BLOOD PUDDINGS AND arcane offal are often on my table, because I like them. But if carnivorism were an ideology, instead of just a habit, I should denounce it. Some-isms are morally indifferent, like autism or somnambulism. Some are good: criticism is beyond criticism in these pages. But the suffix usually denotes a nasty tendency on adherents’ part to bully the rest of us.
I therefore reject the well-intentioned challenge from my beloved colleague, Daniel Johnson,, detected inconsistency in my revulsion from veganism and my praise of potatoes. I can devour vegans’ dishes while detesting vegans’ doctrines. Similarly, I can favour public ownership of a motorway or a metro while condemning communism, or savour while damning diabolism.
