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Vegans should start eating bugs (but not honey or beeswax)

By definition, animal byproducts would include insects. However, I will make the case that this is an unnecessary and militant stance.

As a food source, insects can be farmed with incredibly sustainable processes.

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/edible-insects-as-sustainable-food-alternatives-4153360

It is not a stretch to believe they would be produced with similar processes to make carmine and food dye. My argument appeals best to vegans dedicated to sustainability, but I like to think I am persuasive enough to convince those most concerned with ethics too.

I will never feel much sympathy for bugs. Maybe it’s because they don’t really have faces or emote they way mammals can. I am not on a slippery slope to argue for most egg, honey and fish consumption, as the same exception that I think most bug products are.

It would always be best for synthetic, non-animal derived ingredients to take the place of carmine and other dyes made from bugs. However, I feel ridiculous telling people that bugs are as important as the other classes of animals. Assuming we farm all bugs we use for cosmetic and food use, the necessary niches they fill in their respective ecosystems should not be disrupted. We cannot say the same for other animals since their production process is so environmentally strenuous and the ethics argument against unnecessary pain and misery is strongest there.

Not many people are launching campaigns for bugs that are not bees or an endangered species. We mostly kill bugs that are pests if they disrupt our way of life in our homes or outside. I cannot genuinely believe that this is an offense equivalent to other animal consumption.

If all animal agriculture could be stripped down to a synthetic alternative with as little sentient life as possible, meat and animal products not associated with bugs would have the opportunity to be ethical AND SUSTAINABLE.

The best real life example I have, is the development of the stem cell burger. Veganism will be obsolete and very performative if this becomes the eminent future of meat and there are no serious issues because of this switch.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/10/future-meat-technologies-a-lab-grown-meat-start-up-raises-14-million-dollars.html

Mock meats fails in being universally accessible, but not taste or quality in my opinion. The market for vegan meat alternatives was shown to very profitable in 2019 with the impressive IPO of Beyond Meat in the summer.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/beyond-meat-soars-163-in-biggest-popping-us-ipo-since-2000-2019-05-02

Veganism is a flawed substitute for more impactful forms of activism and advocacy that improve the world, and the ability to participate in it is a result of financial and infrastructural privilege. You actually do not need a kitchen with whole foods and obscure enriched items but the volume of food needed to replace meat is a hard point of access too. You can live off of budgeted food items in a healthy and nutritionally sufficient way.

I have been mostly vegan since August of 2019, while making 14,000 USD as a student supported by my parents. How much of my income I treat as disposable is dependent on how financially responsible I was at the time. I admit my current record of spending was bad for me long term but I have no debt or harm to my credit score as a result. So I feel confident in turning it around with a good budget and savings goals. This being my own situation shows that I am also a part of the privileged vegan category. I invested in having a well stocked vegan food pantry with the lots of different seasonings and processed foods. I have a supply of dried grains and canned foods too. I think I have learned to be resourceful and am capable of lowering my grocery bill by stripping my expensive comforts such as kombucha, soylent, avocados and tv dinner frozen meals.

Moving on to cosmetic use, carmine is even more of a non-factor to me. The beauty space doesn’t have good reason to use animal products the way food related business MIGHT depending on the access to alternatives because non essential cosmetics and toiletries are a luxury. Effective vegan products are made every day and are improved upon all the time. Beauty spaces have no excuse in a lot of the market but if carmine or a similar colorant is the only thing keeping an otherwise vegan and cruelty free product from consumers, it’s a waste.

If bugs are the worst we can do we’re actually doing well.