A couple of weeks ago, I was at the 9th International Animal Rights Conference in Luxembourg. This conference is held every year at the beginning of September. I attended for the first time in 2018, and then gave a presentation about ableism and ageism in the movement. This year I gave a presentation about Representation of other animals. About vegan turkey and voiceless animals.
Don’t worry, no horses nor pigs ended up in the stew. A couple of weeks ago we went to the screening of the documentary The Last Pig. The screening was organised by Uitgezonderd (who also organises a vegan people’s kitchen in Bruges every month) and was held at the edge of the city, in Koersepeerd (“koersepeerd” is Flemish dialect for racehorse). Hence my opening 😉 There was also a people’s kitchen that evening, before the screening of the documentary. All you can eat Winter stew with seitan, potatoes and salad. Delicious, and a huge portion! The Last Pig is the story of pig farmer Bob Comis in the United States. His story reminded me of that of Gustaf Söderfeldt, the Swedish farmer who switched to veganic farming a couple of years ago. In similar vein, Bob is having trouble with his conscience. The documentary follows him during his last year as a pig farmer, until the last pigs leave the premises. Throughout the the docu, Bob talks – in a very serene and calm manner – about his company, life …
Restaurant review #125 – shop review #35- VG Pâtisserie is an organic and vegan pastry shop/bistro in Paris. We had seen pictures of their beautiful creations on social media, and definitely did not want to miss this on our visit to Paris a couple of weeks ago! It is located on the east side of town, in between the Place de la Bastille and the famous cemetery Père Lachaise. In the morning, VG Pâtisserie serves breakfast and brunch, in the afternoon only pattisserie. One can also place an order and collect at the shop. We saw a lot of people coming in and collecting their order or buying pastry from the shop (also because it was Father’s Day in France). VG Pâtisserie is a rather small place, with only two seating tables. We were lucky that people from one table just left as we arrived, and we could take a seat. Choice of pastry in the counter was rather limited (3 sorts of pastry), but we were there on a Sunday, the day before their …
restaurant review #124 – Vegan Junk Food Bar is a new place in Amsterdam (opened Spring 2017). It is located just north of the Vondelpark, overlooking a quiet square. Well the name says it all! It’s all vegan and it’s junkfood! 🙂 There’s a small terrace in front of the restaurant and some beach chairs. When we arrived, all seats were taken, but soon after, some people left from the terrace, and we could sit outside (it was a very hot day in Amsterdam and we were glad to be sitting on the shady terrace!). It is semi self service: one orders at the counter and then the food is brought to your table. This is what we had: a double sumo burger (9,50€, with two burgers, cheese, fried onion rings, lettuce, baked onions and sauce) and the shoama sandwich (8,50€). Two portions of fries on the side, one with mayo and one with garlic sauce (3€ + sauce 0,75€, each). For drinks we had several lemonades and a coke (ranging between 2,50 and 3€) …
Tonight is Halloween and many children will go from door to door, dressed up for a ‘trick or treat’ game. An evening with a pleasantly disturbed horror atmosphere for young – and maybe also some not so young. Like it or not, there’s no escaping it! But the real horror is hidden in the candy bag.
As you can tell by the number of restaurant reviews on our blog, we have visited quite a lot of restaurants over the years. Yes, even as vegans (I stress this because some people think that is impossible) and even in restaurants where at first glance this may not be so obvious. Yes, we have had some bad experiences. I’m not referring to the the rabbitfood that we’ve sometimes been served, but to dishes that are not vegan. For example a dish containg oystersauce, although explicitly labelled on the menu as vegetarian (and yes, also having checked whether it didn’t contain any eggs or dairy). But on most occasions, we have enjoyed a vegan menu. At least that is what we think (and hope)! Dining out always involves a risk. One can try to minimise that risk, for example by clearly informing the restaurant beforehand on what vegan means, explaining what you do and do not eat. But nevertheless, the risk that some dishes may contain animal ingredients cannot be taken away completely. Although we realise that dining out always involves some …
A couple of months ago, I visited Alpro in Wevelgem (near Kortrijk, Belgium). The visit to the factory was organised by EVA West, a local division of vegetarian organisation EVA. Alpro makes plant based products, made of soy, almond, hazelnut, rice, … Their soymilk, coconutmilk, pudding and yofu’s are omnipresent in about every Belgian supermarket and are also sold around the world. The factory is Wevelgem (Belgium) is the main factory of Alpro. We got an introduction of about half an hour by a PR-manager, followed by the opportunity to ask some questions. Afterwards we visited the production units inside the factory.
The annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan, has received a lot of international media coverage. Hundreds of dolphins have been killed. It’s a massacre. The dolphins’ anguish is horrible. Watch this video from CNN Some dolphins are ‘spared’ and caught alive, to be sold in the entertainment business. Imprisoned for live. These highly intelligent sensitive animals are doomed to spend the rest of their lives in small swimming pools and perform tricks day after day after day…. Dolphins don’t fare well in captivity. Dolphinaria worldwide are also guilty for what is annualy happening in Taiji, Japan. Boycot dolphinaria. It has nothing to do with nature conservation and even less with love for animals. Unfortunately, Bruges has a dolphinarium: Boudewijn Seapark. We hope it will be closed soon. Animal rights organisation Bite Back is holding a demonstration for the closure of the dolphinarium in Bruges, this coming Sunday afternoon, January 26, 2014, at the entrance of Boudewijn Seapark. See the facebookpage of Bite Back for more details about the demo! LINKS Sea Shepherd, facts about the drive hunt …
The Bruges Vegan 