Extended interviews on iTunes, starting with Dr Julia Minson
If you’re like most of our listeners, you get The Vegan Option show via the podcast feed – an automatic index of shows that’s read by iTunes, Stitcher and other “podcatchers”. (If you haven’t heard any of the shows – what are you waiting for? Use the “Listen” menu at the top, pick a show that piques your interest, and press play. That’s the other way of hearing episodes.)
The shows usually focus on topics rather than individual interviewees – talking to a range of people to get a full picture. This can mean that only a few minutes out of an hour-long interview gets into the show. (This isn’t unusual for public radio documentaries.)
Some full interviews are posted on the website – such as our conversations with Peter Singer and Gary Francione for the episode “Peace on Earth”. But should they go in the podcast feed as well? Diana asked on the Facebook page and “yes” not only won the vote, but for some people it was the only way to get the extended interviews.
South East Asia: Finding Vegan Food in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia
Travelling Vegan in SE Asia
In 2009, I travelled through South East Asia from equatorial island to the far north of Thailand, discovering the vegetarian threads running through the region. Hear Diana and I banter about my trials and triumphs on everything from missing passports to cheeky elephants.
(25 min) Play or download (MP3 26MB) (other formats) (via iTunes)
Judgemental: with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Dr Julia Minson, and Marla Rose
Judgemental!
Those judgemental vegans. A charge you’ve probably heard (or perhaps even uttered).
But what is “judgement”? How does it really affect the relationships between vegans and others? What can scientists say about it? And how do vegan activists react to the charge?
Dr Julia Minson explains the science.
Marla Rose explains exactly how Bacon Loving Hipsters Can Kiss Her Vegan Ass.
And Colleen Patrick-Goudreau discusses the psychology and experience of “judgemental vegans”.
(30 min) Play or download (29 MB MP3) (other formats) (via iTunes)
London Olympics: Closing Update with Vx, Animals in the Opening Ceremony, and Vegan Food
London Olympics: Closing Update
As the athletes celebrate their victories and defeats, and the Spice Girls rock the closing ceremony, we look back over the Olympics and update you on the vegan stories behind the games.
This show:
- We catch up with the vegan stories behind the Olympics, like Sandra Hood, Pogocafe, and Frys
- Ian updates you on the use of animals in the Opening Ceremony
- Rudy tells us who’s been coming to Vx, the little vegan shop that was braced for a difficult Olympics
- We sum up the experience of vegans looking for food at the Olympic Venues
(15 min) Play or download (14MB MP3) (other formats) (via iTunes)
London Olympics: interview with Kara Lang, vegan Olympian, Canada soccer team
Kara Lang, Vegan Olympian
Kara Lang holds the record as the youngest woman ever to score a goal in international soccer – but her passions also include vegan cupcakes.
Now retired from football, she took time out from her busy schedule as part of Canadian station CTV’s Olympic team to talk to me about her story, touring, and the vegan mentor she improbably found in her own national squad.
(10min) Play or download (9.5 MB MP3) (other formats) (via iTunes)
London Olympics
London Olympics
Athletes from across the world are coming to East London – where we produce the show – but what are the vegan perspectives on the Olympic games?
This show:
- Diana talks to Sandra Hood, who wrote the book on raising vegan children, about carrying the Olympic torch
- Amazingly, keeping the Olympics supplied with a vegan mince that caters can use as a drop in substitute for ground meat is down to one small company – I visit the father and daughter who are supplying the Olympic games with the vegan option
- What do the locals think? The staff of the nearest vegan cafe to the games have their say.
- We fill you in on the stories you might have heard in the media – Venus Williams‘s diet, the Chinese volleyball team, and the use of animals in the opening ceremony
(24 min) Play or download (20MB MP3) (other formats) (via iTunes)
Vegan Cheese: Casein, Casomorphins, and the Daiya Redwoods Vegusto Taste Test
Vegan Cheese
What is the secret of making cheese without dairy that stretches and melts?
Is there a cheese addiction?
What’s the past, present, and future of vegan cheese?
And if you brought together the leading vegan cheeses from Europe and the Americas – like Redwoods Cheezly, Vegusto, and Daiya – that aren’t meant to be available in the same country, let alone the same pizza – who would win?
(28 min) Play or download (26 MB MP3) (other formats) (via iTunes)
Spoiler warning: the results of the taste test are below the fold.
Born Vegan at Vegfest UK, with Ruby Roth, Mair Perkins, and a studio audience
Born Vegan: The Parents’ Turn
We took the show on the road to VegfestUK to find out how parents met the challenges of raising children vegan in a non-vegan world. What do they tell their children about how the rest of the world treats animals?
Ian tracked down Mair Perkins from her entry in an old pamphlet of vegan case histories, and talked to Ruby Roth, who has defended her children’s book “Vegan is Love” on US Networks from Fox to NBC.
Diana talked with Lauren and her parents when they came to our recording of the show at VegfestUK Bristol.
(18 min) Play or download (20 MB MP3) (other formats) (via iTunes)
Born Vegan: from 1976 UK TV to the Hebrew Israelites, three very different vegan childhoods
Born Vegan
What is it like to grow up vegan in a non-vegan world? We hear three stories of vegan childhood:
- Rosemary- appeared as a baby on a BBC programme about veganism in 1976
- Elishama – grew up in the Hebrew Israelites, a religious community trying to rebuild the lifestyle of Eden
- Andrew – the son of veteran animal activists
Lab Meat: Can in vitro meat save the animals? With Nicholas Genovese, David Pearce, and Jordi Casamitjana
(23 min) Play or download (13 MB MP3) (other formats) (via iTunes)
Lab Meat
A future with cheap lab meat could be drastically different – for humans and animals. How would it work? And is the development of this technology good for animals?
Ian talks to Nicholas Genovese, a PETA-funded scientist working on the stem cells that could make up what he calls cultured meat. I ask two vegans, transhuman philosopher David Pearce and activist Jordi Casamitjana, why they are for or against in vitro meat; and I reveal the results of my survey. Will vegans and meat eaters ever be able to get beyond the “ick” factor of cultured meat?