What’s the Beef?

Ah yes, the great Vegan/Carnivore debate. There’s no better way to turn a civilised conversation into a Saw-like slaughterfest. So of course, I’ll have to jump into that debate as well, there’s no better way to generate clicks after all ;) Seriously, this is something that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time, and since I’ve finally managed to beat that latest bout of writer’s block, I might as well get around to it now. Hell, if my blog is to commit suicide, it might as well go with a bang instad of a wimper! Now just to make things clear, I’m not going to get into the ethical aspects of this debate, as I find them to be partially misleading and surprisingly anthropocentric. Likewise, the logistics and environmental impact are only going to be touched on in passing, as both are of partial, but limited relevance to the topic at hand. 

My focus is rather on the way the discussion is being led by both sides. For one, I’ve noticed over the last few months that there appears to be no middle ground in this debate. Your opinion doesn’t seem to count unless you either eat an entire cow every day, or stay away from any bit of food that was ever touched by an animal’s shadow. Vegetarians, or occasional meat eaters don’t figure at all, or are flat out discounted or vilified. It seems the only thing that vegans and carnivores can agree on is that those who are looking for compromise, or even a sane debate are somehow even worse than the respective opposition. Middle ground seems to have somehow become a dirty word when I wasn’t looking.

Inevitably, this extreme positioning brings with it a seemingly never-ending linguistic escalation, with both sides becoming ever shriller in their language. Coming from one side, this is somewhat understandable, as vegans have been at the receiving end of jokes and ridicule for basically as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, many members of the vegan community are also deeply convinced of their own moral and ethical superiority, a superiority that they will not hesitate to let anyone know, whether the audience wants to know or not. There’s a reason the old joke “How do you know someone’s a vegan? – Don’t worry, they’ll tell you” has embedded itself into western culture. This increasing radicalisation leaves the more moderate vegan population caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

The other side of the debate is no better. Be it beef farmers, or just your average dude on the street, they all seem to be having a right cow when the term vegan is even mentioned, and no, I won’t apologise for that joke! I can partially understand the beef farmers, as their livelihood is at risk if meat consumption starts to decline, though that doesn’t excuse some of the language they use, or the actions they’ve taken, particularly those under the guise of the “Beef Plan Movement”. Some other voices are just odd though. It seems a lot of people, mostly white males from the looks of it, seem to see their masculinity under attack from those advocating for a meatless diet. Seriously? I never really had much use for the term “fragile masculinity”, but some guys out there seem to be seriously pissy bitches for supposedly being so “strong”. It would almost be funny, if it wasn’t so pathetic. 

Unfortunately, wherever male egos are supposedly threatened, far less savoury characters are usually not far behind, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone with even a modicum of intelligence that right-wing extremists, neofascists and white supremacists have latched onto this movement and are laying into vegetarian or vegan advocates with gusto. They’re framing it as yet another leftist, Soros backed antifa plot against the superiority of white western civilisation. I wish I was making that last part up.

Personally, I find the whole debate hysterical and pathetic, particularly from the “carnivorous” side of the spectrum. Railing against vegetarianism because “Hitler was a Vegetarian”, throwing around the term Vegan as an insult, as was so “eloquently” demonstrated by the Beef Plan Movement in Cork late last year, and flat out threatening anyone with violence who doesn’t eat meat at least seven times a week is simply insane and childish.

You thought I’d used a (beef) stock image for the title image? Well, you were misled ;) I’m not averse to a nice steak myself, but some of the hysteria surrounding it is just insane!

Now don’t get me wrong, I like a good steak as much as the next guy, but there’s no denying that meat consumption has a significant detrimental impact on the environment, and by extension our own viability as a civilisation. Just a few days ago, an article in the scientific journal Nature outlined a recent study by Bryan D Richter, Dominique Bartak et al outlined that almost 32% of the riverine water taken in the western US was being utilised simply to grow plants for cattle feed, in a region that is already suffering from significant water scarcity. Bear in mind that the above study only looked at cattle feed and disregarded any other livestock, so the actual figure is likely going to be significantly higher.Then, there’s the issue of CO2 and particularly methane emissions caused by livestock farming, particularly cattle. Methane in particular is the killer here, as it is a much more effective greenhouse has than CO2. Additionally, cattle pastures are a criminally inefficient waste of space. In Ireland in particular, it would be much more beneficial to use significant tracts of cattle pastures as reforestation areas, a measure that would significantly reduce any future flooding incidents such as the ones Ireland is currently experiencing.

That being said, going fully vegetarian, let alone vegan, isn’t really that environmentally friendly either. Most of the fruit and vegetables in the western world are imported, you just need to stroll through a supermarket to see that. This is particularly true for “fashion foods” like avocados, quinoa and similar stuff, which is often shipped across half the planet either by air cargo, or in chilled containers on cargo ships, neither of which is particularly good for the environment. And don’t get me started on soy, the supposed miracle solution for veganism. Most soy is grown half a world away, since Ireland in particular isn’t suitable for growing that stuff. Some of the largest soybean producers are countries like Brazil, where the ever increasing soybean plantations are exacerbating an already bad deforestation problem.

So neither side is coming across particularly well in this debate. However, completely eliminating one in favour of the other is no solution either. A reduction in meat intake, particularly red meat, is a standing recommendation by all major medical professionals, and studies have shown that vegetable rich diets, such as the mediterranean and southeast asian diets are having a very noticeable positive impact on the general health and wellbeing. On the flip side, veganism alone is not an answer to these issues, as it requires a very well thought out diet to avoid malnutrition and the associated health risks. 

In my eyes, the only answer here is to focus on seasonal and locally available vegetables, supplemented by smaller and less frequent servings of equally locally grown, quality meat and animal products. In the long run, the simplification of supply chains and an increased focus on locally produced products, flanked with high capacity aquaculture and hydroponic farms will likely be the only real answer to this predicament. As for us consumers, a reduction in meat and animal based products should definitely be a main goal, and I personally have started to reduce my meat intake. However, care should be taken when listening to the extremes on both sides of the arguments, as these voices will likely do more harm than good.