BOSH! How to Live Vegan

A NOTE FROM IAN

As a vegan, I’m going to say something controversial: you can eat what you like.

Meat is what most people are brought up on. Eating it doesn’t make you a bad person. And not eating meat, being veggie or vegan, doesn’t make you a good person.

Henry and I remember the taste of meat well. We loved steak and roast dinners, and there’s no question that burgers taste great. My mum is the daughter of a farmer. Our families and friends from home still eat meat and we still love them all dearly.

Our families definitely did not expect us to be running a vegan cooking channel, and they’re always asking us why we went vegan. In this book is the answer to that. Mum, this book is for you!

We stopped eating animal products over four years ago. Since then we’ve built the biggest plant-based online video channel and written two bestselling cookbooks, showing people how to make delicious meals that taste even better than meat!

This book contains no propaganda. It’s not designed to try and mess with your mind or turn you into clones of us. We’ve cited our sources and tried to avoid hyperbole. But there’s no doubt, this is important.

If you’re wondering why the number of vegans has more than quadrupled[1] in the past few years and why the number of flexitarians (people who are reducing the amount of meat they eat) is showing similar trends, then this book hopefully holds the answer.

If you’re wondering why so many restaurants have added vegan choices, or are shouting about their vegan offerings, then this book may explain why. Spoiler: the availability of vegan options is not down to an increasing number of vegans, it’s down to an increasing number of meat reducers – those mindful meaties!

If you’re wondering why Sir David Attenborough, or any news channel, declares we should reduce our meat and dairy intake to help the planet, then this book is for you. We’ll share the background to this and give you practical advice on how you can make changes in your own life.

And, finally, if you’re just interested in eating a few more vegan meals, either to help the planet, for your health, to save money or because you’re interested in trying some of the amazing new plant-based foods that are out there, then we’ll help you do that, too. We’ll show you how awesome vegan food can be for your mind, body and soul.

All of this is aimed at you doing it your way. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Anyone who throws a black-and-white absolute answer at you – about anything – is misleading you. So, please come with us as we delve into the murky shades of grey, and we’ll show you how the choice to eat vegan food, and to make vegan an ideal that we work towards, was the best decision we ever made. Ever.

WHAT DOES VEGAN MEAN?

The Vegan Society’s definition of veganism is living in a way that ‘seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to animals’.

In fact, it was the founder of the Vegan Society who actually created the word ‘vegan’. Based in the UK, the society supports vegans all over the world through information and campaigns, and registers products with its Vegan Trademark. We think the bit about it being ‘as far as is possible and practicable’ is massively overlooked in most conversations about what it means to be vegan. Some people will tell you there are very strict rules about what you can and can’t do if you want to be a ‘proper’ vegan – but there aren’t! When you start to really think about it deeply, it’s nearly impossible to live 100% totally vegan. Animal products end up in the weirdest of places – from the ink in your printer, to the interior of your car and even your money.

We see veganism as something to aim for. It’s an ideal, a direction to move towards – we’re still working on it, too – and however far you want to take it, that’s OK with us. In this book, we want to show you the facts. You can use them however you want.

For some people being vegan is all about the food, while for others it’s about other parts of their life too, like their clothes or make-up, or the products they buy for their home. Maybe you just want to eat a few more plant-based meals each week, or swap your dairy milk and cheese for plant-based alternatives. That’s amazing! What we’ve found is that even the small changes, make a big difference. And not only to your life, but to those around you too.

We started BOSH! three years ago, motivated to help the world eat more plants, as a means of reducing climate change. Our videos have reached millions of people, and we’ve lost count of the number who have got in touch to let us know that they’ve gone vegan, or eat far less meat, after trying one of our recipes. We are supportive of whatever positive action you take towards consuming fewer animal products and eating more plant-based foods. Maybe you’ve made a decision that all your main meals are going to be vegan, but you simply can’t live without your non-vegan snacks – we’re cool with that! Whether you go the whole hog (pun intended) or choose to start with a few smaller adjustments, it’s about doing whatever is practicable for you.

Before we went vegan, pretty much every meal we ate was based around something animal-based. At first, we admit, it was a bit of a challenge to go completely plant-based – Ian cooked a lot of brown curries in those early days … But things are much better now – there is so much choice out there! We are excited by the plant-based options on the supermarket shelves, the new vegan restaurants opening up every day and the vegan options appearing on menus in even the most mainstream of fast-food outlets. And, of course, we’ve learned a huge amount along the way too. We’ve learned how to cook really amazing vegan food, and we’re so excited to be able to share that with you through our YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram and our books.

