Vegan AMA

Mundo7976 wrote: »

Im confused. Vegans dont want to eat meat but want something that feels and tastes similar? Kinda defeats the purpose of the decision.
Also official definitions of burger/sausage is ground meat made into the shapes they are not the animals they come from!

Also worth mentioning, there are many vegans who don't use meat replacements for the reasons you mentioned. Too similar to meat and they have too many negative connotations with that. Others never liked the taste.

gozunda wrote: »

Hey aoife

Hope you can answer this. Agreed there's lots of threads on boards created by all sorts. But ...

Why do some vegans constantly harass and target others (often without contributing to the thread) on a wide range of these type of threads? I really don't understand this tbh.

For example atm - theres a thread in AH called "Rise of Vegetarian/Veganism" - this was created by someone who eats meat but who's wondering what all the hype is about. The thread incudes lots of stuff on food and agriculture.

I know there's asshats everywhere - but these are targeted and personal and not just random posts either.

Why are those who are non veg*n who have contributed genuinely to these threads being constantly attacked and harassed by a small number of self declared veg*ns?

Here's an example. There are others.

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057978222/4/#post110111936

My own interests include food production, agriculture etc and yup a number of self declared vegans have tried to bitch slap me in that AH thread. And yeah I've called this ****e out. I also contribute to threads here about these topics. Generally there no problem.

But what's this attack ****e outside this forum about? Btw it's not just at me - other posters have been attacked as well.

I mean wtf?

Thanks

G

Hey G! Wft indeed! That's a tough one to answer because I personally don't know any vegans that comment on posts like that. Not that i know a huge amount of vegans anyway! Myself, I might read the comments under a post and think they're honestly terrifying...people denying the correlation between animal agri and climate change or say things along the lines of they're only stupid animals, theyre pain is irrelevant etc. And the bacon jokes omg!! It honestly makes me sad and a bit afraid sometimes. I guess the people who make those attacking comments are acting out of a place fear and anger in a way. Granted the vast majority of meat eaters who comment in the first place are trolls looking for vegans to comment back. But i see genuine quwstions getting snarky responses from vegans. That's why I generally don't respond. I also see vegans who try to genuinely respond and their comments are lost among the bacon jokes and crappy attacking comments.

It can be draining reading 10 articles in a week criticising what you are doing especially when you are genuinely trying to do good. There's also a degree on anonymity for vegans and non vegans. Both sides would prob never be so harsh in person. I honestly don't know what they are trying to achieve. Are they internalizing all the **** they read and letting it go here because it's kind of anonymous? It's sh*tty behaviour by anyone on any thread to attack people personally. That's kinda why I started this thread. I don't like the crappy comment back and forth under articles etc. It puts people off educating themselves and tars all vegans with one brush.

Hard in the moment but try to remember they are almost always being critised for what they do when they are genuinely trying to cause less harm all around. Its not always easy to internalize all that. They are passionate about veganism. And there are animals being hurt and killed right this minute. And the climate is being fudged up right this minute. It's fairly urgent as we see it. Some people are wilfully ignorant of all this and that can make a vegan feel fairly fudging frustrated. Still, no one has the right to be an a**hat as you say.

Soz it's a bit rambley. You don't have to agree with it all but I think that may be part it. To be clear though, I am vegan af but definitely don't agree with personally attacking people under any circumstances. Cheers for contributing!

YFlyer wrote: »

Hi Aoife since you are from Limerick. Would there be solely a Veggie or Vegan restaurant, other than the Groove, in Limerick, in the near future?

Limerick has had bad luck recently on that front. The Old Firestation was veggie but with plenty vegan dishes and it closes last month. Due to family reasons they said. And the underdog closed in Feb/March. Think footfall was the issue there. It never really took off I don't think. It could have been better for sure. It was just missing something. And don't say meat lol!! No idea if there is anything in the works but I sure hope so!!

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Well done on taking on this task OP. I am so pleased to see this thread as I was contemplating suggesting it. Hands up, I'm a life long meat-eater, and doubt I'll ever be a complete veggie. However, with all the documentaries on animal welfare recently I decided to eat less meat last year. Result was I never felt so well in years! I was so surprised that I wanted to continue but meat called me home! Now I try to eat at least one or two veggie meals a week but can't give up the meat. Now, my questions are:

1. If farmers stopped farming animals, what do vegans suggest should happen to the animals? Animal husbandry is a craft and animals need to be looked after, during illness, birth, etc. Can cows really live safely in the 'wild'?

2. If farmers only grew crops then I would expect the land might become drained and they would have to spread more fertilizers, and we are being told that a lot of farming practices are destroying natural habitats of wild animals, insects, bees and what have you. Would vegans promote these fertilizers?

I am a city girl, born and bred but my in-laws are farmers. Just something I was wondering about.

Hi! I'll have to put my hands up here and say I'm no expert on this area. Also your questions, while valid, are assuming the world goes vegan all at once which is highly unlikely to be the case! interesting though...

Question 1...Practices would dwindle away rather have thousands of cows wondering around our roads and lawns. It's a case of supply and demand I guess. If tomorrow we stopped breeding animals into existence in a few years the numbers would drop significantly naturally. As regards wild animals...I totally get what you mean but foxes/hedgehogs/deer/antelope and so many other animals in the world get by without us interfering. I suppose many buffalo or bison or whatever animal die as a result of injuries or illness in the wild each year but as they are 'wild' we know nothing about it. Absolutely regrettable but it wouldn't be one bit feasible to help each and every one. No one wants animals in pain. We're only concerned about cows and sheep etc as we have domesticated them and they are profitable in western societies. All hypothetical still...but if wild animals can't live in the wild it is because of humans taking over and ruining habitats. I'd actually be interested if any other vegans on this has anything to contribute!

Question 2...assuming again we all went plant based overnight, animal agriculture and feeding those animals uses a huge amount of land that could otherwise be used for crops. I don't have figures in front of me but a plant based diet uses a lot less land than meat eating one as I understand it. In the olden days (lol) I know they used to leave a field fallow or unplanted every few years to avoid soil being leached of nutrients. Possibly an option if a great deal of land is freed up. Fertilizers might well be required too but what better fertilizer is there than good old fashioned compost! The ultimate repurposing of waste vegetable etc! I'm sure fertilizers are already being used on crops eaten by vegans today, we might need to be more selective about what is used on crops. The least damaging the better. As I say, no expert on this. Also true that some small animals and insects etc are hurt or killed during harvest. The sooner we can improve on that the better. It's entirely unintentional in comparison to taking a pig to a slaughterhouse. Veganism is all about intent and there is such thing as a perfect vegan. I mean have you ever looked at a car after driving on a motorway? Insect cemetery unfortunately. Could argue that the huge amount of crops grown to feed animals in agriculture kills all these thousands of insects etc too so if we don't have to feed them, fewer insects etc would be killed too. All hypothetical but interesting to think it out!

I highly recommend Ed Winters Ted talk. He would explain this much more eloquently than I ever could. Anyone else have a contribution??

jh79 wrote: »

What your opinion on animal testing for medicine? Necessary evil or should we go straight to human clinical trials?

As far as I'm aware it's still a legal requirement. In an ideal world the answer will always be no to animal testing, I think we can all agree on that. I'm not sure what the alternatives are though. I suppose an obvious one would be to use ingredients that have been ready been tested so the data already exists. Many tests could also be done lab grown tissue. I don't actually think animal testing is effective anyway. Animals don't get all the same diseases as us and don't react to things the way we do do not can be pretty redundant. Human trials make more sense for somethings. What do you think?