• Taleya@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    72
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    One of these cultures has normalised vegan and vegetarianism for centuries, the other is trying to wean a meat-obsessed population.

    They are not the same thing, nor do they have the same requirements to reach their end goals

    • seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      ·
      1 year ago

      How prevalent is veganism in India? Whenever I look at Indian food, it’s butter this and milk that. Sure, there are some very good vegan choices, but it seems to me that Indians love their dairy.

      • Taleya@aussie.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        27
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Veganism is actually a fairly new phenomenon in general, a lot of Jains in particular have adopted it. But vegetarianism in India dates back over a thousand years BCE , so yeah, they’ve got a bit of a head start.

        • The Liver@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Where are the Indian vegans? I have only ever met ONE in my entire life except myself.

            • The Liver@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Hi!

              I don’t mean like, online. I’ve met plenty of online Indian vegans. But still, I find it hard to believe that every 1 in 10 people are vegan. Where?!

          • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I would say about 30% of my Indian coworkers over the years have been vegan.

            I think the challenge is that, unlike a lot of Western vegans, they don’t go out of their way to talk about it. My second job, I knew day 1 about the white girl who was vegan. It took me 2 years to learn that 4 of my Indian coworkers were vegan since birth. And I only learned it because they learned I was getting into Indian food so they all started bringing stuff in for me to try. Entire meals. Incredible meals. I miss that job, lol.

            • The Liver@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              My family loves to announce to the world that I don’t drink milk. It’s annoying. Idk they’re probably in shock or something that someone would choose not to abuse cows. (They’re vegetarians, I’m vegan)

              Where do you live? I assume outside India? Hmm

      • portside@monyet.cc
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Vegetarian? Yes. Vegan? No.

        I am a vegetarian. I eat dairy. I don’t eat meat and eggs.

          • Misconduct@startrek.website
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            Except for the part where they’re kept in small cages or “free range” in dirty cramped pens. Luckily it’s easier to get eggs from chickens raised ethically than meats. You just gotta fork over a few extra bucks or get the hookup at a farmer’s market

            • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              6
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              or “free range” in dirty cramped pens.

              We drive 10mph around here because the damn chickens like to “free range” in the road. Those are pretty large pens, the size of a damn town.

              The USDA needs to get their pockets out of big ag’s hands. Free Range should be Free-Fucking-Range. I get to know the chicken I eat got to run wild 16 hours every day, but many people do not.

              • Misconduct@startrek.website
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                Yeah the fuckery that they pull when they list things as grass fed and free range is vile. Then they make a profit on top of it because they barely change anything but charge premium prices for the fancy label.

                I’m lucky to have a beef farm in my state that ships locally and actually follows the spirit of grass fed up to grass finished in sprawling pastures. They also do individual slaughter. For eggs we’ve got a few locals that bring them to the farmers markets on Sundays. Beef is like a once a week thing for us these days and it’s usually just ground beef. Chicken and fish are our biggest sources of protein now. I don’t really do pork anymore. Can’t find any that’s remotely close to ethically sourced which is abysmal considering how intelligent pigs are. So I just stopped buying it.

                Also, and I’m fully aware this could just be some kinda subconscious bias, but I swear the meat and eggs taste SO much better than the stuff from the grocery. Eggs especially. The yolks are so vibrant and hardly break when being fried. Even the shells seem stronger and less likely to shatter into tiny annoying bits.

                • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 year ago

                  Here’s my reason for trying to eat a little more beef than that. If I’m giving “lives lost” any value, you can’t beat cows for calories per animal death. It beats a lot of plant-based foods. And I do have local beef, though it is not fully sustained like local chicken is… which is why I eat more chicken and seafood as well. Not to mention, even though beef around me can be ecologically sustainable, it will not remain that way if too many people eat it because it needs to be supplemented by import. So some beef = good. More beef = less good.

                  We actually have some ethically sourced local pork, too. I guess it’s nice living in a farming area of my state, despite not living in a farming-state. The butcher’s pork section is always small, but he’s got some.

