Benjamin enthralled our group when he told us his story of how he
became vegetarian. He explained that when he was 11 years old, he
often found himself alone in the playground as nobody wanted to play
with the only black kid in school. One day he noticed a cat that
had slipped through the school railings onto the playground and they
duly became firm friends. The cat would be there to greet him every
day and frequently brought other animal friends along to meet Benjamin.
Later when his mother served him a meat dish he made the link with
his animal friends and the food on his plate and announced to his
mum that he no longer wanted to eat meat as his best friends were
animals.
By the time Benjamin was thirteen years old he
had become increasingly concerned about the cruelty involved
in the dairy industry and
stopped eating all dairy products. He had never heard of the word
Vegan until
one day when he was with a school trip and ice-creams were on offer.
Benjamin declined the ice cream and another boy announced that
Benjamin didn’t eat ice cream because he was “a Vegan”.
Thinking this was yet another racist comment Benjamin was just about
to punch the boy who he thought had insulted him when another boy
said “That wasn’t a bad thing to say - being a Vegan’s
a good thing” and went on to explain the definition to Benjamin.
Gillian Merron announced that she had been vegetarian for a long
time and Benjamin teased her by saying that all vegetarians are really
just frustrated vegans! It was said in the nicest possible way but
I think it has given all the vegetarians in our group some food for
thought!
After a delightful meal at the Pimento Tea Rooms,
most of us went on to see Benjamin perform some of his poetry
at the Lincoln Drill
Hall. As he came on stage he said “You know you’re getting
old when you go out to buy slippers” ….. “I arrived
in Lincoln last night and discovered I was still wearing my slippers
and hadn’t brought any shoes! ….. I did consider going
out today to buy some new shoes but as I only shop ethically and
am very careful about what I buy … I just decided to keep my
slippers on!” And so Benjamin must have become the first celebrity
to perform to an audience of 300 people wearing his slippers! This
didn’t deter him from giving an outstanding performance and
he finished off the night with a rendition of “Talking Turkeys”.
Media Coverage
The Lincolnshire Echo wrote a special full page feature for National
Vegetarian Week including an interview with Benjamin Zephaniah,
vegetarian recipes and a list of our group’s events.
BBC Radio Lincolnshire held a vegetarian 10 minute cookery challenge
for three of their lunchtime programmes. As well as the delicious
recipes, they gave information about the nutritional, ethical and
environmental reasons for being a vegetarian.
Group Meal and Walk at Whisby Nature Park
National Vegetarian Week drew to an end with fifteen members of the
group joining up for a delicious meal at Whisby Nature Park on
Sunday 24th May. This was followed by a very enjoyable work around
the park on what must have been one of the warmest days of the
year so far.
Rosalyn Spencer
Chair Lincoln Vegetarian & Vegan Group
