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(Not) Serving Animals and Aiming Higher: Cultivating Ethical and Sustainable Plant-Based Businesses and Humane Jobs

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Animals and Business Ethics

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series ((PMAES))

Abstract

For-profit industries within which nonhuman animals are transformed into commodities for human consumption are the source of many significant ethical concerns. Not surprisingly, we are seeing rapid growth and expansion of vegan/plant-based food businesses that offer dietary alternatives. This expansion of vegan food businesses raises several important ethical, economic, and practical questions for those interested in labour, economics, and the wellbeing of members of our own and other species. In this chapter, we begin the process of examining vegan food jobs and businesses in more detail, as part of considering their accomplishments, challenges, and potential. We pay particular attention to the possibilities for creating food businesses that, in addition to championing animals, prioritize environmental protection and worker-wellbeing through the lens of humane jobs.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Hereafter, we will follow the colloquial norm and avoid continually referring to members of other species by what they are not by using the term animals. If we are referring to all animals, including humans, it will be contextually clear.

  2. 2.

    One of us has analysed animals and labour a great deal and developed the concept of humane jobs (Coulter 2016a, 2016b, 2016c, 2017, 2019), about which more will be said shortly. Certain political theorists addressing human-animal relationships have also begun to explore the transformative possibilities of viewing animals as workers (Cochrane 2016; Donaldson and Kymlicka 2015, 2017; Blattner, Coulter, and Kymlicka 2020).

  3. 3.

    The politics of food are different and complex in the global south and in countries dubbed “emerging economies” and cannot be tidily synthesized. In some countries and within some communities therein, for religious and/or material reasons, vegetarianism has long been the norm and this continues. Yet in some places, meat-eating is associated with “modernization” and “development” and denotes economic status and affluence—and even rebellion against “conservative” vegetarianism—thus is on the rise, as is industrialized animal agriculture. Given the scope of this chapter, we focus on the global north, but we are attuned to uneven international and transnational dynamics and consider them in key places. The global entanglements and inequities are crucial matters that warrant greater consideration. For examples of recent statistical research on vegetarianism and veganism in the global north, see McGregor 2018; Plant Based News 2018; Statista n.d. Although these rises in veganism and vegetarianism are certainly encouraging, problems with recidivism and questionable self-categorisation may give reasons to be wary of placing too much weight on these statistics. Compare Animal Charity Evaluators 2017; Cooney 2013.

  4. 4.

    We use the terms vegan and plant-based fairly interchangeably in this chapter. We are cognizant that for many, veganism denotes a more holistic and integrated commitment beyond eating. At the same time, there is some discussion about the connotations of the term veganism and when it comes to food, some prefer the use of the term plant-based.

  5. 5.

    Much of the controversy rests on difficult to resolve philosophical questions about death, interests, animal minds, and nonexistence. For important explorations of the harm of killing animals from a range of normative perspectives, see DeGrazia 2002; Garner and Višak 2016; McMahan 2002; Singer 2011; and Višak 2013. While this chapter is not the place to solve these controversies, a useful lens is Alasdair Cochrane’s interest-based rights approach, in which all sentient animals are conceived of as having an interest in continued life, but in which those animals possessing greater degrees of those capacities associated with personhood—especially a high degree of psychological continuity over time—are conceived as having a greater interest in continued life (Cochrane 2012). Interest-based approaches, of which Cochrane’s approach is paradigmatic, have been a key component of the recent “political turn” in animal ethics (Milligan 2015), have been extended to talk about zoopolitical labour futures (Cochrane 2016, 2020), and have been presented by one of us as a particularly fruitful way to think about the normative intersections between animals and food (Milburn 2016a).

  6. 6.

    For extensive discussion of these kinds of foods, see Donaldson and Carter 2016. For an engaging journalistic exploration, see Shapiro 2018-though, in such a fast-developing field, accounts like this are quickly outdated. One of us has previously published more extended philosophical explorations on clean meat and clean milk—see Milburn 2016b and Milburn 2018. See also Trevor Hedberg’s contribution to the present volume.

  7. 7.

