As a follow-up to my post about vegetarianism, I should say a bit about veganism.
For those who don't know, there are various "levels" of vegetarianism. When I say, "vegetarian," I'm generally referring to a person who chooses not to eat meat of any kind, but may eat dairy and eggs. The technical term for this lifestyle is lacto-ovo vegetarianism. (That's what I am.) Some people - let's call them semi-vegetarians - choose to abstain from only some kinds of meat. Pescetarians, for example, eat fish but no other meats. Some people choose to eat fish and poultry but no mammal meat. Some people go beyond meat and reduce or eliminate their consumption of other animal products. Lacto-vegetarians eat dairy, but no eggs. Ovo-vegetarians eat eggs but no dairy.
And then there's vegans. Vegans eat no animal products - no dairy, eggs, or even honey. That cuts out milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, sour cream, many baked goods (cake, cookies, and sweet breads generally have eggs and/or milk in them), and most prepared or processed foods you can think of. Lots of vegans take their philosophy beyond the dinner table and also abstain from using animal products like wool, leather, fur, and silk.
I am not vegan. However, the principles behind my choice to become vegetarian (see previous post) would logically lead me to a vegan, not just vegetarian, diet. Why am I not vegan? Well, being vegan is really hard.
I tried it for a few days last week. A friend of mine has decided to spend the semester experimenting with different ways people eat. (You can check out her adventures doing so on her blog.) Her first experiment was a half week of vegetarianism followed by a half week of veganism. As a vegetarian with a long-standing interest in veganism, and in an effort to be a good friend, I decided to join her in her experiment.
Now, I'm used to imposing unusual diet restrictions on myself. I've already got the no-meat part covered, I hardly ever buy milk or cheese, I don't do a whole lot of baking, and I had just run out of eggs. I figured going totally vegan wouldn't be too hard for me. I hadn't taken into account the fact that I'm a college student, living in a college student environment.
In my experience, a fairly significant part of a college student's diet comes from free food or food that is socially offered and eaten. During my three days as a vegan (that's right, I didn't last very long), I was offered pizza twice, cookies at least 3 times, and other dairy/egg-containing dishes fairly consistently. Eating is often a social act, and it's difficult to make choices that might make things uncomfortable or inconvenient for others. Some people get offended when you refuse the food they offer. Others may feel burdened by having to work around just one person's odd dietary restrictions. I sometimes feel reluctant to bring up my dietary choices so as not to impose.
Should I, though? I mean, if the real point of my food choices is about improving the impact of said choices, shouldn't I be as vocal and forthright about them as I can? Obviously I am just one person, and unless my views and example provide motivation for others to rethink their own choices, the "global impact" I'm making will remain extremely small. (More on this later.) Refusing food that is offered me provides opportunities to educate others on the global impact of our choices.
That said, there must be a balance. I don't want to offend my friends, and... sometimes I just want to eat that muffin, dang it! However, when I read things like, "[O]n average 990 litres of water are required to produce one litre of milk"(UN Report, as quoted in this article), I think seriously about going totally vegan.
Despite my best intentions for this whole global impact eating thing, I don't think I'm ready for that yet. But what I am going to try is to make my purchasing choices totally vegan and stick to plain old vegetarian for social eating.
For those of us not ready to give up all animal products yet, stay tuned for the next post, in which I'll talk about how to make your choice of animal products as positive-impact as possible.
I am not a vegan for two reasons:
ReplyDelete1. It's hard
2. It gets ridiculous, real fast.
My food decisions are mostly based on boycotting industry practices rather than inherent animal rights, or the idea that it is wrong to use "animal labor". It is easy to obtain ethical honey and eggs, so I see no reason not to eat these things. I am however uncomfortable about the amount of milk and butter that I consume, and would like to make some reductions there, or find ethical sources.
My parents were vegan for quite a while during my childhood, which meant that my siblings and I were, also, partially vegan. (My parents didn't try controlling what food we ate outside of the home.) My mom and dad became vegan because they didn't agree with the processing methods of dairy or hormone-injected livestock. Thus, they refrained from buying a majority of animal products. I didn't mind the food change much, because I was so young. Though, I do remember developing a taste for tofu. I also remember using applesauce in cake instead of eggs. Eventually, my parents eased out of being vegan. I'm not sure how or why they stopped, but, before I knew it, we had eggs and butter in the fridge again. Granted, we only bought free-range chicken eggs, never bought milk, and rarely ate meat. I guess my parents' veganism was health-based. Anyway, great post!
ReplyDeleteWoah no honey!
ReplyDeleteThat's news to me. I guess that eliminates any chance for me... ;) although dates and figs would provide a very capable substitute. But where can you get a reasonably priced lifetime supply of dates? This is actually something I've been wondering for a while...I guess I could always move to Jerusalem...
I agree that one of the most difficult things (perhaps especially for college students) with maintaining an abnormal diet is the social aspect. Though not strictly vegan, and not strictly vegetarian, I like to think of myself as being "in transition". Whatever that means. Well, at the moment it means that I never buy meat, and am weaning myself of milk, eggs, and cheese, and I avoid sweet things (at an arbitrary definition of sweet) perhaps 75% of the time.
Anyway, at one point I was eating with some friends, and one of the girls had bought a cake for dessert. I don't really like cake in general, and store-bought much less so, and I was already quite satiated by the main course, so I did my best to gracefully decline. Now this may be a reflection of my lack of grace, but the girl got really offended!
I'll avoid deploring our society for having it not only be acceptable but normal for someone to get offended over something like that...too much... but in the end, I ate the cake. And I was very aware of that subtle aftertaste that means my body was none too pleased.
Does one have to be deathly ill or have a terminal disease for one to make health-conscious eating decisions in a social setting?
not too mention that healthy food (done right) tastes a ton better than unhealthy food.