                  Also, and I’m fully aware this could just be some kinda subconscious bias, but I swear the meat and eggs taste SO much better than the stuff from the grocery

                  Not really a subconscious bias. They are fresher, and preservation techniques often have not been started on them. If you eat an egg that has never been refrigerated, of course it’s fresher. (or the opposite, lol)

                  The seafood my family fishes is right off a boat, generally only a couple hours harvested. After the fishermens’ cut, the best stuff goes to a couple local restaurants and seafood markets, and the rest are frozen and shipped. Yes, you can taste the difference. I never liked scallops until I tasted “the real thing” off a boat.

            • AA5B@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Effing dinosaurs, with 6,000 years of eating cave men, deserve all the incarceration they get. /s

              More seriously, depending on your priorities, factory farmed chicken is less bad for the overall environment than pretty much any beef

              • Misconduct@startrek.website
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                I never said they were? I’m not even a vegetarian stop being so sensitive. I don’t care for making anything suffer when I can still have eggs without the suffering. It’s that simple. If you’ve based too much of your personality on macho meathead bullshit then do you boo. I’m sure that’s a great replacement for an actual personality.

      • sviper@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Quite popular, in my city it’s quite hard to find meat in the popular restaurants. And these places are quite old and we’ll know.

        Most foods don’t have any form or trace of meat or eggs, although milk and related items are very widely consumed.

        It’s vegetarian and not vegan.

      • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s not vegan so much as veggie. They definitely respect those cows they get the milk from though.

    • SpookyGenderCommunist [they/them, she/her]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      One of these cultures has normalised vegan and vegetarianism for centuries, the other is trying to wean a meat-obsessed population

      As someone who works in a grocery store, the worst fucking people are the ones who go up to the deli counter and yell at the clerks, demanding the "bloodiest* roast beef they’ve got. That or the spiciest turkey, or whatever.

      Dudes who’s entire sense of self is invested in eating meat. Easily the most annoying kind of guy I encounter in my daily life.

      • Taleya@aussie.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        That and the ‘for every animal you don’t eat i’m gonna eat THREE!’ Yay well done so macho you get threatened by what another person eats fucking yay for you sir gold star.

      • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Dudes who’s entire sense of self is invested in eating meat

        This might sound silly. But maybe they enjoy the taste of rare roast beef? Before this “make meat seem like it’s not dead animal” trend, the rule used to be anything over medium was overcooked for most meats. For some odd reason (actually, not odd. freaking additives) a lot of roast beef is sold medium-well. Which is tasteless enough to make someone go vegan!

        I don’t understand “yell at the clerks”. I’ve never seen that. But I agree it’s rude. Just **not **because they are buying meat.

          • Taleya@aussie.zone
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            5 months ago

            what on earth are you on about.

            One of the earliest known vegans was the Arab poet al-Maʿarri, famous for his poem “I No Longer Steal From Nature”. (c. 973 – c. 1057).

            The first known vegan cookbook was Asenath Nicholson’s Kitchen Philosophy for Vegetarians, published in 1849

            These are documented historical facts. Not “saying something” which ironically appears to be the position you are claiming.

            Did the modern name come about in the 40’s? yes, that’s the etymology of it. But you’re treating that fact like the movement or ideology was formed at the same time, which is tremendously, provably wrong. It’s like claiming gay people are a relatively new invention because the term “homosexual” wasn’t coined until the 1890’s

    • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is what people don’t get, if you’ve been veggie for years then you don’t need meat substitutes, these products are for normies trying to cut back or give up while they break the cultural training.

      • Wren@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’ve been vegetarian for… more than a decade? I love meat substitutes and generally prefer having the substitute present in meals (either as the main thing, like a burger, or as an inclusion). I do agree that meat substitutes are a fantastic way of reducing meat consumption for meat-eaters, but that doesn’t mean you need to do away with it completely once you’re in ‘full veg’ mode

    • Toribor@corndog.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s literally just heme, the same thing that makes meat delicious. They just get it from plants instead.

    • qjkxbmwvz@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Don’t forget the preservatives!

      I, on the other hand, enjoy all-natural pickled vegetables, which are just regular vegetables immersed in water, sodium chloride, acetic acid & trace flavors — chemicals which act as preservatives for the vegetables sea salt and vinegar.

  • Floey@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    41
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    Think this post confuses veganism and vegetarianism. Also it’s chemicals all the way down. Those spices? Made of chemicals.

