Are vegans being hypocritical? Is Israel really the most vegan place in the world? What is vegan washing? And, what exactly does it mean to be vegan as it relates to all of this?

In this conversation, Diana Edelman and Palestinian vegan Waseem Hijazi discuss the intersection of veganism and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

They explore the challenges of being an intersectional vegan and the criticism faced when speaking out about social justice issues beyond animal rights. They also highlight the hypocrisy within the vegan community and the need for accountability.

The episode highlights the need for vegans to speak up against the oppression and violence faced by Palestinians and not use animal rights as a justification for it. The discussion also touches on the role of the vegan community in advocating for justice and the dangers of vegan washing and platforming individuals who defend the Israeli regime. The conversation concludes with a call to action to support the liberation of all oppressed nations.

References:

• 2014 - ⁠Former IOF soldier about the most moral army⁠
• 2016 - ⁠Vegan Revolution before and after Gary Yourofsky⁠
• 2018 - ⁠Apartheid wall affects the animals too⁠
• 2020 - ⁠Weapon testing on animals⁠
• 2023 - ⁠90% of animals in Gaza killed or starved⁠

About Waseem Hijazi:

Waseem Hijazi is a Palestinian vegan food blogger and recipe developer. He's the founder of ⁠Plant Based Arab⁠, where he documents the traditional naturally-vegan Arabic recipes and teaches how to veganize the meat-and-dairy based cultural dishes. His mission is to make it easier for Arabs to make the switch towards a plant based diet, and introduce (or remind) vegans around the world of the vegan Arab cuisine. During his own journey in learning about veganism and the importance of advocating for animal liberation, he began realizing the connection of oppression - as it relates to the endless injustice we witness (or even sometimes contribute to) within our life. This eventually led to also learning about how animal rights can sometimes be abused to justify the oppression of other living beings - which goes against the basis of veganism: anti-speciesism.

Recognizing the effect this has on everyone - humans, animals, and all that this planet inhabits - has become a major part in Waseem's efforts to educate about the dangers of Vegan Washing, highlighting the Israeli occupation's role in that, and what we (as vegans) should be doing to stop it.

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⁠Plant Based Arab⁠

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What happens when you're a collegiate athlete who struggles with diet culture and an eating disorder and then become a chef? Emily Hersh, a chef featured on "Hell's Kitchen" season 20, joins host Diana Edelman to talk all things about weight, including eating disorders, fatphobia, toxic kitchens, working with celeb chef Gordon Ramsey and so much more.

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⁠⁠https://instagram.com/thedianaedelman⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://tiktok.com/@thedianaedelman⁠⁠

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⁠⁠https://youtube.com/c/dianaedelmanhosts⁠⁠

⁠⁠vegansbaby.com⁠⁠

Follow Emily Hersh:

⁠https://www.instagram.com/_chefemilyhersh⁠

⁠Eating My Feelings⁠

About Emily:

Emily is a Houston-based, Manhattan-trained plant-forward chef. She is known for taking regular dishes and transforming them into creative yet simple eats where the vegetable is the star. At just 22, she was handpicked to compete on ⁠Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen⁠ with Gordon Ramsay and finished as a top 7 finalist.

Cooking means more to Emily than just creating. She discovered her love of cooking through recovering from an eating disorder. Through plant-based cooking, she understood that food is something that can be used to help others thrive holistically. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a community health and wellness specialization, Emily attended The Natural Gourmet Institute NYC.

​

Emily has experience in restaurants, food media, recipe development, and hosting. She ​has been mentored by culinary experts such as Gordon Ramsay, Amanda Cohen, Michelin Star Chef Owner of ⁠Dirt Candy⁠ and Iron Chef Canada, and ⁠Jason Dady⁠, successful restaurateur and chef featured on Iron Chef America.

