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> However, I rarely see vegans driving adoption for Indian/Haitian/west-african food. I really question if you actually know any/many vegans saying this. "Meat

> However, I rarely see vegans driving adoption for Indian/Haitian/west-african food. I really question if you actually know any/many vegans saying this. "Meat substitutes" are far more common among people who aren't very serious about it, are only just trying to shift their diet, or are only really doing it for dubious 'health' reasons. Any vegan I've ever known who's been vegan for more than a couple years has a diet that consists almost exclusively of meals designed around vegetables, with maybe one or two things like you're talking about as nostalgia-pleasers. That said, "alternative milks" are not like beyond burgers. Liquids that contain fat, protein, and sugar are almost universally called milks and have been for a very long time, and are very useful in daily use and for cooking. Just because something resembles a meat or dairy product doesn't mean it exists solely to be a placating replacement. Sometimes it's just a convenient form factor. Like, a black bean patty is nothing like a beef patty. But you eat it the same way. Oh no they're copying meat! If by "driving adoption" you mean being the cause of a shift to these things I dunno what you really expect. Vegans are a vanishing minority of all people in terms of "western" diets, they can't drive the market to the corner store.

vineyardmike 5y ago
I agree almost exactly with everything you said, except > Vegans are a vanishing minority of all people in terms of "western" diets, they can't drive the market to the corner store. I think Vegans (and memes about how they tell everyone) are shifting big-city cuisine more, and they're successful in mainstreaming the idea of no-animals. Even if vegan food isnt successful, they're making the idea of not needing meat products more mainstream (and i think milk is the real success story of this).
- stormbrew 5y ago
  I dunno, I think health food fad diets have done far more to move that needle than actual vegans. The idea that meat is bad to eat because it's "bad for you" is pretty distinct to me from the moral arguments most vegans are interested in. I'd honestly expect the number of people out there who use soy milk instead of normal milk because they heard "fat is bad" or "lactose is bad" alone easily outweigh even loosely defined vegans. (likewise, vegans frequently get blamed for labour issues involved in production of superfoods like quinoa but I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people eating those are doing so with no interest at all in completely eliminating animal food sources from their own diets, let alone from the entire culture)

vineyardmike 5y ago

I agree almost exactly with everything you said, except > Vegans are a vanishing minority of all people in terms of "western" diets, they can't drive the market to the corner store. I think Vegans (and memes about how they tell everyone) are shifting big-city cuisine more, and they're successful in mainstreaming the idea of no-animals. Even if vegan food isnt successful, they're making the idea of not needing meat products more mainstream (and i think milk is the real success story of this).

stormbrew 5y ago
I dunno, I think health food fad diets have done far more to move that needle than actual vegans. The idea that meat is bad to eat because it's "bad for you" is pretty distinct to me from the moral arguments most vegans are interested in. I'd honestly expect the number of people out there who use soy milk instead of normal milk because they heard "fat is bad" or "lactose is bad" alone easily outweigh even loosely defined vegans. (likewise, vegans frequently get blamed for labour issues involved in production of superfoods like quinoa but I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people eating those are doing so with no interest at all in completely eliminating animal food sources from their own diets, let alone from the entire culture)