Vegan Article in "Sunday" Magazine, Interview With Author

Veganism was mentioned in the "Sunday" pullout magazine section of the Sunday Star Times

You can hear my interview with journalist Venetia Sherson here, while looking through the pages from the magazine :-)  The article and the interview are about the sometimes hassle of Vegans eating out, and how we feel about Other Animals growing up in a non Vegan world
Direct download of the audio file

Great to see Veganism in the mainstream print media :-)  I've added a full text version of the article at the bottom of this page.

"Vegan is becoming the new normal, writes Venetia Sherson. So could chefs please offer us more than lettuce leaves and lentils?

I beckoned the waitress over. “I’m a vegan,” I whispered, hoping the buzz at the table would not suddenly cease. Coming out at a dinner for journalists is not wise. The waitress looked momentarily startled. I wondered if she thought I’d said I was a virgin. Then she said, “Me, too. Let me see what the kitchen can do.”

Here’s what they did: delicate fresh spring rolls filled with oyster mushrooms, edamame beans and pickled radish served with coriander lime and chilli salsa, followed by roasted baby vegetables, smoked eggplant puree, wilted spinach and toasted almonds. Oh, and fresh figs with honey for pudding if I chose. I did.

All off-menu. All at short notice. No fuss; no rolled eyes; no muttered oaths. As I left Shed 5 on Wellington’s waterfront, the waitress gave me a complicit smile and a nod. A conspiracy of carrot crunchers.

Not all experiences are the same. At an international hotel in the same city, the kitchen dished up a stack of wilted veges that appeared to have been recycled from other diners’ plates. At a restaurant near Auckland International Airport, someone had carefully removed the feta from the top of my pasta – but left the cheese beneath. The waiter’s mood was a tad below tetchy when I asked for a replacement. At a roadside West Coast café, I was momentarily excited by the promise of a “gourmet tofu burger” only to be disappointed by a soggy bun stuffed with a blob of tasteless blancmange and a slice of canned beetroot.


At the age of 64, I’m still getting used to this vegan lark. I was brought up as a carnivore. I have always liked meat. I used to lick my plate to show my gratitude for gravy. As a child, I even hunted hares on horseback. I am no poster girl for animal rights.

I went vegan this year for dietary not ethical reasons. What that means is, I no longer eat meat, eggs and dairy - anything with a mother or a face – for the good of my health. Some people think that’s simply nutty; others think it’s dangerous, especially at my age. What about calcium, they say? Won’t your bones crumble? What about Vitamin B12? Surely you can have a slice of camembert?

It’s tough to be a dietary vegan. Ethical vegans have a cause: a love and respect for animals. They can also cite environmental concerns and quote statistics such as: the world’s cattle consume food equal to the needs of 8.7 billion people; and the global warming effect from eating a kilo of beef is about the same as using 10 litres of petrol.

We dietary vegans can plead only that a plant-based diet is better for our health, which – in a country where beef, butter and milk are dietary staples – is tantamount to treason. Even some ethical vegans find us hard to fathom. In a column in Britain’s The Guardian, vegan Sali Owen piously wrote that people who go vegan to lower their cholesterol level or lose weight are doing it for all the wrong reasons. “They know how many calories there are in a raisin, but don’t know or care that bobby calves are killed at birth.” I didn’t know the calorific count of raisins until I looked it up (350 per ounce or 1238 kilojoules per 100g). But I have always known the fate of bobby calves.

To be fair, Sali Owen is not representative of most vegans, who will happily claim any new recruits. And several people took her to task over her holier-than-you attitude. The carnivores also dined out. “I think it’s appalling the way you people exploit those poor beans,” wrote Bristol Boy. “Anyway, don’t vegans fart more than carnivores, and add more to global warming?”

Doctrinal differences aside, what I have discovered is that it is still difficult to get a decent vegan meal outside my own kitchen – or those of sympathetic friends. Excluding Asian eateries and some very good alternative cafes, the choices are limited. At a posh new restaurant on Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter recently, I could have eaten only three dishes – two of them desserts. Some chefs regard veganism as fringe; others as an insult to their trade. “Vegans are an affront to everything I stand for,” said a chef who did not want to be named. “But I’ll happily find a few green leaves and grilled aubergine and charge them $20 for the trouble.”

