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Mahatma Gandhi Recommended a Vegan Diet
Meat Free Days Students of Oxford University’s Jesus College have also declared Mondays as completely meat free. On 3rd December 2009 Sir Paul McCartney and Dr. Rajendra Pachuri addressed members of European Parliament on the subject of ‘Global Warming and Food Policy: Less Meat = Less Heat'. The race is on to see which city in UK becomes the first to declare Mondays as a vegetarian day.
Rakesh Mehta cycles through
Cambodia Being the only vegetarian in the group, I had some concerns about the food that would be on offer, especially as Cambodian cuisine is particularly fond of a fish sauce that they seem to put in everything! My fears were allayed when I heard that PEPY actually recommend that all participants stick to a vegetarian diet. In the remote parts of Cambodia a veg diet was far less likely to cause food poisoning! Safe in the knowledge that I would be able to get a decent meal everywhere on the trip, I cycled with confidence and any time I needed a hit of energy, I would stop at a roadside café for some food and reload with some sugar cane juice or some coconut water… nature’s answer to Lucozade! I certainly had no worries about food in the larger towns and cities such as Siem Reap where the highly rated restaurant ‘Chamkar’ served up strictly vegetarian Khmer cuisine while the excellent ‘K’nyay’ in Phnom Penh is beating the drum for vegan food in Cambodia. Although I am a vegetarian rather than a vegan, I found that I stuck to an almost entirely vegan diet for the duration of the trip and by the end, the combination of nutritious food, cycling and sunshine contributed to me feeling healthier than ever before. I would definitely recommend the experience to all veggies and vegans out there.
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Mahatma
Gandhi avoided all animal products including milk. He said, ‘It is my firm
conviction that man need take no milk at all beyond the mother’s milk that he
takes as a baby’. Gandhiji even went further and said that human beings should
eat nothing, ‘but sun baked fruits and nuts’. He also wore shoes and sandals
made from animals that had died a natural death. At present however we should
avoid all leather goods as the meat and leather industries complement each
other. Once after being ill Gandhiji reluctantly began taking goat’s milk.
Regarding experiments carried out on animals to find cures for human diseases
Gandhiji said, ‘ I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. Vivisection is the
blackest of all black crimes that a man is at present committing against God and
his fair creation’. Once when a calf was suffering great pain at his Ashram he
agreed for it to be put down. Gandhiji said he would apply the same principle
for human beings. In the modern context it would seem Gandhiji would have
supported Euthanasia in the most severe cases!
You will
have seen from the pages of this newsletter over the years that being vegetarian
does not stop you from being adventurous. Last summer, fresh from my first foray
into cycling, the London to Paris bike ride, I found that I was hooked. I wanted
to find another challenge and that’s when I stumbled upon PEPY, a Cambodia based
non-governmental organisation (NGO) whose mission is to aid rural communities in
improving their own standards of living, with a focus on increased access to
quality education. PEPY fund their work by organising adventure travel trips in
Cambodia. I joined them on the PEPY Ride V, their fifth annual 1000km bike ride
that started at the stunning temples of Angkor and cycled across the country and
finished at the beautiful coastal town of Kep. This was not just about the
cycling though; there is a massive focus on education with visits to various
NGOs to learn about development and to see first hand how they make a
difference.
