I Didn’t Climb to the Top of the Food Chain to Eat Lettuce

I didn’t climb to the top of the food chain to eat lettuce. You eat dry tofu and I’ll eat a juicy steak.

Actually you didn’t climb any food chain. Since you were born, your local grocery store most likely provided food for you that was bred in captivity. You didn’t invent tools and scavenge the remains from animals killed by lions with Homo Erectus two million years ago or make bows and arrows with Native Americans in the New World. Eating never required you demonstrate ingenuity, mental acuity, or strength — only a fork and knife.

homo erectus

If you’re alone in the Amazon in Brazil, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Adirondack Mountains in the United States, or the Sahara Desert in Africa, which wild animal can you kill with your bare hands? The gorilla, shark, bear, or tiger? Regardless, your ability to kill doesn’t give you the right to kill.

Man-attacked-by-shark-and-s

The idea that humans belong atop the “food chain” is a long promoted fallacy used to justify the senseless and cruel exploiting, abusing, confining, killing, and eating of animals. Your power is derived from Smith & Wesson, not intellectual or physical superiority. There was never any “climbing” involved — only a few inventions long before your time such as the arrow, gun, trap, cage, and factory machinery.

My food choices extend well beyond vegetables and tofu and include countless options including delicious recipes with beans, nuts, fruits, and other foods that don’t require me to claim superiority over the most defenseless among us. Here are some photos of plant-based foods I eat. You may also consider plant-based meats if your palate craves them.

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The food I eat now tastes much better and healthier than the food I ate when I consumed the remains of animals. I hope you’ll consider trying some recipes or at least reducing your negative impact on your health, the environment, and animals. Here are some more suggestions to help you begin. Thank you for keeping an open mind.

Andrew Kirschner, Ed.D., is a grassroots vegan animal rights activist. He writes a zero-profit blog, Kirschner’s Korner, to help raise awareness about issues affecting the global community to make the world a more humane place. To receive new articles via email, enter your email in the “Follow Blog Via Email” link at the top right of the blog.

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17 Responses to I Didn’t Climb to the Top of the Food Chain to Eat Lettuce

  1. Leah Jacobson says:

    Bravo!

  2. sierrasue123 says:

    Isnt it funny how people think that vegans only eat lettuce?? So much variety of food that meat eaters never bother to try. I agree vegan food is much tastier !!

  3. Jill Fletcher says:

    Excellent Post!!! I think most of us vegans get a little tired of people who find it easier to throw out ignorant crap than to educate themselves on the truth.

  4. Dhona says:

    I love this one……and the food looks scrumptious!

  5. Provoked says:

    Spot on! Hooray for rational compassion!

  6. Pingback: I Didn’t Climb to the Top of the Food Chain to Eat Lettuce | Hearts Wide Open

  7. Michaelb says:

    Must have skipped that whole agriculture thing happening 15,000 years ago. Took some brain power to do that. Guess he stopped evolving

  8. Great article. We are sharing a link to this post on our facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/TheAnimalSpirits

  9. stevolution says:

    I had a similar conversation the other day.
    ..I didn’t fight me way to the top of the food chain to eat bloody grass..
    Actually you didn’t, you were just born, unless you were created in a lab.
    ..fuck off dickhead..
    Dickhead? Really, wow. Thanks for thinking of me.

    • Sydney says:

      A question for my education: It seems like so much of the protein requirement comes from soy. I’ve been reading very bad things about soy because it is almost completely GMO & controlled by Monsanto. I also read that fermented soy is the safe way to go. What can you tell me? Thanks.

      • Thank you for your question Sydney. I hope you find this information helpful.

        http://pcrm.org/health/health-topics/soy-and-your-health

      • Gary says:

        Hi Sydney. In addition to Andrew’s excellent link … it’s usually easy to find non-GMO soy products. Most of the GMO soy is used for animal agriculture feedcrops. Here is another useful link that hopefully will allay your fears: http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/factsheets/safetyofsoyafactsheet.pdf (Note that the intensely-studied Okinawan elders, possibly the healthiest, longest-lived people on the planet, got 12% of their calories from soy. But I think it’s great to mix it up. Legumes have plenty of protein, as do a surprisingly wide variety of vegetables.)

      • ben says:

        Hi Sydney, have you read The China Study yet? It is a must read, it is the most comprehensive nutritional study ever conducted on humans. It has concluded along with many other related studies that we need far less protein than “promoted” especially from the meat and dairy industries. Or you could watch “Forks Over Knives” also, this helps explain alot. But in a nutshell, we can easily get more than enough protein from our vegetables, grains and pulses,without ever eating soy, it’s not an issue., it’s a myth :)

  10. laurabs1 says:

    Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, a Harvard Neuro Scientist, gave a youtube talk on meat and Alzheimers. Dr. Neal Barnard also has done research for his new book on brain foods on the topic of preventing this disease and most others. Seems herbivores do NOT get the brain disease. Since we DO have a choice, and many thankfully so many are going vegan, the future generations that will thrive healthfully, will be herbivores. The carnivore humans will die off as each generation that eats dead food ridden with cholesterol , chemicals and residues from the many poisons fed to “farmed” animals, gets sicker ad weaker.

  11. Fabulous ! – shared

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