Posts
A month or so ago, I wrote a little missive to the editor of my local newspaper about the rationale for going vegan. A friend emailed to say how much he had loved my “take no prisoners” letter. Yikes. I wasn’t sure if I was pleased or mortified. But there are times when it makes sense to lay it on the line, and letters to the editor are among many good opportunities for that.
There are also times when it pays to be a little bit more subtle. I’ve written before about what it means to live as a vegan in a non-vegan world. It’s hard. But if we are truly a voice for animals, then being out and about among non-vegans is our very best hope for making a difference. And sometimes activism requires a gentle touch.
None of the ideas below will stop the world dead in its tracks and produce a vegan society. They are ways to engage in activism that is quiet and constant—and that plants vegan ideas everywhere you go.
Here are seven ideas for the sneaky activist:
Turn your home into vegan library: I have leaflets and booklets placed strategically throughout the house where visitors are bound to see them. They are piled on the table just inside the door because that’s where I hold many conversations with friends and neighbors who stop by on errands. The coffee table hosts an assortment of material and so does the bathroom. Friends on twitter have suggested putting a calendar with photos of rescued farm animals on the refrigerator as a conversation starter—a great idea! Here is one you can preorder right now from Farm Sanctuary.
Good food speaks volumes, so be the host or hostess with the mostest: Veganism is scary to many people because they think it is a huge culinary sacrifice. Some of the best activism involves showing friends that this isn’t so. Give a simple party, like a picnic on the porch, or a vegan cocktail party or, in the winter, some simple appetizers and soup in front of the fire. It doesn’t have to be fancy; it just has to be good.
Dress for success: Vegan tee shirts and totes can be conversation starters. All of your favorite vegan or animal rights organizations sell them. Drape your tote bag on top of the groceries where people can see it. Put a bumper sticker on your laptop.
Bug strangers in a friendly way: If I see someone looking very non-vegan and hesitant while standing in front of the natural foods freezer at the grocery store, I might try to strike up a little conversation, maybe by asking for their help. “Have you tried the Tofutti sour cream? I like their cream cheese but haven’t tasted this yet.” It might open the door to a conversation about dairy alternatives or just plant the idea that these products are good.
Leaflets: Never leave home without them. I have a stash of Why Vegan booklets in my car and purse. I leave them behind in strategic places. Any place where people have to wait—like the Laundromat or post office is perfect. And, of course, if I’m talking with someone and the subject of veganism comes up, I can give them a leaflet; the graphic images say far more than I can ever explain in my own words.
Be a social butterfly on the net: At least half of my friends on Facebook are not vegan and nearly all of my friends on Goodreads are not. These are great places to casually post vegan information. It’s not aimed directly at any particular person so no one has any reason to take offense or feel picked on. But they are bound to see it—and maybe read it.
Always ask for soymilk: Or a veggie burger or whatever vegan item you need. I recently asked the manager in a fancy cheese store if he carried any of the “new gourmet vegan cheese products like Daiya.” My question produced a blank look; he had no idea what I was talking about. But now he’s heard of it and who knows, maybe someone else will come along and ask him about vegan cheese. An even better approach is to ask for vegan options with an attitude of expectation. Say “I’d like a soy latte, please” rather than “do you have soymilk?”
There are plenty of other ways to be a sneaky activist. I’d love to hear about your own ideas!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Vegan Before Six: Did Mark Bittman Help or Harm Vegan Efforts?
In my examiner column last week I wrote about Mark Bittman’s decision to add small amounts of meat to his Vegan Before Six plan while training for a marathon. If you don’t follow Bittman, he is a celebrity chef who devised a plan to eat vegan meals before 6:00 p.m. and then whatever he wanted for dinner. He wanted to reduce his cholesterol and weight without entirely giving up his favorite foods.
As I’ve stated here more than once, I don’t like the health argument for vegan diet (not to mention the fact that there is no health argument whatsoever for vegan lifestyle) and Bittman’s VB6 program is a perfect illustration of why I don’t like it. His plan has been perfectly effective in achieving his health goals without actually being vegan. (He lost weight and lowered his cholesterol.) And the minute he had an excuse (a nutritionist told him he wasn’t getting enough protein) he gave the whole thing up.
