker
things that they they'd heard about what were what was going on in the vegan world and things like that. And I was just like, i'm I'm up to my elbows in potato. I don't care. like I'm doing my bit and that's all I care about right now. So yeah, that there does need to be a balance.
Effective Vegan News Stories for Advocacy
00:15:20
Speaker
And um yeah, that that mental health side is really important. I'm going to give a shout out to ah an episode of a podcast that's years old now, It's by the Bearded Vegans. It's called Why Misanthropy, i.e. the Hatred of of Humanity, is Bad for Veganism. Why Misanthropy is Bad for Veganism. I'll put a link in the show notes. and Done by the Bearded Vegans. And it's really good. I think it was in response to a a really poorly chosen video by Gary Yourofsky, I think, where he was saying how misanthropic he was. And it's like you say, Shane, it's understandable how people get to that stage, but I don't think it's the best.
00:15:55
Speaker
ultimate advantage. Yeah, I actually, I remember that episode from the Bearded Vegans, and I thought that they did a really good job discussing that. And um I think as vegans, we have to be careful how we present ourselves sometimes. Absolutely. So let's talk about what we do find helpful then. Can we can we hone in? let's Let's come to you first, Shane, this time. Are there a particular type of vegan or animal right news story therefore It comes in your feed or you see it in the running order for the show when we're doing ah one of our regular vegan week shows and you think, oh, brilliant. I love this kind of story because...
00:16:31
Speaker
this is great for animal advocacy. I can use this story when I talk to my next door neighbor, or I'm going to share this on Facebook, or this is going to be great for loads of people to share in a different way or talk about. Just for basically for animal advocacy, I think undercover investigation stories are are excellent because i think generally the public believes that everything is fine on these farms and the cows are happy and the chickens are happy. And then when we cover a story where abuse has been uncovered, then then I think that's very powerful.
00:17:08
Speaker
And it also, I think that tends to break through sometimes in the news. Those are not my favorite kinds of stories. I would probably would just skim it and get the general idea unless I had to present it on the show.
00:17:21
Speaker
i Personally, i love rescue stories, like where there's like a dog that's been on the street and then he's rescued and rehabilitated. And then you get to watch like the video, like him running around being all happy.
00:17:35
Speaker
I watched those all day. That's my favorite. i love what I love following fosters and animal rescue groups, legitimate animal rescue groups. That's that's what I like yeah personally.
00:17:46
Speaker
But you're making a distinction there that that type of video is not necessarily what you're saying is the best for animal advocacy. Or you are saying that is best for animals. No, I don't think it's best for animal advocacy because a lot of times those people probably aren't even vegan. I don't think most people in animal ah rescue are vegan. So for advocacy, it's the undercover investigations.
00:18:06
Speaker
But for personally, for me, I like to watch the rescue. that's That's your dessert of your dessert. Yeah, I get it. The cherry on top. Yeah, nice. What about you? It's probably my entree too, but yeah. What about you, Julie? Is there a certain type of story you you love to see? One where there's a clear cut call to action.
00:18:25
Speaker
One where I'm not just getting facts about something and going, oh no, that's awful. Not another you know thing I hadn't even thought about that happens to animals somewhere. But if there is something interesting Immediately I finish reading that, that I can do and and encourage other people to do that might help the matter a bit. That is happiness to me, however awful the topic might be. So that's my first pick. Anything where there's a clear cut call to action is a tick for me. And i think what is also useful in a horrible way, but but it's just the way that humans are, I think, sometimes when you get a new story where the the the horrible thing that is happening for animals isn't a kind of blood and guts thing
00:19:17
Speaker
It's just something really awful that people can perhaps relate to that might, like I've said before, you know, they're not vegan and they're not animal rights advocates themselves, but they are human beings. And sometimes when there's just something that an animal or a group of animals is being subjected to that they had no knowledge of,
00:19:40
Speaker
And it's just, I'm trying to think of an example. I tell you, there was a story a while ago where there were some cattle, I'm not remembering this very well at all. I think they were in India and they were involved in harvesting for, was it sugar or cocoa or something like that? And they had these awful things through their nose. You know, it's very normal. It was sugar. It was sugar. Yeah, and they had these great big metal rings through their nose and they were just sort of skeletal looking and worked into the ground. But it was the thing in their nose that really was really horrible to see. And nobody thinks that. I never even thought that. Was it something to do with Coca-Cola?
