The Difficult Thing About Going Vegan

A while back, Dan commented that the most difficult thing about going vegan is the most difficult thing about life in general–other people.

Well, other people don’t appear to be making life any easier for the Milwaukee Brewers’ Prince Fielder, who has become a vegetarian.

Let’s deconstruct:

Fielder and his diet have become as delicious for critics as the rib eyes he used to love.

“Fans last year were yelling at me, ‘Hey Prince, eat a salad!’ ” Fielder said during dinner at a Milwaukee restaurant last Tuesday. “This year they’re saying, ‘Eat a steak!’ I feel like going: ‘Keep yelling, buddy. You’re still in the stands.’ ”

Great comeback.

Fielder, 23, decided to make the switch over the winter after reading how cattle and chickens were treated and “was totally grossed out,” he said. His wife, Chanel, preferred a no-meat diet as it was, so he embraced a new approach.

Two things jump out:

1. He did it because of the treatment of the animals, yet didn’t include milk products and eggs, which just might contain more suffering than a hamburger. Someone ought to tell him that.
2. His wife eschews meat, which is great because he has support at home.

I have a question about something on the following page that I don’t understand:

Names of any other baseball-playing vegetarians remain a mystery; the tight end Tony Gonzalez of the Kansas City Chiefs last year became a vegan [but not really], meaning he also eschews eggs and dairy.

Not quite so draconian, Fielder still has received advice on his new diet from Leslie Bonci of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Not quite so draconian?  Is the article’s author, Alan Schwarz, referring to veganism as draconian? I don’t understand.

Brewers fans do not seem quite so comfortable with their brawny slugger becoming so refined.

Refined? That was an interesting choice, don’t you think?

Dan Ricksetter of Milwaukee added: “It was a bit disheartening when he decided to become a vegetarian. Brats are intrinsic to our culture. They’re the breakfast of champions. I’m not sure which sport.”

Perhaps Mr. Fielder realized that culture is no excuse for torture.

You can write to the New York Times about Fielder and the article referenced above at letters@nytimes.com. Maybe congratulations are in order, maybe you want to point out that milk products and eggs are not without hideous cruelty. Here’s Fielder’s page on the official Brewers site, and here’s the fan feedback e-mail page.