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272- Plant-based 'meat' significantly cheaper than animal-based meat
117 Plays11 days ago
How long until folk switch from saying "veganism" is so expensive, to "veganism is just the cheap option". Either way, latest research from the Good Food Institute suggests that buying some plant-based meats in the UK could save folk money (compared to if they were buying the animal counterpart). Mark, Shane & Anthony dissect this story amongst several others from the last 7 days of animal rights & vegan news.
Like what we do? Want to help it sound even better? Join our KoFi gang here: https://ko-fi.com/ENOUGHOFTHEFALAFEL
Thanks to Neil, Shane & Alex for their continued Ko-Fi support!
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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.
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This week's stories:
https://www.poultryworld.net/the-industrymarkets/market-trends-analysis-the-industrymarkets-2/intensive-pig-and-poultry-farming-in-the-ammonia-spotlight/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jv8322z88o
https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/animal-cruelty-7032335-May2026/
https://qrnews.kz/en/news/animal-cruelty-fines-to-increase-and-penalties-to-be-strengthened-5MF21
https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/companies-not-following-through-on-welfare-commitments-report-warns/718417.article
https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/plant-based-diet-cuts-climate-impact-by-more-than-half-412359
https://www.pcrm.org/news/health-nutrition/vegan-diet-during-pregnancy-shows-no-difference-health-outcomes-babies
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/world/europe/france-orcas-killer-whales.html?unlocked_article_code=1.gVA._MxP.TTttZdvwtBmY&smid=nytcore-ios-share
veganfoodandliving.com/news/plant-based-prices-cheaper-beef/
https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/happening-now-peta-bulls-encased-in-cement-arrested-while-blocking-pepsico-hq-to-protest-animal-abuse-in-sugar-supply-chain/
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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!
Shane, Mark & Ant
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Transcript
Introduction to Vegan Week Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone, if you are looking for vegan and animal rights news you are in the right place because that's what we do around here. I'm Anthony and joining me for this episode are Mark and Shane but that is enough of the falafel, it's time for Vegan Week.
00:00:14
Speaker
So I think vegans go looking for trouble even when they're not
Controversial Vegan Views and Alternatives
00:00:19
Speaker
looking for trouble. That's not what butter's used for. Brrr! Brody. Take your lab-grown meat elsewhere.
00:00:26
Speaker
We're not doing that in the state of Florida. Should I call the media and say, hi, sorry. True education. younger generation are getting to know how brutal these practices are.
00:00:36
Speaker
That leaves a lot of pizza delivery companies in problems of thinking. What is this? What kind of movie is this? It's comedy gold, maybe. Any form of social injustice.
00:00:49
Speaker
As long as you don't get the wee brunions with the horns you'll be alright. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:00:58
Speaker
I cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision. Hey everyone this is Shane. Welcome to Vegan Week and thank you so much for listening. Hi everyone this is Mark here. This is our new show where we look through vegan and animal rights news from the last week or so. Yes, and remember, you can read the original news reports for all the stories we cover in the show this week.
00:01:20
Speaker
Just check the show notes in your podcast player and follow the links. But that's enough of the falafel. Let's hear what's been going on on this week. Okie Coke, we are starting as we have done for the last couple of weeks or so by just whizzing through some of the stories that we're not going to cover in detail, but we thought you might like to know about any anyway.
UK Farming Issues and Environmental Concerns
00:01:40
Speaker
Poultryworld.net are doing a bit of a farming UK and dishing the dirt on their own shortcomings. Poultryworld.net, intensive poultry and pig farming in the UK in the ammonia spotlight. This is the new interactive ammonia map.
00:01:57
Speaker
produced by Compassion in World Farming, basically showing what an awful thing it is that industrial animal agriculture exists and the damage it's doing to our countryside. So we're thanks Poultry World for telling us about all the awful things you're doing.
00:02:11
Speaker
ah The BBC have reported that people for the ethical treatment of animals are apparently objecting to a pig demeaning pork pie road name in Mountain Mowbray that is apparently going to be called Pork Pie Whey. And Peter is saying that's a terrible idea and coming up with a equally bad idea, Vegan Pie Whey.
00:02:33
Speaker
Oh dear, that's why we're not talking about that one. It's just too cringe. There was a really interesting article, which you can read the full version of, talking about cruelty to animals in Ireland and the fact that laws need to catch up. This has been coined by the NSPCA saying that reforms need to match public concern with real protections for animals in law.
Animal Welfare Reforms and Accountability
00:02:57
Speaker
and real positive news from QR News which is a Kazakh or Kazakhstani news site where we are learning that proposals to strengthen accountability for animal cruelty have been introduced in Kazakhstan. These norms are being incorporated into a draft law currently under consideration so that's really positive. The first story we are going to cover in detail is from The Grocer, who we've featured news from many times in the past. The headline by Charles Elliman, Companies Not Following Through on Welfare Commitments, report warns.
00:03:38
Speaker
So the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare assessed the policies of 149 leading global food businesses, to reveal that only 17, so 18% of them, had delivered on their cage-free egg promises despite 96% ninety six setting cage free targets. Mark, let's come to you first. I mean, those numbers themselves are appalling, aren't they?
00:04:08
Speaker
Oh, they're shocking. they're They're really, really shocking. And they're reflective of of what's actually going on here. So the the tag greenwashing is very appropriate here, I think. i wouldn't have guessed it would have been so high.
