Dear Natalie,
At first, I was just going to give you some time to cool down. I thought maybe you’d just got in a bit over your head. It can’t be easy going from being Queen Amidala to a vegan movie star in a perfumed sea of apolitical non-vegan celebrities. I thought maybe PETA had come on a bit too strong, made one too many requests, maybe asked you to drop trou for a billboard outside a preschool or something.
But I knew you wouldn’t fault us vegans for being a little clutchy. After all, you know as well as we do the scale of suffering that occurs every second of every day. You know how difficult it is to have to function ‘normally’ (i.e.: refraining from screeching at every person who says “But I love meat!”). You know how it feels to listen to people pray to their climate change demigod whose inconvenient truths, though helpful, conveniently kept the most important truth hidden: that animal agriculture is ruining the planet. You know what it’s like to have every non-vegan with access to the internet forward you an article about those vegan parents who killed their baby, without so much as a modest admission that the epidemic of childhood obesity and diet-related illness attributed largely to animal foods, make this isolated incident nothing more than that– isolated. You know these things. So I don’t think you’d jump ship on the animals for that.
But what was it then? Don’t we deserve closure?
Were the 120 vegetarian/vegan restaurants in NYC not enough? Or how about the 40 right in L.A.? Did you find yourself with no choice but to forage for wild mushrooms and lap dew off fallen leaves? Were the vegan meals you endured as a millionaire so abysmal that you woke in the night, weeping, and dreaming of a simpler time when you could opt for cow’s milk instead of soy in your $9 latte?
Did you just feel too damn guilty when Dior made all that clothing you modeled for them vegan? Did you feel like one of those vegans, always pushing their pesky agenda onto other people? I admit, it must be damn awkward being Oscar-winning Natalie Portman and requesting vegan alternatives…
Was it the stigma? Was it hard, shuttling between all the mega movie star meccas being the token vegan (because I’ve heard it’s so hard to be vegan in LA)?
Did you just not like the v-word? Hated the way it rolled off your tongue?
So what was it, Natalie? You’re a bright, educated woman with demonstrable articulation, who claimed Safran Foer’s Eating Animals changed you “from a twenty-year vegetarian to a vegan activist”. So what is your explanation for choosing to consume animal foods again, and so quickly after proudly identifying as a vegan superhero?
“I actually went back to being vegetarian when I became pregnant, just because I felt like I wanted that stuff. I was listening to my body to have eggs and dairy.”
Like a knife in my heart, Natalie.
“If you’re not eating eggs, then you can’t have cookies or cake from regular bakeries, which can become a problem when that’s all you want to eat. I actually wanted eggs at the beginning and then they grossed me out after a while.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Lemme get this straight. You want to eat desserts from regular bakeries? That is your official explanation? And what the hell is a regular bakery for that matter? Oh! I know! A regular bakery is one where the baked goods are full of milk and eggs stolen from other animals in horrifying, cruel, soul-crushing ways.
“I know there are people who do stay vegan [during pregnancy]“.
Oh, you mean like, vegans? Yes, vegans stay vegan during pregnancy.
“But I think you have to just be careful, watch your iron levels and your B12 levels and supplement those if there are things you might be low on in your diet.”
For real? It isn’t bad enough that you declare yourself a vegan activist and quicker than you can say ‘casomorphins’, you publicly declare yourself a former vegan activist (because you’ve got cravings). No, that’s not enough. You have to fear monger on your way out! Do you know how much work you created for all of us? Every person capable of snidely hitting the forward button sent us your compelling interview because, while these idiots don’t consider you an authority on nutrition when you decide to go vegan, whadayya know– when you ditch the v-word like last year’s Dior, then suddenly it’s all “that’s Dr. Natalie Portman to you, you vegan idiots”.
Well thanks for the helpful hint, Natalie. I’ll be sure to continue to supplement my B12 and monitor my iron levels, speaking of which– have you been keeping an eye out for those pesky deficiencies that ‘animal eaters’ (your term, not mine) are highly prone to? In case you’ve forgotten, that’s: calcium, fiber, folate, iodine, magnesium, vitamin C and vitamin E.
