The Vegan Option including Vegetarianism: The Story So Far

How does animal exploitation increase the emergence of new diseases? With the world fighting a vicious new pandemic, Ian asks a front-line physician, an epidemiologist, a public health expert and acti...

How has western vegetarianism risen, within living memory, from fringe to mainstream choice? And how has veganism gone from nowhere to everywhere? Episode 15: Liberation This final episode recounts th...

In the nineteenth century, in America and Germany, new forms of vegetarianism emerge – from the individualistic consumer vegetarianism of America, to the back-to-nature European “life reform” movement...

In the late nineteenth century, the new vegetarian movement is intertwined with other struggles – including Victorian reformers, the Indian reaction to British colonialism, and most importantly, slave...

In the 1800s, overlapping circles of utopians, mystics, and romantics in both Europe and America develop arguments against meat until “vegetarianism” finally becomes a real movement. Episode 12: Radic...

The philosophers of Paris discuss reports of Indian vegetarianism, question the morality of eating animals, and inspire radicals who preach vegetarianism from the barricades of the French revolution. ...

When printing lets ordinary people access a world of ideas, including Indian vegetarianism, some European radicals and diet gurus begin to oppose meat-eating. Episode 10: Revolution In England, the 16...

Ancient philosophers inspire Renaissance thinkers to challenge the old hierarchy of man over beast. Episode 9: Renaissance Old medieval certainties are cracking under the combined assault of new scien...

When conquerors who profess Islam or Christianity rule over Indian vegetarians, the conversations about food ethics go both ways. Episode 8: Contacts Ian discovers the ecstatic dancing and singing sha...

In the Middle Ages, three very different monastic orders spread from the Mediterranean to the South China Sea, surrounding themselves with lay believers and challenging the norm of meat-eating. Episod...

In the first millennium CE, Indian vegetarianism advances from an ascetic fringe to a mainstream high-status lifestyle. Episode 6: Hinduism How did vegetarianism permeate Indian society? Ian tracks th...

As the British public make their biggest decision in a generation, Ian asks Kerry McCarthy MP about the potential impact of Brexit on animals. Vegan MP on EU Referendum In this special short extra edi...

In the eastern Roman Empire, several faiths and philosophies agree on one thing; that you need to eschew flesh to live a life of the spirit. Episode 5: Flesh & Spirit Not all Romans celebrated pag...

In the largest ancient Indian empire, at the height of its power, its Buddhist king advocates for animals in his edicts, and tries to change India for good. Episode 4: Ashoka In the fourth century BCE...

In Ancient Greece, vegetarianism belongs to a secretive subculture – amongst the mystery religions of Orpheus and the musical mathematical cult of Pythagoras. Episode 3: Pythagoreans The Greek p...

Ian travels to the tree where the Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment, and explores the paradox of his early followers’ attitudes to vegetarianism. Episode 2: The Middle Path Of the ma...

In the Ganges plain in Northen India in the middle of the first millennium BCE, the idea of “ahimsa” – non violence – emerges. Episode 1: Ahimsa Ian visits the intellectual hub of iron age India – the...

Rough edits of extended interviews - such as this one with Dr Julia Minson - will now go into the podcast feed (used by iTunes and Stitcher) as well as the website. more The post Extended interviews ...

What is "judgement"? How does it really affect the relationships between vegans and others? What can scientists say about it? And how do vegan activists react to the charge? Dr Julia Minson explains t...

London Olympics: Closing Update As the athletes celebrate their victories and defeats, and the Spice Girls rock the closing ceremony, we look back over the Olympics and update you on the vegan stories...

Kara Lang holds the record as the youngest woman ever to score a goal in international soccer - but her passions also include vegan cupcakes. Now retired from football, she took time out from her bus...

Athletes from across the world are coming to East London - where we produce the show - but what are the vegan perspectives on the Olympic games? We talk to Sandra Hood, the Olympic torch bearer who wr...

We took the show on the road to VegfestUK to find out how vegan parents met the challenges of raising children vegan in a non-vegan world - such as what they told their children about how the rest of ...

What is it like to grow up vegan in a non-vegan world? We hear three stories of vegan childhood: Rosemary- appeared as a baby on a BBC programme about veganism in 1976 Elishama - grew up in the Hebre...

A future with cheap lab meat could be drastically different - for humans and animals. How would it work? And is the development of this technology good for animals? Ian talks to Nicholas Genovese, a P...

A thousand years ago, Al-Ma'arri was writing Arabic poems of extreme complexity, promoting a rational ideal and most remarkably, making an ethical case for veganism. We tell the story of his life in c...

How has the digital revolution changed being vegan? We talk to Eric Brent, founder of leading vegetarian restaurant finder Happy Cow. Diana reviews smartphone apps. Ian finds out how the digital revol...

This season of peace and goodwill, in our special Christmas show, we ask whether there will ever be peace on Earth. Steven Pinker, author of "Better Angels of Our Nature", says that human violence ha...

At the end of our last episode, Kerry McCarthy MP said she'd asked for a debate in Parliament to mark World Vegan Day. She was successful, and at the end of business on November 1st the House of Commo...

The three vegan Members of the British Parliament (MPs) answer your questions. Are they afraid about how voters will react to their veganism? And what's the food like at the House of Commons? more The...

We profile the handful of people who combine veganism with politics at their country's national level. I went to the UK Parliament to meet Britain's three vegan MPs. What was their path to politics? A...

We start our show at the beginning - when folk choose the vegan option. In this case, for a month, challenged and supported by London Vegan Campaigns. I talk to mother Ananthi and middle-aged couple B...

This is a small introductory snippet to let folk who get our podcast in iTunes or other podcast readers check that it’s working – and the first hint of our theme tune. The post A very smal...