Vegan Propaganda author Ed Winters on the 'unusual concept of not eating animals'

Every time we eat, Ed Winters believes we have the power to change the world.

But it wasn't always that way for the young man "raised in a very traditional meat-eating family" who knew nothing of the "very unusual concept" of "not eating animals" until he landed at university in London.

Now the best selling author of 'This is Vegan Propaganda' and 'How to Argue with a Meat Eater (and win every time)' spends his life educating others about a life change he says is largely about "reducing animal violence, exploitation and suffering".

Read more: Survey ranks Belfast as one of the most vegan-friendly cities in UK

We spoke to Ed about his journey from traditional meat eater to vegan ahead of No Meat May.

He told us: "I wasn't raised with any vegetarians and certainly not any vegans and so the concept of not eating animals for me was a very unusual concept. I never thought growing up that I would be vegetarian, let alone vegan."

But that all changed when Ed moved at 18 to study TV and film production, where he started to find out more about the associated issues "and eventually started to make these changes".

"I went vegan when I was 20... in 2015. It's been a little while now," he added.

"At the time I felt such a commitment to making the change even though there weren't that many alternatives. Vegan cheese wasn't very good. But considering all of that... it gave me the ability to experiment with different foods, flavours, ingredients.

"I took more advantage of fresh produce, legumes and wholegrains and that really worked for me. But awareness was harder back then and it was much harder to get people to understand what veganism was, let alone why anyone would be vegan."

While the options have grown and people are much more aware of veganism, Ed says he still comes up against it from people questioning his life choice.

He added: "It's a very emotive subject.. A lot of that conversation can be heightened because... it's about ethics, it's about morals, it's about how we interact with those around us, the planet and how we look after animals.

"This conversation is a very high stakes conversation. Food is very personal. It's about culture, tradition, and identity. It's about festivities, celebrations.

"It's also a subject that is very deep [and] ingrained within us which I suppose relates back to the cultures we were brought up in.

"Food is also about pleasure, experience, and happiness. We celebrate communities through food and dining together. There's so much around food, it isn't just an issue of logic or rationality... It's also about emotion and bias and all these different things.

"I get asked a lot of questions," he continued. "There's a lot of curiosity... sometimes that can be hostile. People can be very argumentative, judgemental and mean spirited... but also I think people can be very sincere and genuine and want to learn more."

But the discussions around what we choose to eat and what's good for both us and the planet have become "heavily politicised" says Ed.

"It is such a shame that the science and evidence all roll into this sort of toxic and political binary and this is happening more and more with veganism now.

"There is a political toxicity around the conversation around freedoms or imposing a tyrannical world view onto meat eating victims who just want to express their own personal freedoms and go about their life.

"I think we're losing sight of the bigger picture. This is not about attacking people's choice... it's about understanding the science and the evidence around the environmental and health impacts around the consumption of meat and animal products.

"But it's also about looking at this issue beyond just our own species and recognising that veganism isn't just about what we can do to protect ourselves long term. It's also about how we empathise towards animals.

"One of the ways we can build a foundation on this issue, is to recognise wherever we stand on the political spectrum, what we all broadly agree on is that animals should be treated with care and compassion and animal cruelty and animal suffering is wrong.

"Laws against animal cruelty are not politicised laws. We all agree if someone kicks a dog or abuses a cat, we should be punished for that.

"The main principle of veganism is reducing animal violence, exploitation and suffering... we just have to recognise that needless violence being inflicted on dogs or cats, we should also be consistent against needless violence being inflicted on dairy cows or egg laying hens.

"My view on animal farming is that there is no moral version of it," he added.

While he would like to see farrowing crates and gas chambers eliminated, he says he wouldn't settle for that.

"The main thing that I would like to see change is how we subsidise farming. Instead of giving all these taxpayer funds to animal farmers to drive down the cost of animal product production, I would like to see the subsidy policies change to incentivise animal farmers to move into plant farming or things like rewilding or conservation practices.

"Or instead of farming cattle on their land, they grow trees that clean rivers and streams and store carbon. It's a more ethical form of land management."

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