Hi Marc,
Veganism seems more to be a caprice than a reasonable choice, since it is not healthy for human to live with low protein diets or avoid any animal products.
But I understand why vegetarianism is popular. It's not good either to eat only meat (you know like having a beefsteak for breakfast). Balance is the most important. If someone doesn't eat meat then they should eat a lot of dairy products, eggs, beans, etc.
I personnaly stopped eating beef in (or from) developped countries since the mad cow disease. I know there has been no cases in the US or Australia yet, but even if there was I think Americans would try hard to conceal it to preserve their economy. What's more there's been cases in Canada and when I came to Japan everybody was sure it would never happen to Japanese beef ; one month later, the first BSE case was found - and there has been several cases in all the country since then. As cows in Hokkaido and Chiba aren't related, it means there was already BSE before, maybe for several years, but that nobody had tested it or discovered it (even when tested, it's not that easy to trace BSE in a cow. Best proof, a vet commited suicide in Hokkaido for failing to trace it for several years and thus endangering people's life).
As long as I am in Japan, I don't miss beef at all. There is so much fish and seafood that I am content. But in Europe that would be tougher to live without beef at all and just live on pork and chicken. The alternative is kangaroo or emu meat. :blush: