Dubai: October 1 is World Vegetarian Day. But if Vanessa Clarke would have her way, it could as well be World Vegan Day.
In Dubai this week, the London-based Clarke, who is director of the UK Vegetarian Society and International Coordinator for the Vegan Society, UK, told XPRESS the benefits of being vegan - a vegetarian who does not eat animal or dairy products - are too great to be ignored.
"You could begin by abstaining from dairy products for at least three days or three meals in a week," she said.
"To feed the world on a western style diet would take three planets the size of the earth. We can't do that, the population is too big. We need to eat simply so the rest of us can simply eat," she urged.
She said by going vegan, we could help save thousands of animals and stop the spread of animal diseases such as bird flu with the diet not contributing to an increase in antibiotic-resistant superbugs such as MRSA.
She explained that a vegan diet covered primary products that the earth provides like plant crops, fruits, vegetables, grains, rice, spices and so on.
Options galore
"Vegans have had a bad press," said the former parliamentary editor, debunking myths about how vegan diets lack nutritional value.
"We don't need cow's milk. Soya milk is a good substitute," she said. Every cuisine offers a variety of vegan options and it is a matter of consciously seeking them out, she said, adding that in the local context, good examples of vegan food include hummus, falafel, tabouli and waraq inab.
The 66-year-old Clarke, who is visiting Dubai on her way to Jakarta ahead of the International Vegetarian Union's 39th World Vegetarian Congress, introduced to the UAE a Vegan Passport brought out by the Vegan Society. The passport is a multilingual phrasebook for globe-trotting vegans and vegetarians.
Covering around 95 per cent of the world's population, the pocket book helps vegetarians to easily communicate what they eat or don't eat no matter which part of the world they are in as this message is conveyed in 78 languages. There's also a double spread of food items in pictures in case a waiter at some restaurant is unable to make sense of any of the languages.
Clarke also addressed a function organised by the Middle East Veg Group (Meveg) where she spoke of the benefits of vegan nutrition. Meveg founder Sandhya Prakash said copies of nutrition charts, vegan passports and summaries of a book titled Plant Based Nutrition and Health, written by Stephen Walsh, IVU Science Coordinator and Clarke's husband, were given out to those who attended the meet.
She said excerpts of the movie Food, Inc were also shown, following which there was a discussion on how industrial and fast food is making us sicker, fatter and poorer by the day.
As part of the ongoing Vegetarian Awareness Month, Prakash said brochures advocating vegetarianism were being made available at several restaurants in the city. Free veg kits were also being distributed, she added.