From what I’ve read on his blog, Bittman has been very serious about trying to reduce his intake of animal food, but he absolutely does not get it about ethical veganism. So did his experiment with “semi-veganism” do more harm than good for vegan activism? My gut reaction is that it did. He gave added credence to the widespread belief that vegan diets are inferior and to the tiresome belief that it’s hard to get enough protein on a vegan diet. I am thinking it would have been a much better thing if Mark Bittman had never gone vegan before six.
But as always with these issues, the true impact is not perfectly clear. Did Bittman’s flexitarian approach convince more people to sample some of his great vegan recipes? People who might not seek out vegan food unless a celebrity chef with a New York Times blog tells them to? Did it cause some little shift in the way some people view vegan meals?
The truth is, we just don’t know.
My best guess is that we will move toward a vegan society through some interplay of many different efforts—including vegan activism, economic hits to the animal agricultural industry, and a positive focus on plant foods, aimed at mainstream people. I don’t know which of these factors will be most important or if all are important. My training is in the physical and social sciences and we science types can be annoyingly agnostic in our approach to the world. Until you show me hard data, my mind stays open to all the possibilities. As we set out to veganize the world, it is probably smart to keep in mind that we don't have all the answers about the best approaches.
Because of that—and although I’m very displeased with Mark Bittman overall—I can’t quite make up my mind whether he has helped or harmed vegan efforts.
As I’ve stated here more than once, I don’t like the health argument for vegan diet (not to mention the fact that there is no health argument whatsoever for vegan lifestyle) and Bittman’s VB6 program is a perfect illustration of why I don’t like it. His plan has been perfectly effective in achieving his health goals without actually being vegan. (He lost weight and lowered his cholesterol.) And the minute he had an excuse (a nutritionist told him he wasn’t getting enough protein) he gave the whole thing up.
From what I’ve read on his blog, Bittman has been very serious about trying to reduce his intake of animal food, but he absolutely does not get it about ethical veganism. So did his experiment with “semi-veganism” do more harm than good for vegan activism? My gut reaction is that it did. He gave added credence to the widespread belief that vegan diets are inferior and to the tiresome belief that it’s hard to get enough protein on a vegan diet. I am thinking it would have been a much better thing if Mark Bittman had never gone vegan before six.
But as always with these issues, the true impact is not perfectly clear. Did Bittman’s flexitarian approach convince more people to sample some of his great vegan recipes? People who might not seek out vegan food unless a celebrity chef with a New York Times blog tells them to? Did it cause some little shift in the way some people view vegan meals?
The truth is, we just don’t know.
My best guess is that we will move toward a vegan society through some interplay of many different efforts—including vegan activism, economic hits to the animal agricultural industry, and a positive focus on plant foods, aimed at mainstream people. I don’t know which of these factors will be most important or if all are important. My training is in the physical and social sciences and we science types can be annoyingly agnostic in our approach to the world. Until you show me hard data, my mind stays open to all the possibilities. As we set out to veganize the world, it is probably smart to keep in mind that we don't have all the answers about the best approaches.
Because of that—and although I’m very displeased with Mark Bittman overall—I can’t quite make up my mind whether he has helped or harmed vegan efforts.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Say Yes to Bigotry and No To Veganism With the Fattening Food Tax?
Will we have a fattening food tax? I doubt it. But even the discussion of this idea is disturbing to me for two rather different reasons.
First, the current conversation about this approach involves some appalling bigotry. In their statement of why they think the food tax could work, The Urban Institute says that part of the rationale “involves personal responsibility, argued as follows: People have the right to buy food that will make them obese. But they need to take responsibility for the costs they impose on the rest of us. They do this by paying a fattening food tax, which helps defray the publicly funded medical costs that result from obesity.”
The last time I read a statement about obesity that made me this angry it was at the end of Peter Singer’s book The Way We Eat. Dr. Singer says: “If I choose to overeat and develop obesity-related health problems that require medical care, other people will probably have to bear some of the cost.” He goes on to note that some people do have metabolic disorders that interfere with weight control but “others just eat too much and should show more restraint.”
