No, not everyone can go vegan
Oasis Nadrama, 08/05/2026
[ Painting by Thomas Gainsborough ]
A vegan diet is physiologically, medically impossible for some people. Chemistry, biochemistry and metabolism are complicated and delicate things, before which we are not equal. A lot of people have to rely on meat and dairy products to live, period. There are also matters of allergies and intolerances. Get one or two "well-placed", potentially lethal allergies, and veganism becomes not only hard, but unreachable.
For some other people, without being a death warrant, a vegan diet induces various health issues. Some people gain weight uncontrollably by relying on meat substitutes, other feel vertigo, etc etc. You can't ask people to sabotage their health, that isn't good ethics.
Depending on the area, B12 isn't always readily available, and B12 is necessary for good health with a vegan diet.
Normal B12 supplements will not be enough for everyone.
Mental health issues and various conditions can also make veganism more complicated or impossible. Eating disorders are many, depression can make you unable to function properly and to do all of the groceries you need for a vegan diet (meat and dairy products being way more readily available than the proper vegan equivalents in most areas, see next point), etc.
In most of the world, capitalist distribution circuits consistently make it more complicated to eat vegan. Even in big cities, it's common to have to go on bus or subway for hours to obtain proper vegan-only food, while omnivorous meals are always meters away. Not everyone has 2 hours to burn during the day (or even the week), some people have the kind of professional, industrious and/or family life that bars them from making time in their schedule for that, or means they would sacrifice their only breaks and leisure time for that. A lot of people in the proletariat cannot go vegan without burning all of their free time (when they have free time).
A vegan diet also takes a significant mental load and induces social complications on a regular basis. We all know how it is, it's always up to us to think about that in our personal and social life, it's up to us to verify that the simple pasta we're buying is a vegan recipe (the industry puts animal products everywhere, including in food that doesn't require it), to check that the restaurant we're going in has a vegan option, to make sure that the fries at the snack bar aren't cooked in animal fat. When we travel far in long-distance buses or have a roadtrip, we'd better prepare our meals before, because you can BET the gas station is only gonna sell ham sandwiches (or cheese sandwiches if we're "lucky"). At friendly or family celebrations, often good people will think of us, but often they… won't, and most vegan people quickly take the habit to make sure they eat consequently before the party, or once again prepare themselves snacks to get through it. If you're having a business lunch, the same kind of principle applies, and it is often socially discouraged by hierarchy and associates to be a "picky eater" or to "go all political". Etc etc.
All of the above complications impact more severely all kinds of oppressed categories (women, LGTBQIA+/queer people, POC, fat people, disabled people, proletarians, etc etc), because said oppressed categories have less time, focus and energy to invest, and because they face obstacles in their daily life privileged categories cannot conceive.
Kids, teens, a lot of old people, a lot of disabled individuals often cannot do their groceries or their meals themselves, and are left at the mercy of their caretakers. Said caretakers, more than often, don't give a fuck about veganism.
In a lot of institutions (schools, hospitals, prisons, the military, craft service in the movie industry, organized trips, etc), people do not decide on their meals, or have very limited choice. And, again, more than often, the will for a vegan diet is dismissed. In some organizations, there's about nothing you can do except petition the hierarchy (which can take years to give results, if it ever does), hoping this doesn't threaten your time in the structure.
Native populations often do not have access to B12 or vegan substitutes at all. Sometimes their traditional culture is structured around animal products, and it would be unacceptable to police that (particularly in the context of worldwide colonialism).
To pretend a vegan diet is always easy peasy, or that it is possible at all for everyone, is bad theory and bad praxis. It completely evacuates the realities of the field.
Yes, a vegan diet is more ethical. On paper.
In practice, not everyone can do it. And it is not ethical to guilt-trip or to mock people who can't go vegan.
Let's please be nice and understanding, it is the first step towards better societies.