    Those alternative burgers are actually pretty tasty but also very heavy because they are imitating beef. For American fare I’d generally prefer a sandwich with deli style meats made out of tofu or seitan, or a bean burger.

    • GreasyTengu@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      “pulled pork” Seitan is probably my favorite fake meat, its got the right mouthfeel.

      Haven’t been too satisfied with Tofu, its ok, but there’s no pretending its not bean cheese.

      • Floey@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Tofu has a lot of range, there are many types of tofu you just won’t see that many in a Western market. There are also a lot of ways to prepare tofu, it’s very versatile.

    • kvothelu@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      vegetarianism minus butter/ghee = veganism. there are tons of dishes in vegetarianism without milk products

  • Plibbert@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    1 year ago

    My only problem with Indian food. Whenever I try a restaurants it’s shit. But when my coworkers would bring in a feast on Diwali, it was my favorite time of year.

    I can’t find any restaurants that taste even similar to their home cooked meals.

    • Grayox@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 year ago

      The best indian food I’ve ever had from a restaurant was from a truck stop in the middle of nowhere off I-80 in Nebraska.

    • SoyViking [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      That’s my experience as well. The food my Pakistani friend cooks is amazing but when I order the same thing at a restaurant it looks delicious but it tastes like poking your tongue out the window. I guess restaurants has to cater to western palates to make money and many westoids have very low spice tolerance.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, the same goes for Korean food. I think a lot of it has to do with the quality of produce. In the west produce is often picked before it’s ripe because we have to ship it hundreds of miles. They also tend to change the spices and sweetness to accommodate western pallets.

    • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I don’t know what country you’re in, but lots of Indians in the UK are actuall run by Bangladeshis and the food is a bit middling. Once you find a good one you become loyal.

      • redhilsha@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Dude fuck off. Bengali cuisine is great.

        The food those Bangladeshis serve aren’t generally Bengali cuisine, but rather what sells.

        • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I’m sure actual Begali cusine is fantastic. Bengalis half arseing Indian dishes not so much.

  • winterayars@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    24
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Honestly the Indian one should have just been “Here’s your meal.” “Thanks. It is delicious, as expected.”

    • n3m37h@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Not true, I ate some Jerk pork last night, had shrimp & bananana curry with scoth bonnet earlier this week.

      • LifeBandit666@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        So you speak for all white people do you? Because if so I’d like a fucking word.

        If we just stopped spending money on bombs and instead spent it on working out ways to help each other we could do amazing things.

        Fucking chuffed to bits I managed to get this in with the guy that speaks for all white people, thanks for your time.

        • n3m37h@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          we just stopped spending money on bombs and spent it on working out ways to help each other we could do amazing things.

          We’re on the same page here, just because I’m white means fuck all

          Long life and peace

    • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, that’s why things like Indian, Chinese and West Indian cuisine became parts of British cuisine bu osmosis is it? Get to fuck with this racist nonsense.

    • AgnosticMammal@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Not afraid, they just don’t like spices that smell and so would prefer them to attack

      That or they are just not creative

  • CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    1 year ago

    I mean, the United States has, to be fair, developed a food culture that emphasizes using a lot of meat, especially over the past century or so. It’s not surprising that people from an area that eats so much meat, who go vegan, are going to want to look for ways to still make dishes familiar to them

    • Neato@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yep. It’s all about helping people transition. So much of American food culture is centered around burgers, steak, BBQ, etc. It’s really hard to just drop all of that on a dime, even if you want to. These products help people with that mental itch.

      • Tak@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        Not just the meat, there is cheese and milk involved in a lot of it as well.

      • pascal@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s not just culture, or itch, or whatever.

        I just love the taste of meat! My body craves for it. But if I can keep that delicious flavour in my plate without killing an animal, that’s great!

    • agitatedpotato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      If its any indication into other factors, every time I try to make butter chicken it ends up tasting like a British persons home made curry recipe so there’s that. Jokes aside as someone who likes cooking, a lot of traditional recipes, of any culture are simply much more labor intensive than slapping a bean patty on a pan then furnishing it. I’d wager the pace of a lot of western lifestyles, the choice gets weighted quickly.

      • CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        To be fair, a patty sandwich of any type (be it hamburgers, chicken sandwich, beans, or any kind of imitation meat) is going to be similarly labor intensive and time consuming if one had to make the patty and bread oneself rather than being able to just buy them. I’m sure traditional recipes for most cultures can be made similarly convenient if probably somewhat different from their original form, if demand exists for them to be premade and sold that way. There’s a specialty grocery store very close to my home that specializes in Indian food, tho also has some international foods from other places too, and it’s freezer section has all sorts of Indian dishes done up as tv dinners, or premade frozen samosas of various flavors one just has to fry in a pan for a few minutes, among other things.

        • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yup. I love a good microwaved samosa or Chana masala and it’s easier than grilling a frozen chemical burger frankly. I don’t think convenience is a fair argument here. Microwaved Chana is nowhere as good as a freshly made 3hour dish, don’t get me wrong, but there are convenience options that aren’t vegan chicken nuggets.

        • agitatedpotato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Depends on if they’re capitol E English or not, then I’d imagine you’d probably have South Asian and Jamaican styles being dominant. I was referring to the englishmans home cooked take on it. If you want the story, years ago I was in Australia and my neighbors there were UK English, I don’t know how to describe it other than it tasted like my early attempts at traditional recipes. If it helps I remember “Man I did all that and mine still just tastes like someone used a strange ramen flavoring packet.” So that’s probably how I’d describe it.

    • lemillionsocks@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I think it is also a reason why a lot of vegetarian food options or certain ingredients like tofu in the US are seen as lesser.

      Like this isnt a meatless example but how tofu is presented in the west is a good showcase of this disconnect. There are people who dont care for tofu because tofu has been presented to them as a meat fill in. Tofurkey instead of turkey, tofu dog instead of hot dog, tofu nuggest, and etc. And tofu is not meat. It’s tofu. So yeah when you replace a Turkey dinner with tofu and are told its just as good or good enough you start associating it as an inferior tasting meat substitute.

      But tofu isnt a meat fill in and in fact many traditional recipes use it in conjunction with meat. Tofu is tofu. It is its own ingredient and recipe,and if you use it as such instead of trying to pretend it’s something else you can do good things.

      Like the same goes for a lot of western vegetarian dishes. Instead of leaning into the flavor profile of the dish or digging up some old traditional meatless recipe(of which many exist even western dishes when you consider lent and meatless fridays were a thing traditionally). And dont get me wrong I understand that someone who went vegetarian or vegan may want to emulate a spicy chicken wing, or a burger, but it feels like a lot of the mainstream western options are all just drop in replacements.

      • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Absolutely this. I eat meat, but I really like veg* cooking. I feel like it challenges me in the kitchen and there’s a whole world of veg* dishes especially in mediterranean/middle eastern, south asian and east asian cooking that are just amazing. But the number of wide-eyed vegans who have handed me a lump of some sort of isolated vegetable protein and insisted repeatedly that “it tastes just like meat, you’ll never know” makes me wonder if vegans can actually taste food. I’m sorry, Kaiyleigh, nothing you do to that tofu is gonna make it taste “just like a hot dog”. How about you press it, cube it, roll it in some seasoned corn starch and fry it until it’s a delicious golden brown crunchy little nugget of tofu instead? Let it be what it is rather than trying to force it to be something that it’s not. Either you’re lying to yourself, you’re lying to me or you physically cannot detect flavor compounds with your tongue.

        tldr - fuck a vegan, but I’d love another bowl of that lentil dal

      • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        But tofu isnt a meat fill in and in fact many traditional recipes use it in conjunction with meat.

        My best experiment with tofu to date involved a marinade and replacing half the chicken I would have otherwise used with it in a dish, and cooking it in the drippings from browning the chicken.

        Tofu is tofu. It is its own ingredient and recipe,and if you use it as such instead of trying to pretend it’s something else you can do good things.

        I’m good with tofu, but my wife HATES the texture of it. Is there some trick to make it less spongy?

        • lemillionsocks@beehaw.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Thats a tricky one if they dont like the texture its hard to say. You can maybe make a dish with a less firm tofu thats softer if thats something she’s ok? Maybe do a ma po tofu with rice or something vaguely related.

          Have you tried the classic of crispy tofu blocks? Just cube the tofu, toss in cornstarch and fry until the outside is good and crispy. Serve with rice and some kind of sauce or even eat it alone dusted with salt and pepper.

          • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            I tried something like that in the oven, with a sort of honey garlic glaze. Crisp outside, but the inside still has that spongy texture she doesn’t like. Maybe if I cut it really fine, into like thin pieces where there’s not much bulk to it, so theres a higher crust:sponge ratio? I hadn’t seen a recipe try really thin pieces, and I just assumed there was a reason.

    • Auzy@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      From where I stand internationally though, it seems like a toxic culture too regarding it… Like, apparently, I’m meant to be considered more macho for eating meat somehow… I’m an omnivore, and I’ll eat what I want (the standard of vegetarian food actually seems much higher)

  • qjkxbmwvz@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    1 year ago

    I get that it’s a meme, but what’s the problem? I’m vegetarian/flirt with veganism; it’s purely for moral/ethical/environmental reasons.

    Indian food is delicious. An Impossible burger on a pretzel bun dripping with grilled onions, avocado, vegan aioli and mustard with a side of steak fries? That’s also delicious, in my opinion.

    Meat is delicious, and that’s not at all incompatible with my reasoning for being vegetarian.

    • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’d argue that the fake meat stuff has hurt veganism to at least some extent because it’s marketed so heavily and people think it’s the only way to eat vegan. You can see how prominent the ”all vegan food is processed” and ”it’s too expensive to be vegan” arguments have become, even in this thread.

      • qjkxbmwvz@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, it seems that “your meme is kinda gatekeepy” is a pretty good way to start some “spirited discussions.”

    • sourquincelog [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      For real. I was raised on slop, now that I’m a vegetarian, it doesn’t mean I don’t like the foods I grew up eating.

      I guess the point is that we don’t need to rely on expensive substitutes made by the same corps that own slaughterhouses to make tasty, nutritious vegan food

    • zeekaran@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Aioli is naturally vegan. Classically, it’s just garlic paste and oil. Flavoring mayo with garlic is not supposed to be called aioli.

      Try making the proper kind. You’ll be impressed.

    • muddi [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      The problem is that you’re still fixated on the form and experience of meat. A full mindset change is more robust.

      It’s like how fake leather can help replace and reduce real leather usage, but if the trend of desiring leather died out in the first place, the whole problem is dropped altogether

      • I don’t want to stop eating meat, I want to stop the exploitation and suffering of animals.

        While I want to stop the exploitation of animals more than I want to eat meat, if there is a path that allows me to do both, I will have a preference for that path.

        The same goes for leather. It’s use isn’t worth what has to be done to create it, but it is a fantastic material with a lot of versatility that’s better than near all alternatives in plenty of applications. Fake leather and synthetic leather are wonderful innovations because we can enjoy the benefits without the negatives, and that’s something to be encouraged rather than avoided.

        • muddi [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I get it but this is an emotional appeal. I’m just trying to explain the logic of what was being said here

          I like the fake meat stuff too, and often try to make it myself even though I’ve never had meat on purpose in my life and actually throw up if I do accidentally. I just like the kitchen chemistry aspect of it I guess

          I’m not saying we should stop making vegan alternatives to meat. I’m saying people should stop desiring meat or meat alternatives. Because logically that desire of meat is the cause of both meat and meat alternatives. Like how the cure to nicotine addiction isn’t nicotine patches alone

      • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        not entirely, as leather is still a wildly useful fabric and material for many uses which synthetic leather can serve(to a greater or lesser extent, granted), but only in specific cases can meat not be replaced/not replaced effectively

    • Cyclohexane@lemmy.mlOPM
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Nothing against people who prefer meat substitutes. But I do think they should be brave and just abandon meat altogether. If you keep relying on meat substitutes, you haven’t let go of meat entirely, I found it easy to get back to meat eating.

      • Vegasimov@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        You’re chatting out your ass, this is like saying lesbians shouldn’t use dildos in case they go back to fucking men

        Complete ignorance of the thing you’re talking about

        • muddi [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          That is not at all what this is like, completely ignorant metaphor

          Imagine someone addicted to eating their poop. Perhaps they are reforming their ways, and for some time they take half measures like eating smelly chili. Eventually they realize their unhealthy fixation isn’t really overcome by this, so they move onto food that doesn’t resemble poop, like a salad maybe

          • TheCaconym [any]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            No, their metaphor was not ignorant at all.

