This week we bid a fond farewell to The Bearded Vegans. We’ll discuss why we came to this decision, reminisce about the past 6 years, and talk about what’s next.
If you haven’t listened to all of Episode 299 yet, give that a listen before you dive into this one.
All episodes will remain available in perpetuity, and bonus episodes can soon be found at TheBeardedVegans.com/bonus
Find a full transcript of this episode here!
Thanks everyone!
Want to keep the conversation going? In addition to the work of all previous guests of the podcast, we also recommend:
Watch The Cranky Vegan on Youtube
Follow and engage with Vegan_Abolitionniste on Instagram
Follow and engage with Anti-Speciesist Arts Collective on Instagram
Read Aphro-ism: Essays on Pop Culture, Feminism, and Black Veganism from Two Sisters by Aph Ko and Syl Ko
Read: Racism as Zoological Witchcraft: A Guide to Getting Out Book by Aph Ko
]]>We seem to spend so much time talking about the things we don’t like, and the things we don’t want to see in our idealized world, that we thought it was high time we devote a discussion to exploring some of the things we actually DO want to see in that future, and more importantly, actions we can take to start honoring that future right this very second. Plus, a big announcement!
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- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
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With the mainstream movement placing so much emphasis on learning marketing techniques and social psychology in order to most effectively convert individuals to a plant based diet, we ask if manipulation is an inherent part of this type of activism. If it is, is that a bad thing? We’ll also talk about the difference between manipulation, persuasion, influence, and coercion, and how do they play into the struggle for justice.
Plus we talk about this absolutely bizarre marketing campaign, touting a podcast playlist purporting to use hypnotherapy to get people to stop eating meat. We’ll ask, what the hell is up with that, and why did so many outlets report on this as if it was a real thing?
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
We’ve got a jam packed episode today. First we talk to Jamila Alfred of the Afro Vegan Society to learn all about the upcoming National Afro-Vegan Conference Virtual Summit.
Then we are joined, once again, by lauren Ornelas, founder of the Food Empowerment Project to ask if non-profit chapters are a form of colonization. This is a topic she spoke about at the 2019 Animal Rights Conference and we were curious to pick her brain a bit more about why she came to this conclusion the implications it creates for activists. We discus why FEP decided to disband their Washington chapter as well as prohibit the formation of any new chapters. And ultimately we talk about strategies for moving forward.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
The Links:
Food Empowerment Project – Website / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Youtube
Afro Vegan Society – Website / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter
National Afro-Vegan Conference Virtual Summit Nov 13th, 2021
Episodes referenced:
Episode 2 – Living In A Non-Vegan World w/ lauren Ornelas
Episode 143 – Should Vegans Support Corporate Campaigns? w/ lauren Ornelas
Episode 162 – Vegan Food Justice w/ Brenda Sanders
Bonus Food episode – Darë cheese, Paul’s visit to Pittsburgh, Purple Carrot, Haunted hayrides, fostering kittens, and more!
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
About a year and a half ago, the pandemic was just getting into full swing in the United States and we were just starting to see the seeds of COVID conspiracy being sewn within vegans and plant based dieters. We did an episode speculating on whether or not vegans are more susceptible to falling for these conspiracies than the general population. Of course, the episode was filled with wild, barely-substantiated speculation (as we’ve been known to do). Flash forward to today and we have a year and a half worth of anecdotal evidence to base a follow up episode on. The big question lingers; have things gotten worse?
Instead of merely speculating, this time we turn to the inimitable Christopher Sebastian, whose job working in media studies involves monitoring and documenting trends in social media engagement. We’ll talk about how social media is being utilized by pseudoscientific grifters and far right ideologues to radicalize vegans into conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, and worse. Is this a problem of our own making? And most importantly, is there anything we can do to reverse course?
A transcript of this episode is available here!
Connect with Christopher Sebastian via his Website, Instagram, and Patreon.
What Do Vegans And Conspiracy Theories Have In Common? (EuroNews)
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Episodes referenced:
Episode 288: Vaccines And Vegan Ethics w/ Dr. Priyumvada Naik.
Episode 228: Are Vegans More Susceptible To COVID Conspiracies?
]]>As we’ve spent the last few weeks talking about some legislative measures that have the aim to greatly hinder the animal agriculture industry, we received an email asking what responsibility the vegan activists bear for potentially harming the mental health of farmers (specifically those exploiting animals). Whether it is targeted harassment campaigns, the looming threat of their industry shrinking, or smaller farms constantly being consolidated into industry giants, there is certainly plenty that could cause distress and mental anguish. We’ll ask if this is really a problem or merely disingenuous claims meant to turn public favor against vegans. If it IS a problem, what responsibility do we bear to mitigate it?
A transcript of this episode will be available here on October 13th.
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
Episodes referenced:
Interview with lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project
The Links:
Donate to Donate to Lilith Fund
How a simple CDC error inflated the farmer suicide crisis story—and led to a rash of inaccurate reporting (The Counter, 2018)
Coalition of Immockalee Workers
Factory Farm Workers – Food Empowerment Project
Prevalence of serious psychological distress among slaughterhouse workers at a United States beef packing plant (National Library of Medicine)
Key Risk Factors Affecting Farmers’ Mental Health: A Systematic Review
Online abuse and farm protests: the vegans impacting on farmers’ mental health
Veganism row breaks out after Joaquin Phoenix is told: be kinder to farmers (Guardian Feb 2020)
Put veganism into perspective (NFU March 2019)
]]>This week we continue our discussion about legislative tactics that might help animals. Starting with a brief look at the Plant Based Treaty and then moving on to welfare measures such as Prop 2 and Prop 12. With Prop 12, which requires specific square footage for animals exploited for food, about to take effect in CA many farmers are feeling the ripple effects of the measure. As they tell it, this new move could cost the industry millions and destroy their ability to profit off the death of animals. Could that possibly be the case? We’ll conclude by looking at a few bold initiatives that have the potential to go far beyond the mild welfare measures currently in place.
A transcript will be available here on October 6th.
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- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
Links and images coming soon!
]]>This week we are taking a look at a recent run of various globe-spanning legislative developments relating to legally establishing animal sentience. What do these moves actually mean for animals? It’s time to speculate wildly!
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Links:
Animal rights groups sue over latest Iowa farm trespass law (Agrinews)
S.Korea to grant legal status to animals to tackle abuse, abandonment (Reuters)
]]>What’s up, beardos?! This week we bring back a classic interview that is quite possibly our most referenced. Of course, nothing can truly “cancel out” one’s personal vegan practice, but a lot of the potential practical good being done by a vegan population is consistently undermined by our taxes dollars. You know how every year we hear about less and less people drinking cow’s milk, and yet every year we also hear about massive dairy bailouts? We talk to Laura Reese and Connie Spence of Agriculture Fairness Alliance and Liberation 360 about the subsidies and bailouts that keep animal agriculture afloat. Most importantly, we talk about the creative strategies they are implementing to do something about it.
TRANSCRIPT of the original episode.
Want to get involved immediately? Check out the Agriculture Fairness Alliance’s call to action page HERE.
The Links:
Agriculture Fairness Alliance – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram – YouTube
Connie Spence on Instagram
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
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This week we’ve got a surprise film review of Eating Our Way To Extinction, which releases on Sept 16th. Andy backed this film on Indiegogo back in 2017 and since then it has grown and gathered a number of celebrity endorsements and participants. Now narrated by Kate Winslet and featuring appearances from Tony Robbins and Richard Branson, among many others. We’ll see if this celeb narrated, environmentally focused documentary can stand out in a now very crowded field.
Eating Our Way To Extinction releases to the public on Sept 16th.
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- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
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- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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This week we continue our “Is It Time To Retire ______” series by looking at three slogans/phrases that are often used within the animal rights movement and ask if they have outlived their accuracy or usefulness. Up first we assess “if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian”, move on to “we are all animals” and then ultimately dive into “vegan for the animals” a phrase beloved by many that may have taken a more nefarious turn in recent years.
A full transcript of this episode is available here.
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
Referenced episodes:
Episode 33: Do We Need Graphic Images To Advocate?
Episode 222: Is It Time To Retire “Meat Is Murder”?
Episode 273: Is It Time To Retire “Why Love One But Eat The Other?”
]]>It’s time to reach into the mailbag and attempt to answer a whole host of listener questions, including:
- With no sentient life to harm, is Mars the perfect vegan world?
- What’s the deal with the one anonymous listener that keeps sending us a physical piece of mail every ten weeks?
- Are there any animal rights causes that vegans shouldn’t advocate for?
- Is it unethical to consume drugs, such as caffeine, knowing that it will ultimately end up in waterways and impact wildlife?
- How can one raise a child vegan without alienating them from the rest of their non-vegan friends and family? (with help from Carol Adams)
- Is it unethical for a collective living situation to set a “vegan only” policy?
- And much more!
A transcript of this episode is available here
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Links:
Nationalities Service Center (NSC) – Helping Afghan refugees
]]>This week we are taking a look at wild animal suffering. It’s a complex topic that brings up a lot of questions and mixed feelings. Is it an issue? If so, is it something that humans should attempt to intervene in? Do initiatives that end up helping predator animals (such as building bird boxes) actually create more harm than good? Are there ways we could help wild animals that wouldn’t drastically affect the ecosystem? Is maintaining an ecosystem a good justification for allowing animals to be harmed?
We’ll discuss some of the ways that humans are already intervening in wild animal suffering and some of the groups that are pushing for the rest of us to take it seriously. Ultimately we take a look at an argument making the rounds in the world of vegan youtube: in order to stay ethically consistent we must kill carnivores. It’s about to get messy!
A transcript of this episode will be available here on August 25th.
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
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- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Links:
The wild frontier of animal welfare (Vox April 2021)
]]>With vegans that are hesitant to take the COVID vaccine due to animal testing, we figured this would be a good time to explore our position on taking vaccines (as well as other medications). We’ll also discuss whether or not ethical veganism being a protected characteristic in the UK should exempt vegans from being required to get vaccinated in order to enter their workplace. This potential exemption has led to some anti-vaxxers to claim they will pretend to vegan to receive said benefit.
And finally, we’ll cut through the sea of misinformation addressing common concerns and misconceptions about the COVID vaccine with Dr. Priyumvada Naik, a triple board certified physician in Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Lifestyle Medicine. She has additional training and expertise in Lung Transplantation, ECMO, Interstitial Lung Disease, Genetic Lung Disease, Immunology, and Nutrition.
Find a transcript of the episode here!
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
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- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
More about Dr. Naik: Instagram / Twitter – She attended Duke University followed by medical school at The Medical College of Georgia. She did her Internal Medicine Residency, and Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowships at Emory University, the last two years of which she was the Lung Transplant Fellow.
She then spent time in Sydney, Australia doing a Transplant and ECMO fellowship before returning to the US to practice as a Transplant Pulmonologist in Phoenix, at what is now the largest Lung Transplant Center in the world. She has published in the fields of Internal Medicine, Lung Transplantation, and Organ Donor Management, having been the only fellow on the Society for Critical Care Medicine/American College of Chest Physicians consensus committee to craft guidelines on ICU management of the brain dead donor.
She continues to work with local organizations to improve donor procurement rates to decrease recipient waitlist times and deaths. In the intervening years, she has founded an Advanced Lung Disease Program, co-founded a Lung Cancer Screening Program, and served as Medical Director for an Intensive Care Unit.
The Links:
Compulsory workplace vaccination rules cannot apply to vegans(Telegraph, July 29th 2021)
Some anti-vaxxers plan to fake being vegan after finding a loophole that means vaccines are not mandatory for them (Business Insider, August 8th 2021)
Episodes referenced
]]>This week we are looking at a recent development in Berkeley, CA in which the city council passed a resolution that the city will start serving vegan food at public events, jails, senior centers and other city buildings after the city council approved a resolution that calls for the progressive city to cut by half its spending on animal-based products by 2024. We’ll take a look at what effects this resolution might actually have and then ask the question, can we actually force people to vegan?
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
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- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Links:
Listen to Andy on the Hope For The Animals podcast.
1st in nation: Berkeley to offer vegan meals at public events, jail
Episodes mentioned:
]]>This week we answer three listener questions in our mini-mailbag. Questions include:
- How do you feel about the statement that “humane meat” is actually worse than factory farmed meat due to the level of betrayal being higher?
- How should vegans react in the face of unexpected animal interactions, such as getting hit in the face with a bird on a roller coaster.
- Is there such a thing as being too vegan?
A transcript of this episode is available here
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
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- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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This week we’ve got a fun and lengthy deep dive into Meat Me Halfway, the latest effort from the Reducetarian camp to “meet people where they are”. Reducetarians take the position that most people won’t ever go vegan and therefore we should just advocate to eat less meat. We’ve been heavily critical of the tactic in the past, lets see if the messaging has evolved in this feature length documentary.
Meat Me Halfway is available for rental on all streaming platforms.
A transcript of this episode is available here!
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
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- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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While doing our usual rounds searching various news sites as we prepare for the next episode, we came across that caught our attention, but not for immediately obvious reasons. The story: a non-vegan posted an entirely plant based tofu dish in a vegan recipe group. The non-vegan was then accused of culturally appropriating veganism. But here’s the thing, despite getting a fresh round of news-aggregate posts in 2021, this minor story actually originated in 2018, and then resurfaced again in 2019. Each time the details change slightly.
We’ll talk about the merits of the story itself, but we’re more interested in why this particular set of text-message screen shots keeps getting put online with a slightly different veneer. Is it just outrage click bait fuel for a slow news day, or something more sinister? File this one under “internet oddities and curiosities that made us scratch our heads”. It’s time to speculate wildly!
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This week we’ve got some a little different from our usual fare. We love to talk about process and behind the scenes decisions making, and as we approach our six year podcast anniversary it felt appropriate to team up with Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan, co-hosts of Our Hen House, to talk about what it takes to keep our shows going and what motivates us to continue our shows far into the future.
OHH is celebrating their 600th episode, and has been releasing weekly episodes for nearly twice as long as we have. While our shows are vastly different in format, we’ve found the struggles of keeping long running podcasts have a lot of common ground. It’s rare for us to talk to other people who are in our shoes and this was fun opportunity to commiserate with the OHH crew about the ups and downs of co-host relationships, handling listener feedback, figuring out what should (and shouldn’t) be topics on the show and much much more!
A transcript of this episode is available here!
Connect with Our Hen House:
Connect with us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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This week we complete our insect trifecta! We’ve talked about the general concern of insect sentience, then we’ve talked about why some people think promoting entomophagy will be more successful than promoting a plant based diet. Now we are talking about an article that asserts that if vegans take animal suffering seriously, they are morally obligated to consume insects.
That’s a pretty bold claim, lets see if it pays off!
A transcription of the episode is available here.
Lets stay in touch:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
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- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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The links:
Are Vegans Obligated To Eat Insects? (PS Mag – originally published 2014, updated in 2017)
]]>This week we have to turn in our Extenuating Life Circumstances card. Instead of a regularly recorded episode, we’ll be playing an interview that Andy did on the Hope For The Animals podcast covering the intersection of fat justice and animal liberation. We’ll be back next week with a brand new episode!
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- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
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This week we are talking about entomophagy – the practice of eating insects. As humanity searches for ways to live more sustainability on this planet, some entrepreneurs are trying to Make Bugs Happen in the United States. Over two billion humans consume insects as a standard part of their diet and 80% of the world’s countries consume insects in one form or another. Yet western consumers remain resistant, creating a huge uphill battle. We’ll ask, why are some people trying to get people to shift to eating insects, as opposed to just eating a plant based diet? If the U.S. insect market does continue to grow, what does that mean for the fate of insects? Is this something that vegans should advocate for? Would the amount of pain, suffering, and exploitation increase or decrease?
A transcript of this episode will be available here on 23rd
Lets stay in touch:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Links:
‘Do I have a wing hanging out of my mouth?’: Watch Keilar sample cicadas(CNN)
For Most People, Eating Bugs Is Only Natural(NatGeo)
Why Aren’t We Eating More Insects?(New York Times)
A Taste Of Lobster History (History Channel)
Foundations of Animal Sentience (ASENT). Research from Dr. Jonathan Birch(London School of Economics and Political Science)
]]>I’ll tell you whats up, beardos! The cicadas are back (baby!) and we’re gonna talk about those who want to eat them and the general movement to get western consumers to embrace entomophagy. But before we dive into that discussion we thought it would be good to bring back an older episode in which we break down the research behind insect sentience and what that means for the ethical vegan trying to cause the least harm. We felt this discussion will help set the table, so to speak, for next week’s discussion.
We also do some follow up on the anti-speciesist language episode to find out where the phrase “letting the cat out of the bag” really came from, among others.
Lets stay in touch:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
New featured organization: The Open Sanctuary Project – Interview with Zee Griffler here.
Listen to the original version of this episode here.
Snopes explains the difference between cats and pigs in excruciatingly delightful detail.
]]>It’s time for another mailbag, where we answer your listener questions, comments and concerns. Topics this week include:
Will we ever join Clubhouse?
The Last Pig title mystery solved… maybe.
Humans have been killing animals they love for centuries, can we ever overcome that?
Who the heck is the Vegan/Not Vegan game for?
My partner says he would go vegan if I cook breakfast for him every morning, should I do it?
Fat shaming non-human animals w/ Chelsea Lincoln of Fat Vegan Voice – Instagram
Should there be a central vegan governing body?
A transcript of this episode is available here
Lets stay in touch:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Leave a voicemail: (323) 7BEARDO
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This week we do a deep dive into anti-speciesist language. We’ll look at a variety of ways in which our langue potentially shapes a world that devalues animals. Then we’ll ask how much time and effort should we put into eliminating particular words and phrases from our vocabulary and is it helpful for us to correct other vegans’ language? What about correcting the language of non-vegans? Does the oppressive origin of a phrase mean we should stop using it now, even if its contemporary use is entirely devoid of said origin? Ultimately we will ask, is language policing a valid form of activism?
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Contact us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Call (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
Episodes referenced:
Effective Language For Animal Advocates – Episode 13
Deconstructing The “Anti-Animal Language” Meme – Episode 165
]]>This week we bring back another classic episode from the vault. Originally airing in May of 2018, this is a continuation of last week’s episode, this time we hone in on how we should assess whether or not a battle is worth engaging in. The conversation is centered around asking “are there times when it is actually more advantageous to not advocate for animals?” As well as the merits of engaging in direct action from a risk/reward standpoint.
After replaying the original episode, we reflect on what we thought we got right, what we got wrong, and what we would have changed if we were recording that episode for the first time today.
Our transcriptionist just had a baby
, so no transcription this week. Welcome to the world, Jack!
Contact us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Call (323) 7BEARDO
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- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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Listen to the original version of this episode here.
]]>This week we are pulling a classic episode out of the archives, dusting it off, and providing some additional commentary. Back in May of 2018 we recored an episode entitled “Learning When To Shut Up”, in which we respond to a listener email about protest outside of a cheese festival pertained around local farms.
In that original discussion we talk about the importance of picking and choosing targets, whether we think some conversations are just a waste of time, and whether we would prefer a small achievable victory or to chip away at a much larger end goal.
After replaying that conversation, we have an extensive discussion exploring the ways our views have changed on the subject three years later. If you’ve already listened to that episode, know that there is about 40 minutes of additional discussion here.
Our transcriptionist just had a baby, so no transcription this week. Welcome to the world, Jack!
Contact us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Call (323) 7BEARDO
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Listen to the original version of this episode here.
HUGE THANK YOU TO DAVID B. FOR OUR NEW HOTLINE JINGLE!
]]>We recently made a post entitled “Don’t Debate Me, Bro!” in which we poke and prod at something we are terming “debate me bro activism”. But you know we are not into that whole brevity thing, so we are taking the time to elaborate on, and interrogate the idea more extensively in this week’s episode.
We’ll discuss what exactly is “Debate Me, Bro! Activism” and why we think it may be detrimental to creating a more just and equitable world for all. Drawing heavily from Andy’s experience as a full time street activist, we’ll also talk about ways we think healthy conversation and disagreement can be incorporated into our activism.
Our transcriptionist is having a baby, so no transcription this week.
Contact us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Call (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Links:
Come see Andy with Compassion Co at the Vegan Mini Market in Dover NH on May 16th
]]>This week we look at the curious case of vegan (or vegan-adjacent) phrases and messaging that are being co-opted by animal exploiters. Starting with an advertisement for plant based menthol and ending at a pig exploitation theme park, we’re taking a trip into bizarro world! Has the term “plant based” entirely lost it’s meaning? Why are dairy farms trying to add cow’s milk to plant based diets? Is fur actually good for the environment? And what fresh dystopian hell are we living in when people can be taught about how amazing pigs are, witness their complete subjugation, and come out feeling okay with eating them?
Find a transcript of the episode here!
