Vegans vs Meateaters | Debate at Brain Bar

[Music] who is vegetarian in the audience who is vegan who is not vegetarian or vegan okay well we have a we have a majority here we have two fantastic speakers here who are going to talk from two very different perspectives on this issue enough so without further ado we have get Marie Johansson who is a self-described urban hippie and zero waster and we have Rosina Vassallo who is a restauranteur and believer in cuisine and all things culinary now you'll see on on the board here we have two statements Rosina statement is the elimination of artisan meat is destructive to culinary culture and you can see that Gitomer is saying industrial livestock production is cruel now we have the ability for you to vote in real time for this event and the really cool thing in this format is as our speakers are are talking you'll be able to see the real-time vote Rosina get summary can you come on stage please nice to meet you who would like to go first over to you three minutes please thank you so much for having me brain bond really delighted to be here and I can tell you I am a vegan I eat only a plant-based diet but it wasn't always like that for the majority of my life I ate meat and dairy and X and I wore leather and all of the things are usually associated with lanham animal agriculture I am but three years ago I went vegetarian and about six nine months ago I went completely vegan because I work in sustainability and I realized that and this is extremely relevant in our sustainability debates because um animal agriculture account for more pollution worldwide than all of transportation methods combined including trains and including airplanes and cars animal agriculture is magnificently more polluting which I in good conscience could not support whilst knowing these facts furthermore our methane emissions which comes primarily from cow farts I am account for more pollution and for more damage than co2 that enough should make people go vegan for the planet furthermore I also learned according to the British and American Dietetic Association that meat and dairy and eggs are directly related to several types of Kansas it is directly related to several types of diabetes and to heart disease and obesity so we have health and we have and the planet so the last thing that really pushed me over the edge the last thing that really helped me go fully vegan was the ethical and the moral aspect of it because animals they feel pain and they feel fear and they suffer and the animal agriculture industry they put billions and billions of resources into providing us of that not providing us but they put billions and billions and billions resources into not letting the consumer know these facts we as consumers are completely dispatched from the fact that this is actual living beings that we're hurting unnecessarily furthermore just as my last statement the American and British Dietetic Association also concluded that an plant-based diet is by fact the most healthy way to live also for children old people and pregnant women thank you very much within the time - I really appreciate it thank you so the culture is a very important thing in this debate and I completely agree with that and I don't believe that sustainability cause radicalism because because you shouldn't be radical - to leave a smaller footprint you you if you go vegan as some researchers say actually you need bigger land you can feed less people from the same square feet of land if you're vegan then you can if you if you Bri if you if you do work with animals and I truly believe that this is a matter of sustainability but in my part I am a restauranteur I work with food I communicate through food and I carry on traditions and I believe that our culture and our tradition is carried on in gastronomy and in culinary as well as in history books and if I couldn't use me and if all the people would be vegans I couldn't communicate as well my grandmother and in a lot of regions the traditional cuisine the traditional traditional dishes include meat I don't believe that any of your grandparents were vegan and I don't I think it's a trend it's not a bad friend and I give space to it don't start agreeing keep disagreeing ok right I'm sorry about it so I just say it's not black and it's not white there's also 50 shades of gray as you say ask you a question have you ever killed your own animal and eaten it yes I did can you tell us which animal it was it was a chicken it was in Vietnam and it was a chicken because in Vietnam it was a very very intense experience in Vietnam when you arrive to a village they killed the oldest animal as an appreciation of the new guests so it was a poor chicken it was the oldest animal in the village was a chicken so I I had the privilege to to to have this experience it was as a person who mostly meets meat in the supermarket boxed it's a very intense thing but it happened and I believe we all come from the our ancestors were all predators rear carnivores it still happens in nature so I believe it's the most natural way of living as you can imagine I would just like to start by debunking something you've said about the amount of space it takes to grow meat in contact - the amount of space it takes to grow vegetables first of all it takes about 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat so we have a calculation that that it's not add up with the fact that you're telling me furthermore it also it is true also 80 percent of the mammals on earth are either human or animal livestock animal life stock accounts for such a vast majority on the desire of the domesticated nature of what we want to call the animal agriculture is also the lead reason for deforestation and this massive insane mass distinction that we're facing for the first time in over 100 years it is all due to animal agriculture animal agriculture is also it's responsible for about 85% of the world's soy production which is as we all know is can be at least extremely unsustainable but that is all animal agriculture and what you're talking about is a whole other reason what you're talking about is you know sort of cave mentality our ancestors but that is the farthest from what we're doing today it has nothing to do with animal agriculture whatsoever what about religious traditions because many religions of course you know meters are fundamental to our ability to acknowledge that culture is extremely important I work in culture myself but I do not