Welcome to my Propagation Station. 🌱 We grow mint and basil on our windowsills.
You too can grow your very own healthy, verdant herbs from the plastic packaged stuff – thus cutting down on the amount of packaging you bring into your home, and then have to recycle the soft plastic wrapper and plastic flower pot.
These two herbs grown from cuttings, at home, actually saved me last night, as I was scrabbling to think of something healthy to eat, too hot to shop, all I had … two courgettes, some @boldbeanco butter beans, Parmesan and Pine Nuts – and masses of Mint & Basil – result. 🌱🌱🌱
Did you spot me popping up on @everydayplastic? Follow this petition link to sign to ask the UK government to fix the UK’s plastic waste crisis: reduce single use plastic by 50% by 2025, ban waste exports, ban incinerators being built, and roll out a deposit return scheme. #PlasticFreeJuly and beyond
Big love
Ali x
(now can I have my shot glasses back? #Tequila)
~
Eco Style Notes 🥴
T-shirt : @rosannaprints
White undershirt : @stripeandstare
Belt : @elvisandkresse
Jeans : @ilovelowie
Vegan and Cruelty-Free Perfumes

Spring is in the air! Which scents remind you of this time of the year? I personally love the sweet smell of the first mow of the season, although last year, we went for the environmentally friendly #NoMow option, and I ended up losing my specs in the long grass and mowing over them! (but that’s another story…)
My own love of fragrances
My love of natural fragrances goes back to my childhood, playing dress-up, and spraying myself liberally and dramatically like a film star, with my Grandmother’s cut crystal glass atomiser perfume scent spray bottle.
And then my sister’s hippie boyfriend rocking up in wafts of patchouli oil, an aroma that if I catch it now, it’s a real Proustian moment, taking me back to my teenage years.
When it comes to fragrances now (the type you dab behind your ear, or gently to the inside of your elegant wrist) I can never make up my mind, so many thanks to Dolma vegan fragrances who have sent me a Discovery Box Set Of 12 Perfumes, both Vegan and Cruelty-Free to work my way through…
It can be tough deciding on a fragrance you like, especially when we are all so unique. Our skin type, moisture level and diet can apparently all play a role in how a fragrance interacts with our skin.
I’m slowly working my way through the twelve vegan perfumes, and have selected a couple of my favourites:
My selection from the 12 perfumes
I’m really loving the Sarabande, a romantic, soft floral scent of rose enhanced by the aromatic accents of geranium leaves on assertive wood notes of resinous cypress, earthy patchouli and soft amber. Perfect for a romantic night. (apparently, I’ll let you know how that goes!)

And my second selection is First Rain, a really beautiful scent, uplifting, with “this vegan perfume’s green balsamic notes of galbanum touched with whispers of jasmine, this earthy creation melds mind and nature.”
It’s a really ‘natural’ fragrance I enjoy wearing – would highly recommend!
So if you are looking to celebrate International Fragrance Day today, or Mother’s Day this weekend, do take a look at Dolma Fragrances – ? Vegan Perfumes and Colognes that have been around since 1982 ?No Parabens, Phthalates or Palm Oil.
Click here to find out more about vegan perfume, and here to follow them on instagram.
This post is written in collaboration with Dolma Fragrances and is as such an AD.

Ethical shoe brand Aspect Climate Projects
Chatting to Alex Ward, founder of aspect climate projects

Ali Clifford, had a chat with ethical shoe brand ‘aspect climate projects’ founder, Alex Ward as part of the incredibusy #MeetTheCreative series.
The ethical shoe brand is on a quest to inspire change in the footwear industry.
One that helps to create shoes better for the Earth, and better for your feet.
They have created a range of unisex, plant-based shoes that have had each and every component independently tested for its impact on the climate and biodiversity.
No other shoe brand has gone to this level of detail to ensure its environmental credentials and transparency.
What is your mission?
Our aim is to make the most climate-conscious shoes possible, and we also want to be fully transparent so that customers are completely clear on every component that goes into our shoes and the impact that they have on the planet.
Is the appreciation for the environment enough these days?
It’s a really important start point and motivation for looking for solutions to climate change, but with it being a really complex issue I think each industry needs to look at it in its own way. For footwear, I think we need to improve the way we design but we also need to start selling in a more responsible way. Something we say a lot is that we didn’t set out to sell more shoes, we started to create better more ethical shoes, so it’s not about purely maximising sales, its about being more transparent and educational with our approach so customers understand exactly what goes into their footwear.

While there’s a tendency for companies to mark their own homework when it comes to sustainability, we partnered with Biodiversify, an independent conservation consultancy who looked at every material we used and it’s impact on biodiversity and the climate. They concluded that ‘aspect climate projects’ are “a gold standard example of how shoe design can truly consider environmental impact” and we openly share their findings on our website.
How did the idea of ‘aspect climate projects’ come about?
I grew up in the countryside and my parents managed a nature reserve, so I have always had an interest in environmental issues. Having worked in the footwear industry for many years I was aware of the damaging materials that were going into products, and I was growing increasingly frustrated at how the term ‘sustainable’ was being used for marketing purposes.
Nowadays, a lot of people want to “do their bit” to help the world and for me that meant using my experience within footwear to try and create positive change within the industry. So, while there have been a lot of positive changes going on recently, I felt that there was a real opportunity as a start-up to be really innovative about what we did because whilst bigger companies have quite strict cost structures and timelines, we didn’t have that so we were able to look at every material and think really innovatively about what we did.
I looked at the problem holistically, developing a design principle that considered every aspect of the shoe for its performance and impact on planetary well-being and this meant looking both inside and outside the shoe, considering all hidden components. I focused on looking for nature-based solutions, sourcing plant-based alternatives which delivered on sustainability while also being flexible and hard-wearing enough to be used in shoes, thus creating ‘aspect climate projects’.
What challenges did you face in the process?
Shoes are really complicated so for us the challenge was to find materials that delivered on sustainability whilst still giving us the performance that we required.

We partnered with companies such as Pinatex who make an pioneering hard-wearing alternative to leather that is made using discarded pineapple leaves, a by-product from the food industry. We found other traditional materials such as cork and natural rubber, and these fitted well with our ethos as the materials are harvested from their trees so they stay in the ground and continue to sequester CO2 as they grow.
However, for some materials like our padding and internal reinforcements we couldn’t find solutions within the footwear industry that we were happy with so we took inspiration from mattresses that use coconut fibres and natural latex padding. The waste coconut husk fibres combined with cork are used for internal components such as reinforcements and the footbed. These materials have durability, breathability and elasticity that provide long-lasting support and comfort, and through their, and the pineapple leaves, upcycling, we help to prevent the release of carbon through the normal disposal or burning. Using these by-products also means there is no need for any extra land, water or fertiliser during the growth phase and their purchase gives added income to farming communities, helping to sustain plant-based, decarbonising economies.
Finally, once we had found all of our materials, we worked through a lengthy process with our factory to try and find ways to integrate these materials into our ethical shoe brand product and get the performance that we needed.
Our shoes are crafted in Felgueiras Portugal
Using unorthodox materials is a challenge, so we’ve been fortunate to work with Pedro and his team at Tofel, who showed patience and dedication in finding solutions and help create a shoe we’re truly happy with.
They are a third-generation shoe-maker with a focus on quality over mass-production and strive to work with more sustainable materials. Also, being located at the centre of Portuguese shoe manufacturing, we are able to minimise shipping distances and further lower our carbon footprint; making them a perfect partner for aspect climate projects. So when you ask #WhoMadeMyShoes – we can tell you…*
You’re operating on a pre-order basis, why is that?
We wanted to ensure that all of our shoes have a home to go to from the start so we chose to work on a pre-order basis. This means that we only order the amount of materials needed and cuts out the need for ‘guessing’ what customers might buy which in turn minimises over-production and waste. We appreciate this means a longer wait for our customers to get their shoes but we would like our customers to make informed, considered purchase choices so we are proud to adopt this slow-fashion ethos and hope to be at the forefront of this in the footwear world. Any returned shoes will be re-distributed to customers on the waiting list who may have missed out on the pre-orders.

The delivery elements have also not been forgotten when it comes to acting in the best interests of the planet. The shoe box is made from FSC-certified post-consumer recycled cardboard and is fully recyclable and biodegradable, as is the tissue paper the shoes are wrapped in. The boxes are printed with vegetable-based inks and the shipping bags are made from a corn-based material that can be home-composted. Shipping itself is carried out worldwide via a carbon-neutral delivery service, and we work with Ecologi to offset one tonne of carbon for each pair sold. For context, a ‘typical’ sneaker creates 30-40kg of CO2 to produce and although our shoes would already be lower than this, we are offsetting 1000kg to help create more meaningful change.
To ensure maximum wear from each pair we have also partnered with ‘Sal’s Shoes’, a charity that donates shoes to people in need around the world. Customers who donate their worn ‘aspect climate projects’ shoes to this cause will receive a discount on their next pair.
What is your wish for the future?

