There are plenty of films that act as polemics for the vegan-curious – and if you’ve watched one, you’re probably already on the path. None, however, have hit upon the ingenious format of UK filmmaker Thomas Pickering’s new doc I Could Never Go Vegan. One by one, the film addresses the excuses even the most environmentally-conscious and animal-loving omnivores make for resisting the lure of the plant-based lifestyle.
Backed by exec-producer and committed vegan Alicia Silverstone, this persuasive doc busts meat-eating myths and challenges the arguments against a plant-based lifestyle. Here’s five things we learned from the film.
1. You need to eat more fibre – a lot more
In fact, vegans have a higher intake of nutrients like vitamins and fibre than omnivores and carnivores. Given that only one in ten people in the UK get enough fibre – something only found in plant-based food – a plant diet is optimal for bowel health, as the doc puts it, ‘just having a good poo’.
2. You don’t need meat to get built
Although people often claim that plant-based diets don’t give humans enough protein, some of the largest mammals on Earth – elephants, rhinos, great apes, etc. – are veggies. We actually don’t need that much protein – about one gram per kilogram of bodyweight per day – and every single plant food contains protein.
3. You – personally – can save a 100 animals this year
You don’t have to care about animals to go vegan, but if you do, you’ll be saving the lives of around a hundred animals a year – thousands over the course of a lifetime. And don’t be fooled by ethical farming; most ‘ethically-farmed’ meat and poultry actually isn’t ethical at all – as the film goes to great lengths to illustrate.
4. Soy boys make the best lovers
Thanks largely to meat industry marketing (and carnophiles like Joey Tribbiani), male meat eaters may be viewed as more masculine than those who follow a plant-based diet, which explains why ‘soy boy’ is a commonly-used derogatory term, particularly in the US. Yet eating red meat actually impedes healthy blood flow, which is essential for healthy erectile function. So meat is murder on your sex drive, too.
5. Plant-based diets may save the planet
The maths on meat-production just doesn’t add up to a healthy planet. Eight-three percent of all arable land is used to grow food to feed animals that will only account for 18 percent of our calorie intake – and that’s to say nothing of the vast quantities of drinkable water used to keep cows, pigs and lambs alive while they’re being raised for the meat industry. So not only will going vegan make you healthier, the film argues, it’s a lot kinder to the planet too.
I Could Never Go Vegan is in UK cinemas Apr 19.
The 21 best vegan restaurants in London.
The best films of 2024 (so far).