Evanna Lynch is an Irish actress, activist and podcaster, who is most known for her role as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter film series. We chat to Evanna about her food memories from being on set, going veggie (then vegan) and who would be her dream guests on her podcast, ‘The ChickPeeps’.

You played the role of Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films. What’s your fondest food memory from being on set?

Ooh, interesting question! I loved being on the Great Hall set and admiring the amazing foods they created for those tables. It was often impossible to tell which items were plastic props and which were intended for eating. You usually had to dare someone to take a bite. I was never at any of the Hogwarts feast scenes but I did get to a couple Hogwarts breakfasts and got a kick out of the ‘Cheeri Owls’ packaging. Disappointingly, wizard cheeri-o’s weren’t much different to the muggle [a word used in Harry Potter to describe non-magical people] variety, but the packaging was very cute.

If you were creating a Hogwarts-style feast, what vegan food would be on the menu?

I would call in The Happy Pear or Mildred’s restaurant and have them cater it! Done! Any time I go to either of their restaurants I want to order one of everything!

You became vegetarian at the age of eleven, and are now vegan. How did you find that transition and what changes did you notice in yourself?

I didn’t find going vegetarian difficult as I found the meat alternatives like Quorn so convincing. I was much happier eating things that had been plants rather than bloody slabs of flesh. The meat aisle freaked me out since long before I went vegetarian so it was almost a relief to discover vegetarianism and to learn about the plant-based protein products on offer. I just couldn’t and don’t see meat as food once I’d decided to be veggie.

Vegan was a lot more challenging, I was attached to cakes and ice cream and chocolate and struggled to link them to animal suffering. I also felt that I was ‘giving up’ so much and that made me resentful of veganism at first. it wasn’t until a friend of mine advised me to do the ‘crowding out’ method, whereby you add in vegan substitutes to your diet before you give up any animal products, and that way you let your taste buds and your habits adjust gradually. And then eventually you don’t need the animal products. That method worked brilliantly for me and that’s when I discovered dozens of incredible vegan brands making chocolate, ice cream, cakes etc that were just as good!

I noticed my skin cleared up as soon as I quit dairy, and I stopped getting colds. But the most significant change was that I just felt centered and a sense of inner peace from knowing that I was living in a way that respected all animal’s right to life and to live free from suffering.

What advice would you give to encourage other people to go veggie?

I would say to really educate yourself on the reasons you’ve decided to go veggie. Read books or watch documentaries or listen to podcasts, whatever way you like to consume information the most, do that a lot so that you’ll anchor those reasons in yourself. We live in a society that wants you to forget about the mass slaughter and enslavement of animals and will do everything to make you feel strange for objecting to those things so you have to hang on to your core reasons for being veggie and remember your truth because you will encounter naysayers or people who mock this lifestyle. I think the more you read, the more you become veggie because you want to be, not because you should be. So at first you have to keep reminding yourself of the reasons you’re making this commitment so that it becomes a positive, willful choice for you.

And I would say focus on what you can eat, not what you’re giving up. Vegetarianism or veganism shouldn’t be defined by what you don’t eat, that’s a meat-eater’s way of looking at it. There are so many amazing, delicious veggie and vegan foods you’ve yet to try and you’re about to learn a new way of cooking and eating. So think abundantly and get excited about getting creative with your diet. A few of my favourite vegan YouTubers are The Happy Pear, Deliciously Ella and Bosh.

And one more thing, I would just tell you that it will get easier! At first it’s overwhelming and there are all these new ingredients you haven’t heard of and it seems like it’s taking over your life. But it’s like a new language, it eventually sinks in and becomes part of you and you don’t have to think twice about it. So it will get easier, just take it a day at a time.

There are a lot more veggie and vegan products now than ever before. But what product do you most wish was vegan but isn’t at the moment?

Honestly, life is pretty great for vegans at the moment! A couple months ago I would have said Kinder Bueno chocolate but Love Raw have done a perfect vegan recreation! I’ve also been craving Terry’s chocolate orange ever since I went vegan but discovered the other day that Mummy Meagz do an excellent alternative, it’s even shaped similarly! I think next we vegans must set out eyes on Maltesers, I would like to manifest a vegan version of them!

What’s your favourite non-food vegan product?

