20 Aug, 2017

World Vegetarian Day 2017 Speakers

PDF VERSION

12:45pm: Maureen O’Sullivan (Chairperson of the Vegetarian Society of Ireland and Lecturer in law at NUI Galway)

Vegetarianism in Ireland Today

 

1:15pm  Ashling O’Brien (Atheist Ireland)

Veganism and Atheism 

Listen to Ashling’s recent interview on Dublin City FM here

 

2:00pm  Diana Fleischman (Senior Lecturer at The University of Portsmouth and part of the Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology)

Effective Animal Activism

Read Diana’s recent interview with the Irish Times here

 

2:45pm  Ben Bramble (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Trinity College and co-editor of The Moral Complexities of Eating Meat, Oxford University Press)

Moral Problems of Lab-Grown Meat

 

3:45pm Panel Discussion

 

 

 

 

20 Aug, 2017

World Vegetarian Day 2017

World Vegetarian Day 2015

World Vegetarian Day 2015

World Vegetarian Day 2017 is taking place on Sunday 1st October 2017, at St Andrew’s Resource Centre, 114 Pearse St, Dublin 2.

We look forward to see you there.

Here are the details for booking a stand at the event:

  • Charity €33
  • Commercial Non-Food €65
  • Commercial Food €90

Special discount for two stands!


Options Available




26 Mar, 2017

Vegan Bake Sale 2017

We are having a vegan bake sale as part of Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale! Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale!

Vegan baking involves using only those ingredients that are of plant origin, i.e. no dairy products, eggs or honey. For further information please see here. Margarine and butter substitutes can be tricky, but a variety of ones marked Vegan are available, e.g. Pure.

The vegan bake sale will take place in the café in Outhouse. Proceeds from the day will go the Vegetarian Society of Ireland, which is a registered charity run entirely by volunteers. We would also like to make a small donation to Little Hill Animal Rescue

Come along and enjoy a sociable afternoon with vegetarians and vegans! Baking, eating, new friends a-meeting!

More information here!

8 Oct, 2016

Fish Letter

Fish Letter

Some restaurants serve fish as part of their “vegetarian menus”.

Here is a letter you can send!

***

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Vegetarian Society of Ireland, registered charity (charity number CHY12238) regarding some of the detail on your menu.

We would like to draw your attention to the inclusion of fish on the vegetarian section of your menu. Fish is not suitable for vegetarians. The internationally recognised definition of vegetarianism which we adhere to can be viewed here on our website: http://www.vegetarian.ie/definitions/.

More information about vegetarians not eating fish is available on the website of the UK Vegetarian Society, here: https://www.vegsoc.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=531. People who don’t eat meat but do eat fish are called pescetarians.

We would very much appreciate if when you come to next revise your menu, that you refrain from claiming that fish is vegetarian. It gives a false impression to genuine vegetarians that they will be catered for and it will soon be illegal under EU law to describe fish as vegetarian.

Kind regards,

***

Or simply print the PDF version here, sign it and sent it!

13 Jul, 2016

World Vegetarian Day 2016

World Vegetarian Day 2016 is taking place on Sunday 2nd October 2016, at St Andrew’s Resource Centre, 114 Pearse St, Dublin 2.

We look forward to see you there.

Here are the details for booking a stand at the event:

  • Charity €35
  • Commercial Non-Food €65
  • Commercial Food €90

Special discount for two stands!


Options Available



11 Jan, 2016

Speed Dating and Social Evening

You are invited to our
Speed Dating and Social Evening!!

Join us on Saturday, February the 6th for a singles and social night at Filmbase in Temple Bar! This event is aimed at vegetarians and vegans who would like to meet fellow vegetarians and vegans, however all are welcome!

Part 1: Singles Night – 7pm to 8.30pm

The first part of the evening will be for single vegetarians and vegans. It will be speed dating with a fun twist!

Part 2: Social Night – 8.30pm to 10.30pm

If you were at the singles night you will have a further chance to talk to anyone you clicked with on your dates, or to mix with other attendees. This part of the evening will also be open to everyone – whether single or not. We will have light finger food available.

Speed Dating tickets are now sold out.

Social Event tickets are available at the door.

18 Sep, 2015

Autumn Reflections

By Jessica Hamilton

Looking back in the garden in 2015, although I may not have grown as much as previous years I’ve had my best ever returns for other crops such as tomatoes, beans and flowers.

