World Vegan Month is celebrated in November!

It’s Vegan Month! World Vegan Month started on November 1st, with World Vegan Day. During this month, people all around the world celebrate the joy behind carrying out a cruelty-free lifestyle and the health and environmental benefits of being vegan. Veganism has become a popular lifestyle, with a community that never stops growing. In the UK alone, the vegan community increased by 40% in 2020 and it is now said that about 4% of the British population is vegan. 😋🥦

The Vegan Society founded World Vegan Day in 1994 to recognize the importance of not consuming any animal products and to educate friends, families and others about the values behind carrying a vegan style of living 🌎💪. Unfortunately for COVID safety, many events have been cancelled this year that were mainly used to raise awareness of the vegan movement. However, if you wish to participate (even on small things) this month, you can simply:

🌱 Participate in virtual vegan events

🌱 Support your local vegan business by promoting them on social media

🌱 If you are not vegan but wish to try some things, assigning a vegan day in your week is a good start!

🌱 Try vegan recipes from online cook books/chefs

🌱 Buying more vegan friendly products at the supermarket

Keep reading this blog to find out some of the health and environmental benefits that being vegan can bring, for an amazing vegan recipe you have to try this November and finally, how GreenJinn supports the vegan community and how it could potentially help you!

What are the health and environmental benefits from veganism?

We are often told that carrying a vegan diet is positive for our own health and also, beneficial for the environment. But… In what ways exactly can this lifestyle improve our well-being and be environmentally sustainable? 🌲🌳🏥 💊

✅ A vegan diet is rich in vitamins and nutrients

✅ It can help you lose excess body weight

✅ It lowers blood sugar levels and improves kidney function

✅ A vegan lifestyle is linked to a lower risk of heart disease

✅ Being vegan cleans planet soil and conserves water

✅ It reduced energy consumption

✅ Veganism purifies air

✅ It protects animal species

Give this vegan recipe a try this month!

Carl Jennings shared with us an amazing vegan recipe this month on Twitter. He is also part of the Ecologi community and is trying to lessen his environmental impact by carbon offsetting and planting trees to help fight environmental damage. Give this vegan recipe a try this November. I promise, it is delicious! 🤤

Traditional Gumbo with a vegan touch! 🍲

Time: 1h 30 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 2 onions
• 2 celery sticks
• 2 green peppers
• 4 garlic cloves
• 300g okra
• 250g chestnut mushrooms
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1⁄4 tsp salt, plus a little extra
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1⁄2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp Tabasco sauce
• 750ml vegetable stock
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 240g tinned kidney beans
• 4 spring onions
• 500g cooked basmati rice, or use2 x 250g bags microwavablebasmati rice, to serve
• Black pepper

Steps:

1. Grab a large casserole dish, fine grater or microplane first get all your veg ready. Peel the onions, trim the celery, cut the peppers in half and cut out the stems and seeds. Roughly chop the onions, peppers and celery into small pieces. Peel and finely grate the garlic, trim the okra and cut into 1cm-thick slices, quarter the mushrooms, finely chop the tomatoes and roughly chop the thyme (if the stem is woody, remove the leaves by running your thumb and forefinger from the top to the base of the stem).
2. Put the casserole dish on a medium heat and pour in the oil. Once the dish is hot, add the onion, celery, peppers and 1⁄4 teaspoon salt . Sweat for about 10 minutes, until softened . Add the garlic, okra and mushrooms and fry for a further 7–10 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked through. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the flour and stir to combine. Cook for another 5–7 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid burning, until golden brown (don’t stop cooking too early, this browning is what gives your gumbo its rich colour).
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and tomato purée to the pan and stir for 2 minutes . Add the apple cider vinegar, thyme, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, oregano and Tabasco and stir for 2 minutes. Pour in the vegetable stock, add the bay leaves and kidney beans, reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer and cook for 30–35 minutes, until the broth is thick and hearty, stirring occasionally to make sure the bottom doesn’t catch. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
4. Heat the rice or cook it following the instructions on the packetTrim and thinly slice the spring onions and sprinkle over the gumbo.
5. Serve with the rice and enjoy!

Wanna go vegan? GreenJinn can help you!

At GreenJinn, we strongly believe in sustainability. One of our values is being “Green”. But what does this mean? This means that as a company, we care about the Earth, through the brands we work with, our community and to us as a team. We do the right thing, not always the easiest thing. 🌎

As well as all the projects we have participated in related to taking care of the environment, the brands we choose to work with are sustainable, between them, many are vegan. Give these brands a try during Vegan Month: They are on discount using the GreenJinn app!

References

1. https://www.instagram.com/greenjinnapp/
2. https://www.greenjinn.com/
3. https://www.bosh.tv/recipes/holy-trinity-louisiana-gumbo
4. https://vegfund.org/blog/what-will-you-do-world-vegan-day-and-month
5. https://www.bosh.tv/recipes/holy-trinity-louisiana-gumbo
6. Images sourced from:

• https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.veganfoodandliving.com%2Ffeatures%2Fvegan-vs-vegetarian%2F&psig=AOvVaw05c8qBstEiQMwwPNHA3Ode&ust=1637146679167000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCNi83-jcnPQCFQAAAAAdAAAAABBZ
• https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Finstitutmacula.com%2Fen%2Fnoticia-conferencia%2F2019-world-environment-day%2F&psig=AOvVaw0NYxPF7KwzcoPrjBhmUsWm&ust=1637150396665000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCMDeytDqnPQCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
• https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsouthernarizonaurgentcare.com%2Fhealthy-lifestyle-practices-for-2020%2F&psig=AOvVaw3wOM21uWZDBhUD536mjOoV&ust=1637150428058000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCJCgt9_qnPQCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD