NOTE: Sometimes I start with a title, like this one about not supporting those who do not support gay people (equality) and the post turns into more. This is the case of this post as I began to write about not only those who do not support equality but also companies that partake in cruelty to animals.
It's not always easy being a voice for the voiceless or supporting equality or being vegan and being up to date with who is on the side of your cause and who isn't.
It's also not fun all of the time. "I really love the product". "I can't wait to go shopping there".
Sometimes I read about or listen to friends talk about buying something or going somewhere and I cringe.
There are so many examples. One is sitting in our fridge. Several years ago the amazing company White Wave, maker of Silk products, was bought by Dean Foods. Vegan awesomeness meet profiteer of animal cruelty on so many levels. It took us a while to stop buying Silk soy milk and years after the buyout we still purchase Silk creamer. We think about the pigs tortured by Dean Foods all of the time, and yet we still buy Silk soy milk.
We hear from readers all of the time who face the same dilemma.
A coffee house run but religious extremists, or at least promoting churches that are extreme.
A running race supported and promoted by anti-gay religious groups. Restaurants that serve meat, but have amazing vegan food. On this one, we get it. And we are grateful for restaurants who jump into vegan cuisine. Our favorite restaurants are not vegan-only and serve the best vegan food in town.
Politicians, products lines, whole companies.
What to do, what to do?
Coming out as vegan is a good start. You can see the difference this makes in the huge amount of choices we as vegans have not only in restaurants but in markets and non-food stores. Big change just in the past couple of years.
Coming out as a voice for the voiceless is huge too. "I care about these animals or these people, so I am not going to buy your product or run in your race anymore."
If a company wants to make money, they will listen. Maybe not the first time they hear something, or the second. But eventually they will.
Maybe that's why one of the largest pork producers (an industry losing profit) bought out a soy milk/tofu company (an industry gaining profit).
I write about this a lot. When we use our voices to be a voice for those who have none, we change the world.
Thanks for reading!
Hey Dan,
ReplyDeleteWe struggle with that all the time, and sometimes the answer is not obvious.
In some cases it is easy, for example we simply don't support Boy Scouts, the Salvation Army or Wal-mart.
When it comes to restaurants and food or other products, it is very hard. In the case of restaurants, asking for a vegan dish might give them incentive to add more vegan dishes. For example, recently the local bakery we buy from added a vegan chocolate cake, which is now their best-selling cake. So they're planning on adding a number of other vegan pastries. We've been buying there for a while and every time we go we ask if this or that is vegan. Maybe they finally heard that enough and decided to do something.
But when it comes to other processed food/products, most companies of a certain size are collectively owned by a handful of corporations that are definitely not vegan. Are you gonna give up on toothpaste, for example? At that point we have to compromise, I think: buy their vegan products (maybe cut back to the minimum) and hope they'll slowly migrate that way. At least that's what we've been trying to do, in lieu of becoming hermits and living in the wilderness. :-)
Mauro! I miss you two so much!
DeleteTotally agree with everything you wrote.
Sending you both big Dan hugs filled with love. XOXO
Every time I go grocery shopping I have to grit my teeth and just go with buying products I know support animal cruelty. It's either that or starve. My town NOT vegan friendly. There are a total of two restaurants where I can eat out each has only one dish that I have to request be made vegan. The grocery stores stopped selling Gardein because there weren't enough sales. If I'm lucky I can get a package of Boca burgers. Even our animal rescue groups don't get it and one of the biggest fundraisers for our biggest no-kill group is a barbecue.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I'm in Utah so just about every event is run by or sponsored by anti-gay groups or congregations, usually the Mormon church. It is frustrating, to say the least. We can only do what we can and hope it is enough.
First, we totally LOVE you and have always been so grateful for your support! The bottom line is that we do what we can, and for us, we try to do as least harm as possible. Sending you loads of love.
DeleteDamn iPhone! I spent a good amount of time typing out a response to this earlier this week and it never posted. Point was: Thank you immensely for posting this - SUCH an important topic and SUCH a big struggle for ethical vegans. Sending you lots of love. <3
ReplyDelete