Thanks for this insightful essay (your whole Indian Foodways series is fantastic!). My initial takeaway was "it's complicated"—it's not something that lends itself to easy conclusions or clear paths of action. But wow I learned a lot from this and it has got me pondering for sure! This line is really sticking with me: "Plant-forward diets reduce animal suffering and our carbon footprints, but when vegetarianism is used for virtue-signaling and oppression, its potential benefits become blurry in comparison to the drawbacks." YES. It's important not to get blinded by the health halo around vegetarianism and to take an honest look at how it intersects with privilege/caste/class and how it can sometimes reinforce/perpetuate systems of oppression. Anyway—just really appreciate your take on this!
What an interesting read! I'm surprised to hear that using all of the animal is considered shameful/taboo, since I thought everyone had to do this pre industrialization out of scarcity of meat.
It was eye opening to see you highlighting the moral implications of vegetarianism in the US vs India! What a great read.
Using the entire animal is probably considered differently in distinct cultural contexts, but in India, using certain parts of the animal was tied to purity, which is what made it taboo. Thanks for reading Amanda!
"Brahmins adopted a partially vegetarian diet in response to famine, a practice that eased tensions at the time but later became a way to exert moral superiority over other castes. "
--- Can you elaborate because given the wording I don't understand the point here.
I've met some Hindu Nationalist lacto-vegetarians who are dead-set against veganism because they somehow see it as harming cows. How refraining from exploiting cows for their dairy somehow "harms" them is beyond me. Do you have any insight on why they might feel this way?
Thanks for this insightful essay (your whole Indian Foodways series is fantastic!). My initial takeaway was "it's complicated"—it's not something that lends itself to easy conclusions or clear paths of action. But wow I learned a lot from this and it has got me pondering for sure! This line is really sticking with me: "Plant-forward diets reduce animal suffering and our carbon footprints, but when vegetarianism is used for virtue-signaling and oppression, its potential benefits become blurry in comparison to the drawbacks." YES. It's important not to get blinded by the health halo around vegetarianism and to take an honest look at how it intersects with privilege/caste/class and how it can sometimes reinforce/perpetuate systems of oppression. Anyway—just really appreciate your take on this!
Thank you Alanna! I really resonate with your words here.
What an interesting read! I'm surprised to hear that using all of the animal is considered shameful/taboo, since I thought everyone had to do this pre industrialization out of scarcity of meat.
It was eye opening to see you highlighting the moral implications of vegetarianism in the US vs India! What a great read.
Using the entire animal is probably considered differently in distinct cultural contexts, but in India, using certain parts of the animal was tied to purity, which is what made it taboo. Thanks for reading Amanda!
"Brahmins adopted a partially vegetarian diet in response to famine, a practice that eased tensions at the time but later became a way to exert moral superiority over other castes. "
--- Can you elaborate because given the wording I don't understand the point here.
I've met some Hindu Nationalist lacto-vegetarians who are dead-set against veganism because they somehow see it as harming cows. How refraining from exploiting cows for their dairy somehow "harms" them is beyond me. Do you have any insight on why they might feel this way?