Readers React: Vegan is the future of food, and the L.A. City Council should recognize that

To the editor: Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz, in wanting to require that many Los Angeles food concessionaires offer at least one vegan protein meal, is simply getting his city ready for the future of food.

Our Earth can’t continue on its current path. Factory farming is ruining our environment with the large amounts of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by the billions of farmed animals imprisoned in those facilities. It’s also ruining our health, as meat and dairy consumption have been linked to a multitude of diseases.

As for those innocent animals kept in horrible conditions for their entire lives only to be cruelly killed for their meat, the best thing we can do for them is to take them off our plates. Passing a law requiring more vegan options is a move in the right direction.

Laura Frisk, Encinitas

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To the editor: I was a vegetarian for 17 years. For the last six years, I have been vegan.

Within that short period of time, vegan fare has proliferated. All one has to do is go to the HappyCow.net and search for a town or city in the U.S. or abroad and, in most cases, one will be amazed at how easy it is to find either a vegan restaurant or one that has plenty of tasty plant-based options. L.A. and LAX in particular have many such choices.

I agree with columnist Gustavo Arellano: Passing a law to force businesses to accommodate a lifestyle choice is wrong.

Nanci Elliott, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: I was surprised that Arellano mentioned the romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak as a reason that vegetables are “no health panacea.” It’s worth noting that E. coli bacteria live in the intestine and feces of animals and do not come from plants.

Plant-based protein is more readily available now than it ever has been, so adding the options to restaurants will not be overly complicated.

Koretz’s proposal would be a win for the environment and for everyone looking to eat fewer animal products, and it would further establish Los Angeles as a forward-thinking city.

Henry Beal, Long Beach

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