“Get Shorty” star Chris O’Dowd just turned 39. The Irish actor celebrated with an appearance on UK late-night show, “The Last Leg,” where he was treated to a rainbow-decorated vegan birthday cake, and what appeared to be quite a few drinks in the green room prior to his appearance.
The show, hosted by Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe, and Alex Brooker, had a good bit of fun with the slightly inebriated O’Dowd, who claimed he went straight from the gym to the studio without eating and then began drinking in the green room, veered toward a recent news scandal in Ireland where a baker refused to make a cake for a gay couple — thus the rainbow-theme cake. The hosts and guest also discussed another reason for embracing vegan food: meat’s impact on the planet. Meat production creates more greenhouse gases than all transport industries combined. A recent warning from the United Nations urged world leaders to take measure to reduce meat consumption or face dire climate crises in the coming years.
I wish you lot would quit banging on about it being my birthday. It’s no big deal, we all have ‘em. When will your relentless insistence on ‘congratulating’ me and sending me ‘love and best wishes’ end?! ?
— chris o’dowd (@BigBoyler) October 9, 2018
The rainbow-themed cake came courtesy of Coughlan’s Bakery, a family-run UK bakery established in 1937. Owner Sean Coughlan told LIVEKINDLY via email that the bakery is currently 90 percent vegan, working toward being 100 percent vegan “in the future.”
Transitioning the long-established business to fully vegan is a common trend in the UK. Kentish Town West coffee shop The Fields Beneath transitioned its shop to fully vegan after the owners stopped eating meat. Most recently the popular fish and chips shop Sutton and Sons turned the entire menu vegan at its Hackney location. Twenty-five-year-old Manchester pub The Chorlton Tap recently made its menu fully vegan. As well, a growing number of mainstream restaurants are adding vegan menu items to meet the UK’s growing demand for vegan food.
O’Dowd’s Ireland is also embracing vegan food. Recent data found a 119 percent increase in vegan food delivery in Ireland. The town of Derry recently announced its first vegan festival, and a former dairy scientist launched the first Ireland-based vegan coconut yogurt line.
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