Hi folks– if you don’t yet know about FIFI founder Tracy’s blog Vegan Practically, I recommend you take a look. It’s chock full of useful discussions about ways to eat that don’t involve consumption of animal products. Posts include philosophical arguments around veganism and vegetarianism, restaurant reviews and delicious recipes. In short, there’s something for the whole family.
For me, Tracy’s blog has two additional huge advantages: 1) explicit acceptance of the fact that each person’s process of matching up their eating habits with their moral principles is different. Lots of people who are interested in reducing, say, meat intake, will want to do it incrementally. Her blog supports that, which leads me to 2): strategies around reducing one’s animal-product footprint in easy-to-follow ways. She shares her own research and product reviews, offers restaurant and catering critiques and shout-outs, and shows how her life works as a practical vegan.
I’ve been a life-long omnivore, but over time an increasingly uncomfortable one. I teach a Philosophy of Food course, so am very familiar with both the philosophical arguments and overwhelming factual case to be made against eating animals. But, all my previous half-hearted and unprepared attempts to eat vegetarian petered out. I felt stuck and, well, uncomfortable.
Over the course of many conversations with Tracy and others who eat few or no animal products, I came to the conclusion that ANY reductions in e.g. meat or dairy intake were a good thing. I started with eating vegetarian food at restaurants with friends who were vegetarian, and cooking more vegetarian food when having friends over. I moved on to finding vegetarian favorite dishes at restaurants (or for cooking/preparing in my house) and incorporating them into my regular eating rotation.
Then, in 2022, I watched My Octopus Teacher on Netflix. I also read the book Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Both of them feature an octopus protagonist with a great personality. Yes, I know that the book is fiction. But hear me out: these representations of an intelligent, complex, lovable animal flipped a switch for me. I no longer would even consider eating octopus. The decision was made. Period.
One animal down, about 8.7 million to go.
Of course, eliminating octopus from my diet wasn’t exactly a heavy lift, as I didn’t normally eat much octopus. But, it was proof of concept. And, as a good philosopher, I looked around to see what inferences I might and could and should draw from this position.
Enter the pig. Pigs are known to have complex lives and engage in lots of intelligent behavior. Studies have shown them to be smarter than dogs and even 3-year-old children, says the Humane Society of the United States. Well, okay, then. Pigs are off my table. No more pork for me. Oh, and while I’m at it, no more lamb (again, not a heavy lift, so let’s put it on my no-eating list).
As a person from the American South who visits family there often, avoiding pork is not an easy feat. Also, I admit I like the taste of pork products. But that is no longer a reason for me to eat it, or even consider eating it. Pigs are just not creatures I eat. Period.
However, even though the switch has flipped, I have to do some mental and moral work to keep away from pork, mainly because there’s pork in so much food out there (e.g. corn chowder in restaurants). Now I’m among the folks who are actively bothered that there aren’t more non-pork items on a menu.
As of this writing, I’m still eating beef, chicken and seafood. I particularly love shrimp. But, it’s the next thing on my no-eat list. Why? I read this NYT article about the environmental and human damage the shrimp industry imposes. I already sort of knew some of that info, but reading the article flipped that switch again. I can’t, in good conscience, eat shrimp anymore.
Of course YMMV. The Times article points out that different folks respond in many ways to information about harms produced by industrial animal (in this case shrimp) farming:
In the end, decisions around shrimp come down to your values about what you eat. Dr. Rodriguez Martín and Dr. Lively said they eat shrimp, as does Mr. Nash, though rarely, and he reads the packaging meticulously. Dr. Lively generally eats shrimp only from the United States.Dr. Koehn doesn’t eat shrimp, but he tries not to lecture friends and family.
You may be wondering: what about the chicken and the beef? And dairy, too. The same arguments and considerations apply to them, too.
Yes, you’re right. What I can say by way of explanation (not defense) is that I’m paying attention to what I’m eating, actively exploring meat-free options, working them into my diet as best I can, and knowing that for me, this process takes time. But it’s happening.
Eliminating meat from my diet one animal at a time may not be the most efficient way, but it is my way, for now. And it’s kind of working.
What about you, dear readers? If you are at any point in the process of animal product reduction, let us know what you’re doing. We’d love to hear from you.
