Hi everybody,

Is Olive Grove margarine vegan? I'm in China and can't read all the ingredients... :) Figured that someone here should know, since it says it's an Australian product.

Cheers,
Jari


Terve Jari :D

To be more certain about the particular Olive Grove they export to China (or manufacture somewhere there) you probably would rather get first hand knowledge and write to "The Customer Service Manager, Meadow Lea, PO Box 57, Mascot, NSW 1460, Australia" and ask them. I just thought they might not put dairy in Chinese edition because dairy is not widely accepted in China - not at least in traditional cuisine.

No matter how, that margarine is not going to be a product promoting your health so you might consider replacing margarine with something else like nut spreads, avocado with olive oil etc.

I was reading the latest Green Guide [T.V guide] yesterday and next Thursday 31st theres a documentary on SBS following the life of a factory farmed pig from birth to slaughter. . .

I’ll have to keep an eye out for that. Thanks :)

I saw that Piggy show tonight. It was a good program in that it showed what really happens and how horrible the whole pig farming industry is. What bugged me was that the farmers tried to make out that they actually cared for the pigs and then blamed consumers in big cities for demanding pork and other pig products at such low prices. Like they're the ones who are suffering because they're not making much money from the pigs! Then you got to see them eating bacon. I hope more people see the show.

I didn't have the heart to watch it! I was going to ask what it was like. Apparently theres some twist at the end or something like the pig doesn't die??

Yeah, he ends up in a kiddies zoo instead.

I saw it and thought it was great / or terrible depending on how you look at it. Those poor little pigletts :( sheeshk.... My omni partner walked out of the room 5 minutes in saying it was too horrible to watch...and yet she swill still eat bacon etc...sheeshk!

So sad....

I actually had never seen any footage from animal farming (even though I've been vegan for 2yrs) I think seeing the poor piggies cry and scream, and the horrible way they were treated has definately cemented veganism into my life forever.

It should have shown the end result - someone chomping down on the poor thing after he is killed and processed - let people get attached to the animal onscreen then watch it killed and eaten. Force them to make the connection that they are actually eating living, feeling beings.

I sort of think it did that...showing all the meat selections people were buying. I think it should have ended with the slaughter...not with the rehoming of piggy

I saw this show too - It didn't affect me as bad as MYM - they should broadcast that. My omni boyfriend only saw the pig part of MYM and now he won't consume any pork products. He watched that show with me and we both thought that it was fantastic how they showed the cuts of meat - it makes you think about what (or who) you are actually eating and what you are supporting by doing so.

I thought Narrator Piggy's name was Knor, as he's referred to in Green Guide and other things - but when the sign says Welkom Knor, it's subtitled as Welcome Piggy. Is knor the Flemish word for pig?

The show was somewhat mediocre. Showing the bacon-cooking and meat-purchasing after the narrator's brethren are slaughtered would have been much more effective (at least, I think so).

So did they show the slaughter?

In anthropology last year our lecturer showed us some mock cooking show with beef stir-fry or something and at the beginning the guy is showing how all the ingrediants the then he's off to get the beef and next thing you're at an abattoir. Not very pleasant :spew:

So did they show the slaughter?


They did, but not of the actual pig that they were focusing on - he ended up in a kiddy zoo.

ick...


how do they slaughter pigs? Similar to beef?

I have this horrible fascination with things that i know will disturb me.

They sort of clamp the pigs around the head, and run a huge buzzsaw up their middle. You see a cross-section of pig.

I'm not sure what was worse - the slaughter scene, or the fact that after watching it, my mother just said "Oh well, **** happens, that's the way it is" and was completely unaffected.

Johann, I hear what you are saying - that is, about your mother being completely unaffected. My parents, although they seem somewhat sorry about the lives the farm animals have to live, continue to eat meat without much further thought about it. Thankfully Mum always provides delicious vegan meals for me when I visit for lunch, but it doesn't go any further, despite the things they have learnt from me about what really goes on and Mum regularly commenting about how healthy my diet is.

It seems that many people just have this ability to be completely untouched by what really goes on, and if they are upset by something, it doesn't usually effect them for very long. As long as their family [and animals] are ok, they may think 'oh that's horrible' when they see images of cruelty in the news, but in reality they are pleased if it doesn't effect them personally. I think that's what it's about anyway. I showed a friend "Meet your Meat" a few weeks back and felt bad initially as she was totally horrifed and kept saying over and over, "I am shocked, I didn't know it was *that* bad!". She even said, "I think I should become vegetarian", but sure enough, she's eating just as much meat than ever before [and she eats alot of it....].

what the f*ck thats how they kill it?!

Don't they even stun the poor thing first? What an absolutely horrific way to die.

Oh my god now I feel sick.

