Comments Vary On Vegan Diet

‘Everybody Responded With Scorn and Vitriol’

A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about my attempt to become a vegan — that is to say, one who partakes neither of meat nor fish nor dairy.

It's not an easy life, I said. It seemed like a fairly non-controversial thing to say, although I was sure that meat-eaters would respond with scorn and vitriol.

As it turned out, I was wrong. Everybody responded with scorn and vitriol — meat-eaters, vegetarians, vegans, and organic farmers, as well as people who think of Big Macs as health food.

Where did I go wrong? Probably my worst mistake was admitting I cheated on my diet once in a while. Who doesn't cheat on a diet, I asked myself. Vegans, apparently.

"It's not OK to cheat from the viewpoint of the dead abused animal you ate," one woman wrote. "This includes fish that were suffocated to death."

You're going to have to take my word on this, lady, but I never suffocated a fish in my life. Anyway, if you did it, wouldn't the pillow get wet?

But the shots kept coming from all directions:

The vegetarian: "Sorry but your article is filled with halftruths and distortions, the biggest one being that a vegan diet is healthier than a vegetarian diet."

The faith-based: "I know you

I felt as though I could steal out of the room at that point without anyone noticing, so I did. No one noticed.

They may still be arguing for all I know.

I found the experience dispiriting. There were nearly 300 comments posted in response to the column. As far as I could tell, not one betrayed so much as a hint of a sense of humor.

Well, if that's what it takes to be a vegan or a vegetarian, count me out. Life without funny is too great a price to pay for good health.

I mean, what's the sense of going on a diet if you can't cheat on it once in a while? A life without guilty pleasures is hardly worth living.

Let me make myself clear, or at least try to. I'm not a committed vegan, even less one who seeks to change the way you eat. I am an experimental vegan who admittedly falls off the wagon from time to time.

I'm trying to see if it works for me because I've seen the health improvements it can produce in others and I have several areas that need improvement.

If you're interested at all in the topic, I suggest you get the film Forks Over Knives, which is available on Netflix, or read The China Study.

If you don't find these arguments persuasive, no harm done.

As for me, I'm going back to writing about something noncontroversial, like politics.