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posted by on Tuesday December 06 2016, @03:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the money-is-murder dept.

The Rainbow Vegetarian Café in Cambridge, England, has announced that it will not accept the new £5 polymer notes, introduced by the Bank of England in September. Last week the British vegan community discovered that the notes contain trace amounts of beef tallow, which is animal fat, and are therefore unacceptable by their cruelty-free standards. A heated online controversy has resulted, including a petition asking the Bank to remove tallow from the polymer.

The Rainbow Café's owner, Sharon Meijland, told The Telegraph that her stance was announced last Wednesday, at the end of a BBC radio interview on the unrelated topic of Christmas food.

"We sponsor the Vegan Fair and announced on Wednesday we would not be accepting the £5 notes because they are dubious ethically. We have been providing food for vegans for 30 years and have tried to be as ethical as we possibly can...This is not just a restaurant, it's a restaurant where tiny details like this are really important."

Is any of our money cruelty-free?


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  • (Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Tuesday December 06 2016, @03:48PM

    by cubancigar11 (330) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @03:48PM (#437776) Homepage Journal

    England should really take care of this fast [wikipedia.org]:The final spark was provided by the ammunition for the new Enfield P-53 rifle.[27] These rifles, which fired Minié balls, had a tighter fit than the earlier muskets, and used paper cartridges that came pre-greased. To load the rifle, sepoys had to bite the cartridge open to release the powder.[28] The grease used on these cartridges was rumoured to include tallow derived from beef, which would be offensive to Hindus,[29] and pork, which would be offensive to Muslims. At least one Company official pointed out the difficulties this may cause:

            unless it be proven that the grease employed in these cartridges is not of a nature to offend or interfere with the prejudices of caste, it will be expedient not to issue them for test to Native corps.[30]

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:17PM (#437801)

    I understood it was a false rumour, potentially spread by Russian infiltrators. So maybe we should be looking to Putin as the source of this unrest?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:36PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:36PM (#437814)

    The grease used on these cartridges was rumoured to include tallow derived from beef, which would be offensive to Hindus,[29] and pork, which would be offensive to Muslims

    Typical religious bigotry.

    Yes many hindus would be pissed because they believe cows are sacred and should not be slaughtered.
    Few muslims would give a damn because they think pigs are the opposite of sacred and don't give a damn if someone kills some pigs. The ones who really have a stick up their butt about pigs would be happy to kill a few pigs.

    • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:40PM

      by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:40PM (#437818)

      How is it bigotry?

      I would assume that the Muslim objection to the cartridges would be biting them to open them, which can be argued to be the same as consuming pork (though I'm not sure why supposedly these things had to be bitten, and couldn't just be ripped open by hand).

      --
      "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
      • (Score: 1) by tekk on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:51PM

        by tekk (5704) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:51PM (#437830)

        The issue is that for transport purposes, they would use a really thick, tough paper that's really hard to rip open by hand, thus the usual method is to use your teeth.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:59PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:59PM (#437837)

        > which can be argued to be the same as consuming pork

        Only to someone without an understanding of what is to be muslim.

        Note how the reference to hindu reverence for cows is footnoted and the reference to muslim beliefs is not.

        The quotation itself only refers to hindus - in case you didn't catch it is says "caste" which is predominately a hindu thing, in part because of their belief in reincarnation.

        • (Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Tuesday December 06 2016, @07:14PM

          by cubancigar11 (330) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @07:14PM (#437951) Homepage Journal

          I was going for "Funny" but let me educate y'all now. First thing first - the word usage of British Raj about India and their understanding of Hindus and Muslims in 1857 was so wrong, after the rebellion of 1857 was quashed, The Queen herself decided to step in and take control away from East India Company. Now, pork was a matter and Indian Muslims have a huge problem with even the mention of word 'pork' in butcher shops of muslim dominated area. Lastly, muslims were the true force in 1857 rebellion not only because of this cartridge but because it was them who lost power of ruling over Hindus to British - a fact very cleverly exploited by the British who immediately removed beef cartridges and thus removed the Hindu support base from under Muslim agitators.

        • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday December 06 2016, @09:14PM

          by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @09:14PM (#438039)

          Only to someone without an understanding of what is to be muslim.

          Well thanks so much for explaining.

          --
          "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
      • (Score: 1) by dr_barnowl on Wednesday December 07 2016, @09:37AM

        by dr_barnowl (1568) on Wednesday December 07 2016, @09:37AM (#438267)

        The context is that you're loading a rifle under battle conditions. You're holding the rifle in your right hand, and the cartridge in your left.

        You can try and tear it open with your occupied right hand and fumble it and pour powder all over the floor, causing your death because you can't shoot the enemy, or you can follow the well thought out standard military procedure, and use your teeth.