Episode 87 Eco Festival 2012, Vegan Cooking Classes and Vegan Pizza!
2m World Vegan Day approaches, audio and video clips from listeners wanted for Special Episode!
5m October 2012 INVSOC Potluck, featuring Anna of the Christchurch Vegetarian Centre and THREE Pizzas!
15m Transition Towns Spring Eco Festival 2012, Invercargill Vegan Society Stall
16m My Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin demonstration :-)
20m The Croft "Anti Vegan" stall peace offering
26m Forks Over Knives review by the INVSOC Medical Staff
31m Russell, Luke at Eco Festival 2012
34m Grant Meikle, Sea Shepherd, Hectors Dolphin Protection
36m Hollie Guyton, All Good Fair Trade Bananas
38m Robert Guyton, Environmentalist Second To None
39m Michael Thomas, Sustainable Building Alliance
41m Terry Guyton, Parkour
43m Rebecca Amunsden, Festival Organiser
46m Seventh Day Adventists Weekly Vegan Cooking Class!!!
53m World Vegan Day clips wanted
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Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals iTunes link
Hello and welcome to Episode 87 of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals: Eco Festival 2012, Vegan Cooking Classes and Vegan Pizza!
Lots of lovely INVSOC activities to report on for this episode, the last regular episode before….World Vegan Day, 1st of November. World Vegan Day, our most holy of holy Vegan ceremonies. Try telling your boss its a public holiday, eh, its a worldwide global recession anyway! Might as well take a day off work and be one of the cool kids!
I would love if you'd send in a clip for my World Vegan Day 2012 special episode. Details will be in this episodes show notes, or you can find demo clips and questions at www.coexisting.co.nz , a post from late September.
Heres an audio clip sent in from my friend Barbara as an example, of how 2012 has been for Veganism for her, how her Vegan community in her area is, and what they are looking forward to in the future:
Thank you Barbara for sharing your plans and progress with promoting Veganism :-)
If you are listening to this show, hi! I'd love to include a clip from you, be it audio or video. I'll include full videos on a blog post made on the 1st of November, World Vegan Day, and use the sound from the videos received in the podcast episode.
For more information, check out www.coexisting.co.nz , or ask on our Facebook group, Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals, I'd love to include you!
So whats been happening here in Invercargill?
Our October 2012 Invercargill Vegan Society potluck went down well. We had a special guest, Anna from the Christchurch Vegetarian Centre. Christchurch, home of the earthquake is New Zealands vegetarian epicenter. As we're about to hear, the Christchurch Vegetarian Centre has Vegan activities running all the time!
Russell and I tend to bring the same exact thing to each of our potlucks. He's taken to coordinating with me so it WONT happen…….but when I found out he was making Pizza, I thought I'd match him for a joke, AND even order a commercial Hell pizza to be delivered to us at a specific time! Hell are a New Zealand Pizza chain which is taking over the world, you can buy a Hell pizza in India, Ireland, Australia………and Invercargill. You can hear more about Hell pizza in Episode 84, Hellhounds with Hotdogs accompany Stephen King and Men in Tutus.
I ordered the pizza online a few hours before our potluck, arranging delivery for Katharines house, where our potluck was to be held. It was set to arrive at 7:15pm, once we'd all settled down for the 7 o'clock potluck. Heres a thrifty budget saving tip folks, for these tough global recession times. Order your pizzas online and pay by credit or debit card, because that way you're not fumbling around with change, where you might find yourself expected to give the pizza delivery guy a tip! Hey, its not like America here, people are not expected to "tip", service industry jobs pay a living wage here. And what, so I'd pay with cash and have a spare dollar something in coins given to me as change, "um, thanks for delivering our pizza, here, have a couple silver coins?" Its an insult if anything!
Russell made TWO pizzas, he had a whole bizarrely square pizza left at the end, so everyone to take slices home. I had two Pita Pepper Pizzas left, out of the ten I brought :-)
No shortage of vegan pizza at our October 2012 potluck!
