Not trying to shit on anyone's dietary choices, this is an honest inquiry.
Clams and mussels have no central nervous system; they're about as likely to feel pain as a head of lettuce. Commercial varieties are are plentiful, nowhere near endangered, and do not produce harmful greenhouse gases that livestock farming does. They filter feed water, which means that no grain or food otherwise consumable by humans was used to obtain them.
I can understand people simply not liking the taste, but that's besides the fact.
What exactly keeps clams and oysters from being considered vegan? The fact that they're composed of animal cells?
Benjamin Martin
>The fact that they're composed of animal cells
Yes. Dietary purity laws are never rational.
Julian Moore
>vegan >logic
Lincoln Adams
The fact that they're fucking animals. Like Sponges, Sea Cucumbers, Sea Stars, Krill and many other animals. I'm not even vegan and I love eating clams. Just check the biological definition of animal life compared to plant life. . Not all vegans think like this though. My ex gf thought it was okay for vegetarians to eat animals without a brain and cns. Vegetarians/Vegans are not one hivemind.
Matthew Jenkins
desu I think bivalves should be reconsidered by vegetarians/vegans - whether you are doing that diet for environmental or cruelty reasons, they still hold up as being "okay" to eat: as you say, no brain means they cannot feel pain; and for the environmental aspect they also cannot feel the harm of being aggressively farmed in tight spaces - hence environmentally sustainable
Parker Jenkins
this.
oysters are the only crop that actually has a positive effect on the environment
and on a cellular level, mushrooms shouldn't really be considered vegan, either
Zachary Ortiz
I am Antivegan because i can fell the Pain of all those brutally mechanically slaughtered Vegetables.
Clams and Mussels have feelings too!
Josiah Murphy
vegan says not-animal. it does not say plant-only. eating sand would be vegan too.
Ryan Flores
Let the rabbits wear glasses
Levi Mitchell
I'm a lifelong vegetarian and though I've never tried them I agree with you. I've been thinking about maybe trying scallops and oysters if I ever go to a place known for them.
Most of us don't eat them because they're clearly animals but none of the logical arguments against eating animals really apply to them. If anyone gave it any thought they would agree with you. But at the same time look at the amount of meat eaters who don't like them, I can't see this becoming a vegetarian/vegan staple.
Evan Nelson
vegan actually means no animal meat/products. sand is made up of crushed shells and coral and therefore not vegan.
Asher Wilson
Steamed clams, mussels au Pernod, and raw oysters are 3 of my top ten favorite foods. As a matter of fact, there's a fantastic seafood restaurant near me that I go to for my birthday every year, and eat all three of those. I gorge on bivalves and champagne. That's all I wanted to say, I'm an omnivore, so I don't have a dog in this fight, other than clams, mussels, and oysters are beyond delicious, and people should eat more of them. Oysters in particular are actually quite healthy for you, since they are loaded with essential minerals like zinc. (This does not include fried varieties, which I think is a complete waste of good bivalves.) Also, I love scallops too, but don't eat them as often.
Isaiah Howard
Some vegetarians/vegans are fine eating oysters. Some aren't. Depends on their reason why they do it.
Robert Stewart
>they're about as likely to feel pain as a head of lettuce Excepts plants can feel pain.
Eli Lee
fuck off joe rogan
Andrew Walker
Wrong. Plants initiate a series of chemical messenger pathways in response to insult. Every living thing responds to physical injury, though not all sense pain in the same way vertebrates and some invertebrates like mollusks do.
Sebastian James
How easy is it to obtain ones that haven't been harvested from polluted waters? Since they're water filters, seems like they'd collect lots of nasty crap if they're anywhere near pollution.
Hunter Cook
I consider myself vegan and I agree with your arguments and eat clams, mussels and oysters from time to time.
But yeah, people like to get hung on definitions; if I had a dollar for every "well, if you eat them, then you're not vegan" argument I'd gotten into as a result, I'd have a couple of dollars.
Daniel Nguyen
Fascinating. Can I reblog this please?
Liam Collins
What is Pescetarianism
Jason White
I first read read your post as "well, if you eat ham, then you're not vegan" and got curious as to where the rest was going
Justin Moore
You need to understand that vegetarianism isn't about not killing animals. It's about telling other people that you don't kill animals. Being a vegetarian is a social status marker. To a vegetarian, all non-vegetarians are fat, barbaric slobs.