Vegan Kit

Short answer: no. Long answer: absolutely not.

Every major dietetics organisation in the world has confirmed that well-planned plant-based diets are nutritionally adequate for all stages of life.

And it isn't only about food: entertainment and sports involving animals, as well as animal testing, aren't necessary either — there are alternatives that cost no one their suffering.

We need to stop pretending that habit equals necessity. Our ancestors did many things we no longer need to do. That's called progress.

The real question isn't "can we live without exploiting animals?" — it's "knowing that we can, why wouldn't we?"

Yes — and the science is clear. Well-planned plant-based diets are associated with lower risks of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and certain cancers.

The key word is "well-planned" — just like any diet. Eating chips and soda all day isn't healthy whether you're vegan or not.

Speciesism is the unjustified moral discrimination of individuals based on species membership — treating someone worse simply because they belong to a different species, regardless of their capacity to suffer.

As philosopher Oscar Horta argues, just as racism and sexism are rejected because race and sex are morally irrelevant, so too is species. What matters is the capacity to be harmed — not the biological category one is born into.

Speciesism isn't a fringe idea. It's the default — and that's precisely what makes it so hard to see.

Sentience is the capacity to have subjective experiences — to feel pain, pleasure, fear, joy. It's what makes a being matter morally, regardless of species or how cute they look on Instagram.

The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness (2012) formally recognised that non-human animals possess the neurological substrates for conscious experience.

Anthropocentrism is the belief that humans are the most important entities in the universe, and that everything else is measured by its usefulness to us.

It's speciesism's philosophical big brother: the worldview that places humans at the centre and everyone else at the margin. Veganism challenges this by insisting that sentient beings have inherent value, not instrumental value.

Animal exploitation is the use of animals as resources for human benefit — treating sentient beings as property. It spans food, clothing, entertainment, testing, labour, and the exotic pet trade.

What makes it exploitation is that it disregards the animal's own interests. The fact that it's legal, traditional, or profitable doesn't change what it is.

Veganism is the practical refusal to participate in this system wherever possible and practicable.

Try these mental exercises:

The substitution test: replace the animal with a human. If it's horrifying with a human, ask: what morally relevant difference justifies doing it to the animal?

The impartiality test: imagine you don't know which species you'll be born as. Would you accept the practice if you could end up as the animal?

From birth, we're taught that some animals are for petting and others are for eating — without any logical basis. That conditioning, reinforced by billion-dollar industries, is much closer to the actual definition of brainwashing.

Veganism is the opposite: the moment you start questioning what you were told and making a conscious, informed choice.

The vegan movement isn't perfect — and pretending otherwise doesn't help anyone, least of all the animals.

Mixing animal advocacy with unrelated causes can dilute the message. When every social issue becomes a vegan issue, the core argument — that animals deserve moral consideration — gets lost.

Treating veganism as an identity rather than a position leads to tribalism. The goal is fewer animals suffering — not more people feeling excluded.

Being vegan doesn't make someone an expert. We need to keep thinking critically, reading the research, and refining our arguments.