In response to increasing numbers of emails about me choosing a vegan diet, I thought I would share some brief thoughts. I’ve decided to give a short answer here rather than make this a full answer as nobody likes an evangelical proselytising vegan!
- WHEN: After a lifetime of appreciating that much of animal farming is abhorrent but wilfully ignoring that as I loved steak, kebabs, chicken wings and cheese; after many years of accepting vegetarians but believing that vegans were weirdos; after being ignorant for most of my life about the climate implications of industrially farming animals, I turned vegan in 2018. I did it entirely for environmental reasons.
- HOW EASY: Once I committed to it, I found it far easier than I imagined to adapt my diet. This recipe book was crucial to re-learning how to cook and –crucially– to continue to love mealtimes.
- WHY: Whilst there is an important role for animals in the global food chain (grass-fed, scraps-fed, marginal land, fertilising, rotational smallholdings etc. etc. etc.), there is no doubt any longer that our current animal food industry is a massive contributor to the climate crisis, barren oceans, deforestation, desertification and loss of biodiversity.
I became vegan because of the catastrophic environmental impact of industrial farming. We farm an area the size of North America, South America and Australia combined. 80% of that land is used for beef and dairy production, much of it for the inefficient process of growing food to feed to cattle which then will feed us. If everyone ate a plant-based diet, we’d need 75% less farmland than we use today because it is far more efficient than feeding animals in order to feed humans. That’s an area equivalent to the US, China, Europe and Australia combined. I’m not sure whether imagining that potential for rewilding makes me smile with hope or cry at our folly.
And therefore I decided to do my bit to help in the simplest way I could, right now: opting out of that industry and its impact.
The planet is absolutely screwed and immediate, massive, universal change is needed. With that backdrop, the least I can do is swap my spag bol for this delicious chilli.
This is, of course, a long and complicated and emotional subject. And this is a brief short answer. So please do feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments below. This simple vegan calculator gives a rough glimpse at the impact you will have even by trying a vegan diet for one month.
Whether you agree with me or whether you disagree with me, however, I’d urge you to read these books and make your own informed judgement:
- Eating Animals
- The Uninhabitable Earth
- We are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast (I have actually plagiarised the most critical pages from this book in this blog post, if you’re short of time.)
- The Omnivore’s Dilemma
- If you’d prefer to watch something instead, here is an 8-minute YouTube video. Cowspiracy on Netflix is also powerful (despite telling a one-sided tale).
Hi Alastair, thanks for sharing this.
As a meat eater married to a vegan, I’m struggling a bit on whether to adopt this lifestyle. I agree about it helping environmentally, but as I’ve been mostly, kind of paleo, and just eating quality meat, vegetables etc I worry about the effects of eating a lot more grain and wheat, which I’m still not sure is that good for me, as well as eating lots of factory processed foods, which many vegan products seem to be at present.
And as far as I know ‘some’ research seems to counter the arguments that a Vegan diet is complete and does not result in some deficiencies, vs eating fresh, natural, non-processed food.
So it’s tricky.
One question, would you ever go back or eat any meat i.e. if you kept chickens on an allotment or went fishing and caught a trout? Just curious.
Go well!
Alastair
Hello,
You can definitely live perfectly healthily. I get a weekly local veg box delivered, eat loads of beans, lentils, stews and no processed rubbish. The only tiny ‘weird’ thing I do is put a spoonful of chia in my porridge to get the necessary Omegas.
Yes – I do eat eggs from allotments, also honey. And very happy to eat a fish or animal I caught hunting.
I also eat meat when I go to friends’ houses – I don’t want to impose on other people.
From your reply above I’d call you a vaguen, which I am too. Have been for a couple of years and find it very easy to be 90% ‘vegan’ and much less stressful than 100%. I think being vegan would be less environmentally friendly for me as I suspect the final 10% would end up being processed or higher carbon or otherwise not so healthy.
Hi Alastair, much like you we finally made a move to go vegan a few years back because of concerns about farming practices and environmental impact. We are entirely vegan and the vast majority of the food that we eat is home cooked. It took very little effort on my part as my wife does most of the research and keeps us on the straight and narrow.
I don’t talk about it much or evangalise it to people that I know, however I have been surprised how many people have been interested in what I eat and how they can make reductions themselves.
That is the crux of it really. We all need to reduce our consumption of everything.
Love the name ‘vaguen’ as that’s what I’ve become. We like the taste of various meat and animal sourced dishes so still enjoy these very occasionally. And not being strict means that if we’re at a restaurant we don’t have choose a poor option or embarrass either party when with friends and family.
Love and support your reasoning as it resonates with ours.
Al,
I have been thinking and dabbling with the idea of going vegetarian for the last couple of years, but I thought I liked chicken too much to give it up…until I read your extract from to Jonathan Safran Foer’s book…and then something broke. I cannot continue to hide behind wilful ignorance or careless wilful and reckless contribution to Climate Change when I’m trying to tick all the other boxes.
