… Or trash your meat—I guess that’d probably be the better way of putting it, right?
Here’s Mayim Bialik for PETA, and before you start writing her off as just another crazy, activist freak, watch the interview video:
Here’s the transcript if you can’t watch the video:
“Hi, I’m Mayim Bialik for PETA. I decided to team up with PETA for this campaign, largely because PETA sort of is the industry standard for veganism, and I think also, as a mom—as a mom of two vegan kids, I think it’s really important to put kind of a young mom face on this aspect of veganism, which has completely compatible with being a parent and raising healthy kids. One of the main inspirations for me towards a decision to complete veganism was Jonathan Saffran Foer’s ‘Eating Animals’, and I refer to that as the nail in the coffin for me. It was really after that book that I had both the education and the confidence, and the personal conviction to be able to say, ‘I don’t know where to draw the line anymore, I’m not going to draw it. I’m going to step over the line, and there’s been no turning back, and some of the best advice that I’ve ever gotten, is what I tell other people, and it’s actually information I got from PETA. Find the foods that already do not require meat. And find the foods that do not necessarily require dairy, or for what substitutes you can find that are palatable. So, my favorite question is when people say, ‘What do you eat?’ and I list all of the things that they also eat, just without thinking about it being vegan, so, pasta marinara, salad, and Mediterranean food in particular, and Asian food in particular. Those are things that often do not have meat or dairy as part of their ingredient list. There’s an age for children raised either vegan or not, where they start to put together the world, and their plate. We decided to kind of let it happen organically and went to gentle rescue farms with our boys. We take them places where we describe what happens to the animals before, but some were left to die on the side of the road, that some were used and abused and when they weren’t needed anymore, and nobody cared about them. There was two major shifts for me when I became vegan. I never had a sinus infection or had been on antibiotics since cutting out dairy. I’d obviously had an allergy to dairy that I’d had my whole life that was called “seasonal allergies,” but why are they all the time? It’s like every-season allergies. I’ve noticed that my true seasonal allergies are much less severe now that I have cut out dairy, which is amazing to me, but I think the most significant shift for me was I used to feel guilty. Even as a child, I felt very guilty about eating animals and never thought that there was something to do about it. And as I got older, it became clearer that there are things that there’s lots of things that I can do and traces I can make, and so, to me, the lifting of any guilt associated with consuming an animal, or using an animal for my clothing, or my pleasure, that guilt is completely gone.
I like your story, Mayim. I do. And I really, really like you, too. But there’s nothing you can say or do to convince me that PETA shouldn’t maybe change their campaigns around to be a little more people-friendly. I mean, are we going to have to start eating each other, eating other people, for PETA to realize that we humans are animals, too? PETA doesn’t have a bad message, though I do like myself some sausage and steak and milk and ice cream, but maybe if all of their promos were as person-friendly as Mayim’s here is, it’d be a little bit more well-received by the people who think they’re a bunch of freaks, you know?
I am not vegan but GO PETA!
PETA don’t need to be people friendly. People need to be more animal friendly. The way meat is being produced is sadistic. Wearing fur is an idiocy. And I don’t even want to go further – animal actors, zoos, animal testing, puppy mills, it makes me sick.
Agree with your point. However, PETAs previous antics (throwing flour on people, dousing them with paint, making crazy statements bashing people who do wear fur and eat meat, etc.) can definitely be off-putting, and isn’t the point of PETAs message to educate people on why they shouldn’t use animals for any purpose whatever, not just gain attention for their “attacks”? Because lots of people miss the message and only focus on how crazy PETA can be instead of hearing the message. It’s like religious zealots trying to save your soul, but instead of being educational and pragmatic about it, they’re all fire and brimstone and “F-CK YOU, YOU’RE GOING TO HELL IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE WHAT I’S SAYIN’.” It’s much the same.
Yes, Bobby Pfeiffer, I am with you!
I’m a vegan but FUCK PETA!
Last year PETA killed 95.9% of the animals in its care, an average of 37 pets per week, most of them within 24 hours – perfectly adoptable animals. They only adopted out 24 animals in 2011. 24 out of 1,992. And apparently, PETA’s shelter doesn’t even meet their own guidelines for running a humane animal shelter.
PETA is worth millions, yet less than 10% goes towards actually helping animals. Most of it is spent on “administrative costs” and bullshit ads like this one.
This information isn’t hard to find, so I don’t understand how people can be so blind to this organization. They don’t care about animals, only money. As a veterinary technology student, I have yet to meet anyone in the field that supports these bastards.
This is not true and comes from false information being disseminated by … well, if you are really interested, you can find out who is behind these “facts.” It is not true.
If it’s not true, then PETA would’ve disputed it. And the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is behind these facts. Are they liars then?
I’m not big on PETA, but I am big on animal rights being a vegetarian myself.
When you feel strongly about something sometimes diplomacy goes right out the window, I get that.
Still I dislike PETA for multiple other reasons.
That being said, it’s refreshing to see PETA feature a fully clothed vegan/vegetarian for once!
On another note … Welcome back Sarah!
Personally I haven’t missed meat one bit. My boyfriend
I’m not big on PETA, but I am big on animal rights being a vegetarian myself.
