A matter of terminology

Dear reader!

After being strict vegan for two months...

I have changed all my habits at home and also when I have been eating out.
I have been on several trips as vegan (both abroad and domestic) 

I have stopped buying leather.

I have started to buy ONLY cruelty-free make-up & household products.

I have read tons of awesome vegan blogs and gotten lots of great advice.

I have read and seen lots of the abuse we put our fellow earthlings through.

I have participated in my first demonstration against the fur industry in Norway. 

I am a better cook after being forced to learn to make new & exciting things.

I have visited a vegetarian/vegan food fair & learned about new products.

I have gotten to know some fantastic vegan people. 

But I have also felt that I can't be "perfect". 

When I am at home I have had few problems living strictly vegan. Also if I am to go somewhere and I could plan my stay well in advance. But I am not getting much time to plan things when it comes to work. As a singer I travel a lot, and sometimes on really short notice or places who are extremely ill suited for vegans. Also I need to be eating correctly and enough if I am to be able to perform. It is a hard job being a singer, you use your whole body, not only your vocal chords. And the level of concentration is crucial. 

When I am at home and can plan (and bring) my own food it isn't a problem. But often I live in hotel after hotel, days, a night, a month, this varies. What also varies is the standard (and hospitality) of the hotel I stay in. But worse the lack of possibilities when on tour or airport to airport etc. 

For example

Last night I was in London for a day. The breakfast was great for a meat eating person. Bacon, sausages you know. If you were not a vegan you could eat danish pastry, croissant and so on. I am allergic to several types of fruit, so then I could eat white toast with beans or fill myself with sugar with orange marmalade. I didn't have the time to go somewhere else and I needed to eat well before my audition. I still ended up with eating toast. And pray that I could find something else straight after singing. Also when going to the airport I was in a hurry and didn't find anything I could eat. (Of proper food, not chips etc). After being vegan I am amazed on the availability of fast and trashy food. But if you want healthy food you must look much harder. 

With my lifestyle I need to be eating proper food when on the road. And after trying it for a while I realize that if I want to continue to be healthy I need to make sure I get enough nutrients and calories. 

Bottom line: I need to be vegetarian from time to time, just to make sure I can be working and remain in good health. It's not a matter of having to think beforehand and plan sometime. It means planning all the time. I don't mind eating a boring salad with tomato once in a while, because the restaurants/gas station don't get what a vegan is or don't have alternatives. But when you have to do it for months I don't think it is safe for me. 

And secondly, the only way I can think of getting vegan food all the time, is if I had more money. That meant that I could buy spreads and bring to my hotel breakfast. (But then again, most hotels are now removing the small fridges, so where could I have it? 

SO, back to the part where I don't feel perfect. That means that I can't keep calling myself vegan after realizing that I would need to eat vegetarian from time to time when on tour or traveling. It is really a matter of terminology. I haven't met the militant-condescending-vegan-people yet, but I know some is out there. So to not be a failure & skulk around I have decided to admit defeat now and call myself a vegetarian. I know several other people who lives mainly as vegans, but from time to time eat cheese, and they call themselves vegetarian to avoid being looked down upon. But in reality they are 98% vegan in their diet. I think that is awesome, brave and honest. 

To be judged - Hard enough to deal with vegan/vegetarian-haters. I couldn't stand judgement from vegans as well!

And that is what I also want to be. I want to be a vegan at heart and as much as I possibly can without it becoming a threat to my health. And I have decided that THAT is GOOD ENOUGH. That is what I am willing to do. And I feel much better for being honest and write this on my blog and not to feel extremely guilty every time I would need to grab a cheese sandwich because it was either that or a sausage in bread when the tour bus stops for refreshments and there were no shops in the area. 

Before you want to look down at me I remind you that you don't live my life. You might be able to be strictly vegan and have a easy and wonderful life. But I can't. Not at the moment at least, not before the world wants to becomw more vegan friendly. And another note regarding that: The world will not become vegan very quickly if militant-vegan tells you that what you do is not good enough. 

