Eating Vegan Fictionally?

Gup Trace

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I was recently in a conversation with one of my friends about what a Vegan would consider eating in a fictional world. He then brought up Bulbasaur the fictional Pokemon creature and asked me if I would eat it if I was a Vegan. I feel like this has room for debate because it is a fully functioning plant, but it also has thoughts and feelings. I decided to come here for a second opinon because I know little to nothing about Veganism. Please let me know your thoughts. Also here is a link to information about Bulbasaur if you are unfamiliar; http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Bulbasaur_(Pokémon)
 
It's an interesting - if slightly bizarre - question, but totally not my area.
Looking forward to seeing what the other members think!
 
Pokemon, didn't think that would make it's way here.

I think if anything has the capacity to be self aware or sentient, you should not be consuming it. In the Pokemon world you should be able to determine between a traditional plant and a Bulbasaur?
 
This is indirectly the 'what if plants have feelings and feel pain ?' question.

If they do, it still makes sense to turn vegan, here's why, in very short:

1) animal agriculture is destroying the planet: immense amounts of land and air infested with diseased animals remains.

2) people are starving in some parts of the world because of animal agriculture: for example in Africa the richer countries (Western world, China etc) buy the best land to grow crop to feed cows, pigs and chicken. It means that locals do not have room to grow enough crop and starve.

3) All animals, directly or indirectly feed on plants: carnivores tend to love eating vegan animals from the intestines where the plants have been partially digested (because carnivores cannot digest fully the plants, but still require the nutrients from plays). Unlike carnivore animals, us humans can eat plants directly, no need for the indirect route via meat.

So from an ethical and health perspective, it would still make sense to eat Bulbasaur instead of cows, pigs and chicken.

Gab
 
As an alternative but slightly related topic, I saw in my FB feed an article on changing the terminology of "cruelty-free" diet/lifestyle to one that takes out the alleged moral element. If I can find the link again I will post it.

The author indicated that many of our vegan staples are actually cruel to humans, by essentially coming from sources that might use child labour (the harvesting of cacao pods by five year olds wielding machetes) and/or dangerous chemicals causing burns (the cracking of cashew shells).

It was an interesting concept ... moving vegan thought (and moral fortitude) away from "I don't eat meat/Pokemon! because it is cruelty-ridden" to something (in the view of the author) that was more realistic. The terminology change acknowledges cruelty to all animals (+humans) occurs often with our food including the plant-based products.
 
Some good points @fzjohnson and essentially that is why I try to tell members here not to go all-in for the angry, apathetic, or devastated vegan trope. That kindness towards animals includes kindness towards our fellow man, and even ourselves.

You might find a site like www.ethicalconsumer.org interesting - with its rating system.
There is also www.thegoodshoppingguide.com but it's not quite as good.

I mention these sites because they also explore human cruelty as well as animal cruelty when it comes to product ratings.
 
Interesting direction for this thread - I definitely know vegans that actually 'hate' other people (in their words) and would see humanity go extinct to protect the animals and the planet. That is an extreme view of course.

I love people, and love other creatures too.
 
I must admit, I love animals more than people. I would not eat anything that had a face, feeling and a pulse.
 
when it comes to love, doesn't it depend on the animal or the person?
There are some people who are definitely second to a gnat, but others put up a fighting chance with baby pandas and the like ;-)
(just kidding ... )