Great story, Pam. Like you, I tend to keep quiet about my plant-based diet unless I have to speak up. When I’m given the “plants have feelings too” argument, here’s how I respond (similar to what one of your readers, Shin Jie Yong has said):

All living things have an intelligence that’s been developed over millions of years of evolution. That intelligence is used for survival. So plants can emit gasses indicating distress, warn other plants of harm using their complex communication systems, and so on.

But suffering really seems to require a brain, which plants don’t have. No brain means no pain receptors. No brain also means no desire, no drive, as with a baby calf separated from its mother, desiring to be with her. Or a group of chickens stuffed into cages, but biologically driven to be out foraging.

Animals have complex social needs. Typically, the more complex the brain, the more complex those social needs, and the greater capacity for suffering when those needs aren’t met. Animals feel pain in ways that plants cannot. A plant registering an attack and releasing an odor (the cut grass smell we find pleasing is actually a call of distress) is not the same thing as suffering, as there is no conscious entity, no brain, to perceive the pain.

Because I am lucky enough to live in a society that can provide for all of my nutritional needs without needing to eat animals or animal products (except the eggs of my own chickens free-ranging in my own yard!), I don’t need to eat meat. I don’t want to contribute to unnecessary suffering of animals, and I want to be healthy and live a long life. Keep up the good work!