It was perhaps 25 years ago when I first tasted Swedish Glace ice cream (made with soya milk). I took the time off from my busy private banking career (in my former life — I now run my own vegan business) and went to help my friend Jo-Ann Brown, who had not long set up The Vegan Prisoner Support Group (vpsg.org). Jo-Ann changed my life, and in fact, the vegan ice cream that we gave to the prisoners (and tasted ourselves) did, too. Knowing that people were going to prison for their vegan beliefs — and that dairy-free ice cream could taste so good — I knew there and then that I had to go vegan.
It was only after this awakening that I learnt about the reality of the dairy industry. Back then, this information wasn’t so readily available — there was no social media and no internet, and so, I went to the library and sought out magazines from The Vegan Society, Viva! and others on vegetarianism. After my research, my eyes were opened to everything. But sadly, all that I learned about how the dairy industry operated all those years ago, still continues today.
Not everyone realises that all dairy cows are all female. And many more people do not know that cows do not give out milk freely, not to humans, anyway — we take it. To be honest with you, I’ve often wondered why the cow was even picked. Why not a horse, donkey, or dog? Even some species of cockroach produce milk for their babies. On top of this, why are we read cute but deceiving storybooks at school, that depict cows living joyful lives on fields being milked by innocent girls? They show us exactly what life on a farm is not like. Yet, a baby book showing life on a factory farm, and portraying what actually happens to cows may not sell the deception so well… It would certainly create more dairy-free kids.