Henry Firth - BOSH! How to Live Vegan

CONTENTS

Wed like to dedicate this book to you. The very fact that you have this book in your hands is proof that you care greatly about the planet and all its inhabitants. Its people like you who are going to make a difference and, ultimately, change the world.

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by

HQ, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

Copyright Henry Firth & Ian Theasby 2019

Henry Firth & Ian Theasby assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition 2019 ISBN: 9780008349974

Version: 2019-09-12

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

www.harpercollins.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Canada

Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower

22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor

Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada

www.harpercollins.ca

India

HarperCollins India

A 75, Sector 57

Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201 301, India

www.harpercollins.co.in

New Zealand

HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand

Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive

Rosedale 0632

Auckland, New Zealand

www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF, UK

www.harpercollins.co.uk

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

195 Broadway

New York, NY 10007

www.harpercollins.com

At my lowest point, I was running a company that had raised millions of pounds, but I wasnt happy. My silicon dream had become a silicon nightmare. Around then, I took a trip to Japan to try to gain some clarity, and while I was there, I realised I needed to change my focus to make my mind healthy again. I rediscovered meditation, reading, exercise and a worklife balance. On returning to the UK, I took the decision to act more responsibly with regards to my personal health, and to find a meaningful purpose to my life. I wanted to use my skills to help the planet and, specifically, to help stop climate change in whatever way I could.

At the time, I was working with a close friend of mine, Ian. He went through all those dark times at work with me, and we not only worked together but also shared a house. Then one day he went vegan. I thought it was ridiculous. I made fun of him all the time. I was that guy. I had a freezer full of high-welfare meat and a personal trainer that had me on a high-fat ketogenic diet. I wasnt going to eat his dubious-looking curries.

Then I watched a documentary Cowspiracy that changed everything. I went vegan overnight. With the help of some friends, Ian and I set up our video channel, BOSH.TV, to show the world how to cook plant-based meals that meat eaters would love, and before long wed had a billion views and were two-time Sunday Times bestselling authors.

Now we are regularly called upon to talk about vegan food on TV, radio and at live events. And we love to share what we know and how we feel. But we think its also important to recognise that we each have our own opinions, patterns and issues.

To us, eating vegan food is the proverbial plaster that we can personally stick on the broken planet to help it heal. But we know its not that black and white. My dad was the first to let me know that flying to America a couple of times a year can generate as much carbon as being vegan can save. His choice to eat just a bit of meat every now and again, combined with his love of seasonal and locally grown vegetables, and a lifestyle which involves very little air travel, is an environmentally friendly choice that works for him.

But however we look at it, the way most of us are eating now is not OK. The way we farm and make food is destroying the planet, the rainforests and our health, and it is causing huge suffering for billions of animals.

The topic of food is a huge one and our habits are all so ingrained in us around the world that it can be hard to imagine a different system from the one we currently live in. Yet, we are at a place in our history where we are lucky enough to be able to choose what we eat in fact, there has never been so much choice! And with this choice comes the responsibility to make informed decisions.

We arent preachy, holier-than-thou people, and this book wont be filled with propaganda and made-up facts. As Northern sons of meat eaters, surrounded by meat eaters, who were brought up eating meat, were going to show you why and how we went vegan. Were going to walk you through why we chose to live a vegan life, and why eating vegan, whether its a few times a week or every day, could literally help you to save the planet, feel amazing and live longer.

Whoever you are, wherever you are on your journey, we respect you, and we trust that youll make your own informed decisions (even if theyre different to ours) on how to live vegan.

Meat is what most people are brought up on. Eating it doesnt make you a bad person. And not eating meat, being veggie or vegan, doesnt make you a good person.

Henry and I remember the taste of meat well. We loved steak and roast dinners, and theres no question that burgers taste great. My mum is the daughter of a farmer. Our families and friends from home still eat meat and we still love them all dearly.

Our families definitely did not expect us to be running a vegan cooking channel, and theyre always asking us why we went vegan. In this book is the answer to that. Mum, this book is for you!

We stopped eating animal products over four years ago. Since then weve built the biggest plant-based online video channel and written two bestselling cookbooks, showing people how to make delicious meals that taste even better than meat!