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I spent 2 weeks in the UK recently and they are light years ahead of the US in terms of veganism and cruelty free products. I was actually quite shocked about h
by xvxvx 3mo ago
I spent 2 weeks in the UK recently and they are light years ahead of the US in terms of veganism and cruelty free products. I was actually quite shocked about how many options the grocery stores had and how almost every restaurant had a vegan option, or even a vegan menu.
The trend in the US has been to hide the word ‘vegan’ from consumers and bury it in their website somewhere. Not so in the UK. Brands seem super happy about showing which products in their selection are vegan. No list of ‘secretly/accidentally vegan’ products over there, they happily let you know right in the packaging.
People there are generally more aware of veganism too. No need to explain what it is like I constantly do in the US. ‘Can vegans eat eggs?’ What part of ‘no animal products’ don’t you understand?
- PeterHolzwarth 3mo agoI think veganism in America went through a popular phase, then simply faded as a pop concept. Perhaps your experiences in the UK merely reflect that, there, it is just going through a temporary uptick of fad.
- bestouff 3mo agoIt's been there for decades.
- PeterHolzwarth 3mo agoIt's been everywhere for decades - that's not the point. It's fadishness that is what may be going on here: restaurants are the tip of the spear of new trends.
- bestouff 3mo agoYeah sure. The world is full of (working) right-wing propaganda. People with "differences" (be it skin color or food taste) won't be catered for. So veganism will probably falter like DEI or other progressive initiatives. But right now I don't think it's the case yet in the UK.
- userbinator 3mo agoPeople have gotten sick of the constant virtue-signaling.
- PeterHolzwarth 3mo agoAnd then they get un-sick of it. Fads come and go, constantly re-inventing themselves and getting rediscovered.
- kubb 3mo agoThat would suggest a fundamental difference in practical ethics between the two cultures. It sounds like people over there in America don’t do things because they enjoy doing them or because they’re convinced that those are the right things to do, but rather they do them to impress others or improve their social standing. It doesn’t sound right to me, I mean a culture can’t be so totally obsessed with the self.
- drivingmenuts 3mo ago> It doesn’t sound right to me, I mean a culture can’t be so totally obsessed with the self. One of our (the US) early political mottoes is "Don't Tread On Me" and it has a flag. And, yes, we can be and to varying degrees, are. Which is why we can't get along with ourselves very well, much less everyone else. We're tetchy.
- kubb 3mo agoRight, but that would mean the „Don’t tread on me” motto is also a type of persona assumed (like veganism) by people who like being perceived as tough and unruly because that’s respected. (I guess „persona” would be a better word for it than „the self”.)
- InsideOutSanta 3mo agoI think you've pinpointed the reason, although unintentionally: the US is so focused on culture wars that people can't visibly follow a vegan diet without being attacked for it.
- constantius 3mo agoI always found it weird when people confidently speak from the wrong end. And the crab mentality of "it's only good there temporarily, then it'll.be the same shit as here" is tiring. If you had lived in the UK, you'd understand that it's not about temporary vegan menus in restaurants but about the whole country, even in a chain in the middle of nowhere, having vegan alternatives and packaging for years and years.
- conception 3mo agoThat’s interesting. I wonder if that’s a byproduct of the strong Indian influences? I would imagine its popular there as well.
- kurthr 3mo agoHindu drink milk and eat cheese, butter, and honey. Not vegan.
- orbisvicis 3mo agoI know vegans who consume dairy/eggs once they become responsible for the husbandry of those sources.
- zxexz 3mo agoI wish this form of Veganism was more well-known. I know a few Vegans who went down a similar path and who were told by a few people they were no longer Vegan. They took the easier path and stopped calling themselves Vegans, which I thought was sad given their objectives when becoming Vegan were clear from the get-go.
- Imustaskforhelp 3mo agoI wish more Vegans were able to accept this form of spectrum that you are talking about. Food is quite a social thing. JaidenAnimation has done a great video[0] summarizing something like this of her vegan journey and exactly this type of nuance as well, I highly recommend checking it out Let me give you a personal example as well, I am Hindu and Milk is very very preferred where I live. Due to my taste preference, I dislike Milk but I am really expected to have something milk based so I like Yogurt. Even just this small act of preference of yogurt rather than Milk which could seem pretty small has genuinely left my relatives asking many many questions and I am sometimes forced to drink milk when I go to people when I would prefer otherwise because of social pressure. I can probably take vegan yogurt if I particularly want so but we take milk fresh from the milkman who owns the cow in their house. where I live, the way people treat animals in their house is a very ethical point of view, its basically like how pets are except they help in livelihood/income So I have some sympathies to people who you are talking about. There is enough social pressure from the people around you. More broadly speaking, Veganism might perhaps land better as a spectrum rather than a binary switch. It has a lot of things going for it which could help its future but at the same time, it gets a large amount of flack from a loud minority and bad clips [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gKJ9mMPuIQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gKJ9mMPuIQ
- SuperNinKenDo 3mo agoI was kind of surprised when I traveled to NY and SF from Melbourne. I knew Melbourne was fairly up there in vego/vegan friendliness, but took it for granted that NY and SF would be a cakewalk. Hardly appalling, but there were times I could not eat anything on the menu at some places and I'm only vegetarian, and in many instances I had only a single option. Was a little strange.
- myvoiceismypass 3mo agoI can confirm that SF is less vegan-friendly today than it was a decade ago. It is quite a bummer.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- xvxvx 3mo agoAustin, TX had a reputation for being very vegan friendly until COVID hit and many small businesses shut down. Now it’s as bad as anywhere else. I went on a hike at a national park in Scotland a few months ago, and they had a small cafe there with limited options for everyone. Even they had solid vegan options though. Blows my mind that this cafe was more welcoming than the majority of restaurants in a major liberal city.
- dleink 3mo agoThe trends in NYC are kinda pro-meat but if you're a day-to-day vegetarian or looking for it, there's plenty. I can definitely see showing up at a NY restaurant and everything on the menu having beef tallow in it somehow.