2018: The year vegan junk food went mainstream
To be vegan is a statement of identity. It’s to declare that you have enough time and energy to devote to the keeping of your electively restrictive diet. That you are willing to change how you eat every day, hopefully forever.
RACHEL SUGAR: ‘The ubiquity of the Beyond Burger is part of one of 2018’s best movements: the mass proliferation of vegan junk food. Democracy may be crumbling around us, but it was a banner year for delicious processed food that just so happens to be meat- and dairy-free. And not just any vegan junk food but mainstream vegan junk food, products engineered not to satisfy vegan-identified vegans, but to tempt regular omnivores who are interested in novelty, or climate change.
It goes beyond Beyond, of course. Daiya, a leading purveyor of fake cheese, debuted non-cheese cheese burritos this year, as well as a “meat lovers” pizza without meat. Vegan fast-food chains — Instagram darling By Chloe, “veggie-positive” Veggie Grill — kept expanding, while regular fast-food chains like McDonald’s experimented with vegan options. It is enough to have unleashed an existential and legal crisis over labeling: What is “milk”? What is “meat?” The dairy lobby is worried. Big Beef is making preparations…
This is great. Not because the food is virtuous — the food is White Castle — but because it indicates a shift in how meat-and-potatoes Americans think about vegan food… Can vegans eat this food? I mean, yes, obviously. Vegans are very good at sussing out sources of relevant nutrients, much like squirrels… That is what makes the rise of mass-market vegan junk food so powerful. It defies stereotype: Vegan food in America is supposed to be joyless and unfulfilling, seasoned only with the fermented tang of the moral high ground.
And to be vegan is not simply a lifestyle choice but a statement of identity: It’s to declare that you have enough time and energy and resources to devote to the care and keeping of your electively restrictive diet. It is also to announce, however passively, that you believe so strongly in this cause — for ecological or ethical or animal rights-related reasons — that you are willing to change how you eat, likely every day, maybe forever’. SOURCE…
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