Contact us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Call (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Links:
Come see Andy with Compassion Co at the Vegan Mini Market in Dover NH on May 16th
3 Reasons to Include Dairy in a Plant-Based Diet (New England Dairy, April 2021)
Why Banning Fur Will Hurt The Environment
Dairy Pride Act Reintroduced to Fight Back Against Non-Dairy Products(DairyHerd.com)
What We Do Today Defines The Future (Rick Berman – CCF – Sept 2020)
Taking Back The Narrative From Animal Activists. (CCF – Sept 1st 2020)
The vultures are circling: Address negative perceptions of the meat industry now(Meatingplace)
Fair Oaks Pig Adventure (YouTube)
Visiting Fair Oaks Farms (YouTube)
]]>This week we wrap up our run of media reviews with a look at The Last Pig. This film, by Emmy award winning director Allison Argo, started making the festival circuit rounds in 2017 but up until recently has been largely inaccessible to the general public. Now with a release on PBS, we are finally able to give an in depth review. Spoiler alert: we both really enjoyed this one! Of course, there was still plenty to talk about and we’ll get all up into it.
Where to watch The Last Pig on PBS.
A transcript will be available here on April 28th.
Contact us:
- Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
- Call (323) 7BEARDO
- Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
- Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
- Follow on Instagram and Facebook
This week we review Gunda, the long awaited film directed by Victor Kossakovsky and executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix. Gunda tells the story of the titular pig, her piglets, some chickens, and some cows. The film is presented in black and white, with no score, no narration, and no text on the screen. It’s a slow, methodical experience that is sure to alienate some viewers and inspire others. We’ll discuss the merits of this delivery method, ask who the film is for, and try to determine if it actually has a vegan message.
Gunda is currently in limited run at select theaters, but can be viewed online via Film Forum.
A full transcript of the episode can be found here.
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Donate to Food Love here.
]]>This week we kick off a string of media reviews by taking a deeper look at Save Ralph, a short from produced by Human Society International. Done in the stop motion style of films like Fantastic Mr Fox, Save Ralph stars Taika Waititi in the titular role of Ralph, a rabbit who looks at his use in cosmetic animal experimentation as a necessary part of his job. With support from Ricky Gervais, Zac Efron, Olivia Munn, Pom Klementieff, Rodrigo Santoro, Rosario Dawson, and Maggie Q, the film has the potential to reach a huge audience, but what exactly is the film saying, what action is it asking viewers to take, and does the delivery method hinder or help it’s chances at reaching the most people. We both had near opposite reactions to this film, so strap in for a fun ride.
We also talk about a listener reaction to Seaspiracy [6:15 – 22:30] and cover some good news in the world of animal testing.
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The links:
Anti Speciesist Action The Problem With Dog Analogies
Cranky Vegan – 3MT: Seaspiracy – An Animal Rights Activist’s Perspective
Goats and Oats podcast – The One About Seaspiracy
Virginia becomes 4th state to ban cosmetic animal testing (ABC News)
What’s Going On With China’s Animal Testing Laws in 2021 (Ethical Elephant)
Watch Save Ralph (content warning: animated animal testing)
]]>This week we bring you the next episode in our “Is it time to retire…” series. This time we take a deep dive look at “Why love one, but eat the other?” While many people consider dogs to be cherished members of the family, we’ll break down what exactly it means to love a dog and if that is a desirable outcome for all animals. What are the limits of using love as a metric for judging moral worth of animals. What are the limits of comparing one animal to another?
Plus we’ll do some follow up on our discussions about Seaspiracy and the phrase “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism”.
Find a full transcript of the episode here!
Contact us:
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Call (323) 7BEARDO
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Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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The Links:
CripHumanimal interview with Christopher Sebastian
Andy on theHope For The Animals podcast – episode 24
]]>This week we review Seaspiracy, the Netflix original documentary examining the impact of industrial aquatic animal exploitation. Somewhat of a spiritual sequel to Cowspiracy, this film has been making waves online, becoming the #4 film on Netflix over the past weekend and earning reviews in Vogue and the New York Times. We’ll give our spoiler-free general thoughts on the film before diving into a spoiler-full analysis of the film’s content and themes.
Seaspiracy is currently available via Netflix. Content warnings for the film include non-human animal harm, exploitation, and death, as well as human slavery and on screen human murder.
A full transcription of the episode can be found here.
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Support the podcast and get access to bonus episodes like We Call Bullshit On Penn & Teller here.
]]>This week we are joined by Kimberly Renee Barnes, an amazing activist that gets the work done. Kimberly is a self-taught private chef, on-air personality, and the founder of Might Be Vegan. She’s also the creator behind the national #FromMeatsToBeets Challenge, web series “Might Be Vegan presents The Trap Kitchen, and the world’s largest vegan-only tailgate, #VeganAtTheGame, which served more than 1500 people at no cost in the city of Atlanta during Super Bowl LIII.
For today’s episode though, we wanted to talk to Kimberly about Food Love, a national, direct-to-door hunger relief effort providing families in need with nutritious, plant-based food at no cost to them, to strengthen health outcomes and work towards greater food justice in the U.S. The program has a strong focus on BIPOC and other historically marginalized communities. We’ll talk about how the program works, what place it serves within the larger movement for food soveriegnty, and what it took to get brands to actually say yes to providing food to the program.
Then we’ll discuss her work under the Brands Behaving Badly moniker, in which she is working to hold brands accountable for taking advantage of content creators. Additionally, we’ll learn about Kimberly’s impressive online sleuthing which has exposed multiple brands fraudulently claiming to support social justice movements.
A full transcript of the episode can be found here!
Contact us:
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Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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The Links:
Food Love – Website / GoFundMe
Kimberly Renee – YouTube / Instagram / Patreon / Ca$hApp / PayPal
Brands Behaving Badly – Website
Might Be Vegan – Website / Instagram / Facebook
Referenced in this episode:
Why I No Longer Support Bob’s Red Mill (Part One)
EXPOSED: How This White-Owned Brand is Preying on Black Folks | Made With Melanin Co Scam
Not referenced in this episode, but we recommend signing this petition To Require Ownership Transparency in Shopify Stores To Prevent Scams & Fraud.
]]>It’s mailbag time, where we respond to your questions, comments and concerns, as well as do a little housekeeping. Topics covered include the future of vegfests, how to talk to someone about adopting instead of purchasing a dog from a breeder, whether or not factory farms can be considered natural, why we don’t plan to do an episode about zoos, the moral worth of “future animals”, is our sobriety connected to our veganism, and much much more!
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Nestle recently announced they would be releasing a vegan version of their popular Kit Kat candy bar. It’s no secret that Nestle is mustache-twirlingly-evil, with a lengthy history of extra bad ethical transgressions that includes chocolate sourced from some of the worst forms of child labor. Suffice it to say, some people are stoked and others are, well, not so stoked. If an episode about divided opinions over a corporate plant based food product sounds like deja vu, you’re not alone. We WILL talk about Nestles history with the plant based food scene and some of their unsavory business practices. But mostly we wanted to reflect on the feeling of despair that descends upon the land of vegan every time these things happen. Prepare for a rant-y, ramble-y episode ahead!
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Episodes referenced:
Episode 2: interview with lauren ornelas, in which we touch upon the labor issues with chocolate production.
Episode 101 Why Misanthropy is bad for veganism (first mention of Nestle acquiring Sweet Earth)
Episode 153: What’s The Deal With The Miyoko’s Controversy?
Bonus episode: A Tale Of Two Lawsuits (discussion of Nestle vs Herbivorous Butcher)
The Links:
VEGAN BUTCHER SHOP WINS NESTLÉ TRADEMARK BATTLE(VegNews)
Nestlé Is Building Its First Vegan Food Factory in China(Live Kindly)
Nestlé is launching a vegan version of Carnation condensed milk (Vegan Food And Living)
Nestlé Boss Urges All Employees To Do Veganuary – Bloomberg, M&S And More Also Take Part(Plant Based News)
Nestle announces Vegan Kit Kat. (plant based news)
Hershey launches vegan chocolate (plant based news)
Cocoa’s child laborers (washington post)
CHILD LABOR AND SLAVERY IN THE CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY(Food Empowerment Project)
Nestle and Hershey To Face Child Slavery Lawsuit in US(The Guardian)
Why Nestle Is One Of The Most Hated Companies In The World?(ZME Science)
]]>Over the last few months we took a “break” and then had a slew of collab and interview episodes which didn’t leave space for us to do our usual follow up section. So now that we are back on our regular recording schedule we thought it would be a great time to cover significant updates in some of the news stories we’ve covered over the last three months as well as address listener feedback.
Updates range from light to lengthy, as we revisit invasive species, the Denmark mink cull, lab grown meat, and the topic of whether A.I. should be considered vegan (an episode in which we received a flood of feedback asking us to *actually* have the conversation promised).
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This week brings the finale of our first ever Sanctuary Series. After exploring the ethics and efficacy of larger sanctuaries and prospect of microsanctuaries, we wanted to provide a starting point for those who are considering starting their own sanctuary. We speak with Zee Griffler, executive director of the Open Sanctuary Project, a freely accessible, always growing digital guide for any resources or information you need in order to responsibly create and successfully manage an animal sanctuary or to provide the best possible care to animals in order to help them live long, healthy, happy lives free of exploitation. The OSP is truly a remarkable resource, not just for sanctuary workers, but for activists of all stripes to learn more about the animals for whom we advocate for.
We’ll also explore why you might not want to start a sanctuary. And, of course, for those not interested in starting their own sanctuary, we’ll be asking Zee plenty of tough ethical questions that might arise when navigating within the sanctuary world.
A TRANSCRIPT can be found here.
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Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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The Links:
Purchase Brotha Vegan book here
Open Sanctuary Project / Website / Facebook / Instagram
Mentioned in this episode:
So, You Want To Start A Farmed Animal Sanctuary
The Differences Between An Animal Sanctuary And A Petting Zoo
How To Raise Money For Your Animal Sanctuary
Want to learn more about Animal-Centric Design/Architecture? Check out this great interview with the folks from Piedmont Animal Refuge on Our Hen House.
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans continue their Sanctuary Series by talking to Justin Van Kleeck of Triangle Chicken Advocates and The Microsanctuary Resource Center about the power of microsanctuaries.
For most of us in the movement, when we think about sanctuaries we think of properties out in the country, on dozens of acres of land, with a hundred or more residents. But what if we expanded our understanding of what a sanctuary could be? What if sanctuary could include providing a home and care for one individual animal that was previously exploited by the agriculture system?
We’ll also dig into the issues with framing animals as victims, why animals are activists, the conflict between helping animals alive right now versus preventing future animals from being born, balancing the rights of wild animals versus sanctuary residents, and so so so much more!
A full transcript of the episode is available here.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
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Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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The Links:
We are currently doubling donations (up to a total of $200) to Full Circle Farm Sanctuary
Justin Van Kleeck: Facebook / Instagram
Triangle Chicken Advocates: Website / Facebook
Vegans With Chickens Facebook Group
Microsanctuary Resource Center: Website / Instagram / Facebook
Open Sanctuary Project References:
“Building a Good Home for Chickens”
“Breaking The Mold: How Animal-Centered Design Can Transform Sanctuaries“
]]>We’re finally kicking off the long awaited Sanctuary Series! Over the years, many of our discussions involving the ethical grey areas directly or tangentially related to farm animal sanctuaries have left many lingering questions that we felt weren’t fully explored. Questions such as:
- How should sanctuaries balance raising the funds necessary to operate with respecting their residents right to be left alone?
- Are sanctuaries a good use of our donation dollars or should we be donating to direct vegan education efforts instead?
- What consideration should sanctuaries give to free living animals that are displaced by sanctuary property?
- Is it okay to stop a fox from eating a sanctuary chicken?
- Is there an ethical conflict with housing residents in buildings initially built to further their exploitation?
- And many many more!
So we decided to reach out to a variety of folks involved in the farmed animal sanctuary world, in a range of capacities, to see how they personally think about these tougher questions.
To get the ball rolling, we talk to Rachel McCrystal, executive director of Woodstock Farm Sanctuary. We have long appreciated how Woodstock runs things both on site and in their online education work. Woodstock is a mid to large level sanctuary, and with multiple buildings set on acres of land in the country, caring for nearly 400 residents. As such we tend to think of them as the quintessential farmed animal sanctuary and the perfect place to get this conversation started.
A transcript of the episode is available here.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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The Links:
Woodstock Farm Sanctuary: Website / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube
]]>Over the last few weeks, a conversation about whether it is appropriate for animal advocates to use highly loaded terms, specifically “Holocaust” and “slavery” in their activism has reached a boiling point. While these particular issue has been debated for decades, it seems to take the spotlight of intra-movement conversation every few years. Most recently, this fans have been flamed by several high level “celebrity” vegan activists who insist on using these terms regardless of the consequences. What we wanted to discuss today is not whether or not these terms should be used (we believe firmly in not using them, links that have informed our position below), but rather how these influencers have responded (or not) to valid critique.
For this episode we joined forces with the incomparable Iye Bako AKA IyeLovesLife on Instagram to come up with a list of seven red flags to look out for when engaging with your favorite celebrity vegan influencer. Ultimately we’ve noticed these red flags that paint a picture of activists who feel above reproach, who have nothing left to learn, and are more interested in maintaining their personal brand than examining the efficacy of their activism and the harm it may be causing.
We’ll go over the list together, and then discuss when to call in/out versus unfollow, whether or not influencer culture can be salvaged, and ask if we should even collectively be devoting so much time to these influencers.
Be sure to follow @iyeloveslife on Instagram.
Contact us:
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Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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Find the full transcript here.
Resources:
Antisemitism, AV is Trash, and Holocaust Comparisonsw/ Jenna Hirth and Tyra The Taurus (Kombucha Hour Podcast)
Antisemitism & Animal Rights by Joshua Katcher (TheDiscerningBrute Instagram)
Why Animal Advocates Should Not Invoke the Holocaust [And it’s Not Why You Think] – (Marla Rose on Medium)
Listen Up, Problematic White Vegans, Stop Comparing Black Oppression To Meat Eating (By Robust Health On Afropunk)
The Instagram Conundrum: Why did a photo of James Aspey spark outrage and split opinions? (Christopher Sebastian)
James Aspey and His Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week(The Cranky Vegan)
Activists to follow on Instagram:
@TyraTheTaurus
@JennaEarth
@RollercoasterVegan
@vegan_abolitionniste
and @iyeloveslife (obviously)
]]>This week Paul and Andy bring back another classic episode to help set the table for their upcoming Sanctuary Series. Peaceable Kingdom is one of the films they most often reference in other reviews. Despite looking very dated, it manages to capture the inner emotional lives of farmed animals in a way that so few other documentaries we’ve reviewed has. Of course, it isn’t a perfect film, so there is plenty to discuss here.
You can watch Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home for free HERE (warning: contains some graphic footage)
A transcript is available here.
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This week we kick off the start of our Sanctuary Series by bringing back a classic episode, our review of 73 Cows. The first film we reviewed from director Alex Lockwood was one that we both felt pretty dang positive about and we thought it would be a great time to bring our discussion back to help set the table for the next few episodes ahead in which we will delve into some of the more ethically complicated aspects of running a sanctuary.
You can watch all 15 short and sweet minutes of 73 Cows for free on Vimeo.
Vote for us as Best Vegan Podcast in the VegNews Veggie Awards(Closes Jan 31st)
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For many of us, a New Year serves as a time to reflect on where we’ve been, where we’d like to go, and set intentions for the year ahead. Paul and I recently sat down and had a frank discussion about how we’re feeling about the podcast, what works for us, what doesn’t, what we could improve upon, and how we can make sure it is sustainable for us in the long run. The good news: we both want to keep making the podcast! But we also wanted to make a few changes. So in today’s episode we are going to bring you in to that conversation. If you’re a first time listener, this one probably isn’t a great place to start (and actually, you should start here) but if you’re like us and enjoy looking behind the curtain and hearing two people over-explain their process, this one is for you!
We’ll also talk about some good news in the world of animal advocacy and discuss a few of the things that brought us joy in 2020.
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Find a full transcript of the episode here.
Vote for us in the VegNews Veggie Awards HERE.
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans dive into a very tricky topic, invasive species. The more Paul and Andy looked into the topic, the more they realized how highly unique every situation and species is. So while they will speak broadly on the idea of “invasive species”, they will mostly zero in on an email they received about the spotted lantern fly. These insects have been declared invasive in Pennsylvania and the state has started a campaign to promote their eradication. One of the most common solutions is to a apply a layer of sticky tape around trees, to catch the bugs. Problem is, this tape also catches all sorts of non-invasive insects, as well as some birds as large as a hawk. A local vegan group is considering making a video to show people how they can combat the lanternflies, without harming other animals. But one member is questioning if this is the work vegans should be doing. Paul and Andy will do their best to suss it all out!
Contact us:
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A full transcript of the episode can be found here.
The Links:
Killing spotted lanternflies is the relief I needed in 2020(The Inquirer)
Do Insects Matter Morally? Episode 156
]]>In our final episode of the year, we continue our tradition of reviewing the latest installment in Plant Based News’ Vegan 20XX series. Every year PBN puts together a highlight reel of vegan related events and developments. This has served as a great way to look back on the events of the year as we take a closer look at the effectiveness of the film as a whole. We’ll reflect on the evolution of this series, ask who these films are created for, and generally muse on the World’s Longest Year.
Watch Vegan 2020 free on YouTube.
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It’s time for another mailbag episode, in which we do our best to respond to listener submitted questions, comments, and concerns. We’ll start with some lighter fare, such as our favorite holiday roasts and then move quickly into some stickier ethical conundrums. Is it ethical to force a horse to donate blood to save another horse? Should we allowing animal testing if the end goal is to benefit non-human animals? How do we tell our well-meaning friends and family to stop recommending vegan documentaries to us? Should vegans disclose their dietary practices when trying to adopt a child? How do we feel about lab grown meat made from consenting humans? All that and much more!
A transcript of this episode is available here
Contact us:
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Call (323) 7BEARDO
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Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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The links:
Donate to Full Circle Farmed Animal Sanctuary
The Bearded Vegans Recommend Playlist(Spotify)
First case of the coronavirus detected in the wild(NatGeo)
Steaks Grown From Human Cells Spark Interest and Outrage (New York Times)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans tackle a question that has long been sitting in their inbox, should artificial intelligence be a part of the moral sphere of consideration for vegans? If humans, for some unfathomable reason, are able to create a being that has self-interest, would it be unethical to use it? Isn’t A.I. just a bunch of math and logic, and no matter how convincing it is, never truly be sentient? Should concern for the rights of A.I. be wrapped up in the vegan framework? Free will, determinism, nature vs nurture, oh my!
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For as long as we’ve been vegan, lab grown meat has been touted by some as the best chance to saving the most animals, while others staunchly oppose using or advocating for it. Up until now, discussions around cell based agriculture have largely been theoretical, but the announcement that Eat Just has been approved to sell their cultured meat to the general public (in Singapore, at least) has turned sci fi into reality. Although we have had an extensive discussion about the ethics of lab grown meat in the past, the abundance of internet arguments on the matter had us thinking that this would be a prime time to revisit our views on the topic.
We’ll also discuss David Perdue attempting to dunk on John Ossof for eating at Slutty Vegan and take a look at Million Dollar Vegan’s latest makeover.
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Call (323) 7BEARDO
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Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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The Links:
Sen. David Perdue mocks Jon Ossoff for eating vegan burger (Fox News)
Ep 24: Should vegans be excited about Lab Grown meat? (Feb 23rd, 2016)
Eat Just to sell lab-grown meat in Singapore after gaining ‘world first’ regulatory approval (Tech Crunch)
No-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for first time (The Guardian)
‘CULTURED MEAT’ IS ON THE MENU AT THE CHICKEN RESTAURANT IN TEL AVIV(Globe Trender)
]]>Hey beardos, this week we take a moment to catch up on some news stories that caught our interest over the last month but we just couldn’t find a space for them in the episode. We’ll try to make sense of the bizarre food labeling law developments in the EU: Vegan Burger good! Plant based milk bad? But also Oatly can’t copyright their claim that their product is “like milk, but made for humans” because everyone knows cows milk is bad? It’s enough to make your head spin! Plus attempt to sort out our feelings over an interested marking tactic from This, and do some extensive follow up on the Denmark mink situation.
A transcription is available here
Contact us:
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Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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Support the podcast on Patreon
The Links:
Danish Government May Exhume Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dead Minks And Burn Them(Washington Post)
EU lawmakers vote for ‘veggie burgers’, take hard line on dairy labels(Reuters)
Oatly trademark rejected(World Trademark Review)
This commercial (YouTube)
]]>This week we bring you an interview with chef Raul Medina, founder of Taqueria La Vengaza, to discuss Let’s Eat On Stolen Land, an anti-thanksgiving cookbook created in collaboration with BIPOC chefs from Oakland, CA. Let’s Eat… features family recipes based on harvest dinners for colonizer “holidays”. 100% of proceeds of the sale of the cookbook and e-version are donated to Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led trust facilitating the return of stolen land to Indigenous people.
A transcript of the episode is available here
Contact us:
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Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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The Links:
Purchase your copy of Let’s Eat On Stolen Land
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust – Instagram – Website
Chef Raul Medina on Instagram
]]>Hey beardos. I wish we could say this week’s mini episode is about something uplifting. Alas, we’ll be discussing a rather tragic situation in which Denmark may be killing upwards of 15 million mink as a means of preventing coronavirus spread. To think that so many sentient beings could be killed in order to prevent the spread of a virus that was, in all likelihood, already the result of humans exploiting animals and/or encroaching on their natural habitat seems especially unjust and cruel. However, many are also speculating that this could spell the end of Denmark’s fur industry. Throw into the mix that these animals were already destined to live lives of abject misery only to become a capitalist status symbol, it brings up some really complicated feelings about this quickly evolving situation. Can we look at this as a net positive? Why are so we upset about this when these animals were going to die anyway? We’ll do our best to work through and embrace the messy feelings in this one.
