There are people around the world who, as a principle, do not eat meat—namely, vegetarians and vegans. They follow diets that exclude the flesh of animals such as meat and seafood and their by-products, or all animal-derived foods, for a variety of reasons. The history of vegetarianism is in fact long; for example, it was practiced in Egypt for about 4,000 years. The reasons they choose not to consume animals are by no means uniform. In this article, I would like to introduce what “vegetarianism,” which has existed from ancient times to the present, actually is, why it is practiced, and the impact it has on society and the planet.

Vegetables lined up at a market (brainsick/Pxhere [CC0])

What is vegetarianism? How is it different from veganism?

People who do not eat meat or seafood are called “vegetarians,” and the principle itself is called “vegetarianism.” In fact, there are several types of vegetarianism, but what they all have in common is that they do not eat meat. According to the Vegetarian Society, a typical vegetarian does not consume animal flesh, seafood such as fish and shellfish, or any by-products of animal slaughter. Therefore, vegetarians may consume eggs and dairy products. There are foods that some people choose to include or exclude, and the terminology differs accordingly (Note 1). A more stringent form of vegetarianism that excludes eggs, dairy, and all animal-derived foods, including honey, is called “veganism,” and those who practice it—as well as the diet itself—are called vegan (Note 2).

On the other hand, some people practice a relatively looser form of vegetarianism. Examples include pescatarians, who do not eat meat but do eat seafood, and flexitarians, who are basically vegetarian but allow meat in certain situations. However, since these people do consume animal flesh, they are sometimes interpreted as not fitting the definition of vegetarian. While vegetarianism allows for some choice regarding what to consume or avoid, veganism avoids anything that involves even a small degree of animal exploitation.

So why are vegetarianism and veganism practiced? Below is a summary of the reasons and background behind the choice not to consume animals.

Vegetarianism and veganism as consideration for animals

One of the reasons many people around the world do not consume animals is religion. Let us begin with India, the country with the largest number of vegetarians. India is deeply tied to Hinduism, and roughly 80% of the population is Hindu. Ahimsa (non-violence, non-killing) is a fundamental principle of Hinduism, and eating animals is taboo, so there are many vegetarians. In surveys conducted so far, the proportion of vegetarians in India has been put at about 30–40% of the population. However, some point out that this figure is influenced by social pressure that regards not eating meat as virtuous, and that the real proportion is around 20%. In any case, the fact that at least one in five people do not eat meat is the highest proportion in the world.

Hindu vegetarian cuisine (chiragkpatel/Flickr [CC BY-NC 2.0])

However, some argue that the association of vegetarianism with Hindu teachings has social and political underpinnings. According to this view, there was once a strategy to ensure that the Brahmin class (the highest caste) could consume meat without worrying about shortages. It is also noted that when Islam entered India in the 8th century, consumption of beef—normally avoided by Hindus—increased, threatening the supply of dairy products. The scheming of upper castes to reduce meat consumption under the pretext of religion, it is said, has come to be seen as a religious virtue today.

There are others who refrain from eating meat due to the teachings of their faith. For example, Jainism, which also has many followers in India, shares the concept of ahimsa found in Hinduism, and some adherents practice vegetarianism. Furthermore, as represented by the vegetarian cuisine “shojin ryori” eaten in countries such as China and Japan, there are Buddhist sects that hold that one should avoid killing animals. In addition, the Old Testament, the holy scripture of Judaism, lists many animals, including pigs, as unfit to eat. In Islam, which shares roots with Old Testament teachings, the consumption of animals considered impure, such as pigs and dogs, is prohibited, and even other animals are only permitted if they have been slaughtered according to approved procedures (Note 3). While there are various doctrines and restrictions, it is fair to say that people who do not eat meat for religious reasons live all over the world.

A girl playing with a cow (Avinash Bhat/Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0])

Next is bioethics and animal welfare. It is the animal protection view that, just as we must not kill human beings, we must not kill animals or treat them cruelly. It has been demonstrated biologically that animals, like humans, feel pleasure and pain (i.e., they have consciousness and sentience). Harming such life is inconsistent with the morality that humans should not harm one another. In other words, animals should be respected, and “speciesism” is rejected.

The above treats harming animals itself as taboo, but there is a somewhat different view that it is wrong to treat animals as mere commodities or to consume them on a massive scale. In modern times, goods are mass-produced and mass-consumed, and animals have likewise been commodified as “things” and treated cruelly. The idea here is that there should not be lives that are kept alive and consumed solely for human convenience. In reality, because increasing production efficiency and maximizing profit are top priorities in livestock production, the conditions on the ground are gruesome.

