[shanev]

I agree with your overall sentiment. But just because there aren't animals on your plate, doesn't mean they weren't killed in bringing food to your plate. For example, published studies show that at least 25 times more sentient animals are killed per kilogram of useable protein when producing industrial wheat and other grain [1].

Not eating animals isn't enough. You have to find ethically sourced food. So ironically, eating meat from animals raised on pasture causes less animal cruelty than eating industrial wheat / grain-based food.

[1]: https://theconversation.com/ordering-the-vegetarian-meal-the...

[amelius]

I think explicitly or implicitly, vegetarians try to not eat sentient beings, but the story is more complicated because there is a scale for that, with plants being at the bottom of the scale, and mice further up the scale, and then cows, and finally humans.

So in this perspective, does the article you linked to really make sense?

[photojosh]

So sentientism is a thing now? Just because one species thinks a little less than another it makes it okay to eat them?

(I am joking. Mostly.)

[zpghjll]

Why compare one macronutrient like protein? That seems like a way to spin the data to reach the authors prejudices. A better metric would be calories, because that's a better indicator of how much is needed to feed a person. Also it's a little unfair to equate a mouse killed in the field to a cow tortured since birth and then slaughtered and possibly skinned and gutted alive.