The Milkmaid’s Tale: Veganism, Feminism, and Dystopian Food Futures

This article (re)considers the vegan-feminist stance in light of some of the recent scientific and technological developments changing the contours of dietary practices. Specifically, it focuses on animal products of biotechnology, including in vitro meat, and the complex questions that they raise. Though many are in favor of developments like in vitro meat, the technical evaluations on which these opinions are based are conspicuously incomplete. Given the social, political, economic, and ethical contexts that food occupies, universal veganism is not necessarily compatible with a broad, anti-oppression agenda, and new food innovations do not represent a panacea for the multifaceted problems they seek to solve. A more nuanced and inter-sectional consideration of the systemic implications of new food innovations highlights the role of the law both in enabling the exploitation and social injustices underlying conventional methods of industrial animal agriculture, as well as its possibilities in helping to rectify and address them.