I’m really happy with the first style that we have developed called ‘Suber’ (from the Latin name for a Cork Oak), and through the process of developing it I’ve noticed that a lot of the things that we are doing and the materials we are using, are extremely scaleable. Hopefully we are showing that things can be done differently and better so there is hope that the materials could become industry norms.
We’re aware that we are entering a market space full of claims about sustainability, but our message is gaining in momentum. We are proud to be doing things differently and for the lengths we have gone to to ensure full accountability and our hope is that we can continue researching, developing and designing more climate-conscious shoes.
‘aspect climate projects’ range is available worldwide in four colours exclusively on their website www.aspectclimateprojects.com until February 28th, follow them on instagram @aspectclimateprojects.
Further reading:
Better Shoes Foundation
A not-for-profit initiative to phase out harmful practices and fast-track sustainable development in the shoe industry www.bettershoes.org and on instagram @bettershoesfoundation
Fashion Revolution
Fashion Revolution* was founded in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013. Since then, they have grown to become the world’s largest fashion activism movement, mobilising citizens, brands and policymakers through research, education and advocacy. Find out more here.

Foot Work
Tansy E Hoskins’ Foot Work Book (What Your Shoes Tell You About Globalisation) is an essential read, now available in paperback. Check out Tansy’s writing here: tansyhoskins.org.
Easy but delicious Veggie or Vegan Sausage rolls
I had an urge for a veggie sausage roll… my mum used to make these at Christmas for me and my sister. I loved them, she used SosMix and puff pastry – and I’ve never managed to match the taste or the memory since.

I tried to buy SosMix locally to no avail and then I had a panic that the ready roll puff pastry, although vegan, contained Palm Oil. So gave up.
I tried the vegan sausage rolls from Greggs, but there was something not quite right about them, a bit greasy for my liking – and just not “homemade” enough.
Yesterday though I thought I’d try again as was feeling Christmassy with all my kids home, and the Christmas tree twinkling I consulted the vegan Christmas group I belong to and – love them – they came up with several recipe ideas for me.
Although the JusRol puff pastry does still contain Palm Oil, a little research illustrates that *General Mills only buy palm oil from RSPO members purchasing RSPO certified sustainable palm oil. This ensures that 100% of the palm oil we use comes from responsible and sustainable sources 🙂
So with that in mind, I took the puff pastry out of the packet, unrolled it flat and cut it in half length ways.
One of the ideas from my Vegan Christmas Group was to take the ‘skins’ off a certain brand of vegan sausage to make the sausage meat, mix it with stuffing and various herbs and spices.
So I took this idea and went ‘basic’ (lazy) with a pack of THIS plant-based sausages. Gently removed the skins from the six vegan sausages, mixed it all together in a bowl.
Then divided the sausage meat in half and place down the middle of each length of pastry.
Roll the pastry around the sausage meat. If you eat eggs, brush a little along the long edge, as a seal, or oat milk works just as well.
Pop these two long sausage rolls into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes whilst the oven warms to 220°C and then slice them into 12/14 mini sausage rolls. Paint them again with your egg or oat milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. And bake them for 20 mins, allow to cool for ten and then serve!
I am chuckling that the only photo I managed to get in daylight was the one lonely little sausage roll I asked my family to save me. I will definitely make these again though so will try to get some photos to update this makeshift blog post!
Big love to the following for prompting this blog post – mainly so I could share the Vegan sausage roll recipe, and sustainable Palm Oil news:
@retrorita.imreading
@littlepackofvegans
@jadesoar
@prickly.thistle
@janemtaylor66 and @melmartinphoto
And this is the Insta post that started the whole affair.
*https://www.generalmills.com/en/News/Issues/palm-oil-statement
Meet the Creative: Benjamin Zephaniah, talking trainers and veganism
This one’s a bit of a collaborative post – I was lucky enough to meet the creative Benjamin Zephaniah a few years ago, 2015, at a friend’s book launch. Benjamin Zephaniah wrote the forward for Margaret Rooke’s book Creative, Successful, Dyslexic: 23 High Achievers Share Their Stories, and we chatted about the Midlands, dyslexia, and veganism and admired each other’s outfits – his shoes and my dress.
My sons and nephews, are massive fans, and we all share the love his poem ‘talking turkeys‘, so I asked my nephew Zach Mayford if he’d like to prepare some questions for this interview.
And in turn, my friend Franklin Boeteng (@KingOfTrainers) interviewed Benjamin Zephaniah on my behalf, live backstage at the recording of the Sky Arts show Life & Rhymes. (pictured below)

There are so many good reasons to avoid animal products, especially now after we know how this deadly global pandemic has emerged… We just wanted to ask you, what do YOU think are the best THREE things about being vegan?
Well, I think the first great thing about being Vegan is that you’re really being good to a very important animal and that’s you – yourself.
For health reasons it’s actually a very good thing. Then you’re being good to all the other animals because you’re not killing them. Now, you know there are animals which kills each other for food, but we don’t need to. We can [live] perfectly well without it.
And then, it’s in the question really. You know, vegans when people say “oh these are unprecedented times” and all that stuff- they’re not. Vegans have been talking about this for years. We’ve been saying that this was going to happen. You know, ever since human beings started to round up animals, their saliva and urine, their liquids started to get on us, viruses started to pass from them to us.

