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156- Film Review: Food for Thought (2025)
83 Plays8 days ago
Available to watch for free on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adue0xef8pY), this latest documentary from Dan Richardson & Giles Alderson looks at the huge range of people following a vegan lifestyle & the reasons one might do so. In this episode, Julie, Paul, Dominic & Ant discuss their thoughts on the film
See the IMDB summary here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9614434/
As ever, we love hearing your views on the topics under discussion (or anything else!) so do drop us your thoughts via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com
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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 Talk podcast, we aim to develop listeners' (& our own) thoughts around key issues affecting veganism & the animal rights movement; giving our opinions, whilst staying balanced; remaining true to our vegan ethics, whilst constantly seeking to grow & develop.
Each week we home in on one topic in particular and pick it apart in more detail. If you have a suggestion for a future show, do get in touch via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com.
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Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Paul, Dominic, Julie & Anthony
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Transcript
Introduction and Documentary Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
hello Hello everybody, it's time for us to review another vegan documentary. That will be some food for thought, especially as that is the name of the documentary itself. Chortle Chortle, aren't I funny? Anyway, I'm Anthony. For this episode, I'm joined by Dominic, I'm joined by Paul, and I'm joined by Julie.
Stereotypes and Documentary Details
00:00:19
Speaker
So I think vegans go looking for trouble, even when they're not looking for trouble. That's not what butter's used for. Brrr! Take your lab grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida. What your protein and what about your iron levels? Should I call the media and say, hi, sorry. They're arguing like, oh, poor woe is me.
00:00:38
Speaker
Hang on a minute. You always pick.
00:00:46
Speaker
social injustice has connection another. That's just what people think vegans eat anyway. As long as you didn'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. and Hello listeners, I'm Paul and welcome everyone to this episode of Vegan Talk. Thank you for joining us.
00:01:12
Speaker
Yeah, hello, hello, hello. My name is Dominic. I'm really thrilled to be here. This is Vegan Talk, ah one of our two different kinds of podcasts. We do our vegan week where we chat about the news. But in Vegan Talk, we ah have one particular topic that we go on and today, of course, we have our...
00:01:31
Speaker
review um All the previous episodes, of course, are available in folks' podcast feeds. Hello, everybody. Julie here.
Film's Unique Approach to Veganism
00:01:41
Speaker
Today, we are going to talk about the documentary Food for Thought that has very recently become available on YouTube. Yeah, this film has been quite a little while in the making. I'm pretty sure the wheels were turning before the COVID pandemic and then it's been released last year.
00:02:00
Speaker
I believe, but it has become freely available so tight so-and-sos like myself can can access it without having to pay anything. But yeah, it's um it's been widely praised and lots of hype been brought about it. You can follow the link in the show notes to watch it for yourself before you hear our discussion, because we're going to start discussing it straight away, telling you what happens. And if you'd like to have seen the media first, then now is your opportunity to pause and do so. So I'll give us a very, very quick rundown of what happens and then we'll hear what Dominic and Paul and Julie had to say about it. So the main protagonists in the film are Dan Richardson, who you might know um as an actor. He's done quite a few different films as well as producing films himself.
00:02:48
Speaker
um And Giles Anderson, who is generally someone who stays behind the camera, though we do see him in front of the camera in this one he is a filmmaker and producer himself and the film is about an hour and a half long and basically we meet a lot of different vegans we learnt we learn a lot of different reasons why you might be vegan ah There is not any explicit animals being killed footage, although at one point you do watch, Dan watched that himself. So you don't see it for yourself, but you see his reaction to
Vegan Challenges and Global Perspectives
00:03:21
Speaker
it. And he describes some of it. There is also a running thing throughout the film.
00:03:27
Speaker
There are... Oh, gosh. Can anyone remember how many people were doing the Vegan for a Month challenge? Was it 30? Have I made that up? Yeah, quite a lot of them. Yeah, yeah. yeah Quite go and a few people.
00:03:38
Speaker
who we see a little vlogs of. We see little videos of their progress. They are people who are not yet vegan, but they have agreed to be vegan or eat plant-based at least for the month.
00:03:52
Speaker
So we're introduced to some of them quite early on. And generally speaking, we'll get sort of weekly updates from them. So we hear from them at the start. And then a bit later in the film, we hear how they're getting on a week in and then two weeks um And then we see them all at the end as well.
00:04:08
Speaker
And the filmmakers, as well as introducing themselves early on, they go around the world meeting lots of different vegans. So they meet um vegan bodybuilders, recipe makers, veganic farmers.