A transcript will be available here on Nov 18th.
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The links:
Mink and the Coronavirus: What We Know (New York Times)
Coronavirus: Denmark shaken by cull of millions of mink (BBC)
]]>It seems like every year we are reporting on yet another Big Ag bailout, another milk glut, and another warehouse containing millions of pounds of animal flesh and secretions, unsold. While it would appear the vegan population continues to grow, the number of animals slaughtered for food generally remains steady. This flies in the face the supply and demand principals that so many vegans believe will liberate animals. So what the hell is actually going on here?
To get the bottom of things, we bring you an interview with Connie Spence and Laura Montonye Reese the co-founders of Vegan Justice League and Agriculture Fairness Alliance. Through VJL, Laura and Connie are working to educate vegans about why our tax dollars tend to counteract any potential good our consumer habits might be doing, and most importantly what we can actually do about that. Through AFA, they are creating lobbyists that work on behalf of the best interests of the animals and provide a counter to the hundreds of well funded Big Ag lobbyists. If the murky world of lobbying, subsidies, and bailouts is confusing to you as it was to us, we hope this interview is illuminating, informative, and most importantly, inspirational.
A full transcript of the episode is available here.
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The Links:
Vegan Justice League – Facebook – Instagram – YouTube – Twitter – Reddit
Agriculture Fairness Alliance – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram – YouTube
Connie Spence on Instagram
]]>Hey beardos, occasionally we record an episode in one state of mind, and then a major national event happens and it feels weird to plop it down right in the middle of that. If history is any indication, the day after a presidential election is likely to be one full of pain, sadness, confusion, and just generally overwhelming. We wanted to be mindful of this and asked you what kind of episode you wanted to listen to the day after the election (since we record these about a week in advance) and the majority voted for “a distraction”.
So, here we are, using this episode as an opportunity to talk about all sorts of bits, bobs, things that bring us joy, and general housekeeping. Personally, we often turn to our favorite podcasts in times of strife to find some comfort and normalcy, and hopefully this episode can provide that for some of you!
A transcript of the episode is available here.
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Links:
Pre-order Brotha Vegan here.
Listen to Andy live on One Life Radio on Nov 5th at Noon Texas time right here
]]>After realizing even our poor little burnt out husks of hearts couldn’t withstand the trauma of dissecting more Vegan Gnomes videos, we decided to change course from our original plans. We’ll offer some closing thoughts on this whole Vegan Commandments nonsense and then speak more generally on why we feel that veganism is inherently political.
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A full transcript for the episode can be found here.
The Links:
Sorry conservative vegans. Animal rights is political…and it leans left. (Christopher Sebastian)
]]>Do you like being yelled at? Do you like beligerantly being sold things? Do you like people unironically doing the exact opposite of the advice they are currently giving you? No, no, and no? Well don’t worry, we suffered through The Vegan Gnomes aggressively unpleasant five part sales pitch so you don’t have to! The Vegan Gnomes claim to be worshipped by the mainstream, but wait no not that mainstream, the other real mainstream. They claim to know how to effortlessly veganize people by telling them to purchase an Impossible Whopper. They claim to have all the answers while everyone else is lost. We’ll attempt to manifest some answers in this week’s episode.
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A full transcript for the episode can be found here.
]]>It’s time for another mailbag, where Paul and Andy attempt to respond to your questions, comments and concerns. They’ll discuss a lengthy email from a listener that hated My Octopus Teacher. Muse upon the perfect vegan and sustainable alternative to egging someone’s house. Is it okay to take someone to a sanctuary if they are only looking for the “petting zoo experience?” Should we feel conflicted about delivering non-vegan meals to people in need? Why were stores so quick to drop monkey-harvested coconut milk, yet continue to carry products made from exploited humans? All that and much much much more!
Transcript available here
Donate to Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, send us the receipt, and we will double it. Up to a total of $200.
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We’ve received a flood of requests to review My Octopus Teacher, and we’ve seen many vegans singing it’s praises as a film that will help people show compassion for animals. Despite a less than intriguing title, our interest was piqued. We had to know, was the film so many vegans were raving about a “vegan film”? We’ll get all up into this one on this week’s mini episode.
My Octopus Teacher is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
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This week Paul and Andy tackle two more of the big stories they missed during their break and packing them together by asking why we (the collective we) are still surprised when “vegan corporations” are horrible? Starting with Light Life attacking Beyond and Impossible in a full page ad in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Is this bold strategy going to pay off for them, and does their critique of the other brands even make sense? Is it possible this was all orchestrated to heighten the profile of all the brands involved? Or, more nefariously, is it possible the end goal was to damage the reputation of all brands and vegan meats in general?
Paul and Andy conclude by looking at the last “vegan” company to garner much pearl clutching, Oatly. It was revealed that Trump-supporting billionaire Schwarzman’s Blackstone acquired a stake in the company. Blackstone has ties to companies destroying the Brazilian rainforest and Shwarzman personally donated $3 million to a pro-Trump super PAC. It is undeniably horrible, yet is it surprising? Is this just the cost that must be payed in order to create great accessibility for plant based products, or can we solve the problem by boycotting?
A transcript of this episode is available here
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The Food:
Seven Suns, Two Moons (Atlanta, GA)
The Links:
Carol Adams Interview for Toronto Vegfest – Audio Only
The Ultimate Droopy Dog Companion (thanks Emily!)
Light Life Makes A “Clean Break”
Oatly vegan milk faces activist anger after Trump-supporting billionaire Schwarzman’s Blackstone acquired a stake(Business Insider)
]]>Paul and Andy are back from their break and it looks like there was a ton of hot topics causing outrage during their absence. As they work to catch up, they start by discussing whether or not activists should start an OnlyFans as a means to sustain themselves. Now, of course, this topic was sparked specifically by one high profile plant based activist making this move. And they’ll get all up into the specific details, but they’ll also talk more broadly about the struggle of finding a balance between supporting oneself and doing activism. Should activists be paid to do activism? Why are activists expected to earn low/no wages and suffer for the cause? Why is it considered noble to sell the best hours of one’s week to create profit for someone else and then do activism on their miniscule amount of off time? Isn’t it wrong to earn money as an ally to an oppressed group? It’s a sticky, messy, grey-area filled extravaganza in this one.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
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Don’t forget to send in your questions for the next mailbag episode.
]]>This week brings the conclusion of the summer break film review series. You may recall that Paul and Andy once released an entire episode dedicated to asking if advocating that people “go vegan for the amazon” is an effective and accurate tactic. So you bet your biscuits they were excited to check out Takeout, a new documentary that promises to explore the connections between rainforest destruction and animal agriculture. They’ll take an in depth look at the road map used to guide viewers through a very complex issue. Does Takeout avoid the common pitfalls we saw during the height of the Amazonian rainforest fire outrage, or does it offer something more nuanced and valuable? Stay tuned to find out!
A full transcript of the episode can be found here
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Takeout is available to rent via iTunes and Prime.
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans continue their summer break film review series with an in depth look at Test Subjects, the latest short film from director Alex Lockwood. Paul and Andy were eagerly anticipating Lockwood’s follow up to 73 Cows, a film they both enjoyed overall. In fact, their only major criticism of that film was that they just wanted more. With Test Subjects also being a short sweet 16.5 minutes, they’ll see if it can manage to create a complete statement in such a brief run time.
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This week Paul and Andy kick off their later-than-usual summer break film review series: their chance to take a little break by checking out some vegan and animal rights related films we’ve been meaning to check out. They start with Kindred Creatures, a documentary that focuses on the lives of animal sanctuary residents as well as their caretakers. The film also touches on a bit of, well, everything. The Bearded Vegans discuss the merits of the film, its strategy, who it’s for, and much more.
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A full transcript for the episode can be found here
Kindred Creatures is available to watch via Prime.
]]>In this week’s mini episode, the Bearded Vegans dissect a recent post trying to push the term “vegan ally” as a way to describe those who aren’t. If vegans aren’t an oppressed group, do we need allies? Is this just a reducetarian rebrand? When allyship is unfortunately often seen as a noun and not a verb, does creating vegan allies actually encourage inaction? Or, does this actually help to create a larger and more effective movement by creating a bigger tent? Would non-vegans applying this label be more likely to go vegan, or create pro-vegan content? There is a lot to dig into here, and Paul and Andy will do their best to cover it all.
A full transcription is available at http://bit.ly/TBVEp243Transcript
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This week Paul and Andy weigh in on a debate raging across the internet: is this dude an asshole for starting a meat-eaters-only club at his workplace in response to the formation of a Vegan Diner Club? They also spend a good deal of a time discussing Shark Week’s main event, Tyson Vs. Jaws. Although they’ve speculated on what this fight might actually be, they can now speak definitively on this brawl that was advertised as the “ultimate showdown”. Paul and Andy also ask, why are vegan news outlets still promoting him?
A full transcript is available at http://bit.ly/TBVEp242Transcript
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The Links:
Mike Tyson Puts a Shark Into Tonic Immobility!(Shark Week)
Mike Tyson, Convicted Rapist, ‘Fought’ a Shark on TV. Sadly, No One Got Bit.(The Daily Beast)
Am I The Asshole For Creating A Meat Eaters Only Club At Work? (Reddit)
]]>Believe it or not, this episode marks our five year podcast anniversary! A lot has changed since we first started, so we thought it would be fun to celebrate by revisiting and reflecting our first five episodes. We’ll give some updates on several of the topics covered, ruminate on the evolution of the format of the podcast, as well as examine the ways we talked about certain issues and how they have or haven’t changed since then. Probably not a great place to start if you’re new to the show, but if you’ve been with us for a while we think you’ll enjoy this fun, ponderous, and occasionally cringe-y walk down memory lane.
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A full transcription of the episode can be found at https://bit.ly/TBVEp241Transcript
Brace yourself and listen to these original five episodes if you dare:
Episode 1: Cecil The Lion
Episode 2: Living In A Non-Vegan World + Interview with lauren Ornelas
Episode 3: Unity review
Episode 4: Should Vegans Eat Ben & Jerrys?
Episode 5: The Dangers Of Hero Worship + Interview with Tommy Knowles
]]>This week Paul and Andy bask in the warm sunny glow of the mailbag, where they will do their best to respond to listener questions, comments, and concerns. Topics covered include: what should people do with their old Thug Kitchen cookbooks, since starting the podcast do Paul and Andy feel pressure to always be right, is it okay to sell second hand leather, why are so many Vegfests so heavily health-focused, which political candidate will be the best vote the animals, and much much more!
A full transcript of the episode is available at https://bit.ly/TBVEp240Transcript
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Paul’s Podcast Recommendations:
Andy’s Podcast Recommendations:
Made Of Human by Sophie Hagen – Episodes 134 and 135 (interview with Your Fat Friend)
Reply All – The Snapchat Thief
The Sporkful – A Reckoning At Bon Apetit, Can A Restaurant Be For Everyone? When White People Say Plantation.
The Links:
Damn it, Shark Week, don’t act like Mike Tyson is going to fight a shark (AV Club)
]]>In this week’s episode, The Bearded Vegans discuss an email asking if it is effective and truthful to promote veganism as a way to address the plight of slaughterhouse workers. Although this has been a talking point of many vegans in the past, recent news that slaughterhouses have become hotbeds of COVID-19 activity, resulting in the deaths of 100 workers and infections of 28,000 others has put the spotlight back on these facilities and their working conditions. Should vegans attempt to capitalize on this moment? Is this a meaningful way to show solidarity with a marginalized community? Paul and Andy talk theoretically and then look at some specific examples. They also touch on the recent Ukrainian hostage situation that was resolved when President Zelensky posted a six second video recommending that people watch Earthlings.
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The Links:
Burger King wins dismissal of vegans’ lawsuit over Impossible Whopper(Reuters)
Hostage siege ends after Ukrainian president endorses Joaquin Phoenix film(The Guardian)
America’s Slaughterhouses Aren’t Just Killing Animals (The Atlantic)
Some Meatpackers Question New COVID-19 Safety Guidelines (NPR)
99 Slaughterhouse Worker COVID-19 Deaths Provoke Coalition To Urge #boycottmeat (PRNewswire)
COALITION CALLS FOR ‘CORPORATE’ MEAT BOYCOTT TO IMPROVE WORKING CONDITIONS (Agriculture.com)
Lauren Ornelas in live feed with Naijha Wright-Brown on the Vegan Soulfest page(Facebook)
]]>A full transcript is available at http://bit.ly/TBVEp238Transcript
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THE GUESTS:
Christopher Sebastian – FULL INTERVIEW – Website – Instagram – Facebook – Patreon
Jessica Shay – Vegan Street Fair – FULL INTERVIEW – Website – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – Patreon
kevin tillman – vegan hip hop movement – FULL INTERVIEW – Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter
Tara O’Brady – Seven Spoons – FULL INTERVIEW – Website – Instagram – Twitter
THE LINKS:
The Problem With Thug Cuisine (Bryant Terry on CNN)
Thug Love: Ferguson And The Politics Of Race (Christopher Sebastian)
Thug Kitchen Is the Latest Iteration Of Digital Blackface (Vice by Jordan Sowunmi)
ON FERGUSON, THUG KITCHEN, AND TRAYVON MARTIN: INTERSECTIONS OF [POST]RACE-CONSCIOUSNESS, FOOD JUSTICE, AND HIP HOP VEGAN ETHICS (on Sistah Vegan by Breeze Harper)
Thug Kitchen: A Recipe in Blackface (on The Root by Akeya Dickson)
Culturally Appropriate Foodie Tuesday – A Rant About Thug Kitchen (on iEatGrass by Ayinde Howell)
Here’s What Bothers Me Most About The Fact That Those Behind “Thug Kitchen” Are Actually White People (by Charring Ball on MadameNoire)
White Couple Behind ‘Thug Kitchen’: You Don’t Get to Redefine the Word ‘Thug’ (Jenn M Jackson on Watercoolerconvos)
White Wannabes Are ‘N*ggas’ and ‘Thugs’ But Never Victims of Racism (Jenn M Jackson on Watercoolerconvos)
Dear creators of “thug kitchen”: stop using black stereotypes as a marketing strategy (on For Harriet by Brittany Dawson)
The problematic history of the word ‘thug’: From rioting Pa. coal miners to Tupac to a Philly courtroom (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Thug Kitchen: It’s not just about aping and appropriation, it’s about privilege (Afroculinaria by Michael W Twitty)
Thug Kitchen On Crafts N Crafts Podcast
Tangentially Speaking with Dr Christopher Ryan: Ep 405
Thug Kitchen on The Morning After
Digital blackface: Problems in food publishing aren’t new (Bryant Terry on KCRW 2020)
The Thug Kitchen Controversy (Bryant Terry, as well as Matt and Michelle on KCRW 2014)
Authors of ‘Thug Kitchen’ Can’t Take Heat, Cancel Bay Area Appearances (SFist.com)
Thug Kitchen Creators Dish on Vegan Recipes Blog in Gangster Voice (The Daily Beast)
Real Thugs Eat Their Greens: The Story Behind ‘Thug Kitchen’ (Publisher’s Weekly)
the racial controversy with thug kitchen, coded language and digital blackface (Kombucha Hour Podcast )
Michael W. Twitty on the Forked Up Podcast
What Happens When You Actually Read Thug Kitchen (that bad Refinery 29 article)
]]>After nearly a decade of profiting off of cultural appropriation, Thug Kitchen finally announced they would be changing their name. This news prompted strong responses from both their supporters as well as their detractors who had been attempting to hold them accountable. In this series we will take a deep dive into the history of Thug Kitchen, from their early days as a small Tumblr blog, to their ascension in the food world, becoming three time best selling cookbook authors, and all the bullshit in between. Matt and Michelle, the couple behind TK made a habit of slyly dodging their critics and employing a litany of gaslighting techniques to explain away their behavior. In part one of the series we’ll provide historical context for the outrage and accusations against Thug Kitchen, as well as hear from several of their early critics who will explain the murky world of cultural appropriation, coded language, code switching, and just what exactly is the problem with TK .
A transcript of the episode is available at https://bit.ly/TBVEp237Transcript
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The Links:
Thug Kitchen’s earliest Tumblr posts
Meet the 2013 BFBA Winners: Thug Kitchen (Saveur)
Thug Kitchen, A Blog That Swears By Veganism. A Lot. (Washington Post)
Thug Life: A Behind-The-Scenes Look At The Masterminds Of Thug Kitchen(Epicurious)
The Problem With Thug Cuisine (Bryant Terry on CNN)
Thug Love: Ferguson And The Politics Of Race (Christopher Sebastian)
Thug Kitchen Is the Latest Iteration Of Digital Blackface (Vice by Jordan Sowunmi)
ON FERGUSON, THUG KITCHEN, AND TRAYVON MARTIN: INTERSECTIONS OF [POST]RACE-CONSCIOUSNESS, FOOD JUSTICE, AND HIP HOP VEGAN ETHICS(on Sistah Vegan by Breeze Harper)
Thug Kitchen: A Recipe in Blackface (on The Root by Akeya Dickson)
Culturally Appropriate Foodie Tuesday – A Rant About Thug Kitchen (on iEatGrass by Ayinde Howell)
Here’s What Bothers Me Most About The Fact That Those Behind “Thug Kitchen” Are Actually White People (by Charring Ball on MadameNoire)
White Couple Behind ‘Thug Kitchen’: You Don’t Get to Redefine the Word ‘Thug’ (Jenn M Jackson on Watercoolerconvos)
White Wannabes Are ‘N*ggas’ and ‘Thugs’ But Never Victims of Racism (Jenn M Jackson on Watercoolerconvos)
Dear creators of “thug kitchen”: stop using black stereotypes as a marketing strategy (on For Harriet by Brittany Dawson)
The problematic history of the word ‘thug’: From rioting Pa. coal miners to Tupac to a Philly courtroom (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Thug Kitchen: It’s not just about aping and appropriation, it’s about privilege (Afroculinaria by Michael W Twitty)
Thug Kitchen On Crafts N Crafts Podcast
Tangentially Speaking with Dr Christopher Ryan: Ep 405
Thug Kitchen on The Morning After
Viva La Vegan Podcast/YouTube interview
Digital blackface: Problems in food publishing aren’t new (Bryant Terry on KCRW 2020)
The Thug Kitchen Controversy (Bryant Terry, as well as Matt and Michelle on KCRW 2014)
Guest interviews:
Christopher Sebastian – website – Instagram – Facebook – Patreon
Jessica Shay – Vegan Street Fair website – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – Patreon
]]>This week we bring you a very classic TBV episode, both in terms of form and content. We bring back What We’ve Been Eating to talk about to briefly mention some cookbooks, recipes, and new store bought items that have been getting us through these trying times. Then we talk about Woke Ben & Jerry’s, who were recently successful in getting their Happy Cow lawsuit dismissed. Was this a victory for animals? Should we be championing B&J for all their pro-social justice advocacy lately? We conclude by dissecting an article written by someone who spent five years as a vegan but ultimately decided to switch to the term plant based (which in their view, includes some dairy) after wallowing in toxic vegan groups that thrived on shaming non-vegans. This leads us down a path bringing up a number of topics including how to be sensitive to those with eating disorders. Using the struggles of marginalized groups as scapegoats to justify animal abuse. Why some vegans feel like they are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, and so so so much more! We thought this would be a standard discussion about labels, but it churned up some much more fruitful territory. Enjoy!
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The Food:
Vegan Baking For Beginners, by JL Fields
Vegan Hamburger Helper by Sweet Simple Vegan
Gardein Canned Soups found at V Marks The Shop
The Links:
Judge dismisses ‘happy cow’ suit against Ben & Jerry’s (Boston.com)
Why I No Longer Call Myself ‘Vegan’ Even Though I Still Eat Plant-Based (StudyBreaks.com)
Episodes referenced:
Ex-Vegans Part 1: Reacting To Celebrity Ex-Vegans – Ep 172
Understanding Road Blocks On A Vegan Journey w/ Jaime K – Ep 173
Ex-Vegans Part 2: When Health Fails – Episode 174
How To Not Be A Dick To Someone With An Eating Disorder (Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack! Ep 73)
Is Veganism An Eating Disorder (Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack! Ep 26)
]]>In this week’s mini episode we ask if survivalist reality shows are secretly making a case for veganism. The discussion is framed by taking a closer look at the History Channel hit, Alone. The show finds 10 contestants dropped off in remote wilderness with only the clothes on their backs plus 10 items of their choosing and then asked to survive as long as possible. The last survivalist to tap out receives a $500,000 grand prize. While the show appears, on it’s surface, to be decidedly #notvegan, as contestants find themselves consuming fish, crabs, and small birds. However, is it possible that a show designed to champion human resilience actually shreds the illusion of human supremacy?