Behind these statements is the widely held, uncharitable and incorrect belief that if someone is fat, it’s their own damn fault. In fact, researchers suspect that the rise in obesity over the last several decades is due to a mix of genetic and environmental factors. The genetic factors have always been there in certain people. It’s only in our toxic food environment that they have been expressed.
That sounds like an argument in favor of the fat tax, I know; we can tweak the environment by making fattening foods more expensive/less available. And yes, I think it’s true that putting a higher price tag on some of the real culprits—empty calorie soft drinks, snack chips, and fast foods—could be one small part of the answer.
But whatever we do to counter the problem of obesity, the blame needs to be directed at the food industry and their friends in government and the health industry—not at the people who suffer from obesity.
And even if a fattening food tax—along with a labeling scheme developed by the Urban Institute—may be part of a solution to the complex problem of obesity, how will it affect the vegan cause? The Urban Institute suggests ranking foods according to a nutrient profile model used in Great Britain. And according to that model, skim milk, chicken breast and low-fat yogurt all rank as healthier than bran flakes and plain popcorn.
As I’ve noted here before, the vegan cause is never well-served by health arguments. If anything, the fattening food tax emphasizes the fact that not every animal food is unhealthful. We'll never be able to argue effectively that people should give up all animal foods for health reasons--and we shouldn't look to the fattening food tax to help.
First, the current conversation about this approach involves some appalling bigotry. In their statement of why they think the food tax could work, The Urban Institute says that part of the rationale “involves personal responsibility, argued as follows: People have the right to buy food that will make them obese. But they need to take responsibility for the costs they impose on the rest of us. They do this by paying a fattening food tax, which helps defray the publicly funded medical costs that result from obesity.”
The last time I read a statement about obesity that made me this angry it was at the end of Peter Singer’s book The Way We Eat. Dr. Singer says: “If I choose to overeat and develop obesity-related health problems that require medical care, other people will probably have to bear some of the cost.” He goes on to note that some people do have metabolic disorders that interfere with weight control but “others just eat too much and should show more restraint.”
Behind these statements is the widely held, uncharitable and incorrect belief that if someone is fat, it’s their own damn fault. In fact, researchers suspect that the rise in obesity over the last several decades is due to a mix of genetic and environmental factors. The genetic factors have always been there in certain people. It’s only in our toxic food environment that they have been expressed.
That sounds like an argument in favor of the fat tax, I know; we can tweak the environment by making fattening foods more expensive/less available. And yes, I think it’s true that putting a higher price tag on some of the real culprits—empty calorie soft drinks, snack chips, and fast foods—could be one small part of the answer.
But whatever we do to counter the problem of obesity, the blame needs to be directed at the food industry and their friends in government and the health industry—not at the people who suffer from obesity.
And even if a fattening food tax—along with a labeling scheme developed by the Urban Institute—may be part of a solution to the complex problem of obesity, how will it affect the vegan cause? The Urban Institute suggests ranking foods according to a nutrient profile model used in Great Britain. And according to that model, skim milk, chicken breast and low-fat yogurt all rank as healthier than bran flakes and plain popcorn.
As I’ve noted here before, the vegan cause is never well-served by health arguments. If anything, the fattening food tax emphasizes the fact that not every animal food is unhealthful. We'll never be able to argue effectively that people should give up all animal foods for health reasons--and we shouldn't look to the fattening food tax to help.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Everyone Is a Potential Vegan
One of my favorite organizations, Vegan Outreach, focuses efforts on college students and other young people—those who are most apt to listen to a vegan message. Given the huge task of moving society toward a more vegan ethic, it makes sense to start wherever success is most likely.
That’s why it’s disappointing to me when activists disparage those who truly have vegan potential—vegetarians (of the lacto-ovo variety) and people who are moved by animal welfare issues, but not animal rights.
