Gary Francione and Ron Weiss talks to Nuala McGovern

Professor Gary Francione is a lawyer, philosopher and advocate of animal rights and veganism.  Dr Ron Weiss is a doctor and nutritionist. They consider whether veganism is a way to feed to world. While it might make sense from an ethical and climate change perspective, it’s a massive cultural leap for many, and there are also downsides like the growth of the unhealthy processed vegan food industry. However, low and no-meat diets are generally better for us and people have lived on them around the world for centuries.

The production of meat is hugely wasteful, harmful to the planet, and, in some societies, to ourselves. Worldwide vast agricultural lands are sown with crops grown specifically to feed to animals.  In the US, preventable heart disease is the biggest cause of death. Eating too much meat is a major factor in its occurrence.

Veganism is a fashionable solution, good for our health and the environment – but it’s fashionable in affluent societies where food is plentiful.  How appealing is veganism in places where food might not be so readily available? In such places meat is aspirational, an occasional luxury, and the traditional starchy no meat foods may be filling but lack nutrition.
However, what can we learn from cultures where veganism is not novel, where meat has played little or no part in the diet for thousands of years (ironically the health of such communities is being threatened by the coming of western diets)?

Vegan food has actually become a development tool in unlikely places, as a viable alternative to bushmeat amongst jungle dwellers in the Democratic Republic of Congo for example.

We’ll unpick this complex issue and discuss the dilemmas and solutions.  We can also engage the audience with this directly, run polls in the room and around the world.

Francione is a world- leading authority on animal rights and professor of law at Rutgers University. Weiss is a physician, farmer and founder of Ethos Primary Care, a farm-based healthcare system.

Forward Thinking is a series of 4 programmes for the BBC World Service presented by Nuala McGovern and recorded at the Oxford Literary Festival.
Audience questions will follow the initial conversation with the guests. 

If you are planning to attend the event there will be an opportunity for you to ask a question.  If you are unable to attend but might like to ask a question that the BBC then features in the broadcast, you can send those in advance to the producer of the shows julian.siddle@bbc.co.uk

Tickets are free but must be booked through the box office.

The recording will begin at 2pm in The Tuanku Bainun Auditorium located within the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre at Worcester College Oxford. If attending the recording, please arrive at least 15 minutes before the start time. The auditorium is a few minutes’ walk from the main Worcester College entrance.