Dorchester & South Dorset LETS

Article by Anna Celeste Watson with kind thanks to Sandra Hood.

With Christmas coming up many of us will be planning a special Christmas meal and in November we also celebrated Dorset Food Week and World Vegan Day. You can enjoy some great local food by taking advantage of all the produce and cooking offered on our LETS. Many of our members will be enjoying a vege feast this Christmas, and for those of us who do eat meat, there are many ways you can make your Christmas more compassionate such as checking if all your meat is free range and organic (including your stuffing and gravy), and that your Christmas Pudding and Mince Pies use free range eggs.

Sandra Hood offers Vegan Cooking on LETS and is planning some Cooking Workshops for 2009, so our Web Manager Anna Celeste Watson decided to ask Sandra some questions about veganism to show how everyone can take steps towards eating more compassionately and enjoying a healthier diet, especially as Sandra is also a professional Dietitian…

Anna: How would you define a ‘Vegan’?
Sandra: To me the vegan way of life is about compassion. How people approach a vegan diet is very individual and as someone once said “man does not live by food alone” and I believe that if people worry too much about being the perfect vegan, this can do more harm than good. To me, living the vegan life leads to freedom conscience and as Leslie Cross (one of the first vegan pioneers) once said ”veganism is merely an adjustment slipping you into a slightly more advantageous orbit”! 

Why are you vegan – for example for ethical reasons such as animal welfare, environmental issues, spiritual issues, and/or for health reasons such as a dairy intolerance?
I am vegan for compassionate reasons. The cruelty and exploitation of animals for food, clothing, health and entertainment is unnecessary.

How long have you been vegan and do you find it easy being vegan (for example, at home and also out and about)?
I have been vegan for over 30 years and I first became vegan in the 70’s. It was quite scary and people said I would be ill. It was quite difficult then but the Vegan Society was a great help and I was very fortunate to live near Eva Batt, author of the first Vegan cookbook and ‘The Vegan Shopper’ and I also became great friends with Arthur Ling, founder of Plamil Foods, the manufacturer of the first soya milk in the UK – wonderful inspiring people. I have some lovely memories of cooking with Eva. Generally, I do not find eating out enjoyable unless it is at the houses of friends and family. However, there is a lovely vegan restaurant ‘Wessex Tales’ in Boscombe that I treat myself to now and again.

Do you get a positive response if and when people discover you are vegan?
On the whole I do get a positive response. The majority of people care about animals and would prefer not to eat them but they switch off and kid themselves that the neat little package of food they buy from the supermarket isn’t an animal. Was it George Bernard Shaw who said that if slaughter houses had glass walls, few people would eat animals? Occasionally I am challenged but no one can argue with the fact that it is my belief, it is how I feel and I do not wish to cause suffering to animals.

As a qualified professional Dietitian at Dorchester Hospital by day, and a LETS member offering vegan cooking – what do you think are the health benefits and the pros and cons of a vegan diet? What about a vegetarian diet?
Working as a hospital dietitian, I keep my dietary preferences private. However, if someone does ask me, I would say I am vegan. Not so long ago, vegetables, grains, beans and fruit were only viewed as accompaniments to meals but now these foods are accepted as the most important part of our diet. More and more evidence highlights the benefits of a plant based diet and with the increasing burden of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and cancer, people should be working towards a plant based diet. Lots of studies corroborate this. I cannot see there being any cons to a vegan diet – lots of pros! However, with the increasing number of convenience vegan foods now available, it is possible to have a ‘junk food’ vegan diet with processed cereal, pastries, ready meals, biscuits, cakes and chocolates all readily available. Perhaps here I should stress that a reliable regular source of vitamin B12 is recommended. Few vegan foods contain this vitamin, so fortified non-dairy milks, fortified cereals and yeast extracts are needed and it is also sensible to consider taking a supplement. Recommendations are 3mcg per day from food or 10 mcg per day from a supplement. Vegetarian diets can be a useful step to veganism but reliance on too much dairy is not healthy.

What is your favourite food?
Gosh, my favourite food? There are so many! For a meal I think it has to be starting with a fruit salad, followed by some kind of nut roast with all the vegetables, finishing off with a yummy ‘cheese’ cake!

What do you enjoy most about cooking vegan food for LETS members?
The opportunity for me to experiment and share some of my favourite dishes and encourage people to try vegan foods.

Why do you celebrate World Vegan Day and help promote it, for example with your recent street stall in Dorchester?
I believe the vegan way of living has all the answers, for the animals, the environment and for man’s peace of mind.

Do you believe individuals can make a difference to either animals, the environment and/or other humans, if more people in the developed world ate less animal products and a more plant based diet, or were at least more discerning about how and where the animal products they do use (from meat and dairy foods, to leather and wool clothing, to general household products and cosmetics) were actually produced?
Absolutely. Just small steps. Even if someone stops eating battery eggs, what a huge difference that can have.

Many thanks to Sandra for her contribution and look out for announcements of her Vegan Cooking Workshops in 2009.

Visit Compassion in World Farming’s (CIWF) website on www.ciwf.org.uk for ideas on having a more compassionate Christmas free from factory-farmed animal products. Visit The Vegan Society website on www.vegansociety.com or the Vegetarian Society on www.vegsoc.org for resources on animal-free food and products.