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About a month ago we recorded this video but we held onto it in favor of releasing some more timely material. As we continue to work on some more ambitious projects, we’ve decided to release this mini episode, with an additional introduction discussing COVID and the recent protests, as well as some further relfection at the end of the episode. With that said, this week we discuss Mark Rober’s recent viral video: Building The Perfect Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder in which he constructs an eight part obstacle course that most questionably contains a catapult designed to launch squirrels right before the final reward. In the video, Mark details the efforts he has made to ensure no harm comes to the squirrels. Despite the fact that we’ve seen many vegans sharing this video without comment, something didn’t sit quite right with Andy and so we wanted to pick apart this idea that abuse and exploitation is only defined by physical harm. Is this video all just harmless fun, or is it the tip of the iceberg of something more sinister?
Transcript of the original episode HERE.
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The Links:
Feeding Bill Gates A Fake Burger To Save The World (YouTube)
]]>This week, we bring you an interview with Omowale Adewale to discuss the 7 Points Of Allyship For The White Vegan Community In Defense Of Black Lives. This pledge is designed to organize white vegans to take tangible action to support black lives during a time when performative allyship is at an all time high. Omowale discusses each point individually and expands on their meaning, as well as explaining just why he felt it was necessary to put this together in the first place.
A full transcript of the episode is available at http://bit.ly/TBVEp233Transcript.
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Actions To Take:
Support Omowale Adewale on Patreon.
Take the allyship pledge at BlackVegfest.org
Donate To (and then share) The 7 Points Of Allyship on GoFundMe – Send us the screenshot of your donation and we will double donations up to $100 total.
]]>No elaborate title this week, we simply want to talk about the importance of media literacy during a time when news and other information is flying by our timelines at a record pace. We’ll discuss the tactics we use to determine the validity, truthfulness, and intent of the news articles that we have turned into various episodes of the show. Then we’ll turn that lens on one specific article that set of alarm bells when we first read the title.
A full transcript of the episode is available at https://bit.ly/TBVEp232Transcript.
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The Links:
Ding Ding! The Most Racist Member of Congress Just Got Beat.(Mother Jones)
How to Fight Lies, Tricks, and Chaos Online (The Verge)
George Floyd protests: Misleading footage and conspiracy theories spread online(BBC)
George Floyd Protests: Rumor Roundup (Snopes)
US Reports over 21,000 new cases amid mass protests(ABC News)
]]>We had originally recorded an episode about something that started to feel more and more frivolous as the uprising sparked by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery developed. So we jumped on the mic for a last minute episode to address a meme going around that features a protestor holding a severed pig’s head. The resulting online discourse was messy, to say the least. We’ll ask what is the purpose of this meme, who is the intended audience, and ultimately why we feel it is incredibly shortsighted and misguided. The conversation then evolves into addressing the latest trend of memes attempting to expose the hypocrisy of others. We’ll talk about what we think is lost in the quest for dunks.
A transcript of this episode can be found at https://bit.ly/TBVep231Transcript
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Today Paul and Andy open up the mailbag and do their best to respond to listener questions, comments and concerns. Topics run the gamut from why vegan burgers have become so mainstream while vegan cheese seems to be left in the dust, to if and how vegans should use the global pandemic to advocate for animals. They close out with a series of questions regarding knowing when to pick your battles: policing language, sticking up for veganism in nonvegan activist spaces, and people who say their body requires animal flesh. This week’s episode was extra special as it was recorded with a live audience over IG Live, which enabled Paul and Andy to interact a bit with listeners as the show went on.
A full transcript can be found at https://bit.ly/TBVEp230Transcript
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DONATE TO CHILIS ON WHEELS and their pandemic relief efforts and we will double your donation, up to $400. Just send us a screenshot of your receipt.
The links:
Cheese vs. Meat – Which Carbon Footprint Is Higher? (Climate Foot Notes)
]]>In this week’s episode, Paul and Andy do some follow up regarding vegans promoting COVID conspiracies, especially related to sharing the “Plandemic” video. Then they hit up some Tiger King updates. As people flock to the grand re-opening of Joe Exotic’s zoo, the filmmakers rush to clarify the intent of their series. Finally, Paul and Andy break down the announcement that Canada Goose will be moving to entirely recycled/upcycled fur by 2022. They’ll discuss the ins and outs of such a decision and whether or not activists should view it as a victory. More interestingly, they look into the Canada Goose sustainability report in which CG made the announcement and try to figure out if they actually have any intention of following through and how the hell would they actually be able to pull off such a massive endeavor.
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The Links:
‘Tiger King’ Fans Crowd Joe Exotic’s Zoo Reopening After Coronavirus Shutdown (Variety)
More ‘Tiger King’ Content Is on the Way, Without Joe Exotic(Hypebeast)
Canada Goose Will Stop Buying Fur — Sort Of(New York Times)
Canada Goose Sustainability Report (Canada Goose)
]]>This week we kick things off by discussing our feelings on the recent spate of Re-Open protests. What do they reveal about those who engage in them, are they productive, and is their rage justified? Then we ask the question, are vegans more susceptible to COVID conspiracy theories? As we’ve seen a rise in vegans, from ethical activists to plant based doctors, embracing a slew of alternate explanations for current world events, we began to wonder if this was happening at a higher rate with vegans. Is there something about our general worldview that primes us to be more open to these theories than the general public?
A transcript of the episode is available at https://bit.ly/TBVEp228Transcript
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The Links:
How an “Old Hippie” Got Accused of Astroturfing the Right-Wing Campaign to Reopen the Economy (Mother Jones)
Who’s Behind the ‘Reopen’ Protests? (New York Times)
The Psychology Of Conspiracy Theories (American Psychological Association)
Conspiracy Theory Handbook (Climate Change Communication)
]]>In this week’s mini episode we finally review Running For Good, a documentary that was released in 2017 but we haven’t stopped getting requests since. A relatively straightforward tale about Fiona Oakes attempting to complete Marathon Des Sables, a 251 km ultramarathon, in an effort to bring attention to the plight of animals. As we watched, we were a bit confused by how many people recommended to us, as it initially appears to be relatively light on vegan advocacy, but as we got into the discussion we were surprised to find how many questions it raises in terms of effective activism. Ultimately we felt this review was a very fruitful conversation.
Running For Good is available on all VOD platforms.
A transcription of this episode can be found at https://bit.ly/TBVEp227Transcript
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We’ve got a cornucopia of an episode this week. First up Andy recounts his experience getting tested for COVID-19 and the past 10 days worth of health struggles. Then we offer up the ultra-rare all positive news section, to deliver some stories of triumph in the animal rights world, hopefully a bright spot in such dark times. Finally we talk about that Bill Maher video that has been making the rounds in many vegan circles. Maher decries factory farming in a recent segment and points towards humanity’s exploitation of animal flesh as a huge risk factor for pandemics. With many vegan advocates sharing this video and even asking others to watch and share, we’ll first discuss our thoughts on the content of the segment and then widen the conversation to ask if, given Maher’s extensive history of oppressive commentary and shock jock rhetoric, is it appropriate to promote this message? Or does the importance of the topic outweigh such considerations?
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The links:
Westchester County bans circuses from using performing animals (lohud)
Kansas ‘Ag-Gag’ Law Permanently Blocked (Progressive Farmer)
Chicago City Council votes to pull horse-drawn carriages off the streets of Chicago by the end of the year (Journal Gazette & Times Courier)
New Rule: America’s Wet Markets | Real Time with Bill Maher (YouTube)
New Rule: Virus Shaming | Real Time with Bill Maher (YouTube)
Bill Maher dropped the n-word on live TV (Vox)
Bill Maher’s Weird, Effortful Apology for Saying the N-Word (New Yorker)
Bill Maher Goes Full Sexist, Defends Chris Matthews and Mocks His Sexual Harassment Accuser (Daily Beast)
Seven Minutes Of Bill Maher’s Bigotry (YouTube)
Bill Maher Is Shameful (Fat Vegan Voice)
Bill Maher asks people to fat shame more. (YouTube)
In this week’s mini episode, the Bearded Vegans decide to take a break from the pandemic doom and gloom and review the first episode of Saved By The Barn, a new show on Animal Planet that follows the adventures of Dan McKernan who left his desk job to start a farmed animal sanctuary. The show is being marketed as the anti-Tiger King. They’ll see if it is the response that the animals need.
Watch Saved By The Barn for free on Animal Planet.
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In the midst of the COVID-19, news has come out that there has been a significant drop in humanity’s environmental impact. Many have taken the opportunity to push a “humans are the virus” narrative. Paul and Andy look at the the truthfulness of this interpretation as well as some darker implications of this rhetoric. Ultimately they ask, what are the big takeaways from the these recent developments and how can we talk about them in a constructive way?
A full transcript for the episode can be found at https://bit.ly/TBVEp224Transcript
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The links:
Coronavirus lockdowns have sent pollution plummeting. Environmentalists worry about what comes next. (NBC News)
]]>When Tiger King was first released, Paul and Andy quickly viewed the whole series and recorded two bonus episodes reviewing and discussing its content. While the initial release quickly gained fandom, they couldn’t have possibly predicted it would explode into full blown meme saturation. Their first two episodes were recorded days after its release, in relative isolation to the public reaction. Now, with several weeks of public discourse and meme-ification, The Bearded Vegans wanted to discuss the implications of how many viewers have reacted. Do the memes (and merch) serve to further mock these abusers or do they gloss over such atrocities for the sake of a laugh, perhaps even glorifying some heinous individuals. They’ll also ask whether the backlash against Carol is warranted, and why so many are saying there is no meaningful difference between Big Cat Rescue and other exploitive operations.
Tiger King is a 7 part documentary series, now available on Netflix.
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This week, Paul and Andy dive back into the vegan response to the COVID-19 pandemic with specific examples of those claiming a plant based diet makes one immune to the effects of the virus. In their main discussion, they respond to a listener question asking how vegans can effectively get across the seriousness of veganism. When many people respond to vegan advocacy by saying “I don’t care if you’re vegan, you shouldn’t care if I’m not” or “live and let live”, does it mean we haven’t done an effective job of accurately conveying that veganism is a social justice stance? Ultimately it leads to a lengthy discussion about whether or not the phrase “meat is murder” has lost it’s meaning and relevance. Paul suggests a new alternative.
A transcript of this episode can be found at bit.ly/TBVEp222Transcript
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The links:
Tiger King Review – Bonus Episode
BAFTA-Winning Director To Release Film Linking Animal Agriculture To Zoonotic Diseases (Plant Based News)
There Is No Diet That Prevents Coronavirus, Warns British Dietetic Association (Plant Based News)
The Coronavirus, Flu, and Immunity (Dr. Fuhrman)
In this week’s mini episode Paul and Andy are talking about the vegan community’s response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. With claims that being vegan makes one immune to the effects of the virus to those saying that if the world was vegan this virus wouldn’t be an issue. Some insist that this is the ideal time to advocate for veganism, while others say that it is insensitive to so in the midst of such global suffering. They’ll do their best to cut through the chaos and find some answers!
A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/TBVEp221Transcript
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The links:
Coronavirus and Immune System(Macro Vegan)
Vegan Instagram accounts spread misinformation about COVID-19(Politifact)
Fact check: Is COVID-19 caused by human consumption of animals?(USA Today)
]]>This week throw on our hazmat suits and cautiously trek into the mailbag to answer listener questions, comments, and concerns. Questions range from the lighthearted, such as our all time favorite films, to quandaries over how to be a good neighbor in the midst of a quarantine. We’ll also discuss knowing when to pick our battles in regards to religious animal exploitation, and conclude by asking if we owe a platform to those we disagree with. All that and much much more!
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For a full transcription of the episode, go to http://bit.ly/TBVEp220Transcript
The Links:
Jordi Casamitjana vegan tribunal a ‘victory for animal protection’. (BBC)
“LET DAIRY DIE” ACTIVISTS MAY FACE JAIL TIME, SEX OFFENDER LIST FOR PROTESTING BERNIE SANDERS (The Intercept)
]]>What’s up, beardos?! While we, obviously, believe that veganism frames the way we look at the world, in today’s mini-episode we ponder if there are occasions where judging things, or people, purely on a binary Vegan YES/NO misses the big picture and prevents us from accomplishing long term gain.
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This week Paul and Andy bring back the news roundup where they discuss a variety of news stories that have recently caught their interest. Stories include Happy the elephant being denied legal personhood, the new guidelines for employers to comply with the ruling that veganism is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act, the erosion of the United State’s oldest ag-gag law, and more. The episode concludes with a lengthy discussion about Ethica Global, a company that touts their ethical vegan roots but was busted buying bacon for their employees. What started out as a simple question about the merits of vegan businesses hiring non-vegan employees turns to an exploration of why this story was reported in the first place. Things may not be as they seem!
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The Food:
Nic’s On Beverly(Los Angeles, CA)
The Links:
PANERA DROPS VEGAN MILK UPCHARGE (Plant Based News)
Happy the Elephant denied personhood in court, Bronx Zoo says(PIX11)
Supporting Veganism In The Workplace: A Guide For Employers(The Vegan Society)
Ag-gag laws continue to crumble under legal scrutiny(Ohio’s Country Journal)
‘Ethical’ Digital Marketing Brand Responds To Backlash Over Non-Vegan Employees (Plant Based News)
Digital agency turning away work if it’s not vegan enough(Eastern Daily Press)
Firm which trades on its veganism – but buys staff bacon butties(Eastern Daily Press)
]]>In this week’s mini-episode, The Bearded Vegans break down the recent disruption of Bernie Sanders in the name of anti-dairy activism. They’ll discuss the pros and cons of this particular action. What are the goals of this type of activism, are they achievable? How did the media reaction, how did other vegans react. Is the timing of this disruption strategic? Is there ever a wrong time to advocate for justice?
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A transcript of this episode can be found HERE
The Links:
Video Of The Incident(YouTube)
The topless protesters disrupting Bernie Sanders rallies, explained(Vox)
]]>This week the bearded duo weigh in on the speech that broke the vegan internet. As Joaquin Phoenix accepted his Academy Award for Best Actor, he remarked upon the commonality of oppression, giving specific examples of the horror of the dairy industry, and eventually turned to introspection on the nature of forgiveness and second chances. It was a ton to pack into a 3.5 minute speech and the internet has a LOT to say about it. Paul and Andy discuss their feelings on the content of the speech before looking more broadly at the Vegan Community’s feedgasm, how well non-vegans understood his message, and several pieces that slammed Phoenix for not speaking about other injustices. This is a whopper of an episode as it touches on privilege, earning redemption, using one’s platform for good, and much much more!
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The Links:
Starbucks lightens up on dairy, for the planet(The Chronicle Herald)
The Burger King Says He Never Promised Impossible Whoppers Were Vegan(NY Post)
Vegans are holding sit-ins at Starbucks because dairy-free drinks cost more (Insider)
Joaquin Phoenix’s Speech at The Golden Globes(YouTube)
Joaquin Phoenix’s Speech at BAFTA(YouTube)
Joaquin Phoenix’s Speech at BAFTA(YouTube)
Send In The White Terrorists: Joke, Violence In Media(Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack Ep 249)
You Aren’t A “Voice For The Voiceless” (Species Revolution)
Joaquin Phoenix’s Heart Is in the Right Place, but That Speech Was Unhinged(Vice)
Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscars Speech Included A Plea To End Speciesism — Here’s What That Is(Buzzfeed)
Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscars speech slamming cow’s milk sparks backlash from dairy industry(Fox Business)
Ricky Gervais roasts Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscars speech for lecturing ‘everyday, hard-working people’(Washington Times)
Joaquin Phoenix’s white male saviour speech at the Oscars was painful to watch(The Independent)
In Response to Harriet Hall: The White Savior is You, Not Joaquin Phoenix(Christopher Sebastian)
Why Don’t We Talk About Joaquin Phoenix When We Talk About Casey Affleck?(The Mary Sue)
Joaquin Phoenix reveals why he stopped talking to ex-best friend Casey Affleck ‘many years ago’(Mercury News)
]]>In today’s “mini” episode we talk about the complicated case of a student animal rights group being denied official status with the college due to both the “emotional risk” of the nature of their activism as well as the “repetitional risk” of being associated with PETA. We’ll talk about the messy world of free speech and if / where a line can be drawn on what should or shouldn’t be allowed on a college campus. Additionally we will discuss the motives of Truman State University for denying vegan and vegetarian groups for three years in a row, whether or not activism requires inherent emotional risk, and beyond!
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Links:
Public university rejects animal rights club, citing ‘emotional risk’ to students(FIRE)
]]>We took the month of January off and wow did a lot of lawsuit related things happen during the time! We’ll go over what we missed, including ethical veganism being named a protected characteristic in the UK and Ben and Jerry’s removing the “happy cow” label from their packaging. Plus we’ll talk about the “meat patch” and rant about media literacy after the news that Starbucks is supposedly going dairy free. All that and much much more!
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The links:
Vote for us as “Best Vegan Podcast” in the Vegan Food & Living Reader Awards(Ends Feb 21st 2020)
New Political Organization is Launched – The California Plant Based Alliance (Vegconomist)
Vegan Justice League shout out
TOP 10 WAYS Big Animal Ag Collects Cowboy Welfare(Vegan Justice League)
SWEET EARTH’S VEGAN BUTCHER COUNTERS ARE COMING TO SUPERMARKETS(VegNews)
No more ‘happy cows’ for Ben & Jerry’s after lawsuit called claim ‘misleading’(Miami Herald)
Ben & Jerry’s Motion To Dismiss
Starbucks goes dairy free, for the planet (The Chronicle Herald)
Plant-Based Company Creates ‘World’s First Meat Patch’ To Help Curb Bacon Cravings (Plant Based News)
TRIBUNAL DECISION THAT VEGANISM IS A PHILOSOPHICAL BELIEF DOES NOT CHANGE THE LAW(Lawyer Monthly)
Vegans protected by Equality Act: what does it mean for employers? (Lexology)
]]>This week we bring back a whopper of an episode this week as we do a deep dive into the Amazon forest fires and the subsequent vegan reaction. Many in the animal rights community were quick to condemn meat eaters for their contribution to the cow flesh industry which is a leading contributor to deforestation and insist that going vegan is the most effective means of combating the fires. We’ll do our best to ask whether this is accurate rhetoric and examine the nuances of the situation as well as some crucial aspects that seem to be almost entirely left out of the news cycle. Vegan Piggybacking abounds!
This is the fourth and final part in our Starter Guide in which we attempt to make it a little easier to break into our 200+ episodes with a few suggestions of episodes that don’t require too much prior knowledge and also exemplify the types of conversations one will find throughout our catalog.
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If you enjoyed this episode, we think you’ll also like
Episode 178 – What Went Down In Australia
Episode 179 – Is Blocking Traffic A Win For Animals?
And you can find our complete list of recommended episodes in the form of a Spotify playlist at TheBeardedVegans.com/starthere
]]>This week we are taking a look back at episode 101 in which we discuss why we feel misanthropy (a hatred of mankind) is counter productive to the vegan goal of total liberation for all. Using an unfortunate incident in which a vegan food truck owner expressed appreciation for the death of several meat eaters due to the number of animals it would save, and then moving on to several examples from prominent vegan activists, we’ll discuss why a vegan message is unlikely to make progress while embracing misanthropy.
This is the third part in our Starter Guide in which we attempt to make it a little easier to break into our 200+ episodes with a few suggestions of episodes that don’t requiremuch prior knowledge and also exemplify the types of conversations one will find throughout our catalog.
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If you enjoyed this episode, we think you’ll also like
Episode 119 – #TimesUpAR – Abuse and Harassment Allegations in the Animal Rights Movement w/ Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack!
Episode 145 – Why Tone Policing Needs To Die In a God Damn Dumpster Fire
Episode 126 – Will Veganism Solve Gun Violence?
Episode 186 – The Disruption Of Kamala Harris
And you can find our complete list of recommended episodes in the form of a Spotify playlist at TheBeardedVegans.com/starthere
]]>This week we bring back a discussion about the peril’s of ultra realistic vegan meats by asking if it is possible to create a perfect replica of animal’s flesh without ever harming animals. With the recent revelation that Beyond Meat used animal flesh in A/B tests during production of their burger, it is evident that this question will become more and more relevant to the progress of plant based meats and how vegans will navigate the ethics of consuming or promoting them.
This is the second part in our Starter Guide in which we attempt to make it a little easier to break into our 200+ episodes with a few suggestions of episodes that don’t require too much prior knowledge and also exemplify the types of conversations one will find throughout our catalog.
Contact us:
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If you enjoyed this episode, we think you’ll also like
Episode 128 – Should Vegan Activists Get Paid?
Episode 131 – Is It Okay To Give A Crying Child Non-Vegan Ice Cream?
And you can find our complete list of recommended episodes in the form of a Spotify playlist at TheBeardedVegans.com/starthere
]]>In the first part of our Bearded Vegans Starter Guide, we take a look back on Episode 96 – How Do We Combat The Backfire Effect? This is a phenomenon that nearly all vegans have likely experienced in which in face of presenting irrefutable evidence in a discussion, the other person not only remains unconvinced but actually because even more entrenched in their false belief. We’ll discuss what’s the deal with our brains not accepting new information, look over the available research and then try to suss out how we can possibly combat the backfire effect, or perhaps even use it to our advantage.