I volunteer at my local animal shelter where the other volunteers obviously love animals and are committed to their welfare and happiness. And most of them eat meat. I know—it could drive you crazy. It does drive me—and the other vegan volunteers—crazy. But there is no way I’m willing to write these people off. Their awareness about animals and animal use may be limited, but their hearts are primed for veganism.
Some of these are older people for whom the idea of veganism is foreign and even a little shocking. So I talk to them about my work and share food ideas with them. Some are interested and are exploring more plant-based options. They are dabbling, and that’s a good start.
The same is true of ethical lacto-ovo vegetarians. No, that’s not an oxymoron. I was an ethical vegetarian before I became a vegan. I thought I had it covered by not eating animals who were killed for their meat, and was stunned to discover that I wasn’t already doing enough.
Many vegetarians simply do not know what happens on dairy and egg farms. To the best of their understanding, they are eating ethically. They need to be educated, and need to hear the right message presented in the right way. A good first step is to offer some respect for what they have done so far. It’s a whole lot more than what most other people are doing.
So many people are resistant to our message. But everyone is a potential vegan. Let’s encourage—not berate—those whose potential is the most promising.
That’s why it’s disappointing to me when activists disparage those who truly have vegan potential—vegetarians (of the lacto-ovo variety) and people who are moved by animal welfare issues, but not animal rights.
I volunteer at my local animal shelter where the other volunteers obviously love animals and are committed to their welfare and happiness. And most of them eat meat. I know—it could drive you crazy. It does drive me—and the other vegan volunteers—crazy. But there is no way I’m willing to write these people off. Their awareness about animals and animal use may be limited, but their hearts are primed for veganism.
Some of these are older people for whom the idea of veganism is foreign and even a little shocking. So I talk to them about my work and share food ideas with them. Some are interested and are exploring more plant-based options. They are dabbling, and that’s a good start.
The same is true of ethical lacto-ovo vegetarians. No, that’s not an oxymoron. I was an ethical vegetarian before I became a vegan. I thought I had it covered by not eating animals who were killed for their meat, and was stunned to discover that I wasn’t already doing enough.
Many vegetarians simply do not know what happens on dairy and egg farms. To the best of their understanding, they are eating ethically. They need to be educated, and need to hear the right message presented in the right way. A good first step is to offer some respect for what they have done so far. It’s a whole lot more than what most other people are doing.
So many people are resistant to our message. But everyone is a potential vegan. Let’s encourage—not berate—those whose potential is the most promising.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Tipping Point: Lessons For Vegan Activists?
Taken from the field of epidemiology, a tipping point is the moment at which a contagious disease “tips” and becomes an epidemic. From a sociological point of view, it’s the point at which momentum for change becomes unstoppable. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is about turning messages—about ideas, behaviors or products—into epidemics.
How do we spread a vegan message to the point where it tips? Obviously this book doesn’t offer a blueprint for that. But it gives some ideas—and some fascinating food for thought—based on research from marketing, sociology, and education.
A few concepts:
There are certain types of people who help messages spread. No real surprises here. They are highly social people (those who have a huge network of contacts), information gatherers, and people with the capacity to sell an idea or persuade others.
The message itself needs to be “sticky.” Is it retainable, memorable, personal, practical, novel, irresistible? Most messages will need to be tested and tweaked. And tweaking a message or the presentation of a message in a way that doesn’t appear to make much sense can have huge positive consequences.
Context and environment shape the way people behave and can even overwhelm predispositions. While we might think that people react to an environment or set of circumstances by wanting to change them, it often turns out that they themselves are changed--for better or worse--by the environment.
Finally, Gladwell suggests that ideas spread more rapidly through multiple small groups than one large one.
If there is one salient point to take away from Gladwell’s premise it is this: Attachment to one idea about how to spread a message—no matter how logical or intuitive it might seem—may not always serve us well.
Instead, messages need to be tried, tested and modified. The answer to success can sometimes be found in approaches that are counter-intuitive. And changing the environment can actually cause people to change.
Finally, while it is great that some activists go out and spread the message to crowds, it may be that a whole bunch of people hosting individual vegan pot lucks will spread our message faster than anything else we could dream up!
