I have this fantasy that if all the McDonald's suddenly went vegan, no one would really notice the difference, or complain. No one goes to McDonald's to eat healthy food anyway, so as long as it was still fast, cheap and tasted good, I believe it wouldn't matter.
Now, I'm not examining the issues surrounding "fast food" and what that implies about our society's priorities; I'm only conjuring up a scenario based on our current habits. And recognizing that being vegan isn't really a matter of difficulty for a society, but only a matter of us currently having a fast-food, animal-product dominated, society.
I've often presented the question to others who still choose to eat animals and animal products about what they would do if suddenly there were no animals to eat. The answer has always been that they would no longer eat them - or they offer no answer at all. But the answer has yet to be "I wouldn't survive." (I imagine that would be a pretty ridiculous answer when the person asking the question is a thriving vegan!) Vegans are living proof that you don't need to eat animals and their byproducts to survive.
We all know the phenomenon where someone tastes something and declares it delicious, only to retract their assessment once it's revealed to them it is something they previously declared unappetizing. Some get angry, believing they have been deceived. But some realize through this exercise how their perceptions had been dictating their food choices, rather than actual taste. And I'm sure these scenarios would play out in a sudden McDonald's conversion. Now I know it's a stretch that you could replicate all the flavors in McDonald's products perfectly in vegan forms, but I imagine if they became the only options - either you eat this or stop eating at McDonald's - people would most likely be unwilling to give up the cheap convenience due to a lack of animal parts, if it was at least tasty.
At least that's what I choose to believe. That if there was no other choice, society would have no problem being vegan.
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Absolutely! I was at a picnic once and I took my own vegan patties. I only had one, so the person cooking just cooked up the rest and served them. No one knew or cared. The only time it would be a real issue would be if the diner was allergic to soy, but allergic people probably ask the same way we do. So, if someone asks if there is soy it is probably wise ask if they are allergic.
I firmly believe that all we need to make the world vegan is the same advertising and convenience the animal products have.
That's one of the tragedies of this ongoing atrocity - it's so arbitrary and avoidable. It's practically just a combination of consumers' habits and producers' greed. I firmly agree - if tomorrow all the restaurants, fast food joints, bakeries, and other eating establishements offered 100 percent vegan menus, the public would get used to it no time; the norm would quickly shift. And I suspect that the thought of eating animals would rather quickly seem barbaric, and be widely condemned (since the practice would be in the past, and the conflict of interest that generates defenses of eating animals would have disappeared). The solution is so close yet so far away - which is excruciating.
Thanks for an excellent, provocative post.
It is frustrating, because we know firsthand that eating can be satisfying and delicious without the inclusion of animal products, but that society's obsession with adding them into every conceivable item is the reason so much is ingested.
If you really start to think of types of foods that have the addition of whey (milk), egg or animal broths, for instance, it becomes mindboggling at the sheer number of products that would taste the same without them! Would anyone really miss these ingredents? And how many animals would be spared incredible suffering just by eliminating them?
Hopefully the public will become more discerning about ingredients and start to more thoroughly question manufacturers about the inclusion of unneccessary animal products, as they continue to become more health conscious and as ingredient labeling becomes more standardized. And of course, we need to continue to make people aware of all the reasons they should go vegan.
Overcoming the misinformation corporations spew to the public, in order to profit off of animal exploitation, is paramount. Most people, once they know they are being duped, don't stand for it for very long. I know once I was educated about the truth, I very quickly stopped supporting those industries.
I suspect that as you say if McDonald's went vegan most people would simply continue eating it without other options.
For a list of current vegan options at McDonald's and other chains:
Vegan Fast Food Menu Options
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