To ask what the point of Veganuary is?

[MadToBeMe]

Because it appears to be a load of people rushing out to buy fake processed junk rather than rethinking their eating habits.

It just strikes me that veganism is a life choice to avoid certain foods and products. Are all these faux vegans still wearing their leather shoes, eating avocados and almonds?

I’ve seen threads asking about buying ‘vegan food’. Err, fruit, veg, pulses, nuts, grains...when in reality I think they want the answer to be pulled pork made from soya and 20 different chemicals.

@OftenHangry

My point is that human consumption requires far less crop production, so even if everyone was vegan, we would still require far less crop production than is currently required for animal feed. I’m trying to find an article I read that explained this, will link if I can find it.

I also think you’re overestimating how much soy and quorn people who don’t eat meat consume. It’s not a huge part of the diet of vegans and vegetarians I know.

I think we have to be wary of seeing veganism as an automatically ethical diet. It is subject to the same questions about deforestation, intensive farming, air miles, human exploitation, etc. as any other diet. We shouldn’t assume that animal free automatically equals ethical.

But from a climate change point of view, we simply have to get worldwide meat consumption down. There’s no two ways about that. It’s just a fact that current levels of meat consumption are unsustainable and are destroying the planet.

I do absolutely agree that people should eat seasonally and locally, that would be an amazing campaign.

I’m doing Veganuary. I’ve been vegetarian for nearly 10 years and this is so much harder. I know there’s loads of brilliant recipes but I have to commute for over two hours and by the time I get home I’m so tired that heating up a plant burger is basically all I can manage. Going to try and do some cooking for the week over the weekend though!

@showmethegin I get that about meat subs, what I don’t get is people wanting to embrace a new way of eating for a month but not actually wanting to try anything vaguely different to what they already eat.

What’s wrong with experimenting with pulses, nuts, mushrooms to find other ways of creating texture and flavour in food, with the odd Quorn lump thrown in.

This is also true of non-vegans - vitamin deficiency affects anyone who doesn’t eat well! It can be harder to get vitamin sources as a vegan, but it isn’t impossible to have a nutritionally complete vegan diet

Yet non-vegans aren't warned to take supplements, and vegans are routinely advised to do so.

I'm not vegan though I am trying to eat as much vegan food as possible - if there's a decent vegan or veggie option on the menu I will pick it

Decreasing meat consumption is better for the planet and the more veg I eat personally the better I feel

My first thought is not about animal cruelty (though respect to those involved in that cause) but 'can I make this tasty vegan' - if I can't make it tasty and I want the non-vegan alternative I eat it - I ate a whole wheel of Stilton over Christmas as it's 'treat/occasional' food to me. Now that the festive season is over I've gone back to my 'nut cheese' - a tasty spread that is nothing like dairy cheese.

I've successfully gone to oat milk about 8 months ago - lovely stuff, can't tell the difference. Hated soya milk and could never make the switch.

I now eat meat (steak) a couple of times a month and not any others - I do eat fish twice a week.

@PercOlator join mine and @OftenHangry growyourownuary in March. I grow beetroots and courgette and can make enough beetroot / courgette burgers to last all winter in the freezer.

How much soya is actually given to UK farm animals? I would have thought that it would be much less than the intensive mega farms if USA.

I would have thought that a vegan month in the summer would be much more appealing than in winter (where you are mainly stuck with apples and root vegetables if you want to consume local food).

@MadToBeMe
GROW FOR ENVIRONMENT 🥕🍆🍅

I still have tomatoes in a freezer from last season.
It should be mandatory that everyone with a yard, garden or balcony has 1 tree/bush free or in a pot. Doesn't even have to be fruit, just a simple plant. Imagine what would that do to enviroment.

@OftenHangry I fear that grow your own is just not on trend any more, whereas veganism is. Too much like hard work when you can buy this in the supermarket..can you guess what it is?

Water, Soya Protein Concentrate, Soya Protein Isolate, Rapeseed Oil, Pea Protein, Shea Oil, Coconut Oil, Chicory Root Fibre, Thickener: Methyl Cellulose, Caramelised Carrot Concentrate, Carrot Fibre, Rice Protein, Vegetable and Fruit Extracts (Beetroot, Radish, Tomato), Yeast Extracts, Flavouring, Carrot Concentrate, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Antioxidant: Ascorbic Acid, Salt, Vitamins and Minerals (Niacin, Zinc, Iron, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B12)

I thought that Veganuary was a seasonal marketing promotion that has been growing in popularity. So much so that the supermarkets and chain restaurants now plan for it in a bigger way, year on year.

