Women Leading Change: Sanctuary founders Fiona Oakes and Poonam Doshi share their journeys

In the latest episode of The Vegan Pod we’re turning our sights to the art world and talking to two vegan artists, Rebecca Lanyon Willmott and Philip McCulloch-Downs, about how their veganism intersects with their artwork, about using art as a form of activism and how to ensure all of your art materials are animal-friendly. The views expressed by guests on The Vegan Pod are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.   

On this episode of The Vegan Pod, we’re celebrating International Women’s Day and talking to two women doing some fantastic work within the vegan movement Fiona Oakes, founder of Tower Hill Animal Sancturary, and Poonam Doshi, founder of Lola’s Sanctuary, join our host, Maisie, to share their journeys with veganism, the challenges and successes of founding their animal sanctuaries, and to talk about women they find inspiring.    The views expressed by guests on The Vegan Pod are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.   

In the first Vegan Pod episode of 2024, we're asking "is vegan cooking difficult?". A common stereotype is that creating vegan meals is complicated and time consuming, but is there any truth to this? As we approach the end of Veganuary, many people who are new to veganism will be deciding whether to continue the lifestyle or return to their old ways, and for a lot of people, convenience and ease can be a huge factor in this.   Vegan content creators and recipe developers, Madeleine Olivia and Johnny Morillo, join us for this episode to explore this subject and discuss how we can make veganism seem straightforward and accessible to those who might think otherwise!   The views expressed by guests on The Vegan Pod are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society. 

In the latest episode of The Vegan Pod, and the final episode of 2023, we’re getting into the festive spirit and talking all things Christmas.   Whether you’re planning your Christmas day meal, assembling a gingerbread house, attending your works Christmas party or buying gifts – the holiday period can be tricky to navigate when you’re trying to ensure everything is suitable for an ethical vegan lifestyle!   So how can we embrace holiday traditions as vegans? What are the best swaps we can make to enjoy vegan festive food? How do we shop for loved ones whilst sticking to our vegan values?   Joining us to help answer these questions, are Louise Macbeth, owner of Beck Hall – England's first 100% plant-based hotel – and author and recipe developer Katy Beskow.       The views expressed by guests on The Vegan Pod are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society. 

In the UK, women are around twice as likely than men to be vegan – but why is this? That’s what we’re asking on the latest episode of The Vegan Pod. To help us explore the barriers that men face when it comes to living a vegan lifestyle, we’re joined by geographer, lecturer, and writer Dr Catherine Oliver and author, academic and spokesperson for Animal Rising, Dr Alex Lockwood.   The views expressed by guests on The Vegan Pod are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.

In the latest episode of The Vegan Pod, we’re discussing the importance of offering nutritious vegan food in public services such as schools and care homes. Despite the UK’s established and growing vegan community, we continue to face challenges in accessing healthy and nutritious food, with some public sector menus failing to consistently include a single vegan option. In this episode we’re joined by two guests to help us discuss this issue, both of whom are doing fantastic work in this area to support vegans and increase plant-based options within public services. Colette Fox joins us from ProVeg UK, where she leads its flagship programme ‘School Plates’, and Amanda Woodvine joins us from V for Life, a charity which aims to support, protect, and uphold the rights of older vegans and vegetarians.   The views expressed by guests on The Vegan Pod are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.

The latest episode of The Vegan Pod explores the plant-based food market, asking whether the “vegan bubble” has really burst amid reports of drops in plant-based sales. We’re joined by Joe Hill, co-founder of One Planet Pizza and Rik Roberts, General Manager at Crackd The No-Egg Egg, to discuss highs and lows of running a vegan business, to celebrate their successes and to explore what the future of the plant-based food industry might look like.   The views expressed by our guests are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.

In this episode of The Vegan Pod, we're asking “Should veganism be used as a vehicle for comedy?”. Does vegan humour reinforce negative assumptions about veganism or help to tackle them? How can we deal with non-vegans who choose to make jokes about the vegan lifestyle? This month we were joined by two long-time vegans and professional comedians, Chris Stokes and Ishi Khan, to help us answer these questions and understand whether it’s possible to toe the line between making people laugh and simultaneously raising awareness around such a serious issue. The views expressed by our guests are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.

In July's episode of The Vegan Pod, we’re exploring how protest laws are impacting the vegan movement and discussing how we can be effective activists in the current political climate. In this episode, our host, Rachel New is joined by Dr Alex Lockwood, spokesperson for the activist group, Animal Rising, and Dr Steve Cook, Associate Professor of Political Theory who’s research focusses on justice for nonhuman animals and the ethics of activism. The views expressed by our guests are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.

Is it expensive to eat a vegan diet? That's what we're asking on June's episode of The Vegan Pod. Host, Rachel New, is joined by Vegan Punks, Dan and Jess and best-selling cookbook author, Katy Beskow, to help tackle the myth that it's costly to be vegan and discuss delicious ways to keep your food shop budget down! The views expressed by our guests are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.