Well then my friend, you’re just not a vegan.

…or so some people might tell you.

Contrary too what you might think, the question of whether you are a vegan is not as straight forward as it first appears. So, just what or who is a vegan?

Well first let’s explain what veganism is. The UK Vegan Society (who coined the term ‘vegan’) define veganism as “a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose”. So veganism, under this definition, is a lifestyle choice, and one can deduce by extension that a vegan is someone that practices this lifestyle. I term this the philosophical approach to veganism.

So what or how then, must a person conduct their life in order to be a vegan?

In order to avoid animal exploitation, a vegan should not consume, use or support any of the following products or practices:
* Foods that contain products of animal origin: meat, fish, dairy, eggs, cheese, honey, gelatine, etc.
• Clothes or personal wear made from origin products leather, wool, silk, down, fur, animal skins
* Cosmetics/personal care items/toiletries/home care products that contain animal ingredients and/or are tested on animals
* Keeping pets, pet shops, puppy mills, breeding, buying or selling animals, confining animals in cages or fish in bowls
• Fishing, hunting, rodeos, cockfights, and other forms of animal ‘sports’
* Circuses, zoos, aqua parks; safari parks, oceanariums and aquariums
* Dog racing, horse racing, dog shows, horse-drawn carriages, horse riding
• Using animals as beasts of burden

This non-exhaustive list is already quite substantial and many would say onerous. The likelihood probably is that we are all (nearly all) guilty of breaching one or more of these edicts. But how many breaches does it take before someone will say “you’re not a vegan” anymore? When does one change from being a vegan to not being a vegan? Or is being vegan just a meaningless article of faith, a badge or label that anyone can carry around … just like, for example, a ‘Christian’ that has affairs outside his marriage, doesn’t keep in touch with his parents, works on Sundays, doesn’t believe in the Old Testament, is an overt racist, cheats on his tax returns and swears like a trouper?

In reality, the truth is that no such scorecard exists. Anyone can claim to be a vegan, saying that they live their lives in order to avoid animal exploitation, but this approach leaves a big black hole … The hole of FAILURE. Often people’s lives are markedly different in reality from their lofty ideals. And so this definition of being a vegan fails due to its non-verifiable and unquantifiable nature. In this sense it is just a rather unsatisfactory and vague term that may or may not mean something specific about the way a person conducts their life.

Note importantly, people who have a vegan diet for health reasons, religious purposes, or as a means of combating global warming, are excluded from this idealistic version of being a vegan. This is because they do it for the “wrong reasons” as they aren’t eating vegan in order to avoid animal exploitation. This reasoning smacks of bigotry and echoes faith-based illogic that says, for example, under Catholicism that most of the world’s leading humanists such as Ghandi would be banished to hell for believing in the wrong god. This rationale has strong negative consequences for the vegan movement as I believe it leads us down a cul-de-sac.

I believe that a different approach to finding a meaningful definition of being a vegan is required. The most obvious tenet to being a vegan is the consumer element, and it is also readily verifiable. So this is how I define a vegan:
“A person that does not consume animal products” … (‘consumption’ here meaning use, wear, buy, eat …)

That’s it, the practical definition of a vegan – short, simple, and modest. And easily tested.

I’m not suggesting that the other forms of animal exploitation are insignificant; far from it. They are equally as important and therefore deserve their own movements to halt these horrors. So animal-testing and pet breeding can be tackled by anti-vivisection and animal rights activism, and so forth. This simple approach allows us to pitch resources and expertise at each issue individually, instead of trying to fruitlessly tackle all the issues as if they are one. This is not watering down the ideals of veganism. It is merely reclassifying issues under more appropriate labels – animal welfare and rights issues are handled under those identifiable banners.

Note also that the Vegan Society implicitly accept this in their definition of vegan food. They make no attempt to verify if foods were brought to market by oxen or ploughed in fields by buffaloes. This is because they realise it’s impractical and self-defeating to ask these questions.

An additional and ultimately overriding benefit of the practical definition of vegan is that it is an inclusive approach. People that choose a vegan diet for health, environmental reasons, or religion, will be warmly greeted inside the vegan movement, instead of being rejected as they are under the philosophical and elitist alternative approach. This can only be a good thing for advocacy and growing veganism into a more powerful association for social change.

