Who deserves Vegan Society approval? A product or a company?

Recently i saw The Vegan Society has announced that Nestle had launched new vegan latte drinks with the Vegan Society approved logo.

Surprise, surprise they got a lot of stick for it, given Nestle’s practices over the years. How could an organization such as the Vegan Society dare to ‘endorse’ Nestle by approving one of their products to carry its logo? Surely this is unethical and against the very values they stand for? The Vegan Society responded saying they endorse only products not companies. Many people threatened to withdraw their membership in protest.

Ok, I understand. I’m not rushing out to buy one of these new products. But some perspective please. Are the Vegan Society helping large corporations engage in co-optation or vegan-washing? Are multinationals jumping in on a thunderous vegan bandwagon? Arguably yes.

I’ve seen all this play out with Fairtrade certification, there are innumerable products available with a fair trade certified logo that are from Big Corp. Has it harmed or helped the cause of fair trade? Both. You bring a wider audience, more revenue to those who need it but the risks of diluting the fair trade brand are high, and now we see some large companies creating their own ‘fair’ label, which carries far less accountability. But to ask that the Vegan Society become some kind of moral, ethical arbitrator of companies is not workable either, not yet anyway. Nestle seems a perfect case of Big Bad Corp, but where do you draw the line? What about supermarket own-brands? Or those smaller vegan companies who get bought out by the multinationals? It’s not so clear cut.

Should the Vegan Society have refused to endorse these Nestle products? Quite possibly yes, but on what grounds? By all means don’t buy their products, I won’t be doing so. To really try to see the amount of work necessary to investigate how ethical a company is, please turn to Ethical Consumer.

But it is a question worth asking: should the Vegan Society be held up as an organisation that considers the ethics of a company, not purely the product itself? How many Vegan Society Approved products would disappear from the supermarket shelf? And would that be a good thing?

@theoriginalvegansociety

@ethical_consumer_magazine

It’s Veganuary…

If you’re currently experimenting with a change in your diet and seeing what Veganuary is all about, well done, you’re half way through. If not…it’s never too late (even in February). As well as health and environmental benefits, the animals appreciate it too.

If you do eat meat and wonder how you could possibly consider going without it, at least give some consideration to where it comes from. You don’t have to kill your own, but someone, somewhere does, and that’s worth thinking about.

One farmer in Ontario reflected on his own chicken-killing experience recently.

(Credit: The Globe and Mail)

A little story about beef

This is worth a look at, showing a compelling analysis of global beef production and its effect on our planet. The Cost of Beef “story map” comes from an environmental perspective and is reputable, put together by esri, University of Minnesota and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Combining analysis, maps and photos, it presents a compelling argument that we cannot maintain the status quo.

For example, it shows the parts of the world where farmland is used to feed animals and for biofuels. More than one third of the calories produced from crops is not for human consumption and in the US less than half of all crops produced ends up as food for people.

https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2017/cost-of-beef/index.html

“Our appetite for meat – especially beef – is taking a huge bite out of our ability to feed people.”

Cycling through peanut butter

For a touring cyclist there can be no better energy food than peanut butter. Actually it’s just excellent food period. Already one of my favourite things to eat, it became my number one food of choice on the road. Being vegan, sampling a lot of local ‘delicacies’ was out the window, so as I moved further south, seeking out supplies of my favourite essential foodstuff became a bit of a mission, one that fortuitously led to discoveries in every country.

What’s there not to like? It goes with just about anything, sweet or savoury. My first few weeks in the USA were easy. Oh, how I look back fondly on those idyllic times, stopping mid-afternoon at a local natural food store for some organic, additive-free, peanut butter. If I was lucky, I could even grind the peanuts myself. Such luxury…

Back home in Vancouver I happily make a peanut butter sandwich with avocado and Marmite (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it…). Lacking the special Marmite magic on my travels, I kept to my favourite accompaniment – bananas. Even in Peru, my love affair with peanut butter was still going strong. Who needs variety when you’ve got peanut butter.

I didn’t expect to become so dependent on it, but as I realised I might be able to find supplies throughout Mexico I made a point of searching for it – high and low. I migrated from bread (Bimbo!) to fresh, often delicious tortillas, but I needed some quality toppings and fillings. Beans (with jalapenos)? Avocado and tomatoes (with jalapenos)? Both great options, but I needed that delicious, sweet taste and energy from the peanut butter and it’s conjoined twin, bananas (you can’t separate these things).

It became a bit of a game to try and hunt out peanut butter in each country I passed through. If I found a good source I’d buy extra – just in case there wasn’t any across the next border. However I lucked out every time, with only one – and a very minor one considering my alternatives – snag: Skippy, Jif and their ilk.

