Veganopia: Difference between revisions

Peaceful, idyllic societies have a tendency to be [[Veganism and Vegetarianism|vegetarian (if not vegan)]] in fiction. As often as not, these societies are portrayed as being morally, perhaps even spiritually/magically superior to our own, implying that humanity's meat-eating habit is somehow holding us back from living in a world of [[Crystal Spires and Togas]]. Sometimes it can be downright [[Anvilicious]].

* The United States becomes this in ''[[Escape From L.A.]]'', when [[Straw Character|an uber-Christian man]] is elected President-for-life and imposes new laws for the "Moral America", such as no smoking, drinking, red-meat-eating, guns, swearing, non-Christian religions, or premarital sex. Anyone who disagrees is kicked out to live in Los Angeles, which has been separated from the mainland by an earthquake and turned into a penal colony. It's hardly a utopia, though. In fact, the President's plan is to use a series of [[EMP]] [[Kill Sat|Kill Sats]]s to cripple the rest of the world and conquer it.

* The future humans in [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''[[The Ship Who...]] Sang'' universe are all vegetarians, except for some "backward" [[Mutants]].

* Subverted in ''[[Animorphs]]'': Andalites eat by absorbing nutrients through their hooves from whatever plants are underfoot. ''The Andalite Chronicles'' has Elfangor and Arbon disgusted by Chapman's description of mankind's omnivorism. On their homeworld and Dome ships, they ''are'' vegans, simply because of the terrain, but on Earth, Ax often accidentally finds himself "eating" worms, ants, et cetera, with no moral qualms. When Ax morphs human, he becomes an [[Extreme Omnivore]], [[Sense Freak|completely overwhelmed by his greatly-amped sense of taste]]. Perhaps the initial disgust was related to ''how'' humans eat rather than ''what''. Putting something covered in bacteria ''inside'' your body while risking choking on it is seen as disgusting. The Andalites are also an aversion in that the narration doesn't treat them as morally superior for being herbivores, and in fact their species is closer to being [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Guys]]s, than the usual pacifists of the trope.

* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Tolkien's Elves, nature spirits (Beorn, for ex.), and Maiar tend to be like this, as was Beren. They generally favour bread and milk rather than vegetables, though.

* The Kindar in the ''[[Green-Sky Trilogy]]''. Justified somewhat by the fact their social structure was engineered since day one to make violence of any kind unthinkable. Their Erdling brethren are omnivores, mostly because their underground-dwelling condition isn't conducive to harvesting and agriculture. This also features as a [[Genius Programming|game mechanic]] in the video game adaptation; Kindar take a hit to their spirit stat if they eat meat while Erdlings are unaffected.

* S.L. Viehl's Jorenians—despite being pastoralists descended from predators—are vegetarians (although Xonea Torin tries shrimp alfredo with scarcely a comment in ''Beyond Varallan''). [[Zig Zagged]] in that they're portrayed as both a [[Superior Species]] (if mainly because [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]] in the ''[[Stardoc]]''-[[The Verse|verse]]) ''and'' a [[Proud Warrior Race]] (albeit one wearing the [[Cultured Warrior]] [[Planet of Hats|hat]]).

* [[Left Behind|Left Behind's Kingdom Come]] has everyone in the Millennial Kingdom (including the animals) go vegetarian. The meat restriction was only lifted for the wedding feast at the beginning of the Millennium.

** Vulcans -- whichVulcans—which serve as the "[[Can't Argue with Elves|morally-superior]]" race, at least in their own minds. However there are plants, and then there are ''Vulcan'' plants. In a ''[[Star Trek]]'' novel set on Spock's homeworld, the characters are attacked by a mobile, shrieking, prey-stalking ''carnivorous plant'' native to the region ... and after it's been phasered to death, Spock eats some of it. One of the early TOS novels postulated that Vulcans were vegetarians partly because the herbivores previously used as meat died off during Surak's time. The most common reason given for their vegetarianism is the same one that led them to pacifism. They are such a violent and destructive race that they have to go to extreme lengths to not destroy themselves/conquer the universe/destroy the universe.

** Veganism seems common on Federation ships due to access to replicators that can create very convincing meat substitutues, avoiding the need to keep the real stuff in storage on long voyages. Attitudes about veganism vary widely, from disdain toward the concept of eating meat -- likemeat—like Riker claiming they don't enslave animals for food anymore, to acceptance -- likeacceptance—like Picard importing genuine seafood at what was implied to be great expense to eagerness: Dax and other patrons of Klingon cuisine complaining that their ''gagh'' is too dead.

* In [[The Bible|the Garden of Eden]], Adam and Eve are told they may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden (except, you know, [[Forbidden Fruit|that one]]). While [[Cain Andand AbleAbel|AbleAbel]] raised animals for sacrifice after the Fall, humans aren't specifically told by God that they may eat meat themselves until after Noah's Flood - though of course some may have; given that the whole reason behind the Flood was mankind's great quantity of sin, chowing down on critters may have been on the list.

** Fauxfish exists, it's just more expensive than the real thing, while fauxbeef, -pork, and -chicken are all cheaper. And the aquaculture [[Mega Corp|Mega Corps]]s have spent a lot on memetic engineering to convince people that a slab of fauxoyster just isn't the same as prying a real one out of its shell.

* It is suggested that the Air Nomads in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' were vegetarians,<ref>Though not Vegan, as they do eat Egg</ref>, due to the belief that all life is sacred