The Hermit’s Diet – Thoughts on Catholicism and Veganism

According to many vegans, plant-based diets are growing in popularity throughout North America and Europe. According to my grocery store’s allocation of space, vegetable-based faux meats and cheeses are selling well. But according to the domestic bastions of cultural Catholicism, abandoning your grandmother’s tourtiere or bigos is tantamount to abandoning Christ.

When I was a vegetarian, long, long ago, I remember a relative asking why I didn’t celebrate holidays anymore. Food is a huge, sacred part of our faith. We fast from it and feast with it regularly throughout the year. For some of us, it’s become almost more important to our sense of ourselves as Catholic than attending Mass, regular Confession, or believing in the tenets of the faith.

If veganism is growing as fast as my vegan friends claim, and if – as seems likely – the price of food continues to make a plant-based diet look more and more attractive, how does this affect Catholics? Is it actually acceptable for a Catholic to embrace a vegan lifestyle?

What Is Veganism?

At its most basic, veganism is simply an ethical commitment to avoiding participation in the exploitation or harm of an animal. Of course, vegans acknowledge that total avoidance is impossible (everyone will accidently crush ants after all). In fact, they include “as far as possible and practicable” in their definition.

For some vegans, this means things like vaccines and medications that both contain animal-derived products and are tested on animals are acceptable. Other vegans seek to minimize their consumption of these products – forgoing vaccines and using animal-free alternatives to non-essential medications.

But “as far as possible and practicable” does exclude things like wool, leather, and silk from the vegan lifestyle, along with the obvious exclusion of meat, dairy, and eggs. Honey can become a bone of contention. Most vegans avoid consuming honey, but others choose to consume honey from well-managed hives of bees.

Plant-Based Diets in Catholic Tradition

Eschewing animal products isn’t as new as it seems. In fact, early Catholic tradition is full of people who did just that. Early Christian hermits were famous for their radical food choices. Almost all of the desert fathers and mothers refused to eat flesh. Many also refused milk and eggs. Some lived primarily on lentils, others on bread. One famous monk survived primarily on dates and date palms.

The earliest monkish diets consisted primarily of lentils or beans, whole-grain bread, and wild-gathered greens. While a few monks stand out to us for their austerity – in many cases, the diet of early monks and hermits was relatively varied. Legumes, cabbage, olives, oil, alliums like leeks, onions, and garlic, nuts, and figs. Some monks avoided all animal products, but others ate fish, cheese, and milk semi-regularly.

In the Middle Ages, the radicality of earlier diets was softened. St. Benedict’s Rule prescribed a pound of bread, a pint of beans, and fresh vegetables in season. But he permitted other foods – excepting only “the flesh of a quadruped.” But by the late Middle Ages, monks were eating a wide variety of dishes and – according to St. Bernard of Clairvaux – glutting themselves on eggs and dairy.

St. Bernard can rival modern-day vegans in his critique of eggs in particular. Bernard, whose diet primarily consisted of whole-meal bread and vegetable broth, was disgusted by the over-abundance of meat, fish, and especially eggs on monastic tables.

Plant-Based Catholics Today

These days, many of us are imitating the monks who horrified St. Bernard in the 12th century. We’re prioritizing flavor and work to “stimulate our appetites [so] we can eat more than we need and still enjoy it” as Bernard wrote to a fellow monk long ago.

Of course, plant-based diets are hardly less indulgent than omnivorous ones today. Fake meats and cheese lie to the palate – pretending to be exactly the sort of foods the vegan is avoiding. But most vegans aren’t attempting a penitential diet, they’re simply attempting to mitigate animal suffering.

It’s a good goal. Mass consumption of meat, dairy, and eggs has led to horrific changes in the raising of animals for food. In many cases animals destined for the table are raised in misery and squalor. Having worked on a small-scale, conventional dairy farm myself, I can attest to the mistreatment of dairy animals by desperate farmers trying to make a living wage on a product most Americans still think should be dirt cheap. But, as someone raising dairy goats, and buying local cow’s milk from a nearby farm, I can also attest to the health and contentment of animals raised for food by countercultural, “slow-scale” farmers and homesteaders.

Advice from the Catechism

One of the most frustrating aspects of veganism is that it often negates the good these healthy, sustainable farms do in providing a better option to Catholics who want or need to incorporate healthy animals’ products into their diets, but don’t want to contribute to needless animal suffering. Not everyone can raise backyard hens, goats, cows, or rabbits.

Catholics who want to align their diets more closely to the Catechism’s exhortation that “it is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly” often avoid buying conventionally raised animal products once they learn more about the processes involved. Some turn to small farm, pasture-raised animals, others turn away from animal products entirely.

The Catechism demands neither. In fact, it specifically states that “it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing.” It also clarifies that “medical and scientific experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice, if it remains within reasonable limits.” Animals are not human beings, and while they are entrusted to the care of man, and “men owe them kindness” we “should not direct to them the affection due only to persons” (CCC 2416–2418).

Final Thoughts

So, what does all that mean? How do we bring it together into some sort of cohesive approach to veganism as Catholics?

Love Comes First

It’s important to remember that choosing to abstain from certain foods, fibers, activities because they cause harm to animals is perfectly in line with our faith. If your children are considering veganism, entrust them to the care of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and start experimenting with vegan recipes. Try a simple minestrone soup (vegetable broth, please!) and sourdough bread dinner next time they’re over. Nothing says “I love you” like food – and when you’re abstaining from something (for whatever reason) well-considered hospitality means all the more.

They may never ask for your bigos recipe, and they may make all sorts of changes to your pierogi recipe, but they’ll probably make Lenten borscht just like grandma did and won’t that be thrilling! One hundred years ago, meat was primarily a celebratory food. We didn’t eat it as often, and we ate a lot less of it. Think of your vegan children as reclaiming some of the more neglected aspects of tradition and support them in their journey.

On the other hand, eating meat, wearing wool, and drinking milk are also in line with our faith. There is nothing in Church teaching that demands we give up animal products. Christ Himself ate fish, and as an observant Jew, also ate the Paschal Lamb every year. John the Baptist lived on locusts and wild honey – neither of which is strictly vegan. If you choose to go vegan, respect the choices of your family and friends to stay omnivorous. Entrust them to St. Bernard as well. But don’t live out the stereotype of the vegan who constantly pushes veganism on everyone else. Be patient and loving. Make delicious vegan food for your family and then sit back and let them make their own decisions.

Avoid Militarism

Don’t let veganism become a dogma. Humility and brotherly love are essential to the Christian life. If you’re equating animal suffering to human suffering, it’s time to step back and reflect. Almost half of vegans claim to have no spiritual life whatsoever, and new age or relativistic philosophies are common in vegan circles (as, to be honest, they are in most circles – even among professed Catholics).

Don’t let veganism get between you and Christ. If your veganism arises naturally from your Catholic faith, then you’re off to a great start. Pick up books like The Desert Fathers by Helen Waddell and A Hermit’s Cookbook by Andrew Jotischky. Neither are vegan books, but both touch on the importance of food in the spiritual life that will give Catholic vegans a firm foundation.

If you’re interested in moving from a conventional, animal-heavy diet to something more sustainable and veganism appeals to you, give it a try. You’re not leaving your faith behind. But remember that while veganism is an ethical position you’ve embraced, it’s not one Christ demands of us. So treat your non-vegan friends and family with respect and support; and expect the same from them. We are all working out our salvation “with fear and trembling,” so let’s help each other on the journey.