I am one of those meat-eating EA’s, so I figured I’d give some reasons why I’m not vegan, to aid the goals of this post in finding out about these things.
Price: While I can technically afford it, I still prefer to save money when possible. Availability: A lot of food out there, especially frozen foods which I buy a lot of since I don’t like cooking, involves meat. It’s simply easier to decide on meals when meat is an option. Knowledge: If I were to go vegan, I would be unsure how to go vegan safely for an extended period, and how to make sure I got a decent variety rather than eating the same foods over and over (which comes into taste—I don’t mind vegan food but there’s much more variety I can find in meat-based dishes) Convenience: Similarly to above—it takes resources to seek out vegan options, more resources than to just eat normally.
The harms are real, but the harms are far away and abstract. So when I feel vaguely guilty about eating meat, I think about all the hassle and cost it would take to swap diets, and I shy away from it and don’t do it.
I’m not quite sure why those harms are far away and abstract, whereas the harms caused by malaria or AI risk don’t invoke the same feelings in me. I think it’s because I can use maths to determine the number of humans impacted and then put myself in the place of one of those humans—it’s harder to do that with chickens. Also, giving away 10% of my income is actually less of a day-to-day drain on my resources than going vegan would be. I feel aversion to spending money, but I only give away money once a month, and it doesn’t cause me financial hardship. By contrast, veganism requires daily effort.
As a micro-example of where these considerations don’t apply—there are some plant meat based strips that I can get at my local supermarket. I find them tastier than actual meat when put into curry, and they’re just as cheap when on special. So whenever they’re on special, I pick a bunch of them up and they become my default option for a while. I know how to cook them, I know where to get them, they’re just as cheap (sometimes) and I enjoy the taste. So I end up avoiding meat by default. I hope plant-based meat will eventually reach that saturation point for all kinds of dishes too.
“Knowledge: If I were to go vegan, I would be unsure how to go vegan safely for an extended period, and how to make sure I got a decent variety rather than eating the same foods over and over (which comes into taste—I don’t mind vegan food but there’s much more variety I can find in meat-based dishes)”
If knowledge is one of your preventative factors, I have been vegetarian since 2005 and vegan since 2015. I am happy to help. I compete in various sports and am in good health. I am happy to communicate with you directly and provide evidence of such claims if that helps quell your concerns about “[going] vegan safely for an extended period.”
I would ecstatically give you my time in the pursuit of sharing knowledge and helping to reduce barriers to veganism.
Thanks Elle, I appreciate that. I believe your claims—I fully believe it’s possible to safely go vegan for an extended period, I’m just not sure how difficult it is (i.e, what’s the default outcome, if one tries without doing research first) and what ways there are to prevent that outcome if the outcome is not good.
I am one of those meat-eating EA’s, so I figured I’d give some reasons why I’m not vegan, to aid the goals of this post in finding out about these things.
Price: While I can technically afford it, I still prefer to save money when possible.
Availability: A lot of food out there, especially frozen foods which I buy a lot of since I don’t like cooking, involves meat. It’s simply easier to decide on meals when meat is an option.
Knowledge: If I were to go vegan, I would be unsure how to go vegan safely for an extended period, and how to make sure I got a decent variety rather than eating the same foods over and over (which comes into taste—I don’t mind vegan food but there’s much more variety I can find in meat-based dishes)
Convenience: Similarly to above—it takes resources to seek out vegan options, more resources than to just eat normally.
The harms are real, but the harms are far away and abstract. So when I feel vaguely guilty about eating meat, I think about all the hassle and cost it would take to swap diets, and I shy away from it and don’t do it.
I’m not quite sure why those harms are far away and abstract, whereas the harms caused by malaria or AI risk don’t invoke the same feelings in me. I think it’s because I can use maths to determine the number of humans impacted and then put myself in the place of one of those humans—it’s harder to do that with chickens. Also, giving away 10% of my income is actually less of a day-to-day drain on my resources than going vegan would be. I feel aversion to spending money, but I only give away money once a month, and it doesn’t cause me financial hardship. By contrast, veganism requires daily effort.
As a micro-example of where these considerations don’t apply—there are some plant meat based strips that I can get at my local supermarket. I find them tastier than actual meat when put into curry, and they’re just as cheap when on special. So whenever they’re on special, I pick a bunch of them up and they become my default option for a while. I know how to cook them, I know where to get them, they’re just as cheap (sometimes) and I enjoy the taste. So I end up avoiding meat by default. I hope plant-based meat will eventually reach that saturation point for all kinds of dishes too.
“Knowledge: If I were to go vegan, I would be unsure how to go vegan safely for an extended period, and how to make sure I got a decent variety rather than eating the same foods over and over (which comes into taste—I don’t mind vegan food but there’s much more variety I can find in meat-based dishes)”
If knowledge is one of your preventative factors, I have been vegetarian since 2005 and vegan since 2015. I am happy to help. I compete in various sports and am in good health. I am happy to communicate with you directly and provide evidence of such claims if that helps quell your concerns about “[going] vegan safely for an extended period.”
I would ecstatically give you my time in the pursuit of sharing knowledge and helping to reduce barriers to veganism.
Thanks Elle, I appreciate that. I believe your claims—I fully believe it’s possible to safely go vegan for an extended period, I’m just not sure how difficult it is (i.e, what’s the default outcome, if one tries without doing research first) and what ways there are to prevent that outcome if the outcome is not good.
I shall message you, and welcome to the forum!