Facebook is littered with nasty, horrible unbelievable photos of the cruelty meted out to animals in the pursuit of our (ahem) need for cheap meat. It's not because of one of those photos that I chucked in the towel and stopped eating meat, it was an undercover report by Animal Aid into slaughterhouses in 2009 which made me turn the corner.
I think I can truly say that I will never eat meat again. In all honesty, I can't understand why people do. It's revolting. As far as I'm concerned, the minute a biological creature dies, it begins decomposing. Yuck! And that's just for starters. I really can't get my head around 'cannibal' equals bad but eating bodies which aren't human equals 'acceptable'. Yes, I am aware that biological and viral diseases are passed on when people eat human meat but, that asides, I can't see the difference.
I'm not writing this to 'turn' anyone or to look at the despicable cruelty that goes on in the animal trade nor the concept that mankind believes he has the right of ownership over everything on this planet, no, I'd like to briefly discuss veganism.
I do consider vegetarianism the 'half-way' point between omnivorous and herbivorous lifestyles. And, yes, it is a lifestyle. Until you start to scrutinise the world around you in a bid to avoid animal bits, you don't realise how much you have to change your buying habits - and living habits.
Animal bits are everywhere. The vitamin capsules (or medications) you take very likely have gelatine in them (or as I refer to gelatine - boiled bones). Same goes for kids jelly sweets. I mean, yuck! How can people feed their kids this crap? The cheap jam you bought often has cochineal in - a red dye made from crushing certain insects. Blergh! The conditioner you use may have lanolin in (a substance found on wool - and if you consider it may have been retrieved from wool on a corpse in a slaughterhouse, bigger yuck!).
It is so difficult to avoid all this crap - but it is possible.
However, the biggest issues I have found are from the world at large and from the vegan community itself.
The world at large is so brainwashed by a multi- million dollar industry into believing that we 'need' to eat meat. Some believe that there's something rebellious or odd about caring so much for the misery and pain billions of animals are put through every year. A lot of people have said to me that they don't like slaughterhouse and farming practices - but they support it by continuing to eat cheap meat from their local supermarkets. They admire my 'stance' but won't try to experience not eating meat itself.
Try walking into a restaurant and getting a veggie meal. Most menus are restricted to macaroni cheese or veggie burger (and my experience of veggie burgers in some establishments recently has been a dry burger slapped in a bun - yawn). I even got told in one place that it was my own fault or restricting my diet!! There are veggie meals out here which far surpass meat dishes in nutrition and imagination!! (I had a 50/50 menu on my wedding day (Balgeddie House Hotel in Glenrothes - because they deserve a plug!) and a few of my meat eating guests had the veggie dishes because they were so delicious) So, if the world at large has issues with being veggie, can you imagine their outrage at veganism?
Which leads me to my next point, with a bit of forethought, all of the above issues can be overcome. Sometimes though, help from those who've experienced it all before would be very, very welcome. What I've noticed though from just a casual skim of the vegan community is that, while there are some lovely, lovely helpful people, there are also a right bunch of contemptible and smug vegans.
Why are they like this? Well, a wee bitty background to the necessity of veganism. Female chickens lay eggs. Males can't. So when male chicks hatch, they are considered worthless and murdered. In milk production, milk is produced by a cow for her calf. So, how do we keep them producing? Simple, inseminate them and keep them pregnant. Then take their calves and kill them. Boy calves especially. Oh, and they are sometimes kept for veal. So, being veggie but still consuming dairy also promotes death and cruelty. And this is the point that vegans make. And understandably so. I can bang on till I'm blue in the face about how I don't actually eat animals, but I still support the industry by consuming dairy. So, I accept I am hypocritical in my distaste towards those who eat meat.
But, after seeing some of the comments made by vegans I'm afraid, they're often the last people I'd ask for help. Don't get me wrong, I see their point - they aren't saying anything wrong as such, but their attitude does not make me want to seek them out for advice or help. There is a fine line between encouragement and chastisement and may vegans step over that line without realising the potential harm they are doing.
I'm trying to write this in as balanced a way as possible because I don't want to offend vegans. I mean, bloody hell, you all work hard at your life style and it is not easy. You live by your principles. But shouting at people turns them away. I want help to be like you (I have imagination issues which sometimes keeps me unintentionally blinkered) and I would like to think that you want more people to be vegan but, insulting me when I'm half way there does nothing to help.
It is difficult seeing the reality of the meat industry and I'd like to scream and shout my head off at people for passively accepting it but, I know I can't, I know I have to divert most of my anger towards educating and encouraging people to look at their lifestyle. And to me, that will reap more reward than insulting.
So, if you're one of those who insult vegetarians for not being vegan, next time you speak to a vegetarian, consider offering advice instead of insults.
Oh, and if there are any vegans who'd like to give me the benefit of their advice to help me move to the next stage, please follow me on Twitter (being a bit lonely on twitter, please follow me anyways ;) @aspidistratum) or get in touch with me here.
