Max Fisher explores the tension between vegetarians and vegans:
Vegans are statistically minuscule--about one quarter of one percent of Americans--and can seem most significant for the questions they raise about the rest of us. For a vegetarian like me, they are a blow to any confidence I feel in my chosen lifestyle. If I really cared about animal welfare, wouldn't I be vegan? If I don't have it in myself to live as a vegan, does that make the sacrifice of vegetarianism insignificant in comparison? Worse, does it make me a hypocrite?
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2009/05/the-morality-of-food/202108/
