Vegan and EO?

It might seem strange  for a vegan to be co-founder of GoEO. As an animal rights lover and advocate, a vegetarian since the age of 12, and a vegan for the past 8 years, I can certainly understand why many might see the term “ethical omnivore” as a contradiction in terms – at the end of the day, can eating meat be an ethical choice? When the end result is an animal’s death, do the standards under which that animal lived out his or her life matter?

In many ways these questions are irrelevant to the reasons I am proud and excited to be behind this movement for EO. After nearly twenty years of spreading the message to go veg, eat vegan, or cut animals out of one’s diet and wardrobe, I can say that my message often falls on deaf ears. The gap between what I believe and what many meat-eaters believe is simply too wide. Not only was I not making a greater impact towards improving rights for animals, but I may even have been alienating people who – while not ready to commit to a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle – would be horrified to know the circumstances under which factory farmed animals lived their lives.

The reality is that approximately 95% of people in this country eat meat, whereas only about 5% identify as vegetarian, and roughly 1% as vegan. If I spread my vegan message, I only reach a tiny audience. Yet studies show that many of those 95% meat eaters are dismayed, disgusted, and distraught when they learn the truth behind the meat that is on their plate – the problem is that the message simply isn’t getting out there.

By spreading the word to meat-eaters that they have the power to go EO and change not only their lives, but the lives and suffering of so many billions of animals, I believe I am doing more for animal rights than if I continue to exclusively promote a vegan lifestyle. Of course, there’s plenty of room on the eating spectrum, as we like to think of it around here, and I strongly encourage all those interested in ethical omnivorism to try out many of the amazing, continually evolving vegan products on the market!

You may find that you can eat cheese from an EO-approved family farm one night, but enjoy vegan Daiya mozzarella equally as much on your pizza the next night. Either way, we’re all working together to end animal suffering and animal cruelty, and make this planet a better one for every species with which we share it.

- Rebecca LeMaitre, Co-founder of GoEO