00:04:20
Speaker
They meet a senior person in Compassion in World Farming. ah There's a vegan car designer, sanctuary owner, runners, TV presenter. They meet the folks at Beyond Meat.
00:04:32
Speaker
There is a philanthropist who's giving all manners of money towards promoting plant-based eating, as well as somebody who has started following a plant-based lifestyle in an attempt to help their recovery from disease.
00:04:47
Speaker
cancer. As I say, there's a bit where Dan watches some explicit animal ag footage himself um and towards the end there are a couple of rescued animals that Dan and Giles transport.
00:05:01
Speaker
They frame it as, oh we're rescuing them, i well we'll get into the discussion that there's there's not a direct action rescue from them but they are involved in the transport and the rehoming of those animals.
00:05:14
Speaker
um At the time of recording, it's been on YouTube for eight days and it has already had 19,000 views. Right. Let's hear what everybody thought. Who wants to go first?
Personal Reflections on the Film
00:05:25
Speaker
Come on then.
00:05:25
Speaker
I will start by saying that I did not want to watch this film. Why is that? At all. I really didn't. I just thought, I don't think I can stand another documentary that muddles up plant-basedness and veganism, where a lot of bodybuilders are going on about, oh, everyone thought I wouldn't be muscly and look how muscly I am.
00:05:54
Speaker
And I think... Dare I say it, because I might be at odds with an awful lot of vegans here, but that documentary or film or whatever it called itself, I Could Never Go Vegan.
00:06:05
Speaker
I went to the the film premiere of that in Edinburgh and the question and answer thing afterwards, and I hated that film. I absolutely hated it and I hated on the people who made it I don't feel proud of this but ah the question answer thing I hated on them even more and they knew it but I will say that when I was in the foyer of the cinema after more people than have ever come up to me in my life over anything came up and said thank you for what you said
00:06:38
Speaker
for the animals and for veganism, you know. So anyway, yeah, that's a bit of an extreme thing to say. I'm sorry, I got bit carried away there, but I wasn't looking forward to this. I didn't want to be preached at about the health benefits of a plant-based lifestyle where the animals are just left out of the whole conversation and I didn't want to hear about people or just that yes their muscles being bigger or their erections being better since they were on plant-based or whatever but document that docket that um I could never go vegan thing um featured upon and so the first bit of it
00:07:17
Speaker
I had gritted teeth and I was just thinking, I've got to sit like this for 90 minutes just watching I just want to say, Julie, like we're a consent-based podcast. You don't have to watch it. Send me a message. Just say, can we do this next week? But do you know what?
00:07:35
Speaker
It did get better because It got interesting because it was very cinematic. The cinematography is beautiful. You could really see the muscles ripple, couldn't you? you
00:07:50
Speaker
But the people doing the challenge were a little bit annoying to me. And as somebody who never eats anything out of a packet, I thought they were making their life quite...
00:08:01
Speaker
difficult and very just kind of oh yes and I had these little burgers and I bought this brightly colored packet of fake this and that I just thought you're making this more complicated than it needs to be and very freaking expensive and the food they were eating just seemed really tiny and expensive and over complicated you don't know their starting point Julie you don't know I know but just
00:08:28
Speaker
needs and if that's there yeah I know, I know. But just to my simple rustic mind, I was just thinking, oh, my goodness, you'll be costing yourself a fortune there. But so there were some bits that jarred.
00:08:40
Speaker
There was a bit that made me cry. And I ended up being glad I watched it and quite engaged, believe it or not. But if that film can manage that in me, who was really resistant in the beginning, it just shows you what a good film it is, actually. So really good. I would recommend it.
00:09:02
Speaker
um i did i don't know if i would watch it again i might watch it again under less i've got to watch this by the end of like before six o'clock today kind of thing but i might watch it with somebody else or show it to somebody else i would recommend it to people it is a bit long it felt bit long I think it's good one to share with other people. I agree, Julie.
00:09:25
Speaker
Sharing would be a good thing, of all ones. Some bits jarred, but other overall. And some bits I just thought, this has been said before so many times, but they were acting like it was all new.
00:09:37
Speaker
But it is because it has aged because they started making it before the pandemic. So it has now been kind of superseded by other things or said by other people hundreds of times in the meantime.
00:09:51
Speaker
But yeah, overall, good on them. Some of it was a little bit, not didn't sit well with me. But but yeah, but overall, good good film. Okay, so...
00:10:03
Speaker
Rustic Vegan in Surprising U-Turn. That's Julie's review. And it made me cry, which is always good. Always good. Dominic, give us your thoughts then. Well, I'm a simple urban vegan with who likes silly things. So when it started, it got me laughing straight away. I thought, oh, this is good, isn't it? Couple of funny fellas. I really liked it. It was very much my sense of humour. I thought they were really self-depreciating.
