‘I’ll have them with hot sauce’: should vegans eat oysters?
From theguardian.com
Bivalve veganism is built on the philosophy that molluscs such as mussels and oysters feel no pain. But some say the scientific jury is still out
Alex Karol is fantasising about the next time she gets to slurp up some freshly shucked oysters. “I’ll have them with lemon juice, shallots, and a couple of drops of hot sauce. Sometimes, I have a couple with a splash of vodka,” says the London- and Toronto-based publicist. Cost curbs her craving for oysters to one meal a month, and so even just talking about them makes her hungry. “I really, really enjoy them – like, properly enjoy them. I wish that I had oysters every single day of my life.”
Oysters are not to everyone’s taste but Karol’s enthusiasm for the filter-feeding bivalves comes as a surprise – because she is vegan. She is otherwise strict: she does not even consume honey. But a few years back she found she was struggling to get certain nutrients in suitable quantities from plants alone, and someone tipped her off to the idea that you could eat oysters and still be vegan. It was called “bivalve veganism” – and Karol was sold.
“I was so excited to bring oysters back into my life,” she says, adding, however that “I do feel like lots of people think I’ve made up the rule myself, and it’s not a real thing.”
Alex Karol, who describes herself as a bivalve vegan, enjoying a meal at Rodney’s Oyster House in Toronto, Canada. Photograph: Cole Burston/The Guardian
Bivalve veganism is built on the idea that molluscs such as mussels and oysters do not possess a brain and are unable to process pain, so eating them does not cause animal suffering. This has prompted a simmering philosophical debate: can vegans really consume oysters?
According to the Vegan Society, “In dietary terms [veganism] denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.” Maisie Stedman, a spokesperson for the UK charity, says it “understands the word ‘animal’ to refer to the entire animal kingdom. That is all vertebrates and all multicellular invertebrates. Oysters and other bivalves are invertebrates and, taking this into account, it is not vegan to consume them.”
However, some say the argument is more nuanced. Philosopher Peter Singer says: “You can say, by definition, a vegan won’t eat oysters. But that doesn’t solve the ethical question of, ‘is there anything wrong with eating oysters?’”
Singer is emeritus professor of bioethics at Princeton University in New Jersey, US, and in 1975 published Animal Liberation, a book that argues for the more ethical treatment of animals. He decided to be almost exclusively vegan, so he would “not be complicit in inflicting unnecessary suffering on any sentient beings”. But occasionally he will enjoy an oyster, believing that oysters do not suffer pain.
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