Years ago a Bangladeshi-origin London resident surprised his deshi guest at the dining table when the dishes served were found to be all vegetarian. Accustomed to sumptuous meat preparations and fish curries, his countryman could not believe his own eyes to see the plain veg dishes. When asked if such were the food menus of the host on a regular basis, the reply was in the positive. The answer to further enquiry about the conversion to veg was what may set anyone thinking. What was the answer? The answer was: "Shall keep pets and also eat their meat -this is obnoxious".
Increasingly people in the West are turning vegetarian and even vegan. In the United Kingdom alone there were more than half a million of vegetarians in 2016. With its increasing popularity, the number may have gone up already and is most likely to rise further. There is no such statistics on vegans. Veganism is not just abstaining from certain types of foods -- mostly animal products but it is a moral position closer to a philosophy. It is defined as 'a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing and any other purpose'.
Well, the vegetarians mostly avoid eating animal flesh but there are different options among them. Some do not mind eating dairy products such as milk, cheese, butter or yoghurt. Some avoid dairy products but eat eggs. Then there are others who eat fish also but avoid animal flesh or products -- either fresh or processed.
Do different notions of food selection tell something about the persons concerned? Perhaps it does. At least for vegans it is a moral standpoint. They do not eat milk or milk products because the calves are deprived of their rightful share in milk and the male of those are culled on consideration of non-profitability. Even the cows, after giving birth to a few calves from artificial insemination are culled. So here is an ethical point in favour of vegans. No wonder, they avoid wearing dresses or clothes coming from animals and do not use products originating from animal sources. Such considerations are environment friendly, no doubt.
By all means people sensitive to animals and environment are least understood. Many think they are eccentric, never taking a look at themselves. Here is a species that eat everything. In fact there is no other animal on this planet as omnivorous as this. The very concept that this world is created for man and man alone betrays arrogance at its extreme. True, man is the most intelligent species in the list of animal hierarchy. But is man also as humane as can be compatible to his order of intellect?
Looking at the world as it is now, there is no way to say that this top species in the order of natural selection is doing justice to its position. Civilisations have vanished many times and yet it does not learn how to live together and peacefully. Their competitions in many fields have brought to the fore the bare fact that their rivalries are stiffer than in the wild. Wild animals - however fierce they may be - do not kill, except in rare exceptions, when they are not hungry. They kill for food. But motives behind murders in the human world are numerous and of types that the finest detectives at times fail to unravel. The superior species kill for jealousy, for sports and even for negligible amount of bucks.
Had man been more rational and ethical, the world would not suffer so much environmental degradation. Vegetarians and vegans can leave a few lessons for the entire humanity.