            Animal products have good taste for most people. The issue with them is not their taste, or the actual act of consumption of them, it’s the fact that their production necessarily involves the torture and killing of sapient beings.

            If you can have “meat” without such effects (so, those fake vegan “meats”), then there is nothing wrong with it at all (I still prefer most of the time my rice, beans, tofu and TSP if only due to the cost but again, nothing wrong with it, quite the contrary).

            • muddi [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              No, their metaphor was not ignorant at all.

              I was half-joking, but yes it was ignorant? Lesbians don’t choose their sexuality, but people do choose to be vegan. There is an ignorance of sexuality and diet there. Also, people do try going vegan, eat some fake meat and cheese, and eventually go back to eating meat because they still crave meat in itself. This does happen. This is also related to those people who sneak in or revert to eating meat because of some cultural or family tradition, or peer pressure from friends. One vegan I knew who was going on for 25 years ate a steak to impress his business friends instead of speaking up to say he didn’t want to eat at a meat-only restaurant. Take a look at my other comments here, I am speaking about this topic at the social level, not how individuals like the taste of meat or fake meat.

              there is nothing wrong with it at all

              Yeah I know, I have been saying that. This is not a moral argument. This is a rational one, and one perhaps from a medical or public health perspective: the cultural desire to obtain “meat” as a thing in itself is the cause for the demand of meat or meat alternatives. It’s great that under capitalism that solutions can be provided via the market and supply-and-demand, whatever, but it doesn’t address the reason why there is a demand in the first place.

              How I know it’s a cultivated desire: it doesn’t exist across cultures. Hell it doesn’t exist within the western fake meat market itself: how much fake seafood do you see engineered out there? Or exotic meats ie objects perfectly engineered to mimic dog, cat, or even human meat? I’m sure human taste buds can enjoy long pork, real or fake. Yet basically no one is asking for this right?

              • how much fake seafood do you see engineered out there?

                Crab sticks are usually fake, but generally, fish is harder to immigrate accurately than other meats, and there’s less demand for it since people in the west don’t generally eat tons of fish anyway.

                Less demand for real fish means less demand for imitation fish, though there is apparently a company somewhere making lab grown salmon and tuna.

      • seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        Bravery has nothing to do with it. It tastes good, and there’s no harm to any animals. So why not eat it? Denial for the sake of denial is not a virtue.

        If you keep relying on meat substitutes, you haven’t let go of meat entirely, and it would be easy to get back to meat eating.

        That’s like saying that if you enjoy shooting people in video games, then you’re one step away from shooting people in real life. I’ve been eating fake meats for almost a decade now, and I’ve never been tempted to eat real meat.

        I know how horrible and senseless factory farming is, and I have images of the slaughtered seared into my memory from vegan documentaries. Why would I go back to that when I can have substitutes that are just as good, if not better?

        • muddi [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Good job but not everyone has the mental fortitude you have displayed. I know plenty of people who tried going vegan, ate the fake meat and egg stuff, and just went back to the real stuff for the taste

          Anyways it’s not about the individual level, it’s more the social ie the social ingraining to have the form and experience of meat contributes to the “culture” and demand of meat

          • The fake stuff (and cultivated meat for that matter) are getting closer to parity every year. You don’t go back to something “for the taste”, if the alternative you switched to offers a near identical experience.

            • muddi [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              Okay but we aren’t there yet and the vegans who I know who have broken their mental attachment to this meat “culture” have not even been tempted to go back once compared to those others

          • seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Do you think that you could’ve gotten those people converted to an Indian diet, and they would’ve remained vegan? Getting people to go vegan in the first place is extremely difficult. Try getting them to go vegan and replace their diet with Indian food.

            • muddi [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Yeah, if they were Indian. The culture around meat is different than in the West eg. some people only eat meat on a certain day or weekend. Even then, the approach is that meat is disgusting and needs to be cooked and spiced thoroughly before consuming anyhow. And there is already a long and popular tradition of simple alternatives to meat dishes like using potatoes or paneer (or “soy paneer” aka tofu to make it vegan)

              Again, my point is that it is not about the individual but the social ingraining and pressure around meat as a category in itself for individuals

              • Meat is generally spiced more heavily in warm climates because it spoils faster and hot spices both preserves meat by killing bacteria and disguise a certain degree of spoilage.

