Tag: sustainable vegan

We are still here, but mostly living in the kitchen!

We are still here, but mostly living in the kitchen!

After three and a half months of living on hiatus, it seems most suitable to break the long silence and share what we have been up to!

Creating food against shallowness and commercialism

Creating food against shallowness and commercialism

We delivered a big order for a customer who is very supportive of reusing unconventional packaging. Creating less garbage is what we are after! Since last week we have had our online vegan food shop officially open. This existed for a while in our heads 

Vegan Very Much Shop is here with June fundraiser!

Vegan Very Much Shop is here with June fundraiser!

This is not our average post, but a short and quite sharp and straightforward announcement! Visit our shop while supporting our fundraiser!

We are so happy to announce that our Very Very Much Shop is finally open for business! To start it off in a special way, we are throwing a June Bake-Sale Fundraiser Since we are located in Toronto, Canada, this is the only city we are available to cater to at the moment.

For the longest time, we have been thinking of following two of our long-time passions: food and helping animals. No matter what personal challenges we face, there are always others worse off than ourselves and there is always something to be grateful for if we pay attention. There are many ways and opportunities to give back. We are used to volunteering our time and skills for the well-being of others.

Hence, for the month of June in celebration of our shop launch, we are selling simple and tasty vegan food and donating a large portion of the profit.

A loaf of a vegan banana bread on a cutting board made for the fundraiser
Delicious, moist and flavourful vegan banana bread

Why we are having this fundraiser?

  • promote veganism
  • donate money for animal causes
  • give our part of volunteering
  • to meet our neighbours

Where will my donation go?

For the month of June, 50% of the proceeds will go to a vegan-friendly charity! Want to help animal rights or support animal sanctuaries or help plant more trees? Order savoury carrot pie for yourself and your loved ones!

How it works?

Order on Mon/Tues/Wed by 6 pm and get your goodies delivered for free on Thursday! 

Orders on Thurs/Fri/Sat by 12pm and get your goodies delivered for free on Sunday!

**We currently ONLY deliver to Anywhere between Broadview, Danforth, O’Connor, and Donlands Avenues in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

via porch drop off 

or

we can deliver it right to you at your building.

Three pieces of a vegan carrot pie on a cutting board made for the fundraiser
Our newest addition to our baked goods – wonderful vegan savoury carrot pie

What is the suggested donation for a Pay What You Can slice? (per slice of carrot pie or banana bread)

$5 ($2.50 or half will be donated to charity!)

What is the price for a whole pie or bread? (fixed price)

$15 (6 decent pieces)

$20 (8 pieces)

Payment options: 

You can pay with cash during delivery or send an e-Transfer before delivery to info@veganverymuch.com Please use vegan as the security answer

Thank you for giving from your heart!

Please fill in the form below your desired product to order your goodies!

Want to support us? Visit our shop and purchase something tasty for yourself and your loved ones, while helping a charity! Visit the shop to find out more!

Vegan Very Much is having its 5th year Veganniversary!

Vegan Very Much is having its 5th year Veganniversary!

Do you celebrate your vegan anniversary? Is this even a thing? Yes, it is! And it even does have it’s special name – veganniversary!

Going vegan  – easy tips to help you get started

Going vegan – easy tips to help you get started

You have made the wonderful decision of going vegan. Good for you, we applaud your decision. But what’s next? Let us share some simple tips!

The plastic lining in surprising places*

The plastic lining in surprising places*

We are on our neverending path, getting to know more what things consist of. Join our adventure on finding thin plastic lining.

After we got into eliminating plastic from our lives, we started to find it from the places, we never thought plastic would be at. Of course, research is always very helpful, as from some places you would never find the thin plastic lining on your own. Or you would if you are a real detective 🙂

The truth about tin cans – most have plastic in them!

I know that this path we are on now is a path of never-ending discoveries and knowledge obtained. Also on a path of exploring more recipes with the somewhat limited variety of regular grocery stores offer in their produce section.

When we started this plastic-free, minimalism, less consuming adventure, we both thought: “Yayyy!, we skip the plastic containers and buy cans, glass, and paper-wrapped foods. Especially important for us were the tin cans, as we know that they are recyclable and even if left in nature they will degrade. But while the other day doing research while writing another post I came across a little Tweet: “Most of the tin cans have plastic lining!”. I was alarmed. What, I have never seen it or most likely not noticed.