Like I said, I try to eat peanut butter as it should be. And that means peanuts. End of. No sugar, no palm oil, no hydrogenated oil, no random other ‘natural’ ingredients. I’ll allow a little salt. If it’s organic, so much the better. From Mexico southwards it was a different story. But needs must, so I wasn’t complaining. I learned to embrace Big Peanut Butter. It definitely spread better. Large jars of Skippy and Jif were stuffed into my panniers. Occasionally I’d see a ‘local’ brand, which really meant some country-specific peanut butter brand owned by the usual suspects. One was called Peter Pan. On very rare and heavenly days I found authentic, 100% peanut butter, such as from cafe Al-Natur in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. And it came crunchy.

Was it expensive? For me, touring on a tight budget, absolutely. I could destroy my daily food allowance on just a single jar. But it was worth it. If I found one country to be on the cheaper side, I’d stock up. I could have bought jam for a fraction of the price, but it’s nowhere near the same. My $6 indulgence. The funny thing was trying to compare prices in each country. Most places it worked out roughly similar, $5-$6 or thereabouts. Gringo prices for gringo food. Panama had pretty good prices and Colombia seemed to be the most expensive. But by then I didn’t care. I was well in for the long haul and even while I wasn’t cycling at that point, it was just too good. I almost brought some home.

Fair Trade and comfort food in Xela (Quetzaltenango)

I made my way up and down a few hills to the relative metropolis that is Quetzaltenango (or Xela, it’s name in the local language). I was happy to get here for a little rest, gringo food, and to explore some local Fair Trade organisations.

After recuperating from my volcanic experiences, I set about exploring the Fair Trade aspects of the city centre. Xela is popular with outsiders and tourists for Spanish language schools and adventure touring. There’s a number of young gringos around the centre and several places that cater for this type crowd. Of most interest to me – food and Fair Trade. I found more than enough here to satisfy my cravings.

I started with a couple of places: Al-Natur and El Cuartito. El Cuartito is a western-style cafe and coffee shop that serves Fair Trade organic coffee that tastes rich, sweet and comes in western-style sizes. Perfect! Al-Natur is more interesting though, as it’s a Fair Trade shop and cafe.

Al-Natur is run by Mario and his wife Carolina. Established three years ago, it’s a great little one-stop shop for local and regional “fairly traded” products. “Fair Trade” as a certification is rare within Guatemala, and really only exists for coffee that is exported to Europe and North America. Within the country there isn’t any official “Fair Trade” certifier or organisation that supports Fair Trade (for organic, “Mayacert” does certification within Guatemala). So the products at Al-Natur, which are typical of the products from small producers, are made based on fair trade principles. Al-Natur sells quite a range of things: textiles made by women’s co-operatives and associations; shampoos and natural products; jams; granola; peanut butter; flour; tea; coffee; chocolate (for drinking); as well as others bits and pieces. Most products are developed by co-operatives and individual producers. Mario used to work in helping various women’s groups and co-operatives and so now Al-Natur is a place where those producers can sell their products. It was here that I found out about the Trama textile co-operative and ASICHOQ, the chocolate producer association. I visited both organisations last week.

On the vegan and food side, I quickly found a few places that became favourites: Artesano for fresh bread (and vegan muffins!), a place I stumbled into every day; the Blue Angel cafe for decent, simple food and vegan cookies; and Aeropagus where I had the odd bagel and some very tasty vegan apple pie.

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Resting in San Cristobal

I decided I would take a bit of time to relax in San Cristobal, and it was a good place to do so. Decent food (for me, plenty of vegan options), excellent coffee (mucho organic, local and some ‘fair trade’ options too) and an attractive centre that makes for some easy-going, meandering walks around and about the distinct colonial architecture of the town.

It’s been a great way to unwind a bit and though I haven’t explored much outside of town I did get to see a good few things here. As well as my Fair Trade visits, Dan suggested I visit one or two of the several NGOs that are based here. Most of them are geared towards helping the indigenous populations in Chiapas. I met up with Faustino & Gilberto at Desmi and popped into the office of Frayba. As Dan had explained to me on our visit to Acteal, the local indigenous populations have suffered heavily over the years and organisations like these two try do what they can to help.

Desmi promotes the interests and rights of mixed and indigenous communities in Chiapas. They work to promote economic solidarity through means of justice, equality, dialogue and environmental respect, all geared towrds creating autonomy within these communities.

Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (Frayba) Center for Human Rights is an independent non-profit Civil Organization. Frayba was founded in 1989 through the initiative of Samuel Ruiz García, Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas. They work in defense and promotion of human rights, especially for the indigenous villages and communities here in Chiapas.

