OxVeg Online News December 2009
Dear Member Listening to Delia Smith on the radio this morning, a caller phoned in and asked advice on how to make her Christmas turkey stop tasting bland. Delia's advice to cover it in pork was nearly drowned out with my screaming at the radio to avoid eating baby turkeys in the first place (turkeys are usually killed between 9 and 21 weeks old). If any of you are looking for recipes for your Christmas dinner, the mushroom pate en croute on our website http://www.oxveg.veggroup.org/recipes/mushrom_pat_en_croute__recipe_171.html is a delicious centrepiece for your table, and very easy to cook (can also be prepared in advance and frozen). Hope to see you all soon, Heather Shepherd OxVeg Secretary P.s. we are hoping to do a couple of street stalls over the next two weekends, but need volunteers, even if just for half an hour between your Christmas shopping. Please give me a call on 01865 765580 if you can help. CONTENTS: 1. OxVeg Events & Activities 2. Members' News 3. Wine Tasting Day (review by Andy Shepherd) 4. Internet Links 5. Review of Chocolate: A Global History 6. Review of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human 7. Where Our Luxuries Come From 8. Forthcoming Events 1. OxVeg Events & Activities OxVeg campaigns co-ordinator Rachel Foster put the case for vegetarianism most eloquently in a 'for and against' feature in the Oxford Mail of Tuesday 3rd November. You can tell that we are making progress when the person putting the case against vegetarianism admitted that most people need to reduce their meat consumption considerably. (Thanks to Mary Puffett for drawing my attention to the article.) Two days later on Thursday 5th November OxVeg media representative Paul Freestone gave a talk on "The History of Vegetarianism" at a meeting organised by VERO (Voice for Ethical Research at Oxford). Paul writes: "As part of VERO's regular talks and seminars the presentation attracted an excellent response with 28 people attending. Tracing this vast and fascinating history from 3,200 BC through to the present day required judicious selection. The huge influence of Pythagoras was acknowledged, with special mentions for several famous vegetarians including Ghandi, G.B. Shaw and Percy Shelley. The story of Ghandi's radicalisation via London's vegetarian cafes in the late 1880's was highlighted and declared to be 'one of the greatest successes of the British vegetarian movement'. Also, the contentious issue of Hitler's 'vegetarianism' was fully discussed." "Another major area was how and why humans and their predecessors started to eat meat. The evidence for 'man the hunter' against 'man the scavenger' was carefully examined. Did early humans simply develop clever team work to remove the carcass (conveniently ripped into smaller chunks) of an animal killed by genuinely carnivorous animals?" "After 20 minutes of diverse questions (e.g. why are there more women vegetarians than men?) everyone had the opportunity to enjoy the free veggie food. A delicious selection of samples (kindly donated by Redwood Foods) proved very popular. These included their outstanding 'Lincolnshire style' veggie sausages and a superb organic 'Brussels style' pate. Also, a warm stew had been prepared with chopped and fried Lincolnshire sausages and Redwood's 'Chicken Style' pieces. Onion, mushroom and red peppers were added with garlic and root ginger. This was served with a mixture of couscous and green lentils. One attendee commented: 'the stew was to die for and the pate was the best that I've ever had.' Although the meeting was scheduled for an hour and a half it didn't actually conclude until well after 2 hours. It was an overwhelming success, demonstrating that an interesting talk combined with fantastic food is an irresistible combination." On Saturday 21st November OxVeg ran a publicity/information stall at the One World Fair organised by Oxford Oxfam Group in Oxford Town Hall. I helped Pam Hopcraft and David Huish run the OxVeg stall and we had a very successful day, recruiting one new member and taking £175-20 (by far the most at any stall so far this year). David writes: "Vegan sosmix rolls (made by Pam), munchie bars and other foodstuffs proved very popular, and there were brisk sales on other items, including recipe books, wallcharts and bric a brac. However, I would not recommend the onion bhaji served at the cafe as I broke a tooth on one! I think they must have been overdone. The new access for stalls is a bit awkward as cars have very little space in Blue Boar Street at the side of the Town Hall. The two flights of steps present a further challenge to all but the most athletic!" Last but not least, OxVeg media representative Paul Freestone made a telling contribution to an article entitled "Should people eat less meat to combat climate change?" published in the Oxford Mail on Friday 27th November. As Paul pointed out, "global livestock produce more greenhouse gases (an estimated 18 per cent) than all of the world's transport systems put together (13.5 per cent)", an inconvenient truth that the meat industry finds hard to stomach, not least the butcher from Blackbird Leys who put the case against eating less meat with a series of nonsensical and contradictory arguments. Claiming that "meat is absolutely packed full of goodness", the butcher suggested that "junk food which is packed full of salt and fat and other nasty additives is the real problem", ignoring the obvious fact that sausages and other cheaper meat dishes are themselves packed full of salt and fat and other nasty additives! 