Written by Sheldon Hey

…the journal of a South African vegan in Japan by Carey Finn

28 August 2010

In mid-July, I was lucky enough to come home to Cape Town for 3 weeks. Although the World Cup had wound down a week before I arrived, there was still a buzz in the air, and restaurants hadn’t changed their prices back to something locals could afford (not sure if they even plan to).

Having been away for a year, there were 2 things I really, really wanted to do in the Mother City: see ‘my’ animals, and eat. I’ll spare you the soppy details of the former, and just blog about the eating part.

I won’t write about how I forked out R33 for a hot chocolate with soya milk at a certain establishment in Rondebosch (*cough cough*, Cocoa Wah Wah). Paying R7 for a soy option there was nearly as horrifying as Kauai’s newly ‘reformed’ menu, replete with 1 vegan option. Talk about token. Thank goodness for the 2 great new vegan restaurants that have opened.

Closer

This bright, funky little spot officially opened at the beginning of August, but I was able to sneak in my o-kaeri (‘welcome back’) lunch party in July. Michelle Verwey and her team served up baskets of warm breads, pita and dips as a starter, following that with home-made root vegetable soup and more delicious breads. There were lemon cupcakes for dessert but, by that stage, most people had stuffed themselves into a coma-like state – which just meant more for me!

Closer is on Palmer Road in Muizenberg, in between other small, cool shops. The area has an ‘Obsy’ feel to it. The café does great (fair-trade) coffees and teas, not to mention cakes – and a bunch of meals. Warm oats with almonds and maple syrup for breakfast sound good? I thought so. Check the place out on Facebook and in real life, too.

Bella Vegan

If you’re in Simonstown, I recommend stopping by Bella Vegan. It’s just opposite the tourist info centre on the main road, and has lumo green walls – you can’t miss it. Jen and her team serve up dirt-cheap, delicious chow (I don’t think anything on their menu was as much as that traumatic hot chocolate I mentioned earlier). I tried a papaya smoothie, which was a really happy-looking drink, and surprisingly filling! Of course, I also tried several other things too, including a sweet potato pie (with salad) and savoury pancakes.

The main meals and desserts change daily. You may be lucky enough to tuck into a slice of double cinnamon and apple pie or a double chocolate cupcake, both served with cream, depending on which day you pop in. I say play it safe and pop in every day … Except Mondays, when they’re closed.

Now, I’m back in the land of the rising, blazing, unbearable sun … already missing the cool weather and all the vegan goodies you can get in Cape Town. Cheese … jelly tots … sniff. Not to mention the soya milk tart at Wellness Warehouse – go try it so that they keep making it and I can eat it again next year August!

Next time: A perilous quest for vegan donuts in weather that curdles even long-life soya milk.

The Green Room Gardens is your vegan home away from home. Ideally situated in the Gardens Centre in central Cape Town, it is oh so convenient with shops, restaurants, banks etc., only an elevator ride away, and boasts the most spectacular view of Table Mountain.

Suitable for 2 guests, this fully-furnished studio apartment provides non-down duvets and pillows, non-leather furniture, as well as Beauty Without Cruelty approved cleaning products and toiletries.

Vegan breakfast provided on request. There are also plenty of other vegan meal options available at restaurants and supermarkets in the building and in the area.

Vegan owned. Please enquire about their special offer for vegan guests!

Additionally, it is now accepted by most scientists that human moral behaviour has developed from prehistoric times, when our less evolved ‘forefathers’ lived in social groups and developed bahavioural patterns that best allowed them to succeed in their own clans, i.e. helping out other members of their group often lead to later and reciprocal rewards.

Given the above 2 factors, what would you do in the following scenario:

- You see a man out walking his dog down a busy street. You see him about to cross the road and he clearly hasn’t seen the car rapidly approaching. It seems that unless you act then both will surely be killed by the rushing car. But you can only reach one or the other – dog or human. Which one would you save, and why?

- If you had chosen to save the dog, would you then be guilty of a crime punishable by law?

Question posed by Sheldon Hey

Join our Facebook discussion and share your views.

Kuhestan Organic Farm is an organic avocado and raspberry farm situated in Limpopo. Their product range includes pickles and chutneys, cordials, jams, preserves and toppings, and is based on ancient Persian recipes and prepared with wholesome ingredients – organic and grown on the farm, whereever possible. You can buy their products from selected Spars and health food stores in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.

