What are the vegan and vegetarian lifestyles? What do they entail? Why do they matter? There are many different views on these lifestyles, both positive and negative. They are deviant lifestyles from the social norm that are met with controversy in today’s society, but why? The reasons for these lifestyle choices range from compassion to health. These words have positive connotations, so why would there be any controversy; there is controversy connected to the titles, “vegan,” and, “vegetarian,” because, regardless of whatever positive outcomes they attempt to achieve they are seen in a negative light through media. That being said, there are many alternatives to the nutrients meat provides and there is a lot of great information about the lifestyle and how to go about it, it is just not presented in the correct way. The media reports what it sees and what draws the most attention. If all the media sees are protests and anti-meat signs, then that is what it will report. The focus of this healthy and compassionate lifestyle will be the hatred tagged along with it with everything else just extra information that no one will ever give attention. I decided to personally explore as to why vegans and vegetarians are seen through media platforms advocating for animal rights and healthier lifestyles in the wrong way, regardless of the positive end goal they are trying to achieve.

The concept of a vegan is straight-forward, however there are major differences between vegans and vegetarians. To be a vegan requires giving up all animal products. No fur, dairy, eggs, and especially no meat--including fish. There are also many different types of vegetarians. There are some that allow fish into their diet, which are also known as pescatarians and there are also vegetarians that allow dairy and eggs, known as ovo-lactarians. There are many different varieties of vegetarians, but they all share one common factor, no meat. 

When I first started this project, I was an avid meat eater. I was cautious about the meat I ate, to a degree, and I would not eat meat at certain fast food chains, but for the most part I ate meat all the time. My favorite dish was steak. When I first started my research, I was looking for all the bad media that vegans and vegetarians received. I had a couple bad experiences with the vegan and vegetarian community, and often saw them being depicted as rude, condescending, and judgmental. There was one occasion where I stumbled across a type of vegan fair, everyone was super nice but when it came to be known that I was neither vegan nor vegetarian, those that I spoke to became rude and started lecturing me on my ways. There was another time that I was leaving a circus and there were vegan and vegetarian protestors that were shouting at us as we left, lecturing us on supporting animal cruelty. That being said, I also have some family members and close friends that are some of the greatest people I have ever known that are vegetarian. I wanted to get a fresh start at on my ideas, and learn with an open mind. 

Being vegan or vegetarian is part of one’s identity. Even though it seems to be just a diet change, it affects the person who makes that change in a lot of different ways. For one thing, why would someone make the change in the first place? Why give up meat?

Not all vegans and vegetarians are the same. Many give up meat and other animal products for moral reasons or to stand against the fact that animals used for food or clothing are not included under the Animal Welfare Act, which is what regulates the treatment for animals for a variety of things such as research. This means that many animals around the world are living in horrendous conditions. There are also no standards for animal transport that are being raised for the sole purpose of food (Vegucated). Which is why many people will see chickens are other farm life cramped together in cages on trucks heading toward a factory where they will be ripped apart for food. Many animals on meat farms are also treated with a lot of disrespect

Going vegan or vegetarian in the right way, meaning not eating potato chips every day, offers many health benefits. According to numerous studies and documentaries like Vegucated and Cowspiracy, giving up red meat will lower the risk of heart disease, and plant based diets are better for one’s body (Vegucated). Plant-based diets are also better for the environment (Cowspiracy). Of course, there is more to it, I am now much more aware of what I eat now as a vegetarian than I was at the beginning of the study. It is also important to develop new and healthy habits as there are many nutrients found in meat that must be actively replaced in one’s diet.

When I first started this new diet, my whole lifestyle started changing, and not in a good way. I had decided to do a fourteen-day trial period so that I could get in the shoes of someone who is vegetarian. As I have always been a bit cautious of my source of meat for moral reasons, those reasons were what kept me going. I decided to go eat no meat, including fish, or otherwise put ovo-lactarian. Those fourteen days ended up turning into thirty days which ended up being a permanent change. However, I ended up having a very rough start. 

