Could you give up eating meat? What about milk, eggs, cheese, butter and everything else that comes from animals?
It sounds impossible, but going vegan has important implications for the environment, your health and your budget.
Most Americans are far removed from the sources of our animal products. Unless you hunt your own food, it is unlikely that you’ve seen where the animal products you eat came from. For those of us with weak stomachs — and loud consciences — that is a good thing.
According to the ASPCA, more than 99 percent of America’s farm animals are raised on factory farms. Factory farmers focus on mass producing animals and usually care more about efficiency and profit than the well-being of the animals they raise. This leads to horrific situations in which animals are caged in pens so small they cannot turn around. In other cases, animals are slaughtered, boiled or skinned while still conscious.
Factory farms are terrible for people and for the environment. Livestock and poultry consume approximately 80 percent of the nation’s antibiotics, contributing to the problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria and making human illnesses more difficult to treat. The Natural Resources Defense Council states that a single livestock farm can produce as much waste as a small city.
A diet free of animal products may seem unthinkable, but the American diet is highly unusual on a global scale. In fact, according to The Economist, the United States is the world’s second-largest meat consumer. Americans eat more meat than Italians, Argentines, and Canadians combined.
A major concern for those considering a vegan diet is nutrition, and it is true that animal products offer us some of what we need to survive in a convenient package. But a quick glance at the food pyramid reveals the majority of our nutrition comes from other sources, and there are plenty of options to replace what we get from animals.
Although it does take planning, you can get your nutrition from foods like beans, quinoa, hummus, nuts, fruits and vegetables, as well as a multivitamin and B12 supplement. You can even do it for less money than a diet that includes animal products. As the price of beef and pork continues to rise, the value of a vegan diet keeps growing.
Of course, even more important than value is taste, and today’s vegans have more options than ever when it comes to cooking something you actually want to eat.
Websites like Manifest Vegan and Vegan Yum Yum offer recipes for devil’s food cake, pumpkin pecan cheesecake, eggplant lasagna and hundreds of other vegan and gluten-free dishes. And I bet you didn’t know that you can deep-fry tofu.
If full-on veganism is too radical for you, replacing even a few meals per week with vegan alternatives is great for you, the environment and your wallet.
Alex Mendoza is a 22-year-old political science and international studies senior from Baton Rouge. You can reach him on Twitter @alexmendoza_TDR.