- [Narrator] This week, Nipsey Hussle's mom
urges memorial attendees to go vegan.
Canada Goose may be working on faux fur.
A former Texas hunter is now protecting wildlife.
And find out which vegan burger patty
fooled a meat lobbyist.
All that and more on LIVEKINDLY's weekly vegan news.
Rapper Nipsey Hussle was memorialized in Los Angeles
last Friday, as thousands of fans
and celebrities came to pay tribute.
The rapper was killed last month after he was shot
outside his Hyde Park clothing store.
Hussle's popular album Victory Lap was nominated
for a Grammy, and he had become a symbol
of black entrepreneurship in his South LA community.
A former gang member himself, Hussle was working to build
up neighborhoods and empower youth to opt out of gangs.
And for his mother, Angelique Smith, honoring
Hussle's memory also means adopting a vegan diet.
"I want to encourage you to choose a vegan lifestyle,"
Smith said to the crowd of thousands who poured
into the free service.
She also pushed for limiting alcohol intake and narcotic
substances, as leading a healthy life
would honor her son's life.
Hussle was also memorialized
by another Los Angeles artist, Constantin LeFou.
LeFou is the founder of the Vegan Club, a street art
and clothing brand that highlights vegan celebrities.
Coming up, Gardein launches spicy vegan breakfast sausages.
Is Canada Goose working on a vegan faux fur option?
The clothing company traditionally uses coyote fur
to trim its parkas, obtained by inhumane steel leg traps,
head-crushing traps or bludgeoning.
But at a recent protest in Toronto,
a Canada Goose employee told vegan activist Jenny McQueen
that the popular winter coat brand is developing faux fur.
McQueen told Vegconomist:
"He and his wife stopped at a protest
outside a Toronto butcher.
"I spotted he had a pristine CG coat on without the fur,
"asked his partner if he'd removed it, and she told me
"they sell without the fur, which I'm aware of.
"She then told me he works for CG.
"He told me about the development of faux fur."
In the lead up to his Canadian tour,
vegan musician Morrissey teamed up
with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,
the largest animal rights organization in the world,
to urge Canada Goose to ditch fur and down goose feathers.
The English singer-songwriter plans to collect
petition signatures over the course of the tour,
and promises to deliver it to Canada Goose
CEO Dani Reiss when the tour is over.
Morrissey isn't the only one speaking up
about Canada Goose's inhumane practices,
political commentator Bill Maher addressed
the fur trapping atrocities on his HBO show Real Time.
- These clever, protective canines don't die right away.
Some, like mothers who are desperate to get back
to their pups in the den, try to chew off their own leg.
- [Narrator] Gardein just launched
meaty vegan breakfast sausages.
The Canadian company announced the new item
on its Instagram page.
"Amp up your Sunday morning brunch
with our brand new Breakfast Saus'age!" the company wrote.
Founded 25 years ago, the brand is on a mission
to transform the food system with its vegan products
as total global food demand rises.
In addition to its breakfast sausages,
Gardein makes other vegan meats like Italian sausage,
a meatless meatloaf, and mini crabless cakes.
A former Texas hunter turned vegan is now protecting
900 acres of land for wildlife.
Jack Castle grew up in a family of hunters.
His father owned cattle businesses in Montana and Texas,
as well as fish farms on the Gulf Coast.
As a young boy, Castle often joined his dad and his friends
on hunting trips to shoot birds and big game.
Some of the best memories
he has of his father involves bonding over shooting animals.
Today, Castle lives a very different life;
he no longer hunts animals,
nor will he teach his children to do so.
Together with his wife Shushana Castle,
the fourth generation Texan is now an advocate for veganism,
healthy living, and compassion.
According to Castle, it was meeting Shushana
that led him to question the way he lived his life.
Shushana was co-executive producer of the plant-based
documentary What the Health, released in 2017.
She is an advocate for the health benefits
of a vegan lifestyle.
- They give us vitality and an abundance of energy
and fuel our brain so that we're supercharged
and we're feeling great
rather than fatigued at the end of the day.
- [Narrator] And has interviewed countless
medical professionals who feel the same way.
- I have been producing documentaries and interviewing
medical doctors around the world
regarding food as it relates to our health.
- [Narrator] She documented these interviews
in her 2014 book: Rethink Food.
With a new outlook on his way of life,
Jack Castle has dedicated his 900 acres of land
to conservation, allowing wildlife
and natural ecosystems to flourish.
"Letting go of ranching and hunting is the ultimate respect
"to give the animals and it feels great in the heart"
Castle said, "Respect extends to all life,
"especially factory-farmed animals,"
Coming up, find out which vegan burger patty
fooled a meat lobbyist.
This April, Belgium launched a month-long campaign
to encourage people to go vegan.
Called Try Vegan, the April campaign offers
residents giveaways, recipes, nutritional facts,
and tips in making the transition to a plant-based diet.
It also highlights the benefits of ditching animal products.
The campaign is not out of character
for the Western European country, which has been shifting
toward a plant-based, cruelty-free lifestyle for some time.
In 2017, Belgium updated its nutritional guidelines,
placing meat in the same category as junk food.
In January, the Flanders region of Belgium
banned halal and kosher animal slaughtering practices
due to animal welfare concerns.
In Brussels, traffic lights are causing people
to think twice about their eating habits, showing the text
stop meat under its red lights and go vegan under green.
Burger King's new vegan patty
is so realistic that it even fooled a meat lobbyist.
The fast-food chain recently added a Whopper
made with a vegan Impossible burger patty
to its menu as part of a new trial.
The plant-based meat is similar to beef
in appearance and taste.
Eric Bohl, the Director of Public Affairs and Advocacy
for Missouri Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm
organization, headed to Burger King
to try the plant-based patty.
Bohl, who The Guardian names as a senior
meat industry lobbyist, purchased an Impossible Whopper
and a conventional, meat-based Whopper.
He said, "To the naked eye,
"the burgers looked essentially identical.
"When cutting them each in half with a plastic knife,
"the beef burger seemed a bit more substantial
"and difficult to cut."
In the end, he could hardly tell the difference.
"If I didn't know what I was eating,
"I would have no idea it was not beef," he admitted.
Would you try the vegan whopper?
Let us know in the comments.
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for LIVEKINDLY's weekly vegan news.