We've also had our Spring Eco Festival, likeminded groups and businesses having stalls inside a local hall, shops promoting their wares, groups promoting their whats and activists promoting their whys.
Last year, I literally found out about the festival being on the day before! I saw an article about it in a local newspaper, rang organizer Rebecca Amunsden and asked if I could be involved. INVSOC had a tiny formica table, staffed by one single vegan! :-) It went well, I made new friends, gave away vegan baking, took lots of photos, showed lots of photos to interested people from my iPad, and had a great time.
And this year, the 2012 Eco Festival? Well, I wheedled my way into a position of power, I managed to get onto the organizing committee.
I've got a long blog post up about the festival, with more photos than you could possibly ever want to see. I also recorded audio interviews with other stall holders.
It was a little terrifying being inside the Badminton Hall at Stadium Southland again, since in 2010 the main venue collapsed due to a little bit of snow on the roof. We had harsh weather during the Eco Festival, which lead to a few of my inappropriate jokes about the place caving in. I'm always the life of the party like that.
So what happened at Eco Festival 2012? Lead organizer Rebecca asked if I would have a "Vegan Baking Demonstration", which was hard to turn down! Who WOULDN'T like to show everyone else how to bake banana chocolate chip muffins, and to seize the opportunity to spout off Vegan propaganda while doing so?
I had a decent sized table this year for the Invercargill Vegan Society stall, and beside me was INVSOC member Russell, who had a table for SAFE. We both promoted Veganism, straight up Veganism, which was great. I had full sized muffins at my stall, baked the night before, and Russell had perfect little iced cupcakes. Free Cupcake or Muffin with a conversation, in the style of Renata Peters and the Alice Springs Vegan Society!
When it came time for my cooking class, I asked Russell to man the INVSOC stall. Rebecca announced my demonstration would begin over the PA, and people met me at the facilities kitchen.
I had a former alcohol bottle, filled with water which I drank from during the day. I don't drink alcohol, but its great fun to be seen drinking a clear liquid from a large vodka bottle all day long as the rain thunders down overhead.
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Now, I wont bore you by playing back the ENTIRE seventeen minute long cooking class clip I recorded. Its on the blogpost for Eco Festival 2012 if you really have nothing better to do than listen to some guy awkwardly sift a couple cups of flour into a mixing bowl, and mash bananas, and stir in soy milk while a small crowd watch!
Here are some of the riveting highlights though!
Believe it or not, on the feedback forms filled out after the festival, a fair number of people had written down that the Vegan muffins were a memorable highlight! I gave away a couple dozen of the little blighters during the day, everyone had a chance to try Vegan baking. I like calling it "vegan baking", like its magically sooooo different to non vegan baking, like it takes special skill to make muffins without using something from a hens bottom, or cows breast! Luckily everyone at Eco Festival had such a fantastic wiz in the kitchen as yours truly to show them the way.
There was actually a particularly "Anti Vegan" group at the event, calling their business "The Croft", they are involved with that "Weston A Price foundation", the dentist guy from like a hundred years ago who promoted drinking raw cows milk or something…….apparently the group has made up its own rules over time since Price died, but I'm not an expert on them, like I am on "Vegan Baking".
I had a talk with the woman in charge, offering her the universal symbol of peace, vegan baking. I knew she wouldn't accept it, because it had flour inside, and they are against flour, as well as soy milk, and soy itself……but it was fun to make the gesture anyway! Likewise, I wouldn't accept any of the giant glass jar filled with what appeared to be pure fat, raw cows milk, at room temperature.
One of The Crofts online recipes calls for "beef stock". This is meant to be HEALTHY for you, quote:
"Good beef stock must be made with several sorts of bones: knuckle bones and feet impart large quantities of gelatine to the broth; marrow bones impart flavour and the particular nutrients of bone marrow; and meaty rib or neck bones add colour and flavor."