think that culture should dictate morality I do not think that that is a discourse that we will apply in any other situation because if we talk about for instance women's gratification it is not a valid argument it is not a valid argument when you talk about women's rights or people's rights in general so why do we think it's a valid argument because we're talking about and beings that we do not have a personal relationship with answer it is not it is still an valid argument yes thank you very much well the face not over yet so I believe that animals were always as they are right now so so in an animal like if I like watching Animal Planet so like I like watching the Predators and it's a it's I believe it's in our nature but apart from that instead of going radical and and instead of eliminating the agriculture why don't we change it why don't we see the future in sharing economies in sharing our culture as a she's been to London and I found a farm in the middle of the city where people were growing their own kettles and they were sharing the food and I believe a shared energy is the future as in transportation as well in food you keep using the word radical which is something that I obviously take note of because I do not see anything radical in VF using something that wasn't even yours to begin with it's yeah it's you say that animals have always been the way that they are which is not true we have genetically enforced sorts of types of races of animals they are so dependent upon the presence of humans that they cannot sustain themselves we have bred cows into dairy cows into producing ten times more milk than they naturally would so we can take it it is extremely painful for them to be alive we have also bred chickens into laying up to 20 times more eggs than they usually would it is extremely painful for them to be alive I do not think there is a moral or cultural argument against that no there is not and I come it's like it's like I'm the devil now it's like I feel really like the devil but I don't believe that there is no no in the middle you know like um I don't not agree with what you say cuz I'm not into like animal like being animals raised like that but I truly believe that if you know where your food is coming from if you know the farmer if you go back to those farmer and consumer connections then this can be done in a very nice way without causing pain and without causing that much suffering well unfortunately it will Pat a phoenician always cost pain and I also think that just because you know the farmer does not less make the process any less sustained because I want to involve our audience does anyone have a question they'd like what my word yes please which is kind of hard things for me before that I was like debating with my cousin who was at the time vegetarian and I wasn't I told her that everybody's eating both the thing you know so the point is what I want to say is that it's not kind of radical thing go step by step and to understand because I got your point but if you truly start for example okay great we got your point let's let us have the speakers respond okay I just like to say I'm that veganism is not about radically changing your life it is the act that is it isn't a passive act you can ever do it's about refusing something it is not about adding stuff to a there's so many delicious things you can eat as a vegan trust me I eat all the same things I said it before the Sonia burgers ice cream everything but vegan so it's the same food I get it same faces but without pain suffering and the unsustainable practice probably I could never show you the Hungarian cuisine truly like if you come to my restaurant there couldn't be like a true Hungarian dish that this country is proud of without meat without that it's it's very very important in culinary to me so many delicious mock meats and so totally without the tradition and without culture it's a new way of thinking ok next question the question goes to both of you how do you feel about artificially grown meats ethically great question definitely really really good question it is something that I I generally feel we should invest more time and analysis into because the fewer animals that get slaughtered every year the better I think it is and I'm also a really big fan of the mock meats for instance because it's a great transition meat or grapes transition product and the same with with with you know some particular grown meat as well it's a good transition product so in that sense as long as no animals are killed it is also a way more sustainable because if it demands way less resources a hamburger for instance it requires the same amount of water as letting your water tap run for three years straight and that's not the issue with luck bro meat for instance I just happened to taste one of the best burgers in my life it's called the impossible burger yes yes which is I'm sorry I'm just saying I'm just really have to share this it's the impossible burger has never seen a piece of meat and it was amazing and they could have tricked me into that it was meat it's from animal my glory [Applause] next question please sir I think there's a third or fourth person missing there probably and somebody that could talk about what two billion people are you missing from the stage think so yeah okay but what two billion people eats daily or 173 days at least which is insects have neither a culture well a meat impact like you talk about and obviously there's a cultural rift there that we need to take into consideration what's the call what's your opinion are on insect diets and do you think this is a future trend that we should invest in I personally think it's completely unnecessary because as we can see you can get all the things that you need and all the things that taste really nice from a plant-based diet so why in sorry for the expression but why bother bringing insects into the equation when beginning tarantulas are tasty they are I swear they are really really tasty you should try if you're not against me tarantulas are tasty insects I'm against all kinds of me say I thought I can trick you with them no even even though it's an animal that does not look like also feel like we do perhaps it's still an animal that is still being killed unnecessarily why because vanity and because of our taste buds there are no other excuse then we like it tastes and you can get the taste anywhere Edition again because I happen to taste her aunt alas when I was in Cambodia