They happen every year. We usually get on top of them but every now and again one escapes. So this is not new. When I hear people say “this is unprecedented times” or “unpredictable times” I say no, no, no! We saw this coming a long time ago. We’ve got to find a way of not just living in harmony with animals, but living in harmony with the earth. And a lot of people think this is a kind of new age thing.
Rasta man been talking about this for a long time. We’ve been talking about living with the earth, living in harmony, for a long time. So nature is giving us a warning– it’s giving us messages.
- As a show, Peaky Blinders resonated with so many people for so many reasons. One, perhaps more trivial reason was the show’s fashion sense, cultivated by costume designer Alison McCosh. Was there anything style-wise that you brought to your role as Jeremiah Jesus, and anything you took away?
Well, in Peaky Blinders, the way that the characters dress, is very different to the way I dress, I am a priest, and I am based on a real character – a lot of people don’t realise.
They think it’s fiction. A lot of the stories are fiction, but my character Jeremiah Jesus was a Jamaican person who fought in the First World War with a Battalion from Birmingham.
Most of the Caribbean/ West Indian regiments were just regiments themselves but for some reason this guy fought with the regiment from Birmingham.
He went back to Jamaica, and he missed his friends so much that he came back to Birmingham and mixed with the Peaky Blinders – so I wanted to stand out.
So we decided to have me black, and have the hat and everything- It’s interesting, I’ve been doing some some performing, and my hat is kind of Peaky Blinder-ish.
And I’m kind of self-conscious of it, because I don’t want people to think that I’m dressing like Peaky Blinders but you go to Birmingham and people dress like Peaky Blinders.
There’s a bar called ‘Peaky Blinders’ – there’s a drink called ‘Peaky Blinders’ and it has kind of renewed a new fashion sense in some people.
But not in me, you know I just dress the way I dress, my Mom dresses me basically.
There’s a guy called Dean Ricketts that dresses me sometimes.

- Bit of a throwback, but in a 2011 Telegraph interview you mentioned the importance of travelling with shoes to explore communities. How has the importance of shoes in walking and running changed with coronavirus restrictions?
Well, when the Coronavirus restrictions came into force, I really felt for people who were stuck in tower blocks. For people who could get out to walk, walking became really important.
I mean, if you are going to walk, then what you have on your feet is really important.
And it is easy to put on a pair of shoes or trainers and think they are comfortable, and actually they are only comfortable for five minutes. You start walking for ten minutes, and you’re in pain.
So your footwear is really really important. Have you got good tyres? Because that’s your contact with the road.
It’s like that, you know, your feet are your contact with the Earth
So you’ve got to have good footwear. So it’s important from that point of view.
But you know, it’s part of healthcare, to have good shoes.
You see people with mash-up toes, they’ve been wearing bad shoes.