00:04:20
Speaker
and I would have thought that coming out publicly and making a song and dance about a new direction you're taking or a new focus you're going to have are like around issues of that of of ah animal abuse. In this day and age of digital media, when when when everyone's carrying a phone inside their pocket and what what have you, You just can't get away with promising this and not delivering. And I do understand that there is a food restaurant chain, i forget the name of them, that are that are getting a lot of criticism and attention from activists over in the United States for not following through in a cage-free egg campaign.
00:04:55
Speaker
Marriott Hotels. Marriott Hotels, that's it. that's it is yeah yeah So it's ah good to see them being held to account. But it is showing 18% are the only... I was shocked also to find that Fonterra are in amongst that 18%. They're in the A-grade of following through on whatever... commit So Fonterra are the...
00:05:16
Speaker
the New Zealand national conglomerate of dairy producers. And and they they they buy up all the farm's milk and then sell it on the ah the sort of global market, principally to China, actually, in the form of dry powder. So they're in the top A grade and they've got an atrocious pollution record. they're They're the most polluting company in this country year after year by a long shot, by a multitude. And if they're A grade material...
00:05:44
Speaker
I shudder to think what the guys who are getting sort of Ds and Es in this, you know, are. So, yeah, shocking really, yeah. Yeah. Shane, is it the case, do you think that these companies are making these promises and then just hoping that people forget about them and they're sweeping it under the rug? Or is it more the fact that what the public wants to hear about animal welfare is simply not practically possible on the scale that it needs to be to to feed billions of people. I think it's both.
00:06:18
Speaker
I don't think it's possible to meet these welfare pledges as they're running into these problems. But I think that they also were under pressure to make changes and they promised to make the changes. But now that the pressure is off or not as strong,
00:06:36
Speaker
then they don't feel like they need to make the changes. so we have to keep the pressure on. I also think it's a good reminder as you're saying that businesses lie. I don't think a lot of them ever thought they were gonna need to and make any changes. They just thought they could kick the can down the road and then they might not ever have to make any changes. And even those that maybe do wanna make changes, now they're realizing that we just don't, they just, isn't the infrastructure, there isn't the incentive for farmers to do this because it's just not gonna be as profitable.
00:07:05
Speaker
It's such a shame there isn't the transparency for this sort of thing that there is for, say, food hygiene. I mean, I don't what it's like in New Zealand or what it's like in the States, but in the UK, certainly Wales, you have to display your food hygiene rating if you're a cafe or an institution that serves food. What do you mean by food hygiene? So someone will inspect your premises and see how well you're preparing food. Is it safe? Is it hygienic? And things like that. And it's done every couple of years. In Wales, you have to display your score. In the UK, you get inspected. Sorry, in England. Hold your emails, Welsh listeners. In England and Scotland and I think Northern Ireland, you know,
00:07:52
Speaker
you get the inspections, but I don't think you have to display your score. But you can look it up and it's like a lot of people do. It tends to get published in the newspaper, like when there's been inspections in in the town, like the local newspaper will publish all the five-star ones or the four-star ones, etc. Whereas this, that they've they've done this some they've done this tiered system. So there's six different tiers and six different impact ratings for companies. And eight moved up by eight organizations moved up a tier, but 11 fell. and
00:08:25
Speaker
ah the 11 to 4 were massively huge ones Arla Campbell Soup Company Danish Crown Darden Restaurants General Mills Wetherspoons like these are big Unilever Woolworths they're all getting worse at this but I don't think anyone knows no and we've covered this before these stories before and a lot of times the reason is that they just there isn't the supply so which goes back to what you were saying a minute ago about is it just not possible is it not practical for them It's ah interestingly, the grocer reports that they're talking about the report itself. So the report found that French and Brazilian businesses demonstrated the most improvement. British companies were the best performing overall.
00:09:10
Speaker
I mean... North America was the worst. Oh, was it? Yes. Yeah. I mean, it it's difficult, isn't it? Because obviously the the stock vegan animal rights answer is, well, it doesn't matter how well you're doing animal farming, what what the the welfare is. Like it's, you know, even the highest standard is is not good enough. But there is something telling about you know, how, how poorly some of this is doing. They're not even ticking the boxes for for high welfare, are they? But can we even trust what those standards are?
00:09:46
Speaker
you know, we have like standards here. I mean, I think like Whole Foods uses the standards and then they'll go and inspect something and they're like, okay, this is just a lie. You know, that the farmers just lie or the inspectors lie We don't even have very many
Impact of Plant-Based Diets
00:10:01
Speaker
inspectors here anymore. I think that program has been cut a lot. So don't think you can even trust it. Well, I'll tell you what, let's cheer ourselves up. Let's move to a story published originally from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, although the link in our show notes will take you to technologynetworks.com, where it's also been reported. The headline, plant-based diet cuts climate impact by more than half. Researchers found plant-based eating rapidly lowered environmental impact and improved health.