This is the first part in our Starter Guide in which we attempt to make it a little easier to break into our 200+ episodes with a few suggestions of episodes that don’t require much prior knowledge and also exemplify the types of conversations one will find throughout our catalog.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
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If you enjoyed this episode, we think you’ll also like:
Episode 156 – Do Insects Matter Morally?
Episode 174 – Ex Vegans – When Health Fails.
And you can find our complete list of suggested episodes in our Spotify Start Here playlist at TheBeardedVegans.com/starthere
]]>We are The Bearded Vegans, a podcast featuring a dissection of all things vegan. We’ve been putting out an episode every Wednesday for over four years and that adds up to a LOT of episodes. We know it can be daunting to break into a new podcast with such an extensive back catalog and we are often asked what is the best place to start. Since things have evolved so much since our inception, we figured episode 1 wasn’t the best place to enter, as it isn’t necessarily representative of the content we put out these days.
So to that end we have put together a Spotify playlist of some of our favorite episodes that we think encompass what we are all about pretty well and will give newcomers a better idea of what to expect. You can find that playlist at thebeardedvegans.com/starthere and we’ll also be dropping the first four selections (with new introductions and edited down to just the main discussion) into our feed over the next month.
Happy listening!
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Happy new year, beards! This week we usher in 2020 with a review of Vegan 2019, a documentary that takes a look back on veganism (or at least, plant based eating) in the past year. The film acts as a trip down memory lane for many of the stories we covered and a few we missed. In addition to reflecting on the past year, we’ll discuss if there is a place for docs like this and who it could possibly be for.
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The Food:
Original Herbivore(Los Angeles, CA)
Man Eating Plant (Los Angeles, CA)
The Links:
Watch Vegan 2019 for free on YouTube.
Judge blocks enforcement of Arkansas law restricting labeling of plant-based food(Ark Times)
]]>This week Paul and Andy continue their winter break film review series with an in depth review of From The Ground Up, a film that follows former college football player Santino Panico as he interviews a wide variety of plant based athletes. In addition to discussing the merits of plant based eating, the film also explores the connection between eating meat and masculinity. From The Ground Up has garnered plenty of comparisons to The Game Changers, which it predates by 2 years, and the Bearded Vegans will see if it can outdo that Jim Cameron money.
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You can watch From The Ground Up on YouTube and Prime Video.
]]>This week Paul and Andy begin their winter break film review series with an in depth discussion about The Animal People, a new documentary that chronicles the Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty campaign and the subsequent government repression that ensued. The film acts not just as documentation of one specific campaign and those who suffered under the law for it’s success, but also as an introduction to radical grassroots activism, and a meditation on the nature of violence and free speech. The Bearded Vegans discuss the content of the film as well as a few of the broader themes it touches upon.
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You can stream The Animal People on most digital platforms such as iTunes and Prime.
Episodes referenced in today’s show:
Episode 114 – If A Tree Falls Review
Episode 176 – Are We Too Focused On Making New Vegans (Jake Conroy Interview)
]]>It’s mailbag time and The Bearded Vegans are getting real jolly on this one as Paul and Andy strap into their battery powered sled to respond to listener questions, comments and concerns. Topics covered range from whether vegans should celebrate hunting accidents to eating disorders and staying positive in a system that constantly bails out Big Ag. All that plus much much much more!
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The Links:
A Hunter Was Gored By The Deer He Thought He Shot And Killed(CNN)
How Not To Be A Dick To Someone With An Eating Disorder(Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack! Ep 47 )
I’ll Tell You Who’s Right, I’m Right (Made Of Human podcast by Sofie Hagen)
]]>This week, The Bearded Vegans bring you an unconventional mini-episode in which they simply have a conversation about Paul’s future. As he nears the end of his post graduate studies, he is left wondering whether it’s better to go work at a non-profit or to take a job in the corporate sector. Does the ability to make more money, and thus donate it to others doing good, but vastly underfunded, work justify working for a large corporate entity that doesn’t align with his values? Is there such a thing as a truly vegan job? How do we weigh out struggling under the weight of capitalism while still providing for ourselves and staying active for justice? Where is the line?!
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This week The Bearded Vegans bring you an in depth review of A Prayer For Compassion, a new documentary making an appeal to veganism from a religious perspective. As two non-believers, Paul and Andy will see how the film stacks up! In addition to reviewing the film itself, they’ll also discuss many of the points the film brings up, such as if being healthy should be a religious imperative and much much more!
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The Food:
VeGreen(Duluth, GA)
The Links:
A Prayer For Compassion– Website– Vimeo
Why Vegans Should Stop Celebrating India’s Beef Ban with Rama Ganesan(Vegan Vanguard Podcast)
]]>We are coming at you with a bonus episode featuring a panel that Andy was honored to be a part of at the Portland vegfest in which he joins Chelsea Lincoln (Fat Vegan Voice) and Callie Coker (Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack!) to discuss body neutrality, fat liberation, honoring body diversity and how these issues intersect with the vegan movement. Topics covered include how fat phobia manifests itself within the animal liberation movement, why it harms activists and conflicts with the vegan ideology. Why oppressed groups shouldn’t have to bear their pain in order to be taken seriously or prove their humanity. The fetishization of pain and suffering and resulting cycles of trauma. How body-size oriented activism creates and bolsters eating disorders. Why trolls don’t actually care about health. And much much much more!
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Resources:Chelsea Lincoln- Fat Vegan Voice
Callie Coker – Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack
How Food And Body Shaming Harms Animal Activist – Live Panel with Ginny Messina, JL Fields and Andy Tabar
T.O.F.U. Talks – Fat Positivity w/ Jennie Marie, Chelsea Lincoln, Andy Tabar (LOTS of great links in here)
In this week’s mini episode The Bearded Vegans bring you an interview with andrew from Project FANG, a group working to bridge an often ignored aspect of political prisoner support, making it possible for prisoners to receive visits from their loved ones. They’ll talk about what exactly is a political prisoner, why it is crucial to support them, the necessity of including prisoners in the process, and where can someone start when they feel intimidated by the prospect of writing that first letter.
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Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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Support Project FANG by donating HERE.
or send check/money orders to:
Project FANG c/o NYC ABC
Post Office Box 110034
Brooklyn, New York 11211
After pouring over dozens and dozens of the latest offerings from the most high profile vegan news sources, Paul and Andy found themselves pausing to ask “why is this news?” From articles that seem to try and create something out of absolutely nothing, to those that potentially promote corporations and institutions that run directly counter to the idea of collective liberation, they turn their lens towards some of the most lauded news sites and ponder what the point of it all is. Do we need these news stories? And ultimately ask, is it irresponsible to report on or share these types of stories?
You can always reach The Bearded Vegans by emailing TheBeardedVegans@gmail.com or visiting TheBeardedVegans.com
The links:
Foie Gras, Served in 1,000 Restaurants in New York City, Is Banned(New York Times)
Macy’s bans fur sales in move celebrated by animal rights activists(ABC News)
Walmart Discontinuing Sale of Pet Fish (Pet Business)
The World’s Strongest Man ‘Willing’ To Give Plant-Based Diet A Chance(Plant Based News)
Professional Basketball Player Javier Mojica ‘Might’ Go Plant-Based After Watching ‘The Game Changers’ (Plant Based News)
NEW TOOL HELPS SHOPPERS BUY CRUELTY-FREE PRODUCTS ON AMAZON(VegNews)
POLICE BUY 100S OF VEGAN MEALS FOR CLIMATE PROTESTORS(Live Kindly)
Pamela Anderson Urges Justin Trudeau To Serve Vegan Meals In Canadian Prisons(Plant Based News)
Five Reasons Racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio Should Not Receive a Presidential Pardon(ACLU)
THE U.S. AIR FORCE IS NOW SERVING BEYOND BURGERS(Live Kindly)
]]>In this week’s mini episode, Paul and Andy respond to a listener question wondering how can we overcome apathy in those who agree that animals should not be exploited but just don’t care enough to actually make any changes that would align their actions with that belief? Additionally, they’ll discuss what it truly means to “care” and whether or not we should spend out time trying to convince others to care.
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Don’t forget, we will double your donation to Chilis On Wheels. Just email us a screenshot of your donation receipt.
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans bring you a news round up, where they’ll discuss a variety of news stories that have caught their interest over the past few weeks. Starting with the struggle to save nine lambs from slaughter at Antioch College, moving on to the curious case of a vegan who was tricked into eating animal flesh and responded by calling the cops. They end with a lengthy discussion of an upcoming UK TV show, Meat The Family, in which “unrepentant carnivores” will be forced to bond with a farmed animal for three weeks and then choose between killing and eating the animal or going vegetarian. Lots to chew on in this one!
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The Food:
Plan V (Chattanooga, TN) – https://planvchatt.com
The Links:
Antioch College Says You Can Save Its Condemned Sheep for $1 Million—but It’ll Just Buy More for Slaughter(The Daily Beast)
Vegan Says She Called the Cops After Friends Tricked Her Into Eating Chicken Nuggets (Thrillist)
Meat the Family: new reality TV show challenges carnivores to eat their ‘pets’(The Guardian)
]]>In this week’s mini episode Paul and Andy discuss the California Fur Ban and the respond to a listener question asking whether we should make a big deal about our veganniversary. Is such an occasion a time to brag or boast, a time to make educational posts, or should we consider our number of years vegan to be of little importance? Does celebrating veg anniversaries put too much attention on vegans and not enough on the victims? They’ll do their best to dig in!
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The Links:
]]>This week we respond to a listener wondering if it’s possible to be a dog trainer and a Good Vegan at the same time. While some amount of training maybe beneficial for a dog’s safety, where is the line drawn between keeping a dog safe and doing things that are purely for human benefit. And ultimately, even if some training is for the dog’s benefit, is it ultimately unethical to force another sentient being to conform to human societal standards when we’re the ones who created the problem in the first place? Get ready for tangent city, as this is a much more complicated issue than we first anticipated!
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The Food:
Belmont Fermentorium at the Hard Times Brewery(Portland, OR)
Milo The Meetinghouse(Philadelphia, PA)
The Links:
Vegan activists face court after shutting down Melbourne streets for animal rights protest(ABC)
]]>Paul and Andy are so pleased to bring you their recent episode recorded live at the Halifax Vegfest. They take the opportunity to respond to a few listener emails, including an activist who is feeling burnt out but doesn’t want to stop doing their activism and wonders if there is a way to engage in self care that doesn’t require taking time off from activism. Then they discuss the ethics of sanctuaries using the wool from their residents to make clothes for human use. After that, they turn the mic over to the audience to answer a variety of questions, comments and concerns.
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Huge thank you to Halifax Vegfest for having us!
]]>We made it to episode 200 and we are taking the opportunity to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re going by answering listener questions related to all things podcast. We’ll discuss the creative process, podcast pet peeves, what we would have done differently if we had a chance to start over, the hows and whys of the podcast’s evolution from day one and much much more!
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THE LINKS:
Donate to Chilis On Wheels, send us the receipt, and we will double your donation.
Other episodes mentioned in the podcast:
BONUS: Paul Interviews Andy(available free until Nov 1st)
BONUS: Andy Interviews Paul (available free until Nov 1st)
]]>This week Paul and Andy are finally reviewing the long awaited and much hyped plant based performance documentary, The Game Changers. Directed by Louis Psihoyos (The Cove, Racing Extinction), produced by Jim Cameron (Acclaimed Filmmaker) and starring huge name like Arnold Shwartzenneger (Actor / Producer / Author / Politician) among many other groundbreaking plant based athletes, they’ll dig in to see if it lives up to the hype and if this is the vegan documentary we’ve all been looking for.
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The Game Changers was available in theaters for one night only on Sept 16th and is slated for digital release on Oct 1st.
]]>It seems like Paul and Andy can barely keep up with all of the major fast food chains that are adding significant plant based options to their menus. Will the proliferation of these options mean doom for local vegan businesses or will the increased availability of plant based options help usher in a new wave of plant-curious consumers that will eventually explore more local fare? Is there anything inherently more ethical about supporting local businesses? Does a more-just world even have fast food? Is the promotional boost from vegans saving a dying industry responsible for so much death and exploitation? All that plus an extensive news section that, for the first time in a long time, includes plenty of positive headlines.
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Find a full transcript for the episode here!
The Links:
California becomes first state to ban fur trapping after Gov. Newsom signs law(LA Times)
Rooster ‘Was Just Being Himself’: Court Rules He Can Keep Crowing(NY Times)
Mississippi Meat Labeling Law Backs Down. (MS.Gov)
Mississippi Backtracks on Banning the Term ‘Meat’ from Plant-Based Products(Food And Wine)
Cost To Eat At Every Major Fast Food Chain (Business Insider)
Full-Service Restaurants are Losing to Fast Food (Food News Feed)
Fast Food, Hailed as Cheap and Speedy, Isn’t Such a Steal Today(Bloomberg)
Americans Are Cooking More Meals at Home, Eating Out Less (Food Network)
Burger King’s bet on faux meat is paying off as the Impossible Whopper convinces customers to spend more and buy more beef Whoppers (Business Insider)
Burger King Earnings Up Nearly 30% Since Impossible Whopper Launch(Live Kindly)
Interview with Jose Cil(Food Business News)
The Ave Market statement(Facebook)
]]>On this week’s mini episode, Paul and Andy wanted to have a fun palette cleanser and dig into the mail bag a few episodes early to answer several listener emails. Topics include whether vegans should feel guilty about watching nonvegan cooking shows, how to set boundaries with family members who (against your wishes want to advocate for you at restaurants, and if having a favorite animal is still speciesist. We had a fun time answering some lighter questions on this, enjoy!
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The Bearded Vegans have got a whopper of an episode this week as they do a deep dive into the Amazon forest fires and the subsequent vegan reaction. Many in the animal rights community were quick to condemn meat eaters for their contribution to the cow flesh industry which is a leading contributor to deforestation and insist that going vegan is the most effective means of combating the fires. They’ll do their best to ask whether this is accurate rhetoric and examine the nuances of the situation as well as some crucial aspects that seem to be almost entirely left out of the news cycle. Vegan Piggybacking abounds!
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A transcript of this episode is available HERE.
The Food:
Fast And Easy Vegan Cookbook by JL Fields.
Epic Vegan Cookbook by Dustin Harder
Tomo Sushi(Philadelphia, PA)
The Links:
Amazon burning: Brazil reports highest forest fires since 2010(Reuters)
The Amazon is burning because the world eats so much meat(CNN)
Feeling Sad About the Amazon Fires? Stop Eating Meat(Vice)
Fires In Brazil (NASA’s Earth Observatory)
Amazon fires: what is happening and is there anything we can do?(The Guardian)
Why Everything They Say About The Amazon, Including That It’s The ‘Lungs Of The World,’ Is Wrong (Forbes)
World Wildlife Fund On The Fires
Bolsonaro is Destroying the Brazilian Amazon: Here’s How (and How Not) to Act (The Globe Post)
The Land Battle Behind the Fires in the Amazon (The Atlantic)
The Bearded Vegans return from their summer break with a mini episode recorded live at the Triangle Vegfest in Durham, NC. They begin by answering a listener email asking whether young children have the mental and moral capacity to choose veganism for themselves. While it is clear that humans of all ages can thrive on a plant based diet, at what point are we able to make ethical decisions for ourselves and how can a parent navigate this tricky time in a child’s life? They then go on to discuss whether demanding separate cooking surfaces makes veganism look too hard before turning the mic over to the audience for a variety of questions. Paul and Andy had a lot of fun at this one, enjoy!
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Find a full transcript for the episode here!
The Food:
Fiction Kitchen (Raleigh, NC)
Mason Street Manor(Franklinton, NC)
]]>This week Paul and Andy conclude their summer break film review series by dusting off the very first film review they ever recorded. That’s right, they are talking about Unity, the follow up to the groundbreaking film Earthlings! With a new introduction where they reflect on how this review put down the groundwork for many of their future episodes as well as how our opinions on the film may have changed over time. We hope you enjoy this classic from the archives.
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As Paul and Andy continue their summer break film review series, they are heading into the double digit archives to bring back a classic episode, their review of Carnage: Swallowing The Past. It’s safe to say they both loved this film and wanted to highlight it again for those who missed it the first time around. Before replaying this episode they include a new introduction where they reflect on how their views on the film may or may not have changed over time as well as some other observations about their past selves. Enjoy!
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As The Bearded Vegans continue their summer break film review series, they bring it back to one of, arguably, the most successful pro-animal films of all time: Blackfish. This is Andy’s second viewing since it’s 2013 release and Paul’s very first time. They’ll see if it still holds up, discuss the impact it made and try to determine what made it so gosh dang successful?
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Find a full transcript for the episode here!
Blackfish is available to watch on Netflix.
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans begin their summer break film review series with an in depth review of Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story. This surprisingly graphic film explores Australia’s complicated relationship with their national icon. Paul and Andy will discuss whether they think the film is effective and if it would make a good watch for non-vegans.
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This week The Bearded Vegans are pleased to bring you their live episode recorded in front of a studio audience at the Atlantic City Vegan Food Festival. They kick things off with two listener submitted emails, one regarding protocol when receiving non-vegan gifts and the other questioning the ethics of providing organs for someone who will continue to oppress animals. Paul and Andy then turn it over to the audience for an interactive second half.
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A huge thanks to Ming and A Shared Universe Podcastudio for running all technical aspects of this live experience.
Find the full transcript for the episode here!
The Food:
Teddy Eddy’s (unable to find any online presence so far)
]]>This week Paul and Andy respond to an article sent in by dozens of listeners regarding a non-vegan restaurant that secretly served vegan meat to unsuspecting patrons, only to reveal to the true source of the ingredients after the fact. They’ll talk about what they think about this strategy. Is this a good way to turn people on to vegan meats? Is it unethical to deceive people in this way, even if it’s in the service of a just cause? How would we feel if the situation was reversed?
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The Links:
Donate to RAICES, send us a screenshot of your receipt and we will double it.
Order EPIC VEGANcookbook by Dustin Harder AKA The Vegan Roadie
Pizzeria secretly swapped meat toppings for plant-based alternatives and no one noticed (Independent)
Burger King’s 50/50 Menu Won’t Tell You If You’re Eating Plant-Based or Not(LBB Online)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans pledge allegiance to the bag of the United States of Mailbaggia where they will answer listener questions, comments, and concerns. Topics covered include reacting to smug vegan screenshots, when you should tell your new room mates that you are vegan, whether it’s ethically permissible for a vegan vet to refuse to help animals that are destined for slaughter, and much much more.
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You can find the complete episode transcription here!
We encourage you to make a donation to The Refugee and Immigrant Center For Education And Legal Services (RAICES). Email us a copy of the receipt and we will double your donations, up to $100.
The Food: Donut Alliance(Baltimore, MD)
]]>This week, The Bearded Vegans continue their discussion about the peril’s of ultra realistic vegan meats by asking if it is possible to create a perfect replica of animal’s flesh without ever harming animals. With the recent revelation that Beyond Meat used animal flesh in A/B tests during production of their burger, it is evident that this question will become more and more relevant to the progress of plant based meats and how vegans will navigate the ethics of consuming or promoting them.
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The Links:
Beyond Meat Accused of Not Being Vegan for Conducting Animal-Derived Meat Taste Tests (VeganNews)
Inside Beyond Meat’s innovative future food lab (Fast Company)
Soy Boy Report(YouTube)
]]>With so much focus on the benefits of creating ultra-realistic vegan meats, The Bearded Vegans thought they would take some time to talk about the potential downsides. Starting with an update on the recent glut of labeling laws that threaten to ban vegan products from being labeled as “meat”, “milk”, and “butter” and ending with the case of a Burger King selling cow’s flesh disguised as the Impossible Whopper. Paul and Andy dig into all the nitty gritty in part one of this discussion.
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The Food:
Three Girls Vegan Creamery (Guilford, CT)
Grannie Annie’s (Surf City, NJ)
The Links:
Tyson introduces Raised And Rooted (Tech Crunch)
Big Dairy Battling Vegan Industry in Butter-Labeling War(Fortune)
Consumers Show They Know Almond Milk Doesn’t Come From Cows (Forbes)
Settlement talks underway in Tofurky v Missouri meat labeling laws(Dairy Herd)
Arkansas New Food Labeling Law Is Veg-on-Veg Crime(Reason)
No More Veggie Bacon? Louisiana Governor Signs Labeling Bill (NY Times)
Shoppers outraged over ‘misleading’ vegan ‘meat’ product labelling(7News)
2018 Food and Health Survey – International Food Information Council Foundation(Food Insight)
NYC Burger King has been passing off beef as Impossible Whoppers (The Takeout)
]]>This week’s mini-episode, the Bearded Vegans respond to the email of a listener wondering if they should provide a warning to wedding guests that the food will be vegan. Will guests be more or less likely to be receptive if they know if the food is vegan in advance? Will they feel deceived if they aren’t warned? Does it even matter? This episode features a rare in-person recording session and it goes off the rails real fast. Enjoy!
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With the rapidly evolving conversation around this disruption, we’ve decided to release this episode to the public a full 3 days early. This week we are going to do our best to break down a recent action that has become a huge point of contention, both within the vegan world as well as the wider political sphere. During a talk on the gender pay gap, California Senator Kamala Harris was interrupted by a white male presenting activist in the name of animal liberation. We’ll discuss our feelings on these types of disruptions in general as well as what particular optics and dynamics have caused this one to become such a touch point.