Our mission today remains the same as it was back then. We’ve all heard the facts. We all know about the increased risks of wildfires, extreme weather events and rising sea levels. But recently, the language has changed. We are no longer talking about climate ‘change’, but rather climate crisis and climate emergency. Hearing Sir David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg and Professor Mike Berners-Lee talking on the BBC documentary, Climate Change – The Facts, in clear and certain terms about the huge, extinction-level threats we face as a result of climate change, it brought everything even more keenly into focus for us. We watched, gripped in horror as the first climate refugees were forced from their homes by rising sea levels, and at the deforestation spreading across the globe and the unprecedented California forest blazes in 2018. It’s a lot, we know. And we don’t want to depress or scare you.

But in the face of these terrifying events, it is easy to want to bury our heads in the sand and wait for the inevitable apocalypse. Thankfully, though, Sir David Attenborough along with his co-presenters ended the show with perhaps their most important message of all: they finished by telling us what we can do about it.

The biggest way you can help our planet is to reduce your meat and dairy intake, and move towards a more plant-based diet, become a flexitarian, go veggie or go vegan.

There are so many ways to reduce your meat and dairy intake, but the most important thing of all is to make sure you do it your way.

You need to find a way to make plant-based eating work for you, in your life, right now. Perhaps a fully plant-based, vegan diet is just too big a change at the moment. If so, then a few simple adjustments to your usual routine can still deliver some amazing improvements. Even switching out beef in your diet and moving towards more sustainable options is a really powerful change. Or maybe you want to play with being a flexitarian before you take the plunge – eating mainly plant-based but with the occasional meat, fish and dairy.

Beyond Meat, the groundbreaking new vegan burger company, says 93% of their sales are from meat eaters,[2] showing that the interest in everyone eating less meat is most definitely on the rise. This means that the buying power of flexitarians is causing a huge spike in sales of vegan products! Being vegan is actually being made easier by people becoming flexitarian, because it increases the demand for quality and easy-to-find non-animal products. So even eating a few more plant-based meals, will make a big difference in our overall global consumption.

You don’t have to be a full-blown card-carrying vegan. You don’t have to wear socks and sandals or put hemp seeds in your smoothies. It is not about that. It’s about reducing your meat and dairy intake, whatever that means for you.

Think about what has brought you to this point. Why do you want to live vegan? Is it due to the environment, your health, the animals or for humanitarian reasons? Are you planning to change the way that you shop for non-food products as well? Some clothes, personal care products and make-up are made from animal products – do you plan to cut those out? Or just focus on food for now? Considering all your options will help you stay committed to your decision. It’s a really good time to think about your life and what you plan to do, then make daily decisions keeping you in line with those aims.

It’s simple. Choose animal-free products. As far as is right for you.

As consumers, our biggest power is in what we buy. Reducing the amount of money we spend on animal agriculture is the single best way we can, as consumers, start to make a positive impact. We’re going to show you how to vote against the meat, dairy and animal products in your life, without compromising choice, flavour or lifestyle. You’ll see how easy it is, you’ll feel better and healthier, and you’ll know that you are drastically reducing your carbon footprint, too.

We’ll help you BOSH! your kitchen, your bathroom and your life. We’ll show you how to remove animal products and turn your fave meaty meals plant-based. We’ll give you all the tools you need so you can save the planet and feel amazing.

In Great Britain, the number of vegans quadrupled between 2014 and 2018. There were about 600,000 vegans in 2018, or 1.16% of the population.[3] During that time, BOSH! launched making recipes for our books and our channels, where our videos have been viewed 1.5 billion times. That’s a lot of views!

A warming planet also means we can expect more global conflicts.[14] We were surprised by this at first, but it is inevitable: as the natural resources people depend on – water, food, fuel, etc. – become increasingly limited and unpredictable weather events cause climactic damage to landscapes and communities, governments will find it harder to protect and manage their societies. Severe droughts,[15] drowned coastal cities[16] and millions of climate migrants from scorched, desertified countries[17] will leave people feeling uncertain about their futures, resulting in widespread instability and political unrest.

These threats will materialise for the world’s poorest first,[18]particularly those around the equator, and there are already communities whose homes are being threatened or destroyed by climate activity across Africa, Asia, South America and even Alaska,[19] where temperatures are rising more dramatically than elsewhere. Meanwhile, our overconsumption is also affecting the poorest. Isn’t it terrifying to learn that although we produce enough food to feed every human on the planet, over 800 million people go to bed hungry each day?[20]

When we learnt these facts, we have to admit that we found ourselves losing faith in humanity for a while. As soon as you hear statistics like these, it’s easy to feel resigned and deflated – as though you don’t have any control. But we pulled ourselves back out of that hole and realised that there is something we can do – we can all act in a way that does some good for the world. Let’s use these depressing and humbling facts as a motivator to make a change!

We know we are lucky to live in the western world. A world where we import avocados from the other side of the globe to take photos of them in our meals and show people on the internet. It’s not useful for anyone to go around feeling endlessly guilty every day about all that we have, but we do need to acknowledge how privileged we are.

We may not have intentionally caused these problems, but indirectly, by just existing and enjoying the modern world we live in – with all its luxuries and technologies – we have. We must take some responsibility.