I suck at being a Vegan

Labels: Vegan

After that title, you might be expecting me to expound upon the deliciousness of a freshly roasted corpse with extra au jus. But, no, not so much, no.

Na, what I mean by this is two-fold; 1) I'm not a "vegan-freak" and 2) I don't mind the by-products so much.

First, I will compromise and eat dairy and egg products when they're prepared for me. For instance, I wouldn't dream of turning down an offering from a friend. If the muffin or cookies were made with dairy products and used egg as a binding agent, that's fine by me. The benefit of allowing a gift to be given far exceeds any cost to me or the animal. Also, when I go out to eat, I find that a truly vegan meal is impossible to order except at specialty restaurants. So, if there's some cream in the pasta sauce or egg used in the tempura batter (does tempura batter have egg?), that's also fine. I wouldn't say that I'm a "convenience" vegan -- I don't simply compromise for the sake of simplicity -- I'm just an exceptionally good vegetarian who knows the practical limits of such idealism. But in my own home, of course, I only cook vegan (and you guys should really come to see me next year in Madison. Since there's very few alternatives, I've become quite practiced at cooking some amazing meals).

And about the by-products; there seems to be something akin to double-effect going on here. I abhor to the means and even the baseline idea of the meat industry, but I also respect the way Native American's used the buffalo. If the animal does die (note, I did not say if an animal "has to" die, as no animal has to die for 1st world dietary needs), every possible good should be utilized from that death. I won't support the industry, but while the industry is still steaming ahead, I see no reason not to utilize the waste products of the machine. Less waste is better, all-in-all. And what about those by-products of which I'm the cause? Click the title of this post for a good defense out of that one.

Namaste'.