I think everyone in Ireland will agree with me that summer 2015 was a bit of a disappointment considering how spoilt we were with the previous 2 years. That said, in between the rain we did have plenty of pleasant days.

Autumn Reflections 2I am so pleased with my tomatoes this year, even now I have vines with tomatoes that are swelling and ripening (I brought the best four plants indoors beside the French doors for extra light and warmth).
Autumn Reflections 3
I eat cherry tomatoes like sweets over the summer, picking one or two off as I pass by; the shop bought ones taste so bland compared to the home-grown! With the excess I make batches of tomato sauces for the winter.

Beans and peas also did tremendously well this year and I have bags full in the freezer for later use. Also thankfully this year I got to my blackcurrants in time, before the birds, it’s my fourth year to grow them now and the shrubs are really starting to come into their own.

Autumn Reflections 4

Unfortunately, with the strong winds back at the start of the year, my crop of apples were knocked off but next year it may be a blessing as it will give the trees another year to grow/put down more roots.

My Dad also has his veg patch and is very dedicated; like myself, he’s as natural as possible but he’ll use a spray as a very last resort (e.g. blight – spuds).

Here’s one of his huge cabbages that he grew this year (with Lilly the spaniel posing alongside)!
Autumn Reflections 5
In my last article I spoke of how I adopted some hens and ducks last summer. Many an evening I have spent with a cup of tea just sitting there watching them, fascinated by their curious natures and individual personalities. The fresh eggs are a huge benefit.

They also relish nothing more than digging and scratching about in freshly turned soil, de-bugging and fertilising the soil as they go.

Autumn Reflections 6

Since then I have also adopted eight ex-laying hens from LittleHill Animal Rescue who co-ordinated the rescue and drop off points all around the country. My first four (ex-battery hens) girls were in a very sorry state when they arrived, with them all missing feathers to varying degrees. The simple things like dipping their heads under water were a complete novelty to them as was making a nest where they would lay their eggs. At first they would “drop and go” but they have since discovered the comfort of straw in the nesting boxes. The newest four additions are in a much better state and are enjoying things like meeting the ducks, exploring the veg patch and chasing cats!

Autumn Reflections 7

There will be more hens looking for homes in February 2016 so if anyone can give the girls a home, keep an eye on their Facebook page “LittleHill Animal Rescue & Sanctuary”

Next year as well as increasing the amount of fruit and veg I grow I also want to add lots more colours to make life easier for bees/pollinating insects. I hope to have loads more Livingstone daisies which I grew this year alongside marigolds, cornflowers, etc.

Autumn Reflections 9

Plants like Echium blue steeple which produces a mass spire of flowers, the guy to the left is a giant” Echium. Potentially they can grow up to 12 feet! They flower after two winters so it’s definitely a case of waiting for your reward but the tall foliage in itself is just as pretty to see. There are different varieties and colours of echiums all with carrying degrees of heights and flowers.

Autumn Reflections 10

I’m also going to add in some more permanent features like a “pink pampas grass”; not only a good windbreak but also a known hibernating place for hedgehogs! I have encountered a few hedgehogs in the veg patch throughout the summer so knowing some wild animals are using it as a home is great!

18 Sep, 2015

A Smoothie as Green as Ireland’s Gorgeous Grass Is the Key to Raw Food Success

By Brian Rossiter

All the lush, rolling fields in Ireland I saw while vacationing in this beautiful country in June 2006 shone with a shade magnificent enough to make anyone green with envy to live in The Emerald Isle.

Oh, wondrous green and, yet, some can’t bear to watch me consume green smoothies because of their hue. I tell these folks that green is the color of grass and leaves as well as one of the world’s most popular colors, but still, some can’t stand to see the sight of bananas blended with greens such as romaine lettuce.

It is this magical meal that turned this eater of the standard American diet as well as a smoker and drinker into a new man, built from vitamin-loaded bananas and other fruits plus mineral-rich tender greens such as red leaf lettuce and celery. The first green smoothie I made was a kale-dominated disaster, but after just seven days of finessing recipes and consuming these concoctions along with my small fruit smoothies, I was able to quit smoking for good. I was beginning to feel like Superman, filled with rising confidence and soaring energy levels, but looking back, I hadn’t seen anything yet!

