Do you think it's strange for a vegan to be a chef that prepares and cooks meat?

“a chef mentioned that she was a vegan – while frying bacon.”
So?

She prepares it for other people, not eating it on her own.

The chef didn’t specify if she’s vegan for moral reasons, but if she is, then I think it’s completely bizarre for her to cook meat. It’s like being against the fur industry and working in a fur coat factory.

It certainly happens. I am a vegetarian, and at home I sometimes prepare meat dishes, especially on Thanksgiving. Some vegetarians won’t do that, some do.

I think it would be hard to be a professional chef and be a vegan or vegetarian, because good chefs should taste their food when they’re making it. I don’t need to do that, because I’m making stuff that I know how to make, and it’s not for a restaurant or paying clients.

No, a job is a job. I’m a pet and house sitter and I don’t own a dog, but I take care of dogs for my clients. Same difference. You can be a vegan and cook bacon just as you can be a pet sitter but not own a pet.

@Coloma

That analogy doesn’t make any sense, it’s false equivalence. Not owning a dog isn’t the same difference as outwardly not eating meat for moral reasons. The situation would be similar if you believed that dogs shouldn’t be domesticated and should be wild animals.

@rockfan Not eating meat doesn’t mean you cannot cook it and not owning a dog doesn’t mean you can’t be a dog walker. haha
You get my meaning I’m sure even if my analogy is imperfect.

If she was a vegan for moral reasons, it would be hard to hold down a job where you have to cook meat. Why do people become vegan? Apart from for moral reasons I mean?

^^For health reasons. My dad was advised to go vegan after his heart surgery 25+ years ago. He wound up in an Ornish study, which allows nonfat dairy to some extent if I remember correctly, which he does eat now. He only eats meat on special occasions. I should eat vegan for health reasons. I wish I was better at adhering to it.

Thanks @JL. I do remember your question on this a while ago. If a person was a vegan for health reasons, then I don’t see why they couldn’t prepare meat dishes for others.

No stranger than a baker who isn’t gay who has gay customers who want cakes. Being in business is about making money, not caring what someone else eats.

I don’t think it is weird. The bacon is getting cooked with or without you. Maybe the job is a stepping stone in their career. Maybe they like their co-workers. Maybe they have no other options.

And the show is called “Cheap Eats” and it is bacon. This isn’t a shiitake risotto in a Michelin starred restaurant where you need to taste. I am a shit cook and I manage bacon without sampling.

I agree. A diabetic can work in a bakery or candy shop. Not all vegans or vegetarians decide on their path as protest to the consumption of meat.

“A diabetic can work in a bakery or candy shop.”

Again, that analogy doesn’t fit here. A diabetic isn’t making any moral choices against sugary desserts. So of course it’s not strange if she works in a bakery or candy shop.

and the third sentence? And there are indeed people other than diabetics actively protesting the consumption of sugar.

Maybe I’m reading way too much into what a vegan actually is. My perception of veganism is a person who thinks that eating meat is flat out immoral.

For example, most vegans avoid using grooming products that contain animal by products. So I would assume that most vegans wouldn’t want to handle dead animals.

But it’s also interesting to think about the fact that vegans still drive and risk killing animals on the road. So the more interesting question is: is it even possible to be completely vegan?

Take? Maybe I got it wrong. But I thought a vegan just avoided personal use or consumption of animal products. In other words, a vegan could work in a shop selling boar bristled hairbrushes and wool sweaters and remain “true” to himself.

It’s an intriguing question. Can you claim to be vegan and play the violin? When that uber car arrives, can you sit on the leather seats?

@rockfan :: Those are dumb extremes. Cars hit people.. Are you pro-people-murder?

Yes, you are right when you say you’re reading too much into it. A vegan is just someone with vegan diet. Why they do that isn’t the concern of the word “vegan”.

In the case of vegans with moral, they stand by their moral, but also respect that others may not have the same moral code. It’s like a Christian who just goes on with their life and one who thinks everyone has to be converted.

And the road kill doesn’t have anything to do with being vegan. Accidents happen all the time.

In moral philosophy, actions are often classified into one of four categories: prohibited, permissible, obligatory, and supererogatory. These categories can be defined in terms of each other. To say that something is prohibited is to say that it is wrong and that we are obligated not to do it. To say that it is permissible is to say that it is not prohibited. To say that something is obligatory is to say that it would be wrong not to do it. And to say that something is supererogatory is to say that it is not obligatory, but it is better to do it than to not do it.

Supererogation is the one that often trips people up. We all get things like “you must do x” or “you must not do y,” and even “you’re allowed to do z, but you don’t have to.” But it can be confusing for some people to understand “it’s better to do x than y or z, but you don’t have to do any of them.” The whole concept is controversial, and not everyone believes that there is such a thing as a supererogatory act. But those who do would tell us that it helps make sense of cases where we make a moral decision for ourselves and think that we’ve made the best decision without thinking that everyone else ought to do the same.

The loudest vegans—and the ones we are probably the most familiar with—tend to present veganism as a moral obligation. But the chef’s actions make perfect sense if we consider the possibility that she thinks veganism is supererogatory. If it is better to be vegan, but permissible not to be, then there’s nothing wrong with handling raw meat and preparing it for others to eat. You can give to charity without judging everyone who does not. You can help an old lady across the street without condemning everyone else walking by. And you can refrain from using animal products without believing that everyone who eats meat or wears leather is a monster.

On a separate note: sometimes morality is aspirational. That is, sometimes it represents a goal to strive for rather than a state that we must occupy at all times. To the extent that any particular moral commitment is aspirational, occasionally failing to uphold it—whether accidentally or otherwise—does not necessarily undermine our devotion to the ideal.

@rockfan Just like most things, their are varying degrees of Veganism, even though some vegans would say then you are not a true vegan. When my sister first went vegan she tried her hardest not to buy leather. It was too difficult when it came to shoes, so she let it go. She still has a lot of nonleather shoes and handbags, but she has items that are leather also. Regarding food she is extremely strict. In recent years she eased up the tiniest bit, like if your margarine in your house had whey in it, and you cooked the vegetables with eat, she wouldn’t obsess over it.

An analogy is I remember mentioning on a Q a friend of mine moved to a new city and previously had always attended a conservative synagogue, but in the new city joined a reform one. She is a real “foody” spent part of her career working in the industry. She said to me, “it’s great not having to worry about eating shrimp or pork around friends from temple.” A lot of conservatives break kosher rules when eating out, but still won’t eat pork or shellfish. Anyway, an orthodox jelly here found that interesting, because I guess she sometimes breaks her kosher diet (which among the orthodox is typically completely kosher in the house and when out). So can she really say she is kosher if she knowingly breaks the rule at times? I say yes.

I think it has to do with how one identifies themselves. What communicates to the world their basic philosophy, but we have to keep in mind life is imperfect.

No. A chef is a professional in the art of properly preparing many foods in may ways, or they are not a chef. It is not unusual at all.

I’ll follow up by saying it would be very difficult for my vegan sister to prepare animal foods all the time. She feeds her cats animal, so obviously she isn’t totally extreme on things like that, but I can’t see her frying up bacon for me. I would never ask her to do it. It is a humane issue for her, so to her that piece of bacon is an animal that was unnecessary murdered.

Nope, not strange.

Cats are pure carnivores; they can only digest meat and small amount of plant matter. It would be cruel to feed them food they can’t digest. Dogs, on the other hand, can and do eat anything.