Mark Bittman explains why, despite his new book, he’s not a vegan

Recently Mark Bittman published a new cookbook, VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health…for Good. Many people focused on the “Vegan” part of the title and not the “Before 6:00.” Essentially Bittman is publishing an eating plan where he eats Vegan for all his meals but one – dinner. So the obvious question is: Why not go all the way and eat Vegan full time? isn’t this just like being a little bit pregnant?

In a recent column titled ” Why I Am Not a Vegan” in The New York Times, Bittman gives a detailed explanation. You should read his full column for the entire explanation, but very condensed, his answer  is “Part-time veganism (which you might also call flexitarianism) is a strategy for integrating the reigning wisdom – eat more plants, less hyperprocessed stuff, fewer animal products – into lives that have, until now, been composed of too few of the first and too many of the second and third.”

He does explain what would justify universal vegetarianism: “I can see three scenarios that might lead to universal, full-time veganism: An indisputable series of research results proving that consuming animal products is unquestionably “bad” for us; the emerging dominance of a morality that asserts that we have no right to “exploit” our fellow animals for our own benefit; or an environmental catastrophe that makes agriculture as we know it untenable. All seem unlikely.”

Given the wonderful recipes Bittman has given us over the years, we’re pleased that he’s not going to be limiting himself in the future. But we have to confess that his new diet is reaping benefits – check out these great chickpea recipes he just published.

Photograph by:Ward Perrin , Vancouver Sun