Monday
Mar152010
Aspirationally Vegan
Monday, March 15, 2010 at 8:37AM
The more I learn about our food production industry, whether it's in a book like The Omnivores Dilemma, in the news regarding Maple Leaf, or in Steve Joordens TVO podcast; the less I want to eat anything at all, let alone animal products in particular.
The corporate production of meat is well documented as being not only simply wasteful in terms of the resources require to grow a cow, but there are also the toxic environmental effects, and questionable ethics of slaughtering animals on an industrial scale.
by arimoore
Thing is, changing your own habits is hard enough. But it becomes even more difficult when you have most of society working against you socially, commercially, and industrially.
And what do you focus on? Is organic more important than local? Is sustainably grown meat better than chemically fertilized GM vegetables? Is wild caught fish better than domesticated chicken? What about beer and alcohol? What about the wood in my furniture and the leather on my shoes? Local organic cat food? Is "organic" really all that organic?
by gumption
Rigidly implementing such a lifestyle means that every restaurant order starts with a game of 20 questions, and normal grocery stores are largely useless to you. Even Whole Foods is largely factory farmed, it's just factory farmed organic. You basically have to order most things from specialty services and learn an entire new way of cooking.
When you factor it all in, trying to survive on a 100% organic local vegan diet comes close to impossible, or at least difficult enough to make it impractical unless you live on a farm or a commune.
by bcostin
When faced with this in the past I'd just give up entirely and not even try. It's mostly a environmental concern for me, and being as it requires a PhD in food systems to accurately judge the relative impacts of different products and processes, I'd rather just not care.
But lately I've sort of realized that it's not necessarily an all-or-nothing situation. It's like recycling or avoiding plastic bags, you do what you can, when you can, and hope for the best.
by jamieleto
Most restaurants have vegetarian options, and making meatless food at home is often easier, faster, and cheaper once you learn a couple things.
It's not all salads and soups either. Buy falafel instead of shawarma. Get vegetable pad thai or a grilled cheese sandwich. Indian food has tons of great meatless choices. Try some vegetarian restaurants, Calico Cafe and Rawlicious are really good. Avoid sushi, even though it's so goddamn tasty.
Once you get the idea in your head to look out for alternate options, making new choices becomes second nature. And who knows, if enough of us do it, we may actually be able to make the sustainable solution a default instead of an anomaly. Aspirationally vegan, pragmatically omnivorous.
The corporate production of meat is well documented as being not only simply wasteful in terms of the resources require to grow a cow, but there are also the toxic environmental effects, and questionable ethics of slaughtering animals on an industrial scale.
by arimoore
Thing is, changing your own habits is hard enough. But it becomes even more difficult when you have most of society working against you socially, commercially, and industrially.
And what do you focus on? Is organic more important than local? Is sustainably grown meat better than chemically fertilized GM vegetables? Is wild caught fish better than domesticated chicken? What about beer and alcohol? What about the wood in my furniture and the leather on my shoes? Local organic cat food? Is "organic" really all that organic?
by gumption
Rigidly implementing such a lifestyle means that every restaurant order starts with a game of 20 questions, and normal grocery stores are largely useless to you. Even Whole Foods is largely factory farmed, it's just factory farmed organic. You basically have to order most things from specialty services and learn an entire new way of cooking.
When you factor it all in, trying to survive on a 100% organic local vegan diet comes close to impossible, or at least difficult enough to make it impractical unless you live on a farm or a commune.
by bcostin
When faced with this in the past I'd just give up entirely and not even try. It's mostly a environmental concern for me, and being as it requires a PhD in food systems to accurately judge the relative impacts of different products and processes, I'd rather just not care.
But lately I've sort of realized that it's not necessarily an all-or-nothing situation. It's like recycling or avoiding plastic bags, you do what you can, when you can, and hope for the best.
by jamieleto
Most restaurants have vegetarian options, and making meatless food at home is often easier, faster, and cheaper once you learn a couple things.
It's not all salads and soups either. Buy falafel instead of shawarma. Get vegetable pad thai or a grilled cheese sandwich. Indian food has tons of great meatless choices. Try some vegetarian restaurants, Calico Cafe and Rawlicious are really good. Avoid sushi, even though it's so goddamn tasty.
Once you get the idea in your head to look out for alternate options, making new choices becomes second nature. And who knows, if enough of us do it, we may actually be able to make the sustainable solution a default instead of an anomaly. Aspirationally vegan, pragmatically omnivorous.
tagged GM food, aspirationally vegan, eric hacke, food systems, industrial food, local, ominvorous, organic, vegan, vegetarian in Rant
GM food, aspirationally vegan, eric hacke, food systems, industrial food, local, ominvorous, organic, vegan, vegetarian in Rant 
Reader Comments (3)
i just started eating vegan about 2 months ago and it is sooo easy. i used to think like the first part of your article, that it would be so hard so why do anything. but it has been insanely easy. and like you say, it's not about being perfect, it's about doing what you can. some people find that doing one thing at a time then adding on is easiest. once things become habit you don't even have to think about it anymore.
~wendy
http://conradvisionquest.wordpress.com/
"don't do nothing because you can't do everything. do something, anything!" ~colleen patrick goudreau
Your pragmatic approach to veganism reminds me of Voltaire's observation, "The best is the enemy of the good", and I agree that every little bit counts.
I wanted to offer a minor clarification, though. I don't know enough about Whole Foods to comment on the proportion of factory farmed food they sell, but I do know that http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/about/" rel="nofollow">PCC Natural Market - the store in front of which the "Fresh, Local, Organic" photo was taken - is a regional organic food chain in the Puget Sound area (PCC was originally the Puget Community Co-op) that supports local, sustainable agriculture. I don't know if they ban the sale of factory farmed food, but there are lots of local options and it's a pretty popular spot for vegans and other vegetarians.
you forgot to mention fair trade..... but you're right, we can't all be as perfect as PhD students..