Next time after that discovery, when I was cooking I opened two cans: red kidney beans and chopped tomatoes in their own juice. The latter had indeed the white coating, most likely epoxy resin. Wow, I was fooled and I was blind….but at least hopefully I can help some others now on their way of seeing things they way they are.

I think it applies mostly where you are coming from, as I think in North America tin cans are lined with plastic more than in Europe. But nevertheless where you are located at the moment, please do check your tin cans during your next cooking adventure. Tins are plastic lined either with a polymer (plastic) coating or epoxy resin (also plastic) and this applies for food, drink, and even cosmetics.

The plastic linings in drinks, food, and cosmetics

Aluminum drink cans

Aluminum drink cans have a polymer plastic lining. It’s there to stop acids in the beverage from corroding the metal which is not good for the can or the flavor of the contents. Rust is can’s number one enemy – and a can’s only defense is an invisible epoxy shield, just microns thick. A can of Coke (who drinks that anyway?) without that shield, would corrode in three days. You really can’t see, as it is behind the colorful design of the can.

I am not going to fall deeper how you can get to expose that lining and instead I welcome you to look at Steve Sprangler showing his discovery live on a TV show. Who would have known, uh?

Tin food cans

Nearly all tin cans are plastic lined with epoxy resin. This is used because of its exceptional combination of toughness, adhesion, formability and chemical resistance. These coatings make it possible for food products to maintain their quality and taste while extending shelf life.
In tins, the liner can be white or yellow or transparent in which case it is undetectable. In most cases, it is best to assume that any cans that you get your hands on have a plastic liner. The lining prevents canned foods from becoming tainted or spoiled by bacterial contamination.

Two tin cans, of tomatoes and kidney beans. Both have plastic lining.
Two examples of cans with plastic lining: on the left, white lining for canned tomatoes and the right for kidney beans.
Tin cosmetic cans

Tins used to store cosmetics are also lined with epoxy resin to prevent corrosion.

So now you are probably wondering, wait, what about recycling, were you fooled all the time? But what is happening, when the can is recycled, the plastic lining is burnt off.

Where else you can find secret plastic lining?

Many every day things contain plastic lining, which we are oftentimes not even aware of. Knowing that these items are made of plastic, should also help you perhaps making a decision, whether you continue using them or putting them at the right place.

  • Coffee cups – check the cup next time for a shiny plastic lining. Also, consider paper or cardboard food and drink packaging.
  • Chewing gum – it is made of plastic!
  • Cigarette butts – the most littered item, which finds its way to the oceans and is unfortunately publicly most accepted litter. This is why you find cigarette butts everywhere.
  • Product tags – if it is really shiny, try to peel the shiny part off…
  • Teabag wrappers – tear it gently and you will find most of the time thin plastic lining. Not only, but some teabags also come in plastic, too!
  • Wet wipes – they may be called disposable, but really they are made of plastic.
  • Clothing – clothes consisting of microfibre fleeces, polyester, acrylic, and nylons are made from plastic. Think about it next time, when buying new clothes.

Read more here about, where else you can find plastic.

Socks tag is showing a thin plastic lining covering the paper.
I investigated the low cut shoe liners tag. It was so shiny because the cardboard was covered with thin plastic lining.

Is eating foods from cans is harmful?**

What does it mean for your health then, you may ask. The lining contains Bisphenol A (BPA) a chemical building block that is used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. Unfortunately, BPA is toxic and does leach from plastic liners into the food. BUT, another but, the amount does matter, as the dietary intake of BPA from can coatings are non-existent and there should be no fear to exceed the safe level of BPA, even if you would eat the contents of 10 or even 100 cans in one day.

Unfortunately, BPA does more than make plastic plastic. it interferes with hormonal biology. Biologically speaking, hormones are rare, and potent. The system that produces, stores, and secretes them – the endocrine system – controls hair growth, reproduction, cognitive performance, injury response, excretion, sensory perception, cell division, and metabolic rate. Endocrine organs – including the thyroid, pituitary, and adrenal glands – produce particular molecules that fit into particular receptors on cells, unleashing a chain of biochemical events.

Hormonal changes in infinitesimal quantities cause dramatic changes, including diabetes and hermaphrodites. Endocrine disruptors like BPA get jammed in the cells so that the real molecules can’t get in there and do what they should. Others fit perfectly, triggering events the body didn’t intend to initiate. Because of BPA, everybody dances around what to call the can’s internal corrosion inhibitor. The FDA calls it a resinous and polymeric coating. At Can School, Ball employees called it an organic coating, or water-based polymer. The EPA calls it a chemical pollutant. Health researchers call it an endocrine disruptor, and a chronic toxin.

