Inquiring vegans want to know

Mackensy Lunsford’s review of Firestorm Cafe [”The Anarchist's Cookbook," Nov. 17, Xpress] was great. I was especially pleased to see her raving about the vegan cupcakes. One taste of the culinary creations of Asheville’s vegan chefs and bakers is often all that is needed to dispel the common misconception that vegan foods don't measure up to animal-based foods. Thanks, Ms. Lunsford, for pointing out that vegan foods can and often actually taste better!

As someone who has toured the country promoting plant-based diets, I've enjoyed learning the personal stories of the people who have made the switch. Ms. Lunsford often probes the philosophies/justifications of her interviewees who promote eating animal products, but I notice that when she writes about those who opt for vegan foods, she seldom asks what led them in this direction. I’d encourage her to do so in future articles. Inquiring minds want to know! …

— Stewart David
Asheville

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13 thoughts on “Inquiring vegans want to know

  1. shadmarsh

    but I notice that when she writes about those who opt for vegan foods, she seldom asks what led them in this direction.

    Imma gonna go out on a limb here and say that it’s because most people don’t give a shit.

    ps, I just ate some cow.

  2. Johnny

    Why does the fact one can create excellent tasting foods in vegetarian or vegan format have to always generate some chatter that is anti-meat? Why not just leave it as a cool thing on its own?

    People who eat meat and make fabulous meat dishes from local venison (for example) are usually not out there making disparaging remarks about a tofu stir-fry in the same breath — they’re just loving their creation and are grateful for it.

    I’m glad the cupcakes were good.

  3. Asheville Dweller

    Maybe because most the vegans that I know don’t harp about it daily. You can do something without being smug, your a vegan, great, its just that most folks don’t really care if you are or not.

  4. Cheshire

    I’d like to know as well. I’m pretty much carnivorous for dietary reasons. (Either a vegan or vegetarian diet can’t sustain me.) I don’t understand a good deal about vegans’ & vegetarians’ choices; I understood much less a few years ago. I’ve gained much more respect for their choices upon learning the “why”, plus it have a much better idea about how to interact on common ground. Suggesting meeting before the movie at a steakhouse is a bad idea, for example. There are a good number of places in Asheville that have a varied-enough menu to cover all the bases.

    There’s more than moral/ethical grounds for becoming vegan/vegetarian, believe it or not. I knew someone who was allergic to a certain protein found in most meats. I’m allergic to soy. After talking to him, I found we shared a common view: I LOVE the taste of certain soy-based foods. (I really, REALLY miss asian food.) I just can’t eat it without risking a trip to the ER.

    What other kinds of reasons besides the over-stated ethics/moral argument? Inquiring minds want to know.

  5. BigAl

    The key tenant of the concept of Political Correctness is that “the personal is political”, that is to say say that every personal choice a person makes is a reflection of their political partisanship and is therefore an opportunity for comment and criticism from the opposing party.

    Therefore, from the leftist/vegan POV, since eating meat is an unacceptable act for both dietary/health AND moral reasons, all meat eaters automatically become identified with all of the other usual indictments of the right, such as rascism, fascism, capitalist-imperialism, militarism, nationalism, homophobia, religious evangelism and any other -ism they can think of.

    With the power implied by the linkage of this one issue to all of the rest, it is difficult for vegans not to take advantage of every opportunity to smugly promote themselves as being morally superior.

    Naturally, meat eaters who do not believe themselves to so amoral, become defensive and feel compelled to respond.

  6. Ken Hanke

    every personal choice a person makes is a reflection of their political partisanship and is therefore an opportunity for comment and criticism from the opposing party.

    Like every post you’ve ever made?

    Therefore, from the leftist/vegan POV, since eating meat is an unacceptable act for both dietary/health AND moral reasons, all meat eaters automatically become identified with all of the other usual indictments of the right, such as rascism, fascism, capitalist-imperialism, militarism, nationalism, homophobia, religious evangelism and any other -ism they can think of.

    I know you can’t resist the chance to work in some right-wing rhetoric even if you have to invent an opportunity, but I have to note that most leftists I know — including myself — are neither vegetarians, nor vegans.

  7. BigAl

    “most leftists I know—including myself—are neither vegetarians, nor vegans.”

    AND most meat-eaters I know are NOT racists, fascists, etc. but this has never stopped vegans from taking every opportunity to indict all meat-eaters as morally inferior to vegans.

    Indictments, by the way, which I did not invent, only respond to. In movie speak, “If you don’t want none, don’t start none.”

  8. Piffy!

    I actually STOPPED eating a strict vegan diet because I felt including some local meat and dairy was FAR more sustainable than many of the ‘vegan’ foods I found myself buying that came from very, very far away.

    And I know quite a few others who came to similar decisions.

  9. Ken Hanke

    AND most meat-eaters I know are NOT racists, fascists, etc. but this has never stopped vegans from taking every opportunity to indict all meat-eaters as morally inferior to vegans.

    And which has nothing to do with political leanings — especially since one of the biggest right-wingers these boards have ever known was also a militant vegan.

  10. invisiblefriend

    “inquiring minds want to know!”

    Non-inquiring minds do not want to know!

  11. Ashevegasjoe

    I eat tons of local meat, but would have to say that someone who doesn’t, could rather easily make the case for moral high grounds. They are, after all, not responsible for the killing of defenseless creatures with crude implements.
    That being said, I can do without morals easier than doing without burgers.

  12. Daniel Withrow

    To be fair, there’s no environment friendlier to a seed-eater like a mouse than a field full of soft soil and plants that bear huge starchy seeds. Tons of them set up shop in crop fields every year–and the tilling and harvesting machinery, whether combines or hoes, kill these small animals by the thousands. A diet rich in wild game may counterintuitively kill fewer animals than a diet rich in farmed crops.

  13. Ashevegasjoe

    To be fair, I get my veggies from my yard and use a walk-behind tillers– haven’t hit a mouse yet. But I like venison and pheasant too!

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