I had one of those amusing slash infuriating moments recently that all vegans and veggies have to put up with often. I was sat eating my lunch (steamed kale, spinach, chickpeas and broccoli with a tahini and lemon dressing) whilst a colleague ate hers (mozzarella and bacon Panini with a packet of crisps). Over the course of our lunch she tried to explain to me why she thinks veganism is a bad idea. Her reasoning:
1. It’s too expensive
2. It’s dangerous to cut out entire food groups from your diet
3. It’s an unnatural diet and not one that we are designed to eat
Hmmm…. I sat there looking from my plate to her plate and back again and wondered how she could not see the irony and complete nonsense of what she was saying. There was I, a committed vegan for nearly 2 years, eating a plateful of the most nutritious, tasty, cheap, locally grown, organic whole food whilst she sat across from me eating a plateful of high cholesterol, high fat, unhealthy, expensive, factory farmed, deep fried, highly processed rubbish!
Now I’m not saying you can’t eat a really healthy non-vegan diet because of course you can. But I’m saying it’s astounding how often people will completely ignore the elephant in the room when it comes to discussing the health benefits of veganism. They’ll start muttering on about vitamin B12, iron levels and zinc and dive straight into the nitty gritty of the possible nutritional shortfalls of a vegan diet if you don’t do it sensibly, whilst ignoring the fact that I’m there snacking on an apple and they’re on their fifth chocolate digestive…
Are there chicken sheds in heaven? 