Category: Practice
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What is a vegan to do when a favourite plant-based business expands to include animal products?
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve heard of two example — one local here in London, Ontario and one elsewhere, in LA — where a formerly fully plant-based business has decided to “change its business model” to include animal products. This decision always generates backlash among vegans, who see it as a betrayal and,…
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The threat of vegan cheese
An interesting story from The Washington Post came across my desk the other day about a vegan cheese that was a finalist in a cheese competition “A vegan cheese beat dairy in a big competition. Then the plot curdled.” The Good Food Foundation is an organization whose “Good Food Awards” recognize exceptional producers in the…
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Happy Earth Day 2024
Today is Earth Day and it’s an opportunity for us to reflect on our relationship to the only home we have. As with any of these “days,” they are moments to focus and regroup, not one-offs where we can be observant today and then return to old habits. I heard someone talking about Earth Day…
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Philosophers, social justice, and veganism
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a guest post for the blog Biopolitical Philosophy. The blog, launched in 2019 by philosophers Shelley Tremain and Melinda Hall, “provides up-to-date information and cutting-edge critical analysis of biopolitical asymmetries and other mechanisms and effects of power in philosophy and beyond.” You can read more about its mission…
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Plant-based brunch makes a great weekend outing
Who doesn’t love brunch out with friends? It just screams “leisurely weekend activity” to me. Sadly, a lot of vegans feel sidelined in the breakfast/brunch out department because these meals seem to focus so heavily on animal products. Sometimes at traditional breakfast diners you will find nothing but toast as a vegan option. There are…
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Major Catering Win: a fully plant-based catered event NOT by my request
What might seem like a little thing is actually huge. I realize I talk about catering a lot. And again I want to make it clear that the reason is not because I am grumpy when I don’t get a decent meal (even though I am indeed grumpy when I don’t get a decent meal…
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Veganizing family favourites: South African pickled f*sh gets a cruelty-free update
I’m home at my parents’ place for the Easter weekend. While it’s not a vegan household, my mum and dad have both gone a long way to make it vegan friendly. And so when I was chatting with them last week, my mother asked if I had ever given any thought to vegan possibilities for…
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A little catering win: plant-based milk for coffee
I like to write about catering fails and catering wins. And I have noted before that my workplace scores high in the sustainability rankings of institutions of higher ed. Of course I’m proud of this reputation. At the same time I am surprised and disappointed when we fall short on the catering front where sustainable–plant-based…
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Engage or chill?
Considering I’m a philosopher who has essentially been trained to argue, you might think my answer to “when to engage?” is “whenever the opportunity arises.” But that is not my approach at all. I have limited time and energy. I do not engage when it is hopeless. And there is a certain baiting approach, where…
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Happy International Women’s Day 2024 and a shout-out to five vegan websites to love
Good morning and Happy International Women’s Day 2024! As this posts, I’ll be on my way to a breakfast in honor of the day. I thought it would be a great opportunity to draw attention to five of my favourite vegan recipe sites by women. The amount of work that goes into developing and testing…
Vegan Practically 