Friday, July 10, 2009
A Vegan's Ode To The Chickpea
I have very few brilliant ideas of my own and must admit that this one—a poem about chickpeas—was inspired by some friends on twitter—ReluctantVeggie and LeafyV. You can find links to their work and words of wisdom at the end of this post. But first..my ode to everyone’s favorite bean.
A Vegan’s Ode To The Chickpea
If you’ve been to a vegan pot luck
Where everyone brings a dish
You’ve tasted six kinds of hummus
Thank goodness it’s so delish.
It’s tasty because it has chickpeas
A very delectable bean
But hummus is just for starters
‘Cuz chickpeas are worldly cuisine.
In Milan they call them ceci,
They eat them with rigatoni
They’re classic Italian food
As famous as macaroni.
When you pair them up with pasta
You get a protein that’s complete.
Oops, what the heck am I saying?
That theory has met with defeat!
If you’re traveling down Mexico way
And the foods are all topped with cheese
Say “quiero garbanzos por favor”
(That means “I want some chickpeas, please.”)
In India they’re made into flour
For fritters and tasty flat bread
But if you prefer plain old chickpeas
You can have them in curry instead.
Chickpeas have great healthy nutrients
Like potassium and calcium, at least
They’re an excellent source of B12
(Well—if you eat them with nutritional yeast)
You may think that you love chickpeas
You’re convinced you’re their biggest fan
But I’ve got you beat by a mile
I eat them right outta the can.
I’m happy that I’m a vegan
I do it for the animals’ sake
I couldn’t be mean to a chicken
I like cows too much to eat steak
So, you can have your eggs and pork chops
You can have your heart disease
I’m choosing ethical eating
It’s easy—‘cuz I’ve got chickpeas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some chickpea resources:
The poem that started it all from The Reluctant Vegetarian
Follow her on twitter at www.twitter.com/reluctantveggie
Chickpea recipes from Leafy
Follow her at www.twitter.com/LeafyV
Chickpea recipes on my examiner site
A Vegan’s Ode To The Chickpea
If you’ve been to a vegan pot luck
Where everyone brings a dish
You’ve tasted six kinds of hummus
Thank goodness it’s so delish.
It’s tasty because it has chickpeas
A very delectable bean
But hummus is just for starters
‘Cuz chickpeas are worldly cuisine.
In Milan they call them ceci,
They eat them with rigatoni
They’re classic Italian food
As famous as macaroni.
When you pair them up with pasta
You get a protein that’s complete.
Oops, what the heck am I saying?
That theory has met with defeat!
If you’re traveling down Mexico way
And the foods are all topped with cheese
Say “quiero garbanzos por favor”
(That means “I want some chickpeas, please.”)
In India they’re made into flour
For fritters and tasty flat bread
But if you prefer plain old chickpeas
You can have them in curry instead.
Chickpeas have great healthy nutrients
Like potassium and calcium, at least
They’re an excellent source of B12
(Well—if you eat them with nutritional yeast)
You may think that you love chickpeas
You’re convinced you’re their biggest fan
But I’ve got you beat by a mile
I eat them right outta the can.
I’m happy that I’m a vegan
I do it for the animals’ sake
I couldn’t be mean to a chicken
I like cows too much to eat steak
So, you can have your eggs and pork chops
You can have your heart disease
I’m choosing ethical eating
It’s easy—‘cuz I’ve got chickpeas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some chickpea resources:
The poem that started it all from The Reluctant Vegetarian
Follow her on twitter at www.twitter.com/reluctantveggie
Chickpea recipes from Leafy
Follow her at www.twitter.com/LeafyV
Chickpea recipes on my examiner site
Thursday, July 9, 2009
From Nutrition Counseling to Vegan Activism
Some people just don’t like vegans. The fact of our ethical veganism, even if we don’t say a word about it, can be an affront to those who are still eating animal foods. We challenge the way others eat and live just by being vegan. And, understandably, most people feel discomfort when their way of life is challenged.
