The controversy of a plant based diet

I've been vegetarian for more than 20 years now but quite recently I've been trying to eat more of a plant based diet. When I became vegetarian it was because I didn't really like meat anyway and I had reached the age where I discovered I was allowed to make choices about my own lifestyle. Then as I got older and more aware of what meat was, I found it even more yucky. Of course, I inevitably got the 'dont you miss bacon?' questions (no as bacon basically tastes of salt and I still eat salt) and the 'do you eat fish? My friend is a vegetarian and they eat fish' (well they're not vegetarian then are they? 🙄) But generally people accepted my choices. As the years went by eating out became easier as restaurants accepted vegetarianism as mainstream and I no longer had to construct a meal from the side dishes.
I bumbled along quite happily with my cheese dishes and egg dishes.

Then I discovered I was an idiot. The problem with culturally accepted norms is that it doesn't invite you to ask questions.
I knew that there were cows bred for meat and cows bred for dairy. I genuinely thought that dairy cows just produced milk because that's what they had been designed to do. The whole having to be pregnant and have a baby to trigger lactation process completely passed me by. (Then repeat once the level of lactation has decreased to be commercially unviable.)
I started to ask questions.
What happens to the baby cow?.......oh. https://veganuary.com/why/animals/cows/
And eggs, only female chickens produce eggs, what happens to the male chickens?....oh. https://veganuary.com/why/animals/chickens/
I had visited farms as a kid and had completely bought into the small farm holding of happy well cared for cows and chickens running around in fields in the sunshine (which do exist but isn't where the majority of food comes from)
Reading up on what actually happens challenged me. I felt morally I couldn't buy into this industry that was something more akin to a sci-fi dystopian horror film.
I also was in the priveledged position that I could have a choice about this. I live in a Western society with a great range of food available to me in supermarkets. I could completely live very healthily and cheaply without these food groups.
B12 is the only vitamin that isn't available in plant based food because I choose not to eat soil. (Meat eaters only get this because animals are given the supplements).

In 2017 a friend on a group message board asked if anyone had any new year's resolutions, someone said walk more - likes no comments, someone else said drink more water - likes, no comments, I said cut back on dairy and eggs - woah - a whole discussion ensued about the health aspect of this and why I was doing it! Suddenly people cared a great deal about my diet and wanted to challenge and discredit me?! What about almond milk depleting the groundwater in California? What about quinoa pricing out the indigenous people? Etc etc.
😳
I had never said other people should do this, I understand that militant vegans exist, though have never met one, but I was just saying what I was planning to do. I didn't think it particularly controversial.

I also don't dispute that there are ethical dilemmas, dairy milk we get from the milkman comes in glass bottles sourced locally whereas my oat milk comes in tetrapak cartons from the supermarket. But you weigh up your own values and come to your own decisions.

Since then I have been making small steps to think more about what I eat, where it comes from and make changes. Veganism is on the rise so there are plenty of plant based milks, cheeses, butters, ice creams stocked by the supermarkets, although these items are more expensive I find it is a trade off from not buying more expensive meats or eggs.

I'm not perfect in this pursuit either: I still have milk in tea when I'm out and there are no alternatives, I still prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate though I now eat much less, I still eat Quorn which contains egg and I do have a packet of quinoa in the cupboard though I don't eat it very often! I own leather shoes, leather jacket and leather sofas but it seems wasteful to throw these away and would rather get use of the things I already owned. I don't make perfect decisions because I'm a fallible human.

This isn't a post where I gloat that I am holier than thou. This isn't a post where I want you to feel guilty about your lifestyle.

Meat eating is very ingrained in our culture to the extent that it is accepted without question. And people are wary of others living counter culturally.

But this is a post where I invite you to ask questions.
To not just accept things because it's the 'done thing', the societal norm. To look at the world, examine what is happening and come to your own decisions about how you want to live and what industries you want to support by paying your money into.

Even if it means being back to ordering off the sides menu in restaurants!