2. Members' News We are sorry to report that long-time OxVeg member Gwen Archer passed away peacefully at home in Oxford on 31st October, aged 100. Gwen became a vegetarian in the early 1970s and liked to eat a fresh salad every day. She was a keen supporter of Compassion in World Farming, the farm animal welfare charity, and a close friend of OxVeg founder member Margery Jones. However, Gwen's true passion was the piano, teaching the instrument and accompanying ballet classes, and she continued to play until a few months before her death. Patricia Perry hopes to establish a Care Home for elderly vegetarians and vegans where the catering is exclusively vegetarian. Although some existing care homes can cater for veg*ns, she feels that only an exclusively vegetarian establishment would fully understand the needs of elderly veg*ns and ensure that they are not forced to compromise their principles in the latter stages of their life. Patricia is soliciting support for the enterprise from vegetarian societies and other philosophical organisations with a high proportion of vegetarian members. If you would like to assist please contact Patricia on 01608 810334. Paul Freestone recommends the vegan cheesecake available from Holland & Barrett. "There are only two flavours, mango & passionfruit and strawberry, but they are very good and priced at £3.99 they seem like quite good value", says Paul. 3. Wine Tasting Day (review by Andy Shepherd) Attending Vintage Roots' wine tasting day in Henley provided an excellent day-out and chance to expand one's palate in appreciation of wine. A wide variety of wines was available - all except for two of which were vegan. Non vegan wines were marked intriguingly with a cow horn (used in the fining process). The managing directors and other staff members were on hand to provide expert advice and were interesting to talk to, saying that they believed in the development of non-animal based wine production methods and as such had formed Vintage Roots. All in all, a fun and fascinating day with plenty of wine and biscuits to sample. (N.B. Vintage Roots offer all OxVeg members a 5% discount on their organic wines & beers, excluding special offers and promotions. Visit their website at www.vintageroots.co.uk) 4. Internet Links An article on the BBC website, entitled "The rise of the non-veggie vegetarian", discussed the various terms used to describe 'nearly'-vegetarians, including the increasingly popular but meaningless "flexitarian". According to the consumer research company Mintel, 10% of the UK population describe themselves as meat-avoiders (10%) and 6% describe themselves as vegetarians, although a survey by the Food Standards Agency found that 3% of the population are strictly vegetarian and 5% are partly vegetarian. You can read the article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8341002.stm No one would describe the royal family as vegetarians, but early November saw the first ever vegan banquet to be served at Windsor Castle. The occasion was a meeting of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, an inter-faith meeting of religious leaders hosted by Prince Philip, and the caterers chose a vegan menu as the only one guaranteed not to offend any of the delegates. You can read about the event and the dishes served at http://www.arcworld.org/downloads/ARC-Windsor-press-release-food1.pdf http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6488123/Meat-off-the-menu-as-Windsor-Castle-goes-vegan.html To view the Vegetarian Society's Christmas recipe feature, go to http://www.vegsoc.org/christmas/ Viva! have also produced "the ultimate vegan Christmas webpages" at www.viva.org.uk/christmas 5. Review of Chocolate: A Global History Chocolate: A Global History by Sarah Moss & Alexander Badenoch. Reaktion Books, 136pp (50 illustrations), hardback, £9-99. (reviewed by Paul Freestone) There are few foods that arouse such passions as chocolate. It is inextricably linked with sensuality and hedonism, frequently identified as magical, exotic and erotic. Hardly surprising when you read this book, the latest in Reaktion Books' excellent 'Edible Series'. The publisher describes these as: "A revolutionary new series of books dedicated to food and drink that explores the rich history of cuisine." The subject of this title is