If you want to go vegetarian, what's the point of being vegan?

Question

Vegan means that you don't eat any animal products whatsoever, but what's the point? Milking a cow doesn't harm it (especially since cows experience a lot of pain when they aren't milked), you aren't eating baby chickens when you eat eggs... is there something I'm missing?

Answer 1

no its somthing they are missing.

No matter what you have to kill worms and disrupt life in the dirt to plant vegan stuff what about them?

Its another psuedo " we have the answer" thing

face it there is no way to survive with out killing something else this is just the way of things. Just like for someone to be happy some has to be unhappy

Answer 2

The conditions of dairy farms and chicken houses are quite often (though admittedly not often) quite deplorable.

I personally don't particularly care about the animals. The reason that I'm vegan is to avoid the growth hormones and other stuff so often found in dairy and eggs. I have the added bonus of having a cholesterol-free diet. Additionally, I would feel slightly horrible drinking milk when I knew that the food they fed the cows could be put to much better use feeding starving people. As long as there's a worldwide problem with hunger, I can't justify supporting myself except by the most efficient means possible—and that is a vegan diet.

Answer 3

Actually, as Saith_07 pointed out to me, you ARE eating baby chickens but they haven't developed yet. However, it is a personal choice on whether you want to eat ANYTHING that comes from an animal...it's about the concept (as she put it). For example, you take pills, right?? With the gel caps? Well...what do you think makes the gel? Cow blood. What's in gellatin? Cow blood. Just don't picture the slaughterhouse where they get the cow blood from...it's too gross. Think about how the animals are being treated....chickens are hardly ever allowed to move and their muscles atrophy...that is, before they are killed to make those chicken sandwiches at your local restaurant. They're packed like sardines and tricked into believing it's constantly daytime.

No, I'm not a vegan...or a vegetarian...but there are some cruelties to animals that are not persecuted or even examined by most people. It's just something you have to deal with in your own mind...whether you can forgive yourself as you chew that juicy steak and get the picture of the slaughtering process out of your mind long enough to swallow.

Answer 4

Vegans believe that it is still cruel to take products from animals. If you think about it, it is. Cows are doped up on hormones to produce milk. Chickens are kept in tiny cages so that they will lay eggs. They don't really have a great quality of life.

I'm not a vegan, though. I'm only vegetarian- I couldn't handle giving up cheese or other milk products. I would die from malnutrition (I have a pretty fast metabolism). But, I do try to shop where I am assured that the animals are treated as kindly as possible.

Answer 5

Yes, if you think dairy cows don't suffer then please check out www.milksucks.com. Many of these cows are kept in pens that are so small that they cannot even turn around or lay down. They are often left hooked up to the milking machines for hours on end. Their calves are ripped away from them and slaughtered for veal. And then what do you think happens to the dairy cows when they are done with them? They don't simply get put out to pasture to live a life of leisurely retirement. They are slaughtered. Have you ever seen how a cow is slaughtered? Did you know that 1 out of every 20 cows are skinned alive?
And it is not the eating of the egg that we vegans are so against, it is more about the way chickens are raised. The debeaking process, housing 10-20 chickens in pens not much bigger than shoe boxes. Not to mention all of the chemicals and hormones that are put into milk and eggs. They just aren't healthy for you. Have you ever thought about why our children are maturing physically so much earlier than they use to? It has to do with all of the hormones they are ingesting.
It's all about animal welfare for me. I don't support animal farming in any way. If your truly interested in the differences between vegetarianism and veganism check out www.peta.org
No, their site is not all about radical animal rights movements. It has some very good info on it about what goes into the meat and dairy products that we eat. As well as the abuse, neglect, and torture of farm animals.

Answer 6

I totally agree with you. My boyfriend is a Vegan and I'm what I call a "Moral-Vegan." I only eat Certified Organic Eggs, and while I don't drink any cow milk because I just plain don't like it, I don't see anything wrong with Certified Organic Milk either. However, you probably already know that brands like Lucerne, and even brands that say "free-range" or "grain-fed" the chickens are kept in cages literally not large enough for their bodies, they never see the light of day, ever, and live their entire, short, existences in their own feces! I personally feel that I deserve better than that in what I eat! Cows are in basicly the same situation. No room to move, ever, living in their own filth, and they are fed hormones that studies have shown are actually over-feminizing our culture! (Men have un-naturaly high estrogen levels.)

Good for you for being vegetarian, just make sure you know where your food comes from.....

Answer 7

Others have allready given great answers but just to add my 2points worth it's mainly about the waste, pollution and cruelty involved in supporting the "meat" industry. When we buy animals based products we are voting with our dollars to continue the slaughter and I do my best to make my dollars vote for vege alternatives.

Why not milk? Consider the dairy industries role in the meat biz and remember that dairy cows are the most important souce of veal since they have to give birth to give milk (what else is a dairy gonna do with all those calves?). Even organic milk is factory farmed these days!

Uh-oh; I'll add to this treatise later, work calls

Answer 8

Vegans rock. Some people just don't like animals. That's a reason why not to eat any of their products. Right?

<3,

Answer 9

Good Evening Larissa,

It took me years to understand the difference between Vegetarian and Vegan! So Here Goes:

VEGETARIAN: Eats no red meat; may eat fish; will eat eggs; might eat turkey; will eat tofu that has been seasoned with Worcestershire sauce (contains anchovies); will eat regular cheese; will by clothes that may contain parts of animal skin; will eat cake; will eat pasta; will eat commercially available fruits and vegetables

VEGAN: Eats No meat, No Fish, No eggs or animal by-products; will eat organic (?) tofu, that has been naturally flavored with things like sesame oils; eats only RENETLESS cheeses (Tastes like cardboard !); pasta that is egg free; only breads that are made with no eggs or preservatives (look on the outside of the package, it will say Ingredients: Unbleached flour, water, baking powder, salt and sometimes whole grains); Will not wear any clothing that will contain any animal by product, or even imitation things like fake fur, or imitation leather; will only eat fruit and produce that is organically raised, with no pesticides used.

While this is not a complete list, it is a good guideline.

What I found out from talking to both VEGANS and VEGETARIANS is that they have found that a family of 4 can be self sustaining on 1 acre of land per year for growing vegetables and fruits. It will take 1 acre in water feet, per year to water those crops (we use about 4 acre feet of water in a family of 4 just for showering and washing our clothes per year.

Raising a cow/steer, will take 6 acres of grain to feed that animal per year, with approximately 3 acre feet of water per year to grow the feed. That entire animal will feed a family of 4 for a little more than 2 months, ergo, 6 steer/cow per year.

You can see why the Veggie group doesn't like the red meat equation.

I hope that this helps!

Good Feeding!

James

Ooops, I just remembered, The nicest thing in common between Vegans & Vegetarians; they both can enjoy beer! All natural, No byproducts, no preservatives -- What a Great thing to have in common!

Answer 10

I used to think the same, but then I thought "Hmm.. I'm eating the juice of some other animal. And I'm eating a failed-chick." Make sense? It kind of creeps me out.

Vegans are more pro-animal life while vegetarians are more health conscience, it seems. Vegans don't wear leather for example.

Answer 11

i personally think that vegans are a little extreme
people (i.e - vegans) overlook that fact and just go with the "should be's" (like milking a cow is hurting it) and not the "what is" (like the fact that the cow will die if not milked)