I got round to reading "How To Live Vegan". It was written by the so-called Bosh! Boys - my son Ian and his friend Henry Firth. They wrote it at the behest of their publisher - Harper Collins who realised that there was a place for such a lifestyle manual in a changing world where more and more people are considering moving to plant-based diets - recognising the huge detrimental impact that meat dairy and egg consumption are having upon our planet.
But please don't think that "How To Live Vegan" is preachy, adding to climate crisis tales of gloom and doom. No way. It is an upbeat, friendly and honest guide to adopting a vegan lifestyle in this modern world. It is easy to read and practical too.
It considers such matters as the clothes we wear, cosmetics, eating out, dealing with cynics and sceptics, shopping in supermarkets, travel, meal planning and best practice in the kitchen. The underlying messages are that it is good to be alive, it's good to aspire to live better lives and it's good to adopt a plant-based diet.
From the word go - Ian has always said that the number one reason he turned vegan was through watching the 2014 documentary "Cowspiracy" by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. This film is referred to in "How To Live Vegan" and so just the other night I finally watched it. It is available in Netflix but here's a YouTube link to the official trailer.
I had imagined that "Cowspiracy" would be about intensive farming methods and mistreatment of farm animals but it wasn't that at all. It was about the massive harm that animal industries are doing to our planet and how the startling connected statistics have so often been swept conveniently under political carpets in a weird conspiracy of silence.
"How To Live Vegan" contains three hundred pages of positive, straightforward assistance. It tells us that it is okay to approach veganism in the way that best suits you and that no one can be 100% vegan. There will be slip-ups and contradictions along the way. Ian and Henry twice refer to the British Vegan Society's definition of veganism:-
Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is
possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty
to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.
The emphasis is upon the terms "possible" and "practicable" - riders sensibly embraced in this handbook.
The third Bosh! recipe book - "Bosh! Healthy Vegan" will be available in Britain from Boxing Day and in the USA on January 28th.
Judging the by stupid things I hear about veganism, this book is overdue. Will the ignorant people read it, though?
ReplyDeleteeg. "why are those vegans in this restaurant? vegans don't make money, how can they afford it?"
Big congratulations to the boys and proud parents!
Attitudes are changing. Those tired remarks are surely dying out now. Lewis Hamilton - the World F1 Champion is a vegan and so is Serena Williams.
DeleteCongratulations to your son and his friend.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lily.
DeleteI would imagine that you've had to sew quite a few buttons back on your jacket after you've popped them with the pride you must have. What Ian is doing isn't just becoming a "success". He's helping the planet in a beautiful way.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Ms. Moon, I am very proud of him and what he is doing.
DeleteThis sounds like a needed and very good book. I am going to order one for my vegan granddaughter Annika. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteIt will be a good Christmas present for her Bonnie.
DeleteI wonder who in my family this would make the perfect Christmas present for.
ReplyDeleteYes, environmental considerations should move a lot more people to eat a lot less meat, drive their cars a lot less and buy a lot less throwaway stuff such as cheap clothes.
I know that, if I had to procure meat and other animal-based food for myself (such as killing a pig or a cow), I'd definitely be vegetarian, if not vegan.
When we see meat neatly presented in supermarket coolers we rarely consider the business of slaughter.
DeleteI can't believe how much work these two accomplish. Productions seem to keep on coming out on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to them both for writing about veganism and promoting the idea about eating less animals. Funnily enough I found the 'Bosh' cookery book in the library yesterday. It is good when there is a swell of people to follow such things as vegetarianism and the vegan way but will it ever become a major part of the world diet?
ReplyDeleteVeganism is becoming less weird than it used to be. Besides all of us are vegan when we eat salad - of the lettuce and tomato variety or of the fruit variety. The reason Ian and Henry have earned a ten episode TV series is because it is clear that more and more people are turning to veganism and vegetarianism.
DeleteI eat what I feel like eating...I eat what I like. There is much I like...over a vast range of foods...meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables, fruit, lentils, beans, dairy products, breads, grains, rice, raw nuts...on and on....Oh! I eat ice cream, too...and I love liquorice!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the lads are doing so well - onward and upward for them both, deservedly reaping the benefits of their hard work all the way.
The world's population has almost trebled since you were born Lee. Everybody still has to eat. Thanks once again for your Bosh! support.
DeleteWow! Really? I didn't know that, Yorkie re the population increase and the desire to eat. Wonders never do cease! :)
DeleteDo I detect a glimmer of sarcasm in your response?
DeleteEven Blind Freddy would, Yorkie! :)
DeleteThe subject has been on my mind a lot recently as more and more friends and, more usually, their children have tended towards veganism. I think the difference many people do not understand is vegan as a diet choice and veganism as a 'religion' where absolutely nothing originating from an animal source is used from silk to leather. A vegan friend used to say that I should wear plastic shoes. I assume that that is now outlawed too.
ReplyDeleteI think that Ian and Henry would both say that people who are interested in becoming vegan should strive towards veganism in the ways that are right for them. "Living Vegan" isn't giving hard and fsst rules - just helpful ideas. By the way, I see what you mean about the plastic shoes dilemma!
DeleteWell done to the boys - I shall try to catch their TV programme when it's aired.
ReplyDeleteI'm like Lee - I eat what I like, sometimes I have vegetarian days, sometimes, fish or meat.
I wonder, if in a couple of hundred years time, when almost everyone on the planet is either vegetarian or vegan, or just popping the correct pills, will someone come up with the brilliant idea that eating meat is the latest thing - and begin another fashion? Will they will start to clone the few remaining endangered cows, sheep, chickens, or fish, in the Zoo?
Maybe by then everybody will be eating man-made meat grown from plant cells.
DeleteThat seems like a much more acceptable alternative.
DeleteThis sounds like such an excellent approach to vegan eating. I think many people in the past have felt a fully vegan diet was too restrictive and wrote it off completely, whereas doing "what we can" helps with the overall result and is a doable and worthwhile goal to strive for. I wish Ian and Henry much success. I think the time is right for this book. And well done you for helping promote it through your review and explanation.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wrote the review free of charge!
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