For example, in egg production, male chicks are killed immediately after hatching. Hens spend their entire lives without ever seeing sunlight, confined to cages or overcrowded sheds where they can barely move, repeatedly suffering bleeding and broken bones. Dairy calves are separated from their mothers within 12 hours of birth; the cows are then unnaturally engorged to provide us with milk, artificially inseminated over and over, and slaughtered when their milk runs dry. Tragedy also occurs in live export. It was reported that more than 1,000 sheep exported from Australia to the Middle East died on a ship where it was difficult even to breathe. To reject such tragic livestock practices, some people choose to stop consuming animal products.

Thus, among those who give animal welfare as their reason for giving up meat, some hold that animals should not be eaten at all, while others oppose livestock practices and the exploitation of animals. People who practice veganism for these reasons also oppose all forms of exploitation; therefore, they avoid leather goods and products such as cosmetics developed through animal testing. The term “vegan” is used beyond food for non-animal products, and in many Western countries such products are labeled “Vegan.” The main reason for the rapid increase in the number of vegans in the UK is said to be concern for animal welfare, according to reports. In Australia and other Western regions, there are also many activities promoting plant-based eating, such as demonstrations organized by vegans calling for an end to the consumption of animals.

Battery cages in a cramped poultry farm (Dzīvnieku brīvība/Flickr [CC BY-NC 2.0])

Vegetarianism and veganism as consideration for the planet and oneself

Beyond consideration for animals, environmental protection is another reason for not eating meat. At first glance, meat consumption may seem unrelated to the global environment, but in reality, livestock production has a serious impact on our planet. Deforestation is one example. To produce meat, animals must be raised to maturity using large amounts of feed, and growing that feed requires vast tracts of land. According to a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 26% of the land on Earth is currently occupied by the cultivation of feed crops. In Brazil, roughly 70% of the destroyed Amazon rainforest is used as pasture, and much of the remaining land is also used to grow soybeans for cattle feed.

Livestock production also contributes to global warming. In fact, about 20% of greenhouse gases emitted come from livestock, a share that exceeds transportation, which is commonly known as a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. Methane, one of the greenhouse gases, is generated from animal (especially cattle) excrement and has a warming effect 23 times that of carbon dioxide. Cows emit 70–120 kg of methane per head per year; for example, if 100 kg is emitted in a year, that is equivalent to 2,300 kg of carbon dioxide.

The massive consumption of water, a natural resource, is also becoming a problem. Producing meat uses enormous amounts of water; for example, while producing 1 kg of wheat requires 500–4,000 liters of water, producing 1 kg of meat requires 5,000–40,000 liters. That is ten times as much. As water shortages worsen, consuming meat can be said to indirectly exacerbate the problem. The environmental issues related to livestock are not limited to these, and new research and data are being published one after another. People who want to consume sustainably become vegetarian or vegan, or consciously avoid animal-based foods. This has become a major trend in many Western countries in recent years.

The Brazilian Amazon burning (Alzenir Ferreira de Souza/Wikimedia Commons [CC0])

Another reason for not eating animals is consideration for oneself—namely, a focus on health. There are diseases that can be prevented by refraining from animal-based foods. Switching to a plant-based diet is known to lower cholesterol and blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. The excessive use of antibiotics to increase livestock production efficiency is also criticized, and some people avoid meat to avoid indirectly ingesting large amounts of antibiotics. Furthermore, there is concern that the overuse of antibiotics increases resistant bacteria that can infect not only animals but also humans.

What do we eat?

The logic of life is that, to live, we must take other lives. Sometimes the environment in which one was raised or one’s faith inevitably influences one’s diet; at other times, whether to eat something or not is a matter of individual choice. However, it is also true that meat-eating has negative aspects for animals, who, like us, are living beings, and for the planet we live on. In countries such as China, as the number of people whose standard of living has risen increases, meat consumption is also rising. Even so, it is said that if each of us simply reduces our meat intake moderately, we can cut water consumption by up to 35%, for example. Furthermore, by increasing our intake of vegetables and fruits in place of meat, lifestyle-related diseases will decline, as many as 8 million lives could be saved by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced to two-thirds of current levels, and about 1.5 trillion US dollars in costs related to climate change and health care could be saved, according to a report.

A pig peering through a fence (Steve Evans/Wikimedia Commons [CC BY 2.0])

In regions where veganism has become a trend, sales of meat and dairy products have declined, and the livestock industry has begun to feel a sense of crisis. In Europe, the livestock industry is lobbying governments to regulate the sale of non-animal products made to resemble meat as meat substitutes. While such tensions exist, this article has introduced the reasons why vegetarians and vegans choose not to eat animals. Perhaps it is time for us to rethink food, life, and the planet.

Note 1: Vegetarians who do not consume dairy but do eat eggs are called ovo vegetarians; those who do not eat eggs but do consume dairy are called lacto vegetarians; and those who consume both eggs and dairy are called lacto-ovo vegetarians.

Note 2: There are also fruitarians, adherents of a fruit-based diet that seeks not to kill even plants.

Note 3: Foods permitted in Judaism are called kosher, and in Islam, halal.

Writer: Mina Kosaka

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