Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

betterletter OP wrote

nah man, get the spicy potato soft shell fresco style... $1 apiece, tomatoes, lettuce, and potatoes, add some fire sauce

2

existential1 wrote

Veganism isn't about health. It's not a lifestyle.

I beg to differ...but I guess I'm not sure how narrow your definition/concept is of the terms health and lifestyle.

At a minimum to me, health is about mind/body/spirit(some folks don't believe in spirit and that's ok). If for no additional reasons, people seem to go vegan to me for mind/mental health reasons. Mostly because (for Western non-born/raised vegans) they have physical reactions (in their body) to the idea or knowledge (i.e. mind) of what goes on with non-vegan actions in agriculture. To me, that's a direct correlation of mind/body health concerns. I would love to be convinced otherwise if you have a better understanding that could inform me.

"Lifestyle" in anarchist circles based on my unenlightened amount of reading seems to stem from Bookchin (who consensus seems to be out on whether he was even an anarchist himself) critiques, but as a term, I feel as though the "lifestyle" critique is really manufactured. If a lifestyle is just the way a person chooses to live, then everyone has one...and everyone has one that changes over time based on the information and situation they have/are presented with at a given moment in time. If the feeling is that a lifestyle is just something that is bought and sold like a commodity, then what makes it special? Everything else is too.

Honestly I'm more curious about what your "it's not a lifestyle" comment is about. Not facetiously curious either, I'm interested to learn what you mean. I don't see how it isn't. I don't see how any way that people choose to live their lives isn't a lifestyle choice. But, I suspect you have a very particular definition of "lifestyle".

−1

[deleted] wrote

1

existential1 wrote

Ah, so I think I see the difference.

To me, "animal welfare" vegans are still "lifestyle vegans" to me. Because my understanding of lifestyle is what you do, not why you do what you do. That, with the understanding that what you do can and will change based on the information you have that acts as the pretext for your actions. For example, I would consider the vegan lifestyle to be one in which you abstain from the use/consumption of animal-based products and anyone who adheres to such is living a vegan "lifestyle", whether or not they consider themselves a vegan or their reasons are nominally for health or animal welfare.

But to you, it seems "lifestyle" is more predicated on the "why" than the "what".

As for the high calories stuff, I'm no doctor, but I was a high-level athlete for awhile who was prescribed a diet and picked up some dietary knowledge by proxy...calories in and of themselves are not problems or unhealthy. It's about the balance of calories along with all the other nutrients juxtaposed against ones physical exertion. All that is to say, nuts, avocados, and squash are not necessarily unhealthy and are probably very often (especially the nuts and avocados) going to be in hipster salads.

Also, the association of avocados to wealth is only true in places where they are imported. Avocados are poor people's food in a lot of countries. There's a saying where I lived for awhile in Guatemala that goes something like, "4 tortillas, an avocado, and coffee is the best meal". And that's what people who were very poor ate quite often.

1