Is This What a Vegan Looks Like?

BUILD yOUR OWN is this VEGAN what

looks like? The V word. It could conjure images of a slogan tee or a blood-splattered placard; be the root of your entire identity or the source of all your cynicism. As veganism continues to monopolise headlines (and not always for the right reasons), one vegan-curious writer asks what it means to be plant-powered in 2018

words roisÍn dervish-o’kane illustration JONATHAN ALLARDYCE

I should know. At the risk of sounding theory within 30 seconds. ‘That style of like an insufferable bellend, I was a vegan militant activism was actually very popular long before the high street made a T-shirt in the 1980s and 1990s, when veganism was about it. For half the week, between the ages an out-there concept and people thought of four and seven, I lived with my dad – and the only way to get attention was to be earing her an interchangeable cast of up to 12 other spread, unable to separate the faces of dairy controversial,’ she explains. ‘But the data destination, adults and children – in a sustainable-living cows from the unctuous pleasure of salted shows that the vegan movement moved a bustling cooperative between two crumbling houses butter; when I actually gave a shit. Yes, this dramatically away from that as it became street in Soho, in a deprived part of Sheffield. Veganism nostalgia is partly fuelled by FOMO; even more popular – and professional.’ Oh. Lydia Smyth’s was at the heart of our alternative setup. the friends who once served a bowl of raw heart does a Vegetables were grown out the back or in crudités to their token veggie mate as a pacy tap dance The WRITER nearby allotments; the milk in the fridge hilarious non-meat alternative to a chicken CRIMES OF PASSION in her chest. Roisín Dervish-O’Kane, was soya; and rocking up at a protest curry have now shunned eggs, topping their But if veganism has sharpened up since The sleepless WH Features Writer armed with flyers was as ordinary an event weekend #avotoast with dukkah-sprinkled the days when I stood outside McDonald’s nights, the as a bowling outing. I was an enthusiastic butter beans instead. But it’s also got a lot handing out homemade soya burgers, why strained member of a small organisation called to do with the whole greenhouse-gases- does it feel like it’s become darker? Among conversations Sheffield Kids Against McDonald’s. Much emitted-by-livestock issue. the recent acts of extreme veganism are with her as I’d like to use this as evidence of being Something niggles in the back of my tweets sent to a farming sustainability mother and ahead of the curve (*hair flick*), as I grew mind, though. Perhaps it’s all the headlines consultant suggesting that drinking cow’s the meticulous older – and my living arrangements became about vegans delivering death threats. Or milk would bring back the cancer she’d planning more conventional – my commitment to maybe it’s that joke about how you always just recovered from; masked groups meetings have the cause faded. Throughout my teenage know if someone is vegan (because they’ll breaking into abattoirs; and a 20-year-old all led the 23-year-old charity worker years, I drifted between veganism and make sure you know within seconds of trainee sheep farmer hounded with death to this moment. Taking a deep breath, vegetarianism, and by 22, I had a taste for meeting). On thinking it through, I’m threats. ‘Veganism is being wrongly she unzips her faux shearling coat. Her seafood and expensive leather goods. forced to admit that, having shed my vegan associated with extremism because a tiny torso is completely bare, except for four skin once, I’m worried that adopting it fraction of the movement is getting the words painted in black across her chest again will reduce my identity to a five- most airtime,’ Dr Wrenn explains. And and stomach: ‘WEAR YOUR OWN