and Cambodians eat to run to us on an everyday basis it was an amazing experience for me I loved it not never eat cockroaches they are disgusting I try that we got lots of questions sort of come please hi I'm an agriculture engineer and what you said our chickens and cattle is true we are breeding them to produce more eggs and more milk but we are also doing that with wheat and with vegetables and with fruits it's exactly the same system so that said they can also feel pain like the smell of freshly cut grass that you can smell is actually a signaling system between the plants to tell them they are being slaughtered so it's exactly the same systems there is no difference between them thank you there is a very viable difference between them because I hear this thing about plants feeling pain all the time but there's a really significant difference between pain response and affect response if you ring a doorbell and the door bill makes a sound it's not because it knows you're there it's because it's an effect it's a response if plants have feelings then we need to deconstruct what feelings are if pain for instance is a response in your brain that tells your body you need to get out of this situation however plants are completely static they cannot move so pain receptors in plants would be completely unnecessarily and a bit cruel as well and it does not have any biological effect so plants do not feel feelings they feel responses which is completely different and the way that we modify grains for instance again completely different because it is not in the expanse of living beings that can feel everything we do to them pigs for instance are just as intelligent as dogs is if not more intelligent than dogs okay I don't know about the feelings of plants but I in Argentina for example in the pump pampas just showing off now I'll never be to Argentina in my life no I really want to go there but I've never been there so for example there is a way of handling the killing of the beef that the pombero who has spent his life with taking care of this beautiful meat is taking the beef out and and killing it on the fields where it spent his life so basically without pain and without the nausea of of being dragged into like a slaughterhouse it's it's a very very kind way of saying goodbyes and I I love I love that part of this culture Argentina because I believe this should be a way that farmers okay great question so my question is and some people's got composition requires that they actually eats meats like maybe a chicken or just white meats basically protein so what do you say you know okay apparently we need to eat it because of our stomach enzymes that we do not need to eat animal products because of our stomachs we need to eat protein and calcium and we need the nutrients that can be found in meat but that can be found anywhere else as well that is the important part it just recently I went to my doctor's to get some thought checked out and before the test win the doctor said to me and she said you need to eat eggs and dairy at least two times a week otherwise you won't be healthy and I told her that's not going to happen so a week later I got my results and to her surprise I was one of her healthiest plate patients and she told me did you eat me did you no no all plant-based I can literally get anything that my body needs and that is the same for everybody everybody can live a plant-based diet if they educate themselves upon the right nutrients that is the most important thing because what people sometimes lack on a vegan diet is the amount of calories people usually eat too little which is the main problem people need to educate themselves upon the nutrient fact in their food that is the most important part I don't wanna we've got a question down the front and I'm gonna get as many questions as we can all right you talked about the nutrition part we've talked about the and sustainability the moral part what about cost I'm interested in in the cost efficiency of the same amount of meat organically grown of course grass-fed and of course and also plants I mean the real ones that you actually have taste and it's not produce massively what you got first um I'm a restaurateur and honestly with I could not answer that question with with my best knowledge I truly I just read this that I truly believed that honestly the cost cost of of raising organic products on both side very very high I believe and probably raising meat and cattle is going to be going to cost a lot more it is my more expensive it is very much yes okay all right you can have one agreement that's it you're done okay yeah something people always ask me is how can you afford to be vegan because I do not have the largest budget in the world just FYI but and plants are so so more cheap just really the amount of money we spend on animal products on sane and animal products on so many things the the amount of money I use on beans and legumes and lentils and it's so vastly different I am so if you want to live a budget-friendly lifestyle as well it's also vegan all the way the thing that can be expensive about veganism is mock meats for instance but you do not need those every day it can be a special sort of treat that's the case for me at least I am but I think one of the most important things in this context is also sustainability as well because we need to invest and we need to vote with our money as they said earlier as well it's a really really important thing to remember how we spend our money is so impactful yeah okay folks we've run out of time unfortunately yeah we have can we get the final vote what's the final vote 52 to 48 so first of all congratulations congratulations and thank you guys we don't go back you burger afterwards I'm so up for that so also you please cut me if you want to thank you thank you guys [Applause]

Channel: Brain Bar

Views: 20,993

Rating: 4.6865978 out of 5

Keywords: Brain Bar, future, vegan, meat, vegeterian, restaurant, meateater, veggie, veganism, agriculture, food, recipes, meatlessmonday, eating, home, goodfood, cook, fastfood, eatfood, chicken, insects, edible, wossala rozina, vegan debate, vegan vs meat eater, ketogenic diet, vegan diet, carnivore diet, paleo diet, lose weight, plant based, organ meat, animal rights, vegan gains, weight loss, keto diet, vegan debates meat eater, veganism debate, paleo diet before after

Id: YcxwLrTCRhg

Length: 21min 54sec (1314 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 26 2018