**This paragraph is directly from the Wired article “The secret life of the aluminum can, a feat of engineering”

Conclusion

In the end, the choice is yours – are you boycotting all tins and cans after reading this? We are not using canned food much. We are buying only tomatoes, coconut, and beans in cans. Unfortunately, most beans do not come in a glass jar. In our case, when we are living fridge free, cooking a batch of beans for an hour is not really environmentally friendly anyway.

We are not consuming soda drinks and if we buy any drinks, then we try to buy them in a glass,

This post is an indirect reference from the wonderful plasticisrubbish.com

*Pictured is a tin can of kidney beans. The lid’s plastic lining is scratched off with a knife.

How much garbage do we really create?

How much garbage do we really create?

You are what you eat, but how about how much garbage you create? Let’s dig into our little garbage container and peek what is in the three bags.

Give promises that matter and keep them!

Give promises that matter and keep them!

It is the beginning of the new year – time to give yourself some promises and keep them! Think of yourself, but also of the world around you.

How to appreciate the environment?

How to appreciate the environment?

As I wrote in my earlier post, I became vegan mostly for animals. I didn’t want to participate in their killing, but while as a vegetarian I was seemingly okay with the trauma, misfortunes, and death happening to fish, cows, chickens. I still consumed seafood and the bodily fluids and products made from them. Also, I wasn’t thinking so much about the environment.

Vegan for all

More than 10 years, I didn’t think of the environment, just the pain of animals. However, as a vegan, I became really awake, environmental protection really came to my mind. I am not an avid user of social media, but Instagram has been a really great tool for me on educating myself. At first, I following Peta, James Aspey and Animal Liberation Front and later many vegan individuals all around the world.

On this day, I am vegan for all – for animals, for the planet, and for health. I really love the way I feel without eating any animal products. I am not in a haze, nor do I feel overstuffed after rich meals and I am definitely a smarter shopper, as I make wiser decisions, taking into consideration planet Earth.

Since there are more vegans, actually the number of vegans has increased 160% over the past 10 years. Because of that, there is a higher demand and shops are responding to the changing needs. Many big supermarket chains all over the world have created special vegan range of foods and also free-from items such as in Tesco’s in the UK. If you haven’t noticed them, then I guess you really haven’t been looking for them in your home store.

Support local products

A great place to start is looking more closely at where most fresh produce and many packaged foods come from. When entering supermarkets to get our fresh produce, we oftentimes do not think from where these items have traveled from. But we should consider the environmental impact, and what we are supporting while buying these items. The foods that travel from the other side of the world, are not so environmentally-friendly as the produce coming near where you live.

Our eating habits can affect other countries’ economics and well-being. Exporting is good for any country’s well-being, but of course only to an extent. If we exploit a country and its resources, the people who live there cannot eat the products we demand from them. Then, this is a problem caused by us, for instance, quinoa and avocados are known to cause such problems in their country of origin. Kenya, for example, has banned the exporting of avocados, because the country’s supply is at risk. There is little room to think about what this means for the environment. More forests are cut down, oftentimes illegally, so more avocado trees can be planted.

Being vegan is definitely a better choice for the planet. Balance is the key to everything and also educating yourself. The long-haul produce traveling is not disappearing, but perhaps we do not have to eat quinoa and avocados every day. Maybe there are other people who do the same. I haven’t been a follower of popular food items. I have had quinoa, every now and then, but I haven’t bought it for years myself. What we should keep in mind is that there are products we can buy and therefore support small country economics. So the idea is not to boycott everything that comes from far away.

Fresh local produce in a cardboard box.
Prefer package free local products

Choices and needs?

It all comes down to our choices and needs. We do not have to eat products shipped from far away when we could eat the locally grown food variety instead. Not only eat, but we should grow more of the nutrient-rich foods, like beans, millet, peas, and hemp. What is good about pulses, is that they do not require nitrogen inputs and carbon emissions. Also, they are insect-pollinated thus boosting wildlife and biodiversity.

We basically have to grow more food locally for us, not to grab the food from other countries half the world away. Growing plant food is better for the land as well, because of the increased diversity, a grower doesn’t have to control so much the diseases, as usually happens when growing wheat from year to year.

Writing this article was heavily inspired by the Independent article, which you can read here.