James Cromwell is a legend! (Plant based milks now free in Starbucks)

[Snorkellingaround]

www.theguardian.com/film/2022/may/11/james-cromwell-starbucks-stunt-celebrity-activism-succession?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

What a man! (It's the actor who played the farmer in Babe). He superglued his hand to a Starbucks counter to protest the extra charge for non-dairy choices and in doing so managed to bring press attention to the issue and change the Starbucks policy.

I've just been in my local Starbucks and there is a new poster up saying that all non dairy choices are now free

My point was about people, like the PP, who say that 'the world will become plant based'. And vegans who say that consuming animals is inherently cruel in itself, which I also see quite a lot (lots of rhetoric about 'eating corpses' etc). It's easy to have that view when in your little world you have easy access to an abundance of delicious plant based food.

Most people globally are not vegan, because they don't have access to a purely vegan diet upon which they can thrive. Most people on this planet eat animals and animal products in some form, because they have to in order to get what they need to be nourished.

I agree we eat way too much meat, and shit meat at that, in the West.

@Lynnthesearesexnotgenderpeople Most calories consumed globally are from vegan foods (rice, maize, wheat, cassava, potatoes, sorghum, beans etc) by an absolute landslide and the poorest people around the world can often have a vegan or very near vegan diet with these staples making up a very high proportion of the diet, just due to not being able to afford much else.

Because of climate change we are going to have less usable land available and the staple crops will need to be prioritised in order to get everyone fed, so I can see meat further going up in price for that reason. In the west I can see some sort of tax or other measures being introduced on it too. Certainly not overnight but I think in maybe 100 years most people will eat a near-vegan diet.

Of course, certain religions also preach some kind of vegetarian or vegan diet all year round or during fasting periods (such as certain forms of Buddhism, certain forms of Hinduism, Jainism, Seventh Day Adventists, Orthodox Christianity). In fact the son of Baha’u’llah, the creator of the Baha’i religion, also predicted that the world would eventually become vegan! So, many cultures around the world already have the concept and local cuisine to support such a diet.

Unless you are eating live animals I think objecting to the word corpse is a bit strange.

Nice and selfless of you. Hopefully the price does raise to compensate so all of the salty dairy drinkers have something to complain about.

I prefer skimmed milk. They don’t have it - I have my coffee or tea black. And I don’t shop in starbucks anyway.

A proportion of the world is also malnourished because they cannot afford the foods they need (which contain animal product) to thrive and cannot pop to the shops for supplements or vegan food which are fortified with the correct nutrients.

In some parts of the world, people's diet is dominated by meat because that's what's largely available.

In the parts of the world where people live the longest, diets largely consist of lots of unprocessed plant based food, but pretty much all of them are supplemented with various amounts of animal products, particularly fish.

As I said, I totally agree that we eat waaaaaay too much animal product in the West, health wise, for the planet and because such intensive farming means the animals are not treated well. This will absolutely have to change. I have certainly cut down massively on how much meat I consume, I probably still eat too much, but I would never cut out animal products completely.

I'm just saying it's pretty ignorant to think that 'the world will become plant based' or that that would ever be possible.

I am trying to live by the rule of 'Eat real food, not too much, mostly plants' now. I don't think most Western diets, both meat eating and vegan (plant 'milks' with loads of stuff added in probably don't count as 'real food', unless you make your own, and certainly not all these fake meats that are on the market now) come under this.

The Kenya Maasai staple food is milk mixed with fresh blood (living cows are bled). Inuit people traditionally lived on meat and fish. I have lived in various parts of Africa and whilst it's true that maizemeal is a staple, it's served with meat stew or whitebait daily. Nyama choma (roast meat) is a huge part of many African diets and they herd goats, sheep and cows.