Herbivores On The Rise

Do you eat fish? 

Do you eat honey? 

I could never do that. 

Do you not miss cheese? 

How do you eat out? There's nothing on most menus. 

What if it was cooked on the same grill? 

If you're eating off of someones plate and the chip touches the meat, would you still eat it? 

Do you use animal friendly cosmetics?

What do you actually eat? 

You're feeling tired? It's because you're not eating right. 

But you weren't always vegan, you've been eating these things most of your life. 

But plants are living creatures too.

A mere sample of the questions and statements that I've faced by work colleagues, family and random strangers over the past few months since coming back to New Zealand. A lot of the time people say these things out of genuine curiosity. I've never had abuse thrown at me for deciding to live the lifestyle I do, for which I'm pretty thankful. (Except the occasional joke like - I didn't think you could get any more annoying.)
But don't worry, I'm not one of those militant vegans who will force my views on you and throw shade at you every time you sit down to a steak dinner. 

However I want to put to rest some of the things that people have said to me in the past and explain why I went from just being a vegetarian, to deciding on becoming a vegan.

So first things first, let's answer some of those previous questions.

• No I don't eat honey. 
• I never thought I could either - but here we are. 
• I was never the biggest cheese hand, if it's not in the house already, I wouldn't buy it. So no, I don't really miss cheese. 
• It's true that sadly a lot of places don't have vegan options, especially when I travel around smaller towns. But if you do a menu check before going then normally you'll find a couple of things that are already vegan or can be modified. 
• If it's cooked on the same grill, then no I won't eat it. Burger Kings new plant based whopper premiered this month in New Zealand, with the fine print of not suitable for vegetarians as it's cooked on the same grill. Nice try Burger King, but I really don't see the point in a non vegetarian plant burger. 
• If you're eating something off someones plate and it drops on the floor, would you still eat it? There's your answer. 
• I try to always find animal friendly cosmetics and toiletries and have done before becoming a vegetarian or vegan
• I eat food.
• I'm feeling tired because I work in a bar, have unsociable working hours and no such thing as a sleeping pattern. Next!
• There's this little thing called knowledge and growth. I learned more and more about the agricultural, dairy and egg industry and supported it less and less. 
• Plants are living creatures, they're not sentient beings with a brain, a nervous system and the ability to feel pain, fear and grief. 

A lot of peoples main question to me is why? Why would I choose to cut out so many food options, when one person doing it wont make a difference anyway. Is it because I'm allergic to certain things, am I doing it for the environment or is there another reason behind it all? Well to hear the whole story you can check out my post about becoming a vegetarian a few years back here.

But the basics are that I mainly do it for moral reasons. Humans like to think they can play God by using and abusing this earth. Whether killing off all the predators in an area because of their own farms, then having to cull the prey themselves to keep the populations under control or breeding, growing and killing animals so they can have them on their plate at the end of the night, we like to think we are superior to everything on this planet and therefore can do whatever we want

As I stopped eating meat, I slowly realised that the dairy and egg industry are just as bad, if not even worse. There's a high percentage of the planet that are lactose intolerant. Do you know why? Because you're not a calf. Milk doesn't come from cows - it comes from mothers. Mammals produce milk for their offspring, so when you think about it, it's a pretty warped idea that you're impregnating a cow, stealing her baby and taking that milk so you can have it in your cup of coffee and cereal in the morning. Especially when there are so many plant milks available these days! Unless you're a baby cow, that milk doesn't belong to you and there's a good chance it will make you ill. 

And did you ever think about the baby whose milk you're stealing? The females will often be raised to have the same fate as their mother. The males will be bolted in the head by the time they're a week old. They're called bobby calves. They're born to die. 

As for the egg industry, well that's just as bad. A lot of chickens are kept in tight spaces together, stressed out and have their beaks burned off whilst they're still awake to stop pecking injuries to each other. Birds die in the close confinements and are just left there with the other living birds. And of course when the chicks originally hatch, if you're looking for eggs you once again don't need the males. So the males that aren't needed to be sent for meat, get left together inside of trash bags or gas chambers to suffocate if they're lucky. If they're not so lucky, they'll be placed alive on a conveyor belt, that ends in a grinder.
For all those thinking free range are any better, the living conditions although slightly improved are still not ideal. And after a couple of years, as soon as the hens stop laying their quota of eggs, it's off to the slaughterhouse to be dinner. 

Like I said, I'm not the militant vegan constantly posting about things on my Instagram or telling everyone I meet about my herbivore lifestyle. But it's still something I'm passionate about because I can't support cruelty. Think of it this way...next time you're going to say vegan in a sentence, try replacing it with kind to animals. I could never be (vegan) kind to animals. Stop always talking about your (vegan life) kindness to animals. It's my choice to not be (vegan) kind to animals.

Sounds a bit silly and selfish now, doesn't it?