    Thus, here we exclude the possibility—which may sound paradoxical—that a vegan business might sell some animal products that were produced in a way (putatively) respectful of animals—non-sentient invertebrates (e.g., Fischer 2016), the eggs of rescued chickens (e.g., Fischer and Milburn 2019), roadkill (e.g., Bruckner 2015), and so forth. The potential place of such products is beyond the scope of this chapter.

  8. 8.

    Some “accidentally vegan” products—like Oreos—make their way into vegan culture. An “accidentally vegan” business would be a business that just happened to sell only vegan products, but which does not identify with or target vegans in any serious way. Plenty of greengrocers, producers of alcoholic drinks, and arable farms are likely “accidentally vegan”.

  9. 9.

    Thus, some animal ethicists call on us to rethink veganism as a goal or aspiration, rather than as an identity or a lifestyle (Gruen and Jones 2015).

  10. 10.

    Early anti-vivisection, vegetarian, and animal-rights activism in the late nineteenth century was also often interwoven with human sociopolitical concerns.

  11. 11.

    While our specific focus on workers is novel, the recognition of the interplay between human rights and animal rights is not. Tom Regan, whose Case for Animal Rights remains one of the most sophisticated philosophical explorations of animal ethics, wrote in the preface to the 2004 edition of the book that he “would never have become an animal rights advocate if [he] had not first been a human rights advocate” (2004, xiii). His experience is far from unusual.

  12. 12.

    See the appendix for the interview guide.

  13. 13.

    Veganic agriculture was not specifically mentioned. We suspect that this is due to a lack of knowledge about veganic agriculture rather than a lack of interest.

  14. 14.

    There is some uncertainty about the regulation and reliability of organic certification and this aspect warrants further analysis. It was not probed in the interviews.

  15. 15.

    Living wages can be calculated in different ways, but in most jurisdictions (other than those in Scandinavia) are higher than the minimum wage, and take into account what a person or family would need to sustain a basic or modest quality of life. In many jurisdictions, labour advocates and analysts refer to minimum wages as “poverty wages”.

  16. 16.

    We have put to one side questions about whether animal advocates should be open to the continued existence of (something like) twenty-first-century capitalism. Whether they should (e.g., Cochrane 2012) or should not (e.g., Nibert 2013), it is still worth seriously considering as part of interrogating the ethics of vegan businesses. If one takes the view that liberationists should be open to capitalism, then the question is about how to create “compassionate capitalism”, through social democratic models or the like, and vegan businesses must surely be a part of that. If one takes it that these systems should eventually be dismantled, then the ethics of vegan businesses are a matter of pragmatic, non-ideal normative work—a “least worst” option that can exist in an imperfect world. Humane jobs are relevant in either scenario.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Darren Change for his research assistance and to all the business owners who gave their time for interviews.

This work was completed while Josh was funded by the British Academy (grant number PF19\100101). Thanks are offered for their support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Labour Studies, Brock University, St. Catherines, ON, Canada

    Kendra Coulter

  2. International Relations, Politics and History, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK

    Josh Milburn

Authors
  1. Kendra Coulter
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  2. Josh Milburn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kendra Coulter .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Natalie Thomas

Appendix: Interview Guide

Appendix: Interview Guide

  1. 1.

    (a) Can you begin by explaining your history and journey within the restaurant industry (e.g., how long you’ve been in the industry, what positions, etc.).

    (b) (If needed) What motivated you to create a vegan restaurant/business?

  2. 2.

    Could you summarize your overall business model and approach?

  3. 3.

    Can you tell me about how you approach sourcing? What are your priorities in terms of sourcing food and other essential products?

  4. 4.

    (a) How many people do you employ full time? Part-time?

    (b) What sorts of working conditions do you provide? Things like pay, scheduling, benefits.

  5. 5.

    What have been the biggest challenges with creating and/or running a vegan restaurant?

  6. 6.

    What has been most rewarding?

  7. 7.

    What changes have you seen over your career or in recent years?

  8. 8.

    Are there things you would like to do but cannot? If yes, what are they, and what would make them possible?

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Coulter, K., Milburn, J. (2022). (Not) Serving Animals and Aiming Higher: Cultivating Ethical and Sustainable Plant-Based Businesses and Humane Jobs. In: Thomas, N. (eds) Animals and Business Ethics. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97142-7_3

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