But it’s more than that. People expect to be scolded by vegans. How many times have you heard that vegans are judgmental, superior and unkind? Is that an unfair assessment or do some vegans alienate the very people they want to convert? Most of us are passionate, after all, about animal rights. It can be hard to keep that from turning into something that is condemnatory and critical.
Before I became an animal rights activist and vegan, I was already a dietitian with a relatively varied background in public health. I worked with migrant farm workers in the rural Midwest, low-income families in urban areas, pregnant teenage girls and well-to-do suburban women seeking weight loss. I learned a lot about working with people whose experiences and world views were different from my own.
One of my clients in a Washington, DC clinic was about the angriest person I had ever met. Her 2-year-old son was iron deficient and the pediatrician insisted that she see me. She would hardly look at me and, when she did, it was with intense and rather unnerving dislike. She was angry because she knew I was going to tell her that she wasn’t taking care of her child. I was going to judge her and find her wanting.
Of course, I didn’t do that at all. I told her all the reasons why kids with loving and attentive parents can have low iron levels. I let her tell me about the challenges of being a single mom without much income. Within 10 minutes, she was completely relaxed, talking and listening. At the end of our session, to my huge surprise she actually apologized for her initial attitude. She volunteered to come back for follow-up.
It really wasn’t that hard to help this woman feel respected and accepted. But I have to admit that I find it much more challenging to do that as a vegan activist. Sometimes I am desperately unhappy with people who won’t do the right thing by going vegan. I have to take a deep breath and remember the kind of conversations and interactions that will win the day for animals.
Be a cheerleader and a giver of positive strokes. Appreciating what people have done so far is likely to make them more receptive to your gentle, respectful prodding to go further. It’s not always easy when you feel like they haven’t done a whole lot. But yelling “You’re still murdering animals!” has never been shown to be an effective technique in getting people to change.
Be concrete in your reasoning and suggestions. People need information that they can understand and act on. A treatise on “the inherent rights of animals” is likely to be far less compelling to the average person than concrete examples of the suffering of factory farm animals.
Keep it simple. Most people can handle only so much information and change all at once. So maybe on the first day of their vegan adventure they really don’t need that list showing which beers are vegan and which aren’t.
Do whatever you can to make change less scary. I’m a big believer in feeding people good vegan food before suggesting that they drop animal foods from their diet. They’ll be that much more open to the reasons for going vegan if they know it’s not a death sentence for their taste buds.
Create a good environment for change. My activist soul has a tough time embracing “flexitarian” measures like Meatless Monday and Vegan Before 6. But anything that pushes the world toward more plant-based eating can help create an environment in which the “Go Vegan” message sounds less foreign. If it gets us a step closer to our goal, it’s good.
But it’s more than that. People expect to be scolded by vegans. How many times have you heard that vegans are judgmental, superior and unkind? Is that an unfair assessment or do some vegans alienate the very people they want to convert? Most of us are passionate, after all, about animal rights. It can be hard to keep that from turning into something that is condemnatory and critical.
Before I became an animal rights activist and vegan, I was already a dietitian with a relatively varied background in public health. I worked with migrant farm workers in the rural Midwest, low-income families in urban areas, pregnant teenage girls and well-to-do suburban women seeking weight loss. I learned a lot about working with people whose experiences and world views were different from my own.
One of my clients in a Washington, DC clinic was about the angriest person I had ever met. Her 2-year-old son was iron deficient and the pediatrician insisted that she see me. She would hardly look at me and, when she did, it was with intense and rather unnerving dislike. She was angry because she knew I was going to tell her that she wasn’t taking care of her child. I was going to judge her and find her wanting.
Of course, I didn’t do that at all. I told her all the reasons why kids with loving and attentive parents can have low iron levels. I let her tell me about the challenges of being a single mom without much income. Within 10 minutes, she was completely relaxed, talking and listening. At the end of our session, to my huge surprise she actually apologized for her initial attitude. She volunteered to come back for follow-up.
It really wasn’t that hard to help this woman feel respected and accepted. But I have to admit that I find it much more challenging to do that as a vegan activist. Sometimes I am desperately unhappy with people who won’t do the right thing by going vegan. I have to take a deep breath and remember the kind of conversations and interactions that will win the day for animals.