- You’ve collaborated with animal rights groups like PETA in parallel to your human rights work and poetic activism. Do you see any crossover between the systems that oppress people and the systems that oppress animals?
For me, it is a similar system that oppresses human beings, that oppresses animals. You know, even if you take a thing like fox hunting.
During slavery, they used to get, they used to pick one of the slaves, and say, “we’ll give you a chance to run, and then we’ll hunt you down.”
This is the lust for blood that’s passed from one generation to the next.
It could be a fox it could be a deer, but if it’s not a fox or deer, it could be me or you!
The need to chase an animal down and kill it is grotesque, it’s evil. Live and let live.
One thing that frustrates me that when I started working using my poetry and working as an activist in the animal rights area in the human rights area, I was a bit frustrated by how it didn’t cross over.
You get people into animal rights and they never really bother with human rights and people who are into human rights would never really bother with animal rights, and I was always trying to make people aware that they are interconnected.
When the animals run out, they’ll come for us. Before they were doing animals, they were doing us. It’s a mentality that life is not important- they dehumanize you.
That’s why a lot of arrogant people say “oh, that person is like an animal.” And I say “which animal?“
I never in my whole life, I’m 62 years old and I’ve never come across an animal that formed an organisation called the BNP or UKIP, or something like that.
Animals killed for survival yes make sure to protect their territory that’s just natural instinct.
We don’t have to do that we can talk so when people say you know you “acting like an animal.”
I say, “Which animal? A butterfly?”
Life is important. It sounds a bit wishy-washy, a bit hippy, but LIFE is important. I’m not gonna go kill somebody for sport. Animal OR human.
- Is it true that you became vegan, or at least conscious of veganism, before you were even a teenager? What was it like trying to be vegan when you first started, and how have things changed since?
Well I went vegetarian at 11 and vegan at 13, I didn’t know what the word “vegan” meant.
The first time somebody called me a vegan, I went to hit him. I was going to fight him, I thought he was calling me the N word or something. I’d never heard that word before.
Vegan- I just decided that I didn’t want to eat animals, at that time, you called it “Ital.” I realised that we are the only animals that drink the milk of another animal.
We are the only animals that drink milk after we’ve grown up. Human beings are born lactose-intolerant- we just forced ourselves to tolerate lactose.
I had a conversation with my Mum, “where the beef come from?”
She said, “It come from the Shop.”
I asked her, “Where does the Shopkeeper get it from?”
She said, “The Shopkeeper get it from the Farmer.”
I said, “Where did the Farmer get it from?”
She said, “The Farmer get it from the Cow.”
I said, “Where the Cow get it from?”
She said, “Son, it IS the Cow!”
When she said “It is the cow!” I just went “STOP” and I was only 11, and I said “I don’t eat my friends” – I was living in a place at the time where as a black man I was being bullied and chased and hunted down. The things that left me alone were animals.
When people were eating the beings that were not hunting me down, it was very instinctive for me. I didn’t feel I was joining a tribe, I wasn’t being “trendy” or anything like that- I was just being true to myself.

- As someone who turned down an OBE to keep the word “empire” out of your name, how have you felt about the recent BLM protests and toppling of statues from Britain’s colonial past? What should Birmingham do about its statue of slave-linked James Watt?
Well I think that all the statues and monuments that have a connection to slavery should be dealt with case by case. There are some people who were related or inherited some slave money, there are other people who were slave ‘drivers’ – How far do you want to go?
You could have worked for a company that had business in slavery, years ago. If anybody you know worked in The Midland bank- well that bank was started through slavery.
What are you going to do? Go to them and say – take all your money back?
So it’s kind of, case by case. I don’t exactly know the story of James Watt, I know that he was involved in the Slave Trade. But I think we should investigate people like that.
If there are still legacies of their wealth like a family in Bristol did the other day, they said “well we are going to give half of our money to Black organisations, to help them develop.”
“Because we as a family have developed on the back of black people” – that’s a family being really honest about its wealth.
And it knows that and gives half of its money to Black people, that family is not going to starve.
So I think it’s a case by case situation. I think Colston, in Bristol for example, should go down, because slavery made that man – you know? And there are people like that, we should topple them down.
I think that people like Winston Churchill are very questionable. People have him like a hero, but Hitler killed six million Jews over something like seven years, and Winston Churchill allowed almost two million Bengalis to die in just one year.
It’s a very uncomfortable debate to have.
And the reason it’s really uncomfortable is not because of these family connections, that’s one thing. It’s just that the textbooks that we have in schools have to change.
When they sing “Rule Britannia”, Britannia doesn’t rule the waves anymore. “Britons never shall be slaves”- so who shall be the slaves then? This is the narrative we have to change.
- What do you think of the current trends in veganism and ethical lifestyles, and what hopes or expectations do you have for the future?
Well I think veganism and plant based diets that people are taking up now, it’s cool.
It’s a bit like, once upon a time Reggae music was really big, right, and it was really fashionable for every record company must have a spliff on the cover.
And then what happened? It became not so popular, and you see the true Reggae creators and the real true Rasta minded people.
Blues-based-rock was really popular once upon a time but most of those people have faded away but we still listen to people like Bowie and Rolling Stones, you know? So, everything has its moment.
And now veganism is having its moment. I’m not fooled by all of it, but I do think that there are some people that it will stay with them. They really mean it.
There are people that will return to another lifestyle, that’s up to them. We can’t judge anybody. All of us have things that we do, and things that we believe in, the important thing is that you stay true to yourselves.
If you are not being true to yourself, and you are just following the crowd, in my humble opinion.
You learn by your mistakes, and you listen to other people. That’s the best you can do in life.
With thanks to:
Franklin ‘King of Trainers’ Boeteng.
Find out more about Black History Month here
Find: Margaret Rooke’s Creative, Successful, Dyslexic: 23 High Achievers Share Their Stories at Waterstones here and if you’re interested, check out my recent review of Kate Power’s The bigger picture book of amazing dyslexics here.

