Vegan/Plant Based Do you ever wonder about the animals you eat eat.

I am an omnivore, but very careful of origin of the meat I eat.

My sister has been a vegetarian for decades, mainly because she does not like meat. Her current complaint is that it seems to be a trend in a lot of restaurants to take vegetarian choices off the menu and replace with vegan alternatives. Whilst we can appreciate that there are some economic reasons for this, she, like many other vegetarians, often does not like the vegan options.

What do other vegetarians on here think about this?

You don't have to be vegan to buy products labelled vegan btw- vegan sausage rolls are tasty and less greasy than the animal fat ones.

I think the "vegan" label is fine. What about "Kosher" or "halal" food labels - are they to be banned as well? They are made up names targeting a particular group toto.

choughdancer

HousePlantQueen

Norah

HousePlantQueen

I just don't understand the moral panic about seeing foods with a vegan label on them. Many people may not care, but for those who do, it is tedious reading the label on everything you buy, and it can be quite a surprise to see where animal products 'lurk'. This can also be an issue for muslim or jewish people.

It's not 'moral panic' - unpopular opinion, shared by IDK who.

i disagree. There are a few posters who seriously object to foods being labelled as 'vegan', inferring that there is some sort of favouritism or even cult like behaviour involved. Foods marked 'Vegan' are not only for those who wish to follow a vegan diet, and I really don't understand why anyone would be bothered. Perhaps 'moral panic' was an exaggeration Norah, but flustered indignation was there

I agree. Labelling it vegan really is only to show that it is suitable for vegans, not ONLY for vegans. It is definitely NOT to make vegans seem superior, just a very useful label if you want to avoid eating animal products!

I know several Jewish couples who eat vegan when they are away from home as they know that anything suitable for vegans will also be suitable for them.

Oh, I agree, really I do - stupid to worry about simple labeling that should not offend anyone who isn't imperious.

HousePlantQueen

Norah

HousePlantQueen

I just don't understand the moral panic about seeing foods with a vegan label on them. Many people may not care, but for those who do, it is tedious reading the label on everything you buy, and it can be quite a surprise to see where animal products 'lurk'. This can also be an issue for muslim or jewish people.

It's not 'moral panic' - unpopular opinion, shared by IDK who.

i disagree. There are a few posters who seriously object to foods being labelled as 'vegan', inferring that there is some sort of favouritism or even cult like behaviour involved. Foods marked 'Vegan' are not only for those who wish to follow a vegan diet, and I really don't understand why anyone would be bothered. Perhaps 'moral panic' was an exaggeration Norah, but flustered indignation was there

I agree. Labelling it vegan really is only to show that it is suitable for vegans, not ONLY for vegans. It is definitely NOT to make vegans seem superior, just a very useful label if you want to avoid eating animal products!

I know several Jewish couples who eat vegan when they are away from home as they know that anything suitable for vegans will also be suitable for them.

Norah

HousePlantQueen

I just don't understand the moral panic about seeing foods with a vegan label on them. Many people may not care, but for those who do, it is tedious reading the label on everything you buy, and it can be quite a surprise to see where animal products 'lurk'. This can also be an issue for muslim or jewish people.

It's not 'moral panic' - unpopular opinion, shared by IDK who.

i disagree. There are a few posters who seriously object to foods being labelled as 'vegan', inferring that there is some sort of favouritism or even cult like behaviour involved. Foods marked 'Vegan' are not only for those who wish to follow a vegan diet, and I really don't understand why anyone would be bothered. Perhaps 'moral panic' was an exaggeration Norah, but flustered indignation was there

Clumsy English -too many buts - sorry !

Brought up on a farm I was used to and appalled at our treatment of animals .

But we used to go foxhunting , but I was haunted by seeing the throats of an entire flock of lamb ripped out by foxes .

As we entered the 1970's an alternative vegetarian diet became popular and I embraced it wholeheartedly .
My friends were a mixture of different faiths and serving them vegetarian food became an easier option .

Unfortunately for me a purely vegetarian diet compromised my health . So I reintroduced some meat and fish .

Childbearing done - I tried vegetarianism again , but ended up having to reintroduce animal proteins again .
These days , I eat both as I feel I need .

HousePlantQueen

I just don't understand the moral panic about seeing foods with a vegan label on them. Many people may not care, but for those who do, it is tedious reading the label on everything you buy, and it can be quite a surprise to see where animal products 'lurk'. This can also be an issue for muslim or jewish people.

It's not 'moral panic' - unpopular opinion, shared by IDK who.

I just don't understand the moral panic about seeing foods with a vegan label on them. Many people may not care, but for those who do, it is tedious reading the label on everything you buy, and it can be quite a surprise to see where animal products 'lurk'. This can also be an issue for muslim or jewish people.

volver3

Mollygo

If you want to hand those out, I’m sure your vegan buddies would love one.

