While it might not technically be vegan, I’d be willing to give it the old “ominus dominus.” Though some will surely disagree, my issue with consuming animal products is based in the practices of the meat and dairy industries in America and other developed countries; factory farming, in particular. It is their irreverence for life and unnecessary cruelty that are the problem. I do not believe for a second that all people everywhere should abstain from animal based diets. Veganism is a luxury that we have while living in a consumer driven country. Many people throughout the world do not have that luxury.
What I challenge all vegans to consider, is that eating vegan is not always the most responsible dietary choice. Consider this story I heard from my friend Krissi Green. Her friends were in Hawaii on vacation. At one point they were out to lunch at a local restaurant. The man, whose name I can’t recall orders the mahi mahi and his wife orders a tofu dish. Which is the more responsible choice? The mahi was caught wild that day, by a local fisherman with one boat. The tofu started as soybeans grown in Iowa. During the process, the soil was tilled and fertilized, seeds were planted, crops were irrigated, harvested, shipped, processed, packaged in plastic, shipped again and only then does it arrive at the restaurant. Which meal required the lives of more animals, directly or indirectly? Which meal had a more profound affect on the source ecosystem?
I have been vegan for a very long time and I feel there is merit to maintaining that diet, however we seem to overlook the overwhelming negative affects that our agricultural practices have on the environment and human and non-human animals. Would the worldwide acceptance of a vegan diet be any more sustainable than the current omnivorous one? I think there is a strong argument to be made, that hunting or fishing for the meat that you eat and growing your own vegetables would, over a lifetime, lead to less unnecessary suffering than 90% of the diets vegans maintain today. I know this is idealistic, and I am not trying to convert vegans to meat eaters. I am only trying to promote real pragmatic thought about the goals you hope to achieve and whether those goals can or even should be met by your current diet. When it is all said and done, eat responsibly and with intent.
As far as eating people…I don’t recommend it, but I guess if you kill them with your bare hands, it’s vegan.
