I often get asked if I’m tempted to “cheat” with regards to veganism. If you’ve ever asked me this question, I apologize. I probably looked at you as if you had asked if I had ever been tempted to eat sawdust. For you see, the whole idea of eating animal products seems absurd to me. It’s simply unthinkable, because I don’t consider meat or dairy food. A whiff of cheese, milk, or lunch meat disgusts me as much as wood particulates would most other folks.
This often makes it difficult for me to empathize with omnivores. I know I’ve got to if I want to be a good activist, but if I’m to be brutally honest, I find it really really hard. I was listening to a few of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s podcasts yesterday, however, and they inspired me to reflect on (and correct) this attitude. Colleen was discussing how omnivores are something like “blocked vegetarians,” that ending one’s consumption of animal products involves removing those mental blocks, and just realizing a truth that was always apparent (namely, the real nature of factory farming). I find it an apt metaphor, and one that evokes in me a greater level of empathy.
It also brought me back to a couple key incidents during my stint as a vegan: when I was “accidentally poisoned,” or given animal food, in other words. It has only happened to me twice (as far as I know), and both times it involved dairy products. The setting of these incidents is trivial, but if you must know, one involved some dining hall pesto and another some cornbread at a friend’s house. I know I say all the time that veganism isn’t about personal purity (because it’s not; it’s about compassion). But it’s still upsetting. At those moments I felt that I had lost something…then something clicked. What could I have possibly lost? Was I treating veganism as a game?
It has become far too easy for me just to go on eating plants, without thought of why I do so. While I may not consider animal foods “edible,” it is a fact that many individuals do. That those animal foods are part of a cruel and unforgiving food system. That the struggle for less meat consumption is not some abstract notion, or a noble quest to be as “clean” as possible. It is a means of speaking by example and by purchasing-power for entities that do not have a voice: animals, workers, communities, the planet.
A few other vegan bloggers I follow have also explored eating animal foods as well as empathy/compassion (Gena, Agnes, Katie, Angela, Sarah). The conclusion is an obvious one, but worth repeating: that it is more important to make veganism fun and simple, than to kick up a fuss over traces of gelatin or cry over, ahem, spilled milk.
You see, the fact that I can consume animal products humanizes my efforts a little, both in the sense that I become more humble as a result and that I become aware of my power as a human animal. And I’m going to continue to seek out this empathy, to seek out understanding. I’m not there yet, but I’m trying. The moment that veganism becomes trivial to me, and I can’t understand why it might be difficult, and I can’t connect it to the perils of the industrialized food system, well, that’s when I’ve failed.
Who's on Third Wave 
kipwinger
September 7, 2010
Very nice post. I too have gone past looking at veganism as “a game” to remain as clean as possible. Slip ups happen…we aren’t going to die, our previous efforts are not in vain and I doubt any animals were subjected to more pain and misery because of our accidents. As long as the effort isn’t intentional…and trivial…I see no reason to beat yourself up. It sounds like your foundation is honest and serious enough to roll with these sorts of situations.
jananib
September 7, 2010
So true! I find I have to keep a tricky sort of balance, though, between outwardly showing respect for my own principles (ie not accidentally wearing leather) and not appearing obsessive (checking ingredient labels a hundred times).
Simon
September 7, 2010
I’m not completely convinced. Sure, no animals are particularly harmed by our occasional slight mistakes, but there may still be good reasons to treat veganism as the sort of game you describe, provided that other people know why. If they recognize that we treat it as a game because we find that being vegan is so utterly trivial that doing so keeps us entertained by it, then other people may recognize that. Generally non-vegans don’t see veganism as something trivial, so things that highlight the effortlessness we find in it are good advertisements.
jananib
September 8, 2010
I don’t agree, however, that all games are trivial. A game to stay as clean as possible seems more akin to a difficult role-playing game than a round of scrabble. Maybe the ultra-competitive aspect would be appealing to some, but to others it seems such an attitude could be a turn off.