Wow, Natalie. I thought you were cool. And maybe you are, and you’re just going through a tough time. Being pregnant can be pretty wild! Hopefully though, when you look down at your little darling, you can’t imagine how it would feel to have him stolen from you, and you remember all over again why you became a vegan. And when you do, we’ll happily welcome you back to the club, because we’re vegan and we can’t help but love animals, even the weak-willed ones.
I never really got her ‘regular bakery’ argument.. especially when she lives in NYC, where they actually have vegan bakeries. Look, if I can be vegan in a town of 150k in the midwest (ie: beefland in the middle of cornworld) with NO vegan restaurants (the closest are over an hour drive away) then surely, she can.. she’s a celebrity millionaire who lives in NYC. I’d think if anyone could be vegan, it’s her.
She lets us all down.
Yeah, I live in “Cajun Country,” so if I can do it, anybody can. Hasn’t she ever been to BabyCakes? Even if she was in the middle of nowhere, she could hire someone to make her anything she wants. If she doesn’t want to be vegan, fine, I’d respect her decision if she was at least honest about it and admitted she can’t hack it. Instead she makes it sound as if it’s “dangerous” with all the watch your vitamins talk. That’s the first excuse I get from anyone that isn’t vegan… I don’t know why she would resort to that.
Gee, when I was pregnant and craving sweets, I craved watermelon. Turns out, I later did media consulting for the National Watermelon Promotion Board (you know, the food sector at the very bottom of the USDA’s advertising check-off program…the one that puts meat & dairy at the top?) and they told me watermelon craving during pregnancy is very common. It not only satisfies the sweet craves, but apparently the body craving for electrolyte balance which watermelons and their equally wonderful antioxidants, such as lycopene do so wonderfully.
And what about that eating for two thing? That unborn child I’m guessing would have much preferred melons over a deep gooey sugar-dusted butter cake I grew up on bakeries. Fortunately, one of my last straws was almost dying from a colon blockage at 28. It was hard to get good, accurate info back then. Now at 58, I remain the only healthy adult avoiding cancer that got mom, aunt & both sisters…in addition to heart disease and diabetes.
Bakeries. Really…?
totally agree, Shelly. I live in a small town, with NO vegan restaurants, no vegan bakeries, and very limited access to anything vegan unless I make it myself. I can get Soy milk, earth balance, “fake” powdered eggs (for baking), and some really gross fake cheese that I just can’t eat, and am happy to do without.
if people are going to “slip” back into eating animals/animal products, PLEASE don’t bash the movement.
As always, a brilliant and biting post!
I never bought her excuse of the baked goods dilemma, given the pervasiveness of vegan bakeries, Whole Foods, etc. Let’s hope she starts living in accordance with her morals again.
I love it. How lame of her! Your take on this is thorough and awesome. Props to you!
This was magical. Thank you.
Though her reasons may seem a bit shallow, I do respect her for listening to her body and knowing what was best for her and her baby.
I guess that’s all I need to say.
the idea that women should “listen to their bodies” about what to eat during pregnancy has always seemed a little strange to me. what if my body tells me to consume french fries every day? does this mean that i should pursue this craving because it’s what my body says to do? this actually sounds kinda funny to me now, imagining someone eating an unhealthy diet and deferring responsibility by saying, “don’t blame me! my body said to do it, i’m just following orders!”
i know a woman who craved the smell of rubber during pregnancy. weird, yes. an indication that she was missing the scent of rubber in her life, probably not.
i think our learned brains are smarter than our palates when it comes to nutrition, and we can and should override our bodies when they are craving unnecessary and inappropriate things.
Thanks for addressing that silly notion that your body has thoughts and wisdom, only your brain does. Cravings run the gambit from cheese with ketchup on it (my mom’s) to raw diets – they are nothing more than a strong desire to eat sometimes unusual food. It’s time we exchange wive’s tales for science. I’m quite disappointed in Natalie, she really was someone I thought I respected – she’s too smart for her own comments so I don’t know why she doesn’t just say she became a convenientarian because she felt like it.
