To ask why you aren’t vegan

[Whereisthecoffee]

I’m not vegan , I know it’s good for the planet kinder to animals etc but it’s something I just can’t seem to get to grips with. I’ve been thinking about starting vegan January but I’m not sure. Thinking about my choices and it’s prevalence in the media has made me curious about others so tell me why aren’t you vegan? I think my main reason is convenience.

People chucking selves under veal calf lorries back in the early 1990s put me off the whole animal rights movement. I couldn't understand being passionate about veal calves while whole species went extinct but didn't attract the same level of protest. Also the bomb threats at scientists working with live animals.

I don't accept that it's morally superior to minimise harm to all/any animals.

The British vegan society insists you have to be an animal rights supporter to be a vegan. That very restrictive definition is emblematic of the control-freakery I associate with British vegan-ness (& it's also offputting).

I used to have low (blood) iron problems when I was vegetarian, I think I might be one of those people who does best with at least a little heme iron in my diet.

I think I mostly quite like vegan food. But I would miss cream & cheese.

I find eating out a total pain. Often chilli or some other bean dish is the only option.

Having pretty much only lentils and chickpeas as protein options is pretty boring.

DH and I are considering cutting out dairy and eggs in the new year though as I find those industries much crueler than high welfare meat (I don't have an issue with animal slaughter).

I think it is wrong for developed countries with temperate climates like the UK to rely on those in developing countries to produce our food. Living in the North of England I can eat a sustainable diet by including locally organic free range meat a couple of times a week and free range eggs. If I am vegan I will be eating food shipped from India, south america and africa which deprives those communities high quality vegetable protein (which is affordable and health for them and part of their culture), this pushes them to have a poorer quality diet and also the destruction of the environment to grow cash crops for export. I do not want to eat nuts and seeds grown at the expense of local developing communities.
What Sarah said and I am a sheep farmer.

I was vegetarian for 20 years and still eat lots of food. But o find it hard to eat healthy with veggie food when out and about so like the option for meat. But last night had the vegan Christmas dinner option in a pub as fed up of yet more turkey even before Christmas. Love a good nut roast! But I like the options to choose something I like rather than it being chosen for me

Oh and yes I think in the uk it’s perfectly possible to eat sustainably buying local rather from food shipped round the world. This is what I’m concentrating on for 2019. And yes that inc meat

From what I’ve read eating less meat is a good thing for health, environment, animal welfare.

With any change in diet you need to do your research. You need vitamin supplements if you are not getting enough b12, there might be other things you need if you don’t like beans and pulses and meat replacements but in that case I’d personally not cut meat / fish / dairy out completely as I think it’s best to get nutrients from food sources.

Take little steps. I would like to be vegan but I will probably need to be vegetarian for a couple of years first.

The thought that animals were killed to make my food just puts me off it. I don’t think I’m morally superior but I am quite a sensitive person in general (which is a total pain sometimes 🤣)

I'm a veggie who doesn't take milk, or cream etc but does take cheese and some eggs. This is because milk makes me sick but cheese doesn't for some odd reason

Me too. The reason why cheese doesn't make you (us) sick is because lactose degrades as the milk matures, so there is very little left in hard cheeses.

Because I love meat, eggs and diary, love food, and would find being vegan incredibly restrictive. Because we are designed to be omnivores and nature can be a lot crueler than we are. Does a bear worry about eating meat although it could conceivably live on berries. Because my country is full of green fields, read recently it’s one of the top countries that could be food sufficient, and if we stopped meat and diary production I struggle to think what would happen to those green fields. Doubt their owners would let them go fallow and unused. They could be paid to do so but surely there’s better things to spend money on eg homelessness?

Anyone who thinks it’s priviliged to eat vegan, my food bill has reduced massively since going veggie. Lentils etc are sooooo cheap compared to meat we used to buy. The issue imo is that we mostly have a culture of meat consumption so those foods are not what everyone knows and likes. We also have a high convenience culture so want to eat whatever we want wherever we want.

I do wish that we weren’t so disconnected from what we eat. It’s too easy to bury our head in the sand. Eating dead bodies and drinking milk from a bloated cow just seems so obviously totally gross to me, so before now I must have just been ignoring that fact?!

I am not against meat eating as such but I don’t see why we have to eat as much of it in general as we do when we have to kill for it and there are lots of alternatives to eat at least some days.

