Laying it on the line

733: 

People don’t usually like hearing stories of cruelty and waste in relation to animals. They feel guilty about what they’re eating and wearing, but the problem is that they can’t imagine a world without animal farms and animal foods and animal-based clothing. They can’t accept life without meat or, if they’re vegetarians, without eggs, cheese, milk and products using animal ingredients. Most people think a plant-based diet would be boring and unhealthy. But today people are better informed on both counts.

            Back in the 1970s there was far less information, and so I was sceptical on both counts. But what made me most determined to try living as a vegan were stories I heard about what they did to the animals, for their meat and milk and eggs. I vaguely knew it wasn’t nice but didn’t want to know too much, in case I persuaded myself to act. I liked all the delicious foods and yet disliked them because of their animal content. And this is the dilemma for most people today, unable to face a life without prawns, steak, ham, eggs, ice cream, milk chocolate, melted cheese (on pizzas), fruit yoghurt and cakes with layers of cream.

            Every time I go to a dinner party or a celebration like a wedding, there are always attractive items to eat, made with lots of animal ingredient. To pass it up seems masochistic. And clothing, shoes, woollen jumpers, gloves, blankets and coats, all seem fashionable, and yet they too have to be ruled out if made from animals.

            Okay, you get the picture – there is a lot here to ‘do-without’. It’s a huge challenge to impose on yourself. If you decide to deny yourself these eating pleasures and wardrobe items, you will effectively be stepping aside from normality and from the lifestyle of your friends and family.

            Then, you might need to show this alternative lifestyle as attractive, by making plant-based foods seem interesting and canvas shoes, cotton, linen and synthetic fabrics look cool. You  might need to explain why such radical changes should be made in order to ‘save animals’. And at this point some will fail to understand, since they feel no particular empathy for pigs and chickens. But for those who do empathise, for this reason alone they must change, radically.