Ooh, I don’t know where to start! Will’s Vegan Shoes make the comfiest and most hardy non-leather boots. I have so many pairs and they have gotten me through several winters, including snow storms in New York when I was working there a couple years ago. I also just discovered a lovely French vegan brand called Minuit Sur Terre. I love their jumpers and trainers, they are quirky and stylish. And for makeup, I don’t get very far in my day without my Inika curly lash mascara. It’s the best mascara I’ve ever used and I’m so glad their line is 100% vegan!

What’s your go-to vegan meal that impresses even your meat-eating friends?

Oh gosh, I try to avoid cooking for friends as much as I can… I’d be more worried I’d turn them off veganism with my cooking! But nobody complains about a pea and pesto pasta dish that I make, and a friend recently assured me that I’ve ‘nailed’ the carrot and coriander soup my mum has made since I was young, so that’s progress. I’m the kind of person who is just as happy eating breakfast cereal at dinnertime than a proper dinner so I don’t get a lot of cooking practice in! But if there is ever a potluck or a party I bake the blueberry chocolate brownies from The Veganomicon and they are always a hit.

Your podcast, The ChickPeeps, is based on veganism and features discussions on a wide range of topics. How did you get into podcasts and what do you enjoy most about it?

I first started listening to podcasts when I was a teenager and needed to get my fix for my Harry Potter obsession! I would listen to Mugglecast every week and it gave me such a sense of community and connection to something I couldn’t talk about enough. I think that’s the best thing about podcasts, the nerdiness of it. You can find a podcast about practically anything you’re really passionate about and with it a whole community of people like you who felt similarly isolated and who longed for friends with similar passions.

As for what I enjoy about podcasting, I meet so many amazing people through it and get to ask them questions I would otherwise not have the opportunity to do. I’m not a small talk person, I like to immediately cut to a person’s vulnerability and their outlook on life and the podcast is the perfect facilitator of those discussions. And I love that I can approach someone I admire in the animal rights movement and say ‘wanna come be on my podcast?’. Otherwise I might be too shy to strike up a conversation! I’ve made many friends through The ChickPeeps.

Who would be your dream podcast guest and why?

We’ve had a great many of my dream podcast guests by now, we’ve been incredibly lucky that way. We’ve had Ingrid Newkirk, Victoria Moran, Nikki Glaser and Earthling Ed, all vegans who’ve hugely influenced and inspired me on my vegan journey. And a recent episode featured the brilliant Fearne Cotton.

But looking ahead, I’d love to interview Johnathan Safron Foer because his book, Eating Animals was what opened my eyes to veganism and I have huge admiration for his gift for storytelling. I’d also love to have Pamela Anderson on the podcast as she is such an icon, such a glamorous lady and thoughtful person and she doesn’t miss an opportunity to speak up for animals. I admire how she balances her professional life and animal advocacy. And Ella Mills of Deliciously Ella would be a dream guest as her cookbooks radically changed my diet and without them I don’t know how I would have tackled transitioning to veganism in such a positive and healthful way.

Tell us more about why you are so passionate about being an animal advocate?

I feel an obligation to them based on the horrible things I’ve seen and know to be happening to them. I live a very comfortable, pleasant life and it’s just so unfair that there are innocent, scared animals living in an actual hell on earth, in their millions, for no good reason. The only way I deal with that horrific reality is to do something, to try and encourage people every day to renounce participating in this unbearably cruel system that brutalises animals every day. So I wouldn’t really say I’m passionate about being an animal advocate, I wish I could just be on my couch reading fairytales and art history books, I don’t want to be looking at slaughterhouse footage or reading about bear bile factories. But once you’ve seen those kinds of images, once you know and force yourself to hold those victims in your heart, you can’t go back. You have to do something to try and save them or at least to make their lives a bit less awful.

Who has inspired you most in your career?

J.K. Rowling. I think the influence of her stories on my life and who I am as a person, is why I am determined to always sustain my love of art and storytelling along with my activism. Stories reach into people’s hearts and change them utterly, and that belief has shaped my activism immeasurably. I also have so much admiration for the way she has built her own world — her career is entirely built by her imagination. That’s hugely inspirational to me.

I would also say my therapist. She keeps me grounded and connected to what matters. Her influence reminds me I do what I do for the inner peace and joy it brings me rather than any accolades or societal measures of success.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently writing my first book. I’ve wanted to be a writer for some time now and finally lockdown has forced me to get on with it. All going well, the book will be out late 2021.