{"id":16882,"date":"2020-05-06T23:15:45","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T15:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=16882"},"modified":"2021-06-23T15:28:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T07:28:31","slug":"in-battle-with-meat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2020\/05\/in-battle-with-meat\/","title":{"rendered":"In Battle with Meat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Fiona Cheung & Kassandra Lai<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melanie Joy, 54, used to eat meat. She had an epiphany in 1989 which changed\nher diet completely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne day, I\nate a hamburger that was contaminated with Campylobacter and ended up in hospital\non intravenous antibiotics. After that experience, I just became disgusted by\nmeat,\u201d Joy recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Melanie Joy
(Photo Courtesy of Melanie Joy)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Campylobacter\nis one of the four major global\ncauses of diarrhoeal diseases. It is considered to be the most common bacterial\ncause of human gastroenteritis in the world, according to the research of the\nWorld Health Organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident also made Joy wonder why she patted her dog and ate  chicken which might be as intelligent as the former.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience made Joy become a vegetarian and inspired her to discover more about animal agriculture and meat-eating culture in her doctoral paper in Havard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy named the choice of eating animals and eating only certain kind of animals as \u201ccarnism\u201d in 2001. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is carnism?

Carnism, according to Melanie Joy, is \u201can invisible system or ideology that conditioned us to eat certain animals\u201d which means in most cases in the world, eating meat is a choice that we are taught to make, but not a given.

An example would be a hamburger – but one made with dog meat. \u201cMany people in the world would suddenly find that hamburger disgusting because they haven\u2019t learned to think of dogs as edible.\u201d  

Like sexism and racism, carnism uses a set of psychological defence mechanisms in order to distort our perceptions and disconnect us from our natural empathy. \u201cSo that we act against our core values of compassion, caring and justice, without realising what we are doing,\u201d explains Joy.   

Carnism is seldom realized by meat-eating people as Joy says: \u201cIt is a dominant ideology that means it is woven through the very structure of the society to shape norms, beliefs and behaviours.\u201d  

Embraced and maintained by all major social institutions, carnism becomes even harder to recognize. \u201cFor example, when people study nutrition, they are actually studying carnistic nutrition,\u201d Joy says.  

Carnism is also the exact opposite of Veganism, which is a lifestyle that seeks to exclude, as far as is practicable and possible, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose, according to the Vegan Society.  

Being a vegan is unlike being a vegetarian who also has a plant-based diet, but the former would also avoid all animal-derived products like eggs and dairy products.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

