Is Diet a Private Matter? Why We Can't Eat Whatever We Want

Is one's own diet a private matter? Meat, eggs, cheese, vegetables, fruit - we live in a free country and can basically eat what we want. So far so good. In the meantime, for a wide variety of reasons, our food culture includes many different Diets emerged. Accordingly, the topic of food is increasingly on the table in everyday conversations - and not everyone likes it.

Sentences like "What I eat is my business and my private pleasure" or "To each his own" - we have certainly all heard them in countless discussions or even said them ourselves. But is one's own diet really no one else's business?

In this article, I would like to explain to you why choosing your own food is a private decision, but not a purely private matter. Let's go!

In advance, here is a brief overview:

1. Reasons
2. Follow
3. Arguments
4. Closing words

Why Isn’t Our Food a Private Matter?

Privacy is the familiar space in our lives, where we can live out our personality and individuality without constraint and develop freely. If something is private, then by definition it only affects the individual.

Our personal diet would therefore be a private matter as long as it concerns only ourselves. But the food we eat, whether plant or animal products, does not grow on our plates or forks, but has a history.

You don't eat alone. The decision of what to eat has consequences for the lives of other people (e.g., medical costs, social costs, environmental costs (see Externalization of Environmental Costs)), for the environment (e.g. Rainforest deforestation, Climate Change) - and last but not least for the lives of cows, pigs, chickens and countless other animals that feel joy and pain just as we humans do.

"Eating is not a private matter. [...] Eating has very specific positive and negative consequences - not only for your own body, but also for the environment, future generations and other people."

Journal for Gastrosophy

Ultimately, the decision even has consequences for your own life. But since you harms not only himself, but above all third parties (whether directly or indirectly), one cannot speak of a private matter here.

Tip: Eating meat, for example, is not a personal choice, since the decision accepts a victim who loses his life. You can learn more about the argument in the linked post.

What We Eat Affects More Than Just Ourselves

Everything we eat consumes natural resources and affects third parties in any way. Products such as soy, oats, wheat or corn also have to be cultivated at great expense - and with the Harvesting with large machinery can kill animals. Strictly speaking, the consumption of plant-based foods is therefore not purely a private matter.

However, meat, eggs, cheese and milk are definitely not a private matteras the death of at least one animal is accepted. In addition, there are health risks and serious consequences for the planet and for us humans ourselves.

Notice: I have deliberately chosen the above picture because it represents reality and underpins the fact that the consumption of a "pork cutlet" is not a private matter. By the way, not only one animal dies - countless piglets are also crushed at birth in the cramped stalls, which subsequently end up in the garbage can. If you find the picture too crass, you should eat a purely vegetable diet.

How Animal-Based Foods Impact Others

Nowadays, there is no longer any medical necessity for eating animals - yet many people do it. The decision to eat a steak, scrambled eggs or a glass of milk of animal origin, has not only effects on the exploited animal.

Here are some of the consequences of (mass) animal farming for food production (source: "Vegan is nonsense!" by Niko Rittenau*) are clearly arranged.

The Factory Farming is responsible for the causation/consumption of...

• 12-18 percent of all global Greenhouse gas emissions (Climate Change)
• 70-80 percent of the Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest (Rainforest deforestation)
• 30-33 percent of the world's Land area and 70-80 percent of the agricultural land (Land consumption)
• 36-46 percent of the world's Harvest (food consumption)
• About 30 percent of the human-caused Decline of animal and plant species (Species Extinction)
• About 33 percent of the overfished fish populations (Overfishing of the seas)
• 70-80 percent of all the Antibiotics (Antibiotic Resistance)
• 60-75 percent of all human pathogenic Pathogen (zoonotic risk)

In view of the above-mentioned consequences for animals, the environment and other people, nutrition is No longer a purely private matter. Although the decision is made privately, the costs are borne primarily by others. Simply because one's own diet affects the lives of others, it is no longer a private matter.

Let's not misunderstand each other: The consumption of plant-based foods also consumes resources. But because the "detour animal" is avoided, are plant foods much more efficient.

"My Private Business!" – Common Arguments Debunked

Here I would like to briefly clear up some of the argumentsthat relate to the topic of the privacy of one's own diet.

Strictly speaking, the following sentences are not even an argument, but rather a psychological barrierthat allows you to stop discussing things and just leave everything as it is. "This is a private matter!" - End of the discussion.

"Everyone Should Mind Their Own Business."

