I have a very dear friend, let's call her The Lark, who is a passionate, ethical vegan. Though a vegetarian for most of her life, this latest escalation is a fairly recent development.
I have been fascinated to hear from her about the intensely antagonistic responses she receives from friends and family when they are faced with her dietary choices. Similarly, whenever I talk about her decision, I get responses ranging from dismissive right through to downright aggressive. Of course, the main reason for this is that most people feel that such choices are tacitly criticising their own omnivorous ways and they get defensive in response. In truth, The Lark has made such choices for herself and, though she would dearly love to see others follow her ways, rarely if ever proselytises on the subject and never pouts when we cook meat in front of her.
I have long struggled with my own choice to continue eating meat when I know far to much about meat production in this country to do so with a clear conscience. The Lark's decision to switch to veganism, despite a passionate love of cheese, pushed all those long-repressed buttons for me. And yet, I made no changes! This finally lead me to examine my resistance and, in the end, I found some peace with my decision to remain an omnivore.
First, a digression: I am somewhat passionate about shrinking my environmental footprint and as such I am a devoted recycler, I restrict the water usage in my house, use low energy light-bulbs, natural cleaning products and cloth nappies on my toddler among other things. I do all this because I feel that I am part of a groundswell; that, when combined with thousands of other individuals world-wide making the same small modifications to my routine, my little actions with result in big changes for the planet.
Conversely, I fundamentally believe that human beings will never, by choice, give up eating meat. If we lose the space to farm them as we do today, we will simply come up with more horrendous, cruel and efficient ways to farm them and continue to ignore the pleas of the animal welfare warriors. We have already seen this happen to farming methods over the past century. Most people would be truly horrified by the way in which animals are farmed and then killed if they took the time to find out - as they say, "If slaughter-houses had glass walls we would all be vegetarian" - but most don't find out because they genuinely do not want to know.
Combine this with the fact that it is nigh on impossible to live 100% vegan in the modern world. It is perhaps possible if you absent yourself from the rest of society and live a dietarily devout existence of self-sufficiency and whatnot but for most of us it is impossible. Car tyres, for instance, are partly made from horse products. Nearly every wine and beer on the market is filtered using eggs. Vitamin B2 is often animal derived. Cochineal colouring is of animal origin - no more rasperry icy poles for you! These are only a handful of examples and I haven't even mentioned the fact that a city runs on industries and methods of transport that we all passively benefit from and which use animal products willy-nilly.
This latter point makes me wonder, in a way, why vegans bother but, also, when this element is combined with the former point, I am unable to seriously consider the switch. If I thought that my decision to become vegan would make even one animal live a longer life, or at least not die such a painful one, then I would seriously consider it. But, the truth is, I just don't believe that. I also don't believe that there will ever be a revolution in favour of the animals; sadly, quite the opposite.
On top of all this is also the undeniable fact that I love to eat meat. As a foodie, the thought of never eating sukiyaki, pâté or even something simple like a good ol' bacon and egg roll is truly demoralising. I recognise that this is an unsupportable, totally selfish, position but it plays a part in my decision and must therefore be mentioned.
I respect anyone who has the self-discipline and passion to make the sacrifices required of a vegan and I also recognise that the vegan diet is far more varied and exciting than most people recognise. That said, I don't entirely see the point in such an extreme limitation on your diet when 100% adherence is virtually impossible and when vegetarianism achieves many, though not all, of the same ends.
I'd be very interested in hearing from vegans who want to set me straight on this issue!
I have been fascinated to hear from her about the intensely antagonistic responses she receives from friends and family when they are faced with her dietary choices. Similarly, whenever I talk about her decision, I get responses ranging from dismissive right through to downright aggressive. Of course, the main reason for this is that most people feel that such choices are tacitly criticising their own omnivorous ways and they get defensive in response. In truth, The Lark has made such choices for herself and, though she would dearly love to see others follow her ways, rarely if ever proselytises on the subject and never pouts when we cook meat in front of her.
