I
see an awful lot of blog posts and Facebook and Tumblr comments that
say something along the lines of "Vegans are stupid because they
do X" or "if vegans really cared about X then they'd Y".
It's
frustrating and insulting.
For
starters it makes assumptions that all people who are vegan think as
a hive mind. Secondly, it assumes that veganism is completely black
and white, that once a person has decided to be vegan a switch is
flipped in their brain that has toggled all decisions to a single
"vegan" answer and that there is absolutely no variation or
wiggle room at all.
OK
some vegans act like that I won't lie. But the truth is most vegans
wish it were as simple as flipping a switch. The reality is never
black and white, and vegans are making a huge number of considered
choices in many aspects of their life.
That's
what this post is all about. It's for other vegans as well as non
vegans to break down the reasons people may be vegan and how that is
going to affect the decisions they make. Hopefully by the end of it
you will agree that statements that argue about "vegan choices"
don't make a lot of sense and can be confusing and frustrating for
people to encounter.
So
we need to consider two different things:
- The reason why somebody may be vegan
- The circumstances and environment they live in
The
first group may be obvious - the reasons people have for going vegan
will influence how they approach being vegan. The second group, their
circumstances, is less obvious so that's where I am going to start.
Our
circumstances are always going to have a huge impact on how we do
anything at all. Consider the country you live in and what is
considered normal or not there. that will influence you. Consider
what goods are easily available and how the economy and retail work
for the majority of people. That will influence you. Consider your
upbringing, your health, your time allowances, your financial
security and so on. All of these things will impact on how you live
your life and will alter some of the decisions you make being a
vegan.
Can
you afford to buy certain products? Do you have the time to cook from
scratch? Do you live in a country whose infrastructure relies heavily
on certain processes?
All
these things often mean that a person can not act in absolutes and
will often have to make compromises. Ideally they would never use
anything that contains an animal product but can they really
ascertain if the glue used in the upholstery of the buses they rely
on is animal free? What about in the books they read and so on.
That's an extreme but it is an example of how absolutely can be hard
to attain for most people living in a western society. A vegan has to
make compromises and allowances somewhere.
Generally
they are doing the best they can to meet their personal values within
the confines and restrictions of their circumstances.
The
first point is something more of you may be familiar with, and that
is that there are numerous reasons a person may decide to be vegan.
Some of them are intimately related to circumstances and some exist
in spite of. So let's look them in more detail.
The
Healthy Lifestyle Vegan
These
vegans are primarily focused on living what they define as a “healthy
life” and believe that a diet free of animal products is a part of
that. Outside of specific medical concerns (which I'll cover later) a
Healthy Lifestyle Vegan is concerned with the possible health
benefits of a vegan diet. For this reason they usually lean heavily
toward cooking everything from scratch, using raw ingredients and
having a very nutritionally balanced diet. You may find Healthy
Lifestyle Vegans also explore and adopt concepts like raw diets,
clean eating, paleo diets, non-celiac gluten free and other novel
food concepts. They may
also be keen on other things perceived to be more "natural"
such as not using "chemical"* cleaning products, using
essential oils or herbal remedies and even in some cases homeopathy
and anti-vaxx.
There
is nothing inherently wrong with believing that a vegan diet can be
good for you and a properly balanced nutritionally sound vegan diet
can be as good if not better than an omnivore diet. This is often
down to the care taken in choosing ingredients and the attention paid
to the nutritional balance, which of course can be a part of an omni
diet.
It
is also worth keeping in mind that other health beliefs are not
inherently vegan in themselves even if for the Healthy Lifestyle
Vegan they are closely associated.
A
HVL may be happy using animal products in other places such as
leathers, lactose found in body products, and even beeswax and honey,
especially if they value any health benefits of honey.
The
Medical Needs Vegan
Though
these people are vegan for health reasons they aren't to be confused
with HLVs. This group is people who came to a vegan diet out of
necessity due to specific health concerns and issues. For some that
may be allergies or intolerance to ingredients such as dairy and
eggs. Where it is a dairy protein allergy the individual may also
have reactions to meat as well.
The
severity and number of allergies and intolerances may mean that
eating a vegan diet is essential to avoid sickness, allergic reaction
or even anaphylaxis. For others it is more about convenience. It can
be difficult to tell if the concentration of the allergen in any one
item (for example butter in a baked good, or whey in pre-packaged
potato crisps) is enough to trigger a reaction and so it is more
convenient and safer for them to choose to avoid all instances of the
offending item.
In
some cases a person may already by vegetarian or have a low meat diet
and the necessity of cutting out dairy and eggs, for example, may
mean that eating vegan is again, simpler.