This saying means that it is better for someone to get their own affairs in order than to interfere in other people's affairs and criticize other people. I think that's basically a good attitude.

In a conversation about eating habits, however, the sentence is out of place, as it bypasses a substantive discussion of the criticism and nips any discussion in the bud.

"What I Eat Is Nobody Else’s Concern."

As already explained in the article above, our own diet has (serious) consequences for humans, animals and the environment. The saying Creates a great distance from the criticism and is intended to prevent the discussion from arising.

In the case of other injustices - for example, child abuse we would never tolerate itif someone justifies this by saying that it is their private matter how they deal with their child.

So why should we do it with cruelty to animals or climate-damaging behavior? As long as your own food makes sacrificesit is very much a matter for others.

"Live and Let Live."

With this bogus argument, people want to claim a "lack of tolerance" and point out that everyone can live the way they want. Reading between the lines and referring to one's own diet, this sentence also implies that what one eats is a private matter.

Ultimately, this sentence rather means "Live and let die" - the exact opposite of what it suggests. On closer inspection, the slogan does not suffice to justify the killing of animals for one's own eating habits.

But it is not only the animals that are not "let live". People also suffer and die among inefficient, animal-based foods. We could, for example, reduce the End world hunger immediately and the Feed all of humanity a purely plant-based diet.¹ Quite simply because the "animal detour" is avoided if we consume the (food) plants directly instead of feeding them to animals and then eating their body parts.

So "live and let live" is honestly quite a absurd argument, to justify having animals killed for your own food and endangering other people.

Tip: At vegan for people I will explain why the Veganism protects not only animals, but also people. Be sure to take a look!

"To Each Their Own."

This means that every person should have the right to their own views, opinions, preferences and actions. Who does not share an opinion, should be tolerant and simply not be bothered by it. But you can't simply dismiss social injustice and all criticism with this saying.

The original meaning of the saying of the Greek philosopher Plato was that each person is responsible for a just society should act in a way that corresponds to his nature and circumstances. "To each his own" thus had a solidary basic ideas.

But the actual meaning has been lost over time. Not least because the saying also instrumentalized by the National Socialists and attached to the entrances of concentration camps became. A millennia-old formula of justice thus became a formula of death - "to each what he deserves", so to speak. Against this background, the sentence is particularly macabre.

In relation to the consumption of animal foods such as meat, eggs or cheese, it becomes clear that "to each his own" actually says the opposite of the original meaning. You take away from innocent cows, pigs, chickens and many other species your - their freedom, their offspring and their lives.

Tip: Further errors or Prejudices against the vegan diet and how to logically refute them in the linked blog post.

Nutrition Is Not a Private Matter – Eating Consciously Means Respecting Others

We oil, fry and bread pork body parts and call it schnitzel - one of many euphemistic Euphemisms for animal products, which Memory of the animal in hiding hold

"What you eat is for everyone to decide for themselves." - the sentence magically transforms into a very egoistic saying as soon as one Viewing one's own actions from the perspective of the victims.

Animals, but also people, suffer and die under the nutritional decision, which one would like to label loosely and easily as a private matter. Although the decision is a private one, it is of course not a private matter.

"I am life that wants to live, in the midst of life that wants to live."

Albert Schweitzer (more at Animal Welfare Quotes)

To many, a purely plant-based diet seems too difficult. But as soon as you change your perspective, you see who really has a hard time. To better understand the perspective of the victims, I personally enjoyed the Dominion film helped. It shows what we humans do to animals for our private pleasure. It is simply a brutal injustice towards all non-human animals - and disrespectful, ignorant and obstinate to dismiss it as a non-public matter.

We are used to eating meat - but we are also able to question and change our behavior. Do you see it the same way? Then I would like to conclude with the Cookbook "Vegan & Easy" by Bianca Zapatka* to the heart. It makes the transition much easier for you 🙂

I hope I have been able to help you with this article. Do you have any questions, tips or suggestions? Then I look forward to your comment!

Stay kind to all creatures,

PS: Do you also think that Vegan:inside annoying? In the linked article I explain to you what exactly is so "corrosive" about veganism 😉.

References:

1. M. Berners-Lee, C. Kennelly, R. Watson; et al. (2018): Current global food production is sufficient to meet human nutritional needs in 2050 provided there is radical societal adaptation, available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326488835_Current_global_food_production_is_sufficient_to_meet_human_nutritional_needs_in_2050_provided_there_is_radical_societal_adaptation. [12.03.2025]. ↩︎