Go Green Week commences with a food and health day.
A local food fair was brought directly to the students from local providers. Out side the Student’s Union were stalls which provided fresh locally sourced food such as carrot and courgette with halloumi, mint and coriander looked fantastic with it’s great British take.
On the rustic quirky side, local fruit farmers from Herefordshire The Shack Revolution were tempting students with freshly pressed. Not many food miles involved here.
Inside the atmosphere was tremendous as students watched a live cooking demos of a simple side dish or main course for vegetarians a nutty of Spicy Burmese Cabbage and what to do with an over ripe banana and just one egg…obvious really banana pancakes. the starch in the banana means these yummy treats don’t need added flour and literally take seconds to prepare and cook.
The tasty ‘toasty nuttiness’ of the spicy seasonal cabbage dish can be found in the ‘Leon One Pot’ recipe book. It is quick and easy to make and according to Andy Stevenson it is ‘cheap as chips!’ costing only 70p a plate, which is great for students!
‘Worcestershire Vegans & Veggies’ came out in force today with a variety of free vegan only food, and vegan recipes for students to take away. They aim to promote a diet that is free from animal products, with the hope of leading a more compassionate lifestyle. Ronald Lee who is part of the group talked me through the four reasons to lead a vegan lifestyle.
The most obvious reason for being vegan, Ronald Lee explained is reducing the consumption of animal products. This reduces the suffering of animals themselves as animals are reared and caught for food, significantly reducing the amount of animals loosing their lives. Some factory farm conditions slaughter animals for meat at a young age, this is a fraction of what their natural farm life could be, such as in the dairy industry and with hens in battery farms. Even fish caught in the sea are suffering as they are dragged out of the ocean, some gutted whilst still alive. Although it is not in everyone’s interest to turn Vegan, it is nice to know the facts about the process of where our food has come from.
(Above is: Margret Laylend, Ronald Lee, Bobby Balfour and Di Pugh supporting ‘Worcestershire Vegans & Veggies’)
Ronald Lee also explained not eating animals reduces harm to the environment for example a lot of water is needed for the process of rearing animals for food. Lee added
If we adopted a vegan lifestyle there will be no need to import food as we will only use one third of land, this could consequently reduce world hunger as we would be able to feed more people and furthermore, less people would suffer from heart disease and high cholesterol that high protein duets can cause.
Veganism is not for everybody, if we are not vegan could we try to have one vegan day a week, this could be a positive step in the right direction where we can change today and protect tomorrow!
Speaking to Amelia Tricklebank who is a student at the University of Worcester her vegan lifestyle finds it impossible to find vegan food. She had an idea of the canteen sourcing sandwiches with humus or with nut butter as an alternative vegan lunch.
I believe this is a good idea, I must talk to our caterers to find out what they do provide for vegans on campus. I wouldn’t have thought about this until today.
There were other stalls such as Zaytoun, promoting organic and Fairtrade olive oil in support for Palestinian farmers, as well as the sustainability students (featured below) collecting donations for People & Planet by selling sustainable food. Some of the many array of food items presented were: dehydrated apples, Fairtrade cakes and had a raffle for winning a vegetable hamper.
Catching up with the Energize Worcester team their project of raising awareness with their canvases is good to go as they are in the finishing process!
And they are finished!
It has been an eventful day two in aid of Go Green Week, I can’t wait what tomorrow brings! Every little awareness we have will help build a more sustainable future!
As a student, I have to say my meals are sometimes less enthusiastically made, and has little imagination but I actually decided to look on line at Leons website buy the Leon hot pot recipe book as a small investment. It saved me money on last weeks shopping, as I have made one or two of the recipes in there. Hot pots are easy you just chuck everything in and it’s more or less done. I am soon to make my own cabbage dish. I did try it at the university in Go Green Week and it was tasty! Maybe that’s an adventure for tomorrow.
Hi Marcus! I couldn’t agree more! Sometimes the last thing we want to do is plan a whole meal made from scratch when you are a student, but I try to persevere with healthy options! And it seams that you have now too and… saved money! I am so glad to hear! I have tried a few hot pots myself, and you normally have some left for… quite a few says after, my freezer gets full, and so does my stomach! So I win in some occasions! Do try the cabbage dish, I agree it was tasty, I will never turn my nose up at cabbage again. Thank you for your comment, I’m glad to hear meals return adventurous once again!
Hi Molly, that is great that you have converted from vegetarian to becoming vegan, it must have been hard at first as you would have been extremely conscious about what food you can buy and consume! I hand it too you! I think that adopting even a healthier lifestyle like you have said is a great start for anyone. Buying fresh organic products and even locally farmed foods thus supporting local farmers is definitely the way to go! In order to change today and protect tomorrow we could adapt your positive approach. Thank you so much for your comment!
I’ve been a vegan for 7 months now and it was such a brilliant decision! I feel healthier and I go out of my way to buy fresher and more organic vegetable because they’re so important to my diet now. I was already a vegetarian and I thought becoming a vegan would be too hard but it’s just about how strong your will to change is and once you start it’s easy!