Strength in numbers applies to vegetarians/vegans too

November 15, 2020 – The first humans were vegan: they ate no animal flesh or animal products, but after they had to work, they used animals to help them produce food. Once they discovered fire, they began to cook; eventually they cooked animal flesh. The more flesh they ate, the more they shortened their lives. The more people lived in their area, the more they argued. And so it is today.

Some vegans eat honey; some don’t. Some cook their food; some don’t. Some cook with fat or oil; some don’t. Some focus on food justice; some, human health; some, animal rights. Some have always eaten only plants; some converted to a vegan diet for personal health or religious reasons; others converted as a way to object to the mistreatment of animals. What they all have in common is not eating animal flesh or most animal products.

Some vegetarians are full-time observers of not eating animal flesh; some are part-time. The part-timers vary in their frequency of eating animal flesh: flexitarians only eat it when they lack the access for full vegetable/fruit meals; pescatarians only eat the flesh of sea creatures; lactovegetarians include eggs and dairy in their diet. Like the vegans, they have different reasons for following a vegetarian lifestyle.

Coalitions consist of different groups who, while different, work together on what they can agree because there is strength in numbers. They don’t work together on what they disagree. But if they continue to label each other on what they disagree, the coalition won’t last. Hard sells on opinion differences annoy. Soft sells on facts plant seeds.

Problems arise at social events when one vegan/vegetarian wants to impose his/her vegan/vegetarian reasons on others who follow plant-based diets. They don’t just explain their views; they label those who disagree as unethical. They seem to forget that they can attract people to their positions not by labeling or intimidation, but by presenting the studies that support their views or by showing the films that capture the abuse of animals. They use the hard sell instead of the soft sell.

I wasn’t raised a vegetarian, and I didn’t marry one. After marriage I learned about vegetarian meals and worried about getting enough protein. However, I was curious enough to try the recipes in Diet for a Small Planet. That was in central Illinois farm country.

Because my middle name is Cheap, I decided to impose my curiosity on my family. Neither my spouse nor my four children went along with the imposition; in fact one child had some pretty uncomplimentary words to express his objections. So I toned back some of that curiosity, incorporating texturized vegetable protein where I could. Also, when I returned to work full-time, I lacked the time or energy to make meals from scratch. Convenient vegetarian/vegan meals weren’t that available in the grocery stores in central Illinois.

After I moved back to Chicago, I learned that eating soy instead of meat would make my menopausal experience more pleasant without undergoing hormone replacement therapy, so I gradually switched to soy. I found coworkers’ remarks about what I was eating annoying, so the year I was planning to retire, I joined a vegetarian meetup. I enjoyed eating with people who didn’t think vegetarian fare was weird. Besides eating, the meetup incorporated learning into its events. Viewing the films and listening to the speakers, I became more convinced that I needed to do my part to save my health, the environment and mistreated animals.

At those events, some members pushed for no oil, but the facilitator pointed out that no oil was a personal decision for those members, not one the group had decided. Years later that meetup funded posters about animal abuse even though its original goal was to promote a vegetarian lifestyle. The meetup had crossed over to the animal rights front.

On the city’s South side, even though there are about eight vegetarian restaurants, food justice has been a more prominent goal. Besides the community gardens, urban farms and food giveaways, there is a meetup that focuses on outdoor fitness combined with a vegan lifestyle. It planned a horseback riding event and was attacked by an animal rightist of the liberationist view. She saw horseback riding as an abuse of animals because “unlike humans, they are not asked or paid” to be ridden. In her view, therefore, the horses were mistreated, and the meetup was unethical in planning such an event. In the meetup facilitator’s view, since the horses were treated well and because they assisted disabled humans, there was no abuse. So two different kinds of vegans disagreed.

Have you been labeled by other vegetarians? Have you labeled other vegetarians? Has the labeling attracted others to the vegetarian lifestyle? Do you belong to a coalition of vegetarian/vegan groups? How do you work together?