On why I am not a Vegetarian

PETA recently ran full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere with (Sir) Paul McCartney wearing PETA’s “Eat No Animal” shirt. It was accompanied by his description of the first time it hit him that animals value their lives just as much as humans do. It was when he caught a fish and he realized, as he was reeling it in, that he was killing it. I can relate – the same experience put an end to my fishing. Anyone with a dog or a cat understands that animals feel pain and it’s not a big leap to recognize that fish do too.

That said, much as I love PETA, I like eating meat and fish more.

I am aware of three valid reasons for turning vegetarian, or even vegan. They are health and dietary reasons; ethical and philosophical reasons like McCartney’s; and environmental reasons, in that all those animals are pumping out methane and otherwise affecting the climate and the land. All of these reasons are appealing to me but I would like to think that moderation in eating is just as valid a response. I don’t think you can have a debate about the merits of vegetarianism without first addressing issues of obesity and gluttony, and especially the disgusting waste of food and overconsumption of drink that I see at various restaurants and parties, especially when so much of it is thrown away. Vegetarianism is an individual action and, praiseworthy though it is, it will not change the bigger issues that affect our food supply.

The ethical/philosophical argument is the most interesting to me. Historically, going vegetarian can occur at any stage in life. Leonardo Da Vinci became vegetarian late in life and it seems to have grown out of a genuine empathy with the plight of animals – for example he would buy pigeons in order to set them free. Small gestures, of course, but they got attention. He was the PETA of his day. Shelley and Byron when they were young defended and practiced vegetarianism, associating eating meat with gluttony and consumerism. The aristocracy could afford meat but the working classes got by on enforced vegetarianism - potatoes and vegetables. So, Shelley wrote “A Vindication of Natural Diet” (1813) and his wife Mary made Frankenstein’s monster a vegetarian.

Still, over the centuries, very few have turned vegetarian for ethical reasons. That’s a modern thing. Despite what you read on vegan websites, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, Rene Descartes, John Locke (who promoted a vegetarian diet for children, in 1692), Alexander Pope (who wrote the essay, “Against Barbarity to Animals,” in 1713), Samuel Richardson, JJ Rousseau (“Emile” contains a defense of vegetarianism) were all in favor of meat-eating as long as the killing was humane. I learned this from Tristram Stuart’s excellent book The Bloodless Revolution. It was during these centuries that Europe became aware of India and its millions of vegetarians - living proof that mass societies can survive just fine on vegetarian diets.

So, good for Sir Paul, but it’s not for me. At least we can agree that if we don’t enjoy what we eat, we aren’t living.