budaveg – vegetarian Hungary your vegetarian home in Hungary

This was for fundamentally ethical reasons – I knew from some of my friends who were vegan already that one could live perfectly well without eating any animal products, and so I could no longer justify to myself that it was “ok” for me to continue to eat other animals.  I had always been interested in political action to stop the exploitation of my fellow humans and so I knew that to be ethically and logically consistent I had to want to stop exploiting other animals as well – and that needed to start with me, by ensuring that I lived a cruelty-free lifestyle.

2. Did you find it easy? (thinking about also reactions of friends and family or vegan clothing etc)
Yes, I did find it easy and I think that is in part attributable to the wide availability of animal-free foods and other products.  And a lot of it for me was simply about modifying my behaviours – where before I would have put cheese on a sandwich, now I would use an animal-free product instead.  And the same for clothing – it just meant buying things from somewhere different.  The acts themselves were essentially the same -  making food, buying clothes – but I was just making different choices.  Therefore, to me, it didn’t seem or feel difficult at all.

I’m hugely inpsired by Bob Torres (“Vegan Freak” and “Making a Killing“) and also Joan Dunayer (“Animal Equality“, “Speciesism“), both of whom I think are strikingly clear and precise writers.  “Speciesism” in particular is a wonderfully honest book that challenges us ethically to be consistent in demonstrating compassion to all other pain-sensitive beings.  Bob Torres’ “Making a Killing” makes explicit the connection between human and non-human exploitation, and demonstrates that “welfarism” is not the answer to achieving effective protection for our non-human animal friends.

What I’ve tried to do in my book, “Nine Steps to Eden“, is to lead people on a journey to think differently about the ways we justify our treatment of non-humans.  I didn’t want to describe in detail what we do to other animals, I think that other books do that extremely well and people know anyway that we have to kill animals so that we can eat them.  So I wanted to concentrate on the reasons most people give for why they regarded the killing as “okay” – for example, that people enjoy eating meat, or that they think that our bodies are designed to eat meat, or that animals are stupid and don’t have minds to understand what we do to them.

I also wanted to write a text that stands up well as a polemic, something in the tradition of such luminaries as William Lloyd Garrison, Tom Paine and Mary Woolstonecraft.  I want people to feel energised, emboldened by the idea of ending animal exploitation and feel it in their hearts as well as their minds that it is something that is very achievable and so very much worth fighting for.

For me “Eden” refers to a state in which humanity is living in accordance with its true nature and is living in balance with the natural world. Too much of our history has been about conquering nature or defeating nature, and we have plundered and destroyed so much of it to our own detriment.  We need to live as one part of nature not as alleged masters of it.  And we also need to eat and drink as nature intended – which means consuming no animal products – for the evidence shows the damage we do to our own health by consuming meat and dairy products.  “Eden” therefore represents this idealised state where we are all eating well and living well.

It refers to nine thoughts, nine ways of thinking about why we act the way that we do, and the difference that can be made by thinking differently.  The nine thoughts offer us the opportunity to rethink the way that we treat and regard non-human animals and by doing so how we can make things so much better not only for ourselves but also for those non-humans and the planet too.

7. There are couple of new vegan studies/ books out now like “Crazy sexy diet” or “Forks over knifes”, does that make you feel hopeful about the future?

It does indeed.  Veganism (if indeed it is an -ism!) is becoming much more popular and much more well known amongst the general population.  There is still a very, very long way to go of course but the journey towards that “Eden” that I want does seem to be building some momentum, more and more people are being carried along and it’s becoming more acceptable to state openly that one is a vegan.

Not directly with the sale of the book, but I give a good portion of my income every month to a variety of charities and campaign groups and so I will continue to add to that in whatever way I can, and if there is any income from book sales then it is certain that I will offer further support to those groups.

Go for it!  Though there are more and more vegans we are of course still very much in the minority, and so if someone is wanting to become vegan they may not know many others who are already vegan and may find opposition from friends or family.  To stand out from the crowd takes a little courage but the benefits from being vegan are so many that it is probably one of the most significant ethical choices and decisions that one can ever make.  Every moment one is a vegan is a moment when one is saving lives.

“Vegan Freak” by Bob/Jenna Torres – a wonderfully readable, accessible, funny and inspiring book.  Oh, and “the Internet” – which will help any aspiring vegan to find all the help, advice and support that they will ever need.

11. You seem to be very passionate about animals and animal rights. Do you have any pets or have you had any special bonds with animals that inspired your vegan ethics?
Yes, I share my home with two cats, now aged 16 and 13 respectively.  They are very much members of my family.  We also had a number of goldfish for about eight years before we moved house and could not take the 6ft tank with us (the fishes were released into a large garden pond belonging to a friend).  It was amazing to share my home with those fishes who each demonstrated such wonderful personalities and had such different likes and dislikes – they also proved so dramatically that they have long-term memory and, if ill, that they can know and experience pain.  My cats, it largely goes without saying, are much smarter than I am and rule the household, ensuring that I comply with their every wish!  In all honesty, they have all provided such incredible care and obvious love and that has informed and inspired my vegan ethics that says that the interests of all non-human animals in this world should be taken very seriously, and we have no right to cause them harm and should never cause them harm.