Source
r/vegan•
booleanlogicgate

Looking for peer-reviewed sources to defend against common misconception about veganism.

Discussion

Hello, r/vegan - I'm looking for peer-reviewed sources about a particular issue. As I'm sure many of you encounter often, a lot of people claim that veganism is inaccessible and that it's only possible thanks to the modern food system. Vegans usually defend against that kind of criticism by pointing to the historical validity of a plant-based diet - many cultures around the word, before Western colonialism, tended to follow plant-based diets because they are cheaper and more accessible (since eating plants directly is obviously more efficient than feeding them to animals), and that it's more true to say the high rate of meat-eating is in fact more due to the modern food system.

However, the only sources I really have are hearsay, and sometimes it pops up on pro-vegan websites but I never find that the argument is well established. Thanks in advance for any good sources of information you can point me to.

Edit: I have no idea what to tag this as. A 'requesting information' flair would really be a nice addition!

Posted Sep 13, 2016, 5:13 AM UTC

518
TitiartichaudRadical Preachy Vegan•

Here is a paper talking about the stupidity of dismissing veganism as a privilege: http://has.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/04/13/0160597616640308.abstract

3
booleanlogicgateOPveganarchist•

Thanks, this is the kind of thing I'm looking for!

2
TitiartichaudRadical Preachy Vegan•

You're welcome :) I hope your saw the other comments about the paywall.

1
booleanlogicgateOPveganarchist•

I did, thanks! I tend not to run into paywall issues since I'm a grad student but thanks so much for posting the workaround :)

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
pnoque•

Cool, do you know of any online copies that aren't behind paywalls?

1
TitiartichaudRadical Preachy Vegan•

I always forget about these stupid paywalls. Enter the DOI or the address here and enjoy free science. ^Scienceanarchy!

3
[deleted]•

Dr Michael Greger of nutritionfacts.org

And while some don't like vegan gains on YouTube, all the studies he sources are legitimate

Also documentaries like forks over knives and cowspiracy

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booleanlogicgateOPveganarchist•

Thanks! Are these sources more about veganism being healthy, or do they focus on plant-based diets around the world?

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[deleted]•

Not completely sure what you mean, but I guess the first one. And cowspiracy addresses environmental impact. Jon Venus has a great channel, he's definitely proof that veganism is very healthy and can be used for any fitness goal. You can see what he eats too

1
JoshSimiliomnivore•

You want to know about plant-based diets in world history, but exactly what about them? How common such diets were, if they were associated with any health problems, the reasons people ate that way and if it was environmentally efficient for them to do so?

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booleanlogicgateOPveganarchist•

I'm primarily interested in how common they were.

1
k-smixvegan•

it should go without saying there's no cattle, pigs, or hens in nature, so it really doesn't make sense to say "veganism is inaccessible without modern food systems" and then to assume eating beef is any more accessible just because it fits under the broad category of 'meat'.

I live in Australia, so if you were to live off fauna over here, you'd be looking at things like possums, koalas, fish, etc. aside from the fish, they certainly aren't the kinds of thing you'd buy from a supermarket ...

the flora's a bit more interesting (but I guess I'm biased in saying that :-p):

http://www.realaustraliatravel.com/images/bushtucker.jpg

http://www.australia.com/content/australia/en/things-to-do/food-and-wine/contemporary-bush-tucker-in-australian-restaurants/jcr:content/hero/image.adapt.1663.medium.jpg

keep in mind it's not a climate that is particularly supportive of humans, so it would largely be a matter of eating whatever is available, which in dire circumstances includes things like dandelions, tree bark, moss, insects, mushrooms, etc.

I imagine a tropical climate would be far more suitable for humans. :-p

hope this has been helpful, I know it's not exactly what you're looking for, but maybe it'll help give you ideas for further study. something I like doing is just going out into nature and trying to identify the herbs and trees that are around. :-)

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mo0kvegan police•

China Study

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SuperHamsterMan•

I would just say that history has no bearing on anything. The fact of the matter is that we are subject to the modern food system and so are able to thrive as vegans. Therefore it isn't morally justifiable to eat animals.

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booleanlogicgateOPveganarchist•

I just want to be informed. Thanks!

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white_crust_delivery•

Honestly I think the better course of argumentation isn't to counter their point about a modern food system directly, but rather to question the underlying premises of their argument... So what if it's only accessible due to our modern food system? Do any of the people who say this not have access to our modern food system?

1