SKIN’. PLANT-BASED HYPE letter word that is achingly 2018. though over two thirds of UK vegans are The cold descends instantly; the crowds At precisely the same time as I was If I’m to align myself with this cause women, it seems that men are more likely aren’t far behind; cameras start to flash. stepping off the wagon, thousands of my once more, there’s something I need to to be prominent vegan activists. ‘Women She knows that this time tomorrow, her peers were beginning to clamber on. In get straight in my head: how, and why, tend to be overlooked in majority-female emblazoned breasts will be doing the 2016, a nationwide survey by The Vegan veganism amped up its aggression. I call social justice movements, while male rounds on every tabloid website in the Society found that 542,000 people in the Dr Corey Wrenn, a sociologist and an activists experience a “glass elevator UK. What she doesn’t know is that one UK were following a vegan diet – roughly authority on the global vegan movement. effect”. They’re the ones who rise to phrase will dominate the comments the entire population of my childhood It hasn’t, she tells me, interrupting my become leaders and celebrities.’ sections: ‘militant vegan’. haunt, Sheffield – up by 350% over the I can’t help but call to mind a young As she relays the story over an oat milk past 10 years. And the food industry has man by the name of Joseph ‘Carbstrong’ cappuccino, I can’t say that I’m surprised. responded in kind. By the end of 2017, Armstrong, the Aussie whose recent UK While there was a long period when the vegans could enjoy everything from a tour included holding ‘vigils’ for ‘murdered’ worst thing anyone could say about your dairy-free mozzarella alternative atop animals, calling out dairy farmers for choice to be vegan was that you were a their Pizza Express margherita to a shot of veganism sexual abuse on the This Morning sofa hippy, today, the connotations are more almond milk Baileys. Even the coffee shop with Holly and Phil and condemning complicated. At one end of the scale, you where I earwig on Lydia’s conversation is being Jeremy Vine’s choice of ham-and-cheese have the trolls who label dairy farmers and end up mining her for ‘militant vegan’ sandwich during their primetime radio as rapists, and masked activists who intel (The Fields Beneath in North London, wrongly interview. Dr Wrenn believes Armstrong’s break into abattoirs to ‘bear witness’ to Model should you be in the area) underwent confrontational energy is shared by a slaughter; at the other end, tote bags, vegan a plant-based transformation last year. number of male vegan activists. ‘Men T-shirts and pop-up restaurants that enable Cow’s milk gave way to oat, the pulled associated are socialised to be expressive with their the self-described ‘post-milk generation’ pork in the baguettes was replaced by anger when they see injustice,’ she to broadcast their ethical – and social jackfruit – and getting a seat on a Saturday with explains. ‘Whereas women, who are well – identity. This rise in out-and-proud morning remains as difficult as ever. aware that their emotionality will be personal branding has triggered a backlash, Watching all this unfold from the aggression framed as “hysterical”, tend to focus more communicated through the modern cultural sidelines, I found myself feeling nostalgic on mediation, education and community- litmus test: the meme. ‘First rule of vegan for the time when what I ate was dictated building. It’s tragic that long-standing club? Tell everyone about vegan club.’ by something more meaningful than trends, peaceful leaders in the vegan movement It’s never been cooler to be plant-based. taste buds or protein content; when I’d are suddenly being held accountable And yet, it’s never been more annoying. trawl supermarket aisles for vegetable oil for the actions of an extreme few.’

