Basic Survival Isn't Vegan

Vegetarians in Paradise, a website devoted to all things veggie, recently posted a basic survival guide for anything from flooding to the inevitable return of Xenu. One of the major issues for veggies is getting protein. According to ViP, "You may be able to get vegan food in a disaster, but you can count on NOT getting vegan protein. For that reason your survival kit should focus on protein sources."

BoingBoing, a directory of wonderful things, posted this a few days ago and received a plethora of feedback, including gems like, "there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no vegans in tsunamis" and "I'll be eating the vegetarians to get my protein source."

So, vegetarians/vegans, would you eat meat as a last resort?

--Spanno

Comments

[Jodi Russell on January 11, 2008 at 12:00 PM]

One problem is that after being a vegetarian for a long time, I hear, we loose the flora in our intestines necessary to digest meat. At least that is what I was told when I ate two tacos at 16, after being a vegetarian for 8 years. I ended up miserable with a really bad stomach ache. I am not almost 38, so I don't remember anything other than I wouldn't go it again.

[Brian Douthit on January 12, 2008 at 04:53 AM]

Many vegans and vegetarians choose not to eat meat for ethical and health reasons. In some sort of calamity it would be ethical to stay alive (remaining healthy) by eating meat. Ethics, afterall, is a convenience of a functioning society.

[Dale on January 12, 2008 at 12:43 PM]

So, ethics is a matter of convenience? And if it is much more convenient to eat a vegan in a disaster than to find other foodstuffs ... well, hopefully there will be plenty of A1.

[Brian on January 12, 2008 at 01:04 PM]

I loose the flora in my intestines about once a day.

[Kasper Hauser on January 12, 2008 at 01:11 PM]

I bet vegan taste great, especially those pampered West Coast vegans--like Kobe beef or veal.

[Just Some Guy on January 12, 2008 at 01:15 PM]

Most disasters sufficiently disastrous to require breaking open the survivor kit will leave plenty of dead animals and humans lying around, so if a vegan has ethical reasons for avoiding meat products, wouldn't they be moot? Sorta like those Argentine soccer players in the Andes after the plane crash?

[Pixelkiller on January 12, 2008 at 01:18 PM]

Baby Vegans taste better are more tender I'll bet. You can always throw in an apple or two for old time's sake I guess.

[GK on January 12, 2008 at 01:43 PM]

People who are vegetarians for health or ethical reasons would have no trouble eating meat occasionally in an emergency.

People who are vegetarians for religious reasons, it is hard to say. These are people (mostly Hindus) who vomit even when they smell meat, and cannot bear to be at a table where others eat meat. You probably would not get a Muslim or Orthodox Jew to eat pork (even though they eat other meats) either, no matter what. They just don't consider it to be a legitimate food.

[Isabel1130 on January 12, 2008 at 02:10 PM]

"You probably would not get a Muslim or Orthodox Jew to eat pork (even though they eat other meats) either, no matter what. They just don't consider it to be a legitimate food."

Well this hypothesis was adequately disproved in the concentration camps in World War II. Orthodox Jews will eat what they can get in a survival situation.

[BladeDoc on January 12, 2008 at 02:28 PM]

Can't speak to Islam but in Judaism pretty much every rule other than the big 10 have emergency dispensation (i.e. a doctor can work on the Sabbath in order to save life, etc. etc.).

[David on January 12, 2008 at 03:05 PM]

According to the accounts I've read, Polish Jewish partisans during WW2 relied heavily on keeping and eating pigs to keep themselves nourished. As noted above, Jewish law is very flexible when it comes to extreme-case situations.

[kcom on January 12, 2008 at 03:31 PM]

"I bet vegan taste great, especially those pampered West Coast vegans--like Kobe beef or veal." - Brian

Channeling Homer Simpson: "Mmmmmmmm, vegans."

[Grimmy on January 12, 2008 at 03:39 PM]

You could be a vegan for health reasons, but not for ethical or moral reasons - plants and bacteria are complex organisms struggling to survive, too. Some plants even emit chemical "screams" when attacked, warning other plants to produce toxins to ward of attackers. Bacteria are like small cities with computers and thousands of parts.