I hope the world follows soon and gives us vegan alternatives every where!

Love from me

Eating out in Covent Garden

So now I have been on my first audition trip after becoming vegan!

My first advice is to do some research before leaving home. I found a hotel close to the opera house and located the restaurants around it who were vegan friendly. When I arrived I was so tired, that I just ended up going to my local pizzeria. They didn't have a vegan pizza on the menu, but were really friendly and made a pizza especially for my vegan needs. And it tasted fantastic!

My beautiful pizza!

I want to thank Zizzi for making me a very tasty and beautiful meal. (And when I left the restaurant with my take-away pizza I noticed a homeless man sitting outside in a blanket. I asked him if he wanted some of it, and gave him some slices). I had noticed that many shops in London, and my hotel had a system of money donation to charities for the homeless, but somehow I felt some more immediate action was needed). 

Anyway, beautiful, strangely long pizza. I enjoyed it and it was really easy to obtain. It costed me £12 pounds and it was worth it!

For breakfast the day after I asked for some soya milk for my cereal and got it. If I wanted anything on my toast though the pickings where slim. But tomato beans was ok, with margarine on toast. 


Lunch was also really (and for a Norwegian) surprisingly easy to find! First my friend and I went to Food for thought, but as I didn't have any cash and the cash point outside was empty we went a little further and found a wonderful friendly place called Wild Food Cafe. Both places was about 5 minutes walk from Covent Garden tube station.

Wild Food Cafe had several choices for me to choose from. An unusual feeling

Shitake/olive burger! Mmmm...

for me after I became vegan, at least when in Norway.  The staff were very friendly, helpful and took pride in their food. I love it! Bless you, I had a great meal after a stressful but exhilarating day :) 

I had the Olive-Shitake burger on some flat bread made with tomatoes. It was yummy! And again, beautifully presented. Thumbs up!
It costed me £ 11.50, and again worth every penny. (well...or cent...pound ;) 


All in all, my London-vegan-food-experience were a great success and I felt I didn't miss out just because I was a vegan. I saw food possibilities all around me, also with easy "take away" and snack to have in your purse just in case. At least if you are in the Covent Garden area vegan food is easy. But in the end, being vegan in London is SO much easier than being vegan in Norway. It is both sad and scary that take away food is so extremely available and so cheap, while choosing the healthier option (for both you and the planet) you will have to go looking for a while and often pay more . And no, it is not only about costumer demand. But I repeat again, eating vegan at home is much easier and also much cheaper than it used to be!



Here are some pictures (and the Wild Food Cafe menu). 
Enjoy!

Healthy and awesome food!

Several choices you day? Oh myy...

Yummy!

My tasty burger! Isn't it beautiful?

Food, glorious food!

I admit, I never thought I would be one of those people who takes pictures of their food and blog about it, but then I again I never thought in a million years I would be vegan. So, hey!

Just want to make a post to you out there who (like me) was a bit scared of fancy-smancy recipes made by perfect chefs, beautiful people with awesome taste in design and mad skills in the art of blogging. Don't get me wrong; I adore these people, I follow your blogs and get inspired by you. But I am not as fantastic. I guess you can say I am on another level. Lower, but still I think my food is healthy and tastes good. (Or maybe it comes down to me being lazy? But I like fast food! Just need it to be healthy & cruelty-free ;)

So maybe you (the reader) feels scared of trying vegan? Maybe you think that you have to make everything from scratch, (that is fun by the way), but you don't have to! But when you do, it can be both fast and truly YUMMY!


So in an attempt to show how easy, tasty and fast making vegan food can be: Here are some examples of my own meals this week. 

TACO

I promise you, nothing is easier than this. And healthy! For this taco dinner I used max 15 minutes to prepare. I made my own basic salsa from a box of crushed tomatoes + coriander & Basel (spices). As cheese, I just sprinkled on some nutritional yeast. The only thing you need to do is to chop vegetables and open a can, warm the taco shells/fajitas/enchiladas wraps, and fry soy "meat" with some taco spices. It is REALLY simple, tastes great and it's cruelty-free!