00:20:27
Speaker
The sugar in Coca-Cola? Something like that. But just something innocuous like, I mean, I know people always associate sugar with bone char and then that isn't a thing in the UK anymore. But that, it just got you thinking about how a sort of fairly innocent seeming process, you know, harvesting sugar cane or harvesting sugar, just things like that, just fairly nuanced things that are just hidden completely. Just that, I think that those stories are handy because think people might turn away from blood and guts, but they might just really go ouch and identify with something awful like that. The story you're referring to, I've got it here on a PETA Autumn 2025 sort of recap of things, but it was their founder, Ingrid Newkirk, at Coca-Cola's annual meeting. drawing attention to bulls at plight by yeah in terms of the sugarcane harvesting industry and the positive news is that they say their pita supported team sees the 100,000th bull retired from the sugarcane industry but yeah shining a light on something you're just like oh my gosh I had no idea that was a thing yeah
00:21:44
Speaker
Yeah, these kind of niche bits of hideous treatment of animals, I think, sometimes catch people's attention more than the things that they're a bit dead into and switch off from about, you know, slaughterhouses and things getting, you know animals getting stunned in the skull and, you know, all that. They've kind of seen all that, but sometimes these smaller things can catch their attention and you can use them as a starting point for a discussion, you know. Yeah, for sure. For sure. I'm i'm enjoying the variety of our answers and my answers are ah going to be different to to yours too as well. I think the the two type of story I really like to see.
00:22:23
Speaker
I do really like studies that have a real clear cut outcome. We can pick nits at the design of many studies and very often you'll see a study with an awful design, but that has a really good headline and that's a bit conflicty.
00:22:39
Speaker
But in terms of there's not often stories where the focus of the research has been on human behavior. There's an awful lot on and on diet and nutrition, which is understandable. That's fine. I'm not criticizing that. But really get excited where I see a study that is describing human behavior and giving an explanation as to why men might be turned off to meat-free alternatives, for example, or something like that. Because i just think, wow, that's a, you know, we are...
00:23:08
Speaker
generally speaking a ah culture that values science and research with with some large exceptions I know and and current trends but so I get excited when I see things like that because the impact feels big and also it's it's quite a crude one but just if you see news that a whole country or a whole US state has banned something or has enabled something has launched a new list or directory of something or or something like that that, that to me is big news.
00:23:41
Speaker
And it's great to A, chart the progress. So you can say, hey, hey everyone, look, have you seen Nebraska has banned this? Or in Holland, they're doing this or whatever. But also, like as human beings, we we want to keep up with the Joneses. So it's it's not a coincidence when you start seeing, oh, goodness, and that's being shut down. And now that's being shut down. Now that's being shut down.
00:24:06
Speaker
Because people don't want to be kind of left in the past and being seen as ah having archaic attitudes towards things. So they're the ones that I think are nice, exciting things. And just in terms of starting a conversation, I mean, there's ah there's a cliche of British people that we um a conversation opener is what's the weather doing? But I think a pretty universal thing across the globe would be, oh, have youve seen have have you seen the news? Have you heard the latest news? Have you heard the latest gossip?
00:24:35
Speaker
So anything that's a nice, clear, big headline there is that is positive, I think is a nice way of shoehorning animal rights into a conversation. I could talk about what's in my lunchbox at work every day, but I think people would ah would soon start to ah veto that.
Critique of Vegan News Trends
00:24:52
Speaker
Very quickly then, because this could be a very long list, what are our no-nos, we the kind of story we hate to see? Or perhaps to frame it another way,
00:25:03
Speaker
types of story that we think gets too much attention. My example would be a non-vegan, massive, multinational capitalist company releasing one vegan option isn't news and it's just PR. And what will happen is they'll remove it from their offering three months later and the headline will be, oh, look,
00:25:27
Speaker
look at this, Haagen-Dazs are removing their vegan product. Greggs have only got two vegan products now. They had three a month they ago. It's just like, look, the this company are a bunch of dicks. They were less dickish for a couple of months, and now they've gone back to being massive dicks again. Like, this isn't news. This isn't what we should be focusing on. I do understand why it's a conversation starter.
00:25:52
Speaker
We're in a capitalist society, aren't we? So people are going to say, oh, Have you seen what they're doing at Primark now? But I just think, nah, come on, come on. There's better news to be sharing than that. So that's why you never hear news of these things on Vegan Week. Sorry, not sorry. What about you guys?
