People shift towards plant-based diets for many reasons: health, the environment, zoonotic diseases, and concern for animals. But which of these reasons actually justify a fully plant-based food system? In this episode, we explore this question with Imke de Boer, professor of Livestock & Sustainable Food Systems and author of Past het dier nog op ons bord?  (“Does the Animal Still Belong on Our Plate?”). We discuss common objections to a 100% plant-based food system, often raised by animal farmers and agricultural scientists, including the role of animals in manure production, the use of residual streams, and the claim that pasture land cannot be used for crops. Finally, we talk about why education matters and why reconnecting food production and consumption is crucial for future food systems. Curious to learn more?

You can find Imke's book here: Past het dier nog op ons bord? | 9789056159054 | Imke de Boer | Boeken | bol

Do cows have agency? What does "agency" actually mean? And do technologies in dairy farms and sanctuaries limit or enhance cows' agency?

Koen Kramer, animal ethicists answers these questions after doing multispecies ethnographic research on various dairy farms and a sanctuary. What did he find out? And how did his research influence his own perspective on dairy products?

We discuss these questions and many more topics in this episode of Lettuce Talk.

Koen also published his research in the scientific journal "animal". You can read his paper here: Dairy farming technologies and the agency of cows - ScienceDirect

Last time, we talked about the history of industrialised animal farming and the history of animal feed. This time, we cover the influence of antibiotics on industrial farming. How did antibiotics contribute to industrial farming? Were people in the past aware of issues regarding antibiotic resistance? And which role did feed companies play in lobbying for antibiotics?

Industrial large-scale animal farming is producing the vast majority of animal products in our supermarkets. But how did it emerge? And how is its emergence related to compound feed? Was there resistance to this development already in the past? And what was the role of lobbying companies?

In this episode, we dive into these questions with historian Dr. Floor Haalboom (Utrecht University).

Make sure to check out the other interesting podcasts at iroarpod.com

Can you be a vegan and a chicken farmer at the same time? Listen to the story of Ruud Zanders, who is the founder of the Kipster egg farm and aspires to live in a vegan world. In this episode, Ruud will tell us about why he founded the Kipster farm, which problems there are with chicken farming even under the best conditions, and what farmers and vegans can learn from each other.

Lettuce Talk is part of the iRoar network: iroarpod.com

Imagine your cat could talk to you and tell you whether she enjoyed her life with you or farmed animals could verbalise their suffering in human language. What sounds like science-fiction may soon be reality. Together with communication scientist Maarten Reesink, we explore the possibilities and dangers of using AI to facilitate human-nonhuman animal communication.

Further reading: Karen Bakker - The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants

Lettuce Talk is part of the iRoar network: https://iroarpod.com/ Make sure to check out the other interesting podcasts there as well!

We sat down with Pablo Moleman from ProVeg to dive into how strategic campaigning can drive meaningful institutional change! Pablo shares insights into ProVeg’s recent successes, including the campaign to include plant-based milks in the EU school milk scheme, the launch of the Eiweet Protein Tracker for Dutch supermarkets, the Veggie Challenge, and more. Plus, we explore the exciting potential of creating plant-based campuses at universities and what that could mean for the future of food systems!

0:00 - Introduction

3:42 - The pillars of effective campaigning

9:47 - Eiweet / Protein Tracker

23:54 - The potential of plant-based universities

26:55 - Plant milk in the EU school scheme

30:33 - Politics and polarization

37:40 - The future of ProVeg

42:41 - What can vegan students do?

47:23 - Pablo's key takeaways

Is veganism a religion? Can one be both vegan and Muslim? What does "dominion" really mean? In this thought-provoking episode of Lettuce Talk, we are joined by Ruben Venema, a VSA member and philosophy student, to delve into these intriguing questions. We discuss several religions - Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism - and their teachings about animals and how to treat them.

Most of us grew up watching Disney movies featuring lots of animal characters. But what is problematic about the way Disney portrays animals? How did the portrayal of animals change over time? And why is Remi from Ratatouille so much better than Mickey Mouse? In this episode, media scientist Maarten Reesink answers these questions and tells us about the history of human-animal studies. In this episode, we explore how animals are portrayed in audio-visual media, like the Tulkun in Avatar 2, cat videos on Instagram, or happy cows in dairy commercials.

Timestamps:

0:00 - What are human-animal studies?

6:10 - A brief history of animals in media

19:20 - How are animals portrayed?

25:00 - Animals: bad guys or victims?

35:50 - How should animals be portrayed?

43:36 - Case study: Avatar

50:35 - Farmed animals in film

1:09:30 - Animals in ads

1:21:30 - Maarten’s favorite movie

In this episode, we sit down with animal scientist Maite van Gerwen. We discuss so-called 'pest animals', why they are seen as pests, and how to manage them in an animal-friendly manner!