(Norwegians: I used soy"kjøttdeig" fra Anamma, and bought it in a Rema 1000. You can also buy "dried" chunks of soy in SunKost. Nutritional yeast I got from iHerb.com )

Salad

Yeah, I used to think this was reeeally boring unless it had some meat in it. But after dropping meat I have also become a bit more adventurous. Love it!

For this easy & quickly made salad I used: Spinach, avocado, cherry tomatoes, thinly cut red onion, dried cranberries, pomegranate and some fine rice noodles. (Takes 1-2 min!) If one want to make it a bit more exciting you can add a little dash of balsamic oil (I didn't use this when I still had noodles left in my bowl). 

Sausages & something weird on the side!

Want "fast food"? You can still have sausages! There are several types of vegan sausages out there, so just find your favorite.

Here I wanted to have some vegetables I usually didn't use with sausages. So I choose to fry a whole plantain and fry (Malabar?) spinach and long beans with some garlic and chili. Just before I ate i drizzled some lime and sea salt on my plantains. 

Tasted great. I added to the strange experience by having some ketchup on my sausages. It was an unusual meal, but I enjoyed it even so!

(Norwegians: I bought the rice noodles in Meny, and the spinach, beans and plantain in a Asian shop on Grønland. REALLY cheap. I should have remembered to buy noodles there as well;)


Breakfast


I have eaten gluten-free bread, alpero yogurth and a wide variety of spreads. (I am testing things, see my other post here). Breakfast is the meal I usually looks forward to the most, I don't know why. Therefor I have been fuzzing about it quite some time. But till now I have mainly eaten bread and fruit for breakfast. I tried a smoothie one day, but that isn't enough for me. (Or I haven't found a good recipe yet). 



Snack

My favorite "snack" for the two last weeks have been "Virgin Pina Colada". That is very easy to make. I just take a bit over 1 cup of fresh cut pineapple, 1 cup of coconut milk, 3-4 icecubes and 1 spoon of agave syrup. Use a blender and have yourself two big glasses of pineapple-coconut-bliss!

When I used to say that vegan food must be really boring, dry and uninteresting. Shame on me, I take it back! 


But I had to try it to know it. 


I am still new and would love to get your best (easy) meals, please contact me with pictures and recipes-for-dummies! :) 

Vegan breakfast (what can we eat?)

Vegan breakfast

So, this was the hardest part for me. As a Norwegian I eat a lot of bread, often both for breakfast and lunch. The first week I only ate peanut butter and jam as I didn't know where to find anything I could eat, after being a big time cheese eater my whole life. Booooring! So if you want to be vegan and don't know what to eat on your bread, please read on! 


Spreads


Jams (but they put animal products in jams? Seriously?)
Argh. Be careful and read the labels, sometimes it includes gelatin). Easy, cheap and available, but not as healthy. A great tip is to make your own apple jam. SO easy, quick and you don't have to put much sugar in it, unless you want to store it for a long time. (I have made a great apple jam by boiling it with a few sticks of cinnamon. Yummy!)

"Cheese"

Yay! As a lover of cheese I was thrilled to know there are nice vegan "cheeses" available. On bread and crispbread I recommend Jeezini. They have several different flavours and it both look and taste like similar types of (real) cheese. Another great thing is that it doesn't contain palm oil.

Vegancheese.co.uk
Bute Island (Sheese)

Tofutti cheese

Daiya dairy-free

If you are Norwegian I have bought Jeezini in "Sunkost" stores. (F.eks: Gunerius) I have also seen Bute Island cheeses and tofutti cream cheeses in Meny stores. 

