I can’t remember where I saw it, but I feel like today is a good time to revisit the concept of “Vegan + bacon”.

Jen

@danirabbit I'm flexitarian for primarily environmental reasons.

I have been known to order a veggie all day breakfast plus black pudding. I really love black pudding, it's full of haem iron, and it's essentially a waste product.

I refuse to feel guilty for the meat, plastic and super-processed food that comes in my weekly shop. It's through a food waste scheme that is also incredibly helpful for our household spoons and money budgets. This week included several pounds of bacon ends near their use-by date. Some has been slow cooked, some has been diced and frozen, the fatty bits were rendered and used to make potato wedges. All of it would have been binned if not shared through the scheme.

Mirjamsterdam

@Opticacia @danirabbit OK, but who says they’re trying to benefit from any moral associations?

Hans-Cees 🌳🌳🤢🦋🐈🐈🍋🍋🐝🐜

@danirabbit I wholeheartedly agree. Many shades of grey are ok

Mark Scott

@danirabbit The trope about making perfect the enemy of the good aligns with this

Ben Curthoys

@argv_minus_one @danirabbit well the problem is that synthetic meat isn't 100% completely perfect with zero ethical or environmental or taste or texture issues, so it's basically a complete waste of time.

/sarcasm for Poes Law.

Wildeng

@danirabbit this a smart approach and it's what we're doing or at least trying to do at home. We cook from scratch every day, use the public transport or walk and use the car only when is strictly necessary. I do like vegan dishes but I do like cheese too. My sister is vegan and her husband is not, living together is possible

Dud

@danirabbit I've only been buying Oat Milk for 6 years, and before that it was Rice milk (what happened to that??), and before that I was 20 years on Skimmed. Now, cows' milk on my cornflakes tastes horrible!

AL

@danirabbit
thank you for putting into words what has been in my mind for a long time.

alethenorio

@danirabbit I actually tend to order plant based burgers with bacon in it. It is a great way to lower your meat consumption while enjoying that tasty tasty bacon

Jules she/her

@danirabbit the Fork Ranger app or Instagram feed is a good place to start for anyone looking to reduce the amount of animal products they consume without committing to going fully vegan

https://www.forkranger.com/

Corinna Balkow

@danirabbit this is some popular thread. And also goes in my line of being "accidentally vegan" or "vegan where it doesn't hurt"

Like in a cake you usually don't need eggs, you could apple puree or vegan egg. For omelette keep your egg.

That slice of cheese on a burger? Vegan cheddar is just fine.

Some crumble in tomato sauce? Just add soya minced meat.

And you are fine to mix and match to your taste. Just reducing animal product consumption will help.

Dmytri

@danirabbit vegan + mussles is underated nutritionally

Rocketman

@danirabbit People usually underestimate how much difference small, incremental changes make over time.

If you get into the habit of preparing, say, 2 vegan meals per week, that's 100 vegan meals per year.

Plus, once you've got the hang of it, adding a third vegan meal isn't so hard. Or sometimes a fourth one, maybe. And suddenly you're at 150 per year.

It's the same for all the other good things. Doing a little, on a regular basis, just adds up, and opens further opportunities for change

dotmavriq

@danirabbit
This!
My parents just follow my national resources guidelines for meat consumption (which by global standards is LOW), as in2-3 meals of meat per day or less than 1 hot dog per person per day type deal. So mlst meals are "humble" but delicious if done well.

No need for the labels, no need for the flame wars. If you feel good from it and can stay happy like that then it's good for everyone on the planet.

Renewable Sexcellence

@danirabbit Yep. Like, 90% of my meals now are vegetarian, most of them also vegan, but I'm still an omnivore.

I feel that's a very achievable target for a large number of people, which would have more impact than a much smaller number going "all the way".

Irina

@danirabbit @Opticacia Ketchup is, though!

Opticacia

@mirjamsterdam @danirabbit
well I wouldn't think the vast majority of people are specifically trying to, but it I think it does factor into the popularity of veganism. If it weren't morally compelling then it would've remained an obscure offshoot of the vegetarian society, but now (as annoyed veggies will tell you) the vegetarian options on the menu are replaged by vegan ones.

Plant-based eating is seen as the ideal in regard to health and environmentalism, loosening the standards may be a good thing in these contexts, but veganism is really qualitative not quantiative. The principle of animal liberation is incompatible with arbitrarily picking and choosing bits of animal exploitation to partake in based on, say, taste preference. So I think to refer to what is really plant-based eating or vegetarianism as 'veganism' is to benefit from what's percieved to be stronger moral position, while actually doing damage toward an understanding/cultrual norm of actual underlying principles.

Either way "putting into practice the principles of animal liberation by abstaining from enaging in animal exploitation" is a real mouthful it'd be nice if one day we could just 'vegan' and have that be understood, people appropriating the term isn't helping matters.

Mirjamsterdam

@Opticacia @danirabbit I do get the point about precise terminology. I’m a vegetarian, not a vegan, and would never refer to myself as a vegan, or ‘vegan plus’, although I do try to replace more and more foods with plant-based alternatives. It annoys me when pescatarians are referred to as vegetarians (mainly because that confuses people as to whether vegetarians eat fish), so why would I do the same thing to vegans?

Irina

@danirabbit I eat a lot of vegetables because I love vegetables! But I'm still an omnivore (periodically vegan for religious reasons, though)

Peter Broks

@danirabbit I used to call myself "semi-veggie" because I wouldn't feel guilty if I had meat once a week. Now I'm more veggie than not.

Absolutism is wrong in politics and diet.