She's technically a Pescatarian as she eats fish, but it just sounds poncey saying it So no she's not that strict, but she will go out of her way to avoid stuff that's cooked in beef fat etc. Vegetarianism has defo moved into the mainstream and Veganism is following too. There are actually some great vegan products in places like Lidl/Aldi who seem to be taking the lead with it all. My business is 'vegan friendly' although I didn't set out to cater exclusively to Vegans. So I get a lot of feedback from the Vegan community about my products and the type of stuff they are looking for. There's defo an image of Vegans being these unwashed, jumped up evangelical pricks, which some are. But most of them just regular people who don't want anything to do with the meat industry and are looking for alternatives.
I certainly would not see them as the great unwashed, quite the opposite, they've put thought into it, to do that requires intelligience. From the business perspective, one of the problems I find for vegans is that the market seems/appears to think they want a meat substitute. Now although that might be the case for people thinking of turning to being a vegetarian, I've never found it to be the case as what I personally describe as the hard/fast vegans/vegetarians, for them it's not an exercise of experience, it is the rule, animals to be protected at all cost, including human consumption. Now I as a meat eater am not going to get into the politics of that. However, I just find it so odd, when companies market a substitute, that looks exactly like it's meat alternative, that's not really appealing to the 'genuine' market imho. You working in the market, may see it differently, I'm merely on the outside looking in, because I would never give up eating meat, although I could be persuaded to reduce my consumption with fish.
I was a vegetarian for best part of a decade, throughout the 90's more or less. What I found was I wanted the texture and consistency of meat replacing, not necessarily the taste. Used to make a chilli and bolognese for instance, at the time it was TVP that I used to replicate mince. Quorn does that now, and is better. Just for examples. I also used to eat a lot of tomato and veg based pasta bake type dishes, didn't have much imagination.
Just to add another conundrum into the ethical debate. They are now producing lab grown ‘meat’. It’s grown from animal cells in a similar way to regenerative tissue technology. Biologically it is meat, but no animals are slaughtered. Does that make it suitable for vegetarians and vegans to eat meat ?
Well Yeh, if that's the reason for being a veggie. Takes that reason away. The animal slaughter thing I mean
Again, I would refer to my last comment above, that I don't believe that appeals to vegans/vegetarians in the way I categorised it. That sort of market is more to steer meat eaters away from current to the plate methods. I think you have probably worked out by now, that I know vegetarians/vegans that would not accept that sort of market or that of quorn (and visa versa), and it seems an insult to suggest they even want the look of meat, let alone taste of it. Hence my awareness of animal derived products such as rennet and gelatine. Obviously the greater market of coming away from meat it will appeal to for reasons others have explained.
Yep some vegetarians aren’t interested in the ‘fake’ meat products, but many are. The lab grown meat is another interesting development of producing ‘ethical’ food, but I would suspect that it wouldn’t appeal to many vegans for the reasons you mention. A lot of this comes down to people who cook from scratch and those who buy ready prepared packs from supermarkets. A lot of the old school vegetarians had little choice other than Linda McCartney sausages, so they just got busy with fresh ingredients instead. I think a lot of these products appeal to people who want to either cut down on meat or find alternatives. Like chief I was vegetarian through most of the 90’s and TVP and now quorn mince was really handy for making chilli, spag Bol, shepherds pie etc.
I also think a lot of damage was done 30 years ago in regards to Linda McCartney products, No matter how long ago it was or what evidence there was of it being laced with meat, it still does immense damage to reputation for anyone old enough to remember, sadly that steer then leans towards similar products for years to come. But yeah in agreement on most aspects.
No. It's still meat. They'd have to be some sort of new classification, comparative to pescatarians, pollotarians or the like.
Surely it depends on the reason not to eat meat though ? Generally that is because of the animal welfare issues. So if no animals are harmed in producing lab grown meat, then does it follow that the ethical concerns about animal welfare are no longer an issue ?
That would just make them a variant on ethical omnivores. Vegetarians don't eat meat. That's their only defining characteristic. A meat eating vegetarian is like an atheist that believes in god. They don't exist, by definition.
You're on dodgy ground mate You tried asking your partner her thoughts on that, take your tin hat with you, when you do.
I go back to the same thing when I hear veggies talkin ****. Facon rashers Meat free mince Plant based Sausages Fukin dying for some carcass they are.
Nah she’s sound. Not the evangelical type of veggie. I did ask her about it a while ago and her response was that she probably wouldn’t eat it because it’s a bit ‘weird’
That’s more about labels than ethics though. An atheist who believes in God is a contradiction in terms. Somebody who doesn’t eat meat for animal welfare reasons, could reasonably eat lab grown meat and still hold true to their principles though.