00:10:32
Speaker
Well, hooray for that. So the the study showed that adopting a low-fat vegan diet, or low-fat plant-based diet, reduced diet-related greenhouse gas emissions, there's a phrase you wouldn't have heard 20 years ago, ah cuts those emissions by 55% and cumulative energy demand by 44%, dramatic reductions achieved in just 12 weeks. The researchers analysed dietary data from a randomised clinical trial in adults with type 1 diabetes. I mean, just very quickly, do we think that alters things slightly? If their sample was just folk with type 1 diabetes or is is that irrelevant? I think, well, I think it's interesting, first us off, that that that this has been printed in a magazine called ah Technology Networks Applied Sciences. and I mean, it's great that it is, but it it seems a bit sort of left field for them. But yeah, it's so, but it's actually coming from, as you say, at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. led by Neil Bernard, I think. So they are coming from a plant-based sort of point of view, but from a scientific rationale. So yeah, I would have thought it would have been more. I would have thought that converting to a a vegan diet would have a greater impact in the ah on the environment. I think it depends how you sort of judge it. Yes, it is it is interesting that its other sort of focus was on type 1 diabetes. And and they sort of they they they say themselves sort of for further further down in this article that
00:12:05
Speaker
and They were really delighted to be able to tie in and scientifically the benefits if if you're on a type 1, if you have a diabetes type 1 and the impact on the on the environment around you and and the two and and both things were were were seeing were seeing improvements and But it is really odd that they would that that that they would tie these together. But but they seem they they they they're insisting that that the two focuses didn't sort of crowd in in each other or sort mask results or anything. I'm not sure if I'm going to spin myself very well here. But yeah, it is sort of a weird dual sort of idea here, you know. But but um I mean, it does suggest at least, if not prove, that the diet that is best for your physical health is also best for...
00:12:49
Speaker
The environment is also best for animals, is also best for... And there's a big, long list of things. And, yeah, so it's it's more nails in the coffin for the carnivore sort of myth, you know. But, yeah, it is a slightly strange and small sample as well. Yeah, yeah, in in the 50s, I think it was, wasn't it? 58 adults. Shane, I'm wondering whether... Which way round you take this? So I note that when they put the findings in perspective, they say the emissions reduction...
00:13:18
Speaker
of having this plant-based diet um is equivalent to eliminating daily car travel emissions. I look at that and go, well, thank goodness for that. Cause I, I'm sorry to say I do drive quite a lot. Are you somebody that sort of guilt-free takes long showers because your diet is, you know, saving so much water or, or or do you try and win on both fronts and do both things properly?
00:13:42
Speaker
I think I just try to win on everything. and yeah Yeah. I drive an electric car. When my daughter went to school close by, we would walk there and back. There's a lot of driving where I live though, because it's just very spread out. I try to, I think everything you can do is for the benefit. I wish more people would do more things.
00:13:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I can see a little halo appearing just above that. Oh, right. But yeah, nice um nice to have this study so so clearly showing those ah those differences there. And indeed, it's not the only story that we're reporting from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. I think their press officer has been working very hard this week putting all this PR out.
00:14:23
Speaker
There is another one that came out on the 5th of May this time we've done the link to their original release on their website the headline vegan diet during pregnancy shows no difference in health outcomes for babies so this study was published in the international journal of gynecology and obstetrics the study found no difference in health outcomes for women on a plant-based or omnivorous diet. So I guess that means when comparing the two. Over 10,000 women in Ireland were followed from their first visit appointment through to delivery of their baby. Vegan mothers had a lower BMI themselves, I interpret that as,
00:15:09
Speaker
but their babies were no different from the omnivores in birth weight, likelihood of being born premature, nor for rates of gestational diabetes or hypertension.
00:15:23
Speaker
I feel like... We've covered a story in the last few months where it was saying that there was no difference in health outcomes for plant-based children, but maybe on average they were maybe like two centimetres shorter or something like that. Is is that ringing any bells? Yeah. bell yeah so So it makes no difference when they're a baby, but at some point maybe in the first couple of years of life, they might just grow a little bit.
00:15:49
Speaker
So all the or they might maybe vegans just happen to be a bit shorter. But I mean, this is this is good news, right? Yes, it's really good news. and It's sort of surprising it's coming out of Ireland. and and it And it doesn't mention how many vegans were in were amongst that 10,000 strong study. So, you know, so there's only so much you can. I've got the answer here, ah Mark, from from, if you click on the link in this story. So, of the cohort, 10,270 omnivores.
