Is life without bacon really boring?

Bacon Week: It's not quite as fun for these guys. Picture: AFP PHOTO Source: AFP

TODAY the Adelaide Advertiser ran an opinion piece with the catchy title 'Animal activists are fun police who want us to lead a miserable boring baconfree existence'.

Its author, Nicolle Flint, has uncovered a shocking fact: the hardworking folk at animal welfare organisations such as Animals Australia and Animal Liberation would like Aussies to eat less meat. Can you believe it?

Flint seems to have a bee in her bacon-filled bonnet because these and other animal welfare organisations didn't momentarily stop their tireless work providing a voice for Australia's millions of factory farmed animals out of respect for 'Australian Bacon Week', a recent marketing promotion concocted by Australian Pork Limited.

"Animal activists didn't spend Bacon Week swapping recipes, and discussing whether it's OK to put barbecue instead of tomato sauce on a bacon and egg roll," Flint laments.

No such spoilsport behaviour from Flint. In her article, she describes animal rights advocates as "fun police" who are "doing their best to put us off our pork" (they don't seem to be succeeding with Flint, if her bacon-filled Twitter timeline is anything to go by).

Former AFL player Matthew Bate is one of many who've 'made the connection' and embraced a meat-free lifestyle. Picture: Lawrence Pinder Source: News Limited

Full disclosure here: I'm a vego/vegan and have been for about four years. After watching documentaries like Earthlings and reading books like Peter Singer's The Ethics of What We Eat a few years back, it seemed to me that continuing to eat animal products presented too much of an ethical minefield.

For me, the ethical dilemma posed by eating meat from animals who'd had short, often miserable lives was too great, and the easiest response for me was to limit my support of industries that exploit animals as much as possible.

Still, Flint's not having any of this. "Just imagine mealtimes with potato, carrots and peas, but no lamb chops. Salad and chips, but no fish. Roast vegetables, but no chicken. Toast, but no butter, eggs or bacon. Sounds like a pretty bland and boring existence, doesn't it," she writes.

A mouth-watering veggie burger. Source: News Limited

One of many vegan cookbooks. Source: Supplied

It does indeed, Nicolle. Thankfully vegetarians and vegans have a greater array of foods to choose from than dry toast and chips. Search the #vegan hashtag on Instagram and you'll see hundreds of thousands of colourful, mouth-watering, healthy meals. Hell, we even treat ourselves to pretty amazing junk food sometimes (seriously, there's a second Lord of the Fries vegetarian takeaway burger joint opening in Sydney later this year and I am already concerned for my waistline).

Flint states that "a meat-free existence, not improving animal welfare, is [animal activists'] aim." Newsflash: the two go hand-in-hand. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that one of the best ways to protect an animal's welfare is to not, y'know, eat it.

And while a vegetarian or vegan's life is indeed 'bacon-free', it's certainly not the fun-free existence Flint would have us believe. Almost as soon as I went vego, I dropped a good five kilos without trying — even though I can never go past a vegan brownie from my local weekend market (those things are the size of my head and no, I'm not sharing). Contrary to the stereotype of the weak, hungry vegan, my energy and fitness levels also improved — one year after making the change, I ran my first marathon.

But ultimately, making the decision to reduce or eliminate your consumption of animal products is about taking the time to recognise that you share the planet with other sentient beings — animals that we exploit on a mass scale. That yummy bacon Flint tweets about? It doesn't grow on trees. It came from a pig. A pig that's just as smart, as able to feel fear and pain, and as deserving of a peaceful, natural life as the much-loved family dog or cat you have at home.

Pigs actually make great pets. Would you eat the family dog? Source: Supplied

Stuff National Bacon Week and all other Simpsons parody-esque ploys designed to make us ignore the plight of voiceless animals.

Instead, why not head to Make It Possible.com and make a pledge. You can pledge to find out where your food is coming from and choose to purchase as humanely as possible. You can pledge to go meat-free for one meal per day, or one meal per week.

You can even go the whole hog (no pun intended) and pledge to go meat-free altogether.