Oh and if I listened to my body I’d still be smoking.
Michelle
If she was “craving” eggs (how many times do we hear about women craving ice cream and pudding and pickles and fried peanut butter sandwiches?), she could have easily gotten everything an egg offers without eating eggs. If we’re approaching this from the standpoint that this craving meant something she needed and not just something she wanted, that is.
I don’t buy the ‘listen to your body’ thing. I know a girl who craved her cat’s biscuits when she was preggers. She said she actually ate a couple and it took a lot of self control not to go crazy on them. That was first trimester, and she grew out of it in a couple of weeks. What if you are craving beer? Or meth?
Everybody has the right to make decisions about their body unless it causes harm to another. Smoking crack while preggers harms the future child (if the pregnancy is intended on being completed), eating animal products, well, we all know the harm that causes.
So utterly disappointing and I blame it on the kid! What happens to people when they have children that causes them to give up their principles, their beliefs, their animals. I am proud that i continued to be and raise my daughter vegetarian & wish i had been vegan as i am now so she wouldn’t be addicted to eggs and milk! It seems that becoming a mother would be the impetus to go vegan as you can then physically and psychologically relate to the tragic mother cows and their babies. Come on, Natalie!
That’s what happend for me. It wasn’t until the birth of our son that I had the realization that cows only produce milk in order to feed their offspring, just like us. I then learned about all the other horrors associated with dairy and knew I couldn’t support the industry anymore. I had to give it up for the other moms.
Something tells me the author of this post has never been pregnant. It’s not like Natalie started eating big rare steaks or anything. She went back to vegetarian. Jebus dude, get off your high horse.
Something tells me you missed the entire point.
P.S. Vegans don’t ride horses.
Something tells me you’ve never been pregnant, either. Just so you know, while I obviously deplore the eating or use of any animal product or byproduct as a vegan, it is the dairy cow and the chicken that suffers the most awful and prolonged misery in her lifetime of all the “food” animals.
My wife is currently pregnant, and I’ve seen her attitudes and eating habits change dramatically as a result. All I’m saying is that if a pregnant woman feels the need to eat something or not eat something based on what her body is telling her, then making a temporary change from “vegan” to “vegetarian” isn’t a big enough deal for all of you to get your knickers in a knot.
Proud mom of a 9 month old who has been vegan since conception. Someone just forwarded me an article about the “vegan” couple whose malnourished baby died–so your mention of that really hit home. My well-nourished, chubby vegan baby is in the 95th percentile for height and 50th for weight. And, upon birth, our OB checked his juandice score and said it was the lowest–the lower the better–he had seen in his 30 years of practice. I should have asked him if he had ever delivered a vegan baby before.
People continually asked me during my pregnancy if it was “hard to not eat ice cream” or other foods involving animals. I would politely say no but think to myself that it was about as hard for me to not eat cow’s ice cream as it was for me not to physically harm or rape another person.
“People continually asked me during my pregnancy if it was “hard to not eat ice cream” or other foods involving animals. I would politely say no but think to myself that it was about as hard for me to not eat cow’s ice cream as it was for me not to physically harm or rape another person”
This is fabulous! I love that thought…. I find it rather funny that people think me choosing to be vegan is be giving things up and I’ve never given anything up except bad health, obesity, diabetes, and all the other crap that comes with eating animals!
Veganism is not deprivation. I deny myself nothing. It’s about what you gain, not give up.
I couldn’t agree more! I am deprived nothing at all. If I want ice-cream, I eat coconut based ice-cream, if I want baked goods- I make them myself so I know they are healthier than “regular’ bakeries and vegan of course. I’ve also never eaten as healthy, delicious, creative or varied foods since becoming vegan. I eat like a queen daily, and never feel deprived for not eating products that are the results of violence, bad for the environment and extremely unhealthy too.
i just recently decided to work my way to being a vegan, but after this… i think if i EVER get there i won’t tell anyone! this is disgusting! how can you fight for ones right to live their lives in peace (as you do for animals) and then totally bash another’s?! this is the biggest heap of hypocrisy i have come across in my LIFE!