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A transcript of this episode can be found here.
The Food:
Oh My Cod(at the Fayetteville Veganfest)
The Sweet Praxis (Syracuse, NY)
The Links:
Why I Am Boycotting Events If DXE Is Also An Invited Speaker (Carol J Adams)
10 Signs your Animal Rights group is a Cult (Woke Vegana)
SLOW BURN: THE INTERNAL IMPLOSION OF DIRECT ACTION EVERYWHERE(Ecorazzi)
Protester Grabs Microphone From Kamala Harris At San Francisco Event(Huffington Post)
Protestor Grabs Microphone From Kamala Harris(Politico)
Direct Action Leading Where?(Medium)
The Aidan Cook Interview (Aaron Yarmel – YouTube)
]]>This week Paul and Andy respond to a listener submitted dilemma. Is it okay to opt out of volunteering at a non-vegan soup kitchen, simply out of personal discomfort? They’ll explore the pros and cons of opting out and whether anyone should feel obligated to engage in activism that doesn’t 100% align with their ethics.
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Links:
10 Reasons To Say No To Animal Gifts(A Well Fed World)
]]>It’s time for another news roundup, where The Bearded Vegans discuss a variety of listener-submitted news stories. Starting with a new ruling in Belgium that parents feeding their children a vegan diet can be given up to two years in prison and ending with the story of a vegan firefighter who believes that access to vegan food should be a human right. Paul and Andy will dig in and see what the fuss is all about.
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The Food:
Otani(Cleveland, OH)
The Links:
Making your kids go vegan can mean jail time in Belgium(QZ)
Vegan activist arrested after covering London Road McDonald’s in fake blood(The Tab)
]]>ATTN CISMEN: DONATE TO THE NATIONAL NETWORK OF ABORTION FUNDS AND WE WILL DOUBLE YOUR PLEDGE. Donate HERE and then email us a screenshot of your donation so we can double it.
This week Paul and Andy are talking about an emerging trend of veterinarians refusing to treat animals located at farmed animal sanctuaries due to disagreeing with their ethics. With several vets publicly refusing to help animals unless they are destined for slaughter, the Bearded Vegans will do their best to ask why? Is it ethical for them to deny service? And, more broadly, why aren’t more vets vegan?
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Two Minnesota vets refuse to treat an animal from a no-kill farm sanctuary(City Pages)
Help A Discriminated Ethical Vegan(Crowd Justice)
]]>With plant based meats continuing to take the fast food world by storm, it was only a matter of time before a major player stepped up to the plate. Burger King recently announced that they will be rolling out their Impossible Whopper to all 7,000 of their US locations and people are deep in their feels on this one. While some are praising the move as a major victory for animals, others feel that this is an empty gesture that does nothing to concretely help animals. Paul and Andy will dissect an article written by someone who feels the latter and try to offer up some differing points of view.
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Transcript available HERE.
The Food:
Shaya(New Orleans, LA)
Little Sesame(Washington DC)
The Links:
Sorry vegans, Burger King’s Impossible Whopper won’t do anything to save animals (Independent)
McDonald’s: you can sneer, but it’s the glue that holds communities together (The Guardian)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans weigh in on the controversy taking the vegan internet by storm! It was revealed that at a recent Just Egg party, the company decided to pair their plant based egg with non-vegan “food” such as bacon, fish and cheese. Paul and Andy will talk about why they might do such a thing, if it’s a good strategy for gaining wider distribution or if they’re just full of shit at this point.
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The links:
THE INCIDENT(Jane Velez-Mitchel’s Facebook)
JUST FOOD CEO Explains Using Bacon & Fish To Promote Vegan Eggs (The Vegan Zombie)
Sex, lies, and eggless mayonnaise: Something is rotten at food startup Hampton Creek, former employees say(Business Insider)
]]>The time has come for Paul and Andy to break open the ol mailbag and answer your questions, comments and concerns. They’ll mull over whether or not we would be willing to engage in activism that is likely to result in arrest, how to prevent new activists from coming into contact with activist cults, and, most importantly, why is Andrew WK the only person they follow on Instagram. All that and much much more!
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Find the full transcript for the episode here!
The Links:
MILLION DOLLAR VEGAN GIVES $100,000 TO HURRICANE SURVIVORS (MillionDollarVegan.com)
Why I Am Boycotting Events If DXE Is Also An Invited Speaker(Carol Adams)
Steps To Healing Our Community (DXE internal document)
Collectively Free Melbourne’s statement about the recent actions in Australia. (Facebook)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans continue their analysis of the recent high profile vegan protests in Australia. With mass demonstrations across multiple cities causing slaughterhouses and traffic to shut down for hours, they ask if this was a win for animals. They’ll start by laying out various metrics for measuring success and then see how this particular action lives up to it. After going over the positive affects of the action they then ask whether the positives outweigh the potential negative damage it may or may not do to the image of veganism as a whole. In what was originally intended to be a mini-episode, this turns out to be one of their longest yet, so strap in for a wild ride!
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The Links:
Vegan documentary Dominion dubbed too confronting to watch(News.com)
“Your inconvenience doesn’t compare.” Australia’s animal protests from a vegan’s point of view. (Mamamia)
Australia animal activists shut down streets and storm slaughterhouses(CNN)
Shut up vegans, your self-righteous terrorism has lost us for good (News.com)
BREAKING: Thousands Of Melburnians Convert To Veganism After Having Their Morning Totally Ruined(The Shovel)
CQ News Poll: 92% disapprove of protestors(CQ News)
Scott Morrison denounces ‘green criminals’ as vegan protests block Melbourne CBD(The Guardian)
Vegan Protesters Block Downtown Melbourne In Coordinated Action Across Australia(NPR)
The drastic call to jail vegan ‘terrorists’ who target farmers with intimidation on their properties(News.com)
Queensland animal activists charged over protests (SBS News)
]]>This week’s news Australian cycle has been dominated with tales of direct action and civil disobedience leading to multiple arrests, plenty of frustrated commuters and more think-pieces than you can shake a pair of bolt cutters at. Paul and Andy will break down exactly what happened and why. What did the protestors want? When did they want it? Was it successful? How do we even measure success in this instance? Stay tuned to find out!
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Find the full transcript for the episode here!
The Food:
Roscoe’s Neapolitan Pizzeria(Takoma Park, MD)
The Cards:
Wild Boar Pink Preserve Cards (benefiting The Pig Preserve in Jamestown, TN)
The Links:
‘Veggie discs’ to replace veggie burgers in EU crackdown on food labels(The Guardian)
Hiding in abattoirs and demanding animals be surrendered: What vegan activists did yesterday. (Mama Mia)
Vegan protesters charged after Melbourne’s CBD brought to a standstill during peak hour(ABC)
Vegan Activists ‘Bring Melbourne To Standstill’ In Coordinated Nationwide Protest (Plant Based News)
Are Vegan Activists Fair(News Nine)
]]>In this week’s mini episode, The Bearded Vegans review 73 Cows, a British short film about a farmer raising cows for their flesh who makes the decision to give it all up due to ethical concerns. The film has won a BAFTA award, and Paul and Andy will see if it lives up to the hype.
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Watch 73 Cows for free on Vimeo.
The Food:
The Southern V (Nashville, TN)
The Fancy Radish(Washington DC)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans are pleased to bring you a thought provoking interview with Jake Conroy aka The Cranky Vegan. Building off his activist history, including the SHAC campaign, which was so successful it incurred the full wrath of the federal government, we talk about his insights for a successful strategy to achieve animal liberation. Jake questions the idea that we just need to make enough vegans in order to achieve a vegan world. We’ll talk about what that means for the future of vegan advocacy and activism focused on individual change.
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View the transcript for the episode here!
The Food:
Nu-Zest(all things protein)
Be Leaf Naturals(wasabi jerky)
The Links:
Plant-Based Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams Launches Citywide School ‘Meatless Mondays’(Plant Based News)
Jake Conroy: The Cranky Vegan – YouTube– Instagram– Facebook
]]>As Paul and Andy delve deeper into the world of ex-veganism, they came across an article asserting that the health argument is, in fact, the only motivating factor that will keep people (mostly) vegan for life. That purely ethical motivation is bound to create many unhealthy vegans that are likely to go back to their meat eating ways. They’ll take a closer look at the argument and data to see if this holds any truth. They also continue their discussion about the Impossible Foods’ scandal at Expo West, which they are now going to call CheeseGate.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
Follow on Instagram and Facebook
LINKS:
Did Impossible Foods Lie To Us?(The Vegan Zombie)
How The Ethical Argument Fails Veganism(VegSource)
]]>This week Paul and Andy continue their Ex Vegan series with an exploration of the phenomenon of the ex-vegan blogger who had to give up on their plant based diet as a result of failing health. With a number of prominent vegan YouTubers making public “why I’m no longer vegan” statements in the past few weeks, the bearded duo dive into the reasoning seen time and time again and do their best to separate the fact from the fiction. Why is it that so many folks that are hyper focused on healthy eating end up with such severe health problems? Is it possible that eating animal products could cause a drastic change in health in a matter of days? Do some people just need to eat meat? Paul and Andy tap into the expertise of Ginny Messina, The Vegan RD, for some answers and do some of their own patented wild speculation along the way.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
Follow on Instagram and Facebook
Download the transcription for the episode here!
Andy’s top 3 vegan finds at Expo West:
Wild Brine‘s Brie
Alpha Food‘s Chicken Nuggets
Follow Your Heart‘s cream cheese
The Links:
How Many Former Vegans And Vegetarians Are There?(Faunalytics)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans continue their “ex-vegan” series with Jaime K (Save The Kales), bringing her on for a very vulnerable and brave conversation regarding a time in her life where her veganism lapsed. They discuss potential road blocks to veganism, lessons learned and ways the vegan community could help those that find themselves in her position. In what was initially intended to be a mini-episode, they get deep into it and feel that listeners will gain a lot from listening to her unique perspective.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
Follow on Instagram and Facebook
Jaime K on Instagram
Save The KalesIG + Save The Kales Website
The Chaos of Neal Barnard(Psychology Today)
]]>This week, The Bearded Vegans begin a multi-part exploration of all aspects ex-vegan. Polls indicate a high rate of vegan recidivism, that there are more ex-vegans on the planet than vegans. They want to examine the root causes of this phenomena, what we can do to prevent it, and discuss how the vegan movement’s reaction to ex-vegans hurts or helps the cause. For the first installment, we dive into the world of the celebrity ex-vegan and the inevitable backlash their ex-vegan announcement causes.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Food:
The Queen’s Table(El Paso, TX)
Su Tao(Malvern, PA)
The Links:
Blue Heron Cheese Shop Allowed To Use The Term Cheese(Instagram)
HIKER ACCIDENTALLY SETS 118-MILE TRAIL RECORD IN SEARCH OF FREE VEGAN WAFFLES(VegNews)
118 Miles In 118 Seconds(YouTube)
STEVE-O ON TOXIC NEGATIVITY IN THE VEGAN COMMUNITY(Live Kindly)
]]>In this week’s mini-episode, Paul and Andy discuss a listener email that expressed frustration with vegan’s tendency to constantly state how long they have been vegan during Q&A portions of a VegFest panel. Is this style of self-affirmation aspirational to others, merely annoying, or does it stoked the competitive “more vegan than thou” fire?
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The links:
Vegan food producer ordered to drop the word ‘cheese’ from its marketing(The Globe And Mail)
Canadian Food Producer Ordered To Ditch The Word Cheese(Plant Based News)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans dive deep into the mailbag to answer listener questions, comments and concerns. They talk about what makes a good podcast host, if punk music aligns with non-violent communication, is it okay to disengage with aggressively anti-vegan family members, the ethical gray area of giving free turkey to a struggling family and much much more!
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Links:
NEW STUDY EXPLORES THE REASONS BEHIND ANIMAL ACTIVIST ‘BURNOUT’ (Lady Free Thinker)
Chelsea Lincoln – Fat Vegan Voice
]]>In their first “mini” episode, Paul and Andy are looking at a recent story that claims vegans take twice as many sick days as their meat-eating counterparts. They’ll do their best to look behind the headlines, separate fact from fiction and ultimately ask, even if this is true, does it really matter?
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Hyundai Super Bowl Ad(YouTube)
Vegans ‘take twice annual sick day total of the average Briton’(The Mirror)
]]>This week The Bearded Boys dive into the world of activist burnout and self care. What are the symptoms of burnout? Is it inevitable? How can we prevent it or address it when it arises? Is self care for the privileged? Is it selfish to indulge in distraction when there is so much work to be done? This is a massive episode that includes the voices of fifteen other activists. Normally we would split such a lengthy episode up into a two-parter but after giving it much thought, we felt it was important to keep the entire discussion in tact.
This an episode we have been wanting to do for years. In fact, we started recording interviews in preparation for this episode nearly two years ago. We discuss why it took so long, the roll that the podcast plays in both our own burnout as well as our self care. The episode culminates in a long overdue announcement about the future of the podcast.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
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Thank you to everyone who contributed their voice to this episode, in order of appearance:
Mark Hawthorne(author)
Katia Rodríguez(Vegan Outreach Mexico)
Laura VanZandt (The Herbivorous Butcher/ Bite Sized Beet)
Jose Elias (The Humane League)
Marla Rose(Vegan Street)
Areyenish Birdie (Encompass)
Emmanuel Marquez (Vegan Outreach Mexico)
Jaya Bumitra(Animal Equality)
Derrick “Doomie” Bey (Redefine Your Mind Project)
Andrea Jacobson(Balanced)
Demetria Atkinson(Redefine Your Mind Active)
Clifton Roberts(The Humane Party)
Jess Davis(Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary)
Jamila Alfred(Afro Vegan Society / The Soulful Veganista)
]]>This week, The Bearded Vegans are pleased to bring you an interview with James Spooner. James is a vegan tattoo artist in Los Angeles and Paul mines his expertise on to give tips for those looking to get a vegan tattoo of their own. They also discuss his upcoming graphic novel and highly influential documentary, Afro Punk.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Links:
Natalie Portman on Eating Animals(CBS This Morning)
Animal Legal Defense Fund Appeals Dismissal of Groundbreaking Lawsuit for Abused Horse (ALDF)
PETA’s ridiculous commercial(Twitter)
James Spooner:
James Spooners’ No Fun (graphic novel)
]]>This week, Paul and Andy bring you their long-awaited review of Eating Animals, the documentary adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s bestselling memoir. Ten years ago, the book was responsible for turning many people vegan. They’ll see if the film version lives up to the hype of the book.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDO
Visit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
Follow on Instagram and Facebook
The Links:
Federal Judge Strikes Down Iowa ‘Ag-Gag’ Law(Courthouse News)
The film is also available for “free” on Hulu and for purchase on all other VOD platforms.
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans are discussing a number of news stories that have caught their interest. Topics include a ruling that almond milk can officially be called “milk”, CCTVs in Scottish Slaughterhouses and a meme providing alternatives to “anti-animal language” that has momentarily blown up the internet. They also do extensive follow-up to last week’s discussion regarding whether vegans should be protected by anti-discrimination laws.
Contact us:
Email TheBeardedVegans [at] gmail [dot] com
Call (323) 7BEARDOVisit TheBeardedVegans.com
Support the podcast and get bonus episodes and merch HERE.
Follow on Instagram and Facebook
THE LINKS:
Veganism deserves the same protection against discrimination as religion, say philosophers (Quartz)
Religion or belief discrimination(Citizen’s Advice)
FEDERAL COURT RULES THAT ALMOND MILK IS MILK (VegNews)
CCTV Will Be Compulsory In Scottish Slaughterhouses Under New Law(Plant Based News)
Meat organisation says CCTV in slaughterhouses ‘discriminates against abattoir workers’(Animals Australia)
PETA wants to change ‘anti-animal’ sayings, but the Internet thinks they’re feeding a fed horse(Washington Post)
]]>The Bearded Vegans are back from their winter break, refreshed and ready to bring you new weekly episodes! They start by catching up on one of the most talked-about news stories of the past month: a lawsuit in the UK alleging that a man was fired for being an ethical vegan. The case could legally assign ethical veganism as being protected by the Equality Act. They’ll discuss whether or not they think this case could go through in today’s political climate, ask if vegans are a marginalized group in need of protection by anti-discrimination laws, and do their best to explore all the various slippery slopes that this ruling could potentially lead us down.
The Food:
We LOVE The Superfun Times Holiday Vegan Cookbook
The Links:
Vegan Job Finder Tool Launches Next Month?(Veg News)
Tiffany Haddish Protesting Police Violence With Fur Is The Embodiment Of Weaponized Oppression(Christopher Sebastian)
Vegans may get same anti-discrimination rights as religious people in test case (Independent)
Veganism Could Get the Same Legal Protections as Religion(WNEP)
Discrimination: Your Rights(Gov.UK)
Results of Survey on Vegan Provision in Scotland(Go Vegan Scotland)
]]>In the final installment of their winter break interview series, The Bearded Vegans bring back one of their most-cited interviews from the archives. Back in May of 2016, they talked to Rama Ganesan about her article “Is Non-Violent Communication Effective Vegan Advocacy?” to get to the bottom of that very question. Since that interview, they have found themselves referring back to it often and began to consider it one of their most formative episodes in terms of shaping the way they (try to) approach communicating with others in their activism as well as their everyday lives. Enjoy!
The Links:
Is Non-Violent Communication Effective Vegan Advocacy?(Medium)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans bring you a classic interview from deep in the archives. All the way back in episode 10 they interviewed Derrick “Doomie” Bey about Redefine Your Mind, his two pronged project that is both a vegan clothing line as well as a program that educates incarcerated youth about living a compassionate lifestyle. They talk about going vegan while incarcerated, starting a clothing line and the methods he uses to educate the youth. A fascinating and uplifting interview, Paul and Andy are so pleased to bring this one back for new listeners!
This week The Bearded Vegans bring you the next installment in their winter break interview series as they sit down with Chelsea Lincoln, the creator of Fat Vegan Voice. Chelsea has been a vegan advocate and speaking out against fat shaming in the movement for longer than anyone else. She shares her experiences and expertise as we debunk common arguments made to justify discrimination against fat vegans and why fat shaming ultimately hurts the animals in addition to their human allies.
The Food:
The Links:
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans continue their winter break interview series with the prolific vegan food justice activist Brenda Sanders. Having founded or co-founded The Afro Vegan Society, Thrive Vegan Community Center, The Greener Kitchen/PEP Foods, Better Health Better Life and Vegan Soulfest, we aren’t entirely sure how Brenda finds the time in the day to get everything done but we are thankful she took some time out of her busy schedule to sit down and talk with us. We discuss her journey to veganism, why health-motivated veganism can be considered a revolutionary act within marginalized communities, negative experiences in the mainstream animal rights movement, building local community and much much more!
Support Thrive Vegan Community Center on GoFundMe
Support Brenda Sanders on Patreon
The Food:
Ramen Hood (New York, NY)
Arles & Boggs(Wallingford, CT)
The Links:
LuLu & The Lobster – PROFESSIONAL TRAINING: HOW SYSTEMIC RACISM AND ANTI-BLACKNESS AFFECT ANIMAL ADVOCACY
]]>This week Paul and Andy kick off their winter break interview series with the one and only Mr. Hip! Mr. Hip is a vegan hip hop artist whose latest release, Vegan Paradise, is a fully vegan hip hop album. They talk about his transition to veganism, the recording and creative process, finding a way to use his talents to help animals, engaging in self care and much more.
The Food:
Fox & Fig Cafe (Savannah, GA)
Arles & Bogs (Wallingford, CT)
The Links:
]]>As the holidays approach, it is time to dig deep into the icy cold depths of the mailbag where we will answer your questions, comments, and concerns. This time we discuss how to fend off feeling discouraged, companies blending plant based protein into animal flesh based products as a means of reducing the amount of animals killed for food, and whether or not we want problematic people to go vegan, among many many other topics. Did we answer your question? Stay tuned to find out!
The Food:
German Schnitzle Haus (Jacksonville, FL)
The Links:
Higher temperatures increase suicide rates in the United States and Mexico (Nature)
Climate change already causing increases in stress, depression and negative mental health, study shows (Independent)
Better Meat Co’s Flexitarian Sausages.
4th annual Yukon Innovation Prize winners say they want to disrupt fur industry(CBC)
This week The Bearded Vegans are so pleased to bring you their final live episode of the year. This time, they set up shop at the Atlanta Vegfest and bring on the incomparable JL Fields to help answer a number of listener emails and audience questions. Most notably they ask whether veganism should be intrinsically linked to the plastic-free movement and whether the passing of Prop 12 is something to celebrate. The proposition potentially creates a cage-free California, but at what cost? Would the beautiful bearded boys personally vote for it? Would they spend time advocating for it? Stay tuned to find out!
The Food:
The Grit(Athens, GA)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans are pleased to bring you an interview with Mark Hawthorne, author of Striking At The Roots: A Practical Guide To Animal Activism. The formative text for many activists that explores the vast array of grassroots activism at our disposal was released 10 years ago and is receiving an update to reflect the changing methods and technology that have evolved since its initial release. We ask what even is activism, is it okay to criticize other activists, does one need to be an activist in order to be vegan, the importance of self care and much much more.
