In this episode, we sit down with Maite van Gerwen, animal scientist and director of CAS International, the international committee against bullfighting! We discuss what people might not know about bullfighting, how the practice is held in place as 'cultural heritage', and why public perception of bullfighting has been changing.

What can YOU do about this? Sign these petitions:

https://www.bloodfiestas.org/en

https://www.animanaturalis.org/nobullfightingbailout

Update: Right after recording this episode, a Mexican court decided that bullfights can continue again until the case is closed. See more information here: https://www.animanaturalis.org/n/46602/polemica-resolucion-de-la-suprema-corte-revierte-la-prohibicion-de-corridas-de-toros-en-la-plaza-mexico

1:02 - What happens in bullfighting?

10:35 - Blood fiestas

16:00 - Government subsidies

18:09 - How is public perception changing?

23:40 - Bullfighting as cultural heritage

26:35 - 'Emergency slaughter'?

29:48 - Why are people cheering?

31:45 - The human rights case against this

35:26 - Education is the answer

38:08 - What can we do?

Golden Retriever steak, fried Chihuahua, and Dachshund hot dogs... Doesn't it sound delicious? Today we're joined by new-on-the-scene dog meat company Konink Hondenvlees! CEO Vincent Konink prides himself on his high-quality, organic, humane dog meat and talks about what it's like to break into the Dutch market. He will also join us in a discussion about reverse psychology activism, but that is completely unrelated of course...

Every child learns: the cow says moo. But what do they actually say? And how can we communicate with cows? In this episode of Lettuce Talk, Leonie Cornips, professor of Linguistics is our guest and tells us more about her research topic: the communication of cows. We are discussing how to understand cows' communication, how to communicate with cows as a human, and what the societal implications are when we learn to see cows as social, communicative beings.

Who doesn't like to travel?

But do you know how to do it in the most responsible way possible? Most of us are aware of the environmental impact of air travel, but there are many other downsides to tourism that we don't usually think about, especially when it comes to our beloved animals. In this episode, we look at sustainable tourism and animal welfare and discuss which activities are considered unethical and why. We hope you enjoy it!

If you encounter the abuse of captive wild animal while travelling, you can report it here: https://www.bornfree.org.uk/red-flag-report

When thinking of how to do the most good for animals, going vegan is probably one of the first things that come to your mind. But there are even more things that you can do for the animals. Maybe you already wondered which career you should choose or which charity you could donate to in order to do the most good for the animals. Today we will answer and discuss these questions with our guest Felix, who quit his job as a journalist to follow his passion, mathematics, and ended up as a consultant, which allows him to donate more than 20.000€ per year for carefully selected charities.

See here soem further links to the websites we discussed during this episode:

Animal Charity Evaluators: https://animalcharityevaluators.org/

Giving What We Can: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/

Doneer Effectief: https://doneereffectief.nl/

The new academic year has started, and the new podcast committee is going to present themselves and their plan for the next months! Also, we talk about short track horse racing as the student association of veterinary medicine organised such a race at the so-called Maliebaandag. In this episode, we dig into this event and the moral concerns that arise with it.

In this two-parter, we talk about frequently asked questions about, reactions to and arguments against veganism and our life of being vegan. Now, we focus on sinning, ethics and taste: “Surely, you will eat meat like the rest of us during the holidays? It’s only one time a year.”, “If you were on a deserted island, and there were only animals to eat, would you?”. How happy are cows really when they are being killed? That and much more. 

In this episode, we talk about frequently asked questions about, reactions to and arguments against veganism and our life of being vegan.  In this episode we focus on the logistics: “I could never be vegan.”, “is honey vegan?” and many more questions. Because all the questions and topics couldn’t fit in one episode, is this only part 1.

In the first episode of 'Lettuce Talk' we will be delving into the history of veganism. Did we really mostly eat meat in the past? Where does the term "veganism" originate? What does the future have in store for us? And who were the first vegans? That and much more in this episode of 'Lettuce Talk'!