I love film. I am not a critic or an expert; I don’t recall all the names or know all the facts. I am a spectator. I love the stories, the experience, the new worlds, the different realities. The London Film Festival is a sort of holiday for me and I look forward to those…
Essays
Zambia: Meds, Schools and Kids
Our recent trip to Zambia had been overdue. We went for a variety of reasons, including to help a volunteer medical mission, to see schools, meet students we had been supporting for a number of years and run a life skills workshop for young people. Although it took us 30 hours door to door to arrive…
Vegan in Zambia
As our friend Andrew T. said at the end of our three weeks in Zambia, “you’ve discovered that most of the traditional Zambian foods are vegan!” And that pretty much sums it up. There is a vibrant variety and availability of vegetables, tubers, pulses, grains, nuts (mostly groundnuts, aka peanuts) and fruits and that’s just in the…
Just Whatever
First published on Ecorazzi on 30 April 2017. I do not know what cows have done to Josh Tetrick, CEO of Hampton Creek, but it must be something egregious for him to exact revenge by using them in his company’s products. Yes, the darling of all vegans, the plant-based company originally established to replace eggs…
A Letter to… My non-vegan mother, who I still love
First published in Ecorazzi on 6 March 2017. The following is a response piece to the anonymous letter by a non vegan mother to her vegan daughter that was recently published in The Guardian. As always, the issue is not about us, but about them – the victims in all this – the animals. If…
A little bit of Kenya in London: Coconut Greens Stew
A coconut stew from London via Nairobi.
Creative, Non-violent Advocacy: Identify Issues and Keep It Simple
Happy World Vegan Day! The most important thing we can do to stop the relentless injustice against animals is to go vegan and make more vegans through creative, non-violent advocacy or education. But what does creative, non-violent advocacy mean? It means engaging with people in any way we are comfortable. It might be through talking to people…
No, I Will Not Watch The Great British Bake Off
First published in Ecorazzi on 9 August 2016. On a recent trip to the US, I caught up with some old friends. As it often does, veganism came up in conversation with a number of them, as did The Great British Bake Off. Odd combination, but I cannot blame them. We just do not make…
A Proud Vegan's Riposte to "the vegan cult"
First published in Ecorazzi on 14 June 2016. With the recent media attention on veganism, it was up to The Telegraph and Mr. Alex Proud to write up a reactionary piece asking us the head-scratching question, “why would anyone in their right mind join the vegan cult?” Gasp! We are a cult (where is our…
David Bowie Was His Art
David Bowie was his Art, inspiration and canvas. He mined all corners of his personality and extracted new and inventive characters, sounds, lyrics and ways of looking at the world. He invented reinvention. Bowie was who he was and he didn’t hide any bit of it. On the contrary, he seized it, capitalised on it,…