Lockdown hashtag #sgiew_home challenge
Another wonderful hashtag challenge over on my #sgiew feature instagram account @SoGoodInEveryWay – this month, the theme is #sgiew_home.
We have a guest judge Phillippa at Duvet Hog.
You know the drill – follow @incredibusy @duvethog and @sogoodineveryway and add the tags #sgiew and #sgiew_home to your recent photos x Watch the video!…
UPDATE 4 May 2020
Week 7 of lockdown here in the UK and we have a winner (winners x3)
Guest Judge Phillippa at @DuvetHog has spoken.
Like me [ Ali @incredibusy ] she found it incredibly tough to pick a winner, here’s her shortlist – nine wonderful images, all conveying their creators’ vision of ‘home’ during this LOCKDOWN period in our lives.
Grid of nine
The centre three images were of particular appeal to Phillippa, for various reasons – wall art and chalk graffiti taking her back to her own childhood in Cheshire; and the Mother’s Day post in the centre, for the sheer kindness and neighbourly compassion of making up and leaving these boxes of goodies for neighbours using old @thevegankind boxes their mama has been saving.

So step forward centre stage:
@castawayscotland tree painting. Love the repurposed beer can roof of the bird house, swipe on her photo)
@withloveandresa (neighbourly food parcels)
@thisisjules (rainbow cup)
As all THREE of you have won a duvet!! (please DM @incredibusy with your details)
With big thanks and love to all of you who entered, what a wonderful community we are at #sgiew, special mention also goes to
@maithiliguisetucker – family fancy dress
@thepathunseen – graphic art
@denoffoxes – for the view of bedroom (Plants used as screening as no blinds ?)
@meyouandmagoo – crochet rainbow
@traceyjhunter – garage door art
@michellefd – escaped lockdown in invisible cape and homemade wig
Thank you all, lots of love, and big thanks to this month’s sponsor @DuvetHog – the vegan, eco, recycled duvet of dreams – take care, Ali x
Bento Power book – @shisodelicious
I stumbled across Sara Kiyo Popowa’s fabulous instagram account whilst looking for inspiration for vegan recipes, as so many of my clients are vegans, I think I found her through the hashtag #veganuk and I’ve been IN LOVE with her feed ever since.
Sara is the artist and photographer behind the colourful, bento power plant based Instagram account Shiso Delicious @shisodelicious. [https://www.instagram.com/shisodelicious/] And she’s created a BEAUTIFUL book – Bento Power.

And when I say beautiful, I totally mean it – The bento Sara makes is based on the Japanese original: rice (grains) plus a number of small side dishes packed in a bento box and taken to school or work.
We love the layout of the book, and of course the beautifully styled photographs – and, oh, she’s pretty lovely herself too!
Bento Power: Brilliantly Balance Lunchbox Recipes.
Sara has created more raw and whole elements than typical bento, quicker to make with less side dishes and they are plant based (there are eight egg recipes in the book, the rest is vegan). She uses the Japanese principle of FIVE colours in food: white, black, red, green and yellow, as well as five flavours and five qualities – traditionally included to make a meal complete.

Sara’s bento also uses her own five nutritional elements of carbs, greens, protein, fruit/veg and sprinkles and incorporates flavours and methods from her multicultural upbringing in Sweden, exploring her roots in Japan, and life in London.

