Dear friends, We hope you've all been enjoying the warm sunny weather and the beautiful, colourful blossoms that spring has brought us!
We have lots more news to share in this latest newsletter including reports on two campaigning events carried out by JVWG in Kingsbury and Wembley (in Northwest London) recently. For the cooks among you, we have a tasty root-free scrambled tofu recipe to experiment with plus a date for the upcoming Jain Vegans Cooking Club gathering in Ruislip. | Contents - Jain Vegans Outreach at Navjivan Vadil Kendra (for seniors) on 2nd April 2015
- Shambhu's root-free scrambled tofu recipe (from SCVP Fun Day cooking demo)
- Cooking Club on 26th April - please join us
- Upcoming vegan events
- Abuse and killing of cows in milk production
- NHS website supportive of a vegan diet
- Alternatives to dairy to help you give up
- About Jain Vegans
| | |
1. Jain Vegans Outreach at Navjivan Vadil Kendra (for seniors) on 2nd April 2015  
Earlier this month the JVWG gave a presentation in Gujarati to the Navjivan Vadil Kendra group at the Sattavis Patidar Centre in Wembley. The audience consisted of approximately 130 retirees, predominantly Jains but also Hindus and Hindu Punjabis, all born in East Africa.
Keval Shah began by explaining how he decided to turn vegan after listening to another JVWG presentation at Mahavir Janma Kalyanak in 2010. He described the unnecessary violence inflicted upon cows in milk production whilst pointing out all the plant based milk substitutes that are now easily available. He then talked about the health concerns and environmental implications of mechanised dairy production. Afterwards Nishma Shah took the microphone to explain how easy it is to veganise staple Indian foods and to inform the crowd where she buys many of her substitutes.
There seemed to be much interest in the subject judging by the length of the Q&A which followed the presentation. In fact, the cruelty and slaughter aspect of milk production turned out to be new information for many there, which Keval put across very effectively. The completed survey forms revealed that vast majority of the audience were not aware of the slaughter of dairy cows. In his closing address, the President, Babubhai, stated that the session had been a "real eye opener".
Jain Vegans Outreach at SCVP Family Fun Day on 21st March 2015
Saturday 21st March marked the first day of spring, but it was also the day of the much anticipated Family Fun Day of Shri Chandana Vidyapeeth Jain school, held at Kingsbury High School in north-west London. The event was as a fundraiser for the Jain school and also to raise funds for children orphaned by ebola in West Africa.
There was no doubting the atmosphere of fun and happiness, not least by children and parents alike dressing up in cowboy & Indian outfits, in line with the theme of "Cowboys & Indians". There was a lot of delicious home-cooked food available from family-run stalls, and most of it was actually vegan, e.g. pizzas (vegan on request), falafels, grilled paninis, vegan chaats like bhelpoori. All the ice cream was vegan.
The SCVP team had approached the Jain Vegans Working Group to run a session. So we invited Dr Michael Hooper, a vegan GP with a Masters degree in Nutrition, to give a talk. The room for Dr Hooper's talk was filled to capacity, with around 50 people attending. He covered a range of interesting and relevant topics, including how and why he became vegan 13 years ago, how dairy and egg production results in immense himsa and premature slaughter for chickens, hens, calves and cows. He then went onto cover certain areas of nutrition that vegetarians and vegans should pay attention to, and how to do this effectively without resorting to non-vegan means. The nutrients covered in the time available included vitamin B12, calcium & vitamin D and iron. During the Q&A, there was a question about Omega-3, to which Dr Hooper provided a comprehensive response. Dr Hooper's talk was much valued by those who attended it, and needless to say, one-to-one discussions with Dr Hooper continued long after his session. Above all, Dr Hooper provided sufficient information to reassure everyone present that one can live happily and healthily on a low-himsa, vegan, diet, and of course this is further backed up by his own vegan lifestyle.
Dr Hooper's talk was followed by vegan cookery demonstration by Nishma Shah, of the Jain Vegans Working Group and of Shambhu's. Nishma demonstrated a tasty scrambled tofu dish (root-free), made using easily-available plant-based ingredients. (The recipe is included below.)
Like Dr Hooper, Nishma's demonstration was also very well attended, with a similar sized audience. The session was vibrant and interactive, with some very good questions from the floor. In fact, Dr Hooper joined the session too half way through, so Nishma took the opportunity to ask him whether soya is safe to consume. Dr Hooper explained what the issues of concern are that seem to be circulating widely, but reassured the audience that there is no evidence to suggest that soya is harmful to health. On the contrary, it is a very good source of protein and other nutrients. At the end of the session, everyone got to taste the scrambled tofu, and the feedback was very positive.
