Tag Archive: Lifestyle Choices


CRUELTY FREE SHOPPING AND SCOFFING

Filed under: Health and fitness, Italy, Politics — 3 Comments
June 27, 2012

I haven’t  eaten meat or fish (anything with eyes!) since I was 17 so I’ve gone 37 years as a fully fledged vegetarian.

Two of these years I became a vegan but while it was relatively easy to maintain this diet when eating alone at home, I found eating out either in restaurants or at friends a burden I eventually tired of.

It’s not just a matter of avoiding cheese, milk and eggs, it involves the continual  headache of scrupulously checking the labels or contents of everything you consume.

In addition the consequences would be that where I live in Italy I would have to forgo the pleasure of cappuccino, ice cream and many types of pasta. These are sacrifices some people are prepared to take but I’m not one of them.

I know all the arguments as to why I should be cutting dairy products from my diet but it’s not a discipline I feel able to maintain. I think the planet would be in much better shape if more people went veggie so my conscience is fairly clear.

Questions about the limits of ethical shopping and eating also take in other purchases like clothing and cosmetics. The tapestry of companies (see right) that test their products on animals makes you realise how many high street products we buy prolong this unnecessary suffering (a more detailed list is also available via Peta).

One of the main reasons why new face creams, after shave or shampoos are tested in this way is that it’s a cheaper alternative  and saves companies having to bother using more natural ingredients or using content that is already known to be safe for humans.

The most effective  message we can send  is simply to buy an alternative whenever we can.

I’m never too comfortable getting on a soap box over these issues but I think we could all do our bit to prevent needless cruelty and not buying vaseline or veal are steps in the right direction.

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VEG FEST KEBAB FEAST

Filed under: Italy — Leave a comment
June 21, 2011

 Last Sunday I attended the second annual edition of a Vegan Festival organised by local volunteers of LAV (Lega Anti Vivisezione); an occasion which afforded me the chance of sampling a vegan kebab for the first time in my life!

I’ve been a lacto-vegetarian for over thirty years, for two of these I was a strict vegan.

I recognise that veganism is the logical extension of vegetarianism – if you oppose factory farming methods this has to include milk production and not just the slaughter of animals.

At the same time it’s a notoriously hard position to maintain.

A turning point for me came when I discovered that a clear black pint of Guinness is achieved with the aid of isinglass finings made from fish air bladders. You either turn a blind eye to such information or you deny yourself drinking pleasure for the rest of your earthly days.

Slicing the soya for my first ever vegan kebab

Similarly, to maintain a vegan diet would mean that upon moving to Italy I would have had to forgo the delights of the gelateria and the early morning ritual of cappuccino and cake.

To me this seems to be the gourmet equivalent of flagellation.

Looking at the younger attendees of Veg Fest it occurred to me that the extremity of the diet is one of its appeals. Teenagers like to take strong positions that cause the older (and in their eyes automatically more conservative) consumers to shake their collective heads in disapproval. I don’t doubt that they are genuine in their beliefs but I wonder if they will still be as firm in their principles in 5 years time.

My concern is that by advocating a jump from being a carnivore to veganism without passing through an interim compromise stage of vegetarianism is likely to lead to a switch directly back to meat-eating as the rebels mature and mellow with age.

I respect those who have the willpower and self discipline  to maintain a healthy vegan diet but I have no desire to do the same.

The vegan kebab was pretty tasty though!

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ZUCKERBERG’S KILL WHAT YOU EAT DIET

Filed under: Music — Leave a comment
May 28, 2011

Image by Sean Driscoll

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is a goal orientated guy.

Away from the world of social networking he sets himself a personal challenge each year – last year it was learning Chinese, this year it’s maintaining a diet that involves only eating animals he has killed himself.

This he regards as more honest than getting someone else do the dirty work for you and buying processed and packaged meat from the supermarkets. I agree with him but I’m too squeamish to contemplate doing the same. That’s why I don’t eat meat or fish.

Apparently Zuckerberg’s  first kill was a lobster and he has since graduated to killing a chicken, goat, and pig. Presumably sheep and cows will be next in line. Or maybe not.  He told  Fortune magazine that he is now not far off being a vegetarian.

I grew up in the country, my Dad was a farm labourer, and I always made a direct connection between what was served up on my dinner plate and what had previously been a living animal. I  became a vegetarian as a result of  seeing a chicken’s neck being twisted and after experiencing the horrible stench and sight of a rabbit being skinned and de-gutted.

I think more people would go veggie if they had to be hunter gatherers and Zuckerberg’s actions deserve praise  for highlighting this issue of ethical and sustainable food consumption.

Related links:

Zuckerberg’s new diet challenge (Fortune Magazine)

Facebook founder gets sustainable food lessons  (Sustainable Food news)

Website advocating the abolition of meat

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