He may have to revise his view. Veganism is no longer niche. In California, where things often happen first, it is becoming the new norm. While there are only around 5000 vegans (and around 86,000 vegetarians) in New Zealand, numbers are growing. In the UK the figure has spiraled from an estimated 100,000 in 1993 to around 1 million today. In the US, the figure is around 8 million or 2.5 per cent of the population – double that of 2009. Kim Painter, writing in USA Today says the increase has been fuelled by a range of best-selling books and by high profile vegans such as Natalie Portman, Ellen DeGeneres and Gwyneth Paltrow. Michelle Pfeiffer, 54, this year came out as a vegan, saying she wanted to live a healthier life.

The western world also took note when former US President Bill Clinton switched to plants for health reasons. Clinton, who was previously known for his love of junk food, adopted veganism to clean up some arterial blockage after quadruple bypass surgery in 2004. It also helped him lose weight for his vegan daughter, Chelsea’s wedding.

Clinton’s guru, and the man many people credit with the rise in plant-based diets in the western world is Caldwell Esselstyn, a US doctor, who conducted a 20-year nutritional study of seriously ill coronary artery disease patients. On the basis of his research he developed a diet with no meat, eggs, dairy food and oils, which produced remarkable success. “We’ve eaten ourselves into a problem and we can eat ourselves out of it,” he says. His research, documented in his book, Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease, has won some powerful allies including Colin Campbell, author of The China Study, which examines the relationship between the consumption of animal products and illness and disease.

There was another spike in interest in veganism recently when attention was drawn to the plight of Maria Alekhina of the Russian feminist punk rock ban Pussy Riot. Alekhina is a vegan but when she and her fellow band members were jailed this year for “hooliganism” she had no access to her dietary requirements. Vegans worldwide united in their condemnation. In an open letter to President Vladimir Putin, vegan film actor Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, Cher), asked Putin to ensure the singer got her daily dose of veges. There has been no word as to whether he obliged.

Veganism has also taken on in some unusual quarters. Portland, Oregon, which claims to be the most vegan-friendly city in the US, has opened the first vegan strip club. Owner Johnny Diablo says half his dancers are vegetarian or vegan and they serve their clients dairy-free chilli cheese fries and mushroom burgers. The irony of treating women like meat appears to have escaped him.

My own conversion to a plant-based diet has thus far been positive, although I am a reasonably recent convert. I am fitter, trimmer and healthier and – despite the concerns of many people – I eat exceedingly well. I start the day with home-made Bircher muesli made with rolled oats, raisins, grated apple and nutmeg topped with oat milk. Pulses, grains and rice are dietary staples. In summer, I eat salads and loads of quinoa; in winter, tasty vegetable casseroles, curries and soups with crusty bread. Last night’s dinner was a vegetable bean risotto with aubergine, capsicum and lima beans laced with fresh coriander (see recipe below).



However, eating out still presents a problem and attitudes are hard to shift. The New Zealand Vegan Society says it has been battling for some time to get soy milk on Air NZ flights. “You’d think I was asking for gold-leafed wafers,” says marketing co-coordinator Amanda Sorrenson.

Sorrenson, an ethical vegan who works fulltime for SAFE (Save Animals from Exploitation), says while she doesn’t eat out much, she believes more food outlets are now providing options for vegans. She’ll often phone ahead to give the café a heads-up. “I’d prefer to go easy-peasy rather than being a trouble-maker. You don’t want to appear like a weirdo. I try to make being a vegan a positive thing.”


Surprisingly, one of the best dine-out experiences she has had was at a steak house; where they produced - without fuss - a range of beautiful vegetable platters.


Some cafes are ahead of the pack. Auckland’s Heritage Hotel offers a vegan and vegetarian menu including vegan wine. Cibo in Parnell, where I will celebrate a friend’s birthday this month, has a good range of vegan-friendly dishes. Cosset Café in Parnell is an exclusively vegan and vegetarian cafe. Towns with large alternative communities always have good pickings. Raglan Vegan Fest has been running for about five years. For other vegan-friendly cafes check out http://www.happycow.net/australia/new_zealand/)


This week, another good sign. At one of my watering holes in Hamilton, I asked the counter staff whether the bruschetta could be served without feta. She replied, “Sorry, but feta is a part of the dish.” I began my refrain, a bit like a recovering alcoholic. “I’m a vegan, so I wonder what options you have for me.” A passing chef was within range. “We have a wonderful (non-dairy) parsley pesto with heaps of garlic and chilli,” she said. “It’s one of my favourites.”

I gave her a complicit smile and a nod.



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The vegan movement was started in 1944 by English woodwork teacher Donald Watson out of a desire to improve animal welfare. He died in 2005 aged 95.

