Veganism is a Geographic Issue
pussy-envy:
In the vegan debate most discussions revolve around “actually loving animals”. Sometimes the cost issues come up, and people often proclaim that although they have little cash, they manage to live a vegan life. Rarely does the needs of bodies that cannot live on vegan diets come up.
However, what I see to be the overarching issue in relation to all of the above stated topics (and many I did not mention) is geography. Physical geography, social geography, economic geography - geography is not merely an issue of land masses, but of the systems that operate on and in these locals. This is rough, bare with me, **mentions ED**.
You want to tell people that if they scrimp and save they can live vegan? And not just eat vegan but eat organic? Not everywhere in the world can you waltz to the farmers market or your specialty store and obtain these items - and if you can, often the price is exorbitant.
Let’s not forget the issue of how people get to these markets and stores - not everyone has access to transportation beyond their own bodies, or has safe/respectful/non-ablist systems of transport or sidewalks or stores that are accessible. So does one drop money on bus fare, or use that money to spend at stores in their area? Also - when taking public transport the issue of carrying purchased items - does one take many trips on the bus to buy small amounts of food and each time drop money on a bus fare? Or save that money for many local visits? And bikes? Having a city that caters to bikes is a privilege, having a bike is a privilege.
What areas sell these foods? Who has the money, the social status, the class privilege, the white privilege, the economic privilege, to live in these areas? Who has the privilege to enter these stores? Even if one lives in a poor district that offers these things - look around a bit - what areas are next to yours - do you have access to these things because you are pushed up against a richer section? What are the political values and the power behind them - who controls the economy in areas you live in?
On the topic of the area people live in, lets talk housing costs. Lets talk electricity, water, having actual objects in ones house. Does one pay for the bus across town, the expensive organic lettuce, or pay for a roof?
You want to tell people to grow their own food? Most cities have ordinances and rules on growing, community garden plots aren’t that common, people who work busy schedules don’t have time to garden, and the art of gardening isn’t learnt in a day - it takes time. Gardening isn’t sticking something in the ground, it is a commitment. (And lets not forget that growing in a city doesn’t make you radical and edgy)
Here also the issue of people, veganism, and eating disorders. This is a geographical issue as well - what support systems are in place to help people? How is the general social outlook on eating disorders? Is the support forever accessible, or does it run out when the insurance or gov. help shuts their doors? Can one even admit to having an eating disorder without being the victim of social stigma? You can’t bully someone into a restrictive diet (vegan or otherwise) and ignore their dietary histories. Unless you are someones dr. you do not know their body.
Not only diet histories, but body needs, mental needs, proteins needed to sustain bodies that cannot live off vegan fare, these are important factors. Are systems in place to help people with support in their daily lives - or are they expected to function in an abelist society that actively shames and discriminates those who do not fit the “norm”? Does one pay for the expensive soy cheese, or the medication they need? Having access to medical aid is a geographic issue. Also - bodies that work constantly, bodies under stress, bodies that society and economy destroys, can they work on a vegan diet?
Veganism is a geographical issue.
This is really rough and I am still reading and thinking, so please send me thoughts. However, any aggressive provegan rants will be deleted. Check yr privilege. I guess this also has a lot to do with my thoughts on being vegetarian.
ALSO NOTE - this is written from my outlook as someone growing up in the west. I was vegetarian from birth until I turned 13. I grew up raising chickens we rescued from factory egg farms, and when I have lived in small towns, I bought eggs from people we knew, and fish our friends caught. Since this is from a western stance - I did not address the ridiculousness of the idea that everyone should be vegan around the world - to force veganism on areas that rely on caught meat, is asinine.
EDIT —- if these issues are commonly discussed, link me, because I’ve only heard it mentioned in passing
First I want to say that anything I say is obviously just from my perspective and experience and that my position is a white privileged one. However, I’ve also lived a vegan lifestyle whilst homeless and in awkward geographic locations as well as whilst being extremely broke so I think I can offer a few thoughts on some of your points. Low-cost starch staples such as beans, rice, barley, legumes, tubers and corn have for all of human agricultural history been relied upon as the primary source of calories.
Secondly, I think the queries on organic produce is a different argument altogether. So in terms of asking about bus fares and carrying groceries and all that jazz - I’d presume that the energy/ money/ ability to walk to the corner store (or wherever) that is being used to buy cheese and steaks can equally be used to buy beans and potatoes. You don’t need to scrimp and save to eat vegan, it’s generally cheaper than eating an animal-based diet. Legumes, rice, fresh produce and pastas, breads etc are often affordable (I know this varies and people like to argue “oh but food deserts” but in general, this is the case.). Dr John McDougall promotes a starch-based vegan diet for optimal health for which the staples (potatoes, rice, corn, etc.) are among the cheapest of available food choices, and are supplemented by fruits and vegetables to meet micronutrient requirements.
You don’t need speciality stores to be vegan. Unless you want to eat fancy vegan food. I am currently in a comfortable position with money and I spend less on our weekly food bill (four people) than when I was eating animal based and there were just two of us. I am also meeting all my (and my two children’s) nutritional needs. And that’s going by textbook standards. I don’t have to go to speciality stores or farmer’s markets -everything is bought from the standard grocery store. I have a car but have also walked to this store when my health is good. I am privileged enough to be able to order home delivery, catch a bus or train, get my partner to help me and so on. Many other people have these options too and if they don’t, then it’s not my place to speak for them and I welcome their input.