Emily has a YouTube Series called "⁠The Self-Help Chef⁠". Emily and her guests, both friends and experts in the health and wellness field, talk candidly and openly about everything health and wellness while cooking a plant-based dish. Some of the dishes they have cooked include Creamy Gnocchi in Vodka Sauce, ​Mini Hand Rolls, and Indian Curry with a Fragrant Homemade Curry Paste.

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On this episode of Emergency Drinks with host Diana Edelman, PhD student in clinical psychology and a queer, reconstructionist Jewish woman, Katherine (Katie) Bogen joins the conversation to talk about unraveling the indoctrination of Zionism and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The two share their experiences being raised Jewish and participating in Birthright, their indoctrination into Zionism and unlearning the propaganda they were taught. They discuss Palestinian life before Oct. 7 and the oppression and apartheid, as well as the genocide and how and why the speak out, along with the backlash from the Zionist Jewish community.

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⁠https://threads.com/thedianaedelman⁠

⁠https://youtube.com/c/dianaedelmanhosts⁠

⁠vegansbaby.com⁠

Follow Katherine Bogen:

⁠@k.w.bogen⁠

⁠@sexualityscholar⁠

⁠https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JqtFwYQAAAAJ&hl=en⁠

About Katherine:

Katherine (Katie) Bogen is a PhD student in clinical psychology and a queer, reconstructionist Jewish woman. She supports abuse survivors in achieving joyful, consensual, and fully-embodied intimate lives. Beyond her (widely published) academic work, Katie organizes international feminist psychology conferences, speaks at national political campaign events, and shares her storytelling, poetry, and social criticisms with millions on Instagram and TikTok. Raised in an American Jewish household by the son of a Holocaust survivor, Katie has spent a decade interrogating Zionism and building community with anti-carceral human rights activists worldwide. She holds a BA in Political Science with a focus on comparative politics and grassroots social movements and an MA in clinical psychology, emphasizing evidence-based trauma treatments. Katie integrates anti-carceral, anti-racist, and anti-colonial feminist principles into her activism, clinical work, and scholarship. She is committed to the full political enfranchisement of Palestinians and Jews, from the river to the sea and around the globe.

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The pandemic isn't over, although most people have moved on with their lives. Epidemiologist Dr. Katrine Wallace joins Emergency Drinks host Diana Edelman to discuss her experience during the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of communicating science to the public as she rose to popularity on social media. She talks about the initial response to the pandemic, the spread of misinformation, and the surprising backlash against public health measures. The in-depth chat also addresses the role of the vegan community in spreading vaccine misinformation and the importance of evidence-based information. The two also tackle mask-wearing, community mindset, bird flu and the rise of raw milk, and more.

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https://threads.com/thedianaedelman

https://youtube.com/c/dianaedelmanhosts

vegansbaby.com

About Dr Katrine Wallace:

Dr. Wallace holds a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and has ⁠professional experience⁠ and expertise in epidemiology, research design, biostatistics, and science communication.

She is currently an Epidemiologist and faculty member at ⁠University of Illinois Chicago, School of Public Health⁠. Dr. Wallace is also an adjunct Lecturer at the ⁠Thomas Jefferson University College of Population Health⁠.

She is also known as science communicator "Dr Kat" on her popular social media channels where she debunks medical misinformation and educates on epidemiology, vaccines, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

​

Dr Wallace is a member of several science communication initiatives, such as: "⁠Team Halo⁠" (United Nations) and Project FIDES (World Health Organization). She was recognized by the UK Government as a "⁠Vaccine Luminary⁠" science communicator at the 2021 G7 Vaccine Confidence Summit.

Dr. Wallace has also been featured as an ⁠opinion contributor ⁠and has been interviewed or ⁠profiled⁠ in several mainstream media outlets such as: ⁠MSNBC⁠, ⁠CNN⁠, ⁠BBC World News⁠,⁠The Washington Post⁠, ⁠The New York Times⁠, ⁠Bloomberg⁠, and ⁠National Public Radio⁠.

