Vegans need diplomacy skills in household divided by diet
W ading into anti-meat spaces of the internet feels much like entering a world of religious zealots. Videos of farm animals overlaid with emotive music and comparisons to the Holocaust, farmers beating stock, footage of puppy mills and vivisection. The crux of their argument for veganism is that killing animals is cruel, that animals are sentient beings who are capable of forming attachments, experiencing emotions and thoughts just as humans do.
But as the numbers of vegans grow, it’s becoming more mainstream.
Aucklander Saffron Clark has been vegetarian since 1999, and vegan since 2010. For her it was a purely ethical decision, as she explains that one day she realised she no longer had to eat meat. Dairy food, cheese in particular, was harder to let go of.
‘‘I was well known for saying cheese grew on trees.
‘‘I’m vegan because I don’t think we have the right to take any living creature without their permission to do so.’’
Her daughter was three when she chose to stop eating meat. One day at the dinner table she burst into tears, saying she ‘‘didn’t want to eat someone else’s body anymore’’.
Her husband and son eat meat. But she says both sides respect the others’ choice whether to eat meat or not.
Living in the rural community of Ardmore doesn’t make it easy to be vegan.
Clark’s daughter has been teased at school. ‘‘Boys have waved meat in her face but I tell her that people are often threatened by things that challenge their beliefs.’’
I don’t think we have the right to take any living creature without their permission to do so. Saffron Clark