00:16:23
Speaker
68 vegans 68 vegans right yeah again it's small poo I must say but it it is another uh bow in the string I suppose um I know over here it took us about four years to convince slowly the uh government um pregnancy advising body you know for for a pre and post pregnancy women and kids and all that in terms of ah healthcare care and diet and all that. And they were so reluctant to, well, that initially they refused to even consider adding on any advice for a plant-based or vegan pregnant women or new mums and how to take care of their health and all this sort of stuff because they were so reluctant to sign their name off on anything that if it went wrong further down the line, could could they get sued by mum and her newborn who, who
00:17:17
Speaker
both died or something tragic like this because they were following a plant-based diet and they got this advice via the Plunkett agency, which of which is the name of the sort of um government agency here. So it took about four years of ah to-ing and fro-ing, getting more and more evidence from higher and higher qualified agencies and bodies and individuals. I mean, it literally took four years until they finally said, we have nowhere else to hide here on a scientific basis. It's safe enough for us to recommend if someone comes in and says i'm vegan i'm pregnant what's the best sort of diet i should follow and now they have a leaf that that that they will refer people to online they will explain the government recommendations around all this but it's a very slow process like that that so so stuff like this is vital to be able to point agencies like that to in order to get to convince them to sort of sort of carry that message you know
00:18:10
Speaker
and So it's great. Yeah, it's it's interesting. And you're right, Antobaut, there was a previous study. And I thought after the age of two that all these differences, that the differences in height or weight or something had balanced out. So it was only up until the age of two that these differences were measurable. And then after that, they sort of faded into the sort of background. So, but yes, it is good. Yeah, that's good news. I wonder whether this is something that might give somebody more anxiety or doubt if they were new to veganism or, you know, didn't hold a a really strong partisan conviction of, you know, their their lifestyle at the point where you are sharing nutrients, you know, with with a very, as as young as it gets really. um other person I would understand somebody who calls them themselves vegan having doubts yeah when when when pregnant yeah I think doctors too ah and I'm sure not every doctor but a lot of them are kind of not knowledgeable about all the latest research or they don't do as much nutrition as we think they will And so they kind of scare you. I know that when I i would when i was pregnant, I was not vegan, but I was vegetarian. And every time I would tell a doctor that, oh they'd be like, oh, okay, well, you need to make sure that you eat lots of eggs. And they would just be so concerned. And I don't, I never eat eggs. I don't like eggs, even when I was a vegetarian. So I was just like, okay, you know, they it was a lot of really pressure and concern about that, where I don't feel like
00:19:49
Speaker
that was as much a concern for someone maybe who was not vegan. So I'm glad this study is out. I hope more doctors read it. Yeah, well, that's it. That's it, isn't it? And, and you know, all all of our all of our conditioning is what leads to our nervous system feeling certain ways about certain things. And, oh, is this a bit edgy what I'm doing? It all comes from there. cultural context that we're in. So more things like this, ah the better. I have to say, looking at the raw data, I think it was a little harsh in the summary of the study to say that the that the BMI of the mothers, the vegan mothers, was was slightly less, in that actually it's only very slightly less, whereas they don't mention in that summary some of the things that are
00:20:35
Speaker
quite stark. So in terms of, well, I suppose they they do mention the fact that there's more raised blood pressure in the omnivorous parents, but the the the difference is 3.5% of the omnivorous mothers had needed treatment for raised blood pressure during pregnancy, but zero of the 68 vegan women, again, small sample, so it's arguably more likely to be a zero, But like, that's not just a bit different like that to me, that's like quite significantly different. um And a few other things too. There was a bit right at the bottom where there's a category, father of baby is a blood relative.
00:21:20
Speaker
Like it's what so 1.147 of the unrestricted diets families, the father of the baby was a blood red relative. Whereas four of the vegans, the father of the baby was a blood relative. I mean, I don't know how far back you go ascertain that. I assume it's not brother or uncle.
00:21:43
Speaker
Anyway, that might be That might be our cue to move on ah from this study. But yeah, that was an interesting one.
00:21:54
Speaker
Right. So some stories to get our teeth stuck into. But as per usual, Shane and Mark have chosen a story each that has particularly piqued their interest.
00:22:06
Speaker
Shane is going to tell us about French orcas, the last couple of them. And Mark is going to be talking about cheap mints. But before we hear the picks for the week, remember that transcripts are available for every show. Head over to zencaster.com forward slash vegan
AI-Generated Transcripts for Accessibility
00:22:23
Speaker
week. And from there, any show you click on will have a written transcript beneath it. Remember that these transcripts are AI generated, so they may not be 100% accurate, but nonetheless, they make our shows more accessible. So we're delighted. that they're available to anyone who's interested in consuming your content in this way.
00:22:41
Speaker
Indeed. Okay, Shane, we have mentioned animals that are stuck in shut down amusement parks, zoos and things like that before, particularly cute case of this reported by the New York Times,
Captive Orcas Debate
00:22:59
Speaker
isn't it? These two captive orcas in France's deserted marine park. Yeah. Yeah. So there's two captive orcas. And I think I also read that there are about a dozen dolphins, which this park closed in January of 2025. And now they have about 40 people that go daily to the park to care for the animals that are stranded there.
00:23:22
Speaker
The tanks are beginning to deteriorate, which is obviously a health issue for the for the animals there. There were Two suggestions that have been given for what to do about this situation. One is to send the orcas to a marine park in Spain.
00:23:41
Speaker
And the other is to send them to an open water. It's not completely open, I mean, but it's a it's in the ocean in Canada. It's a very sad story because what they talk about in the article is that the Canadian site isn't really ready to accept the whales. It was supposed to be ready, but it's not. And then there's also some concern that since the whales are currently in a Mediterranean climate, that it might be a problem for them to be in the colder waters of ah Canada. And then as far as sending them to the park in Spain, Spain has blocked the transfer there. And it doesn't say a whole lot more than that.
00:24:21
Speaker
Captain Paul Watson, who you may know, he was one of the founders of Greenpeace. He ran the Sea Shepherd organization. he was on Whale Wars. He says that his belief is that the French government is just waiting for the orcas to die.
00:24:36
Speaker
He's actually been on television with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the president promised to find solutions for this. And Paul Watson has said that he hasn't heard anything since, that they've basically done nothing.
00:24:51
Speaker
So it's really, it's just a very sad story. and I would assume if you live in France, maybe reach out to your, I don't know what you have, representatives, um to the president, tell them they need to do something, go to that place, protest, need to get more attention on that. Well, I mean, what strikes me here is that this is intrinsically linked to the nature of zoos or aquariums or or what have you. You can't have an institution like that without the risk that as a business, it could close down one day. And then what are you going to do with the animals? Even if you don't object to them being kept there in the first place, which obviously from an animal rights point of view, one would. The fact is that that businesses close and then what do you do with the quote assets? And and that's a that's an intrinsic argument against them existing in the first place, isn't it? Well, yeah, they shouldn't be there in the first place. And now that they are there, the government needs to do something. they They owe them at least that much. They talked about this.