So that’s it: you have pushed me over the border – if I haven’t seen your extract, I would not have done it. So thank you, but if I find myself missing chicken, I’ll come and find you! (just kidding! – thanks again!)
:-)
Yes! Totally similar to my journey.
And listen: the occasional roast chicken (read Omnivore’s Dilemma about where you should buy that chicken from) is not going to break the world or make you a bad person. You don’t have to be totally militant – there’s a weird thinking that veganism has to be ABSOLUTE, whereas -say- calling yourself a “runner” but missing the odd training session is deemed acceptable.
My hardest problem was thinking “what the heck do I cook now?!” – so get a good cook book. The one I linked to in the blog post is really simple. BOSH books are popular (but too fiddly for me). And, of course, there’s the entire world of Indian food to master…
As a fellow vaguen this is wonderful news. I also have added the difficulty of being a zero waste vegan, something even I am surprised at the ease of with a little planning.
Bosh are fiddly but worth it – this is a family favourite with wraps for build your own burritos. https://www.bosh.tv/recipes/pulled-pork-bosh-bowl
If you are partial to a youtube video for vegan recipe ideas I recommend Avant Garde Vegan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUyVB12K6FE
Plus, the famous dishoom do an incredible Rajma in their cookbook. Takes some time but the depth of flavour is out of this world.
For me, eating locally sourced whole foods makes the most sense environmentally. To that end, we have a big garden and buy our eggs and meat from small local farms. I think it is important to consider where our food comes from; the ecological footprint of shipping non-local foods (esp. tropical foods) can be large, not to mention packaging. Cheers!
I could have written this! Went “vaguen” (I love this term) in 2018 and with the exception of the eggs our pet chickens give us, I don’t eat any animal products at home, and my partner and young son are vegetarian. The good thing about backyard chickens is that they eat our food scraps, so we’re able to almost completely remove our food waste from landfill as well.
I’ve been 100% vegan for 18 months now and loads of people ask me what I eat. Anyone that is interested I ask them to think about consciously being vegan for a short period say 1 day a week.
This is a good motivator for anyone that is thinking of becoming vegan/veggie. https://vegancalculator.com/
Everyone can do their bit by just doing a bit. If everyone went vegan for 1 day a week it would change the world!
Hi Alastair,
Another vegan cyclist / walker here! I have covered thousands of miles on my bike (and feet) since going totally vegan 5 years ago and feel 100% healthy.
I guess the ‘absolute’ part depends on your reasons for doing it. Mine was primarily a dawning realisation that needlessly imprisoning, abusing and ultimately killing another species just to please my taste-buds wasn’t something I wanted to be part of ever again. As such it was moral decision, and though moral stances can change over time, I don’t think they can be turned on and off as the mood (or convenience) suits. So I guess that by some definition that makes me an absolutist, though far from militant. For anyone else wrestling with this stuff I highly recommend Gary Francione’s book ‘Eat Like You Care’ which methodically explores the way we justify to ourselves doing something most of us would find pretty abhorrent in any other context.
Where I part company with absolutism is that I’ve seen it put people off even trying to make changes because they get the message that anything short of of total change isn’t good enough. I suppose it would be like you telling folks that unless they plan to cycle around the world they should leave their bikes in the shed, rather than encouraging them to explore at their own pace in their own way :)
Anyway, life’s a journey, and always an interesting one. It’s encouraging to see more and more people adopting a plant based / vegan lifestyle with all the associated benefits for animals, the planet and individual health.
‘+1 +1 +1 for this:
“Where I part company with absolutism is that I’ve seen it put people off even trying to make changes because they get the message that anything short of of total change isn’t good enough. I suppose it would be like you telling folks that unless they plan to cycle around the world they should leave their bikes in the shed, rather than encouraging them to explore at their own pace in their own way :)”
How fascinating to hear this decision of yours Al (hello, by the way!). I/we did a three month stint of veganism at the beginning of 2019, the natural progression from reducing waste and having a Coeliac live in our house made it relatively easy. I LOVED it and felt amazing on it, my husband sadly not so much, so these days we try for a 90% plant based, any meat organic etc. I’m piping in to the cookbook part of the conversation in case helpful to anyone, as I found a lot of the books/recipes VERY fiddly,with lots of silly ingredients BUT the ’15 Minute Vegan’ books were utterly brilliant, all easy ingredients, all exceptionally fast and delicious. It’s the recipes that make it an easy transition. Anyway, waving from the South Coast and thank you for the latest Shed Shout!! AP xoxo
Hello hello!
I’m not a vegan, but love the recipes in “Rebel Recipes” by Niki Webster. They pack some great flavours inspired by her travels around the globe. Probably more work than the roasting tin book you mentioned, but absolutely worth it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VNHBZLC