When you feel strongly about something sometimes diplomacy goes right out the window, I get that.
Still I dislike PETA for multiple other reasons.
That being said, it’s refreshing to see PETA feature a fully clothed vegan/vegetarian for once!
On another note … Welcome back Sarah!
Personally I haven’t missed meat one bit. My boyfriend used to eat “Meat salad” (no greens, just different kinds of meat mixed in a bowl…) with his wannabe macho friends and he’s just as taken with our animal-friendly lifestyle.
We both love gourmet food and we’ve never eaten better … We still have sausages in the Summer, only now they’re homemade from chopped beans, onions, fresh herps and spices. Beats any meat-sausage I’ve ever had.
Plenty of options to explore concerning ice cream as well. I used to make it using organic cream, but am now expirimenting with coconut milk and cream, rice milk, cashews etc.
I could go on for ages, but I’ll spare you: I just couldn’t have you thinking us who don’t eat animals live without the joys of sausage and icecream! … And if you’re willing to compromise on whether somethings homemade, you can buy products that bear an eerie resemblance to meat in structure, taste and look. I’d just rather use the veggies and my own kitchen as I don’t miss the look and taste of meat. :)
Thanks, Bryjin! :D
I can’t help but giggle at that typo up there of “herps and spices” in light of a previous comment thread that followed along the lines of “OMG! Jane, you ignorant slut! You don’t really think herpes is a plural for of ‘herp’!?!?” (hyperbolized for effect, of course)
Kbaz…. It goes like this…. Jane, you misguided, ignorant slut…who did you sleep with to get this job? Get it right or get offline….
Omg, lol! >.<' I need to stop commenting from my iPod! Autocorrect is bad enough as is, but when trying to comment in one language while autocorrect corrects to another … Well, you're set for failure. Or in this case 'herps' I guess.
Just to make things clear…
I defo prefer my sausage without 'herp(e)s'! ;)
Completely off topic, Bryjin, how do you pronounce your name (I’m sure you’re not tired of that question AT ALL)?
I wish, I really fucking wish, PETA worried as much about the rights of the PEOPLE who pick vegetables and fruits as they worry about animal rights. I’m not criticising veganism, which is a noble option, but PETA. Unless PETA starts talking loud and clear against the abusive practices suffered by field workers everywhere in the world, I will believe nothing. Not to mention the fact that they kill most of the animals in their shelters and that their ads are sexist and laugh at overweight people. I believe nothing from them and I am disappointed Dr Bialik believed their lies, because she is obviously an intelligent woman.
PETA is like any other corporation its money, money then the animals. Im not a vegetarian but every animals deserves humane treatment but throwing flour and paint at people and their other tactics justs makes them look crazy.
Well, that’s great that she’s vegan for reasons of conscience bu she shouldn’t drag fictional healh benefits into it (she is not mentioning cardiovascular disease from eating large quantities of red meat.). This allergy stuff is nonsense. It sounds like she actually has a mild milk allergy which in addition to her “seasonal” allergies which are likely due to pollen and particulates, made her symptoms worse. That actually makes sense and I am annoyed that as a “scientist”, she couldn’t conclude that herself.
I was vegan for 12 years and am still vegetarian (have been since I was 8), but I strongly dislike PETA. I don’t understand why anyone supports them. You can put out a pro-animal/humane treatment message without being associated with them.
I, too, am vegan. Our problem is that we have a set of beliefs based on horrible things we’ve seen done to animals, and the fact that it’s a billion dollar business. I am not going to sugarcoat a fact about animal cruelty for a meat-eater. The reason you feel annoyed is because it makes you feel guilty. While PETA is extreme, they have also changed A LOT of lives. The fact of the matter is that if you don’t like PETA, that’s fine. But they don’t owe you anything. They can use whatever scare-tactics they want. If it makes you angry, that’s probably because you have meat-eaters guilt.
I don’t feel annoyed because I feel guilty, I feel annoyed because PETA is, at best, disingenuous. If you do some digging on their website you find that the stated goal of the organization is to elevate animal rights to those of humans. One of the ways that they want to accomplish this is by doing away with any animal ownership. In fact they state on their website that they feel it is better for an animal to be dead than to be a pet (which is why they are quick to put down shelter animals, save them from a terrible life of sleeping on a couch, being fed twice daily and living in a climate-controlled house and all the other horrors that go along with being adopted). I highly suspect members of PETA don’t realize just how many items are made with animal biproducts: tires, asphalt, cosmetics, medication, paper, industrial lubricants and not to mention there is promising research being done in attempts to convert animal fats into biofuels. Supporters of PETA most likely mean well, and I have nothing against veganism as a personal choice, but I suspect many supporters don’t realize PETA’s true intention.
WRONG! Actually, it is just annoying the way they go about trying to get people to stop eating meat, and their other crazy antics. Scientifically it is already proven you need meat in your diet one way or another. What really bothers me is the way they think eating veggies makes them so superior to anyone else. It doesn’t, that is just how THEY feel. I know a lot of PETA (people eating tasty animals) members and they are in the majority thank God!
I like my steak medium rare, you know bloody.