00:10:31
Speaker
I'm a gay man and I fancy both of them. loads they're like well lovely yeah
00:10:38
Speaker
They're handsome guys. So that was really, really grand. I thought it was said in a really ah accessible way.
00:10:50
Speaker
I'm all right with seeing bodybuilders saying, oh, it helped me with my muscle. I'm all right with that because I know that that is a concern for a lot of people. And ah you know but um that was you know only a part of it, only a part of it.
00:11:07
Speaker
The highlight And I know that we can have a deeper discussion about the the exact terminologies, exact thing. But, you know, the the bit the bits with the the the the pigs was was really evocative.
00:11:22
Speaker
And, yeah, we've talked about... presuming everybody's seen it a bit where he is watching the film and he's crying dan the the one of the two filmmakers is in tears.
00:11:35
Speaker
I'm a ah big believer that we need to see more of men crying for all kinds of reasons. and i you know And the knowledge that he's somebody with a background in in being an actor, I really believed him. I thought it was so authentic that his reaction was such. And I thought that was something that I've not really seen in another documentary for that length of time, that length of time, because it's not a short bit of it, him crying.
00:12:05
Speaker
So I thought it was a really good mixture of beautiful cinematography, really well filmed. I didn't mind the 30 odd scenes. vegans with their blogs I thought they came across as very just everyday people really you know like I'm glad that they weren't the focal point just thought that they were they were they were Joe Public and they they said a few like common dare I say ignorant things at the beginning and like yeah I think that's that's representative and
00:12:36
Speaker
It had a powerful impact on me. I really liked it. Nice one. Thank you, Dom. What about you, Paul? I'm still recovering from Julie's, I think rollercoaster review. It's a new term, I think now.
00:12:49
Speaker
ah have Yeah, I mean, I think yeah cinematography, great. A bit like what Dom said, I really liked the intro, made me laugh. That kind of, almost a bit slapstick at the start. And it was kind of, but it wasn't cheesy. It was it was it was good. I felt overall, I liked the film because it was like, ah It was looking at the celebration of the growth of veganism, whereas we have a lot of films which are they hard watched because they are kind of you should go vegan because of X. And there's an absolute place for those. But this was a bit more like let's look at the growth of veganism.
00:13:23
Speaker
Ironically, at a time when we're hearing a lot about veganism, not growing. So the timing is quite interesting, actually, I think, on that in that sense. Yeah, it invited people to think about veganism from the different aspects, like health, environment, animals, which I know we've had discussions about whether that's a good thing. or bad i think I think it's a good thing because it taps into as many people as possible. The format, obviously, of having a few well-known vegans and then some sort of Joe Public type people were It wasn't very preachy, which I think iss good. um It was good that I thought the get that guy, I think it was Dan, wasn't it, that he had been veggie for a while and hadn't gone and hadn't gone vegan, which I think it is a fairly common journey.
00:14:01
Speaker
um Did you think it fell foul of maybe trying to cover a bit too much sometimes? um It felt to me as a bit like going on a cruise, you know, where you go to lots of different countries and you get a taster, but you don't really see everything. But you might go b you might go back to it. So it's it's not a bad thing, but it was a bit like ah bit like a but bit of a whistle-stop tour, I thought.
00:14:23
Speaker
I felt that the people on the journey, they it was a bit frustrating because sometimes they'd say stuff and you'd go, no. But then bit like what Dom said, you've got to remember these are people... ah start of a journey and you've got to think well probably ever was asking the same questions and making the same mistakes I suppose you just want part me wants it to be like a perfect presentation of veganism to some degree but yeah it's kind of warts and all I suppose and it's their it's their reality there was a found some of the language a bit grating because people were saying like I like my meat my cheese kind of that ownership of
00:14:55
Speaker
product that isn't theirs but that's pretty common yeah i likeable presenters they they're really good guys um i didn't like the pig rescue bit ah that felt really contrived but also not thought out if that's said not oxymoron but basically it felt a bit like we're going to rescue something and we're going to give it to the sanctuary and they'll look after it kind of thing i know they paid the money for it but ah I didn't like that.
00:15:17
Speaker
um They've still got to spend man hours on it, the sanctuary. It felt a bit... What's the word looking for? It felt a bit... Yeah, I didn't like that. bit egoic. A bit what, sorry? Like egoic, like them going, look how fantastic we are when actually arguing the sanctuary that did more work.