You can’t really compare it to wild hunting as wild animals don’t have a factory full of prey so it’s harder to get their hands on.

I was a vegan for 10 years, itwas such hard work and everyone hated me. I'm a vegetarian now primarily because I love cheese. I hate myself though as I know all about dairy farming.

I think being a vegan would probably be easier now than ever - there's a massive vegan selection in my local supermarket, where even 3 years ago you'd be lucky just to find tofu. If I could persuade my husband and two children to also all become vegan, I would have more chance of doing it. Otherwise, financially and practically, it feels too much of an undertaking.

I do compromise by only cooking vegetarian food during the week - so actually we don't eat all that much meat. Mainly it's the Sunday roast, and pizza toppings on a Saturday.

kiki I don't know really. I don't drink dairy as it makes my sinuses completely blocked up and I love lentils and vegetables but I think it's just too easy to cook meat for the family.

ARGHH no worries,you continue to shit dead animals out your arse. Pay me no mind

MrsMaker88 maybe you did ignore it, or maybe you don't know? DH only learnt yesterday about the billions of male chicks killed in egg production. He just assumed that we let them grow up and then ate them. He's horrified. He not stupid or ignorant usually, but sometimes you have actually to go looking for how animal products are made. It's like people who assume that halal meat is unstunned and therefore crueler based on hear-say, without doing any research.

I grew up in a farming community and with a vegetarian (now vegan) mother so was aware from a very early age how meat and dairy come to our plates. But I also don't think that was necessarily a good thing- it made me quite immune to the issues.

My DS is allergic to some legumes and although has outgrown allergies to some of the others (lentils, chickpeas, soya) he can’t tolerate a lot in his diet, it gives him an upset stomach.

@kateandme

I can still love animals.and have empathy for them. but you're okay for them to be slaughtered so you can have a bacon sandwich?

the love.the way they are at one with their flock is amazing. you cannot love an animal if you're fine with sending it off to be killed and receive money for that. It's disgusting.

I love my cats and my rabbits. I would never send them to a slaughterhouse to have their throats slit so I could eat them. Would you with your pets? They are friendly, happy living beings.

Cheese !!

That is honestly the only reason. I have tried and it is always cheese that is my undoing.

Why am I not vegan?

Because whilst I understand ethically it’s the best thing, I am not such a good person to majorly change my life to my perceived detriment.

Just like I know flying on planes is terrible for the environment but I’m not going to stop going on holiday.

I eat majority veggie with some higher welfare meat. Try not to eat meat eg work canteen.

Pernickity1 the animals aren't miserable that's my point! I'm not going to argue.u won't back down or allow it view to be deterred even to see how some farms treat animals amazingly.have u grown up on one?seen the process? Not all r factory farmed feeders.

anonymousss not replying to the goading now.once again using things u want to seek a reaction of hurt from me.by mentioning pets.killing.sendung them away to slit their throats.yeh nice one.uve no FUCKING idea what my pets mean to me.nor how I see farm bred animals and their t4reatmemt.u don't agree.fine.dont stick pins in me by using my pets to see how murderous it is to kill a cow.because seriously u dont no what ur starting there.no idea.what u say to someone u dont know...it leaves u but not them u end the convo but uve spread the words and hurt.
blah fecking blah.if u can't see the difference ok.i can and do.

Crazytoast, I have tried just about all the milks and oat milk is by far the best. DH is much fussier than me and likes it. I have put in tea and coffee for guests and a couple of them didn't even realise it wasn't cow's milk.

Quite surprised how many people say bacon is the reason they can't or won't be vegan. I used to think bacon smelt so nice cooking but then it never tasted very nice

I like the idea of being vegan but I don’t think I can. If I eat legumes two days in a row I feel incredibly ill. Meat on the other hand I can eat in copious amounts with no digestive issues. Obviously I don’t eat that much (maybe once a fortnight when I feel a bit protein deficient) but if I tried to go vegan I would probably end up having meat every other day to deal with lack of protein in my diet.

Before you post your nasty little comments about how meat eaters should die, do bear in mind that there are many, many people with conditions that mean they cannot follow a vegetarian or vegan diet. Perhaps you'd also like to bear in mind that your post and attitude are the reason many people have an aggressive reaction to veganism.