PSA: There’s No Such Thing As A “Perfect Vegan”

Creating rigidity and exclusivity around the world “vegan” isn’t helping animals, our planet, or people. There is no such thing as a “perfect vegan”—everyone who identifies as vegan falls somewhere on a spectrum. 

Do you buy fruit and veggies from the grocery store? They’ve likely been grown in cow manure, fish blood, or bat guano. 

Do you take medicine or wear contact lenses? Both have been tested on animals.

Do you buy house plants? The soil is probably not vegan.

Do you eat vegan chocolate without scrutinizing how it was produced? There’s a good chance it was made using exploitative child slave labor. 

Do you have a home with glass windows? Windows kill about a billion birds in the U.S. each year (that’s way more than all hunting deaths combined). Windows are a death-trap for birds, who can crash into them and die. 

Do you wear synthetic (manmade) shoes that aren’t from vegan-specific brands? They glue used in the shoe may very well not be vegan. 

Do you use palm oil? Do you drive a car? I could go on and on. 

We live in an imperfect world, and right now, unfortunately, it is not possible to be a purist, 100% perfect vegan. And that’s okay. We can only do the best that we can with the information and resources we have available to us. 

Imperfection is okay. Slipping up is okay. Doing your best (which may not be perfect) is okay. 

Being a vegan police isn’t helping—instead, it’s making vegan seem difficult, unpleasant, and pompous. Vegan policing is becoming quite rampant and is turning countless people away from vegan.

Let’s please try to be kinder to our fellow human beings, because goodness knows there’s enough hate in this world already.