Ooohhhh....

The only vegan I know personally is an "Iron Man".

He could put it with the medals he's won.

Like these? 👏👏👏

We tend to purchase ingredients, not foods already mixed up, so the one word descriptor 'vegan' isn't much looked to by us - however, one clear word is surely better than a phrase.

Same with Kosher. Seems easier than explaining that a food has milk, meat, together (or whatever the unacceptable may be), fish with fins, proper animal care. Easy peasy: Kosher.

Nut Free
Dairy Free
Allergens in production

MOnica, what’s wrong with labelling food ‘vegan’ rather than this long-winded expression you want? I’m inclined to agree with you volver.

M0nica this almost pathological objection to the use of a word is over the top.

I would guess that most people know that "vegan" means "without animal products", so why shouldn't manufacturers say so? I suspect that your comment about vegans thinking that they are special and think they should be lauded above all others tells us more about the root of your objections than you think it does.

volver I do not object to anyone's eating pattern, never have, never will. What I object to is people who think that there eating pattern is so special that it should be lauded above all others and have food acceptable for them specially labelled with the name they give themselves.

Surely just describing food as 100% plant based or animal product free in the same way food is described as gluten-free is sufficient. Most supermarkets have 'free from' sections which have foods simply labelled with what is excluded. I use them when DDiL visits as she is unable to eat soya or nuts.

Sadly, although BlueBelle says:

I don’t remember ever questioning, poking fun or being hostile about differences until the last 20 years or so, now everything has to be them or us why can’t we all be accepted for our various beliefs and reasons without snide put down.

As I wrote earlier I do remember this. Those of us who ate muesli in the 1960s and 70s were ridiculed for eating "rabbit food" - when I moved out of my family home and was in charge of my own kitchen I had become "weird" because I was vegetarian - though I just told people I "don't eat meat". Even so I regularly had ridiculous and uneducated comments about diet - beans (and wind) in particular though I (unsurprisingly) didn't ever have this problem.

I chose to eat wholegrains and started to grow vegetables for the table and was made fun of for that "oh, you'll be wearing orange next" "when do you leave for Pune?".

There has always been a desire to rise up by putting others down it seems to me.
How absurd and petty it all is.

Later, I had friends with a smallholding who were ridiculed behind their backs at toddler group for something as tiny as making their own butter (wasting their time when they could buy "perfectly good" food at the supermarket)!

If you are "different" - especially if you have chosen a different path rather than had no choice, you will always be "othered".
It's not all new "BlueBelle*.

I think the food labels are helpful

Until I started having vegan friends I had no idea how many foods have animal or insect products. Most vegans do not eat honey or certain fruits that host insects.

Also no one I know who is vegan has ever said anything about what I choose to eat. Although if they come to dinner I will cook vegan and I don't expect meat at theirs lol

Extraneous "or", sorry.

M0nica

I just think that being vegan is a perfectly ordinary and normal eating pattern like being an omnivore, a vegetarian, having a diet shaped by religious beliefs, or simply having an eating pattern shaped by personal food likes and dislikes and I simply cannot understand why they think they are so special and need to have their food specially labelled, when other groups do not.

I think you are totally off target here M0nica. Is it just vegans you object to or do you have it in for vegetarians too?or

I think we are designed to eat meat bit maybe not at the quantities we do

I think if everyone ate a bit less meat it would probably do the whole planet a lot of good

I just think that being vegan is a perfectly ordinary and normal eating pattern like being an omnivore, a vegetarian, having a diet shaped by religious beliefs, or simply having an eating pattern shaped by personal food likes and dislikes and I simply cannot understand why they think they are so special and need to have their food specially labelled, when other groups do not.

Be kind.
Putting Vegan as a description on a packet is to save those vegans who aren’t quite sure what it entails, to have confidence that they aren’t breaking the rules.
It might be unnecessary to describe some clearly plant-sourced foods, like fruit and vegetables, but it’s reassuring to the newer vegans, who might worry that the ready made fruit or salad bowl doesn’t contain anything forbidden, and saves them time reading the ingredients.
I’d actually like some foods to be labelled non-vegan, to save me having to read the ingredients in case tofu has been sneaked in to reduce the quantity of meat.

Seems to me words are 'made up' all the time and accepted as part to normal vocabulary. Vegan has been a descriptive word for 70 years (or so). People know what it means. Easy Peasy.

There is no difference MOnica, other than in your prejudicial view. It matters not that ‘vegan’ is a made-up word, as are many others. Why substitute many words, as you suggest, for the simple word ‘vegan’? We all know what that word means. What’s your problem with it?

Been googling have we?

I think you are missing the point M0nica. Nobody's claiming them as particular to any specific group.

It's just labelling it "vegan."