synonymous with indulgence and will probably be one of the most popular in the entire set. Chocolate is incredibly popular and some people are so addicted that a specific term has been coined - 'the chocoholic'. However, the cocoa bean (the pod which grows out of the 'chocolate tree') can only be cultivated within 20 degrees of the equator. This means that it doesn't grow within thousands of miles of the countries that consume the most chocolate. The authors point out the rather uncomfortable fact that: "Chocolate is the product of a world divided between low-paid manual labour and mechanized food preparation, between hungry labourers and sleek (affluent) consumers." The history is fascinating. Domestication of the cocoa bean (by the earliest civilisation of the Americas) could have been as early as 1500 BC. It is frequently claimed that the Maya, and later the Aztecs, used cocoa beans as money instead of gold. This is supported by the discovery of fake cocoa beans, counterfeiting only makes sense if the beans were being exchanged for something of value. There is a sharp contrast between what is currently perceived as 'good' and 'bad' chocolate. The latter will be dismissed by the connoisseur as "not really chocolate", but cheap and nasty owing to low amounts of cocoa solids and high levels of fat, milk solids and sugar. Nonetheless, although good chocolate is expensive, not all expensive chocolate is good. Also, a detailed examination of chocolate advertising throughout the 20th century is especially interesting. This book helps to explain why chocolate (in all its varieties) is so enduringly popular. 6. Review of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham. Profile Books, paperback, 309pp, £15. (reviewed by Paul Freestone) The big idea within this book is that cooking is the reason for our evolutionary success. Shifting from raw to cooked foods was "key in human evolution". The author contends that the mastery of fire is more important than language, intelligence or the opposable thumb. Wrangham presents a reasonably well argued case, but there are several problems with this book. On the positive side the basic idea that cooking made food softer and subsequently produced humans with blunter teeth, less powerful jaws and significantly smaller mouths is probably correct. Also, cooked food is more easily digested and provides more energy. Raw foods gobble up extra calories because they simply require longer periods of fermentation and digestion. The current trend for raw food diets is dismissed by Wrangham because modern advocates can choose from a wide variety of high quality raw foods, unaffected by old fashioned seasonality or other factors that might have restricted the availability for the stone age consumer. I am neither an anthropologist or an archaeologist. However, I'm fascinated by all the theories of how, why and when we became human. Any hypothesis is limited by the available evidence (in the form of bones and fossils etc) and huge chunks of supposition and speculation. The relevant sciences will repeatedly use two key words - 'suggests' and 'indicates'. On page 6 Wrangham states: "Hundreds of hunter-gatherers cultures have been described, and all obtained a substantial proportion of their diet from meat, often half their calories or more. Archaeology indicates a similar importance of meat all the way back to more than 2 million years ago." This captures some of the muddled thinking within this book. The claim that these cultures obtained "half their calories" from meat is pure speculation. Where is the evidence to support this? He then follows this with the classic use of "indicates". This means that he simply doesn't know, but he would like this to be the case (ie it must be meat, it just must be). The evidence for 'man the scavenger' is (in my opinion) far more persuasive than that for 'man the hunter'. Obviously, the connotations of hunting (ie heroic, skilful and masculine) are going to be more appealing than those for scavenging (ie theft). The publisher has used several old publishing tricks to make Catching Fire look far more substantial than it really is. The format presents a chunky book, but large print and whopping margins disguise the fact that (excluding the 43 pages of notes and extensive bibliography etc) this amounts to only about 58,000 words. The basic problem with this book is that the author is determined to make the evidence fit his "groundbreaking new theory of origins". Also, there are several basic mistakes. For example, when referring to the 1972 Andes plane crash, he states: "The survivors resorted to cannibalism and cooked the meat." My understanding is that the survivors had nothing to burn (no vegetation available above the snow line) and had no choice but to eat the flesh completely raw. Another example is where he refers to "carnivores such as dogs"; this is incorrect, dogs are omnivores. These errors 'indicate' a lack of thoroughness. My