Progress over perfection

January 9

By Alice Shopland, founder of Angel Food

I’m marking Veganuary 2025 by publishing a blog post a day. 

Perfection is impossible and hypocrisy is part of being human. Although I do try, I’m not a perfect vegan and there are times when I’m definitely a hypocrite. For example:

•          I like the idea that all animals are equal, but I do prioritise different types of animals. For example, if I had to choose between rescuing a human baby and a puppy from a fire, I’d choose the human.

•          I own a silk dress. I bought it in a charity shop, did some tailoring to make it fit me perfectly and then, only then, saw a tiny “100% silk” label in the side seam.

•          Most of the harrowing scenes in the documentary ‘Earthlings’ involved so-called food animals, but the one that replays regularly in my mind almost 20 years later involves a dog – which tells me deep down I care more about dogs than cows, pigs or chickens.

•          I didn't want the hand-forged steel cleaver my great-grandfather had used to kill chickens, but I have kept the bone china Belleek dolls’ tea set my grandparents gave me when I was a child. (Bone china isn’t vegan because it is made with bone ash.)

•          I hate how people forget that humans are animals, but I often say "animals" when I mean non-human animals.

•          I failed to rescue a sheep when I had the chance. It was wandering on the road in a small town we drove through on our way to an animal rights conference. One of my passengers suggested we put it in the car and take it with us, but I was too nervous about the potential ramifications, so instead we moved it back into its field.

•          If I’m at an event, I’ll often have a glass of wine without checking if it’s vegan – but I don’t do the same with food at events. (A friend who does this too justifies it by saying it is more detrimental to be the whiny vegan than to graciously accept the possibly-not-vegan wine.)

•          I know that some toilet paper brands use glue containing animal derivatives, but I haven’t bothered looking for vegan toilet paper.

•          And finally, a hypothetical hypocrisy: if I had kidney failure, would I accept a kidney that had been grown in a pig confined to a laboratory? I don’t think so, but I honestly don’t know. I hope I never have to make that decision. I do hugely admire the Aotearoa New Zealand animal activist who donated one of her kidneys to a stranger suffering from kidney disease – a very practical step that would make a huge difference to that unknown human and to one pig.

There are also areas of my life that I can’t ensure are vegan. For example, if I was growing vegetables I wouldn’t use animal-based fertilisers like blood and bone. But I don’t know what animal products have been used to grow the food I buy. There is a movement towards veganic gardening and maybe one day I’ll be able to buy vegetables grown without animal byproducts. For me, being vegan is about making impactful vegan choices wherever possible and accepting that we simply don’t have control over the vegan-ness of some parts of our lives.