So ... please, no "ethical" reasons. Hitler was a vegetarian, too.

[ben on January 12, 2008 at 03:53 PM]

Pointless invocation of Hitler's vegetarianism, check.

[Caspar on January 12, 2008 at 04:26 PM]

...ethics is important. It's the grease makes us get along, what separates us from the animals, beasts of burden, beasts of prey. Ethics. Whereas Hitler is a horse of a different color ethics-wise. As in, he ain't got any.

[ymal brucker on January 12, 2008 at 04:40 PM]

There are only three commandments a Jew may not break when a life is in danger: Murder, adultry, and idolatry(the greatest sins against your fellow man, the family, and God). In all other cases, it is not only permitted to break a commandment to save a life, it is meritorious.

[el duderino on January 12, 2008 at 05:16 PM]

You eat meat once - where's it all end? An interesting ethical question.

[Caspar on January 12, 2008 at 05:21 PM]

I'll admit, since last we ate meat my stomach's been seizing up on me.

[Wacky Hermit on January 12, 2008 at 06:32 PM]

I'm not a vegan nor a vegetarian, but I have children with multiple food allergies including milk and eggs, so we eat vegan food all the time (along with our meat) and rely heavily on vegan cookbooks for things like baked goods and salad dressings. I think that anyone who's on a special diet for any reason (ethical, health, or religious) would be prudent to store enough of their preferred food to get themselves through a crisis. If FEMA's not going to bring you a vegan or kosher meal, they sure as hell won't be bringing you a diabetic or allergen-free meal either.

So what the hell is all this vegan-bashing about? Isn't it prudent for everyone to have emergency food, even vegans? Yeah, I know it'd be fun in a bullying sort of way to force vegans to eat meat, but didn't your parents raise you better than that?

[Speedwell on January 12, 2008 at 09:13 PM]

There are plenty of atheists serving as active duty military. And there are plenty of vegan ways to store food and prepare for a disaster. We are vegans and we started such a disaster preparedness storage program a couple years ago. We now have almost a full year of long-term-packed provisions stored.

That said, keeping oils around for that length of time is a problem we're still trying to solve. Red Feather canned butter keeps for years and we have some, but we're looking for a vegan alternative.

Would we eat meat in an emergency? Depends. One reason we are vegans is that we consider the current way meat is slaughtered, processed, stored, and sold to be very unsanitary and the cause of many unnecessary illnesses. Would an emergency cause the meat industry to suddenly decide to clean up their act? Probably not.

Then again, an "emergency" could be many things. Arriving at Grandma's house after a long flight, to be greeted with "I made you guys my special pot roast", is an emergency that we respond to by eating the ambrosia from heaven that a sweet little old lady slaved over so we could feel special.

[bejeezus on January 13, 2008 at 01:55 AM]

The whole presumption that meat would be the only source of protein is ludicrous. If dreaded doomsday comes, what on earth makes you think there would be any meat left whilst every single plant source of protein just vanishes?? Think about it, what do the animals that become meat eat? That's right, plants. Basic logic here folks. And yes, I am an "ethical vegan," & NO I will not eat meat ever, simply because the whole meat-or-death scenario, as I just outlined is preposterous. It's so hilarious how meat-eaters perpetuate the protein myth as they hyperventilate about how we'll all keel over & die if we don't eat enough protein. Guess what: THERE IS PROTEIN IN EVERY EDIBLE THING YOU EAT. If anything, the majority get an overabundance of protein, especially the animal kind, which have proven to cause major diseases e.g., The China Studyhttp://www.thechinastudy.com/about.html The protein myth is truly a pathological lie.

[bejeezus on January 13, 2008 at 02:21 AM]

"Some plants even emit chemical "screams" when attacked, warning other plants to produce toxins to ward of attackers. Bacteria are like small cities with computers and thousands of parts."