Despite\ngrowing awareness towards carnism and veganism in recent years, Joy sees the\nlack of awareness-raising actions from vegan advocates. The animal activist founded\nBeyond Carnism in 2010 to promote the concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\nwant to do is to reduce the resistance that people feel of becoming vegan, or\nmoving towards veganism, and direct them to organisations and groups that can\ngive them practical tools for dietary and lifestyle change\u201d, Joy explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She believes that a meaningful social change requires a two-pronged approach: weakening carnism and strengthening veganism. \u201cOur two-pronged approach includes awareness-raising so we raise awareness of carnism among the public and act among non-vegans primarily,\u201d says the founder, who has now been to 50 countries and has given her carnism presentation on six continents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from creating video and giving talks about carnism, Joy also plans a campaign for the release of the 10th edition of her award-winning book Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism<\/em>, with the new foreword by Yuval Harari, an Israeli best-selling author. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe try to strengthen veganism through the\nprogramme called \u2018The Center for Effective Vegan Advocacy\u2019\u201d, says Joy, \u201cAnd we\ntrain vegan advocates around the world in how to think and communicate about\nveganism to increase the chances of they will be effective in their own\noutreach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Centre for Effective Vegan Advocacy aims to increase the\nimpact of vegan advocacy around the world by providing on-site training,\norganizational consultation and grants to qualifying organisations and a\nstrategy resource centre. Joy also\nmentions the programme is developing an online training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For people\nwho are not ready to fully commit to a new lifestyle, Joy encourages them to\n\u201cbe as vegan as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy crowding\nout animal food or carnistic food, what (should) you do is just (to) add more\nand more plants in your diet, so there\u2019s less space for the animals’ food,\u201d\nsays Joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing Joy\u2019s veiw, Dr Fiona Woodhouse, the Deputy Director (welfare) from the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Hong Kong, has similar suggestions for people who are willing to go the extra mile for animals\u2019 welfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dr Fiona Woodhouse
(Photo Courtesy of Dr Fiona Woodhouse)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The\norganisation believes that animals are sentient beings and they must at the very least be\nprotected from all kinds of unnecessary torments. Yet, Woodhouse points out\nthat it is \u201cvery difficult to kill an animal without causing some degree of\nsuffering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example\nwould be poultry. Woodhouse says that from breeding and living condition of\nboth meat birds and laying birds, to the ways of killing them involve a certain\ndegree of suffering. In Hong Kong, the tradition of wet markets and live\npoultry trade creates an even more unpleasant environment for chickens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodhouse\nbelieves veganism or vegetarianism is an option. \u201cAnd it doesn\u2019t have to be a\nstrict conversion, it could be a reduction in the amount,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Meatless Meat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let\u2019s\nface the truth. To millions\nof people around the world today, meat remains as one of the greatest sources\nof pleasure and protein intake. That is one of the greatest challenges faced by\nvegan advocate groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 2012 in Hong Kong, Green Monday advocates\nplant-based living and supports the global shift to a more sustainable food\nsystem. With the mission to make sustainable living \u201csimple, viral and\nactionable\u201d for all, Green Monday is inspiring the public to go plant-based\nonce per week as an effective way to create positive changes in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cOur team makes nutritional comparisons with\nplant-based meat to real meat, cooking videos and recipes, and spreading the\nbenefits of choosing plant-based meat,\u201d says Tiffany Cheung, a nutritionist and\nassistant program manager from Green Monday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The green group has also opened Green Common, a one-stop plant-based concept store that merges a plant-based supermarket and restaurant into one. The group has developed a food-tech company, Right Treat, which invented an innovative pork alternative, OmniPork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The concept store of Green Common
(Photo courtesy of Green Monday)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

OmniPork is a proprietary blend of plant-based protein from peas, non-GMO soy, shiitake mushroom and rice. It was introduced in April 2018. This \u201call-purpose plant-based pork analogue\u201d contains lower saturated fat and calories than real pork while offering more fibre, calcium and iron. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is also\ncholesterol-free, antibiotic-free, hormone-free, cruelty-free, and 71% lower in\nsaturated fat and 62% lower in calories than real pork, while offering much\nhigher fibre, 233% higher in calcium and 53% higher in iron,\u201d says Cheung. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The launch of OmniPork by Right Treat
(Photo courtesy of Green Monday)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cheung says the popularity of plant-based eating is rising dramatically since then: \u201cFlexitarian population has skyrocketed from 5% before Green Monday was established to now 34% of the Hong Kong population, with people practicing one or multiple days of plant-based diet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every\nbaby step counts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people around the world are also making efforts to reduce meat consumption by choosing a more sustainable diet. Lim LiYing, a freelance writer and the founder of a wellness business, When Still Waters Speak, has been a vegan for more than seven years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of being a preachy\nvegan, she respects all manners of eating and lifestyles. \u201cI believe in leading\nby example and I am glad to share that my family has gone a lot greener since\nthen, and my dad has gone vegan too. Some of my friends are now also following\nsuit,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lim embarked\non her vegan journey because she was once diagnosed with an eating disorder. In\nsearch of a suitable treatment, she found eating green is the best way to make\npeace with her plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new diet and lifestyle have also given her a good thought on what it meant to be eating. \u201cEating is so much more than just putting food into our bodies,\u201d says Lim. \u201cI also studied what meat consumption is doing to the planet and I am very sure I will never turn away from the vegan way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited by Kayi Tsang
Sub-edited by Jasper Cao<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reducing meat consumption is not only beneficial to our health, but also the environment of our world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1799,8],"tags":[1469,1470,1467,1468],"class_list":["post-16882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-156","category-our-community","tag-carnism","tag-diet","tag-vegan","tag-veganism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16882"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17063,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16882\/revisions\/17063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}