Sara’s book launch was held at the wonderful http://www.benkandbo.com
a London venue set across three floors with a yoga studio and meeting room on 1st floor, a public cafe and lounge on ground floor as well as the members only area in lower ground floor with loads of light streaming down the large open staircase adorned with indoors plants. Come work, eat, drink coffee, do yoga, play piano, read books, meet people or simply just be.
Bento Power by Shiso Delicious Book Launch Party, Photography: Gini Rhee.
For more information on the book please see Sara’s website http://www.shisodelicious.com/bento-power/ or Amazon (available in the US March 2019)
Smoothies and Bamboo Straws and Saving the Oceans
Smoothies and Bamboo Straws
February is here and I’m still feeling that I’m in need of some vitamin D – we’ve been experimenting with smoothies (and a guilt of all the plastic straws we have ever used hanging over me).
So first – smoothies – make it up as you go along, however here’s what’s in this one (makes two portions)…
- Almond milk (a good source of Vitamin D and in a recyclable carton)
- Thumb sized chunk of ginger peeled and grated (purchased loose from the local store, no plastic* – bonus)
- Banana (Fairtrade, and try to buy loose, after all, they have thick skins, nature’s packaging at its best)
- Kiwi Fruit (high in fibre, vitamins C, A and E and a good source of antioxidants)
- Handful of Kale (right, this is where Riverford organics comes in handy – no plastic bags!)
- Squeeze of Lime
So let’s talk #TheLastStraw – I’ve always been frugal, and used the same plastic straws over and over again at home; and now in bars and restaurants, it’s great to see so many of us re-training ourselves to say ‘no thank you’ to straws in our glasses, as although using one straw doesn’t seem like a big deal, – it is estimated that the UK and US alone throw away around 550 million plastic straws every day. Each one of those straws is used for an average of maybe 20 minutes (probably just once) the problem with plastic straws is one of sheer volume.
If you’d like to find out what you can do to cut down on your plastics, and how you too can work to inspire a generation to save our oceans check out both the @oceangeneration and @theglobalgoals instagram pages.
We can all work together to raise awareness, encourage attitude shifts and create behavioural change – starting with the simple plastic straw – try a bamboo straw.
More that you can do to tackle the plastic problem:
Do you have bread bags, polythene, toilet roll bags, bubble wrap etc you want to recycle? post it to Polyprint. http://polyprint.co.uk/recycling/ accepts recycling from the general public. Please visit their website for details.
Mid writing this post about Smoothies and Bamboo Straws and Saving the Oceans, I happened to have a chat with Eve Broadis from fairtradescotland.co.uk who has been telling me about their exciting tartan news (more on that soon). Meanwhile follow @fairtradesco on instagram, and take a look at the funky tartan covers they have been making for the Suck On That bamboo straws!
Suck On That is a social enterprise founded in Cambodia in 2017, with the initiative to promote the use of bamboo straws as an alternative to plastic. Their straws are reusable, environmentally friendly, and fair trade.
It is the first and only Fair Trade straw in the world so that means that they ensure that the straws are made according to all the 10 WFTO (World Fair Trade Organization) Fair Trade principles. Suck On That is partnering with two WFTO Guaranteed Members to not only have a positive environmental impact but also a positive social impact.
These bamboo straws are hand crafted by Khmer villagers, creating employment opportunities for disadvantaged Cambodian communities. Suck On That are passionate about supporting Cambodian villagers through fair employment and ensuring a safe working environment. Follow them on instagram to keep up to date with their news.
Suck On That will be distributing the straws through wholesale and retail to businesses and individuals fed up with wasteful and environmentally harmful plastic straws. Contact them here: http://suckonthat.com/#contact
I asked Eve to tell me why Bamboo vs paper or Aluminium straws?
Eve: “I picked up the metal straw in Cambodia – at a cafe where we were telling the owner that she needs to ensure bamboo straws are sourced sustainably – there are lots of people thinking ‘wild bamboo’ is more natural – not realising that once it’s gone it’s gone! Replanting is about sustainable livelihoods buying these straws mean producers can plan for the future rather than live a a hand to mouth existence.
Paper straws mean more trees will be cut down and metal straws are not good either due to the process of the metal having to be heated to high temperatures and the overall process and working conditions of the mining metal workers**.
So my job – as a WFTO GS (World Fair Trade Organisation Guarantee System) member is to look at the whole supply chain and guarantee is the best there is!
**Once mined, aluminum within the bauxite ore is chemically extracted into alumina, an aluminum oxide compound, through the Bayer process. In a second step, the alumina is smelted into pure aluminum metal through the Hall–Héroult process.”
Really pleased to share this article on bamboo straws – we will be stocking them with lovely WFTO Tartan pouches – watch this space – coming soon 👍
Posted by Fair Trade Scotland on Monday, 29 January 2018
