Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

Source: Peta

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Most Vegetarian-Friendly City: London

Merely the mention of London conjures up images of black cabs, Buckingham Palace, The Thames and double-decker buses whizzing past you on an overcast day.

It’s the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and when it comes to being vegetarian-friendly, we think that London is the world’s capital.

Congratulations, London. You have been named the World’s Most Vegetarian-Friendly City!

After UN figures suggested that meat production is responsible for about 18 per cent of global carbon emissions, including the destruction of forest land for cattle ranching and the production of animal feeds such as soya, Lord Stern of Brentford commented in an interview with The Times, “Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better”.

It’s evident that a lot of Londoners share this belief. Simply take a trip to the grocery store and you will find plenty of items marked with the Vegan Society Logo or the statement “Suitable for Vegans”. Some supermarkets even have their own style of labelling indicating that a product is vegan.

In addition to the readily available cheap vegetarian eats like jam on toast and jacket potatoes with beans, (which likely have kept many starving students alive), the vegetarian dining choices in London offer everything from meatless variations of British favourites such as sausage and mash and shepherd’s pie to masala dosa and chickpea tagine.

When dining out, a great place to start out on any vegetarian-eating tour of London is the world famous Saf on Curtain Road. Saf offers exclusively vegan fine cuisine, including atypical raw dishes such as lasagne, and serves up one of the most delicious apple cheesecakes we have ever encountered. The Gate in Hammersmith is a friendly, well-lit old building with signature cocktails and a wide variety of vegetarian and vegan food with signature dishes such as carciofi (a deep-fried artichoke dish bursting with flavour).

Looking for a full English breakfast, vegetarian-style? Look no further than The Gallery in East London, perfect for those tender mornings after a long night out! Fresh and Wild in Soho offers delicious luxury vegan food, snacks and smoothies, and they also have a catering service if you happen to be throwing a party. Camden’s inSpiral Lounge – voted one of the top 10 vegetarian restaurants in the UK – offers a great atmosphere and gorgeous food. If you’re lucky enough to be there when they’re serving tofu satay skewers, you’re in for a real treat!

And considering that we’re talking about London, what could be more iconic than an old Routemaster double-decker bus that has been converted into an all-vegan restaurant? At Rootmaster, which is situated in a thriving area just off Brick Lane, you can sit on the top deck while the kitchen below prepares dreamy signature dishes such as the Rootmaster Curry and the delectable gazpacho soup.

If it’s ethnic food you crave, try some of the South Indian restaurants in Tooting, South West London, where you can find a host of vegetarian dishes full of rich spices and mouth-watering tastes. For Thai food, you can do no better than to take a trip down Greek Street and find Patara, where you can be served steamed plump tofu in a lime and chilli broth – an absolute treat for your taste buds – while taking in the authentic surroundings. And don’t forget the staple food of most travelling vegetarians: Turkish restaurants are all over London, made mainstream by the Tas restaurant chain along the South Bank and in the London Bridge area. Try the baklali enginar (fresh artichoke casserole with broad beans, fresh tomatoes and garlic).

Extremely simple but surprisingly successful is Hummus Bros, a self-serve palace where you can top your hummus with vegetarian food aplenty, and if it’s Malaysian and Indonesian food you’re after, you can do no better than Melati, which has more great dishes than we can list on a page – you just have to check them out.

Of course, if you’re simply looking for a quick snack, you’re never more than 100 feet away from a newsagent, so you can grab yourself a vegetarian samosa, some crisps, apples, pears and our office favourite, Starburst, to stave off hunger until your next restaurant visit!

This is just a sampling of some of our favourite vegetarian spots in London. If you’re still looking for more, be sure to check out London Eating for more information. If you are not fortunate enough to live in London, pack your suitcase, order a copy of our free “Vegetarian Starter Kit” to read on the plane, grab your passport and get travelling!

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The Animals Film

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Animals Film is the classic feature documentary film about the exploitation of animals, directed by Victor Schonfeld and Myriam Alaux, and narrated by Oscar-winner Julie Christie.

The film had its world premiere in the 1981 London Film Festival which was followed by widespread criticial acclaim in major media. Leading critic Alan Brien in The Sunday Times wrote: “The most impressive film maudit, possibly too hot to handle, is Victor Schonfeld’s The Animals Film, a polemical onslaught, stuffed with footage never before shown, and a wealth of newly-shot material often taken undercover, which documents…mankind’s degradation, exploitation, and often pointless torture, of the creatures who share our planet. He proves, beyond contradiction, that this behaviour is not just random or personal but part of our organised society, with drug companies, government departments, scientists, military authorities, factory farmers, university research laboratories, for their own selfish ends, for profit in money or prestige. I do not know when I have come out of a screening so moved by the power of the cinema as a medium to transform the entire sensibility of an audience.”

The Animals Film offers a still unsurpassed, comprehensive survey of the exploitation of animals in modern societies, including the uses of animals in factory farming, as pets, for entertainment, in scientific and military research, hunting, etc. Additionally, the film profiles the ideas and activities of the international animal rights movement. The film is laced with secret government footage as well as cartoons, newsreels and excerpts from propaganda films, and has an original music score composed by Robert Wyatt (released simultaneously as an LP,) plus the song “Mind” by Talking Heads which opens the film.

After high profile film festival screenings around the world, The Animals Film was released in cinemas in Britain, Australia, Germany, the USA, and other countries, and was then broadcast on a variety of television networks. The British network, Channel Four, transmitted the film during the Channel’s third night on air in November 1982. It caused uproar at the time, in part because Channel 4 broadcast a two hour version of the film shorn of seven minutes of its concluding sequence. The original 136 minute film released in cinemas had been approved with no cuts by the British Board of Film Censorship, but the Independent Broadcasting Authority instructed Channel 4 that certain scenes in the film could ‘incite crime or lead to civil disorder.’ ^[1] Jonathan Porritt and David Winner write that, with over one million viewers, the screening is regarded as “an important moment in the growth of public awareness of animal exploitation.”^[2] Channel Four screened it again during its Banned series in 1991.

In 2007 a 25th anniversary edition DVD of The Animals Film was released with a new director’s cut, via Beyond the Frame. In 2008 the British Film Institute released a fully remastered DVD, in the UK, incorporating both the original uncensored cinema version and the more recent director’s cut.

In 2010 the BBC World Service is broadcasting Animals & Us, a new global radio documentary series presented by Victor Schonfeld, in which Schonfeld questions why so little has changed for animals since he made The Animals Film.

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