Processed Vegan Foods
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Yet another ex-carnist turned vegan turned ex-vegan, Abigail, is lashing out at vegans and animals. Her relapse into carnism has fueled a nitpicky, biased article that tries to argue against veganism.
Her primary complaint about veganism: Veggie Meats, Milks, and More. She complains about vegan ice cream, veggie meat crumbles, and veggie chick’n. She posted a picture of soy ice cream and wrote:
“If veganism is about eating ethically, soy-based ice cream, frozen, faux-cheese pizza, and meatless buffalo wings don’t cut it. Sure, it’s cool that cows and chickens aren’t directly harmed in the process, but what about the farm workers’ daily exposure to pesticides and fertilizers, the degradation of the environment, and our population’s chronic sickness?”
It’s funny. She posted an image of a vegan product with an “organic” label right on it! How can she complain about farm workers’ exposure to pesticides when the product she references is organic? Perhaps she just didn’t look closely enough at the label. Not only is that product organic, it’s also non-GMO. (Take a look here).
Obviously, a vegan could choose to eat soy ice cream or they could avoid it. It’s up to them. But I think we can all agree that ice cream – whether it’s made from soy milk, cow’s milk, or other milks like almond milk, coconut milk, or rice milk – is a treat and not a necessary component of any diet, vegan or nonvegan. If you have something against vegan ice cream, fine. Don’t eat it. No one’s forcing you.
Likewise, there’s no need to eat vegan versions of other animal products. It’s completely up to you. Some vegans love ‘em, some hate ‘em, but no one is forcing you to eat them. If you’d prefer to stick to unprocessed vegan foods, by all means, do so!!!
Later, Abigail argues against veggie meats by simply calling them “processed,” as if there’s any agreed upon definition of “processed” and as if “processed” equakes “lack of healthfulness.” On this issue, again, she hasn’t got her facts straight. She shows an image of two veggie meats, both of which are surprisingly low in calories, high in protein, low fat, and contain no cholesterol. The argument that these products are worse than eating animal flesh simply isn’t there.
Regarding other vegan products that resemble nonvegan products, the USDA suggests replacing animal meats with veggie meats and says this:
“A variety of vegetarian products look (and may taste) like their non-vegetarian counterparts, but are usually lower in saturated fat and contain no cholesterol.”
In otherwords, vegan foods may be “processed” but that process is not only less cruel and less environmentally destructive, it also tends to result in foods that are healthier for you to eat.
Perhaps it is my new vegan lifestyle change, but I am wondering why this lady has made you so outraged. Her weakness for meats will eventually lead her to an early death, or long painful aging process with meats and animal protiens clogging her health. This, for me at least, is the best response to turning on her healthier lifestyle of being a vegan. Using all the products that “taste like meat” shows that she never really was committed to her natural lifestyle. Why worry?
Great post ! Abigail is yet just another sad sell-out desperately attempting to rationalize her resumption of supporting violence. She sounds typical of those who’ve been duped by the Price “foundation” propaganda machine. We have to expect a lot of this in coming years, as more and more caring individuals move toward the compassionate veg lifestyle. There will always be those half-hearted folks who will be easy targets for the meat/dairy lobbyists and their various misinformation campaigns.
Mimi, I was upset because she is spreading myths. The myths she’s spreading will likely lead to increased animal suffering and death.
You can also make raw, unprocessed vegan ice cream on your own.
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/stepbystep-instructions-for-oneingredient-ice-cream-097170
Just sayin’. *shrug*
Mimi Bear writes: “… I am wondering why this lady has made you so outraged. Her weakness for meats will eventually lead her to an early death, or long painful aging process with meats and animal protiens clogging her health … Why worry?”
Wow. The idea that a vegan’s proper consolation for seeing a meat propaganda article is to fantasize about the author enduring pain, suffering, and death as a result of meat consumption is something I’ve never seen any vegans say before. It’s certainly not what I believe. I’m half inclined to think you’re an omni troll testing the waters for how outrageously callous you can be toward omnis before vegans call you out on it (and feel vindicated if no one does), but I suppose I should give you the benefit of the doubt. Pain and suffering do not please me — not in the animals that Ms. Wick eats, and not in Ms. Wick herself, whether due to her animal consumption or any other reason.
Also, there’s the issue that it’s just accepted that animal meat is going to be processed, apparently holding vegan meats, ice cream, etc, to some unique standard. It seems as though, implicitly, critics of vegan meats are comparing them to unprocessed vegan food, not to actual meat. Certainly, a carrot you get from the grocery store is fairly recognizable the same thing as a carrot you get out of the ground, so it’s unprocessed. A seitan burger doesn’t look much life a bunch of wheat, but a beef burger doesn’t look much like a steer either.
When braggart meat eaters talk about how they personally slaughter, pluck, decapitate, exsanguinate, gut, and otherwise clean a chicken, it’s a highly intensive process, and they admire themselves greatly for mastering it — much more so than, say, picking a bunch of raspberries, washing them off, and eating them. Yet when some of them see a soy sausage, they say “that’s not what soybeans look like! It has to be processed way to much to get to that state.” Nothing looks like a sausage naturally. Every sausage, whether originally plant or animal, had to be processed a lot to become a sausage.
Exactly Julian.
It’s as if “processed” doesn’t just mean stuff that comes in a box. To many people, “processed” means “unfamiliar.” Thus, they don’t think of yogurt or cheese as processed yet they think of soy milk and tofu as processed, even though these foods go through similar processes!
It’s funny. I’ve even seen vegans argue that seitan is “highly processed” yet they don’t make the same criticism of bread. It’s as if they’ve never made either from scratch; they just make assumptions.
As someone who has been a vegan since the age of 7 and now im 19 in college i have to say i agree with both Julian about his point on the process foods and I agree with kelly . If she is SO worried about processed food then maybe she make certain foods herself.
I went and read her whole article. I agree with your point that you don’t have to eat processed food as a vegan. [But I feel I must point out that she uses a picture of soy icecream as a visual, but clearly refers to "soy-based ice cream, frozen, faux-cheese pizza, and meatless buffalo wings", not JUST to organic, non-GMO "soy-based ice cream" as you've assumed here.]
However, I feel that you zeroed in on a small part of the article, which you felt you could argue. You’re not seeing the article as a whole, looking at the big picture of what she’s trying to say. She makes many more points. I don’t even think that “Veggie Meats, Milks, and More” were her primary complaints.
And, I didn’t feel like she was vehemently attacking veganism, like you (and others) felt. I thought she was simply stated where she came from and some reasonings as to why she no longer feels veganism is the best choice. I interpreted that she feels like the localvore lifestyle is more ethical than strict veganism. She compares the two perspectives in each point. [Quote: "Being vegan is about being mindful, and conscious consumerism isn’t so hard to come by that we should prejudge all wool."]
She said: “Yes, meat is still murder and factory farms still cause animal cruelty and suffering – none of that has changed.” She acknowledges this. She doesn’t support going crazy and eating all kinds of factory-farmed meat and McFood.
And I don’t see anything in the article that would prove that she’s now scarfing down copious amounts of animal products. She just no longer believes in strict adherance to a vegan diet. I thought she made good, thoughtful points.
[If you're interested, I've been a vegan for 1.5 years.]
EV, your response is poorly thought out and shows grave immaturity in critical thinking skills.
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