00:15:33
Speaker
Yeah, it felt a bit like... I can't think of the word exactly, but it's, yeah, definitely just didn't really work for me. And I did wonder, like, say, with some of the people, um the Joe Public people, they they did come across as a bit like...
00:15:45
Speaker
very social media savvy and probably a bit younger than me. So they kind of came across well. But I did wonder if some of these people like, oh, going to do this and it will up for my up my social media status. So I was a bit sceptical of some of that. But yeah, otherwise liked it in general and I would I would show it to someone else as well. And I would kind of watch it again with them.
00:16:06
Speaker
there's a lot worse films I think out there. I don't disagree with what you said about the ah the the management of the the the pig bit. I mean, i i was I was really moved by the pig bit. I do think that that it was a little bit them patting themselves on the back. But that was like, in general, I thought they came across as really likable and quite grounded in general in general i think that was contrasted by i'm in complete agreement with you paul that generally the people doing the challenge were quite young like younger than me and i and you know as someone who try i try so hard to not be a grumpy old man i try to be upbeat bow Dominic is always laughing and always smiling.
00:16:49
Speaker
But yeah, there was, i thought the same thing. I thought they're very like social media savvy, aren't they? And I thought that the presenters
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Documentary
00:16:57
Speaker
were a bit older than them and in general came across as...
00:17:01
Speaker
really having really like good good intents for making it yeah cool thanks paul i am glad that this film has been made i think like goodness me like yeah all the time that has been spent in collecting that all the financial outlay that will have been put out there and now the four of us can sit here um as well as listeners as well as the 19,000 people who've already watched it and and it's free you all you need is is internet access and you can watch that and you can share it with people what an incredible resource isn't that fantastic not to say that there aren't bits of that that i I didn't particularly like or I thought could have been improved and we'll we'll get to those but um I think as you've said Paul it It covered lots of areas in not huge depth, but i I thought, you know, that's a strength in in terms of if you're showing it to somebody who is new to the idea of veganism.
00:17:56
Speaker
um though That's great, isn't it? You can cover a lot. I really like the variety of people that that were shown in it and the variety of areas that they work in and that they live in. including those doing the challenge.
00:18:07
Speaker
Again, I thought that was a real strength. if your What was interesting was hearing each of the three of you saying, oh, I did like that person, I didn't like that person, I did like that bit, I didn't like that bit. In a sense, that that's, again, a strength, I think, if you're showing it to a ah person who's new to all of this,
00:18:24
Speaker
the chances are there's going to be at least one person, there's going to be at least one area that they identify with. And no, they're not going to like all of them all. But actually, the chances are, is there's going to be at least someone, which I think is really important to you know, for something to hold on to. So I thought that was a ah real great strength.
00:18:41
Speaker
I don't want to hate on two people that have produced this, but I didn't particularly like or relate to the two protagonists. at all and that's fine that's fine because it's art and you know we don't need to all agree on these things i think the work that they've produced is brilliant i just would have liked them to not be in it personally and that's that's just my taste that's just my sense of humor um i didn't feel that things i did funny what was like elaborate on i didn't find it funny i so i i don't want spend too long on this because this is just my taste but seeing as you're asked dominic i i felt the attempts at humor were contrived um i didn't i felt like there were lots of
00:19:30
Speaker
attempts at making things look incidental or oh we're just doing a bit of you know just a bit of behind the scenes here that was clearly staged like it was and maybe i've watched so many of these documentaries i can see the little tricks but it's like oh we're we're just going to drop in a thing here oh for a moment there i thought you meant we could actually rescue an animal ha And then like an hour later in the documentary, there there we are, quote, rescuing an animal. ah i I understand the storytelling. It doesn't have to be 100% believable or whatever.
00:20:00
Speaker
But I think I'm just a bit too long in the tooth to kind of not see through it and for it not to make me go, for fuck's basically.
00:20:09
Speaker
But that's fine. That's fine because I'm in the choir. I don't need you know to be converted. I don't need to be preached to or whatever. And it's just up to me. And I said this ah about Moby's documentary that he did a couple years ago.
00:20:24
Speaker
If you're going to fund a project like this, If the kind of concession that we make as viewers is that we have to put up with a little bit of your sense of humour from time to time, fine. If that's the kind of little vanity payoff, then that's okay. It's not for me. It wasn't my taste. It's not my sense of humour. And like you say, Dominic, there's so many redeeming things that Dan Richardson has done there in terms of showing that men can cry and men can care and like a big Butch bloke that's played all these action heroes in films can care about animals That's wonderful and he's put his time and energy into this but I don't find him funny and I didn't really like his style so for me I'd remove him and Giles out of the film and See more of the everyday vegans more of the different people that they're focusing on for me that would have made a better film but All credit to them for doing this and I think this is a
Debate on Documentary's Advocacy Approach
00:21:16
Speaker
net positive. I think I think it's really great.
