Vegans don't use anything that came from an animal. But as a thought experiment, what single food from an animal might such a person add to their diet to boost their health?

Personal note: My wife and I have been avoiding most animal foods for over a decade, including a few years of strict veganism. We came at it from an ethical standpoint - not to improve our health or the environment (although those are also good reasons). We hold university degrees, and have done many years of independent research on this topic, as well as living the lifestyle and finding out what does and doesn't work for us. She was vegan through both pregnancies and our toddler and baby are being raised without animal products. Both are extremely healthy, happy, and ahead of developmental milestones for their ages. But our strong beliefs about this topic don't mean we try to push them onto others, preferring to present our findings so people can make their own decisions. Our stance is ever-evolving, and as this post will show, we are not dogmatic about it. My intention is not to make anyone feel any particular way, but to offer some information in a manner the reader may not have considered before.

Diet

I recently posted a list of 11 nutrients vegans might not get enough of. Although it's possible to survive and thrive without any animal products whatsoever, doing so requires the help of modern technology, can be expensive, and isn't always very tasty. Lichen, nutritional yeast, supplements from bacterial sources, and seaweed don't make a very nice lunch! Here are the 11 nutrients a vegan might be looking for in a hypothetical animal source:

• riboflavin aka "vitamin B2"
• cobalamin aka "vitamin B12"
• iron
• zinc
• calcium
• cholecalciferol aka "vitamin D3"
• omega 3 fatty acids
• iodine
• selenium
• choline aka "vitamin J"
• high density lipoprotein aka "good cholesterol"

Is there a meat (animal flesh) that provides most of these vital nutrients, without too many of the things we should avoid?

Incredibly, there's actually a meat that provides all of these vital nutrients, and essentially nothing we should avoid! It is considered by doctors, researchers, and dieticians to be one of the most nutritious foods, with many referring to it as "perfect".

That food? Shrimp!

Shrimp (aka prawns) are high in protein, with a single serving providing much of a person's daily needs. And that protein is complete, meaning it contains all the amino acids our bodies can't synthesize on their own. Shrimp is extremely low in calories and saturated fats, and lowers your level of triglycerides and LDL ("bad" cholesterol), boosting heart health. It is loaded with antioxidants, preventing cancer and other illnesses, while acting as a natural anti-inflammatory.

100 mg (5 medium shrimp/prawns) provides the following amounts of nutrients vegans (and other people) can have difficulty obtaining enough of, followed by an approximate recommended daily intake:

0.18 mg Riboflavin (1 mg/day) 18%
1.9 µg Cobalamin (2.4 µg/day) 79%
5 mg Iron (8-18 mg/day) 28%-62%
1.64 mg Zinc (9 mg/day) 18%
190 mg Calcium (1000 mg/day) 19%
120 IU D3 (1800 IU/day) 7%
314 mg Omega 3 (1400 mg/day) 22%
29 µg Iodine (150 µg/day) 19%
49 µg Selenium (55 µg/day) 89%
135 mg Choline (500 mg/day) 27%
179 mg HDL (220 mg/day) 81%

In other words, a serving of shrimp provides between 18% and 89% of your daily requirements of all the hard-to-obtain essential nutrients! The only exception is Vitamin D3, found only in trace amounts in shrimp, but can be obtained by eating mushrooms, taking a supplement, or by getting sunlight on your skin.

These little water creatures are also an excellent source of many other essential nutrients, like vitamin E, phosphorous, copper, and magnesium. Many dieticians consider them "natural multivitamins" because they are so nutritionally complete.

Furthermore, the Iron found in shrimp is heme Iron, which can't be obtained from non-animal sources, and is absorbed and utilized far better than non-heme Iron. Depending on your weight and sex, you can get about half your daily needs from a single serving of shrimp/prawns.

Shrimp are surprisingly extremely low in unwanted metals which are sometimes found in other seafoods, like mercury, even when sourced from contaminated water. Pregnant women, who are usually cautioned against eating a lot of seafood, are encouraged to enjoy shrimp for this reason.

As long as you aren't allergic to them, shrimp are the complete nutritional package for vegans and non-vegans alike!

Ethics

Shrimp/prawns are crustaceans - animals that live mostly in aquatic environments, with segmented bodies consisting of a head, thorax, and abdomen. The head contains antennae, mandibles (jaws), and maxillae (for manipulating food), the thorax has rows of legs, and the abdomen usually has a tail fan. They have an exoskeleton which is molted as they grow. They have a simple straight digestive tube, and a nerve running down the length of the body.

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Crustaceans and hexapods (insects) are biologically so similar that they are from the same taxonomical classification, Pancrustacea. Many biologists suggest there is little or no difference between them, and debates continue about where a particular insect or crustacean should be placed. Shrimp have been referred to as "water mosquitos" and "cockroaches of the sea".

Ethically, there is no significant difference in the killing/eating of animals from these groups. If you swat mosquitos, exterminate bedbug infestations, or step on ants, you are causing a similar amount of harm as you would be if you were harvesting/buying shrimp. Ethics is a complicated subject, and ultimately each person must decide what actions they take and don't take in life, but if you have been avoiding shrimp because you consider them a sentient animal, it appears safe to set that notion aside.

Environmental

Traditionally caught wild (ie: hunted), shrimp/prawns are now increasingly raised in tanks or nets. Today, more than half the shrimp people consume comes from farms ("aquaculture"). There are environmental considerations to both methods. For example, wild-caught shrimp are part of the food chain, so overfishing can create imbalances. But aquaculture shrimp from some countries contain antibiotics, which may be unhealthy for humans and the environment.

That said, despite the fact that humans eat more shrimp than just about any other aquatic animal, shrimp production causes very little destruction to ecosystems. The option to hunt shrimp from the wild appeals to those with ethical concerns, and ensures they contain no antibiotics.

Overall, shrimp are far healthier for humans than mammal and bird flesh like beef, pork, or chicken, and cause a tiny fraction of the environmental damage.

For me, it's shrimp

For me, the answer to the question in the title would be shrimp. In fact, for me, the answer to the question in the title IS shrimp.

To improve my health, and keep my nutrition up during an ordeal my family and I went through, I recently re-added shrimp to my diet. For several weeks, my wife and I have been enjoying a few servings of shrimp per week. Now, most omnivores would call me a vegan, but most vegans would call me an omnivore! I'm not too concerned with labels. For me, it's about staying alive and healthy, while doing the least harm to intelligent creatures I possibly can.

Shrimp are delicious and easy to cook, on top of everything else mentioned. They check all my boxes.

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"Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That's about it." - Bubba, Forrest Gump

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