As
well as allergens there are people with specific gastrointestinal
conditions which mean that certain food items need to be avoided or a
low meat or low dairy diet is needed. Often this may take the form of
low residue food, low fat and low protein. Similarly their are
low-inflammatory diets, and high energy, or symptom management diets
recommended to people with chronic conditions such as rheumatism,
fibromyalgia and ME. A vegan diet can be a good way of achieving this
for some people, and even then there may be additional modifications
they need to make such as avoiding onions.**
This
becomes especially true if you need to buy a lot of pre-packaged
food, i.e. you can't cook everything from scratch, or if you are
eating out or relying on others to cook for you. Having to check
every label or explain all the things that need to be avoided can be
difficult and even upsetting.
Unlike
HLVs, vegans in this group have some very specific concerns and
needs. However as with the first group they may not avoid animal
products in other areas such as body care and home cleaning
products.
These
two groups often get called 'dietary vegans' as their veganism is
confined to their diets and may not extend to other areas of their
life. Some may argue that this means they are not "true"
vegans but as you'll see it's very difficult to define what a "true"
vegan is and for most everyday needs these people are vegan.
*
Don't worry I know that everything is chemicals. I also know that
natural chemical does not necessarily mean safer or better than
synthetic chemicals. Hence the quotation marks.
**
I also recognise that the very opposite can be true. There are some
people whose health conditions mean that they can not be vegan as
they have difficulty digesting or are allergic or sensitive to a lot
of common vegan ingredients. If somebody can not be vegan due to
health reasons you should never give them a hard time about it. But
then you shouldn't be giving people a hard time about what they eat
or don't eat anyway.
The
next three categories are possibly best described as "lifestyle
vegans" those for whom their veganism extends past the kitchen
and their food and in to other areas of their life.
The
Animal Ethics Vegan
This
is the vegan that most people are familiar with and think of when
somebody says they are vegan. For the most part they share two common
principals:
- There is no need for humans to eat meat
- The keeping of animals for the production of things for human benefit is wrong
The
strength and specific interpretation of these principals may vary by
individual but they are usually present to some extent. They do not
consume any product that has come from an animal. Mostly. Because
there are some who think products from animals that died naturally
are ok, and there are some who don't. There are some who think
products from wild hunted animals are ok and there are some who
don't. There are some who agree with feral and wild animal culls and
there are some who don't.
Most
agree that commercial farming is unethical or not good for animals. A
majority agree that even small holdings or personal farming of
animals is unethical and not good for animals.
Most
but not all, extend this to insects. Generally this extends to all
by-products such as leather and gelatin. Most, but not all, extend
this to non-dietry products such as clothing, body care, cleaning
products and other items.
Despite
the lack of consensus (and why should there be, these are individuals
making their own decisions) the focus is primarily on the rights of
animals.
The
Religiously Motivated Vegan
There
are number of religions which espouse or encourage a vegetarian or
vegan diet. There are also a number which have other dietary
restrictions. Jainism mandates that its followers are vegetarian and
some may extend this to being vegan. Mainstream Hinduism doesn't
mandate vegetarianism but it is an integral part of their scripture
and is thus common practice, again with some people interpreting it
as veganism
Similarly
Vegetarianism is encouraged in the texts of Sikhism though it is not
a central part of the religion and people freely interpret this, some
eating animal products and some turning to a vegan diet.
In
Buddhism there are a number of branches which encourage vegetarian or
vegan diets, though it is not uniform across all practitioners.
Whilst
other mainstream religions do not have vegetarianism as a central
theme, in fact may have common practices and interpretations which
encourage the eating of animal products, there are some people who
interpret their scripture to advocate a vegan lifestyle or diet and
so practice accordingly.
Often
these beliefs and writings are closely linked to the idea of animal
ethics and ethics of killing animals or consuming flesh. However as
they are deeply linked to a person's religion and beliefs and may be
thought of first in terms of faith or spirituality with the ethics
taking second place, the individuals may be considered vegan for
religious reasons.
You
may of course find somebody of a traditionally non-vegetarian/vegan
religion who is vegan, but this may not be strictly tied to their
religion.
The
Ethical/Eco Vegan
This
group of people have come to the conclusion that being vegan is a
sensible and logical step in living an ecologically sound life. They
may be very concerned with methods of food production, food miles,
intensive farming practices, local and national economics, global
warming and emissions, GMOs and so on. Often their primary concern is
eating food and consuming products that meet there ethical concerns
as well as possible and have found that a vegan diet is one of the
easier ways to do this consistently. Part of their personal ethics
may well include animal welfare but it is just one part of their own
ethical guidelines.
