Veducated Hot

This is a well-intentioned documentary that provides some very important perspectives on the terrible pain and inhumanity imposed on animals in the service of efficiency and profits in modern agribusiness. The device of following three happy carnivores through a 6-week experiment in vegan living was amusing, and shows how hard it can be to swim against the flow of convention.

Ultimately, however, I think the film does us a disservice. First, the suggestion to use processed soy-based meat, fat and dairy as substitutes for real meat and dairy products is very problematic indeed from a nutritional standpoint. There is a mounting body of evidence that these product are toxic and impair our hormone balance. I realize that the time span of the film was relatively short, and these products were supposed to be a crutch so that the participants didn't feel deprived and would stick with the program. A more intensive effort towards education in nutrition and cooking from scratch with fresh, local produce might have been more beneficial.

The other issue I take exception to is the implication that becoming vegan is the solution to the bad practices in the meat and dairy industries. Stopping these practices is the solution. Pressing for good animal husbandry and honestly humane egg, dairy and meat harvesting practices have a much better chance of improving the lot of God's creatures than expecting a mass conversion to veganism. This film does raise important issues, but veganism may clear one person's conscience, but does little to alleviate the very real suffering of the animals involved in factory farming. An all or nothing approach also makes it too easy to turn one's back and give up on demanding change.