I don't know about anyone else, but fast food just seems difficult to escape. Eating out in general seems to be a huge trend now, a regular thing, rather than just a treat for a family to get out of the house. I know in our household, eating out is a pretty regular thing, unfortunately. (We really want to change this, it's just become such a habit over the years, such an easy thing to turn to when we get lazy. We're so ridiculously over-privileged in America and we totally take it for granted. Many people would love to just have like 1/20th of what I have for a meal, and they'd be happy. So sad. Digressing...)
As part of their advocacy against cruelty to animals, Peta encourages people to adopt a vegan diet (or at the very least vegetarian, but they argue against the use of dairy and egg products on cruelty counts as well). This is all fine and dandy. As a matter of fact, I agree with their arguments for the most part, and I am on the path to veganism myself. However, I find it sort of hypocritical of them to promote such veganism and then tell people that they can go to most restaurants, including fast food places, and get vegan meals (i.e., Taco Bell, Burger King, etc.). Now, it may be just me, but if I purchase a combo from Taco Bell, even if it's a completely vegan combo, they still get my money, right? And what do they do with that? They put it back into the meat industry, so they can get their ground beef and shredded chicken, etc. So, essentially, even though I can get a vegan meal from Taco Bell, I'm still supporting an industry that promotes animal cruelty.
Am I wrong? This just seems like an illogical argument to me, on Peta's part.
If they want to be completely consistent, they should just drop the "you can eat vegan pretty much anywhere!" argument and just encourage people to cook at home and bring food with them in sustainable containers. That would be most in line with their position, and we would all be eating vegan meals with our families instead of chowing not-so-healthy food from a fast-food place where we throw out the dishes we use and contribute to more animal cruelty, even if it is inadvertently.
I did read this article on dining out veg style, and while I get that they want to promote veg eating in places where carnivores eat, I still kind of think that, if they're stance is against the meat/dairy/egg industry, and pretty much every restaurant deals with the meat/dairy/egg industry in some way, then they should not be so quick to tell people to eat out.
Just a thought, you know.
indeed, but from that perspective, you'd have to shop at vegan grocery stores. (do those exist?)
ReplyDeletestill, i whole-heartedly support the avoiding of fast food restaurants, re: our health and the terrible working conditions and etc. it's an awful habit.