Jaded, they do stun them first by clamping their heads. It appears to happen quite quickly, although they're still shaking afterwards. It's a horrible thing to see.

Glenda and Johann, I know what you mean about people not getting upset about things like that. Like they're programmed or mind controlled to believe that it's ok. Then you've got these so called christians who belive that animals only exhist to feed humans because of what it says in the bible. Events that happened 2000 years ago that may even not be true! But when it's humans suffering that's a different story. Seriously, the meat, poultry, dairy and fishing industries are no different than rapists, child molestors, con men ripping off the elderly etc. They're all taking advantage of innocent beings who are unable to defend themselves. It's as simple as that.

To be honest, terrorist bombings and natural disasters where a lot of humans are killed don't really bother me that much in comparison to how many aniamls die to feed humans. Like the WTC for instance. In my head I'm thinking 5000 humans have been wiped off the face of the earth. Now lets say at least 95% of those people ate meat or animal products. Now if that event never happened and those people were to live on average another 35 years, how many animals would have needed to be killed in that time to feed those people? I can imagine it would be a lot.

Sadly though, with natural disasters like the tsunami, there are probably just as many or more animals and fish killed. Of course it's just a one off event. If many of those people who were killed ate animal products and the disaster never happened, they'd still be eating animals for the rest of their lives. In which time I'm sure more animals would die to feed those people than those who would have been killed by the disaster alone. This may sound like I don't value human life. I do of course, but you have to put these things in perspective.

terrorist bombings, wars, tsunamis and genocide all bother me *EXTREMELY*. So does the slaughter of animals.

Whether they ate meat or not - it still saddens me when people are senselessly killed. :( Being vegan to me is about compassion.

Descentia, yes of course terrerorist bombings and natural disasters are terrible and they do scare me too. But that's something I have no pwer over as an individual. If something like that were to happen there'd be nothing I could do and I do feel very sad for those involved. Because I know I'd be devastated if anything like that happened to anyone I knew.

But in my twisted mind I don't let it bother me as much by thinking to myself of what's worse. Living life to the fullest, having the freedom to be able to do what you want and be with those you wish to be with, visiting holiday resorts perhaps, but then suddenly losing your life. Or, living your entire life in a small cramped cage in fear of being kicked, beaten and branded, being removed from those you wish to be with and then eventually slaughtered to be eaten and consumed by someone with no regard for the horrible life you've lived?

Avene and Descentia, I understand where both of you are coming from. I do get upset when I hear stuff on the news eg disasters where people die, but I definitely believe it's hardest when it effects you personally, whether the death is of a human or animal.

For example, today Ive been watching the late Paul Hester on Music Max and feeling really down about it. That's something that really upset me greatly - when I learnt Paul had killed himself I was really shocked and devastated. I was a Split Enz / Crowded House groupie in my teens and I used to go all over the place to see them. I don't know if Paul ate meat or not, it's irrelevant to me because I loved him for who he was. I think death is hardest to deal with when it is someone you love / care about etc. I must admit to trying to 'switch off' when I hear dreadful things in the news [whether it's something like the tsunami or about something like seals being clubbed for their fur etc], because if I took it all on board I'd just suffer worse depression than I already do. But that doesn't mean I don't care, I care a great deal [sometimes too much I think] for all living creatures and would love for no one to have to suffer. And I think most of us here feel that way.

Sunday Herald today - Avril Lavigne, 90% of the time eats a vegan diet.

I created a thread in another forum in memory of Paul hester and got grief for it because I should have been focusing on the earthqauke in Indonesia instead. But his death was significant as he was really involved in some local issues and as horrible as this is, it probably will raise more awareness in regard to mental health issues.

Thanks Jaded for your post. I did feel a little guilt that all I could think of was Paul when the news was reporting constantly about the earthquake. However, as I said before, when you hear of someone passing you have a real love for [whether they are family/friends or famous or otherwise], no matter how they died, it is really painful and hard to focus on other things happening at that moment. I think alot of people who knocked you on that forum probably think 'well he is just one person and he chose to die', which could be an easy way to look at it if you don't have any feelings for him or know who he is / much about him. The thing is, the death of someone always hurts someone somewhere.

Like you, I do hope that his passing raises alot more awareness in our country with regards to mental illness.

Sunday Herald today - Avril Lavigne, 90% of the time eats a vegan diet.

Hey Iceflower! Did it say what she ate the other 10% of the time? I mean is she vegetarian the rest of the time or eat meat or what? Sounds weird to describe someone's diet like that, I'd be interested to know a bit more in regards to what she eats the rest of the time!

I'm just astonished that someone could be eating any kind of diet 90% of the time! When does she find time to sleep?



Sorry, I couldn't help it ;-)