Changing tack…my time here coincided with an annual culture festival (Cervantino Barroco) so I got to sample some local music in different venues around the town. There is normally some music to be had here if you wander the plaza or some of the pedestrianised streets

I also took the chance (and I would certainly describe this as ‘taking a chance’) to send a couple of things back home. I’d tried to do so from La Paz and was confronted by the impressively convoluted way of using the Mexican postal system. When I was there, any package must first be inspected by customs, which was conveniently located about 3km away from the post office. So I expected more hassle here in San Cristobal, but firstly I had to find an envelope…

After trawling around town trying to find a large packet envelope (Mexican post offices haven’t got around to selling the kind of things you might need to send a package. Just stamps), I went back to the post office to await the fun. Amazingly enough it was not only straightforward but I got a lot of help getting it sent. The guy behind the counter found an old box that I could use; he packed it up (firstly having to check what I was sending) and conveniently ignored the extra few grams that took the package into a higher price band. I expected nothing but more hassle and so I’ve had to revise my view a little. The other strange thing was seeing the row of staff busy typing away on typewriters, though one lady looked particularly bored as she plodded her finger on the space bar to get to the end of the line…

I stayed at a nicely-run B&B called Gite del Sol. It was inexpensive and friendly, on the lower scale but suited my needs (apart from getting used to the cool evenings and crispy mornings). It’s run by a Mexican-Canadian couple so I kept hearing French and English as well as Spanish, as welll as the odd spattering of German too. As for food and coffee, I found some great places here. The best vegetarian (where I went repeatedly) was Arcoiris, which does a vegetarian buffet. It’s very homely and low-key and they do some ‘interesting’ combinations when using up the previous day’s food, particularly the bread…but it’s generally fresh and it was easy to find vegan options there. My top recommendation! There are a couple of really good bakeries (Madre Tierra and Casa del Pan Papalotl, which is also organic) too where I ate enough bread to make up for all the tortillas I’d been eating for the previous two months. For coffee I had too much choice…from the Cafe Museo, Casa del Pan, Madre Tierra, Cafe La Selva, Cafe Yik…all organic, some Fair Trade, all local Chiapas coffee.

Leaving San Cristobal was hard to do…but Guatemala soon awaits!

Great place for a wander

More walkable streets in San Cristobal

Checking out some local Chiapas coffee history at the Cafe Museo

At the Cafe Museo: some familiar Fair Trade products that COOPCAFE produces coffee for

Checking out the colourful stalls. Too much for me to carry though

A few women selling their wares at the market

Arcoiris – a vegetarian and vegan oasis

Madre Tierra: I’ll be remembering the bread and cinnamon buns for a long time..

Dan and his family in San Cristobal

Marimba Orquestra with a touch of saxophone class

I’m not quite sure who this band is..

Place de la Paz in the late afternoon sun

Bimbo: Mexico’s breadmaker mafia

If you were reading this blog a few months ago, you’ll know about the fun I had trying to escape the tentacles of the Franz breadmaker mafia. Luckily Franz is a regional player, albeit with a lot more reach than I bargained for.

However, for bread in Mexico there’s just no getting away from Bimbo (pronounced Beem-bo). I can’t fathom the reasons for the name, but obviously it’s not the same in Spanish. The cuddly bear mascot reminded me of Mr Stay-Puft from Ghostbusters, and it’s an appropriate comparison given the size of the Bimbo company. Occasionally when I feel like a change from tortillas I check out the Bimbo offerings.

A breadmaker mafia this size clearly has far-reaching tentacles and Bimbo are huge. Grupo Bimbo turns out to be one of the biggest food manufacturers in the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupo_Bimbo). They’re only the 4th largest food company in the world behind Unilever, Kraft and Nestle and were the world’s largest bread manufacturer in 2010. Stick that up your pipe and smoke it, Franz! So there’s no getting away from them (except in San Cristobal where I found a number of great independent bakeries).

I really know nothing more about Bimbo’s ethics – though I guess it operates in much the same way as any other huge multinational – but the bread I’ve found so far is vegan friendly. No random milk ingredients or sneaky dairy has been added (though plenty of other ‘un-natural’ ingredients are thrown in there), but I do get to ingest a wide range of interesting-sounding chemicals that are typical within modern bread that never goes stale.

The other fun thing is seeing all the Bimbo bread vans careering around the towns and villages. I think this is where Postman Pat came after the Royal Mail gave him his P45 all those years ago.

A Bimbo bread van. They’re everywhere

Another Bimbo bread van. I think Postman Pat delivers bread for them now

My Bimbo bread wrapper. It’s vegan…

Meet and two veg: Discovery Organics tell us about the produce we eat

As I’ve cycled through Mexico I’ve managed to find a lot of interesting, locally-produced fruit (and the odd vegetable too). Easily available fruit that I’ve been enjoying – mangoes, guava, bananas, melon, oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, pineapple, coconut…exotic stuff! Even though I have missed out on the summer Vancouver produce I feel I’m getting a pretty good deal here.

But those of us back in Vancouver, US and Europe have to go to a bit more trouble to sample these kinds of fruit. We’ve got used to seeing most of those on our shelves for at least a good part of the year and pretty much take it for granted nowadays.

Sometimes it’s a good idea to step back a bit and think about how this all gets to your local shop.

The other day I read a blog post from Discovery Organics, a Vancouver-based produce importer/distributor that promotes organic, Fair Trade and local produce through developing long-term relationships with small-scale farmers. It’s owned by Randy and Annie, two passionate advocates for good quality food and fair working conditions. They do a fantastic job bringing organic, and especially Fair Trade, produce to Vancouver and western Canada.

I read a blog piece by Randy about a visit he made to Peru just over a week ago. It really brought home to me how connected we are to the places our food comes from, even if we pay little attention to that fact.

You can read the piece below, and for more info about Discovery Organics, check them out on the link below.

http://www.discoveryorganics.ca/blog

Randy’s produce update: climate change and produce supply

I was in Peru last week, and was lucky enough to be involved in a rather impromptu get-together with produce importers from the U.S., England, France and Italy.  Our conversation turned quickly to climate change, and the impact on agriculture.  This was after I had been talking to our three different co-ops of mango producers, all wondering how they are going to survive.  Pollination is down 80% in some areas, and one variety of mangos is ripening 2 weeks ahead of schedule, while the other, normally shipping in early November, won’t be ready until after Christmas, potentially overlapping with the Mexican crop, instead of falling in a perfect window.  This year, Chile lost a huge amount of their avocado crop, with the coldest, most brutal winter on record – including snow and hard frost in areas that have never seen them. 

Interestingly, the biggest impact the Europeans are seeing is the dramatically different quality in citrus, with rapid ripening, quick ‘re-greening’ and low juice content.  Juice content in limes from parts of Mexico have lowered 10% over the last 2 years.  Warming in certain areas is allowing tropical diseases to migrate farther and farther from the Equator, where growers have been caught off guard.  The Veracruz area on the Bay of Campeche in South Central Mexico has lost 70,000 hectares of citrus production this year to a new disease. In New Zealand, kiwi growers took a hit with production expected to drop 20% next season. 

As suppliers, we are going to have to watch, very closely, as many crops, including some vegetables are going to do weird things, both in the tree, as well as in storage and on the shelf, and adapt quickly to these changing times.  Even wheat harvests, even in a good growing year like this one, have been reduced 20% because of the largest ozone hole ever recorded over the Arctic stretched across Russia, and scorching the plants with excessive UVB levels. 

This past growing season locally may also be a warning sign of tough times ahead, and B.C. growers will also have to adapt to different planting times, and innovative strategies, to move forward profitably.   

Not a great Thanksgiving message, as we celebrate the hard work of all farmers out there at the end of harvest-time. 

Once we become part of this huge global food system, whether as a farmer or a retailer, we become enrolled in the love of feeding people – especially healthy, organic food.  The entire Discovery team wishes you all a great Thanksgiving weekend, and eternal thanks for what you do!

Edna Ruth Byler and 65 years of Ten Thousand Villages

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that I named my bike Edna. The inspiration for the name came from Edna Ruth Byler, generally regarded as the founder of the modern Fair Trade movement. Well, 1st October was the 65th anniversary of Ten Thousand Villages, the current organisation that was founded upon Edna’s earlier work.

http://youtu.be/Vi1rMmDhWHI

Less well known is that she had some skill in the kitchen, if her cookbook and baking classes are anything to go by.One of her master recipes below is an inspiration at annual MCC relief sales. Edna’s famous recipe can be found on page 65 of the More-With-Less Cookbook.

October is Fair Trade Month (in the USA) so if you can, make a little extra effort and try to find a Fair Trade product to buy instead of your usual purchases. I can virtually guarantee it won’t be as hard as you think!

http://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/cgi-bin/category.cgi?type=store&item=pageZAAAG13&template=fullpage-en&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=65th+Newsletter+English&utm_content=65th+Newsletter+English+CID_b828d41e6a00db86dffb3d1ebc36868d&utm_source=Email+Marketing+Software&utm_term=Edna+Ruth+Bylers+Baked+Goods+Recipe

You can find out more by following the link above, and if you’re impatient to get started on her recipe, here are some instructions. I’m pretty sure Edna wasn’t vegan but these can easily be improved (sorry, I mean adapted) to cater for vegan tastes.

