The biggest challenge of veganism: is there animal in this?
Global food culture has undeniable roots in animal and human coexistence and codependence. Lots of the really important and the really banal dishes we regularly go to include not only lactose but things like fat and enzymes and emulsifiers derived from animals. Most of these chemical elements can be found in plants and fungi too, but we humans are far less experienced foragers than we are herders and slaughterers. One notable exception is the happy accident of alcohol production - thanks to yeast, folks around the world have been able to drink and be merry for thousands of years.
Example: cheese.
Lactose is an obvious animal product - goats, cows, sheep, buffalo, yak all produce milk and subsequently cheese, but what about the process itself? I found out from a coworker that rennet makes cheese unfit for even lactose-tolerant veg-heads! Rennet, aka chymosin, is a crucial protein that cleaves casein (another milk protein) micelles which helps transform milk from a diffusing mix of water and protein into a thick, coagulated mass that separates to become cheese. Rennet typically comes from one of two processes involving calf stomachs, a byproduct of the veal industry. Byproduct, or industry in and of itself? I wonder..
There are several rennet alternatives, including microbial and fungal production of chymosin and a biotech way of programming microbes with animal rennet genes. Any of these seem acceptable to me from an ethical standpoint - microbes are so plentiful that we may breed them and slaughter them at will with negligible [observable] effect on the food chain (hence their excellent use in microbiology - thumbs up!). But the real problem has been identifying the source; most cheeses don't tell you how they're made! I'm thinking life might be easier to stick with products marketed to vegans, which sadly limits me to soy cheeses. If you haven't seen a piece of sheese or cheeze, it usually has a certain aesthetic oddness about it.. and don't think of trying to melt it.
There are other foods that challenge me, like chocolate, butter, and baked goods in general. Eating out is also a simple thing that becomes very tough since I'm not really all that keen on salads. Restaurants, unless they cater to veg eating, aren't generally very understanding, though some servers can be sympathetic. And I don't think many of my friends and relatives understand why I'd want to do this to myself, either -- I think it seems extreme to them. I answer that particular charge with a quote:
I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol-lowering drugs for the rest of their lives.
-Dean Ornish, MD
But how "natural" is all of this and how can such a diet be "beneficial" for one's nutritional needs? Couldn't you argue that choosing such a contrived diet is to artificially remove myself from the food chain, the very chain that evolved to spawn humans? And wouldn't that be unnatural and dangerous to my health and the survival of my descendants?
Let's think about it. Currently, an interlinked and dynamical "food web" is favored over a linear "chain" in discussion of living producers and consumers. I become a primary or secondary consumer if I choose plants only, and I therefore have a greater supply of food available to me because I am not dependent on animal meat which requires lots and lots of plants. I am no longer one of the few "on top" and have more built-in resilience during times of animal disease or supply shortage. Now I'm feeling pretty superior, pretty on top of my game.
You can also break down conceptions of nutritional need to consider the forces behind them - why do we think milk is good for you? Separate it from the media advertisements adorned with celebs and you might begin to suspect.. it's a myth, propagated by man! Still, go even further out, place yourself out in the countryside away from even telephone lines and cellphone coverage. The idea of gulping down what came out of some cow's teat, intended to nourish its young, is more than a little heinous. So then where to get enough calcium? I'm going to need a source, especially once I am past menopause and osteoporosis becomes a real threat to my health. And what about protein? I like a good tennis match and biking around when it's nice out, so my muscles need some fuel too.
Plant sources. Yep. Some kind of alchemy, right? Nope. Plants provide all of this and more -- minus the added fat and cholesterol. And they provide necessary doses of trace minerals that allow humans to have a full complement of amino acids. Freaking sweet, I'm converted. More information on this is available elsewhere. After reading a little, I must know more.
- Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's "The Protein Myth"
- SoyStache's Protein Nutrition Chart w/info from the USDA nutrition database
- And of course, SoyStache's Calcium Nutrition Chart
The biggest nutritional issue would seem to be where to get vitamin B-12. Fortified cereals and milk alternatives and the ubiquitous and infamous nutritional yeast seem to be the best sources of this vitamin, but I'll keep an eye out for some others. I'm not the best at remembering to incorporate a B12 source into my daily intake, but I can learn to choose wisely at the grocery store. And a little sprinkle of the nooch on my breakfast granola never hurt.
Also check out some vegan food blogs:
- FatFree Vegan Kitchen
- Vegan YumYum
- Ethnic Vegan
To move back into reasons and motivations, the most interesting aspect for me of choosing veganism is the exercise of learning something, making a choice to change because of it, and self-modifying behavior. It's analogous to an arbitrary social experiment, but with actions that have powerful ecological benefits to back them. I'm willing to stretch myself, and I find myself doing it more and more -- and I don't plan to stop until I find my boundaries. Then I might turn on my inner overachiever and step right over them. Two jobs is a stretch on time. The Peace Corps service stretches cultural practices, communication, standard of living, and more. Being green, for me, stretches the way I think about and use "things" and my surroundings. Family therapy challenges my way of life since, well, forever. Sometimes trying new things is tough, but it's all necessary because I want more than anything to grow and change. In college, I got some book smarts and some teamwork practice, but was it really a stretch? In terms of sleep, yes -- but that's about it.
My conclusion? I feel better than ever on an animal-free diet. My digestion system is happier with me and I avoided catching what was going around at BOTH of my workplaces without an army of sprays and wipes and hand-washing. Coincidence? I don't know, but I won't complain..
I can't say whether or not I intend to make strict veganism a permanent habit - banishing all cookies and pizza from my presence, but I can still be my foodie self -- and now there's a whole new realm for me to explore.
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