The thing about veganism is that it isn’t some cheesy sustainability buzzword, even though #Veganuary might be. Plant-based diets extend from food to fashion consumption, and it’s time we question the historic relation between what we grow, cook and even wear! This could lead to answers on how to build an at-home miniature circular economy.
Self-sustaining communities of yore were what we call ‘circular’ today. They grew the food they ate and the clothes they wore. Now that terms like “hyper-local” and “home-grown” are surfacing as unintentional odes to those age-old practises, veganism has a catalytic role in building circular lifestyles.
This concept was explored in the book – Grow, Cook, Dye, Wear: From Seed to Style the Sustainable Way. Author Bella Gonshorovitz personalises circularity by introducing her own ‘miniature circular economy.’ She highlights the journey from seed to crop, from harvest to vegan cooking, and from food waste to natural dyes. Five crops: blackberry, cabbage, nettle, onion, and rhubarb play protagonists, carrying the reader through each circular process: growing, cooking, dyeing, and then finally, making clothing.
The circularity of vegan food
According to Gonshorovitz, “With clothes, as with vegetables, the end product is often presented in a manner detached from its origins and it’s too easy to forget that everything we eat, consume, and wear comes from nature.”
Within the realm of vegan cooking, almost every hero ingredient is grown in soil and decomposes into it over time. However, it is not just the compostability factor that makes it zero waste. Peels, skin, stems and roots can be used for soil regeneration in cultivation processes, but they also serve as new raw materials for fibres, textiles and natural dyes. The concept of food waste with a purpose is rapidly being explored across a variety of industries – from product design to fashion and, more recently, even beauty.
Magic formulas, patented techniques, and eco-start-ups are pioneering ways to upcycle food waste into a commodity. Beauty labels like UpCircle and ReCoff use recycled coffee grounds to manufacture cosmetics and personal care products. Caribbean brand Kadalys, transforms bruised and mishapen bananas into skin care. In fashion, Piñatex, Orange Fiber, Vegea, Bananatex and Desserto are a few of the vegan leather and fibre producers out there.
Demystifying circularity and making it more approachable, Gonshorovitz advocates for her home-based miniature circular economy. She reuses food waste for compost to cultivate her crops, and also recycles it into raw material for natural dyes.
The author’s two types of vegan recipes: food and dyes
Gonshorovitz revealed that she spent most of her 12 years of being vegan, as a closeted vegan. However, with widespread information about carbon emissions from the meat and dairy industry, she has embraced veganism more wholly since. “We now widely acknowledge that reducing or completely eliminating consumption of animal products is (bar boycotting air travel) one of the most effective things an individual can do to reduce their carbon footprint.”
The book’s 5 protagonists are 5 crops each with their own dedicated section. This includes tips on how to cultivate them and their relationship with soil, followed by 4 unique vegan recipes. For example: blackberries are featured in a peanut and rosemary focaccia, as well as an oatmeal clafoutis.
Gonshorovitz explains that the choice behind the 5 fruits and vegetables was closely linked to their ease of being found, foraged or grown locally in the UK, as well as their dyeing properties. “I left out beetroot because like cabbage, its dye doesn’t last very long, and it gets less impressive results. Onion is a great choice, as it can be cultivated easily. And if people lack space to grow it, it is common enough to be able to source skins. Nettle and blackberry can be foraged in the UK. Rhubarb is a zero waste plant – dye with the roots and eat the stalks. Further, the leaves are poisonous but powerful mordants to prepare fabric for dyeing.”
DIY vegan/natural dyeing recipes
These vegan cooking recipes are followed by natural dye recipes, each created for 100g of fabric. Domestic DIY dyeing is resource intensive in terms of water and heat. The first step is ‘mordanting’ – which enables the dye to fasten onto the fabric. One of the garden-friendly mordants recommended in the book is alum (aluminium potassium sulphate), which the fabric is cooked in. Alum is a natural mineral, and when used in minimal quantities, it is far from poisonous. As in industrial synthetic dyeing processes, natural dyeing also produces waste water. However, in this case, the harmful impact on the environment is minimised. Water rich in nettle can be fed to most plants. Alum water or the mordanting water could be given to hydrangea plants or disposed down the drain safely.
Gonshorovitz reveals, “It is actually very hard to write down a dye recipe. From one day to the next, so many things can change, affecting the shade of dye obtained. It may vary depending on the fabric, water pH level, time in the foraging season of the fruit, the freshness and quality of the crop, etc. The reason recipes are included in the book is to show people a tentative spectrum of colours they can achieve.”
For example, fabric prepared with iron mordants and then tinted using dye from the blackberry fruit could produce deep blues. On the other hand, using the same mordant with the branches and shoots could give blue-ish green shades.
The elaborated concept of ‘garden to garment’
Starting from seeds and landing at a finished hand-made garment is a real slow living ideology. Undoubtedly progressing from the food to the fashion steps takes more than a green thumb and chef’s instincts. Bringing the garments to life requires research to learn about dyeing processes and requisite of design and pattern-making knowledge.
Gonshorovitz revealed: “The book also tells my story – because I worked as a designer for big fashion houses around the world and became incredibly disillusioned by the industry. So I really wanted to find a way to work that agrees with nature and has less of a societal cost.”
Grow, Cook, Dye, Wear aims to inspire a more sustainable lifestyle. The reader goes through a cycle of four stages for each of the 5 crops under the spotlight. “The first step is hunting, growing or foraging for produce, and then there’s cooking with 5 vegan or plant-based recipes. We know now that having a plant-based diet is one of the most beneficial things one can do for the environment in terms of personal behaviour. Each recipe also highlights the waste that needs to be collected in order to create the dye at the next step. In onion recipes, it is their skin that is saved for dyeing processes. Then in the book’s dye section, I share instructions on how to extract dye and a colour map for each crop. The final step is making the garment using all the patterns provided.” elaborates Gonshorovitz.
‘How to grow your own clothes?‘
Vegan fashion is a largely misunderstood term and is given too much credit as an eco-label or stamp of approval for sustainable fashion brands. In fact, “plant-based” fashion is a buzzword that has become popular in mainstream media. Broken-down, vegan fashion refers to clothing and accessories that contain no animal-obtained products and harm no animals in the manufacturing process.
According to Gonshorovitz, this is an interesting concept that can be unpacked in various ways. “Many people describe my book as ‘how to grow your own clothes’ – which is quite funny to me. Obviously, to grow the fibre and dye it, requires a level of ambition that I think would be quite hard to promote as a mainstream experience. In the context of my book, that will also be counter-productive because I really want people to engage with circularity in an approachable way.”
Undoubtedly, it can be intriguing for consumers new to the realm of sustainable consumption to come across anything ‘plant-based’ – simply because it serves as a reminder that we consume from nature.
Author’s advice on adopting her miniature circular economy
- Be clear on the goal: The aim isn’t for readers to grow all of their vegetables, hand-make all clothes, or even convert to a strict vegan diet. It is incredibly challenging to live that way or do the whole process of the book in one season.
- Approach the book at your own pace: Maybe you’ll just grow onions and make vegan recipes. Maybe you’ll save skins for dyes from store-bought onions or maybe you’ll just upcycle fabric to make dresses using the patterns.
- Be realistic: I cook most things from scratch but not all my food comes from there. Even as a professional fashion designer, most of the clothes I wear are made by me. But not all of them. The key takeaway from this book is regarding today’s consumption habits and making conscious decisions.
- Buy the book here!
FEATURE IMAGE: courtesy author, Bella Gonshorovitz| IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Bella waters plants in her allotment / garden