I recorded my food daily and wrote about one to two paragraph entries daily to record what I ate, what I did that day, and how I felt throughout the day compared to my standard self, to see if there were any noticeable changes. At first, I felt miserable. I had an extreme lack of energy compared to my usual self, I was not eating well in the slightest bit. Luckily for me, I had a newly made friend who is vegetarian point me in the right direction to try new, healthy, and vegetarian foods for me to eat. I am also taking a multivitamin daily just in case, and drink the occasional protein shake. I feel so much more energetic, and have been exercising more often, getting proper sleep, and am getting much more done in the day, and it definitely is not just in my head. According to an article written by Malavika Velayanikal, “the benefits of vegetarian and vegan diets extend beyond animal welfare. Veganism, a diet which excludes any kind of animal product, such as meat, milk, and eggs, promotes a healthy body more than a traditional Western diet. Most lifestyle diseases, such as cancer, obesity, and diabetes, can be prevented by the right diet. A plant-based diet is the best choice to maintain health” (Velayanikal).

 Many people believe that when a person drops animal protein from their diet, that their diet becomes greatly restricted, and while that is true, there are many foods that most people often fail to think about. For example, black beans have become my new favorite meat replacement. From black bean burgers to extra black beans on my veggie quesadilla. I feel great and I have connected with more amazing people that share my new lifestyle, so where is the fault?

Vegans and vegetarians are still depicted terribly in the media. How could this community I am growing to love have such a negative impact? The issue is how people are viewing the community, and how the minority of the community is depicting the majority. Thinking back on how I viewed this community as an outsider and why, I realized I always felt condemned by either vegans or vegetarians. Rather than finding common ground with me, the vegans and vegetarians I spoke with just slammed me with statistics and facts. As someone who loved meat, it was a lot to grasp from seemingly not-so-empathetic people. Of course not every vegan and vegetarian are the same when speaking out about their beliefs, but the loudest of them are who are heard.

There are many animal rights activist organizations that are seen taking their beliefs to the extreme. In the August of 2017, there was an article posted on the Washington Post about how Direct Action Everywhere was going about protesting a butcher’s shop. In the article Maura Judkis went on about how “[t]he protests were intense: People dripping with fake blood, tightly bound in plastic wrap as if they were cuts of meat. Singing, shouting, lecturing customers” (Judkis). The protesters completely skipped over finding common ground with the customers and educating them, but rather shouted at them. They were acting judgmental and rather than convincing people to their own ways, they lectured them instead. Examples such as this one can and will lead people to develop a negative attitude towards people of the vegan and vegetarian lifestyle. In the end, to lessen the amounts of protesting going on the butcher’s shop agreed to post a sign that read, “ATTENTION: ANIMALS’ LIVES ARE THEIR RIGHT. KILLING THEM IS VIOLENT AND UNJUST, NO MATTER HOW IT’S DONE” (Direct Action Everywhere). Notice that this only lessened the amount of protests, in the article is explains that Direct Action Everywhere, or DXE, said the protests will not stop.

When I decided to explore as to why vegans and vegetarians are seen through media platforms in such a negative light, I learned a lot about the background of the diet and how heavily it impacts one’s lifestyle. I learned that it is in fact a healthy diet if done wisely, like how one should with any diet. It is a beautiful, generally healthy, and compassionate community. Therefore, like with anything else, when speaking out about important matters such as animal rights, one should find common ground and explain their beliefs rather than just lecturing others about how they are wrong, in an attempt to change their beliefs to match the people speaking out. Veganism and vegetarianism are both compassionate and great lifestyles to adopt, however the minority and the media are destroying the public opinion with lectures and shouts. Organizations, such as Direct Action Everywhere, that are proud of their media and actions for awareness are working in opposition to their cause. To convince the public, one must inform to tear down. A great society is built from bottom to top as a community, not a one-sided mass.