00:21:18
Speaker
i really I really respect like your take and and thank you for like having a really like you know honest reaction. You know, my, and again, it's so subjective, reaction is so much the very, very opposite.
00:21:31
Speaker
I think that the humour and even the stage bits are behind the scenes, I think that they made them so, I think that really, i've the the bit where he was crying, I think there's a bit where it like goes black and I thought something like the screen, like there's nothing on it, which after all the amazing, sinful,
00:21:49
Speaker
photography i thought something had gone wrong with my device i rewound it to watch it again or that already like cutting out or something, but thought I thought was really excellent, really powerful, and the length of time for which he was crying, and I think that was more powerful, and no, I think it was more powerful for having the jokiness, and the sort of weird presenters, and doing it in a, in a very full-on way, especially knowing, you know, how much I try in the art I do to kind of be a,
00:22:26
Speaker
stuff veganisms and and i think that that if you if you opened with just in weeping a lot of people wouldn't be able to access that and i think that that was uh a way in for a lot of people a Yeah, i think you I think you're spot on. i've I've tried to watch Earthlings twice and I've never got more than 15 minutes in.
00:22:49
Speaker
And it's you know it's it's too much and it's not too much for some people, but it's definitely too much for a lot of people. And and and giving that lighthearted way in and yeah, some of us might cringe at it.
00:23:01
Speaker
But actually, if it keeps people watching for 90 minutes of pro-vegan, pro-animal rights stuff, then then they've succeeded. I wondered, um like were there any particular like talking points or things that we think this did differently to other documentaries? Or I guess the point of the film is that it's advocating for animals?
00:23:25
Speaker
we try to advocate for animals. We, we witness other people trying to advocate for animals with a particular arguments or ways that things were done here that we thought were maybe different or particularly successful or perhaps missed the mark slightly.
00:23:40
Speaker
I'd say, I mean some of the people, um i was just reading back on some of my notes here and said some of the things that they said kind of grated a bit because you kind of worry about what that might give as a message to other people. there was the lady was saying, Oh, um,
00:23:55
Speaker
I've tried soy milk and tea, I don't like it, so some I'm giving up tea. You would just want to say, there's other milks, try other milks. It's kind of like, you it's kind of, you feel like you should have some kind of insert, like, kind of like, other milks are available. Yeah, they could have a joke out that. Yeah, yeah exactly. yeah' like And I feel that, I know they're trying, there's a balance of being honest and people telling their stories true life experience uh and and making mistakes or making maybe not the right decision in my personal view but yeah just feel like that might say to people oh i don't like souring tea so um yeah that's a bad i'll give up tea when you know you should be saying look at the market there's loads of other stuff out there um but you only know that through experience and you know um being vegan for a while i guess so yeah that that bit i didn't think
00:24:44
Speaker
I'm not sure that worked. as you know i don't I don't think the offset of being honest necessarily outweighed the wrong messages that might be put across. I don't think they're like deal breakers, but they were just kind of niggles for me. I was wondering, even in a vegan documentary, whether they would have ah somebody going like, oh, I've failed the challenge. Oh, I'm going back. And it was interesting that they didn't have that. And I did wonder whether... that might be just something that they would show at the end anti-talked of you carry on carry on no no no not not at all i i think my i was going to say like i feel that the the people doing the vegan challenge that was not the main part of the film or it certainly wasn't the exclusive part of the film i think i i would love to see like a six-part series
00:25:34
Speaker
where it's just focusing on some people going vegan. And you could in intersperse it with some of the reasons why you might do it. But I think there's a real power in that, in that the people watching it, you want the people watching it to be people who aren't yet vegan or people who've tried it and they've fallen off the wagon.
00:25:53
Speaker
And so seeing lots of different people trying that and their ups and downs and things like that, and then... putting more of a focus on, oh, actually, let's address this misconception that this person has said.
00:26:05
Speaker
This person has said, oh, I can't give up my meat or whatever. Let's address that. Or let's cut to someone else who's saying, I used to view it as my meat, but now I realize it's not my body at all. It's someone else's.
00:26:17
Speaker
Like, if you put the focus on that, then you really could address those points, as you were saying, Paul. And i i think there's a ah great project, waiting to be done there. I mean, I know there are, I've seen documentaries where it has just been people going whole food plant-based for their health and their they are followed through their journey. And whilst there is a value in that, I like Julie, I do like the animal.