About 10 weeks into my green smoothie revolution, I flew to Texas for a 24-day vacation in The Lone Star State and the South—traveling with a single duffel bag that included a blender. Nothing was going to stop me from enjoying green smoothies! From my first stop, in Austin, I began having green smoothies twice a day. When I arrived in each city, practically the first thing I did was to go on a large produce run, bringing bananas, frozen fruits and greens to the hostels at which I stayed.

By the time I got back home and just weeks after eating lots of barbecued foods in the nation’s ribs hotspots, the lure of animal products quickly began to vanish. One day, I made one of my signature recipes, white chicken chili, on the meat’s last day of refrigerator freshness and packed it away immediately into my freezer. When I starting eating it days afterward, I could tell my taste for meat was no more. I gave away the rest of the chili. Days later, I couldn’t stomach two slices of pizza.

I was ready to be a vegan, and on October 1, 2010, I started a new chapter in my life. Just three months later, I would go raw vegan, joining a friend during his annual month-long cleanse to kick off the new year. I added vegan burritos into my menu for about three dinners a week the rest of 2011 and early into 2012, consuming the other 90 percent of my calories from raw food, with an emphasis on increasingly more fruit as the year marched forward.

Once I learned about critical elements of a raw food diet such as identifying staple foods, counting calories and combining foods properly did my path truly open up. By the end of the year, however, I discovered I had to eliminate the last bit of cooked food—these hot-sauce-laden vegan burritos—from my diet. These meals caused me to suffer from brain fog, but it took a while to understand this, especially since the fog creeped in during the morning after eating them while consuming my day’s first green smoothie.

Come February 2012, I was wholly raw. I lead a fruit-based, low-fat raw food diet. What this means is that I enjoy three meals of fruit—or fruit with greens such as a green smoothie—a day along with a salad featuring a homemade fatty dressing or, some days, another fruit meal for dinner. I enjoy this way of eating—and, even better, the way I feel—so much that I think it’s the key to rejuvenating one’s body and staying forever young. I celebrated my 38th birthday three weeks ago, and, regularly, people tell me they think I’m 10 to 15 years younger. Several months ago, my 9-year-old niece let it slip that she thought I was in high school!

I’ve learned in my diet and nutrition studies that human beings are designed to consume almost entirely or even entirely, some say, pure, fresh, ripe, raw fruits. Bananas, mangos, watermelons, jackfruits (divine!) and much more. If you think about it, human beings are the only species to cook foods and prepare recipes, and we’re also the only species to eat outside our natural, species-specific diet not out of desperation but because of upbringing, tradition, conformity and addiction.

A fruit-based raw vegan diet can open, clear and free the mind and help the body purge toxins. This diet can also help us serve ourselves, loved ones and the world as the best version of ourselves possible, truly unlocking our potential and exposing what awesome powers we have within us like mighty torches against even strong winds.

In the past three-plus years, I’ve devoted my life to spreading this message loud and clear on my website, Fruit-Powered.com. I’ve written six books: the raw food transition guide Alive!, the raw food primer A Taste of Raw Food: 7 Days of Smoothies ’n’ Salads and the four-volume Mouthwatering Recipe Book Series, featuring 80 recipes from myself and 10 raw food authors from around the globe. I’ve also built the world’s largest raw food magazine, Fruit-Powered Digest, featuring world-renowned guest writers and, as of this writing, 88 transformation stories of success on a raw food diet. I offer coaching services to guide transitioning raw fooders to live a life of sheer raw bliss.

All your dreams can be realized by connecting with nature and yourself, honoring your higher purpose for the greatest good. Give green smoothies an honest run and pay attention to how you feel. Make these drinks rich in calories from fruit—enough to sustain you as a whole breakfast and until your next meal—and stick with tender greens such as lettuces because we’re simply better suited to digest them.

You might find yourself having a green smoothie every day for 1,250 consecutive days like I did! And you might look back with a toothy grin on how your beautiful, rewarding journey all began one day by hoisting a nutrient-packed green smoothie!

Bless you and bless Ireland!
_________________________

Creator, publisher and editor of Fruit-Powered.com and author of Alive!, a raw food transition book featuring a four-step program designed to help anyone go raw vegan, A Taste of Raw Food: 7 Days of Smoothies ‘n’ Salads and the four-volume Mouthwatering Recipe Book Series. Brian offers coaching services to assist health seekers and transitioning raw fooders.