Natalie Portman- i think you are awesome! good for you for doing what you feel is right for you and your baby!!!! and to the rest of you… screw off! live your own lives and fine if you want to be vegan and spread the word of its benefits than great but you wont win me over with your supreme arrogance and hypocrisy!
in fact… YOU REALLY LOST ME!
Why wouldn’t someone who wants animals to live their lives in peace ask someone who is contributing to their abuse and suffering why they are doing so? It wouldn’t make sense not to, would it? Natalie Portman can live her life peacefully without causing harm to another. Explain why it’s so wrong to hold people accountable for that.
Vegans can’t lose you, because we never had you. But if you feel strongly about ending the use and abuse of animals, and following a plant-based diet because it’s better for the environment, then we will happily welcome you back to the club.
But you compare the harm our society does to defenseless animals to our bashing a famous, multimillionaire celebrity for publicly going off the vegan wagon with reasons we find inadequate. If that is the biggest heap of hypocrisy you have come across, you aren’t looking very carefully.
Firstly, this is a community of vegans talking about other vegans – it’s unlikely people here are mean to friends and family. That being said, if you become vegan for ethical reasons as Natalie purported, then how do ethics change due to cravings? Cruelty to animals is either right or wrong, her stance was that it was wrong and then, out of convenience, she decided that her desire to eat cake and eggs superseded her moral agency.
To say someone has disappointed you in this way is disgusting? Because it doesn’t let her live her life in peace? I doubt very much we’ve disturbed her peace but comparing that to torture, suffering, and slaughter are absolutely absurd and far from hypocritical. I’m certainly happy that your argument is not truly an accepted one or we would be unable to prevent criminals, particularly murderers and rapists, from doing things that make them happy without having their peace disturbed.
I’m not supremely arrogant, you are actually pretty nasty calling names, telling people to screw off, and your final attempt to attack by stating you’ve been lost – there is no one that should become vegan because others have convinced them nor be so childish as to punish others (animals in this case) to get back at a few online posters! I can’t believe how proudly you wave your ad hominem flag.
I think if she really “knew those things”, she would actually have gone vegan. You don’t switch off from morality because you want cheesecake. I’m not anymore disappointed with her as I am with any other non vegan person in the world who “just doesn’t get it”. But as a side note, as ever, I’m angry that she’s not educated herself properly on nutrition (ESPECIALLY when you have to take care of a baby/child/other person or yourself for that matter), because not only is she participating in animal exploitation, which she visibly doesn’t understand is inherently wrong, she’ll be feeding her child inequilibrate food, which she does, I sure hope, know is wrong. And she HAS all the resources in the world.
I didn’t follow the story because it breaks my heart, but didn’t she have her baby genitally mutilated as well? I’m just not expecting anything good from this person anymore; lost cause. Maybe someday she’ll get there on her own.
you said everything that ive been thinking! really fantastic writing and obviously great points.
YESSSS.
I’m not a vegan (not even a vegetarian, so maybe a “bad guy”?), so what I am gonna say might hurt the feelings of true vegans. I apologize for that.
But I’m a father, and I’ve seen how my lovely wife’s pregnancy went of course, including the food cravings. It is extremely obvious that the food cravings are related to needs of the baby itself, and I believe most ob-gyns would agree with that statement. So, sorry guys, but Natalie, if you crave eggs and dairy products so badly, you and your baby probably need them! Just go for it, you can get back to being a true vegan once your baby is born! This is not betrayal, it’s biology….
Her baby doesn’t need processed sugar, refined flour, cow’s milk and eggs in baked goods (neither does she) even if the mom is craving them. She like many others just uses that as an excuse to do and eat what she wants. I have yet to ever find proof that a pregnant mother’s craving mean the baby needs anything. I craved honey mustard like it was going out of style when I was pregnant with my son and I highly doubt my son needed anything from either the honey or the mustard.
