Don't go making the cow look like Bambi. Dammit.

We can now culture animal tissue in vats. This means that beef protein, chicken protein, you name it, can be grown in a nutrient solution. Meat grown in such a manner would be nutritious, tasty and clean. It would also be less expensive. And needless to say it would no longer be necessary to torture animals.

Oddly though, when I mention this idea to friends, there is almost universal revulsion.

They'd rather stick an electrified knife into the heart of a pig (Babe?) than give up old, cruel, and unsustainable habits.

Ain't humanity grand?

What an asshole.

I found out by almost dying of liver failure that my body does NOT like the estrogen that occurs naturally in plant protein.

Many autoimmune diseases are triggered by estrogen. I'm amazes that vegans are so willing to experiment on themselves with uncontrolled doses of phytoestrogens for the sake of what amounts to a political ideology.

Good luck with your experiments on yourselves. If your experiment works, good for you. That doesn't mean it's going to work for everybody.

why not plants? Plants are living breathing organisms and have defense mechanisms to protect and propagate and am sure they feel pain as well. Sure, the trees dont walk up to your feet and get all cuddly, but I am sure they feel pain when we chop off their stem. Why stop with animals Jeff? why not include plants in the list of things not to eat? is he gonna tell the eagles and lions to quit eating Porky and Bambi because they dont have a contract with the carnivores? jeez man get a life. Im vegan myself, but i find his line of reasoning absurd. he treats animals like humans. no, sir there is a reason why we are called we humans have evolved the way we have. we can think. we dont live in the jungle and have sex in the wild (of course this doesnt include the hippies and nudists and the Spring Breakers in the Girls Gone Wild, but you get my point). Should we start eating stones for starters?

He's also married to another famous asshole. And he is, however articulate and amiable, a whack job. I hardly ever have hamburgers but I'm going to have one soon and thank him for the inspiration.

That vegan/vegetarian bandwagon... how's it rolling through Africa, Asia, South America and the extreme north? Only in places like the United States and Western Europe, where alternate protein sources are easily available and cost is not a serious concern, does the option exist to even have this conversation. Meanwhile, primates, whales, dogs, horses... all are regular components of diets consumed by the 85% of humans that aren't living in North America or Europe. Talk about tilting at windmills.

I think Moussaieff hits the nail on the head when he explains why vegans are such easy targets of ridicule. He says, "I think to some extent people think: 'You know, [vegans are] probably right, but, boy, would it be inconvenient for me." Life's big decisions are rarely convenient.

Ah do declare, miracles do happen. Salon, normally a purveyor of the Michael Pollan/happy meat mindset, has actually published a piece with something of a sympathetic take on veganism.

Now to sit back and watch the anti-vegan comments start rolling in.

They will all be variations on these themes: being a veg*n is unhealthy or unnatural; there will never be a day when I/most people/the entire planet goes veg*n; I was a veg*n once and I had a medical problem; I was a veg*n once and the food was boring; I tried being a veg*n without any advance preparation and I failed; veg*ns are sissy wimps; veg*ns are self-righteous idiots; I knew a veg*n once who was a horrible person or who didn't follow their own rules, therefore all veg*ns are just like that; hmmmm boy, I love the taste of carcass and anyone who tries to take that away from me is a commie pinko.

See, now I've saved you the trouble of having to read any more comments. You're welcome.

I am from Ireland; I live on a farm. We have our own chickens, which we use for eggs. I have no qualms about eating beef, chicken, or lamb (a neighbouring farm has sheep, exclusively). I do not eat veal. The author of this article has never lived on farm (I would venture). He has no relevance to my life.

Being vegan, for most of the women I have ever met who are vegan, is basically a socially acceptable form of anorexia. Justify it all you want, it's an eating disorder for most people, who are scared to death of being fat.

that if we did not eat meat there would not be any cows left, except perhaps for a few in zoos? Does he really believe that they would just be given land and allowed to run free?

Vegan movements are IMHO the pinnacle of the spoiled behavior of the people living in rich societies. There is something wonderfully decadent about having the choice to not just decide what you want to eat tonight, but to have the choice to ignore right out several food groups just because.

I frankly think there are far more valiant causes, than a bunch of self centered people trying to revert hundreds of thousands (if not right out millions) of years of evolution. If these people claim to love nature so much, how come they have so little respect for the fact that there is a reason why we are omnivores? It is almost like claiming they know better than nature. Pretty arrogant if you ask me...

Dr. Masson has made a personal choice, based on his religious beliefs. I respect his right to do so, just as I do the right of someone to observe halal, or homeschool their kids. What I don't get is how vegan proselitization has attached itself to the US left. Why do the editors of Salon think this warrants the top of the front page?