Why I Am an Ex-Vegetarian

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I was born and raised vegetarian, and remained vegetarian for 20 years. But I recently decided to become omnivorous -- that is, include some meat in my diet alongside vegetarian food -- for a while, and see whether I feel any healthier or happier than I did before. University is a time for experimentation, and I feel it's an experiment worth conducting. Here's why I'm questioning the dietary choice my father made both for himself and on my behalf.

Health

While a vegetarian diet does mean not having to worry about saturated fats, so would eating meat in sufficiently small quantities. Eating the right kinds of meat would mean not having to monitor vitamin B12 or omega-3 fatty acids. (It is unknown whether humans can actually extract B12 from plant sources, which presumably includes organic vegan supplements.)

Though vegetarians do live longer than "regular" meat eaters (e.g. most McDonald's regulars), Wikipedia states that "occasional" meat eaters live just as long, and suggests elsewhere that any longevity advantage enjoyed by vegetarians may be (at least partly) because fewer of us are poor.

The longest life isn't necessarily the best life, and I haven't seen any studies on how a vegetarian diet affects quality of life (even without controlling for socioeconomic status).

Animal cruelty

I don't believe the brain of a cow, pig, poultry bird or fish is capable of the kind of suffering modern meat production would actually cause, given that stunning eliminates the physical pain of slaughtering. Perceiving monotony in one's routine and setting requires humanlike sentience, as does wishing one had a more satisfying purpose in life than to produce food for another species. In The Dragons of Eden, Carl Sagan does make a fairly strong case for sentience in chimpanzees and dolphins, but I'm not planning to eat chimpanzee or dolphin meat (and I will avoid tuna that lacks a dolphin-safe label).

Ecology

This leaves the issue of carbon footprint, but the carbon footprint of Ontario free-range grass-fed beef may well be lower than that of beans grown with all kinds of imported pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Some have suggested replacing meat and fodder production in North America with grain production directly for human consumption as a solution to world hunger; however, experts say this would create a loss of biodiversity and wouldn't solve the political and logistical problems that stand between the developing world and what is already a surplus of food in North America.

As ecologist Dave Riley puts it, "[Y]ams, which keep poorly, are stored inside pigs, and today's rotting apples attracting fruit fly are tomorrow's bacon." Not only do livestock allow us to indirectly consume spoiled food that we can't eat ourselves, but they also serve to condense protein and other nutrients before the carbon-intensive process of shipping to cities (and campuses).

This does not mean I'm satisfied that eating meat will lower my carbon footprint, or that it will be acceptable with or without meat, but I don't think I can be satisfied of either statement's truth given the limits of current scientific knowledge on the subject. But vegetarianism isn't a carbon-neutral diet, and it likely doesn't have the lowest carbon footprint among possible diets.

Economics

Given that I've on many occasions had to turn down free leftover food because it contained meat, and that pepperoni and cheese pizza are the same price in cafeterias on my campus, I'll be able to limit my consumption of meat to times when it won't cost more than a vegetarian meal providing comparable nutrition. (Indeed, if I were going to worry about my omega-3 intake, vegetarianism would probably be more expensive than a diet including fish, given the price of flax oil.)

Social life

Finally, as a Trent University student, I'm the sort of person who could probably benefit from one fewer difference from the majority of my peers. On top of having Asperger Syndrome and no driver's licence, I'm a science major from a working-class family who cares about my average and wants to actually learn, surrounded it seems by mostly humanities majors from middle-class families whose grades wouldn't get them in anywhere else and who are only there to get the credentials for career purposes.

Conclusion

In short, I feel the dietary option that's best for the body, the mind, the palate or the environment is probably not always the vegetarian one, and that believing otherwise without having tried a diet with meat is at best an unproven heuristic, and at worst a superstition.

Although I agree that the average North American eats too much meat, that does not mean the optimum -- from any point of view, be it ecological, economic or medical -- is no meat at all. Advocates of vegetarianism too often seem to fall into the trap of all-or-nothing thinking. I suspect there is an optimal dietary balance that includes some meat, and this balance is what I seek.