--

Cream cheeses

I have only tasted Tofutti cream cheese till now. And it is a good vegan "Philadelphia cheese". I have seen if you want to make a cheese cake you can add tofutti instead of your normal dairy cream cheese. To make it a bit healthier and interesting I put some avocado/tomato on it. Lovely! It is a great base for making interesting sandwiches. Just add whatever green and healthy stuff on and feel great!

(Norwegians: I have found this in Meny stores). 

"Meat"

Mock meat & Jeezini cheese

Yeah, I used to love meat on my bread. I admit it. So I was VERY surprised and happy to find products that were cruelty-free but still satisfied my "meat-hunger".

These two are ok tofu "meats", quite strong in taste.

(Norwegians; Also bought at "SunKost" at Gunerius and in a "Life" store at Grønland). 


Paté & spread

Pepper, chilli taste

I used to love liver paté and again happy to find vegan alternatives. The Granovita Organic Herb is the one closest in my opinion. The other flavors they offer are great if you want an interesting spread. 

Flavors: Spicy mexican, herbs, tangy tomato, original, mushroom. 

I also have bought this Cremisso spread, but haven't tried it yet!

(Norwegians: I have found this in Meny stores. They are our friends obviously ;) 


Mayonnaise

There are vegan alternatives out there, or you can make your own. In Norway you can buy it in Meny stores, although it is a bit pricey. Perhaps you can make your own? 


Margarine

This is easy to find, but choose something without palm oil.There several almond, hemp and nut alternatives, but I haven't tried them out yet. The most common I find is soy alternatives. 


Cereal

Sometime you just want to eat some cereal and skip the bread. I thought it was difficult to drop the milk at first, but then I tried Rice milk and almond milk. I think these are the best for cereal, but you can try and find what you prefer! (There are also different brands of "milk" so you can try and find your favorite). 

When I drink;

Chai latte: Almond milk
Latte: Soya milk
Cereals: Almond and rice milk. 

PS: Remember to buy unsweetened milk, or you get a lot of sugar. 

(Norwegians: Rice, oat and soya is easy to find in almost any store. But almond I have bought in Sunkost and Life stores). 



Yogurt

I love yogurt and Alpro have several flavors for us to enjoy! My cats loves yogurt and still think this is the real deal ;) These are best served cold straight from the fridge, when they get warmer they start tasting a lot more like soya. 

You can make it more interesting (and healthy) by adding berries and seeds! 




Then of course you can eat something else for breakfast? 

Basic vegan pancakes
Strawberry shortage pancakes
Raw Buckwheat Porridge
Apple pie oatmeal
Many different vegan porridges for you to explore!



Fun fact about my journey to veganism

14 days before I became a vegan overnight, I had to explain why I was a vegetarian. I ended my "defense" by saying; "but I am not a vegan, because they are really extreme and wouldn't it be silly to stop eating cheese?" BAM! 14 days later I was a vegan, and wow was I surprised. 
--

My view on Vegans before I became one ;)

I blame it all on "Earthlings" (see my post about my experience). I have never seen anything on TV who have made a greater impact on my life, than this documentary. I had to face my own hypocrisy and I just couldn't be a part of it any longer. Later I saw "Fork over Knives" who had a different angle (mainly on human health) and also strengthened my resolve.

Touring & trying to be Vegan

As it says in my presentation (right side), I am a singer, an Opera Singer to be precise. A lot of the time this means that I am touring or singing in productions at different opera houses around the world. 

(Below)
This is me. And this is how I felt when I was on my first tour after going vegan. As a totally new vegan with little experience and no help (besides internet after a while) it was pretty scary and "impossible" to be fully vegan in those 14 days I was away from home.

I'm hungry! Give me vegan food or I will sing a high C in your ear!

So, being a singer means that I am travelling a lot. I stay at many different hotels and have to find new restaurants close by the opera house (or hotel). This is much harder if you have decided to be vegan. Obviously. At least in countries where vegans are not so common, so I guess some have to be pioneers of sort, for restaurants to take notice. 