of the fact that low incomes and difficult A FEW BAD EGGS relationships with food might prevent I feel a pang of guilt and I call Lydia. people from going vegan overnight, Was it frustrating for me to ask her, a re not going Leenaert goes one step further. He argues peaceful vegan activist, to speak for the ‘we’ that vegans should be more supportive of THE V SIGN militant arm? ‘Honestly? Yes,’ she says the likes of reducetarians, flexitarians and At the end of our call, Lydia throws down the – albeit politely. ‘We’re like any other adopters of #meatfreemonday who want gauntlet. ‘I challenge anyone to read about movement: made up of thousands of encourage to limit their meat and dairy intake without how a cow is artificially inseminated and not factions. I’ve got a wide vegan network, to going the, er, whole hog. As Leenaert puts question their consumption of dairy.’ I accept. and I don’t know a single person who then shaping the anaemic pink mush it: ‘A curious non-vegan who reduces their The first Google search result I click on is an would ever dream of threatening a farmer.’ into patties. (It won’t shock you to hear meat and dairy intake – and influences account on PETA. Their rape analogy jars Lydia grew up in the Lake District that we didn’t turn many people off their others around them to do so – could do with me, so I turn to the Veganuary site. It’s next door to a dairy farm. She tells me more people to Happy Meals.) Could the increasing more to help the movement than someone all a bit vague. Determined to understand the she went vegan the night she was woken ease of following a plant-based diet be who’s quick to tell you they haven’t mechanism, I end up on agricultural websites. by a distressing sound. ‘It was coming vegan contributing to the righteousness that touched a milk by-product in three years.’ As for the impact, well, let’s just say sunflower from the fields next to my house. I become has made vegans the butt of the joke? Such attitudes can hinder more than spread has replaced the Lurpak in my fridge. watched as farmers prised the mother Leenaert thinks so. ‘Those who say “there they can help. Talent agent Romy By the time you read this, I’ll probably still cow away from her calves. People think is no excuse not to be vegan now” need to Barnside, 29, had always been open to be struggling to find an inexpensive and these scenes are vegan propaganda. understand the difference between being the idea of becoming a vegan – until she satiating alternative to a mid-afternoon They’re not. It was one of the most brutal, by guilting “right” and being effective,’ he explains. met one. ‘For my girlfriend’s sister, life hard-boiled egg (suggestions welcome – DM upsetting things I’ve ever witnessed.’ ‘Currently, vegans are in the minority, revolves around being vegan. If we all go me). And yet, I’m still reluctant to slap a label I hang up feeling slightly more in touch and we’re not going to encourage more out for a meal, I know not to order meat on myself, mainly because I’m wrestling with the six-year-old who greeted bemused people to join the movement by guilting or fish because it will trigger a pissed-off with how to integrate vegan principles into burger-eaters with wide-eyed enthusiasm them into it’ them into it. The slower opinions take expression or a full-on appraisal of [Netflix my life in a sustainable way. Oat milk? Sure! (which I hope they found more endearing to form, the more likely they are to last.’ anti-dairy industry doc] Cowspiracy,’ she Selling my favourite leather totes on Depop than annoying). But if the modern explains. ‘Now I feel less inclined than and forcing extended family members to do equivalent of flyering strangers is sharing ever to go vegan because it won’t feel like a supermarket sweep before I come to stay stories on social media, that doesn’t bode is built on outrage.’ Leenaert’s point GOING THE WHOLE HOG I’m doing something for animals; it’ll for the weekend? Not so much. well for a nuanced discussion. Experience speaks to my fears about aligning Could someone please slide this message just feel like I’m giving in to her.’ But I do have some vegan takeaway. Plant- has taught me that these networks don’t myself with a cause that has gained into the DMs of the vegan Instagrammers Lydia gets it. ‘My mum was originally based or otherwise, any way of eating will always encourage polite debate; they do infamy for dietary orthodoxy. who spam WH columnist Alice Liveing concerned about me aligning myself elicit extreme emotions. Every movement has invite hate-speech. ‘The platforms we use It didn’t always feel this way to me. whenever she posts a meat-based meal? with what she saw as a radical movement. a fanatical wing that fails to represent the on a daily basis are designed so that we Though I staunchly believed that I In a March post to her 636k followers, the But she’s come around – she even did views of the vast majority. Engage with the react in the heat of the moment,’ explains was doing the right thing by not eating 25-year-old PT warned that the constant Veganuary this year, which was a huge arguments you don’t understand, not just Tobias Leenaert, author of How To Create animals, I didn’t expect everyone else slamming of animal products could be moment for me,’ she explains. ‘She the ones you do – oh, and always be open to A Vegan World: A Pragmatic Approach to take up my cause. Perhaps because harmful, by making people scared of food. doesn’t have to share my views – I just changing your mind. I’ll be arriving at my (£17.99, Lantern Books). ‘Because angry avoiding meat and dairy back then was It’s a sentiment echoed by Ruby Tandoh want her to be supportive.’ conclusions with a wholehearted respect posts get more traction, the whole system so bloody difficult. Those soya burgers – the Bake Off star-turned-author, who has for yours. Should I try to tell you what you weren’t plucked from the freezer aisle been open about her history of disordered should be eating, drinking or wearing – or in Tesco; they were made by adding eating. While most of the activists I spoke shove an unsolicited vegan burger in your water to a dehydrated protein mix, to acknowledged the need to be mindful direction – feel free to flick me the V.

v VEGANISM hrs 8 The24 time it took plant-based The1 percentage of greenhouse gas IN NUMBERS burger business The Vurger Co The number755 of complaints to the emissions generated by livestock 58,000,000 42% to hit its £150k investment Advertising Standards Agency farming. That’s more than cars, The number of posts filed under #vegan on Instagram. The percentage of UK vegans aged The figures behind the rise and target in November 2017. about a KFC advert featuring a trains and planes combined. It’s There’s limited so-called militant gore – it’s more chia 15 to 34. The Vegan Society predicts There’s been a 185% increase dancing chicken – the highest not just cow farts that contribute. puddings, odes to the versatility of nut butter and numbers will grow, with this lot rise of the plant-based movement in vegan product launches in 2017. Viewers deemed it Think processing factories, the odd sanctimonious quote, such as: ‘Sorry for the inspiring further generations to make for powerful reading… since 2012. ‘disrespectful’ and ‘distressing’. fertilisers and farming machinery. inconvenience, we are trying to change the world.’ choose the ‘post-milk’ life.