Food Before Facts

Have you tried sharing delicious vegan food before talking about the ethics of veganism?

When​ ​I​ ​am​ ​asked​ ​how​ ​to encourage​ ​people​ ​to​ ​move toward​ ​veganism,​ ​I​ ​usually reply​ ​that​ ​I​ ​prefer​ ​to​ ​use food​ rather ​than​ ​arguments. Here’s a simple, yet important idea:

Where you stand, depends on where you sit.

Most people eat animal products, and they want to keep eating them, mainly because they like how they taste. So they are in a position of what we call motivated reasoning: they look for confirmation or justifications for what they are already thinking thinking or doing.

In​ ​other words,​ ​they are on​ ​the​ ​defensive.

They​ ​feel​ ​like they​ ​need​ ​to​ ​argue with​ ​you​ ​because​ ​you want​ ​to​ ​take​ ​something away​ ​from them that​ ​they​ ​like​ ​very much​. Therefore,​ ​very​ ​often​ ​your attempts​ ​to​ ​convince​ ​people to​ ​think​ ​or​ ​eat​ ​differently​ ​will just​ ​hit​ ​a​ ​wall! People don’t want to hear your arguments, because your arguments are inconvenient.

Bertolt Brecht,​ the ​famous German playwright,​ ​coined the phrase,​ ​“first​ ​food, then​ ​morality.” He meant that people can’t think about being moral if they don’t have anything to eat. This applies also to the vegan context. If people are concerned that there won’t be much left that they can eat, they will probably be defensive.

What if, rather than first talking about morality, we started out by showing people that there is nothing to lose? What if we focused on giving as many people as possible a great vegan taste experience? Chances are that after that, they would be much more open to hearing our arguments!

This is a behavior-first approach: you encourage people to change their behavior, and a change in attitude may follow from that.

It is the opposite of what most vegan advocates usually do, which is to try to change people’s attitudes (by giving them all kinds of information) in the hope that they will change their behavior.

Don’t​ ​underestimate​ ​the impact​ ​you​ ​can​ ​have​ ​by taking​ ​people​ ​to​ ​a​ ​nice restaurant,​ ​cooking​ ​a​ ​great meal​ ​for​ ​them, or showing them where they can buy great vegan products!

Advocacy comes in many forms: you could open a vegan restaurant, develop vegan products, be a vegan food photographer or blogger, write recipes, or petition​ ​local​ ​coffee​ ​shops and​ ​bakeries​ ​for​ ​more​ ​vegan options.

If​ ​you​ ​want​ ​to​ ​help​ ​animals, never​ ​forget​ ​that​ ​helping people​ ​to​ ​experience​ ​delicious​ ​vegan food is a great place to start!

Food Before Facts is the fifth in a series of 10 articles, adapted from the Center for Effective Vegan Advocacy (CEVA) video series featuring Dr. Melanie Joy from Beyond Carnism and vegan strategist Tobias Leenaert, on how to become a more effective vegan advocate. Watch the full video below ️⬇️ — or the whole playlist — and follow us on social media ✊🏼✊🏿✊🏽✊🏾✊🏻

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Originally published at www.veganadvocacy.org.