Category: Reflections
-
Bees: it’s not just about honey
Lots of people wonder why vegans don’t eat honey. The short answer is that it is produced through the labour of bees, which makes it an animal product and therefore not vegan. You may find some vegans who don’t worry about honey, possibly because they don’t consider insects to be animals or possibly because they…
-
Making plant-based the default
I have had lots of opportunities to put catering under the microscope lately, and mostly it’s not been pretty. A colleague and friend elsewhere has been raving about a new menu item that’s been showing up at catered meetings in her workplace: an apparently delicious tempeh sandwich. This item deserves an A+ for being both…
-
Navigating “meat-eaters’ fragility” while not losing focus
Last week I talked about what I called “meat-eaters’ fragility” as an obstacle to change. Today I want to say a bit about what to do with this fact about the world we live in. I don’t think it’s surprising that challenging the status quo in a way the involves an ethical argument gets people’s…
-
“Meat-eaters’ fragility” as an obstacle to change
A couple of week’s ago I gave a quick overview of my thoughts on meat-eating and the use of animals and animal products more generally as well-entrenched ideologies of privilege. Using “ideology” to mean not just a set of ideas, but a set of firmly entrenched ideas that solidifies relationships of domination and subordination, I…
-
Another win for plant-based protein
I don’t usually focus on health arguments for plant-based eating here because I think arguments for veganism that focus on harm to animals and the planet land decisively on the side of giving up animal products. That said, as any vegan knows, people often lob the “concern” that plant-based protein is either inferior or impossible…
-
Meat-eating as an ideology of privilege
I have mentioned before that meat-eating is an ideology. Here “meat-eating” is really a stand-in for the use and consumption of animal products more generally. As for “ideology,” if you just consult the dictionary you’ll come away thinking of ideology neutrally, as a system of ideas, usually associated with political positions. But I like the…
-
Does “vegan for the animals” support moderation as an end-point?
I have blogged a lot about reasons for being vegan. As regular readers are aware, I think “vegan for the animals” is decisive. Given the vast animal suffering and exploitation in factory farming, from which 99% of all animals products originate, and given that the moral balance in causing suffering and death to trillions (yes,…
-
Ten reasons to try more vegan living in 2024
As the new year approaches, it’s a great time to think about what sorts of positive changes might make 2024 better than 2023. On Friday I’ll be more specific about ways to insert more vegan options into your life. But today I am going to offer a few reasons worthy of consideration for anyone who…
-
Myth-busting: vegan athletes? Yes!
Early into my veganism I co-founded a blog with my friend and colleague Samantha Brennan called Fit Is a Feminist Issue. The purpose of the blog at the time (blog established in 2012) was to try to articulate a feminist approach to fitness in a way that captured a decades-long conversation we had already been…
-
On being vegan in a sea of omnivores whom you love
I’ve just finished reading Ed Winters’s book, This Is Vegan Propaganda: And Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You (Vermillion 2022). It’s a great book with really good info about the impact of animal agriculture (particularly factory farming) on the animals, the planet, and humans’ health (not just the claim that veganism is a nutritionally…
Vegan Practically 