It’s Fair Trade Month in the USA and there are a number of events this month in Vancouver, culminating with Halloween so be sure to buy your Fair Trade chocolate this month!

http://fairtrade.ca/

http://fairtradeusa.org/

RECIPES (note that Edna is clearly from the ‘old school’ – who has a deep fryer or uses shortening these days!?)

Produces 100 doughnuts or rolls.

Preheat an oven to 400º or deep fryer to 375º, depending on recipe

Dissolve:
3 pkg. dry yeast in
1 c. lukewarm water

Mix in large bowl: 1 qt. scalded milk
2 c. mashed potatoes (no milk added)
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. margarine
1 c. sugar

Let cool to lukewarm, then add:
yeast mixture
6 c. flour

Let stand until mixture foams up (about 20 minutes)

Add:
2 eggs, beaten
1 T. salt
11-12 c. additional flour

A little more flour may be needed, but dough should be soft. Turn out on floured board and knead until satiny. Let raise in warm place until doubled in bulk.

Doughnuts: Roll out dough, cut doughnuts, place on trays and let raise until not quite double. Fry in hot shortening (375º). When drained and while still hot dip in glaze mixture. Insert a stick through holes and let a number of doughnuts drain over glaze bowl until next ones are ready to do.

Glaze
Combine:
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 T. margarine
1 t. vanilla
dash of mace
enough rich milk to make thin icing 

Cinnamon buns: Prepare a mixture of butter and margarine and a mixture of sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Roll a piece of dough to about 18×9″. Spread dough with butter mixture and sprinkle on some of the sugar mixture. Roll up the dough as for a jelly roll. Cut 1 ½” chunks and place in greased pans, pressing down lightly on each chunk. Cover and let rise in warm place until nearly double in size. Bake at 400º for 15-20 minutes or until browned. These may be iced with doughnut glaze as soon as they are taken from the oven.

Sticky buns: Handle dough same as for cinnamon buns, except make a mixture of brown and white sugar, cinnamon, and a little white corn syrup and water. Spread in bottom of heavily greased pans with nuts, if desired, before putting in rolls. Immediately after baking, invert pans over trays and let syrup run down before removing pans.

Dinner rolls: Shape dough as desired, place on greased pans, and bake at 400º starting on a lower rack and changing to upper rack about halfway through for 15 minutes of baking time. Brush tops lightly with butter to remove any floury appearance.

Coffee cake: A good way to use all the leftover bits of dough – put dough in greased pan, dab or punch holes in it, and spread leftover sugar, syrup, or butter mixtures over. Let raise and bake as for cinnamon buns. 

To freeze: Let baked goods cool. Wrap or place in large plastic bags freeze the same day.

Beans does not mean Heinz

It’s fair to say I haven’t quite got into the spirit of the food here in Mexico yet, as I don’t often eat out at one of the numerous stands or restaurants that offer the typical Mexican comida. Mostly I make my own vegan creations using the same ingredients though, and that’s generally good enough for me for the moment. Yes there’s a limited choice for me – plenty of tortillas and beans but beyond that it’s hard to pick out new things and get people to understand what I do and don’t eat.

However when it comes to fruit and other things I’ve got plenty of options and though I miss (in particular) the BC blueberries it’s been more than compensated by mangoes, pineapple, papaya, melon, oranges, guava…and now plenty of coconut! This area has lots of coconut dulces (sweets) and though much of it also contains milk I’ve found enough without to keep me in coconut dessert for many a day.

Entering Puerto Vallarta I knew I’d have a lot more flexibility, though I’m used to getting just one or two options (it’s almost disconcerting to get lots of options…). So the first place on my hit-list proved to be the only one I needed. Good food, plentiful portions (buffet), and very reasonably priced. For breakfast it’s got a mix of Mexican dishes (including beans of course, plus pancakes that I skipped on) and I went back again for dinner. I piled on the vegetables (grilled and fresh), various salads (tomato and basil was particularly good as I haven’t had basil for ages) and some hot grilled veg with soy chunks (pretty tasty). Alas I had to pass on the stuffed peppers and creamed cauliflower. And I topped it all off with a small portion of (non-Heinz) beans…

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And for those of you who have no clue what the title means, or just want to remember a classic, take a look at ‘clever’ Kev…