Dear Espoo City Decision Makers,

I am writing you in English because that is my native language, even though I am citizen of Finland. I do hope you understand it, and do not immediately trash this because it may be uncomfortable for you to hear.

Having contacted several lower-level decision makers, including the school principle, health care officials, and the person in charge at Espoo catering, I was finally urged by my friend, and Espoo representative Henna Partanen, to contact you regarding my son’s tenacious decision to become a vegan.

I will first give you a bit of background. My son, Monn, is 7 years old, and he’s been a vegetarian from birth. When he was smaller, a medical certificate was required for vegetarian food at day cares. I found it ridiculous back then, and simply lied and cited religion, after which, no questions were asked. Nowadays vegetarian food is standard at schools, and vegetarians are no longer discriminated against the way they used to be, back in the days.

When Monn announced that he is a vegan, I asked him whether he would consider being vegetarian at school, but vegan at home. Apart from the cow-yoghurt which he shared with his father, he was already mostly vegan anyway. His answer was clear then, and it has not shifted: He is a vegan. He also gave me an explanation which showed he had thought about it and made a clear ethical choice.

It would be highly dubious of me, as a parent, to force him to eat something he has concluded is unethical when there are many viable alternatives. Making vegan food is easy, and I have, among plenty of others, been doing it for the past 14 years. It is not more expensive than any other kind of food if done with the right research and attitude. Of course, it is certainly more expensive than meat food if kitchens persist in seeing the need to ‘replace’ dairy, eggs and meat with vegan alternatives. 

Veganism is not an ‘alternative lifestyle’. It's just a dietary choice for us, and a lifestyle (not an alternative), for some. Veganism, for me, and now for my son, is based on the belief that acting violently towards, inflicting pain upon, and causing harm to other sentient beings is in no way a natural part of our nature. Deciding on a vegan diet is simply adhering to the logical conclusions that follow from that thought. From our perspective, when our diet is labelled a 'special diet', it is an insult. As far as we are concerned, it takes a 'special' kind of person to not take into consideration the suffering of others. But that's a battle for another day.

Monn is no longer a 2-year-old who has never tried meat. He is now a 7-year-old who questions why he was ever given dairy products or eggs to begin with. But don’t believe me! Monn is going to film a video and post it tomorrow.

Now, I have a few questions for you:

1. As planners and educators, what are your views on a child's independent, harmless & well-argued ethical choice? Will you accept it, or will you discourage him from using his own reasoning capacity in the future?

2. If your answer is "Yes, we DO encourage independent thinking," then, if you accept his argument, will you treat him as an equal to his classmates & provide him, based on his ethical choice, with the school meals which he is legally entitled to?

3. If you do not agree with his arguments, and are unwilling to accommodate them, please do tell me what it is you are planning to do if and when he refuses to eat the meals which he finds ethically wrong. And if the answer is still "no, we will not provide vegan meals," then am I not, in principle, entitled to be subsidised the amount Espoo Catering gets in order to make my child's food, since they are not able to provide it?

My final question: Will you continue to question his diet if we become Daoists? It is a religion that a) is common in Thailand, Monn's country of birth and other citizenship, and b) bans the consumption of animal products, garlic, & onion. This is the alternative if it is deemed that carefully considered ethical reasons are inferior to blindly following faith (see question 1).

I understand that discriminating on the basis of religion is against the law in the city of Espoo.

I am happy to answer any questions regarding the ethical considerations of Monn's choice. He is also happy to answer for himself if he is asked. If the above questions feel complicated that is because they are. Ethical thinking often is quite difficult. I believe, however, that encouraging children to take and defend an ethical stance from an early age, and not simply to follow norms blindly, is healthy for society.

From an ethical and social standpoint, I see the main conflict being that we are trying to fit together a blanket social service model and pluralistic values with a low budget. One of the three has to go. If you are going to have blanket social services and cater to pluralistic needs, you need more money from somewhere. If you have pluralistic values and a low budget, then you can’t have blanket social services, and you need to accept that you will not serve all equally, which allows for plurality, in which case you have to allow for children in Monn’s position to bring their won food. The final option is to reject a pluralistic society, which means who can treat everyone the same and have a low budget. Then you simply have to stop encouraging independent and diverse thinking.

Finding a middle path is complicated, but perhaps there are other compromises:

It would appear the City of Helsinki has a model that could be applied immediately. I will cite from my friend, Henna Partanen, who got this response from Minna Ahola of the Espoo Food Services.

”Koulujen kasvisruokalistan muuttaminen enemmän vegaaneille sopivammaksi voisi olla kustannustehokkain tapa toteuttaa jatkossa vegaaniasiakkaille sopivaa ruokaa kouluissa. Helsingin kaupungilla on malli, jossa koulujen kasvisruokalistoilla on useampi vegaaniruokavaihtoehto ja niinä päivinä, jolloin kasvisruoka ei ole vegaaneille sopivaa, tarjotaan heille jäähdytettyä vegaaniruokaa edelliseltä kerralta. Vegaaniruokailijoille ei tarjota erillistä ruokajuomaa, vaan ruokajuomana on vesi. Tällä on saatu kustannukset samalle tasolle kuin muussa kouluruoassa. Tämä voisi toimia hyvin myös Espoossa.”

Translation: 'Changing the vegetarian diet at school to be more suitable vegans overall could be the most cost-effective manner to cater to vegan clients at schools. The city of Helsinki has a model in which they have added more vegan options to the basic menu, and on those days that the vegetarian food is not suitable for vegans, they will be served refrigerated food from the previous day. Vegans are not offered a seperate drink to go with their food. They are served water with their meals. In this way, the costs of vegan food is at the same level as other school food. This could also work well in Espoo.'

There is plenty of literature available about vegan nutrition, so I will not comment on that, although if you have any difficulties finding it, or need some consulting advice, I will gladly help.

Again, I am happy to pack him lunch, if it makes things easier for you. It requires you to convince Espoo International School that Monn will be allowed to bring his own food, in which case, I'll make lunch, and the onus will be on the school and teachers to satisfactorily explain to him why he is given different treatment. And quite frankly, I think it is simply delaying the thinking you will inevitable need to do in any case.

I do hope we get this resolved quickly, and that a first grader need not continue to feel he is being treated unfairly at school on a daily basis.

Best regards,

Valisa Krairiksh