"Place the knuckle and marrowbones and optional calves foot in a very large pot with vinegar and cover with water. Let stand for one hour."
"Simmer stock for at least 12 and as long as 72 hours. Just before finishing, add the parsley and simmer another 10 minutes.
You will now have a pot of rather repulsive-looking brown liquid containing globs of gelatinous and fatty material. It doesn’t even smell particularly good, but don’t despair. After straining you will have a delicious and nourishing clear broth that forms the basis for many other recipes.
Remove bones with tongs or a slotted spoon. Strain the stock into a large bowl. Let cool in the refrigerator and remove the congealed fat that rises to the top. Transfer 2 to 3 cups into plastic bags for long-term freezer storage."
The great thing about Vegan food is that you NEVER have to describe it as "rather repulsive looking brown liquid containing globs of gelatinous and fatty material. It doesn’t even smell particularly good".
They didn't have any of this "delicious and nourishing clear broth" for sample at Eco Festival 2012, but even if they had, I'm not sure if it would have been as popular as our Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and cupcakes! :-)
The Invercargill Vegan Society now has a Medical Ward! We have Dan who is a nurse at the hospital, Noelle is studying to become a nurse, and new member Luke, who is JUST about to become a qualified doctor.
I met Luke at Greendrinks, a monthly meeting at a local cafe to talk about environmental issues. I go to bring up Veganism with attendees. We have it listed on the INVSOC website, in the Events section.
Luke saw one of our INVSOC posters at the hospital, put up by nurse Dan, and looked up our website. He saw Greendrinks listed there, and made an effort to come and introduce himself to us :-)
I asked Luke what he thought about Vegans making health claims. I'd told him before that as I am NOT a doctor or nurse, I prefer not to make any boasts about increased eye sight or ability to stand on one foot for being Vegan. Luke said that the documentary Forks over Knives was a good start to get people considering Veganism, focusing on health and our environment. We decided to watch Forks over Knives as a group, with Dan and Luke representing the INVSOC Medical Wing.
I loved this clip from Forks over Knives, a way of describing Vegan food :-)
And guess who I saw the the Eco Festival! Doctor Luke MD!
Russell has a non smartphone, you could hear him beep booop beeeeeep beeeeeep booooooooop-ing as he rang the winner of his Vegan products raffle. What a great idea, to sell raffle tickets for a big hamper, the money going towards an animal sanctuary or charity.
Speaking of Grant Meikle of Sea Shepherd, I ran into the guy! Did he like the muffins I explicitly made for him? Or did he try to find faults in them? We'll soon hear!
Bloody hell! I swear, theres not even coffee in my house! I'll try again at NEXT years festival to impress the guy!
At the festival, I found Hollie Guyton, of the infamous Guyton family of environmental activists. Hollie is best known for her Fair Trade promotion, including All Good Fair Trade Bananas:
And heres Environment Southland councillor Robert Guyton himself! We start off discussing recording equipment, for his radio show "Get Down To Earth"
Our friend Michael Thomas was the the festival. I see Michael at Green Drinks each month, where we discuss technology and his fascination with building houses out of straw, sustainable insulation!
One last Guyton for the day, Terry Guyton, the oldest son. Parkour is all about running and jumping off things, trying to break your neck.
Last clip from the Eco Festival, with lead organizer Rebecca Amunsden! We'd been joking about how people get her name wrong, I always want to pronounce her surname adminson or something, but people also call her Amanda instead of Rebecca or something?
Eco Festival 2012 was ….the same size, but BRIGHTER than ever before. Despite reports of coffee tainted muffins (totally made up I assure you, although cocoa and cinnamon would work well as a hot drink flavor combination), the "vegan style" muffins were a big hit!
