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Hi everyone and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope.

Hello 安澜。

Hello Lulu. Hi Everyone.

Last time we recorded we were talking about those delicious cookies; have you been eating those cookies again?

Yes, quite a few of those actually.

I had a few packs as well. I always meant to ask you 安澜，how did you manage to keep your figure, 安澜这个身材保持的还是不错的, despite the fact that you really like sweet thing.

I try not to eat too many sweet things really, to be honest,  living in China，I do snack a lot less than in the UK. In the UK, it's very easy to find lots of different types of cakes and chocolates. In China, you still have to make a little bit of an effort.

And the reason why I'm asking you this question is because I would like to talk about healthy eating and especially vegetarianism in the UK.

OK

First of all, would you say people in the UK are generally healthy in terms of weight?

Generally no.

Why would you say that?

There's a lot of talk about healthy eating, and you can see it in all the adverts, but if you go out and about on the street, you do see quite a few people who are… how should I say…

Quite big?

Well, relatively plump.

Relatively plump.

So the thing is I've done some background checking, would you want to hear the stats?

I’m probably … it’s going to be very depressing.

Actually it’s quite surprising to me as well.

So according to some of the official websites, the latest stats shows that the adult obesity in the UK, the rate is 28%. For those of you who are listening to the show, I think obesity is calculated by a BMI of over thirty.

Yeah, you have overweight and then you have obese.

So 28% is obesity, another 36% overweight. So basically that means over half of the British population adult population are overweight.

I'm not too surprised, to be honest. It's depressing but it's something that you can see, and this is also saying that you're hearing a lot from the government as well.

It is a real health problem. Actually, it is also becoming a problem in China as we are more economically developed, we eat more, different sorts of food they are more available,  and among them a lot of high sugar food, but that was about the adults. What about children?

Children, I know I don't have the actual statistics, but I do know that children are not particularly healthy, there's a lot of childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity就是儿童的肥胖。That is a problem in China as well, especially in recent years, so you said the government in the UK is trying to do something about it, obviously it's promoting healthy eating.

Yep.

What else has it done?

Lots of government messages, lots about urging people to cut down the amount of sugar that's eaten, there's something called a sugar tax.

Sugar tax就是糖税。

Oh, if it contains a lot of sugar or sugary products, then you get tax more heavily.

Yeah, so making sugary drinks more expensive, and companies now are trying to reduce the amount of sugar in their food.

Um, Sugar is definitely one thing that will make you overweight or even obese, but there is obviously also fat, then that is the whole trend about eating healthier, becoming even vegetarian or even vegan.

Exactly, more and more British people are becoming vegetarian or vegan, particularly around this time because for the past year or half or so, the UK has been in the grips of the pandemic. So a lot of people have been staying at home.

Not exercising…

Not exercising, snacking as well. This is actually something the government is very worried about because we have a public health system. We're worried that maybe in about 20, 30, 50 years’ time, there's gonna be so much pressure on the NHS because of all obese people.

That is really understandable, and since you said being vegetarian is becoming more popular exactly how popular how many people are vegetarians in the UK.

At the moment, about one in eight people are going veggie.

Going veggie[zy1]  means becoming vegetarian.

Yeah

Wow, one in eight.

But that doesn't include people who are trying to reduce the amount of meat that they eat, or that they are may be vegetarian for a few days of the week.

Honestly this is something that really tickles me. If you're vegetarian for 3 days of the week you're not a vegetarian or in English that you actually invented a word called flexitarian. Have you heard of that?

Yes.

I've talked about that in the buzzword section. A flexitarian is someone who mainly eats plant based things, vegetables, sometimes also eat meat and fish.

Yeah, I think quite a few people are like that now.

But vegetarians and vegans what are the differences?

That's quite a complex question because veganism and also vegetarianism has quite a few different definitions, vegan is probably one step further.

So for example vegan wouldn't eat eggs or any animal products at all…

Oh, like dairy products…

Like dairy yes, but vegetarian, depended on definition, they do sometimes eat cheese, eggs.

I've even heard of some vegetarians who would eat fish because they think that's not meat.

Yeah

There are so many definitions, I'm sure some of you if you are serious about vegetarianism, you can perhaps explain to us.  But coming to the reason for being a vegetarian, maybe nowadays it’s getting more popular in China.

