I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
@danirabbit
I don't actually hate this but it's just reinventing the idea of vegetarianism.& maybe that does need some rejuvinating & maybe that'll do some good in the world, still it's really not veganism.
I don't think it's cool to benefit from the moral associations of veganism without the hard work (being an animal use abolitionist).
I guess vegetarianism is kinda lame nowadays (now we say plant-based or plant forward or 'vegan'), & part of that is because veganism makes it look obsolete, but you can't just take the name without doing the work.
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@danirabbit
I don't actually hate this but it's just reinventing the idea of vegetarianism.& maybe that does need some rejuvinating & maybe that'll do some good in the world, still it's really not veganism.
I don't think it's cool to benefit from the moral associations of veganism without the hard work (being an animal use abolitionist).
I guess vegetarianism is kinda lame nowadays (now we say plant-based or plant forward or 'vegan'), & part of that is because veganism makes it look obsolete, but you can't just take the name without doing the work.
@Opticacia I don’t know if you know this but bacon is not a vegetable
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Maybe you can’t buy everything local. What one thing can you start buying local? Can you switch from Starbucks to the local coffee shop? Can you switch from Petco to the local pet feed store? Can you switch from Dominoes to a local pizza place?
Maybe you can’t completely de-Google or de-Apple or de-Amazon your life. Can you switch one thing? Can you use DuckDuckGo? Move your passwords to Bitwarden? Open a Fastmail account?
@danirabbit And you might just find that it was worth it for more reasons than you first thought.
I've become a regular at one of my local coffee shops, and at this point I've gotten to know the owner, employees, and some of the other regulars well enough that I go there as much for the community as the coffee at this point!
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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
@danirabbit once I learned this, it became much less pressure. Just add a little exercise. Read one chapter of a book. Eat less meat.
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@danirabbit And you might just find that it was worth it for more reasons than you first thought.
I've become a regular at one of my local coffee shops, and at this point I've gotten to know the owner, employees, and some of the other regulars well enough that I go there as much for the community as the coffee at this point!
@jfred yeah I know most of the names of the people at my local coffee shop now and when they’re not busy we chat and catch up. And I know they care about paying a livable wage and ethically sourcing their coffee too! I miss PSLs, but I’ve gained much more than I’ve lost
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@danirabbit Which I know, sounds more like vegetarian, but I suppose vegetarian is vegan + anyway.
@beecycling @danirabbit Isn't this pretty much exactly the definition of vegetarianism?
(specifically, "ovo-lacto" vegetarianism - but that's what I think most people mean when they say "vegetarian".)
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@danirabbit I'm sort of like that, although it's vegan plus eggs, cheese and yoghurt. (Cheese and yoghurt are hard to find vegan versions of and eggs I just flipping love.) Otherwise I only very rarely eat meat or fish and I use oat milk.
@beecycling @danirabbit TBF the vegan versions of eggs and cheese and yogurt usually have almost zero protein, which we need for loads of reasons, so the real thing will keep you healthier.
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@danirabbit So weird that it's bacon. I've been vegetarian for 27 years and I don't miss bacon at all. There are many forms of meat that I remember being a lot better.
@SordidAmok @danirabbit I'm sort of "morally lucky", I guess: I've been vegetarian for 33 years ... and I actually never liked meat. When I was a kid, I *hated* having to eat meat - in part because of not liking the thought of what it was, but also simply because I found the taste and (especially) the texture revolting.
So when I discovered that there was a magic word you could call yourself and then the grown-ups would stop trying to make you eat meat, I was *so* relieved!
(I generally don't use meat substitute products - I'm not opposed to them at all; if people can go vegetarian or vegan by replacing actual meat with that, fine by me! But some of the current ones are so convincing that I get the same "yuck!" factor if I try to eat them.)
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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
You see it a lot with everything. The $solution isn't perfect so it isn't worth doing at all. I'm thinking specifically of renewable resources here. "Solar doesn't cover 100% of our energy needs, so we'll just keep burning gas, and throwing some more coal on the pile".