00:26:41
Speaker
side of things to be front and center or certainly given a big spotlight, even if it's not the initial hook that gets people in. But I think that would be a fascinating, fascinating series. And you could then tailor those responses.
00:26:55
Speaker
ah we we we I mean, it would be a shame for the animal rights movement to become like a North Korean ah propaganda channel, where we never allow anybody to say anything against soy milk or or anything like that. So I think the authenticity is important. But Like you say, Paul, putting in counter examples would be great, wouldn't it? Yeah.
00:27:14
Speaker
I wonder with what you said there about at that that sort of series. It made me think of the series I've followed since I've been young. You know, like the 7 Up, 14 Up, 21 Up, where they follow people through the years.
00:27:24
Speaker
You could do vegan version of that, their vegan journey and what they've learned. Vegan Up! Vegan Up! That's it. We should do it. Let's do it. I'll direct. Yeah. I really like that, that the fact that the people who had done the going plant-based for 30 days thing, I thought it was a really good move that they got them all together and that they went to an animal sanctuary.
00:27:49
Speaker
I, if they just left them in their little kitchens, talking to the camera about themselves and their own health and all the rest of it, I wouldn't have enjoyed that.
00:27:59
Speaker
But the fact that they then met some animals in a different way from how they'd experienced animals before and then made the connection with the change they'd made in their lifestyle and the impact that that could possibly have on animals in the future.
00:28:17
Speaker
That was where it won through for me. If there wasn't that scene, much as I sometimes am a little bit cynical about people in animal sanctuaries because sometimes those animals themselves can appear a bit commodified and a bit kind of here for people's entertainment and oh look at this look at that kind of thing I think you have to be really careful with these things but that was where the film really won for me the connections people made and the things they said at the end when they'd met the animals.
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah. and And just seeing like the wee sheep stretching its wee nose out to sniff somebody, that got me. Absolutely got me. I think there was such a power in in those, in the voices of those participants in that challenge. There was the one guy who was like really sceptical at the start.
00:29:09
Speaker
And then you came back to him at the end and he was saying something like, I was... with some mates or at work or something like that. And they were cooking meat and it was absolutely disgusting.
00:29:19
Speaker
Like that change in less than a month was remarkable. And there was also a really lovely bit quite early on. um One of the people who must have been close to being vegan at the start of the challenge, she'd said something like she she'd spent an evening with some vegan friends or at a party and all the food was vegan and it was lovely. And she was like,
00:29:38
Speaker
this is the kind of world that I want to live in. I thought that was so powerful. And again, with all due respect to Dan and Giles, the bit where they're going to all these fancy places and eating all this brilliant vegan food, I don't really relate to that. It's like, well, that's great for you. Congratulations. Well done. But like hearing just an everyday person saying, you know what? Me and my mates, we just had this party and all the food was vegan and it was bliss.
00:30:03
Speaker
Like I can relate to that. Everyone can relate to that. I thought that was there was such a power in that. i want to see more of that. Let's make this documentary. was really struck by how many really beautiful looking people are in this film. oh That was quite unrealistic like to my mind. I don't know whether they had a wonderful filter on their camera, whether I could have been in that film and and looked as good as that, I doubt it. but you know You are beautiful, Julianne. You didn't have any...
00:30:36
Speaker
rough ugly mug kind of they didn't have anybody you really well that's a wider side of the top side of the times isn't it everybody was beautiful and so and and just very photogenic looking um I did note that, yeah. I mean, even that woman from World Animal Network or whatever it is, you know, the the the Katie, oh, my goodness, like an absolute model. She sat there on the beach in that interview with the wind just gently blowing her hair and everything like that.
00:31:10
Speaker
You know, you just think, my goodness, where, you know, of all the people to find, you know, just, yeah, it seemed like he just picked really nice looking people to interview and talk to. Yeah. it It sells though, doesn't it? This is the thing. I mean, I think you see it.
00:31:23
Speaker
um i've I've said when I used to do outreach, um when a couple joined us, both good looking couple, the bloke and the and the lady, I'd go out with the sandwiches, trying to give them away.
00:31:35
Speaker
Not much joy at all. So I said to the, do you mind coming out with me? And that bloke's just coming over in swarms. was like, I'll just hold the tray. if If it works, i'm I'm on board with it. You know, they're but they're both a bit...