Vegans eat all the food meat eaters eat except meat, poultry, fish, cow’s milk, yoghurt, cheese and honey. Ethical vegans also eschew wearing leather, bone, ivory, feathers and mother of pearl.


Vegan diets are healthy, according to followers. The only vitamin from animals that cannot be replicated elsewhere is B12 – important for the nervous system and preventing iron deficiency. Many vegans take Vitamin B supplements

Many health food shops, supermarkets and Asian food outlets stock foods suitable for vegans. Worldwide vegan food is estimated to be growing by 15 per cent a year.

For more information, go to www.vegansociety.co.nz



Pip and Sorrel’s Vegetable and Bean Risotto

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp poppy seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 cup long grain rice

¼ tsp chilli powder

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 cup water

1 aubergine (eggplant) cut into 5mm cubes

½ red capsicum

315g tin lima or butter beans, drained and rinsed

1 ½ cups tomato puree

1 ½ cups vegetable stock

½ cup coconut milk

1 tsp fresh coriander or parsley

Freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a large frying pan, add poppy and mustard seeds and cook

until the begin to pop. Add rice and cook, stirring for 5 minutes

Place chilli powder, turmeric, cumin, ground coriander and a little water

in small bowl and mix to form a paste. Stir spice mixture, aubergine,

red capsicum and beans into rice mixture and cook, stirring 5 minutes

Place remaining water, tomato puree, stock and coconut milk in a bowl

and whisk to combine. Add to rice mixture, bring to simmering and

simmer for 30-40 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed and

rice is cooked. Stir in fresh coriander or parsley, and black pepper to

taste. Serve."


Thank you Venetia for writing an article about Veganism, and allowing me to interview you :-)

"The Vegg" Reviewed - A Vegan Egg! :-) PHOTOS

UPDATE:

My friend Jessica has also reviewed "The Vegg" :-)

"The Vegg" is a Vegan egg substitute.  I learnt about The Vegg (and photography) through my friend Diana Fleischman of The Vegan Option.


When Rocky the inventor of The Vegg contacted me about reviewing his product on my blog, how could I refuse?  As someone who looks after Rescued Hen Friends, giving them a real life away from those horrible animal farms, the more Vegan products available the better!  Hens eggs are for the Hens, if we  feel like eating their eggs, why not try "The Vegg" instead? :-)

Listen to my interview with Vegg inventor Rocky Shepheard while viewing the photos below :-)

direct link to audio file download

A couple weeks after I agreed to do the review, a mysterious package arrived!  Why, it doesn't even have my street address, yet it arrived at my work, wow!  The wonders of The Vegg never cease! :-)



My Hen Friends always like to see my mail, and I like to take photos of them, its win/win :-)

The Vegg comes in silver packaging.  Its essentially a yellow powder made from nutritional yeast and all kinds of wonderful ingredients, which you add water and soymilk to and blend to form a liquid.  The recipe included is for "Vegg French Toast".

Home Hen let me pick her up.  Two pats, and she practically went to sleep on my leg :-)  I love her so very much, after all shes been through as a "farm animal", shes grown her feathers back, and is always very gentle.

Here she is with a Vegg card on her back :-)

Curious Hen with The Vegg packaging :-)

To transform The Vegg from powder to "yolks", you take a teaspoon of Vegg, and add a quarter of a cup of water into a blender.  Mixing by hand is not recommended.  The powder smells a little like nutritional yeast and rock salt, the ingredients contain "black salt"

To follow the included French Toast recipe, you add 4 teaspoons of Vegg powder to one and a half cups of soymilk, and one and a half cups of water.  Add cinnamon powder.  Blend well, pour into a bowl, and dip thick bread in the mixture for ten seconds each side.

I used toast bread, the thicker the bread the better though.

I followed the instructions and fried in a pan with vegan margarine, the

Ta-da :-)  Served with Agave Nectar and cinnamon sprinkled over the top

Yellow Hen in my hand, posing with Vegg French Toast :-)  I let all my Hen Friends have a sample, and they seemed to like it very much :-)

The first bit given to Whole Hen set off a race around the garden, as she didnt want to share!

Yellow Hen with Vegg French Toast :-)

She reminds me of her father Mr Rooster, who excitedly shared Falafel with the Hens :-)  Roosters naturally share food with the rest of their family like proper gentlemen, although Hens usually squabble a little and try to be selfish :-)  It was amazing watching him pass food from his beak to theirs, and call them over when he found food.  You can observe his head bobbing gesture, up and down while he talks, his way of calling them to food he's found :-)  The black hen is Ms Hen, Yellow Hens mother.

