We’ve taken inspiration from George Orwell’s novel “1984”, been ever so slightly influenced by Paul Merton’s television programme and made our very own Veggie Room 101. In “1984” Room 101 is a secret room in which people meet their own worst nightmare or phobia. On the TV programme, celebrities were given the chance to consign things they didn’t like into Room 101 forever. We’ve decided to follow the television programme’s format! You nominate an object, event, person, location, just about anything really and we’ll confine it to Room 101. All nominations will appear on the website too!

If you could choose one thing (that is slightly veggie related!) to remove from society what would it be? Let your imaginations run wild! Send any contributions to education@vegsoc.org

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From Jasmine

"My entry for room 101 has to be people who claim to be ‘animal lovers’ but eat meat! You have to agree that there’s no way can they love animals but eat them as well.

One very annoying example of this is when one of these so called animal lovers sees an animal (let’s say a lamb) and says “aw, look at the lambs! Aren’t they gorgeous! I love them!”… And then goes and enjoys some lamb chops, completely oblivious of the fact that the lambs they ‘loved’ in the field will soon look like what is on their plate.

Of course, some of these people may just not realise what is on their plate, because the fact that it is a dead animal is sometimes hidden by the names meat eaters use such as ham and beef instead of pig and cow.

Over the years, I have tried many different methods to get these people to see sense. I have argued, resulting in nothing good. I have looked scathing, and simply said “why eat them then?” which didn’t achieve the desired effects at all. Perhaps the most entertaining was when I said “what are you having for dinner then?” which resulted in extreme confusion. I think the best reaction is probably just to smile, and be quietly pleased with yourself. After all, surely we’re the real animal lovers."

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From Jamie Johnson

Silk

"The production of just one gram of woven silk involves the death of at least 15 silkworms. And what a death… these creatures (which aren’t really worms but the caterpillars of the silk moth) are either boiled to death, steamed alive, dried in an oven, electrocuted or subjected to microwaves whilst in their cocoons! Cocoons that they had created by spinning the silk round and round themselves for supposed protection against predators whilst they are maturing into moths.

Each caterpillar will produce about a mile and a half (that’s about 2.4 kilometres to you youngsters!) of continuous thread. When its metamorphosis is complete and the moth is ready to leave its cocoon it secretes an alkali which eats its way through the thread. This spoils the thread for spinning making it no longer continuous, so in order to get good quality silk, the moths must be killed before they leave the cocoon.

The manufacture of a silk sari will involve the death of approximately 50,000 silkworms. This is factory farming at its worst and unfortunately silk production has increased by almost 100% over the last 30 years. China and Japan are the world’s main silk producers but India also still produces over 14,000 tonnes of silk a year. It’s not really that surprising then that the most common species of caterpillar used in silk production no longer exists in the wild.

True, during silk production a few moths are allowed to mature in order to create new breeding parents, and I should probably mention that woven silk occasionally comes from farms where some moths have been allowed to survive, but in the process to obtain fine silk threads the wings of these moths are cut off to prevent contact and contamination. And once the breeders have laid their eggs these moths are also killed prematurely since they can only reproduce once in their lifetimes.

Silk oil and silk powder is used by the cosmetic industry in skin and hair moisturising and conditioning products. This includes some hair mousses, face powders, eye shadows and even some soaps. Some moths escape during this processing but it’s perhaps safest for us to avoid silk in all of its guises if we’re concerned with silk caterpillar welfare!

Fabrics from many plant fibres are able to produce alternatives to silk, and the fibres from pineapples produce a material that is as silky as anything that traditional silk can muster! The Oxford University Spinox project also created a machine which mimics the way that spiders and silk worms spin their thread. By using a combination of artificial proteins and natural silk-like proteins, obtained from wheat or rice grains, a durable synthetic silk has been created."

Silk, your time is up! Veggie Room 101 awaits…

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From Lisa Good

Lisa Good has plumped for “eateries with only one veggie option on the menu". It ’s in!

"When I first became vegetarian eating out was a big concern of mine, especially when I was with meat eaters. I didn’t want people to make a fuss when choosing where to eat. To my surprise I found a lot of mainstream restaurants near me to be great with 3 or more veggie dishes at least. It shows how easy being vegetarian can be to the other diners at the table and how good the meals can be.

However, I have also visited some places that only have one dish that is vegetarian or veggie food that is really bland, such as just basic vegetables with no thought of how they could make the meal interesting! Have they not heard of the VegSoc website?

My worst meal ever was vegetable fajitas where the veg was over cooked and it had to sauce or anything with it. I feel like a one-veggie-option restaurant is passing a view on vegetarians -the people are boring, the meal should be boring too! Yet it’s so easy for them to put together a reasonable vegetarian meal and was made worse when this particular restaurant was also serving really expensive meat…

Being vegetarian is a lifestyle choice and I feel restaurants should respect that and give us great (delicious) choice in what can be a narrow-minded world at times. "

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From Kirsty Woodford

“The thing I absolutely can't stand is when people believe we (as the human race) are superior to other animals!

It may be simple, but I think it is completely ignorant that humans think that they are better than other animals, purely because we don't have the ability to communicate with them. We may speak common languages, destroy the natural world, and have an economy, but what difference does that really make? Other animals have the intelligence to survive without money, and without interfering with others, which surely is a peaceful aim to strive for... so what makes us so much better? That we can't understand what other animals think?

This may seem like a far fetched point, I mean, who really cares if other animals are more intelligent than us?, The thing which I hate so much about this pathetic human attitude, is when ignorant people use it as their last resort to argue against vegetarians.

My usual response to why I have become veggie is "because I personally don't believe it is right or humane to take a life where it can be prevented." Yet I am repeatedly told by people seemingly unable to face the fact that they could be seen as murderers, "but an animal life isn't the same as a human life, we are superior". Well, says who? Humans? Slightly biased...

I feel that everyone has a right to remain a meat eater, but I really can't stand it that vegetarians are continuously targeted for a debate, and our opinions aren't accepted.

And for the record: Humans are animals... so a life is a life is a life. Or at least, that is what I think.”

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From Rachel Wilbur

My room 101 pet hate would have to be, without a doubt, 'vegetarians' who eat fish or chicken. Although other things that annoy me are when you tell someone that you are a vegetarian and the person you are speaking to suddenly says, “well, I don’t eat much meat.” Also restaurant menus that have a section titled ‘Vegetarian & Fish’ are not in my good books. However, what I hate most must be people who eat fish, or white meat, and still claim to be vegetarian.

The main reason that this annoys me is because proper vegetarians are not taken seriously, or the vegetarian option at cafés, restaurants or school canteens is some sort of dish made with tuna or salmon. This is actually a bigger problem than it sounds as children at school could end up going hungry if the dinner staff do not listen to their complaints, saying that only vegans don’t eat fish.

Another, just as important, reason why it annoys me is that a fish is not a vegetable! Vegetarians do not eat anything from the animal kingdom and fish clearly are! It had to be killed before it could be eaten and would have had a personality of its own. People that consume fish and say they are vegetarian are just denying the fact that they are meat eaters!

I think it is obvious why this is my pet hate. Vegetarians need to be taken seriously, and people like this are not doing us any favours.