Stockport Vegan Festival and should your dog be vegan?

MCRJourno

Full Power Cacao stall

Last Sunday Stockport's Guildhall hosted the Vegan Festival ran by Vegan Events UK who host gatherings across Britain.

From artisan bakeries to handmade jewellery, charities to botanical liquors, and confectionary to vegan clothes - there were plenty of stalls to enjoy.

There was also a selection of talks ranging from making the transition to a vegan diet, to the personal struggles of one woman's journey towards healing and spirituality in the face of adversity.

Stallholder Kate, from Drink Me Designs, uses vegan ink to create her artwork prints, stickers and merchandise alongside compostable packing and is hoping to turn success at festivals and pop-ups into a permanent digital store.

Drink Me Designs stall

Global campaigning network Greenpeace were also in attendance with one representative surprising many with statements such as "three tonnes of plastic are dropped into the ocean every minute" and "we know more about space than we do our own oceans - only 1.2% of our oceans are protected."

In a campaign about grocery giant Tesco, a Greenpeace staffmember shared that the five-year plan for supermarkets to go plastic free isn't enough.

Festival organisers had commented that the aim of events such as this is to "show people how easy, affordable, healthy and varied living a vegan lifestyle can be." as well as support causes like Miracle’s Mission.

Miracle’s Mission is a non-profit animal welfare charity that works with sick, injured and disabled animals worldwide and had a stall on the day selling dog products and food.

Greenpeace stall

One unexpected item on sale was vegan dog food, free from meat or animal products for those who want their dog to follow the same style of diet as them.

Talking to a few attendees about the concept of vegan dog food, reviews were mixed with one individual commenting: "Vegan dog food is a good idea in theory, but dogs need meat to get the necessary nutrients to thrive.

"Incorporating vegan elements or supplementing ingredients would be better than completely vegan dog food."

Others felt the lack of choice on the part of the dog didn't sit right with them.

Missy’s Vegan Cupcakes stall

One person said: "I feel like vegan dog food goes against a dogs natural instincts and would only make the dog rebel more when they smell meat.

"It would be unfair on any pet with a carnivore diet to force them into not having it."

Miracle’s Mission said: "As a vegan charity we are of course opposed to taking the lives of animals, to feed other animals. We have been feeding our dogs a vegan diet for 10 years and have seen many dogs thrive on this.

"Vegan diets can reduce inflammation, skin irritation and actually help reverse chronic health issues in our dogs. We were so thrilled to see that the British Veterinary Council have now officially recognised that dogs can thrive on a balanced plant based diet.

"We have known that for years, but it is good to have the science to back it up."

With events across Britain, Vegan Events UK are back in Greater Manchester in April with a festival at Manchester Metropolitan University.

More information can be found here: https://www.veganeventsuk.co.uk/northern-vegan-festival/