But before if you hear someone saying that they are vegetarian, then you would immediately assume they are吃斋念佛like they are religious. That's not the case in the UK, is it?

No, traditionally there's no real religious reasons behind becoming a vegetarian. For example, like Britain used to be predominantly a Christian country, well, it still is to a certain extent. But there's nothing in Christianity…

About eating meat

About eating meat or going vegetarian, especially in the Christianity in the UK.

So essentially people are trying vegetarian simply because of the health reasons then.

Partly health but a lot of vegetarians become vegetarian because of animal

welfare.

Animal wel… Oh, because they don't want to kill… they think killing animals for food is not okay.

Yeah, and also how animals are kept as well, so for example, free range eggs are very popular in the UK.

散养鸡的这种鸡蛋free range, we talked about that before. There is one expression that I constantly see in like animal welfare, very strange expression called battery chicken.

Yeah

Battery doesn't mean battery like电池, does it?

No, a battery chicken or battery hen, it's when you keep the hen in cages.

Oh, like in small cages.

In small cages, they can't move and they're just there to keep producing eggs.

It’s basically kind of animal torture.

It is, and back a few years ago that used to be the norm but now free range eggs, even people are not vegetarian, they probably choose free range eggs.

I think you do hear talks about that in China as well. Now when you go to supermarket to buy eggs, you do see free range and also free range chicken and also free range meat.

Yes, if I buy eggs or if I buy meat, I generally look for free range.

And apart from the animal side of it, I think some people are also doing it for environmental reasons.

Oh, yeah. Farming animals does produce a lot of carbon dioxide, there's much more of a focus on sustainable farming.

Sustainable farming, to make minimal environmental impact.

Yeah

Honestly, though we've talked all about these details about vegetarianism and healthy eating, what's your take on it or what would you say in general, in the UK how do people feel about vegetarianism if they are not vegetarians themselves?

I would say that vegetarianism is now the norm or is now seen as something that lots of people are, when I was growing up, it was seen as a bit kind of unusual, maybe a little bit extreme, but nowadays it's not seen as anything strange or anything nowadays.

And according to your laws and regulations, all of your restaurants have to at least provide one or a few vegetarian options.

Oh, yeah, if you look at British menu, it will clearly say what products are inside that food and it will have like a little v…

V sign for vegetarian.

To mark it’s for vegetarian, and normally they would have a very short gloss to show if there's eggs in it, if there's butters and so on and so forth.

之前我们也谈到过英国餐馆里的菜单，一般都会很明确的标注哪一项是可以让素食者吃的，就是save for vegetarians.

But you heard of the recent controversies about vegetarian influencers on for example Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, some of these vegetarians or even vegan influencers, they were caught on camera eating meat or fish; and that cost quite a stir.

Yeah, I would say that vegetarian is… because it's such an emotive issue. It's a question that does provoke a lot of debates and sometimes always say it a little bit of extremity as well. It does generate quite a few extreme opinions so for example there are some people in the UK, and I'm sure in China, there are vegetarian to the point where they just completely oppose anybody eating meat.

This is how I feel. Honestly, I have no problem with people choosing whatever they like to eat, however, what I sometimes find it a little bit hard to accept is the fact that some vegetarians really just a very small group of them can be a bit judgy, can be a bit judgmental.

So if I go out, I have vegetarians or even vegan friends, they are lovely they are ok, so if we go out to eat they just what suits them. I can eat what I like. But sometimes you will meet some people they say they're vegetarian and they judge you when you eat meat, that is something I have slight issue with.

Yeah, to be honest I would actually like to be vegetarian but I do quite like meat, I don't feel like I had the willpower.

It's the old saying I would like to be a vegetarian but I just love steaks too much.

Pretty much, but hopefully in the future, they're talking about lab-grown meat and things like…

That's a new trend, isn't it?

And to be honest, if that carries on then I probably will.

So let's wrap up here, we've talked a lot about vegetarianism, veganism and also healthy eating in the UK and also in general. If any of you are vegetarians, vegans or if you're interested in this topic, leave us a comment in the comment section, thank you 安澜。

Thanks Lulu, and see you next time.

See you.