Plus Paul and Andy discuss the news, including the greyhound racing ban in Florida and the drop in people willing to take jobs in slaughterhouses.
The Food:
Reggae Shack(Gainesville, FL)
Buttafly Kisses(Atlanta, GA)
The Links:
Thousands Of Ex-Racing Greyhounds Will Need Homes Soon. Here’s How To Help. (Huffington Post)
What will happen to greyhounds if voters ban racing in Florida?(News 4 Jax)
Abattoir staff shortages threaten Christmas sales(Farmer’s Weekly)
Interview:
]]>If you’ve been feeling a sense of dread, depression or hopelessness in the wake of the news that we have roughly 12 years to curb climate change requiring a historically unprecedented systemic change in our global economy, then this week’s episode is for you. As a sense of nihilism creeps in, Andy turns to Paul looking for some sense of hope and plan of action to move forward. They also discuss the recent Waitrose anti-vegan debacle.
The Food:
V-Eats(Dallas, TX)
Podcast recommendation: The Vegan Vanguard – Episode 25 w/ Rama Ganesan.
The Links:
Waitrose magazine editor quits after joke about killing vegans(The Guardian)
Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early as 2040(NY Times)
What happens if Earth gets 2°C warmer?(PopSci)
Climate change effects to be far worse than previously thought(Irish Times)
Climate anxiety: A strain of emotional stress is on the rise(Press Herald)
What Can I Actually Do About Climate Change? Your Choices Really Do Add Up (Bustle)
Supreme Court refuses to block young people’s climate change lawsuit against US government (The Independent)
]]>This week we are so pleased to finally bring you the much requested, and long awaited, BUG EPISODE! That’s right, we are asking if insects should be included in our sphere of moral concern and if so, what are the implications for our daily actions and our activism?
The Food:
Doe Donuts(Portland, OR)
The Links:
What’s in a Name? Survey Explores Consumers’ Comprehension of Milk and Non-Dairy Alternatives (Food Insight)
Get Rid Of Ants Without Killing(Bug Offf)
Do Insects Feel Pain(Jeff Lockwood)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans are so pleased to bring you their recent podcast collaboration with Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack! recorded live at Chicago Veganmania.This time, they took the opportunity to engage with their live audience for an extensive Question and Answer session. Two main discussion topics include how to deal with non-vegan holiday gatherings, whether or not we are obligated to shop up and be the vegan in the room, and a new video that asserts avocados, and most other crops pollinated by bees, are not suitable for vegans. They had a lot of fun with this one, enjoy!
THE FOOD:
Banh Mi So #1(St Louis, MO)
THE LINK:
]]>This week bring you part two of a conversation that could fall under the category of “should take advantage of platforms offered up by those with which we are at fundamental ethical odds?” to ask the question, should vegans advocate to conservatives? Yes, we know that there are many conservative vegans. Yes, we want a vegan world, which means that many people we disagree with must become vegan. What we aim to get at in this conversation is whether, as a movement, targeting conservatives specifically is a worthwhile use of our time and effort.
THE LINKS:
DOVE COMMITS TO BANNING ANIMAL TESTING WORLDWIDE (VegNews)
Tons of Your Favorite Drugstore Products Are Officially Cruelty-Free Now(Glamour)
Gene Bauer On Fox News(Plant Based News)
Conservatism predicts lapses from vegetarian/vegan diets to meat consumption: through lower social justice concerns and social support(Science Direct)
]]>This week Paul and Andy sink their teeth into some cheesy vegan business. After a potentially misleading and inflammatory headlined stated that beloved vegan brand Miyoko’s was set to “partner” with Nestle, one of the most notoriously vile and corrupt corporations, the internet erupted! They’ll try to get to the bottom of what this partnership actually means, if it matters, and what implications it has for vegan businesses in the future.
The Food:
Hartbreakers(Brooklyn, NY)
Bona Bona Ice Cream (Port Chester, NY)
The Links:
Animal-Rights Group Sues to Spring Happy the Elephant From Bronx Zoo (Wall Street Journal)
VEGAN CHEESE BRAND MIYOKO’S PARTNERS WITH NESTLÉ TO MEET GROWING DEMAND FOR PLANT-BASED FOOD(Live Kindly)
]]>This week The Bearded Vegans bring you another news roundup as they engage in several extended discussions involving various news stories that have recently caught their attention. They’ll discuss a horse attempting to sue their abuser, the “factory farm detox”, the new terminology for lab grown meat and much much more!
THE LINKS:
Seeking Justice for Justice The Horse(Washington Post)
Some of Silicon Valley’s leading startups making meat from cells are abandoning the term ‘clean meat’ — here’s what to call it instead (Business Insider)
]]>This week week, the Bearded Boys tackle “veganish”, the phrase that has been blowing up the internet! Will it reduce vegan infighting? Is it good for the animals? And most importantly, what does it even mean? They’ll try to find some answers! Plus, they go over the news and discuss the devastation caused by Hurricane Florence and ways to help out.
THE FOOD:
Modern Love (Brooklyn, NY)
Su Xing(Philadelphia, PA)
THE LINKS:
THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES MAY SOON BAN FUR SALES ENTIRELY (Fashionista)
Fur is dead; long live fur(Vox)
HURRICANE FLORENCE IS TURNING NORTH CAROLINA INTO A TOXIC STEW OF PIG POOP, SEWAGE, AND COAL ASH(Vice)
Florence drowns 5,500 pigs and 3.4 million chickens. The numbers are expected to rise. (News Observer)
Vegan-ish: Why I Am (Mostly) Vegan.(Elephant Journal)
Why It’s OK to Be Vegan ‘ish’ (One Green Planet)
Vegan organizations helping animals affected by Hurricane Florence:
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue(leading the rescue efforts)
Ziggy’s Refuge Animal Sanctuary
A Well Fed World(raising funds for sanctuaries taking in animals, currently matching donations up to $25,000)
]]>It’s time to dig around in the ol mailbag and pull out some listener questions to answer! How do we respond to the “morality is subjective” anti-vegan argument? Should we support Vegfests that won’t explicitly label themselves vegan? Do we ever get burnt out on talking about veganism? All that and much much more!
THE FOOD:
Just Egg(Just Food)
Chicken Strips(Tofurky)
THE LINKS:
Lisa’s Facebook post of their experience at a Vigil
Pete’s photo and thoughts on their vigil experience
Student Choice Laws(Animalearn)
]]>This week Paul and Andy do an in depth review of The End Of Meat, a brand new documentary promising to examine the social, environmental and ethical ramifications of a world without animal exploitation. They’ll talk about whether or not it lives up to the promise of it’s title and how it stacks up to the increasingly crowded vegan documentary field.
Plus they go over the news and discuss a recent op-ed that states “If you want to save the world, veganism isn’t the answer”
THE FOOD:
Orchard Grocer(New York, NY)
THE LINKS:
California Is Banning Cosmetic Animal Testing: Here’s What You Need to Know(People)
California Assembly Passes Law To Require Vegan Meals In Schools And Hospitals(VegNews)
If you want to save the world, veganism isn’t the answer(The Guardian)
]]>A high profile vegan activist has written a new definition of veganism that requires one to engage in activism in order to claim the title of vegan. The Bearded Vegans talk about the implications this new definition has for existing vegans as well as potential vegans. How much activism is enough? How do we even define veganism? They’ll do their best to get down to the nitty gritty on this one!
The Food:
Vegan Soulfest(Baltimore, MD)
Roots Market(Baltimore, MD)
How Delish HD(New Jersey)
The Links:
Introducing the LIVE (Low-Income Vegan Education) Mentorship Program!(Chilis On Wheels)
Vegan Bill Of Consistent Anti-Oppression
Missouri May Be First State To Get Serious About The Definition Of Meat (NPR)
Tofurky Sues to Stop Missouri Law Over Meat Terminology(NY Times)
Animal Liberation Front Founder Proposes New Definition Of Veganism (Plant Based News)
This week the bearded brothers are pleased to bring you an interview with Chris Cooney, the mastermind behind The Vegan Zombie. They talk about his transition from FBI investigator to post zombie apocalypse cooking show sensation, what it’s like to go from behind the scenes to in front of the camera and the evolution of the channel. Most importantly, they talk all about his latest project, A44, a full blown real deal vegan zombie film, the first of it’s kind!
Plus, the bearded vegans cover all the meat related news that you can handle and rave about a lemony confection from Taylor Street Sweets.
You can always reach The Bearded Vegans by emailing TheBeardedVegans@gmail.com or visiting TheBeardedVegans.com
Find the shirt Chris is wearing at CompassionCo.com
THE FOOD:
Taylor Street Sweets(North Carolina)
THE LINKS:
This Dude Chewed and Swallowed a Hunk of Bloody Meat to Terrorize Vegans at a Vegan Festival(Esquire)
Angry Butcher Swings Raw Meat At Vegan Protesters(Lad Bible, lol)
TYSON ISN’T CHICKEN(Bloomberg)
THE VEGAN ZOMBIE:
A44 KICKSTARTER(do the thing!)
]]>This week Paul and Andy’s blood is boiling as they dive into a discussion about tone policing. Using an ill-conceived public statement from a prominent vegan figure, they’ll dive into what tone policing is, why it doesn’t do anyone any damn good and why it’s important to learn to stay in our lane.
They also follow up on the latest developments with #TimesUpAR, go over the news and make a few big announcements!
Our new online store can be found HERE.
The Food:
Linger(Denver, CO)
Newark Natural Foods Co-Op(Newark, DE)
The Links:
The Return Of Wayne Pacelle(Non Profit Chronicles)
Smithfield loses lawsuit over North Carolina hog farms(Washington Post)
Smithfield Foods Ordered To Pay Millions In Damages To Neighbors Of Hog Farms(Huffington Post)
Apiecalypse Now! takes on anti-abortion protesters(Toronto Now)
How Colorblindness Is Actually Racism(Huffington Post)
]]>This week Paul and Andy bring you the next installment in their Retro Film Review series, where they revisit (or visit for the first time) animal rights films that were released before the inception of the podcast. This time around, they are reviewing The Ghosts In Our Machine, a 2013 documentary that follows renowned photographer Jo-Anne McArthur’s efforts to bring wider attention to topics that most of humankind strives hard to avoid. The film is a unique addition to their animal rights film collection and they have a lot of fun discussing its pros and cons.
The Food:
Orchard Grocer(New York, NY)
Kelly’s Croutons(the best dang croutons on the planet)
The Links:
Vegan Prisoners Offered Diet And Lifestyle Guide By Experts(Plant Based News)
]]>The Bearded Vegans are eager to bring you a live recording of a panel that Andy recently participated in with Ginny Messina (The Vegan RD) and JL Fields. The panel took place at Vegfest Colorado and covers many of the ins and outs of food and body shaming found specifically within the vegan community. What is food and body shaming? How does it manifests within veganism? How does it negatively impact the movement and the animals for whom we advocate? What can we do about it? All that and much much more.
A full transcript of the episode can be found here!
Related episodes:
Episode 34: Interview with Jenny Marie of Big Fat Vegan Zine
BONUS: Fat Shaming In The Vegan Community: A Conversation With Jaime K.
Ginny Messinacan be found at TheVeganRD.com
JL Fields can be found at JLGoesVegan.com
]]>This week, The Bearded Vegans are so excited to bring you their latest live episode, recorded by A Shared Universe at the Atlantic City Vegan Food Festival. They are joined by the one and only lauren Ornelas, founder of Food Empowerment Project, who uses her many years of expertise in winning corporate campaigns to expand on previous conversations regarding the efficacy of targeting specific restaurants and businesses.
The Food:
Philly Fry (Philadelphia, PA)
Gone Pie(New York)
The Links:
Food Empowerment Project – Website/ twitter/Instagram/ Facebook
This week the bearded brothers talk about the We Works “meat ban” in which they announced that any food purchased with We Works money would not be allowed to be used on meat (oddly, minus fish). This means that all food provided at company functions as well as food that would be expensed under travel and entertainment. Is this a great move for the animals and the environment or is it an infringement on freedom of choice? What logistical problems are involved in enforcing this policy? Is it just virtue signaling at it’s finest? You bet that the Bearded Vegans dig in and try to find some answers.
Plus Andy recounts a Beyond Burger based tale of terror at the Alamo Drafthouse, they discuss their experience at the Atlantic City Vegan Food Festival and much much more!
The Food:
Alamo Drafthouse(Brooklyn, NY) – Beyond Burger, or is it?
Louisville Vegan Jerky – Jamaican Jerk limited edition flavor
The Links:
Mayor of Minneapolis Makes Plant Based Proclamation (Fig & Farro Facebook Post)
Commuters Blast Vegan Posters For ‘Forcing Opinions On Others‘ (Plant Based News)
Pro-Vegan Billboard Has Drivers Talking (ABC 6 News)
‘We will not serve or pay for meat:’ WeWork takes the green workplace to a new level (Washington Post)
All the Problems With WeWork’s Tyrannical New “No Meat” Policy(Slate)
Firms should not penalise meat eaters, warns TUC(BBC)
WeWork’s Meat Ban Tells Us Who They Are(Bloomberg)
WeWork no longer reimbursing meals containing meat (Fox News)
]]>This week the bearded bros have several shorter conversations (covering topics such as the 2018 Animal Rights Conference, the US premier of Dominion, and animals being afforded the same rights as humans in Uttarakhand), culminating in Paul detailing his recent visit to a wild animal sanctuary. Something didn’t sit quite right with him…and the dynamic duo are going to get to the bottom of it!
THE FOOD:
Yoga Nature Sanctuary (Chicago, IL)
Slice of Sauce(Bo’s Fine Foods)
THE LINKS:
Animals accorded same rights as humans in Indian state(The Telegraph)
Plastic Straws Aren’t The Problem(Bloomberg)
The Ableist Fight Over Plastic Straws(Bitchmedia)
The Wild Animal Sanctuary(Keenesburg, CO)
Wild Animal Sanctuary adds 9,004-acre refuge in southern Colorado(9 News)
Petition For Rescue Groups And Sanctuaries To Adopt A Vegan Position (Brother Wolf)
]]>The time has come for The Bearded Vegans’ 13th mailbag episode! They dig deep into the mailbag and answer YOUR questions, comments and concerns. Should you have a vegan doctor? Is it wrong to hope the Lone Star Tick bites everyone in the world? Are slaughterhouse vigils harmful to animals? All that plus much much more!
Upcoming Events:
LIVE PODCAST: July 14th – Atlantic City Vegan Food Festival (Atlantic City, NJ)
ANDY SPEAKING: July 29th – Vegfest Colorado (Broomfield, CO)
Andy guest co-hosts on Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack – Episode 181: Mother! analysis.
The Food:
Onion Maiden (Pittsburgh, PA)
Watercourse (Denver, CO)
]]>This the bearded duo bring you a conversation that draws from a variety of news stories all regarding the wildly varying ways that various restaurants and butcher shops have responded to vegan protests and vandalism. While some take the high road, others resort to calling protestors terrorists. The one through line is that in every case, it seems that the end result is better publicity and more customers for the establishments being targeted. With the opposite of the desired effect being achieved, they examine what went wrong and what could be done better in the future.
Plus they break down the week’s news and visit Drop Squad Kitchen in Delaware.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
LIVE PODCAST @ Atlantic City Vegan Food Festival – July 14th (Atlantic City, NJ)
ANDY SPEAKING @ Vegfest Colorado – July 29th (Broomfield, CO)
THE FOOD:
Drop Squad Kitchen (Wilmington, DE)
THE LINKS:
All Pediatric Residency Programs End Live-Animal Training(VegNews)
Animal rights protesters charged with animal cruelty in illegal demonstration (Two Good Boys)
Bowing to pressure, a Berkeley butcher shop makes a deal with vegan protesters (Washington Post)
‘Vegan Vigilante’ Grafitti Backfires (IOL)
French butchers want protection against vegan ‘terrorism’ (Euro News)
Butchers ‘living in fear’ as vegan attacks on the rise, says Countryside Alliance (Telegraph)
French Restaurant that Served Foie Gras Will Go Vegan Due to Protests (Munchies / Vice)
]]>This week Paul and Andy ponder whether non-vegan animal advocacy groups are allies to the vegan movement or if embracing them is counter-productive to animal liberation. Should vegans join vegetarian groups. Should vegan groups operate under the term “vegetarian” in order to create a larger umbrella for potential members to gather under? They do their best to find some answers.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
LIVE PODCAST @ Atlantic City Vegan Food Festival – July 14th (Atlantic City, NJ)
ANDY SPEAKING @ Vegfest Colorado – July 29th (Broomfield, CO)
THE PLUGS:
Fanciful Fox – our favorite vegan soaperie and body care products
THE LINKS:
52 New York Dairy Farms Lose Wholesale Contracts(VegNews)
Bill that would ban cosmetic animal testing clears the Senate(iPolitics)
LUXEMBOURG ‘MODERNIZES’ ANIMAL RIGHTS LAWS TO INCREASE THE PROTECTION OF ‘ALL ANIMALS’(Live Kindly)
Vegans Split From National Vegetarian Group – To Start New Organization (Plant Based News)
Nearly 6,000 Hens Saved From Slaughter By Egg Industry Advocates (Plant Based News)
Green Party (Animal Justice)
]]>This week, the bearded duo bring you a more somber conversation as they dissect the various ways vegans have reacted to the death of celebrity chef, author and tv personality Anthony Bourdain. They look at those who celebrate the man, those who celebrate his death and everything in between. Is he more complicit in animal exploitation than the average Jeff? Is telling someone not to celebrate his death speciesist? Is it best for vegans to just keep quiet in moments like these? Listen in as they wade through the murky waters on this one.
Plus, they discuss the news and follow up on the Evolve Our Prison Farms campaign.
The Food:
Crazy Jack Vegan (Tarpon Springs, FL)
Plant Snacks – Vegan Cheddar Cassava Root Chips
The Links:
Evolve Our Prison Farms – New website, more clarity in their mission statement. Check it out and decide for yourself!
Campaign Launched To Abolish Factory Farming In Switzerland(Plant Based News)
Supermarket scandal: Pork and turkey found in vegan and ‘meat free’ meals (The Telegraph)
Anthony Bourdain Thinks Vegans Are Self Indulgent (One Green Planet)
ANTHONY BOURDAIN: VEGETARIANS MAKE ‘BAD TRAVELERS AND BAD GUESTS’ (Ecorazzi)
Bourdain and Gill on Animal Cruelty and Worker Rights (Youtube)
Interview: Anthony Bourdain on Traveling to the Heart of Trump Country for ‘Parts Unknown’ (Eater)
CNN: Stop Promoting Animal Torture on Anthony Bourdain’s ‘Parts Unknown’ (Last Chance For Animals petition)
I’M VEGAN AND I’M REALLY GOING TO MISS ANTHONY BOURDAIN (Live Kindly)
Anthony Bourdain’s death means loss of a voice for immigrant workers (CBS News)
]]>THE FOOD:
Sweet Soulfood (New Orleans, LA)
THE ARTICLES:
Here’s what to know about Asheville’s citywide vegan challenge (Citizen Times)
39 Percent of Chinese Population Is Ditching Meat (Veg News)
The Food:
Trilly Cheesesteaks (New Orleans, LA)
Triangle Tavern (Philadelphia, PA)
Kung Fu Hoagies (Philadelphia, PA)
Take Action:
Shame On Safeway (Food Empowerment Project – sign the petition)
The Articles:
Want To Save The Planet? Go Vegan, Study Says (News Week)
Piglet heist could land 5 Bay Area activists in prison for 60 years (San Francisco Chronicle)
Animal Activists Forcefully Remove Chickens From Petaluma Egg Farm; 40 Arrested (NBC Bay Area)
This week, Paul and Andy have an in depth discussion around one of our favorite topics, learning when to shut up. Vegans often feel pressure to constantly speak up for animals at every possible opportunity, but are there any scenarios in which it makes more sense to hold our tongue? Are there situations in which we might need to realize we aren’t the best person to deliver a message? Sparked by a listener email regarding their experience at a protest targeting a local dairy operation, they do our best to get down to the bottom of it!
Episodes Referenced:
Episode 106 – Should Vegans Advocate For Human Population Control
The Food:
Plant Snacks – Beet and Vegan Goat Cheese Cassava Chips.
The Articles:
Fake ‘meat’ can’t be labeled as meat, Missouri lawmakers say (STL Today)
Iowa Residents to Sue the State Over Air Emissions from Industrial Hog Farms (Civil Eats)
Kat Von D Accused Of ‘No Longer Being Vegan’ – Because Of Pregnancy (Plant Based News)
]]>“The question is not, can they reason?, nor can they talk? but, can they suffer?” this quote from philosopher Jeremy Bentham is often used as the basis for including animal’s within our moral sphere. But what if one could eliminate an animal’s ability to suffer? This is the exact proposal of one award winning ethics paper that concludes it is our ethical duty to advocate for genetically disenhanced animals, who cannot feel (and may even enjoy) pain. This, of course, opens up a host of ethical questions and the bearded duo will do their best to parse them out. They also break down the week’s news and visit one of NYC’s newest vegan eateries.