Puleeze, isn't this anti-veg cliché dead yet? The animal-pomorphising of plants & microscopic organisms has got to stop!! It's about the actual ability to suffer & feel pain, which is only possible with a central nervous system, which they do not have. It's the CNS, stupid.
I just found this site http://ar.vegnews.org/ has some great answers to the plethora of clichés.

[grantaireofjc on January 13, 2008 at 10:09 AM]

Vegans have the best potential to survive. Have you ever seen the tons of beans and such dropped off to shelters. No one is donating prime rib, hot dogs, or even jerky. We get cans of baked beans and such that would sustain us for longer than the average joe carnivore. In the end if all left was just pure meat, I'd indulge to survive, but many meat eaters will gone before me.

[adie on January 13, 2008 at 03:14 PM]

"Can't speak to Islam but in Judaism pretty much every rule other than the big 10 have emergency dispensation (i.e. a doctor can work on the Sabbath in order to save life, etc. etc.)."

Every rule other than three (Sabbath is one of the big 10 - you do mean the ten commandments, right? - so you've disproven your own thesis.)

[Grond on January 13, 2008 at 03:52 PM]

"Vegans have the best potential to survive. Have you ever seen the tons of beans and such dropped off to shelters. No one is donating prime rib, hot dogs, or even jerky. We get cans of baked beans and such that would sustain us for longer than the average joe carnivore. In the end if all left was just pure meat, I'd indulge to survive, but many meat eaters will gone before me."

Yeah right j@ck @ss...keep thinking that while I beat your pathetically weak, frail body into submission and take the baked beans to enjoy with my bacon...or what ever else is lying around...

[Jamie on January 13, 2008 at 04:07 PM]

adie, do you think the meat-eaters would refuse the baked beans? Flexibility... it's the key. It's also (I think) why we have canines AND molars.

[Speedwell on January 13, 2008 at 05:49 PM]

From a long-time and current vegan to so-called "ethical" vegans: You obsessed fanatics make me sick. You're the kind of people who would deliberately hurt someone's feelings or destroy their property just to prove your point. You're in the same category as the PETA people who "euthanized" dogs that were supposed to have been cared for in a "no-kill" shelter. You would, in short, cause pain and death in your "good cause" of avoiding pain and death. I have a name for you, and it's not "ethical."

[Decken on January 14, 2008 at 11:24 AM]

Ethics has nothing to do with being a Vegan or Vegetarian. If you don't want to eat meat then don't eat meat. Simple.

Ethics has a lot to do with casting aspersions on others because of your personal choices. The “ethical” argument that Vegan chooses not to eat meat because of the methods used for slaughtering can be removed by having the slaughtering done in a Vegan acceptable manner.

What is un-ethical is to set up a secondary system of Superior Rights for those who declare themselves to moral or ethically superior to others. I believe in cause “X” as I am a better person then the non-believer, therefore I am entitled to an extra set of Rights.

I have no problem with people who don’t eat meat. I do have a problem with them announcing it and then lauding their dietary habits over me.

One special Right that “Vegans” and/or the plant eaters, seem to have is the Right to constantly eat in front of me. They just seem to be hungry all the time and because they are vegetarians they have the special Right to eat in awkward situations. Stop it. We booted the smokers outside because we did not want them smoking in front of us. Bad manners are still bad manners; nothing to do with health or rights. Just stop eating in front of me because you are hungry between “meals”. And stop telling me about your personal problems with meat I don’t want to hear about it when I am in a captive situation. (Oh, and try to take a bath, comb your hair and get those Hemp clothes dry-cleaned once in a while.

[BostonBarrister on January 18, 2008 at 04:24 PM]

You can't be a vegan for health reasons - at least not for valid health reasons...

As to vegetarians, I think the healthy effects of vegetarianism tend to be misattributed - they're often attributed to cutting out meat, when really they should be attributed to eating more fruits and vegetables. All of the "proof" I've seen for the health effects of vegetarianism come from comparisons with an average American diet, not with a healthy omnivorous diet containing fruits and veggies with each meal.