DISQUS

Urbanist · 2 years ago

Very odd - I wonder if they carried that consistently through and applied it to all vulcans on the other shows? Unfortunately, geeky though I am, I'm not going to research it :)

tunequest · 2 years ago

[nerdhat]
I guess that makes sense. Animal husbandry requires many more resources than basic agriculture. A single cow requires 13.6 Mbtu of energy to raise and feedlot cows consume roughly 22 lbs of corn each day.

Vulcan is an arid planet and the logical course to maximize agricultural output would be to grow fruit and vegetable crops for Vulcans to eat, not animals.
[/nerdhat]

webomatica · 2 years ago

I believe the idea was extended to other shows but I'm not as familiar with the others. I think once again the idea of Vulcan diet is yet another area where the show was ahead of its time.

Elaine Vigneault · 2 years ago

Wow, a thorough analysis!
The Vulcan recipes are my favorite. Now that's just funny :)

Todd Harrison - LA Headshot Ph · 2 years ago

This fact has never dawned on me. This must be all Vulcans. Funny all the times I watched it I never noticed!

S.R.J. · 1 year ago

I see the recipes have Vulcans eating eggs and butter. I find that difficult to accept since those foods still require violence and oppression toward other species. Surely Vulcans would be vegans. How could they justify keeping thousands of chickens for the purpose of harvesting their eggs? What would they do with those thousands of chickens once they were "spent" (past their laying prime)? The planet would quickly get overrun by chickens (or other egg-laying birds) when the spent birds weren't slaughtered . . . not to mention that they'd have twice as many chickens as we keep here on Earth because we automatically slaughter the male chicks but Vulcans wouldn't do that.

And the milk? I spent my summers on my grandparent's farm and there are few sounds more sorrowful than the sound of a mother cow being separated from her baby before their time so that humans could drink her milk. Would Vulcans tear apart mothers and children so they could have butter? And, again, a milk cow must be bred every year to keep her milk flowing. What would Vulcan do with all those cows piling up since they wouldn't be making them into veal?

It is my opinion that Vulcans would not merely be vegetarian. Their logic and peaceful philosophy would demand nothing less than veganism.

Sub. M. · 1 year ago

I agree with S.R.J.'s hypothesis. Veganism seems to be the logical choice, both ethically and practically for the Vulcans. If there is no husbandry for meat, it is doubtful that logic would permit expending the energy and resources necessary to produce dairy or eggs. And dairy and egg production are inevitably connected to some degree of animal suffering. As for seafood: science has only recently shown fish to have pain receptors and complex neural systems. I'm sure the Vulcan's would have figured this out and understood it to be just as morally relevant as the killing of other animals...so I would maintain that the show was nevertheless far ahead of its time, and that logic can fill in the gaps for us.

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Rabbi Yonassan Gershom · 5 months ago

Rabbi Gershom here (vegetarian and author of "Jewish Themes in Star Trek"): The "Vulcan" recipes with eggs and butter are non-canonical, probably made up by fans. Spock was never shown eating these foods. As far as I know, the whole Vulcan culture is vegetarian. However, being logical, they would not starve themselves to death if only flesh foods were available, hence Spock eating meat in "All Our Yesterdays" when it was the only food in a glacier environment. (I'm not sure about the seafood reference -- Vulcan is a desert planet, where would they get fish?)

In the Next Generation series, a lot of the foods eaten on starships are replicated, i.e., they LOOK like meat but are actually artificially produced from pure recycled energy. In "Lonely Among Us" (TNG), when a carnivorous Antican ambassador wants live food, he is told by Riker that "We no longer enslave animals for food purposes."

"But we have seen Humans eat meat, "replies the Antican.

"You have seen something as fresh and tasty as meat, but inorganically materialized out of energy from our transporter," replies Riker.

So the ideal of vegetarianism is there in Star Trek -- however, not everyone is a vegetarian and meat is eaten by Humans and various aliens in some Trek episodes. Still, the series does legitimize vegetarianism.

Sovay · 5 months ago

Great post! Just to add one thing, in the episode "The city on the edge of forever" Kirk enters the room where he and Spock are staying with some groceries and says "Mr. Spock, I've brought you some assorted vegetables; Bologna and a hot roll for myself"
So Kirk seems to acknowledge that Spock wouldn't be into bologna :)

webomatica · 5 months ago

Brilliant - I should review that episode and look for that one line!

Jean · 2 weeks ago

I think if you look at Wikipedia now you will find that it has been updated. There is no reason for the comment about Vulcans eating seafood, I have no idea where that came from. If they are vegetarian why would they eat meat in the form of fish? Fish eaters are not vegetarian.