Famous Vegans - Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin Zephaniah, 2010

Benjamin Zephaniah

Born Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah on April 15, 1958. He is an English dub poet, writer, actor and television and radio presenter. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008. His poetry is strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and what he calls 'street politics'. He was raised in Handsworth, a district of Birmingham, England, which he called the Jamaican capital of Europe. He started doing poetry in church when he was 10 and by the age of 15, he had become a well known dub poet in Birmingham. He has also lived in Jamaica, Newham, Egypt, Yugoslavia and South Africa. He is especially popular for the way he performs his poetry, both on stage and on television. Check out his poetry books, music and website.

He has been a vegan since the age of 15. He dedicated his book The Little Book of Vegan Poems to "the caring, dedicated, young vegans of the world... who will not stand for any exploitation whatever the species". He has also written the poetry book Talking Turkeys for children.

Quotes by Benjamin Zephaniah:

"'As the only black kid in my primary school playground, animals had become my friends. By 15 I was vegan, although I didn't give up honey until 16. For a while my mother thought it was just 'a rasta phase'."

"At the time I was in a school where I was getting so much racism, I found comfort in animals. A playground can be the loneliest place in the world when all the kids are playing and nobody will talk to you, so when a cat comes along, you play with the cat, you know? And then the cat comes again the next day and brings a couple of his friends, and you form a community. So that's where my love of animals started, and that was when I went vegetarian."

"I can honestly say I've not been tempted to give up veganism in 27 years. I sometimes smell a chip shop and like the smell but then feel guilty because fish might be part of it. But I'll go home and make vegan chips."

"Vegans have a reputation for being puny but that's rubbish. I've got quite a bit of muscle. Most people are struck when I tell them I'm 45 [interview 2004]. I recently tried playing for an over-40 football team but they couldn't keep up with me! I trained a team of 20-year-olds recently and I teach kung fu."

"I don't drink alcohol, or smoke - my body is a temple."

"I have a banana when I wake up, then, I'll go jogging, have a workout, do my tai-chi, have a sauna, then have my breakfast – a cup of muesli. I earn my breakfast."

"My poem Vegan Delight answers the question I've so often been asked – "but what do you eat?'"

"After all these years, my favourite food is my mother's butter bean stew with whole potatoes, yam and dasheen."

Quotes are from the 2004 article in The Guardian UK What's in your basket?, his 2010 interview in The Guardian UK, his 2009 interview with The Guardian UK.