Why do we love dogs and eat pigs?

Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is right to point out our cultural prejudice to call puppies, 'pets', and pigs, 'food'. 

Outside of survival situations, it is straightforward for us to eat healthily and animal-free.

So we need neither puppies nor pigs as food - we are free to stop exploiting all animals.

Vegan Society Chief Executive Jasmijn de Boo said today, "When we look past our cultural blinkers, we realise that all animals have a desire to live and to avoid suffering. As long as we have fair access to shopping and cooking facilities, we can enjoy a tasty, nutritious and varied plant-based diet. We don't need to use, harm or kill other animals for any purpose. This frees us to enjoy vegan lifestyles - avoiding any exploitation of pigs, dogs or any other animal species."

We like to think, "I am the sort of person who is compassionate and kind to animals." But we stop animals from living out their natural lives by confining them on farms. To put our compassion into practice, we can instead choose to avoid anything taken from animals. This is a vegan lifestyle.

Sign up at vegansociety.com to try vegan eating for a week with the free Vegan Pledge, and to get free advice on vegan nutrition. Well-planned plant-based diets can support healthy living at every age and life-stage.

MEDIA CONTACT: Amanda Baker - 07847 664 793 - 0121 523 1737 - media@vegansociety.com - www.vegansociety.com

Notes for Editors

1. The Vegan Society promotes vegan lifestyles - which exclude, as far as is possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of animals for food, clothing or any other purpose. Reg. Charity No 279228 VAT Reg. No 448 5973 95, Company Reg. No 1468880 Registered in England Wales. Address: The Vegan Society, Donald Watson House, 21 Hylton St, Hockley, Birmingham B18 6HJ UK