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

M0nica

volver3 cannot people work it out for themselves? If i see something labelled 'Cornish pasty' I know it will contain meat. faggots are another such. I do not need something on the tin to tell me that ratatouille (wich I love) is suitable for vegans. However, I do not want it labled vegan ratatouille because it suggests that non vegans should not eat it.

Ingredients are on the packaging, which contains lots of useful information we are expected to read.

No M0nica they can't.

I'm sure you know about jelly, not everybody does though.

We had a recent thread about how vegetable stock gel isn't vegetarian.

Are you seriously saying that we can't make life easier for everybody because you think putting "vegan" on some packaging makes you feel excluded?

I do not want it labled vegan ratatouille because it suggests that non vegans should not eat it.

Vegan isn't a sect that the rest of us have to stay away from because we are not allowed to eat their food.

volver3 ^So having something labelled "vegetarian" or "vegan" or even "gluten free" isn't claiming ownership of it. Its just telling you that these things are suitable for people who are looking for that kind of thing.

Indeed.

I rarely buy anything - apart from just the basic ingredients, I like the word 'vegan' affirming no butter, eggs, cream, etc.

Some ingredients are just put in for no discernible reason - 'vegan' takes any waste of time figuring out from a tiny list - after I find my glasses.

Norah, Viking cruises do indeed do lovely vegan meals. She simply said she didn’t want him to use vegan cheese in/on her food. Her choice.
They also, did vegan desserts, but sometimes, she chose not to eat them. Since the chef was well aware of her dietary preference, do you think he should have criticised her occasional non-vegan choice, or reminded her she was vegan?
It’s a choice It’s not like being gluten or lactose intolerant, which were also well catered for.

Mollygo

Norah, Viking cruises do indeed do lovely vegan meals. She simply said she didn’t want him to use vegan cheese in/on her food. Her choice.
They also, did vegan desserts, but sometimes, she chose not to eat them. Since the chef was well aware of her dietary preference, do you think he should have criticised her occasional non-vegan choice, or reminded her she was vegan?
It’s a choice It’s not like being gluten or lactose intolerant, which were also well catered for.

No.

Merely wondered if vegan desserts were provided as they're lovely. It was a curiosity to me, no more no less.

M0nica

sarahcyn there is a simple response to your emotive material. Buy meat from non-factory or intensive reared units.

There are plenty of welfare and care friendly farms where the animals live lives that express their natural inclinations. Well fed and with medical care when needed. They arguably lead a better life than they would in the wild.

Yes as I said before, well fed with chemical raised grain and well medicated with anti- biotics. That makes for good meat?

FannyCornforth

I know of people (on here) who have reversed diabetes - but cancer?
I also knew someone who ate the most copious amount of broccoli in a fruitless attempt to do so

Just a frivolous aside, but I read somewhere that eating broccoli could increase your lifespan by eight years. One comment on this information was "But that would mean another 8 years of eating broccoli"! I'm not the biggest fan of broccoli so I sympathise. I quite like the tenderstem sort though.

All the veggie / vegans out there…

You should take a look at the charity V for Life - the uk charity supporting older vegans and veggies with loads of free recipes, info, pen pal scheme, and grants available.

They also campaign for care homes to cater well and ethically for veg*ns, as unfortunately some of them don’t, and have a list of care homes who do just incase you might need them in the future!

This is their website vforlife.org.uk/

V for Life also offer a booklet detailing nutrition guidelines for older veggies if you had any concerns! vforlife.org.uk/resources/publications/nutrition-guidelines

Thanks AnnaVfL

Yes as I said before, well fed with chemical raised grain and well medicated with anti- biotics. That makes for good meat?
Just as much as chemically raised plants really.

When I was little, we used to have rabbit stew and my dad used to regularly eat tripe, and chittlings & bag which, I think, were the innards and stomach of the cow. Occasionally, we would have fish roe with chips and sometimes black-pudding. These things kep us well fed. Mainly because the veg were seasonal, not all the fancy things that are brought in from abroad. I wouldn't try to stop anyone being a vegetarian or vegan but I do wonder, if the activists and the government manage to cut CO2 down to zero, or almost, where would you get veg from. After all, CO2 is the 'gas or life' for plants. No CO2, no plants. I suppose there's always bugs and insects, but then again, don't they spend most of their lives crawling over plants. No CO2, pobably no bugs/insects either. No trees, therefore not much fruit. Seems like Gamer Over, doesn't it.

There's no hope.

You are so funny. Bless!

effalump the aim is not to get rid of all of CO2 altogether. The aim is to get our emissions of CO2 down to as low a level as possible, as close as we can to what it was before the industrial era.

There will still be "natural" CO2.

If there was no CO2 at all, - and I don't know how that would happen - and hence no plants, there wouldn't be any animals either.

there is a difference between labelling something 'vegan' and labelling it gluten-free. 'Vegan' is aword made-up and chosen by a group of people to describe their eating preferences. \there isn't a group of people who have got together and decided to call themselves GlutenFrees. Gluten -free simple tells you what food constituent is not present in the food.

What is wrong with describing food that has no animal content as 'entirely plant sourced' or 'free of animal based ingredients. neutral factual phrases.

Vegans is a name Donald Watson, founder of the Vegan Society, coined in 1944 . He took the first and last letters of the word vegetarian to create his orthodox version of vegetarianism. 'Vegan' is the name of a group of people.

The descriptions on food packets should be neutral statements describing the contents of the package, not claimed as particular to them by any specific group. Should pork be described as 'Christian' because other major religions do not eat pork and this will enable them to know that this is a foodstuff they shouldn't eat?

well fed with chemical raised grain and well medicated with anti- biotics.
No, well fed on the crops that their digestion has developed to live on. Neither soya, rape or maize are crops cattle can easily digest and is the cause of their need for so many antibiotics.

Cattle should be given medication only when needed and for cattle reared in natural systems, medication is rarely needed.

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."

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?

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.

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.

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 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

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

Extraneous "or", sorry.

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