What a long neck Yellow Hen has! :-)

The makers of The Vegg have a video online about how to quote "spherify" The Vegg yolk into an actual circular ball, wow!  It involves a brine of Calcium Chloride.  Looks magic!

As a guy who made do with toast bread, I unfortunately didnt have any Calcium Chloride in my cupboards.  Theres another method mentioned to make yolks too though, freezing the mixture.  I tried two approaches, the example on the left was frozen wrapped into a vaguely round shape using Gladwrap (plastic wrap), the one on the right was frozen into a cupcake tray :-)  Both were fried, and served with Chilli Beans and vegetables.

Thank you Rocky, and everyone who works to give the world "The Vegg" Vegan egg substitute :-)

Try The Vegg today :-)  Its currently not available in New Zealand, but we can order from Australian stores listed online on Rocky's website.  I've suggested some New Zealand stores who could carry The Vegg, and Rocky has contacted them, so we'll see if New Zealand has a Veggy future :-)

Other reviews of The Vegg

Vegan Crunk

Vegan Urbanite

Other official Vegg recipes to try :-)

INVSOC at Eco Festival 2012

Transition Towns Spring Eco Festival 2012 has arrived!

Unlike last year, where I literally found out the day before the festival was going ahead (seriously!), txting Rebecca to ask if "maybe I could come to next years Festival?", and being allowed to join last minute with a borrowed table.....this year I planned ahead! :-)

I searched high and low for the perfect tablecloth, no more exposed formica this year!

INVSOC Green, matching our badges, and it was a steal at 13 NZ dollars from The Warehouse (NZ "Walmart") :-)

I decided to do it legit this year, getting official permits to give away food, swearing that I'd obey health and safety guidelines for food preparation.

Technically, I could have used a thing called a "laser printer" to print off a copy of the forms, then write on them with a thing called an "inked pen", and then walked to a thing called a "postal mail system box".  After fixing a "stamp" to the "envelope", all Invercargill mail is sorted in Dunedin, 200KM north......where it would then be sent back to the ICC building a few blocks from my house :-)

No, easier to physically walk to the ICC building, wait in line at the help desk, get an official visitors badge, be let in past the security cameras and doors, walk up four flights of stairs, to meet the person I'd been speaking to over the "telephone" after I left a message on the "automated voicemail system" and they "rang me back"........

....to pop back down the four flights of stairs, to fill out the form in the lobby's waiting area.

On completion, using a "pen" which I found somewhere, I handed my forms to the helpdesk, thanked them, and left with a smile of triumph firmly stapled on my face - sort of like this  :-D

Of course, I later found out through festival organiser Rebecca that we were all sort of automatically covered under the festivals "we promise to not spit in the food" agreement, and all my stair stepping was for nothing........but at least I got some cool bits of paper to place under my baking for this next photo! :-)

In total, I had five containers of muffins, Banana Chocolate Chip, Chocolate (with Cinnamon) and Lemon.  Over fifty in total, including those I actually baked during the festival as part of a "Vegan Muffin Baking" demonstration :-)

The Eco Festival has been held at the Stadium Southland Badminton Hall for the last two years.  Stadium Southland, as in the thing which collapsed in 2010 when a bit of snow landed on the roof!  See this terrific interview with Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt standing outside the wreck in bitter rain, host John Campbell has a great time laughing along :-)




Quimby: "its not the May-yors faultttttt.... that the stay-di-yum collapsed!"

Vastly overbudget (as in, at least twice the initial rebuild cost?) and constantly delayed, heres how Stadium Southlands main building stands:

Exposed seating bit on the diagonal has got to be good for the stadium, imagine all the birds flying in and nesting inside, the weather getting in!  

Not only is the very second letter of the sign slanted, "Southland" is missing an 'l'!  You'd think that would be one of the first things to fix, to nail the sign in place, make it look as nice as possible from the outside, while the inside is consistently delayed by woes such as "oh no, the steel beams which crapped out last time are being replaced with new ones which are too short, lets just weld a bit more in to make up the difference!"

The Velodrome (indoor cycle track) stands, just to the west of the closed Stadium.  Carpet for the badminton hall was apparently inside, I was told to walk in through the cyclists tunnel entrance, a curving concrete corridor, with those huge heavy plastic flaps you see in walk in freezers.  Though in that case, they keep the freeze in the freezer, in this case, they keep the heat inside the building.

