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Stealth Activism

May 5, 2017 by Tofu Temptress 3 Comments

Cuddly pig.
One for the 'Bacon tho...' brigade
One for the ‘Bacon tho…’ brigade

For many people who become vegans, activism or outreach is the next logical step. Once one finds out about the horrible cruelty involved in the production of animal products, it’s hard not to want to tell everyone about it. Ah, but then you’d be known as the dreaded ‘preachy vegan’. So what to do? You think most people you know and indeed most people in general like animals and wouldn’t want to see them harmed. You want others to make the connection you did. You want to simply communicate with ordinary folk, but know deep down that few people are receptive to your message. Well, there’s one kind of activism that anyone can do, is free and you don’t even need to talk to anyone.

Who knew pork was made from pigs?
Who knew pork was made from pigs?

It’s called stealth activism and is super simple. You draw people’s awareness to animal suffering without breaking any laws. How? Well, it has a few forms. The other day there was an article in the press about a young woman who had bought a packet of spaghetti bolognaise from Morrisons. So far, so unremarkable. However, when she took the cardboard off to cook it later, she discovered, to her horror, that a sticker had been affixed to the plastic film. The sticker had a non-graphic picture of a frightened looking cow. With the picture was a message from said cow informing the young woman that her ‘personal choice’ had cost the cow her life. When I read the article I thought the headline should read something like ‘Woman hears truth and feels uncomfortable for five minutes.’ I also couldn’t help feeling that perhaps a seed has been planted and she may return to these uncomfortable thoughts. If a more sympathetic person had been the one to uncover the message, maybe they would’ve seriously considered going vegetarian. Who knows?

Some toys I found for sale in a supermarket recently.
Some toys I found for sale in a supermarket recently.

There’s a few websites where you can purchase similar stickers and covertly pop them onto supermarket meat (or indeed milk or egg) products. Check out how The Vegan Punk does it here. The approach I take is slightly different. For one thing, stickers cost money and I also tend to be a bit spontaneous so would most likely forget to take them with me. What I do is I go into the supermarket toy section, pick up any farm animal cuddly toys (Peppa Pigs are everywhere, but I’ve found cows, sheep and chickens too) and pop them into my trolley. I then wander about getting my groceries until I come to the meat aisle.

Do children realise?
Do children realise?

I have to be honest with you here, I’m pretty shy and was a bit worried I’d get caught placing them next to the corresponding meat product. It turns out I had nothing to worry about. The meat aisles these days are pretty quiet in general. I’m rarely disturbed as I put cuddly cows next to beef, sheep next to lamb and pigs next to pork. I’ll then take a quick pic and move on, leaving them there.

Trying to counter cognitive dissonance.
Trying to counter cognitive dissonance.

 

What do I hope to achieve by this? Well, I just want to assist people in the calmest way possible, to make the connection. I want people to see the irony that we encourage children to love and care for these toys, and yet also encourage them to eat their real counterparts. I want to start an awkward conversation between a child and a parent. I want to make people do a double take. I basically want to encourage people to think, which can never be a bad thing.

Cuddly cow next to minced cow.
Cuddly cow next to minced cow.

As for the supermarkets, they can never tell you you’re out of line. You’re simply taking a product from one area of the supermarket and placing it elsewhere. It’s far less disturbing than when my friend used to find packets of nappies in the booze aisle of the supermarket he worked in. Having worked in shops myself, I can see no reason to object to this tactic. So, if you’re not the outgoing type, don’t feel comfortable ‘bothering’ your friends but still want to communicate with people, stealth activism could be for you. It’s a bit of mischief that might just nudge people onto the right track.

Filed Under: Cruelty free Living Tagged With: activism, Cows, meat, pigs, sheep, supermarkets

Vegan Easter Eggs

April 2, 2015 by Tofu Temptress 3 Comments

Vegan Town chocolate truffle eggs

If you go to the supermarket today you’ll see aisles full of Easter eggs and those Easter eggs will be choc (ha!) full of milk. Even many of the lesser-spotted dark chocolate mainstream eggs contain milk. Some don’t (for example the delectable Green and Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate Egg) but mostly you’ll be looking in the ‘free from’ section for cruelty free Easter treats.

Vegan Town chocolate truffle eggs
Vegan Town chocolate truffle eggs

So, I thought I’d make a huge sacrifice and test some of them for you. I know, selfless. I didn’t test a lot as: a) My jeans are tight enough already and, b) Happily, there are now a huge variety, with practically every major retailer in the UK catering to the lactose intolerant and of course vegans, so really, too many to sample.

didn't last long...
didn’t last long…

The first lot I tried were from the superb online retailer Vegan Town. The mini eggs came in three truffle filled varieties: strawberry flavour (gold wrapper) coffee flavour (brown wrapper) or nougat flavour (pink wrapper) and I must say all were yummy. They were the perfect size for an Easter egg hunt and you can buy them in a bundle as I did or in separate bags of one flavour.

Choices white chocolate bunny
Choices white chocolate bunny

Next, the company Choices has a variety of dairy free treats that are available all year round at plenty of supermarkets. I tried their white chocolate bunny, which is just as I remember white chocolate to be (although I must admit it’s been a while) – very sweet with a close texture that crumbles nicely as you eat it.

Choices caramel flavoured Easter egg
Choices caramel flavoured Easter egg

The second of their products I tried was their caramel flavoured Easter Egg, which came with three chocolate discs. It was nice, but some of the chocolate in the main egg was a bit thin and the flavour was perhaps an acquired taste. It did a good job of imitating milk chocolate though and those shortcomings didn’t stop me munching my way through it, and it was great for something different.

My favourite was probably Moo Free’s Orange Easter egg. The chocolate was nice and thick and the orange crystal bits through it (a bit like Matchmakers) were absolutely scrummy. It is a darker chocolate, but not so dark it’s bitter, so I think would appeal to milk chocolate fans too. It definitely disappeared the quickest and I was sorely tempted to go out and buy another one. Definitely a great egg to convert non-vegans!

Moo Free Orange Easter egg
Moo Free Orange Easter egg

The holy grail of Easter treats is of course the Cream Egg. There’s been a bit of controversy recently about the quality of the mainstream egg, not that you’d want to eat dairy stuff anyway. So, hurray for Considerit Chocolate who have produced a vegan cream egg. Yes, you read that correctly, a Vegan Cream Egg. It goes without saying that when my local vegetarian deli got them in stock yesterday, I hot-footed it down there and bagged one. Screw the expense, I had to try it. The chocolate was darker than you’d have with the conventional one, but the filling was perfect and all in all I was not disappointed. They are so popular though, I’d get in there if I were you, before they all disappear.

Vegan Cream Egg
Vegan Cream Egg

If you do miss out on those, remember, a dairy free Easter egg is only as far as your local supermarket because everyone from Sainsbury’s, to Holland and Barrett seem to have their own brands and the free from section will have everything from dark, ‘milk’, or white chocolate vegan eggs for you to choose from. So have a happy Easter and treat yourself!

Filed Under: What can vegans eat? Tagged With: chocolate, cream egg, dairy free, Easter eggs, supermarkets

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Cover for the first book by Heather Hamilton - Puppies for Sale.
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