I’ve heard of many vegans who are philosophically okay with eating bivalves, yet most of them don’t anyway. It’s odd because vegans get so excited about a new vegan cheese or meat substitute. How can they contain themselves from sucking down a plate of delicious oysters once they decide it is ethically permissible to do so?

My guess is vegan purity, habit, or wanting to avoid label confusion. Christopher Cox, for instance, has trouble defining exactly what he is. But if your real concerns are animal suffering or the environment, Cox persuasively argues that you should get over yourself and make oysters your protein of choice.

At the very least, veganism plus oysters beats lacto-ovo vegetarianism on every count. Jonathan Safran Foer forgot to point this out in Eating Animals, but there is undoubtably more suffering in an egg or a glass of milk than in a plate of oysters.

There’s more nutrition too. Conveniently, the most ethical meat on the planet is among the healthiest. If a vegan were to replace their beans and grains with oysters, odds are that vitality, alertness, strength and joy would join in perfect harmony with their soothed conscience.

One problem with veganism, however, is that it makes the prospect of eating any animal product seem disgusting. It would be easier for Cox to convince those who haven’t yet taken the plunge into morally disciplined eating. Still, if vegans can learn to love tofu and TVP, surely they can train themselves to tolerate oysters.

And don’t worry. If the lifestyle catches on, the label will follow.