Foodie Insight #02: Why I’m Vegetarian

As the joke goes: “How do you know if someone is vegan? Oh don’t worry, they’ll tell you”. A lot of people, including myself, are put off by these militant activists, encamped on their moral high ground looking disdainfully down at the rest of us.

In this article, I have instead tried to take a more moderate standpoint, stressing the practical benefits of vegetarianism as opposed to the highly charged moral arguments. Although such arguments did play an important role in my decision to become vegetarian, I am more interested here in demystifying vegetarianism for you, simply putting my reasoning out there in order to fuel greater discussion and so that you can reflect on your own culinary decisions.

I haven’t always been vegetarian, mind you. In fact, it was only when I came to Imperial and started having to cook for myself that I made the switch. It had been on my mind for a while but this greater control of my diet was the trigger to change. And it was not a decision I made lightly; I still love meat! However, when I got used to being vegetarian, these cravings for meat slowly disappeared and now barely register.

So, here are the reasons why I am vegetarian:

It’s super healthy and you can still get plenty of protein

So long as you are getting all of your vital vitamins and are eating a balanced diet, being vegetarian is objectively better for you, reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers.

‘But vegetarian food is so unappetising!’ If you feel a meal must be based around a piece of meat, you’d understandably be disappointed by vegetarian offerings; a rather insipid Portobello mushroom is never going to match up to a lovely fillet steak! But this needn’t be the case and if you look at cuisines where vegetarianism is better established, such as with Indian food, you will find a sensational diversity of flavours and textures, ensuring that you will never get bored.

‘What about your protein?’ This is a common misnomer, with some of the most energy dense foods being vegetarian, such as soy and eggs. Also, some of the protein-rich meat substitutes, such as Quorn, I find to taste a lot better than the real thing, especially the mince.

So vegetarian food is not all doom and gloom, there is actually a universe of food out there ready and waiting to be explored.

It is easier to prepare and cook

Whereas with meat, you are constantly worrying whether you have properly cleaned your chopping board or thoroughly cooked the meat, it doesn’t really matter with vegetables. It’s perfect if you’re quite a lazy cook and just want something to fill you up as it doesn’t matter if you over or undercook it, just throw it in a wok for a couple of minutes and you’ve got a delicious meal.

It’s cheap, perfect for students

Unless you’re buying some Lidl assorted meats, going vegetarian is a lot cheaper. This is very noticeable over the course of the year and as long as you’re buying in season and not going for organic, you will have plenty of money left over for going out to fancy restaurants, it’s great!

By not allowing yourself to eat meat, you develop real mental strength

This is a great way to test your resolve and develop a skill that is transferrable to all aspects of your life: mind over matter. If every time you are about to buy meat, you stop yourself, you will soon no longer need meat to be able to function. Just like any addiction, it requires strength of character to overcome.

Now onto some of the more serious reasons, which, for me, form the real backbone of my switch to vegetarianism.

On the grounds of sustainability

Here, I look at the impact meat consumption has on the environment. First of all, massive deforestation is taking place across the world to create space for cattle farms, decimating these incredibly biodiverse environments as a result. This is having an important and lasting effect on the world’s ecosystems and by removing demand for these ranches, you could directly lead to more forests being saved.

Next, in terms of energy conservation between trophic levels (remember all that stuff from GCSE biology?), it is always going to be more efficient to eat organisms that use solar energy to grow as opposed to the chemical energy of other organisms. If you scale that up, you have a much more cost-effective way of feeding the world. I know that there is a lot of land unsuitable for arable farming where livestock are the only way to create sustenance, but we would not need to exploit this land if we made better use of areas that could be farmed.

“But what effect could I have as an individual?” It is about the principle of acting ethically and dedicating yourself to an important cause. If we took this mentality, we would never be able to achieve anything!

The morality of animal husbandry

This is a hotly contested topic, with both the vegetarians and carnivores being deeply passionate about it. For me, it does form the basis of my choice to become vegetarian but I do hope I have offered up enough reasons to make the switch so that, even if you don’t agree with me here, you would still consider it.

I personally feel it is immoral to rear animals for the sole purpose of killing them, where they have no control over their own destiny. Just as you wouldn’t want someone else’s will imposed on you, I don’t think it is right for us to do the same to animals. Does it not seem twisted that the only reason for their existence is to feed us, even though we are quite capable of surviving without them?

“But we are made to eat meat, what do we have canine teeth for otherwise?” The evolutionary argument that, because we are the dominant species, we have the right to do this, may be true but is not right and should not have any bearing on how we behave. It’s a naturalistic fallacy. Moreover, evolution is adaptive, not prescriptive and so you can’t say we ought to act a certain way because of evolution. Who knows, maybe in thousands of years, canine teeth will be a thing of the past, replaced by another set of molars to help grind down our delicious diet of greens; oh how a man can dream!

I feel issues of animal welfare, both in their rearing and slaughtering, are less contestable. Especially as a student where money is on your mind, I’m sure this affects most of the meat you consume. But in the end, is there such a thing as humane slaughter? I feel any arguments to say there is, are just pseudoscientific attempts to ease one’s moral burden. Can you really know which way of killing eases suffering the most? It’s utterly unverifiable!

In fact, our whole meat industry is designed around trying to remove you from the reality of this side of meat production. We’ve all seen the videos of battery-farmed chickens; yet, when we go to the supermarkets and buy our beautifully packaged chicken breasts, it is the last thing on our minds. I’m sure fewer people would want to eat meat if the packs came with cigarette-style warnings.

But I’m still fallible!

Now, I am not perfect; becoming vegetarian is a gradual process. Especially when I go abroad and there is no concept of vegetarianism, it is particularly hard. How am I meant to experience Singapore if I never try their fish head curry? It is so fundamental to their culture that I would be missing out if I didn’t!

The problem with all of this is that there is always going to be some hypocrisy unless you’re a fully-fledged vegan. However, it is only in small pockets of the world, like London, that such a lifestyle would even be possible because if it isn’t meat, then it’s always going to be eggs or dairy. Practically speaking, it’s a very hard lifestyle to endure unlike, in my opinion, vegetarianism.

I hope some of you will consider becoming vegetarian after this article, or at least try to cut down on your meat consumption and see how it goes. Or if you completely disagree with me, I would love to hear why. Come at me!