Karl wrote:Pancake wrote:There are other benefits to choosing a vegan diet, e.g. environmental.
Are there any benefits to eating meat other than that it tastes good?
It goes back to my earlier point: you can defend your right to eat meat and point out that eating meat is not inherently wrong but it's difficult to make a case that eating meat is the right thing to do.
I don't have a problem accepting that vegans have made the superior dietary choice. It's not surprising that some of them get a little sanctimonious.
It's primarily down to governments and farms to work together on legislation and iterate towards lowering the carbon footprint of meat. It's not the consumer's responsibility.
We'll end up lab-growing meat eventually which will probably provide meaningful progress on that front.
Combatting climate change has to involve international collaboration of governments, scientists and businesses. Torturing yourself with kale isn't going to save the environment.
We're going in circles. I've said I agree with the above. I'm making a very simple point:
Does a meat based diet provide adequate nutritional benefit and taste nice? Yes.
Does a plant based diet provide adequate nutritional benefit and taste nice? Yes, but maybe not quite as nice.
Is a meat based diet healthy? Certainly can be but probably slightly higher risk than a plant based one, although more research is needed.
Is a plant based diet healthy? Certainly can be.
Are there animal welfare issues related to the neat industry? Yes.
Are there animal welfare issues related to the plant industry? Probably but not nearly as many.
Are there environmental issues arising from the meat industry? Yes.
Are there environmental issues arising from the plant industry? Yes but current evidence suggests not nearly to the same degree.
Whether it's up to governments to legislate for animal welfare and environmental issues is besides the point. As far as I can see, a plant based diet is a better diet because it has fewer issues. When I asked people to give me some benefits to a meat based diet I got the usual tired arguments about meat being nutritious (sure, so are plants) and how there are environmental issues related to a vegan diet (sure but it's not as bad, according to latest evidence).
I'm not telling you what to eat. I'm not telling you to go vegan. I'm not saying eating meat is wrong. I'm just pointing out that a vegan diet is logically better.