One of the most outspoken vegans of our generation, Heather Mills is on a mission to rid veganism of its “old hippy in Birkenstocks” image.
Let’s face it there’s not much this woman doesn’t achieve when she puts her mind to it. Heather Mills, ex-model, ex-wife-of-a-Beatle, has won medals in adaptive alpine skiing, campaigned on behalf of a number of charities and set the world record for the “Fastest Disabled Woman on the Planet.”
Her latest goal is an ambitious one: she wants to turn Britain vegan.
“If we all went vegan, which I am by no means expecting to happen overnight, there would be no such thing as starvation in the world. The figure would be zero,” she said at the opening of her VBites vegan deli concession in the Holland & Barrett store on Foregate Street, Chester.
“Think about it; if you take 10 kilos of soy and give it to humans, you feed 10 times more humans than you feed if you give the same amount of soy to just one single cow,” she went on. “It’s a ratio of 10:1, now imagine that on a global scale and imagine the incredible impact we could make if we all switched to a vegan lifestyle.”
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Following Mills’ accident with a police motorcyclist in 1993, which resulted in her left leg being amputated below the knee, she has followed a vegan diet. “[It] helps concentration, improves energy, and makes you feel genuinely fantastic,” she said. “People worry that vegans don’t get enough protein, but look at my muscles — they haven’t grown from a lack of protein.”
“I want vegan to be hip and trendy, not the old-age ‘hippy’ stereotype it always was,” she declared. “This is a new generation, women today want to get dressed up and feel and look glamorous — we don’t all want to walk around in Birkenstocks.”
Mills’ VBites deli stocks a wide range of vegan produce including vegan mince, duck, gammon, fish, paté and several varieties of cheese. Her 11-year-old daughter Beatrice was on hand at the launch, handing out samples to the public.
In true Heather Mills fashion she plans to open 25 more concessions across the U.K. in partnership with Holland & Barrett.
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