I eventually popped out inside the actual wooden sloping track, with people in the seats all around looking down at me!  "Umm, am I in the right place?" :-)  

Yes, the terrific Terry Guyton was in the middle of the venue with his Parkour army, watching as a forklift loaded the rolls of carpet onto a trailer.  After cautiously stumbling through the plastic flapped tunnel, and emerging on the other side, I got to do it all in reverse, this time following a slow moving fork lift pulling a trailer topped in carpet!

Rolling out the (blue) carpet, over the Badminton courts.

The fantastic, and rather dated card scanning computer system for booking the badminton courts.  "If its broke, dont fix it", it has a wired mouse in a cubby hole below to click around the interface, no touch screens here!

Although, when the thing DOES break.....

The two computers on the other side of the wall

....and a shuttlecock box stuffed full of tarnished trophies!  "yeah, you done good kid, here, pick a trophy outta mah box"

Carpet rolled out, and unlike the 2011 Eco Festival, THIS time I was prepared:  the Invercargill Vegan Society had the first booked spot, and the first setup table :-)

Right by the entrance too :-) (bottom left corner)

Our table!  Russell (seen on the left, grey top) had a stall for SAFE next to the Invercargill Vegan Society table.  He focused on Veganism, it was great having a like minded table beside ours.  He let me use a pinboard he had for our INVSOC posters, on the end so people coming in would notice them.

One of our first visitors, in bright colourful clothing!

Posters, "Veganism: it's* doubleplusgood" and "World Vegan Day" draft design.  I like having the second line all lowercase, skipping the " ' " apostrophe.  One contracted word without mid punctuation deserves another, I always say!  The other INVSOC members?  Not so much.  We'll probably go with an apostrophe'd version.

Hellhound Hotdogs, a vegan streetcart in Australia.  Justin visited Invercargill earlier this year! :-)  We all had a great time, from seeing a male ballet, visiting Bluff at the very bottom of the South Island, to having a fantastic potluck, where he showed us how a REAL hotdog is made :-)

"It's Easy To Be Vegan!" by Emmy James :-)

Russell's table had great books, such as "The Pornography of Meat" by feminist Vegan author Carol Adams.

Russell at the SAFE stall (promoting Veganism), myself at the INVSOC stall (promoting Veganism)  Photo taken by Dan, first Vegan I ever met, on my Galaxy Nexus.  Apparently I was having a bad redeye day :-)

Russell's perfect iced cupcakes, vs my giant muffins:

As Mr Joseph S said, "Quantity has a quality all of its own" :-)

Wifi iPad tethered to my phone's data connection.  I showed the INVSOC website, photos and video of my Hen Friends.

A new Invercargill Vegan Society member, Luke!  I met Luke at the last Green Drinks meeting, after he saw a poster Dan put up at the hospital.  He's training to be a doctor, and plans to focus on nutrition.

Great to meet another Vegan living in Invercargill, and someone else who appreciates the virtuosity of mr Michael Jackson :-)

Audio of INVSOC members Russell and Luke about Eco Festival 2012 :-)

Michael Thomas of the Sustainable Building Alliance, one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet :-)

Audio of Michael Thomas about the Sustainable Building Alliance and Eco Festival 2012

The Hall was packed with fantastic stalls, from political parties, energy saving ideas, gardening, unusual bicycles, caring for native animals.....and a couple about Non Veganism, such as The Croft, who follow the teachings of Weston Price.  The stall was about drinking raw cows milk, and there are also beliefs about "bone broth", boiling bones for vitamins and nutrients inside.

I visited and "extended the olive branch" on behalf of the Invercargill Vegan Society, offering some of our muffins :-)  I knew that they disagreed with eating flour, with a laugh, I was offered a huge glass bottle of cows milk, which looked like pure fat.  We "agreed to disagree", and swapped pamphlets.

Dan "voila"-ing our cupcakes and muffins :-)

The terrific Grant Meikle of Sea Shepherd and a Hectors Dolphin protection group.  Pictured at our INVSOC stall, complete with Hectors Dolphins!

Audio of Grant Meikle talking about Eco Festival 2012

At 12 oclock, I gave a "Vegan baking demonstration".  Rather odd mixing ingredients out of a kitchen, with an audience of 8 or so people who'd followed the speaker systems directions to attend "my class" :-)
PA System audio

"How To Bake Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins" class audio, ha!  I dont expect you to listen to my awkward fumblings and stumblings for 17 minutes, its good for a laugh, but not quite 17 minutes of laugh(ter) :-)  Lots of dramatic folly sounds for the recording :-)   This fun recipe can be found on our website, the photos are more interesting than listening to my droning voice.