​

She lives in Chicago and is an avid roller skater and vintage vespa scooter collector.

Follow Dr. Kat:

https://www.tiktok.com/@epidemiologistkat

https://www.instagram.com/epidemiologistkat/

https://www.epidemiologistkat.com/

​

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On the premiere episode of Emergency Drinks, host Diana Edelman brings on friend Tamar Arslanian to discuss life as a single woman with no children living in NYC and the choice not to have children. Or was it a choice? The two delve into the realities of not having children -- both good and bad -- and share some shocking statistics about both having and not having children.

Tamar Arslanian is the founder of Flirting with Vegan, a NYC-based vegan food tour business. Somewhat ironically, Tamar became a vegetarian because of her cats (obligate carnivores). The arbitrary nature of animals we eat versus those we keep as pets hit her one evening while enjoying rabbit ragu at a popular West Village restaurant. It dawned on her mid-bite that her cherubic cat Petie was only two floppy ears and a cotton ball tail away from being ragu himself. She wrote about her awakening on her blog I HAVE CAT, single in the city with cats. Her blog caught the attention of an agent and resulted in her book “Shops Cats of New York,” published by HarperCollins. All along while working in the dog eat dog world of New York City advertising. Tamar is a 20+ year resident of Manhattan and shares her home with her three rescue cats Haddie, Gus and Houdini and a rotating cast of foster cats.

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https://facebook.com/vegansbaby
https://www.vegansbaby.com

Follow Tamar:
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https://instagram.com/ihavecat
https://tiktok.com/flirtingwithvegan
https://www.flirtingwithvegan.com

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Diana Edelman introduces her new podcast, Emergency Drinks, and shares her motivation for starting it. She discusses her background as the founder of Vegans Baby and her desire to expand her content beyond just food. Diana explains the concept of 'emergency drinks' and how it became a safe space for her and her coworker to have open and judgment-free conversations. She expresses her vision for the podcast as a platform to discuss various topics, including veganism, travel, human rights, and more.

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Welcome to Diana's new podcast, Emergency Drinks. Check out the basics of this new baby and be sure to follow to get the latest episodes delivered straight to you on whatever streaming platform you use.

Be sure to follow along:
@thedianaedelman - Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Pinterest
www.vegansbaby.com for all the vegan goodness from where to eat, what food to buy at the grocery, where to travel, brands that are vegan and much more!

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Jessica Schoech is the founder and CEO of Vegan Street Fair and Vegan Exchange, two wildly popular vegan events based out of North Hollywood, Calif.

Throughout Vegan Street Fair's history, Jessica has strived to make veganism accessible to as many people as possible while encouraging veteran and new vendors to push the envelope of vegan cuisine & the vegan lifestyle. It is Jessica's goal to continue to push veganism to the mainstream while advocating on behalf of those who need it most.

On today's episode Jessica and I talk about how she created Vegan Street Fair and its massive success over the years, plus her work to make vegan life more approachable and the the depth of veganism -- from animals to humans.

Follow Vegan Street Fair on Instagram and Facebook. Learn more about Vegan Street Fair.

Follow Vegan Exchange on Instagram and Facebook. Learn more about Vegan Exchange.

Check out more episodes of The Good Fork: www.vegansbaby.com/the-good-fork

Subscribe to Diana's YouTube channel to get the latest on vegan dining scene in Las Vegas.

Follow Vegans, Baby on Facebook – www.facebook.com/vegansbaby
Follow Vegans, Baby on Instagram – www.instagram.com/vegansbaby
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Follow host Diana Edelman on Instagram – www.instagram.com/diana_edelman

To discover vegan dining around the world, head to Vegans, Baby – www.vegansbaby.com

Download or order The Las Vegas Vegan Dining Guide today and start eating at the best restaurants in town for vegan food! bit.ly/2020lvveganguide

Support the show (http://paypal.me/dianaedelman)

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