00:25:55
Speaker
I'm trying to find it, that there was a senator that worked on a law in France. The government passed a law that restricted marine shows. But now that you know this orate this marine park has closed...
00:26:07
Speaker
more because of COVID than because of this law, there's nothing to do with the animals. And they're saying that the government had a lack of foresight. They just said empty the tanks, but there was nowhere for those animals to go. So they're making this law without thinking ahead of, okay, but what about all the animals that are stranded in these parks? They didn't provide for them. Yeah, disgusting. It's disgusting, really. And I mean, last week we had a ah story of an animal park that didn't even open because they looked after the animals so poorly and made such poor decisions in terms of, oh, let's take these animals from a really hot tropical part of the world and and and take them somewhere without the same climate and and not adjusting to them. know we could be accused of always looking at these things through the same lens, but it's infuriating that the the rest of the world world doesn't because these animals are suffering. Mark, am I right in saying that
00:27:00
Speaker
either near you now or where you used to live, there was a state-funded zoo. or Or am I making that up? There is a free state-funded zoo here. um It's relatively small, but that's more reflective of the the sort of size of the area rather than... Yeah, um yeah it's a free... There's an aviary and a zoo. i think they have I think they have monkeys there, you know, and and sort of...
00:27:24
Speaker
maybe a tiger. You know, it is ah a proper exotic zoo. There's actually two here. ah There's a private one that you can pay to go into that is run by just this sort of eccentric, very rich guy. And then there's this the state one. Yeah. and It's the only place I've ever lived in where you you have access to a free zoo. You just wander in, you know, and there's nets, you know, to keep the animals at bay, what have you. But, you know, there's no...
00:27:46
Speaker
You don't pay. Yeah. you just sort of wondering. it's like, it's, it's a section of a big, huge park. Um, yeah, it's bizarre. There's such a lot of greenwashing from my limited experience of, of zoos and, and, and similar such animals. ah have mentioned in the past, like I did volunteer at Whipsnade Zoo in England about Oh God, like nearly 20 years ago now. And it's the same organization as it's ZSL, the Zoological Society of London. So it's the same organization that also runs London Zoo. And they did some training for us, a couple of days training before starting as as volunteers. And they were talking about you know what zoos used to be like, and they they referred to it as stamp collecting. you know People would collect animals and put them on display and exhibit them, and people would marvel at them. But now, of course, it's very different. It's all about conservation, blah, blah, blah. But when you look at it, I mean, it it's not. All that ah or they've done is they've got better at doing PR, haven't they?
00:28:50
Speaker
You know that that when you look at any collection of animals at any zoo, you cannot say, that every animal there is there for conservation reasons or repopulation.
00:29:02
Speaker
Like i would I would be very interested if anyone could put forward that oh argument for any zoo that is out there. There's always, that they might do it a little bit. Like Whipsnade was like that. They'd have some animals, they'd say, oh, here's this type of oryx. And it was getting really low in numbers in the 1960s in you know the Arabian Peninsula. So some were taken...
00:29:24
Speaker
in captivity, bred up, and now they're being released into the world. Hooray. Okay, that's great. But why have you got loads of wallabies then roaming about the place? Because they're not endangered.
00:29:37
Speaker
And you know why is why is there that animal there? And why have you got that hornbill in a tiny cage that's unable to fly? you know i mean? It's it's just greenwashing. But I also don't think how many animals from a zoo that are bred there are really released into the wild. Most of the time they're sold to other zoos or sometimes we read articles about how they're euthanizing them because they don't have space for them or they can't feed them.
00:29:59
Speaker
So I just I don't think that that's a very common practice. They just they breed them so that they have. more of them in zoos or or they they release them into the wild and then they have to start shooting them because they're uh you know we're a passion it's damn yeah yeah yeah eating the local goats or there is there is an island um off cork city called fodder island and it's populated by chimpanzees now or some some species of monkeys and and Yeah, it's a photo wildlife park. it's that that that Again, it's the it's a step up from, we're we're not a zoo, we're a wildlife park. It's sort of trying to sell us itself as almost like a safari where you go into their habitat from a distance and discreetly watch them do their thing. But in this case, they they they they have the run of this small island and you sort of watch them from the other side opposite of the water.
00:30:51
Speaker
Goodness me, goodness me. Well, thank you for that one, Shane. And hopefully the yeah predicament that marine lands remaining animals are in now can serve as an example to to other people when it comes to deciding whether or not animals in captivity is a good thing or not.
00:31:09
Speaker
Let's cheer ourselves up again then with a positive sounding story. We've taken it from veganfoodandliving.com. It's Mark's pick of the week. Plant-based food now 33% cheaper than meat as soaring prices end its luxury status.
