Animal Writings

• I'm very tardy in mentioning this, but Erik Marcus, of vegan.com and Meat Market fame, is tracking Oprah's 21-day tryout of veganism with a superb collection of supplemental podcasts and blog posts. Erik's pieces on finding vegan food at grocery stores and restaurants, dealing with friends and family members, staying committed to your diet, and other useful topics for new vegans and the vegan-curious, are well-written (or spoken) and jive nicely with the current series here. Check it out.


• I (and others) have fantasized about McDonald's or some other behemoth fast-food chain converting their menu to vegan—because I think that as long as the food tasted good,
  
  
  • People would get used to it in no time at all;
  
  
  • Literally billions of animals would be spared from being confined, mutilated, and killed as soon as profitable;
  
  
  • The environment would partially recover;
  
  
  • Public health would probably improve, and medical costs would go down.
  
  Well, thanks to protracted efforts—protests, online campaigns, and negotiations—by PETA, KFC Canada is introducing a vegan chicken option at two-thirds of its locations, which comes out to 461 restaurants. This isn't quite McDonald's veganizing its menu, but it's huge. In fact, this move by KFC could mainstream vegan food more than anything else that's ever been done. KFC is an influential multinational company with a gigantic advertising budget. The potential is enormous.
  
  While veggie burgers are fairly commonplace now, veggie chicken is still rare in meat-eating households. Walking into KFC and seeing it on the menu every day may significantly help to change perceptions, which is often the precursor to changing behaviors. The effects could be broad and multifaceted; here are some of the possibilities:
  
  
  • Suppliers of veggie meat to KFC could realize economies of scale that could lead to new innovations or a reduction in price for their products—which would almost definitely increase sales.
  
  
  • If the new vegan dish is popular in Canada, it could spread to the US, not to mention other countries.
  
  
  • If the veggie chicken sells well, KFC's competitors may add similar dishes to their menus.
  
  The success of this new venture hinges in part on how much KFC advertises the product. If they practically never mention the product (the way Burger King hides the BK Veggie), that could really hinder the product taking off. If, on the other hand, they feature it in newspaper spreads, coupons, and/or—be still my beating heart—national TV commercials, that could herald the beginning of the end for fast food chicken. Ultimately (in fact, probably right this second), veggie chicken is far cheaper to produce then animal-based chicken, and with some minimal diligence it's healthier and more environmentally friendly.
  
  If I lived in Canada, I would definitely buy this product on a regular basis. I am no fan of KFC, believe me. But I would put that aside in order help the chickens, and the environment. Nine out of ten animals killed for food are chickens, and almost every single one leads a short and miserable life. By purchasing this product and making it successful, it will prove that veggie chicken can be mass-marketed to the mainstream; it could have a tremendous ripple effect.
  
  You can read about the PETA campaign here. On that page is a link to the KFC feedback page. I would recommend telling the company that if they add a vegan chicken menu item to a store near you, you will buy it. Of course, do this only if you mean it. Two weeks ago, there's no way I would have made this suggestion. But now that KFC is adding vegan chicken to their menu in a pretty big way, it's obviously on the minds of their executives. Again, if we can popularize veggie chicken in a major fast-food chain like KFC, that will go a long way toward the concept becoming accepted throughout society; it could be a significant catalyst in getting people to modify their food habits—specifically, to seriously consider veggie chicken when they eat out or go to the supermarket. The potential upsides are huge.
  
  You never know, this could be the tipping point.


• In a groundbreaking move, Peaceful Prairie Animal Sanctuary (see link in blogroll at right) placed a large ad about the sordid truth behind so-called "free-range" farms in the LA Times, one of the biggest newspapers in the U.S. The ad explains many of the cruelties and inflictions of suffering that go on at nearly every commercial dairy and egg farm, respectively. This could be a real eye-opener for readers. The ad closes with a message to go vegan, which is the only practical way to end such transgressions against animals. Mass exploitation inevitably entails cruelty and suffering.

Labels: cage-free, chicken, Erik Marcus, free range, free-range, KFC, Peaceful Prairie, PETA, vegan chicken, vegan.com, veggie chicken