I have long struggled with my own choice to continue eating meat when I know far to much about meat production in this country to do so with a clear conscience. The Lark's decision to switch to veganism, despite a passionate love of cheese, pushed all those long-repressed buttons for me. And yet, I made no changes! This finally lead me to examine my resistance and, in the end, I found some peace with my decision to remain an omnivore.
First, a digression: I am somewhat passionate about shrinking my environmental footprint and as such I am a devoted recycler, I restrict the water usage in my house, use low energy light-bulbs, natural cleaning products and cloth nappies on my toddler among other things. I do all this because I feel that I am part of a groundswell; that, when combined with thousands of other individuals world-wide making the same small modifications to my routine, my little actions with result in big changes for the planet.
Conversely, I fundamentally believe that human beings will never, by choice, give up eating meat. If we lose the space to farm them as we do today, we will simply come up with more horrendous, cruel and efficient ways to farm them and continue to ignore the pleas of the animal welfare warriors. We have already seen this happen to farming methods over the past century. Most people would be truly horrified by the way in which animals are farmed and then killed if they took the time to find out - as they say, "If slaughter-houses had glass walls we would all be vegetarian" - but most don't find out because they genuinely do not want to know.
Combine this with the fact that it is nigh on impossible to live 100% vegan in the modern world. It is perhaps possible if you absent yourself from the rest of society and live a dietarily devout existence of self-sufficiency and whatnot but for most of us it is impossible. Car tyres, for instance, are partly made from horse products. Nearly every wine and beer on the market is filtered using eggs. Vitamin B2 is often animal derived. Cochineal colouring is of animal origin - no more rasperry icy poles for you! These are only a handful of examples and I haven't even mentioned the fact that a city runs on industries and methods of transport that we all passively benefit from and which use animal products willy-nilly.
This latter point makes me wonder, in a way, why vegans bother but, also, when this element is combined with the former point, I am unable to seriously consider the switch. If I thought that my decision to become vegan would make even one animal live a longer life, or at least not die such a painful one, then I would seriously consider it. But, the truth is, I just don't believe that. I also don't believe that there will ever be a revolution in favour of the animals; sadly, quite the opposite.
On top of all this is also the undeniable fact that I love to eat meat. As a foodie, the thought of never eating sukiyaki, pâté or even something simple like a good ol' bacon and egg roll is truly demoralising. I recognise that this is an unsupportable, totally selfish, position but it plays a part in my decision and must therefore be mentioned.
I respect anyone who has the self-discipline and passion to make the sacrifices required of a vegan and I also recognise that the vegan diet is far more varied and exciting than most people recognise. That said, I don't entirely see the point in such an extreme limitation on your diet when 100% adherence is virtually impossible and when vegetarianism achieves many, though not all, of the same ends.
I'd be very interested in hearing from vegans who want to set me straight on this issue!
1 comment:
I found you! Yay for me.
You're absolutely right. There is no reasonable way to be 100% vegan. For me (as you mentioned) it is a decision that rests in two distinct areas. The first is a substantially reduced ecological footprint (see 'Livestock's long shadow' published by the UN, or 'The China Study' by T.Colin Campbell), and the astonishing mismanagement of resources (third world) that line our stomachs with meat. The grain and water used to produce 1kg of beef, for example. But secondly, I have decided (romantically) to live a life that minimises suffering to animals. I cannot eradicate it alone. My choices are never going to change everything, but hey,-I feel better knowing that I didn't contribute to death and suffering deliberately.
Thirdly..(did I say two?...:-), Although negativity and outright aggression abounds, I have met and cooked for many people over the past few years, and am somewhat heartened by the fact that my small circle of friends and family are now counted amongst those that don't automatically sneer at vegans. They will quite happily chow down on whatever vegan delights I prepare, and have substantially reduced their own meat consumption. This has controlled diabetes in one case, led to fabulous weight-loss and cholesterol management in another, and cleared up the skin of yet another. Nutritionally speaking, veganism is a great choice for health.
I'm dead certain I could have written this much better:-)
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