About half a week ago, I became self aware of my state as a piece of shit regarding the animal populations of Earth and their wellbeing. It was sparked by a video of animal abuse I saw online that I refuse to describe beyond serial-killer-level psychological torture to a poor, defenseless being.
I realize, there’s a set, and a mic, and props. This ain’t the first time, this has fucking followers and people will mimic it. We’re this shit as a species?! Where is the bottom? Is there one?!
I generally consider myself a fairly strong willed person, and my former diet wasn’t too dissimilar from dishes I could make vegan, so, I figure, why not? I saw Blue Planet 3. I know we’re fucking up. I had a few holdout food items but, pizza is my favorite food, and I believe replicating it will be fun. There’s apparently a few vegan roux recipes with some ways to mimic cheese flavor for mac and cheese. I’m into it.
Anyway, do share any tips with me that you wish you’d known when you started out. What’s a good brownie recipe?
Get a B12 supplement, maybe Omega (DHA type), install Happy Cow or Vegan Maps, or both (and maybe some local alternatives, like some cities have vegan delivery apps), on your phone to see vegan places around. Oreos are accidentally vegan, chips depend on flavor, lactose free milk is not vegan. Honey is not vegan for a lot of different reasons that were hard for me to internalize and one that was not: honey bees are not native pollinators for a lot of flowers and regions, and are forcing the native pollinators out of business. It’s like what would happen if every bird was replaced with free-range chickens.
Eggs are not vegan because the conditions are horrible and even when they are not, the gender for new generation of egg laying chickens is checked after birth, by “sexing” the chicks. And the male chicks go into a shredder to become cat good I guess.
Cat food and owning cats (or dogs, or pet chickens) is a difficult topic you should rather not raise. There are vegan pet foods but availability and prices vary a lot.
Don’t expect miraculous health benefits. A bit better heart health, a bit lower blood pressure and a smaller cancer risks are hard to actually notice even if they are shown to be present in studies. Better bowel movement if nice though if you actually start eating more veggies and not just continue eating (vegan) junk food.
And remember that the definition of “vegan” is what is “possible and practicable” so don’t beat yourself up for buying a shampoo without checking if it was peta approved or getting pills and finding out they have gelatin cases. The nightmare world we live in doesn’t always make it practicable to live a 100% pure life.
Oh, and be prepared to see your opinion of peta to change for the better the first time you try to explain to someone why you are vegan (or worse - try to convince them to reduce consumption of meat, milk, eggs and other animal products). Most people don’t even know cows need to be pregnant and give birth before they can start giving milk, and it seems impossible to convince them even of this one simple fact.
I’m happy with letting my cat be a cat and letting me be a human. I can optionally omit meat, I’m not sure it would be too healthy for one of nature’s carnivores.
Yeah, I get the argument. I understand that the meat industry has ties to the cat food I buy, but I also know Nessa herself can’t make the decision to be vegan, and I don’t intend to force or decide for her.
Ok, it goes a bit deeper, but she’s safe, healthy, cared for and gets tons of love. If thrown outside to hunt rats seems more appropriate and I’m somehow seen as imprisoning her, I can deal with the internal turmoil knowing she’ll have a long life purring and playing despite her “suffering”.
Humans are very good at convincing ourselves and finding excuses. I’m convincing myself that my cat would be out there destroying the ecosystem and making more cats, but now it mostly chills home, castrated, but well treated. And vegan pet foods are not possible for my circumstances so we’ll have to buy the food we think will better support him.
Still, it’s all a point of contention, and you can understand why.