You aren’t offending me but your line of reasoning is, this is not a scientific fact, it’s folk lore from days of old. Women and fetuses don’t crave foods they need, there is no scientific data suggesting this and oftentimes the food, or non-food as in pica, are not particularly healthy (my mom at cheese with ketchup and drank brine after eating all the pickles). My friend is constantly downing ice-cream and another has to force herself to eat because she can’t stand anything and she’s far from her first trimester. As an RN and biologist, I can say that it is unfounded.
Forgot 2 things:
- Natalie has gotten so skinny that it is almost worrysome (not necessarily to be blamed on the vegan diet, of course), and some eggs and dairy are probably things she needs for her own health… especially when a baby is on the way, there is not much time to change food habits besides follow your cravings
- totally unrelated: Natalie, you are beautiful and charismatic, and you turn my head since the Leon movie (I was 13 back then, so don’t anyone dare call me a pedophile!). Wish you might read this, though I doubt it…
I finally got my husband to try quinoa last night. He loved it….but i think its important to focus on the health benefits for baby too….i personally would never go vegan because of compassion for animals…maybe that makes mea horrible person? But my fam hunts and fishes for our food….do i feel bad when a bring up my rifle to shoot a deer? Not really….i dont think we can expect everyone to have the same extreme compassion for animals as most of you commenting….i guess what im saying is we should celebrate whenanyone is even vegetarian, rather than turning on our fellow humans. Natalie made a choice that she felt was right for her. No one has the right to tell her otherwise.
“i dont think we can expect everyone to have the same extreme compassion for animals as most of you commenting”
What distinguishes human-beings from non-human animals is their ability to extend their compassion to other species (no, it is not our intelligence that seperates us from non-human animals because every animal is intelligent in its own way; we just cannot comprehend it is all).
That is fundamentally what seperates us from non-human anmals, and that is why we have decided to call ourselves “human(e)-being” so it is vegans who truly live up to their name “human-being.” There is nothing extreme about us or our compassion. We’re what you and every other person who calls himself “human-being” is supposed to think, act and feel in the first place. It is your kind that is yet to fully evolve to fit the term “human-being” you have been proudly and arrogantly calling yourself for so long.
Under our current laws you have the right to eat meat, drive a gashog, and make babies. That doesn’t mean that any of those things are morally defensible or logical.
PS I meant “vegan to vegetarianism”
Thank you for this. When I watched her interview, I felt like I was being stabbed in the heart. I just don’t understand why it was necessary for her to say the things she said in the way that she said them. So irresponsible and sad.
The difference between someone following a plant-based diet for health and a vegan who makes the ethical choice to not use or exploit animals is that one is self-centered and the other is centered on the needs of others. The self-centered vegan is more likely to “fall off the wagon” in a challenging world, while the person who is vegan for animal rights or environmental reasons is more likely to stay the course. And make more of an effort to spread the vegan philosophy, because it’s about more than just *me*.
We no longer live in a world where our decisions only affect us or a few people around us. Just as important, the decisions of a carnist society absolutely affects vegans, and it’s getting worse, not better. That’s why we are trying so hard to expand veganism, and public actions like Natalie Portman’s push us a few steps back.
Well said amehta88!
are all vegans so small minded, petty, and insecure as this? I think not, but realy, it sounds here like sour grapes. Let Natalie eat meat f she wants to, or at least eggs. Its her life not yours, who are you all to criticise her for her life? Meat chewing or whatever.
Dont focus on what natalie is doing, live your own lives. Yeah, save your own animals from slaghter. Its good for you.
The most destructive thing you are doing for the security of animal health is actually being alive. How selfish of us all. Each human life takes room away from an animal. If you have children you are totally selfish and inconsiderate. Let the animals get their space back by decreasing the human population.
Its a weak perspective to pretend you are saviours of animals just because you dont eat/use them, and then still live in their space. Two faced and fundamentalist. Begone.
.
Sunset, I agree with you that people should stop focusing on celebrities. and live their own lives. I can care less about Natalie, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, etc.