Economics of Plant-Based Foods
00:31:27
Speaker
This seems to be particularly to do with mints. Is it lots of different types? It's sort of broad-based, yeah. So it's research from the Good Food Institute, which is a Europe-wide institution that looks at stuff like this. So they're coming from fairly neutral angle as far as the animals are concerned. And when they compare the price of standard plant-based meat in Tesco's,
00:31:53
Speaker
specifically but i think they're picking tesco's as being a sort of a barometer of the sort of the uk food scene generally and when you compare their their plant means plant-based meats mince and various other products they're at least uh what is it they're up to 33 between 29 and 33 cheaper than the meat or the meat equivalents in this in the same shop so which is a huge um difference, sort of price-wise, for anyone, you know. So this is one of those tipping points that we've been talking about for a long time, really. So it's not a surprise, but it's good to see it happening and and and proof of it here coming from a sort of a disinterested sort of institute like like the Good Food Institute. So they're they're saying these... So they're at pains to point out it's not because a plant-based meat alternatives to dead animals
00:32:47
Speaker
is getting any cheaper, it's not. And they refer to a vegan tax on that is sort of not subtly, but discreetly put on to the price of vegan alternatives to meat and because they know that vegans will pay that a little bit more because they're a lot more committed to it to what they're doing. so they they refer to this as a vegan tax so the the price of of vegan alternatives hasn't come down what has happened is the price of uh producing meat from animals has sharply risen for various reasons uh including these hikes they say are attributed to a perfect storm
00:33:22
Speaker
of environmental and geopolitical factors including last year's droughts which stifled grass growth and forced farmers to rely on expensive cereal-based food and also the increase in heating the interiors of the massive sheds that most chickens are kept in price of that has increased as well so The price of meat is going up quite sharply, very significantly for most shoppers, I would say, at at those sort of percentages. they They do point out that beef beef burgers remain 9% cheaper than the plant-based patties.
00:33:52
Speaker
However, with chicken prices expected to rise to climb further due to the rising costs, of fertilizer and energy for heating sheds, the overall outlook for meat-free affordability remains strong. So imagine if the the price of the ah vegan products was to come down as it scaled up, and if the ah government were to redirect subsidies away from the meat and dairy industry,
00:34:16
Speaker
towards the vegan alternatives. If those things happened at the same time as this is happening, they'd be priced out of the market, I would imagine, proof pretty soon, you know, it would be a real luxury. Well, and and that struck me when we were talking ah about different organisations failing to meet its welfare commitments. And Shane, you said, and I agreed with you, that these welfare standards aren't really achievable on the scale that...
00:34:45
Speaker
that needs to be done. i mean, it it could be achieved if price were no object, couldn't it? that that's That's the thing, isn't it? That they would be priced out of the market, as you say, Mark. Yeah, that's why they don't want to do it because they don't want to raise the prices and already meat is so subsidized, you know, and people complain when it goes up in price. It's it's interesting to have a story like this. Obviously, vegan food and living are the type of news outlet that would have their finger on the pulse for this kind of thing and report it very quickly because it it it validates their message that plant-based diets, vegan living is is a viable thing. I note that many of the right-wing people
00:35:25
Speaker
news outlets like the Daily Mail and such like that were very keen to point out at any point in the last 24 months, any kind of vegan product that is selling less, that has got lower priced shares, any ranges that have been discontinued. I note that I couldn't find this being reported in any of those yet. yeah I mean, that's interesting, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, it has says actually in the article a bit further down that, and I quote, Tesco has already noted a 25% increase in demand for plant-based mince over the last year, suggesting that for many Brits, the meat-free label
00:36:04
Speaker
is increasingly becoming synonymous with budget friendly. So, you know, there's sort of flies in the face of of all that Daily Mail stuff. Anytime that a vegan restaurant was closing down or switching back to something, it was all over the front pages with opinion pieces. And this is the harbinger of doing for them and all this. And as you say, I had a complete silence when it comes to anything a bit more with a bit more long lasting oomph to it, you know, like like the consumer sales at supermarkets rather than restaurants, you know.
00:36:30
Speaker
I've got a theory here, be interested on Shane and Mark's take on this as well as listeners, but you might have the experience too. So plant-based mints is now 29% cheaper than animal-based equivalents. Meatballs, vegan meatballs, 41% less expensive.
00:36:50
Speaker
Both of those are relatively processed. aren't they? I'm thinking compared to you can go into a supermarket and buy a plant-based chicken thigh or a plant-based steak or things like that. like we We have those. I wonder whether to make homogenous gloop products, like it like a vegan hot dog,
00:37:15
Speaker
to make that to an acceptable standard where people are going, oh yeah, that's pretty much like the meat version. Is that easier? And therefore it's easier to make the price low. Whereas like, I don't know whether you have this in New Zealand and and the US, but like we've got the juicy marbles vegan steak and it's like eight pounds. Well, it's like four pounds per fillet, if you like. So, I mean, i don't know how much a steak is, but i imagine it's not four pounds. ah tiny little thing but that's a far more textured thing and they're being really careful about it is it the homogenous gloop that's easier and cheaper to make i wonder i would imagine i mean the the the cheaper vegan products are markedly different i think in a lot of ways for the wrong reasons they that they're more expensive counterparts in the sort of vegan world so yeah i imagine it's sort of cheaper ingredients like the cheap vegan cheese
00:38:10
Speaker
is cornstarch based, I think. And then the more expensive gourmet cheese is cashew nut based. And cashew nuts are very expensive, you know, per per sort of kilo. So yeah, there's, there's a difference in quality. I'm not sure when they say, when they compare the equivalents, whether they're Tesco's own brand versions or they're, they're higher up the sorts of tiers of quality for produce. I'm not sure, but and I mean, they did they are huge differences. The 41% was it for the frozen meatballs, which is, you know,
00:38:40
Speaker
huge discrepancy as far as any any buyer is concerned. you know So yeah, it's hard to see. ah it's It'll be interesting and to see people's commitment to their meat diet when they have these sort of prices waiting in front of them.