Be a cheerleader and a giver of positive strokes. Appreciating what people have done so far is likely to make them more receptive to your gentle, respectful prodding to go further. It’s not always easy when you feel like they haven’t done a whole lot. But yelling “You’re still murdering animals!” has never been shown to be an effective technique in getting people to change.
Be concrete in your reasoning and suggestions. People need information that they can understand and act on. A treatise on “the inherent rights of animals” is likely to be far less compelling to the average person than concrete examples of the suffering of factory farm animals.
Keep it simple. Most people can handle only so much information and change all at once. So maybe on the first day of their vegan adventure they really don’t need that list showing which beers are vegan and which aren’t.
Do whatever you can to make change less scary. I’m a big believer in feeding people good vegan food before suggesting that they drop animal foods from their diet. They’ll be that much more open to the reasons for going vegan if they know it’s not a death sentence for their taste buds.
Create a good environment for change. My activist soul has a tough time embracing “flexitarian” measures like Meatless Monday and Vegan Before 6. But anything that pushes the world toward more plant-based eating can help create an environment in which the “Go Vegan” message sounds less foreign. If it gets us a step closer to our goal, it’s good.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Can Vegans Be Fun?
My local newspaper has recently been running a string of letters to the editor about diet. I wrote last week defending the healthfulness of veganism and advocating for this way of eating. Several replies popped up on the paper’s website. They were mostly the usual stuff: Vegan diets are too hard to plan, too expensive, vegans have a moral superiority complex, how do you know that plants don’t feel pain, etc, etc.
But the comment that caught my attention was from a guy who noted that I could eat what I want but he was headed out to throw a steak on the grill--and open up a cold beer from the local microbrewery.
It’s the kind of retort that makes me realize—once again—that people have absolutely no sense of what it means to be vegan. What does beer have to do with anything? I fired off a response to assure him that (some) vegans do in fact drink beer—and wine, and cocktails, and we eat chocolate and potato chips and French fries. I know it isn’t going to make a difference where he’s concerned. His mind was made up and nothing would convince him that a vegan diet can be fun and delicious.
But I would really like the world to know this: We vegans are just like everyone else. We like food that is tasty and fun and convenient. We like to be warm in the winter. Some of us like cute shoes. We just happen to believe that it’s not our right to use animals to fulfill those desires.
Yes, it’s important to eat healthfully, and I blogged recently about good health as good animal advocacy. But fun vegan food is good activism, too. And you don’t have to eat “whole plant foods” 100% of the time to be healthy, anyway. An all-or-nothing approach to healthful eating only undermines efforts to attract people to a vegan diet.
The best moments in vegan activism come when someone looks at the way we eat and says “Wow—I could do that.” And let’s face it—the more vegan brownies we bake, the better our chances of eliciting that response.
But the comment that caught my attention was from a guy who noted that I could eat what I want but he was headed out to throw a steak on the grill--and open up a cold beer from the local microbrewery.
It’s the kind of retort that makes me realize—once again—that people have absolutely no sense of what it means to be vegan. What does beer have to do with anything? I fired off a response to assure him that (some) vegans do in fact drink beer—and wine, and cocktails, and we eat chocolate and potato chips and French fries. I know it isn’t going to make a difference where he’s concerned. His mind was made up and nothing would convince him that a vegan diet can be fun and delicious.
But I would really like the world to know this: We vegans are just like everyone else. We like food that is tasty and fun and convenient. We like to be warm in the winter. Some of us like cute shoes. We just happen to believe that it’s not our right to use animals to fulfill those desires.
Yes, it’s important to eat healthfully, and I blogged recently about good health as good animal advocacy. But fun vegan food is good activism, too. And you don’t have to eat “whole plant foods” 100% of the time to be healthy, anyway. An all-or-nothing approach to healthful eating only undermines efforts to attract people to a vegan diet.
The best moments in vegan activism come when someone looks at the way we eat and says “Wow—I could do that.” And let’s face it—the more vegan brownies we bake, the better our chances of eliciting that response.
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