Regarding vegan advocacy, Vegan Outreach has many good articles about being effective advocates because being vegan isn’t just enough. Sounds like Natalie is like many others that become so gung-ho about something and then burn-out quickly. VO has a great article called “A Meaningful Life: Making a Real Difference in Today’s World” http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/meaningfullife.html I think any animal activist should give it a read, and then a re-read!
Now Sunset, you should have stopped at the “live your own lives” argument before rolling into a criticism of vegan diets. you dished out some seriously weak arguments regarding animal welfare, human extinction and wildlife preservation.
It is a fact that our existence destroys the environment and harms animal life. However, there are things that we are currently doing that we can easily stop and prevent.
Each individual that eats a vegan diet (or less meat) saves animals from a life of suffering on factory farms – FACT.
An individual that becomes an effective vegan advocate saves more animals lives from a life of suffering on factory farms by providing well-written, factual information to others (ex. VO’s literature and their Adopt-A-College campaign) – FACT.
Eliminating meat, eggs, and dairy reduces the number of animals raised for food consumption, thus reducing unnecessary suffering, and we all can choose to not contribute to this suffering – FACT.
In the US, 98-99% of all animals are killed for food production, thus, eliminating animal products from our diet DOES have an impact on animals. Since these animals are living on factory farms, we are not technically living in their space. Actually, if all animals considered livestock were no longer bred (remember, these are not wild animals living in nature), there would theoretically be more space, and less wildlife killed to protect livestock (ex. wolves and other predators killed by ranchers). In turn, agriculture in general (plant and animal-based) kills and displaces wildlife, but there is certainly less suffering involved in plant-based agriculture compared to animal-based agriculture and factory farms :)
I’m not going to kill myself to save the environment and the animals, but I am alive and need to function as a human being living in a society that has it’s good parts and it’s bad parts. I think I am just like everyone else – I want to live a life full of family, friends, and fun, and I also want to try to make a difference with my time spent on earth. I want to try to be a good example for others and live a life in accordance with causing the least amount of suffering possible, understanding that it is inevitable that I am causing some sort of suffering with my mere existence, but that I can at least choose to not participate in the industrialized slaughter of innocent animals through abstaining from meat, eggs, and dairy when I choose to eat.
My dietary choices do not make me better than anyone else, and I am not eating a vegan diet for “selfish” or religious reasons, either. Yes, there is a small percentage of vegans out there who strive for individual purity through their dietary and lifestyle choices, and I don’t agree with them, but I also don’t argue with them; however, you can’t lump all vegans and vegetarians into this self-righteous category. I am sorry if all of the vegans that you know are like this, but please don’t dismiss animal suffering based on that or any other negative perceptions of human existence in this world that you may hold.
Thank you Dan for such a great comment- I want to be your friend! sending you a request via FB. I will read into the outreach programs as I want to reach people in effective ways and live a peaceful, happy, joyous life. In doing so hopefully I will inspire others to consider doing the same. I believe being vegan makes a tremendous and meaningful difference to the lives of suffering animals in factory farms all over the world as well as to the environment being destroyed by these industrialized farms. There is much to be said for consciously, intentionally choosing to limit the suffering we contribute to by being vegan and we all have a lot of power with the choices we make regarding our food and lives.
Well put.
That’s exactly why I don’ have children; I do think it’s a bit selfish to become pregnant in an over-populated world where there are children growing up in foster care and orphanages. I am not going to off myself as I did not bring myself into the world but I will do my best to do the least harm to all animals, that includes rude humans. I also have worked many years in human health, animal rescue, and volunteered my time to the severely mentally ill so I do think I’m somewhat of an asset to this planet, albeit a small one. What your last few paragraphs create a false dichotomy, are we to walk away with if you can’t do everything then do nothing? Destroy all creatures, be selfish, don’t have opinions, don’t think and formulate ethics and morality? Are you a nihilist? I’m not resorting to the name-calling in your second to last sentence, I’m being serious because that’s where your line of thought concludes.
if she doesn’t want to be vegan anymore, she doesn’t have to be…it’s not like she signed some lifelong contract, and it’s not like she’s eating meat, is it? bloody hell.