You
may find that they are very concerned about which brands they consume
as some companies or parent companies may not be sufficiently ethical
for their comfort zone. Again, this can mean that eating vegan is
often a simpler choice for them as it limits the number of decisions
they have to make or cuts out an entire area of ethical concern.
These
vegans are likely to extend their veganism from their diet in to the
rest of their life but it might look inconsistent to the outsider as
there are always other ethical concerns guiding their decisions. This
means that they may have decided that they won't wear leather or
things using animal glues but are ok with wool or silk.
These
are the five main groups of Vegans I can think of and you can see
that that leads to a lot of variation as to what a vegan is. Even
people within these groups may approach things differently. Further
more it is likely that people will fall in to more than one category
and may prioritise things differently. You may find that somebody is
primarily an Animal Ethics Vegan but that they are also a Healthy
Lifestyle Vegan and are pleased that their ethics allows them to have
a "healthier" life.
Or
somebody who is vegan for religious reasons may also have strong
ethical and ecological drives too which further enhances their
religious choice, or even helps strengthen their faith.
Remember
though that we need to consider a person's circumstances too. I'm
going to use myself as a brief case study here to show how complex it
can get when you have different motivations and different
circumstances in play.
I
went vegan two years ago. Previous to that I was vegetarian and
lactose intolerant, and previous to that I was merely lactose
intolerant. I started out giving up all dairy, literally all of it
because I was very sensitive to it. Then for reasons of Animal Ethics
I went vegetarian. At that time I had ME and was fairly poor living
on a small fixed income. I also started to develop my ideas about
ethical and ecological living. I realised that with my energy and
health issues as well as budget it was actually becoming very
difficult to be a vegetarian and maintain my code of ethics - being
vegan would make it easier.
Personally
I am OK with eating eggs but only if it is from a rescue hen who is
kept by a person who does not keep chickens for profit, looks after
them well in a little chicken heaven in a back garden and is
essentially selling the eggs that their now happy chicken lays around
their garden which would otherwise go to waste. But explaining that
to people every time I go out to dinner or ask in a supermarket when
somebody says "do you eat eggs" is unreasonable, especially
when you are fatigued. Instead, I just decided I would not eat eggs.
It was important for me to have constancy.
Same
goes for honey. Are honey bees essential for pollination and general
world flora and fauna health? Yes they are and I support that. Is
most honey produced from ethically managed conscientious apiaries who
look after the long term welfare of bee colonies and the bee
population? No it's not. So will I eat honey? No. Yes the honey from
the small co-operative in your local town might be great, and the
honey from your Aunt Sue's back garden might be lovely. But that
doesn't represent all the honey on supermarket shelves or used as a
sweetener in confectionery and pre-made items. The likelihood is that
that honey comes from poorly managed commercial operations and I
simply can't check the source of it all so that means no honey at all
to save being a hypocrite or getting horrendously confused.
Some
people may say it's therefore hypocritical of me to eat fruit or
drink almond milk and so on because bees are used for pollination,
often on a large commercial scale. This is true and is something that
has to be thought about. It means I choose my products carefully.
This
is were we come back to what the post started with:
There
aren't absolutes and there is no need for things to be black and
white.
AND
We
are limited by our circumstances.
In
the world we live in it is virtually impossible to rid yourself of
every last thing you find unethical or unjust. From cars to public
transport to politics and entertainment. There are things, physical
products going in to them that we can't control and that we may not
agree with. But this is where we make reasoned choices as to what we
think is reasonable, practical and harmonious with our beliefs and
situation.
As
a vegan do I think commercial beekeeping is ok? No I don't.
Can
I avoid honey and beeswax and will that have an impact on bee
colonies? Yes and I need more data.
Am
I aware that it is necessary for pollination of many plants I eat?
Yes, but I live in the UK a lot of food is imported from the EU which
has slightly different practices and laws to the US so the concerns
are different (not absent just different) than you may think.
Can
I reasonably cut out all products of bee pollination from my diet? No
it would be dangerously unhealthy, but where possible I can support
brands that support sustainable bee colonies.
It's
a series of choices and a balancing act between ideals and reality.
Accusing
or berating a vegan for not adhering to a black and white ideal is to
ignore that not only are there a huge number of reasons for somebody
to be vegan but that we live in the real world. Being vegan does not
overrule other considerations of having to navigate our own unique
circumstances within our environment and culture.
Expecting
that of people, of any people vegan or not, is ridiculous.
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