00:38:53
Speaker
You know what's really cheap? Chickpeas, black beans, tofu. They're practically free. Those aren't processed. I mean, you know, so. Indeed. Indeed. You can have both. You can have both. yeah Why not? yeah yeah um I feel like the last time we spoke about mints, Shane, it was it was it a word that you don't,
00:39:14
Speaker
use or you don't have in the States? No, and I remember Dominic explained it and I'm thinking like a little little pieces of cut up meat is what it is.
00:39:24
Speaker
Pulverized meat, yeah. Right, so I think we have like, way they we might call it like crumbles. Okay. So like if you were to have like ground up hamburger, like meat, that would be... Yeah, think of like a lasagna or a bolognese or something like that. Right, but it's just...
00:39:43
Speaker
it's not that popular here and same with meatballs i mean i think i i think like beyond makes some meatballs and there might be like and then there's like gardeen maybe has some crumbles but it's it's not a lot of selection not a lot of um people buying that here and the good news is the other kind of mints like fox's glacier mints tend to be vegan so i don't know what you just said Yeah. Fox's Glacier Mints. Yeah. They're like transparent, like you like the herb mint sweets.
00:40:18
Speaker
Yeah. Although weirdly, this is a massive tangent now, but the the mints that my granddad used to have, the Trebor Triple X mints. Do you know the ones I mean, Mark? Yeah. Really, really strong. Yeah. Yeah. They've got gelatin in them.
00:40:31
Speaker
what's Really? yeah like okay Yeah, they're not even chewy. I don't understand. Yeah, theyre really theyre they're really powdery. They're almost like a seltzer thing, you know. um ah As we're talking about supermarkets, i it's ah there's a terrible thing, move happening here where Woolworths, who sort of control about half of the supermarket market here in in an in in New Zealand, they're Australian-based, but they own about half the sort of supermarkets here. They're slowly withdrawing a whole load of their vegan food meat alternative products in the frozen and chill section and they're narrowing it down. like So every month or so there's like one less product available. There's still the basics. There's your sausages, your burgers, your mints.
00:41:14
Speaker
But yeah, like rash v vegan rashers or a variety of sausages brands. It's all one. like they really they they're They're actively reducing the amount of products that they sell on on that particular line, you know, of the sort of vegan alternative line. And we have a petition going for people to sign to convince them to to switch back because they used to be very good.
00:41:36
Speaker
So, yeah, I just thought I'd get that in. Just to clarify, the tangent was about mints, like M-I-N-T-S, right? Yeah. As opposed to mints, M-I-N-C-E. Yep. Okay. In anybody else had trouble following that. I'll be intrigued to see how Zencaster's AI-generated transcripts are managed. It's going to be all over the place, yeah.
00:41:59
Speaker
Yeah. Or maybe not. Maybe from context it will... What a test of artificial intelligence. Well, thank you for that one, Mark. Obviously, it's fantastic to have folk like Shane and Mark on the show, giving their opinions on things, but listeners, you can get in touch with yours too. We've just had a listener mailbag show, which was, I think, one of my favorite listener mailbag shows that we had come out last week. We read all your emails, whether you want them read out or not, we we read them and we respond to them and we use the content ah accordingly, depending on what you've what you've said. So enoughofthefalafel at gmail.com is how to find us. You can probably get an even quicker response by contacting us on social media because Shane responds to those and is far more on the button than me.
00:42:50
Speaker
I check the emails about once every month. um But we are very active on Facebook and Instagram. And an extra bonus for particularly for Facebook is and we tend to get all the stories that we've covered in the show on our Facebook feed. So you can click through there. You can comment on the stories and such like. Is there anything else you want to say about social things, Shane, seeing as we've got you here? Just follow us, like us, comment. If you have anything to say, DM and I will respond to you.
00:43:23
Speaker
Yeah. Love to from you guys. Work the algorithm. Work the algorithm, everyone. Come on. Like the comments. You know how it works. No, we're very appreciative of, uh, all the social love out there. So one last story for us to cover. I think i was i will stand by my uncharitable opinion on the Peter story that we've already touched on this week. We're not going to go any more into Melton Mowbray pork pies.
00:43:51
Speaker
However, This next story I can get behind a lot more. It's certainly an interesting technique for activism. So we've taken this from Peter's own website.
PETA vs. PepsiCo Animal Abuse Protest
00:44:04
Speaker
The headline, happening now, Peter Bulls encased in cement, arrested whilst blocking PepsiCo headquarters to protest animal abuse in sugar supply chain.
00:44:20
Speaker
So we have mentioned on the show in the past, a campaign that has been going on for several months by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, urging PepsiCo, and I feel like they've been doing the same for Coca-Cola, targeting them because, as well as just generally being insidious companies, the way that they have been getting sugar from partners and suppliers in India has been involving bulls being beaten, whipped, and forced to haul illegally overloaded sugarcane carts
00:44:56
Speaker
in extreme heat, causing many to suffer injuries, collapse from exhaustion, and some to die. Instead of this, they could source it from sugar mills that only use mechanised animal-free methods. So, to pardon the pun, but that's the beef that they have got with PepsiCo. And as of May the 6th, their press release says, right now, five PETA supporters dressed as bulls I'm looking at the picture and I would contest that fact. But anyway, Five Peter supporters have been arrested whilst cemented at the entrance to PepsiCo headquarters to to protest these things that are going on. Well, ask Mark and Shane whether they think they're cemented and what they think of ah that as a tactic in a moment. But ah Peter have said they will also present a resolution during the company's virtual annual shareholder meeting today. I assume that means PepsiCo's annual shareholder meeting.
