Gaz Oakley no longer vegan and the backlash he has received is ridiculous

[Magicalbroomstick]

Gaz Oakley is no longer vegan. I can’t believe the amount of backlash he has received. He has deleted his instagram. People saying he was never really vegan.
I’m a vegetarian and was a vegan for 3 years when I was breastfeeding my oldest, then realised I couldn’t live without cheese!

This seems to me like a goady post. Also you could live without cheese. You just didn’t want to.

I've never heard of Mr Oakley. A person's choices are no one else's business.

LOL He built an entire career and following based on being vegan then decided he didn’t really believe in it after all. No wonder he has received a backlash.

I understand people who don’t ever want to be vegan, but am baffled by those who make the change and then change their minds back. So basically they understand it, they recognise its value, but then decide nah sod it, a cheese sandwich is more important than those principles I used to hold!

Maybe it's more that he made his money off of being a vegan

I've been a veggie most of my life but periods of omnivorousness for a variety of reasons

Yeah, I was vegan for 3 years still vegetarian.
It’s not a goady thread, as was nearly 30 years ago. If was now I probably still be vegan.
I have been vegetarian for over 40 years. I just feel people, even famous vegans are allowed to change his mind.
But I do feel guilty but not guilty enough about cheese.

Is English not your first language. In standard idiomatic English usage “could not live without” is not to be taken literally.

He was The Vegan Chef. That was his entire thing, if he’s not vegan any more then he’s upset every single one of his followers. Eat what you like, but once you stand up and flog things and do it publicly I think it’s understandable for vegans to react like that really.

When he was a vegan what’s wrong with making money off recipes? I listened to the podcast and I actually agree with a lot of what he said. I do find a lot of vegans very passionate about the cause.
I suppose it’s his own fault for putting his life on SM.

I know a couple of ex-vegans - both had to stop for health reasons. It happens.

I think for some they realise that their supposed sacred rule is more of a fuzzy line. They don’t want to eat big furry farmyard animals but instead eat (for example) more cereals which means killing a far larger number of smaller animals.

They realise that their diet will often have more food miles and therefore use more fossil fuels and decide that in this case the marginal benefit they feel they are getting does not justify it all.

It’s an interesting moral question, is it worse to get 1,000 meals out of one vow that lives a happy life grazing on a hillside or to cause the death of a million tiny insects to produce the grain to make couscous.

Quite a few people I know of in and out of the public eye had to stop veganism as their health suffered

I have no clue who this bloke is, but would wager he might be one of those vegans who push it as the only reasonable option that everyone should be following? Hardly surprising if he gets some backlash when he changes his mind. I imagine you knew this though …

(See also the DJ Chris Evans - yes, I know he’s Marmite, but I’m in the ‘love him’ camp - even I got irritated when he switched back from evangelical veganism, though.🤣)

(I am not vegan by the way)

Maybe it’s the disconnect between what he did and how he feels? If Paul McCartney announced that the Linda McCartney brand was now going to sell meat sausages I would be outraged. But if Tesco announced a new range of meat sausages I would think nothing. Because one markets their food especially to me (a vegetarian) and one doesn’t. I know I don’t have to buy them, but I do, and part of that reason is because they’re a brand I’m happy to support.

The thousand meals from a cow is one of reasons I prefer my meat eating family to reduce their chicken consumption.

Fruit pastels were my down fall

Luckily I think they are veg now

I understand that, but that is company not a person. I do like Linda McCartney food, for years was the best for convenience.
Maybe the older I have got I am more live and let live. I got a lot of teasing /jokes over the years especially in the
early 80’s when there was nothing.

I agree. 90% of veganism is performative preaching, they’d not be being true to themselves or their cult if they didn’t call for the burning of a heretic.

It’s not really a rule I live my life by, as I do still have chicken, but if your moral framework leads you to reduce the number of lives lost then yes, beef or pork is a better choice than chicken.

We all draw our lines in different places and at different angles; I’ll not eat monkeys, or children, or dogs, but am fine with cows.

It's not baffling that he made the change and changed it back again.

I've no idea who Gaz Oakly is, but maybe he tried veganism and it made him feel unwell so he decided to eat a healthy balanced diet instead rather than he just missed cheese sandwiches?

I don't get the issue. Someone tries something but they ultimately decide its not for them, for whatever reason. It's not a big deal.

Good on him. Seen the light

I am not (and have never been) a vegan and I followed Gaz Oakley because I quite like eating plant based meals regularly and I really liked his content. His reasons for changing from being vegan seemed well reasoned to me and I don't think it should have led to the backlash he received.

People's moral beliefs can (and do) change over time and we allow people with much worse opinions flourish online. I think it's a huge shame as I really liked the guy (or at least what I saw of him online).

I was a vegan for 7 years. Basically stopped caring enough to keep it up. Still enjoy and eat a lot of plant based food, but also eat the occasional steak and enjoy eating family meals and not having to stress about finding vegan options when travelling and eating out. I do think I feel better for it too.

I don’t understand the “stopped caring” attitude. Once you have understood the harm to the animals and the environment how can you stop caring?

@SpudGunToothis is a well trodden debate and the answer is that the majority or crops grown are used to feed animals that then feed humans. So while vegans are of course contributing to those insect deaths and deforestation etc to some degree, the real harm of crop growing is still done by the meat industry

As for GO - this isn’t about one individual just changing his mind for health reason! He spent 10 years convincing people it was a good thing then decided it wasn’t! Makes you question whether you can trust much of what he says or whether he will say anything for publicity?

On your point about whether you can trust what he says:
I think this would be more convincing had he changed overnight without any explanation. As I can see it, his reasoning was thought out and clearly reflected the kind of natural long term change that we expect from normal people.

You wouldn't make the point about someone who grew up religious and at some point in adulthood realises it no longer reflects their understanding of the world/ themselves and becomes an agnostic or an atheist, would you? You would see that as an understandable thing to do. I see a change in ethical veganism as entirely comparable.

This is one of the reasons I tend to buy British beef that is grazed on grass, not grain.

The grain-fed argument applies more in the USA where it’s relatively common.

In France I’ll still sometimes have boar, which is hunted rather than farmed, and sadly not so available here in the UK.