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seems to be on the right side of the prevailing food paradigm, which holds that eating meat, fish, dairy and eggs is a redneck habit that has had its day Where

seems to be on the right side of the prevailing food paradigm, which holds that eating meat, fish, dairy and eggs is a redneck habit that has had its day Where does the author live that they think the “prevailing food paradigm” is vegan?

ajmurmann 9y ago
It's awful that truly everything is being turned into identity politics including food. It turns out there are people who identity as "rednecks" and now the food shaming goes so far that association with them is being used to food shame people who want to be part of a different tribe (hyper liberals???) out of eating a new type of food but stick with the tribe's version of kosher. The entire identity politics direction we are going on is incredibly scary and this highlights the extent to which is happening. What makes it even scarier is how hard it is not to fall for identity politics myself. I would argue that identity politics also was what drove Naziisim, larger parts of Leniism and the awful culture revolution. This one might be the sneakiest incarnation yet. I hope the train will stop a long time before we get to Hitler station. Edit: Maybe this is even a natural end state of the two party system?
YouAreGreat 9y ago
> Where does the author live that they think the “prevailing food paradigm” is vegan? It's easy to think so. Try this very comment thread. Try talking about meat eating at your next big-city cocktail party. Yes, vegetarian/vegan evangelists are probably just a lot louder than everybody else, but that doesn't mean it isn't working for them.
- tom_mellior 9y ago
  > Try this very comment thread. OK, I'll bite. Links to concrete comments in this thread presenting veganism as the "prevailing food paradigm", please.
  - YouAreGreat 9y ago
    At the time I wrote this, there were 23 comments here. The majority was from self-declared vegetarians/vegans. That means that either that's the prevailing food paradigm among HN readers, or they're more vocal about it than non-vegans.
    - jm2721 9y ago
      Not really, it just means that vegans/vegetarians are more likely to post comments on an article about Quorn, which makes complete sense. You won't see many top level comments from meat eaters because most of us don't eat Quorn.
    - PerfectElement 9y ago
      That's the prevailing food paradigm among HN readers who have something to add to this topic, which is about a product that is mainly consumed by vegetarians and vegans.
- ryanwaggoner 9y ago
  Eh, I lived in SF and NYC and I knew few vegetarians, let alone vegans. Cocktail parties definitely weren’t hotbeds of any kind of meat-shunning discussion. Almost the opposite, I’m fact. The #1 hobby for big city people seems to be exploring new hip restaurants, almost all of which serve animal products. I’m sure it depends on your circle, but if you look at any list of the most popular restaurants in NYC, there will be very few vegan ones.
  - YouAreGreat 9y ago
    > I’m sure it depends on your circle Agreed, social bubbles are a thing. That's why I think it's credible that the Guardian author comes across a lot of vocal vegan evangelism and might honestly come to think of it as the "prevalent food paradigm" in some ("non-redneck") circles.
ljm 9y ago
Columnists in certain British media tend to take a lofty, pretentious tone when writing, I've noticed, and it creates an inauthentic kind of intellectualism. The articles themselves can often come across as quite elitist and judgmental, and the authors can seem incredibly out of touch. Referring to non-Vegan people as rednecks is one such example, as is the term 'prevailing food paradigm', but you'll see this happens in practically every opinion piece published by a British newspaper. The author most likely has their head stuck up their own ass so all this nonsense about rednecks and prevailing paradigms is just fluff to big up their ego.
Turing_Machine 9y ago
Where does the author live that they think the “prevailing food paradigm” is vegan? Obviously not the U.S. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-02/have-a-meaty-new-year-americans-will-eat-record-amount-in-2018 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-02/have-a-me... I'm really not sure what's supposed to be so bad about quorn. Yeah, it's a fungus. So what? We eat lots of different kinds of fungi. Mushrooms, obviously. Yeast. The mold on various types of cheese. Asian comestibles like sake, soy sauce, tempeh...miso. The list goes on. I agree that it shouldn't be marketed as a "plant food" -- fungi are not plants. They're their own kingdom entirely.
- tom_mellior 9y ago
  > I agree that it shouldn't be marketed as a "plant food" It isn't, though. It's only this article's author that harps on and on about plants. > fungi are not plants. Exactly. The same author who harps on about plants in the context of Quorn also accuses the public of being scientifically illiterate.