Read more about plastic in tea bags here
Further zero-waste reading:
Plastic Free Conditioner from JustLittleChanges
Easy Coconut Oil Deodrant DIY from allotmentrecipes
Planning to cut waste from eachlittlestep
Getting stuff done in the kitchen from juicyfig
Zero waste and some recipe ideas from spotofearth.com
Instagram #sgiew challenge #sgiew_WARMTH
Launching another so good in every way instagram challenge – #sgiew { #sgiew_WARMTH }
OK – so we spent the afternoon at the Pumpkin Patch, 14yo wanted a giant pumpkin to carve … “not this one son? at 80p per kilo this one will be much cheaper?”
Needless to say, we loved our last theme #sgiew_autumn so much that we wanted to keep those warm colours going – so add #sgiew_warmth to your photos over the next couple of weeks for a chance to WIN…. a wonderful prize from our guest judge and sponsor this week Sara at @castawayknitting – the prize will be a £25 gift card for your choice of goodies from her Etsy store – so get those ‘warm hues’ onto your instagram feed, follow us all and tag us
This is how to enter:
1) follow @sogoodineveryway, @castawayknitting and me @incredibusy (plus @willowdaygram who represents #sgiew over in Scandinavia, check out her gorgeous feed!
2) show us your WARMTH photographs here on instagram over the next couple of weeks – we’ll find them if you….
.
3) add the tags #sgiew and #sgiew_warmth for a chance to WIN a £25 gift card to spend
. so you know, join in!)
Sounds fun right? Let’s go!
Oh and… a nod to @robertsonandrhodes, one of our grid winners from #sgiew_autumn – told you we’d have a go today!
UPDATE
I’ve posted the winner!
November 16th 2017
What a lovely grid… top left to right:
@trish.sweetnellie
@capturebykaye
@coldatnight
@freshairwildhair (please send us a DM with your details)
@fareisle
@early.bird.post
@blowyinthewind via @lewesmapstore
@charissharpe
Star Wars ethical Kids Shoes
Star Wars Shoes for kids – perfect for dress-up at Halloween, and every mini-cosplayer you know!
The highly anticipated Star Wars TM | Po-Zu range offers a gender-neutral collection of seven footwear styles for children here.
The collection also includes styles for grown-ups – shoes, boots and sneakers inspired by the main characters in the Star Wars films under license with Lucas Film and Disney.
The whole family can wear these to great ‘Me and Mini-Me’ effect. Personally we LOVE these CHEWIE BOOTS – Ottie the Dog was a bit confused by them as you can see – and we had some fun with Boomerang creating gifs with the 12yo son – he just didn’t want to take them off!
This is the first foray into Kids’ Shoes for award winning ethical footwear label and pioneer, Po-Zu – and we have to say we are a little bit in love with the entire range.
My absolute favourite is the BB-8 – an orange hi-top sneaker, available size 30 – 35 for kids. Also – and by popular demand and allegedly a special request by Brian Herring, the BB-8 Puppeteer – this striking baseball boot style now also available for grown-up men and women too!
As with all of Po-Zu’s shoes and boots, from their ‘heritage range’ – the collection is handmade in their eco factory in Portugal. No toxic glues are used in the production, and all are hand stitched (there are some amazing videos on their YouTube channel – like ‘through the round window’ – factory visits, watching how they make the shoes – fascinating – watch here)
The High Tops in Orange, Black and Red, and the Chewie Boot are all vegan; the Rey Boot (perfect for Rey Cosplay) is vegetarian, and the black and the white Stormtrooper Boots are made from Chrome Free Leather.
If you’ve seen True Cost Movie – you’ll know why this is so important. If you’ve not seen it – watch it – essential viewing. https://truecostmovie.com/watch-now/
And if you’d like to see these boots visit the Museum of Brands – to celebrate the cutting edge launch of Star WarsTM| Po-Zu footwear collection, there will be a new exhibit.
Open from Friday 1 September in celebration of Force Friday, until Sunday 12 November 2017, this exhibit showcases sustainable shoes inspired by the Star Wars characters including Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, BB-8, Chewbacca and the First Order Stormtroopers.

For photos:
Star WarsTM | Po-Zu: http://bit.ly/Po-ZuAW17StarWars
Po-Zu Mainline: http://bit.ly/Po-ZuAW17
View ‘The Making of the Resistance’ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e61hZMlJUA
For press, sample & interview requests, please contact: Kate Osborne, kate@po-zu.com
About Po-Zu:
Po-Zu is a London-based award-winning sustainable footwear brand, launched in 2006, and currently ranked as the UK’s Number 1 Ethical Shoe Brand by The Ethical Company Organisation. The word Po-Zu comes from the Japanese ポーズ, meaning ‘to pause’. It is their mission to provide feet with a unique respite and to halt
the damage that modern footwear manufacturing causes to people and planet.
Po-Zu has incorporated some ground-breaking glue-less shoe constructions that are designed for disassembly, biomimicry designed shock-absorbing coconut husk Foot MattressTM, and sustainable materials such as PiñatexTM (an alternative to leather using pineapple fibre), organic cotton, natural cork and pure woollen tweed.
Po-Zu launched in 2016 a knowledge-sharing foundation in order to promote sustainable practices within the footwear industry.
The Better Shoes Foundation centres around an open-source website highlighting current best practice in design, material selection, manufacturing, transport, consumption and post-consumer life.