Well it wouldn’t be so bloody if you only ate vegetables now would it? ;)
Then why did she go public to proudly announce she had become a vegan only to announce shortly after that she went back to being a vegetrarian? It’s her who is making this whole thing our business.
I didn’t see this interview of Ms Portmans but I am very disappointed to read of her reasons. I’ve only been vegan for 2 mths and veggie for 8mths before that but as I told my husband when he rolled his eyes when I said I could no longer wear the expensive down-filled winter jacket he bought me last year, once you learn about these things that humans do to animals, you can’t unlearn them just for your own convenience. so for her to now consume bakery goods again is a poor excuse again. I live in Northern Ireland where they still don’t cater that well for vegetarians far less vegans and if I can manage here then she has no excuse.
Thanks again Veganomaly for saying what a lot of us think and feel when we feel very betrayed by someone who claims to be a vegan activist and then so quickly gives up the lifestyle and even instills fears about vegan living into the public in doing so. She could have explored being healthy, pregnant and vegan. There are vegan women out there that have had healthy vegan pregnancies (and are also celebrities i.e. Alicia Silverstone) and have healthy vegan babies and children. On Silverstone’s site The Kind Life- there is a forum for vegan pregnancy. Portman has the resources to fully explore all healthful options but instead she chooses dairy, a product the result of extreme cruelty shown towards mothers and calves, and a product that is not even suitable for human consumption, and sugar and processed flour, dairy laden junk food from “regular” bakeries. Gross! I loved baked goods, they were my vice, but when I became 100% vegan, I knew that I would be only eating vegan baked goods and since I live in a remote area (nearest vegan bakery is 1.5 hours away) I learned to make healthy vegan versions of my favorite treats. I am not wealthy and have nowhere the near the resources she does. It is easy to be vegan if you believe in it, obviously she doesn’t even though she claimed at one time that she did and that is sad. I hope she will remind herself why she chose vegan in the first place. Watch some of the movies again, re-connect to why it is so important to be vegan especially because she is a mother now.
It’s easy for people (especially non-vegans) to say “her body, her life”, but that is just not true when the choices people make harm animals and also harm the environment which in turn affects us all. It’s not just her, its her and her baby, and the world too. We are all connected. I pray people will start realizing that more and more and that our actions, such as eating or not eating animal products make a huge difference either for the good or ill of the planet and each other.
This is a really awesome blog and I am a vegan and very passionate about it, but I feel that non meat eaters are SUCH a minority and therefore really need to find solidarity with one another. Divisions between vegans and vegetarians creates destructive animosity, further isolating vegans and jeopardizing chances to be more salient in society. We have a goal that almost our entire species is against (assuming that goal is to help animals, rather than achieve superiority). It’s unrealistic to expect everyone to be vegan, that will never happen. The all or nothing attitude isn’t beneficial. If vegans and vegetarians hate on each other, how will we ever get anywhere? The situation is so desperate, we are fighting such an endless battle. Relatively, someone who eats mostly vegan and has dairy for 9 months of her life is pretty damn amazing. Is being angry at natalie portman the right way to spend our energy, when billions of people are eating meat and dairy on a daily basis, wearing fur, etc?
You are completely right – any bit of good is a bit of good. However, the withdrawal of her veganism is what I think has caused this reaction. When someone becomes vegetarian, I always help with recipes and substitutes and never ever guilt them. My best friend eats meat, my other very good friend is Buddhist and is veggie – they are always apologizing to me and asking if they are bad people which they are not. I only hope that maybe one day they will minimize their meat/dairy or eliminate it completely because *they* want to – it makes me sad that people eat meat and dairy but I don’t dislike them (unless they actually think torturing animals is okay but most people just deal with this dissonance by ignoring it). I’m just disappointed that someone who seemed to be choosing ethical veganism fold under such light pressure.