17 Sep, 2015

Hard Cheese

By Gaby Wieland and Helen Pinoff
of Inclusive Menus Ireland

Which cheese do you use for risottos and pasta?

Traditional Parmesan cheese is not vegetarian as it is made using calf rennet. For vegetarians there are other hard cheeses available, often described as “Parmesan-style” cheese. They are just as tasty, but made with vegetarian rennet.

We noticed that many chefs are not aware that true Parmesan cheese can never be vegetarian (the name “Parmesan” is protected), so to raise awareness we had a “Grand Tasting” of two excellent alternative cheeses, on the occasion of The Organic Centre Garden Party in Rossinver, Co Leitrim in July. There were lots of visitors, all very interested in the cheeses. We asked them to tick their favourite and also asked for feedback.

We tried just two brands, A) Twineham Grange from Bookham & Harrison in West Sussex, England, which we have been buying on line at www.bookhamharrison.co.uk and B) Gran Moravia (made in the Czech Republic for an Italian Company called Brazzale) which is available in Dunnes Stores nationwide. Both cheeses are “Vegetarian Society Approved” in the UK.

And the result of our Grand Two-Cheese Tasting Test was… that BOTH of the cheeses went down well! Twineham Grange earned 52 Ticks of Approval and Gran Moravia had 36.

Both cheeses are fantastic grated or shaved, as an ingredient in a creamy risotto or over a fresh salad, omelette or pasta dish. Many people commented that they actually preferred these cheeses to “normal” Parmesan. They loved the layers of taste and the tanginess which follows on.

However, it wasn’t a surprise to us that many visitors were not aware of the source of animal rennet.

For more information about Parmesan we recommend the UK Vegetarian Society website. They have been running a campaign for some time to raise awareness and to support chefs, called “Say Cheese!”

If you would like to send a letter about the Parmesan issue, please download our PDF letter here, sign it and sent it!

15 Sep, 2015

Salt Free Sauerkraut

By Mary Minihane

Fermentation is the process of breaking down or predigesting food to make it more easily digestible. It can also improve the flavor, texture, appearance and smell, synthesise vitamins (including B-12, which is difficult to get in vegetarian diets), reduce or eliminate flatulence, increase storage life, and add to your intestinal micro-flora or gut bacteria. Fermented foods have a long history in many cultures, with sauerkraut being one of the most well-known in the Western World. It is believed to have been introduced to Europe by Genghis Khan.

I was a late convert to ferments and have really only began to eat them in the past year. I find that sauerkraut is the easiest to make and the most pleasant to eat. I have purchased a jar of pre-prepared stuff only once and found it tough to chew but the main reason for me preparing my own is the fact that I have totally eliminated salt from my diet and all commercially prepared product is prepared using salt. I prepare mine using celery juice.

Clean everything: When fermenting anything, it’s best to give the good, beneficial bacteria every chance of succeeding by starting off with as clean an environment as possible.

I use 2 small heads of organic white cabbage and 2 heads of organic celery. I save the outer leaves and finely cut the remainder of the cabbage and place some of it fairly loosely in the jar, filling to the top. I find that if I pack it too tightly in the beginning the juice may not penetrate to the bottom. I then add some juice and pack it tightly. I continue to add cabbage and juice until the jar is as tightly filled as possible. I place the saved leaves at the top and close it tightly. Leave on the counter to ferment. If there is space at the top of the jar I would put in a ramekin in order to put pressure on the product and ensure that it remains submerged in the juice.

The minimum fermentation time is about three days, though it will continue to ferment and become tastier for many days after that. Lift the lid at least twice per day to let any gas build up escape and after 2 days taste it. You may see bubbles, foam, or white scum on the surface but these are all signs of normal, healthy fermentation. The white scum can be skimmed off as you see it or before refrigerating it. The juice can sometimes bubble up over the top of the jar. It’s nothing to worry about. Just put a plate under the jar to catch the drips and make sure the cabbage is always covered by the juice.

Keep tasting it and refrigerate when it tastes good to you. It is safe to eat at every stage of the process, so there is no real minimum or maximum fermentation time. Your sauerkraut will keep for many months but as you remove some from the jar you should continue to ensure that the remainder is covered by juice.

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