Taste vs Ethics

“I could never be vegan because I like the taste of meat too much.”

Custard good! Jam good! Meat gooooood! Eggs are in everything, cheese is delicious, and animal products are incredibly convenient

However, I already know that animals feel pain and that a plant-based diet is nutritionally adequate. That means eating meat isn’t necessary. It is a choice, driven entirely by convenience and taste.

The logic of that choice essentially boils down to this:

Taste + Convenience > Unnecessary Suffering

Which simplifies down to:

My Sensory Pleasure > Unnecessary Suffering

I don’t know if I can justify that.

The Slippery Slope

But I mean, this equation could be applied to other aspects of my life as well, right? So shouldn’t I just disregard this completely if I cannot be perfect? This line of thinking is covered with the perfectionist fallacy or whataboutism. The argument goes: because I cannot eliminate 100% of the harm in my life, I shouldn’t bother eliminating any of it.

But I think there is a massive difference in scale, intent, and practicability (which is crucial in the definition of veganism).

Living and working in London (using transport, buying electronics) involves complex, systemic harm that is practically impossible to completely avoid. But eating a chicken is a direct, deliberate choice to fund the killing of a sentient being solely for 15 minutes of flavour, especially when a harmless alternative (like tofu) is sitting right next to it in the my supermarket.

See no evil, taste no evil

Currently the sensory pleasure in the equation is taste:

My Sensory Pleasure === Taste

But what if the sense was something other than taste?

If I am at someone’s house, and they kick their cat just because they find the sound it makes funny, they are prioritising their sensory pleasure (entertainment) over the animal’s wellbeing. They are acting unethically, and hopefully we would all condemn them for it.

If it’s wrong to harm an animal for auditory pleasure, or visual pleasure (like bullfighting), or tactile pleasure (like fur coats), why does taste pleasure get a free pass?

If I pay a slaughterhouse to raise a chicken in abysmal conditions and slit its throat just because I enjoy the taste of a Pepe’s Chick ‘n’ Rice box for a few minutes, am I not doing the exact same thing?

The Final Verdict

Do you remember what you ate for your last meal? Same! Do you remember what you had for lunch yesterday? Same! Do you remember what you had for dinner two days ago? I think I do. Do you remember what you had for lunch two weeks ago? Yeah, not at all

At the end of the day, a meal lasts ~20 minutes. The loss of life is permanent.

I don’t know if a 20 minute meal that I won’t even remember is worth more than the permanent loss of a life.