Vegans say this roundabout’s name is no longer acceptable
Have you ever eaten a pork pie? It’s a traditional English round pie filled with meat, with equivalents in various countries. Australian meat pies, for example, or the remarkable cheeseburger pie, which is particularly popular in the US state of Kansas. But one particular pork pie has really ruffled animal rights activists’ feathers:
Namely the ‘Pork Pie Roundabout’ (roundabout) in Leicester, England, which is so named because the eponymous Pork Pie Library is located there. Supporters of PETA, an organization strongly committed to animal welfare, have asked the city’s mayor to officially give the roundabout a different name: Vegan Pie Roundabout…
Not a tongue-in-cheek reference
The Pork Pie name isn’t a joke or nickname, by the way: the library built there in the 1930s was originally called Southfields Library, but because of its cylindrical architectural style, locals soon began calling it the Pork Pie Library. The name stuck so firmly that the building was eventually officially renamed after it. Because of its location on that roundabout, the traffic circle was given the same name—and PETA clearly isn’t happy about it.
Letter to the mayor
In a letter to the mayor, a campaign manager wrote: “This forward-thinking name change would inspire people to make healthier food choices that help the environment, […] and prevent animal suffering. Encouraging a plant-based diet would also ease the pressure on Leicester’s overburdened healthcare system.”
No doubt about it
Mayor Peter Soulsby’s response? He called PETA’s suggestion to rename the roundabout Vegan Pie Roundabout a “witty and rather clever way of drawing attention to itself.” And is a name change on the way? No. “Changing the name that people have given the library and the roundabout is out of the question.”
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Source: BBC, image: Google Earth
