Why I’m suspicious of veganism

RESEARCH last week suggests people following a vegan diet are at higher risk of breaking bones. This goes against the current orthodoxy, especially among the young, that being vegan is healthy. I’ve never been convinced of this — and I was once vegan myself. The interesting thing about veganism is that it’s not so much about feeling healthy, it’s about control and the sense of virtue this brings. Restricting our diets is an old, established way of feeling in control — indeed, it’s what underpins many eating disorders. This is why I’m suspicious of any diet that dictates what someone eats so rigidly, and this applies to veganism, too. The anthropologist Mary Douglas argued that what we eat helps us to feel mastery over an otherwise chaotic and random world. By rigidly ordering food into things we can consume and those that we cannot, she argued, we create meaning in our lives. Vegans claim it’s healthy to cut out meat and diary, yet there is mounting evidence that this isn’t true. The fact is the healthiest diet includes a little of everything. But that is not what vegans want to hear.