00:45:59
Speaker
rather than Peter having shareholders. Yes, Pepsi's. Yeah. So yeah, they're really heading up. Come on then, Shane, let's let's start with you. i don't want to just take cheap shots. It doesn't look like they're dressed as bulls. Two of the three, that sorry, two of the four that I can see in a picture, look, they're encased in cement. I mean, could that be quite painful? Well, don't know. Maybe they're wearing some types of protective shoes. This isn't this isn't new. they you know PETA has done things where they'll glue their hands to things, they to the counter, like at Starbucks, or they will pour cement and then stand in it. But I mean, my I'm not into construction, but my understanding is that it takes a while for cement to dry. so I'm sure if they were arrested, they just pulled them out of the cement and then they could probably pull it off
00:46:47
Speaker
whatever they had on their legs to protect it So that's because I was wondering if they're cemented there, how did they arrest them and take them off? and but what i That's the idea, isn't it? Yeah, I'm looking at at the at their Facebook page now of the actual protest. And yeah, so two of them, because I can see up close now, zoomed in, two of them have, and they aren't dressed as well, is that they have sort of a toy horns on the sides of the heads, but they're wearing clothes. so But they're stood in bricks of concrete and you can get really fast drying, fast crepe, and it dries in about 10 minutes. And they're they're they're sort of, they've wrapped...
00:47:23
Speaker
they' They've stood in a plastic bag, poured cement over their feet, let it set to sort of bricks. And there's another photograph here where I'm looking at. They're being chipped out of the concrete bricks by firemen as policemen watch on. So yeah, it was dried cement that they had to be broken out of as they stood frozen, unable to move in the middle of a road, which i must say, that's pretty pretty brave stuff. So, yeah, so it it is what they say there is, according to these photographs. I never considered the sugar supply chain as being an area of animal abuse Australia.
00:48:00
Speaker
the production of Pepsi or anything else. So they are bringing this to people's attention. PETA can veer on either side of good taste and so on from time to time in there in their stunts. They're all about the media stunts. If this stuff is getting public publicity in the in press and we're talking about it at least then it's a good thing and hats off to the activists that that is a tactic i've never seen before obviously lock-ons and concrete sort of things and all that are or have i been around for years but actually standing encased incapable of moving on a road in concrete uh takes you know takes guts so yeah the thing that pita does that i like is they become shareholders of these companies so they're at the
00:48:47
Speaker
board meeting because they're a shareholder. They did the same thing with SeaWorld. They were shareholders so that they were able to get on those meetings that the board had. And then they can but make proposals. They can give input.
00:49:04
Speaker
They can directly talk to the people who are in charge. And so, i mean, whatever the, whether this cement was effective or not, I do think that that's interesting to become a shareholder to have power that way.
00:49:18
Speaker
Well, I mean, on their website, that the most recent news release was published yesterday, as we record, on the 8th of May, saying that Peter UK supporters stopped the Pope-mobile in its tracks by, you know, standing in front of it, um protesting abusive bulls again, but this time bullfighting. The Catholic Church still has ties to bullfighting. So, I mean, they're they're really getting in there and amongst it, aren't they? You know, literally. it's and and And these things do make the headlines. And and i've got I've got to say, like, that I can really get behind. that The whole stupid, oh, you should change the name of this person. street or product or person or competition to something lame. I just think that undermines the whole concept of of people who support animal rights and their sanity. But stuff like this, where you're saying, no, no, no, this has to stop and I'm going to get in and amongst it. like credit to them yeah it's more akin to uh animal rising than it is to sort of cringy um pops like they say yeah let's let's change the name of this town you know from birmingham to something else with you know really knows nothing but to but you know it's not work you know Yeah, no, well, credit to them. And I mean, so it can be surprising sometimes, like how a small number of people can make a a huge impact on things and and change things. So we we remain to see whether PepsiCo make statement, make a response on this. We'll do our best to stay abreast of that and report anything that we find out.
00:51:00
Speaker
Lovely stuff. Well, thank you very much, Mark and Shane, for your contributions for things. Listeners, if you've enjoyed the show, there's a whole host of things that you can do to help us out, to spread the word. Shane, got any ideas? Well, if you enjoy the show, you can take a moment to subscribe. You can rate it. You can review it on your podcast player. And if you know anyone who might enjoy the show, you can share it.
00:51:24
Speaker
Indeed, indeed. And we, in the last few days, I have arranged for our first purchase chase from our Ko-Fi platform. We are just about to reach our first goal, which is a new microphone for one of our contributors. And so that is that is being arranged. So that is, yeah, needs to be tested out first. But we'll Plans are afoot. Maybe you'll hear the difference as soon as it as soon as it happens. Great. Thank you, everyone, for listening. The next Enough of the Falafel episode coming out will be Vegan Talk, available from the 14th of May, starring Dominic, Kate and Paul, and they will be reviewing the short film, The Chicken Whisperer.
00:52:08
Speaker
Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thanks to Anthony and Mark for your contributions. Thanks again to everyone for listening. I'm Shane, and you've been listening to Vegan Week from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
00:52:25
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.
00:52:40
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.
00:53:06
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...
00:53:27
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.
00:53:42
Speaker
Thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from.