A tiny bit better is still better, and it equals a lot when 350 million people make trivial changes. At that scale, it's no longer trivial, and can be further improved over time.
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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
@danirabbit I eat meat less frequently than I used to, in smaller portions, and I generally buy it from the farmers' market when I do. I'm not pretending I'm an ethical superstar, but I'm doing what I feel is reasonable without denying myself something I enjoy. (And I actually savour it more for being a smaller part of my diet.)
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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
@danirabbit 100%. I’ve been a committed vegetarian for a long time but when I go home and visit London I always get a Fish and Chips from my favourite place. I don’t feel bad about it because I’ve already put the hours in. I look forward to it.
And you know what? My non-veggie friends see that and tell me if they can “lapse” now and again they’ll make the switch too. Changing habits is a process, far easier to do at your own pace.
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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
@danirabbit I'm Vegan+
Vegan + Bacon.
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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
@danirabbit Elsewhere, a guy was arguing the difference between plant-based vs vegetarian/vegan. You cannot be the latter unless you’re fighting for animal rights!
People love to put their own labels on others. Having a couple of vegetarian meals a week can make an impact on health and environment.
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Maybe you can’t buy everything local. What one thing can you start buying local? Can you switch from Starbucks to the local coffee shop? Can you switch from Petco to the local pet feed store? Can you switch from Dominoes to a local pizza place?
Maybe you can’t completely de-Google or de-Apple or de-Amazon your life. Can you switch one thing? Can you use DuckDuckGo? Move your passwords to Bitwarden? Open a Fastmail account?
These are all really good ideas, for making small, productive changes. Thanks for pointing them out.
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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
@danirabbit I think I could do "whatever you eat now plus more bacon".
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@Opticacia I don’t know if you know this but bacon is not a vegetable
@danirabbit
Neither are eggs and milk.Of course, you could stick to strict definitions of vegetarianism or plant-based diets, I don't really see the imperative.
I get this is a strange take, but from my perspective vegetarianism isn't so different from 'flexitarianism', in that they both lean on plants heavily but arbitraily include some animal products according to personal preference.
But all that aside, veganism isn't (just) a diet and there's no half-measures, you either do it or you don't.
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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
@danirabbit Jeez of you can live without black pudding, surely bacon is just a rounding error?

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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
@danirabbit Yeah, people are so black-and-white in their thinking. Including me often, although I fight against it.
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I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.
People often avoid making small positive changes because they get caught up in trying to go all the way. For example, “I could never go vegan. I love bacon too much”.
So then go vegan plus bacon. Or vegetarian plus bacon. Or just switch to oat milk and eat more vegetables. Whatever small change you can make is good
Example from my life:
I'm generally pretty cook-from-scratch & environmentally conscious, but right now in this phase of life, using a few of those little instant microwave rice baggies per month makes a huge difference to my ability to navigate disaster capitalism and make a lunch me and the kid both enjoy.
In a couple of years I'll go back to using the rice cooker, and I'm just not gonna beat myself up about it too much. -
@thomholwerda @danirabbit Longer lives and more space to roam actually makes meat *more* tasty, since the muscles get a chance to actually develop. It costs more because the livestock-feed-to-saleable-meat throughput of any given piece of land is much lower. One of the butchers I buy from (Porter Road) specifically pitches this as the reason higher prices are worth paying.
@bob_zim @thomholwerda @danirabbit Yeah, silvopasture or other regenerative pasturing isn't just *possible*, it's how nature evolved to keep sequestering carbon into gorgeous, vibrant, three-foot-deep soil for rich grasslands and scrublands. It also makes for happy grazers, often protected from predators, with medical care.
It just doesn't produce huge amounts of meat and money per acre when people are habituated to prices that come of thinking of meat as "every meal, what living conditions" and not sacred, rare, festival food.