Food:
Arata (New York, NY)
Articles:
Bye SeaWorld! Attendance at San Diego Park Has Dropped the Most Out of ALL Theme Parks in the U.S. (One Green Planet)
European Parliament votes to support a push towards a global animal testing ban (Cosmetic Design)
Global Animal Testing Ban Is ‘One Step Closer’ After Winning MP Support, Say Campaigners (Plant Based News)
Republican Farm Bill Amendment Threatens Animal Rights (MSN)
What Is the “Protect Interstate Commerce Act” and Why Does It Matter? (Modern Farmer)
Why We Should Genetically ‘Disenhance’ Animals Used in Factory Farms (Practical Ethics)
The Practical Ethicist – An Interview With Peter Singer (Salon)
The Opposite of Human Enhancement: Nanotechnology and the Blind Chicken Problem by Paul B. Thompson (Nanoethics)
Could Engineering Animals to Enjoy Pain End Animal Suffering?(The Stranger)
Should Farm Animals Be Genetically Modified to Remove Their Capacity to Feel Pain? (Alternet)
]]>What’s up, beardos?! This week we bring you a discussion that may seem absurd on the surface but gets at a lot of pressure many vegans may feel to purchase non-vegan products for friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers. Sparked by an incident in which a vegan purchased non-vegan ice cream for a crying child and was then harassed by another vegan, there are a lot of ins and outs to this one, so strap in! We also revisit the ethics of the Impossible Burger, now that it’s addition to White Castle’s menu has sparked debate far and wide.
Find a transcript of the this episode HERE.
Episodes referenced:
Episode 10 – Is All Birthday Cake Vegan?
Episode 93 – Impossible Foods Test On Animals?
The Food:
Like No Udder (Providence, RI)
The Articles:
TripAdvisor extends animal welfare policy, critics say “falls short” (Phocus Wire)
Is The Impossible Burger Legal? (Modern Farmer)
The Agonizing Dilemma Of Animal Testing (Impossible Foods)
Animal Testing & New Proteins: Time For FDA To Move Into The 21st Century (Good Food Institute)
Clean Meat Startup Makes Breakthrough With New ‘3D Technology’ (Plant Based News)
JUST CEO Says 2018’s Clean Meat Launch Will ‘Probably’ Be Sold In Restaurants First (Plant Based News)
France Bans Meat And Dairy Related Words From Vegetarian And Vegan Food Packets (MSN)
Vegan Man Doxxes Vegan Woman for Giving Dairy Ice Cream to Crying Child (Vice)
]]>Plus we break down the news, including the latest vegan celebrity worship and Post Mates banning the delivery of foie gras.
The Food:
GWARbar (Richmond, VA)
The Articles:
80% of Brits Would Give Up Meat Over Their Car to Help the Environment (Sustainable Brands)
Gordon Ramsay Finally Gives Vegan Thing a Try (VegNews)
GORDON RAMSAY REVEALS HE’S ‘GOING TO GIVE THIS VEGAN THING A TRY’ (The Independent)
Victory! Postmates to Stop Delivering Foie Gras to Customers(One Green Planet)
Chef who butchered a deer leg in front of vegan protesters: ‘We won’t change’ (The Guardian)
Reservations Soar at Toronto Restaurants After Vegan Protest(BlogTo)
Vegan Activist Receives Vicious Online Backlash After Restaurant Protest (Plant Based News)
]]>This week the bearded duo bring you a discussion regarding something that has been on their minds for quite a while. Should vegan activists get paid? They aren’t talking about people working for non-profits, but more specifically activists who start Patreons to fund their activism with no specific tangible goals other than “I will do more activism”. Do we need activists dedicated 24/7? It is classist to demand activists work for free? Does crowd-funded activism run the risk of only rewarding certain types of activism at the detriment to others? They roll up our sleeves and dive deep into this one!
Plus they go over the news, including the Impossible Burger rolling out to White Castle and the latest in the By Chloe legal proceedings. Additionally, they follow up on last week’s discussion about veganizing prison farms.
The Food:
Plant (Asheville, NC)
Tomato Head (Knoxville, TN)
The Links:
Dominion film
Get Ready for ‘Bleeding’ Veggie Sliders at White Castle (Grub Street)
Chloe Coscarelli Files Lawsuit to Reclaim by CHLOE Name (VegNews)
Kingston prison farms returning with new federal funding (CBC)
Prisoners making $1.95 a day want a raise. Taxpayers want a break. (Business)
]]>This week the bearded duo delve into another news roundup to discuss a variety of timely topics that have sparked their curiosity. Most notably a vegan author who believes veganism is the solution to America’s gun problem and the revelation that America ranks damn near dead last on a new animal cruelty index. They also discuss a baloney ban and Greenpeace’s new anti industrial meat video, among others.
The Food:
Donna Jean (San Diego, CA)
Seasons Plant Based Bistro (Salt Lake City, UT)
Dottie’s Donuts (Philadelphia, PA)
Episodes Referenced:
Jessica Shay / Vegan Street Fair Interview – Episode 83
Eating You Alive review – Episode 68
The Links:
The Cochran Formula (Tartleton)
Animal Rights Conference speaker line up
UK Government to ban wild animal circuses by 2020 (ADI)
Call to ban wild animals in travelling circuses moves one step closer (NWEMail)
Wild animals to be banned from circuses in England by 2020, says Government (The Independent)
Ricky Gervais Speaks Out About Ban on Wild Animal Circus Acts in the UK (One Green Planet)
Greenpeace addresses “industrial meat” (Greenpeace)
Lawmakers want to ban baloney from NYC public schools (NY Post)
Cory Booker Loses Snowball Fight, Buys Winner Vegan Pizza (Veg News)
U.S. Ranked as Second Worst Nation in the World on New Animal Cruelty Index (Alternet)
What’s up, beardos?! This week Paul and Andy are joined by their friends Callie and Nichole of the Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack! podcast to explore anti-capitalist veganism, a topic that has becoming increasingly a part of their political identity over the past few years. What is capitalism? Is it incompatible with veganism? If we oppose capitalism, how can we practice that within our veganism?
You can find Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack on iTunes or your favorite pod catcher, as well as their website, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
The Food:
Cosmic Brewery (Torrance, CA)
Vegana Casera (pop ups in various locations in SoCal)
Avocadamama (pop ups in various locations in SoCal)
The Articles:
What to Know About the “Pegan” Diet, the Trendy New Paleo-Meets-Vegan Lifestyle (Allure)
Burgers That Bleed: Don Lee Farms at Costco (VegNews) & Moving Mountains B12 Burger(Independent)
San Francisco’s Latest Animal-Friendly Law? Banning Fur Sales(Fortune)
Also mentioned in this episode:
The Vegan Vanguard podcast
This week Paul and Andy turn their attention to challenge-based advocacy, embodied by campaigns like Veganuary. Does challenging someone to go vegan for a select period of time have a high success rate or is it doing more damage in the long run?
Plus they follow up on the latest developments in #timesupAR and cover the news, including lawmakers forcing stores to carry eggs from caged chickens.
Restaurants Visited:
Veggie Grill – Beyond Sausage (Los Angeles, CA)
Masa Of Echo Mark (Los Angeles, CA)
Sticky Fingers Bakery (Washington DC)
Shouk (Washington DC)
Articles Discussed:
The #Metooing of Wayne Pacelle (The Spectator)
Consumers Are Revolting Against Animal Cruelty — So the Poultry Industry Is Lobbying for Laws to Force Stores to Sell Their Eggs (The Intercept)
Donald Glover Buys 113 Boxes of Vegan Girl Scout Cookies(VegNews)
Beyoncé Urges 112 Million Fans to Go Vegan for Coachella(VegNews)
A Record Breaking Veganuary 2018 (Veganuary.com)
80% Of New Year’s Resolutions Fail By February (Business Insider)
Veganuary 2017 Survey Results Are In (PlantBasedNews)
SUCCESS: Majority Of Veganuary Participants Still Vegan(PlantBasedNews)
Here’s Why Charity Campaigns Like The Ice Bucket Challenge Go Viral (Mashable)
]]>What’s up beardos?! This week we bring you an interview with the amazing Julia Feliz-Brueck, the founder of Sanctuary Publishers and VeganismOfColor.com. We talk about Veganism In An Oppressive World, a new collection of essays, poems and interviews from a variety of perspectives regarding the experience of people of color interacting with mainstream veganism.
On top of that, we discuss the news – including using Kevin Smith’s heart attack as vegan advocacy and Tyson’s entrance into the plant based protein market.
Restaurants Visited:
Crossroads Kitchen (Los Angeles, CA)
Articles discussed:
Kevin Smith Considers Going Vegan After Heart Attack (Veg News)
The Power Of Gari (Veg News)
Just For All – Power Gari (Just For All Website)
Tyson Foods To Accelerate Growth Outside Meat Space(MeatPoultry.com)
INTERVIEW:
Julia Feliz – JuliaFeliz.com
Sanctuary Publishers – SantuaryPublishers.com
Veganism Of Color – VeganismOfColor.com
]]>ALEX HERSHAFT: AN ANIMAL RIGHTS PIONEER, WITH A #METOO PROBLEM (Feb 16th, 2018)
Easy Vegan with JL Fields – interview with Lisa Kemmerer
Only You Can STop Men Who Hurt Women From Also Harming Animals – pattrice jones
New leadership team for the conference – Jen Riley and Dawn Moncreif
News:
No-kill shelter has to remind volunteers not to wear fur, Canada Goose items
Ranchers Petition USDA to Define Beef (Feb 15th, 2018)
Senate Reaches Bipartisan Deal to Improve Dairy Safety Net (Feb 8th, 2018)
Main Discussion:
In the shadow of the Olympics, a brutal trade in dog meat
Inside the grim scene of a Korean dog meat farm, just miles from the Winter Olympics (Feb 12th)
‘Hero’ cow escapes slaughterhouse and hides on island for a month (Feb 22nd)
This week, the bearded due explore the chilling, icy depths of the mailbag, where they respond to listener questions, comments, and submissions.
Food:
Crust Vegan Bakery – Philadelphia
Corrections:
PEOPLE OF COLOR: ANIMAL RIGHTS, ADVOCACY AND FOOD JUSTICE CONFERENCE
Mailbag:
Public allegations timeline
Jan 14th
- Carol Adams posts publicly on Facebook – tagging Paul Shapiro (formerly the Vice President of Farm Animal Protection at HSUS and author of Clean Meat).
Jan 18th
Jan 25th
- Humane Society CEO Under Investigation for Sexual Relationship With Employee, article on Philanthropy.com
Jan 26th
- The Animal Welfare Movement’s #metoo Problem, article published on The Philanthropy Chronicles by Marc Gunther
Jan 29th
- Humane Society CEO is subject of sexual harassment complaints from three women, according to internal investigation, article on Washington Post
Jan 30th
- Female Employees Allege Culture of Sexual Harassment at Humane Society. Two senior officials, including the CEO, have been investigated for incidents dating back over a decade, article on Politico
- Paul Shapiro posts a public statement – It is a PDF of, what appears to be, a letter that was printed out and then scanned, hidden in a Dropbox link
- Rick Bernthal, chair of the board at HSUS sends email to deputy directors telling them to focus on their work
Jan 31st
- Humane Society donors call for firing of chief executive after sexual harassment complaints, article on Washington Post
- Top Lab-Grown Meat Advocate Accused of Creating Atmosphere of Sexual Misconduct at Humane Society, reported on Gizmodo
Feb 1st
- Humane Society keeps CEO after sexual harassment complaints, prompting seven board members to resign, reported on the Washington Post
Feb 2nd
- Humane Society C.E.O. Resigns Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations, reported on the NY Times
- Wayne Pacelle publishes a letter to his staff, on Facebook
- The Humane Society of the United States accepts the resignation of Wayne Pacelle as president and CEO, on their site
Feb 6th
- Jaya Bhumitra comes out with her story about working with Nick Cooney, on Facebook – stating he is emotionally abusive and manipulative
Feb 7th
- Josh Balk makes a public statement, on Facebook (Balk took over Shapiro’s position at HSUS and has been friends with all of the recently accused)
Feb 8th
- Christina Wilson comes forward about Nick Cooney, on Facebook – this time the allegations also include sexual harassment
- Alex Hershaft posts in support of Wayne Pacelle
- Nathan Runkle (former head of MFA, now just on the board) makes a statement on Jaya’s post
Feb 9th
- At Mercy For Animals, No Mercy For Women, article on Nonprofit Chronicles
Additional Information
The News
This week marks the return of the bearded duo from their winter break! As they wipe the crust out of their eyes they recount tales from their break, including what they’ve been eating, and then dive into the latest news such as Bill Gates funding “super cows” and the dairy industry’s attempts to climb back into relevance. The episode concludes with an in depth discussion around whether or not vegan restaurants should ban fur from their establishments. While some vegans want these restaurants to be a safe haven, others think welcoming in fur-wearers is the way to go. They’ll cover all the angles!
Restaurants visited:
Samurai Papa (Brooklyn, NY)
Modern Love (Brooklyn, NY)
Articles and sources cited:
Coalition Against Nonprofit Harassment and Discrimination – CANHAD.ORG – use this website to anonymously submit your story of harassment or abuse in a nonprofit or to find further resources
Dairy must stand against the vegan tide Jan 20th
Are we winning? (new YouTube series by Jake Conroy)
Bill Gates Donates $40 Million To Help Create ‘High Yield Super Cows And Chickens’
Bill Gates Donating $40m To Create Super Cow To End World Poverty
10 Reasons to Say NO to Farmed Animals as ‘Gifts’ – A Well Fed World
]]>The time has come, dear beardos, to review the granddaddy of all vegan health documentaries. This week, in their final film review of the Winter Break Retro Film Review series, the boys watch Forks Over Knives, the 2011 health documentary that explores the health benefits of a plant-based diet, as well as documents the rise of two hunky plant-based physicians.
You can watch Forks Over Knives via Netflix
Resources:
Headless Fatties by Dr. Charlotte Cooper
‘Headless Fatty’ Pics Don’t Protect People, They Dehumanise Them
]]>This week, the bearded brethren continue their exploration of past animal rights documentaries with a closer look at Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home. A film that represents a marked departure from previous topics, as it follows the journey of several former-farmers who decided to dedicate their lives to helping animals instead.
Watch the film HERE
This week the bearded boys continue their Winter Break Retro Film Review series with an in depth review of Speciesism, a documentary that works to examine the titular subject by talking to animal rights philosophers and activists as well as a number of people from marginalized groups.
You can rent Speciesism and support the filmmaker at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/speciesism
]]>This week the bearded duo continue their Winter Break Retro Film Review series with an in depth review of If A Tree Falls: A Story Of The Earth Liberation Front. A documentary that pairs well with last week’s Bold Native review, it follows the journey of members of the Earth Liberation Front who were charged with “eco-terrorism”.
This week Paul and Andy continue their winter break film review series with the first of their retro film reviews: Bold Native. How does this 2010 film compare to some of the more recent vegan media? Tune in to find out!
]]>This week Paul and Andy begin their winter break film review series with a dissection of Ferdinand, an animated film being hailed as an animal rights allegory. Is it all just hype or is this the next great vegan-maker?
This week The Bearded Vegans present a very special live episode recorded in front of an audience at the Compassionfest Holiday Bazaar in Hamden, CT. The duo discuss tasty food finds at the event, a local restaurant that advertises itself as vegan but still serves animal flesh, and then move on into a discussion of how to be a good advocate for animals during the holiday season, specifically how to navigate the tricky world of holiday parties.
This week, the bearded duo once again dig into the depths of the mailbag to answer listener questions, comments and concerns. Topics range from the frivolous (favorite vegan bands, pet peeves) to the serious (thoughts on no kill shelters and whether bringing a child into the world can be ethical or altruistic) and everything in between! Plus, Paul and Andy announce their plans for their annual winter break, which is taking a different shape this year.
Articles discussed:
10 Reasons To Say No To Farmed Animals As A Gift
]]>This week, Paul and Andy discuss a particularly delicious dish found in NYC before diving into some follow up and and a break down of the week’s news including the revelation that Field Roast was acquired by Maple Leaf Foods, the largest meat producer in Canada. Is the latest in a long line of similar acquisitions a net positive for animals, or are they just over it? Plus they review Vegan 2017, the latest installment in the annual film series from Plant Based News.
Restaurants Discussed:
Blossom (New York, NY)
Chick Pea & Olive (New York, NY)
Articles discussed:
Government Promises Animals ‘Will Be Recognized As Sentient’ After Brexit
Maple Leaf buys meat alternative brand Field Roast for $120m (Dec 1st, 2017)
Maple Leaf Foods sets out plan to be sustainability world leader
A Priveleged Vegan – “we will see a vegan world under capitalism?”
]]>This week, Paul and Andy wade into the waters of direct action by asking if liberating animals should be considered terrorism. With the Animal Liberation Front listed as one of the top domestic terror threats by the FBI, is such a label a proportionate response to the threat? Additionally they break down the week’s news and talk about vegan food adventures in CT and NYC.
Restaurants visited:
JaJaJa (New York, NY)
In this week’s episode, the bearded duo talk about what they’ve been eating, break down the week’s vegan news, and conclude with the question, is a vegan world possible or do humans just love the taste of meat too much
Food:
Healthful Essence (Atlanta, GA)
Vegreens (Duluth, GA)
News:
365 (whole foods store brand) coconut whipped topping
Trader Joes – coconut whipped topping
Reddi-whip (almond and coconut based)
Italy Bans All Animals in Circuses
World Scientists Warn: Time Is Running Out – We Must Move Toward Plant Based Foods
Main Discussion:
Stop pretending that all Americans could ever go vegan: There are more realistic ways to combat climate change.
The Prius-driving vegan vs. the meat-eating bicyclist: Who’s the better environmentalist?
Move over, meat. Tyson Foods’ CEO is excited about plant proteins.
‘Tofurky Trot’ Race To Raise Awareness Of Farmed Animals’ Plight Ahead Of Thanksgiving
Vegan Food Truck Serves Free Meals to the Homeless
The Last Taboo
Modern-day eugenics? Prisoners sterilized for shorter sentences
I’m an environmental journalist, but I never write about overpopulation. Here’s why.
You might be among the richest people in the world and not realize it
DaJen Eats (Orlando, FL)
Crust Vegan Bakery (Philadelphia)
Brown Stew Cauliflower
New Campaign Calls For Animal Rescue Groups To Adopt A Vegan Policy
Circuses Banned From Using Elephants In New York State
VEGAN 2017 Trailer
South Philly Meatball Contest Ends in Vegan Meatball Controversy
U.S. moves to revoke claim that soy protein protects the heart
CALLING FOUL ON MCDONALD’S NEW CHICKEN WELFARE POLICY
88% Campaign
This week, Paul and Andy drool over some food from Andy’s Texas adventures, answer a listener question, break down the week’s news, and then dive into an article concerning veganism’s growth in the far-right. How will they respond to it? Who knows….we surely don’t?
This week, Paul and Andy answer a listener question about dating non-vegans, discover vegan food in Knoxville TN, break down the news and then ask if vegan ethics go far enough by examining vegans impact on wild animals.
Restaurants visited:
Sanctuary Vegan Cafe (Knoxville, TN)
Articles discussed:
Headless Fatties” in the Media Making Us Fat? | GOOD
Will Plant-Based Diet Change Prisoner Behavior as Part of the Redemption Project?
The vegans have landed (The Alien Analogy)
]]>This week, Paul and Andy fawn over vegan food in NYC, answer a listener question, break down the week’s news and then respond to the age old rebuttal: “if the world goes vegan, what will happen to all the farmers?” With accusations that caring for animals means wishing hardship on those who profit from their exploitation, the beardos dig into the facts and look at what the future really holds.
Restaurants visited:
PS Kitchen (New York, NY)
Modern Love (New York, NY)
The Cinnamon Snail (New York, NY)
Articles discussed:
A New Aquarium Opened in Times Square … And We’re Totally On Board With It
WWF – APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION
Gucci drops ‘outdated’ fur from new collections
Fur Suddenly Looks Unfashionable in the World of High Fashion
All These Jobs Would Be Lost If the UK Went Completely Vegan
This Farm In A Box Can Grow As Much Lettuce As An Acre Of Land
Growing A Nation: A Story Of American Agriculture
How The Coming Wave Of Job Automation Will Affect You And The U.S.
]]>This week, Paul and Andy discuss something that’s been on their minds for quite some time and came to a head after a vegan food truck owner celebrated the horrific death of country music fans during the recent Las Vegas shooting: misanthropy in the vegan movement. Why does hatred of our fellow humans hurt our cause, rather than help it? Additionally, the unveil a new intro song, make some changes to the format, go over the news and rave about vegan food at some recent vegfests.
Restaurants visited:
Freakin Vegan (Prospect Park, NJ)
Chickpea and Olive (New York, NY)
The Tasty (Philadelphia, PA)
Jewel of the Forest’s Shroom Snack
Articles discussed:
Vegan Girl Power Conference Launches in Sydney
Nestlé Eager to Expand Into Plant-Based Sector
Nestle’s statement on child slavery in their supply chain.
Food Empowerment Project’s Chocolate List
Vegan food truck owner apologizes after post about Las Vegas ‘meat eaters’ sparks intense backlash
]]>