Highlights of the audio clip include explaining how Sanitarium is run by vegetarian-ish religious people, and answering a question "I thought baking usually didnt need as much mixing" with "True, I like a strong banana flavour so I've used a lot of potato masher-ed Banana, if you used less, it would be (quote) more spongy" :-)

30 minutes in the oven, ta-da!  Hot, steaming muffins, which were irresistible.  Almost literally "gone in 60 seconds", like the ~2 hour movie :-)  I took a photo with the piping hot muffins at our stall, then gave them to people who'd attended my workshop.

Greyhounds Down South, who rescue and take care of Greyhounds wrongfully used in the "racing" industry, rehoming them, almost like Rescued Hens.  I followed the parade of ~8 dogs to their workshop, and actually had to help one climb up the few stairs.  Being so neglected by their former "owners", they'd never really see stairs before, "didnt know how to walk up them"!  Seriously!  Similar to "farm" Hens who cannot actually walk when first saved, treated as a someone instead of a something.

Hollie Guyton, for All Good Bananas.  A quality fair trade product, which I used in our Banana Chocolate Chip muffins, and am proud to support on the INVSOC website :-)  Available from Pak n Save supermarket, while in stock! :-)

Audio of Hollie Guyton about All Good Bananas, and Eco Festival 2012

Hollie gave me a bag of popcorn, informing me that the bags with icing sugar were best.  Thanks Hollie :-)

Mention of patriarch Robert Guyton, friend of the Invercargill Vegan Society, although somewhat elusive.  

 

2012 Jordan at stall with 2011 Jordan at stall :-)  

The elusive Robert Guyton left a comment on last years blogpost......have our paths finally crossed, by the time of this 2012 Eco Festival??? :-)
"

"


I do indeed know Mr Terry Guyton, in fact, I interviewed him today about the 2012 Parkour display! :-)

Terry Guyton, on his mob of crazy athletes running about and jumping off every vertical surface they could find, they call it "parkour"

And Behold: the infamous Robert Guyton himself!

"And, as in uffish thought he stood,
  The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,  And burbled as it came!"

Robert caught mid "burble" :-)   Beside stands local Green Party candidate Dave Kennedy, vorpal blade hidden out of sight!


(Jabberwocky mention from Robert's account of attending an INVSOC potluck :-)   Our account of the historical occasion can be found here, INVSOC Potluck April 2012 )

Dave Kennedy has a surname destined to rule, he wouldnt go wrong with a Deputy Prime Minister R Guyton at his side!  

Mind you, best "beware the Second in Command JabberGuyton, Dave,
The Jaws that bite, the claws that catch!...".

Kennedy's tend not to stay in power for long, with or without treacherous deputy PM's eyeing the top job! :-)

Audio of Robert Guyton on Eco Festival 2012, and his fruit tree grafting workshop which involved sharp vorpal blades.

Robert Guyton has also written a blogpost about Eco Festival 2012 :-) 

Rachel at the Green Party stall :-)

I believe the right poster has a couple kids killing fish with a rod, tastefully covered using A3 posters?  Well played Green Party, cover your shame!  

I had a lovely time at the Transition Towns Spring Eco Festival 2012  :-)   Our bigger and better table looked nice, and seemed to go down well.  I received an email tonight from Lisa, who found our website after being given a (non profit organisation) card :-)

"Kia ora Jordan,
I met you at the Festival today. I just wanted to say that the website looks
great and the recipes very yummy. You have photographed them really well and
they are very easy to follow.
I am certainly going to try a few.

Thanks also for your kindness today with your muffin giveaways- most
generous.
Great that there is a Vegan Society in Invercargill- keep up the good work.

Cheers,

Lisa"
Thank you to Transition Towns Eco Festival organiser Rebecca Amunsden!  We'd been joking about people getting her name wrong, hence my stumble at the start of this clip

Rebecca Amunsden on Eco Festival 2012

Four vegans at the INVSOC table this year, Dan, Russell, Jordan and Luke.  A bold green table cloth, and Russells pinboard with attached posters, Vegan t shirts.  We truly outdid last years effort of one guy at a borrowed formica table!  Well done team! :-)

I look forward to the Spring Eco Festival 2013! :-)