Joanne Stepaniak, Being Vegan: Living with Conscience, Conviction, and Compassion (Los Angeles: Lowell House, 2000. ), pp. 43-44.
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There is no logical basis to support the theory that plants feel pain. The dubious possibility that they might, however, is no justification for killing obviously sentient beings. Any rational person understands the striking difference between slitting the throat of a sentient animal and plucking a fruit or vegetable. ... Vegans and vegetarians are commonly baited by nonvegetarians with “what if” scenarios that typically have no relevance to or bearing on most people's real-life situations.

— Joanne Stepaniak on Vegetarianism

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "There is no logical basis to support the theory that plants feel pain. The dubious possibility that they might, however, is no justification for killing obviously sentient beings. Any rational person understands the striking difference between slitting the throat of a sentient animal and plucking a fruit or vegetable. ... Vegans and vegetarians are commonly baited by nonvegetarians with “what if” scenarios that typically have no relevance to or bearing on most people's real-life situations." in the context of "Joanne Stepaniak, Being Vegan: Living with Conscience, Conviction, and Compassion (Los Angeles: Lowell House, 2000. ), pp. 43-44." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Vegetarianism" (S) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Joanne Stepaniak

About Joanne Stepaniak

Joanne "Jo" Stepaniak (born 1954) is an American writer specializing in veganism and nutrition.