To meat or not to meat? Debating vegan eating

Eat Less Meat

Each Monday, two members of Georgetown Law’s SALDF group plant themselves behind a table bearing trays of cruelty-free baked goods, savory snacks, and sweet treats, loyally restraining themselves in the face of excruciating temptation to eat all 50 to 100 samples that will almost inevitably be devoured by curious law students by the end of the two- hour shift. This practice has been going on almost every Monday that classes have been in session over the last two and a half years.

The concept is simple. Eat less meat. Eating less meat promises to improve your health, your lifespan, and your impact on the environment. Not to mention the treatment of ani- mals suffering on factory farms. But Meatless Monday is not so much about restricting one’s diet as it is about expanding it. “Here try this,” a tabler offers as a student passes by. Meatless Monday is about introducing students, faculty, and staff members to new foods, new delicious ways of eating that they may not have considered before.

The problem isn’t that people don’t care about animals, their health, or the environment. They do care, they just are not aware of how delicious and easy it is to cut animal products out of their diet just once a week. They don’t understand that what they are going to replace it with is filling, deca- dent, easy to make, inexpensive, and completely delicious. “That is our job at Meatless Monday ,” says Dana Russo, 3L, a regular tabler, “to show off how awesome eating veg can be.”

People are very receptive. Most people stop by to take a sample and we have many regulars―vegans, vege- tarians, and omnivores alike. We receive amazing feedback; some people who have been frequenting the table since it began have returned this year to let us know that they enjoyed Meatless Monday so much that they are now eating vegan everyday.

That is beyond our expectations. As a lifelong animal advocate, I used to do a lot of regular vegan outreach. I found that people are almost unanimously opposed to the methods of farming animals today, and that most people agree that consumers should refrain from paying someone else to do something that they consider immoral. But it is hard. It is hard for people to change their diet so radically, to cut with tradition, their identity, and the tastes to which they are accus- tomed, and many want to do it overnight, because the practices are so bad. It becomes overwhelming. I know it was for me.

Meatless Mondays make it easy. Meatless Mondays are about learning more about the effects of diet on your health, your planet, and on other sen- tient beings, and taking a role in reducing those negative effects by experimenting with fun and delicious vegetarian foods one day a week. You don’t have to commit to calling your- self a vegan, or change your political affiliation to hippy-liberal-treehugger, to make yourself, and the world, a happier place.

Melissa Meyers, 3L, is a representative of Georgetown Law’s SALDF group 

A Meatlover’s Perspective 

Animals are adorable, factory farms are terrible, but meat is delicious. The end.

Since the beginning of human existence, our ancestors have ingested animal flesh for sustenance. Some anthropologists argue that meat-eat- ing actually played a factor in englart- ging human brain sizes. If this research adds up, this means that you can blame the difficulty of Georgetown Law grade curves on our meat-eating past.

I love learning about the effects of diet on my health, my planet, and other sentient beings. Thanks, Meatless Mondays. I also love vegan food, except when it pretends to be real food. The interesting thing about other sentient beings on this planet is that most of them enjoy eating meat, regardless of its source.

You know what’s bad for the planet? Fossil fuels. Carbon emissions. Twilight. Eating meat is only one thing that affects our environment.

Here are some other things that affect our environment: genetic modi- cation of grain crops, unfair treatment of farm workers, costs for shipping out-of-sesason produce from foreign countries with bad trade practices….

Health is a personal choice, but it can also be a privilege. While mem- bers of SADF fight be able to enjoy somewhat palatable vegan products purchased at their local Whole Foods, underpriveleged families do not have that option. Beans and rice are cheap, but when food is one of the few pleasures you can afford, who’s going to begrudge a poor family a Thanksgiving turkey?

Furthermore, is vegan food healthy? It can be, definitely. Whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and the like are healthy and good for you. However, eating a diet solely of pasta and pizza is not healthy for any- one. Animal protein can be very healthy , especially given the occurence of protein deficiency in American children today. There are many nutrients that are impossible―or very difficult―to find when eating a meatless diet. While some may have the funds to purchase necessary supplements, most people in the world do not.

Vegan food is also often highly processed. Look at any aisle of fake meats in any chi chi supermarket. Then look at the list of ingredients on each box. You can make a game out of seeing how many ingredients you actually recognize. Have you heard of Quorn? It’s grown in a vat. It’s literal- ly grown in a vat, and meatless people eat it.

You know what’s not grown in a vat? Actual meat.

Finally, one of SADF’s main points of advocacy concerns the deplorable conditions of factory farm- ing. However, if you worry about ani- mals but still love meat, there is a solu- tion. Eat meat sparingly, and spring for the good stuff. Look for grass-fed, sustainable, organic, hormon-free, cage-free meat. It sounds like a Portlandia trope, but conscious meat eaters do exist.

On behalf of all conscious meat eaters, I’d like to thank SADF for bringing attention to this pertinent issue. And for providing vegan snacks. I’m always a fan of free snacks, whether it’s vegan or actual food.

Our Guest Writer is clearly is an avid hunter and gatherer.