#I'm mostly vegetarian but will eat fish to be polite

[culmaer]

there's another interesting distinction that could've been made here. French has separate words for 2 types of vegan :

végan·e describes a total vegan lifestyle. so not eating any animal products, and also not using any animal products, eg. no leather shoes or wool sweaters or beeswax candles

while végétalien·ne describes the vegan diet. not to be confused with végétarien·ne which is vegetarian as in no meat, but eggs and/or dairy could be oké

[ittucc-aidwwab]

#01. On Eating [Comments Personified]

For context, I joined a climate change discussion Facebook page (where I see mostly Americans commenting/sharing). I shared an NYT article with no comments onto the page. Food being a very cultural/personal thing will of course generate some interesting discussion.

The Article,

...was an interactive NYT article on “How to shop, cook and eat in a warming world” published on the 30th of April.

Moskin, Julia, Brad Plumer, Rebecca Lieberman and Eden Weingart. 2019. “Your Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered.”. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/30/dining/climate-change-food-eating-habits.html?smid=tw-share.

Facebook comments are...

Great. Just great.

These are two of the comments I received:

About the article

Look, it asks questions that make sense, and has some answers. Plus it's interactive.

Quiz in the section "What kinds of seafood should I eat?"

Quiz in the section "Is food waste a big part of the climate change problem?"

Comment 1

"Eat when you're hungry. The climate will change. That's all you need to know."

Comment 2

"why would anyone give up eating the food they like to make the world into a colder, less pleasant place where politicians have absolute power and there is less vegetation"

My Opinion on the comments

[Note: I am not the most informed. I’m open to being wrong on the internet. Isn’t that the fastest way to get a right answer?]

Reading this, I doubt the first commenter even read the article. 🙄 Honestly. Nobody said: “stop eating”. As a hypocrite, the things that i cook for myself are not exactly great on the environment, but there are alternatives. Meat-free Mondays are a thing. Go complain about vegans elsewhere.

The point of the article is that the carbon footprint of some foods are bigger than others, and there are ways to reduce our individual footprints. Like red meat? Eat less of it. Like fish? Eat sustainably sourced.

Our Changing Climate did a great video essay on “Here's why we need to rethink veganism”. Yes, being in a meat-eating country is a sign of prosperity. Yes, I’m living the good life. I drink ‘fake’ milk (from soy/nuts), but I’m no vegetarian. The definition, the identity is too specific in a western world.

I miss being in Malaysia where people can choose not to eat certain meats (for mostly religious purposes) and people will respect that. No one will hound you for being “holier than thou” for not eating meat. Of course that being said... my family always told me:

“If you can’t finish it, eat the meat”.

I can agree with the second up until the politicians part. What does that have to do with diet? Is there a trope that politicians eat only gastronomical wonders like shark-fin soup?

NYT's Comment section

JFR Since I have accepted that the climate is slowing changing for the worse, I'm now reading this article about the food I love and what I'm eating is bad for the climate and I'm guilty of ending the world due to my love of eating. Is this article for real? They must be kidding, right? They can eat all the grass they want, I'm not. The self flagellation of these people are beyond belief...

  John Going vegan or vegetarian is the only method of personal, individual climate impact that requires no actual lifestyle change (other than accepting new foods as part of one's diet). No one has to move, switch jobs, stop driving, change schools, stop flying to meetings, shop obscure stores, etc. Every supermarket in America has non-meat and non-dairy foods in abundance. Getting hung up on rejecting the notion of this personalized change since it seems like a morality crusade is a poor excuse to not bother making said change. This is the one method every person who wonders "What Can I do?" can actually can start today, right now, and continue for the rest of one’s life without any other lifestyle alterations required.

There are a few others who endorse a more extreme stance: not eating meat entirely.

Where it breaks down...

See the “CLIMATE-FRIENDLY RECIPES” section? The article’s recipes work don’t take into account food-mileage. “Green Shakshuka With Avocado and Lime” wow, avocado dishes just doesn’t work here, does it look like I, a student, am made of money? Every supermarket ad in Perth already do a “Buy Fresh, Eat West” campaign, the only thing is that there is an encouragement to meat eating through agricultural subsidies.

I understand the two commenters’ discontent in the article: food is comforting, how can an article ask us to give up what we personally like?

HOw cAn a 2d weBsItE TELl Us How To liVe?