I’m really interesting in how you manage to keep a vegan diet while travelling. Is it abroad? Do you eat food from locals? I would not feel comfortable refusing food offered by people because it’s animal based yet I would stick to veganism. To be honest, I’m incapable of doing this. I think I would starve.
I find it already difficult to find restaurants when travelling. I do not regret my choice to go vegan but sometimes I feel like I’m missing out when I’m in a different country and I want to discover the culture.
Plus it makes day planning much harder.
My other response to you was so long-winded, and there was even more that I wrote that maybe wasn’t directly relevant to your comment, so I removed it. I did write it, though, so I figure I’ll just go ahead and paste it here:
I’m actually not even philosophically strictly vegan, although I am vegan in practice. I just weigh the cost/benefit when making decisions. I decide if the questionable nutritional benefit of drugged up animal parts and 20 minutes of pleasure to me is worth a lifetime of cruel conditions and misery for this animal. It just happens to be the case for me personally that I think whatever potential health benefit I get from it isn’t worth such an extreme cost to the animal since I am fortunate enough to be able mantain a healthy body without that. I would feel much better if I could verify that the animal has had a happy life.
For instance, in scotland, there are sheep that are free to roam the unfenced highlands anywhere they like with their babies, and they choose to go back to where the farmer they are used to feeds them in the winters. When they get old, the farmer will quickly kill them, and this is very much in line with their life over countless generations. Philosophically, eating that kind of meat has a much lower cost to me than the cruel factory farms where much meat/animal products come from. That said, at this point in my life, even that cost is not worth it to me, but maybe some day that will change. I can see the argument that maybe killing them at a certain point could be seen as mercy, but still, I’d just rather not at this point in my life.
That was a very interesting read. Thank you! I share a lot of thought with your philosophy and I’m confident that is what most vegans think too.
I am too aware and grateful to be able to choose my diet. I don’t blame people who have no choice but to use animals to make a living. Though I sometimes regret that people in developed countries don’t really think about what they put in their plate.
Yeah, I feel lucky to have had it occur to me to think about this stuff. I can’t put into words what a weight was lifted when I stopped supporting that stuff. It is just an all-around emotional lightness that permeates every aspect of my life. It’s like discovering that I had been dragging a sack of rocks for so long that I had just assumed it was a part of life. I can remember how bad it was, and trying to convey this to people always seems to be taken the wrong way. I don’t know why I got lucky in this way, and it is very frustrating to be unable to explain how much better it is since it really feels like a choice that most people could make if they only knew.
Not the person you asked, but in my experience, when I travel I will go to grocery stores often. I personally love seeing what grocery stores are like in other countries, so that ends up being quite a fun experience (for me). But more importantly- it lets you stock up on stuff that you can eat. You have to learn what foods are enjoyable for you to consume cold, or with minimal prep, but in the end it’s not too difficult.
Yes, I pretty much exclusively travel abroad. I really don’t find it difficult anymore. Maybe early on, it was annoying, but now I don’t even think much about it.
I don’t regret missing out on the aspect of cultures where people abuse those less fortunate. There are many aspects of peoples lives and cultures that I don’t take part in, but I still have a rich experience when visiting them. I don’t intimidate women into being uneducated, or try to take child brides, or mutilate the genitals of babies, or get blackout drunk and provoke fights, or many other things that are a part of various cultures that are just not for me.
I understand that different people are in different economic situations, and for some people, they have no choice but to eat processed factory farm products to be more healthy than without. It is a shame that that is the case, but I don’t see people in that situation as being immoral. They just have their own situation to weigh.
On the practical side of things, it is easy to refuse food, I am fine just saying that I can’t take it for health reasons if I dont want to get into it with someone. If I want restaurant food, it is generally easy to find Thai, Indian, or to eat a simple salad. Honestly, almost all decent sized cities have specifically vegan restaurants these days, and even more have restaurants with some vegan options. On top of that, I try to do a few week long water fasts each year, so If I ever do find myself in a situation where I absolutely can’t eat a meal or something, it really doesn’t bother me much.
I do eat food from locals. Even the most meat obsessed cultures still have plenty of traditional foods that don’t include animal products. If I am around locals who want to make food for me, then I often get to have a wide range of dishes because they want to make sure I am full. I am very fortunate to be able to travel like I do, so not squeezing every ounce of pleasure out of the misery of others is a small price for me to pay.
