I just wanted to pop up a short post about how me and Ebony were featured on the Metro online today. I was contacted by PETA recently to see if I would be interested in being pitched to the press for a story about vegan kids. Having worked for charities in my previous life, I know how tricky it can be to find people willing to be featured in a news story, so I didn’t want to let them down.
I didn’t quite fancy being used as a case study in the Daily Mail though, for obvious reasons. I’d definitely have felt really worried about what angle they would take and how many nasty comments the article would attract. In the end, the Metro wanted it and I figured that couldn’t be too bad.
I still felt a little nervous about what the article might say. I mean, if they’d chosen my nanny to be the nutritional expert then the piece would have had quite a different tone. I can handle criticism, but I didn’t love the idea of opening Ebony’s life up to scrutiny. I mean, I guess I’m doing that by simply having this blog, but I don’t have quite the circulation as the Metro so I’ve never really worried about that before.
I did ask Ebony if she wanted to be featured and she said yes, because she thought other vegan children might see it and then know she was vegan. So, erm, hopefully that has happened. She currently only really has one vegan friend and when I showed her the article she immediately asked if her vegan friend had seen it. I said yeah, but this may not be an accurate answer.
Anyway, I sent off some photos and answered some questions last week, but wasn’t sure when the piece was going to appear, or even whether it definitely was. I only found out it had gone in because I picked up my phone and found a stream of text messages from various friends about it the afternoon. I was a little bit nervous when I clicked on the link, but I needn’t have been.
It is a really positive, informative piece and I’m really pleased I agreed to be featured. Not only are my choices portrayed positively, but there’s actually a nutrition expert quoted who fully supports vegan diets throughout childhood.
You can read the full piece here.