Day #15 and am I being as vegan as I thought?
Welcome to Day #15 and apparently, I'm becoming more like Switzerland...
Today saw a conversation emerge regarding the consumption of 'meat-imitation' foods like quorn mince and veggie sausages with one side of the debate - for that is what we'll call it - being of the stance that "Well, if you're going to be a vegetarian/ vegan/ herbivore/ etc. then why eat meat flavoured, meat smelling, meat looking not-meat?", and the other side being "Well why not?"
And to be honest, I'm torn. Because there is the question of why pretend to eat meat if you're not actually eating meat? But then there's the moral decision of managing to get all the flavour with none of the "Go straight to Hell; do not pass Go, do not collect £200". And then there's the argument that the 'not-meat' tastes better even when there's no comparison because the person hasn't eaten 'meat' - not so much a topic of today's discussion but certainly one I've heard in the past. Does it taste better because it has no bitter aftertaste of guilt? Who knows. I certainly don't. The point is, I used to be firmly in the camp of, don't pretend to eat meat if you're not prepared to eat meat. Now though, I don't know. I'm Switzerland.
Never thought I'd see the day that *I* was in this position. I'm a fairly black and white person. This is new territory.
One thing I think we've steered clear of pretty well in this whole endeavour is meat substitute products. Feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken; I could be wrong. I've tried to take the 'plant-based' diet thing very much to heart. The closest I think we've got it the vegetarian sausages which, a little research shows, is re-hydrated textured soya. I suppose it is meat substitute so I'm being a little hypocritical here.
However, one thing I have just learned from reading up on the vegetarian sausages is that they contain palm oil. This, I did not know. Now, for anyone who does not know, palm oil is a type of edible vegetable oil that is derived from the palm fruit. Sounds good so far eh? Vegan friendly? Keep reading.
Research shoes that the industry is linked to major issues such as deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty and indigenous rights abuses in the countries where it is produced. There are, for instance, over 300,000 different animals found throughout the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra, many of which are injured, killed and/or displaced during deforestation. In addition to this, palm oil development increases accessibility of animals to poachers and wildlife smugglers who capture and sell the wildlife as pets, use them for medicinal purposes or kill them for their body parts.
How vegan friendly is it sounding now? Now we had another box of the vegetarian sausages arrive with the shopping this evening and I'll be checking that box's ingredients but the description online of the sausages shows palm oil. I've mentioned these sausages in the past. They were quite tasty. But did more animals die for their production than normal meat sausages? That's an interesting question, and one I'm going to need to research.
Uh, learning is fun!
On a brighter note, I had a fantastic toasted roasted red pepper and houmous wrap for dinner today. It was a little more expensive than Tescos but looked handmade and was really good! That might have to become something of a treat.
It isn't must to look at on my desk I'm afraid but that's alright. It tasted great.
Today saw a conversation emerge regarding the consumption of 'meat-imitation' foods like quorn mince and veggie sausages with one side of the debate - for that is what we'll call it - being of the stance that "Well, if you're going to be a vegetarian/ vegan/ herbivore/ etc. then why eat meat flavoured, meat smelling, meat looking not-meat?", and the other side being "Well why not?"
And to be honest, I'm torn. Because there is the question of why pretend to eat meat if you're not actually eating meat? But then there's the moral decision of managing to get all the flavour with none of the "Go straight to Hell; do not pass Go, do not collect £200". And then there's the argument that the 'not-meat' tastes better even when there's no comparison because the person hasn't eaten 'meat' - not so much a topic of today's discussion but certainly one I've heard in the past. Does it taste better because it has no bitter aftertaste of guilt? Who knows. I certainly don't. The point is, I used to be firmly in the camp of, don't pretend to eat meat if you're not prepared to eat meat. Now though, I don't know. I'm Switzerland.
Never thought I'd see the day that *I* was in this position. I'm a fairly black and white person. This is new territory.
One thing I think we've steered clear of pretty well in this whole endeavour is meat substitute products. Feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken; I could be wrong. I've tried to take the 'plant-based' diet thing very much to heart. The closest I think we've got it the vegetarian sausages which, a little research shows, is re-hydrated textured soya. I suppose it is meat substitute so I'm being a little hypocritical here.
However, one thing I have just learned from reading up on the vegetarian sausages is that they contain palm oil. This, I did not know. Now, for anyone who does not know, palm oil is a type of edible vegetable oil that is derived from the palm fruit. Sounds good so far eh? Vegan friendly? Keep reading.
Research shoes that the industry is linked to major issues such as deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty and indigenous rights abuses in the countries where it is produced. There are, for instance, over 300,000 different animals found throughout the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra, many of which are injured, killed and/or displaced during deforestation. In addition to this, palm oil development increases accessibility of animals to poachers and wildlife smugglers who capture and sell the wildlife as pets, use them for medicinal purposes or kill them for their body parts.
How vegan friendly is it sounding now? Now we had another box of the vegetarian sausages arrive with the shopping this evening and I'll be checking that box's ingredients but the description online of the sausages shows palm oil. I've mentioned these sausages in the past. They were quite tasty. But did more animals die for their production than normal meat sausages? That's an interesting question, and one I'm going to need to research.
Uh, learning is fun!
On a brighter note, I had a fantastic toasted roasted red pepper and houmous wrap for dinner today. It was a little more expensive than Tescos but looked handmade and was really good! That might have to become something of a treat.
It isn't must to look at on my desk I'm afraid but that's alright. It tasted great.
Comments
Post a Comment