00:31:48
Speaker
Oh no, he's gone. We'll never know what happened. We'll never know. Maybe you saw someone carrying a tray of free vegan sandwiches. let's Let's start around things off now. I'd i'd like to ask ah Julie, Dominic and Paul, once he comes back on the call, I'll do the same thing too. An improvement that you think could could be done to the to the film to to make it better or films like it.
00:32:17
Speaker
And regardless of that improvement, how or where or when you would use this film, if at all. i think of all the films that I've watched, I think this one is contemporary and the one I'm most likely to show to friends because of the beginning.
00:32:39
Speaker
I'm a writer who writes for just adult audiences, and I write for children, and the challenges in each are very different, and with children, there's so many challenges, but an easy thing is kids laugh at the same thing.
00:32:53
Speaker
That's my experience. 17 years, kids laugh at the same thing. Adult
00:33:01
Speaker
by ant's reaction to the humour. I also agree with what Anne said. The documentary was such a mix of so many different ingredients, and I think that was to its strength that there were really fast-paced from one way of being to another way of being. And I think even if the humour wasn't a ah particular taste ah for a particular viewer, what it does do is say this isn't going to be preachy that's what it does right at the beginning it says so that even if you don't like humor i think that adults uh uh hate being told what to think and i think that even if you don't laugh at the jokes you're like oh this feels gentle and i think it remains it remains sort of gentle they make very clear they're not going to of, you know, of abuse.
00:33:55
Speaker
And they say that that is important in other contexts. And, you know, we have him crying, which is great. So, yeah, i i was really impressed with the how much is in there.
00:34:08
Speaker
Nice. Thank you, Dominic. Julie, a thing that you would change and regardless of change or not, when or where would you use the film? I would possibly edit it a little more, make it a little bit shorter.
00:34:24
Speaker
Some of the time I was thinking, hang on, you've said this already. It seemed to be saying the same things over and over again. I would, I've forgotten the name of the man who is the CEO of Compassion World Farming, who we've seen a lot on our screens lately.
00:34:40
Speaker
That man. I kind of, as a vegan, i am vegan. a bit skeptical of the things he has to say because obviously he is supporting farming to an extent I was puzzled by his field of cows that he was proud of with their big ear tags in and yes their grass eating lifestyle because I just thought uh-huh and then what you know, and where are the males? you know
00:35:11
Speaker
All of that, i was I was a bit, I think I would, because that isn't a vegan scenario, if you see what I mean. so feel like they had him cornered. They had him at the corner of a river, like pressed very close to the edge of it. I was puzzled by the field of cows that we were meant to be endeared to, which obviously they were very endearing, but...
00:35:32
Speaker
I didn't support his liking of them because it seemed like he was then approving of their life and its consequences. know what mean? I just thought, hang on a minute, hang on.
00:35:46
Speaker
So I would ah probably be tempted to take... He said some interesting things and he said some quite useful things, but I think I would have edited him a bit and I would have stayed with animals who were free from animal agriculture.
00:36:01
Speaker
just to be clear about the message there. And the intended audience, or who would just show it to? think I would recommend it to anybody who was interested in watching it.
00:36:12
Speaker
Some people just love films, don't they? They're not discerning. It doesn't really matter. They'll just be interested if it's a new film or If it's quite topical or whatever, they will just be... I've got friends like that. They just, honestly, the they really just watch it anything. They just love watching films. I'm really super fussy because I hate sitting still for 90 minutes, so it has to be brilliant for me to do that. But I think for anybody who was just even tiny bit interested, or for people who really like Dan Richardson, yeah, there's quite a lot of different people I think that would appeal to.
00:36:48
Speaker
Paul, same question for you. Magic Wand changed to the film and when would you use this film? So i think it's probably stuff we've already talked about. I think something that maybe be where people have made comments about some of their struggles they were having just to maybe you will almost come back in the next bit and say, oh, you know, you said about...
00:37:08
Speaker
Sawyer in tea and we've had a chat and told you about this. Have you found anything you like? go Oh, yeah, actually, oat milk. Great. You know, just to kind of try and try and finish it off ah and rather than leave it a bit um open as a negative. So that's probably probably the main thing I think I do. I don't think I'd change much else, to be honest.
00:37:27
Speaker
I've obviously said I would. like to have seen less of Dan and Giles and and more of their the different vegans, both the challenge challenge vegans and the the sort of ones who've been vegan a bit longer and are getting the proper cinematography treatment.
00:37:45
Speaker
I think, yeah, I think that would be a the main thing i I'd like to change. I really like the ah range of different people that that were covered. I thought that was a real strength. um In terms of where I would use it, I i think it's just a really, it could be a really nice introduction to so saying, well, I'm i'm vegan.
