As a blogger and a member of Gen Y, it maybe comes as not much of a surprise that I'm not much of a magazine buyer. Whilst I loved a bit (read: I bought every issue) of Sneak and Bliss in my early teens (and Shout in my tweens) when I discovered the world of blogging during my mid-teens this love affair of printed media fell to the side as I realised I could obtain the same information for free online (and save up some space in my bedroom).
There's still a few magazines I do purchase now and then or have a casual flick through in the shop (Country Living and various Android magazines are particular favourites) but I haven't been a dedicated reader of any particular magazine for years. However when the news that a vegan lifestyle magazine would be hitting the shelves in the UK during September, my curiosity was piqued although I remained unconvinced that it would include anything that vegan blogs couldn't or wouldn't cover.
However, after the second issue hit the shelves in November the lovely people at VeganLife got in contact to ask if I wanted a free digital subscription*. My response was obviously "aye, I'll take that". And guys and girls, I've taken my negative words about the printed media back. This magazine is gooooood.
What caught my eye whilst reading through the first two issues and brought a smile to my face was the wide variety of topics that would appeal across the vegan spectrum. Whilst vegan stereotypes exist (and like a lot of stereotypes will continue to exist) anyone who is part of the vegan community knows that a wide variety of individuals adopt veganism. Whilst scribbling down the names of new vegan businesses to check out (this might be the only magazine where I pay attention to adverts) I was spotting how many walks of vegan life this magazine would appeal to. For myself there was vegan fashion and beauty (you know I like to consider vegan/cruelty-free beauty my Trivial Pursuit topic, but even I was exclaiming "didnae know that"), however there were also topics that didn't appeal to me such as juice cleanses and campaigns by PETA which I just moved on past.
Towards the end of both issues this respect towards differing lifestyle choices was directly discussed in a feature called Talking Point which selects a topic which can divide the vegan community and invites two vegans to defend their side of the debate. In issue one the topic was "Is it acceptable to eat the eggs of rescued battery hens?" and then issue two of the magazine was asking if vegans should feed their pets meat or switch their pooches and kittens onto a plant-based diet too. Personally, I wouldn't eat eggs no matter how well the hen was cared for because, well, it's a chicken's period and eggs just gross me. However I would never question anyone else's vegan street cred if they chose to eat the eggs of hens they knew were raised in good conditions (which could even be their own backyard...I actually like chickens and would like some but for pets...yeah, I'm weird).
However, the second topic is one I do hold a stronger opinion on. I live without animal produce because I can live without it...there is no health or nutritional reason for me to consume it. A large percentage of humans can live without dairy or meat (I say percentage as I don't want to speak for people who struggle with the switch due to health problems). However, some non-human animals are built to eat meat. I'm not a vet or zoologist but I believe cats and dogs eat meat by their nature (just like rabbits eat plants by their nature). If I had a pet who preferred the plant food and developed no health problems due to it I'd roll with it. But if any potential future dog of mine (I'm consistently dog broody) really wanted the meaty food I'd provide it, though I'd still shop for it with some ethics in mind (organic, straight from the butcher etc). I wouldn't want to impose this decision on an animal who has different instincts to me and doesn't sit around pondering ethical lifestyle choices and questioning the world like myself and many humans do (the same would go for the children I don't want...I wouldn't make the final decision for them and if they really wanted to eat meat I'd let them but I wouldn't buy or prepare it for them).
There are dozens of voices within the vegan community, and some very heated topics up for debate of which there are more than just these two. Issue two of the magazine also ran an article by Rebecca Bourne on her experiences with the 'vegan police' a term which will be familiar to anyone in the vegan community. VeganLife Magazine, despite it's infancy, is a 60-odd page magazine that packs a fair punch. If you don't quite want to debate vegan ethical choices and just get the 'eff on with living your vegan life the way you live it then there's travelling as a vegan, a day in a life of a vegan within different UK cities (Oxford and Birmingham have been covered so far), nutrition, animal testing for cancer drugs, a breakdown of various type of plant milk, how to throw a vegan cheese and wine party, vegan tattooing, vegan parenting, recipes, foraging, eco-friendly yoga pants...I'm sure you get the jist.
No matter what 'kind' of vegan you consider yourself to be you should find yourself something within these pages and I hope this is a magazine that can appeal to the whole community despite the varying opinions and choices we have made (and occasionally argue about).
No matter what 'kind' of vegan you consider yourself to be you should find yourself something within these pages and I hope this is a magazine that can appeal to the whole community despite the varying opinions and choices we have made (and occasionally argue about).
Have you picked up the Vegan Life magazine? What kind of content do you think should be covered in a vegan magazine?
Morag x
P.S. This post was written as PR for VeganLife magazine and I have received a digital subscription of the magazine for free.
