can someone explain vegan to me

[labazs]

i have not eaten meat and fish for a long time and i am wondering about being vegan. i know no leather shoes dont wear those i know no cows milk dont mind rice oat soy milk etc but its eggs that are a sticking point. would i have to give up eggs altogether? at the moment eggs are a main source of food for me i dont eat cheese at the moment due to being with sw but i am assuming if i want to you can get vegain cheese its just the eggs that are a source of confusion to me

If you want to be vegan then you can’t eat eggs, but there is no rule that says you can’t have a vegetarian, dairy free diet and still eat eggs. Just choose ethically farmed ones.

Why do you want to be vegan, especially?

You could do the whole shebang......apart from eggs. I think you can choose to eat what you like (though you couldn't then label yourself 'vegan'.)

You can eat whatever you want without having to have a label for it. As a pp said eat dairy free vegetarian but keep eggs if that is what suits you.

Agree, eat what you want with no label :) labels only give people ground to ammunition to argue with you anyway!!

When I became vegan about 30 years ago, most people were vegan for animal welfare reasons. Eating eggs is cruel, because male chicks are seen as waste products (they won't grown up to lay eggs) and so are killed when they are a few days old. Also most hens are treated badly. Even though more and more hens are "free range", in practice this only means that they need access to the outside. Many are part of very large flocks kept in huge barns - they don't freely wander round pecking at worms and seeds in a farmyard.

These days a lot of people also go vegan for environmental or health reasons. If you are interested in being vegan for these reasons, then you could carry on eating eggs (but not call yourself vegan). if you are concerned about animal welfare then either go vegan or carry on eating eggs but try to find out as much as you can about where the eggs are actually produced to you can find one where the hens treated as well as possible.

animal aid has more info about the egg industry.

I believe some people eat vegan apart from eggs from chickens they keep themselves (often ex battery farm chickens) so know are well cared for.

Just be veggie! Then you can still have eggs/cheese/wear wool etc.

The vegan label really only applies to people who love a very specific life, as it's a lot more involved than just diet and shoes. We aren't all preachy either, but you'll come up against a lot of resistance trying to tack the vegan label onto just a dietary choice for your life. It's not worth it!

*people who live

@SonEtLumiere

Being vegan means not eating, wearing or using any animal products at all. This includes those made from animals or produced by them.

You'd still be a vegetarian if you eat eggs. Just do that.

I know a few vegans who keep rescue chickens and eat the eggs.

Why couldn’t OP eat eggs and identify as Vegan?

Very true, you can identify as anything these days without having to actually be that thing.

@Eminybob 😂

Vegans means no animals or animal products.

Animal products show up in unlikely places.

Tallow (beef fat) is used to lubricate the plastics for the current £5 and £10 notes for example.

Milk proteins can be found in caseinates which are used in plastics and latex products.

Isinglas (from fish swim bladders) is used to clarify most wines, beers, ciders and is sometimes used in the spirit distilling processes.

I have a burning question, which I hope can be answered here. I don't know any vegans, so don't know the answer to this one thing which intrigues me.

I understand vegans avoiding all animals products because of animal welfare. What I don't understand is the environmental side. If you avoid leather and wool, won't use feathers etc, you are relying on plastics. How does this sit with the environmental sustainability side of veganism. Cotton and Soya also have large environmental footprints, so how do you balance out the impacts?

Being a vegan means eating or using no animal products wether that's meat, dairy, eggs leather etc so if you eat eggs then you wouldn't be a vegan but you could be a vegetarian and not have milk or cheese!

The egg industry is awful. Chicks are born into this world and if male ( unable to produce eggs ) they are gassed. For the females they are kept in hideous conditions, free range eggs don't mean they've had a lovely life running round outside. They most likely are in a cramped filthy barn and will be slaughtered at around 16 months old when they are of no use anymore.

It was difficult for me to cut eggs out my diet too but I managed and once I read up on the egg industry my mind was made up

@OlderThanAverageforMN Interesting question! We are vegan for animal rights reasons and do specific things to be more eco but the two are not mutually exclusive for us. For example, we try to buy second hand clothes, to reduce the footprint of what we wear.

Why couldn’t OP eat eggs and identify as Vegan?

Because that makes it harder for actual vegans who don’t eat eggs. Like “vegetarians” who eat fish.

@olderthan

Pretty much everything has a carbon footprint but animal agriculture is by far the biggest contributor to greenhouse gasses and climate change. Proven fact. And yes soya beans probably do have a large impact but that also boils back down to animal agriculture as the majority of soya crops and grain etc are fed straight to animals in their feed. Humans actually only eat a small amount of the harvested crops. We could drastically reduce co2 emissions, deforestation, hunger and water usage by stopping and thinking about over consumption of meat. It takes a ridiculous amount of water and grain just to make 1lb of meat.

I hope that in some way answers a bit of your question. I as a vegan personally known I could never be perfect in regards to my carbon footprint but I do know I'm trying my best to reduce it.

OlderthanI think it’s one of those things where you just have to chose what you think is the better path.

E.g.
So, farming animals produces a lot of greenhouse gases and uses up land very intensively. So not eating meat is a plus for the environment in that sense.

Locavorism (especially in hilly places where land isn’t suitable for much except grazing) can be lower carbon than Veganism which relies on foodstuffs etc from around the world.

I think the important thing is that people in either of those two camps are consciously choosing to do their best. Both are very different from just mindlessly consuming whatever.

The animal welfare aspect is the whole point for some people, with ecological impact being either of secondary or little concern.

For others, the ecological impact is the primary concern, but animal welfare is something which tips the balance in favour of veganism rather say locavorism.

For others, ecological issues are the whole point and in that case you just need to do the Mathis carbon load.

However, I would say that both ecological and animal welfare approaches can have an important similarity. They can be a rejection of the thinking that says man has dominion over land and animal. That we somehow have an ownership or control of other creatures and entities as an inherent right. Both approaches can be expressions of that, and anything that inculcates that more humble and grateful mindset will ultimately be of benefit to the planet.

I am sure I have seen vegan egg substitute.

I am sure I have seen vegan egg substitute

You can get packets of egg substitute that work for baking. There are other ways of replacing eggs eg using flaxseed instead of eggs as a binding agent when making burgers or aquafaba (the liquid when you buy a tin of chickpeas) instead of egg white when making meringues. There are recipes for scrambled tofu which make a tasty alternative to scrambled eggs and I've also used tofu to make a decent omelette.

But if you crave a boiled egg or poached egg on toast a vegan alternative is pretty impossible.

Applesauce works incredibly well as an egg substitute in sweet baking as well.