Or if you happen to live in or be travelling through the Montagu region, why not stop by at the New Beginings Farm. They sun dry all their own peaches, apricots and figs, and make homemade vegan jams, chutney and lemonade.

These guys were great, they ensured they were not easily evicted by building a tripod, and chained concrete barrels around themselves. While squatting, they drummed, ran vegan workshops on cooking, animal rights and others. They received vegan food from the locals and managed to stand their ground. The owners of the land and police were gobsmacked as they had no legal right to evict them. I am unable to find out what happened with the squat, if anyone can read German or knows please let us know. For some great pictures of the ‘chicken squat’ please visit http://antiindustryfarm.blogsport.de/fotos/

There are many brave activists out there who go out on a limb for animals, and although we do our bit by being vegan does it stop there? Would you squat for the chickens?

Questions kindly posed by Lesleigh Harnwell

Join our Facebook discussion and share your views.

Have you been looking for vegan cheese, which really tastes like cheese, for a long time already? Then here is your chance to taste the purely plant based No-Muh specialties from Switzerland, the land of cheese.

These specialties, handmade from a vegan production line, are now also available in South Africa. Presently 5 different varieties are available – Classic, Herb-Walnuts, Piquant and Mild-Aromatic. As far as we know, the No-Muh Piquant is the only vegan cheese alternative with a edible rind.

• No-Muh, classic: Vegetarian (vegan, non-dairy) alternative to cheese with a mild, slightly sour and purely plant-based cheese flavour.
• No-Muh, herbs: Vegetarian (vegan, non-dairy) alternative to cheese with a selected mild herb bouquet. Contains no additional flavours.
• No-Muh, walnuts: Vegetarian (vegan, non-dairy) alternative to cheese with walnuts, mild-aromatic and purely plant-based cheese flavour.
• No-Muh, piquant: Vegetarian (vegan, non-dairy) alternative to cheese with a piquant, strongly aromatic and purely plant-based cheese flavour.
• No-Muh, mildly-aromatic: Vegetarian (vegan, non-dairy) alternative to cheese with a mild aromatic, purely plant-based cheese flavour.

Vegusto is available from Checkers stores throughout the country. If we hear of other popular outlets, we’ll be sure to let you know.

‘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!

Since the launch of the range in March 2009, African Organics has grown to a distribution of more than 100 Health & Wellness outlets in South Africa. The range, which focuses on affordable natural and organic hair & body care, uses wild sourced ingredients from Africa which then facilitate the upliftment and empowerment of local communities.

African Organics:

• is approved by Phytotrade Africa, a visionary Fair Trade initiative that promotes community projects throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
• adheres to both BDIH (Germany) and Ecocert France standards for 100% natural products.
• is endorsed by Beauty Without Cruelty and don’t test on animals.
• products are rapidly biodegradable and by using the products, you contribute to the health of our watercourses
• does not use any animal ingredients and are endorsed by the Vegan Society of South Africa.

In the interests of healthier humans, inhabiting a healthier Earth, we are committed to not using parabens, petrochemicals, sulphated surfactants, animal products, ethoxylated or PEG ingredients, propylene glycol or any other ingredients red-flagged by BDIH and Ecocert standards.

The travels sizes will be available at African Organics outlets from the end of July. RSP: R11.30

Meat that’s grown in a lab might be the next new craze … “eat without guilt”, but at what cost? When will we know the side effects of lab-grown meat and would you try it (assuming animal cells can be ‘harvested’ in an ethical way)?

2. If you kept chickens and they left unfertilised eggs at your kitchen door would you eat them? My boss keeps chickens and one hen secretly lays eggs which she protects (my boss cannot eat them) and will lay another egg in my bosses bedroom almost as if to say “here you go you can have this one, but not my precious ones hidden beneath the bush” ~ would you eat them?

3. Would you eat an animal if it died of natural causes and lived a healthy natural life? If you would then could you prepare the meat or would you only consume it if someone else cuts it and nicely presents the flesh on a platter, bone- and skin- free?

What are your views on “alternative” meat?

Questions kindly posed by Lesleigh Harnwell

Join our Facebook discussion and share your views.