Veganism is metal. While, personally, I cannot bare to give up meat, I find it incredibly commendable when people decide to make that choice. Recently, Voices of The Darkside interviewed five prominent veggie lovers including Barney Greenway of Napalm Death, Angela Glassow of Arch Enemy and Tom C. Warrior of Triptykon about their veganism. It's an interesting read, focusing on why they chose this dietary route, as well as their feelings on others. (Spoiler alert: they are not preachy about it). Here is an excerpt:
How do you see vegetarians? Is it a good thing, a first step or just not good enough?
Mille: "I try not to force my opinion on others. Being vegetarian is a huge step into the right direction."
Angela: "It is good and as long as they consume ecological milk products and free range eggs no harm is done to the animals and the environment. I am absolutely cool with the vegetarian lifestyle."
Barney: "I'm not completely vegan, as I already mentioned earlier – I kind of straddle the fence between vegetarianism and veganism. I'd much rather go completely vegan in the ideal world, but I need to maintain a certain fitness for NAPALM playing live, and honestly the food I get on the road doesn't always have everything I need – soy protein you don't always get and personally I really have to have that for energy. So, when I don't get it, I need to replace that with other stuff – which unfortunately sometimes has a dairy element to it. Look, if there's one thing I don't like in these situations, it's elitism. It's not a competition – it's better that more people have an awareness and a willingness to do something and move with it at their own pace than feel intimidated that they're not elite vegetarians or vegans and perhaps ultimately lose their motivation. That's just not productive and doesn't help the ultimate goal of real animal welfare. And I'd say that was more important than trying to be more of a fundamentalist than the next person. To my mind, If you're even thinking about even trying vegetarianism, you're heading in a positive direction."And how about you, Tom and Leif… how do you see vegans?
Leif: "I have a lot of respect for vegans, but it just wasn't for me. It comes hand in hand with stricter rules to follow and a lot of the food I enjoy the most would not be available. I have friends who have been vegan for a long time by now and that's great to see. As long as everyone is happy with where he / she is at in life and acts or actually lives consciously, that's a good thing. I also know many people who eat no meat, but will still stick to fish. It wouldn't morally be for me either, but I think it's a good step in the right direction anyways! And obviously I know many people (also amongst my closer friends) who aren't vegetarian at all too, so…"
Tom: "It really isn't my place to voice an opinion about that. Becoming a vegan is an individual's personal and private decision, and it is thus none of my business. Being a vegan would be a bit too extreme for me personally, but if anybody decides to follow that path, I am in support of that decision. As long as it prevents an animal from being subjected to the human industrial mass extermination process, I personally feel it's a good thing."
The whole interview is a good read, if you're into this sort of thing. Now, where are those ribs?