ajmurmann 9y ago

It's awful that truly everything is being turned into identity politics including food. It turns out there are people who identity as "rednecks" and now the food shaming goes so far that association with them is being used to food shame people who want to be part of a different tribe (hyper liberals???) out of eating a new type of food but stick with the tribe's version of kosher. The entire identity politics direction we are going on is incredibly scary and this highlights the extent to which is happening. What makes it even scarier is how hard it is not to fall for identity politics myself. I would argue that identity politics also was what drove Naziisim, larger parts of Leniism and the awful culture revolution. This one might be the sneakiest incarnation yet. I hope the train will stop a long time before we get to Hitler station. Edit: Maybe this is even a natural end state of the two party system?

YouAreGreat 9y ago

> Where does the author live that they think the “prevailing food paradigm” is vegan? It's easy to think so. Try this very comment thread. Try talking about meat eating at your next big-city cocktail party. Yes, vegetarian/vegan evangelists are probably just a lot louder than everybody else, but that doesn't mean it isn't working for them.

tom_mellior 9y ago
> Try this very comment thread. OK, I'll bite. Links to concrete comments in this thread presenting veganism as the "prevailing food paradigm", please.
- YouAreGreat 9y ago
  At the time I wrote this, there were 23 comments here. The majority was from self-declared vegetarians/vegans. That means that either that's the prevailing food paradigm among HN readers, or they're more vocal about it than non-vegans.
  - jm2721 9y ago
    Not really, it just means that vegans/vegetarians are more likely to post comments on an article about Quorn, which makes complete sense. You won't see many top level comments from meat eaters because most of us don't eat Quorn.
  - PerfectElement 9y ago
    That's the prevailing food paradigm among HN readers who have something to add to this topic, which is about a product that is mainly consumed by vegetarians and vegans.
ryanwaggoner 9y ago
Eh, I lived in SF and NYC and I knew few vegetarians, let alone vegans. Cocktail parties definitely weren’t hotbeds of any kind of meat-shunning discussion. Almost the opposite, I’m fact. The #1 hobby for big city people seems to be exploring new hip restaurants, almost all of which serve animal products. I’m sure it depends on your circle, but if you look at any list of the most popular restaurants in NYC, there will be very few vegan ones.
- YouAreGreat 9y ago
  > I’m sure it depends on your circle Agreed, social bubbles are a thing. That's why I think it's credible that the Guardian author comes across a lot of vocal vegan evangelism and might honestly come to think of it as the "prevalent food paradigm" in some ("non-redneck") circles.

ljm 9y ago

Columnists in certain British media tend to take a lofty, pretentious tone when writing, I've noticed, and it creates an inauthentic kind of intellectualism. The articles themselves can often come across as quite elitist and judgmental, and the authors can seem incredibly out of touch. Referring to non-Vegan people as rednecks is one such example, as is the term 'prevailing food paradigm', but you'll see this happens in practically every opinion piece published by a British newspaper. The author most likely has their head stuck up their own ass so all this nonsense about rednecks and prevailing paradigms is just fluff to big up their ego.

Turing_Machine 9y ago

Where does the author live that they think the “prevailing food paradigm” is vegan? Obviously not the U.S. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-02/have-a-meaty-new-year-americans-will-eat-record-amount-in-2018 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-02/have-a-me... I'm really not sure what's supposed to be so bad about quorn. Yeah, it's a fungus. So what? We eat lots of different kinds of fungi. Mushrooms, obviously. Yeast. The mold on various types of cheese. Asian comestibles like sake, soy sauce, tempeh...miso. The list goes on. I agree that it shouldn't be marketed as a "plant food" -- fungi are not plants. They're their own kingdom entirely.

tom_mellior 9y ago
> I agree that it shouldn't be marketed as a "plant food" It isn't, though. It's only this article's author that harps on and on about plants. > fungi are not plants. Exactly. The same author who harps on about plants in the context of Quorn also accuses the public of being scientifically illiterate.