[wolverine876]

Thinking seriously about it:

Of course you can try to minimize the sentience of what you eat - wheat < ants < pigs < people - which may be better than nothing, but I'm sure you've thought of that.

I heard of a small religion that eats only nuts and fruits, with the belief that the plants want them eaten - they evolved to make the nuts and fruits desireable in order to spread the plant's seeds. It's arguably still exploitation: The plants evolved that way because it is the least bad option among predators.

[odyssey7]

If panpsychism is true, then even the molecules our bodies cleave apart during digestion could be sentient.