                I would be surprised if the trend towards hot spices in a country that is generally both warm and humid is because of a difference in palette rather than the reasons above.

        • Emma_Gold_Man@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I can’t really answer the question of why, but the sample set of people I know who switch to vegetarianism and veganism bears out that the ones who rely in fake meats much more frequently switch back than those who focus on learning to cook foods that don’t imitate meat.

          On the counterargument, I did miss cheese quite a bit, and learning to culture my own vegan cheeses hasn’t led to buying animal milk cheeses again, so ymmv

          • Fades@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Your anecdote is meaningless as your sample size is not statistically significant.

            • Emma_Gold_Man@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              It wasn’t meaningless, and I went out of my way to make clear the sample size wasn’t statistically significant.

              The point was that the parent comment implied there was no reason to start eating meat again after making a moral choice not to. My anecdote shows that some people do anyway, therefore there must be a reason.

              That in my experience they tended to be the people who relied on meat substitutes was presented as an observation of interest, not as hard evidence of universal truth.

      • pascal@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Nothing against people who prefer meat substitutes

        That’s good.

        I do think they should be brave and just abandon meat altogether

        That’s bad.

        Now, firstly, thank you for defining a lot of people cowards.

        Secondly, while I like indian food, I like meat more. And I liked it since forever. If I can have the delicious taste of meat in my plate without killing an animal, that’s great. Fantastic! I’m eagerly waiting for lab crafted meat any day. I’m willing to pay it more than real meat, because I’m not fond of killing living beings to eat them. But if that’s not yet possible, I’d still have my steak and my hamburger.

      • apotheotic (she/her)@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Right so, I have literally never eaten meat in my life. I was raised vegetarian. I still think plant based burger patties or sausages or whatever are delicious. Its literally just food. You gonna think that I’m “relying” on meat substitutes or “haven’t let go of meat entirely” when I haven’t even eaten meat before? :P

        Just let people enjoy things! Plant based “meat” doesn’t hurt anyone and its a great option to add to your choices of meals.

      • marx2k@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        If I’m at a barbecue and someone is grilling up impossible burgers, I’m not going to request they instead make a bowl of curry for me. Likewise when I grill for people.

      • Wage_slave@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Being called stupid and criticizing my decisions kept me from “being brave”

        Like “You’re not good enough until you are this much” bullshit. If that’s the attitude, then fuck no. Why do I wanna go even further into things if y’all are assholes right off the bat. Like, no. fuck you. If it’s this complicated then I am going to do what has been a life of hassle free eating. My guilt is very easily wiped away like that.

        • jope@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I’m vegan and I eat plenty of fake meat. I’m vegan because I think it’s right, not because I dislike meat. Don’t listen to OP. You are good enough, and any reduction in the consumption of animal products is better than no reduction.

          I went through a long period of transition before cutting out animal produce entirely, but have now been vegan for a good few years.

          • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            I went through a long period of transition before cutting out animal produce entirely, but have now been vegan for a good few years.

            This is the way. It’s like a relationship: if you have to force it, it’s gonna be shit.

            I cut down on meat significantly in the past 3 years. I eat mostly vegetarian, fish once a week and meat every once in a while. Overall, my meat consumption decreased by about 90% which I call good enough and I don’t really have the intention to change that.

          • Wage_slave@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            I’ve been talking a bunch of shit out of annoyance. And there’s a bunch of posts echoing exactly what I was complaining about.

            Even getting called a liar.

            This is the only reasonable or polite response I’ve seen. Missed one maybe?

            So thanks. I really shouldn’t be painting the entire lifestyle with the same brush, because well here we are.

            So I’ll shut up, and say thanks. And for the record, my kid still makes me get the impossible patties. She’s not veg anything, so ita just cause they’re good and that on its own should be good enough. Not all is lost in my removed.

          • AnonStoleMyPants@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yeah same here. I like fake meat. I mean, if it tastes good and has no animal parts in it, it goes into my mouth. It’s not that complicated.

      • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Nothing against people who prefer meat substitutes. But I do think they should be brave and just abandon meat altogether.

        Looking at someone not eating meat: you should stop eating meat.