As for growing one’s own food, this is arguable but you’ve raised some really good points on this issue. But once again, that’s a separate argument from eating vegan food. Sure, it can come into play - I grow my own food and recognise the privilege in being able to. I can say myself that it was a lot harder than I expected. It took six to nine months to establish a garden (soil preparation and so on), it took a lot of learning (and a lot of lost produce to wild life and beginner’s errors which meant loss of money, something which many people couldn’t afford), But that’s for a large garden. Sometimes herbs and things like tomatoes can be grown with ease, for little money (or free - you can simply plant the seeds from produce that you’ve bought) and also can be done in various living experiences (a lot of produce can be grown on windowsills or indoors for example), But then there is a time commitment involved and so on. I do, however, think it’s an option for SOME people who otherwise think it’s an impossibility.
As for your thoughts on living costs (paying the electricity whilst hiking across town to buy an organic lettuce), well, no. Just no, you don’t have to do this. There are so many people who are short of money who are eating vegan and struggling to make ends meet. And they’re not struggling to make ends meet BECAUSE they’re vegan, they’re eating vegan despite it. They’re eating vegan because it’s an affordable option. They’re eating vegan because they feel better on it. It’s not only white, privileged rich kids who are doing this.
You mentioned something about people who aren’t able to enter certain stores because of being POC or for other reasons and that’s something where I totes check my privilege. I haven’t experienced this, I never will and I know that this happens. I’m also not sure how to approach this subject so will leave this to people who occupy this space to.
If you are buying a Standard Diet, then you often have the ability to buy vegan alternatives. Vegan food does not only exist in some magical far away vegan land. Vegan food does not only exist where white people, rich people, able bodied people live. Once again, I do speak from a place of privilege and I am trying to be aware of that. I live “pushed up” against an extremely wealthy suburb but I have lived in poorer areas where I have still had access to exactly the same food. There are people who don’t have this and I’d love to hear of their experience. I can only speak of mine and admit that I have been relatively lucky with my lived experience.
I have an eating disorder and I am vegan (trigger warning for mild ED talk on this paragraph). It is mostly in hibernation because I found that eating vegan helped my food anxieties. I am well aware that this is most definitely not the case for other people and that it triggers calorie restriction, confusion, anxieties and so on. But for me, it works and that’s just my experience. I can also say that I have several friends who have eating disorders who are in recovery and are vegan. As for bullying people into living a restricted diet. For one, I personally never bully anybody into anything they don’t want to do but I understand that you may have experienced this from others but one vegan bullying people isn’t all vegans bullying people. And secondly - I don’t believe veganism is a restricted diet. The removal of unnecessary and harmful elements of a standard Western diet is not the same as calorie restriction. Both caloric and nutritional needs are easily met on a vegan diet. You’re simply swapping many foods for other foods. In my case, I wasn’t restricting, I was opening myself wide up to many new options. My food world got larger.
Cutting foods out of our diet that we simply don’t need is not restriction, ideal diets are species-specific.. There are quite a few studies and articles around that prove that we don’t need animal protein to survive and not only survive, but to be in good in health and all vitamins and minerals can be found in a variety of vegan foods. Eating animal based products often lead to various health ailments and although it’s arguable, it’s believed to be the source of many diseases and ailments including atherosclerosis, some types of cancer (particularly breast, prostate, and colon), autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, asthma, digestive disorders, calcite kidney stones, etc. There are no essential nutrients that are not available in plant foods. In short, a vegan diet is not only adequate for all human nutritional needs but is ideal. This has been recognised by the World Health Organisation.
I must mention too that just because someone is eating an animal-based diet, it doesn’t mean that they’re meeting their nutritional needs anyway. Often when people are arguing that vegan isn’t affordable or doable (for geographic or whatever reasons), they try and force vegans to come up with how to reach every single nutritional need whist on a budget/in a food desert. What isn’t mentioned is that these very people may be surviving on packet pastas, heavily subsidised fast foods and cheese which isn’t meeting their needs anyway. A loaf of white bread and a jar of peanut butter is vegan and cheaper than the diets of many underpriviieged people. Let alone beans, potatoes, cheap produce or whatever else they have available to them.
It goes without saying that one would buy the medication that they need and not the expensive soy cheese that brings nothing to their nutritional needs and is often just a luxury. Decisions like this are made when one is eating meat too. Does one buy a block of dairy cheese or their medication? Does one buy a block of butter to use on their sandwiches, or forego it to be able to afford bus fare. The same budgeting is often required when eating vegan. Furthermore, most chronic diseases experienced by those eating a standard Western diet are diet-related (diabetes, heart disease, some types of cancer) which have been demonstrated by Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr Colin Campbell, Dr Pam Popper, Dr John McDougall, Dr Neal Barnard and Dr Doug Graham (among others) to be managed and even reversed by a low fat, vegan (or near vegan) whole foods diet. For those to who books are luxury, vast amounts of information are available on each of these clinicians’ websites, via the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine website (http://www.pcrm.org/), and lectures available on YouTube.
In the end, for me, it’s a matter of not eating animals because we don’t need to and I don’t want to contribute to another sentient being’s pain and suffering. FOR ME, I would do this regardless of whatever issues I faced because it is so important to me. I understand that other people have different value systems and ethics but to argue that vegans are the problems in society when in general they’re trying to reduce harm, pain and death whilst giving a big fuck you to industries that thrive and profit on these very things WHILST encouraging an unsustainable system … well.
