Why Are You Vegan?

Is a question I get a lot of these days. My buddy Sean sent me an email to ask me this question, and while I was writing a response I realized that it would be a good post.

So here it is.

You ask me, Sean, why I'm a vegan. Well, you know that I'm an argumentative bastard, so let's turn it around a bit.

We both know that some meat is dangerous to eat. We know that meat harbours diseases. We know that it's cruel to factory farm animals.

We know that eating a vegetable-based diet is healthier, cheaper and promotes weight loss. It may also prevent heart disease, stroke, some cancers and diabetes.

The obvious question, then, is this: Why aren't you vegan?

Okay, that was a bit snotty and a bit disingenuous, too, because really I don't care very much about all that stuff.

I suspect that every food source is potentially fatal to you: look at all the cases of e coli poisoning in spinach and vegetables every year. Soda can kill you -- and not just because it'll rot your teeth and harden your arteries. So I'm not a vegan because meat is inherently more dangerous for you.

A poorly organized diet, whether vegan or not, can be just as unhealthy as a meat-based one. We all know fat vegetarians (mac and cheese is vegetarian, after all), and besides, booze is vegan, unless you're one of those weirdos who count microbes as sentient (and, umm, I don't). So I'm not vegan because a vegan diet is inherently healthier.

Cheaper? Have you seen the price of raw almonds lately? We spent nearly $60 on raw cashews and almonds for a month's worth of nut milks. Organic stuff is pricey, too. Eating well costs a great deal, whether you opt for ooh-la-la steak or fresh organic berries. So I'm not a vegan because it's cheaper.

I like animals, sure, but I'm not an activist by any means and I think some farms -- like the good kinds Michael Pollan writes about in The Omnivore's Dilemma -- are well-managed places where animals are treated humanely and slaughtered mercifully. And, honestly, I still wear leather. And I am owned by two willful cats -- something a true animal activist would find abhorrent. So I'm not a vegan for the animal rights part of it.

So why am I a vegan?

Because I can afford to be, and still eat well, and others in the world can't even afford to eat.

I have worked in orphanages and shanty-town schools in Uganda where the children are fed barely-palatable gruel each day -- and for some it is the only thing they will eat.

I have lived with people in China who stretch 200gr of meat to feed a family of 6 or 8 -- twice. And that's only when they can afford to get the meat.

World hunger is a big problem, and it's going to get worse. An acre of land dedicated to raising cattle produces about 165lbs of usable meat. It consumes 20,000 litres of water to do this. That same acre can produce about 20,000lbs of potatoes -- or 32,000lbs of grain -- while using less than half the amount water.

I am a member of the most affluent society. If I am part of a movement that reduces the demand for high-cost (in terms of land use) foodstuffs, then maybe more lower-cost foodstuffs will be available to help feed those who desperately need it.

And that, Sean, is the reason that I'm a vegan.