Referring to a diet that excludes sentient animals for ethical or practical reasons, veganism is a loaded term and concept, rife with political affiliations and social implications that have allowed for various interpretations of the practice.

Jung Haine

Sometimes, it is deemed a typical killjoy embodying the young liberal archetype that complains excessively about the state of the world; in other circles, it is simply a new way to be, practiced in quintessential spirit of the progressive moral puritan.

The benefits of reducing meat consumption in general are admittedly undeniable and well-known across the board. As freelance writer and vegan advocate Dejan Jotanovic writes in the Guardian, unlike other social justice causes, veganism is negotiated by “real, quantifiable, fundamental behavior change” that inherently causes dissonance and discomfort in those who do not clearly practice what they preach; vegans take pride in the proportionality of their actions to measurable impact.

However, instead of blindly adhering to a vegan diet or becoming preoccupied with the reductive dogma to which veganism is susceptible, I believe it is best for consumers to adopt a more flexible mindset when making judgments about the "ethical" diet and transcend the binary that pits veganism against meat consumption.

While I recognize the advantages of veganism, I would like to contend that it is not the most ethical, nor feasible diet for everyone. Instead of striving to eliminate meat from one’s diet completely, which entails several side effects, or deem it the ideal solution, one must practice sustainable eating in a holistic fashion.

Veganism often leads to the unfair demonization of meat consumption and indiscriminate valorization of all plant-based foods, which is a stance containing several fallacies.

Not all vegan options are truly ethical or environmentally friendly; and furthermore, meat consumption can also be ethical. Even plant-based vegan food sources can be harmful to the environment as well.

Research from the University of........

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