00:26:08
Speaker
I think along those same lines, celebrity... vegans when you have a celebrity who's like oh this person's a vegan now and you know a lot of times pretty a few months later they're not a vegan anymore and so I don't really care what celebrities are doing and also I'm very tired of hearing about processed foods because that's always in the news about well everyone says veganism is so healthy but what about all the processed foods because apparently meat isn't processed you know I
00:26:41
Speaker
How do you think that it comes from being in a factory to the grocery store? That's a process right there. But all the stuff about processed foods. Yeah, yeah. Julie, what about you? My pet peeve and the stories I think are very, very unhelpful are any story that conflates veganism and plant-basedness.
00:27:03
Speaker
just over yeah across the board, that really doesn't help anybody. People using the word vegan when they really mean plant-based and people then trying to justify that by inventing sub-genres of veganism, like ethical veganism or environmental, you know, uh-uh.
00:27:25
Speaker
That really wasn't what Donald Watson had in his head, I'm sure of it. I know i know somebody who uses the term spiritual vegan. So they're not actually vegan, but spiritually they feel vegan. We're tuna and cheese and whatever. And I'm like, okay, that's not actually vegan. Yeah.
00:27:47
Speaker
And it just, it causes, you know, justifiable confusion so that then when I correct people, which I do all the time, sadly, they think I'm just being very nitpicky and very arsey. you know, the BBC call it this and then they call it that and they just say, well, that's a plant-based person or a vegan or, you know, this and that. You know, the mainstream media get muddled up the whole time. So they think that the mainstream media must be right and I am wrong. but Well, I mean, we're were we're going to get into this now when we're looking at the direction the media could take with things. But i I think part of the reason for that deliberate confusion is algorithms much prefer the word vegan to the phrase plant-based. And so if you're gonna choose a headline for your story, your study or whatever, if you're a company that doesn't care about the difference between those two terms, you'll choose the word vegan because it will get you more clicks, it will sell you more newspapers. Grr, grr. That's the world we live in. So we can't control huge multinational news corporations. We can choose what we put on enough of the falafel productions. But if we speak broadly for the vegan movement, there are news sources, plant-based news, for example, that
00:29:12
Speaker
Vegan food and living, they kind of cross over into lifestyle, bloggy type things. A lot, they're perhaps more that than a news site, but they do cover news things. So if if we put all sort of vegan and animal rights news outlets under an umbrella, what do we think we as a movement and we as vegan media outlets are What do we want to see more of?
00:29:41
Speaker
What do we want to see less of? Well, relating to my first point, just absolute discipline and clarity about the terms, you know, but being really clear what veganism is about and always putting the animals at the centre of everything because humans are already hardwired to think about themselves first and to totally negate the experiences and the suffering and the the freedoms of animals. We don't want to be feeding into any of that so I think we just have to be really clear about anything that calls itself vegan, being completely vegan and being aligned with animal rights and
00:30:22
Speaker
and And if things want to be plant based, that's totally fine. That's a different thing. and But yeah, I think just being really clear. can i Can I drill into that a little bit, Julie, in that...
00:30:36
Speaker
say if we take vegan food and living as ah as a magazine, as ah as a website, in a sense, their mission is not to place animals at the center of what they're doing. I'd say their their approach is to say, is to focus on lifestyle, human lifestyle. yeah and to And to say, look, you can do this in a way that's not harming animals.
00:31:00
Speaker
Is what you're saying that you think that's contrary to an effective animal rights movement or that the animal shouldn't be forgot from it? Well, I think, I don't know. i mean, it's not a publication that I follow or pay any attention to at all. I mean, I've looked at it, obviously, and there's nothing in it that interests me whatsoever. So I don't spend any time on it. But I suppose as somebody who is already someone that you could describe as as vegan, I try and not use that term because it's very othering, but someone who is absolutely on side with animal rights,
00:31:39
Speaker
If I ever was very short of ideas for a recipe, I could go, well, here's a place I can go and I won't be faced with a load of meat. But in terms of it being helpful in promoting veganism or clarity about the term or or speaking up for animals, no, it's not going to do that. So for people who are already...
00:32:01
Speaker
on board then I'm sure it's a useful twee little money spinner of a you know organization for some people probably could get called plant-based food and living quite easily really because they do sometimes annoy me in places on their website with their description of themselves and it isn't a vegan description because they've actually placed health in the environment before animal in their description of themselves so yeah they're a bit lightweight and a bit twee and they're muddy in the waters a little bit I would say no thank you Shane more of this less of this what do you think
00:32:45
Speaker
Well, I just opened Vegan Food and Living as we were speaking. And these this is the story. Vegan celebrities in 2026. 70 stars share why they went vegan. 39 best vegan aquafaba recipes. The ultimate guide to veganuary product launches.
