VEGANS They might be a tiny minority of New Zealand’s population, but they’re strongheaded and extremely passionate. About two per cent of Kiwis are vegan, joined by 195 million comrades around the planet, and their numbers are growing expedentially each year. Statistics show that 94 per cent of New Zealanders are meat-eaters, with one or two per cent semi-vegetarian and 2.3 per cent lacto-ovo vegetarians. But more and more are choosing to go the whole hog and convert to veganism… or even further. New Zealand’s vegetarian and vegan movement has in recent years generated significant demand for a number of manufacturing and retail businesses to set up. And with young females predominantly pushing the movement along – with more than 2% describing themselves as vegan and 7% vegetarian – those figures look set to jump in coming years. So what makes someone spurn meat and its byproducts in a country dominated by animal farming? New Zealand’s vegan movement says most identify animal welfare and revulsion as the initial reasons why they take meat and animal products off the menu, followed by human welfare, the environment (13kg of plant protein is used to make 0.45kg of beef), religious reasons, 16 AUGUST 2016 poverty, health and eating disorders. BIG in the hippie 1960s, veganism drifted into the ‘dippy’ category as it became clear eating a diet devoid of meat, fish, cheese and eggs was not the easiest of choices. Sandal-wearing long-haired ‘alternative’ vegans were seen as weird, but all that changed last decade when ‘rock stars’ like former US president Bill Clinton (who suffers from serious heart disease) and actress Gwyneth Paltrow got on board. Vegan and activist Colleen Patric-Goudreau went that one step further, describing how cows have their calves taken from them so early after birth that it drives them almost mad with grief. She says humans don’t need dairy products, cheese, milk or eggs to be healthy. “No more bawling calves, no more battery hens forced to live in tiny cages, producing eggs for our breakfast.” New Zealand’s love affair with the raw food vegan movement is fuelled by the fact that younger people think it’s ‘cool’. There’s now a huge selection of cafes and restaurants offering some or only vegan alternatives, and food manufacturers are slowly getting the hint. Veganism has worked for Clinton and Paltrow, but is the health factor scientifically proven for either vegan or vegetarian diets? The New Zealand Nutrition Foundation isn’t sure. “Some research,” it says, has shown vegetarians live longer and suffer less from diseases such as heart disease and certain cancers. There is also a tendency for vegetarians to have lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, a lower body mass index (BMI) and less likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes. “However, these benefits may be due in part to variations in lifestyle such as smoking habits, alcohol consumption, activity and leisure patterns, rather than the absence of animal products,” the foundation says. Pragmatic solutions to feed the world’s burgeoning human population will have a positive impact on vegans and vegetarians. Plant-based food can now be produced in more sustainable, resource-efficient ways whilst protecting the water, soil and air, and providing optimum nutrition. Technology is on the way to provide lab milks and meats, which will assuage human nutritional needs, keep the environment safe and honour animals. ARE THEY MAD OR VISIONARY? Lianka Cuppusamy (Auckland law student) I became a vegan halfway through July last year when I realised the detrimental effect of meat farms on the environment. Factory farming accounts for 37% of methane (CH4) emissions, which has more than 20 times the global warming potential of CO2. I was a pescetarian at first, and transitioned when someone pointed out the hypocrisy of eating one meat but not the other, especially since commercial fishing is one of the most damaging activities on our environment. Bycatch, one of the methods that is used for catching fish, also catches other endangered species such as sharks and dolphins. My family used to fast for one month, where we would abstain from meat, so it wasn’t a new concept to me. I have an extremely nutrient-rich diet ranging from organic wholefoods such as beans, legumes, tofu, fruits and vegetables, to healthy dessert-type foods such as cake, biscuits and donuts. The reason that it is healthy is because it doesn’t have artery-clogging ingredients such PERSPECTIVE V E G A N O L O G Y
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