other main complaint is with the cover, specifically, the predictable illustration of an ape wearing a chef's hat. 7. Where Our Luxuries Come From Lucy Periton writes: I'm a researcher working for a TV company called Ricochet (www.ricochet.co.uk) and I'm currently working on a brand new series for BBC3 with the working title of 'Where Our Luxuries Come From'. We are looking for young people between the ages of 18 and 26 who, on some level, try to buy ethically produced goods whether it's something technological, an item of clothing or the coffee they drink. We are looking to find a group of 6-8 individuals to take them over to Africa and South East Asia to show them how our luxury goods are made. If you are interested in taking part in the series contact Lucy at Protected email address 8. Forthcoming Events Saturday 5th December, from 12 noon. "The Wave" march and rally in support of action on climate change, central London. Coaches from Oxford leave St Giles at 10am. Tickets £10 (unwaged £8) from Fairtrade at St Michael's, Cornmarket Street; Uhuru, Cowley Road; The Inner Bookshop, Magdalen Road; or online at http://web.bethere.co.uk/OSCC/ . March starts at 12 noon in Grosvenor Square and ends at the Houses of Parliament at 3pm. Organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, further details from Mim at Protected email address . (Vegetarian campaign groups such as Viva! are urging their supporters to join the rally to highlight the adverse effects of intensively farmed animals on the environment and the massive contribution that the world's livestock make to the greenhouse gases that promote global warming. According to the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation, livestock produce 18% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, an amount greater than all the world's transport systems put together. Read more about the veggie/vegan part of The Wave at http://www.ecoveggie.org.uk .) Saturday 5th December, 12-2pm OxVeg Stall, Cornmarket Street, Oxford To coincide with The Wave, we will be giving out leaflets on Oxford's busiest shopping street to encourage people to eat less meat to reduce climate change. If you can spare some time to help, please call Heather on 01865 765580. Sunday 6th December, 10am-5pm. Animal Aid Christmas Fayre, Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8. Lots of stalls, food, talks and ideas for a cruelty-free Christmas. Admission £2, under-11s free. Organised by Animal Aid (www.animalaid.org.uk). (Kensington Town Hall is only 10 minutes walk from the Oxford Tube stop at Notting Hill Gate.) Saturday 12th December, 10.30am-4.30pm. Winter Green Fair, Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate's, Oxford. There will be an OxVeg stall at this popular event organised by Oxfordshire Green Party. Please contact Pam on 01235 536762 or email Protected email address if you would like to help. Saturday 12th December. Viva! Day of Action against Sainsbury's, one of the biggest sellers of duck meat in the UK. Join us to persuade Sainsbury's customers to say no to duck cruelty by saying no to duck meat. To find out how you can get involved go to http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/ducks/sainsburys.htm Saturday 12th / Sunday 13th December (exact day to be confirmed) Christmas OxVeg Stall, Cornmarket Street, Oxford We will be giving out free, festive food, along with recipes and information to celebrate a veggie Christmas. We are looking for volunteers to help, and this will determine which day we do the stall. Please call Heather on 01865 765580 if you can help. Friday 18th December, 7.30pm. OxVeg Christmas Party at The Jam Factory, 27 Park End Street, Oxford. The Jam Factory (www.thejamfactoryoxford.com/restaurant.html) has been booked for the Ox Veg Christmas Party. The Chef is working up our own special menu and they did a great job last time with plenty of vegan options (including a gluten-free one too). It will be a great opportunity to meet other members in a fun and lively setting. Natasha would be grateful if those who would like to come, or are interested in coming, would let her know so she can give the restaurant an accurate estimate of numbers. Contact Natasha at Protected email address or telephone 01865 723760. Saturday 19th December, 11am-6pm. Reading Eco Veggie Fayre, Town Hall, Blagrave Street, Reading. Plenty of stalls, films, cookery classes and entertainment. Admission £3 adults, £1 under-14s & OAPs. Thursday 24th - Monday 28th December. VegiVentures Christmas Houseparty, Somerset. A few places are still available. For details of this and VegiVentures holiday in 2010 go to www.vegiventures.com . OxVeg Online News is published on the first Sunday of the month and we welcome contributions from members. Please send your contributions to Paul Appleby, OxVeg News editor
Author: Paul Appleby
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Story last updated by on 2009-12-05 10:29:15.
