Veganism Just Got Tastier

Published on Friday, April 9, 2010, by James Norton / Edit Post

Good news for vegans, perhaps: Slate has run a detailed and persuasive story about why it's fine for you to start eating oysters, which, incidentally, are delicious. Here's the argument by writer Christoper Cox, in an oyster shell:

"When it comes to ethical eating, [oysters] are almost indistinguishable from plants. Oyster farms account for 95 percent of all oyster consumption and have a minimal negative impact on their ecosystems... Moreover, since oysters don't have a central nervous system, they're unlikely to experience pain in a way resembling ours—unlike a pig or a herring or even a lobster."

Cox argues that veganism, or vegetarianism, or any other diet structured around some core ethical principles should, ultimately, pursue those principles as efficiently as possible... even if that means straying outside the boundaries traditionally laid down by the diet's proponents.

He notes: "Eating ethically is not a purity pissing contest, and the more vegans or vegetarians pretend that it is, the more their diets start to resemble mere fashion—and thus risk being dismissed as such."

Nourishing food for thought, regardless of your dietary habits.

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POST A COMMENT |8 Comments

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  • Thanks for my first thread I read on this site. The title caught my attention. Yes I am just looking for attention. I am a carnivore but still curious how over time we went from eating plants to other animals cooked or barbequed to perfection.

  • Makes sense to me. They're still super hard to open, though!
    Oysters are also an excellent source of zinc--the best. Why hasn't anyone mentioned their infamous aphrodisiac properties yet?

  • On the flipside, in other breaking news, celibacy just got sexier.

  • I'm vegan, and don't think I'm better than anyone. But I find the very concept of eating animal carcasses repulsive. Why should I care that it's OK according to some guy at Slate? It seems like just a long and public way for the original author to justify his own dietary choices. Whatever. I don't care.

  • It sounds like he is trying to start an ethical eating pissing contest. "My way of eating is more efficient and ethical than your outdated moralistic way of eating."

    dmd_kc- My friends who are vegan are quiet and self-confident about it, and not at all morally superior, thankfully. So, yes, they do exist!

  • It gets even more complicated if you consider that there is evidence that some people have taken to suggest that some plants and fungi might feel pain.

  • Rasan, it truly **is** a purity contest with this brand of self-absorbed, judgmental, obsessive, endlessly-rationalizing and incredibly argumentative vegan. That lifestyle has become increasingly evangelistic over the years since I gave it up -- and it was intolerably ridiculous then (as I was). And no, I'm not saying all vegans are this way. I'm sure there are quiet, self-confident vegans who...+READ

    Rasan, it truly **is** a purity contest with this brand of self-absorbed, judgmental, obsessive, endlessly-rationalizing and incredibly argumentative vegan. That lifestyle has become increasingly evangelistic over the years since I gave it up -- and it was intolerably ridiculous then (as I was). And no, I'm not saying all vegans are this way. I'm sure there are quiet, self-confident vegans who don't feel the need to publicly declare themselves morally superior to anyone who eats differently. Really, I'm sure they exist.

    I read his screed this morning, and immediately understood he wrote it as a desperate cry for the attention and authority that so many people on artificially-restrictive diets crave. It's quite easily one of the dumbest things I have ever read in the annals of very dumb, pseudoscientific vegan writing: Fauna is OK to eat if it passes the arbitrary criteria I've designed in relation to "environmental impact" and the "pain" the animal may or may not feel. Oh, and if I really love it.

    Yes, I totally just put him on the analyst's couch. And I used to be absolutely exactly like him. I finally put my personal issues with food in the proper context and grew the hell up.

    I have a vegetarian friend who eats bacon. Says it's not meat; it's "seasoning." Not trying to be ironic.

    How to reason with that?-COLLAPSE

  • Okaaayyyyy....

    Cox can eat whatever he wants, as ethically, efficiently, whatever as he wants.

    BUT why does he want to call himself vegan or even vegetarian? Why is that label important to him? Why does he want to redefine the label to include some form of animal?
    Just eat what you like. But if you eat meat, why do you even want to be called veg*an?

    This is not about a purity contest,...+READ

    Okaaayyyyy....

    Cox can eat whatever he wants, as ethically, efficiently, whatever as he wants.

    BUT why does he want to call himself vegan or even vegetarian? Why is that label important to him? Why does he want to redefine the label to include some form of animal?
    Just eat what you like. But if you eat meat, why do you even want to be called veg*an?

    This is not about a purity contest, but about practicality. As it is in restaurants, airlines, homes, office parties, everywhere, veg*ans are often offered fish, chicken, beef stock, bacon bits, etc etc etc.

    Having a clearly understood word would avoid those confusions.-COLLAPSE