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Originally Posted by Frivolimous
There are lots of reasons to be vegetarian or vegan, so asking if it's 'that bad' could mean many different things!
- Is it because you believe it to be morally wrong to eat living creatures? Then where do draw the line? Plants are technically alive, so Jainists only eat things derived from living things (ie. nuts, fruits, milk). Some people draw the line at some level of brain capacity; Fish don't actually have emotions and chickens aren't that smart (even though they do have emotions).
- Is it because you don't believe in mistreatment of living creatures? Then you should definitely not eat milk or eggs. What about honey? Do you care about "abuse" of bees?
- Is it for environmental reasons? Because raising livestock in the modern day has a much higher carbon footprint than growing crops, so you should especially not eat beef, but chicken and fish isn't quite as bad, and milk or eggs is kind of OK (it's still not efficient as a purely vegan diet).
- Is it for health reasons? Because studies do show that lower meat and animal product consumption is actually healthier, and recently people are making a big deal about Patrik Baboumian who is the world's strongest man - and a strict vegan!
According to all the points, eating fish is not as 'bad' as eating cow flesh and arguably it's not as bad as drinking milk.
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I think most people probably cannot be healthy as vegans, as can be hinted at with the many vegans that go back to consuming animal products. So, many people are left asking which foods have the lesser impact. When it comes to animal products eggs and chicken are the clear winners. With dairy and fish it will depend on the how/what/where. Beef and lamb are generally the worst offenders.
You count eggs as ''still not efficient as a purely vegan diet'', yet, when you get eggs from backyard chickens or a small farm, and provided they are fed with grain and seeds, this will have lower environmental impact than any plant protein source one buys in the supermarket.
Chickens should undeniably be part of a sustainable future, provided they aren't fed with soybeans. Chickens can be put in almost any garden, don't take much of people's time and care, don't need the space that larger animals require, and provide us with the easiest and least impactful protein in the form of eggs.