00:33:03
Speaker
So, yeah, a lot of stuff that I don't like. um I think fewer recipes on these sites. If if I want a recipe, um'm um I'm actually curious. Do y'all go to these sites and look for recipes?
00:33:16
Speaker
do you ever Have you ever made anything you've seen on one of these sites? Because I never have. I think maybe 10 years ago, i did used to subscribe to a vegan lifestyle museum at museum magazine, I don't know where that word came from. And there were there were features and focuses on vegan organizations and animal rescues and things. And there were recipes in there. And I probably would have tried some of them then, but definitely not in the last 10 years.
00:33:43
Speaker
But if you're scrolling for some news and you come, ah i don't, are you going to look at the recipe and think, oh, I'll make that tonight. I mean, if I'm looking for a recipe, I'm going to go to like sites that I like from chefs or whoever it's for recipes. So I think if you choose your lane. Are you going to do recipes? Are you going to do news?
00:34:03
Speaker
And if you're going to do news, then stay with news. um And then I think it would be great if those sites would focus more on campaigns, um like Julie was saying, like action items. and also on the progress that we're making like good news stories and then maybe like failures and then action items what i would like to see yeah have you checked out the animal reader shane you'll be all over that i'm sure that's that's more your thing that's amazing i think i i did a story from that recently so um
00:34:33
Speaker
Yeah, and I do think I did like that one That is breath of fresh air That is, that's all the things that vegan food and living is not, if you know what I mean. So there is, yeah there's no recipes there ever. But there's very little mention of veganism, weirdly.
00:34:51
Speaker
But it It is someone who utterly, utterly believes in justice for animals, but manages to find a way to explain it and talk about the rationale and chooses the stories that are all about that without just going veganism, veganism, you know, the whole time. and But yeah, I think the animal reader is an absolute breath of fresh air.
00:35:11
Speaker
I would like to turn the conversation to plant-based news for a bit. And I think that their story of the last 10, 12 years that they've been doing their thing shows the quandary that you can have if you're trying to be a disruptive vegan activist. I've learned an awful lot from plant-based news way before we started doing this podcast, before I started running my businesses. Like I came across vegan activists and plant-based doctors and all sorts through plant-based news's YouTube channel primarily. And they have some great content on there.
00:35:51
Speaker
They also have an awful lot of clickbait stuff. They call themselves plant-based news and not vegan news. And there's there's lots of things that you can critique, if you like.
00:36:04
Speaker
However, would they have the platform, would they be reaching the audience, the non-vegan audience, they do, Without the clickbait, without the recipe stuff, without the celeb stuff, I'd love a world where they didn't have to do those things. My belief is the people behind that organization are diehard animal rights activists. That is my belief from what I have seen. I've met one of them in person. He came to my restaurant. I was ever so proud. um And then, gosh, I've forgotten his name, Robbie, Robbie Lockie and Klaus, who I know has been, who started it up. Like he comes across as a man with integrity and who cares deeply about animals. And like I say, I look at a lot of their content and it's like, oh gosh, we're focusing a lot on cardiovascular health. I think that's okay because they're calling themselves plant-based. They're not saying anything. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, 3.1 million subscribers or something, haven't they? Yeah. they You know, they are the biggest out there. So, you know, good on them. But, you know, thank you, Klaus, for not calling yourself vegannews.org.
00:37:19
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. you've You've got to play the game if you're going to disrupt the game. Yeah. um that Haven't you? And it does just, you know, I have a much fuzzier feeling when I've been on the animal reader.com, even though many of the stories there are quite depressing, frankly, but it's, it's an interesting balance, isn't it? And yeah, I suppose it's great that we've got folk fighting different battles. Is that fair to say?
00:37:45
Speaker
Plant-based news, i've just I'm looking at it right now. Top stories. um Emily in Paris gets plant-based storyline. Comedian Jimmy Carr says v being vegan is the right thing to do. Cynthia Erivo, Stranger Things, Ricky Gervais, vegan Toscano soup.
00:38:00
Speaker
So again, not the stuff I'm looking for with news. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think the argument they'll give is that if 14 of the 15 stories are that, then that drives their SEO and their traffic. And then the 15th story is really hard hitting expose that Joey Carbstrong's done. and And more people will see that if they put the ah the filler stuff in there. But yes, for long in the tooth vegans like us who just want our vegan news, um it can sometimes not be the place to go. So let's be fair and let's um turn the gaze on enough of the falafel. What would we like to see ourselves doing more of or less of with regards to news?
