Vegan Practically

Welcome to Vegan. Practically. I’m Tracy Isaacs, a philosophy professor, author, co-founder of and blogger at Fit Is a Feminist Issue, and, since 2011, vegan, if sometimes imperfectly so, for ethical reasons.

I offer this blog as an invitation to anyone who is curious, considering, or already committed to making lifestyle and eating choices guided by the sorts of ethical concerns that people who are vegan frequently cite – primarily the suffering and exploitation of non-human animals and the health of our planet. Though less a focus here, I might also occasionally talk about health.

As a philosopher I have long reflected on animal suffering in the industrial production of food, commonly known as “factory farming.” It has moved me, albeit slowly and over time, to take steps in the direction of change, first prompting me to be vegetarian, and then just over a decade ago, vegan. The influence of these considerations has spilled beyond my food choices into other areas. I no longer buy products made of leather. I seek out plant-based fibers for my knitting projects. I avoid new purchases of silk.

I am not, however, perfect at this. I am well aware that some people, mostly those within the vegan community (since those outside don’t really care), would consider me not a proper vegan because I still wear the leather and silk I already owned and have not yet given up the sheep’s wool and alpaca in my yarn stash, and have since becoming vegan sometimes intentionally ordered eggs. I disagree that that doesn’t make me vegan. Instead, I believe that makes me human. As a human, I have ethical commitments that I do not accomplish with absolute perfection.

In my latest project in food ethics, of which this blog is a part, I carve out a position for an ethically-guided veganism that is more than simply aspirational, even if it sometimes falls short. This is not vegetarianism, where dairy and eggs are still unapologetically on the table.

I invite you to consider being vegan as an ethical practice–approachable, do-able, guided by compelling reasons and evidence. As a practice, we might understand it as we understand other practices we engage in, such as meditation, or yoga, or religion. I may never be able to do kasana (crow pose), which I fall out of every single time I try, but I am consistent enough in my yoga practice that I consider myself a dedicated yogi.

I believe there are not just ethical, but also practical and strategic reasons for thinking of veganism like this, both from within the community of its practice and outside of it. The purpose of this blog is to explore and reflect on being vegan in practice and as a practice. As the tagline says, “something to chew on (doesn’t taste like cardboard).”