Okay … so … this site is intended for raw vegans. Therefore, any recipe containing raw fish, raw dairy, or raw eggs is not welcome because it is not vegan. Makes sense, right?
Except!
Many, many of the recipes on this site contain honey as an ingredient! Honey, according to my research, is not vegan. It is an animal product/byproduct. And yet, it seems to have gained acceptance on this site.
My point? Well, MUST we be so purist? Are we likely to bring others into the healthy flock with such a high degree of exactitude? Or are we more likely to turn away those who don’t like strict rules and regulations?
I’d like to be upfront with the following facts:
(a) I have no intention/desire to go 100% raw. (b) I am not 100% vegan; I will wear wool and use lip balm w/ beeswax. (c) I consider gratitude towards family and friends, as well as the (American) abundance of food, to be more important than a 100% adherence to any diet. (d) I love sashimi more than life itself.
So, somewhat needless to say, these things are all influencing my opinions! But it seems to me that we should act with flexibility and understanding …
Your thoughts?
Comments
Some people consider themselves not vegan anymore if they sleep with a wool blanket or use beewax lip balm. I am not that extreme.
Hello All,
Thanks for your replies! Hooray for open and honest dialogue!
Let’s see …
I’m familiar with The China Study, but not with The World Peace Diet, so I’ll check that out. Thanks!
Certainly, a general shift in human consumption towards a 100% raw diet would be best for planetary and personal health. It is, however, questionable to label any particular diet as The Healthiest. Human bodies (and their nutritional needs) do vary. Moreover, our understanding of nutrition is still evolving, i.e., incomplete and debatable! Insofar as the planet is concerned, many would argue that freeganism is the most environmentally responsible diet/lifestyle.
I didn’t mean to suggest that the overall tone of the site is one of condemnation. In fact, I would describe it as supportive and friendly. But, reading back through the posts, I’ve seen several instances in which folks were mighty quick to jump to a negative judgment, often with little to no basis in any sort of fact.
Regarding site content, I felt that if exceptions are made for honey, then perhaps they could be made for other raw, nonvegan ingredients as well. I was under the impression that most vegans did consider insects to be animals; I may very well have been mistaken. (It makes me want to re-read the chapter on insects in 12 Steps to Raw Foods!)
It is so, so easy to get caught up in elitism, even within sub-cultures! I often catch myself falling into judgmental thought patterns within disability community and culture. All we can do is to keep questioning and learning!
Again, many thanks for your replies.
Jenn :)
This is an old topic, though I just bumped into it and wanted to add mine two of pennies into discussion. One, the honey
I have to say everyone here has good points….I agree with pianissina. If you owned something prior to your change, why waste? There is so much waste in this world. I have a few things from before my change to veganism. My plan is to buy all cruelty free products when the old products are worn out. Not to mention some of us are on a budget and need to make these changes when possible. I am not going to tell someone they are not vegan because they have a pair of shoes or a blanket.
The truth is we live in the world of cruelty and it is personal responsibility to know the source and make assessments what is important. To me honey is not a sweetener it is healing and most nutritional part of diet. I will be most attentive to the fact what the source is. Thank you for detailed description
Sorry, but reading about hunting lobsters and killing them to eat just creeps me out. I never liked cooked lobster because the thought of boiling them alive always seemed wrong to me. It just seems serial killerish to stalk and kill animals for food. Obviously very vegan here.
As for synthetic vegan replacements for clothes made of animal products, i’m all for it. Synthetics are natural, i believe. Oil is a vegan product, making plastic a vegan product, i think. The fact that oil is unsustainable? Anything becomes unsustainable when you use it too much and it is made too slowly, i think. I bet there are ways to grow oil faster. We can have oil farms. :) I’m all for scientific research into vegan products. I don’t agree with scientific experimentation on animals. I wanted to be a plastic surgeon up until 6th grade when they made us dissect animals and insects in biology and i hated it so much that i decided that i’d rather not be a plastic surgeon if it involved killing life so i could study their body. This was before i even went vegetarian. Maybe if they found more ways to research plastic surgery in a vegan way, i would have done it. Even dissecting dead humans seems better than euthanizing animals for research, i think.
I agree with Ron’s take on pets. I’d like to take it a step further in that I think keeping a pet is like slavery.
I also agree with another post of Ron’s. I wish the forum had a quote function. :) I believe I should do my best and leave the rest up to God. I try my absolute best with what i can control. But, there’s stuff in life i can’t control. I try to to be vegan and not use animal products. At this point, i’d rather be a cooked vegan than a raw animal eater. Sometimes I use animal products without knowing it, or i feel i have little option- as in Ron’s example of bath soap.
Bees are “insects” but they are still life with awareness, I think. Same for fish, i think. Plus, beekeepers can be unwittingly cruel, even nice ones, i think.
LovesPeter- I see her as very logical, i think. I don’t see it as offensive, although it may be more direct and therefore unnerving to people. But, I think she is defining the term vegan more clearly.
As for her being 100% vegan, I think she is probably as vegan as you can get in this society. So, i think I sort of “round up” and consider her 100% vegan. I consider myself vegan more than raw, although i came into raw before vegetarian or vegan.
Like cooked food, the way they process oil probably makes it polluting. I don’t think there is anything wrong with oil, although it is in very short supply. Anything can be made toxic if used in the wrong way.