I’m really interesting in how you manage to keep a vegan diet while travelling. Is it abroad? Do you eat food from locals? I would not feel comfortable refusing food offered by people because it’s animal based yet I would stick to veganism. To be honest, I’m incapable of doing this. I think I would starve. I find it already difficult to find restaurants when travelling. I do not regret my choice to go vegan but sometimes I feel like I’m missing out when I’m in a different country and I want to discover the culture. Plus it makes day planning much harder.
My other response to you was so long-winded, and there was even more that I wrote that maybe wasn’t directly relevant to your comment, so I removed it. I did write it, though, so I figure I’ll just go ahead and paste it here:
I’m actually not even philosophically strictly vegan, although I am vegan in practice. I just weigh the cost/benefit when making decisions. I decide if the questionable nutritional benefit of drugged up animal parts and 20 minutes of pleasure to me is worth a lifetime of cruel conditions and misery for this animal. It just happens to be the case for me personally that I think whatever potential health benefit I get from it isn’t worth such an extreme cost to the animal since I am fortunate enough to be able mantain a healthy body without that. I would feel much better if I could verify that the animal has had a happy life.
For instance, in scotland, there are sheep that are free to roam the unfenced highlands anywhere they like with their babies, and they choose to go back to where the farmer they are used to feeds them in the winters. When they get old, the farmer will quickly kill them, and this is very much in line with their life over countless generations. Philosophically, eating that kind of meat has a much lower cost to me than the cruel factory farms where much meat/animal products come from. That said, at this point in my life, even that cost is not worth it to me, but maybe some day that will change. I can see the argument that maybe killing them at a certain point could be seen as mercy, but still, I’d just rather not at this point in my life.
That was a very interesting read. Thank you! I share a lot of thought with your philosophy and I’m confident that is what most vegans think too. I am too aware and grateful to be able to choose my diet. I don’t blame people who have no choice but to use animals to make a living. Though I sometimes regret that people in developed countries don’t really think about what they put in their plate.
Yeah, I feel lucky to have had it occur to me to think about this stuff. I can’t put into words what a weight was lifted when I stopped supporting that stuff. It is just an all-around emotional lightness that permeates every aspect of my life. It’s like discovering that I had been dragging a sack of rocks for so long that I had just assumed it was a part of life. I can remember how bad it was, and trying to convey this to people always seems to be taken the wrong way. I don’t know why I got lucky in this way, and it is very frustrating to be unable to explain how much better it is since it really feels like a choice that most people could make if they only knew.
Not the person you asked, but in my experience, when I travel I will go to grocery stores often. I personally love seeing what grocery stores are like in other countries, so that ends up being quite a fun experience (for me). But more importantly- it lets you stock up on stuff that you can eat. You have to learn what foods are enjoyable for you to consume cold, or with minimal prep, but in the end it’s not too difficult.
Yes this what I do too. But I mostly visit cities so that’s not too difficult. Hiking on the other end, that must be hard.
Yes, I pretty much exclusively travel abroad. I really don’t find it difficult anymore. Maybe early on, it was annoying, but now I don’t even think much about it.
I don’t regret missing out on the aspect of cultures where people abuse those less fortunate. There are many aspects of peoples lives and cultures that I don’t take part in, but I still have a rich experience when visiting them. I don’t intimidate women into being uneducated, or try to take child brides, or mutilate the genitals of babies, or get blackout drunk and provoke fights, or many other things that are a part of various cultures that are just not for me.
I understand that different people are in different economic situations, and for some people, they have no choice but to eat processed factory farm products to be more healthy than without. It is a shame that that is the case, but I don’t see people in that situation as being immoral. They just have their own situation to weigh.
On the practical side of things, it is easy to refuse food, I am fine just saying that I can’t take it for health reasons if I dont want to get into it with someone. If I want restaurant food, it is generally easy to find Thai, Indian, or to eat a simple salad. Honestly, almost all decent sized cities have specifically vegan restaurants these days, and even more have restaurants with some vegan options. On top of that, I try to do a few week long water fasts each year, so If I ever do find myself in a situation where I absolutely can’t eat a meal or something, it really doesn’t bother me much.
I do eat food from locals. Even the most meat obsessed cultures still have plenty of traditional foods that don’t include animal products. If I am around locals who want to make food for me, then I often get to have a wide range of dishes because they want to make sure I am full. I am very fortunate to be able to travel like I do, so not squeezing every ounce of pleasure out of the misery of others is a small price for me to pay.