For further reliable information on nutrition matters for vegans, please visits these links:
www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-health
www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Vegetarianhealth/Pages/Vegandiets.aspx
|
|
|
2. Shambhu's root-free scrambled tofu recipe (from SCVP Fun Day cooking demo) 
Serves: 2 Dairy-free, egg-free, wheat-free and gluten-free recipe Ingredients - 200g tofu
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
- 1/4 small white cabbage
- 1 celery stick
- 1/4 pepper
- 1/2 diced tomato or 3 cherry tomatoes
- 3 spinach leaves, finely chopped
- 1 green chilli, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon black salt
- black pepper to taste
Preparation 1. Drain out the water from the tofu. 2. Let the tofu piece rest on a kitchen towel while you are preparing the vegetables. 3. Finely slice the celery. 4. Finely chop the cabbage. 5. Finely dice the pepper Method 1. Either cook the chopped cabbage, chilli and celery on a heated pan, or shallow fry them in the olive oil. 2. Crumble up the tofu. 3. Add the tofu to the warm pan, and let the water evaporate. 4. Once the water has evaporated from the tofu, add the remaining ingredients except the spinach. 5. Let the flavours combine together. 6. Once the pepper has become slightly soft, switch off the cooker and add the finely chopped spinach. Enjoy... This recipe has been produced by Shambhu’s: www.shambhus.co.uk  | | |
3. Cooking Club on 26th April - please join us We are very pleased to announce that the next Jain Vegans Cooking Club event will take place on 26th April at 12pm in the Ruislip area (Northwest London). At each event, we ask attendees to make a vegan dish that would be suitable for most people following a Jain dietary code. We ask all members to write down the recipe with measurements and bring along the dish to share. At previous events, we have shared delicious dishes such as dhokdi, halwa and chilli tofu, which are now published on the Jain Vegans website here: http ://www . jainvegans . org/recipes/ If you are interested in joining the Cooking Club or would just like to know more, please email 
What should you make? The recipe may be a family favourite, or something you have found somewhere, e.g. in a magazine, online or in a recipe book and have been meaning to try or adapt to vegan Jain, or it could be one that you’ve made and adjusted previously that you would like to share with us. Otherwise, we have a selection of recipes that need to be tested and possibly adjusted before they can be published, so you're welcome to give one of these a try if you wish.
Why should you come to the Cooking Club? - A chance to make a new vegan dish, or share one of your favourites - Share tips and learn with other enthusiastic cooks - Taste a variety of vegan Jain dishes - Meet like-minded people, enthusiastic about good home cooking Read about what Heena, a Cooking Club member, thought of a previous event here: http ://www . plantshift . com/blog/the-jain-vegan-cooking-club We usually meet for an hour. No one is expected to make a dish that feeds all the members - just enough for several tasters. And of course, the whole session would be friendly and informal.
Do you have a Vegan and Jain recipe to share? We are looking to expand our collection of recipes, so if you have a recipe that you’d like to contribute (whether or not you can attend a Cooking Club event), please email it to us at: .
We are particularly keen to find a good recipe for yeast-free pizza bases.
With the help of Cooking Club members, the dishes will be tested, any adjustments to the recipe made and finally they will be published on the Jain Vegans website with credits to both the creator and adaptor. To help us in this process, we would be grateful if recipes could as far as possible use accurate metric measurements of all ingredients used. | So let's now put our collective cooking skills to action and produce some delicious vegan Jain recipes!
| | | |
|
5. Abuse and killing of cows in milk production 
The abuse and killing of cows on dairy farms is the main reason why many members of the Jain community have decided to make a switch to a vegan lifestyle: - The cow is forcefully impregnated by means of artificial insemination. If a cow isn’t made pregnant, she won’t produce milk.
- The newborn calf is normally taken away from its mother within 24-48 hours. This is traumatic for cows, who, like human mothers, are very motherly and develop strong bonds with their babies.
- Male calves are killed shortly after birth or sold on for meat/leather production. They have no other use to dairy farmers.
- Female calves are kept on to replace their mothers as milk-producing cows.
- The mother cow will be killed when 5-7 years old, even though she could live for 20 to 30 years if given the chance. This is because after bearing a calf and giving milk each year, her milk yield drops such that it is no more profitable for a dairy farmer to keep her alive.
Even though cows on organic farms might experience slightly better conditions, they are still artificially inseminated and killed long before they would leave their bodies naturally. For further information about the way in which cows and other animals are exploited in the milk production process, please visit the Vegan Society website: http ://www . vegansociety. com | | |
6. NHS website supportive of a vegan diet | | |
7. Alternatives to dairy to help you give up It is possible to get a range of dairy free alternatives to traditionally animal based products. Normally available from free-from sections of supermarkets and also from healthfood stores.
You can easily replace: - Cow milk with Soya/Rice/Almond/Coconut Milk (Supermarket ownbrands, Alpro, Provamel, Bonsoy, Ecomil, Koko)
- Yoghurt / Dahi with plant based curds (Provamel, Alpro, Sojade)
- Butter with vegetable spreads (Pure and Vitalite are commonly available from supermarkets. Note many margarines contain butter milk and thus are not suitable for vegans)
- Cheese / Paneer with Dairy Free Cheeses (Tofu, VBites, Scheese, Tofutti, Vegusto, Vegourmet)
- Ice Creams with sorbets or dairy free ice creams (Bessant and Drury, Swedish Glace, Booja Booja, Worthenshaws)
- Chocolate with dark chocolate (Plamil and Organica do specialist dairy free ‘milk chocolate’ and many brands do vegan dark chocolate)
- Eggs with egg replacement powder (baking) or tofu (scrambled)
- Honey with maple syrup, rice syrup, agave syrup, date syrup or golden syrup
| | |
8. About Jain Vegans Jain Vegans supports members of the Jain community in the transition towards a plant-based low-himsa lifestyle, and helps raise awareness about the abuse, violation and killing of cows in milk production.
You can find out more about Jain Vegans online (www . jainvegansorg) or interact with us through the following online channels:
..a friendly online forum where you can ask questions and exchange ideas about the vegan lifestyle with other members from around the world.... ...follow us on Twitter (@JainVegans) for instant news and information... 'like' us on facebook for updates on our activities and invitations to events...
JAIN VEGANS WORKING GROUP
In the UK, the Jain Vegans Working Group actively works with UK Jain organisations to deliver informative and empowering events on a plant-based lifestyle, and to encourage them to make the transition to all - vegan catering at their events. Please us if you'd like us to help your Jain organisation/community in this way. Please also if you are interested in supporting our activities, for example by volunteering.
| | |
|
