- [Narrator] This week Rocky star
Dolph Lundgren goes vegan,
Canada shuts down three major slaughterhouses,
and the largest vegan taco in the universe
comes to Las Vegas.
All of this and more on LIVEKINDLY's Weekly Vegan News.
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Martial artist and actor Dolph Lundgren
adopted a plant-based diet after watching
The Game Changers documentary.
The Swedish star of action films such as Rocky IV
and The Expendables series was featured in an interview
on English talk show Good Morning Britain.
When asked by co-host Pierce Morgan
how he looks so fantastic at 62, Lundgren replied
that he recently adopted a plant-based diet.
His Expendables co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger,
executive producer for The Game Changers,
helped inspire the switch.
The actor said he is already experiencing
health improvement, including reduced fatigue
and more stable blood sugar levels.
When asked whether he will stay vegan,
Lundgren simply said, "I like it."
He added that he feels lighter now,
and that a plant-based bodybuilding diet is more fun
than boring chicken and rice.
"You can have a little more fun with your diet as a vegan,
"you can have those Beyond Burgers," he said.
The Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr.
tried a $50 chicken nugget during a recent segment
on the future of the meat industry.
"We all know that Americans love the hamburger,"
the segment opened,
"but now, scientists are trying to cancel beef."
Wood sits down with Michael Pollan, author of the 2006 book
The Omnivore's Dilemma.
The food expert says that eating beef
is as harmful as burning fossil fuels.
"While we can't convert the energy system
"to sustainable alternatives, we can all
"slightly modify our diet."
Wood pushes back with a slippery slope argument,
"Asking people to eat less meat
"to lower their carbon footprint devolves
"into making meat illegal, underground meat markets,
"and the next thing you know,
"you're sucking (beep) for a Baconator behind a Walgreens."
Pollan suggests trying plant-based burgers
to stave off meat cravings.
"There's this new generation of
"very sophisticated food science," Pollan explains,
"which makes vegan burgers look at taste
"like the real thing."
The Daily Show correspondent sets out
to determine which burger is better,
a traditional farting cow burger
or the stupid nasty (beep) plant sandwich.
But, it turns out he can't tell the difference.
Frightened by food tech,
he claims that he needs to find real meat
that isn't bad for the environment.
That lands him at San Francisco-based headquarters for JUST,
where he tried a cultured chicken nugget,
slaughter-free meat grown from real animal cells.
Wood is skeptical of CEO and founder Josh Tetrick's
explanation of the process, but Tetrick insists,
"When you taste it, you're gonna see,
"this is real meat without the consequences
"that come from killing lots of animals."
The Daily Show comedian agrees
to try the cultured chicken nugget,
and is sold on the taste.
At the moment, a single cultured chicken nugget costs $50,
but JUST is working on making the process scalable.
Coming up, New Jersey bans shark fin sales.
The Canadian Food Agency shut down three
major slaughterhouses following an E. coli outbreak.
Activists have also accused the Toronto-based meat packers
of cruelty to animals.
Ryding-Regency Meat Packers, Canadian Select Meats Inc.,
and The Beef Boutique Inc., lost their licenses
after giving false or misleading information
about the E. coli lab results.
Following the outbreak, major supermarkets
were forced to pull products from their shelves.
Walmart, FoodLand, and Whole Foods stopped selling
nearly a thousand types of beef and veal.
Beef Farmers of Ontario, which represents the province's
19,000 beef farmers, said the closures are
a major blow for the beef sector in Ontario.
Additionally, Animal Save Movement, a global network of
groups who document animals within the food system,
exposed horrific animal cruelty violations
at Ryding-Regency via hidden cameras.
Armaiti May, a California-based veterinarian
who watched the footage, told The Star,
"I was horrified to see fully-conscious, alert cows
"writhing and flailing in agony
"as the blood drained from their slit throats."
New Jersey has banned the sale and trade of shark fins.
The process of finning a shark
is illegal in U.S. waters, however,
the import and sale of shark fin from elsewhere
remains legal across several states.
"This critical law will ensure
"that the ecologically wasteful and cruel trade
"will be prohibited within New Jersey's borders,"
said Brian R. Hackett, New Jersey State Director
for the Humane Society of the United States.
Shark finning involves pulling sharks from the water,
cutting off their fins, and then throwing them
back into the water.
Most sharks then either drown or bleed to death.
The process is not only cruel,
but it's driving sharks to extinction.
According to the Humane Society,
around 73 million fins are traded every year.
Sharks are being killed 30% faster
than they can reproduce.
Like New Jersey, 13 states have banned
the sale of shark fin, including California and Illinois.
It could soon become illegal in every state.
The federal Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act
recently passed the United States House of Representatives.