My first "vegan-tour" was in Northern Norway. My experience here was that it was really hard to even find places with much vegetarian dishes to choose from. Several place didn't have one single meal I could eat. I had to ask for some fries and a salad, which turned out to be extremely boring and everything I have heard (and feared) about being a vegan. 
In an Asian restaurant I got vegetarian sushi which was good, I also saw a vegetable wok (I don't know if it was vegan though). In my experience in Norway; the best way to make sure you at least get a vegetarian meal is by visiting an Indian restaurant. But then again, not all is vegan. 

I could have eaten vegan if I was only in my hotel room, but I couldn't have cooked anything. It was also limited in what kind of vegan products I could buy in the store (and it is very expensive in Norway). + Not very social. In an opera production you work with an ensemble and it is normal that we eat many meals together. It is not funny to be "the difficult one", and a bit embarrassing when the places we go to have nothing or very limited (and often repeated) dishes available. Or worse, being weird and not joining your colleagues for a meal at all, ever. I don't want to be that "crazy vegan". 

Vegan hotel breakfast is also really boring (at least the places I have been as a vegan till now). They often have alternatives for gluten and lactose intolerance, but not vegan. Yet. I eat lots of fruit, but when you are allergic to much of it, it kind of makes it even harder. 

At this point, this is the result =
I will continue being a vegan, but if I have no other possibilities than being vegetarian or starve, I would obviously eat things with some egg and milk. But only if there is no other way. I hope that I will be better and get experience in how to be fully vegan when on tour. Perhaps you could give me some advice? Have you been away from home in long period of times without kitchen? or do you know the secret password in restaurants to get awesome vegan food. Please share! ;)  

Let's bake something! (Paleo bread)

A week ago I talked with my mum on the phone and she talked about Paleo bread. I had never heard about the "Paleo diet", but I were trying not to eat so much wheat, so I became intrigued. After realizing there were NO flour involved in holding all these seeds together I first laughed and then felt a bit adventurous. OK, let's try that (sceeeptical)... But I was surprised! I got a elemental recipe from my mum, but later I have experienced a bit. This is my best Paleo recipe at the moment!

(Also great for Vegans!)

2 tbsp Psyllium powder 

1 1/2 cup /350 ml water

--

100 g sesame seeds
100 g sunflower seeds
100 g pumpkin seeds
100 g flax seeds
100 g walnuts
100 g (optional, you can add another great ingredient? What about hemp seeds?)
--
1-2 tsp sea salt (I use Maldon)
3 tbsp melted cold pressed coconut oil
(Optional: 1 handful raisins or you can add chocolate)

(If you use cup sizes: 100 g is about 1/2 heaping cup)


1. Preheat your oven to 175°C (or 350 Fahrenheit)

2. Mix the psyllium powder with the water in a bowl, stir and set aside for about 5 minutes. (It will get a thick gel consistency).

3. Measure all the seeds and nuts and put in a food processor and pulse two times. (Do not overdo it).

4. Put the hard coconut oil (it's hard) in a cup in the microwave. 

5. Put the coarsely cut seeds and nut in a bowl. Now add the coconut oil and salt. Stir. 

6. Add the gel looking psyllium to the mix and mix it all together with your hands. Yes, your hands, its fun and weird. Have a go!

7. Put the mix in a loaf pan (can be about 12 x 4,5 inches / 30 x 10 cm). I used a small bread form. I also used baking paper in it so I didn't have to worry about it sticking (or using oils). 

(I have heard you can set it aside for about 1 hour if you want to, but that is optional, and I decided to only let it rest for about 15-20 min. You can drop it all together though if you want! It is said that it tastes even better, but I was in a hurry ;) 

8. Put it in the preheated oven (in the middle) and bake for about 60-70 minutes. (If you want small buns you can divide them into about 11-12 pieces and bake them for about 40-45 minutes). 

