As someone who has lived in a variety of different cultures, and is currently embarking on another as a Community and Economic Development Volunteer with Peace Corps Colombia, I have had to revisit an annoyingly persistent question, “Will I continue to practice Veganism abroad?”

If you ever find out that someone is Vegan (don’t worry, they’ll…oh never mind), you’ll likely find that they’re familiar with the titular scenario. The story usually goes something like this:

The point of the question — as I understand it — is to unveil some sort of hypocrisy hiding in the Vegan’s “moral code,” a chink in their armor, which I suppose is intended to somehow subvert the entire Vegan ethical infrastructure (FYI this strategy is also a logical fallacy).

This hypothetical is not alone. Amongst this test are several “bizzaro” parallels, one of which is the focus of this article: stating that members of less privileged societies with scarce access to food need animal products to survive.

The previous statement is actually correct. Obviously, certain individuals live in societies, climates, and infrastructures where the luxury of knowing the location of one’s next meal is non-existent. In these circumstances, eating animal products is (in my opinion) clearly justified. Human life is more valuable than animal life. One should not contribute to the death, suffering, or exploitation of an animal unless abstaining from doing so results in the suffering or death of oneself. I would even consider these aforementioned omnivorous peoples “Vegan” per the definition given by The Vegan Society:

Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.

The problem with the above analysis is that people often use this argument to justify abandoning Veganism any time they travel anywhere. I know that, personally, I received a lot of “advice” before moving to Thailand from people stating something like “you’ll never be able to maintain Veganism in a developing country.” I even remember a relative stating that Veganism would be impossible in certain regions of the US when I told them I was interested in Teach for America. To those people, may I direct you to the following starter pack:

A second argument one might hear while traveling is that they’re “missing out” on the culture of their destination by abstaining from animal products. I suppose this argument holds a bit more water, but I would like to retort in the manner of a true raconteur with some juicy anecdotal experiences. As a teacher in Thailand, veganism actually forced me to explore a variety of different foods. Most of the Americans I encountered were often satisfied falling back on the same meals time after time, whereas I would be forced to enquire about alternative options. Moreover, being forced to talk about food all the time amplified the pace at which I developed my language skills, as I was constantly talking to people and using new vocabulary when I would go out to eat. Finally (and I would hope this is obvious to my fellow veg*ans), just because you’re abroad doesn’t make the animal’s death any less horrific, the process of raising it any better for the environment, or the meat any healthier. The circumstance, in fact, has not changed at all, your convictions have.

So, to answer the question I opened this article with, yes, I intend on maintaining veganism for the entire duration of my service with the Peace Corps. Will there be mistakes? Sure. Last night I accidentally ate something with dairy in it. Does that make me lose my vegan powers? Of course not. Does that mean I’m going to throw caution to the wind and eat a full pig roast tomorrow? No chance. Seeing as I am confident in my ability to say “No como carne,” the biggest consequence of my practicing Veganism here is going to be some awkward conversations, the exact same consequence of being Vegan in the US.