The fake processed junk products that you are talking about are a separate issue but Veganuary is an obvious, handy time to launch or promote them. They are useful in several ways... But not for every meal....

@MadToBeMe extracts siggest something red. Is it..... Vegan "burger" patty?

Sadly I think you are right. Though it would be an interesting campaign.

Yet non-vegans aren't warned to take supplements, and vegans are routinely advised to do so.

I’m not really sure what your point is. Anyone can eat a nutritionally deficient diet, whether they are vegan or not. It can be harder to follow a nutritionally complete vegan diet, but it isn’t impossible. If it’s hard for people of any diet to eat enough vitamins and minerals, supplements are available.

I don’t think it’s an argument against veganism that some vegans take supplements. Although I’m also not sure if that’s the point you’re trying to make!

MadToBeMe - supermarket-brand sausages?

Or is it the "bleeding burgers" from Iceland?

How much soya is actually given to UK farm animals? I would have thought that it would be much less than the intensive mega farms if USA.

I’m sure the USA is a major culprit. No idea how much U.K. meat is fed on soy - obviously not your prime grass-fed beef, but taking into consideration things like chicken nuggets and microwaveable burgers and cheap sausages and all other kinds of processed meat, I expect there is a fair amount of it.

I think it’s possible to be nuanced about this. There are levels of ethics. Buying a joint of local grass-fed beef from your town butcher once a week is clearly better than eating cheap, processed meat every day. But a startling number of people in the U.K. eat meat every day, and as a nation we consume an enormous amount of processed meat. We can do a lot by reducing intake - and things like veganuary and meat free Monday, along with other campaigns promoting vegetarian diets and dairy reduction etc are a helpful way of encouraging people to think about this.

Close, it’s this

Bleeding burgers not envy.

I detox all day every day because I have a functioning liver and kidneyd!

I'm not tempted by them either.

It would also make a massive difference growing real meat from cells. This is a technology that's going to be mainstream in a few years.

Even daily meat eaters will choose a grown burger if it's exactly the same just so that an animal doesn't die.

@BillywilliamV. Tell me more about your detox, is there a book?

One thing I don't understand about vegan philosophy - that by not eating meat we are saving the lives/suffering of beef, pigs, sheep etc. But, if no one ate meat there would be no need for these animals, so they would be allowed to die out, (or slaughtered and burnt en masse because they were no longer financially viable) and probably just become rare curiosities in theme type parks.
I also have a problem with 'fake' meat, such as quorn (a real problem in my case because my body thinks it has been poisoned if I eat it). If you are, on principal against eating meat, why do you want to eat food that tries to look and taste like meat? (If you do, I know a lot of vegans avoid this manufactured mush.)
I have no doubt that someone will shortly tell me I am being naive. But if you are vegan I would genuinely like to know your take on these two points.

A lot of people eat highly processed food, reddy meals etc., so it's not surprising it's the same for a lot of those looking at a vegan diet. Especially once it increases in popularity and the big food co.s get in on the act.

@Lucisky a)Yes, if fewer people ate meat, there would be less need to breed cattle etc. b)Some people like meat but not the way it's currently produced by modern intensive, industrial farming

Lucisky

The first point - animals would die out naturally/not be replaced as people gradually gave up meat. Supply and demand. No one ever is going to give up meat en masse - just doesn't happen like that. Chickens already only live 18 weeks before being killed. I assume this is already happening in a small way - people choosing not to have large stocks etc as veganism has tripled in last decade

I fucking hate quorn but I guess if I liked the taste and it didn't make me have diarrhoea within 2 hours of eating it then I would eat it as a meat replacement as most vegans/veggies ate meat previously and humans are creatures of habit.
So for me I take milk in tea - I've not yet developed a taste for tea without milk so the next best thing to me is having a dairy replacement in it (oat milk)

I'm not vegan or vegetarian but i have never ever understood the argument from meat eaters about why so you eat meat imitation products if you have ethical objections to meat? It's tha fact that meat comes from an animal that they object to because the animal has to be slaughtered in order to produce meat. They generally have no ethical objections to the shape of burgers or their appearance so why wouldn't they want to eat something burger or sausage shaped that's been produced without the use of meat? It's the oddest argument.