Future Directions for the Podcast
00:38:43
Speaker
Like should should we start featuring more of ah Greg's um vegan press releases? you know No, because I don't know what Greg's is. So you're going to have some percentage of readers or listeners who aren't going know what you're talking about. That's true.
00:38:56
Speaker
What could we do more of? What could we do less of? I like what Julie had mentioned about action items. I think if um sometimes I think we do give action items and I'll often like click on that. and And if I'm able to sign the petition, sometimes it's where you live is dependent. But I like action items is what we can do. We had a phrase for that, Julie. You suggested it and I've forgotten it now, which shows that we've not been doing it for a while. What was it called?
00:39:22
Speaker
We called it something of the week. It was like action of the week or something like that. Yeah, well, think, yeah, I ah know that when I first joined the podcast, which was quite a wee while ago now, it wasn't the very beginning, but though it was a bit magazine-y feeling and that made me feel a little bit restless. um So I did suggest that in every show there was at least one feature where there was a call to action and something in the show notes that people could click on that would link to a website where there was a simple action to do to speak up for animals. So continuing with that and not necessarily limiting it to one, i think is always going to be a very positive move, really. But at the same time, if you want to keep people interested, sometimes... You do have to do the plant-based news tactic tech and give them something very easy and palatable and attractive and things as well.
00:40:24
Speaker
Also, I think it's strange if there is a big news story in the world and we don't cover it, then I think people would say, well, why are you not covering that? So there is sometimes a reason to cover that stuff.
00:40:35
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Something that we've done a few times, though, it's definitely not been a regular part of the show structure, is we've covered the stories that we've not covered in the week. So we've we you know we discuss and comment on around about 10 stories, sometimes ah a bit less, sometimes a bit more.
00:40:55
Speaker
But we'll say, well, here's a few other things that have happened this week, but we've not got time to talk about them, but just to pique people's interest. And ah I know that that could be unlimited, potentially, but just in the spirit of saying, well, there's more stuff going on out there. And if we give links to that, then if if the goal is to inform people and to show progress, then we'll We don't have to discuss everything, do we?
00:41:19
Speaker
We can just say, this has happened in this country. This is happening in this county. My excuse for not doing that every week is time, but it would it would be lovely to be more comprehensive, I think.
00:41:30
Speaker
I think it's always in my heart and in my attention intention whenever I'm on the show and hopefully I'll do it now. But really just to keep in my mind how grateful I am that there are other people out there who care about animals as much as I do, give up their time to listen to the show and who do participate in the actions and things like that. I'm you know massively appreciative of people's time and concern and attention. And I hope that comes through when I am speaking. Sometimes it doesn't because animal abuse and exploitation gets me so riled up that I sound in such a bad mood over it. But I i do very much appreciate just knowing that we're speaking with like-minded people. Absolutely. And we do love to hear from you all as well. And um particularly with that that last point, I mean, we'd we'd love to hear your take on any of the things we've spoken about in this episode, as well as any other episodes. But that particularly that last question in terms of like, well, what would you like to see us do more of or less of with regards to the Vegan Week stuff? I mean, we'll listen to your ideas for the vegan talk show as well. But specifically on this topic, it'd be really interesting to hear if a different format or a different focus.
00:42:47
Speaker
would pique your interest we're always keen to hear so you'll need to hear our email address so here it comes to get in touch with us just send us an email at enoughofthefalafel at gmail.com 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.
00:43:13
Speaker
Go on, send us a message today. enough of the falafel at gmail dot com Right. Thank you very much, Julie. Thank you very much, Shane. Super, super stuff. I've really enjoyed that conversation. That was a nice change from our normal vegan week fair. And just a reminder, listeners, that if you've enjoyed the show, you can like it, you can share it, and you can leave us reviews on certain platforms. And all those things help get the show to more people, which we think would be a great idea. So if you think that would good idea too, they're some of the things you can do.
00:43:46
Speaker
And the next Enough of the Falafel episode coming out will be available from Thursday the 9th of April. It's a vegan talk episode. Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thanks to Julie and Anthony for all your contributions and thanks again to everyone for listening.
00:44:05
Speaker
I'm Shane and you've been listening to Vegan Week from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
00:44:14
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 zapsflat.com.
00:44:29
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.
00:44:55
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...
00:45:16
Speaker
around a dozen news items from around the world each week. 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.
00:45:31
Speaker
Thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from.