https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/hellmanns-plant-based-mayonnaise-rebranded-vegan/
This is an interesting example of green nudging. The word "Vegan" does indeed carry a lot of baggage that some people shy away from. If you label the same “Vegan” product as “Plant Based”, there is often less resistance.
@sarajw It's a minefield here. Some companies the abbreviation of Ve for Vegan, other use Ve for Vegetarian.
I would be happier if Ve = Vegetarian
and
Pb = Plant Based (or Lead lol)
@yatil @andycarolan Mmmm. I can see the argument for it.
I am still an omnivore - but my guilt about eating meat doesn't stop there - I also see the bad side of consuming animal products entirely.
I'm at the very start of the road to veganism, I think. Still knowingly in denial. Trying to figure out how to manage feeding the family without meat and dairy. I know it's very possible, but I'm time, energy and imagination-poor.
Poor, poor excuses, I know!
@andycarolan
When I was starting to wean the boys off breastmilk the German paediatricians were all about meat - babies need iron! Feed them meat! 😩
I might ask. But the eldest is sounding more ready to try seitan based protein again, so I'll try that again soon, I still have tons of the powder, lol.
He asked also what gluten free meant, was an interesting link then to seitan and "mock chicken"
@sarajw Sadly, not surprised by a doctor's suggestion... None of them recommend kale, nuts, legumes or seeds do they lol. Almost like the factory farming industries have some kind of influence on policy 😉
Oh yes, Seitan is basically pure gluten isn't it. I struggle to make it... it just turns out like a swollen juicy bread roll hahaha. It can be great if made properly. @yatil
@andycarolan I've had some success with seitan, but need to get back into the swing of making it. It's not too hard but yes easy to end up with something with weird consistency!
@andycarolan @yatil I should say that it feels like Germany is on the turn.
When I first moved over, it felt like anyone who didn't want to or couldn't eat meat or bread would have a really hard time here.
That's not the case any more, and even 'vegan' is seen as a good selling point, hence all these labels.
@JenJen Totally agree. I realise that Plant Based is different from vegan, but it makes sense in foods and will hopefully lead to more people making better, more sustainable choices.
Hopefully companies will switch to Ve = Vegetarian and Pb = Plant based on their products. I'm always confused by V vs Ve on menus etc lol.
@JenJen @andycarolan indeed, I’m very much someone that enjoys eating meat, that said some of the alternatives are actually quite good (sadly some are awful) so I’m not against experimenting.
I had a not chicken burger at a burger competition that was really good, I should have asked them what it was because I’d probably buy that.
@StephanieJane I always look for the Vegan Society approval logos. Ingredients lists are awful now. Not only are they often too small, but at poor contrast levels too.
Yes, I've seen Honey listed in Plant Based products too. Actually, that was marketed as Vegan somehow 😬
Yes, definitely a cheeky butcher. His business does rely on the exploitation and murder of animals, so not surprised really.
@luke I think companies have realised that labelling something as Vegan carries a lot of baggage with it.
In some circles, if you mention that you're Vegan you can actually hear people's eyes roll 😅
@andycarolan I almost always use the word "plant-based" online, simply because people don't yell at you when you say it.
Also, I feel it's easier to win others over. Being truly "vegan" is very hard. For example, in Europe, food products have "E numbers" to describe certain ingredients. Some of those E numbers aren't vegan, and some may or may not be.
I do remember a few, like E120 (cochineal) but really, life is too short.
@andycarolan In France, it turns out that any city with a vegan restaurant is too expensive for us to live in. 😀
However, there's a chain of stores called Bio Coop that's in most cities including our target cities and while they aren't vegan, they work hard on being sustainable, including a cabinet full of a dozen types of tofu, so far all excellent.
Of course, it's all packed in plastic. Half the plastic humans every produced was made in the last 15 years.
1/
@TomSwirly I think it has to be a fairly large city for Vegan restaurants to survive in. Anything like a town, will just gravitate to local foods, and will be mostly immune to dietary diverse foods. I imagine Gluten Free and Nut Free would be similar.
Sounds somewhat positive about Bio-Coop, That's my only problem with buying Tofu... most brands are packed in plastic tubs. The ones in plastic bags + cardboard boxes are usually considerably more expensive and smaller...
@andycarolan I looked it up, the actual name is BioCoop, I had it wrong.
Actually, all their tofu is in vacuum-sealed plastic bag, so at least the package weight is less. One takes what one can get.
@TomSwirly Haha, very true about being yelled at. The word “Vegan" makes some people unreasonably angry 😅
I've definitely stood in the aisles at my local supermarket, searching for ingredient origins on my phone. As you said, some E numbers aren't vegan at all!
At the moment, I feel that it is almost impossible to be truly 100% Vegan while there is animal exploitation happening in the food chain, for reasons of cross contamination, and processes used etc.
@andycarolan One of the cities we were in before this was Blois, and many restaurants that did have vegan items on their menu online had in fact removed them.
It's like the whole thing just some food trend, quickly passed for the next one, instead of a moral and ethical idea to do less harm. Humans just aren't very nice people...
@stevewfolds @andycarolan Indeed, my wife cooks for us, and for our dog, because the great vegan dog food we had in .nl isn't available here.
We aren't actually feeding the dog vegan food out of principle: he's allergic to pretty well all sorts of meat and scratches himself endlessly when fed it.
@andycarolan And as an aside, I do understand why people get angry. Veganism calls their whole lives into question; if someone accepts it as true, it means they and everyone they know having been "living in sin" their whole lives.
I used to think we could at least help save the world with veganism. But now I think it's not saveable, which paradoxically makes me more relaxed, as long as I don't contemplate the big picture of the future.
@TomSwirly Some people are more open to the idea of Veganism than others. Sadly, many don’t see beyond their plate, and can’t make the connection between taking the life of an animal and the meat that they are about to consume.
I am still hopeful that Veganism can have something of an impact, but sadly, I do agree that it's incapable of saving the planet without a greater commitment by far more people.
@AnguaDelphine The word Vegan definitely has an image problem for so many reasons.
Oh totally... many mainstream Vegan products are heavily processed. I try to stay away from them as often as possible. Typically, I use Tofu as a protein source in recipes that I make.
Vegan apples FTW lol.
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