It's All About Food: Élise Desaulniers: The Lives We Ignore

About this episode

Élise Desaulniers discusses her work on food ethics, animal rights, and organ donation advocacy.

Élise Desaulniers is an author, consultant and independent researcher based in Montréal. From 2017 to 2022, she was Executive Director of the Montreal SPCA. She has published several essays on food ethics and animal rights — including Je mange avec ma tête, Vache à lait (translated into English as Cash Cow) and Le défi végane 21 jours — translated into several languages. In 2015, she received Quebec’s Grand Prix du journalisme indépendant in the Opinion category for an essay on feminism and antispeciesism. In 2022, she became an anonymous (non-directed) kidney donor and has since been actively involved in advocating for organ donation. She serves on the board of directors of the Kidney Foundation of Canada (Quebec branch) and on the Advanced Donation Steering Committee of Canadian Blood Services. She is an editor at L’Amorce and writes regularly on Substack. Her Wikipedia entry covers part of her work. Together with Éline Bonin (Patate & Cornichon), she is co-spokesperson of the Festival végane de Montréal. The event will take place on October 17 and 18, 2026. Read the article by Élise Desaulniers on Substack: Xenotransplantation and the Animal Question

People in this episode

Guest: Élise Desaulniers

Topics covered

• food ethics
• animal rights
• organ donation
• veganism
• advocacy

Keywords

• food ethics
• animal rights
• organ donation
• veganism
• advocacy
• Montreal SPCA
• Festival végane

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Montreal SPCA, Kidney Foundation of Canada, Canadian Blood Services, L’Amorce

Books & works: Je mange avec ma tête, Vache à lait, Cash Cow, Le défi végane 21 jours, Xenotransplantation and the Animal Question

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