Bad news about skull pudding

I need another teapot like I need another hole in my head, but every so often one is just too cool/cute/beautiful to pass up. So the other day a lovely white teapot decorated with goldfish (one of the blue-eyed fish was atop the lid, and his swirling tail formed the handle) and delicate water weeds caught my eye. It was half-price, too. It was going to be mine. Then the tea-shop proprietor mentioned that it was made of bone china.

Upon further inquiry, he explained that bone china really does contain animal bones. This was quite a surprise, since I always thought that “bone china” was a figurative term - referring to the hardness and whiteness of the china - not the literal inclusion of animal bones. (For the curious, this article explains how and why bone - bone ash, really - is included in bone china.)

I didn’t feel that I would enjoy the teapot, knowing that it contained bones. So back on the shelf it went. That’s a personal preference, though. Other vegans might make a different choice.

For example, some vegans avoid white sugar because some sugar is filtered through bone char - very similar to the stuff in bone china. But as Matt Ball of Vegan Outreach points out in his fascinating essay ”Activism and Veganism,” “Bone char is also used as a source of activated carbon in some water filters and by some municipal water treatment plants. (These plants also use tests that involve animal products, and water itself has been tested on animals.) So should we say water isn’t ‘vegan’?”

The point, as I understand it, is that to take such an extreme position as to argue that water isn’t vegan will hurt the vegan movement and its goal of reducing the suffering of animals. A section of Ball’s article, “Busting the Vegan Police” is worth quoting in full:

It is imperative for us to realize that if our veganism is a statement for animal liberation, veganism cannot be an exclusive, ego-boosting club. Rather, we must become the mainstream. Fostering the impression that “it’s so hard to be vegan–animal products are in everything,” and emphasizing animal products where the connection to animal suffering is tenuous, works against this by allowing most to ignore us and causing others to give up the whole process out of frustration.

The way veganism is presented to a potential vegan is of major importance. The attractive idea behind being a ‘vegan’ is reducing one’s contribution to animal exploitation. Buying meat, eggs, and/or dairy creates animal suffering–animals will be raised and slaughtered specifically for these products. But if the by-products are not sold, they will be thrown out or given away. As more people stop eating animals, the by-products will naturally fade, so there is no real reason to force other people to worry about them in order to call themselves ‘vegan.’

We want a vegan world, not a vegan club.

So although my feelings about animals led to my decision to avoid bone china, other vegans or vegetarians might make a different, but equally valid choice. Readers, how do you feel about such less clear-cut examples of “non-vegan” items?

P.S. - Thank you to friend Tim for the title of this post. After observing my surprise at learning the truth about bone china, he said, “I’ve got bad news about skull pudding….”

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