Vegan SA in the news

Posted on 17 August 2010

Vegan SA was in the news recently. Okay, so it wasn’t a front page lead in the Sunday Times, but any news coverage is good news.

‘To be or not to be – exploring Veganism as a sustainable option?’ appeared in The Apocalypse Times. Here is the article below:-

Lesleigh Harnwell from Vegan SA Breaking ground and redefining my impression of veganism …

Veganism – A word describing a choice made by persons who do not consume, use or eat any animal products. The word according to Google results brought back that ‘vegan’ means “of the star system Vega”, with all that myth and legend lends itself to , for your interpretation. My interest is merely to have a conversation with someone who has chosen that route and find out what considerations there are in making a lifestyle choice like this.

Lesleigh Harnwell is who came into my sphere of influence and I asked her the questions I had. My first impression of Lesleigh was luckily free of any subconscious prejudice as I had no idea she was vegan until after we had shared the morning together and to paint you a picture, she is a petite brunette with shiny healthy hair and a gentle disposition. She wore a t-shirt that carried the anarchists’ mark of philosophy, one I feel very close to in the broadness of such a philosophy. She appeared level headed and engaging, I can’t say there was anything about her that was anything but – ‘cool’.

Interviewer: My attitude, even if sometimes frowned upon, is survivalist – to be able to do whatever I’d be called on to do to choose life and well being, and I pray the need for some of those doings never arise. Don’t get me wrong, I avoid conflict with measurable effect, but can never know what I may have to face. That said, I practice permaculture and as a meat eater intend keeping chickens and rabbits as a meat source, so I can be responsible for what I eat and the conditions they grow in. My only rule is that what I do must not remove me from my community. Stigma or not, separating myself denies me influence. What can you say about your community’s reaction to your choice, and how you’ve had to deal with perception?

Lesleigh: I think it was hard because my Mom didn’t know much about it and what I would eat. The general feeling was a query of why I would do this to myself. People don’t mind helping you with things that you have no control over but when you voluntarily do something they perceive as an inconvenience, there is not much empathy. That being said, despite strained, and in some cases, broken relationships, I have encountered and connected with a whole community of people who are like minded and share the same opinion. So for me, being vegan did not remove me from my community, it took me to my community.

Becoming vegan is a spiritual path which you take. Suddenly it stopped being about my favourite dish or where I’d get my protein from. I became aware of my surroundings, where food came from and how it affected me. Beyond that, I could measure the benefits of a varied plant based diet and it’s been smooth sailing from there on.

Interviewer: If there was some sort of breakdown on earth that could be likened to an ‘apocalypse’, and serious food shortages left you with no choice but, say, a deserted store of biltong (in an exaggerated post apocalyptic devastation point of view), how would you deal with that?

Lesleigh: Post apocalyptic times could have a devastating effect on a lot of people’s beliefs or principals, it all depends on how it goes down. You could be starving and stumble across a fresh human corpse, would you eat that?

Ideally we would want to have some land, some water and growing food. If I’m stuck in the city, I’d imagine dehydration would get me before I stumble across a barn of biltong, that in itself is a nightmare never mind the apocalypse!

Interviewer: I do have a sense of the crude nature of these questions, and I mean no insult. I am a meat eater, and care enough about the welfare of the animals in my sphere of influence to include them in my sustainability plan. To avoid judgement though, we need to have open dialog, something that common misconceptions stand in the way of. What are the common misconceptions about veganism, the debate about meat eating and the options to change?

Lesleigh: I would say the 2 most common misconceptions are firstly, that you will not get enough protein and that you will feel weak and lack energy and, secondly, that people are carnivores and are meant to eat meat.

The benefits of a varied vegan diet including protein rich foods like pulses, seeds, nuts and greens like seaweed, broccoli, spinach Kale, and whole grains, apart from a clear conscience, is good health and energy. Evidence shows there is no need for a meat diet anymore, that in fact it is seriously causing damage to us and our environment.

Lesleigh provided a great deal of information for me to research and made some phenomenal claims to the evidence that research has provided. The journey of discovery is definitely intriguing and seems to offer attractive gain if I can steer clear of the emotionally political angles … I’ve never been one for organised mass conversion tactics. Ignorance is any decision’s worst enemy. For more information for your own interest, Lesleigh can be found on the vegan SA website. When I asked Lesleigh what people should consider if they wanted to become vegan, this is what she said:

Lesleigh: About a year ago I was told that the most ‘in-thing’ was to be Black, Gay, a Vegan and Buddhist, which got me thinking about how adaptable to change humans can allow themselves to be, and how a ‘fad’ can influence masses into change. With the right resources, going vegan is a matter of adjusting tastes.

If you compare it to overseas travel, getting used to the food is a part of the experience, not a reason to rush back home, but this choice leaves you with a clearer conscience, great health and a general feeling of well being.

Interviewer: What would the future look like, or the apocalypse for that matter, if we as a species, we stopped using all animal products?

Lesleigh: I believe everything is connected, so if communities started considering what they eat, and what is happening in their environment, I believe people will start acting more like communities in an effort to care for what is theirs. The governments that we elect protect corporate interests dependent on our continued consumption of what they offer us. There is a need for people to join together as communities and stop being lead by people who have no conscious consideration of our rights.

The pinnacle of conscious activism, Veganism! … a remedy for the imminent apocalypse?? I never thought of it that way!

To get the full un-edited version of the interview, please apply to viv@bpm.co.za and visit vegansa.com for anything else you want to know from those who make themselves available to address any perceptions, questions or comments. My sincerest thanks to Lesleigh for putting herself on the line to have this conversation with me, and to share it here, in the APTimes!

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