9. Remove it from the oven and let it cool down (completely). I tried to remove it too early from the form and it started to widen (loose form), so I put it back and let it cool down in the form. When it was almost cold I took it out. If you cut it before it is cold the bread will fall apart. 

Here is some pictures if you are curious how it looks, consistency and how natural it looks! And the best part, it is YUMMY! 

Freeze: You can freeze the bread for up to 4 months. 

Psyllium mixed with water (it turns even more gel like)

All the ingredients are in the food processor 

Put the Psyllium gel and coconut oil in the bowl 

Work it together with your hands!

Give the loaf pan some baking paper clothes

Place it in the middle

Finished! Now cooling off completely !

Cold and awesome!

Bon apetite! It was great!

"Earthlings" the documentary

"One of the most violent films of all time....only its' real"

This is one of the warnings in the trailer if you happen to look up "Earthlings" on YouTube.  I learned about this documentary as I browsed sites about animal welfare and when I mentioned it to my sister she told me that it was quite famous so I asked her if she wanted to watch it with me. And THANK God she did, because I am not sure I would have managed so well on my own. 

I have never in my life been so horrified at anything on my computer screen as I were watching "Earthlings". If forced to watch a horror film I get upset, scared and to be honest; a bit angry at my self and the person "forcing" me to see it. But it is nothing compared to the horrors of real life, obviously! 

"Earthlings" is a documentary made by Nation Earth, a company created to make documentaries on socially urgent issues. Among them animal welfare. On the Nation Earth website they present the film in these words:

"EARTHLINGS is an award-winning documentary film about the suffering of animals for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research. Considered the most persuasive documentary ever made, EARTHLINGS is nicknamed “the Vegan maker” for its sensitive footage shot at animal shelters, pet stores, puppy mills, factory farms, slaughterhouses, the leather and fur trades, sporting events, circuses and research labs."

Never have I seen anything with a bigger impact.  I cried, I actually screamed several times, I yelled at my TV, (The words featuring the most was probably: "WHY?!" and "who are these people?!") I turned away and when I didn't scream, yell or cry I had my mouth wide open in disbelief. It was like watching some horrible genocide. Except it was legal, supported and done in silence. Many don't want to know. At some point my sister and me agreed that we felt like we couldn't cry anymore, but oh, were we wrong.

I believe that ANYONE would feel affected by the obvious suffering featured. If someone don't, they have issues they need to address and are probably some of the people from this documentary. 

“People care about animals. I believe that. They just don’t want to know or to pay. A fourth of all chickens have stress fractures. It’s wrong. They’re packed body to body, and can’t escape their waste, and never see the sun. Their nails grow around the bars of their cages. It’s wrong. They feel their slaughters. It’s wrong, and people know it’s wrong. They don’t have to be convinced. They just have to act differently. I’m not better than anyone, and I’m not trying to convince people to live by my standards of what’s right. I’m trying to convince them to live by their own.”
― Jonathan Safran Foer

If I am to review it beside the very personal effect it had on me, I will mention the narrator and the variety of subjects. The renowned actor Joaquin Phoenix, narrated masterly throughout. He guided us from one horrifying act to the other, giving us lots of information (almost too much I must say, but then again, it woke me up. Never again can I act as I am ignorant of what is going on.) The other impressive thing is the variety of subjects. This is sad of course as it was like a "How-many-ways-can-we-possible-harm-torture-and-painfully-kill-animals- cavalcade". It started out with a little intro, presenting new words and concepts (which shouldn't really be unfamiliar, but they were), like; "Earthlings", "non-human-animals", "farmfactory", and "speciesism". 

The first subject he told us about were PETS. I thought it would be about "normal" animal abuse, but I was quite shocked. So many layers I never heard or thought about. Then he continued with topics as; animal for entertainment, for food, for leather, for fur, dolphin massacres in Japan, different methods of slaughtering the animals, boiling them alive, skinning the foxes while they are still alive (I have not recovered yet after seeing a skinned fox slowly blinking on the ground where it was tossed, it was like watching "Saw" except it was real, and done daily, hundreds of times by people around the globe. And again: WHO are these people who feel this is ok?