In the Cooking Demonstration, I mentioned that huge New Zealand food brand Sanitarium was a Seventh Day Adventist run company. They have a large range of vegan products, alongside New Zealand mainstays such as "Weetbix" breakfast cereal, these kind of brick like bars of wheat which break down when you have them with hot water and soymilk into a porridge-y mush.
But their product I like most of all? Marmite! The precious New Zealand Marmite, unavailable since the recent Canterbury Earthquakes which put their factory out of commission. Regular reports and photos are shared onto the Sanitarium Facebook page, with national ad campaigns of "Don't Freak, It'll be Back!". Its been months, half a year, a year since Marmite was easily available on shelves, a delicious thick black toast spread. I ALWAYS had it with my lunch time sandwiches at work. Lovely fresh bread, tomato, red onion, lettuce….and Marmite for a tangy strong flavor. Very salty, hard to describe the taste exactly. Its made from brewers yeast, and is a great source of Iron and B12.
The Adventists here in Invercargill are actually running a WEEKLY Vegan cooking class, every week, how cool is that? Amazing! Just to be in a room with a group of other people who openly say Vegan, with slideshow presentations by Doctor Thomas about cholesterol and how the food we eat can affect us. Many are Vegan-ish, heading to Vegan, its superb!
I've been to both of the cooking classes so far, and look forward to attending more. I've added their details to the Invercargill Vegan Society Events page, to encourage more people to support the class, Atheist or not, we're all welcome.
At todays class, I recorded a short interview with my new religious friends:
I love that we now have a weekly VEGAN cooking class! At both events so far, theres been a crowd of twenty-thirty people, which is great! Imagine if they all go Vegan, they're certainly coming our way! Its really amazing to think we now have a weekly Vegan cooking class, as well as our own monthly potlucks.
The more Vegan activities we can hold, the better! We've got to catch up with that Christchurch Vegetarian Centre somehow!!! :-)
I feel we're very lucky indeed to now have a regular Vegan cooking class. Remember, its not that long ago that I'd never met another Vegan before, February 2011 I met Dan. Soon it'll be two years to the day.
Speaking of Vegan events……
November 1st is World Vegan Day, the holiest day in all of secular Veganism! I'm going to run a World Vegan Day special, featuring clips of Vegans around the world. If you'd like to be included, please check out www.coexisting.co.nz , I'd like to include as many Vegans from around the world as possible, sharing what its like to be Vegan in their part of the world, how 2012 has been for them as a Vegan, if they have any plans for World Vegan Day, and if they have a solid supply of Seventh Day Adventist made Marmite available.
Heres an example, from Ron in Melbourne Australia
5000 Vegans? Um……ok, our RSVP event is aiming more at twenty to thirty………..but um……..its still going to be cool! Promise! :-)
More details about the World Vegan Day Episode can be found at
www.coexisting.co.nz
We'll also have details of our World Vegan Day 2012 plans on the Invercargill Vegan Society website, www.invsoc.org.nz
I'm looking forward to World Vegan Day, and I hope you are too :-)
Thank you for listening to Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals.
You can find the script for this episode, as well as downloads for every episode of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals at www.coexisting.co.nz
If you want to contact me, I'd really love to hear from YOU, please send me an email to info@invsoc.org.nz
I'm also on Facebook and Twitter, Jordan Wyatt, W Y A T T and please, "like" our groups, Invercargill Vegan Society, and Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals.
Thank you for listening.
Sources
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World Vegan Day Special Episode Clips Wanted! :-)
Invercargill Vegan Society
Spring Eco Festival 2011!
The Croft, somewhat "Anti Veganism" group, all about "raw cows milk" and "bone broth" - check out this LOVELY sounding recipe!
Seventh Day Adventist story about McDonalds and their "Filet o Fish"
Great instrumental for Earth Wind and Fire "September", well done!
Hi Jordan, you mentioned Forks Over Knives. It may interest you to know that there is an extended interview follow up to the original movie. If your friend liked Dr. McDougall, he will be in for a treat. I'm a big fan of his myself.
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