It now moves on to the Senate.
Las Vegas-based restaurant Tacotarian
has launched the largest vegan taco in the universe.
According to the business, it already serves
the largest selection of vegan tacos in the universe,
so it decided to go one step further
and add the world's biggest vegan taco to the menu.
The gian vegan taco measures seven inches long
by seven inches wide, and is stuffed with vegan protein,
French fries, beans, vegan cheese, crema, and pico de gallo.
"We've definitely succeeded in getting people
"excited about vegan food,"
Tacotarian managing partner Kristen Corral said.
"Our social media is flooded with people
"posting pictures of it and coming back
"multiple times with friends.
"It's not just vegans raving about the new menu item,
"but meat eaters, too," Corral continued.
"Most of our customer base isn't plant-based,
"they just love having healthier versions of Mexican food
"that doesn't lack any of the flavor."
While originally a monthly special for November,
Tacotarian will keep it on the secret menu
for a few months due to its popularity.
Coming up, Stella McCartney launches a new
vegan Stan Smith shoe.
Volkswagen unveiled a new electric car
featuring a vegan leather interior.
The Space Vizzion concept made its debut
at the Los Angeles Auto Show earlier this month.
As well as the vegan interior, Volkswagen ditched chrome
in favor of chrome-like paint.
Chrome tanning was invented in 1858
and quickly became popular due to its low price.
However, chrome has dire impacts on the planet.
Space Vizzion is currently just a concept,
but the German automaker says it will launch the vehicle
to market in the next few years,
including a wagon-like shape for European markets
and an SUV-inspired model for the United States.
60% of Scotland's dairy farmers believe
the industry is suffering.
A recent survey revealed that 60% are not so confident,
or not at all confident, about the future of the industry.
According to Kite Consulting, many of Scotland's dairy farms
have been cash-negative for a while,
and some are on the edge of shutting down.
A poll taken at The Oxford Farming Conference
earlier this year found that 40% of attendees
believe vegan food is the future.
Journalist and farmer Darragh McCullough wrote that
"It's time for the farming community
"to get their head around veganism."
He continued, "Farmers need to stop claiming
"that if we had to rely on vegans to feed the world,
"we'd all go hungry.
"It's a lame attempt to ignore the real point.
"Equally, claims that you cannot get enough nutrients
"from a vegan diet ignores the fact
"that a big chunk of the world's population
"in places like India have effectively been living
"off a vegetarian diet for centuries."
Stella McCartney and Adidas have launched
a second pair of vegan Stan Smith sneakers.
Similar to the original design,
the new version of the eco-friendly trainers
includes brightly-colored rainbow laces.
The two brands first collaborated
on a pair of vegan Stan Smiths last year.
They were a hit with many, including
celebrities Emma Thompson, Madonna,
and Stella's dad, Sir Paul McCartney.
According to the designer,
it was her own love of Stan Smiths
that brought about the initial collaboration.
"A few years ago, my husband commissioned Adidas
"to make me a special pair of vegetarian Stan Smiths
"for my birthday, as he knew how much
"I love the iconic trainer.
"It got me thinking.
"Every time I saw the Adidas team, I'd say
'Why can't you make all your Stan Smiths veggie?'"
After much convincing, Adidas agreed
to make McCartney's dream come true
and collaborate on vegan Stan Smiths.
According to the designer, the end product
brought her a whole new consumer base.
"So many young people came into our stores
"to inquire about the Stan Smith," she explained,
"asking questions about what the trainer was made with,
"telling our staff about why it was important to them
"to choose a vegan shoe over a leather one,
"and what it represented.
"This is the future."
James Wilks, retired English mixed martial artist
and star of the 2018 vegan documentary The Game Changers,
recently sat down with comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan
to discuss criticisms of the film.
They discussed veganism for nearly four hours.
Wilks and Rogan were joined by health coach
Chris Kresser, who raised concerns with the film
on a previous episode, accusing it of
being full of misleading statements, half-truths,
flat-out falsehoods, flawed logic, and absurdities.
During the discussion, Wilks passionately defended
the documentary against Kressor's criticisms,
including his claim that there was zero evidence
that B12 was fed to cattle through supplements.
After showing evidence that B12 is indeed fed to cattle,
Wilks said to Kressor, more than an hour into the debate:
- You said there was no evidence
that cattle are given B12, and you said
that all my statements were absolutely false.
Do you at least admit that you were wrong there?
- [Narrator] In a recent post on Instagram,
Rogan explained that Wilks defended his point so well
he was considering taking the original discussion down.
He wrote, "James knocked it out of the park
"and defended himself and the film quite spectacularly.
"So much so, that I'm actually considering
"taking the original breakdown of the film offline."
That's it for today.
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