I have loved and interacted with animals my whole life. I have both worked as a volunteer at a farm when I was a young teenager, had dogs myself and at the moment I am lucky to have two crazy cats in my life. I could never harm them and don't really see the difference any more, between them, monkeys in the cosmetics labs, or cows in the farmfactory. 

The result. 
I agree with what Nature Earth wrote. 
I am going vegan. 

Oh my gosh. I never thought I would try to stop to eat milk & egg products, but here I go! 
I will try my best to achieve this even it feels quite scary and at times (especially in Norway perhaps) feels impossible, if not eating at home. Tips and advice are very appreciated!
This blog will be a way of finding my way and learning how to live vegan. I will keep posting about my vegan experience and awesome recipes I find on my way. But I will also continue to write about animal welfare.

 Let's show the farmfactories and governments that we are not fooled, not any more!

The full lenght documentary on YouTube. 

One reaction after seeing "Earthlings!

Feelings, personality and language in animals

Voltaire (1694-1778)

Before the late 18th century it was the general opinion that animals didn't had any feelings. They thought of them as little machines who only reacted in a specific way because they were wired like that. But they didn't believe animals to have any emotional life, compassion or personalities beside the complex wiring they were given by God. 
But not all believed so, one was for example French writer and philosopher Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet).

"Answer me, you who believe that animals are only machines. Has nature arranged for this animal to have all the machinery of feelings only in order for it not to have any at all?"

During the 20th Century there was little consideration to animal sentience because of the influence of Behaviorism. It was only in the last quarter of the 20th Century that there was a surge of interest in animal sentience and animal welfare scientist realized that problems could be understood and better handled with an understanding of how animal feel.

It is true that most of us don't understand the languages of the animals, but does that mean that there is no meaning behind their complex variety of sounds and body language? And for personalities; That animals don't have likes and dislikes? Some they like and others they can't stand? Have you ever had a cat or dog and said things as: "That is so typical if him...he always do that" or "He loves to cuddle, but my other dog prefers to play at all times". What is that if not an example of having different personalities?

Want to highlight an amazing experience who eventually became very personal and life changing for this scientist. "My life as a turkey". (BBC)

Where you one of us who thought turkeys was kind of a stupid, big bird? Welcome! Please watch this little documentary, it was surprisingly touching and it changed the way I looked at birds, and their feelings and communication.




My Life As A Turkey HD by limoslight

Rescued animals

Animal protection!
A few times there are good endings.

Here are a some video's with a touch of sunlight to brighten your day and "put a face" on the sufferings of thousands of animals.

If you liked this post, please share and create more awareness!

Beagles are used in testing due to their docile, loving and forgiving nature.
Here is the story of 40 Beagles rescued in Spain. 

Two Beagles who have suffered for 7 years before being rescued.
(Also showing what a dog might go through, for your household products)

The Humane Society of the USA uses a lot of resources to rescue animals. 

Please support them!

Road to recovery (The new owner get's to see how her dog used to live)

I applaud all the volunteers who give their time, energy and money to help animals in need!

Here are some of the awesome people. Are you curious or want to help? Visit them!

The Humane society of the United States

RSPCA (Great Britain)

Help end animal testing!

Dedicating the first post in "the Animal diary" blog to the topic animal testing.

If you ever loved an animal, please be aware that animals similar to your darlings are tortured every day. They are bred to suffer and die for your shampoo, household products and cosmetics.
--------------------------------------------

It is easy to take a stand! In this blog we speak up against animal cruelty, and animal testing is one of the worst and unnecessary torture humans put animals through. You CAN help ending it, starting with being aware of which companies to support!  

Lush speaks out against Animal testing (Performance artist)

Why is there still animal testing?

Here is a list from PETA on companies who don't do animal testing

(LATER: We will feature posts on companies who are particularly good or bad).