European Vegetarian Union

written/translated by: Carla Van de Velde / Georgia Blackwell

EVU Talks 2007 - The Veggie answer to World Hunger



"Would you like something to eat?"

The question comes from the Austrian Airlines steward, clad in a red uniform. He's holding a typical tin foil container.

"Is it vegetarian?"

"No."

The hand remains poised in the air, as if he expects us to say: "Hey, don't worry! We're vegetarians but as long as no one is watching we'll eat your chicken fricassee. We won't tell if you won't."

We thank him for the offer and turn to each other.

"Fancy some peanuts?"

We're on our way to the EVU Talks in Vienna, organised by the Vegan Society Austria and the Austrian Vegetarian Union. A confused taxi ride later – the driver had absolutely no idea where he was taking us and his global positioning system breaking down didn't help either – and we finally reach the Sport- und Seminarzentrum im Prater.

Saturday morning. New faces and familiar faces, it's always nice to see so many people there and to catch up. These EVU talks are about the veggie answer to world hunger and the first two talks in the afternoon are of course on this subject. Renato Pichler kicks off with his presentation, followed by Anita Euschen from Animal Friends Croatia. Her message is similar to Renato's. The next talk, from Martin Balluch of the Association Against Animal Factories, is different. His topic is titled 'Synergy of vegetarian and animal rights activism'. He is a passionate speaker and it doesn't take a great deal of imagination to realise that, when he addresses schools on the subject of animal rights, quite a few of the youngsters come out thinking that it's time to change their lifestyle.

The day finishes with a presentation of the video 'Devour the Earth', introduced by Thomas Cuk of Slovenia (see article on page 5). It's a shocking film narrated by Sir Paul McCartney, confirming yet again what most of us already know: the meat industry is detrimental and disastrous. This documentary should be shown in schools, together with Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' to make it clear that Mr. Gore's film has carefully omitted the effects of the meat industry on global warming.

Sunday morning starts with yet another passionate speaker. Paul Turner of Food for Life is impressive and inspiring. His presentation makes you want to go out there and volunteer and help people who have been hit by war or disaster. The next speaker is Barbara Ruetting, member of the Bavarian State Parliament. When she discloses her age (and it would be impolite to repeat it here..), jaws drop and there's a murmur of admiration. A former actress, she is now an ardent advocate of vegetarianism and animal rights. She has succeeded in convincing the staff restaurant at the Bavarian parliament to serve vegetarian meals every day. No mean feat in a carnivore country like Germany!

Hildegund Scholvien is next and it doesn't take a lot of effort to persuade us to go to Dresden in 2008 for the 38th World Vegetarian Congress. The list of speakers who have already agreed to attend is interesting! After lunch, there is a brainstorming session and the invitation to attend the next EVU Talks in Switzerland.

Duty, unfortunately, is calling us back to Frankfurt and we therefore have to miss Stephen Walsh's presentation on 'Good health without animal products'. We comfort ourselves with the thought that we'll see and hear Stephen next year in Dresden and head out to the airport. This time, the taxi driver knows exactly where he's going. In the whole of Vienna Airport, we find only one (!) veggie option to eat: a cheese sandwich. Tough luck if you are vegan. I guess you either starve to death or hope they sell peanuts. We board the plane and do our "Is it vegetarian" routine again when they serve the meals to bring our point across to the surprised stewardess. It's not easy being a vegetarian but after a weekend like this, we are again confirmed and strengthened in our conviction of why we do it!

See you next year!

Carla and Georgia.

 

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