00:38:04
Speaker
You know, there's not been a film made about me, but there's been a film made about lots of different people who are vegan and it covers like a nice range of people. So I think the potential audience um is there And as you said, Julie, um anyone who's a fan of Dan Richardson's films, which, to be fair, I would have thought the Venn diagram that is people who are vegan and people that have seen Dan Richardson's films, I wouldn't have thought there's much crossover that. in the middle because his films um um are often quite macho or action-y or things like that, with some exceptions.
00:38:38
Speaker
But yeah, thats that's a great in. But yeah, good for that. We've all said that we'd use this film as an introductory thing to new vegans, but I'm going to say that I was glad as a long-time vegan, we spoke about how the...
00:38:55
Speaker
um sort of framing device was veganism is on the rise and that that's opposite to a lot of other documentaries and as a vegan myself at the beginning I felt really good about that and at the end I felt really good about that I i felt similar to the woman ah who had a lovely meal with her friends and went this is the world I want at the end of watching that I thought My goodness, I'm proud of being vegan.
00:39:21
Speaker
And I'm always proud of being vegan, but I don't always have that feeling at the end of a documentary where you've sat and watched awful abuse that we know happens every day to poor animals.
00:39:33
Speaker
I don't go away. I go away feeling feeling crushed and feeling maybe I don't do enough. Do I do enough? And that could be a useful feeling to feel as well, because sometimes that can ah you know motivate you on and then you do an action. that catalyst but a little bit of a shot in the arm is a good thing and I felt that this was a shot in the arm for me so I would recommend it to existing vegans to have ah a joyful realisation that actually for all of the stuff we are hearing oh is vegan having a bit of a dip but actually no have a look at this have a look at this have a look at the good stuff which is happening now
00:40:16
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Really good shout. Really good shout, Dominic. Well, that is our take on this film called Food for Thought. We've given our reviews, our thoughts, our commentary.
00:40:27
Speaker
um You can give your reviews and thoughts and commentary on us. You can leave us a review. 69 of you have done that on Spotify already. um And if that sort of thing is your jam helping us out in that little way, just listen to this little segment now for us.
00:40:43
Speaker
If you've enjoyed today's show, we'd love it if you could take just a few seconds to share it with someone else who you think might enjoy it too. We don't have a marketing team or a budget to spend on advertising, so your referrals are the best way of spreading the free Enough of the Falafel Joy further still.
00:41:02
Speaker
And if you haven't already, we'd be really grateful if you could leave us a rating on your podcast player. That will also help the show pop up when people search for vegan or animal rights content online.
00:41:16
Speaker
Thanks for your help.
00:41:20
Speaker
Super stuff, super stuff. I am feeling very grateful right now to Paul, who is putting off playing the drums, it seems like. Julie, who is gagging for her tea and has been for the last two and a bit hours.
00:41:34
Speaker
And Dominic, who is a busy, busy man. And any time we get to spend with him is a real boon. So yeah, thank you, all three of you for being part of today's episode. Oh, what a lovely thing to say, Ant. And thank you, everyone, who's been listening to us. We really, really love to hear from you. If you've been listening to our vegan talk shows before, you might know that we occasionally dedicate entire shows where we respond to emails we've received. So please do get in touch with us if you'd like.
Podcast Closing and Listener Engagement
00:42:05
Speaker
I'll share our email address. It is
00:42:07
Speaker
enoughofthefalafel, that's all one word, enoughofthefalafel at gmail.com. And while my blood sugar levels will allow, i will just give you a heads up that the next Enough of the Falafel episode is coming out on Monday the 24th of March.
00:42:29
Speaker
It's our usual weekly roundup of the latest vegan and animal rights news, Vegan Week. So join us then. Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thanks to Julie, Dominic and Anthony for all your contributions.
00:42:45
Speaker
Thanks again, everyone, for listening. I've been Paul and you've been listening to Vegan Talk from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
00:42:56
Speaker
This has been an Enough of the Falafel production. We're just a normal bunch of everyday vegans putting our voices out there. The show is hosted by Zencaster. We use music and special effects by zapsplat.com.
00:43:11
Speaker
And sometimes, if you're lucky, at the end of an episode, you'll hear a poem by Mr Dominic Berry. Thanks all for listening, and see you next time.
00:43:37
Speaker
This episode may have come to an end, but did you know we've got a whole archive containing all our shows dating back to September 2023? 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...
00:43:58
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.
00:44:13
Speaker
Thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from.
00:44:23
Speaker
And if you're still listening, the CEO of Compassion in World Farming is Philip Limbury. He is still alive. He has not been cornered by a herd of angry cows.