AIBU to ask ‘what would make you go vegan’?

[Bastetcat]

Tangentially inspired by another thread, I wonder if there are specific obstacles standing in the way of people choosing to go vegan, and if so what they are?

I tend to presume that if perfect, indistinguishable replicas for meat / dairy / eggs etc could be created then virtually everyone would go vegan, but I would be interested in finding out if that’s actually the case!

We are in a horrible catch 22 where we have bred sheep to have thicker and thicker fleeces, There are literally hundreds of different breeds of sheep in the world all with different thicknesses of fleece according to their usual environment. Some are bred to cast their wool

It’s worth noting that the majority of people who eat an omnivorous diet are also b12 deficient.

Evidence?

This study certainly doesn't confirm that at all: www.ndph.ox.ac.uk/publications/65908

@derxa that could be another solution - minimising the breeding of sheep who produce excess fleece in favour of breeds who don’t require shearing to produce wool

For those asking for videos of sheep shearing - this is a good article if you want the information without the upsetting videos: www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sheep-shearing-wool-peta-farms-rspca-action-punched-beaten-killed-a8508221.html%3famp

Another article about cruelty found at 24 Scottish sheep farms (contains upsetting images from the start of the article) www.scotsman.com/news-2-15012/horrific-footage-emerges-claiming-to-show-scottish-shearers-punching-sheep-in-the-face-1-4816178

that could be another solution - minimising the breeding of sheep who produce excess fleece in favour of breeds who don’t require shearing to produce wool You don't get it. The wool is no use to anyone and is cast in the fields. I suggest you go and watch expert sheep shearers at work. It takes them minutes to sheer a sheep and all the sheep suffers is a bit of indignity sitting on its bottom.

@Marmit peta is not an organisation to be taken seriously wrt animal welfare

@derxa did you watch the videos I linked to? I know that isn’t every farm, but neither is it one bad apple. When you buy a wool jumper do you know where the wool comes from? Do you feel confident that the sheep that provided it was treated humanely? And is the risk that it was beaten or cut in the process one you’re willing to take?

We all draw our own boundaries on this and have limits we are willing to tolerate. For me, the risk that I am paying for the abuse of animals is one I’m not willing to take.

I have leather, wool and silk items that I owned before I went vegan, and I will use them until they have to be replaced because to waste them would be wrong. But I am not going to pay for any more when there is a good chance an animal has died or been hurt to provide it. Whether anyone else feels the same is up to them, but there’s no basis for anyone to tell me I’m wrong about the possibility of cruelty when it’s well-documented.

@woodencoffeetable I have enormous issues with PETA and don’t support them as an organisation but unless you can show me evidence that their investigations into these sheep farms are a massive fraud they have perpetrated on the public, I can’t ignore what I now know. I don’t like PETA but what’s done is done; the information is out there even if I don’t like the disseminators of it.

I've watched the video now and that's cruel and unacceptable. Those men should be prosecuted. But I'm a sheep farmer and have never seen that kind of behaviour during shearing.

I’m sure there are many farms who would never treat their sheep that way and I’m glad about it. But I don’t know where the wool has come from when I buy a jumper in M&S. For me, the risk that I am funding the kind of cruelty shown in those videos is too great.

Several family members have food allergies. If we also had to go vegan cooking would become an extremely time consuming chore.

Also ... It bothers me that many vegans sound a bit like... As if they were quite slow to realize that their food came from animals and not "from the supermarket" and "that is just gross". A bit immature, a bit too city folk like.

And before you all shriek "but what about the environment?", I have always been frugal. Make do and mend, eat leftovers, use moon cup and cloth sanitary towels, compostable bags, washing nuts, cloth shopping bags, buying second hand clothes, nuclear wardrobe with only four colours, well insulated house, buying local and organic food etc.

Animal products being outlawed or extortionately taxed. And I would vote against that. Everyone being vegan is not the solution to any of the problems humanity faces. Britain is not going to grow wheat and potatoes on the Scottish and Welsh hillsides, the land's just not suitable for that, but it's well-suited to raising sheep.

I've been vegetarian since I was 13, 30 years ago. Once I was old enough to truly grasp the horrors of animal welfare when it came to Farming.

I've almost cut out dairy and we have our own chickens for the occasional egg.

Also: there was a great documentary many years ago, I think on channel 4. Farm to fork or something like that. They created an abattoir inside a tv studio.

The studio audience got to watch the entire process, the animals going to to the killed through to ending up on a plate.

The first animal went in smoothly. The second animal, smelling the blood and death...it was awful to watch. That was definitely a seminal moment for me and IIRC most of the studio audience struggled to eat the meat afterwards.

Nothing in the world - and if I had to slaughter my own steak, then I'd probably learn!
Vegans always look as if they could do with a proper feed!

Chlorinated chicken will. I don't eat other meat, so once that becomes the norm I'll be a veggie.

Nothing short of a life-threatening allergy to animal products, I'm afraid.

I love meat, but even more importantly, I love cheese and cream and eggs. The thought of never having a cheese omelette, or scrambled egg, or pasta carbonara again is too awful to contemplate.

in order to go vegan, id need it to just be easier. Its becoming so much easier to make vegan choices,and I do that a lot, but to actually BE vegan and never slip up is another story. Vegetarian is easy peasy. Vegan, you still need to read labels for everything. I like stuff like eggs in my breakfast. Milk chocolate. Cheese on pizza that doesnt have a vomity aftertaste.

Vegans always look as if they could do with a proper feed!

That's bloody nonsense 🙄

Vegans always look as if they could do with a proper feed!

I bloody WISH I did

Being omnivore or vegan or everything in between has never had any significant effect on my weight. I do like how much clearer my skin is on plant-based diet though, and my athletic performance has improved.

Decent food available easily. most vegan food in the uk is rank

turnandfacethenamechange very much so! I love cheese and eggs etc but knowing what happens so I can have it, I can't justify it, and I don't think I could enjoy it now that those images are cemented into my brain. I've never eaten a lot of meat but I will admit I was quite naive about the dairy industry. I don't think I'll ever go back to eating animal products.

The only thing that would make me turn vegan is the complete unavailability of animal products. Is Soylent Green vegan?

Vegans always look as if they could do with a proper feed! The only vegan I ever knew lived on Caramac’s and chips .

Nothing. Absolutly nothing. I eat what the fuck I like. Vegan, meat, vegetarian, junk, noone is going to tell me what I can eat. I will not bow to pressure. All food is lovely.

I love it when people say vegan food is rank. Like, have you ever had Oreos? Focaccia dipped in olive oil? Pasta with fresh tomatoes, basil and toasted pine nuts? Spaghetti pangrattata? Daal? Chips? Co-op jam doughnuts? A baked potato? Tofu banh mi? Sweet potato and black bean chilli? Baba ganoush with hot, toasty pittas? Avocado toast? Hummus? Falafel? Sweet potatoes cooked in sesame oil, lime and tahini? Roasted broccoli with lemon and garlic? Caramelised onions? Biscoff spread? Peanut butter toast? Dark chocolate? Popcorn? Poached pears? Coconut pannacotta? Panzanella salad? Olive oil mash? Chocolate dipped strawberries? Spaghetti aglio e olio? Marmite toast? Guacamole? Bean burritos? Vegetable sushi? Roasted root veg? Pomodoro soup? Salt and vinegar crisps? Pickled carrots? Sourdough? Raspberries?