Lettuce Talk: Recent Episodes
VSA Utrecht
The podcast of VSA Utrecht about all things vegan. From vegan history to speciesism and more, we explore everything that it entails to be a "vegan" in our modern world.
Is veganism a religion? Can one be both vegan and Muslim? What does "dominion" really mean? In this thought-provoking episode of Lettuce Talk, we are joined by Ruben Venema, a VSA member and philosophy student, to delve into these intriguing questions. We discuss several religions - Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism - and their teachings about animals and how to treat them.
Most of us grew up watching Disney movies featuring lots of animal characters. But what is problematic about the way Disney portrays animals? How did the portrayal of animals change over time? And why is Remi from Ratatouille so much better than Mickey Mouse? In this episode, media scientist Maarten Reesink answers these questions and tells us about the history of human-animal studies. In this episode, we explore how animals are portrayed in audio-visual media, like the Tulkun in Avatar 2, cat videos on Instagram, or happy cows in dairy commercials.
Timestamps:
0:00 - What are human-animal studies?
6:10 - A brief history of animals in media
19:20 - How are animals portrayed?
25:00 - Animals: bad guys or victims?
35:50 - How should animals be portrayed?
43:36 - Case study: Avatar
50:35 - Farmed animals in film
1:09:30 - Animals in ads
1:21:30 - Maarten’s favorite movie
In this episode, we sit down with animal scientist Maite van Gerwen. We discuss so-called 'pest animals', why they are seen as pests, and how to manage them in an animal-friendly manner!
In this episode, we sit down with activist, co-founder of ProVeg and author of 'How to Create a Vegan World: A Pragmatic Approach', Tobias Leenaert! We talk about why pragmatism is needed in creating societal change, whether veganism should be a left-wing movement or not, and how he sees the future of the movement. Listen to the full episode to hear all of this, and more!
Time codes:0:00 - Pragmatism as a strategy
10:18 - Psychology of behavior change
13:28 - Can veganism be dogmatic?
15:30 - Should veganism be left-wing and intersectional?
21:15 - Should we let non-vegans participate in our activism?
27:30 - How can we use 'disgust'?
30:32 - What can we do as students?
33:54 - Is donation underrated?
37:34 - Activism as a career and life path
42:10 - Is the future bright?
47:00 - Christmas with non-vegan family
53:18 - End
In this episode, we sit down with Maite van Gerwen, animal scientist and director of CAS International, the international committee against bullfighting! We discuss what people might not know about bullfighting, how the practice is held in place as 'cultural heritage', and why public perception of bullfighting has been changing.
What can YOU do about this? Sign these petitions:
https://www.bloodfiestas.org/en
https://www.animanaturalis.org/nobullfightingbailout
Update: Right after recording this episode, a Mexican court decided that bullfights can continue again until the case is closed. See more information here: https://www.animanaturalis.org/n/46602/polemica-resolucion-de-la-suprema-corte-revierte-la-prohibicion-de-corridas-de-toros-en-la-plaza-mexico
0:00 - Intro
1:02 - What happens in bullfighting?
10:35 - Blood fiestas
16:00 - Government subsidies
18:09 - How is public perception changing?
23:40 - Bullfighting as cultural heritage
26:35 - 'Emergency slaughter'?
29:48 - Why are people cheering?
31:45 - The human rights case against this
35:26 - Education is the answer
38:08 - What can we do?
Golden Retriever steak, fried Chihuahua, and Dachshund hot dogs... Doesn't it sound delicious? Today we're joined by new-on-the-scene dog meat company Konink Hondenvlees! CEO Vincent Konink prides himself on his high-quality, organic, humane dog meat and talks about what it's like to break into the Dutch market. He will also join us in a discussion about reverse psychology activism, but that is completely unrelated of course...
Every child learns: the cow says moo. But what do they actually say? And how can we communicate with cows? In this episode of Lettuce Talk, Leonie Cornips, professor of Linguistics is our guest and tells us more about her research topic: the communication of cows. We are discussing how to understand cows' communication, how to communicate with cows as a human, and what the societal implications are when we learn to see cows as social, communicative beings.
Who doesn't like to travel?
But do you know how to do it in the most responsible way possible? Most of us are aware of the environmental impact of air travel, but there are many other downsides to tourism that we don't usually think about, especially when it comes to our beloved animals. In this episode, we look at sustainable tourism and animal welfare and discuss which activities are considered unethical and why. We hope you enjoy it!
If you encounter the abuse of captive wild animal while travelling, you can report it here: https://www.bornfree.org.uk/red-flag-report
When thinking of how to do the most good for animals, going vegan is probably one of the first things that come to your mind. But there are even more things that you can do for the animals. Maybe you already wondered which career you should choose or which charity you could donate to in order to do the most good for the animals. Today we will answer and discuss these questions with our guest Felix, who quit his job as a journalist to follow his passion, mathematics, and ended up as a consultant, which allows him to donate more than 20.000€ per year for carefully selected charities.
See here soem further links to the websites we discussed during this episode:
Animal Charity Evaluators: https://animalcharityevaluators.org/
Giving What We Can: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/
https://doneereffectief.nl/donerenaangoededoelen/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=19432528741&utm_content=147345846600&utm_term=doneer%20effectief&gadid=643237789617&gclid=Cj0KCQjwr82iBhCuARIsAO0EAZziRof7VdpgVNLZT5iGzNPOuP2_P-mdZTNmEsX5BV6k-G8g_Y9ytQ8aAlEJEALw_wcB
The new academic year has started, and the new podcast committee is going to present themselves and their plan for the next months! Also, we talk about short track horse racing as the student association of veterinary medicine organised such a race at the so-called Maliebaandag. In this episode, we dig into this event and the moral concerns that arise with it.
In this two-parter, we talk about frequently asked questions about, reactions to and arguments against veganism and our life of being vegan. Now, we focus on sinning, ethics and taste: “Surely, you will eat meat like the rest of us during the holidays? It’s only one time a year.”, “If you were on a deserted island, and there were only animals to eat, would you?”. How happy are cows really when they are being killed? That and much more.
In this episode, we talk about frequently asked questions about, reactions to and arguments against veganism and our life of being vegan. In this episode we focus on the logistics: “I could never be vegan.”, “is honey vegan?” and many more questions. Because all the questions and topics couldn’t fit in one episode, is this only part 1.
In the first episode of 'Lettuce Talk' we will be delving into the history of veganism. Did we really mostly eat meat in the past? Where does the term "veganism" originate? What does the future have in store for us? And who were the first vegans? That and much more in this episode of 'Lettuce Talk'!